Chapter Text
Sasuke flinched as Naruto bumped back into him again. He gave him a not-very gentle shove with his good arm accompanied by a glare that was happily ignored with a big dumb smile and an apology that would feel more sincere if he even tried to be careful.
He crossed his good arm over his sling. It was that bastard’s fault he was wearing this thing he should at least be more aware of it.
The seat on the other side of him shifted as it was filled. He turned his glare to the unfortunate soul he was going to tell to piss off to sit somewhere else but found the seat spot barely half filled. Hinata tucked her dark hair over her shoulder as she opened her lunch. She caught his attention on her and looked down at his sling and then down to the space she put between them. “Do you need more room?” She squeezed herself a little smaller and into Shino’s leg. He didn’t really react to her.
Sasuke just turned his attention away. At least someone knew to keep their distance from his arm.
“Wait.” A female voice called after him. He ignored it until it was followed by the sound of rapidly approaching shoes. He braced for pain, but it didn’t come. What did was two hands held up to tell him to stop. Hinata held her hand palms out from a good distance in front of him until she was sure he was stopped, then disappeared down.
“What are you…?” Sasuke’s voice trailed as she started tying his shoes. He couldn’t with one hand, and he wasn’t going to ask anyone. He had just tucked the strings into his shoes, but they must have come out for her to notice.
“There.” Hinata finished, pulling herself back up. “Sorry.” She dipped her head before she went back to her friend, who handed her her bag.
She was wasting her time going out of her way. They were going to be untied tomorrow, too.
Sasuke was getting more and more pissed with this stupid sling by the day. It was a nightmare to put on his shirts. It was a pain in the ass to shower with a bag over the cast. It was itchy, and he couldn’t scratch it. He couldn’t tie his shoes. And he could open a god-damn juice box straw.
He pulled at the packaging with his teeth, but the plastic just stretched, making it thinner and harder to hold onto. It snapped out of his mouth, and he was about ready to throw it.
“Don’t use your teeth.” Hinata scolded him in a voice that didn’t sound much like scolding. Her hand hovered shy of his, asking for permission to take it. He didn’t want the help, but she was going to look at him with her dumb puppy eyes if he didn’t let her, so he held it out to her. She took it, opened it, unbent it, and stuck it into the box for him. She bowed her head ever so slightly.
He brought the box back up to his lips, and his eyes slid down to her as she returned a few chairs down on the other side of the library table. She tucked her long hair back over her shoulder and slid her hands under her skirt before she sat down.
Since when did she start sitting there? It felt like she was always so close lately.
He stopped sucking on the straw, and it emptied what was left in the straw back into the box.
“When did you start liking me?” His voice cut through the silence of the bookshelves. She wasn’t going to be able to ignore him.
Hinata’s head came up slowly, eyes widening on him, bewildered. Did she think he wasn’t going to figure it out? “I’m… I’m sorry. What?”
“You used to be the only girl in class who didn’t like me. What changed?” Sasuke clarified.
Hinata turned her head around like she was wondering if he was talking to someone else. Was she really going to play the innocent act? She didn’t think that he was stupid, did she? “What are you talking about?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He hated the girls who acted like they didn’t like him to make him think they were safe. It was as much, if not more, annoying than the girls who just swooned. At least they were being upfront, so he knew to avoid them altogether. “Don’t play stupid.”
“I…” Hinata shook her head. “I don’t… like you.” She put her hands up to push the idea away.
“Then why are you hanging around?” Sasuke nodded toward her.
Hinata pointed down. “I always sit here.” She pointed to him. “You always sit there.” She tilted her head slightly. “Are you just now noticing?”
“I didn’t just mean…” Wait. Sasuke considered it. Did they always sit near each other at lunch? He never really cared who sat beside him as long as it wasn’t Sakura. Now that he thought about it, Hinata did always seem to sit near him, but maybe he just hadn’t noticed it before because he deemed her safe.
Hinata waved her hands. “I swear. I don’t. I…” She flushed as she looked down at her books. Sasuke watched her collect her things in a hurry and bow her head. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” And with that, she was gone.
And he actually felt bad about it.
“Damn it.” Sasuke cursed as he fought with his bag, struggling to close the zipper with just one hand.
Hinata turned her head and bit down on her lip as she watched him struggle. Usually, Naruto had been here to close it for him, but he left early today. She wanted to help, but he made himself pretty clear when had thought of that.
Sasuke dropped the bag down in frustration, and his focus came up and caught her staring. She ducked her head down back into her own things. She shouldn’t even pay attention. He clearly didn’t like it. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. She was mortified that he thought that her helping hand was flirting.
“Can you zip this?” Sasuke huffed.
Hinata flinched up to see his annoyed face. His eyes shifted away, avoiding the fact that he was asking her for help. “I… ” Nope, she shouldn’t say anything. “Sure.” She scrambled to clear her hand and zipped the bag up for him.
“Thanks,” Sasuke grumbled, tossing the bag over his good shoulder. “Sorry.” He added.
Hinata returned to collecting her things from her locker as she chewed on her lip, but he was still there when she was done and closed her locker. “Was there something else….?”
“Why are you so helpful?” Sasuke demanded.
Hinata blinked at him. “You asked…”
“No, I am mean in general.” Sasuke clarified. “If you don’t like me. Why are you going out of your way to help me?”
Hinata flushed and looked around. Did he really say that out here in the hall? Yes, he wasn’t declaring that he thought she did like him, but the fact that he considered it at all was still embarrassing to her. “I… I honestly thought you wouldn’t ask. For help, that is.” She explained. Sasuke had a very long track record of being very stubborn. He would rather fail at something than ask for help, and he hated failing as well. Combining that with the fact that Naruto wasn’t really that observant to see when he was struggling meant he would never offer help even though he was always there… and it was his fault he was in the sling in the first place. “But I guess I was wrong.”
Sasuke shifted his backpack on his shoulder. “I guess… you can help.”
Hinata considered his permission for a moment, and the idea made her crack a smile. It was silly that they had made this circle to just get right back to where they started. “Alright.”
Sasuke dropped his bag on his floor and flopped back on his bed to stare at the ceiling. He felt stupid.
This whole situation was Naruto’s fault. If the dumbass hadn’t broken his arm, then he wouldn’t have needed help. Hinata wouldn’t have felt compelled to help him because Naruto was about as considerate as a bag of rocks, and he wouldn’t have noticed… and he wouldn’t have accused her.
And he wouldn’t still be annoyed with himself.
He fixed the situation, but he felt that small bit of amusement in her smile. She knew that he was swallowing his pride to fix the situation. She could at least not laugh at him, right?
Well, this was Hinata he was talking about. The only thing that made less sense than her liking him might be her laughing at the pain of others.
Stupid…
Ugh. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. Hopefully, they could just both forget about this mess.