Skater Boy | h.harem

【18】

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"Shouyou, what if someone stayed with you? Or maybe you stayed with one of us? Would that help you sleep better?" Nishinoya peeped up, pulling the ginger into a hug to hopefully prevent him from crying.

They hated seeing their poor little Shouyou sad.

"You don't have to go to such lengths for me. I'm fine as I am now, but thank you." Hinata tucked his face into Nishinoya's neck, his small arms wrapping around his waist.

"Are you kidding? I'm- We're your friends, Shouyou! This is the least we could do!" It seemed as though Hinata was putting thought behind their words, and soon nodded his head.

"If you stay at my home, I'll take good care of you. Promise," he finally said, smiling softly to everyone over Nishinoya's shoulder.

"I'll stay first then, and it'll be the other way around, Shouyou! I'm going to take super good care of you!" Nishinoya exclaimed, pointing a thumb to his chest after pulling from their hug. Laughter resonated around the gym, the team's normal antics beginning once more.

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Nishinoya walked with Hinata to his home, animatedly talking about all the scenery they passed. It had been almost an hour since they left the school, and they had just reached the extremely large hill that blocked Hinata's home.

"Not this again!" He whined, remembering the last time he and the team had to climb it in order to get to the ginger's home. "Come on, Nishinoya-Senpai! I'll lead you up! I know a way around!"

As the two walked on the small dirt trail surrounded by trees, a question popped into Nishinoya's mind. "Why haven't you taken this trail before?" The simple puzzlement of his friend made a small laugh pass the ginger's lips.

"It's almost 20 minutes longer, and it's made of dirt, so I can't skate on it. Plus, I didn't want Natsu to get harmed by any wild animals," he answered, turning to Nishinoya with a smile.

"You're so adorable, Kouhai!" The senpai threw his arms over Hinata, who giggled and wrapped his arms around him as well.

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Hinata opened the door to his house while laughing with Nishinoya, but stopped upon hearing it hit something. They turned their gaze down to the floor, where they saw an empty beer bottle roll to the wall. "Shouyou... you weren't drinking, right?"

The expressions on Hinata's face were too mixed to know what exactly he was feeling, but Nishinoya somehow knew that the bottle didn't belong to him. "Shouyou~" A female voice cooed from the kitchen, walking out with a lopsided smile.

"Mother..." The senpai's mouth fell open at Hinata's words, staring at the drunk woman in shock.

"I'm sorry about Natsu. I didn't realize you were having such a hard time with her until someone from the school called me and told me you got sick." Her words were thick and slurred, and they pissed Hinata he fuck off.

Angrily, he walked up to her and pulled her by her shirt, slamming her into the wall. Nishinoya immediately stepped forward. "Sho-"

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Hinata's voice cracked in the middle of his sentence, but his stern voice and tight grip made up for it.

"Natsu was my responsibility! I've taken care of her my whole life! You think you can just suddenly waltz in here and hand her away to someone you haven't even met before!? We were perfectly happy without you! Stop acting like you care!"

He couldn't control the word vomit spilling from his mouth, or the tears falling from his eyes. Nishinoya walked over to him and was about to pull him away, when a sharp slap rang throughout the entrance hall stopped him.

Everything went quiet as Hinata's hand slowly slipped from his mother's wrinkled shirt and to his side, his head still turned away from his mother with a shocked expression on his face. His cheek stung.

"I'm going out drinking with some of my friends tonight, then I'm packing my stuff and moving to America by tomorrow afternoon. I'll be sending you more than enough money to pay for the house and food, so don't contact me unless it's something urgent."

Her words lingered in Hinata's mind as she walked away and out the door of the house, seemingly sobered up a bit. As Hinata's knees gave out, Nishinoya raced over and caught him, holding him tightly on the floor.

It startled him when he realized that Hinata wasn't crying anymore, but rather, he began laughing. A loud, almost horrific laugh.

"She's always like this! I hate her!" Along with his laughing, tears once again began to pour from his beautiful eyes. Nishinoya could only hold him as close as he possibly could because no words would come from his throat.

"Why doesn't anyone want me? Is there something wrong with me?" His laughing completely vanished. He steadily wrapped his arms around his senpai and gripped the back of his uniform tightly, crying heavily into his shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Shou. You're perfect. The world... just... some people are just idiots. This isn't your fault." Tucking his face into the ginger's shoulder, he hoped to offer at least a small bit of comfort with his words and warmth.

After the atmosphere in the home settled into a more settled, calmer one, Hinata wiped his face and stood, holding a hand out to Nishinoya with a small smile.

"Sorry, my mother and I don't get along that well. She can say what she wants in a letter, but when she's actually here, she's like a different person." Hinata held into his friend's hand tightly to prevent himself from angrily smashing the pictures hanging on the walls in the hallway.

"Are you okay?" Nishinoya didn't care about Hinata's mother. The only thing on his mind was making sure his friend and crush was feeling okay. A moment of silence passed. "Of course. Natsu hates when I'm upset, so I'm trying to work on my temper."

An awkward laugh resonated from the ginger's mouth. "You can't really tell though, can you?" Eyes wide, Nishinoya stared at Hinata's closed eyes and lopsided smile, trying desperately to figure him out.

Soon, however, a smile crossed his face, and he plopped a hand onto Hinata's ginger curls, ruffling them around. "I'm so proud of you, my little kouhai!"

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