Sasuke felt the ring burning a hole in his jacket pocket. Hinata suggested they pick up his car from the bar before he drove them back to her apartment. She spent both car rides answering emails on her phone.
Once they were alone in his own car, he thought he should say something but nothing came to mind, and she kept working, so they were silent.
Sasuke knew he needed to explain that he understood what had happened now. He needed to apologize for throwing a tantrum. He needed to apologize for making her take care of his miserable, drunken husk.
Sasuke parked the car outside her apartment, and the knot in his stomach grew.
"I'm not sure if your father explained the engagement situation to you." Hinata started, still looking at her phone, as the car stopped. "If I knew how many problems it was going to cause, I wouldn't have agreed to it. Well…" Hinata sighed. "I never really agreed to it in the first place." She grumbled.
Sasuke tightened his hands on the sterling wheel. "I'm sorry I blew up. I shouldn't have…."
Hinata shook her head. "Please don't apologize. You had every right to be upset. From your perspective, we hid a relationship. Then we started announcing an engagement publicly without telling direct family first."
Just say something, idiot! Anything!
Sasuke dug in his pocket and hesitantly held out the box. Hinata stared at the box. She opened her mouth with an irritated look on her face. "Wait." Sasuke started before she could say anything. "Hear me out."
Hinata straightened her face and primed herself to listen. She wasn't mad at him. She was mad at dad for trying again.
"I really like you." Sasuke started. "I know this is the dumbest way to tell you that."
Hinata interrupted him. "I know."
"Just let me finish. Dad gave me permission to ask you out, for real. I don't want to pressure you, but he only gave us until dinner tonight to decide." Sasuke explained. "I only want you to say yes if you actually want to, not just because mom will be less annoying, not because dad wants you to, not because you're afraid of hurting my feelings, only if it's going to help you." Sasuke paused, rewinding his hungover brain back. "Wait… what?!"
Hinata waited patiently for him to understand what she said.
"You know?" Sasuke gapped. "How…?"
"You wouldn't stop telling me last night," Hinata explained with red cheeks, turning her eyes away. "And suspected the director gave up too easily. He was a little too excited about how upset you were about it." Yeah, dad never knew when to stop. "So he probably figured it out and is using you to fix the mess I put him in."
Sasuke rested his head back. He didn't remember any of that. How much did he say? What did he say? He was embarrassed enough that he remembered he had begged her not to marry Itachi. Sasuke cleared his throat. "So, you know everything, so what do you want to do?"
Hinata pressed her lips together. "I… I am upset with your father about all this. This was a terrible idea that he consulted no one about and intended to lie to you about."
"I'm used to it," Sasuke admitted.
"And that's terrible!" Hinata snapped at him, waving her hands out. "And after lying to you about it, he expects you to be a part of the ruse. You don't see why I have a problem with that?"
"I understand." Sasuke lamented. "I've learned to pick my battles with my dad, though."
Hinata scoffed at his answer.
Sasuke sighed. "I am worried about you, though." Hinata crossed her arms, her face softening for his resolve. "My mother is a bitch." Hinata's head whipped around to give him a scolding look. "She attacked you."
"She was drunk. She probably didn't realize she was holding on that hard." Hinata dismissed.
"No," Sasuke demanded. "My mother was very aware of what she was doing. She's done it before. Don't make excuses for her. She's my mother, and I love her, but she will be a monster to get what she wants. It may be a terrible idea to fix the problem, but it does fix the problem, and she already knows. I am willing to be the fake fiancé. I will put my feelings aside if you want me to."
Hinata chewed on her lower lip, her eyes flicking back and forth but never really looking at him.
"I screwed this up with my tantrum, and I want to help, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable," Sasuke offered.
"I…" Hinata shook her head. "It's not fair to you." Hinata's eyes started to well up, which filled his chest with a sense of panic. "Before last night, I thought you hated me, or at best tolerated me, and I would… I would just keep thinking that 'that's okay, it's not your job for him to like you,' but after last night…." Sasuke waited with a held breath. This was it, right? "I wonder if I put work in front of myself again."
Sasuke let out a breath, feeling an uncomfortable swirl in his stomach. What did that mean?
Hinata flicked her eyes up to fight the tears. She let out an uneasy breath. "Can I ask you not to put your feeling aside?" She hiccuped.
Sasuke felt a surge of adrenalin. "But you don't like me?"
Hinata's mouth gaped as the tears started falling. "I don't know! What you said last night made me think about it, and I kept thinking about it, but when I did, I kept stopping and thinking, 'that's the director's son you shouldn't' and… and…." Hinata's voice cracked. She just looked so ashamed of herself. Her hands curled into her like she was cowering.
Sasuke raised his hands to her face to calm her down. "Hey. It's okay. You don't have to know right away." Sasuke thumbed the tears away, but more came as she clenched her eyes shut. "I'm sorry I ever said you put work before everything else."
"But I do!" Hinata squeaked. "I just went with this stupid plot, and I made you miserable because of it, and I'm not even sure how I was going to tell Hanabi-chan because I can't lie to her."
"Then don't tell her anything. Tell her everything. Let me tell her," Sasuke encouraged. "Don't let it take over your life."
Hinata hiccuped, lowering her face into his hands.
"Look at me." Sasuke encouraged.
Hinata looked up with red eyes, tears on her eyelashes, and a trembling, pink, swollen bottom lip.
Sasuke's heart lurched, and he forgot what she was going to say. "I really want to kiss you right now." Sasuke breathed out.
Hinata's eyes widened, and Sasuke realized he had said that out loud. He dropped his hands from her face. He closed his eyes tightly in his own embarrassment. Ruining everything in one comment. How dumb was he? This was not making her more comfortable, idiot.
Sasuke's eyes shot open as he was yanked forward by his jacket. Hinata's hands tangled into his smoke-soaked coat, and she lifted herself in her seat to press the lips that were swollen from her nervous chewing on his, which were chapped from his long night of drinking. In the silence, he could hear her breath out as she shifted her lips. Sasuke closed his eyes for only a moment before she pulled away.
Hinata's eyes were now wide as saucers at her own action, her face beat red, and she took three deep breaths while looking at him before her eyes got smaller with each blink, and she slumped over.
Sasuke frantically captured her head and patted her face. She was out. He shifted her to a comfortable position before rounding the car and opening her side. He knelled in and put his hands on her face to wake her again. She was breathing… had she just fainted?
Hinata blinked a few times, feeling a slight pain in her back. Hinata looked up. She was close to Sasuke's face, too close. She tried to flinch back, but Sasuke tightened his grip on her frantically.
Keys clattered to the ground.
Oh, he was carrying her, and they were at their doorway.
Hinata lowered her face. She hadn't fainted out of embarrassment since middle school.
"You think you can walk?" Sasuke asked softly.
Hinata nodded bashfully.
"I'm going to set you down," Sasuke told her as he held her stand.
Hinata cleared her throat, kneeling down to grab the keys he dropped. "I'm sorry," Hinata whispered as she opened the door.
"It was … unexpected," Sasuke admitted.
Hinata paused as she took her shoes off. Sasuke was still standing in the hall.
"Can I come in?" Sasuke asked cautiously.
Oh. "Yeah." Hinata nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so upset with you that night."
Sasuke stepped in, taking his own shoes off. "I'm sure you had a reason. I just didn't know if you still had that reason."
Hinata paused. Did she tell him? "That was right after your mother attacked me," Hinata explained. "Gaara had made me feel safe, and I crumbled. When you insisted on taking me home, I felt like I had to put my guard back up because you were what she was upset about."
Sasuke took a breath. "I was kinda a dick that night."
Hinata looked at him as his eyes darted away. It clicked. He was jealous. That's why he was so mad. He didn't read the situation as Gaara was helping her. He read it as her going home with some other man.
"Sorry," Sasuke added, holding out her bag.
Hinata took it and waved her hand toward the kitchen. "Make some coffee. I'll be back." Hinata retreated to her bathroom to wash her face with cold water. Luckily she didn't look as bad as she thought she would after crying in a car and waterproof mascara, but her cheeks were still red, and the cold water felt like eyes against their heat.
She stepped out back into the living room, expecting Sasuke to lounge on the couch and the smell of coffee. She smelled coffee but saw no Sasuke. She peeked into the kitchen. There was a cup of coffee, a note, and the ring box.
Hinata picked up the coffee and took a sip. He knew she put sugar in her coffee but not cream. She licked the remnants off her lips. She knew his coffee order, but it was her job to remember things like that. She wasn't even sure how he knew how she liked her coffee.
She picked up the note. 'I'll be right back.'
Hinata looked around the empty apartment. She had the moment to breathe, but now it felt hollow. It felt like he ran away.
Her cheeks burned. She rested the back of her hand on her face. What was she thinking, being so bold? And could she now stop thinking about it?
She thumbed open the velvet box, and put the ring back on. Back to square one.