Earthquake - Oihina fic

Chapter 8

The next week went by in a flash but also it felt incredibly slow for Hinata.

His family were OK which was his biggest relief. His phone charged at home and despite the splintered screen it worked. He then did an Oikawa - and called everyone. For some reason, he could not bring himself to tell anyone about Oikawa. He knew it would pose too many questions, knew he would get flustered answering them and a part of him liked that it was a secret, that it was something no one knew...

But, in the aftermath of the aftermath, after all of Hinata's complex new tumbling emotions, before he even had time to process what he had been feeling around Oikawa, a new set had barraged their way in. A deep-seated gnawing sadness like nothing Hinata had ever experienced before seemed to settle around him like an invisible cloak. He couldn't see it but he felt it every day that week, all the time.

That Sunday, hearing his teammates' voices was as soothing as honey was to a sore throat. They relieved him and he relieved them - they'd all been so worried when they couldn't get hold of him. But - Hinata found out that Kageyama's father had broken his leg during the earthquake: he'd been climbing down stairs when it had begun and fell. Sugawara was the only one Kageyama had spoken to since Friday. He didn't call back after Hinata called and texted. Hours later he replied with a series of insults via text instead. Strangely, this eased Hinata's worry about him.

Benjiro, Hinata's friend that he was supposed to meet at the cafe that day, cried on the phone, apologetic, having been held up by an argument with his brother and then was convinced Hinata had died in the earthquake. Relieved and forgiven, they agreed to reschedule their catch up, this time in Natori, for next week Sunday.

Hinata missed the first day of school. His mother had taken him to a doctor who confirmed that everything was OK, he'd only slightly sprained his knee, that he should go slow, and commended the bandage on Hinata's thigh.

'You must invite Oikawa round for dinner at some point! That boy is a saint!'

The next day back at school all everyone talked about, and for the rest of the week, was the earthquake. Kageyama didn't return until Wednesday and when he did, he looked like a zombie having taken on the role of head of the household in the emergency. When he saw Hinata outside he started with his usual insults - insults out of anger that he couldn't get through to Hinata's phone.

'Hinata you moron the whole team was pointlessly worried about you - you could've at least texted someone to let them know you were OK -!'

'My leg was bleeding, I thought I might die and a chunk of the ceiling almost fell on my head and you wanted me to text someone?'

They argued over nothing and neither could say they were relieved that the other was OK. Moments later Kageyama asked -

'Hey. You were in Sendai, right? Was your friend, Benjiro, OK?'

Hinata turned red and looked away, not meeting Kageyama's gaze. 'He was fine. I ended up at his house for most of the weekend during the blackout. Were the rest of your family OK?'

He escaped. No one dug. And he didn't say. Everyone was so keen to share their experience of the earthquake Hinata gladly let his secrets stay safely locked in his heart... Although in a way...

He hadn't escaped. Not one bit. Because every minute, every second, every moment since parting on that Sunday morning there was only one person constantly on Hinata's mind. Consciously or even in the background, a name was always there, and a lingering feeling Hinata could not, and did not, want to shake off, followed him around like a lovesick ghost. He smiled over it, laughed over it, and went through the motions of the day but even a moment when he was not interacting with anyone, his mind wandered, and wondered what Seijoh's number one captain was doing, and how he was, at Aoba Johsai.