Eclipse

5

Hinata had woken up in the middle of the night to get a drink. Even though it had only been a few weeks since they'd moved into the house, he already knew where all the creaks were. He never liked disturbing the woman who he had grown to call a mother.

As he walked down the hall, he heard a voice from her room.

"Look, Viktor, I know you want to come see him, but I assure you he's fine." She seemed to be arguing.

He froze when he heard his father's name. After a moment she spoke again.

"You may think you know what's best for him, but right now he needs space. He'll go back when he's ready. You shouldn't rush him."

There was another moment of silence, and Hinata considered just continuing on to get his drink.

"Viktor, if you even think about doing that I will personally dig your grave. He needs time, and he needs space. Trust me, he won't stay away for too long. He's drawn to the ice. He'll come back eventually. Didn't you used to say you always believed in destiny?"

---

Hinata always loved the idea of destiny. He loved the story of how his father had seen Yuuri do one of his arrangements and been so drawn in, he couldn't look away. He had always loved that, but recently it seemed like the universe was just trying to fuck him over.

As much as he hated to admit it, he still practiced his dance at least once a week. His 'mother' had installed a dance bar in one of the rooms to teach her biological daughter, Natsu, ballet, and hopefully, someday, skating. But every time his 'mother' had made Natsu practice, she had taken it as an opportunity to train him as well. Make sure he stayed in shape.

"In case you ever change your mind." She had told him once.

He also hated to admit that he loved it. The way he moved as he danced. The pain in his muscles as he trained. He also loved the way Natsu was so enthralled by his movements. It was the kind of feeling he only got when all eyes were on him, appreciating his skill.

He could almost feel the same way during an especially good match.

Almost.

"Hinata, do you have any free time after practice ends today?" Lev asked during their break. The "to teach me Russian" was unneeded.

"Yeah, sure. I'll meet you outside of the Nekoma room after we both clean up."

"Alright." Lev suddenly seemed more energized, and Hinata wasn't sure if he had something up his sleeve, or if he was just excited to learn. He really hoped it wasn't the former.

The rest of the day he tried to ignore the eyes burning into his head. There were six of them.

Tsukishima hadn't stopped staring since this morning, and Hinata was beginning to worry that it might have something to do with his slip up the day before. He tried to shake it off, but the feeling stuck.

Lev was way too excited to be learning Russian after practice, so he obviously had something up his sleeve. He wasn't sure if that or Tsukishima worried him more.

Kenma was staring too, although less intensely than the others. Hinata knew that he had probably just been dragged into whatever shit he had planned. He was more worried for Kenma than he was for himself.

After practice, Hinata had not expected to be cornered by Tsukishima on his way to the room the Nekoma players were staying in.

"Not that I care, but how the hell do you know Russian?"

Hinata couldn't help the way he seemed to shrink down. He had never been very good at facing larger opponents, especially when there was no one to hide behind.

"Um," He racked his mind for en excuse. "Lev is teaching me. I heard him practicing one day, and I thought it was cool, so I asked him to teach me."

It was a pretty solid excuse, and thankfully, Tsukishima thought so as well, for he turned around with a tch and walked away.

Hinata quickly ran to the Nekoma room where Lev was already waiting outside.

"You're late, Hinata." He chuckled, reaching into the room to drag out Kenma, who looked like he honestly couldn't care less.

"Sorry, I was caught up by Tsukki. He was asking me about yesterday." A look of guilt overcame Lev's face. "Don't feel bad. It was mostly my fault. Where do you wanna practice?"

At the question, Lev's face lit up.

"Well," And Hinata already felt nervous. "There's this ramen place in town, and-"

"No. I already said not until the last day, okay?"

"пожалуйста." Even Kenma looked like he wanted to go. It almost hurt him to see.

"Fine, but no more than a few hours. And you're paying. I'm too broke to pay." He finally gave in.

"Спасибо." Lev all but yelled in the quiet hallway, earning quite a few yells from inside the room. Especially from Yaku.

The rest of the night was uneventful. The food was as good as he remembered and Lev had obviously been practicing his Russian since his pronunciation had gotten better and he remembered more words.

Kenma had been playing a video game ever since they got there, but he seemed to pick up on the language pretty quickly, since even he would correct Lev sometimes.

What none of them noticed was the group of people standing across the street, watching.

So, maybe some people had been worried about Hinata lately and followed him off of the school campus. And maybe these "some people" had included people from Karasuno and Nekoma, especially since Kenma had willingly gone out after practice.

What Hinata had never even considered, was that maybe the universe had decided that what Hinata needed was a kick in the задница.

---

TRANSLATIONS

пожалуйста = please

Спасибо = thank you

задница = butt/ass