Episode 1

"So you married her, knocked up, and decided this isn't what you wanted?" Sasuke asked in disbelief, staring at Naruto, who sat at his table looking like he was talking about the weather.

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged, sipping his beer.

"You're an asshole," Sasuke told him flatly. After a few more moments of thought, he added. "Get out."

"What?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"You aren't staying here," Sasuke growled. "I am not your rebound."

"Just for a day or two until I leave?" Naruto bargained.

"No." Sasuke snapped. "You want adventure, then fuck off and find it. I'm not being an accomplice to you abandoning your WIFE and KID like some whore you took in for the sex."

Naruto looked down at his beer with a pout and silently got up, leaving it at the table, picking up his coat.

Sasuke rubbed his face and sighed as the door closed.

What the hell was he thinking? Naruto had nothing but talk about how great she was from the day they started dating, but now that he realized he was going to be a father, the ONE thing he always wanted when they were kids, he got cold feet.

He needed better friends. Sasuke looked at his beer and sighed.

Yeah, he needed better friends.

———

Sasuke looked around the half-emptied apartment through the door, and his eyes rested on the puffy, tear-streaked face of the single inhabitant.

"Shit, I can't believe he did it so soon." Shit, he shouldn't have said that. He cringed, looking back at her, expecting her to blow up on him for knowing and not warning her, but she didn't. She just looked at him. She seemed completely numb, lifeless like she had cried all she could. The information couldn't make her feel worse because she was at rock bottom already.

"I'll have to… call some friends," Hinata whispered to herself, looking around. Her voice was strained like it was hard to make the thought. She looked like she was so shut down that holding herself up was laborious. He was sure that she probably could afford the apartment on her own now, but maybe not with the added expense of a kid.

Sasuke rubbed his head in panic and frustration. What the hell was he doing even being here? He came to talk Naruto out of leaving. Now, what did he do?

Hinata didn't tell him to leave. She didn't stop him from entering. She just offered a quiet. 'He isn't here.' She stared out at the room, waiting for him to say something or leave her to her misery. He could feel the loss coming off her like waves.

"...Stay here for a few more days, pack up your stuff...and… dammit, you can stay with me for a while." Sasuke huffed.

She stopped looking at the void of her home and simply stared at him. Some color came to her face as she managed to look surprised.

He hated Naruto so much right now. This family was all he ever talked about, and to just toss it like that made him sick. He didn't know this woman well, but after all the shit Naruto had said about her being his dream to just drop her. Sasuke couldn't, even with his terrible conscience, leave her like this.

Hinata didn't argue with him, but he honestly didn't think she had the energy. Sasuke rubbed his face, wondering how he was going to do this. He had an extra room in his apartment. He was using the space for storage and the odd time Naruto crashed. She could be moved in there. It wasn't that much farther from her job. It would work.

This could work.

Sasuke stopped to think about why he was taking responsibility for this. It wasn't his kid. He hadn't walked out. But that's what he did, right? Clean up Naruto's messes, though he'd be damned if he did that again. This was the last one. If it weren't for the fact he had ruined her life in one decision, he wouldn't even have done this much, but damn it, the life had been sucked out of her.

Hinata pressed her lips together, leaning against the table in the hall by the door, and looked back at the beautiful home she had created for her marriage. "I don't want any of it." She whispered, her lip quivering.

"Then… grab what you do want. And we can have the rest sold. You won't even have to look at it." Sasuke problem solved. He looked over the house and felt a pit of disgust. He looked back at her tired face. She laid her hand on her stomach and the look got more grave. Maybe she needed more help.

Sasuke swallowed his own discomfort. "You know what. Let's do that now." He stepped past her, and she did as he hoped. She followed him as he headed to the bedroom. "Where do you keep your suitcase?"

Hinata weakly pointed to the top of the closet, where it was clear that the other suitcase was missing and the closet was half empty. He could feel the sickening abandonment just looking at the lack of care Naruto had taken to rip his things out.

Sasuke grabbed it and laid it open on the bed. He pulled out as many clothes as he could off the bar and laid by the suitcase. "Anything you want to take out?" It wasn't all going to fit, but they could also make a second trip with some boxes.

Hinata pressed her lips together, looking down like she was seeing something clearly for the first time since he had come in. She picked up the first dress and dropped it to the floor-sweeping it away with her foot with all the strength she could muster, which honestly wasn't much, but the intention was there. He frowned at the fabric as she started pulling clothing off their hangers and neatly folding them. Others joined the dress on the floor, but the first one stuck out.

Sasuke remembered that dress, red. It looked horrible on her pale skin. Hinata had worn it to their anniversary dinner. She had been all smiles until, oh.

Hinata finished the set, and he got her another bundle. When done with the closet, she had enough momentum. She pulled open drawers and did the same on her own. Another thing to join the dress on the floor was lingerie. He scrunched his face. He could understand that. He didn't like Naruto's tastes either, and honestly, they looked uncomfortable. The last thing she would want to remember was those.

With the suitcases looking full, he dug in the closet for a box or another bag. Hinata was ahead of him. She pulled a duffle out from under the bed and dumped the contents out onto the floor. It looked like some of Naruto's things. She stepped over the pile and filled the bag with anything else she wanted, her face set to a hardened yet somehow still gentle scowl as she weakly but intentionally shoved her things into her bag. She moved past him. He stepped out of her way quickly as she dug in the closet. She pushed a box out of the way and exploded as the top came off and stacks of pictures fell to the floor. She didn't even give it a look as she pulled what had wanted it out.

Sasuke glanced down. Pictures of them all through high school with notes on the back. Some fell face down with notes and dates. 'When I fell in love with your smile.' He remembered that Polaroid camera she kept with her all through school, and these weren't Naruto's sloppy scripts.

The story just painted itself with more details that made him hollow. Hinata had lost everything she had ever wanted.

Hinata stepped out of the room, came back with an arm full of things from other rooms, and then struggled to zip the duffle bag. Her hand slipped and let out a frustrated squeak.

"I've got it." Sasuke moved to zip it for her and picked it up, and she gazed up at him, broken tears starting to fall again. "You think you're ready?"

She gave a solemn shake of ahead, but what choice did she have.