Work Text:
Hinata wasn’t a fan of this idea. Making someone love you through force wasn’t something that made any sense to her. That wasn’t real love; it was all an illusion. She had told Sakura so many times but the pink haired girl didn’t seem to be listening.
“He’s going to love me back! Finally!” Sakura gushed, holding her love potion close to her chest.
“It increases feelings that are already there…” Hinata corrected, hoping that this situation didn’t go as badly as she thought it would.
The rest of their friends sat in the other room, waiting for the snacks to be brought in so they could start their horror movie night. It was a crisp October night and Hinata’s apartment smelled of cinnamon rolls and pumpkin spice. It might have been a cliche for a witch to love these things but she didn’t care. She loved horror movies, her friends huddled in the living room with a plethora of blankets and pillows, the warm smell of autumn, and the swish of multi-colored leaves outside the window.
She sighed and grabbed some snacks while Sakura poured her potion into a specific drink that was set a little bit aside so she could tell them apart. She looked so happy and Hinata didn’t have the heart to keep telling her this might not end up like she had hoped.
“Snacks!!” Chouji cheered and Hinata smiled, handing him some cinnamon rolls before putting them on the coffee table for everyone and taking her seat; the only one left was right next to Sasuke.
“Thanks Sakura!” Naruto grinned as she handed him some hot chocolate like he had requested. He had insisted on hot chocolate because it was ‘much better than cider’, which Hinata would agree with as she settled into her pillow she sat on and took a sip of her own.
She didn’t want to admit it but she had moved past her crush on Naruto a while ago. He was still a huge inspiration to her but she was no longer infatuated with him. If he hadn’t noticed her in the way she wished after she had confessed her feelings to him about a year ago, he was never going to. And she was now okay with that.
It didn’t help that, during the last year, she and Sasuke had become friends. They had grown much more comfortable in each other’s presence once she had stopped obsessing over Naruto. They were both two of his closest friends, which meant they had to be with each other more than they had originally thought. Once Hinata stopped romantically trying so hard, Naruto seemed to have noticed her as a great friend. However odd it might have seemed to Hinata a year prior, she had grown to really like Sasuke. Maybe a little more than she should have.
Sakura giggled as she handed the last drink to Sasuke- the one she had spiked with the love potion. Hinata resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the noise, grabbing a cinnamon roll and taking a bite. She watched from the corner of her eye as Sasuke took a sip of his cider and wondered if this made her a bad friend. Naruto pressed play with the remote and Hinata settled into her seat of pillows and her pumpkin patterned fuzzy blanket.
It was only a few minutes into the movie that Hinata noticed Sasuke’s hand was shaking next to hers, currently wrapped around her mug. Was he cold? That was odd for him. It couldn’t have been the movie making him nervous- it had just started! And this was Sasuke they were talking about. He didn’t get scared of anything.
Hinata glanced up at his face to see his eyes were very concentrated on the television. She shrugged off the weirdness and adjusted her blanket to cover his legs, just in case.
___________
Hinata was so close. She was all cozy in her cream sweater and her pumpkin patterned blanket and Sasuke couldn’t quite place why but he was somehow nervous. He was mesmerized by the reflection of the tv in her pearlesque eyes. He snapped his eye back to the television just before she glanced at him, hoping she didn’t notice him staring.
She adjusted the blanket to cover his legs and gave a soft smile before turning back to watch the movie. He felt his ears burn and he knew they must have been red, silently cursing himself for being so obvious. Hinata was not only gorgeous but she was not like any girl he had ever met before. She didn’t fawn over him like most girls. Instead, she treated him like a human. She treated him like a flawed, emotional, complicated human even though most of the time he wished she didn’t. He wasn’t just something to gush over to her; he was her friend. Hinata was one of the only people other than Naruto that he truly believed understood him and he just had to go and mess it up with developing….feelings for her.
He clenched the blanket in his hand tightly, as if scared she would pull it back for some reason. It helped to steady his hand and wait, why were his palms so sweaty? Ew.
It was hard to concentrate on the movie when all he could think about was her. She sat right next to him, heat radiating off of her delicate form in such a comforting way that he could almost slip his arm around her and pull her closer. Of course, he wouldn’t dare though, especially with all of their friends around. He could feel Sakura’s eyes boring into the back of his head where she sat on the couch behind him but that wasn’t anything new. He was used to her staring but tonight, it seemed more intense than usual and he wasn’t about to slip up and let her notice just how distracted the Hyuga was making him.
___________________
She knew it was a horror movie and she shouldn’t have been getting sleepy but she was. When you listened to true crime and paranormal podcasts to go to sleep, it wasn’t unusual to get drowsy while watching someone get stalked and murdered by a slasher. She had placed her empty hot chocolate mug on the table a while ago and between that and the soft smell of the cinnamon rolls, her head started to bob up and down. She tried as hard as she could but it wasn’t much use when she was so comfortable on her pillows and the blanket she now shared with Sasuke was bundled up around her. As her eyes finally slid shut, she slumped to the side and rested her head on Sasuke’s shoulder.
Sasuke’s hand twitched as her head leaned against his shoulder. He could smell her lavender scented shampoo and vanilla body spray- it was intoxicating. She fell asleep on him. It wouldn’t be weird if he put his arm around her, would it? His hand twitched again as he moved to slide it around her waist, her head sliding onto his chest as he did so.
He stood up abruptly, waking up the sleeping girl who looked up at him with dazed and confused eyes. He mumbled something about going to the bathroom and hurried away before he could do anything else embarrassing.
Once in the bathroom, he shut the door and leaned against it. His heart was pounding and his whole body felt like it was on fire. His chest had constricted as he tried to catch his breath. This wasn’t like him. Yes he had unfortunately developed feelings for Hinata but they seemed to have taken over his entire being tonight. He had just wanted to watch some dude kill teenagers in multiple, brutal ways and how he was having a panic attack in the bathroom like a schoolgirl.
______
Hinata’s face burned a bright red, head spinning so much she thought she might pass out. She had fallen asleep on him? God, how could she be so stupid? She had clearly made him uncomfortable and now he was going to avoid her forever. What had she done?!
She watched as Sakura got up and followed after him, wondering if he was okay or not.
‘I’m such a bad friend! I can’t believe I did that to Sakura! She’s going to hate me now too!’ Hinata thought, shrinking into her blanket as a new scene of the movie started.
Sakura, however, had started to get into the movie and had not even noticed the exchange between her friend and her crush.
She found Sasuke in the kitchen, sipping a glass of water. He looked as beautiful as always, dark hair stark against his pale skin. He wore an Ice Nine Kills band t-shirt and she smiled, although she had never listened to them before. He had suggested it but she didn’t really understand the concept of screaming lyrics when you could just sing them to a catchy tune instead.
“Hey Sasuke.” she greeted, grabbing herself a glass of water as well. He looked somewhat flustered, red had creeped up his neck and into the tips of his ears. This was it! Her potion was working!
“Oh, hey.” he responded, taking another sip to calm his nerves as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Do you like the movie so far?” she tried making conversation as she scooted closer.
“Yeah. I’ve seen it before but it’s still good.” he responded, getting a better control of his breathing now that the air wasn’t filled with the smell of Hinata’s perfume.
“Oh?” Sakura’s eyes lit up as she took the opportunity she had been waiting for.“Well, did you maybe just want to go back to my apartment and watch something you haven’t seen before?”
His eyes steeled and he brushed past her, moving to put his now empty glass in the sink.
“No, I'm good here.” He told her before heading back to the living room in a hurry. He wasn’t a coward. He was going to tell Hinata how he felt tonight.
Hinata was sitting where she had been, the blanket curled up to her nose and if the room hadn’t been so dark, he could have sworn she was blushing. He settled back into his spot next to her and took a steady breath, pulling her into him by her waist.
Hinata froze. The only sound she heard was her heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Was she imagining this? Maybe that love potion had actually worked, just not how they had planned??
She relaxed when he didn’t pull away and rested her head on his chest as they finished the rest of the movie. His strong arms around her felt safe, like she belonged there. When the movie had finally finished, Naruto flipped on the lights and everyone started to get up. Hinata hesitated, not wanting to leave the warmth of Sasuke’s arms but she knew it couldn’t last forever. She avoided eye contact with him as she stretched and got up, moving to pack up the leftover snacks to her friends to take home.
Slowly but surely, all of them filtered out the front door with hugs and goodbyes, saying they would see her next week for their movie night ritual.
Sakura was the last to leave. She gave Hinata a hug and a soft smile, almost reassuring her that even though their plan hadn’t worked out for her, that she was okay and happy for the blue haired girl.
Hinata waved her goodbye at the door and pulled her sleeves over the tips of her fingers as the chill brushed her skin. She sighed and closed the door, ready to clean up all the pillows and blankets from the night. Much to her surprise, as soon as she turned, her lips were suddenly captured by soft and warm ones.
Her eyes shot open, taken aback. The blood rushed to her head so fast, the room spun again for the second time that night as she realized it was Sasuke who had her pinned between his tall frame and the wall beside her front door.
Before she could really react, he had pulled away. His eyes darted around her face, trying to find something that would give him an idea of how she felt. She wasn’t sure what her face looked like but it must have been as shocked as she felt. He pulled away further, a bright blush traveling from the tips of his ears and spreading into his cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” He said quietly, the words breaking her out of her thoughts. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight.” He went to turn away but she grabbed his arm before he could.
“No no no!” Hinata reassured him. “You didn’t do anything wrong!” Pearlescent eyes darted from his face to his collar bone, unable to make eye contact just yet. “Sakura put a love potion into your drink to see if you loved her or not.”
Sasuke’s face turned stoney as the pink haired girl drugging him came to light.
“I know I should have said something earlier but-”
“It didn’t work.” He said plainly, stating the obvious.
“Yes.” she agreed, being so bold as to hold his hand. “Well…to be fair, the potion wasn’t going to make you fall in love with her. It exaggerates the feelings you already have….”
His eyes grew slightly wider as he realized what was happening and leaned his forehead against hers.
“Can I…kiss you again?” he asked softly, eye darting to her lips as his ears burned.
“Mhm.” was all she could get out as she met him in a kiss, this one softer than the original one. It made her stomach flutter and her cheeks unbearably hot. When he pulled away, she had to stop herself from following him to reconnect them.
“Did you maybe…want to go get coffee sometime?” He asked, sounding a little breathless. She smiled brightly and replied,
“Of course! And I promise I won’t spike it with anything.”