Game On - A Haikyuu!! Mafia AU

- Chapter Twelve -

•Recap•

So he pushed on, widening his strides and frantically reaching out his arm towards Akaashi as if that would help reach him faster.

But in that moment, Iwaizumi pulled the trigger.

————

Akaashi heard the release of the bullet, the sharp pop and the looming notion of death, bracing for it and directing his head to the ground.

That was before he felt a solid weight shove against his shoulder and tumbled back onto the ground, rolling over a couple times at the force and wincing, hearing familiar heavy breaths against the crook of his neck once everything settled.

Bokuto.

"Did it skim you? Are you hurt?" Bokuto was trying to calm his quick breathing, hovering over Akaashi in concern and glaring back up at Iwaizumi every so often as Seijoh's deputy retreated back to Oikawa with an irritated grimace.

"I-I'm alright," Akaashi managed to mutter, and as he did so a sharp pang of pain ran through his chest.

He suppressed a whimper and shut his eyes, breathing out slowly and swallowing blood that had surfaced to his lips. "Everything hurts.."

"We're getting out of here, come on." Bokuto shuffled up onto his knees, extremely gently weaving his arms beneath Akaashi and lifting him off the floor.

He stood up, generally surprised with how light his deputy was though that was a topic for another time. He whistled sharply to get his other cadets' attention, and before long he saw them running down the stairs.

Nobody chased them, nobody tried to shoot at them.

"You did great," Bokuto whispered to Akaashi as he felt the boy's head fall against his arm, getting a shrug of one shoulder in response. "You saved us."

Akaashi listened absentmindedly to Bokuto's heartbeat, finding it soothing and a temporary distraction to the pain. He knew he'd done a good job, he had successfully brought down Kuroo and slowed down the progression of Nekoma, but he didn't know for how long.

And he knew that once Nekoma was up and running again, nothing would be safe.

***

Dead silent at the Karasuno suite, barely anybody breathed.

Tsukki and Yamaguchi were inseparable, clinging onto one another on one side of the couch while the others sat near each other for comfort.

"It's my fault," Hinata eventually broke the silence, head lowered to stare at the ground. "I was the one who insisted we went up there, I didn't even know what I was thinking but I thought it would work."

"Don't say that," Suga wrapped his good arm around the boy, his other shoulder supported by a sling. "None of us can take the blame. It was his choice to go in there.."

"We need a distraction." Noya mumbled, looking up slowly towards Daichi with furrowed brows as if deep in thought. "We need to get him back a different way. We can't just barge in there looking like we do."

"What are you implying?" Asahi met his eyes, holding eye contact with a frown while gently massaging one of Daichi's shoulders. "None of us could make it in even with a disguise, they could recognize our voices."

"Not all of our voices." Ennoshita abruptly looked up from staring at his hands, eyes flickering over to Suga as a borage of emotions passed by his face. "You're the only one who's guarded yourself around him."