Eclipse

4

"Oh my god. Hinata, are you okay?" It was Viktor. He was on the ice with Yuuri. They both looked like they were crying.

All Hinata could feel was pain. Pain and a cold, unforgiving floor. One that he seemed to need to survive, but never wanted to even see again.

He tried to get up, but the pain in his ribs and hips stopped him. What if he never skated again?

'Would that really be so bad?' His stupid brain supplied.

Next was a wave of blonde.

"Oh солнышко. Someone get a medic." He tried to lift the smaller boy, but the scream of pain stopped him in his tracks. He settled for running fingers gently through his hair.

Hinata had forgotten about that part. Yuri had carded his fingers through his hair. He was trying to calm him down. The cold fingers were a different type of cold than the cold floor. These seemed to relieve the heat growing in his mind, making everything hazy.

He wanted to lean in closer, but he was ripped away by medics. The hospital was the same type of cold as the ice had been.

---

For the rest of the bus ride, he refused to listen to music. It would only make him yearn for the ice. But he wasn't a skater anymore. He was a volleyball player now. He didn't even need to think of the cold, unforgiving floor that had cast him out so long ago.

His leg bounced as he watched out the window. He ignored the snickers emanating from Tsukishima across the aisle. So what if he couldn't sit still? Wasn't that better for volleyball anyway? The more he moved, the more opponent's gazes that were drawn to him. The more he shown, the more his teammates could do without being noticed. The more he moved, the more he helped his team.

He idly wondered why he was always so antsy, always needing to move. He had never been like that on the ice. He only ever made the movements he wanted to. If he didn't, he would be docked points. Maybe it was because now, his body was allowed to do that to win.

You give in an inch, it takes a mile.

He needed to keep his mind occupied or he would go crazy, so he let it wander to all the times he had lied to keep this secret. All the times his teammates had actually asked him to go to the public rink in winter, only for him to lie. Say he had to watch his sister. All the times he had phantom pain on the whole left side of his body, so he had to lie. Say he wasn't feeling well enough to play, or that his mother had him doing chores.

Okay, so maybe that hadn't been the best place to wander to. He instead tried to close his eyes and fall asleep, curling himself up the way he always did when sleeping on the bus, or in a plane. It was almost comforting.

When they arrived at the school, it was dark again, but Hinata wasn't tired. He actually missed the town a bit, now that he was back.

"Maybe you should look around a bit. It might help to settle some of those lingering feelings you have." Kenma said, not looking up from his video game.

"Ooh, can I come? I want a full tour. пожалуйста." Lev begged, his pronunciation slightly off, but the effort made him smile.

"Not tonight. We need to sleep before training tomorrow. Maybe after training camp. We usually have a few hours before we leave to look around anyway, right? Maybe I'll show you then." He told Lev, hating how much he sounded like his mother.

"Fine, but I'm keeping you to your promise." He pouted as they reached where they would part ways.

"I never promised, but okay. Спокoйной ночи. Night, Kenma."

The boy looked up from his game to wave and return the pleasantry. Lev did the same, his pronunciation still a bit off, but Hinata wasn't sure it would ever be perfect.

Training camp the next day was actually pretty fun. They had decided to mix up the teams you played against, and first Karasuno was up against Nekoma. Lev and Hinata had been put together. They both smirked as their names were called. Their smiles only grew as Kageyama was put on their team.

Nishinoya, Yamamoto, and Tanaka had also been put on their team, and after some very carefully picked words about impressing Kiyoko by winning, they were even more fired up.

Everything was going great. They had won the first set and were three points ahead on the second one.

The only notable thing to happen during the game was Hinata and Lev both trying to receive a ball. That, mixed with their terrible receiving ability, caused an audible collision.

"Oh, Hinata. очень жаль." He bent down in apology, his hand perpendicular to his face.

"It's fine. I should have vocalized better." He assured, forgetting for a moment that his teammates were surrounding him. The ones who very much did not know Hinata knew how to speak Russian.

He knew he had told Lev to use the language as much as possible, that it was the best way to get used to it, but he almost regretted that now.

"Whoa, you know Russian? That's so cool." Nishinoya was so easily entertained.

From the other side of the court came a voice, before Hinata could even defend himself.

"He probably just saw the motion Lev did. He barely knows Japanese. How could he know another language?" And for once, Hinata was grateful for Tsukishima's constant jabs.

The rest of the day went without incident, but Hinata had failed to notice the inquisitive eye Tsukishima had trained on him the whole day.

---

TRANSLATIONS

пожалуйста = please

Спокойной ночи = good night

очень жаль = very sorry