𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lxv - ride home

"Oi, Crow," Keishin had called out of the blue right as school was ending for the day. "Come by the store, I'll give you a ride home."

"Oh?" The ravenette quirked an eyebrow. "What's the occasion? Or do you want something from me?"

"Hinata came by and asked what he should be working on to improve," The phone transmitted the older man's words. "So I decided to take him out to see the old man, since he'd probably be able to help him more than I can. You're headed there as well, so I thought why not? Besides, you being there might motivate Hinata," Keishin finished explaining.

Crow sighed, twisting his finger in his ear for a second as he deliberated with himself on this new information. Eventually, he agreed and hung up, turning his focus towards where he knew the store lied. It didn't take him more than ten minutes to walk there, and right outside was Hinata and Keishin waiting for him. "Crow-san!" The ginger greeted with a smile. The ravenette nodded to him, ruffling his hair out of habit as his eyes moved to his cousin.

"Took you long enough. What, did you walk with a snail?" The man huffed with a roll of his eyes, both being playful and actually being annoyed with how much he'd had to stand around and wait.

"I walked as fast as I normally do," Crow blinked as his hand dropped from Hinata's head. "Shall we get a move on?"

"Might as well," Keishin sighed with a sour look. Thus, the three packed into the car and off they went. As they had been getting in, Hinata had offered for Crow to take the front seat, only for both him and Keishin to decline at the same time. The coach explained it a bit more on their way as Crow was staring out the window, lost in thought.

Apparently, Crow liked the back seat because he could stretch out and take naps by turning his body so that his legs were on the other seats, something that would not work if he were sitting in the front seat. Hinata thought that sounded very uncomfortable, especially with the seatbelt still on. And yet there Crow was, sitting with his legs stretched out over the backseat and his back leaning up against the door with his head leaned back against the glass of the window.

He looked serene like that, as if he were in a live action photo or something. Hinata swallowed his desire to take a picture of it and returned his gaze to his coach. He'd never figured out where they were going, so now was as good a time as any to ask. "Where are we going, coach?"

"You'll know when we get there," Keishin stated vaguely, when Crow suddenly opened his mouth.

"We're going to my house."

"You mean..." Hinata's face lit up as he whipped to face his senpai. "We're going to see the Tiny Giant?!"

"...No," Crow's face contorted at the memory, the look making the ginger flinch at the sudden change. He no longer looked serene; now he looked like he wanted to kill someone. "The original one."

"So that means..." Hinata took a second to recall the conversation of which Crow had revealed who he was staying with, and who had originally taken him off the streets. "We're going to Ukai's house?"

"Way to ruin the surprise, jackass," Keishin grumbled, so Crow kicked the back of his chair.

"It's not nice to act all mysterious for no reason, nobody's got time for that."

"Just because you don't like surprises doesn't mean nobody else does!" The older man snapped back at him, huffing angrily. After that, they fell into silence, and Crow returned to being as serene as before the conversation started, and Hinata returned to refraining from bringing out his phone to snap a photo of that glorious scene so he could brag to Kageyama once they were on speaking terms again.

Totally not because he wanted to make it his lockscreen.

He managed to tame his desire enough that they arrived at the house without a picture being taken, and then the picture was no longer possible as Crow hopped out of the car. For some reason, the ginger was getting the feeling that Crow didn't like cars.

Circling around the house, the three came to the backyard that was full of shouts and laughter and sounds of a ball being hit. Crow's lips turned upwards at the sight since he usually came later than this and would miss the chance to mess around with the kids.

"Come on! Move those legs!" Ukai yelled as he hit a ball out for one of the kids to go after.

"Nice receive!" Another of the kids complimented brightly.

"One more!" the old man set the ball to the other side of the court to make the kid run for it.

"Whoa, I can't get that! I'm tired!"

"You're as cruel as always," Crow smirked as he stepped up beside Ukai, causing all of the kids' faces to brighten.

"It's Crow! Crow's here!" They cheered.

"Are you sure you're supposed to be moving around like that right after getting discharged?" Keishin sweatdropped at his grandfather, who looked at him like he was delusional.

"Huh? If they let you out of the hospital, it means they're giving you permission to move around all you want," Ukai deadpanned at him, probably thinking he was the dumbest thing on this planet. Oh, how Crow had missed seeing Keishin being bullied like this.

Sighing, the fake blonde glanced at Hinata and pointed towards the geezer. "He's my grandpa, if you couldn't already tell."

"Right!" Hinata's eyes were wide with anticipation. "Coach Ukai!"

"..what's this about?" Ukai asked, directing the question at Crow.

"All I know is Keishin wants you to help Hinata with something, so you'll have to ask them. I can play with the kiddies for a bit while you sort things out," Crow suggested, so with a nod and a yell, Ukai went over to the two as the kids all gathered around Crow.

"We missed you Crow!"

"How have you been?"

"Where have you been?!"

"Sorry guys," Crow chuckled at their exclamations. "I was out of town for a while, but I'm back now. How about you guys pepper for a bit, and then we can work on some spiking practice?" The ravenette suggested.

"Yeah!" The kids cheered, so off they went to collect balls to pepper with for a while. During the peppering, Crow would occasionally comment on their forms or aiming skills, all of which improved the next time they did the thing he commented on.

He loved children, but he would never, ever, have any of his own. Crow would rather kill himself than allow a child with half of his DNA into the world.

And that is why Crow did not sleep with girls.