"Crap." Hinata's eyes flickered from the road to his watch. "Daichi's gonna kill me."

For the first time since he was just a toddler, Hinata had slept in. Usually, it wouldn't be a problem since his alarm clock was always set just in case, but he'd lent it to Natsu to take on her trip overseas with their mom, which left Hinata all alone in their tiny mountain home with no way of telling what time it was other than the small clock above their stove.

He'd woken up about thirty minutes later than he usually did, which sucked since he knew he wouldn't have time to make anything for breakfast, but he could still get to practice no problem if he just grabbed a protein bar for the road.

He had been just about to head out of the door when, of course, he'd caught a glimpse of two math sheets on the table. He'd nearly laid down and died right there. It would be mercy compared to rushing through last week's homework when he was already on the verge of being late to volleyball practice, which would almost certainly result in a lecture from Daichi and numerous uncreative jabs from Tsukishima and Kageyama.

Hinata had bit his lip, weighing his options, before sighing and dutifully setting his bags aside and rushing through the twenty problems splayed out in front of him. He already had a lousy grade arithmetic, and the teacher of the class was always so nice to him. There was no way he was going to make the man's life any harder by not turning in an assignment he'd had a full week to do. Plus, Hinata prided himself on his stamina and speed. There was no reason he couldn't finish these problems and still get to practice on time, right?

Apparently not, because now Hinata was pedaling down the street like his life depended on it, three miles from the school and already five minutes late.

"Stupid math." He mumbled, approaching yet another hill. He switched gears and pedaling harder. "Why do I even have to learn it? Volleyball players don't need to know math." He was pretty sure he'd gotten most of the problems incorrect too, which only succeeded in heightening his bad mood. "I don't even have an excuse! I slept in late and had to finish my math worksheets that I had a week to do! Yeah, Daichi'll be real happy about that." He scowled at his handlebars, an expression foreign to his gentle features. "This puts Kageyama ahead now too. That's so unfa- OH HOLY FU-."

That was the last thing he was able to say before a car came careening about the corner, missing a head-on collision but less than an inch thanks to Hinata swerving away at the last second, courtesy of his lightning-fast reflexes. The driver honked, which was beyond unnecessary since it was literally his fault for cutting corners and driving into the biking lane, but other than that, he got away with no damage or consequence. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the tiny high schooler on a measly bike.

The obnoxious sound of Kageyama's ringtone was the last thing Hinata heard before crashing headfirst into a brick wall.

xxx

Kageyama groaned and pocketed his phone. "He isn't answering."

"That's...odd." Suga wrinkled his nose. The distinct lack of energy in the gym was borderline disturbing, not to mention just plain weird. Hinata was always one of the first to arrive at practice, to the point where Takeda had caved and made him a copy of the gym key. The middle blocker coming to the gym at the scheduled time was rare, but being ten minutes late was unheard of. Tanaka had instantly freaked out when he'd been greeted with the sight of Kageyama sitting on the stage armed with nothing but his phone and a bottle of water, mindlessly scrolling instead of arguing with the resident sunshine child, and began texting the Karasno group chat all kinds of conspiracies and morbid situations without context, which had freaked everybody out a good amount before realizing that Hinata was just late, not getting kidnapped by a burly man with a face that looked "suspiciously like Oikawa."

Yamaguchi worried at his bottom lip. He'd always thought the energy in the gym was a little too tense when Hinata wasn't around, and it was doing absolutely nothing for his nerves. "Do you think we should be concerned?"

Daichi immediately shook his head. "No."

"Yes."

"TANAKA." The spiker immediately stepped back, shooting a coy grin the captain's way. Daichi gave him a warning glare before turning his attention back to Yamaguchi. "I don't think so. He's probably just running late."

Asahi quirked his mouth and raised an eyebrow. "Daichi, it's been ten minutes. I mean, this is Hinata we're talking about." He scratched his chin. "His definition of late would be getting to practice when it actually starts."

The surrounding volleyball players murmured their agreement. If it had been anyone else missing, the rest of the team would've just carried on with practice as usual and trusted that they were just sick or running late or something. It had happened enough times with Nishinoya and Tanaka that no one batted an eye anymore when they came careening into the middle of practice yelling apologies and thrusting bucketloads of food and sweets to make up for it, but Hinata was different. Not only was he the baby of the team, but he seemed hellbent on playing volleyball no matter the situation or circumstance.

Everyone knew he would never skip on purpose, just as much as they knew he would still come to practice if he were literally sick and dying. The fiasco at training camp was more than enough proof of that. Hinata had already gotten more than enough lectures about maintaining his health and not overexerting himself from both his upperclassmen and fellow first-years, mainly because everyone would like to avoid having another heart attack. However, when it came down too it, they knew the middle blocker would almost certainly still come to practice whether he had a cold or cancer.

The reality of the situation was that there was no typical reason for Hinata to be this late without informing anyone of his whereabouts or circumstances. Unless, of course, if he was unable to for some reason.

"I'm sure he's fine." It was Tsukishima this time, smirking slightly at the faces of his teammates. "You know how he is. He's probably just with one of the other teams or something."

"That's..." Kageyama paused, having been fully prepared to wave away the suggestion. "...actually very possible." He wrinkled his face at Tsukishima. "I should've thought of that."

"Oh, like what happened that one time with Kozume and Kuroo." Nishinoya supplied, grinning widely. "Way to go, Tsukishima! That surprisingly makes a lot of sense."

Daichi smiled lightly; a humongous weight lifted off his shoulders now that his teammates had provided a reasonable explanation regarding Hinata's absence. "See? No need to worry." He nodded subtly at Yamaguchi, who, in turn, gave him a shy grin. "Hinata probably had another sleepover or something at someone's house and stayed up too late. No biggie."

Tsukishima sniffed, obviously pleased at his observation but trying not to show it. "Okay, but we still need him here either way."

Suga just shrugged, having been uncharacteristically calm about the whole ordeal given that his baby had been 'missing' for a full ten minutes. "He's not answering his phone. We can't exactly drag him to practice if we don't know where he is."

"I have Kenma's number." Kageyama offered, holding up his phone again. "He's probably the most likely to be with Hinata."

Kageyama and Kenma weren't exactly friends, given that Kageyama had nearly scared the smaller setter half to death during their first time meeting, but they both adored Hinata in one way or another, whether they did it openly or not. When all three of them were together, the two setters often competed for Hinata's attention, whether it was just to outdo each other or because they wanted to spend time with him. Kenma would often drape himself across Hinata's shoulders or casually cuddle with him while the three were talking, something that never ceased to make Kageyama seeth. However, the younger always got a kick out of Kenma's expression while the two teammates seamlessly bantered back and forth. It was some combination of jealously and possessiveness, and Kageyama always felt like he'd won some kind of competition whenever he saw it.

Kageyama had his number solely from a group chat Hinata had made a while back. He'd never texted to duel haired setter, but at least the fact that he had it was good for something. It seemed his teammates agreed, given that they were nodding confirmation at his words and urging him to go on.

Kageyama pressed on the contact, put his phone on speaker, and placed it in the middle of the little circle Karasuno had made in the middle of the gym.

Kenma didn't answer on the first ring, no surprise to anyone, or the second, third, fourth, or fifth. It was a long shot, considering Karasuno knew Nekoma's schedule well and were aware of the fact that they were also in practice, but Kenma practically lived on his phone. If he heard it ringing, there was a decent chance he would drop whatever he was doing and answer just for the sake of answering.

"Hello?" Sure enough, Kenma's monotone voice filtered out of the speaker. "Who is this?"

"It's Kageyama." The setter glanced up at his teammates. Almost all were focused solely on the phone.

"Oh." There was a rather long pause on Kenma's end. "Okay. Can I speak to Shouyou?"

Kageyama did a double-take, risking a glance at the rest of his teammates. The sea of faces staring back at him were a mixture of confusion, surprise, and suspicion. "Oh...well...we were actually calling to ask if you knew where he was."

There was a long stretch of silence, the only audible sound being Kuroo's slightly muffled voice as he and Kenma exchanged a brief conversation. After about a minute, the second-year's voice filled the speaker once again. "Is he not at practice?"

"Nope." Tanaka popped the p as loud as he could, making Asahi jump a little. "We tried calling him, but he didn't pick up. We figured our little Shortypants might be hanging out with Nekoma's little Shortypants, if you catch my drift."

Kageyama could practically feel Kenma rolling his eyes. "I don't."

Tanaka brushed the deadpan off with ease, having gotten all too used to Tsukishima's usual sass to be bothered by Kenma's. "Short people union, you know? Anyway, you sure you haven't seen Hinata?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Kenma's was speaking a great deal softer now. "So he's late, and none of you know where he is?"

"Correct."

"And you called me thinking that I was most likely to know his whereabouts?'

"Also correct."

There was another long pause at Kenma's end. The members of Karasuno could faintly hear what sounded like the voices of Lev and Yaku claiming they hadn't seen Hinata recently either. The volleyball players sat in silence, all staring intently at the phone as if willing it to give them the answers they'd been speculating about for the last fifteen minutes.

"We'll all be sure to keep an eye out," Kenma said at last, seemingly having returned from his interrogation of his teammates. "Call me when you find him, okay? It's not like Shouyou to be late or not answer his phone."

"We know." Suga leaned in closer to the middle of the circle. "That's why we're worried."

"Yeah." There was a faint ruffling sound as Kenma shifted his position. "Call Oikawa and Aone. Hinata adores both of them. If he's with someone, it's probably one of them."

Karasuno exchanged glanced. They'd known about Oikawa but Aone? Now that was a pair. Yes, he'd been the one to calm Hinata down after his breakdown about his dad's death, but they wouldn't go as far as to say that Hinata adored the stoic older man. Their personalities were practically opposites, for all they knew. Hell, when they'd physically checked Hinata for bruises after spending the night at his house because they'd been so concerned about what someone as big and scary as Date Tech's blocker might do to someone as trusting and small as Hinata.

"We were just going to go ahead and called everyone." Nishinoya pipped up, tugging on his dyed hair as he usually did when stressed. "You were just our first choice since Hinata seems to like you the best."

Kageyama glared the libero's way before turning his attention back to the phone. God, Kenma was going to hold that over his head forever. "Just out of the people on other teams, we mean."

"Huh-uh." Kageyama could practically feel the small, smug smirk forming on Kenma's face. "Calling everyone is a good idea." The self-satisfied tone dropped almost instantly. "Really, though. When you find him, let me or Kuroo know if he's okay."

"Will do." Suga smiled slightly at Kenma's words. "We're probably overthinking things, anyway. Get back to practice, and we'll update you when we can."

"Okay."

A suffocating silence filled the gym after Kenma hung up. The fact that the setter had no clue of Hinata's whereabouts was slightly disturbing, especially since they all knew Hinata religiously texted Kenma about everything.

Tanaka cleared his throat and clapped his hands together, once again startling an unsuspecting Asahi. "Well, that did absolutely nothing. For all we know, Hinata could be dying in a ditch while we're mindlessly calling our entire freaking league."

Everyone ignored him. It'd gotten to the point where Tanaka's admittedly morbid conspiracy theories didn't freak them out nearly as much as they used to, which was good since he talked about them a lot.

"I have Oikawa and Iwaizumi's number." Kageyama grabbed his phone from the middle of the circle, pinching his face. "I'm almost positive Oikawa blocked me, though. I don't know about Iwaizumi."

"Socially awkward much?"

"FUCK OFF TSUKISHIMA."

"LANGUAGE!" Daichi gave the two first-years a warning glare before digging his own phone out of his duffle. "I'm in a captain's group chat with Kuroo, Bokuto, Terushima, Ushijima, and Oikawa. If we go through that list, we should be fine." He wrinkled his nose. "But just in case, does anyone have someone from Date Tech's number?"

Suga raised his hand. "I have Aone's number." He ignored the quizzical glances from his teammates. "I got it just in case Hinata has another breakdown like he did a few weeks ago and none of us know how to handle it."

Daichi frowned. "That's... smart. I can't believe I didn't think of that." He tapped a few times on his phone before setting it down in place of Kageyama's. "Oikawa first?"

"Yes, please." Kageyama glared at nothing. "I wanna get this over with as fast as I can."

Ennoshita just rolled his eyes. "Uh, sorry to interrupt, but can we hurry this up? This is kind of taking forever."

This elicited a grumble from Kageyama and murmurs of agreement from everyone else, but other than that, the gym fell silent except for the repetitive ringing coming from Daichi's phone.

"Hello?" Oikawa's obnoxiously cheerful voice filtered through the speaker. Tanaka gagged. Kageyama followed in suit. "Daichi? What do you want?"

"Hi, Oikawa." Daichi tried and failed to match his tone. "Hinata's twenty minutes late to practice, and no one's seen or heard anything from him."

"Oh!" Everyone could practically feel the smugness through the phone. "And I'm guessing you assumed he'd be with his favorite mentor, right?"

Nishinoya rolled his eyes and muttered something suspiciously vulgar under his breath. "Uh, no, we were just wondering if anyone on your team has seen him."

"Oh. I'll check." There was a short silence, and then the rustling sound of a phone being put down, most likely on the bleachers or in between the duffle bags. "HAS ANYONE SEEN SHOU RECENTLY?" Karasuno winced at the sudden increase in volume, sighing when a chorus of no's filtered faintly through the speaker. It was a long shot, especially since they now made Hinata tell them whenever he was going over to Aobajohsai to practice ever since the cafe fiasco, but it was still a significant possibility. "Sorry, Daichi." Oikawa's voice was back to normal volume now, though judging by the incomprehensible murmurings, it sounded like the rest of Seijoh had decided to listen in on the conversation. "Mad Dog says he helped him fix his bike on Friday, but that's the last time any of us have seen him."

"What's wrong with his bike?" Asahi leaned over so his voice could be better heard. "Is something wrong with it?"

There was a shuffling sound on the other end. "His breaks were a little messed up." Mad Dog's gravely voice made everyone jump. "I have experience with that typa stuff, so he texted me to help him out."

"Uh, his breaks?" Suga and Tanaka exchanged a glance. The spiker's conspiracy theories suddenly seemed a little less far fetched then they did a moment ago. "That's kind of serious, considering he rides his bike to school every day."

"Woah, for real?" Karasuno could hear Mad Dog's growl of protest as Matsukawa grabbed the phone. "No wonder the kid has so much stamina. His house is like, eight miles away from your school or something."

"Yeah, uh, not important right now," Nishinoya grumbled, averting his eyes to glare at the gym doors. He didn't even want to ask why Aobajohsai knew where his underclassman's house was. "You did fix his breaks, though?"

"Positive." Mad Dog's voice was louder now. Matsukawa had probably handed the phone back to him. "Are you doubting my mechanical skills?"

"Uh, yeah." Tanaka grabbed the phone from the center of the circle before anyone could stop him. "Because whether you did a good job or not literally could be a matter of life or death for our underclassman." Nishinoya nodded in agreement, knowing they couldn't see him but not caring either way.

"I. Fixed. His. Breaks." By the way his teeth were grinding together, it was apparent Mad Dog was trying (and failing) to keep his temper in check. "I'm not kidding around."

"I better not be." Tanaka wasted no time in ending the call with a push of his finger, muttering something about "Aoba-fucking-johsai" before carelessly tossing Daichi's phone back into the middle of the circle.

"Uh...okay then." Daichi warily eyed Tanka as he picked his phone up off the ground. Thankfully it wasn't cracked at all, but he wouldn't have been surprised if it was, thanks to how hard the spiker had thrown it. "Let's try to be nice to the other teams when we're asking them a favor, yeah?"

"What, am I wrong?' Tanaka just crossed his arms and glared at the floor. It wasn't often he talked back to Daichi, but it wasn't really a once in a lifetime occurrence either. "Today's Monday, which means it's the first time Hinata's ridden his bike the bazillion miles from his house to school with his new breaks."

Daichi groaned and pinche his nose. "Tanaka, we are not going to entertain the possibility that Hinata got in an accident."

Tanaka threw his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I want Shorty to be safe and sound just as much as the next guy, but don't you think it's a little suspicious the one time Hinata's late for practice is a few days after that wannabe with anger issues from Aobajohsai fixed the breaks on his bike?" He gestured wildly, almost hitting Nishinoya in the face. "Just saying."

Kageyama groaned. He was usually pretty quiet when team conversations were involved, but he was so tired of Tanaka's crazy conspiracy theories about his spiker, and so fed up with this whole ordeal. The only thing he wanted to do was find Hinata as fast as possible so he could squeeze that orange head of hair and yell at him for scaring them out of their wits. Needless to say, absolutely no one was helping.

"We've only called two teams, and I don't know about you, but I'd like to find the dumbass before he does something stupid and burns down the town." Kageyama reached across the circle and snatched the phone from Daichi's hand, entering the passcode they all knew by heart and scrolling through his contacts before pressing one.

"Bokuto?" Yamaguchi peered over Kageyama's shoulder. "I guess that makes sense."

Kageyama just shrugged and pressed on the number. "I guess. His personality's pretty close to the dumbass' anyway."

"DAICHI?!" Unlike the rest of the people they'd called, Bokuto answered almost immediately, his voice startling everyone after only halfway through the first ring. "HAVE YOU FOUND HINATA?"

The first-years exchanged quizzical glances. Tsukishima reached across Yamaguchi and plucked the phone from Kageyama's hand, to which the setter didn't protest. They all knew that besides Hinata, Tsukishima was the best equipped to handle Bokuto's loud personality and way of communicating.

"You don't know where he is then?" Tsukishima's voice was uncharacteristically calm even though their chances of finding Hinata were becoming smaller and smaller with every phone call. "It's been over twenty minutes, and no one's heard anything from him."

"NOT AT ALL!" Bokuto's screaming didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Tsukishima could guess the captain had been about to say something else, but the stifled yelp and the sound of an annoyed Akaashi took its place.

"What's going on." Akaashi's voice was much like Kenma's, sounding bored and monotone, but there was a slight panic to his words. Clearly, Akaashi hadn't been informed of the situation like Bokuto somehow had (Tsukishima suspected Kuroo, and silently thanked him for letting the overexcited captain know ahead of time so he wouldn't have to be the one to break the news to him), and Bokuto's screaming had been his only hint to the situation unfolding. "Is Hinata alright?"

"We don't know." Tsukishima was never one to sugarcoat things, but it was frankly disturbing to hear those words out loud. Yes, they were the truth, but in everyone's ideal world, Hinata had merely decided to skip for some unknown reason and was safe and sound at him. Tsukishima's words served only as a reminder that, given the situation, that reasoning was very unlikely.

The gym suddenly became very quiet. Bokuto fell silent, which was a little surprising but not exactly unexpected, and Akaashi had to pause and take a moment to absorb everything he'd just been told.

His feelings toward Karasuno's adorable decoy were similar to those of Suga. He'd initially found Hinata's enthusiasm and drive to be somewhat endearing, but that night at Tokyo Tower had changed his perspective entirely. He didn't exactly strive to protect Hinata from anything and everything like Suga did, but his soft spot for the first-year was apparent to anyone who watched the two interact, including Bokuto, who was a little jealous but couldn't blame his setter since this was Hinata they were talking about.

In short, much like Kenma's cuddles, Akaashi's soft smiles and gentle eyes were a sight reserved for Hinata only. Yes, Bokuto received them as well whenever he'd made a particularly good spike or at random moments during the week, but Hinata saw them regardless of where they were or what they were doing at the moment. It was almost comical, and pretty much everyone had taken note of it. Hinata could be doing something as trivial as eating lunch, and Akaashi would look at him like he was the most precious thing on the planet.

So, in hindsight, Akaashi's temper was probably something Karausno should've expected.

"Excuse me?" Akaashi's voice was cold. "What do you mean you don't know."

Thankfully, Bokuto jumped in before any of the Karasuon members had to be subjected to Akaashi's wrath. "Kuroo texted me earlier. Hinata didn't show up to practice, and he's not answering his phone. They're calling all the teams to try and find him."

"I see." Akaashi was trying to keep his sentences short and anger at bay. "You all are aware that Hinata's parents and sister are out of town, right?"

Karasuno exchanged glances, because they hadn't known that and it opened a whole new door of possibilities that were no doubt running through Tanaka's head already.

Tsukishima recovered first. "No, we didn't know that."

Akaashi took a deep breath. "So, let me get this straight. Hinata Shouyou, the adorable, sweet, puppy child made out of smiles and sunshine that will trust anyone at the drop of a hat didn't show up to volleyball practice, isn't answering his phone, and hasn't contacted anyone about where he might be, and you guys are just sitting around hoping one of the other teams has him?"

Daichi blinked. When he put it that way, they sounded like horrible teammates and friends. "Uh-"

Akaashi wasn't done. "Really? You guys? The one's who threaten anyone who so much as touches Hinata wrong? You guys literally baby him into oblivion, and the one time he might actually need your help you just sit in the gym like a bunch of idiots trying your best to ignore the situation?"

Nishinoya crossed his arms. "I don't know who you think you are, but we are not ignoring the situation."

"Yes. You. Are." Akaashi ground his teeth together. "You don't want to face the possibility that the most innocent person any of us know could be hurt or in trouble, so you morons subconsciously chose not to consider the option at all and instead decided to call people in hopes that Hinata might be with them. Do you understand how stupid that is?"

Kageyama glared at nothing. Akaashi was making a lot of sense, and he hated it. "Okay, fine. We get it."

Akaashi sighed. There was the faint murmuring of Bokuto telling him to breath in the background. "Look, I know you didn't mean anything by it. You all were probably freaked out or something, and this stupid idea was the first thing you thought of. " The silence on Karausuno's end told the setter everything he needed to know. He groaned. "Look, okay? Everyone knows you guys are a pretty tight-knit team. I know you all are fond of Hinata and don't want to entertain the prospect of him getting hurt, but in a situation like this it's better to take actual action, not just sit around and hope someone knows where he is."

Everyone shrank back a little at his words, including Tsukishima. Daichi's lectures usually contained a lot of yelling and reprimands, which was in no way pleasant, but Akaashi's were collected, and he explained things calmly with such a disappointed tone of voice that made a passive explanation feel like a scolding.

"Really." It appeared Akaashi wasn't done. "Calling the other teams was a good idea, but you don't need every single member of your team to do it. One of you could've stayed behind to do it while the rest go searching the surrounding area for Hinata. Don't you think that would've been a better plan?"

"Uh...yeah." Daichi felt oddly flustered. It was no wonder Akaashi was the only persona able to keep Bokuto in check most of the time. "We'll...uh...do that."

"You better, dumbasses." There was a pause before Akaashi's tone shifted to something much more tentative. "For real, though. Call Bokuto or me when you find him. The only reason he hasn't been yelling like he usually does this entire time is because he's worried."

"You got it." Daichi took the phone from Tsukishima's hand. "Thanks, Akaashi."

"Don't make this a regular thing."

"We won't."

With those words, Daichi ended the call and stuffed his phone back in the pocket of his jacket.

xxx

In the end, after many protests, it was decided that Daichi would stay behind in the off chance that Hinata showed up and call the rest of the teams since he had most of them already in his contacts. Suga gave him Aone's number for good measure before the rest of the group set off to look for their lost middle blocker. They had two hours until classes started, and they were going to make the most of it.

The remaining members split into five groups: Kageyama and Suga, Tanak and Tsukishima, Asahi and Yamaguchi, Nishinoya and Ennoshita, and Narita and Kinoshita. The first-years were separated and put with an upperclassman as an unspoken rule. The chaos they could create when together and unsupervised was legendary, yes, but it was the last thing they needed right now.

Each group had taken a different direction. Kageyama and Suga decided to follow Hinata's route home, something Kageyama knew quite well. Tanaka and Tsukishima had already set off to search the streets surrounding Ukai's convenience store. Asahi and Yamaguchi had opted to take the large park a few blocks from the school. Narita and Kinoshita had claimed they were just going to wander around random streets and see if they find anything. Nishinoya had instantly taken a liking to the idea, so he and Ennoshita had decided to take the morning bus to the base of the mountain Hinata lived on to search the streets there and work their way up to Hinata's house.

Before they set off, everyone had tried Hinata's phone one last time, just to make sure.

No answer.

That was all it took for the respective groups to bid each other farewell and start searching.

xxx

"This sucks."

Hinata's bike was in shambles, but thanks to his newly fixed breaks, the collision wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. His handlebars had absorbed most of the hit, but it was still enough to throw him forward facefirst into the (very inconveniently placed, in his opinion) brick wall.

Hinata was an optimist in the darkest of times, but he fully acknowledged the fact that he had been fortunate to come away as unharmed as he did. He had a bump on his head, a bleeding and scraped knee, and a small cut on his forehead from where it caught on a protruding piece of brick.

All in all, it wasn't too bad, but his head was bleeding like a bitch.

"Shit," Hinata muttered, dabbing his bloody forehead for probably the one-hundredth time that day. "I knew head injuries were supposed to bleed a lot, but this is ridiculous."

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting like this. Practice could be over by now, and he'd be none the wiser. His bike was destroyed, his phone was in pieces, and his volleyball jacket soaked in blood from his knee and face.

His knee had stopped bleeding a few minutes before, but Hinata kept dabbing it with the hem of his shorts every once in a while just to make sure. His head was the main problem, anyway. He could feel the blood running down his face, not to mention the pounding headache from ramming into the wall. He didn't think it was a concussion, but it wouldn't surprise him if it turned out to be.

The road he was sitting beside was vacant, which was good. Hinata was positive he looked absolutely morbid with the blood covering the entire left half of his face, both dried and new, and the grotesque, fleshy wound that ran from the top of his right knee to the middle of his calf, not to mention his destroyed bike a few feet away and the bloody clothes strewn about.

Hinata knew he couldn't just up and walk the rest of the way to school while looking like a murder victim and bleeding out, so he sat there, alone, injured, and frustrated.

"That stupid driver." He said aloud, pressing the cloth harder to his head, which helped slow the bleeding a little but only worsened his pounding skull. "I was in the bike lane. I bet Kageyama paid him to assassinate me or something." He frowned. "Speaking of Kageyama..."

He wasn't one-hundred percent positive given how fuzzy his head was at the moment, but he was reasonably sure he'd heard his setter's ringtone mere seconds before his phone had smashed into pieces. Was he wondering where he was? Maybe. Was he mad? Knowing him, probably. Would he be worried? Not likely.

Hinata sighed and thumped his head against the bricks, wincing a little at the contact but not caring. "I wonder if this'll affect volleyball." He mused aloud, lolling his head from side to side while keeping the cloth in place. "I really hope not. That's, like, the worst-case scenario besides death." He giggled. "I guess death is a slim possibility or something given how much the cut is bleeding." He removed his spare shirt from the cut, blinking out the blood that dripped into his eye almost immediately after before holding it back in place. He sighed, letting his mind wander. "That was stupid."

He sat there for a few more minutes. The bleeding had slowed down, but not nearly enough. It was a small cut, maybe a little more than an inch, but it was bleeding like a full-on gash. It looked worse than it was, but he knew he needed to come up with a more permanent solution to the injury to avoid infection.

"I don't know."

Hinata startled at the voices and footsteps rounding the corner, eyes widening a slight margin. Was it just his head, or did they sound kind of familiar?

"Yeah. I mea-OHMYGOD HINATA!" Suga raced to his underclassman as Kageyama sprinted into view, eyes wild with panic at Suga's voice.

Hinata flashed them both the peace sign. "Hi, Suga. Hey, Bakayama." He plastered on a trembling grin. "Fancy seeing you here."

His two teammates wasted no time hauling the boy up and wrapping him in the most affectionate and relieved hug he'd ever received, one on each side, which confused Hinata since Kageyama seldom initiated physical contact. Still, he melted into the contact. Kageyama's hugs were always the best, not to mention Suga's forever comforting presence.

"Baby, are you alright?" Suga murmured, ginger locks tickling his chin. "You gave us all quite a scare."

"Oh, um." Hinata took a sheepish step back, allowing his teammates a full view of his injuries they'd been too preoccupied to notice before. He laughed nervously at their horrified faces. "I know it looks bad, but I got really lucky." He could practically feel Kageyama's incredulous expression. "Honestly!"

There was silence for a few seconds as the two took in Hinata's leg and the bloody shirt he was holding to his head. It was clear they didn't believe a word he said, but they weren't going to push him about it. At least, not for now.

"Fucking hell." It was Kageyama who broke the silence first, his eyes so soft and full of warmth it made Hinata's heart hurt. "Only you would somehow get yourself hurt riding to school." He took notice of the destroyed bike but thought it was best not to comment on it just yet. They'd get the full story after Hinata was safe and all patched up, not while his leg was torn open and head bleeding like a river.

Hinata rewarded him with a toothy grin, saying nothing. Kageyama just rolled his eyes and pulled his partner back into his chest, if not for the ginger's comfort than for his own, just to reassure himself that Hinata was here, in his arms, and wouldn't go missing all over again.

"I'll let everyone else know." Suga's voice was oddly strangled. His baby had literally been bleeding from the head on the side of a road with no people in sight and no way to contact anybody, if the scattered pieces of glass and plastic were any indication of his phone's condition. Hinata better be ready for the coddling of a lifetime, because there was no way Suga was going to let him out of his sight anytime soon. "Hinata, we need to get you to the hospital." He stepped forward and ran a gentle hand through the curls. "Are you okay with that?"

Hinata just nodded, knowing that despite his insistence he was fine professional medical care would be a good idea. "Yeah. It's the logical thing to do."

Suga smiled warmly and gestured for Kageyama to release his grip on Hinata, to which he reluctantly did so.

"Thank you for coming to look for me," Hinata said after a moment's deliberation. "You two are wonderful. I didn't know what I would do if you hadn't found me." He smiled softly. "I'm flattered you were worried enough to search Miyagi for me."

Suga lightly kissed the top of Hinata's head, careful to avoid any potential sore spots. "Of course we were. You're our baby." He turned to Kageyama expectantly.

He just glowered, taking a sudden interest in his shoes. "Shut the fuck up, dumbass. The sooner we get your head fixed up, the sooner I can squeeze it."