It was painfully obvious to Ukai that, upon realizing nobody else had arrived yet, Tsukishima regretted coming–or at least he regretted not waiting for someone else, someone like Sugawara who was good at dealing with Hinata, someone that Hinata would actually be happy to see. The discomfort was plain as day on his expressive face, and Ukai felt the absurd urge to laugh. Tsukishima and Hinata weren't friends–Ukai didn't think they even liked each other–but the fact that Tsukishima was there at all spoke volumes. It spoke of worry for a teammate, and where there was worry, buried beneath all the smirks and bravado, there was proof that he cared, something that Tsukishima would deny until the day that he died.

So Ukai didn't comment, because Tsukishima already looked about ready to bolt.

Then Hinata came out of the bathroom in baggy pants with the bottoms rolled up, tied tight so they wouldn't slide off his hips, and a T-shirt that may as well have been a smock. Ukai would have laughed if the whole situation weren't still making his skin crawl.

Ukai watched as Tsukishima took in the bandages and the bruising, and a grim frown presented itself on the first-year's face. "What the hell happened to you?"

Hinata's eyes went wide, already more of a reaction than Ukai had managed to garner since they'd left the shop. "Tsukishima?"

"Obviously."

"What are you doing here?"

"Tch. Just answer the question."

"I…" Hinata looked at the floor. "I'm okay."

"Is that what I asked? Baka."

Hinata glared. "You didn't have to come."

"Too late. I already took the time to come all the way here, so just fess up. Did the King finally get tired of you and jump serve you out of the gym?"

"I'm sorry I wasted precious minutes of your evening," snarled Hinata.

"Oi, oi," said Ukai, holding up his hands in precaution, because this was going downhill fast.

But Tsukishima's face was flustered. Ukai knew, if the first-year hadn't been all that worried before, he definitely was now, because what he'd just said was akin to usual conversation by his standards, but what Hinata had said was defensive, and hostile, and not like himself. Tsukishima's eyes narrowed. "Someone hurt you?"

Hinata froze.

"Kuso." Tsukishima grabbed Hinata by the wrist and dragged him to the couch, sitting him down. "Why didn't you just say so? Aho." He turned to Ukai. "Coach," he said, "may I use your kitchen?"

Ukai nodded and led him to the adjacent room, casting a worried glance at Hinata. "Aren't you going to talk to him?"

Tsukishima laughed, the sound more pitying than amused. "Oh, no. I'm not going to do that." He grabbed the pot from the rice cooker and carefully measured a few cups of Koshihikari rice from the bag on the counter.

"Why not?"

Tsukishima rinsed the rice, added water, and returned it to the cooker. He turned it on. "If Hinata never made it home, he's probably hungry."

"Tsukishima."

Tsukishima huffed. "I'm the last person he'll talk to. Leave it to Sugawara-san."

"But–"

"Coach," he said, his gaze level, "I'll only make it worse."

Because they weren't friends. Tsukishima couldn't offer the kind of support Hinata needed, and Hinata wouldn't accept it if he did. Their relationship was too hostile, too antagonizing, for either of them to give in, even a little.

The doorbell rang, and by the time Ukai made his way back to the living room, Sugawara was already lifting Hinata's chin delicately to examine the bruise on his neck. Daichi stood at Hinata's shoulders, a silent guardian, his arms crossed in righteous fury as they listened to Hinata's teary-eyed, rapid-fire recount of what happened.

Ukai returned to the kitchen and pulled out the miso. He and Tsukishima put together a soup while the rice cooked.

Nishinoya's arrival was loud and dramatic, as expected, but Ukai hadn't even known that Kageyama arrived until the first-year showed up in the kitchen, looking lost and more than a little frustrated. It seemed Kageyama was just as useless as Tsukishima and Ukai when it came to a situation like this.

Tsukishima tossed Kageyama a pack of nori, and they started wrapping the rice.

Ukai hadn't been able to get through to Hinata. Tsukishima was both unwilling and unable to bridge a gap that months of their volatile relationship had caused. And Kageyama…

Kageyama wasn't the best at dealing with Hinata on the best of days.

Nor was he, it seemed, the best in the kitchen. His fingers, so deft when setting a volleyball, slipped and fumbled with the nori, tearing it and ripping holes. His onigiri were lopsided, and the nori more resembled crumpled pieces of paper than sheets of seaweed.

Tsukishima's mouth tilted. It was small and subtle and oh so patronizing and Kageyama locked onto it in a second. "Nandato, kore?"

"Betsuni," said Tsukishima, his voice lilting.

"Temee–"

"Oi," said Ukai.

"Tch." Wow. They both did that at the same time.

"That should do it," said Ukai, wrapping the last onigiri, hoping to distract from their pissing contest.

Tsukishima smirked. "Oh, dear. Should we just throw all of Kageyama's away? I'm not sure they're edible."

"Maybe we should burn yours," said Kageyama, his eyebrow twitching. Ukai waited for the reasoning behind that one.

It never came.

Kageyama had never been quite as eloquent as Tsukishima. His entire vocabulary of insults seemed to be limited to boke, and that was typically reserved for his interactions with Hinata, in which he would sometimes use it two or three times in a single run. Boke! Hinata Boke!

Which was why Ukai was so confused that Kageyama and Hinata actually did seem to be friends. Despite the insults, despite the arguing, despite the sometimes-physical violence–

"Ne," said Kageyama, his voice low. "What exactly happened to Hinata? He looks…"

Shaken. Bruised. Scared. Not like himself.

Tsukishima froze, and they both looked to Ukai, who sighed and rubbed at his face. "He crashed his bike."

"Boke."

"He came to my shop, and I left him for a second, and…" Ukai slammed his fist onto the counter, making the two first-years jump. "Some bastard got his hands on him." A dark aura accumulated around Kageyama, and Ukai took the liberty of stopping the story there. He turned off the burner under the soup and started filling bowls. "Take these out to them, would you?"

Tsukishima and Kageyama took the bowls of miso soup out to their teammates before returning for the plates of onigiri. Ukai grabbed the last plate and made his way back into the living room.

Hinata looked better. He was tucked between Daichi and Sugawara on the couch, sipping from his bowl as Nishinoya yammered loudly in front of them, his own soup on the coffee table.

"Daijoubu ka, Hinata?" Ukai asked as he set the plate of onigiri down on the coffee table.

Hinata jumped to his feet and nearly folded himself in half in a bow. "Coach!" he cried. "Arigatou gozaimashita!"

Ukai tried to pull Hinata up from his bow. "Enough of that, Hinata," he said, flustered.

Hinata shook his head violently, still staring at his own knees. "I'm sorry for any trouble I have caused any of you tonight! Gomenasai! Gomenasai!"

Ukai finally managed to pull Hinata upright, only to see tears in the kid's eyes. "We're all just glad you're all right."

"Coach… That man…" Hinata attached himself to Ukai in a trembling hug. "Arigatou gozaimashita," he said again, quieter this time, the gratitude in his voice closing up something in Ukai's throat as he suddenly found himself unable to speak.

"Don't apologize, boke," said Kageyama, setting his plate of onigiri down next to Ukai's. "Just eat something."

Hinata released Ukai and wiped his eyes. He sniffed and looked at Kageyama's plate. Then Ukai's. Then Tsukishima's. He looked back at Kageyama's. "Pfft!"

Kageyama glared. "Oi!"

Hinata pointed at the crumpled, lopsided rice balls with new tears in his eyes as he laughed. "What the heck are those, Kageyama? You kind of suck! Ne, ne, Kageyama, these are the worst onigiri I've ever seen! Nishinoya senpai, mite!"

Nishinoya burst out laughing as he joined Hinata in pointing, tears in his own eyes. "They look like poops!"

Kageyama's face reddened. "Just eat them!"

Hinata took one of Kageyama's onigiri and ate it. He smiled. "It's good!"

Kageyama's face got even redder.

The seven of them ate onigiri and miso soup, the air feeling significantly lighter and less stifling now that Hinata was smiling again.

When Hinata finally gave in to the stress and exhaustion of the day, he slumped into Sugawara's side, his empty miso bowl slipping from his hand. Daichi caught it deftly and set it on the coffee table.

Suga put an arm around Hinata, the smile fading from his face. "Coach Ukai," he said, his voice soft, "thank you for looking out for him."

The atmosphere shifted to solemn as the rest of them looked to Ukai and nodded.

Ukai shook his head. "I should be thanking you all," he said, "for coming so late. He… wasn't acting like himself. He seems much better now."

"Do you think he'll be all right to play in the match tomorrow?" asked Nishinoya.

Daichi sighed. "I think we'd be hard-pressed to stop him."

"His scrapes are mostly superficial," said Ukai. "They shouldn't affect his playing. His neck shouldn't either, but…"

"It is disturbing," said Daichi, eying the bruising around Hinata's neck.

"Asahi-san's gonna cry," said Nishinoya. "And Ryuu's gonna go ballistic."

"Ah," said Ukai, pulling out his phone. "I should update them. Let them know everything is all right."

"Ukai-san," said Sugawara. "Sumimasen… but… would you mind if I stayed here tonight? I'd like to stay with Hinata, if that's all right."

Ukai clapped a hand on Sugawara's shoulder. "Of course it's all right. It's late. You're all welcome to stay, if you want."

"Sleepover at Coach's house!" cried Nishinoya, fists in the air.

Tsukishima stood. "Nope. I'll be leaving."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Tsukishima," said Noya, slapping him on the back.

"It'll be better without him, anyway," said Kageyama.

"Thank you, Tsukishima," said Ukai, leveling his gaze on the tall middle blocker. "The food was a good idea."

"Hah? The food was your idea?" said Noya.

Tsukishima tilted his chin up, donning that air of superiority he wore so often and so well. "No need to thank me. Now Shorty owes me one."

Kageyama growled.

"What's this? An angry King? Looks like he has a heart after all."

"Just leave already!"

Tsukishima chuckled. "Hai, hai." He left with a light, "Ja."

"Why did he even come?" asked Kageyama.

Suga had a fond smile on his face. "He cares." Kageyama just looked at him in disbelief, and Suga laughed. "Don't hurt yourself thinking about it."

Daichi stood. "I'm going to head home as well. Do you have everything here, Suga?"

Suga nodded, Hinata still tucked into his side. "Hai."

Daichi looked satisfied. "Coach. Thank you, again. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Daichi left, and Ukai stood. "Futons for Sugawara and Nishinoya. Kageyama?"

Kageyama looked slightly embarrassed. "Onegaishimasu."

Ukai grinned. "Three futons, coming up."

Suga looked down at the sleeping Hinata with a sad smile.

"He seems okay," said Nishinoya.

"Hinata's strong" said Kageyama, shoving one of his onigiri into his mouth.

"I just keep thinking of all the times he hides behind us when we run into stronger, taller players," said Suga. "Hinata said… Hinata said the man who did this threatened Ukai, so Hinata went with him voluntarily."

The color leeched from Kageyama's face. "What?"

Suga grimaced. "If he'd had a car, it would have been so easy…"

The three of them were suddenly lost in the possibility of an entirely different reality, one where the man had taken Hinata and driven away with him, somewhere that Ukai couldn't reach. They thought of the bruising on Hinata's neck and of how much worse it would be if the man had free access for as long as he wanted…

Kageyama felt sick.

Suga looked to each of them, determination in his eyes. "Hinata seems fine now, but he's still shaken up. We need to keep a close eye on him tomorrow. Will you do that for me?"

Kageyama nodded.

"Don't you worry, Hinata," said Nishinoya, his voice choked. "Your senpai will look out for you."