The King's Rival [kagehina]

Chapter 8: Aftermath

The short walk back to Kuroo's and Bokuto's apartment was silent. The two senpais walked side by side in front, followed by Noya and Hinata in the middle, and Kageyama behind them. When they arrived, Kageyama and Hinata sat side by side on the sofa while the others got them water and cleaned up Kag's lip and hand, which was bruised. Bokuto brought Hinata a blanket.

After a short time of all five of them sitting there silently, Nishinoya said to Hinata, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Hinata and Kageyama both said yes, and recounted their versions of the story. By the time they were done, Hinata was crying again and Kageyama looked enraged again.

Kuroo: "Are you going to report it?"

Hinata: "I don't know. I'll worry about that tomorrow." The others nodded, understanding how confusing and emotional this must be for him.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. When Kuroo answered, Miya rushed in saying "Shoyo! Oh my God. Are you OK? I heard what happened! Fuck!"

As he entered the living room, Kageyama seemed to explode. He sprung from his seat, hands clenched at his sides. Luckily a coffee table separated Miya from the duo on the sofa.

Kageyama: "What the fuck, Miya! You left him alone. This is your fucking fault! I could beat your ass right now!"

Miya glanced at Hinata but didn't dare take his eyes off Kageyama for long. Bokuto stood up sort of between them, ready to jump in if necessary.

Bokuto: "Kageyama-kun, take it easy."

Miya: "Shoyo, I'm sorry."

Hinata: "It's OK, Miya-san. I don't blame you."

Miya flinched at hearing his last name. "I-- I just left for a minute. When I came back he was gone." He looked at the others, pleading with his eyes for them to understand. Kuroo sort of nodded. The others didn't react. Another moment of silence.

Miya looked again at Hinata: "So, you're OK, Shoyo? Did they hurt you? Did they..."

Hinata: "Kageyama stopped them before ... so I'm not hurt."

Miya nodded curtly, seemingly relieved, but still visibly upset. Noya moved to grab his coat from near the door: "Hey, it's really late. Miya, why don't I walk with you back to campus?" Miya clearly did not want to leave but seemed to accept that he should. They left with only mumbled goodbyes.

Kuroo looked over and noticed Hinata was half asleep. "Why don't you guys crash here? You're obviously exhausted."

Kageyama just nodded. The two older boys got up to go to their rooms, turning off the lights behind them. Kayeyama slouched a little into the sofa, resting his head on the back, while pulling Hinata closer. The Tangerine was half asleep, but he whispered, almost inaudibly "Thank you, Kageyama. For being there."

***********

Kageyama woke up to bright light shining through the shadeless living room window. He found himself mostly lying down on the sofa, one leg on the floor, and Hinata more or less on top of him, snoring softly. He smiled a little at the sight. Checking his phone he realized it was about 6:00 am. He also realized his back and legs really hurt, and he wanted a shower badly. But he didn't want to wake Hinata, who looked so peaceful and cute. OK, yeah, I think he's cute. I'm going to keep thinking it too.

After a few minutes, Hinata stirred a little as well, so Kags took the opportunity to get some relief for his poor aching back. "Hinata? Hinata, wake up. Let's go back to the dorms. We can sleep more there. It will be more comfortable."

Hinata looked up with him and slowly opened his warm brown eyes. It took him a minute to take in his surroundings, but then he seemed to come to and notice he wasn't very comfortable either. "OK. Yeah." They both got up and stretched their sore muscles. Kageyama texted Bokuto and Kuroo to thank them for letting them stay and telling them they were going back to the dorms.

The walk back was pretty quiet as they were both exhausted and still rattled by the events of last night. They decided to go to Kageyama's room since it was closer. When they arrived (luckily Kageyama had a single room), Kageyama told Hinata to take a shower, and lent him some shorts and a t-shirt. About ten minutes later, Hinata emerged from the bathroom toweling his wet hair and looking incredibly adorable in the too-big shorts and shirt. Kageyama smiled a little at the sight, thinking again that the cuteness was too much.

It was Kageyama's turn to take a shower and he told Hinata to go to sleep. When he was done about fifteen minutes later, he came out of the bathroom to find Hinata on his side, snuggled in his bed with his eyes closed. He appeared to be asleep already. Kageyama smiled a little again (he was always smiling around Hinata) and climbed into bed behind the redhead, pulling him close.

Kageyama did not fall asleep right away. He was thinking about what Hinata had said: "Thank you, Kageyama. For being there." Hinata had been there for him too. It was not until he started playing with Hinata that he really began to trust others. He remembered the feeling the first time he set to Hinata behind him, and Hinata yelling "I'm here!" Hinata had been there for him, and Kageyama realized with a knot in his throat that Hinata was really the first person he ever trusted to be there. It made him choke up a little, thinking about how he never recognized that before. In that moment, he swore he would always be there for Hinata. If Hinata would let him. "I'm here, Hinata." he whispered before falling into a peaceful sleep.