Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Home Is Where Your Boyfriend Waits

"Where are they?! W-where are they?!"

Voices blurred, his ears were ringing. Kageyama was arguying in front of him with Kiyoko, but Hinata couldn't understand their words. His breath was dying out; Hinata was gasping but no oxygen reached his brain. He flailed his arms, trying to gain attention, but none was heard or seen.

Tears ran down Kiyoko's face, Kageyama was berating her and screaming and shouting and gesturing towards Hinata. Why weren't they listening to him? Hinata tried to scream but there was no voice coming out; his heart was trying to break through his ribs.

Where are my wings

Where are my wings

Hinata tried to hide, wrap his wings around himself into that all too familiar soft cocoon of black but there was nothing to shield himself. He stood there, trying to grasp what was happening.
Eyes landed on the bracelet. That wretched thing had done this to him. That wretched monstrosity the elders called a blessing by the spirits.

Where are my wings

Hands clutching his hemd, Hinata needed air. Why was he breathing and yet didn't get any air?!

"Shouyou?! Shouyou!"
Kiyoko's hands landed on Hinata's shoulders as she locked eyes with him, the only anchor to reality right now.
Searching for something akin to recognition in his eyes, Kiyoko was met by distant and wild, flaring panic.
"Kageyama-?!"
The boy turned pale. Hinata was panicking. This was a fullblown panic attack.

"Come on come on, look at me. Look at me."
Hinata desperately tried to listen to the voice, to figure out the meaning of the mindless words they were speaking to him, but his mind wasn't working.

Where are my wings

Kageyama grabbed his arm with a force he hadn't ever seen from the boy; it hurt. He could feel himself flailing, trying to get lose, to escape, and Kageyama was talking to him, shouting at him, as he pulled that wretched thing off of his wrist.

The band.

It was off.

And Hinata felt the weight on his shoulders, the familiar echo of feathers on sand; he pushed the two of them off with Kageyama clutching the wristband.

Hinata didn't think; his wings moved on their own. Took him off of the dangerous ground, high into the sky, and in a blink of an eye, the child was gone high above the forest, out of sight.

Kageyama and Kiyoko exchanged a glance. Fuck.
"He's gone."
"Fuck this- we have to get him, right now. Who knows what this birdbrain is going to do all out of it like this?!"
Kiyoko was eerily calm, eyes locked onto the bracelet in Kageyama's hands. It took Hinata's wings, yes, but it returned them the moment he took it off. It made him human... even if only in appearance.
"Kiyoko are you listening?! We have to-"
"Have to do what?!" she snapped, gesturing into the forest, "Go after him?! How?! Their village is high in the mountains, unable to get to by foot, and we are so getting lost in there if we go."
"Do I look like I care?! That's my boyfriend who just took off in a panic and I am not sitting here twiddling thumbs!"
"Kageyama."

Kiyoko took his hands, gently removing the wristband from them.
"Listen. One of them is bound to come visit. We'll go to the village with their help, and if I have to fly with Bokuto again. But this-"
She held up the bracelet.
"This is something big. Kageyama, if we could make more of this- the elders think that purifies them, makes them human. But it doesn't. It never did. If we were to study these inscriptions, their meaning, and how to make them ourselves... Kageyama we could settle this entire dispute!"

Kageyama pulled away.
"Kiyoko you can't be serious right now. My boyfriend just flew off in a frenzy and all you think about is this wretched thing?! Give it- I'm going to burn this thing...!"
He lunged for the wristband; Kiyoko sidestepped him.
"Are you insane?! Kageyama, just listen to reason for once in your life! If we remake this, it'd be far more favorable to approach the elders with a method to 'purify' the birdfolk than to murder them!"

The two stared at each other, panting, silent. Kiyoko was clutching the bracelet dear to her heart, determined to protect it with her life- this could be the only out to this entire war.
Kageyama finally took a deep breath, settling down a little. Yes, he knew himself he couldn't just storm into the forest and hope to find the tree village again. He would probably get lost and be a treat to the local wildlife. But what else was he supposed to do? He couldn't just sit and wait- that wasn't his thing.

"...so... what do we do now? What do I do now?"

Standing alone, they looked around. The onlookers were gone, discussing and strategizing with the elders, and so was his mother. They hadn't chased him off but was he safe and permitted to return? What else could he possibly do? He needed Hinata to be able to return to the birdfolk. Just standing here doing nothing also wasn't going to make his situation better.
"I'll try to replicate the inscriptions. See what they could mean. You should... you should go home, Kageyama. You haven't seen your mother in months."
Kageyama didn't reply. He turned on his heel, and began to walk back into the village. Kiyoko was beside him, now silent as well.

They only gave each other a nod as they parted ways on the crossroads- Kiyoko heading to her own home, certainly to be greeted by her loving parents. Kageyama sighed. His hands were trembling. With the adrenaline fading, he felt so incredibly tired.
For a while he stood on his doorstep, staring at the building. He could smell his mother's cooking, heard the children next door playing in their garden, and chatter from the end of the road.

Kageyama knocked, loudly. The silence was heavy as the door opened, and he stood face to face with his mother. She stared at him, obviously having expected him to return to the birdfolk- but he came back, to her. She wrapped her arms around her son, softly sobbing into his shoulder. It didn't matter that Kageyama wasn't hugging her back.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Even when she let go of him and stepped aside, Kageyama silently walked past her into the entrance hallway and took off his shoes.

There were no words exchanged. Kageyama shambled upstairs, into his room, closed the door behind himself and fell into his bed. It felt weird, being in a real bed. It was certainly softer than his body was used to by now.
But it was also cold. No matter how effortlessly he draped the blanket over himself, it felt cold. Cold and sterile and strange. A few tears ran down his cheeks as he buried his face into his pillow, unwilling to let his mother hear him cry.

Kageyama felt so powerless.