It's been a year. I know.

By the way, sucks when it comes to formatting, so all those "{...}"? Those are just supposed to be an extra space between paragraphs. Sorry about that, but unless you want to read it where I cross posted it, you're stuck with it.

Also, you can find me on Twitter at DarkLuxAO3, and also on tumblr as "TenebraeLux".

Hands Into the Fire

Takeda Ittetsu has a great view from his place at the teacher's lounge. In front of him, other teachers mill about, quietly talking about their students and their progress, either thrilled or despairing. With the window right behind him, it's easy for him to lean back and pull the shutters up whenever he needs a break, letting a sense of calm watch over him when he sees the kids joke about with their friends.

Today, the sense of calm shatters when Hinata Shouyo's mother finds a place on one of the benches right on his line of sight, tiny redhead girl clambering up until she's sitting on the table and pulling a doll out the purse the woman had been carrying.

It's not that big a deal, Ittetsu tells himself. And it isn't, he doesn't think. He had hoped his willingness to let her meet the team had seemed upfront enough that she wouldn't feel the need to actually meet everyone, but he made a mistake, and now he has to deal with it. Still, he doubts the boys will misbehave if it means doing so will affect their secret weapon, so Ittetsu tells himself to have a little faith.

Ittetsu leaves the shutters open when he gets up to get to his first class.

{...}

He doesn't know how he manages it, running down from the third floor to gather his things before Hinata dashes down from who-knows-where and almost body-slams into the bench his mother is waiting at. As he slings his laptop bag across his chest, Ittetsu lets his eyes linger on the scene behind the window; Hinata's mother is changed, her stern features softening the second her son is in front of her. She extends her hand, and Hinata blinks, tilts his head to the side, and extends his own until his mother takes it and runs het thumbs gently over his wrist.

It's a tender moment, Ittetsu knows, and he shouldn't be watching.

He tears his eyes away, refusing to feel embarrassed. The interaction had cleared up a few questions, and it's a little easier to breathe now that he knows the protective Alpha smell constantly clinging to Hinata is that of his mother and not some unknown, perverse entity seeking to take advantage of his student.

Ittetsu lowers the shutters and flips them closed before he hurries out of the office, barely responding to the other teachers wishing him a relaxed week as he starts toward the gym. He only thinks back on the wishes when he smiles at Coach Ukai and waves at Sawamura and Azumane, who merely grunt as they struggle to get the volleyball net in place. Relax. Of course.

Ukai is watching the boys with a bored, resigned look on his face by the time Ittetsu is finished placing his bag on the floor behind the curtain of the stage. Ittetsu looks, but other than Sugawara coaching the boys on where the braces for the posts are, the rest of the kids is only just getting there, and they aren't doing anything that truly warrants that sort of expression.

"What's wrong?" Ittetsu asks, and his voice is enough of a surprise that Ukai's frown melts from his face as he turns to look at him.

"Nothing," He replies immediately, though the frown is back in place a second later as he turns to watch Tanaka tiptoe his way to Tsukishima and poke him with a pen. Ukai sighs when Tsukishima swats at Tanaka's hand and Tanaka purposefully pokes him harder. "It's going to be a long week, isn't it?"

Ittetsu thinks about teenage boys stuck with each other for days on end while everyone is stressed about an upcoming match and smiles. "Yup!"

The team falls quiet before Ukai can throw his head back in exasperation. Ittetsu doesn't have to look to know Hinata, along with his mother and sister, have finally made their way to the gym. He does anyway, though, because it's only polite.

Hinata's mother looks pointedly at everyone, making note of their clothes or their ages, Ittetsu cannot be entirely sure. She squints her eyes at Asahi, which doesn't surprise him, and Asahi shrivels under her gaze like wet paper. Her hand tightens around Hinata's in a hold that must be painful before she catches sight of him and Ukai and she marches right over to them, pulling her children along.

The rest of the team gathers in a little ball of curiosity while Hinata's mother looks between him and Ukai, undecided about whether she is allowed to relax or not. She let's go—not of Hinata, but of the little girl—and pulls a phone out of her pocket, pointing at Ukai with it.

"I want to keep in contact," Hinata's mother says, and Ukai, clearly dumbstruck, fishes for his own phone and drops it the moment it's out of his pocket. Hinata's mother stares him down as he curses under his breath and bends over to pick it back up, only to tense when he realizes the phone is now frozen.

The curl on Hinata's mother's lips when she looks away from them and toward the kids is frankly terrifying. Ittetsu wants to do something; defend his students against the threatening Alpha, or at least distract her, but he doesn't. She's holding Hinata's arm in a vice-like grip, and she clearly thinks there is something here she has to defend her own child against, so Ittetsu backs down. He's stubborn, but he's not dumb, and Hinata's participation in this camp is still at risk.

Ittetsu sees the boys' eyes shift from her to himself, obviously noting that she's taller than he is, and leaning into each other to comment on it. He should be grateful, he thinks, that they think it's odd, but Ittetsu has never once boasted of being tall in any sense of the word, and he should probably talk to them about commenting on such things when the situation is so tense.

Nishinoya could probably shed off some of the woman's worries, but he's nowhere to be seen. Next to him, Ukai is still fumbling to get his phone to work properly. Which means Hinata's mother has more time to scrutinize everybody. Ittetsu catches Sugawara's grimace as he notices the hold on Hinata's arm, and then tries to convey to Tanaka that he should very much stop staring at Hinata's sister and stage whispering that bro, the hair's natural, especially considering that Narita keeps awkwardly waving his arm at him to no avail. On the other end of the spectrum, Asahi is ready to collapse from the pressure of the glare being directed his way; he shakes and sweats, and Ittetsu is frankly surprised that he's keeping his scent controlled enough to keep the air of reeking or terror.

When it's obvious that Hinata's mother looks as though she is ready to either pick her son up and run for the hills, or shove him behind her back and fight the entire team, Ittetsu opens his mouth.

The door slamming open is about as sudden as the shout that follows it. Ittetsu barely has time to move out of the way before Nishinoya flings himself past him to barrel roll into Tanaka's legs and knocks him over.

For a second, everything stops, which in turn causes Nishinoya to cackle like a hyena.

"Not cool, bro!" Tanaka huffs out, grinning. He makes to get up and dramatically leans to the side, dropping half his weight on Nishinoya, who only laughs harder and pushes at Tanaka's side with his foot.

Throughout the whole thing, Tsukishima had only managed to look mildly inconvenienced. Now he stares impassively at the others and rolls his eyes. With the simple step he takes back, he breaks formation, and the others, too, seem to break out of whatever spell fear had created for them.

"Are we training or not?" Tsukishima drawls.

Ukai makes an excited noise from the back of his throat when he gets his phone's frozen screen to work. When he looks up and finds the boys still lingering, whatever had rendered him speechless before melts out of him, too. He barks at Nishinoya and Tanaka to get off their asses and sends the whole team to run laps around the gym.

"Ah, here," Ukai says, once the kids are moving, "What did you say your first name was?"

There's a long pause in which Hinata's mother looks between them and the boys, and Ittetsu can only hope she doesn't think Ukai was out of line in yelling at Nishinoya. Still, she responds, "Keiko."

Ittetsu offers his own phone number for a second contact, and when Keiko frowns at him, he has no qualms about letting her know she has the upper hand; he smiles and puts his arms behind his back in a submissive gesture, though he raises his chin. "Coach Ukai might be busy with the boys if you call during training. This way, there's a better chance one of us will answer, at least."

She accepts, though her frown doesn't drop even when numbers are exchanges and called to make sure they all work. Her gaze goes from the phones to Hinata to Nishinoya, who is not only running but also apparently making a race out of it even though no one else seems to be competing.

"I want to talk to him," She says. Next to her, the tiny redhead girl nods, though she looks more excited than she looks stern, "the little one."

Nishinoya runs past them a second later, waving happily at Hinata's sister. Ukai hesitates a little, then nods, bringing a hand to the side of his mouth.

"Oi, Nishinoya! Get your ass over here!"

When Keiko's mouth twitches in disapproval, Ittetsu sort of wants to smack Ukai. Even Hinata winces a little, the very first expression on his face other than a content smile Ittetsu has seen from him since they got to the gym.

Nishinoya cuts across the gym to join them and raises a hand in the general direction of Hinata's sister. The grin that takes over her face is wild as she jumps to complete the high five. Keiko doesn't intervene, but she does tug lightly at her arm when she's done.

"I've told you to be gentle, Natsu," she reprimands.

Natsu pouts, "But he—"

"You know he's probably just as delicate as your brother," Keiko insists.

Nishinoya visibly bristles, and for once, it's Hinata himself who scrambles to put out a fire. He moves to stand close to Nishinoya, though his mother is still holding his arm, and grabs a fistful of the other boy's shirt.

"See?!" Hinata cries, practically vibrating, "I told you, mama, he's an omega, too, so it's okay! We'll be together, right?"

Hinata turns to Nishinoya. Nishinoya frowns, lips halfway to a snarl and eyes trained on Hinata's mother. "Yeah," he says suddenly "Plus it's my job as your upperclassman to make sure you're safe!"

With his shoulders pulled back, Nishinoya looks much taller than he has any right to. Ittetsu is a little jealous of his ability to project his immense personality onto his body.

Keiko looks at the boys for a long moment, and then she smiles gently. As do most adults, she has an extremely good hold of her scent, so it's not immediately obvious if she truly believes in Nishinoya or if she simply thinks (considering the way he has seen her treat her son) that Nishinoya's words are endearing.

Very slowly, as if it physically pains her, Keiko finally lets go of Hinata's arm.

{...}

"Hey, dumbass," Kageyama practically growls once they've divided themselves into teams for practice. Hinata winces and promptly looks down: Kageyama's voice is harsh and unfriendly still, even after all the time they've spent training together. "You better not do worse than normal just because your mom's here."

Still looking down at the hardwood, Hinata swallows a whimper and nods three times repeatedly.

Behind them, Nishinoya laughs. "Yeah, Shouyo, don't be embarrassed by your mom!"

But Hinata isn't embarrassed by him mom at all.

Kageyama can grumble under his breath all he wants, but he's on the same side of the net as Hinata. The only one behind him is Nishinoya, which means setting to Hinata is not so much an option as it is a necessity. Every time Kageyama throws the ball, Hinata is already there, eyes screwed shut and tongue sticking out from between his teeth.

And the thing is, Kageyama has to admit Hinata is fast, if nothing else. He doesn't score every time, because options are limited when playing three-on-three and plays are much easier to predict, but when he does, Hinata doesn't fail to turn toward his family, all manic energy and exhilaration.

"Mama!" Hinata cries, over and over again, "Mama! Did you see that!?"

And when Hinata's mom smiles indulgingly and confirms she did or when his sister cheers, which is every single time he scores, Hinata hoots like an overgrown bird and spins as if he has energy to spare.

Hinata sparkles from the praise, and Kageyama will be damned if he has to baby Hinata whenever he plays for the next three years. He gives a step toward the net, where Captain Sawamura is patiently waiting for the latest round of overenergetic nonsense to be over.

"Captain, maybe Mrs. Hinata should always come along to our matches."

Sawamura can't pretend he's not thinking about it; Hinata hasn't been hit in the face even once today, and it has to be some kind of record.

{...}

When it's finally time to pack up and get going, Hinata gets his smallest bag and runs toward the Omega dressing room.

"Ah, Hinata, don't be too long! There's a bathroom where we're going." Daichi instructs, and Hinata turns around to salute before disappearing into the dressing room. "Honestly, he's just changing his shirt, does he have to—" he motions for the dressing room door.

The scent of a threat washes over him, and he has to fight back the instinct to bare his teeth. He whirls around, prepared to scold his teammates, and snaps his mouth shut when he realizes the scent is coming from Hinata's mom. Even the little girl—Natsu, if Daichi remembers correctly—is looking up at him as if she's horrified of his words.

"Are you suggesting my Omega son change out in the open?" She stresses the word Omega as if that makes all the difference. And well, Daichi doesn't know, maybe to her it does.

Daichi glances at Nishinoya, who has not only shed his sweaty t-shirt and thrown it at Asahi's face to see his reaction, he's currently changing into sweatpants and everyone is acting like they haven't even noticed—except for Asahi, who's gone beet red and is very obviously trying not to stare and Tanaka won't stop snickering at him in a way he probably thinks is sneaky.

He can't help the way his jaw clenches, or the way his instincts are telling him to fight the threat to protect his teammates. Daichi smiles, and he must not be able to control that very well either, because next to him, Koushi grabs his arm and squeezes. Don't, don't don't, is the aura Koushi is giving off.

Daichi gulps, and takes a step back, backing off before he ruins the training camp for Hinata. Koushi squeezes his arm again, though he's wearing a tiny smile, now. The woman looks between as if they're an equation of 2+2 adding up to 9.

"Sorry, Mrs. Hinata," Koushi says, his smile growing into a gentle, placating one. He bows, and tugs on Daichi's arm until the Captain follows his lead. "He didn't mean it like that. Daichi just wants us to get to the center before dark. Don't you, Daichi?"

No, that's not it at all. She was trying to be a threat, and Daichi has to protect them all. "Er—yes," is what he says instead. "Of course."

If Hinata's mom has anything to say to that—and everyone paying attention is sure she does—she stops in favor of looking over and smiling when she sees Hinata running back over to them.

"I'm ready!" Hinata announces. He makes to bend down to grab his other two bags, but Natsu beats him to it. She holds them out to him though she looks she's about to fall over from the weight. Even then, Hinata smiles and thanks her.

Natsu nods, looks around them like she has a big decision to make. Her big brown eyes finally dart between Asahi and Koushi, settling on Koushi after a second of deliberation. She points at him with an accusing finger.

"Please take care of my brother, okay?" Koushi pauses, confused, but Natsu wiggles her wrist to punctuate that she isn't done, "He's really small and delicate, so you have to. And—And you," She moves her hand so it's pointing at Asahi, and Asahi startles so bad at being singled out that he squeaks. "And you should take care of him," accusing finger at Nishinoya "You're the biggest and he's the smallestest, so you gotta protect him! Right, mama?"

Hinata's mom pointedly ignores Nishinoya's cry of outrage. She looks over at Asahi with that frown on her brow again. They're outside now, the boys shoving bags into the trunk of the van, and Asahi clearly doesn't know what to do. He's used to those glares coming from his classmates, but aside from some elderly couples at the park, adults tend to keep their thoughts about his lack of Alpha mannerisms to themselves.

"Hey, I don't need Asahi to protect me!" Nishinoya yells. Daichi sighs, but Nishinoya's glare is not even directed at Natsu; his eyes are trained on Hinata's mom.

Koushi rushes to grab his sleeve in case Nishinoya decides he wants to fight—the establishment or society or just Hinata's mom, Daichi doesn't know—but Nishinoya looks again at Hinata, at Natsu, and stands down. He tugs his arm away from Koushi's hold.

"C'mon Asahi, get your ass in the van already." Nishinoya huffs.

{...}

If you ask Asahi how he handles conflict, he'll tell you he runs away from it. At mach speed. Probably knocking over something expensive in the process because that's just who he is as a person. He hears Nishinoya's words and does just that: he chucks his overnight bag to Daichi so he can throw it in the trunk and hightails into the van to sit in the seat farthest away from Hinata's mom as he can physically manage.

Granted, that means he's right behind Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, but it's a small price to pay.

From the safety of his seat behind tinted windows, Asahi sees Hinata happily butt noses with his mom. Mrs. Hinata then pulls Hinata into a hug, rubbing their necks together and separating enough from him just to reinforce her scenting by marking his wrists as well.

Asahi wrinkles his nose. A parent scenting their child in public is not exactly strange, but Hinata is already fifteen, and seeing a mother scenting her teenage son before he heads off with friends has to be the most awkward thing Asahi has ever witnessed. Though Hinata doesn't look put off by it at all, Asahi looks away quickly enough.

By the time Nishinoya himelf climbs into the van, he's already huffing and puffing in anger. Asahi can't say he's muttering under his breath because Nishinoya is incapable of that volume; it's more like he's quietly yelling at Tanaka about being able to handle fights with people three times his own size and not needing coddling from someone who's not even his own mom.

"Oh, like with when you punched Takahashi in preschool!" is Tanaka's agreeing response. "He lost a baby tooth, right?"

Nishinoya grins because he is always pleased when someone acknowledges he's dangerous. Asahi can't help it if he stares.

Nishinoya twists until he's looking right at him, and Asahi's cheeks flush in embarrassment. He turns away as quickly as he can. It proves to be tooquick, because he smacks his head against the window, and what was possibly going to be no more than a glance from Nishinoya ends up catching his full attention as he laughs delightedly.

At least, Asahi thinks, his pain melts Nishinoya's rage away.

The problem comes later, since Asahi never knows what to do with himself when Nishinoya's near him, and right now is no exception. He and Tanaka make their way over to him, because of course Asahi had parked himself on the long seat at the very back of the van, and sit down, effectively trapping him.

Nishinoya's arm brushes against his, and Asahi has to swallow back a whimper, leaning away and toward the window, begging his heart to slow down lest Nishinoya manages to hear it.

He doesn't even notice they're moving until Hinata starts yelling that this is the first time ever he's spent the night away from his house, effectively snapping all the attention back to him. Next to him, Nishinoya huffs and Asahi doesn't have time to react before Nishinoya scrambles forward so he can put his arms on the backrest of Tsukishima's seat, who clicks his tongue and pushes his head back to dig into Nishinoya's hands, though Nishinoya doesn't budge.

"What, seriously, Shouyo?"

Even from this far, Asahi can see Hinata's mop of orange hair bob up and down like a bubble-head. Hinata whirls around in his seat until he's kneeling on top of it, arms hanging off the backrest.

"My mam—my mom never let me," Hinata says, like that's a thing normal people do.

"But Ryuu says you went to an all-Omega school!" Nishinoya pushes at Tsukishima's head until his hands are free and points accusingly at Tanaka "Didn't you make any friends?"

"Well—yes," Hinata says. "But they were all girls, and their parents didn't like me that much, I guess."

"You're an idiot," Kageyama says, because he can never keep his mouth shut. Asahi doesn't understand why he keeps picking seats so close to Hinata if Hinata bothers him that much.

Hinata visibly falters. His eyes trail down, shoulders hunch up. Asahi's still doesn't quite know what to make of Kageyama. Ever since Nishinoya dragged him back to practice, Asahi has had to live with Kageyama constantly belittling Hinata but then also purposefully following him around as if it's his job to make sure to point out every single flaw that he sees.

Asking Suga only earns him tired groans and eye rolls directed at Daichi. Asking Daichi gets him a heated explanation about teamwork and tiny underdogs with a single exceptional talent that needed all the help they can get until they could work on the rest of their abilities.

Whatever the case, Asahi's glad when Nishinoya scrambles even further up his seat, pushing a foot to Asahi's stomach and the other halfway up Tanaka's arm so he's almost horizontal, his waist digging into Tsukishima's backrest and belly pushing down Tsukishima's head, and promises:

"You can come over to my house next week! My grandpa will convince your mom, bro!"

Tanaka snorts, but Nishinoya kicks him into silence. Asahi looks between them and hopes they don't think he's intruding but he's actually really curious now. Tanaka catches his eye and makes a vague hand motion, either telling him they would talk later or to butt off.

Asahi hopes it's the first one. Or neither. Neither is fine. He just doesn't want them to think he's nosy.

Lost in his panic, he misses Hinata's answer, but Nishinoya's foot presses harder against his stomach and Asahi finally looks up in time to see just how excited Hinata looks before Coach Ukai snaps at everyone to settle down.

Nishinoya cackles, and finally slides down until he's sitting in moderately correct position.

"It's gonna be so cool!" Nishinoya says to Tanaka.

"Are you gonna play that horror game you got?" Tanaka replies, his smile sharp.

"Nah," Nishinoya says, "what if he actually gets scared? He'll never be allowed to come over again."

Asahi's chest constricts when he sees the evil glint in Nishinoya's eyes. He swallows when he leans into Tanaka, to cup his hands around Tanaka's ear, and the fear that bubbles in his chest when both of them laugh quietly and nod to each other, a plan clearly complete.

Nishinoya turns toward him, mischievous smile dancing on his face, and grips Asahi's hand. Asahi jumps out of his seat, feeling as though his skeleton is about to punch its way out of his skin. He stammers a string of nonsense that Nishinoya doesn't acknowledge and hopes his hand is not as sweaty as the rest of him.

"Asahi, you come over, too!"

Asahi manages to string together even more nonsense before his tongue starts to work again, tumbling over his words like he's running in an obstacle race and crashing against everything in sight. "But I… but Hinata's mom… she's not gonna…"

Nishinoya rolls his eyes impatiently and grips Asahi's hand even harder. "Dude, you're like, the sweetest Alpha ever."

To his mortification, Suga, sitting with his eyes closed on the seat parallel to them, hums, "Yup. Not dangerous at all."

"See?" Nishinoya grins. "You're a perfect beginner-level Alpha. A must for a first sleepover."

Asahi is not sure what his face is doing, but he doesn't think it's anything good.

"Plus," Nishinoya keeps going. Asahi really wishes they would get to wherever they're going already, "you're fun, I want you there, okay?"

Asahi thinks his heart might stop.

{...}

When they step out of the van, Daichi is quick to take command, just like he always does. Koushi sneaks a glance at the teachers and he can imagine their relief at not having to get everyone in order. Coach Ukai points at the building and Mr. Takeda shakes his head, looking guilty and embarrassed. With a flat look, Coach Ukai turns to them.

"Sawamura, get everyone to their rooms. Shimizu, please show Mr. Takeda where the kitchen is. I'll go make sure all the lights work." He orders.

Daichi doesn't need to be told twice. He nods at Koushi, and then both of them make a beeline for the back of the van to get everyone's bags out and on the floor for easier access.

Last ones in, Hinata's bags are the first ones out, and when Hinata springs his way over and picks them up, Koushi leans in.

"Your mom's scent is really strong and it could put Noya off, so you might want to take a bath before dinner,"

It's only a suggestion, of course, Koushi doesn't mean anything by it. He finds it odd that Mrs. Hinata thinks her son needs suppressants when he still smells very much like a baby, and it's even weirder that she thinks she needs to scent him so strongly that even Koushi could smell it a mile away, but if Hinata likes it, Koushi is not going to judge.

Thankfully, Hinata doesn't blush, he just nods, wide-eyed and surprised. And of course he's surprised. Hinata's home probably smells like his mother every single hour of every single day, if Hinata's gym bag is anything to go by.

"But it's okay if I still smell like her a little bit, right?" Hinata starts to bounce on the balls of his feet, "'Cause I think my clothes all do."

"That's fine, Hinata," Daichi intervenes. "Suga's just saying it because if your room smells really strongly of unknown Alpha, Noya maybe won't be able to sleep. But a little shouldn't be a problem, I don't think."

"Oh!" Hinata pipes up. "Okay! I get that!"

Koushi is sure he does.

Bags on his shoulders, Daichi leads the way to the dormitories. He points to the two next to each other and announces Betas and Alphas have to divide themselves between the two rooms, shooing everyone inside. The second Tanaka starts claiming stuff as his own, Daichi sighs and looks in Koushi's direction.

"Don't worry," Koushi says, waving a hand to express Daichi should just go deal with the mess already, "I got them,"

Koushi smiles when Daichi does, and then leads Nishinoya and Hinata up the stairs into their own room.

"Where's the bath?" Asks Hinata immediately, not quite inside just yet.

"Downstairs," Koushi replies. "If you want to use it right now I can tell Daichi to set turns right away."

Hinata shakes his head, and really, Koushi never realized bouncing in the balls of one's feet could be considered a nervous habit until today. Still, Koushi nods and waves Hinata inside, who runs straight for the window to open it up. He throws a careful look at Nishinoya, who is too busy setting up his futon to notice.

"Well, the teachers are going to be down the hall, and you can always ask me or Daichi if you need help. We brought pre-made food for tonight, so maybe head down to the kitchen in about ten minutes."

With that, Koushi heads back downstairs to mentally prepare for dinner.

…

..

.

Koushi is focused on the way Daichi slides his chair over until their shoulders are touching.

Which means he definitely does not see Nishinoya get up from his seat and practically climb on the table until it's too late:

"Is that your doll?" Nishinoya's voice breaks through Daichi's.

The excitement of his voice is only rivaled by the silence that befalls the rest of the table. As one, everyone turns to stare at Hinata. Koushi even has to lean into the table to see past Coach Ukai's shoulder until his eyes land on Hinata's hands holding a small, handmade thing made of plush. The doll shares Hinata's red hair, and if Koushi squints, he can even catch the hint of a smile sewed onto its face.

This time, Hinata does blush, and does so to the tips of his ears.

"Oh, uhm, yes." Hinata is uncharacteristically meek, and he rubs his thumb over the doll's back as if it was the one in need of comfort. His eyes pass over everyone's faces before he looks down at his food and then back up to look at Nishinoya, "You didn't bring yours?"

Nishinoya pulls up until he's in a high plank, still halfway on top of the table. He looks like he wants to scoff, but he holds back, simply shaking his head. "No way! I'm terrible with dolls."

Tanaka snorts and Hinata frowns. Koushi, of course, can't know for sure where the reaction is coming from, but having seen Hinata's mom, he does have a pretty good idea, though; dolls are traditional, and while Omegas are expected to care for them as if they were their own children and even keep them their whole lives, it's not unusual for an Alpha to misplace theirs in a couple months or years.

Koushi makes to glance at Asahi and Daichi steps on his foot to stop him.

"Noya lost his, Shouyo," Tanaka says, laughter in his voice. Nishinoya sticks his tongue out at him. "That's kinda how we met."

With attention effectively diverted away from Hinata, Nishinoya retells the story of how he had always been cautiously clumsy with the doll, trying to take care of it even though his games were often too rough to be hauling it around, and how even then he hadn't wanted to put it down.

"So, one day I was playing hide and seek, and I climbed up a tree to hide, and then… I guess I forgot it there?" he looks to Tanaka for help, but Tanaka shrugs. "Well, I don't know where I left it. That's why I lost it, I guess. Point is! I… I took it really well, you know, but—"

"You're so full of it!" Tanaka snorts.

Tanaka jabs Nishinoya's side with his fingers, and the smaller boy catches his wrist and leans away from Ennoshita to push Tanaka's head with his elbow until Koushi taps Asahi's shoulder and points, effectively sending him out like a pokémon to stop everything from getting worse.

"Ryuu, c'mon!"

Undeterred, Tanaka keeps going, "You were crying like your arm had fallen off, bro! That's why I gave you my doll!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"You were!"

"Wasn't!"

Nishinoya goes to fling himself at Tanaka, fists up and feet kicking, but Asahi manages to get a good hold on him before he can. Suddenly, Nishinoya twists his head, using his feet to hitch himself higher up Asahi's hold, until he can look in Shimizu's general direction.

"I really wasn't crying, Kiyoko!" The sound Nishinoya makes is a little bit between amused and angry and absolutely mortified. Koushi hopes he remembers it forever.

Still, the way Asahi's face falls hurts, and Koushi grimaces. Asahi's grip loosens, and Nishinoya manages to shake free. He punches Tanaka's shoulder and finally returns to his seat, leaving Asahi standing behind his chair to look like a dejected puppy.

Shimizu looks to her food, then back up at Nishinoya, face as blank as ever. "I think it's cute."

Nishinoya sits up straight as a rod. "I was totally crying."

If possible, Asahi deflates even more. Daichi doesn't quite manage to hide his wince.

"We really need to talk to Asahi," Daichi says under his breath. Koushi leans back on his chair and nods his agreement.