Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Proving Yourself

The next morning, Kageyama shot up wide awake at 6am on the dot. Hinata let out a soft dramatic whine and wrapped his arms around the setter, trying to force him back down into the nest.
"G-get back to bed..."
"I can't, I have a whole list of stuff to do today- especially if I want to collect enough food."
Kageyama squirmed himself free out of Hinata's iron grip and moved his wings off of him, only to shiver a little. Fuck it was cold. He looked back down at Hinata who had curled up into a ball by now, using his wings as his own personal blanket.

He didn't look bothered at all by the crisp morning air and Kageyama had to admit, those wings of his were one hell of a cozy blanket.
"You gonna come with?"
"Nah..."
Kageyama grumbled a little and instead grabbed his backpack before sneaking out of the tree house, careful not to wake the other birds. He knew by now where Nishinoya's nest was, and that was his first goal.

Jumping the last step onto the platform, he peered into the dark hut, only to see Nishinoya adorably curled up with his siblings and the parents already out and about working in the village.
"Nishinoya...!" Kageyama whispered, hoping to wake the bird, who only let out a grumpy noise and curled up more.
"Nishinoya...!!!"
Finally, his eyes opened and he hissed back, quite unhappy about being woken up.
"What the fuck do you want, the sun's not even high...!"
"Come on out, you promised to help me today...!!"

Nishinoya tensed, then rolled his eyes in the most annoyed and extra way a Nishinoya could roll his eyes, then carefully untangled himself from his siblings to shamble out of the hut.
"Couldn't that have waited a few more hours...?!"
Kageyama raised one eyebrow at him and the boy sighed. Obviously it could not.

On their way down, Nishinoya perked up again.
"So watcha planning?"
"Hina-... Shouyou said you also eat meat."
"Jup."
"But only birds and squirrels."
"Jup."
"Have you tried other meat...?"
Nishinoya shrugged and landed with a last elegant hop on the ground, waiting for Kageyama who was trailing behind.
"I guess it's less about trying and more about "not being able to hunt bigger things." What are you suggesting?"

Kageyama set up a wide grin. It was horrifying to say the least.
"Nishinoya, can you do me a favor?"

***

"You're fucking insane, Kageyama."
"Come on, it's easy. You can do that, you're around him so much anyway- and you were bragging that you've managed to talk to Asahi-san recently.
"I'm telling you, you're fucking nuts."

Nishinoya stared at the amount of metallic small plates and paper (?) that Kageyama was holding out to him.
"It's not that hard Nishinoya. Just go to Asahi-san, and ask him if he could buy you some stuff from the market. You're gonna be fine."
"What do you mean, 'buy'?? And what am I supposed to do with this junk?!"
"It's not junk, it's money. You exchange it for anything you want. People hunt, and they sell what they got at the market for money."

Nishinoya frowned a little.
"Humans are even more selfish than I thought, why aren't you sharing like everyone else? Why are you all so... complicated?!"
Kageyama shrugged. He was used to Nishinoya's jabs and thus, it didn't faze him anymore like it used to.
"Stop complaining boke and get going. I'll go into the forest and collect some mushrooms and herbs. Maybe I can sneak some rice as well from our fields."
Kageyama grinned a little to himself. Oh sweet sweet revenge. If they were kicking him out, he was going to take their food.

He was petty like that.

Nishinoya groaned and snatched the money from Kageyama's hands, glaring at him.
"You owe me. And this better be good."
"Ask Asahi for meat, yes? Anything good he can find."
"Yeah yeah."
The bird rolled his eyes and opened his wings, only to fly off into the sunrise. If he was being honest, that was actually quite good for him. He did want to spend time with Asahi, after all. Kageyama released a sharp breath. That worked out well.

Now on to the hard part- gathering the other ingredients.

***

In the evening, Kageyama had a large assortment of goods spread around him. Nishinoya sat down next to him, expectingly, probably waiting for some sort of miracle and he was not disappointed.
Kageyama pulled out something metallic- only for it to lighten up their surroundings immediately, with something warm and blinding to look at. Nishinoya let out a surprised shriek and hopped a few steps away, staring at the new thing in front of him.
"What, scared?"
"What is that?!"
"That's... a lighter."
"What does it do?"
Kageyama stared at the cautious Nishinoya with something akin to confusion. How come they had no idea what anything his village had was?!

"Look, see these dry branches and leaves we gathered? Watch this..."
Kageyama knelt down and held the lighter against the dry leaves, igniting a small fire. Nishinoya chirped nervously- if he got too close to it, he could feel his skin burning with heat.
"I don't like it, make it go away."
"Shut up, you'll like it."
Kageyama grabbed a flat stone he had dug up and washed prior, only to lay it on top of the fire- Nishinoya was so completely lost at this point.
"See, this fire is heating up the stone... and if the stone is hot, we can cook."

Kageyama proceeded to place a large cut of meat onto the stone, and Nishinoya immediately covered his ears at the huge hiss the stone made.
Cook? Nishinoya gave up at this point. All he knew was, he was hella hungry and if it went according to his plans, he would have already dug into the raw meat on his own.
"And things taste so much better if you use the right herbs."
With Kageyama seasoning and frying portion after portion of meat, vegetables and mushrooms, a delicious smell was wafting throughout the surrounding forest.

"Don't make fires in the village- the trees would burn down. Only on the ground."
Nishinoya nodded along. Made sense. Slowly, saliva began to gather in his mouth and the bird let out a whine.
"I'm hungry Kageyama...!!"
"Wait for it to cool down boke, else you'll burn yourself. Especially since you always eat with your hands."
Nishinoya whined once more and yet, remained patient. When he finally had his own portion of meat and vegetables in front of him, his eyes began to shine.
"It looks good...! I-I'll get the others!!"

Within only a few minutes, the entire village was gathered around Kageyama. They all stared nervously at the fire in the middle, but as soon as Kageyama handed them each a portion of food, the skepticism was blown away.
Hinata let out a happy chirp as he swallowed half of the fried cut in one go, only to dig onto the vegetables next to save the rest for last.

Kageyama looked into the round. Everyone was smiling- he had done something good today and he loved it. Even the pickiest eaters, the toddlers, were scarfing down whatever Kageyama handed their parents.
For the first time, he felt like he did his part for once. Like he helped his own community.
Hinata's mother and father shuffled to sit left and right of Kageyama, each stretching out one wing around him to keep him warm.
No words were exchanged, but Kageyama could feel the appreciative glances of the entire village on him.

And as Hinata leaned against him, watching the flames dance along with the crickets playing their music around the forest, Kageyama felt for the first time in days, what it was like to be happy again.

He threw Nishinoya a glance who immediately shot a toothy grin back at him. Of course, that they had Asahi supply the main portion, was going to stay their little secret~