THIS FIC IS A RE-UPLOADED, EDITED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL
Alexei: Hello, my lovelies. May I call you my Simpletons? I always figured that if I were to ever get famous I would call my fans Simpletons, just because it would be ironically funny. (I would like to think that if I have fans they would be rather intelligent)
Anywho, this fic is based on an idea I had about what a marriage of simple companionship vs. romantic relationship might be. Then, of course, my writer's mind had to turn it into a love story for my favorite pairing :)
Summary: Hinata didn't mean to fall in love with her husband. It just kind of happened.
Disclaimer: I may craft and mold it to my will, but the template was created by someone else.
/
It was on their fifth wedding anniversary that Hinata realized, with much surprise to even herself, what exactly had happened. She hadn't even considered this to be in the realm of possibility. It should have been impossible given the circumstances and predispositions of the parties involved. It was impossible.
It. Is. Impossible.
Their entire arrangement was one of convenience - of companionship at most. The fact that it evolved anywhere past that was completely incomprehensible to her. Impossible, she repeated in her head.
There was no warning. There was no subtle increase of affection -more or less - or sudden, unexplainable jealousy. She never felt any need to pursue a closer relationship than the one they had settled into or deter him from developing even closer ones with other women. It was a part of their agreement - their dynamic. I was a part of their marriage.
Besides, the whole thing was Hinata's idea to begin with. She never felt she could ever romantically love someone, even Naruto, whom she deeply admired. She didn't feel like she needed someone to come home to every night and murmur out her likely false affections to on a regular basis, but it wasn't like she wanted to spend her entire life alone either.
She had never been alone, and Hinata settled on the happy thought of simply having a companion, someone to share her life with being required to share herself with as well.
Really, he wasn't much different from her. The key reason she chose him, friendship aside, revolved around the fact that she knew he didn't really feel like he could truly settle down romantically with someone either. That was the reason their arrangement ended up working so well to begin with.
/
Technically, Hinata had proposed to him.
"I don't love you or have some weird fangirl crush on you, " she found herself reassuring him when he froze in shock at her sudden, very significant request. "But please consider the benefits of this. I promise that I am not trying to pursue some sort of a weird romantic fantasy with you, but…" when he didn't immediately brush her off she swelled up with a tentative trickle of courage that kept her babbling out an explanation for her request.. "but I don't want to be alone the rest of my life, and it's not like you would have anything to lose anyway. You don't want to settle down, I know that, and I won't make you."
He didn't answer her for what seemed like an hour. She sighed and stood up, preparing to leave and become an old cat lady.
But out of the uncomfortable silence, he asked. "What are your conditions?"
/
They only day they ever wore their wedding bands on their hands was the day of the actual wedding. He kept his on a silver chain around his neck, casually tucked under his shirts so that no prying eyes could see it. At first, Hinata hid hers in a jewelry box under the bathroom counter, but a close call with a burglar in their shared apartment led her to follow Sasuke's lead, though she didn't bother tucking away. It wasn't like she had to hide it from some jealous lover. That was the whole point of marrying him, so that she didn't feel like she needed to seek something like that from someone else and then feel the regret of not wanting them afterward.
Their routine was a comfortable one. She didn't ask too much, and he gave just enough for her to be happy. Any outsider would assume they were simply close friends, which, in truth, was what they were. being friends worked for them.
They both had jobs and separate lives during the daytime. He would be up before her in the mornings and always have a fresh pot of coffee, and in the evenings she would come home, check the phone for messages and make dinner.
Most days, he would arrive home not too long after her. He helped where he could, but she would often have already done all of the small chores that needed to be done to maintain the apartment. He mostly just loitered in the kitchen during his time at home, keeping her company while she cooked.
They would then have dinner together, spend another hour in each other's, company for one reason or another, and finally when the hour struck late enough they would head off to their separate bedrooms for the remainder of the evening.
On occasion, there were nights when he would leave a voicemail telling her that he planned on going out. He never said where, and Hinata was always safe to assume that he meant he would be out for the entire night. It was his life to do with what he wanted. They both knew that. She had made that clear when she proposed to him.
Besides, even on the nights that he would stay out longer than she could stay awake, he would still be home in time to make her coffee in the morning.
"I don't ever plan on divorcing you, just so you know," Hinata casually mentioned on one of those mornings.
He raised an eyebrow, pouring her a cup of the bitter, black liquid then grabbing the creamer and handing it to her. He didn't comment, however. He just continued with his probing look, expecting her to explain. Hinata never casually said anything. She always had a purpose when she spoke. He was the same.
"Don't give me that look." She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out. "I just mean that I would be happy to be like this for the rest of my life." She added a small dollop of creamer to her coffee and then handed the container back to him. He put in back in the fridge, not adding any to his own cup. He drank his coffee black. "But… If you were to ever find someone that you wanted to be with - like, really wanted to be with - I don't want you to even hesitate to file the paperwork."
His already raised brow shot up to the ceiling.
"However, if you do, I would request that I might be introduced to her. I may not be your lover, but I am most definitely your wife, and I would like not to have anything hidden from me if I can help it."
He chuckled quietly at her request and they finished their coffee. He cleaned up before leaving for work and after straightening his tie she went to take a shower.
/
A week later, after several consecutive nights of staying out - and about a year and a half into their marriage - he brought home a girl.
He had, of course, warned Hinata that he planned on introducing her to his newest girlfriend. It wasn't his first girlfriend but it was the first time that he decided to introduce the two. It made her swell up with happiness that he was sharing that part of his life with her.
Hinata was in the middle of prepping the elaborate meal that she had been planning for days when they came into the apartment. She didn't stop her activity to go out to greet them, knowing that he would likely bring his new 'friend' to her. She didn't want to intimidate the poor girl by popping up out of nowhere anyway.
After a moment, a cough brought Hinata's attention away from the leafy salad she was chopping green onions and tomatoes into; Sasuke's favorite.
"Hinata…" He didn't quite know what to say as he gestured to the female at his side. It almost made Hinata giggle to see him so visually uncomfortable with the situation, despite being the one to instigate it. He was obviously trying to gauge her reaction to the woman. "This is Sakura… my girlfriend."
She was rather pretty with her green eyes and pink hair. She held herself up with confident but almost seemed like she was looking down her nose at the pale-eyed woman, sizing her up.
Oh, well that just wouldn't do.
"It's such a pleasure to meet you," She wiped her hands off with a kitchen towel then stepped forward to shake Sakura's. She made sure to keep a friendly smile on her face, hoping to ease the other woman's nerves. "I'm his wife."
Really, Hinata had no idea if she knew of their arrangement, but she couldn't resist herself as she tacked on a bit of an extra claim, as she shook the her hand.
The only male in the apartment chuckled, smirking at Hinata with that smile that was just so him. Sakura didn't react so well to her teasing claim. Her hackles came up and she gave a curt nod. Hinata may have just had a platonic position in his life, but it was a position none-the-less and she felt the woman harbored some unhappy feelings about that.
Hinata wouldn't get in their way though, and after eating with them she packed an overnight bag and spent the night with her sister and her husband.
When she came home early the next morning, the man she married was sitting there, without his pink-haired companion, nursing a cup of black coffee.
"Where's Sakura?" Hinata had asked.
"I sent her home after you left." Sasuke shrugged.
"Why?"
"She didn't like you."
Hinata blushed and it was but a moment before they proceeded about their normal morning routine.
He continued to bring home several other girls over the years, always introducing them to her, but he never kept a single one around for too long.
"Too clingy," he told her once when she asked why.
/
It was in their third year of marriage that they started sharing a bed. They had moved out of their apartment into a cozy little house on the outskirts of their hometown because he had gotten transferred to a different building with better pay but shorter hours and she had started working from home, writing.
"We are married," he reasoned, unusually flustered. "and it's not like it's a twin mattress or anything. We could both be making snow angels on that thing and still never touch." She remembered laughing at his rationalization.
"And it's cheaper than buying two mattresses, I'm sure." She laughed when he shrugged, looking uncharacteristically sheepish.
Hinata didn't argue with his reasoning. Years of living together had made her comfortable in his presence, and sleeping in the same bed was just a small step from where they had already been anyway.
Her only worry was that he would bring another girl home into their now shared bed like he had before. It didn't bother her as much when he had his own mattress with his own sheets and just him sleeping there regularly. She was as comfortable with the situation as she would have liked to have been, but over time she would see that her worries seemed to be in vain.
He never brought a girl home again.
When Hinata would ask if he was dating anyone, he would just shrug and continue helping her with dinner.
Despite their assumption of sleeping together-separately it was only a week later before she fell asleep cocooned in the warmed of his arms.
She had been crying that night after her father called the house to inform her that her cousin, Neji, had passed away, and she didn't even notice until the next morning when she woke up and he was still there.
/
Their fourth anniversary was the first anniversary they spent together.
Hinata had expected him to disappear like he did every year, keeping himself busy at a club or a bar. He appeared to have an aversion to the day, despite seeming to be comfortable with every other aspect of their arrangement. She hadn't really been shocked at his previous behavior - even on the first - so it was much to her surprise that he sat lounging in the living room when she came home from grocery shopping.
He never did mention what day it was, and Hinata didn't feel comfortable bringing it up to him. She assumed he had just forgotten the date and his particular avoidance to it.
And it was nice to spend the day with him, even if he didn't realize it's significance.
/
Now, exactly a year later, Hinata came home from visiting her sister for the afternoon to find the house dark. She wandered down the hallway, not bothering with the lights. She knew her way around and she didn't plan on doing much other than heading straight to bed.
He seemed to have reverted back to his previous awareness of the occasion, and Hinata dare-say that it hurt to wake up and not find him anywhere in the house. It was a much needed distraction when a very pregnant Hanabi called and requested that she come spend the day with her because her husband was away on a business trip.
Now though, a glow from halfway down the front hall caught Hinata's attention before she managed to make her way upstairs to the bath that had been calling her name. She approached the light tentatively, unsure of what to make of it. When she rounded the corner into the adjacent room she stopped, almost dropping her keys in surprise. The dining room was dark aside from several candles that had been arranged and lit on the small table and around the room, covering most available surfaces. She could smell the delicious aroma of artfully cooked food wafting from the covered plates - was that cinnamon? - and could almost taste the aged wine poured into the two flute glasses, one at each of the two table settings.
What brought tears to her eyes, though, was Sasuke standing there in the dim light, holding a single red rose. The soft flames from the wicks danced their reflection across the gold band that fit itself snugly onto his left, ring finger.
It was on their fifth wedding anniversary that Hinata realized what exactly had happened.
Impossible, Hinata repeated in her head. How is it possible that I fell in love with you without even knowing it?
/
"Hinata," Sasuke murmured, his face buried into the back of her neck while she worked on her latest novel.
"Hm?"
"I'm don't ever plan on divorcing you."
/
Alexei: Ew, I went back to read "Childish Games" and just… ew…
Also, I posted this unbeta'd-ish. I went back fixed/changed/added things that I didn't see the first time around when writing then briefly skimming this, so if you see any other glaring mistakes, let me know and I'll fix 'em.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED! (RxR)