Level Pair (Haikyuu!! Winged AU)

Level Pair; Day One 2/2

Chaos in the world brings uneasiness but also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth. ~Tom Barrett

Kageyama is exhausted.

The fire is burning low as night closes in once more and they are nearly out of firewood. Their shower earlier in the day had dampened everything and he hadn't bothered to go find more because he knew the wood wouldn't catch well. Instead, he opts to ease himself down gingerly beside the smaller redhead where he is curled up and sleeping fitfully against the fallen tree.

It will probably be another cold night and they haven't really eaten all day. Even so, his stomach hardly gurgled in protest and Hinata hasn't said a word about it either. He has to wonder if they are just too strung out in the wake of the previous evening to care enough about basic necessities yet. Their bodies are still adjusting to the massive abuse they've suffered—or the maiming in Hinata's case—so he supposes it isn't that unusual. His wing had continued its totally vexing throbbing all day and his head is still pulsing so maybe that's the case.

His head is still pulsing and Hinata had meekly pointed out earlier that day that his hair was crusted with blood over his one ear that he'd apparently never even noticed. The smaller boy had offered to try cleaning the injury for him since they were next to a river after all. Food might have been scarce, but water was abundant. Kageyama could tell Hinata was tense and barely keeping himself together and he'd caved and let his companion have his way in the hope that it would ease the redhead's mind just a bit.

Hinata hadn't stopped at the cut on his head, though, and had rinsed the scrapes on his arms, too. Under the other boy's careful ministrations, Kageyama had been slowly relaxing until Hinata had reached toward his wings. Kageyama hadn't meant to, but he'd quickly pulled them away from the redhead's smaller hands. Hinata had frozen in place before retreating altogether with wide eyes and too late, Kageyama realized how that reaction must have felt to someone who no longer had wings—like a slight spurn along the lines of 'you lost your wings so don't touch mine'. He'd found himself scrambling to make amends and correct any misconception and he'd reached out toward the smaller boy.

"Sorry." He'd mumbled, feeling pathetic. "One of them is kind of sore."

Hinata hadn't really said anything back and Kageyama felt like he'd just undone any progress that letting the shrimp take care of him had made. Instead Hinata had largely lapsed back into silence most of the day except when he had volunteered around midday to keep a watch so he could get some sleep. Kageyama had tried, he really did, but he couldn't find any rest in the stillness broken only by the background river. The quiet had simply built until all he could hear was Hinata's breathing and the sound of his own heartbeat.

Hinata always talked. He chattered nonstop—something that was a maddeningly frequent source of extra workouts under his father—but today, he'd barely spoken. Kageyama wants to think that it is because he is just wiped out from his injuries, but he knows by Hinata's unusually deep stares that he is still reeling from the experience itself. And Kageyama has no idea what to do. Anything he could say, any kind of condolence would come across as nothing but pity for the other boy's situation at the moment as well as be a silently glaring reminder that while Hinata is now grounded, he still has his own wings.

They'd carefully gone over most of Hinata's injuries in the afternoon and Kageyama had been appalled. His own are minor compared to the redhead's plethora of scrapes and ugly colorful bruises. While his arms and legs sport most of the cuts and abrasions, his shirt hides a tie dye network of purple and yellow across his ribs and abdomen, and his back is completely black and blue around the feather base where his wings were forcibly removed.

Hinata had been beaten nearly to hell. Kageyama can't believe the boy had anything left in him to keep going after all that. How much drive did this scrawny redhead have to have to have pulled himself out of the river after enduring that?

Kageyama jerks awake at the sound of a strained whimper and flinches violently as he realizes that it is full on raining and he is soaked. He blinks once before urgently seeking out Hinata. The fire has gone out and it is pitch dark so he carefully reaches out beside himself and feels around for the redhead. The other boy winces sharply away from the touch when he connects.

Damn. He's cold and wet again.

He has no wings to shelter him and trap heat anymore, either. Kageyama doesn't want him to get sick; he can't afford another setback with all of his injuries. Gently laying a hand against his shoulder in the dark, Kageyama almost yanks it back at Hinata's soft scratchy cry and his cringe away from the touch. He squeezes instead and leans over him.

"Hinata?" He asks quietly over the sound of the falling rain in his ears and more distantly, the river, but the other boy does nothing but tense up even more. He shakes the shoulder gently.

"Hinata, its—"

Kagayama's efforts to wake him are cut short when the arm he has hold of jerks wildly and the limb smacks into his face. Reeling backward, he stares at the darkness beside him, his stinging face darkening in one of his murderous scowls. Before he can stop himself, he reaches out and punches that shoulder hard enough to roll Hinata onto his stomach and put his face into the mud.

"Dumbass!" He barks and the sodden sack of flesh beside him sucks in a gasp.

"Kageyama?" There is a measure of panic in his voice that Kageyama hates and his irritation is immediately cowed.

"I'm right here, you idiot. You should know, you just hit me." He growls out, feeling like a drowned rat.

A frantic hand finds his shirt in the dark and latches on. The urgency in the action sets his teeth on edge and he reaches out to put a hand on the redhead's shoulder in what he hopes is reassurance. Kageyama can hear the sharpness in Hinata's breathing above the rain still falling and listens carefully as it slowly subsides over several moments.

"Kageyama?" The redhead repeats softly, almost pleadingly and it grates on Kageyama's nerves.

"What?"

...

"Will you stay close by?"

The question is meek and Kageyama realizes how terrified Hinata is. He huffs and reaches out with his other hand. He feels Hinata tense just a bit again when he grasps his shoulders and hauls the smaller boy up against himself. The contact sparks a sensation of invasively wet chill, and he wants to grumble as his muscles subconsciously tense.

"Idiot. It's not like I can see in the dark so I couldn't leave right now if I wanted to."

Mindful of the damaged feather base, he secures the redhead like he did the night before; whether Hinata remembers that, Kageyama can't say for sure. He splays and tucks his wings around the both of them with the slightest cringe at the protest his wing joint gives him. They are already soaked but at least he can keep a majority of the water off them from here on out. Little by little, he feels Hinata relax against him and he slowly feels his own muscles doing the same. He is nearly out again when Hinata moves just a bit, drawing his thoughts back to the surface.

"Kageyama?" He asks softly and the raven haired boy bites back the urge to curse at him.

"Yeah?" There is a moment's pause.

"Are you bleeding?"

Kageyama cracks his eyes open in confusion, a frown creasing his brow... but now that Hinata mentions it, the rainwater at the corner of his mouth does have a slight iron taste to it. Stupid Hinata.

"Shut up, Dumbass."