• Karasuno's 'Flightless' Crow •

chapter 9: how?

A/N:
*self hate, some form of self harm and panic attacks trigger warning*
*mentions of abuse*

9th February

no one's POV

Iwaizumi watched as the boy laid on the bed, breathing rapidly as sweat ran down his forehead. His brows were furrowed and tears were building up at the corner of his eyes. Iwaizumi contemplated on wether to wake him up or not.

"Please... stop...stop!" The orange-haired boy whimpered out in his sleep.

Iwaizumi decided it was enough. The boy was clearly having a nightmare. He shook Hinata's shoulders, trying to get him to wake up from his deep slumber. However, he didn't respond and sweat continued to form on his forehead.

"OI Hinata! Wake up!" The 3rd year shouted and Hinata immediately jolted awake as he sat up with his eyes wide.

Iwaizumi hugged him as soon as he saw the boy's state. He was trembling with tears staining his cheeks and fear was evident in his eyes. Hinata quickly latched onto the 3rd year with his trembling hands. Iwaizumi rubbed his back, trying to comfort the frightened boy.

"Shh... I'm here. I'm here. It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." Iwaizumi whispered into Hinata's ear.

Soon, Hinata started to calm down and the 3rd year could feel that he wasn't shaking as much as he was just a few minutes ago, much to his relief. The boy let go and was met with eyes that were filled with concern. Iwaizumi wanted to ask about what his nightmare, the bruises, the cuts. Everything. However, he just kept quiet. He didn't want to bring back any unwanted memories to the already frightened boy.

"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked to show that he at least cared about his kouhai.

"Y-yes I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." Hinata said, almost a whisper. He avoided eye contact and Iwaizumi knew that he was lying, but didn't want to pry.

"Okay, if you say so. The cut on your back was pretty bad so it started to bleed, which was one of the reasons you passed out, but it was mainly due to exhaustion." Iwaizumi explained before Hinata even got the chance to ask.

Hinata's eyes widened. 'Did they see the bruises and the cuts?' Was what went through his mind, but he just nodded.

"The nurse gave permission for you to go back. Do you want to?"

"Yea."

"Come on, i'll carry you back" Iwaizumi said and he bent down, signalling for the boy to get on his back.

Hinata sighed, he was too exhausted to argue but he didn't want to burden his senpai, but yet he was just too tired to walk. He decided to just get on, feeling a pang of guilt.
You're so fat. He's definitely going to find you heavy. Burden. Weak.
He felt terrible for making his senpai carry him. He was fat after all, which was what he believed when in fact, it wasn't true at all.

"Senpai, I'm sorry if I'm heavy. You can put me down. I'll be able to walk"

iwaizumi's POV

'Huh? What did he mean by heavy? He's as light as a feather.'

"You're not heavy at all. You're Super light and I'm not letting you down, with your state you're going to end up falling asleep while walking." I heard him sigh and he just leaned his head on my back.

This boy was clearly hiding something. I expected him to somewhat put up a fight, but he just gave in. I guess that's what I should expect considering the state he's in. I can't help but worry though. Should I tell Daichi? I couldn't help but feel that we needed to keep a close eye on him. I was worried as hell.