Guardian

Chapter 18

The ring of a phone jerked Nishinoya out of his sleep. Who in the world was calling him at- oh wait, it was only five in the afternoon. He must have fallen asleep again. The stress of everything that had been happening was only piling up around him and NONE OF IT WAS HELPING HIM GET BETTER. Seriously, couldn't people just STOP being bad guys for a WEEK? It's not like they'd die without smacking someone around once a day. Back to the present. He picked up his phone and became confused. Why would Tsukishima be calling him? 

"Hello?" He was aware of how husky and quiet his voice sounded. Kinda hot? Maybe? Maybe not actually, he just sounded dead inside. 

"Hey Nishinoya. Tadashi told me to call you so I did." Tsukishima's voice sounded hoarse, like he'd been crying or screaming. Probably screaming, knowing the blonde. 

"You good dude? Who were you screaming at?" Nishinoya asked. Silence. Had he struck a nerve? Maybe it hadn't been such a good question. He sat up, picking at the sheet on his legs to distract himself. 

"Wasn't screaming. It's fine, just ignore it. I heard you were in the hospital, are you okay?" He asked. Nishinoya scoffed. "What? I'm not joking around Yuu." Nishinoya tensed, swallowing thickly. Not 'shorty', or Nishinoya, or 'libero'. Yuu. 

"I'm better now." He said, feeling his nerves build up. "Did you just call me 'Yuu'? You never call me by my name. Did I do something wrong?" 

"What? Oh, no no no no no! That's not it at all! I was just really worried about you and-" He bit his tongue, cursing himself. Why oh why couldn't he hold his tongue? His feelings were still on high after his panic attack, so it was much harder to hide behind his walls. They were cracked, crumbling from the panic and he hadn't had a chance to build them up. Dammit Tadashi! He knew this would happen! "I slipped. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now." He decided, not exactly lying. He kept his voice quiet and calm. 

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm sorry your overwhelmed, Dino-man." Nishinoya said, hoping to cool the mood with a joke. "Hopefully that long neck of yours keeps your head above water, you Brontosaurus."

"First of all, I would be an Apatosaurus, not a Brontosaurus." Tsukishima said. "Second off, their necks wouldn't stand straight up, and they couldn't tilt their head back and breath correctly all at the same time. It would've been a terrible strain on their muscles and bones. They were made to tear leaves off of trees, not keep them alive in deep water."

"Jesus Christ, what got you into a depression?" He stopped and frowned. "Sorry, that was rude and insensitive." 

"It's fine, really. Speaking of Jesus, how's Asahi? You've been hanging out with him, right?" Tsukishima asked. Nishinoya chuckled. 

"Yeah, he's doing fine. Has kids now, too. Three of 'em. One girl, and two boys. The youngest is Leo and he's kinda attached to me know. He's super cute." Nishinoya smiled. "Then there's his daughter, she's in college. I haven't properly met her yet. Kane is his oldest, he works for the police. I think he worked with Kuroo before he moved to the FBI. Sorry, I'm rambling."

"It's alright, really." Tsukishima said. 'I like your rambling.' He added to himself. "So, what are you doing now?" 

"I'm sitting in a hospital bed healing. If bad guys would stop being bad guys for two freakin minutes I'd be healed up by now." He huffed and pouted, knowing Tsukishima can't see him. "I can't rest if people keep barging into my room to kill me. Geez." 

"People try to kill you? What did you do, step on their toes?" He gave a short laugh and Nishinoya rolled his eyes. 

"Stuff from my past. It's all anime antagonist stuff, you wouldn't understand." He laughed and the blonde bit his lip. Why did he have to like that sound so much? Why couldn't he just settle for friendships? "So what are you doing besides talking to me?" 

"It's been more than five minutes. I'm going now." Tsukishima interrupted. This wasn't helping. It was making it worse. Dammit, why'd he have to give in?

"Wait, hold on, I wasn't told about a time limit!" Nishinoya protested. He thought about letting a pout enter his voice, but since it wouldn't be real, he didn't want to deceive Tsukishima. He knew better. 

"Well, that's on me, but I told Yamaguchi five minutes and it's been eight. You need rest, too, Nishinoya, so I shouldn't keep you." Kei was making excuses. He knew it, but he couldn't help it. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the tangles. "Goodbye, Nishinoya. Get some rest, okay?"

"Fine. You should get some rest, too, Tsukki. I'll talk to you later." Nishinoya said. Tsukishima hung up and Nishinoya pouted for real, putting his phone aside. "Stupid Dino. Why are you so weird now? You didn't used to be like this, what changed you?"

"You okay, Noya?" Asahi had woken up. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Tsukki's acting funny. Well, weird for Tsukki. He was all nice and stuff and he called me Yuu. That scared me a bit to be honest. He doesn't really call people their first names, besides Yams." Nishinoya explained, ruffling his own hair out of confusion. 

"I'm sure he's fine. It's been a stressful couple of weeks for us all. He's probably been busy at work or caught wind of what happened to you." Asahi offered up explanations for Tsukishima's behavior. 

"Yeah, you're right as always. He did mention me being in the hospital. I can't think of who told him though. Maybe Yamaguchi, I don't know." Nishinoya shrugged it off and felt his stomach make a weird noise. "I'm hungry!" He whined. 

"And you wonder why we used to baby you in high school. I'll go get some food, you stay here and don't break any windows." It was mostly a joke, though Nishinoya and windows never seemed to get along well in high school. Never know when he might put a volleyball through one, or himself. Nishinoya grinned and Asahi left for food.