YEAR TWO 1/1 Dawning Cognizance
You don't need another human being to make your life complete, but let's be honest. Having your wounds kissed by someone who doesn't see them as disasters in your soul, but cracks to put their love into is the most calming thing in this world. ~Emery Allen
~Six Months Later, Early Summer~
Tobio Kageyama smirks as Hinata strains to reach a sweet on a high shelf of a small bake stall.
It's a tart made with four different fruits and the avian heir can almost see his mouth watering hopefully as he raises up as far as he can on his toes, his lower lip curling around his tongue with the effort. Hinata has always favored sweets, loves fruits. He enjoyed meats and every other part of a meal, but light sugary things with a pinch of snap are an easy way to make a best friend for the immediate future. Kageyama leans in behind him.
"Would you like a boost?" He asks, positive his amusement is bleeding through.
"Shut up, moron!" Hinata mutters and stretches just a little further. Beside them, Kuroo chuckles.
"You know they put the expensive stuff up high so kids can't get to them, right?" Hinata scoffs at him.
"Just you wait." He grunts. "When I get my wings back, I'll show you a kid." The cat snorts.
"I look after a dozen of them already. Speaking of, where did the loud twins disappear to?" He says craning his neck around.
Kuroo is ever their caretaker, and he's easily consumed with tracking down the others, his feet taking him away of their own accord. Kageyama turns back to where the redhead is still determinedly reaching for the sweet with a fierce frown on his face. The crow can't help but grin impishly.
"I hope you never grow any more." He murmurs and Hinata throws him an annoyed look.
"Idiot Kageyama, no one asked your opinion." He grumbles before turning back, and Kageyama can't help the small pool of warmth that stirs in his gut.
A hand reaches out on its own and spreads across the redhead's lower back, and the smaller boy twitches slightly in surprise before looking up at him questioningly. His large almond eyes focus on him with cautious curiosity from beneath his lashes, his face coloring just a bit across his cheeks, and Kageyama's mind stalls. His fingers absently find the ridges across Hinata's ribs beneath his cloak and shirt as the warmth in his belly blooms with quiet happiness along with a slow burn that he doesn't quite know what to do with. Either way, his greatest concern just now is if there's a way to make the redhead's face flush even more.
"Eh… Kageyama?" Shouyou asks tentatively and the taller boy is pulled from his mental kill. He reaches up and secures the tart Hinata'd been after and holds it out to him.
"Here." He says, his mouth itching to turn up at the corners and Hinata watches him carefully for a long moment before that blinding smile erupts across his face.
The redhead takes the sweet from him, his entire being lighting up. He reaches for Kageyama's sleeve and turns toward another stall, tugging him along behind. Kageyama has to pry his fingers off for a moment so he can go back and hand a couple coins over to the stall owner for the baked treat with a mumbled apology, and by the time he turns around, Hinata isn't behind him anymore.
His shoulders tighten just a bit and he quickly scans the crowd of milling people for the signature orange head of fluff. He's almost ready to leave the ground so he can search more thoroughly from a higher vantage when he spots his leveler at a nikuman stand, his bright voice drifting back to him through the throngs of people.
Kageyama relaxes, content just to watch the redhead interact animatedly with anyone and everyone, the mood from a few minutes ago lingering in his chest. There have been a lot of those in the months since that big fight— moments where an odd but not really uncomfortable tension builds between them. It's almost like… anticipation? It's like the feeling he gets when they are coming up on a migration or right before a Volley game— impatient and antsy… except it begins with the warm fondness he feels every time he looks at his leveler and results in his pulse leaping as heat curls in his gut.
The frequency with which it has been happening has been increasing with a slightly alarming intensity; but then so has the familiarity level between them. Lingering contact has become a constant in their days, brief moments where they lose track of the world around them as they lock eyes a daily occurrence.
And they rarely argue.
Though Kageyama had hardly cared that he'd wound up with bald wings for a couple weeks— the jibes and ribbing from Tsukishima and the loud twins had been annoying— he'd known they'd grow back, so hadn't spared much more thought for it.
But Hinata had apparently taken his featherless state as a personal fuckup. There were times before his feathers had grown back in where Shouyou's guilt had overpowered him and had driven him from Kageyama's side for hours, and Kageyama had had to hunt the redhead down and pretty much initiate a sparring match to pull him out of it. It was oddly backward from how it had been back at the rookery where he'd track the kid down for a boxing match to relieve his own stress— now he was searching Shouyou out to get him to release his pent-up emotions.
Hinata's bouts of melancholy had dwindled and he'd eventually built into the bickering matches once more, but the small spiker would backpedal as soon as the insults gained any weight. Kageyama couldn't blame him; he'd grown more cautious, too. Having seen the stark fear on his leveler's face and knowing he'd legitimately been in a dangerous 'breaking' fight had made him somewhat gun-shy of confrontation as well.
Suga's idea of traveling to other towns that weren't Sheru Bay had been a godsend.
It meant that they wouldn't be highlighting their home location and endangering everyone at the beach house while still allowing them both to keep their sanity. Hinata would get the human interaction he craved, and Kageyama wouldn't be forced away from him. Although a bit risky, it was a brilliant solution all around. This was the third roaming trip they'd embarked on since that fateful argument and they'd had almost no disagreements since.
They were always accompanied by roughly half the beach crew, but this time, the number was a little larger. The circumstances that spurred this trip were… interesting in simplest terms, confounding at their roots.
A week ago, they'd welcomed a new level pair. They hadn't gained any new additions to the beach crew… but every avian had gotten a crash course in feline levelers.
Lev had been harassing Yaku about his height like he did every day; Yaku had been losing patience with the tall cat like he did every day. When a ball had landed just out of Yaku's reach off a block, Lev had remarked that he'd have gotten it if he were just a little taller. When the feline libero had scoffed at him, the grey cat had gone so far as to hypothesize that he might actually be losing height.
Yaku had straightened with a homicidal glare, marched up to Lev and latched onto his collar. He'd turned with an unnerving deadpan look at the rest of them and announced that he and the lanky cat had a few things to discuss, and then ushered said bewildered blocker into the brush behind the house with quiet stiffness.
"Why do I get the feeling there won't even be a body?" Tanaka had asked with a grimace and Kuroo had merely chuckled.
"Eh, I'm sure they will be fine." Hinata had dismissed it. After all it wasn't that unusual for the small cat to school the tall one when he got tired of his verbal prodding or willful childishness.
Except… they never returned from the trees. The afternoon had drifted into evening and soon night had fallen, too. Everyone had slowly begun to wonder what had happened to them, Kuroo even ready to head out looking— but the redhead had reiterated his earlier confidence that they were alright.
"They are out there together, and they are both formidable." He'd said with regards to how both cats held their own in hand to hand spars with the former sentries fairly well. So they'd settled in to wait. Kageyama had been unceremoniously awoken the following morning by the door slamming open followed shortly by an oath from Kuroo.
"What the fuck, you guys."
Their two missing members had returned, quite disheveled—and had that been a hickey on Yaku's shoulder?
Kenma had stared at them with eyes the size of eggs and Kuroo's dark scowl was largely undermined by his arguably astonished look. Lev had caged the small cat against himself with a rather satisfied air, and pleasantly greeted the sleepy faces that all turned toward them while Yaku's face had flushed all the way to the tips of his ears.
"It's a beautiful morning."
"Eh… what's going on?" Suga had questioned and Kuroo's jaw had worked uselessly.
"This tiny cat is mine." Lev had announced while Yaku managed to look annoyed.
"You don't get to call me that until you can receive properly." He'd remarked with frazzled irritation. Lev had pouted, but his grin hadn't wavered. The exchange had been baffling to say the least.
"They are a bonded pair." Kenma had supplied softly. He'd been met with blank confusion all around as Lev had grinned wildly and Yaku's skin had reddened even more.
"Bonded… pair? As in levelers? How do you know?" Bokuto had questioned, rubbing the lingering sleep from his golden eyes.
"Eh… we can kind of see it." Kuroo had finally managed. Everyone had turned to stare at him.
"Eto… you can see it?" Yamaguchi had asked, completely bewildered.
"Feline levelers are discernable to everyone when in direct vicinity of each other." Kenma had remarked.
"But Kuroo said he could see it…" Hinata had said with confusion.
"We can." Lev had confirmed with a grin.
"Lev's right, we can, but avians are unable to. We aren't sure why, but it might have something to do with our superior eyesight. Like we see another frame of light or something… kind of like how we can see in the dark." Kenma had murmured, his eyes still huge.
"You guys can see levelers?" Bokuto had asked incredulously.
"Sort of. For cats at least." Kuroo had answered stiltedly as if he were weary of life.
"Then you should have been able to see them as levelers all along, right? Why do you guys look so spooked?" Tanaka had asked with a scowl.
"Feline levelers are a little different." Yaku had said self-consciously, his face still aflame. "Do you remember me telling you about half bonds, Noya?" The short crow had twitched at his name but nodded.
"Feline levelers share a visible link for both a half and a fully bonded level pair. It's like something of a translucent thread that runs between us and when a half bond is converted to a complete one, it turns opaque and glows as brightly as Hinata's feathers at night."
"And you and Lev share one of these now?" Suga had asked curiously.
"We do… we are fully bonded as a level pair and all constraints and benefits that go with it now apply just like yours with Daichi or Kageyama's and Hinata's."
"Wait… does that mean your ears go bald when you fight?" Hinata had asked as if that were what they all needed to know.
A few haphazard explanations later, they had the gist of how feline level pairs worked. Turned out, they weren't just a level pair… they were somehow an item. Kuroo had scrambled to put together a trip in a bid to flee the house and give them some privacy, everyone either joining or opting to spend the time in Sheru Bay with Suga's relatives. The girls, the owls, Daichi, Suga, and Asahi had all remained in town while the loud twins, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Hinata, and of course, himself had all accompanied the remaining two cats.
It had been happy coincidence that the jaunt across country had coincided with one of the many summer festivals much to Hinata's ecstatic glee. They haven't seen or heard a whisper of a sentry in the last year and in the middle of the celebration around them, today is no exception. As Kageyama watches the redhead chatting brightly to the nikuman stall owner, the crow setter has to thank the two new levelers for supplying them with an— albeit awkward— excuse to leave Sheru Bay.
Hinata's excitement and happy charisma are entirely worth it.
The redhead nods to the man and takes a small bag from him. He spins in place, his brilliant almond eyes quickly seeking him out before buzzing toward him through the mass of people and not for the first time, Kageyama is amazed that this little redhead is his leveler. He's known him for centuries and only in the last couple years has it really registered how much he matters to the avian heir. This animated ball of energy charged with an electric zest for all things life means more than the world to him and he's ashamed to have ever taken that for granted. Hinata comes up in front of him, beaming with eager enthusiasm and holds out a steam bun.
"Kageyama! They had pork curry filled ones! I grabbed one for you." He says his smile completely crinkling the corners of his eyes. Kageyama feels his ears burn just a bit as he reaches out to take the proffered snack.
"Thanks," he murmurs, quietly pleased beyond reason at the way the redhead remembers one of his favorite meals and found a variation of it in the middle of the chaos their life has become. Though it's hardly surprising given how long they've known each other.
Literally centuries— Lev and Yaku had probably known each other a year before they wound up as levelers. The other level pairs all seemed to be like him and Hinata; Sugawara might not have been part of their rookery unit for very long, but Daichi had known him forever and Bokuto had said he and Akaashi had been friends for decades. They haven't known many levelers, though, so their knowledge is limited…
"Kageyama?" He's pulled out of his thoughts by Shouyou's voice and looks down to see the redhead watching him closely.
"You have one of those looks." He says.
Kageyama blinks and almost brushes his probing comment and searching gaze off, but thinks better of it. Suga had said communication was the key to avoiding fights.
"I was just thinking that Lev and Yaku's… bonding," he murmurs with uncertainty, because he has no idea what the term for that situation was, "was really fast. I mean, they only just met last summer."
And we've known each other since we were kids.
Hinata's gaze creases, the almond orbs straying to Kageyama's wings— specifically the last few primaries on their ends. It puts the avian prince on guard, because whenever the redhead focuses on the tipped feathers like that, it usually means he's dwelling on a bad memory.
"I don't think it's that unusual… when you have something significant in common, I think finding some common ground is probably pretty easy." He says with a thoughtful frown and Kageyama's brow rises in surprise.
"Something in common?" He echoes and Hinata nods.
"You remember me telling you about Yaku's ears?" He asks, his gaze briefly flicking to Kageyama's wings again and he realizes why.
"Yeah, something about how he lost someone important." Hinata's gaze slides to the side.
"Well, Lev is gray so it might be a little harder to tell, but his ears are frosted, too."
Kageyama mentally trips. He doesn't bother to doubt the redhead's eyesight— it was superior to his in any case— but Lev had lost someone as well?
"Lev said something not long ago, I don't even think he realized it, really. He said he'd known someone a lot like Yaku once, and I noticed it then. I guess... I just think that because heavy loss is something really deep and personal, it's something people who've experienced it can share and connect over." The impact of the realization aside, Kageyama is uncomfortable with the weight of the conversation.
"Oh." He says. "What do we connect over?" He asks curiously. The smaller boy looks up at him with surprise before his brow scrunches in thought.
"You mean besides having grown up together, surviving military training and a violent attack, and then abandoning everything? No idea."
"Idiot. Be serious." He grouses. Hinata gives him a blank look.
"I am serious." Kageyama takes a swing at him with irritation, but he ducks away with a grin.
"We leave you guys unsupervised for fifteen minutes and you're already fighting?" Kageyama wants to roll his eyes in annoyance at the sound of Tsukishima's voice.
"Nope." Noya's echoes from his other side. "If it were a real fight, you'd have been fair game after that remark, too."
"Yeah, these two actually get to swinging, no one in range is safe." Tanaka says, his arm dropping across Kageyama's shoulders and Hinata grins.
"I hardly think you're qualified to be giving me survival advice since your own instincts are questionable in the best circumstances. You did get swindled out of nearly everything except your shirt by the first crafty fox we ran into on this trip." Tanaka's face drops into a homicidal scowl at the ibis' not so subtle barb, but Kageyama has to admit the blond is right.
"She was even prettier than Shimizu— and far more amenable." He mutters.
"That's because she was working you over. You should get a girlfriend and you wouldn't have to worry about that happening anymore." Hinata says bluntly and the bald crow withers.
"That'd work, except the only girls ever really interested in him are all cons. Would be awesome if you could find one who could cook like Shimizu or Yachi, though." The shortest crow says blandly.
"Oh! Noya, you gotta come see this nikuman stall! They even have pork curry filled buns, not just regular pork or beef!"
"Wow, really?"
The two shortest members turn and split and Kageyama smirks. He's positive that if those two are left to their own devices too long, there will be a disturbing number of pranks before the night is over— more if Tanaka gets in on it. He'll probably be irritated with whatever gets planned for himself and Kuroo will probably be none too pleased either, but he can't bring himself to care, because Hinata is having fun.
The lax atmosphere fractures when Shouyou falters, almost appearing to trip before he stops completely. Kageyama would think nothing of it, except he's gone dead still. Noya turns back when he notices, but Kageyama has already taken a step toward them, because Hinata's entire body has gone rigid. The crow setter can see every vein that runs along the muscles in his calves, can tell just by the set in his shoulders that everything is flexing beneath his shirt and cloak. His fingers twist into his palms until Kageyama can see the vessels running through his forearms and his gut drops.
Hinata just went cold, his gaze fixed out across the crowd of people.
"Shouyou?" Noya calls and reaches for him.
Kageyama is halfway there when Noya's touch jerks the redhead out of his daze. Quick as a whip, Hinata's hand strikes out at the small crow who recoils as the grounded avian rolls backward and barrels away from him. He neatly threads the crowd with alarming swiftness and Kageyama sucks in a breath. Shouyou's face is warped with terror, his eyes wild and pupils blown.
Hinata is panicking.
The crow setter moves to intercept the smaller boy, but Hinata is frighteningly agile and skitters sideways away from him as if he were possesed. It's only a slight miscalculation of his reach on the redhead's part that allows him to snag his shirt.
"Oi, what—"
Hinata yelps and whirls on him, and in the span of half a breath, the smaller boy captures his arm and executes a fluid body throw. As Kageyama hits the ground with shock, the redhead is off again. The avian princeling reflexively springs back to his feet, people shying away from him on all sides and his wings pounding to recover the ground he's lost with frantic urgency.
There had been no recognition in the redhead's dilated eyes, just blind frenzy.
"Hinata!"
The smaller boy doesn't pause his headlong sprint and skies above, he's fast. Kageyama keeps just off his heels, his cobalt eyes tracking the orange head as it slips through the crowd, sees him duck off between a couple stalls and down an alley between two larger buildings. His feet touch down at the entrance to the narrow space, the avian prince never realizing that he'd left the ground. It's darker, with wooden crates lining the walls and a pile of kindling stacked out of the way of foot traffic, but as he stares down the empty alley, his gut twists with dread; Hinata is nowhere in sight.
Noya almost collides with him, Tanaka a step behind.
"Where did he go?" The short crow asks anxiously. Kageyama closes his eyes, replaying the last few seconds… it's not enough time for the redhead to have left the area, he's positive.
"Kageyama, what—"
He shakes his head once, the sharp motion silencing the others. His head bows and he draws in a deep breath. He picks out the background noise of the milling crowd behind them, the sound of Noya's uneasy weight shift, the echo of his own racing heartbeat in his ears… and slowly discards them from his focus one by one just like Kuroo taught him with all those awareness drills. For a long moment, there's nothing beneath them and he frowns darkly.
Where are you Hinata?
And then… the slightest noise, the brush of fabric against itself.
The air leaves his lungs with a soft sigh and his eyes drift open. He steps forward, his strides even and measured and silent, the loud twins shadowing him. Past the first precarious tower of crates and the stack of wood… and just on the other side of the second pile of shipping boxes.
Hinata is curled into the tiny space between two crates— at least as curled as the bones beneath the skin on his back allow. His knees are pulled up tightly against himself, his shaking hands pressing into his chest just below his chin. His eyes stare straight ahead resolutely, the pupils still huge, and he twitches when Kageyama stops in front of him.
"Hinata." He says quietly. The redhead mumbles something that he doesn't catch and jolts as he kneels beside him.
"Shouyou, what's wrong?" He asks and the almond eyes focus on him solidly for the first time.
"Kageyama," he whispers, "I saw… white wings."
Kageyama blinks. They were on the coast and gulls were common; of course there would be white winged avians. But none of them ever elicited this kind of response before, not even when that one had assaulted him and Yachi in that fish shop.
"White wings?" He echoes and Hinata's hands jerk against his chest.
"No…" he breathes, his eyes cracking with fright, "White wings." He says, his voice fracturing with terror. Realization hits.
White wings.
It's been more than two years since Hinata had been grounded. More than two years since their world had been flipped and tumbled into oblivion. More than two years since his leveler's reality had been shattered….
And not nearly enough time to forget.
Kageyama stills in shock for a long moment before reaching for Hinata's shaking hands. The smaller boy jars as the crow setter's hands close around his wrists but doesn't look away from his gaze, holding that visual connection like a lifeline.
"Here?" Kageyama rasps, his world feeling like it's been plunged into icy water. Hinata doesn't speak, doesn't have to— the wild look in them is enough.
"You're sure?" He hisses, his face creasing into a dark scowl.
"I've never been able to forget that face, Kageyama… am I going crazy?" He whimpers and the crow setter recoils. He knows he's on the verge of a blinding hazy rage, but the pitiful image of Hinata blinking up at him with watering eyes grounds him.
Kageyama turns to Noya and Tanaka… and Yamaguchi? He doesn't care enough to wonder when the freckled crow showed up. They all stare at him with bewildered shock.
"Where's Kuroo?" He asks sharply.
"Here. Blondy came and found me. What's going on?" The black cat asks with level briskness as he rounds the stack of crates followed by Kenma and Tsukishima, his tone proof that the cat is deadly serious. Kageyama locks onto him.
"The bastard who attacked us is here."
"You're sure?" Kuroo asks, parroting his own question from moments earlier.
"Hinata's eyes have never lied." He says evenly.
"Did you see him?" Tanaka asks and Kageyama shakes his head.
"No. I don't know if I could recognize him if I did."
"That's not very helpful since none of us knows what he looks like, either." Tsukishima mutters and Kageyama turns a baleful glance toward him.
"I'd personally love nothing more than to gut that monster, but right now I don't care. I want Hinata away from here." He says darkly before turning back to his leveler.
"Shouyou." He says, making sure he has his attention. "Did he see you?"
"I… I don't think so." He says shakily. "Kageyama… I ran..." He whispers, anguish breaking his expression and the crow setter hates it. He places both hands on either side of the redhead's face, ignoring the violent flinch as he does, and forces him to look back.
"It's going to be alright, Shouyou. I promise." He says fiercely, his dark blue eyes holding the redhead's large almond ones as his small hands circle his wrists.
"...Okay." He finally whispers. Kageyama holds his gaze for a few seconds more and then nods.
"Okay." He turns to Kuroo who ducks his head in acknowledgement.
"We'll head south and find someplace out of town. An acquaintance cautioned of a band of snakes to the north." Kageyama nods and stands, bringing the redhead to his feet as well.
But Hinata's steps are unsteady, his legs almost giving out on him. He catches Kageyama's sharp glance and raises a hand placatingly.
"I— I'm okay." He says weakly. An eyebrow creeps up Kageyama's forehead before he turns and offers his back.
"Get on."
"Kageyama, really—"
"Shut up, dumbass. Get on."
The redhead's face puffs in annoyance before he caves and climbs up on Kageyama's back, his arms sliding up under his wings and over his shoulders. He's careful not to constrict their movement in the event he should need them and Kageyama wonders why they never did this for their dead weight training instead. It feels more secure and natural than when he'd carried Hinata in front of himself, and less awkward even if there is greater chance of hindering flight, not to mention he'd actually dropped Hinata when they'd fled the rookery.
For the time being, he follows Kuroo from the alley and out of town on foot, he and his companions ever watchful of every face around them. By the time they are a league away from the bustling little village and stopping at a rundown inn as night drops around them, Hinata has half-ways relaxed against him, his head resting between Kageyama's shoulders, and the muscles that run into his knees under the crow setter's fingers loose, leaving his feet hanging limp.
They get two adjacent rooms, the two cats, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi taking one, the former Karasuno unit members in the other. Kageyama gently sets Hinata on the futon and drops in front of him, careful study in his royal eyes as he takes in the redhead.
"Are you okay?" He asks quietly and Hinata looks up at him with a dull gaze.
"Kageyama… I ran. I didn't even think about it. I left you and everyone else there and ran." Kageyama blinks, unprepared for the shame and self-loathing in his voice.
"You could have been attacked while I fled." He murmurs derisively.
"Hinata—"
"What good is a sentry who doesn't stay by his leader's side? A leveler who abandons his other half is worse than unreliable."
"Shouyou." He says sharply, the redhead's words agitating his thoughts. "I don't care." The redhead's almond eyes crackle to life with anger.
"You should. I ran Kageyama!" He snaps.
The avian prince's eyes narrow slightly. Kageyama doesn't care about the silent audience they have with Tanaka and Noya behind him; he reaches out and drags the redhead forward into a tight embrace, burying his face in the mop of orange fluff. Hinata simply sits despondent against him and he frowns.
"You didn't run, idiot. You reacted. You weren't prepared for an encounter like that and your instincts took over. Under different circumstances, you wouldn't respond the same."
"You don't know that." He mumbles into Kageyama's shirt and he huffs.
"I do. You already did. I remember that day Hinata. Not well… but I remember an angry redhead ready to sacrifice life and limb to keep me safe. I remember a ferocious sentry scout who lost his wings because he wouldn't allow another to do the same to me. I owe that scout my life." He says and feels Hinata shift, and Kageyama recognizes a sob rattling his chest. He presses his face into the orange fluff, his mouth brushing the shell of one delicate ear.
"I'm glad you took off, Shouyou. He might have seen you otherwise. I don't know what I'd have done if he'd gone after you again. For me… nothing matters more than your safety. So long as you are alive and well and playing Volley and having fun, I will be okay."
Hinata jerks in his hold, but doesn't say anything. Even though he can't see him, he can feel the slight tightening in his muscles that betrays his surprise and Kageyama is positive he probably said something he normally wouldn't.
But Hinata finally reacts, burrowing into him, clambering into his lap completely. As he settles up against him pressing as close as he can, one of Kageyama's hands drifts along the ridges of Shouyou's back while the other slides up into his hair, the setter's ears pinking slightly.
They've been more informal with their touches since that fight, but this is far more brazen than normal. True, they slept in a tangled mess every night, but this is somehow different… they are both very much awake, very aware of each other and the position they are in. Not that it bothers him… really, he doesn't mind at all, and if it helps Hinata in any way, all the better.
The door opens and Kenma pops in, holding a tray with food. The golden cat's gaze fixes for a long moment on Hinata and the locks on him as he sets it down for them. He offers the smallest smile and excuses himself once more and Kageyama feels like he's just been given the visual equivalent of a 'good boy' when one would pat a dog and wants to scowl.
"Volley." The redhead whispers and Kageyama blinks.
"What?" He asks against his head.
"We connect over Volley."
Kageyama takes a long moment to remember the conversation they'd been having back in the village surrounded by festival lights. A small smile breaks his features.
"Yeah. Wanna practice that quick when we get back?" He asks, the fond warmth blooming in his gut again.
"So long as it's you tossing." He murmurs and Kageyama cocks a brow.
"You only say that because you're so inconsistent with your stance and swing that you can't hit anyone else's. I'm the only one who can instantly adjust to compensate for whatever you are messing up." Shouyou huffs and Kageyama smiles just a little more because he knows the redhead is probably pouting.
"Shut up. I say that because your tosses are the best." He grumbles. Kageyama suffocates a chuckle through his nose, a thumb rubbing across one of the ridges in his back.
"You finally admit that?"
"Idiot, Kageyama." He grouses halfheartedly.
Kageyama does laugh, the sound foreign to his own ears, but he doesn't care because Shouyou melts into him a little more. The redhead lapses into silence and falls asleep soon after, leaving Kageyama to his own circling thoughts as he catches the glow through the fabric of the cloak over Hinata's feathers. He can't wait until he has his wings back and won't need it when they travel anymore.
"I feel like I just witnessed a miracle." Tanaka murmurs quietly and Noya drops beside Kageyama with a rice ball.
"Nah, just the opposite. Hell's frozen over and the world is ending." The short crow says with wry mirth, but the avian heir doesn't react to the subtle rib. Kageyama declines the ball the bald crow offers him as Noya eyes his own contemplatively.
"You know… there was a point where I was the one to ground him." He says softly, drawing Kageyama's attention.
"When Mom first brought him home, he had nightmares a lot then, too. It was always me who was able to calm him out of his hysterical fits of babble none of us could understand. But somewhere along the line… that changed." He says his mocha gaze sliding over to rest on Hinata's sleeping form.
"I don't know exactly when it happened, but I do have a definite point of reference where I knew it was no longer the same." Kageyama glances at him, somehow feeling like the short crow is assessing him for merit or something. "The day I remember where I first really felt that things were irrevocably different… was the day you both came into drills with bruises and missing feathers."
"The first time they got caught fighting and were sent to the race pits?" Tanaka asks.
"Hm." Noya nods. "That day none of us knew anything about." He says, his eyes landing back on Kageyama with deep focus. The setter frowns and looks away.
"He was never sent to the pits. Just me." The setter murmurs.
"Wait, really?"
"I know." Noya ignores Tanaka's interjection, and Kageyama's dark blue eyes snap back to the smaller crow.
"I watched him pull all those feathers, even went along when he made me swear never to tell a soul. But I hated the fact that he wouldn't tell me where his black eye and busted lip came from. I'll have you know that I legitimately thought he'd lost it somehow because he was pulling feathers for no apparent reason. He sucks at lying, but his story at drills the next morning was believable because it was half true. You did get into a fight." Kageyama watches him uncomfortably.
"Yeah." He finally says and Noya nods, unsurprised.
"He never would talk about it and I couldn't understand why he kept defending you. What's more, he let you land hits." Kageyama's eyes widen as the crow continues.
"You had us all going at first, wondering if you were some freak of nature and just holding back through drills, because we all know Shouyou is wicked quick. Shouyou is never confrontational and nine times out ten, he will opt for defense over offense and keep just out of reach while his opponent tires out. The only way your hits could have connected that well was if you were in a serious close quarter spar. Which means that for him to have been that close, he was legitimately fighting back—or he just wasn't dodging. Seeing as you didn't escape scot free either, it wasn't the latter.
"It was the first time I realized we weren't quite on the same page anymore, but it wouldn't be the last time that happened; Shouyou might think I never caught on, but I knew just about every time you guys went at it on Mom's back launch platform."
Kageyama looks away with a scowl.
Noya is right, he knows. Shouyou isn't the strongest in their unit— pound for pound, maybe, but in terms of sheer strength, everyone has him beat. That doesn't make him any less capable as Kageyama had been reminded only a short while ago when the redhead had reflexively floored him. The reason he was such a threat was because that power deficit didn't matter when he had another weapon that could counter it almost completely.
Hinata could be beaten with relative ease… if you could land a hit. He was ridiculously quick in a spar. It had always been entertaining to watch the redhead go at it with Noya, because the short crow was the only one who could successfully go blow for blow with him on a regular basis. Somehow, it had never dawned on Kageyama that the fact that he'd landed blows during their boxing matches behind Momma Yu's home had been unusual… or that the others would have noticed anything at all.
Which makes him wonder… why had Hinata engaged him like that anytime he'd come at him looking for an outlet?
"I don't need to understand what all that was about… but I want you to know that you've been his first and last thought for centuries. Alongside 'Volley', your name was one of the first crow words he ever learned, right after 'Mom', 'Noya', and 'hungry'. He knew your name before he realized that 'Yu' was, in fact, not my mother's, and that he'd attached it to her simply because he'd constantly heard it whenever she'd called me. By the time he'd figured that out, Tanaka had already picked up the habit, too, so it stuck." Noya says, drawing his gaze again. The small crow sports a wry smile as he stares at his rice ball with a reminiscent look, but when Noya's mocha eyes leap to his, Kageyama suppresses a jolt at their intensity.
"You're his leveler. You shouldn't lead him on." He says and Kageyama blinks, his mind doing a full face plant. Tanaka snorts, but the crow setter doesn't notice.
Lead him… on…
Eto...
"Haah?!"
A/N: Ah. My first Tobio chapter of Horizon. I had mixed feelings on this one and how it came out. I was torn on whether I wanted to keep their relationship more purely platonic or not, but I'm a pushover and easily pressured so here you all go XD
Ha, I also incorporated my Momma Yu mistake in there at the end, did you guys see? And we STILL don't know who it was that attacked them... Thank you all for reading and have a marvelous evening!