Sasuke dug through another dusty old box from the furthest reached of his closest. He knew it was in here somewhere. He needed to throw some of this crap out before they moved in together.
A knock on the door revealed an unpleasant surprise of Itachi leaning on his door frame, eyeing the boxes. "What are you looking for?"
"What do you care?" Sasuke shoved the box to the side to get out another one.
"I don't," Itachi admitted. "I came to tell you I figured it out."
Sasuke didn't want to play twenty questions. "Figured what out?"
"You and Hinata's game." Itachi crossed his arms.
"I have no clue what you're talking about." Sasuke denied.
Itachi rolled his eyes. "Hinata was never going to become director, was she?" Sasuke wasn't even going to answer that. He clearly knew the answer. "And you were so upset because you were. What a perfect match."
Sasuke hated that sometimes he didn't just act smart.
"She can't help you." Itachi continued. "She wasn't good enough for her own family business. What makes you think that she will be any help to you."
"Stop it." Sasuke snapped at him. "Call me spineless or weak for asking for help, but stop insulting her."
Itachi face flattened, making it hard to read. "Did you fall in love with her before or after?"
Sasuke blinked at him.
Itachi nodded and lifted himself from the door frame. "Clever plan." He disappeared down the hall.
Sasuke huffed with his fist around the item he was looking for.
Smart ass bastard.
Hinata laughed at the big plush blanket Sasuke pulled out of his bag and tossed around her shoulder at their usual spot on the bank. "I've got a bottle of wine but no glasses." He dug out. "And…" He held up a container with a cake inside.
"Is it fudge?" Hinata wondered.
Sasuke nodded. "Since you can't put a soft filling in a tiered cake."
"All my dreams, crushed." Hinata took the container. Sasuke situated himself in the blanket and unscrewed the bottle of wine. "I feel like I have been drinking too much wine lately."
"More for me than." Sasuke tipped the bottle back. "Ugh, it's sweet."
"You asked me what I liked. What did you expect?" Hinata opened her cake container to take the first bite.
"Bleh," Sasuke took another drink anyway.
"Your mother wanted me to have a bachelorette party," Hinata told him. "I dread what she had in mind."
"Yeah. Naruto is upset that I didn't want to go drinking with him." Sasuke leaned back on his hand. "Why would I want to be hungover tomorrow?"
"This is the one thing I wish we could skip." Hinata whimpered.
"You put all those hours in with my mother, and the wedding is what you want to skip?" Sasuke teased.
"Planning it is one thing. Being the center of attention for a whole day is another." Hinata took another bite. "I don't want to be watched going down the aisle."
"I could walk with you." Sasuke offered.
Oh, no. "Did your mother ask my father if he was going to walk me down the aisle?" Sasuke shrugged. "I don't think he would want to be in an untraditional wedding."
"I've seen weddings where the bride and groom come in together." Sasuke set the bottle aside.
"That would make it less stressful." Hinata sighed. "We just have to get it past your mother."
"Oh, you think she was bad before? I am sure she is going to be a monster tomorrow." Sasuke chuckled. "Mom-zilla."
"I'll just be happy when it's over." Hinata held up a bite of cake.
Sasuke shook his head. "No more sweet."
Hinata took the bite instead and looked out at the waves. They would be married this time tomorrow.
"I have something for you," Sasuke dug into his pocket, pulling out something she hadn't seen in years.
"You kept that?" Hinata accepted that plastic toy shaped like a lollipop. It opened like a clamshell, and it once had a prize inside. Candy, probably.
"I think this is the only gift I ever accepted from a girl," Sasuke admitted.
"I would hardly call it a gift." Hinata hummed, opening it. "And I have given you real lollipops before."
"This is stupid." Sasuke cursed at the machine.
"The trick is to push the button before it gets to the top." A voice that was almost lost in the noise told him.
Sasuke turned around in the crowded arcade that they were all too old for, but this is what his idiot best friend wanted to do for his birthday party. "Yeah, I got that."
"Sorry." Hinata looked away but didn't leave.
Sasuke puffed. She made it hard to stay mad at her when she was so non-confrontational. "You try it."
Hinata stepped up to the game. He put in a token and waited. She watched the marker go back and forth a few times before she hit the button. The machine rang a bell, and there was a tumbling sound of a prize being dispensed.
Okay, he wasn't expecting that.
Hinata crouched down and opened the chute. "I think it's stuck." She reached her arm in, but when she pulled it back out, she came up empty-handed.
Sasuke crouched down with her and reached in. He could just reach it. He flicked at it to dislodge it, and it came tumbling out into Hinata's hands. She grinned, holding it up between them. "There you go." She held it out, and he took it. Before he could tell her that she had won it, she could keep it. She was gone.
Sasuke twirled the plastic lollipop in his hand. Ironic.
"What was inside?" Hinata wondered.
"A ring." Sasuke teased. Hinata frowned at him. "It was just gum."
"I don't think I won anything else that day." Hinata hummed.
Sasuke could imagine who she wanted to win it for. "I guess I won out over him even then."
Hinata gave him a look. "This isn't a competition."
"And I won anyway." Sasuke shrugged.
Hinata reached over him for the bottle of wine. "I'm not the great of a prize."
"I feel like you say shit like that now, so I will kiss you." Even subconsciously.
Hinata sipped the bottle. "I don't think I need to do even that much."
Sasuke got closer. "True." Hinata accepted the brief kiss. "You taste like pure sugar. Are you going to be able to sleep?"
"You brought me sugar." Hinata accused.
"Maybe I want you up." Sasuke closed in again.
Hinata lifted the bottle between them. "You can wait one more day." Sasuke chuckled at her face turning red, realizing what she was saying, and she pressed the bottle to her face. "Shut up."
"I didn't say anything." Sasuke chuckled.
"Isn't there a rule about the groom seeing the bride before the wedding? Doesn't being out all night with him defeat the point?" Hanabi teased as Hinata came in the door.
"We're not so traditional." Hinata took off her shoes. "What are you doing up? It's late."
Hanabi crossed her arms and looked away. "I wanted to sleep in your room. We used to do that all the time, and you're going to be gone soon."
"I'm just getting married. We actually haven't even looked at where we will live yet." Hinata assured her.
Hanabi pouted. "Am I allowed to or not?"
Hinata smiled. "Of course."
Sasuke relaxed back in his bed, but it was hard to sleep. He looked at the clock that kept ticking forward, more and more every time he looked at it.
He tossed himself up and headed for the kitchen. He dug into the fridge for a few moments and closed the door with a drink in hand to find his father waiting behind the door.
"You should be sleeping. Big day tomorrow." Fugaku sat down at the counter.
"Why do you think I can't sleep." Leaned on the other side.
"Your mother was the same, but she took two sleeping pills, and now she is snoring like a bear," Fugaku grumbled. Sasuke snorted. "Don't tell her that. I will never hear the end of it."
"Maybe if I tell her, she will bother you tomorrow and not me." Sasuke tipped back his drink.
"She will be jitters tomorrow." Fugaku yawned. "Be nice. Her baby is getting married." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Will probably be the only one we get to see."
Sasuke sat his bottle down in the solemn quiet. Just because Itachi was being a jackass to him didn't erase the fact that his parents were watching their oldest son wither away.
"And damn you for finding a way to make me related to Hiashi Hyuga." Fugaku pointed his finger. "I am going to have to put up with that bastard at every family function for the rest of my life."
"He probably won't show up to most of them." Sasuke shrugged. "I'll be surprised if he shows up tomorrow."
"He loves that girl more than he acts like it." Fugaku puffed. "I am going to tease him for crying tomorrow."
If it keeps them busy.
**Lavender Long Stories**
Hey, with how many issues has been having I would like everyone to know I cross post to AO3 under Lavender_Long_Stories and I have an active tumblr lavender-long-stories