It's Scary What A Smile Can Hide

New School, New Beginning

"Hey Shou, come here for a second." Hinata's mother called out to him. It has been almost two weeks and the doctor has finally allowed Hinata to use crutches instead of his wheelchair, so he carefully made his way across the living room, making sure not to knock anything over. Sitting next to Oikawa on the couch, he nervously looked over to his mother.

"Oikawa and I have been talking, and we think it might be a good idea if you go to school with Oikawa for a while, to Aoba Johsai." Oikawa smiled at him, instantly making him feel more at ease.

"But... why?" Hinata asked. He really liked the idea of going to school with Oikawa, but Aoba Johsai is quite far away and what about Karasuno?

"You've been going back to school for a week and a half now and every single day I come home and have to help you through a panic attack, and you still don't remember any of the people there. I thought finally getting the crutches might help, might make you feel less vulnerable and more comfortable, but it hasn't so far. Your mum and I are worried, Shouyou."

Hinata was deep in thought. Tooru is right. He looked between his mother and Oikawa, the latter looking at him with hopeful eyes. I do feel uncomfortable at school. "I- I guess it's worth a shot?" He asked, uncertainly, because he honestly didn't know what was best for him anymore.

"Yes! Shouyou, it's gonna be great! You can stay at our place, we can make our way to school together, you can even come and watch our practises!" Oikawa said excitedly, already imagining everything in his head. "It'll be like the sleepovers we always used to have, except longer!"

Hinata's mother happily looked at the two boys and let their imagination run wild for a few minutes before getting into the technical stuff. "So, that means tomorrow will be your last day at Karasuno for a while. I was thinking you could tell the team at afternoon practise? They deserve to be told face to face, don't you think?" To which Hinata nodded in agreement, already getting nervous.

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Hinata couldn't remember a school day ever going so slow. Although he didn't really consider himself part of the team, he still dreaded telling them he was going to leave. When the final bell rang, he felt sick and nauseous, making his way to the men's bathrooms as fast as he could on his crutches.

"Aahh Hinata, hello!" Hinata froze on his way out of the stall, when he heard Tanaka walk into the bathroom. "You throwing up again? Don't worry, we don't have a match today!" Tanaka laughed, leaving Hinata looking confused. "Oh yeah... sorry I- I keep forgetting that you don't-"

"It's alright." Hinata said, used to this feeling by now. "Did I, like, throw up a lot?"

"Oh yeah! Every time we faced a new opponent that seemed very dangerous, you could be found in the bathroom!" Tanaka explained, returning to his enthusiastic self. "This one time, we were on the bus and you threw up right on my trackies!" He laughed, and Hinata looked embarrassed. "Oh no! Don't worry about it! It was actually pretty funny."

"I- umm, I actually need to talk to everyone now, before practise?" Hinata said nervously, making Tanaka worry.

"Is everything alright?" Tanaka asked, the senpai in him coming out.

Hinata couldn't look Tanaka in the eye. "Yeah, I mean, kinda. I just need to talk to everyone."

"Alright." He said softly. "Let me do my thing in here and then we'll walk to the gym together!"

Fifteen minutes later and everyone was gathered in the gym, sitting around Hinata and coach Ukai, who stood at the front with the nervous boy. Ukai had already been made aware of Hinata's temporary departure, and looked slightly sad, making the team wonder what could be wrong.