'D-Daddy…"
How many years had it been since he'd heard that name from his son's lips? Too many. Shouyou had always been fiercely independent, trying to run before he could walk, a baby bird that was determined to fly off into the horizon. It was something that had given them more than one grey hair over the years, even as they shared proud smiles where he couldn't see. Then there were some nights when he put Natsu to bed, and she would curl her arms around his neck and press a sloppy kiss to his cheek with a 'goodnight Daddy' that he found himself missing the days when Shouyou had done the same. However, right now, he would have done anything to be back home, Shouyou waving of his warning to be careful as he left for school, bright-eyed and grinning with a 'See you tonight, Dad' on his lips, another step closer to flying away.
Anything other than that childish plea for comfort that he couldn't give right now, anything to drown out that last, breathless, pained plea before his son had gone terrifyingly still in front of him. Anything to drown out the echo of that single word that had replayed louder and louder through his frantic, desperate call to the emergency services. A conversation that he could barely remember, he knew there had been questions – too many - and he had snarled at them about that because this was his son, his baby.
Daddy.
He knew that they had told him to stay on the line, to keep talking to them, but he couldn't, because words couldn't fix this and he wasn't the one that needed their help, Shouyou was.
"Hurry," he had pleaded, never hearing their response over the echo of 'Daddy' as he knelt by Shouyou, shivering a little as he had settled his coat across his son, a tiny, desperate attempt to do something. A way to hide the damage that the light had shown, damage that the part of his mind that wasn't entirely lost to panic knew only scratched the surface. Blood, there had been so much blood…had he told them that? He thought that he had, but he wasn't sure, their questions and his answers already out of his mind, the entire world had narrowed down to his son.
To Shouyou who was quiet apart from struggling, whistling breaths that faltered far too often, and he found himself holding his breath each time, unable to take his next until his son had. Shouyou who was never still, often driving them up the wall with his relentless energy, who looked almost lifeless under the light of the phone torch.
"Shouyou!" He tried to elicit a response from his son, not daring to shake him, even as he wanted nothing more than to reach out and shake him by both shoulders and see him jerk awake as he did on the weekends when it was a nightmare to get Shouyou out of bed.
He wanted this to be a nightmare.
Daddy.
A shudder wracked him, one that he was sure had nothing to do with the cold, or maybe it did, as everything felt cold and numb right now, everything fading apart from the sight of the ragged rise and fall of Shouyou's chest and the sound of his breathing. "You're going to be all right," he whispered or tried to, not sure if the words had come out or if they were trapped in his head, lips pressed to the hand cradled between his, as though if he pressed the words into his son's skin, it would make them more real. As though the warm of his breath, would stave off the chill that he could feel settling into Shouyou's skin, as his grip tightened, determined to anchor his son to the world until help arrived.
Please, hurry…
Kageyama was exhausted, and he knew that he should be asleep with the game in the morning, but every time he closed his eyes, he heard Daichi's voice, that little hesitation that the older teen hadn't been able to hide. Hopefully nothing… He kept checking his phone every few minutes, hoping to see a response from Hinata, even as he tried to tell himself that it was probably nothing and the dumbass was probably home already and fast asleep.
He had to be right?
So, why couldn't Kageyama settle? And why did he care so much? And he did care, he wasn't good with emotions, but he recognised the unpleasant weight in the pit of his stomach as worry. It was a feeling that only Hinata ever seemed to manage to elicit in him. Along with a lot of other emotions, he thought, remembering all the times he had wanted to throttle him, or been completely and utterly confused by their interactions, the smiles that been becoming more and more frequent. Growling under his breath and calling the other boy a dozen different names that he knew that he didn't really mean, he rolled over and rechecked his phone.
Nothing.
He was about to toss it across the room when he paused and pulled up his call log and stared at Daichi's number and then at the time. It was late, the older boy had probably turned in by now, but… He opened his messages and typed a quick 'have you heard anything?' and sent it before he could second guess himself, before closing the phone and setting it back on the bedside table before rolling onto his back with a noise that was half growl and half sigh.
Hinata, you dumbass…
…you better be okay…
Until this moment, Mr Hinata would have been hard-pressed to choose what was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. His wife's voice, trembling a little with happiness and tears as they exchanged their vows, a childhood romance made complete. That loud, demanding cry from Shouyou the day he had been born, letting them and the entire world know that he was there. The quiet, less confident cry as Natsu had entered the world, and Shouyou's much louder exclamation of excitement when he'd heard it from inside the room. Right now, as he listened to the sound of sirens approaching, he decided that there was no more beautiful sound in the world. "They're nearly here," he told his son, hoping that the promise of help, the reassurance that he was going to be okay would draw some reaction from his son. It didn't, and his breath caught and stuttered as he realised that Shouyou's was hitching again, hitching and pausing, and he held his breath…
…the next one didn't come.
Terror replaced the fear that had gripped him, panic clawing at him. Daddy. He wasn't aware of the fact that he was shouting, screaming for help, that there was a voice coming through his phone or that Shouyou's phone was ringing yet again. He didn't register the sound of vehicles at the top of the hill, the sirens cutting off, and light – red and blue – breaking through the treelines, or the sound of voices calling his name, Shouyou's name. Because none of it mattered, because Shouyou wasn't breathing, his chest still, and he was patting his cheek, hating the idea that he might be hurting him further as he caught cuts and bruises with frantic fingers. "Shouyou! Shouyou!"
There were hands on his shoulders, pulling him away, and he fought them. Some primal part of him rising to the front as he fought tooth and nail to get back to his son. Daddy! Didn't they understand that he had to fix this, that he had to do something, that Shouyou…that his son…
"Sir, you need to let us help him…"
Help. It was the promise of help that jolted him back to the present, slumping abruptly against the hands that were holding him back, pulling him away. "Help…" He blinked, briefly registering the man who was talking to him, the uniform standing out in the light and it was bright – too bright for torchlight – and he blinked again, the scene finally coming into focus. There were multiple torches, and it cast a strange, ghastly light over the scene as he took in the paramedics surrounding Shouyou, blocking his son from view as they worked with an urgency that made his heart skip a beat.
Daddy…
"Help him…" he pleaded, raw and ragged. A man on the edge. Save him, he wanted to scream, but the words wouldn't come, as though admitting that Shouyou needing saving would make this more real and as the image of his son's too still chest and pale skin flashed through his mind he squeezed his eyes shut. Save him.
"We will," the Paramedic who was talking to him said, and Mr Hinata had no idea if that was too his original plea or to the words that he didn't think he had spoken aloud. He didn't really care, trying to seize hold of the calm reassurance in that voice, even as he heard the flurry of worried voices around his son, the sound of a defibrillator being readied and applied… the pause and another burst of urgent words.
Daddy….
There was a hand on his shoulder again, trying to draw him back and he opened his eyes, just in time to see Shouyou jerk as he was shocked and his breath caught on a sob and a denial and a plea all at once, choking him, tears building in his eyes. "Sir? Sir?" He couldn't tear his gaze away from Shouyou and the frantic efforts to save him, refusing to admit that they were trying to bring him back, that it might be too late. "…Sir?" He made a noise, realising that there was something else he had missed, still unable to look away and thankfully the man seemed to realise, fingers tightening on his shoulder in understanding, a grounding force. "I asked if there was anyone you need us to contact for you?" Gentle, as though he was the one that needed help, as though he was on the edge of a precipice that he couldn't come back for, and he choked on his son's name. Shouyou…save Shouyou… but now he was focusing, he could hear Shouyou's phone ringing, and another thought bubbled up.
"I…My wife…" He blinked and looked at the man. "She…" She's waiting for me to bring him home, she's waiting for me to call and say our son is okay, he thought, feeling sick to the stomach, wondering how all those words could sound eerily like that echoing plea of 'Daddy', and he had to swallow a dozen times before he could continue. "She's at home with our youngest, I…" Helplessly, he held out the phone he was still gripping, had been gripping all along, marks left in his palm. Letting the man take it, eyes returning to Shouyou just as the Paramedic's settled a mask over his son's face. "Is he…?" He jerked forward, and this time he was allowed to move closer, even as he couldn't finish the question, terrified of the answer.
Terrified of what he might be about to see.
Daddy…
"He's back with us for now…" It took a moment for the words to break through the haze over his mind, the Paramedics continuing to work, and he blinked. For now… That wasn't what he wanted to hear, he wanted to know that Shouyou was going to be all right, that he hadn't been too late, that he had got him help. He blinked, mouth opening and closing, eyes darting around, taking in the equipment scattered around his son, his coat piled off to the side, and his fingers twitched, aching to pull it back over Shouyou. He's cold, he needs to be covered up, he wanted to say, as though protecting his son from that single thing could make up for everything else, but he couldn't move, because his eyes had slid back to Shouyou and in the harsh light of the added torches there was no hiding from the damage.
There didn't seem like there was a single part of his son that wasn't bloodied and bruised. As though he had hit everything in his path on his way down the hill. A flight cut short. The Paramedics were immobilising his limbs, and he jerked forward, instinctively wanting to tear away the restraints that looked so out of place against his ever-moving son, but he stopped himself, breath catching. "Shouyou…"
Shouyou, please keep fighting…
Hinata wasn't answering, and Kiyoko had replied, and her answer had done little to settle the growing concern that was gnawing at him because even if he'd had a flat tire or something, Hinata should have been home by now. Daichi had tried calling Hinata a dozen times since and then tried to get hold of Ukai, but the Coach's phone had been engaged – were they still looking for him?
He'd left a message, not that he'd had much to say – we don't know where he is, he should be home by now…what is going on?
Daichi couldn't settle, pacing back and forth across the room. Part of him wanted to ring around the rest of the team, to tell Suga what was going on just so he wasn't alone with his worry. At the same time, he didn't want them to worry.
His phone chimed and all he but dove for it, praying that it would be a message telling him that Hinata was home and safe and that he didn't need to worry any more. Although he would have words with Hinata for worrying them all in the morning, especially on tonight of all nights.
It was Kageyama.
'Have you heard anything?' Simple and to the point, but Daichi could practically see the Setter's scowl as he'd typed that, the worry he would be trying to hide. His finger hesitated over the reply button, because what could he say that wouldn't add to Kageyama's concern? He was about to give in and admit that he hadn't heard anything when his phone rang, Ukai's name flashing across the screen, and rather than relief, he felt his stomach drop as he fumbled with the answer button.
"…hello?"
Natsu had fallen asleep against her, and that was the only thing stopping her from pacing around the room, the panic having taking hold firmly now. Instead, she was trapped in her seat, one hand playing with Natsu's hair, and the other clutching the phone.
Please. Please…
The ringing of the phone was deafening in the strained quiet,and she almost dropped it in her hurry to get to answer it, hope pounding in her chest as she realised that it was Hiroto. "Have you found him?" She asked without greeting as she pressed it to her ear, hugging Natsu close as her daughter stirred with a sleepy grumble. Unaware of her grip tightening as she registered the unfamiliar voice or the way the blood drained from her voice as she listened to the man on the other end of the phone. Shouyou had been found. He was hurt… her mind shut down as he tried to briefly outline the injuries they were looking at.She felt as though she was swaying, caught in a current threatening to drag her under and there were tears on her cheeks, Natsu the only thing stopping her falling to pieces entirely, as this stranger broke her heart with each word that he was saying. Shouyou…
"I…No, I understand…" She didn't understand, because this couldn't be happening. She'd been worried, scared, almost out her mind with it. But not once had she allowed herself to truly think about what could have happened, especially this, not this…. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shuddering breath as she tried to blink away the tears, tried to focus on what she could do out here when all she wanted right then was to be at her son's side. "I…can I talk to my husband?" There was a pause on the other end, and a flurry of voices and she strained to hear, hoping against hope to hear her son's voice amongst them, even though she knew she wouldn't. Shouyou…
"…Risa?"
"Shouyou...?" She whispered, whatever she'd been hoping to hear from him disappearing in that instant because she had never once heard her husband sound like that. So fragile, so broken, and there was a pressure in her chest. A sob, a howl, a plea that wanted to bubble up, and she swallowed it back. "…is he?"
"They've got him for now, they're getting ready to move him. I…" She could hear the hesitation, the desperation in his voice. What has happened to my baby boy? The Paramedic had explained it to her, but the words were blurred, the details too much to register right now. She needed to see him with her own eyes, to hold him, to smooth his hair back until he swatted at her hands and told her that he was too old to be fussed over like that. Shouyou… She swallowed, looking down at Natsu, heart twisting anew at the thought of explaining to her daughter what was happening, and her grip tightened on the phone. "Go with him, I… we'll get a taxi…" She knew that if she had asked he would have come back for her, but the thought of Shouyou being alone… her baby boy hated being alone, and she sniffled, losing the battle against her tears and letting them fall. "Hiroto…"
"I know," he whispered, soft and shaky, with an understanding that had been built over the years, and it gave her hope, just a flicker that they could get through this. "We'll be waiting for you…I love you." It was a promise, that he wouldn't leave Shouyou alone, that he would do everything he could to make sure that their son was okay, and she sobbed as she hung up on him, unable to return the words because deep down she knew it was a promise he couldn't make.
That it was the first time, he had made her a promise he might not be able to keep.
Shouyou…
She gave herself a couple of minutes, unable to stop the tears, the sobs that were bubbling up. Oh Shouyou… her heart ached, her mind conjuring up what it must've been like for him alone out there in the dark, hurting, scared, until Hiroto had found him. Shouyou who had needed glow in the dark stars across the ceiling for years before he could sleep through without a nightlight, her bright, summer child who hated being alone.
"…mummy…" Her sobbing had disturbed Natsu who was pushing herself up, rubbing sleepily at her eyes, and Risa took a deep breath and dashed a hand across her eyes.
"We need to get up," she said, forcing a smile, and she knew that she wasn't as successful as she wanted to be because Natsu was staring up at her. Half-asleep and confused, eyes crinkling at the corners as though she was about to cry. "Can you go and get your coat and shoes on?" Risa asked, managing to find the balance of soothing and commanding that could bend both her children to her will, waiting for Natsu to nod and stumble away, still more asleep than awake before snatching up the phone again.
First, she called a taxi, voice trembling again as she begged them to hurry, not for the first time cursing the fact that they lived out of town, but never so vehemently as she did right then. Then she was moving, heading for Shouyou's room, her mind a whirl. What would he need? She knew that they would have time to come back for more, but this was all she could do help, all that she had until she was at his side and able to hold his hand and hug him, and make sure that he knew that they were there.
That he knew she was there.
Stepping into her son's room shattered her composure again because it was there waiting for him to come in, half-completed homework scattered over his desk despite their best attempts to get him to organise it. The bed half-made, the pile of soft toys that apparently he wasn't too old for scattered along the back of the bed, with several on the floor, flung there while he tossed and turned, as restless in his sleep as he was awake. Laundry basket piled high, clothes falling out of his wardrobe where he'd probably been digging for something. The walls covered in Volleyball posters, and her breath caught on a sob and a curse all at once as she caught sight of the Karasuno poster, her son caught in mid-flight.
Shouyou…
She had carried the phone with her, just in case, there was news, a talisman against it. Now she hastily, searched for Ukai's number, knowing that there were others worried about her son. As it rang, she found one of Shoyou's rucksacks, sniffling as she evicted a volleyball worn raw by all the hours of practice he had put in and placing it on the bed, as one-handed she started to stuff clothes inside more to do something than with any kind of plan. It seemed to ring forever, but then Ukai picked up, and the urgency and hope in his voice gave her pause, and she knew that he had to be able to hear the tears in her voice as she told him.
"They've found him…"
Daichi was blank-faced as he listened to Ukai's explanation of what had happened. He had finally stopped pacing, sinking down on the edge of his bed as his trembling legs had threatened to give out on him. This can't be happening. This is a nightmare, a bad joke. But he knew that their Coach wouldn't joke about this the night before their big game, and that stirred something in his thoughts, but he couldn't focus on the game, on Volleyball, when Hinata…when Hinata was…
"Is he going to be okay?" He demanded, interrupting Ukai for the first time that he could remember, unable to keep the fear out of his voice. This couldn't be happening, not to Hinata, not when only a few hours ago the first year had been loud and brash, bouncing around on a swell of excitement and victory. Undaunted by what they were about to face, and he knew that he wasn't the only one who had drawn comfort from Hinata's enthusiasm.
"I don't know, his mother didn't have any more details for me, and she was on her way to meet them at the hospital," Ukai replied, with a gentleness that he hadn't heard from the man before. Part of him appreciated the honesty, another part of him had wanted a lie, to be told that everything was going to be okay. "Sawamura, for now, I want you to keep this between us. Once we know more, hopefully by morning we can let the others know what is happening. But…"
"I understand…" He did, at least on one level, even as part of him rebelled at the thought. The entire team cared about each other, about Hinata, even Tsukishima even though he would probably deny it until his last breath, and it felt wrong to hide this from them. "But…I… Kageyama was asking if I'd heard anything, what do I say to him…?" That wasn't something he could avoid, because he knew that the Setter would stubbornly stay awake until he heard back, and that wouldn't do any of them any good.
Although how were they supposed to play tomorrow…?
A pause, a sigh, and then Ukai replied. "Tell him that Hinata has been found and is with his parents, and we'll tell him more tomorrow." Not quite a lie, but not really close enough to the truth and Daichi would have argued, had he not recognised the exhausted worry in Ukai's voice, realising that the older man was worried about Hinata, the team, and the upcoming match.
"Okay…"
There wasn't much to say after that, and they hung up quickly, and for several minutes all Daichi could do was stare at his phone, as though waiting for Ukai to call back and say it was all a joke, a misunderstanding. The phone remained silent, and Daichi squeezed his eyes shut, feeling sick to his stomach. Hinata… After a few minutes of just breathing, trying not to let his imagination run away with him and failing, he opened his eyes. Opening the message from Kageyama, dutifully typing what Ukai had told him, feeling raw inside as he sent the message and tossed his phone aside before burying his head in his hands.
Hinata.