Hinata covered her smile with the back of her hand. This felt silly. Sitting in formal attire while eating ice cream.
Sasuke grinned with one of the tiny spoons they were given, sticking out his teeth. "I like the hair."
Hinata touched the curls that were left after she took the pin out of her hair. "It was starting to hurt."
"I wasn't being sarcastic." Sasuke clarified. "Your hair is usually so neat. A bit of mess is cute on you." Hinata's face heated up and twisted into a scowl. Now it just felt like he was teasing her. "What is that face for?"
"You don't need to push it." Hinata took another bite to cool down her face.
"You really don't know that you're cute, do you?" Sasuke tilted his head to the side.
"I'm serious…" Hinata tried.
"I mean it." Sasuke sat back, rolling the plastic spoon to his cheek. "You've always been cute. I think the only reason you don't get hit on more is because you hang out with guys." Hinata huffed, shrinking into her chair. She didn't like this. She didn't want empty compliments. "Why don't you believe me?"
Because this wasn't real, and every once in a while, remembering that hit her harder than usual, and it made her fluttering heart drop into her stomach because she was tricking herself into thinking it was.
Sasuke smile completely dropped. "Hinata, I wouldn't lie to you." Hinata pressed her lips together. That's what made this hard. She knew he probably wouldn't, but if it made it easier, why not? If it made her feel loved like he promised, why couldn't he fudge a line or two? "I hope you know that."
Hinata picked at her ice cream. She ruined the fun with her insecurity. Now she really felt bad.
Sasuke suddenly got up from his chair. Hinata shrink, waiting for him to leave in a huff, but she flinched when her chair was tugged back to face him. He leaned into her face to get her full attention. "I've always thought you were adorable, understand?" Hinata blinked twice before rapidly nodding, inching her face back from his as her heart rate shot up. "Don't make that defeated face, or I'll have to make sure it disappears," Sasuke added before he backed up.
Hinata took a breath in the space that came between them, and her face twisted in irritation as she put together what he said and what he just did.
Sasuke chuckled as he swiped at the napkin she balled up and threw at him. "It works, doesn't it?"
"That's so mean." Hinata huffed.
"Only if I'm faking." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.
Hinata pouted. Now he was just playing with her heartbeat.
Sasuke knew that he was going to go home to a yelling match. It's why he was avoiding going home, but for obvious reasons, he couldn't keep Hinata out all night, no matter how cute she looked in her loose kinked hair with his suit jacket over her shoulders sitting in a pile of her dress.
Hinata gazed out at the river from the grass hill they settled on. She had a bad habit of getting into her own head and staying in there to drown.
Sasuke realized now that he had been seeing this for years, the sadness behind her eyes, the far-off stare at things she couldn't have. It must be lonely in her head where she had been convinced she wasn't worthy.
Hinata held out a rice ball at arm's length to him from her spot, sitting on the ledge. Sasuke huffed, taking it and taking an angry bite. "This is stupid."
"It's only a few more hours," Hinata assured him, looking out at the other kids who were a little more eager to take part in the field trip to the historic shrine. Unfortunately, this was not as fun for the two of them. They spent many hours doing these rituals.
What they didn't show you on a field trip was the immense attention to detail that was focused on doing it right or getting whacked with a bamboo stick by your grandmother for slouching at the altar or nearly falling asleep because listening to a story about a man that had ten concubines who was poisoned by his daughter wasn't interesting when you had to hear all the politics in between.
Hinata took tiny bites out of her rice ball, either absentmindedly or so she had an excuse to keep sitting there for longer. Her eyes followed one individual as they slowly shifted. Sasuke frowned at Naruto, having the time of his life with a very angry Sakura shouting for him to put her down.
"Sakura-chan looks pretty in a kimono." Hinata hummed.
Sasuke didn't understand how Hinata could complement her competition like that. Sakura wouldn't be nearly as nice. He heard what she said to Ino's face when they fought over him. He didn't want to imagine what she said behind her back. "Grandma would beat me with her shoe if she caught me doing that in a shrine."
"He's so carefree." Hinata sighed. "It's like he knows if he smiles, the world will smile back."
"Don't make me sick." Sasuke crumpled his wrapper.
Sasuke expected a smile on her face from either her crush or his comment, but her face was flat as she looked out at the others. Staring like they weren't even there anymore.
Sasuke blinked as a smile spread across Hinata's face. "Are you falling asleep?"
Sasuke shook his head. "No, sorry. I was just thinking."
"You've been staring at me for the last few minutes." Hinata teased.
"I told you, you were cute." Sasuke countered. Hinata face twisted up at him. "Hey, don't." Sasuke took hold of her chin. "I am going to call you cute to your face more often until you stop making that face every time I say it."
Hinata pouted in his hand. Sasuke chuckled. She wasn't making herself any less cute, but he dropped his hand anyway. Hinata sighed, standing up and out of her pile of skirts. "We should go home."
"I don't want to," Sasuke admitted.
"We should." Hinata put out her hand to help him up.
Sasuke took it but made no effort to get up. Itachi was probably waiting up by the door. His father would give him a lecture in the morning, but he was going to be more concerned about the aftermath than the actual relationship, which is why he didn't really think it was that important to tell him ahead of time.
Sasuke's hand tightened as he remembered what Itachi said. 'She isn't worth it.' His eye focused on Hinata's face to see it had twisted to concern. She was seeing through him again. Sasuke gave her hand a single tug, and she tumbled forward in a flurry of skirts. He guided her into his lap. Hinata only had a moment to recover her surprise before he wrapped around her ribs. "I don't want to. What are they going to do if we don't go home?" He could feel her heart pounding like a jackhammer.
Hinata laid her hands on his arms, turning her head to him. Her lips fell in a line. "You know what that is going to look like."
Sasuke didn't care what it looked like for him, but… "I guess it would look bad for you, huh?"
Hinata bit down her lip. "I guess… that's what we want people to think."
"Don't put yourself aside for the bit." Sasuke scolded. "I don't want you to do things out of your character for this. I need you to be you."
"I would have normally been home hours ago." Hinata's hand comfortably closed around his arm.
"Then we should go home." Sasuke sighed.
"I don't want to go home either," Hinata admitted.
"I guess this will be easier when we can live together." Hinata's face went blank. "Did you not think about that?"
"I… I hadn't thought that far ahead." Hinata stuttered.
Sasuke chuckled. "You thought through marriage and not that married couples live together?"
"I had other issues to think through." Hinata defend.
"So what do we do?" Sasuke arms loosened as he sighed. "Up to you." Hinata's face twisted to think, then frowned at her own thought. "What?"
"Well… we could get a hotel room. I am sure that someone might see us leave in the morning. It would solidify the story." Hinata explained what came to mind.
"I just said I don't want to do that to you. I do care if it makes it look more believable." Sasuke shook his head. He knew what people would think. They would congratulate him and call her worst names for the same thing. "I'll get you home." Despite what he said, he rested his head down on her shoulder. This would all be easier once the initial shock wave went through. Once everyone got over it, and they could just run with it, then they could stop feeling like this.
They could just have a place for just them. They wouldn't fear going home to what and who awaited them. They could work together on their own terms. That was the plan. They just had to get through the hard part.
Hinata lifted a hand into his hair and sighed. Just a little longer.