My Ex Want To Marry Again

Part - XXV

9th Nov, 2023
22:17

Naruto contemplated the canvass from the couch where he had been laying. As usual, he had pulled off his shirt while painting the night before. He was messy with his art, and didn't want to have to keep replacing his shirts he ruined every time he painted. So he had gone to sleep in his sweat pants, but nothing else. He looked at the bottle of Jack Daniels and shot glass on the floor next to him that he had brought out the night before. The bottle was still three quarters full.

Painting always helped him get out what he was feeling, and last night had been no exception. The piece looked violent, with slashes of color ripped across the canvass, and a splash where Naruto had flung a shot of Jack.

Naruto had done a lot of thinking. He had thought until his brain hurt. But still hadn't figured anything out. Based on what Sasuke had shown him last night, it appeared that Sasuke hadn't thrown him away for nothing. It hadn't been the selfish, cold-blooded act that Sasuke had made it out to be at the time. That had changed so many things about how Naruto felt about what had happened. How he felt about Sasuke. It meant that Sasuke actually hadn't been the heartless person that Naruto had been so destroyed by. Sasuke had hurt him, but he had done it because he himself was hurting, not because he was just a soulless fuck. So much of what had helped Naruto move on from Sasuke over the past two years had hinged on the fact that what Sasuke had done was unforgivable, that Naruto would never want him back even if Sasuke for some unknown reason changed his mind. But this changed that, and Naruto didn't know how to handle it. People make mistakes when they are hurting. It is human. It is... potentially forgivable. But that didn't change the fact that Sasuke had utterly destroyed Naruto. The humiliation and vulnerability that Naruto felt when he looked back at what he had become after Sasuke had ended things was real. Naruto thought back at how utterly pathetic he had been after the split, and felt true revulsion for himself. He never wanted to be that person again. And he wouldn't. He had rebuilt himself and was able to find peace and purpose on his own, not merely as an appendage to Sasuke's life.

So where did that leave them? No fucking clue. But he needed to talk to Sasuke. No matter what had happened, Sasuke deserved to know the truth. He clearly still didn't know the whole of everything that had happened the night of those photos, and he had a right to Last night Naruto had just been unable to process anything. The idea that this had all been some horrific misunderstanding had sent him reeling. He couldn't help the bitterness that he felt knowing that this whole disaster didn't need to have happened. That the pain he had gone through could potentially have been avoided. If only Sasuke had talked to him. If only I hadn't run away, maybe I could have made him.

But he had been in no condition to stand and fight Sasuke. Despite skipping out on the diagnosis, he knew he had had a serious mental breakdown. Probably some fancy words for depression could have been tagged on as well. He might wish he had been stronger at the time, but he knew he had barely survived as it was, and couldn't have done more. He had tried, and fought as much as he could. He would have to make his peace with that, just as Sasuke would for his own mistakes. They were both only human, and their feet of clay had tripped them both. But where that left them, he had no idea.

He thought about calling him, but knew Sasuke would be at work. This wasn't the kind of conversation to be had on the phone in an office. Should he go over to Sasuke's house? He didn't know where he lived, but Itachi would probably tell him.

He heard a knock at the door. It wasn't Yahiko's knock. He pulled his T-shirt on and walked over to the door, already knowing who it was likely to be

Naruto opened the door, not surprised to meet onyx eyes looking back at him. Their gazes held for a moment, neither man speaking. Then Naruto breathed a small laugh and stepped back, allowing the other to enter. "Yahiko, you fucking Judas," Naruto mumbled, knowing who must have given Sasuke this address. But there was no heat behind the words and Sasuke smiled slightly at their sound.