"Arms up," Sasori repeated as Hinata's arms drooped.
Hinata corrected her posture as she circled her with fabric. "Won't the tulle get caught in my prosthetic?"
"The dress will have a lining, but if you are worried about it, we can make stockings," Sasori said with his mouth full of pins.
"Glitter, yeah." Deidara pitched.
"No, it sheds. She'll have it in the creases for weeks." Sasori shot down.
Deidara grumbled from his spot, sitting on top of a desk cross-legged, hunched over his stitching. Sasori took this all very seriously, measurements, precise draping, perfect seams. Deidara was a bit looser, 'I'll fix it later,' 'It'll be fine,' and 'I can just add something to fix that' were regular comments uttered from his mess.
"Arms up." Sasori corrected her again.
Hinata straightened again. "Does Kisame-san have something to wear?"
Sasori paused. "Tailoring something that big would be interesting."
"Glitter suit, yeah?" Deidara said hopefully receive looks from both of them.
The sun was setting over the city, giving it a dim glow. Hinata comfortably curled her arms around Kisame's shoulders as he carried her home. Was the context changed now that they were dating? Neji certainly thought so, but he didn't like this before.
Hinata laid her face down on his shoulder to look at the edge of his face. "You're not falling asleep on me, are you?" Kisame's eyes shifted to her.
"Would you mind?" Hinata smiled.
"Nah, you're cute when you sleep." Kisame laughed as her face turned red.
Hinata puffed out her cheeks. He was teasing her. Two could play the game. Hinata reached up, pressed her lips to his cheeks, and watched his face turn purple. There, now they were both blushing.
"Why the fuck did they add letters to math," Hidan grumbled.
"The letters are numbers too. We just don't know what number." Hinata pointed to the next line he needed to do.
Hidan made an angry, incoherent noise as she made him finish his homework. He was trying, at least.
"Hey." Kisame nudged her. "Your phone."
Hinata turned her head to her phone face down on the table. It was hard to tell whose was going off when there were so many at the table. She flipped it over. Neji was calling. Hinata frowned, declining it.
Kisame made a face. "Could be something important."
"If it is, he will text me. He thought I was lying about studying today because his class doesn't have a test this week." Hinata explained. "He thinks we're sneaking off."
"I thought you were joking about dating." Hidan eyed them.
Hinata tapped his work. "Focus." Her phone notified her again. "Yeah, he's just trying to find me." Hinata took a moment to text him back before looking at Hidan's problem. "No, you can't just move it," Hidan grunted.
Hinata's phone started vibrating again. Neji was calling again. The phone was snatched out of her hand. Hidan held it up to his face and barked. "Piss off!" Hinata reached for her phone, but Hidan hung up before she could take it from him. He handed it back, picked his pencil back up, and waited for her innocently like he didn't just do that.
Hinata was going to hear about that when she got home.
"Ow!" Kisame growled as Deidara poked him with another pin. "Can't I just wear my uniform?"
"No, we put all this effort into Hinata's dress. You can suffer a suit, uh." Deidara had to stand on a stool to reach Kisame's shoulders.
Hinata giggled from Deidara's usual spot on a desk, with her legs draped over the edge. Kisame looked totally different in even the half remnants of a suit. It made his shoulder look square and brought up his posture. He could be an intimidating businessman in the right clothing and maybe a flatter haircut. Though embarrassingly enough, Hinata thought he looked just fine in his tatter, never tucked in school uniform.
"Don't laugh at me," Kisame grumbled.
"I think it will look good on you. Especially with the glitter." Hinata teased.
"Glitter?" Kisame gave Deidara a dark look. Deidara put his hands up in defense. "If you get glitter in my gils, I will kill you."
Hinata tilted her head. She hadn't thought about that.
Hinata laid her head on her desk and looked out the window. It was getting colder by the day. Maybe it would snow.
Kisame's arm wiggled under her. She lifted her head and turned it to look at him and lay more fully down on his arm, realizing too late that he was in the position because he had his face down on his other arm, inches from her face.
Hinata thought about moving back, but she didn't. Kisame closed his eyes, and she followed suit. Kisame's skin was always warm to the touch and rough. Weren't sharks cold-blooded? Did that not apply here?
Hinata drifted off momentarily before jumping as a chair in the room moved as someone returned from lunch. She shot up and blinked her eyes. Kisame groggily glanced at her before re-closing his eyes. He pulled his arm around the other and went back to sleep.
Hinata giggled at her cousin's red face as she presented him with three letters she was given for him. "Throw them away." Neji raked his hand back through his hair to force down his embarrassment.
"I can't do that. One of these you're going to want to reply to." Hinata offered the letters. "I know who they're from." Neji groaned and took them, looking at them with the most miserable look. "If it makes you feel better, most of mine stopped when I started dating Kisame-san."
"No, that does not make me feel better," Neji grumbled.
"He's really nice, even if he looks big and intimidating." Hinata was going to tell him until he understood that she really wasn't going to distance herself from Kisame just because he thought she should.
Neji gave her a defiant look that told her that he wasn't going to give up any time soon, but he knew she wasn't going to give up either. "I think this dance is a mistake."
"Kisame-san would rather we just sneak off." Hinata smiled as Neji's eyes darkened. Guess he would have to come to the dance to ensure she didn't disappear with her boyfriend. "Pick a date." Hinata tapped the letters.
Sasori fussed with the dress in the mirror. "Hair up?" He pulled and twisted her hair in one hand to show what it would look like, and his face fell on the fine scars across her neck.
"It's your design." Hinata pressed her lips together as she watched him debate.
"How about," Deidara waved Sasori's hands away. "We have this bit up and have some curls down around here, yeah."
"I don't know how to use a curling iron." Hinata relayed.
Deidara nodded. "I can do it. Do you think you were getting out of Sasori doing your makeup, uh?"
"I'm flattening Kisame's hair too if I can a hold of him." Sasori brushed the dress into place.
That was going to be interesting to watch.
"Are you going to get her flowers or something?" Itachi wondered from the pictures he was sent of the dress and suit in progress.
Kisame made an uncomfortable face. "She's not really a flower girl."
"Maybe you could just heal up before the dance." Itachi referred to the fresh bandage on Kisame's cheek.
Kisame twisted his face to scowl off to the side. "I've been trying. It was a lucky shot."
"Maybe you should start looking for a less aggressive job so you don't continuously worry her," Itachi suggested.
"Unlike some people, I need the money." Kisame sat back in his seat. He didn't like justifying to a pacifist. "I get paid way more at the bar than I will at any other unskilled labor looking like me."
Itachi sighed, disappointed. "You're holding yourself back by not trying for work because you think they will reject you."
"Come back to me when you're blue and make grannies swat at you with incense." Kisame crossed his arms.
Itachi raised his eyebrows snottily. "You know, eventually, you are going to graduate. Do you plan to use the nice education you worked so hard for, or are you going to not try because you're blue?" Kisame set his jaw. "We only have a few months left. Hinata's probably going to go to university. Are you going to stay stagnant behind her, or are you going to grow with her?"
Kisame released the tension in his jaw. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He always assumed that they would stay friends and he wouldn't have to think about it. Now that they were dating, the only thing that crossed his mind was that Hinata would leave him behind before they ever got to making those types of decisions.
Not many people stay with their high school first loves, right? If he stayed where he was, and Hinata went right past him in life, she would just leave him behind, right? She should.
What would he even do for university? He probably couldn't even afford it.
"Hey." Itachi grabbed his attention to bring him out of his self-loathing spiraling. "If you want to make her happy, and you don't think you're worth it. Don't accept defeat. Work hard to be worth her." Stupid mind reader. "Hinata doesn't expect you to become a doctor but go to a trade school or something. If she wanted a clean cut boring office guy, she wouldn't have picked you."
"I'm just waiting for her to realize that she likes having a big frighting friend more than she likes having a big freighting boyfriend." Kisame huffed.
"You keep thinking like that, and she is going to see it and misinterpret it to think you're unhappy dating her." Kisame's face twisted. "You know I'm right. She's just as insecure as you are. If you want her to be happy, make sure she understands you're happy with her, not waiting for her to dump you."
Maybe he was right.