A New Addiction
By Bashfulglowfly
"Heyyy, baby! I heard you got out of rehab. Glad to know you're back. There's gonna a great party Friday. I can pick you up and we can go parrrty like we used to. In fact, I'm betting you didn't get fucked the entire time you were there. Well, baby, Karin's got the cure! Call me!"
"Hey, Hot Sauce! Heard you got out of the drug jail! HAHAHAHA! Karin said that she'll bring you to Friday's party. Lookin' forward to seein' ya. I got some great shit you'll like!"
Sasuke walked into his brother's home office and laid his phone down on the desk and played the messages. He looked Itachi in the eye. "Would you be able to get me a new phone number? Please."
"Of course."
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Sasuke eyed the treadmill.
It had been a long time since he'd exercised. Probably high school. Maybe in his first year at college but by then he'd been so addicted, he really couldn't remember.
He'd gotten out of rehab and was starting his life over and one of the things he was going to do was go back to school. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Spring semester and too early to sign up for Summer classes, but he had to do something.
He'd promised Itachi. And he was bound and determined to keep his promises.
Since he needed to do something, he decided to start exercising. At least that would be a start to showing Itachi and his mother that he was serious about continuing to get better.
He got on the treadmill, carefully read the instructions and picked a basic program that would start slowly and gradually speed up. Slow and steady was what he needed. Going all out would do nothing but drag him under. Not to mention hurt like hell later.
The treadmill started, and he held onto the handles until he got his balance and stride. He looked down and saw that it wasn't going very fast, but he was starting to sweat. Sasuke rolled his eyes in disgust, lost his balance and had to grab the handles again.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Sasuke looked over to the treadmill on his right and fell into the bluest eyes he'd ever seen.
The blond grinned cheerfully at him and held out a hand. "Hi! I'm Naruto!"
"I'm Sasuke." Sasuke carefully shook the other man's hand, while still gripping onto a handle with his other hand.
"Been a while since you've been in a gym?"
"Yeah."
Naruto nodded and looked Sasuke up and down. Sasuke knew that the other man would see what was obviously brand-new exercise clothes and the fact that despite eight months or so of being able to eat three times a day, Sasuke was still thin.
The treadmill began to move a little faster but Sasuke stumbled a bit when Naruto asked "Booze, pills or drugs?"
"Excuse me?" The words came out more than slightly hostile.
"What was your addiction? Booze, pills or drugs?" Naruto smiled at him. Not as bright as the first but Sasuke recognized the look on the other man's face.
He'd seen it in his own mirror.
Naruto spoke. "It was booze for me. Started drinking when I was 13. No reason. I was just able to get the booze. Went to parties. Parents of my friends would let us drink. Had the idea if we drank at their houses we wouldn't do anything stupid later on.
"Idiots.
"So, there I was, able to get booze whenever I wanted. Had a surprisingly high tolerance for being 13 too. Used to drink ¼ of a bottle, no problem. People thought that it was great that I could chug like that. Then ½ a bottle, then more and more.
"At the time, I thought my parents didn't notice. I'd come to the breakfast table after being out half the night, the booze oozing from my pores, but they didn't say anything. Or at least I thought they didn't notice. Turned out that they did notice and went to someone who gave them bad advice. To let me get it out of my system. After all, I was doing okay in school. The boy is just exploring his limits like boys do. Or whatever new age psycho babble the jerk was spouting. But my parents believed him since he was a professional, published books and everything. So instead of kicking my ass, they ignored it."
Naruto took a deep breath, "They ignored it until I was 17, just after my 17th birthday in fact. Was in my car, just driving along. Completely wasted. I learned later that they estimated I was going about 100 mph. I have no clue what happened. Don't even remember getting in my car but they think I hit the median and flipped the car about 7 times.
"Thank god for seatbelts, airbags and the fact that I didn't kill anyone." Naruto sighed. "Except for myself."
Sasuke looked at the other man who was staring into the distance. Obviously somewhere other than the gym. "You died?"
Naruto came back to himself and smiled at Sasuke. "Twice. But the doctors were damn good at their jobs so, here I am!"
Sasuke didn't even realize that both he and Naruto were standing still facing each other on the treadmills. "So, what happened?"
Naruto scrubbed at his head, disarranging the golden strands. "I was put into a medical coma for a while. Brain swelling. And while I was under, I went into withdrawal, so the docs dealt with that too. Because I wasn't awake for the detox…mentally it didn't help me because once I was brought out of the coma and was able to have visitors, one of my" and Naruto used his fingers to make quote marks "'friends' snuck in booze and I got wasted right there in the hospital."
Naruto grinned at Sasuke's shocked expression. "Yeah, I'm betting you shouldn't go there. I'm going to guess that there was a time or two you got high as a kite around your family."
Sasuke gave him a wry smile. "You'd win the bet."
Naruto laughed then gestured to a seating area. "If we're going to talk like this, we might as well be comfortable." Sasuke followed him and the two settled into the chairs and Naruto resumed talking. "Fortunately for me I was still underage, and my parents could, and did, toss my ass into rehab. A place called 'Leaf.'" Naruto saw the look on Sasuke's face. "You went there?"
"Just got out a week ago. Still trying to get my feet on the ground again." Sasuke hesitated. "Some of the people I knew before have already contacted me."
Naruto leaned forward. "You remember what Doc Inoichi said, right."
Sasuke smiled. "I've already gotten a new phone number."
Naruto grinned. "Good for you!" He ran a hand through his hair. "God, I hated being there. I fought the Doc and the other therapists. I was such a shit. But one day, in group, someone said something…and it just clicked. And I hated myself. To the point I was puking. It's not like I wasn't already dried out. But there I was puking up my guts. Symbolic or something." Clear blue eyes gazed into Sasuke's. "That was my turning point. What was yours?"
"We probably shouldn't be discussing this stuff. I can't remember what Doctor Yamanaka said about this."
"Neither can I but what the hell, I told you my story…"
Sasuke huffed a small laugh. "Okay. My turning point was when I ran out of money for pills and nearly burned to death in a shithole apartment building that I was living in."
Naruto's eyes were wide. "WOW!" He nodded. "Yeah, that would be a kick in the ass, wouldn't it?" He tilted his head. "You're legally an adult so I'm guessing you asked for help?"
"Yeah." Sasuke leaned back in his chair. "And somehow my brother still loved me enough to go looking for me and gave me a second chance."
"You don't want to let him down."
"I've disappointed him so much already."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"I want to be a therapist and work at Leaf."
"Good choice. People like us, I think we're the best to help others because we know the shit they are going through. You signed up for classes?"
"Too late to get into Spring classes and too early to enroll for Summer."
"So, you got to find something to do."
"Yeah."
"Well, exercise is good. Let's get back to work. I'll be your exercise buddy."
The two talked while they exercised.
Rather Naruto talked while Sasuke listened. He discovered that Naruto was a teacher and taught fifth grade. He became a teacher because his parents said that they didn't mind him pursuing a career in art, but he should have something to support himself while he was trying to make a name for himself in the art world.
Naruto laughed when he said that his parents were right…again.
But he enjoyed the heck out of teaching. His kids this particular year were just great. And they loved it when he was able to squeeze in enough time to teach them how to draw or about artists throughout history. Naruto shook his head and said Sasuke would not believe how much stuff absolutely had to be taught each week in order to meet National standards. That so much had been made mandatory, it was no wonder that the arts and music, and in many schools, even recess was done away with.
After they finished exercising and showered, Naruto invited Sasuke to dinner.
That was the first of many gym and dinner times. They met up three times a week. And when they weren't exercising and having dinner, they'd talk to each other on the phone.
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Sasuke hissed as Naruto carefully cleaned and bandaged his elbow. Sasuke hadn't noticed that one of his sneakers had come untied. The lace caught in the treadmill causing Sasuke to fall and skin his elbow.
"Hey, got a question for you."
"Hmm?"
Naruto took a deep breath. "I'm having my first gallery showing in two weeks. Would you like to come with me?"
Sasuke stared at the other man. "You want me to come with you to such an important event?"
"Well…yeah…I mean we've been dating." He stopped at the look on Sasuke's face. "I didn't read you wrong, did I?"
"We're dating?"
"Well, I thought we were. I mean there hasn't been any kissing or foreplay but yeah… Do you want to date me?"
"Yes." Sasuke leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to Naruto's.
"Fucking finally!" Naruto placed a hand on the back of Sasuke's neck and did a whole lot more than a gentle pressing of the lips.
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Dawn was breaking when Naruto slid out if his bed trying not to waken the man sleeping next to him. He stared down at the other man for a moment and he knew that Sasuke Uchiha was his new addiction and would be a life-long one too.
Nude, he padded quietly to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He was glad that he'd remembered to get it set up before he'd met Sasuke the previous night because when he brought Sasuke back to his place neither one of them were capable of using their higher functions.
He unplugged his phone from the charger and noticed that there was a text message from a number he didn't recognize. He opened the message and read what it said:
My name is Itachi Uchiha.
You fucked my brother.
Prepare to die if you hurt him.
Drops of coffee splattered across the countertop.
"Owwww…my nose!" came the quiet moan.
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"What does your brother do for a living?
"He works for the family business. Why?"
"What's the family business?"
"Industry, hotels, this, that and the other thing. I have to say I've never really paid attention. Why."
"Well, there is a message on my phone from him." Naruto handed over the phone.
Sasuke read the message and color infused his face. "Naru, I'm so sorry…"
Naruto laughed. "Good to know that he loves you."
"I think he'll like you too."
"After that message, I really hope so!"
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The three days after the gallery showing Naruto was still riding on a high. About 65% of his painting had sold the first night. The gallery owner, Hiashi Hyuuga, told him that most, if not all, would sell by the end of the showing.
Sasuke laughed as Naruto danced around the kitchen, then his attention was caught by the tv. Naruto had turned it onto the local morning news:
"Fugaku Uchiha was arrested early this morning on charges of fraud and embezzlement. He was arrested at the Konoha International Airport just as he was about to board a plane on it's way to Maldives which does not extradite."
Naruto spun around in shock as Sasuke began to gag and heave. He moved out of the way when the other man ran for the sink and began to vomit. "Sas, baby. That's your dad, right?"
Sasuke's only reply was to vomit again.
Naruto's instincts were screaming at him. He knew something was terribly wrong especially with Sasuke's reaction, but he didn't know why. All he could do was run water in the sink, rub Sasuke's back and murmur comforting nonsense in his ear. Naruto didn't like the fact that his lover's skin was cold and covered with goosebumps. He was afraid that if Sasuke kept heaving the way he was, Sasuke might break something internally. Not that Naruto knew if something could break internally but there was that guy who held back a sneeze and ended up rupturing his throat or something.
Finally, Sasuke stopped vomiting and just leaned against the sink. Naruto deemed that it was safe enough to release his boyfriend and get the other man something to drink. Naruto kept a jug of water near the stove so that he could have room temperature water for cooking purposes, so he poured Sasuke half a glass from that thinking that cold water from the refrigerator wouldn't be good for Sasuke's traumatized stomach.
Sasuke quietly sipped the water until it was all gone. Naruto turned off the tv, stood quietly and waited as Sasuke scrubbed the sink clean. Eventually Sasuke looked at Naruto, his dark eyes haunted.
"I never told you why I started taking pills, did I?"
"No." dread churned Naruto's stomach.
"I need to tell you what my father did to me."
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Naruto quietly shut the bedroom door.
Sasuke was sleeping the sleep of the emotionally exhausted.
Naruto had listened as Sasuke told him everything.
Every single blessed thing.
How he didn't end up vomiting with Sasuke, he'll never know.
He couldn't believe that Itachi, whom he'd met the night before, hadn't either killed their father himself or had the son of bitch killed.
Naruto was just glad that this was summertime and school was out and that today was a day that Sasuke didn't have any classes either. It had taken a while, but Naruto was finally able to coax Sasuke into taking a bath, then tucked him into bed.
Naruto picked up his phone and texted Itachi:
We saw the broadcast about your father. Sasuke became upset. He's okay. Maybe. He's sleeping.
I hope your "father" suffers a tragic farming accident.
Almost immediately, there was a return text from Itachi:
Let me know if either of you need ANYTHING. I'll get it for you.
I understand how you feel but we must let the courts decide the appropriate justice. That's why we have laws.
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Sasuke woke up a few hours later. He talked with both Itachi and Doctor Yamanaka.
He laughed about Naruto's text about "tragic farming accident." But he reminded Naruto that he had to be careful because text message records could be subpoenaed.
Naruto cursed himself over that.
Itachi and Mikoto came over to their apartment that night and they talked and listened to each other. Itachi asked Sasuke if he wanted to be kept apprised about what was going on. Sasuke told him no. He didn't want anything to do with Fugaku anymore.
Itachi quietly told Naruto that the reason why he didn't have Fugaku charged for what he did to Sasuke was because he was afraid that the publicity would do more harm to Sasuke than good. And with the number of charges against Fugaku was sure to go up, Itachi didn't think Fugaku would ever leave prison.
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Naruto and Sasuke eventually got married. Moved from Naruto's apartment into a house. And adopted four children.
They lived on.
One step at a time and forever addicted to each other.
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"Fugaku Uchiha was murdered today just before he was to be arraigned on 42 counts of embezzlement, fraud and lying to government investigators.
"Uchiha was murdered by Momochi Zabuza who was in court for a pre-trial hearing concerning his own upcoming murder trial. Zabuza is accused of allegedly murdering 27 people while they were at high school graduation party in June 2017. Zabuza allegedly used a plastic spork from his lunch to stab Uchiha in the throat and eyes before officers were able to pull him off.
"When asked why he murdered Uchiha, Zabuza allegedly said that he didn't like Uchiha's face.
"Uchiha's defense Attorney Danzo Shimura is trying to claim that it was…"