Chapter Text
It was just another boring school day for Shoyo Hinata. He didn’t learn much in class, and rarely just paid attention in general. He knew it was bad and would backfire, but he was excited to go to practice. Volleyball was one of the only things that brought joy into Shoyo’s life. It would be one of the only moments when he doesn’t have to put on a fake smile for the others. It’s the moment when he smiles for real.
Shoyo’s life hasn’t been the best. His father died a long time ago, right before his little sister, Natsu, was born. Shoyo and his mother both took the death in a bad way. He stopped talking to his school friends, quit any sports he was involved in, and rarely did his school work for almost a year. His teachers understood why and they didn’t force the young Shoyo to do much during the year of his grief. His mother, Amaya Hinata, took it in a bad way as well. She started to drink almost every night and would wake up so hungover that she could barely get Shoyo to school and for her to get to work on time. It only got worse when Natsu was born.
Amaya, who would take her anger and sadness out of beer bottles or the walls and floor, would also take it out on whichever Hinata sibling was closeby. It was rarely Natsu, it was usually Shoyou. He would always protect Natsu from any harm that would try and come his way. Shoyo never hated his younger at all, not even when his injuries were really bad. He always found great joy in taking care of her and having someone to keep him company.
He managed to find out when his mom had a somewhat decent day and when she had an awful day by just the way she opened the front door to the house. Shoyo would always have warm food made for his mother when she returned to try and make the day better. He knew he was safe if his mother ever thanked him for the food. If she ate the food at a quick pace, he knew the day had been alright but he still needed to keep his guard up. If she ate the food at a slow pace, Shoyo would just start preparing for any pain to come his way.
His mom would hit him at night most of the time. He would urge Natsu to hide in her special corner as he would just sit on his bed in his room and await his punishment. Amaya would always yell at Shoyo that it was his fault his father had passed away. He never even got to find out the cause of death, he hoped it was quick and painless. He didn’t want to find out that his father would have been living in pain for so long.
Amaya’s words never fully sunk in with Shoyo when he was being beaten. She usually repeated the same words over and over again that he would just know what she was exactly saying, even if he wasn’t hearing it anymore.
‘You worthless brat! You are the reason your father died! You can’t even do simple jobs! So many boys at your age can help run shops and all you can do is cook and clean! What are you, a housewife?! If I wanted a house worker that bad I should have just had a female!’
She would also say how Shoyo has it easy, that people his age get beaten all the time for no reason. He should be grateful that he’s being hurt as a result of his own actions. He grew to believe that every bad thing that happened in his life was his fault. That he deserved the dozens of bruises and gashes. They rarely hurt anymore unless he accidentally put too much pressure on certain wounds.
He never told a single soul about the abuse or the wounds he had to bear on his own skin. The only person that knew was Natsu, who would do her best to patch up all of the wounds, apologizing that Shoyo had to protect her.
“I will protect you forever and ever, it’s just what older siblings do. I promise I will never let mom lay a hand on you.”
Natsu would always give her big brother the best hugs she could at the time. They all weren’t tight because she would fear that she would just hurt Shoyo more. She would still do her best to help her brother along the way. She would do her best to pick up anything to the best of her abilities, leaving her older brother with less work to do. Shoyo was always extremely grateful for this, he could rest a bit more before the night progressed.
Shoyo was spacing out again in class and was brought back to reality when the bell rang loudly. It was lunchtime, and he had promised Nishioya and Tanaka that he would accompany them. The downside was that he only made lunch for Natsu as they didn’t have much food in the house and he would rather have Natsu be happy than to be hungry. He would be able to get more food on the weekends, but for now, he would have to survive two more days with little food. Of course, he could ask his senpais for some extra food, but he didn’t want them to waste food on someone like him.
“Shoyo!” Noya called from across the way and basically came in to drag the other to the spot where the three will be sitting together. Tanaka was already there as Noya pointed to where Shoyo would go to sit. Both upperclassmen quickly noticed the missing lunch from Shoyo and were quick to offer up food.
“No no it’s fine guys, I’m just not hungry today because I ate a lot for dinner last night!” He said with a fake smile. He couldn’t worry his friends, and he also didn’t want them to give food to him because he just didn’t deserve it.
“Whatever you say Hinata, but don’t come crying to us when you can’t practice due to how tired you are.” Tanaka laughed and crossed his arms in a confident way. Shoyo just laughed with his faked bubbly attitude and smiled.
“You bet I won’t do that! I’ll never miss out on practicing, not even for a few minutes!”
Both Noya and Tanaka smiled at the other but also gave their warnings.
“Love that attitude! But remember Shoyo,” Noya started, “if you do need a break for your health, we all will make sure that you get one. Even if we do it by force.”
Those words made Shoyo anxious. One wrong move and he could be off the court. He would have to make sure he doesn’t slip up. He rarely does, and even if he did he could make up so many stories on the fly. Everyone believed them, which made him think that if he just faked it all, no one would notice. He didn’t want people to know that he was suffering at all. He just wanted his peers to be happy and rely on him. He didn’t need to rely on them at all.
Lunch ended and the day flew by pretty quickly, which means it’s Shoyo’s favorite time of the day, practice! He was already changed and ready to go before most of the team was there.
“Very enthusiastic Hinata, you seem to be really excited,” Daichi entered the gym with his normal smile followed by Suga and Asahi, who both just smiled warmly.
“Yes! I’m excited for practice today! It’s going to be so much fun!” He cheered.
“It’s just practice, I don’t understand why you would be so excited for something that happens every day,” Tsukishima entered the gym with Yamaguchi trailing behind.
Shoyo didn’t respond verbally, just rolled his eyes as he saw Kageyama enter the gym and raced up to him, fire in his eyes.
“I bet you 10 meat buns that we are going to hit over 75% of our quick attack!”
Kageyama just gave a weird look before having a smug with his response.
“Fine idiot, I bet we will hit 90% of them!”
“Deal!”
Everyone soon was in the gym, Yachi and Kyoko entered last. While Kyoko was being simped on by Tanaka and Nishioya, Yachi greeted everyone and prepared for the practice.
“Hey Hinata, Kageyama! There’s a big test coming up right?” Yachi said warmly as she walked over to the duo.
Both had forgotten about the test. It was in their English class and it was supposed to cover all of the words and grammar they had learned that. Both Shoyo and Tobio just stood there and even tried to look away while Yachi panicked.
“You guys! You need to pass this test or Takeda would not let you do to Tokyo next week!”
Right, if the two had failed the test they would be put on probation. Shoyo had been looking forward to going to Tokyo so he could see all of his friends and get even stronger. They couldn’t miss it, not at all. He had managed to convince his mom to go on that two-week business trip so he could make it. He had planned it all out so Natsu would be alright as well.
“Yachi you have to help meeee,” he panicked and gripped Yachi’s hands in a pleading way. Yachi was panicking but tried to explain her situation.
“I can’t help you study this weekend, my mom needs my help with something, I’m so sorry, but I can hook you up with my other friend Hoshi.”
Shoyo had only heard of this friend a couple of times. Her name was Hoshi Nanami. She had fair skin and very long and gorgeous black hair. She was very smart but also very kind. She was a first-year and a lot of the boys (and even some girls) liked her. Shoyo just saw her as someone who was super smart, he never had a crush on her.
“Really!? Yay! You are the best Yachi!” Shoyo cheered.
“No-no, it’s not that big of a deal!” Yachi said flustered, “I’ll give you her number after practice and inform her that you two need help!”
“Thank you so much!”
“It’s not a problem Hinata!”
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Practice was really fun to Shoyo. He rarely missed any spikes and only messed up on a couple of receives. The best part was, he didn’t get hit in the face once! Now all that was left was to see who won the bet. The duo had walked over to the managers, who were keeping track of all the progress.
“So Kiyoko?” Shoyo bounced at the taller manager, who looked at her notebook and started doing the math before turning her head up.
“85% accuracy, it’s gotten really better.”
Shoyo cheered and nagged at Kageyama, who just yelled back angrily.
“Alright Kageyama, that’s 10 meat buns you need to give me! You can give them to me next week when we get on the bus!”
The other only grumbled in reply and walked away.
After the gym was all cleaned up and everyone was dismissed, Shoyo ran out quickly. His smiling face instantly turned to panic and seriousness. Practice had gone on for too long and that would mean that Natsu could be in danger. He couldn’t have his sister injured at all, he would feel like an awful older brother.
The ride home was speedy and quick, the adrenaline had kicked in and he had made it home in no time, quickly opening the door and stepped in quickly. He yelled ‘I’m home!’ as loud as he could to try and see what kind of mood his mom was in.
“Shut up Shoyo!” Amaya angrily yelled from the living room. Her tone was filled with venom as she walked over to him. She was obviously drunk, and that meant a lot of pain was to come to him, and hopefully only him.
“Why are you home so late? I missed dinner because of your slowness," Amaya grunted as she grabbed Shoyo by the collar.
“I-’m sorry m-mom practice went on fo-for longer than n-normal,” he choked out the words before Amaya threw him to the ground as hard as she could.
“You should have just not gotten into that stupid sport. It only weakens you and makes it so much difficult for us. You should just quit” She yelled angrily as she threw a punch at Shoyo’s face, causing him to fall back.
“I need another drink,” Amaya grumbled and walked away as Shoyo got up, not being acknowledged anymore. He made his way upstairs and knocked on Natu’s door in a special way, two quick knocks and one slow knock afterward. The door swung open and revealed Natsu, who looked shaky but unscathed.
“Did she hurt you Natsu?” Shoyo quickly asked, getting a shake of the other head in response causing a wave of relief to wash over the other.
“It souwned wike it hwrt, are you ok Showo?” Her tiredness made her words slur as she has a slight look of fear in her eyes.
“I’m fine Natsu, mom didn’t hurt me,” Shoyo gave the best smile before wishing the other good night as he headed to the washroom to clean up the bruise on his eye. It was starting to bruise, which means he would have to make up a story. He thought about it for a moment before getting the perfect excuse in his head. He made sure his mother was asleep before he headed to his room to message Kenma as he does daily and prepares for sleep.