Chapter Text
Sawamura Daichi believed he was a good person. If his parents were still alive he honestly believed they would be quite proud of the man he had become despite certain obstacles in his life. He had been a happy child, and when his parents had died at the tender age of 8 he had become more serious than other children his own age, but that was fine. He made sure to be helpful to his grandparents when he moved in with them. He never spoke out of turn with them, he got good grades, he did his chores without having to be reminded, he never stayed out late, and always told them where he was going. He was a good grandson.
As Sawamura got older he continued on the same path of goodness. He didn’t speak during classes unless called on, he was polite and kind to everyone no matter how disagreeable their personalities were, he turned his work in on time, he didn’t cause trouble and when he was an upperclassman, he made sure to be a good example to those under him. He was patient, at least outwardly, he made sure to keep his underclassmen in line and under control without being stifling to them.
After graduating high school he joined the Agency, was placed into a group that was more grunt work than anything but he never complained. He went to work, did his job, and went home. He never whined about his lot in life, he never complained how he was constantly having to buy new clothes because they were always getting ruined, and he just carried on.
Sawamura fought his way to the top by being a good worker, and people knew they could depend on him. He was assigned his own squad and he built them from the ground up despite the old nickname they had as the “Fallen Giant”. He didn’t even complain that his squad was made up of misfits who were too loud, rowdy, and obnoxious.
When the newest members showed up, he should have quit. Sawamura knew that was on him. He should have accepted a nice, cushy office job with regular hours, and no-work on weekends. He thought it would be boring, that he’d wish he was back out on the streets on assignments. He thought he could be a good person, a good leader and help his new recruits, who had obviously been sent to him because they were troublemakers and instigators.
Sawamura knew that if he quit, the leadership position would fall to Sugawara Koushi. Sugawara was a great second-in-command, and Sawamura had no doubt he’d make a great leader but Sawamura was a good person, and he didn’t want to leave Sugawara with a bunch of rowdy troublemakers without whipping them into shape first. So Sawamura stuck around and really, he should have run screaming.
“I’m a good person.” Sawamura told himself, once again, as he looked around at the mess his newest, and youngest members had caused. He understood why the Agency was making training time shorter and shorter, but he still believed 20 years old was a little young to be shoved out into the field. Especially when you were an immature 20-year-old.
“We all know that Daichi.” Sugawara was trying to smile, really he was trying his hardest to make the situation a little lighter. When his newest recruits had blown up apart of the agency during an ugly fight, he should have kicked them back to training, or kicked them out entirely.
“I don’t deserve this.” Sawamura said, trying to breath out of his mouth because the smell was absolutely atrocious.
“I know.” Sugawara’s smile was a little more genuine, and that helped. But only a little.
“What happened?” Sawamura’s voice could be loud and booming when he wanted it to be, cutting across the loud shrieking and yelling and laughter coming from the desolate area around them. Everyone looked at him hesitantly, trying to gauge his reaction. Sawamura smiled and they all took a large step backwards.
“U-um, it was- there- an accident?” Asahi was the only one who tried to approach him, hands raised and shaking. He smelled like burning hair and sulfur, though the whole area smelled like sulfur to be honest. Big magic had taken place here, big and bad and nearly disastrous. Or more disastrous than it already was.
“Asahi,” Sugawara said worriedly, pulling out a small towel from practically nowhere as he wet it with a water bottle, also pulled out from nowhere. Sugawara then patted the ends of Asahi’s hair. It had once reached his shoulder blades but now it didn’t even touch his shoulders.
“I-I did it myself.” Asahi stuttered, fingers twitching uselessly as he stooped low to let Sugawara examine him. Most magic didn’t require a sacrifice to use. Asahi’s hair was one of the few things he was proud of, it was important to him, which made it a big sacrifice to make, which meant it was a big spell he had used.
“Someone tells me what happened from the beginning.” Sawamura looked around at his lightly scattered agents. “Now.” He barked out, patience snapping thin. He would have to go to his superiors and explain why half a city block was now completely barren. Luckily this part of the city was evacuated and cleared years ago, but it still didn’t explain how a dozen or so decrepit buildings were now gone.
“Ask the King and his peasant.” Tsukishima snickered, stopping immediately when Sawamura looked at him. At first Sawamura couldn’t figure out how Tsukishima had ended up in his squad, until he had spoken to him for five seconds and realized he might not be a troublemaker in the tradition sense like the rest of his group, but he was a horrible instigator. Finding weaknesses and soft spots, exploiting them until the person wilted or exploded. Tsukishima seemed to draw the line at poking and prodding Sawamura, Sugawara, and Asahi but the rest of the crew was like shooting fish in a barrel. Explosive fish in a barrel.
“We were just making our rounds!” Hinata was stepping forward quickly, dodging around dark pits in ground that steamed ominously. Hinata was half-sprite, and it revealed itself in his brightly colored hair, small stature, elven features and innate magical abilities. Problem was he was easily distracted and undisciplined, so either he couldn’t use his magic at all or it tended to blow up big and powerful in everyone's faces.
“Yeah.” Kageyama followed on Hinata’s heels, shooting a nasty look at Tsukishima. Anyone else would have cowered under the powerful glower, but Tsukishima tilted his chin back, giving Kageyama a challenging look.
“There was a little girl!” Hinata stopped in front of them as Kageyama nodded, quickly forgetting about Tsukishima. Sawamura had first thought his biggest problem would come from Hinata and Kageyama. Kageyama was a magical genius, but his personality was so poor no one wanted to work with him, but he was too much of an asset to let go so Sawamura had been given orders to ‘fix him’. Hinata and Kageyama had instantly gotten into each other’s faces, some old bad blood that Sawamura was too old and wary to deal with.
Sugawara had forced them to work together, which had seemed like a poor idea to Sawamura but he never really questioned his second in command when he got that scary glint in his eyes. It wasn’t as if they became best buddies overnight, but it was pretty close to it. They fought constantly, sometimes coming to actual physical or magical blows, but they always worked it out in some weird way Sawamura could never understand, but was thankful for anyways. He hated to admit it, but the team was stronger with them, stronger even with Tsukishima who liked to rile up the other two. Who admittedly were quick to anger.
“A little girl?” Sugawara asked, shooting a cringe towards Sawamura as he felt a headache coming on. Sugawara backed away from Asahi, deeming him healthy and whole. Sawamura was just glad his other two wild cards were out on a different assignment. Even the thought of a potentially hurt Asahi sent Nishinoya into loud rants and he babied the large man even more than usual. As it was, Sawamura was not looking forward to when Nishinoya saw the lost hair.
“Yeah! She was crying and had a teddy-” Hinata swallowed thickly, looking away and Sawamura felt the fight go out of him. Sawamura was privy to all of his agent’s pasts, and Hinata’s was just as checkered as everyone else's, despite his sunny disposition and easy manner. Hinata had once had a little sister, Sawamura was not sure if anyone else knew that.
“She said her mom was hurt in a building, she pointed and we went to check it out.” Kageyama’s hand was awkwardly resting on Hinata’s shoulder, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to properly comfort someone and had read about it in a book. Hinata’s face lost his gloomy look, which even Tsukishima knew not to mess with.
“But it was a trap!” Hinata called out, as if everyone else hadn’t already known that. There was a monster that worked sort of like the anglerfish. It presented a little girl, always crying and holding a stuffed animal, crying out for her mom. When someone went to investigate, they were eaten. “There was a creature and it was all-” Hinata made wide motions with his hands, nearly slapping Kageyama who moved out of the way and shoved the smaller man in annoyance.
“No one understands your sound effects.” Kageyama grumbled.
“Shut up Kageyama!” Hinata scowled but his emotions shifted quickly. “It tried to eat us and there were so many bones everywhere, Kageyama tripped-”
“Dumbass, that was your fault!” Kageyama yelled, trying to hit Hinata who deftly dodged as if used to it, which he was. They were both scraped up, but Sugawara wasn’t hovering over them trying to administer first aid so Sawamura figured they were fine.
“And its tongue grabbed him and-and-” Hinata trailed off, looking embarrassed. Sawamura could also see he was exhausted, and he knew from experience that it took a lot to wear out Hinata.
“You panicked?” Sawamura asked, feeling his headache come back in full force.
“I just meant to send it away but then it was consuming the building and then the next building and I didn’t mean it! I didn’t know how to make it stop.” Hinata was running his hands through his already messy hair. “Azumane stepped in and he- I’m so sorry about your hair!” Hinata was bent over, bowing and apologizing and looking like he was going to throw up and cry. Asahi, predictably, started to panic and try to brush it off as fine.
Hinata had zeroed in on Asahi as one of the Best Things Ever from early on. Sawamura didn’t know if it was Asahi’s large stature, physical power, the fact that he was also a halfling like Hinata, or some combination of all three but he had been hoping their opposite personalities would rub off on each other the more time they spent together. So Sawamura had assigned Asahi to look after Hinata and Kageyama, while Sugawara was more in charge of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. If possible, Asahi had seemed to become even more nervous and anxious under the awe of little Hinata.
“Stop apologizing Hinata, you did Asahi a favor.” Sugawara tried to make Hinata stand up straight.
“His hair was a disgrace to the Agency.” Sawamura agreed, watching out of the corner of his eye as Asahi deflated slightly, but at least he stopped stuttering and shaking like a leaf. Sawamura had always doubted the Giant blood Asahi claimed to have. Sawamura had met many part-Giants, and they were all large and strong like Asahi, but they were usually stoic and unmovable. Like Aone Takanobu from section 5, team Datekou, who scared the wits out of Asahi.
Sawamura made Asahi take the four new members back to the Agency to get cleaned up and fed. Using that much magic would exhaust both Hinata and Asahi, but while Hinata would be back up on his feet in a couple hours, Asahi would most likely need a day or so to fully recover. He was already wavering on his feet, Yamaguchi had hovered helpfully by his side as they walked away from the catastrophe.
“What are you going to do?” Sugawara asked, looking around at the destruction. Sugawara was the only one who knew that Sawamura had been covering for Hinata in the last couple months, downplaying the amount of power he held, but this was beyond even anything Sawamura had seen.
“It consumed the creature but not Kageyama.” Sawamura said instead while they stood waiting for the clean up crew and other investigators. “So he has some control?” Sawamura was grasping at straws honestly.
Only in the past decade had the Agency allowed halflings to enter, and that was mostly due to the great need for more agents than actually wanting those with magical creature blood in their linage to join up. In all honesty, Hinata was the first true halfling Sawamura had ever met. Asahi’s own giant blood was gained generations prior, but Hinata’s own father had been a full-blooded sprite. Sawamura had never even met a real sprite, they tended to stay away from humans and heavily populated areas like Tokyo, but Hinata got along with everyone. Except maybe for Tsukishima, but that was more so due to the blonde man than anything Hinata was doing.
“He does have some control.” Sugawara agreed, but they both knew it wasn’t enough. Hinata was dangerous, and it was up to Sawamura to decide if the pros of keeping him as an agent outweighed the cons. “He’s wanted to be an agent since he was ten.” Ever since the Agency had let in halflings.
“What if Asahi hadn’t been close by?” Sawamura can’t help but ask. “What if Asahi hadn’t had enough magic or didn’t think to sacrifice his hair so he could obtain more power?” Despite Asahi’s nervous personality, which was the reason he was in Sawamura’s crew, when it came down to it, Asahi was strong and assured of himself. Besides Sugawara, he was also Sawamura’s oldest friend and Sawamura had been in the Agency long enough to know that today meant he could have lost Asahi.
“Do you think somewhere there’s just 9 abandoned buildings with a disgruntled Suswie demon in it that appeared out of nowhere?” Sugawara asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Hopefully it’s not in our section.” Sawamura deadpanned as he tried to remind himself that he was a good person and did not deserve this life.
Sawamura bent the truth to fit his own needs, to protect Hinata though he was not really sure why he was protecting someone who could take out half a block of buildings and a upper tier demon without breaking a sweat, but he did it anyways. Sawamura couldn’t think of it as lying, even as the younger Ukai stares at him, cigarette between his lips and a look that says he knew Sawamura was full of it. Ukai didn’t question him though, never had and Sawamura was grateful for it. Though he should probably thank Takeda, who was the only one who could calm Ukai down when he got into one of his darker moods.
“I’ll have him start physical training.” Sawamura spoke up after a long, silent ride back to the Agency. Sugawara raised an eyebrow, because they both knew that the problem didn’t rest on Hinata’s physical abilities. “It’ll give me some time to search for someone with Sprite in their background.” There was a Registration for all citizens, and on it every person was required by law to reveal their backgrounds. It was outdated and easy to lie to, but maybe Sawamura could get lucky.
“Daichi,” Sugawara glanced around before following the other man into his office, closing the door quietly behind him. “Sprites aren’t supposed to be powerful.” Sugawara says hesitantly and Sawamura nods as he sinks down into his office chair. Sugawara chooses to perch himself on the edge of the desk.
“That’s what we’ve been led to believe.” The problem with living in a world full of magic and myths was that no one could really tell what was true and what was made up. Giants were supposed to be large, aggressive, and dumb as a rock but Sawamura had known enough people with Giant blood to know that it was just not true. Well, the large thing was true, but the rest was made up. Sprites were supposed to be small, quick, and benign.
“Maybe some of his ancestors were powerful magic users?” Sugawara asked, looking up and studying the ceiling.
“There’s no other magic blood besides Sprite.” Sawamura sighed, rubbing his temples as he booted up his computer. Technology was questionable at most, magic interfered with it easily, but humanity kept trying to make it work.
“What if they got it wrong? What if it’s not Sprite but some other kind of fae-creature?” It was a valid question, the term ‘fae’ encompassed a great deal of magical creatures and they were a tight-lipped group.
“Hinata has met his father, he told him what he was.” Sawamura said, trying to sound as casual as possible while revealing things that were told to him in confidence. He knew Sugawara wouldn’t tell anyone, and he needed help with this situation before it escalated behind the point where Sawamura could cover it up.
“Hinata met a full-blooded Sprite?” Sugawara wondered, leaning forward as Sawamura pulled up the Agency’s secure network, searching for others with Sprite blood in the area. Hinata Shouyou popped up at the top of the list, with a dark red 50% by his name. The next person dropped dramatically, only coming in at 8%.
“Kozume Kenma?” Sawamura sounded out the name quietly. He was 5% Sprite, a flagged low tier witch, and he worked in Section 1, for the Nekoma Team. “It had to be the Feral Cats.” It was a nickname given to them, because they tended to be solitary, cunning, and could flip on you in a second. It was still better than ‘Fallen Giant’.
“You should go ask him to teach Hinata.” Sugawara said, sounding smug. Too smug. Sawamura looked up, cocking an eyebrow meant for Sugawara to continue speaking. “No one tells you no.”
“I am not that scary.” Sawamura said quickly. If he was then there was no way Sugawara would constantly tease him like he did.
“No, well actually you are, but that’s not what I meant.” Sugawara stood up from the desk and looked around the small office, noting the various weapons and books and scrolls, amongst other things. “People don’t like telling you no, instinctively most people don’t want to disappoint you.” That surprised Sawamura, which caused Sugawara to laugh.
As predicted the next day Hinata was as energetic as always, bouncing around and being a general nuisance to everyone. Sawamura had Ennoshita try and teach Hinata, but after a couple hours even Ennoshita’s bottomless patience wore out. Asahi was still down and out, so he couldn’t train Hinata, Tanaka was out on assignment with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and that would leave Nishinoya, if Sawamura could find him.
“Where is Noya?” Sawamura finally asked Sugawara, annoyance dripping from his tone as he glanced around Sugawara’s small office he shared with Asahi, as if the small man would be hiding behind a plant or underneath Asahi’s desk.
“Asahi is still resting.” Sugawara said, not looking up from his papers.
“I know that.” Sawamura scowled but quickly stopped when Sugawara looked up.
“Asahi is resting because he expended a lot of energy yesterday and he’s still feeling very weak.” Sugawara said in a voice that would sound condescending if it was anyone else but the ashcolored hair man speaking.
“Ah, right.” Sawamura felt the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment at the obvious answer. “Continue what you’re doing.” Sugawara’s laughter was warm against Sawamura’s back.
Fraternizing was frowned upon in the Agency, it was actually against several company rules but it was the one thing the superiors all overlook. It wasn’t as if Asahi and Nishinoya were doing anything, or even really together but the way they acted- well, it was questionable. Sawamura made sure to look the other way, but part of him wanted to smack Asahi over the back of the head and ask him what he was doing. He obviously cared about the younger man, so why did he always halt every single one of Nishinoya’s advances?
Sawamura walked into the infirmary, giving a nod to Watari before moving to the back where he knew Asahi would set himself, to stay out of everyone's way and be less of a burden. Moving back the partition separating the bed from the rest of the room, Sawamura felt his annoyance drain out of his body at the sight there.
Both Asahi and Nishinoya were laying on their sides, facing each other. The only parts touching each other were their entwined hands and the smallest of touches as their foreheads rested lightly against one another.
Sawamura closed the partition, quieter this time, as he felt heat creeping up the back of his neck and another oncoming headache. Nishinoya had earned the nickname ‘Guardian Deity’ and he could have had his pick of any team, Sawamura had been surprised when his transfer papers had come across his desk, his first thought wondering what was wrong with him. He was quick to anger, especially if someone mentioned his size, but he was also loyal and powerful and Sawamura could not figure out why he would ever want to be apart of the Fallen Giants. Until Sawamura had introduced Nishinoya to Asahi.
Asahi had a reputation of his own, especially amongst people who didn’t know him. Sugawara called him soft-heart or glass-heart, easily and quickly shattered by clumsy hands. Most people who saw him in passing believed he was just as terrifying as Giants made themselves out to be, big and stronger than any human, with his wild long hair and facial hair, Sawamura could see why people would be intimidated, at first.
Sawamura had thought Nishinoya would be let down by Asahi, but it seemed the complete opposite. The smaller man seemed to make it his life's mission to not only protect Asahi, but to build up his confidence. Sawamura would be fine with that, if Nishinoya didn’t get into fights constantly ‘defending Asahi’s honor.’
“How long have they been like that?” Sawamura asked Watari, watching the other man push back his wheelchair so he could look up at the clock. Watari had been apart of Section 5’s most sought after team, Aobajousai. Sawamura didn’t know all the details, except that Watari had saved a lot of lives at the cost of a crushed spine and the ability to ever walk again. The Agency had paid for him to go back to school, to become a doctor and continue his work with the Agency. Though having Watari in the infirmary meant Sawamura was likely to bump into other, unmentionable people, from Aobajousai. Sawamura tried not to even think of the man, lest his thoughts summon him.
“About three hours?” Watari guessed before smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nishinoya so quiet before.” Sawamura laughed and shrugged his shoulders because it was true, Nishinoya was loud.
“Can you wake Nishinoya up in an hour and tell him he’s training Hinata?” Watari nodded, writing it down before turning back to Sawamura, opening his mouth before they both heard a loud voice outside.
“Oh no.” Watari glanced worriedly up at Sawamura.
“Is there a back door?” Sawamura asked, wondering if he could just hide in one of the beds, pretend to be mortally wounded. It wouldn’t work, he was doomed and he knew it.
“I’m sorry Sawamura.” Watari looked pained.
“How could you betray me like this?” Sawamura asked, closing his eyes as the door to the infirmary banged open and a loud ‘Yoohoo’ was shouted into what was supposed to be a quiet and calm environment. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nishinoya peak around the partition, looking annoyed, most likely the loud entrance had woken up not only him but Asahi, who was still supposed to be resting. Sawamura wondered if he could somehow get Nishinoya to yell at the intruder while he made his escape.
“Dai! There you are.” Sawamura slumped forward, defeat riding heavy on his shoulders. “I need a favor from you!”
“Don’t touch me.” Sawamura moved out from underneath Oikawa Tooru’s arm, annoyed at the height advantage the other man had. He glanced behind Oikawa. “Where’s Iwaizumi? The agreement was I don’t have to deal with your personally.”
“So mean Dai!” Sawamura felt a twitch developing near his left eye. Watari, the traitor, sent Sawamura an apologetic look. Sawamura couldn’t fully blame Watari, Oikawa had been his old squad leader. He was loud and flamboyant and irritating as all hell but he was a certified genius, and despite his team mocking him constantly, none of them would want to work under anyone else. Even Iwaizumi, who Sawamura held in high regard, had chosen to be friends with the show horse named Oikawa since they were kids.
“Well if that’s all-” Sawamura scowled when Oikawa stepped in his way. The lithe bastard was not someone Sawamura wanted to spare with. They were at a 2-1, with the favor in Sawamura’s court but he always ended up limping away, feeling exhausted instead of exhilarated at the win.
“Why are you denying my request?” Oikawa asked in a sing-song voice that made the twitch below Sawamura’s eye become more prevalent.
“Because Suga is an important part of my team.” Sawamura grumbled, feeling even more annoyed with Oikawa, who always seemed to manage to get his way. It was good for him to be told no once and awhile.
“Share the Suga.” Oikawa placed his hands on Sawamura’s shoulders, but Sawamura knocked them off quickly. “Get it, because his name is Suga, but also-”
“I get it Oikawa, I just don’t care.” Sawamura was only ever rude to Oikawa, and he was a little ashamed that he was doing it in front of Watari, who was looking more and more nervous, and two members of his own team. Sawamura took a deep breath, held it for a moment and let it out, trying to work out the annoyance that had risen up. “Sugawara is an integral part of Karasuno, there are other healers who I am sure would love to freelance for you, but my healer has enough on his plate without adding the work of another team to that.”
“Your healer.” Oikawa smirked and Sawamura sighed, wondering why he bothered to try and be reasonable with the pompous man in front of him. Healers were sought after, and fought over too. Many sold their craft to the highest bidder. Sugawara was only a lower tier healer, but Sawamura was constantly being bombarded with papers requesting Sugawara’s help with this and that on other teams.
Sawamura had brought them up to Sugawara at first, but the other man had waved them off. Sugawara had told him that he was exactly where he wanted to be.
“Trashykawa!” Sawamura let out a sigh of relief at the loud, booming yell as Iwaizumi stormed into the infirmary, then stopped and looked around. “My apologies Watari.” Iwaizumi bowed before kicking Oikawa directly in the ass.
“Mean Iwa!” Oikawa pouted, rubbing his butt and limping dramatically.
“Noya!” Sawamura turned away, letting Iwaizumi handle his cocky leader. Nishinoya ran to stand in front of Sawamura. “You will be in charge of Hinata’s physical training starting today. You’ll train with him fours hours a day, starting now.” Nishinoya glanced back to the bed where Asahi was. “Asahi needs to rest and you need to do your job.”
“Yes sir!” Nishinoya nodded before running off to find Hinata.
“Good day.” Sawamura nodded, as professional as he could be when his eye was still twitching.
“I’ll wear you down eventually Dai!” Oikawa called out to his back. “Ow Iwa, ow- stop, how does poking hurt so much?”
Sawamura took a deep breath, glancing down at his watch and noting the time. All members of his team were accounted for, and he had just enough time to take the train to meet up with Nekoma’s Kozume Kenma. Sawamura had actually been a little surprised the other man so readily agreed to meet with him.
Knowing Sugawara was there if any of the team needed him put Sawamura at ease as he made his way towards to the train station to meet with Kozume.