Work Text:
Shou: Don’t bother coming home tonight. I don’t want to see you. Sleep at the agency, go to Izuku’s, I don’t care.
Kats: Fucking fine by me.
It was harsh. He knew it. But he couldn’t bear to be in the same space with him right now. Especially not their space. The space they built together. Their home. They’d moved in right after graduation. The first place either of them had ever lived that was just for the two of them. No roommates or parents or well-meaning classmates. Just a beautifully blank slate for them to build and change and grow as they pleased.
Those walls were sacred. They’d borne silent witness to quiet breakfasts in the early sunlight, whispered promises and affections woven into the very fabric of their sheets late at night, tears wiped off cheeks without fanfare but not without care.
They weren’t built for accusations. Or doubt. Those walls were built to last. He didn’t want to bring in a wrecking ball.
The wrecking ball, as it were, had been looming for months. Rumors of Dynamight seen leaving love hotels and nondescript apartments at odd hours, looking disheveled and anxious. Which led to rushed discussions about entertaining an open relationship. Shouto didn’t want that. But he didn’t want to break up. And Katsuki had sprung it on it so suddenly, right as Shouto was boarding a flight to Taipei for an advertising contract. It was less of an ask from Katsuki and more of a demand.
You know I’m not the monogamy type, Shouto. You knew that going in, don’t act surprised. I love you, but I hate feeling like I can’t be myself. I need to be able to live my life the way that makes the most sense for me.
Shouto had been too stunned to argue. Several days later he’d cobbled together a text at least asking for some basic ground rules.
No one we know. Strangers only. No feelings. Just sex. And don’t bring them into our home, Katsuki.
I don’t want to know about it and I don’t want to be a part of it. I love you and I want you to be happy. But just know that this isn’t for us, it’s for you. And that’s ok. But don’t force me to be a part of this by blurring the line between us, and whoever else you want to sleep with.
He remembers his gut clenching horribly as he tacked on -
You’re it for me, Katsuki. There’s no one else I want. And I really don’t see that ever changing. I understand if you need more, but please also respect me by keeping it out of our life when we’re together.
Now, as Shouto unlocked their front door, that same ugly, tightening, sickening feeling overtook his gut. He knew. He didn’t know how, but he did. Things weren’t going to be the same anymore. They already weren’t. Too many fights. Too many secrets, too many nights lying awake feeling humiliated and unloveable and confused. That sickening feeling stayed settled firmly as he walked straight into their bedroom. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but he knew there was something.
He found it in their tiny closet, a worn shoebox carefully hidden behind Katsuki’s formal suits for galas and an old yukata from some Tanabata festival they’d gone to years ago. A stupid little box full of a frankly laughable amount of condoms. A bright purple butt plug and smooth glass anal beads. A pale green vibrator shaped like some kind of oblong rhombus. A few envelopes full of what Shouto could see were letters (he’d save the torture of actually reading them for some other day). And polaroids. Grainy, amateur, and lewd. Men and women. Strange faces. And two punches, in quick succession. A familiar face, tied up and presenting on their bed.
Of the three measly fucking things he’d asked for, two had been ignored. And not only ignored, but fucking documented. Because the actual betrayal wasn’t bad enough. There needed to be proof, too. And who’s to say that the third request hadn’t also been ignored. Did Katsuki have feelings for these people? To betray Shouto like this, to bring people they knew into their home, their bed, feelings must be involved, right? Why else go through all this trouble of hurting Shouto if Katsuki didn’t have some kind of feelings for these other partners?
He had no idea how long he sat there, squatting in their tiny closet, staring at the contents in that fucking shoe box. Finally, he picked out a polaroid. One with a familiar face. Snapped his own pic of it and sent it to Katsuki.
Shou: I changed my mind. I’m being unfair. You can come home if you want to.
I won’t be here though.
I think it’s obvious this place was never for us, just you. So. You can have it.