Hinata rode his bike to your house the following morning. The air was cold and fresh, stinging your bare cheeks as you stumbled out the front door, your shoelaces still untied from rushing out to meet your friend. He had his gym kit slung across his back in the same battered black bag he'd been using for the past five years, and looked almost normal in his school uniform. The same old Hinata. Only he wasn't, and his eyes gave that much away. His eyes that were now perpetually hooded with shadows, sunken into his face like hollows in a tree.

"Morning Hinata," you said, pausing next to him to fasten your laces, almost tripping over the uneven clumps of grass growing by the front gate. "Are you sure you're ready to go back today?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he answered, but you remained unconvinced. He'd told you that he needed the distraction, so that he wasn't stuck in a limbo of mourning, but you just weren't so sure if he was ready for things to return to normal again. He'd been dealt a heavy blow and it took time to get over things like that.

"Okay," you said, dragging out a sigh as you climbed onto the adjoining seat of his bike and wrapped your arms around his waist. He felt so small and vulnerable in your arms, as fragile as stardust, and you wondered if you'd be able to let go when the time came. You wobbled slightly when he kicked off, but soon settled back into the rhythm, the breeze playing softly with your hair. "Are you looking forward to seeing the rest of the gang? I'm sure they'll be glad to see you. They've all been worrying."

Hinata hummed soundlessly. "I guess. You'll be with me though, won't you?" You couldn't see his eyes, but his shoulders had tensed and his voice sounded lilted, almost desperate.

"Of-of course I will," you stammered, remembering your mother's advice. "I'll be here the whole time."

He said nothing in return, but the muscles in his back slackened, the tension unravelling.

The ride to Karasuno High School was spent in silence; you were already bracing yourself for the stares and the whispers that you would have to face when you got there. It pissed you off that people couldn't mind their own business or respect other's. You'd already heard ridiculous rumours circling the school, heard people express anger and pity and indifference. Everyone had to think something, everyone had to have an opinion. Nobody could just leave it alone.

Shouyou braked quickly when you reached the bike shed, manoeuvring the bike into his usual stall, and you clambered off, brushing down the seat of your pants, waiting for him to finish fastening the wheel to the lock.

"Right, shall we go?" You said, trying to keep your voice cheery and upbeat, but there was a slight quiver in the last word that gave away the facade.

"Y-yeah." He took a deep breath - you didn't fail to miss the wobbliness of it, the slight shudder of his hands as he held them by his side - and led you into the main school complex.

There were still ten minutes before class started, so the halls were still teeming with students. This gave you good cover to slip by mostly unnoticed, wrapping your hand around Hinata's arm to keep him close. He seemed to walk through the corridors in a daze, his feet keeping pace with you but the rest of his mind elsewhere, his eyes flicking up and then down and then drifting over to you. A few people turned as you passed, their eyes falling on Hinata with mixtures of surprise and pity and indignation. You warned them off with a tight expression, hard look. You didn't want Hinata breaking down again.

You gave the boy a quick smile, a nod of encouragement, and walked up the stairs to the classrooms. You'd texted Kageyama ahead to ask him to meet you outside Hinata's room early, so he could get settled in class before anyone else was there. You, sadly, were in a different one to him.

"Kageyama-Kun!" You called when you spotted him, waving at the scowling ravenet. He jumped when you shouted him, straightened his shirt with a 'tch', then saw Hinata and stopped. His lips parted slightly, his eyes a conflicted shade of a stony, metallic sheen and a soft blue. You'd had a similar reaction upon seeing Hinata, upon seeing how the life and energy had simply drained out of him.

"H-Hinata," he mumbled, stepping forward to greet his greatest partner in volleyball.

The smaller boy lifted his head, fixing shadowed brown eyes on the setter. He managed a weak smile, but it was like porcelain, easily broken and washed away despite its beauty. "Hi Kageyama-San."

Tobio at least had the decency to attempt a smile. "I'm so-sorry about... what happened. We... we all miss you," he said, his voice strained and blunt, unaccustomed to being sympathetic. "I'm gonna, uh, go inside. You coming?"

You gave Hinata's shoulder a pat. "I'll meet you back out here when class is finished, okay? And if at any point you don't want to be there, just tell-"

"Oh, there he is. That's the guy I was telling you about. The one whose little sister died," a hushed voice said from part way down the corridor. The girl who had spoken blushed when she realised how loud she'd been, and was met with a withering stare from you.

"How'd she die?" Her friend continued, oblivious to the three of you glaring at him.

"Can't you be a bit more respectful?" You said, gritting your teeth against the words.

The boy looked up in surprise, his face contorting with a frown. "I'm not being disrespectful," he muttered, his eyes flickering briefly to Hinata's stony face. "I'm just curious."

"Curious? How can you be curious about something that's causing someone so much pain and grief?" You growled, your nails cutting crescents into your palms as you clenched your fists together.

The boy stepped forward, his eyes hard, his stance powerful, threatening. You refused to back down. "Don't go twisting my words like that. It was just a question, okay? I'm sure he's used to-"

"Back off."

The two of you flinched in surprise at the voice, so fierce and assertive it stunned you to realise who'd spoken.

Hinata was stood between you, his stance aggressive and his face callous. "Back off from her," he repeated in that low, threatening voice you'd never heard from him before.

You held his arm, holding him back. "It's okay, Hinata," you murmured, keeping your eyes on the boy, whose face had paled slightly from the look the red-head was giving him. "Class is starting soon. You should go and find your seat."

The boy stiffened, but complied, walking sullenly into the classroom with Kageyama following, awkwardly keeping his distance. The boy huffed and pulled his friend along after him, who mimed a 'sorry' as she passed. Waving her off, you went to your own classroom and sat at your desk with your head buried in your hands, wondering why Hinata had gotten so defensive when someone was aggressive towards you, but not when someone was talking about himself.

You supposed that was just Hinata for you. Always sticking up for other people, but never for himself.

— ♠ —

You were the first out of class when the bell rung later that day, tossing your things carelessly into your bag and leaving before the rush. You wanted to make sure Hinata didn't face any problems without you there, knowing how fragile a state he was in.

You waited outside his classroom until the redhead emerged with his eyes fixed to the ground, hands shoved deep in his pockets. His legs moved mechanically, as if he'd handed over his body to a puppeteer and now his movements were dictated through the stiff control of strings.

"Hey," you said, catching Hinata's attention. His eyes flashed when they fell on you, a glossy web of brown and gold, dark enough to almost be black. "How was your lesson?"

"It was... okay."

You bit your lip, wary of the meaning of 'okay'. It was one of those vague expressions that people used to get people off their back when things weren't going great. You'd heard Hinata use that word a lot lately. "Just okay?"

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on you, and you exchanged a glance with Kageyama. He looked sullen, but that wasn't anything unusual.

"Right, well, let's go outside for some fresh air before next lesson," you suggested, giving Hinata's arm a comforting pat. He reacted to the touch by flashing you a smile, this one making his eyes glimmer for just a second, dirty gold. "You coming Kageyama?"

The orange-haired boy answered before the other even had the chance, moving slightly so as to obscure the setter from view. "He's probably going to go and practise or something," he dismissed. "Leave him to it."

You looked at Kageyama uncertainly for confirmation, but he just shrugged and nodded, as if he was planning on doing that anyway.

"Oh, okay then... see you later," you said, waving at him until Hinata suddenly grabbed your hand and pulled you along after him.

You hadn't failed to notice those odd little mannerisms he'd come to adopt recently. They way his gaze would keep flickering across to you, as if making sure you were still there, and his unusual proximity to you when you walked, close enough that your skin brushed when you swung your arms, sending little shocks of static through your nerves at the touch of cold skin. But you could only assume it was his grief that was causing him to behave so differently. Everyone reacted to death in different ways. Sometimes people shut off and hid themselves away from the world, others moved on quickly; sometimes people were just sad all the time, others got angry and frustrated, and some, like Hinata, realised how easy it was to lose someone and grew more protective of those they still had left around them.

"Don't you want to go and see the other guys?" You asked, gesturing over your shoulder towards the familiar structure of the gym. As one of Hinata's closest friends, you'd become well acquainted with the volleyball team and their sport, often accompanying him to his practises to complete homework or provide him with his own one-woman cheering squad. The latter part had often made the second years jealous, particularly Tanaka and Nishinoya, whose only dream seemed to be gaining their own cheerleading team.

"Maybe... maybe later. I'd rather you stick with just me for now," he said unassumingly, his arms swinging loose by his sides. "You said you wouldn't leave, remember?"

"Of course," you said quickly, surprised when he suddenly took your hand in his own, his skin shockingly cold against yours, as if reassuring himself you were physically with him, and not a fragment of his broken mind, or a ghost.

"Hinata, you're freezing!" You said in reaction to his touch, scooping up both of his hands and rubbing them with your own. Your candidness made your body flush, but he didn't seem to notice, giving you a lopsided smile as he let you warm his hands up for him.

"Does that make me cold-blooded?"

"W-what, of course not! You're one of the warmest, brightest people I know," you stammered, giving his fingers a final squeeze before letting go. His smile faltered when you did, his hands curling against his thighs. "Come on. Let's go and stand in the sunshine before break finishes."

You started walking away, but stopped when you noticed the boy hadn't followed you. Instead was staring straight ahead, his face deathly pale in contrast to the shadows around his eyes.

"But she... she used to be my sunshine," Hinata whispered, his lip wobbling. As soon as he said that, he covered his face with his hands, turning away from you to hide the tears welling in his eyes.

"Oh Hinata," you whispered, back-tracking towards him and pulling him into a hug. His body felt small and vulnerable, a boy, so helpless, so lost, looking for a way out of the darkness that clouded his head.

You could feel his heart beating through his uniform, a heart, so human, so fragile, like a piece of patchwork, one loose thread and the whole thing would unravel.

His body shook as he cried, his head buried in the crook of your neck, hands gripping onto your school blazer. You were going to be late for class, but at the moment you didn't care, because the boy in your arms was breaking and you were the only person around to hold him together.

"I know, Hinata. I know, it's okay. You're okay."

"Don't leave me, [Y/N]. Please don't leave me, don't ever leave me," he said, his fingers digging in your shoulders as he held tight, as if letting go would mean losing you as well. He couldn't lose you, ever, you were all he had left. He'd said so himself.

"I won't. I told you I won't. I'm here for you for as long as you need me," you assured him, glad to see him calm down, his sobs easing into hiccups, his grip loosening. He lifted his head and you were close enough to see the strange glaze in his eye, a hint of something wild and feral, untamed.

"I won't lose you," he said, his tone resolute as he blinked away the rest of his tears. "I won't lose you too."