Oops I forgot to add that this work is heavily inspired by The Proposal. A cookie to everyone who figured that out beforehand. It's a great movie that I absolutely recommend!

"Love it," Jiraiya said with a grin that could only be a precursor to a problem. Sasuke schooled his expression into nonchalance. "But, I'll have to get back to you on that one."

"This is a one of a kind deal, you will not find anything remotely as generous elsewhere."

Jiraiya's smile became apologetic and Sasuke fought off the urge to grab the man's wrist and sign the deal himself. He was old, wouldn't be much of a fight, Sasuke reasoned. He would be doing the man a favor. As if reading his thoughts, Hinata's gaze held a warning and she shook her head imperceptibly.

"Don't look like that, Sasuke, it's a great pitch," he said as he filed away the contract into a messenger bag. "Thing is, remember your old mentor, Orochimaru? He's my buddy and when I mentioned your offer he proposed a counteroffer. I have to review both with Tsunade."

Sasuke did not bother to hide his scowl anymore and Hinata ran a hand through her hair. All the work put into that moment could go to waste. There was a good chance of it since Orochimaru was behind the counteroffer. "You have one week to let us know your decision, think very carefully, Jiraiya."

The older man chuckled and waved his goodbye as he pushed past the conference room. "Will do. Nice seeing you, Hinata."

When the door gently closed, Sasuke slapped a hand to his forehead. "Fucker."

After a moment of silence Hinata approached him with a bowed head. "It seems my revision was not… sufficient." This time she truly did look remorseful and Sasuke sighed.

"I was not referring to you, Hyūga." Sure, his vocabulary was occasionally crude but never against her. Had she learned nothing in the last three years? Inattentive.

She gave him a small smile that did not reach her eyes. "I know, but I still apologize. We both invested a lot of time in this proposal and now we apparently have competition."

"I need you to keep your cool." Sasuke leaned back against a chair and Hinata's gaze remained downcast. No crossword puzzles and no ridiculous positivity. Perhaps he really should call EMS for her. "You take care of this one and I'll take care of the other fucker. We won't lose that deal."

"You mean Orochimaru?" Sasuke only raised an eyebrow. Who else? "Alright then… I'll set up something nice for Mr. Jiraiya today."

"Tomorrow, we don't want to sound desperate."

"We wouldn't sound desperate," Hinata muttered. "I just thought that we should show him our interest."

Sasuke tapped his fingers against the table table. Hinata was the contact point, it was a friend of hers who introduced them to the hermit. Perhaps she had a point. "Do whatever you think will sway him. Use the company credit card if you must."

A genuine smile reached her face and for the first time that morning Sasuke's shoulders relaxed. All that she was missing from normalcy were the crossword puzzles. Perhaps she didn't need a day off after all. "Thank you for trusting my judgment."

"I hope you will trust mine."

Hinata's smile fell and hesitance flooded her semblance. "I nearly got arrested last time you spiked Orochimaru's drinks."

"Innocent until proven guilty." Hinata narrowed her eyes as he mockingly raised his hands in surrender. "Don't look like that, Hyūga, I took the blame for that, remember?"

"Right." Hinata's lips thinned and she glanced to the side. Sasuke smirked as he saw the memory play out in her mind. It really wasn't as bad as she made it out to be. "I trust you will handle Orochimaru without getting arrested this time."

"As you should," he muttered.

As if a switch was flipped, Hinata's phone rang and her suspicious gaze sharpened into formality. "Yes, we can always arrange a virtual meeting. Please do not worry about it, your health is very important to us. You are welcome to contact me if you have any other questions."

"New author?"

"New author," Hinata confirmed. "She caught the flu, so we will schedule a virtual meeting whenever she's ready."

"Perfect." Sasuke shrugged off the author's wellbeing as he left the conference room. Behind him Hinata rushed to match his pace. Perhaps if he were more considerate he would have realized it was a difficult task to keep up with him when her stride length was shorter. "I have a couple new manuscripts you need to look over. I trust you can do that much?"

Hinata's lips thinned. "Yes, sir, but first—"

"— don't even think about it."

She raised her phone to face him as they walked. "Mr. Hatake needs to see you, he says you have been ignoring him and now my inbox is being bombarded. It might be something serious."

Sasuke came to a slow halt. If she was right, then he had an inkling of what the issue was. It wasn't as if he had anything scheduled for the next hour. With a flick of his hand, Hinata followed him towards the elevator. "I'll see him for ten minutes and then you will interrupt, say anything that will get me out of there— you, the company is not paying you to play Wordle, get back to work."

Sasuke scowled as the group of huddled employees zoomed back to their desks. While he marched to the elevator, Hinata offered them a sheepish smile. He was right, but also harsh. It wasn't as if they actually spent the entire morning playing Wordle, it was just a morning activity to get started.

"Overlord."

"My condolences," one of them said as she walked by.

When they reached the top floor Sasuke took a deep breath. "Remember, no more than ten minutes— actually make it five."

"I will set the timer."

Hinata's lips pulled into a small smirk. If anyone else saw him, they would think it was a death march. She rested her back against a windowless wall and set the timer. Soon they would be back in their office and could finally take a sip of her favorite coffee.

When the timer reached thirty seconds she glanced at the looming door of the director's office. What would be a good excuse? It wasn't as if she had to be particularly creative when the director was probably well-aware that anything coming out of her mouth would be a lie. She could say that the new author decided to schedule the virtual meeting now. Yes, that sounded reasonable enough.

At one second left she was already knocking on the door and turning off the timer. "Excuse me, forgive the interruption, but I need Mr. Uchiha in the conference room. The new author…" Hinata trailed off when she caught the strange glint in his eyes. Bad news. "I— I'll be waiting outside."

"Hold on." Sasuke glanced at the space beside him. Come over. "Sweetheart."

Hinata blinked owlishly between Kakashi and Sasuke with her mind running at the speed of light in an attempt to understand what was going on. She should've ordered one or two more shots of espresso than usual. That was her mistake. Not it mattered, her coffee was probably a melted puddle already.

Sasuke gestured for her to come closer and she had to do a double take when she noticed the rigidness in his movements. Slowly Hinata stepped away from the door to stand one step behind him. He rolled his eyes and brought her forward, snaking an arm around her stiff shoulders.

"See, the reason I'm not concerned is this," Sasuke said. A pause. "We are getting married."

Hinata's eyes filled with terror. Such a sugary tone was not part of his repertoire. Absolutely not. She may have very well been hallucinating, lack of sleep catching up. Or perhaps it was him who required the call for EMS. Either option was equally horrifying.

"Who's getting married?" Hinata murmured absently.

"We are," Sasuke said sweetly.