Did I ever mention that this fic was going to be warm and fluffy and all around happy?

Because if I did, I'll have to rescind that statement.

Now Suga was even more confused.

=oOo=

One, two, three rings, and then finally, a click.

The screen in front of the four Miyamura siblings flashed bright for a moment before the previously empty interface was replaced by three windows, each streaming a different feed. The bottom window featured the four of them huddled together, the twins sitting on their older siblings' laps and the web camera of Haruka's laptop somehow managing to fit all of them into the video. The top right window streamed footage from their apartment back in Tokyo, two young men standing by with two tall cups of what Haru had assumed to be coffee sitting within view. The top left window showed a beaming, sunburnt man, dressed in khakis and browns, the feed coming all the way from Cairo.

"Dad, Nii-san, Hideyoshi-san," Haruka immediately chirped upon seeing them, prompting her younger brothers to turn their attention to the screen in front of them. "How've you been?" Her question, however, was quickly forgotten, when the twins began to stir.

"Papa!" Sakuya and Ikuya excitedly cheered in unison, nearly launching themselves towards the defenseless laptop, and the only things that had saved the poor device was Haru and Yuuichi quickly wrapping their arms around their youngest brothers before they could get off. That didn't stop the children from being rowdy though. "Papa, Papa!"

From the other side of the world, their father chuckled. "Hi kids," he greeted them with a small wave of a hand. "How are you all doing? I haven't called you in a while, have I? Sorry about that."

Shrugging, Yuuichi sighed, "Can't be helped, Dad. It's not like everywhere you go has internet, after all."

"I'm pretty sure that's 'I miss you Dad, but I understand you have work to do, so I'm okay' in Yuuichi-speak," the black-haired man in Tokyo snickered, while the brunette sitting beside him shook his head despite his own growing grin. "Did you miss you Nii-san too, Yuuichi? I bet you did."

"As if," the middle schooler huffed as he sharply turned his head to the side, only furthering his older brother's amusement.

"Real mature, Ryuuji," the brunette sighed before turning his attention to the video conference. "Good evening, Fujitaka-san. I'll be staying over tonight, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all," Fujitaka assured him "Though with how often you stay over, I have to ask – why don't you just move in, Hideyoshi? You're like family to us anyway, and I doubt any of us would mind." Ignoring the embarrassed expression the brunette was wearing, the man then turned to the eldest Miyamura sibling. "There, I asked him to move in for you. Are you happy now?"

"Dad!"

Ryuuji's reaction only made their father laugh all the more – Haruka and Yuuichi couldn't help but try and ultimately fail to stifle their own giggles as well – and it made it all the more obvious to Haruka that their penchant for teasing ran in the family.

"Wait, did you seriously get your dad to ask me to move in with you?"

"Wha- Not! I mean, I was gonna ask you, since we've been together for a while now and you're always here anyway, and so I asked him if he'd be alright with it and, well-" Ryuuji's frantic explanation was effectively cut short by Hideyoshi pulling him into a hug. Despite the sweet gesture, Haruka and Yuuichi had expected something more intense and had automatically covered Sakuya's and Ikuya's eyes. "Uh, I take this as a yes?"

"Duh, you dumbass!"

"Good, because I already had the spare keys made."

"Bleh," Yuuichi grumbled, making a face. "You guys are too sweet. It's making me nauseous."

The eldest Miyamura sibling stuck his tongue out at the middle schooler, an arm still slung over Hideyoshi's shoulders. "When you meet someone special, you'll be eating those words Yuu."

"Well," Haruka cut in, a smile wide on her face in contrast to scowl her younger brother was wearing. "I'm happy for the two of you, Nii-san, Hideyoshi-san."

"Haru-nee, I can't see!" Ikuya whined, shaking his head in an effort to free his eyes, and it was only then that Haruka remembered they still had their eyes covered.

"Ah, sorry Ikuya," she squeaked, immediately removing her hands from his eyes, Yuuchi following suit.

"Papa, Papa, did you get our drawings?" Sakuya eagerly asked once he could see again, his twin similarly lighting up at the question.

"Did you Papa, did you?" Ikuya reiterated.

For a few moments, Fujitaka shuffled about before pulling two sheets of paper into view. "You mean these wonderful pieces of art?" he chimed, displaying them proudly for all of them to see. "You mean you drew these for me, Sakuya, Ikuya? I thought an artist made these! My, my, what talented kids I have!" The twins laughed in delight, terribly happy that their father loved their gift, and Haru couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

'Dad is so extra, I swear… But I guess that's his way of encouraging us in our hobbies…'

"And look what else came in the mail." The man then lifted up a CD case with a label that read 'Spring Nationals.'

It took Haru a couple of seconds before she recognized the CD, but when she did, her eagerness was no different from the twins'. "You got it!" she cheered. It was a compilation of matches from the last Spring Tournament, specifically, all the matches Aoba Johsai played.

Ever since she and Yuuichi took up volleyball, their father would always make it a point to have a video copy of all of their matches. Even now, with thousands of kilometers separating them, Fujitaka insisted that they send him CDs of them. "Of course," he hummed. "I can't wait to get everyone to watch… Oh, and I'll have to watch this one too." The man pulled out another CD, but this time, the label it had read 'Yuuichi's School Play.' Now that disc, Haruka recognized immediately, and she quickly braced herself for her brother's reaction.

"How did you get that!?" Yuuichi immediately squawked, pointing an accusing finger at the screen and nearly sending Sakuya sliding off his lap. "Who-" The middle schooler paused before turning to Haruka, who in turn immediately lifted her hands up in surrender. "You took a video?!"

"Well, I didn't record it. The school did," she corrected. "I just asked if I could have a copy."

"And they just gave you one?!"

"I am your sister, so yeah, they gave me one."

"I feel so attacked right now," was all Yuuichi could say as he shook his head, a look of betrayal on his face.

Video calls like these would last well into the night – the time difference making it no easier for them – and more often than not, their conversation would start winding down when their father would ask Yuuichi to get the twins to bed. Yuuichi would then come back to say goodnight before retiring himself, leaving Haruka and Ryuuji to talk with their father.

"I'm gonna call it a day, Ryuuji," Hideyoshi murmured, sleep already evident in his voice by that point, and Haruka couldn't hold it against him. It was already nearing midnight, and if the libero had to be honest herself, she needed to get to bed soon too. "It was nice to see you again, Fujitaka-san. And thank you. I'll take good care of your son."

"It's no problem, Hideyoshi," Fujitaka assured him, a warm smile on his face. "I'm just happy my son found someone he cares deeply for. Not everyone can, after all." A similar smile appeared on Ryuuji's and Hideyoshi's faces, and after pressing a quick kiss on her brother's temple, Hideyoshi got up and walked out of view, leaving the two eldest siblings with their father. "You two should probably get to bed too, but first I need to ask you something Haruka."

The teen blinked. "Yeah?"

"University. Are you planning on going to university?"

Haruka didn't even need to think. "Yeah, definitely."

"I see, I see," their father hummed, nodding to himself. "You did mention you wanted to teach… English, was it?" Haruka nodded eagerly. "Well then, have you already been looking into universities?"

"Actually Dad, Haru and I've been already working on application forms," Ryuuji offered, causing the man to blink in mild surprise. "We'll talk about it more when I come home for Golden Week."

"Then it looks like you've got a handle on this already." A snort. "I've got some very independent kids, don't I?"

"Aw come on Dad," Haru whined, pouting. "You know we miss you."

"I know you do," he hummed. "I miss you kids a lot too and I'm sorry for putting so much responsibility onto you... I wish I could be there with you, but after your mother…" Their father didn't make an effort to finish his sentence, and instead took a steadying breath. Haru and Ryuuji turned to each other, knowing full well that after five years, talking about their mother was still difficult for him.

"We're fine, Dad. We're totally okay," Ryuuji murmured. "We love you Dad."

"And I love you," he breathed before sharply shaking my head. "But back to the topic on hand… Haruka, are you gunning for a sports scholarship again? You got a lot of offers back then when you were about to start high school… Any offers now?"

"Ah, actually…" Haruka began, reaching a hand up to rub the back of her neck, suddenly nervous. Her father had always been supportive of her volleyball career, as well as Yuuichi's, so it was a bit difficult for her to give him the news. But she had already thought it through, and nothing was going to change her mind. "I'm retiring after Inter-High."

=oOo=

In the back of his mind, Koushi made a note to never talk about personal plans in the clubroom, ever again. What had started out as a simple invitation from Daichi – he had asked whether or not he wanted to join him the coming Sunday to buy new volleyball shoes while they were all getting ready for afternoon practice, to which he replied he couldn't because he already had plans with Miyamura that day – had eventually turned into a pseudo-debate between him and Sawamura on whether or not Miyamura's invitation was as innocent as it had seemed.

And then, lines were drawn.

Tanaka and Kinoshita being on their captain's side was not helping, and neither was Kageyama, Hinata and Tsukishima's indifference. Shimizu and Yamaguchi were thankfully being reasonable, and while Sugawara was disappointed Asahi and Nishinoya still refused to go back to the club, he was the slightest bit relieved that the two didn't have to give their two cents on the topic, which left one last person to ask.

"What about you, Ennoshita?" the gray-haired teen asked. "You know Miyamura-san. She just probably needs the man-power, right?"

Blinking, the second year wing spiker took a moment to give his answer. "Probably," he finally said, giving Sugawara another man on his team. "This is just based on personal experience, and it's been years since Haru and I actually hung out, but she's a pretty straightforward person, even back then. If it was a date, then she'd say it's a date." Ennoshita then made a face. "I can't imagine why anyone would want to date her though."

At that, the setter's eyebrows shot up. He knew Ennoshita could be as cutthroat as Daichi – case in point, he could reign in his fellow second years and was actually getting along well with the first years – but Suga wasn't expecting him to say something like that. "What do you mean?" Koushi couldn't help but ask.

Ennoshita must've caught on to what his vice captain was thinking, judging from the look that appeared on his face, and immediately started back tracking. "I mean, we practically grew up together, you know?" he told him. "We could probably pass off as siblings, just like Tanaka said. It's kinda weird for me to talk about why anyone would date someone I thought of as a sister."

Koushi considered his underclassman's words for a few seconds, and as reluctant as he was to admit it, he could understand. He had two older sisters of his own, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of having to list reasons why a guy would date them. "Yeah, I kinda get what you mean," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, and now it felt like he needed to defend the libero. "But you know, Miyamura-san seems to be a nice person."

"She is," Ennoshita affirmed. "She just used to drag me into a lot of her crazy schemes."

Sugawara whole-heartedly laughed. "And you let her?"

The second year couldn't help but let out a chuckle of his own. "They sounded like good ideas at the time." Ennoshita's laughter shortly died down however, and Sugawara couldn't help but notice the grim expression that suddenly appeared on the wing spiker's face. "But between the two of us, she was always the one who got scolded by our parents and-" Ennoshita suddenly straightened himself, catching himself before he could say any more, but the damage was done and Suga was the slightest bit curious as to what he was planning to say. Before he could ask though, Ennoshita was already making his exit.

"Ah, sorry about that I started rambling…" he quickly apologized. "Anyway, don't think about it too much, Sugawara-san. I'm pretty sure Haru isn't."