Ego Season (Naruto AU)

Chapter 14

There was a small porch behind the apartment complex that Sasuke and his brother would usually hangout on after work. The brother’s often spent a handful of weekends on the porch and they’d catch up on the fun details of their day to day life. Usually they’d bring a eight-pack of beer or in Sasuke’s case, he would bring cigarettes. Itachi wasn’t too fond of Sasuke's smoking habit, but didn’t bother to convince his brother to quit. He was a grown man after all.   

“When’s that get together with your old friends happening?” Itachi inquired. 

Sasuke side eyed his brother, “Why would you like to know? Are you gonna crash our reunion or something?” He brought his beer to his lips and took a small swig of it. He felt the liquor tickle his throat. 

 “No need to get all defensive. Are you drunk already? Hasn’t even been two beers yet.” Itachi chuckled, “light weight.” He teased.

“Shut up. I’m sober”. Sasuke elbowed Itachi’s side. Itachi laughed it off and gulped down the remains of his alcoholic beverage. 

“But no, seriously. What’s going on with the whole friend thing?” 

“It’s all planned. Naruto and his girlfriend are coming down here and rented a room at a hotel for a few nights.” Sasuke pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He brought the cigg to his mouth and lit it. A puff of smoke shot out from his lips; he leaned against his chair and shut his eyes in content. 

Itachi’s face twisted in disgust. He absolutely hated the putrid smell of cigarette smoke, it made him nauseous. But of course, he didn’t say anything. He decided to ignore the smell with a question. “What’s going on with Sakura? Have you guys talked at all?” 

Sasuke hummed a little, “A few days ago we went out to eat.” 

“You went on a date? That was fast.” 

Sasuke clicked his tongue, he was annoyed that his brother automatically jumped to conclusions at these sorts of things. “What? No. Don’t assume things.” He dug his heel into the wooden plank and stared at his foot. He fidgeted with the cigarette, he let the small orange and white stick slip back and forth between his index and middle.  

Itachi shook his head in false despair. He knew his little brother all too well. Sasuke had always had a knack for putting up his walls when the subject of romance popped into a conversation. Itachi partially blamed his father for that. He was always so hard on Sasuke when they were growing up. Their father was even more difficult on Itachi. He hated how they were taught to mask emotions for the sake of their family. Itachi eventually came to the realization that he didn’t need to hide who he was for confirmation of his father. He didn’t need to hide in his own skin; therefore allowing himself to feel or express emotions he was taught to suppress in order to be the ideal “son” or “man” his father wished for. Sasuke on the other hand, still struggled to be himself. Itachi had tried to help his little brother. He tried his hardest to use the best of his knowledge, being a phycologist, but advice, coping strategies and listening could only do so much. But Sasuke didn’t care. In the long run, Itachi couldn’t be both his brother and therapist. So he gave up on trying to help and settled on being his brother. If Sasuke eventually decided he wanted to reach out for extra emotional support, Itachi would gladly be by his aid. 

“How’s Akio been handling preschool?” Sasuke asked, still playing with the cigarette in his hand.

Akio was Itachi’s little boy. His son was unforntally paralyzed at the legs down at birth. Even though Akio was a little delayed and under-developed, Itachi and his wife, Izumi, loved and treated him no differently than any other child. They saw their son as a miracle. A blessing that was bestowed upon them. They were forever grateful to have him as their baby and as their son. They wouldn’t want him any other way. He was perfect to them no matter his perfect imperfections.  

Unfortunately, kids were kids and no matter how hard Itachi and Izumi tried to make Akio’s preschool experience a normal one, they just couldn’t. Kids are ruthless little things. They would poke fun at Akio or exclude him from group activities. Itachi explained how the teachers would often have to pair Akio into groups. Faculty would try to make everything fair for little Akio, but nothing would suffice in favor of him. Akio was left doing independent work and rather than having group discussions of what the days of the week were or the ABC’s, he would sit there all alone doing his own thing in his own little world. The teacher concerned Itachi and Izumi how Akio’s lack of socialization could potentially set him back in the future and become a bigger problem.  

“Poor kid. If you want, I could scare those little rascals and teach them a thing or two.” Sasuke looked at his brother, his face seemed serious but his eyes told otherwise. 

Itachi smiled whilst lightly shoving Sasuke, “Don’t do that. They’ll hate you.” 

“Good. Maybe they’ll think twice of messing with my nephew.” 

Itachi chuckled, “No offence, but those kids are like four. But hey, if you wanna be the scary brooding police officer dude who scares four year olds, be my guest.” 

“If it comes to that then I will.” Sasuke shrugged and chugged the last drops of his beer. 

“Are you being serious right now?” Itachi really hoped his brother was just playing around. 

Sasuke smirked, “I’m not stupid. I was just kidding with you.” 

Itachi rolled his eyes. It’s either the alcohol or I’m just exhausted. “Your sarcasm is flawed.” 

“Yeah, but at least it keeps you on your feet.” Sasuke glanced at Itachi’s half empty can of beer sitting atop of the railing. “Are you gonna finish that?” 

Itachi shook his head and then proceeded to dump the beer out over the ledge of the porch. Sasuke's eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. He leaned back crossing his arms over his chest in a sort of pout formed on his face. 

“You’ve had three cans. I think you’ve had your share already.” 

“Bullshit. You had five.” 

“Mm… Not really. It was four. But whatever.” Itachi brushed off his brother's comment and checked the watch on his wrist, “It’s eleven-thirty already. You should get some sleep and besides, Izumi will kill me if I’m not home soon.” 

“Fine, but it’s not because you said so.” Sasuke noticed his brother was swaying a little and understood he drank a bit more than he should have. “By the way, have Shisui drive you home. You seem a little buzzed.” Sasuke added.

“On it.”

(Unedited)