I'll always love you (re-continued)

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Naruto watched his phone ring, he recognized the number, it was ingrained in his memory, and he couldn't forget it. He hesitated, but answered, even though he had answered the phone it took him a second to muster up just enough courage to greet the person on the other line even though he already knew who it was. "Hello?" The word came out quiet, he couldn't force himself to sound confident, and his heart was beating quickly.

"Naruto dear! H-"

"How did you get my number?" He felt bad for cutting off his mother so harshly, he had so many dreams about reconnecting with her, but dreaming and actually doing it were two different things. Maybe his sister gave her the number, they couldn't have remembered it, and even if they did he changed it when he left the town. He wanted answers, he had so many questions but now wasn't the time. He wanted to enjoy his time out with his boyfriend, but how could he do that if he couldn't keep his mind off of the fact that his family (mainly his parents), left him at a time when he needed them the most?

He took responsibility for what happened, but to his credit, he didn't know, how was he supposed to know something that wasn't revealed until he found the strength to tell them about his symptoms? The more he thought about it, the more angry he got. He took in a deep breath, forcing himself to stay on the line.

"After some convincing... I got it from your sister."

"Oh." So she either hounded her until his sister couldn't deflect, or snooped and found out, either way, they were now on the phone. "Listen, I have to go."

"Wait! Please, just tell me how you've been. It's been so long."

He wanted to say that it was her fault, that she rejected his attempts to reconnect. He glanced at the clock, Sasuke would be here to pick him up in about an hour, he sighed, and sat down on the couch. Perhaps he would regret this, or maybe he'd get the closure he'd need, or maybe he would finally have what he's been wanting for a long time. His parents back in his life. "I've been good, I've been through a lot but now things are finally looking up." He opened up his cafe, was in a relationship, and although it was still too soon for him to say that he loved his partner he was happy, his children were adjusting to their new life, he was now in his best financial position, the only worry he now had was what to do about their father, more specifically should he tell them, he knew that he should but how?

"Oh. I'm glad to hear that, how are my grandchildren doing?"

Grandchildren? That was a new one, this was her first time referring to his children as such. In fact, she had claimed that they would make his life difficult, and he could easily fix his mistake. Her acting like this was a normal weekly conversation managed to hurt him and he couldn't explain how or why. "Oh, so they're your grandchildren now?" He couldn't stop the comment from coming out of his mouth, and from how silent his mother was, neither did she. He felt bad after saying it, but not bad enough to apologize.

"They've always been my grandchildren... even when I wasn't fully supporting it."

In his mind, she did a lot more than "not fully support" this conversation was doing nothing but bringing bad memories to him. "Yeah, okay." He started to draw circles on his knee. "Listen, I have to go." He couldn't continue this conversation anymore, it was opening wounds that he had healed from, and although he managed to heal, the wounds were fresh enough to where it poked at, they'll reopen. He still had a lot more healing left.

"So soon? I just- I just want to catch up with my son. That's all."

He found himself growing annoyed with this conversation, and so he finally snapped. "Fine, since you want to catch up so much, how about we meet up for coffee sometime next week?" Would he follow through with these plans? He didn't know, but it did get him off the phone. Naruto placed his phone down beside him and rubbed his face, he no longer felt like going out, the conversation was short and still drained him. He hated how his mother managed to get him to think about that point of time in his life, it wasn't exactly positive for him, he had gone through so much loss in a short amount of time.

Naruto picked up his phone, and this time he called Sasuke, he felt bad that he wanted to council.

"Hello? Are you okay?"

"Hi. I'm sorry but I don't think I can make it to our date tonight." How could he say that he didn't feel like going without actually saying it?

"Is something wrong?"

He glanced down at the floor. "My mother called, I haven't talked to her in years and it brought up a lot of old memories, now I don't feel like going. I'm sorry." He felt bad.

"Don't apologize. How about I pick you up and we have a movie marathon? If you have someone to watch the kids, maybe you can spend the night? My daughter is with her mother this week... so it would just be the two of us tonight."

That sounded perfect, he loved that idea. "Call me when you get here, I'll see you soon." A smile made its way onto his face, he was so sweet.

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Naruto sat down on the bed, sitting on the side that he had claimed as his own whenever he visited Sasuke's house. He trusted his kids to be responsible enough to stay the night alone, they were old enough to watch themselves, and he had pre-made snacks for them, along with breakfast, and dinner just in case they were still hungry. He was grateful that his partner hadn't asked him about what had happened when he was talking to his mother, although they were dating, it still felt too personal to reveal that right now.

Although Naruto believed in transparency during a relationship and communication, if he was asked he'd share a very watered-down version, or ask to speak about it later. He grabbed the remote, going to look for a movie to watch as their dinner and snacks were being prepared. When Sasuke came into the room he had a tray of food and a towel so that the covers wouldn't get dirty from them eating, though he doubted they would make much of a mess. Once he got settled, Naruto got comfortable next to him, this wasn't their original planned date, but he enjoyed it a lot.

Here they were, in the comfort of Sasuke's home, watching movies, while eating and laughing together, he didn't know it at the time but was just what he needed.