𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lxviii - price of snacks

"Hinata, come here a sec," Keishin called a few days later. Practice was just about to get underway, and Crow was yawning on the stage. Once the ginger had made his way over to the coach, he informed him of what was going to be happening. "All right, you'll be on the B team for our practice matches for a while," He said before glancing at the leader of team B. "Sugawara, he's all yours!"

"uh, hai!" The setter blinked, then looked at Crow as he joined them. "How was your nap?"

"Meh, the same as usual," He mumbled, running a hand through his hair before taking a second to put the loose strands in a ponytail. "So, six-two?"

"Yeah," Suga confirmed, smiling. "I need to get better at spiking, and there's no better way to do that than during a practice match."

"Yeah," the ravenette agreed, and then Hinata jogged over to them as the coach called for the match to get started.

"Make sure you stay hydrated!"

"Yessir!"

Right before the ginger could reach his team, Yachi called out to him. "Um, Hinata!" She pursed her lips as she folded her hands together in front of her nervously. "U-um, I was wondering if you were okay...Things between you and Kageyama, I mean, um, uh--" She tried to find the right words, but Hinata just smiled.

"We're fine." He told her, and a smile of her own slipped onto her face. And then Keishin blew the whistle, so everyone rushed to their positions. The practice match started with a serve, and soon the match was decided. It was close; they ended up over thirty points, but a surprise attack from Crow settled the deal at 35 to 33.

"All right! Let's wrap it up," Keishin called, jotting something down on his clipboard before setting it down and putting his hands on his hips. Almost instantly, there was a deadpan on his face. "What?"

"We'd like to stay behind and practice some more!" Half the team exclaimed. Crow was not among them, instead going around and collecting the loose balls.

"Don't push yourselves too hard," Keishin sighed, shooing them away to do what they wanted. Thus, since the guys staying late would be the ones to take down, once Crow was done shagging all the balls and putting them in the carts, he made his way to the exit, only to be stopped by a shout.

"Crow-san!" Hinata yelled, running to catch him before he made it out the door. "Are you headed to grandpa Ukai's place?"

"Yeah," He replied, taking a second to stop so he could put on his outdoor shoes.

"Can I come?" The ginger asked, but he shook his head.

"Not today," He answered once his shoes were on. Then, he ruffled the first year's hair. "How about tomorrow?"

"Ah, sure!" Hinata beamed. "Thank you!"

"No problem," The ravenette retracted his hand, and with a nod, he disappeared into the evening. The next day, right after practice got done, Hinata and Crow left the gym to go to Ukai's house to do some practice.

"Good evening!" Hinata greeted once they had arrived.

"Shou-chan!" One of the setters beamed with a wave.

"There you are, shrimp," Ukai's hands were on his hips.

"Um, Coach Ukai," Hinata suddenly looked really put-off. "I've been meaning to tell you, but my name isn't Shrimp."

"Those with no skill are nothing more than shrimps!" The old man sneered, which morphed into a smirk as Crow nodded in agreement. He remembered when Ukai used to call him that, though he hadn't really minded.

Anything was better than hearing his birth name.

The sun dipped over the horizon, and darkness soon consumed the area as Hinata hit, hit, and hit some more. Because working at night was becoming more of a norm, there were lights around the outdoor court so that everyone could still see.

"Come on, let's go shrimp!" Coach Ukai yelled as Hinata started slacking.

"I'm ready!" Hinata replied, getting into a lowered position. Thus, the coach threw the ball to the setter, who set it. Hinata was already going, but he only managed to graze it enough to get it over, but there was no power behind it.

"Turn all your attention to jumping at full strength!"

The next time he went up, he connected with the ball almost perfectly and smacked it down on the dirt with a thump. As soon as he landed, his face lit up and he turned to look at Crow, who was sitting on the wrap around with some snacks. He gave a thumbs up, and so Hinata's gaze moved to Ukai. "There you go," He smirked. "You need to be able to hit the ball at any time at will, regardless of who the setter is."

"Yessir!" Hinata grinned, and then went on to hit some more. The next one, he didn't even manage to touch.

"Don't try to line up with the ball! Jump on your own timing!" Ukai scolded. "Fight on your own, without anyone's help!"

"Right!" Hinata agreed, and got started again with another hit. Soon, the moon was high in the sky, but progress was being made. Day after day, everyone improved, learning new things and incorporating others. And then school got out for the summer.

One day as Crow was coming back to Ukai's from getting some snacks from the store, he felt his blood turn to ice at who was standing on the corner of the street. It seems that just as he saw him, the man also caught a glimpse of Crow. His eyes widened a fraction before he mumbled something to the person he was on a call with, and then put his phone away.

"Well if it isn't little Yuuki," Naoki Hara mused, putting a hand on his hip as he tilted his head. "You're one hard girl to find."

"Don't bullshit me, Naoki," Crow's expression was harsh as he glared at his older brother. "I've got a bigger dick than you ever will."

"Oh?" Naoki snickered. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd like to think that," he stepped forward with his hands in his pockets, sneering down at his younger brother. "Otherwise how could you even think of running away from home?"

"Pretty easily, actually," Crow scoffed. "I was just informed that my parents were manipulating me into being a girl because they couldn't have one of their own, why would I stay? I wasn't stupid. Tell me, Naoki," He jerked him down, his hand wrapped around his throat threateningly. "Why are you here?"

"Why do you think, Yuuki?" The older male didn't seem to be taking any of what was happening seriously. "Mom and dad are worried about you, especially since you've been gone for almost nine years," He put his hand over the ravenette's wrist, his expression changing from patronizing to sorrowful. "Come back with me, little brother. We can fix this."

"Naoki," Crow's expression softened, and his grip on the other man's neck loosened as his hand slid down. Grabbing his collar, he jerked him down further so that his mouth was by his brother's ear. "I'd rather die."