Soon enough it was getting dangerously close to when they needed to be at J&J's, so they said their goodbyes to Ana and her dogs. Hinata waved goodbye frantically as he tugged at Ushijima's wrist to get a move on, gosh. Ushijima shook Ana's hand and thanked her quietly before he relented. They'd never see her again.
It was on the way over it finally sunk in that Ushijima was going to meet Hinata's family. His face froze up as he panicked internally about how the mother of the boy he was already smitten with was going to judge him. He hadn't exactly set the best precedent, making Hinata so sad and not even noticing why until it was pointed out to him. Any mother in their right mind would have ass and probably demand he become an eunuch for good measure. Natsu was going to ask all sorts of uncomfortable questions and expect answers. Shit.
Hinata on the other hand was busy wondering exactly how much pizza his mom was going to let him eat before she forced him to stop on the pain of no more egg rice for breakfast. The prospects were looking less pleasing than he'd like with the additional burden of Ushijima's appetite. However, that being said, a guest almost guaranteed a large dessert and as much soda as he could put in his cup before they left. Now, how to keep Natsu from stealing from his plate...
At least in life their diverging priorities would allow them to cover every angle?
Luckily for Ushijima his new beau had started to notice his panic- or at least thought that it was polite to make sure Ushijima was at least able to communicate his pizza order. Halting outside the doorway, Hinata glanced at Ushijima searchingly and squeezed his hand reassuringly when he saw his frozen features.
"Mom won't eat you, you know?" The words are said lightly, but the seriousness in Hinata's eyes loosen Ushijima's tense shoulders a bit. It would be fine... Hopefully. His reward was a bright smile just before Hinata swung the door open into the tiny pizzeria to drag him inside.
The first person he saw was Natsu, who had the same unruly orange hair as her brother and a pouty expression. Across from her was a lady with short brown hair and an indulgent smile as she listened to Natsu's grumbling, who must be Hinata's mother. There was no sign of a father, and only one other chair at the table that was obviously meant for Hinata. There were only a handful of other people here, and no one except the Hinata's glanced up.
"Ah!" Natsu's face lost it's pout and her eyes grew wide with curiosity. "It's Ushiwaka-chan again! Did you get glasses?" The woman's eyes flickered to him then, an icy glint in them as she swept a critical eye over him. Swallowing his fear, he bowed his head briefly to her.
"Yes." He answered Natsu quietly as he detached himself from Hinata to grab another chair.
"We ran into each other at the sports shop," Hinata answered his mother's unsaid question as he sat down beside her. "There was this crowd and a whole lot of stuff happened! Did you guys meet Ana, the dog lady?"
"There were dogs?!" And now Natsu was reaching over the table with grabby hands to try and get Hinata to give her the information she wanted. "Where!?"
"You can ask him while you guys go up to order," Their mom drawled, handing Hinata a credit card and smiling serenely as he gave her a confused look. "Has Ushijima told you what he wanted?"
"Cheese." Oh god, he was definitely back to one word answers. Why did Hinata have to leave him here, alone, with his mom?
"Okay! Be right back," And Hinata was already halfway across the room before Ushijima had time to blink.
Turning back to the surprisingly intimidating woman, he shrunk inwards at her gaze. It wasn't particularly stern or angry, but he felt very concerned whenever she looked him in the eye. She raised her hands above the table and methodically began cracking her knuckles by pressing her thumb to the inner joints one by one.
"We both know what's going on, so I'll skip ahead. I love Shouyou," She said quietly, her eyes sparkling with a light pink gem as her right pupil that contrasted with the brown in her iris sharply. "It's possible you will too, one day. Right now all I know is you're already broken my childs' heart once, and you're somehow here eating lunch with our family. He brought you here of course. I somehow doubt you wanted your first date to be... this." Waving between the two of them, she gave him a brittle smile. "But I know better than anyone that soulgems do not mean you stay together forever, boy." There was a weight behind those words that made Ushijima shiver, and wondered again why Hinata didn't seem to have any family outside his mom and sister.
"You don't have to believe they work to give Shouyou a chance, and I'm glad you realized that. He deserves a chance. Maybe you do too. All you have to do is try." Her smile turned softer at that. "Will you do that for me?"
"I will try," Oh, he can speak again, lovely. "Not just for you of course." Staring into his eyes, she nods slowly and relaxes back into her chair. Her hands drift back down to her lap.
"Good. So who are you beyond Ushijima Wakatoshi, Volleyball extraordinaire? Who do you live with?"
"I rather like Biology and Agriculture," As his habit of using farming metaphors often suggested, "Although I intend to play professionally as long as I'm allowed. My parents are both at work a lot but we talk in the mornings. Mother works as a Junior Partner in a firm, and my papa works at Nissan. They're matched as well." Glancing up from the table, their eyes locked and Ushijima pondered what to say next. "Is there anything important I should know as not to upset Hinata anymore?"
"Well, my family line have all been Soul Gem horoscope makers," She admitted. "Shouyou has embraced it as part of himself. He's actually matched a few of his friends up recently, like that Yamaguchi boy with that setter- Oikawa, was it?" Ushijima nodded automatically, taking it in. Yamaguchi had been a tall but shy looking boy at first, but their match had proven he was sly and determined on the court. Maybe he could help curb Oikawa's less appropriate behaviors?
[Yamaguchi had sneezed first, and Oikawa was busy laughing about how much it'd sounded like a kitten when suddenly he sneezed and Yamaguchi started laughing harder because it echoed, oh my god that was so loud, I'm gonna tell all your fangirls-]
"He's very attached to his beliefs about soul gems, so you really upset him when you ignored him like that."
"I... Actually didn't know we matched until my parents pointed it out to me when they saw it in the paper..." It wasn't something he wanted to admit to his boyfriend's mother, but well. It was probably better than saying he'd ignored Hinata like a douchebag?
"There was something about it in the paper?" They blinked back and forth at eachother for a bit.
"Yes? We were kind of mobbed an hour or two ago because of it..."
Ushijima was spared explaining anything else when Hinata and Natsu finally wandered back to the table, four plastic cups clutched tightly in Natsu's mits.