The Summer After | SNS

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The Valedictorian's Speech

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TW: anxiety, panic attacks, crying, mentions of depression, eating aversion

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Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha never failed to acknowledge just how amazing their eldest son, Itachi, is.

You would think they earned a dollar for every time they mentioned how smart, kind, and handsome he turned out to be, and then another dollar for every time someone else readily agreed with them. Sasuke was sure they could afford to pay off their entire mortgage and buy another house in cash by now if that were true.

But it wasn't true so here he was, standing behind his mother. His hand was on the shopping cart at their local grocery store. He pulls away standing still once he realizes they were going to be stopped in this section for a bit of time. Almost every single time his mother is at the grocery store something like this happens.

She's called to by another woman, she is oh so shocked to see them as if they don't live in the same neighborhood, they spout meaningless small talk and engage in light conversation regarding their respective children, then leave as if they were in a hurry. As if they were at all. That excuse would have been more convincing if they didn't stop and talk to each other for a minimum of ten minutes. If you were in a hurry, the fact you needed to get through this interaction quickly would come up much sooner than that.

They use this excuse more often than not because they don't actually want the conversation to continue for much longer. And that, is the play-by-play of the very situation Sasuke was so keen on avoiding. But no fate fucking hates him so not even 20 minutes into the store someone calls out for his mother and the cycle starts anew.

Sasuke doesn't even pretend to recognize this person this time. He's drained and way more irritated than usual, and hungry since he hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday but that's another problem and it's shoved in the far back of his mind waiting to creep up on him at any given time.

Now he has to stand there–awkwardly–until her conversation is finished and they can get a move on with their lives. When she picked him up from school he thought she was feeling nice. Maybe she realized just how hot it was and how shitty it would be for him to trek the 25-minute walk home alone in this June air. But no, he was unpleasantly surprised when she did not turn left to go home and instead turned right and that's when he knew...it was a grocery run. He wanted to bang his head against the window's tinted glass that very second but he says nothing at all. All he does is take the cart when asked to. He moves around five steps behind his mother the whole time so he doesn't hit her with the cart and earn himself a barely repressed stare of anger.

During this interaction, it took around two minutes for the conversation to steer towards his brother. A new record, he muses sarcastically to himself since usually, it's much faster than that.

Everyone always wants to know how her oldest son is doing. The son who went to the best high school in the area and who got into a prestigious college on a scholarship. He can't roll his eyes now, his mother is right there, and god forbid Sasuke gives any indication he actually loathes his brother. How immature and unjustified of him, Itachi is such a considerate boy.

"...Itachi is graduating college this year!" Says his mother, very cheerfully. He digs his fingernails into his upper arm through the fabric of his sweater. Yes, he even wears sweaters in June. He's actually glad he did today. The supermarket was always cold and they just had to stop and talk near the milk and yogurt aisle.