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Nishinoya Yuu loved flying. Ever since he’d been a little kid he’d loved it. Sure, he hadn’t been doing much of it then, but he’d always wanted to be a pilot.
Now that he was one, he didn’t know he could ever do anything else.
There was a couple of things he could without, though. Getting shot at was definitely in the Top 5.
“Control, this is Evac One, we’re under heavy fire! Landing might not be an option!” Tanaka’s voice yelled next to him, as he fought to keep them from dropping out of the sky. Asahi was sitting somewhere behind them, hopefully uninjured.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Noya swore when a hail of bullets peppered the windshield. If the glass hadn’t been heavily reinforced with a bunch of things Noya couldn’t even pronounce, he would’ve been full of holes.
They couldn’t not land. There was no way Kuroo and Bokuto could safely get to another landing zone. They were already injured, if they left now… Noya clenched his teeth. He would not do that to his friends. “Where are they? I need to land somewhere close!”
“Affirmative. Turn your headsets to channel 456.7 to get in touch with Team Echo.”
“Roger that,” Tanaka grunted, flipping his headset first, then doing the same to Noya’s.
Immediately they could hear the standard bickering that accompanied the agency’s second-best field team.
“—be you should’ve thought of that before he hit the alarm!”
“Hindsight’s always 20/20!”
“Guys, where are you?!” Tanaka interrupted them, looking around the landing zone. “There’s a lot of hostiles around!”
“East corner, downstairs,” Kuroo replied. “We’re pinned down.”
“Can you run?” Asahi asked, unbuckling himself to get out of the chopper as fast as possible if needed.
“Yeah. Bokuto’s got a hole in his leg, but I’m good. Get us some cover fire and we’ll get there.”
“Copy that,” Asahi replied, pulling his kit to the seat next to him and reaching for the AK47 stashed under his seat. “Tanaka.”
“Right,” Tanaka unbuckled himself, getting out of his seat and sitting on the seat across from Asahi. He grabbed another AK from under the seat and grabbed the door handle. “Noya, we’re ready. Take us down!”
“Copy that!” The youngest of the Evac team agreed readily, scanning the clearing for the most convenient spot to land in. He wanted to get as close as possible to Kuroo and Bokuto’s hiding place while offering them the most cover. “Alright! Get ready!”
He took a deep breath and began descending. He turned the chopper around so that the door Asahi and Tanaka were behind was towards the eastern corner of the clearing. He ignored the bullets hitting them left and right, focusing on landing on that exact spot.
Softly, very softly, they were on the ground. “We’re down,” He yelled, looking around for hostiles. “Ryuu, Asahi, you’re covered from behind, there’s hostiles on the roof in front of you, two o’clock. More on the ground, your ten o’clock.”
“Thanks, Noya!” Tanaka replied, glancing at Asahi.
The tall man nodded, aiming his rifle towards the roof. “I have a visual.”
Tanaka looked for the people on their ten o’clock, spotting them easily. “Me too. On three,” he glanced back at Asahi, receiving a nod. “One. Two. Three,” he yanked the door open.
Asahi fired the second he had a clear shot. Tanaka did the same. “Guys, now might be a good time to start running!”
Kuroo and Bokuto emerged from their hiding place. Bokuto limped while Kuroo carried most of his weight as they ran the short distance between the building and the chopper.
Kuroo practically threw Bokuto in before climbing in himself. Tanaka closed the door, and everyone collectively sighed.
“So, it’s nice to see you and all, but do you think we could get out of here?” Bokuto’s voice came from the floor of the chopper.
Kuroo climbed over him and sat down, pulling his partner up next to him. “I agree. Kinda seems like the locals aren’t liking us.”
Noya laughed, grabbing the controls and started lift off. “Welcome to Air Nishinoya, our destination today is—“
The window pane to his left shattered and he let out a short scream in surprise. The chopper lurched heavily to the right, making Tanaka fall flat on his ass and Asahi hit the door. Kuroo and Bokuto, thanks to their instincts and ridiculously short reaction time, managed to stay somewhat upright.
The chopper was quickly righted, and began rising away from the clearing. “Noya?” Tanaka called, receiving no reply. He took his headset off and tried to hear anything else than the rotors whirring.
Noya’s ears were ringing. He was suddenly very aware of everything around him: the rotors, the engine, all the little cracks in the window, the wind blasting through the shattered pane on his left…
And the two guys manning an RPG on the roof right in front of him.
“Hang on!” He screamed, hoping the four men somewhere behind him could hear him.
Tanaka heard him, loud and clear, before seeing the RPG himself. “Shit! Buckle up!” Tanaka yelled, bracing himself on the floor between the seats.
Noya yanked the controls, sending the aircraft higher and forward. He manoeuvred the chopper so that the tail end was higher than the front, flying main rotor first along the roof. He flew towards the men, pulling up just in time to just make them shit themselves. Once he’d successfully pulled up, he flew the chopper well away from the RPG’s range.
Once they were fairly sure there were no other lurches to be expected, Asahi and Tanaka looked at each other before looking towards the cockpit.
“Noya?” Asahi called hesitantly. “You okay there?”
The shortest member of their team stayed suspiciously quiet, prompting Tanaka to get off the floor and make his way into the cockpit. “Noya?”
Noya’s hands were shaking on the controls, otherwise he sat completely still. “I’m fine,” he said quietly.
Tanaka sat down on the co-pilot’s seat, looking past his friend and seeing the fairly large hole in the window, fairly close to the shorter man’s head. His eyes widened as he shifted his eyes to the helmet covering the usually gelled-up hair.
There was a deep graze in the helmet, and the left side of his headset had shattered. Noya had a few small cuts on his face, but otherwise seemed unharmed. If he’d been even one or two inches taller, though…
“Shit,” Tanaka breathed, staring at the now-useless piece of headgear.
Noya shrugged.
“What’s going on there?! Noya? Tanaka?” Asahi’s distressed voice broke through their collective state of shock.
“Uh, everything’s fine here, just a little windy,” Tanaka replied hurriedly, strapping himself into the seat and taking the controls. “How about I fly this thing for a while, buddy?”
Noya nodded again, letting go when he felt that Tanaka had control of the aircraft. He yanked the broken helmet off of his head and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. “Shiiiiiit, that was close!” He laughed suddenly, trailing his finger on the graze.
“No shit! Nice flying, by the way,” Tanaka began laughing as well. Laughing was easier than freaking the fuck out.
Asahi didn’t seem to share their opinion, as he was busy freaking out verbally while treating Bokuto’s leg injury. “Why are they laughing? What did he mean by ‘windy’?!”
Kuroo face-palmed. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Control to Evac One, status report?”
Even Akaashi sounded somewhat distressed. It was hard to tell, but Bokuto could definitely tell the dark-haired beauty was agitated.
“Akaashi! I’m so glad to hear your voice! It’s like rain after a drought,” Bokuto yelled dreamily.
“Bokuto-san, status report.” Well, it was wonderful while it lasted.
“Bokuto’s got a leg injury, Kuroo’s got some bumps and bruises but he’s otherwise fine. Tanaka and I are also uninjured,” Asahi reported calmly, trying to ignore the fact that he couldn’t say anything for Noya.
Noya, having calmed down now after his near-death experience, grabbed a spare headset from the compartment above him. “Noya here, reporting from a spare headset. I’m good, my helmet’s busted though. We’re gonna need maintenance to fix up our bird, our windshield’s fucked.”
Asahi sighed in relief. “The window is the least of my concerns here, Noya,” he murmured, shaking his head and returning his attention to Bokuto’s leg.
“You’re lucky,” he commented as he disinfected the small wound and wrapped gauze around it. “It’s a flesh wound. Missed everything important,” he smiled up at the grimacing field agent.
Bokuto grinned, giving him a thumbs up.
Kuroo leaned back, letting his head hit the wall. “How long until we’re back at HQ?”
“Around three hours,” Noya replied, bringing up the HUD to his side of the windshield. “Diagnostics says…” he trailed off, waiting for the info to pop up. “Looks like the bad guys went to the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, only our windows are fucked. Lucky!”
“Copy that, Evac One. Fly safe. Control out.”
He’d been worried that someone might’ve hit their engine, or fuel tank. Lucky for them, the bad guys had been occupied with trying to kill them instead of damaging their only transportation device. Noya sometimes worried about the people they came across on these of jobs.
*
Three hours later, after they’d landed successfully, made sure Bokuto went to Medical instead of the cafeteria, and packed everything in the chopper away for maintenance, Noya found himself standing in his shower. He stared at the tiles, letting the hot spray run over him.
A knock on the door startled him. His flailing hand hit the shelf housing his shampoo and soap, making the items fall with a surprising amount of noise. “Fuck,” he hissed, crouching down to pick up the bottles.
“Noya? Are you okay?”
Asahi. Of course.
“Yeah,” he called back, setting his stuff back on the shelf and standing up. Or, he tried to stand up, but he slipped and fell on his ass. “Ow! Fuck!”
“Noya, I’m coming in,” Asahi warned just before the door opened and he stepped in.
They stared at each other for a moment, Asahi standing at the door, Noya sitting in the tub with one of his legs hanging over the side and the other in the faucet.
“Hi,” Noya waved.
Asahi lost it. He burst out laughing, and he ended up having to lean on the doorway for support.
Had Noya been a more sensitive person, he might’ve been upset. But, seeing as he wasn’t… He laughed.
Asahi recovered from his bout of mirth fairly quickly. He sat on top of the toilet with an amused sigh. “One day, you’re going to crack your head open.”
“Good thing I have you to fix me up, then,” Noya smirked, drawing the alphabet in the air with his ankle. He didn’t miss the way Asahi’s eyes travelled along his leg. “So, did you want to talk to me about something, or did you just want to see me shower?”
Asahi flushed scarlet. Noya fucking loved it when that happened.
“I wanted to ask if you were okay,” Asahi said, ignoring his heavy-duty blush. “After what happened today.”
Noya blanked out.
“I mean, we don’t usually have to land in those situations, and the chopper’s usually safe enough, but I saw your helmet, and I…” Asahi shrugged, looking into Noya’s eyes now. “Well. Are you okay?”
Noya nodded after a few moments of introspection. “I am,” he smiled, shifting so that both his legs were dangling over the side of the tub and his back was leaning against the other edge. “You know, the funny thing about near-death experiences is that they reaffirm your will to live,” he said, casually spreading his legs to peer up at Asahi between his knees.
It had the desired effect of drawing Asahi’s attention back to his legs.
“Is that so?” Asahi asked, arching an eyebrow, shifting in his seat.
“It is,” Noya confirmed and brought his elbows up to rest on the edge of the tub. “Makes me want to celebrate being alive. What do you say, Asahi? You up for a little celebration?” He asked, looking at the taller man coyly.
Asahi regarded him quietly for a beat before standing up and turning the shower off. He then stepped between Noya’s legs, leaned down and slipped his hands beneath Noya’s thighs. “Put your arms around my neck,” he murmured.
Noya obeyed with a smirk. He was about to make a smartass remark when Asahi straightened out, pulling Noya up with him. The shorter man instinctively wrapped his legs around his waist tightly.
They stood upright for a moment, Asahi adjusting his grip on Noya’s thighs and Noya clinging to him.
“One of us is overdressed,” Noya said, tugging at Asahi’s shirt once he began carrying him to the bedroom.
“I’m sure we can work something out.”