A Co-Captain's Doubts

Not Your Fault

Daichi looked over at Suga to gauge his reaction to Kageyama's declaration and offers. Or well, it didn't look to be so much an offering as a demand. Daichi suspected he'd meant to come off gentler but lacked the skills to do so.

Suga, it seemed, was having trouble processing the situation and that made two of them. The intensity of Kageyama's pinpoint focus was beginning to make even Daichi's skin prickle, the silence in the room, loud. With trepidation, Suga reached out a hand and took the plastic bag hanging a few inches from his face, moving as if it were filled with explosives. "Um...Thank you..."

"Uh," Daichi said, turning. "You said you came to 'nurse Suga back to health?'"

Kageyama's lips were pressed into a tight line, but he nodded once.

"Right... And this was your idea?"

"No way, it was mine!" Hinata squawked, and Suga flinched beside Daichi. Hinata waved his hands and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I- I'm so sorry, Suga-san, I keep forgetting your head hurts..."

Suga's eyes closed in a pained smile and his laugh was quiet. "It's okay, Hinata. I'm alright."

Hinata's face tensed and his eyes grew tight. His hands balled into fists as he took a step toward the bed.

"No, you're not..." He said, his voice taking on a serious quality.

"You've got a really bad concussion. And stitches... And bruised ribs and- and look at your eye!" His jaw clenched and his chin wobbled. "Everything almost fell apart without you there keeping us together-- If we lost, if we were knocked out of the competition—It would have been all my fault!"

Suga's hazel eyes were alarmed at Hinata's response, but it only lasted a second before a sad smile pulled the corners of his mouth up and his eyes lowered to the bag that sat in his lap. "But you didn't lose... You guys did fine without me."

Daichi was about to interject, aware now of Suga's self-deprecating thoughts, and not intending to stand for it, but--He waited. He looked between the two as the room remained quiet, the short redhead fisting his hands and the picture of guilt. Daichi urged Hinata to go on in a silent plea, begging him to say what he wanted to say, but holding back in hopes his teammate's words would make more of an impact. When he spoke, it was just above a whisper.

"We didn't lose..." Hinata agreed. "But when you weren't there... Celebrating with us at the end of the match? ... It didn't feel like we'd won either."

Suga picked his head up, his face open and vulnerable, afraid to believe Hinata's words.

Sighing, Tanaka put on his Senpai façade and placed his hands on his hips. "Look Hinata, I'll admit it sucked not having Suga there to kick our asses into gear when we got all pouty. Not to mention it was like someone took a hot steamy dump all over our victory celebration because our VC was busy bleedin in the infirmary." He grabbed his chin and looked to the ceiling in thought. "It would have been much cooler if Suga could rub it in Kita's stupid faces—"

"Tanaka, your point?..." Daichi interrupted, steering the conversation back on track.

"I was getting there! My point is, it's not your fault shortie!" Tanaka yelled, clapping Hinata on the shoulder with a heavy hand and startling him.

Daichi watched Suga out of the corner of his eye, practically seeing his thoughts working to dissect Tanaka's logic and Hinata's worries. Tanaka continued.

"That hairy gorilla and his goons decided to attack you, that's on them. You can't help that Suga stepped in to save the day, he's just that kind of guy! He's not gonna let you get beat up, that's something Tsukishima would do." He muttered, jabbing a thumb behind him.