The Summer After | SNS

2.

A/N: Thank you all so much for all the comments and support I received on the first part, I haven't published anything SNS for so long so I am very appreciative of everything.

Here is the second chapter!! Take a seat for a bit, this one is longer than the first! Though while editing I didn't really like it especially the beginning portion, but I promise it gets better? Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for part three...

*

𝘚𝘜𝘔𝘔𝘌𝘙

☼

The Sand Stays

☾

TW: depression, anxiety, crying, isolating, aversion to food, shitty parenting, and

an 18th birthday

*

The days settled into summer more comfortably like a long stretch upon waking up. The heat stuck around and clung to every thing and everyone. Sasuke felt weighted by it whenever he went outside. Which wasn't a lot, his room had air conditioning.

Unlike summer, Sasuke didn't settle at all. This season was going to suck exponentially more than usual. Itachi was going to be here for most if not all of it. Sasuke didn't know Itachi was going to stay over the summer, so he couldn't even mentally prepare.  He didn't have the Uzumaki house to escape to since he was deliberately avoiding Naruto.

There wasn't anything Sasuke wanted to say to him, and there was nothing he wanted to listen to him say. Every time he thought about what Naruto might say to him he instead figured his home wasn't so bad. At least he knew how to deal with his father...and even Itachi. He knew Naruto must be concerned. Even if he didn't read his texts every day he could gauge that.

Naruto was just too caring and too compassionate to ignore this. It was annoying, he wanted him to stop. Could he just tell him to forget it? To go away?  He couldn't say he was feeling better than the last time they spoke because that would be an outright lie. He's feeling the exact same, not worse, not better, just existing.

Sasuke should have known he would live to regret that thoughtless decision when he made it. It's too late, he can't take it back, Naruto already knew. He wasn't going to go away. Maybe he'd lay off a bit if Sasuke said something, but he'd never just ignore him completely.

Naruto texted him every single day. He'd text him hello or good morning and goodnight, and ask if he wanted to maybe hang out. Even if Sasuke said nothing in response the whole day. Sometimes he would reply with a simple 'hi' but not much else. He didn't text Naruto as much as he had before.

It's not like he was mad at him, he just didn't want to be near him. But a simple hello wasn't too much to ask for. He felt like he could at least give him that.

If Sasuke did answer he usually gave some half-assed excuse that Naruto couldn't confirm the validity of in order to decline. He was not going to spend a second near him. Being in his presence was a danger. He couldn't avoid it if he had to talk to him. So he'd forsake the circumstances entirely even if it racked him with guilt. To lie to and ignore Naruto hurt him more than he'd admit.

His mother asked only once why Naruto hasn't come by lately. Sasuke just said he had other friends he hung out with, it's not like Naruto's only friend is him. And that was the end of it.

He stayed in his room the majority of the time. He was pretty much waiting for days to pass until college finally started. It was going agonizingly slow. There was only so much he could do in the summer. With no money or source of income, there was pretty much nothing.