Hinata giggled as Sasuke pulled the coffee table out of the way and pushed the couches together to make a franken-couch bed. Sasuke laid in the middle of it and sighed, opening his arms to her. Hinata crawled over the back of one of the couches to get to him. Sasuke curled his arm around her and laid with his nose barely touching hers.
"Itachi-san is going to be upset you messed with his decorating," Hinata told him.
"He'll get over it." Sasuke closed his eyes.
"I'm not napping. We just woke up." Hinata pushed against him.
"I'm comfortable." Sasuke barely reacted to her pushes, only tightening his arm to keep her in place.
Hinata gave up pushing. "I want coffee."
"I'll order some." Sasuke dug in his pocket for his phone and moved it behind her head so that he could order over her shoulder.
"I can make coffee." Hinata settled with her arms in between his and her chest, comfortably squished.
"Not today. The only thing you are doing is watching movies and eating junk food." Sasuke dropped his phone behind her head once he was done.
"I don't even watch movies." Hinata countered, rolling her leg over his hip to stop the edge of the couch from digging into her knee.
"Too bad." Sasuke countered.
They didn't watch much of the movie. Between snacks and actual goofing off, including a short-lived pillow fight where they learned that couch cushions have heavy metal zippers. Hinata found snuggling wasn't all she wanted to do on her day off.
With one of her legs on either side of his hips in the sea of blankets and pillows, Sasuke had a hand on her hip and the other in her hair. Her hair tie was lost in the pillow fight. One of her arms held her up, and the other was on his shirt, pulling him up closer to her.
It wasn't their first kiss, but it wasn't even the first that felt like this, but this was the first time it didn't feel like there was something looming behind it. Decisions to be made, people to be met, deadlines to be chased, all that was outside of the bounds of the couch.
Sasuke moved his head back just enough that their lips barely touched, earning a frustrated sigh from her. She could feel his smile. "You're completely missing the best part of the movie."
"I wasn't watching it." Hinata shifted her hip to tie her ankle under his leg.
"I've noticed." Hinata could feel Sasuke's laugh under the fist in his shirt. "Why is it on then?"
Hinata licked her lips and pulled back to sit on his hip bones. "You wanted to watch movies."
"No, I just wanted you to let go." Sasuke shifted his him toppling her.
Hinata fell to her side with a giggle as Sasuke rolled over her, pulling her flat to his chest to press a heated kiss into her neck.
Fugaku sighed, looking at the plans. Hinata had gotten better at this than he thought. "Are you going to explain to this team that their project is dropped?"
"I was waiting for your approval." That's not really what he meant.
Fugaku sat back in his chair. "Do it." Hinata nodded, collecting the documents. "We need to talk."
"You're booked until five," Hinata answered automatically, with a tap of the documents.
"Hinata." Fugaku scolded. Hinata's lips came into a line as she put the stack on her hip. Well, she got her mother's backhanded temper. "Fine, we'll have drinks after work."
Hinata tilted her head. "Do you think that's wise?"
"I didn't ask." Fugaku countered her attitude with his own. "It was an order. Do it."
The look on Hinata's face told them both what she already knew. She won. She wanted him to act like her boss. Fugaku rested his head back in his chair. At what point did she take over?
Hinata shifted, waiting to be dismissed, and that was when he noticed. Fugaku snorted. Oh, it was going to be hard to take her seriously now. "You have a hickey."
Hinata went red up to her ear as she slapped her hand over the mark. At least she knew where it was. She probably tried to cover it up already.
Fugaku waved his hand for her to go and fix it. Hinata disappeared as Fugaku chuckled. At least she still liked one of them.
Hinata tucked her hair behind her ear and idly rolled her full wine glass in her fingers, waiting for Fugaku. Should she tell him about Itachi? It wouldn't help anything. It was already done. He would find out soon enough, and they had more immediate problems.
Fugaku sighed as he joined her. "Started without me?"
"I was waiting." Hinata took her first sip.
Fugaku took a larger gulp than he should. "Well. Here we are." Hinata pierced her lip together. "Your mother used to give me that look."
Hinata's eyebrows knit together. "Don't…"
"About your father." Fugaku finished. Hinata paused. "We would get into it, and she would give me that look. I didn't always deserve it, but sometimes I did."
"This isn't about my mother. This isn't about me." Hinata reminded him. "Stop making it about me."
"You're the only one upset." Fugaku pointed out.
"I am the only one who isn't so used to the family manipulation that I just chalked it up to something normal." Hinata counted.
Fugaku sat back with his drink. "You are fighting a losing battle."
Then she didn't want to fight. "I can't…"
"You already are playing the game." Fugaku waved his glass at her. "And you're good at it."
Hinata's lip twitched. "I don't want to be."
Fugaku shrugged, sighing. "You're actually getting too good at it." Hinata sipped her wine. This was not something she wanted to be praised for. Fugaku let out a chuckle. "Ugh, what am I going to do?" Fugaku slayed a hand over his face. "Itachi's getting worse. Sasuke doesn't listen to me My ex-wife is moving back in. At least one of the kids is keeping it together." He tipped his glass at her.
Hinata wanted to roll her eyes, but they were thinking the same thing, and it wasn't something she wanted to talk about tonight.
"Sasuke doesn't want an apology, and an apology is a promise to try not to do the same again. I can't even promise that I would try to try." Fugaku finished his first glass. "I respect my son's decision to be a stubborn ass, just like I respect his decision to die because he refuses help."
Hinata's lips puckered out as her face twisted. She took a bigger gulp of her wine to keep the tears forming back, and Fugaku filled their glasses.
"Put Kisame in charge of the department. He's been running it on and off for years. We'll give Itachi some stupid title and have him consult. We can't keep running with the fantasy that this is going to keep working." Fugaku swirled his glass.
"Yes, sir." Hinata chewed on her lip. Maybe this was why she couldn't let it go. It wasn't just submitting to the lies and the game… it was accepting that they had to move on to the next issue. One she couldn't solve.
"You're off the clock." Fugaku sipped his drink. Hinata rolled her eyes. "That's better."
"Don't start." Hinata sighed, but then she giggled. Was there really nothing she could do? They were all bastards. "I'm tired."
"You and me both." Fugaku hummed. "You know when they boys growing up… Itachi used to beg me to take them out to the festival, I never had time. When Sasuke was old enough to beg, Itachi didn't have the time." He sighed. "I guess I'll have to wait for grandkids."
Hinata jabbed her finger at him. "Don't start planning for it. I'm already getting that from your ex-wife."
Fugaku chuckled, and then his smile dropped. "Do you think Itachi will have the time to have kids?"
Hinata pressed her lips together and took a heavy swig. "I don't think it's on his mind."
"Yeah, I guess it's not really something you want to think about when you don't know if you'll see them grow up." Fugaku rubbed his face. "I don't like the thought of burying my son before myself. It's not how it's meant to work."
"Yeah." A parent never wanted to think they could see their kids go before them.
Fugaku held his glass out. "You're a good kid, keeping us in line."
It was more pandering than genuine, but it was an acceptance that she had a right to be mad now and in the future. Hinata clinked her glass against his. If she was going to play this game, they weren't going to like how she played it.
**Lavender-Long-Stories**
Not sure if anyone is interested, but I have been posting to my tumblr regularly, so I will drop it here. Lavender-Long-Stories
