"Yo!"

Hinata stood in the doorway to the gym, grinning with a smile as bright as the sun.

Everyone stood still for about two seconds before they all bombarded Hinata with hugs and laughter. The gym was quickly filled with excitement. Even Coach Ukai, Takeda-sensei and Kiyoko were smiling quietly in the corner.

"Oh! You're back Shouyou!" Nishinoya slapped Hinata on the back. "We were all worried ya know!" "I'm glad to see you're ok Hinata!" Sugawara smiled.
"You're not hurt right? No sicknesses? Injuries?" Asahi said frantically, being the worrywart he was.

"Haha!" Hinata laughed. "I'm fine I'm fine!" Hinata flashed another enormous smile.

"Don't disappear without saying anything shrimp," Tsukishima mumbled, before quickly walking off. The rest of the team stared at him in disbelief.

"I guess even you're nice at times aren't you Tsukishima?" Daichi mused. The whole gym erupted into laughter. Tsukishima blushed slightly and quickened his pace.

"We're so glad to have you back!" Tanaka cried, tears of joy streaming down his face. "Everyone was so worried ya know! I'm so happy that you're ok!" Tanaka couldn't say anything more, he was crying too hard and his voice stopped working.

"I'm sorry…" Hinata murmured.

He jumped back a few meters from the crowd then turned to face everyone.

"I am very sorry for my behaviour over the past week!" Hinata bowed deeply.

"It's ok," Tanaka sniffled, wiping away his tears. "But!" he yelled, beginning to regain his original vigour, "you better make it up by training lots before the tournament! Especially with Ka—"

And then he realised.

"Tanaka?" Sugawara asked.

"Hey everyone…" Tanaka said in serious tone.

The team turned to face him.

"Where's Kageyama?"

"What the fuck are you saying!?"

"Wait Tanaka! Calm down!" Sugawara called after him.

"This is bullshit! Hinata didn't show up for an entire week and now Kageyama isn't here? How am I supposed to believe that he's sick!? That's it! I'm going to find him and get his sorry ass to school!"

Daichi grabbed Tanaka's arm.

"Don't Tanaka. He said he was sick so we'll just have to wait until he gets better," Daichi muttered in his demanding tone.

"Don't fuck with me!" Tanaka growled, wrenching his arm out of Daichi's tight grip. It was the first time anyone had rebelled against the captain when he used that dangerous voice. Tanaka was also one of the people who were usually very afraid of Daichi so everyone was surprised when he didn't even try to listen to the captain.

"Aren't any of you guys worried at all!?"

The whole gym fell silent again with a similar atmosphere from before.

"Fine!" Tanaka huffed as he turned around to leave. "I'm leavi—"

"Ryu!" Nishinoya snapped, causing Tanaka to flinch.

"Of course…" Nishinoya's voice was wobbling.

"Of course we're worried about him too!"

Still facing away from the team Tanaka yelled "then what are we supposed to do! I don't suppose you were going to wait another week for him to come back!?"

"We don't do anything! We CAN'T do anything!" Nishinoya argued back. "What were you planning on doing!? What if Kageyama was actually sick!? Would you drag a sick person to volleyball training!?"

Tanaka froze and looked back towards his volleyball teammates. He felt a pang of guilt when he realised that not a single one of them looked happy. In fact most of them were looking at the ground or gripping their arms. They all looked horrible.

And he had just yelled at them.

Tanaka collapsed to the floor. "But…" he started crying again. "I don't want Kageyama to end up like Hinata as well…"

Nishinoya clenched his fists. "I know," he whispered. "We ALL know."

"He promised though. Noya-san! He promised!" Tanaka cried.

"It's ok Tanaka," Sugawara gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure he'll be back by tomorrow and giving those amazing tosses to everyone again."

A tear tumbled down Sugawara's cheek.

"So… stop crying… ok…?"

After everyone had settled down, the team got back to training as usual. But no one was really in the mood for volleyball, not after what had just happened. In the end, Takeda-sensei had gotten so worried that coach Ukai decided to call it a day and told the team not to bother showing up to afterschool practice either.

As the team filed slowly out of the gym with a dejected feeling hanging in the air, Sugawara had asked Hinata to stay behind for a while so that he could talk to him.

"What is it Sugawara-san?" Hinata asked. Out of everyone, Hinata seemed the least fazed which Sugawara found very disconcerting, considering that he seemed to be the closest to Kageyama.

"I'm sorry that it ended up like this," Sugawara said. "After you just came back too…"

"Eh?" Hinata said, puzzled.

"Well you wanted to play volleyball with Kageyama right?" Sugawara scratched his head. "But he's not even here. Sorry…" He laughed awkwardly.

"Ehh?" Hinata mumbled in confusion. "Sorry, but I don't really understand what you're saying? I can play just fine with you as the setter."

Sugawara blushed slightly. "Haha, I'm glad you think that way, but still Kageyama is the one you enjoy playing volleyball the most right?"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Sugawara smiled. "You always look the happiest around him." His face darkened again. "But he isn't even here today…"

"Why are you apologizing Sugawara-san?" Hinata asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Haha I suppose…"

"It's fine!" Hinata yelled, making Sugawara jump.

"This will be a good opportunity for me to practice with other people anyway…"

"Hinata?"

"I can't keep relying on Kageyama anymore…" Hinata murmured so quietly, Sugawara could barely hear him.

"Huh?"

"Cya Sugawara-san!" Hinata flashed one of his amazing smiles before running off, leaving Sugawara standing alone, bewildered beside the empty gym.

Kageyama lay in bed, not wanting to move.

His arms and legs felt heavy, his head throbbed in pain and his throat felt scratchy.

Kageyama was indeed sick.

He had a cooling pad over his head and a cup of water, untouched, on the bedside table.

His parents always left home very early to work and only came back in the dead of night. Sometimes they would even be gone for a few days, weeks even if there happened to be a business trip of some sort.

Because of this, Kageyama generally got used to living by himself. He didn't particularly feel neglected though, after all, it had been like this for almost as long as he could remember. Although he wasn't exactly that bright when he was off the court, over the years he had taught himself to cook, clean the dishes, do the laundry and all the other household chores.

The food money left over from his parents always went towards buying new volleyball gear.

Kageyama lived alone most of the time in a house that was much too large for a single teenage boy, but he was fine with it. His parents were just pursuing their own dreams and he was chasing his own.

There were times when the house felt even lonelier than usual, but he didn't mind. The darkness of his house, the silent atmosphere hanging throughout the rooms, the cold hard floor that stung his bare feet in winter, they had all grown on him. Now they were just the norm.

Kageyama watched his hot breath form in clouds above his face, before slowly dissipating.

It wasn't as though Kageyama hadn't gotten sick before, this was just the first time he'd ever gotten sick in such a long time. But this wasn't the main reason that made him feel excruciating pain.

Kageyama's head was still full of Hinata's words from Friday.

"I just can't play volleyball with Kageyama anymore."

He hadn't heard wrong had he? No. He heard it loud and clear. The walls were thin so Hinata's voice had penetrated through easily.

Then maybe he had mistaken someone else's voice for Hinata's? No. That wasn't possible either. There weren't many people who played volleyball with him. Besides, Hinata's voice had always been easy to differentiate from others.

Then what if Hinata had meant something else? Something other than what he had thought? Of course not. Kageyama laughed bitterly at himself. He was just trying to make up excuses for himself now. How pathetic.

How disgusting he had become.

Kageyama whipped the blankets over his head and eventually fell asleep.

Hinata yawned.

"Hinata? Are my lessons really that boring?"

Hinata looked up and jumped when he saw his English teacher looking down at him.

"Gah!" He squeaked.

The whole class erupted into laughter.

"Dammit…" Hinata muttered under his breath.

He couldn't focus in class at all. It wasn't like he listened in class very well even on his best days, but today Hinata couldn't even register a single word that the teacher was saying.

He still couldn't get Kageyama out of his head. There was already the whole fighting problem from before, but now Kageyama had called in sick.

Was he being avoided? Even though he'd said that he couldn't play volleyball with Kageyama anymore, it was really only an empty reassurance to himself. He wanted to tell himself that he didn't need Kageyama, that Kageyama didn't have to be the one he was receiving tosses from. But alas, it was to no avail.

Hinata still loved playing volleyball with Kageyama and that was that.

Nothing he did could change that.

But having said that, Hinata still did not want to see Kageyama. Hinata constantly played and replayed possible reactions from Kageyama when they met again.

And most of them were pretty bad.

He was terrified of what Kageyama might say when he apologized. Or whether Kageyama would even try to listen to his apology at all.

Hinata raised his hand.

"What is it Hinata?" The teacher asked, looking up from the textbook she had been reading off.

"U-um… Can I please go to the infirmary? I'm not feeling so well…"

The teacher looked mildly surprised. Sure Hinata never listened to her classes, but he had never ditched either. But she figured it would happen eventually. Hinata did look slightly pale though.

"Ok. You can head down the hallway to see the school nurse." The teacher replied.

"Thank you…" Hinata murmured before dragging himself down to the infirmary.

"Oh it's you again."

Hinata bowed and greeted the school doctor.

He collapsed onto the same bed Kageyama had been lying on a few weeks back.

Hinata recalled the slight red tint in Kageyama's cheeks as he had pulled Hinata toward him. He recalled the sensation of his own face heating up. He recalled the pain in his forehead when Kageyama had head-butted him, cutting off the awkward atmosphere.

And then the words that the school doctor had said.

"You two are awfully close aren't you?"

Hinata had felt his heart skip a beat at that sentence. He didn't know what Kageyama's expression had been like because he had been too embarrassed to look at him.

This was bad.

Really really bad.

Hinata grabbed his cellphone from inside his trouser pocket and dialled a number.

There was only one person he felt that he couldn't talk comfortably to without feeling humiliated or shamed.

After a few rings, the person at the other end of the line picked up.

"Hello?"

Hinata lowered his voice as much as possible, so as not to alert the school doctor.

"Hey Kenma."

Author's Note: OMG NO what have I done.

Oh gosh I hate writing sad stuff but god I still love writing this fic.

Please leave a review guys~~~
I really love reading them XD

See you guys next chapter~~~