Chapter Text
There is a saying repeated by old women that you have probably heard at least once. The saying states that it takes a village to raise a child. And it is true.
However, why no elderly grandmas ever inform anybody around that it takes a village to organize a single wedding, was beyond Sasuke’s understanding.
He could go on and on and list many, many things that were achieved with much less effort than preparing one party.
One. Not two. Not three, not ten. One.
Because his brother was getting married.
And it was fine, believe him. He had nothing against Itachi getting married, to Izumi no less. They were both officially in a relationship for some time and they were both twenty five – so even though a few mean people around would comment how too early it was for them, how not mature enough they were to make such a crucial decision because it was the twenty first century and people should not get married this early anymore… yeah, despite that, the whole idea was actually quite good. His brother valued Izumi dearly and she loved him just as much. Their relationship survived long distance and many different situations (many – because they could insist that they started when they were twenty two, but come on, everybody had eyes and it started when they were early teens). They were, as far as Sasuke could say, ready for this big step.
But the wedding.
What possessed them to organize a wedding?
…of course, wedding parties were absolutely normal and despite cultural changes it was still actually much less common not to have one than to have one. But let’s not delve into details because right now, Sasuke was not in the right state of mind to rationalize things.
The nerve of people who come up with an idea to organize wedding parties.
It only took the first month for him to swear to himself that he and Sakura, once they decide to get married, would simply elope. They would just call Naruto and Hinata to be their witnesses, then would go to whatever institution was in power to seal their union and the next day, they would inform their respectful significant people. The end.
And now it was no longer the first month of preparations, it was the eighth month and oh world did Sasuke swear in his sleep. Did he dream of weddings, white dresses, cakes, decorations…
And it was not his wedding, as you already know. It was Itachi’s.
So how did he end up in this place…?
The place was at the kitchen table in his parent’s house, over an obscenely long list of guests, with a pen in his one hand and Izumi’s mobile phone in his other one. He has already been scrolling through her inbox for a full hour and he could not tell if he was even halfway done. His mother had this perfect idea, you know. That Sasuke was just the person to arrange sitting places. Taking into account how sociable he was, he was assigned a task to double-check the guest list and distribute them around the hall in an attempt to encourage people to integrate and have a good time during the party.
…well, the idea was his mother’s but the reasoning was not, obviously. It was his sarcastic mind trying to save him from endless misery because what was she thinking making him take care of this.
She was thinking that Sasuke was Itachi’s best man and sweetheart I know it’s a lot of work but could you please do it for Izumi? She has been so stressed lately, with the day coming and everything and that cold she’s caught is really getting serious…
He cared for Izumi like for a sister (information classified) and he wanted to help. Of course.
Two days ago he honestly, truly wanted to help her.
He had it coming, to be fair. It always ended like this with this wedding: something was supposed to be helpful and really believe me dear, not that demanding. After eight months of constant preparations, he should have known better.
He was naïve.
Wiping his eyes as his vision was getting more and more foggy, he scrolled down a few more messages trying to ignore the time he could see in the left corner of the screen. Eleven in the evening. He had an exam tomorrow. And he was stuck doing… this.
A message popped up on the screen. It was Izumi’s phone and Sasuke would never even come up with an idea to violate his soon to be sister-in-law’s privacy. But… it was Itachi’s name that appeared in the notification. Without a single drop of guilt, he clicked on the label.
Hi Dear <3 How was your day? Are you feeling better?
His brother using emojis and symbols was still odd to him. But he knew Itachi used them sometimes. With Izumi, at least.
Get ready to be killed in your sleep he typed without an ounce of remorse.
…what? A response came almost immediately.
Your damn wedding is ruining my life.
Sasuke, what are you doing with Izumi’s phone??
GUESS he pressed the send button with a bit too much force.
I really have no idea.
I am doing what I’ve been doing for eight months now, HELPING.
An incoming call appeared on the screen and Sasuke could not care less. But he decided to be civil. So he took it.
His brother’s frowned face appeared and blinked at him twice.
“Seriously Sasuke, what is this about?”
“You have three shots, Itachi” his voice was dripping with sarcasm when he wrote another two names around a big rectangle that was supposed to visualize a long table.
“What are you doing?”
“Ask your fiancée.”
“You are literarily holding her phone, little brother.”
“You could just come over to her and ask- Oh right, you can’t cause you are in the damn US. Three damn days before your damn wedding.”
“I had to wrap things up here-“
“You always have an excuse.”
“Sasuke, I am coming in two days. You know I had to take care of some things here, I will be moving back to Japan permanently. It does require time.”
“Whatever” he allowed himself a tiny, tiny eye roll and went back to the inbox window. Right, that was where he finished. He opened the next message.
“What are you doing, little brother?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Oh, I can see somebody is in a good mood today…!”
Wait, that was…
“Shisui…?!”
“Heya Shrimp!” Shisui’s face appeared on the screen. He dropped next to Itachi on a supposed sofa with a pack of chips. “What’s got you so worked up?”
“What the hell are you doing there…?”
“Oh, you know. Itachi was kinda stressed right before his big day-“
“I wasn’t.”
“He SO was” Shisui whispered loudly covering one side of his mouth with his palm. “So I decided I will come to rescue. I’ve been annoying him now to the point where he actually can’t wait to get rid of me.”
“That part is true.”
“I love you too.”
“Since when are you there?”
“Hmmm two days? Something like that. We had a nice bachelor party yesterday, with some of Itachi’s colleagues and boy, was it fun! I just don’t exactly remember the end and this meanie doesn’t want to tell me anything!”
“If you hadn’t drunk this much you would remember today.”
They were just not serious.
“You are fucking. Kidding me.”
It must have been his tone, the reason they suddenly sat somehow more straight and looked to the camera with a newly discovered focus.
“The wedding, YOUR wedding is in three days. We’ve had a total of four sudden changes of the plan for the past forty eight hours. Mother is not doing anything that doesn’t concern this party right now, for a week or so, father took time off work to help, Izumi caught a cold a few days ago and is trying to get her fever down and meanwhile YOU” he pointed to Itachi “are ‘wrapping things up in the US’ for the past two weeks, and YOU” he pointed to Shisui “went there to help him because he was stressed?!” he raised his voice clenching the phone in his hand. The pen suddenly snapped between his fingers. “You are not. Fucking. Serious.”
“Sasuke, I’ve spoken to mother a few hours ago and I am in contact with Izumi a few times a day, even despite the time difference” Itachi assured. “Everything is fine-“
“It was not my damn idea for you to get married and have a full-blown damn festival for a party but for some reason I am the one sitting over this damn guest list with your sick fiancée’s phone to check and arrange these damn tables…! At eleven in the evening! You asshole.”
“Wow there, Sasuke, come on, we are all doing a lot-“
“Like hell you are, Shisui, you haven’t stepped a foot in Japan for the past three months you idiot! But flying over to the US to go to a bachelor party, SURE. Couldn’t miss it.”
“Hey, Sasuke, please” Shisui sighed, running his hand through his short hair. “We get it, you are tired, I am sure it takes a lot and you are in the middle of preparations-“
“You don’t get it and that’s the problem, you are somewhere out there having fun-“
“Look, I confirmed with uncle and auntie if it would be fine for me to only come home when Itachi does. And they said it was all right. Izumi said the same, she actually wanted me to be here with Itachi. I am not ignoring you all out there without a care in the world, okay?”
“Oh, so you two get to relax before this big stressing day. Well, I am happy for you, because I have no such opportunity. You see, my brother is getting married and it needs to be organized.”
“Sasuke, we get it, really. It must be busy. But it’s not like either of us is deliberately avoiding the dirty work. We agreed on this with everybody. Come on, don’t be like that” Shisui was pleading at this point.
“Right, everybody. Funny I don’t remember hearing about your plan to go to Itachi, to organize some bachelor party? But sure, everybody was fine with it.”
“Okay, that’s the problem? That we didn’t tell you? Shrimp look, we actually wanted to have an evening with you too, but with you being still under the age of drinking-“
“Sure, I would be the fifth wheel. Whatever.”
Shisui stopped and made a wide eye roll on the other side. Itachi was strangely silent.
The silence followed for a few more seconds. Sasuke’s eyes left the screen. He felt like hanging up on them. He was fed up with this conversation.
Then he heard a sound of somebody shifting on the other side. It was his brother standing up and moving away from where the two of them were sitting. Shisui visibly took the phone from him as he was leaving. A sound of closing door could be heard right after.
“Congrats, Sasuke” Shisui basically growled at him, fixing his stare at the cam. “You managed to mess up his mood when I finally made it better just a few hours ago.”
“Like I care-“
“You fucking should” he spat out and somehow, that stopped Sasuke from saying anything more. “You fucking should, you little asshole, because has it been your wedding, Itachi would have done for you all the things that you are doing now for him. Happily. What the hell was that attitude?!”
“Do you have the slightest idea how busy it is here?!” Sasuke drawled. “There is always something to do around this damn party, we are planning, re-planning, driving around the city, going there and back the whole day to make his party happen and he is out there. Doing nothing.”
“Well, I’m sorry Sasuke. But as busy as it is, you seem to be the only person to have a problem with that.”
Sasuke’s hand fell deadly to the table. Shisui was not-
Well, he was serious. Very serious, at the moment. And that was the problem.
Without much thought, he ended the call and put (slammed) the phone to the table.
Of course, again, it was him. He was the one in the wrong. He simply did not care enough for Itachi’s happiness so he avoided any responsibilities connected to the wedding.
He clenched his fists in his hair and pulled down. He was tired. The past eight months have been downright exhausting. His whole family gave their all to this wedding party, like it was their very reason of living. He could basically feel how his relationship with each and every person in the household deteriorated as the big date approached. It was part of the reason he moved out a few months ago. They were unbearable at times, even his mother – it was still strange to him that he could have enough of angelic Uchiha Mikoto. He has never had disagreements with her before up until… this wedding. By now, they had a few heated exchanges and even a full blown argument on their account.
He felt like his old, gloomy self was emerging more and more with every passing day. He has got more considerate and more open with his family for the past years… And now, it felt like he has gone back to being that angry, reserved teenager. He could snap at people around for the tiniest little thing or refuse to do something for the sheer reason of being stubborn – and everybody noticed that. It was not a good feeling. He was twenty, he should not act like that. He did not want to act like that.
He straightened up and shot an unfavourable look at the list. With an uneasy feeling of defeat, he resumed scrolling Izumi’s phone and went through the remaining messages.
By the time he finished, it was already midnight. His math exam was scheduled at eight in the morning. Of course, the wedding had to happen right in the middle of his finals… What a wonderful date.
Fortunately enough, he predicted ahead that it would be too late for him to go back to his place. He entered his old room and briefly glanced to the open notes on the desk. Right, he initially wanted to go through a few remaining subjects after he was finished with the list but now he was too exhausted. He just grabbed his PJs and headed to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and took a quick shower. Cold shower. To calm his nerves.
He set an alarm at six in the morning and covered himself with the blanket. At least he was tired enough to fall asleep almost instantly.