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Training camps -though amazingly fun and always filled with the potential for hilarious stories and memories to treasure- are exhausting. They aren't only physically draining, but are mentally taxing to everyone involved as well. Even the loudest of boys get tired of noise after days spent in close quarters with teammates, lives constantly underscored by bickering and laughs.
Sometimes, after another day of grueling matches, everyone having pushed themselves and each other hard for steadier receives, quicker movement, higher jumps, for more, more, more, it's not surprising that afterwards, an unspoken but widespread understanding spreads throughout that camp that it is occasion for a quiet evening. The mess hall is far more peaceful without the usual jeering between tables as the different schools teased each other across heaping bowls filled dangerously to the brim. Even the regular miniature war campaigns and raiding parties sent out to secure the best portions of meat have decided to call a truce in favor of flopping about their respective chairs. All players spend their dinner hour talking quietly to their neighbors, or just determinedly working their way through the sea of rice and vegetables with single-minded tenacity.
At the Karasuno table, Suga barely mustered up the energy to force Nishinoya to eat all his greens, only succeeding because the younger boy robotically shovelled anything placed in his bowl before him into his mouth. Even his blond streak of hair sagged as if it was tired from all the dives and athletic feats that it's owner performed that day. Daichi didn't even have to threaten to separate anyone and Tsukkishima managed to grab the back of Yamaguchi's shirt before he fell into his food. Hinata and Kageyama were practically slumped against each other and Ennoshima talked quietly with Asahi about some TV show or another they both watched. Tanaka stifled a yawn and glared halfheartedly at boys from other tables as they glanced appreciatively at Kiyoko when she passed them on her way to the Karasuno seating area. When she arrived at their table, their conversations all quieted as they peered at her.
She leaned down over them.
“Please don't worry about the dishes tonight. Yachi, I, and the other managers decided we can take it from here.”
Daichi rose to protest, albeit half-heartedly. Usually, they all pitched in to clean up after meals, agreeing that asking their managers to do so would be unkind and overwhelming. Still, the offer was tempting as his thighs screamed in protest when he shifted.
“Kiyoko-san-”
“We have got it taken care of.” She looked to the other side of the mess hall where Yachi stood. When the girl noticed her team looking in their direction, she flashed everyone a huge smile and an enthusiastic thumbs up. “There is energy to spare. Please just get some rest everyone.”
Sugawara thanked her feverently as Nishinoya and Tanaka blubbered dramatically about her great beauty and kindness.
Cheered by the prospect of an earlier bedtime, the Crows quickly scrapped the last grains off their respective bowls and headed off to their wing, waving to the other tables and threatening revenge in tomorrow's games. Yamamoto and Tanaka nearly had to be separated, despite their mutual exhaustion.
Daichi and Sugawara waved their team ahead as the two of them headed over to have their nightly meeting with the coaches and other Captains and Vice-Captains about progress and plans for the teams. None of the Karasuno boys envied them that task and staggered off, promising to not use up all the hot water.
Showering turned out to be an even bigger ordeal than expected, the boys picking each other up and preventing their teammates from drowning when they nodded off, all of them wincing as their bodies protested as they changed and brushed their teeth.
An almighty groan stopped the bedtime activities, and all the Crows stopped to peer in the direction the sound came from.
Ennoshima was stood staring at the empty room their futons usually were all laid out in and everyone quickly echoed his sigh. They had all forgotten that in the morning, they had all thrown their futons up onto the flat roof of their building to let the sun disinfect and fluff up the covers. Now, the idea of having to haul all of them down and lay them out in the usual rows made them all shudder.
Hinata was the first to move. Grunting as his legs ached, he climbed the ladder and up onto the rooftop. The rest of the team watched his feet disappear over the edge but quickly became anxious when he didn't return. Kageyama quickly followed and pretty soon, most of the team had made their way onto the roof to see the same thing.
Hinata had found himself a corner on mass of blankets and pillows thrown half-hazardly about the rooftop and curled up, already sound asleep, the night breeze ruffling his curls.
“Do we wake him?” Asahi asked helplessly when no one made a move. Tsukkishima edged closer as if to move the little redhead but stopped when Kageyama shot him a freezing glare. He answered with a scowl, which would have been much for effective, had it not been interrupted by a yawn.
“What if we just sleep up here? Look at the stars!” Nishinoya asked, eyeing the tempting pile.
“I don't know if we should,” Asahi returned worriedly, “This can't be safe-”
“But think about how nice this breeze is and how hot our room gets!” Tanaka interrupted. Asahi paused. Their room did get uncomfortably warm throughout the summer Tokyo night, most of them having to kick off their covers and sprawl to keep body parts from sticking.
“And this roof is huge, no one is going to roll off.” Yamaguchi chimed in hopefully.
They all stared at the tall bearded man who shifted uncomfortably.
“We won't have to move the futons.” Kageyama observed. That became the deciding factor and nearly instantaneously, the rooftop became a flurry of activity, everyone moving around to claim a comfortable spot and a pillow amidst the pile of bedding and stepping over the already-snoring kid. Because many of the futons were overlapping each other, the boys found themselves cramped in a little closer to their teammates but all of them were too tired to complain or want to get up and move. Even Tsukkishima ignored the fact that Yamaguchi ended up snuggled up to his shoulder during their collective endeavor to leave enough room for their two missing teammates and quickly they all dropped off to sleep.
–T-H-E-C-R-O-W-S-
Daichi and Sugawara sighed with relief as their meeting concluded early. None of the other team Captains or Vice-Captains were up to much conversation so they quickly called it a night, saying they might want to focus on easier exercises for the following day. They both quietly washed up and went through the motions of their nightly routines, the silence only punctuated with their quiet conversation. If they weren't so tired, they would have noticed how uncommonly quiet the sleeping area was, but with their minds preoccupied, both of them were surprised when they opened the door up to an empty room.
Daichi stared for a moment, wondering if this was a waking dream.
Where the heck could more than half a dozen Crows just disappear off to?
Sugawara frowned, rubbing his eyes sleepily before noticing a shoe kicked off and lying forlorn in the dirt by the ladder. Nudging Daichi's shoulder, he pointed out the object, illuminated by the moonlight. They both confusedly looked at each other and shrugged.
Daichi climbed the ladder, his head peeking over the roof while Sugawara stood below, looking up. Daichi's muffled chuckle reached his ears. Before he could ask what Daichi was laughing at, the taller boy looked back down at him.
“You need to see this.”
Daichi went over the edge of the roof and stood at the top of the ladder to help Sugawara up. The silver-haired boy blinked when he climbed up, blinking to adjust to the new lighting.
“What-”
Before him, his teammates were sprawled haphazardly among a sea of their futons, some of them clinging to blankets, others starfished out and over their neighbors.
“I realize we are the Crows, but this nest is taking the metaphor a little too far, isn't it?” Daichi grumbled good-naturedly to his companion. “What next, shall Kiyoko and Yachi have to provide us with worms?”
The twinkle in his eye and the twitch at the corner of his mouth gave away his true feelings. Sugawara wished momentarily that he had brought his cellphone up with him to take a picture but pushed that thought away. Some things existed better in memory.
“Well, it does look quite cozy, doesn't it?” he whispered back.
“If Nekoma doesn't laugh us out of the next tournament, I'll eat my own kneepads.”
Sugawara laughed quietly.
“I'd rather think that Kuroo-san would be jealous he didn't think of this earlier. This is a rather pleasant way to beat the summer heat.”
“Should we wake them?” Daichi's tone suggested that he didn't really want to.
“No, they are exhausted. Especially Hinata, look at that poor boy.”
They both peered at Hinata who was now clinging onto Kageyama's arm, both of them dead to the world. Hinata, as if on cue, kicked a little in his sleep and started drooling on his teammate's arm. That would be a cause for a fight come morning.
After a moment of gazing at their team, Sugawara turned to Daichi.
“I suppose we should join them?” he nodded to an open patch of blanket at the far side of the roof.
“It can't be helped.” Daichi replied. “There is no way we could get two futons out of that mess without waking up the lot.”
They both picked their way over to the open spot, Daichi grabbing Sugawara's hand at one point when the vice-captain nearly tripped over Tanaka's arm. He didn't let go.
Quietly they both settled down, neither of them saying anything as they ended up pressed up against each other side by side.
Looking up at the stars above them, twinkling down, Daichi finally remarked.
“We've really reached new heights, haven't we?”
Turning his head left, he saw his partner had already fallen asleep, his silver lashes dusting the mole on his cheek.
Daichi cracked a smile before turning his head again, closing his eyes and clasping the hand of the boy beside him.
Can you believe how far we've come?