Work Text:
“Keishin! I need herbs for tonight’s hotpot! Get out there and make yourself useful!” Ukai rolled his eyes, taking the cigarette out from between his lips and stubbing it in the dish, effectively putting it out.
“I’m on it. Watch the store whilst I’m gone.” When his mother replied and he heard her coming down the stairs behind the staff door, Ukai grabbed his coat and removed his apron, heading towards his car once he was sure his keys were in his pocket.
Since it was a sunday, he wasn’t coaching practice, but he was helping with the shop. Not by his own choice, but because their temporary worker had called in half-dead this morning.
He started the car, shuddering at the autumn winds that were beginning to sweep in. Soon, they’d be frost on the ground, and then it’d be tough to find any kind of herbs or vegetables up in the mountain forest. Maybe some daikon, or renkon if the ponds didn’t freeze over.
For the time being, there’s still things he can find to add to the hotpot they’ll be having tonight, and maybe even some Aki no nanakusa. Whilst the full moon may have come and gone 6 days ago, the town of Karasuno and their neighbouring village still celebrated Tsukimi on the 15th.
He parks the car in the marked field at the foot of the mountain, pulling on his coat and zipping it up, though he forgoes the gloves. It’s easier to pick sansai without them. Climbing up the route into deeper parts of the mountain forest, Ukai takes the time to just relax.
It’s not long before he deviates, heading towards a location that he always visits, carefully rotating through the areas he plucks edible wild plants from, just so nothing is over-harvested. He soon spots the sun-soaked clearing, near to a babbling brook.
“Perfect.” Crouching down, he checks carefully over a group of Zenmai, making sure they’re the edible female plant and about 15 centimeters long, since that’s the best time to pick them. He can either throw it in the hotpot, or saute it and serve as a side dish with wild sesame.
… As long as he can find that too.
Straying further off the path and deeper into the forest, along routes that he’s walked hundreds of times through all the seasons, Ukai visits all the spots he usually finds his autumn sansai, and is pleasantly surprised to find Yubu-Kanzo in a grassy patch.
It usually doesn’t grow until early spring, but the fluctuating temperatures must have tricked it into coming out early. Far too early. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Ukai plucks them to add to he hotpot.
Wandering through the forest provides many more ingredients, from acorns to mushrooms, to warabi and kogomi. He passes by one of his favourite spots, where he can find moso in the late winter season.
With his pockets stuffed, Ukai trudges his way back down the mountain forest towards his warm, comfy car. He might stay there for a bit just to warm up, but a glance at his hands shows mud wedged under his fingernails and he grimaces.
Even if he’s an alumni, he still has the setter’s mindset of keeping his hands in perfect condition. Reversing out of the field, Ukai has to slam on the breaks as he comes to the road, a familiar bicycle and bright redhead whizzing down the mountain road with carefree abandon, hands in the air and not on the brakes as they should be.
“... Hinata, you’re going to get yourself killed one day.” Ukai checks nothing else is coming down the mountain before he indicates and pulls out the field, heading back home. What he doesn’t expect as he parks round the back of Sakanoshita, is the red bicycle outside the shop doors.
“I’m back!” His mother looks up from the counter, adoration on her face like there always is when she’s cooing over something cute, speaking to a very familiar face. Hinata spins round, grinning like a moron. He could have been a very flat moron if Ukai hadn’t braked in time.
“Coach! Your mum is the coolest! She just asked me to- urk!” The sound he makes as Ukai drops a lecturing fist on his head almost makes him laugh, but he holds it back because he’s furious. Hinata could have been run over.
“Next time you decide to free-glide down the mountain, check for cars! Do you know how dangerous it is to not hold the handlebars?!”
“G-Geh, coach!”
“I know this is more Kageyama’s thing, but; you dumbass!”
“Keishin!” He takes a deep breath in, putting his hands back in his jeans pockets.
“Seriously, kid. No more dangerous cycling.” Hinata has the grace to look like he regrets his actions, rubbing at the sore spot on his head.
“M’sorry. I’ll be more careful in the future.” Ukai sighs, reaching into his pockets and laying out the sansai on the counter in front of his mother.
“These good enough?” She looks them over, turning them around before nodding with a smile.
“Put them in the bowl to soak, don’t forget to wash your hands, and show Shouyou where he can clean up~.” The last part has Ukai pause in taking off his coat, hanging it on the peg.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Shouyou is going to stay for dinner~! He’s such a sweetie, and I know you talk about your kids needing to connect to you as their coach, I just had to invite him.”
“... What.” Hinata smiles innocently as Ukai’s mother fawns over him like he’s some kind of tiny, adorable pet, and Ukai drags a hand down his face in exasperation.
“I meant connect with them at volleyball. Not- Not invite them to our home and feed them!”
“A hotpot is meant for sharing, Keishin.” Knowing he isn’t going to win this argument - not that he ever does against his strong willed mother - Ukai gives in.
“Come on, I’ll show you where you can wash our hands. And you can help me set the kotatsu up.”
“Okay!” Ukai leads Hinata up the stairs to their small apartment above the shop, pointing him to the bathroom whilst he goes into the kitchen, putting the sansai herbs and vegetables in the sink and washing them off thoroughly using his hands. Thankfully, that cleans his hands too.
“Coach! What should I do now?”
“First of all, calm down. Secondly, have you ever set up a kotatsu before?”
“All the time! Me ‘n’ Natsu do it for the winter so Mama can come home to a nice surprise!” Ukai hides a smile behind a gruff grunt. The kid might be loud, stupid, and obnoxious, but he has a kind heart and good intentions. It’s easy to see why his mother was so taken with him.
… Ukai knows she’d adopt him in a heartbeat if he didn’t already have a family.
“Good. Stuff’s in that cupboard, I gotta set up the hotpot.” Hinata salutes, doing as told, whilst Ukai starts on the hotpot. He pours dashi into the large pot, adding some extra mirin for sweetness, and setting it to boil.
He adds the sansai and a glob of butter, as well as vegetables they already have in their fridge, like onions, a different variety of mushrooms, and potatoes. Leaving them to boil until they’re soft, he fries up some pork, wagyu beef, and chicken. Just enough to cook them and add texture to the diced cubes, then he throws them in the pot to finish cooking and soften up.
He watches over it, occasionally tossing in some seasoning, and some tofu and noodles at one point. By the time it’s done, his mother has closed the shop for Sunday evening, and Hinata is just putting the kotatsu cushions in place.
“Hinata, did you remember to tell your family you’d be here?”
“Yup! I phoned my Mama already! She said it was okay, as long as I gave her the address and she picked me up later.” Content that Hinata has a surprisingly good head on his shoulders, Ukai serves the hotpot on a heat-safe round disk, putting it in the centre of the kotatsu and handing out the bowls.
“Dig in!” Both his mother and Hinata scramble for the bowls and the two separate ladles, whilst Ukai starts on the side dishes first. There’s something about the warmth of the kotatsu against the biting chill of the season, the fragrance of the herbs like there’s a whole forest in his home, something about how it all comes together in preparation for Aki no nanakusa.
The hotpot tastes better with company, even if his mother was trying to convince Hinata into being her grandson. When she heard there was another, smaller Hinata, she had instantly extended her invitation to include the whole family.
Sometimes, Ukai thought she just missed the noise and activity from the large family he had before his father left with the 2 older children and 4 younger.
It doesn’t take long for the three of them to eat their fill, and Ukai’s mother boxes up the remains for Hinata to take back for his sister and Mama. Ukai helps with fitting the bicycle onto the roof rack when his mother arrives to pick him up.
“Thank you for having me! It was really fun and the food was delicious!” Sometimes, Ukai regrets becoming a coach, because it’s like he suddenly acquired a bunch of kids. Because goddammit, they were his kids now, and he was attached.
“I hope it was. I didn’t hunt for herbs in the forest for nothing.”
“Oooh~?!” At the excited squawk, Ukai can’t help reaching out and ruffling his hair.
“Next time, I’ll show you the best spots to find ‘em.”
“It can be a team bonding thing!!!” Ukai isn’t sure the rest of the team will appreciate being dragged into the forest to search for sansai, but it’s a noble idea, one that he’ll consider. Maybe an activity better left for the warmer seasons.