Trapped [Uchiha x Fem!Reader] AU

Number 11

Shisui opens his eyes to the white ceiling above him and the sun in his eyes. A cold breeze blows through the open window, awakening the stagnant nerves on his cheek. He stares unblinking at the room that surrounds him. The clock on the nightstand reads noon.

[Name] is already gone.

He feels nothing. 

But to keep up appearances, Shisui slaps on a smile and slips out of bed. He tricks his mind into thinking it's happy, that everything that's happened so far is perfectly fine and not mindfucking him. 

"What wacky adventures await me today? Haha," he mumbles to himself as he opens his closet. The new clothes [Name] bought him line the closet. He glosses over the wardrobe. His smile falters, none of it was his style. Shisui forces a bigger grin and closes the closet door.

"Pajamas, it is!" He laughs and leaves the room. At the same time Shisui leaves, Mackenzie steps into the hallway from [Name's] room.

Again, his grin wavers. This woman before him is real, and according to [Name], he shouldn't be.

Be nice! Be nice! BE NICE! 

He sports a gentler smile, better than the manic one he wore a minute earlier.

"Hey," he says with a slight wave.

"You're finally up, you must've been tired," Mackenzie says with a nervous laugh. She knows Shisui is wary of her, so she tries to be even friendlier than usual. She takes one look at his glassy eyes and shudders visibly. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine."

There's a long silence between them, but neither one can look away from the other. For a second, the reality before him melts away, turning grey and muddied.

He feels nothing.

"You should probably eat something."

Mackenzie's voice brings him out of his disconnected moment. He nods, as if it were an order from the third Hokage himself.

"Right."

Without a second more, Shisui climbs down the stairs. Laughter reaches his ears as he steps into the threshold of the living room. Itachi, Sasuke, and Madara all looked like they were enjoying themselves.

How? He wonders. How can they easily toss away their old life? Their friends, family, lovers?

 He watches Itachi smile, something he hasn't seen in such a long time. How could they...? When it's so hard for me?

...

As much as Shisui tries to hide his uncomfortable waves of emotion, Itachi notices it. He picks up on every fake smile, the dark shadow that looms behind his already dark eyes, the circles beneath his eyes from long nights; he notices it all.

And he understands it all as well. He's been there before. In his past life and now. He knows the signs.

So when Madara leaves to go meditate, and Sasuke leaves to make lunch, Itachi sits next to Shisui on the floor and lets out a long sigh.

"So, how long are you going to pretend everything's okay?" Itachi mumbles under the volume of the TV.

Shisui doesn't give him a moment's gaze. His eyes lock on to the swaying trees outside, thinking of where [Name] could be and when would she return.

"You're pretending too." Shisui's words are harsh, but it contradicts the soft way he says it. "We're all pretending."

Itachi shrugs, a faint chuckle in his lips. "Not as much as you." He continues, pushing his wild hair back. "At least [Name] is helping us out. She tells us that communicating will bring us closer together, and that we don't have to go through this existential crisis alone. With you, however, you've been hiding your pain from us, all of us. So we can't help unless we know what's wrong. [Name] says it's okay to be vulnerable sometimes."