Chapter Text
Monoma knew exactly why Shinso had done that, while he was annoying, loud, eccentric and demanding, he didn't consider himself a bad person, so Monoma could understand that he wasn't what Shinso was looking for.
But Neito? Neito was devastated, dry tears in his eyes; fists clenched in his hands so tightly that he left his knuckles white and dug his fingernails into his palm. Neito didn't understand why Hitoshi had done that, he opened up sincerely towards him and this was what he was getting?
...
Started with a hunch, furtive glances away, thoughts of what it would be like to be bored with him already. In the breaks while they were having lunch together, Shinso barely spoke, pretending nothing was going on. That pissed Monoma off more than anything, because they had built a relationship based on mutual trust, he had managed to get Hitoshi to talk to him about his day, his dreams, banal things, if the blond's memory didn't fail, he asked him if he was well and received no answer.
Neito understood, sometimes the days were not good, he let it happen once or twice, until he felt he was left over at the table, uncomfortable and frustrated, he decided not to say anything to Hitoshi.
Monoma could easily pretend, he was a failed and shallow theater boy who loved to act, so he could pretend that everything was fine in their relationship. While Neito overthought every interaction of the day into the night without letting something slip.
Something changed when Hitoshi started inviting his classmates at lunch, it was Thursday and Neito didn't had a good day, failing practical training extraordinarily and forgetting his math homework, so when he saw Hitoshi sitting at his usual table, next to Denki Kaminari and Izuku Midoriya, he felt his teeth grinding. His jaw was going to explode from how clenched it was, he approached obviously with his own tray and greeted the three politely, the last thing he wanted was for Hitoshi to be upset with him. He barely tried a bite of rice and play with the food.
But Hitoshi looked so happy after days of being bored!
His rivalry with the A class was lessening as he lived with them, after the war he had become good friends with Bakugo. And since HIS boyfriend, Shinso, was part of the A class, he had no choice but to slowly calm down about them, obviously they were also external factors, he didn't hate them and he could even say he appreciated them, but....
At first it was jealousy. Monoma was jelaous.
Monoma was jealous, of course, he was not toxic, but every time he saw something that irritated him, he hated it. That feeling of suffocation and sadness that surrounded his chest and tightened his stomach, he could stand to see Shinso eating together with his friends but he couldn't stand to be stood up because of one of them. They had arranged to meet to train in one of the gyms for a light match without gifts; Monoma waited for some time, one hour, then two... sitting against the wall of the gym looking at his cell phone, sending angry messages to Hitoshi: “I'm here” “Where are you?” “Are you coming already?” Between other things and angry emojis, 20 more minutes were enough for Neito to decide that the wait had been enough, he grabbed his stuff and headed for the exit, at that, he got a notification.
Ringing particularly as I had set it up, it was Shinso, with the obvious excuse as to why I had stood him up.
“I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Bakugo-kun needed help with something.”
The blond read that over the notification bar and still looking down, quickly replied, clumsily typing a “K. Don't bother getting there, I've already left.”
He bit her lower lip, hiding her tears as he tucked the phone in his pocket to walk straight to his room, without greeting anyone.
...
His friendship with Katsuki grew after the war, he worried about him, sought him out. Now that they were in third year, he considered the ashen blond a rather close friend. When the latter started avoiding him like he had the plague, he felt terrible, Hitoshi had told him not to worry, that they were personal problems, and they surely were, but Neito trusted Katsuki, he hoped Katsuki would trust him too.
The UA was feeling bigger and bigger. Katsuki approached Neito before class, nothing was said, with an apologetic look, the ash blond approached the blue-eyed one and gave him a weak hug where he pulled him close to his beating chest, resting his chin on the other student shoulder.
Before Monoma could say anything to him, Bakugo admitted.
— I'm so sorry.
Without explanation, it left Neito with a bad taste in his mouth, stroking the other blond's sturdy back, slowly, in circles, soothing spirals eating away at his mind.
After that, his relationship with Hitoshi only got worse. Why was everyone looking at him with pity? Nothing bad was happening, it was Saturday, and as usual, Neito was in his room, his bedroom had always felt his, his own. He listened to the meticulous murmur of his classmates who were in the common room, so he decided to put on his wireless headphones and listen to some soft jazz, he was lying on his soft bed, tangled in the thin sheets when his door opened without any previous knocks. It was Hitoshi, and although Neito must have been annoyed that the purple-haired one entered without knocking, a genuine smile was painted on his lips at the sight of him, Shinso sat on the bed, in the corner, his hands tucked inside his sweatshirt. Neito immediately approached him and wrapped him in a loving embrace, the haggard looked tired, his eyes turning red, as if he was holding back tears.
— Toshi! — greeted the blond, with a touch of concern in his voice, hugging him still on his back, Hitoshi didn't move.
— Shut up, please? — A strange request, but coming from Hitoshi... Neito nodded, trying not to be offended, after all he was his boyfriend, and he would be there for him through thick and thin. She had to help him feel better, even in silence, hugging him.
They had sex that noon.
...
Neito must have known it, on Monday he saw Hitoshi in a strange way, he was particularly well groomed, with the clump of purple hair combed into a small pointed ponytail, face clean and moisturized. At first he thought Shinso had decided to have a little more personal hygiene that day, then he thought he had dressed up for him, since he let him hold his hand as they walked down the halls.
But when he saw how Hitoshi looked at Bakugo, who passed right in front of them to head to his classroom... his heart leapt out of his chest.
That look of longing, the eagerness, the intensity. Monoma must have been an idiot not to notice.
He squeezed the purple-haired man's hand and that action made him remember that apparently he had a boyfriend.
And apparently his boyfriend was the wrong blond.
...
On Tuesday, Neito saw them, exchanging a conversation while waiting for Hitoshi in the door frame, class A had never felt so tedious, several students ignored him, as usual, until he felt a particularly annoying look, it was Kirishima, who did not address him but completely swept him with his gaze.
Monoma's ego dropped.
Neito might not be that smart, but that blush on Bakugo's scarred cheeks were... absolutely something.
— Ahem. — He interrupted them.
Bakugo and Shinso were the only ones left in the room, even Professor Aizawa had left. The look Hitoshi gave him was nameless, the blond pressed his lips into a thin straight line.
— I've been waiting for you for a while, Hitoshi.
— Comin'
...
Shinso was always concise, curt, but this time he seemed desperate, he bowed to Katsuki and passed Neito, who followed him without saying anything else.
It was until Thursday that she saw again her boyfriend interacting with his friend, holding hands, casually, as if he wasn't a few steps in front of them.
...
A week had passed and on Friday he had the courage to talk about what he was feeling. It was his turn this time to visit Hitoshi in the class A dormitories, and there he was, sitting on the olive green couch in the common room, with Bakugo Katsuki next to him and in front of him that dork Kaminari and stupid Midoriya. He greets the four of them before addressing Hitoshi directly.
— Toshi, can we go to your room?
— What? Why?
— Can't we talk...?
— Of course we can, angel, but can't we do it in front of my friends?
At that point, Katsuki gave him a pitiful look, which Neito ignored.
— No... I'd like to talk to you alone about something.
Hitoshi looked at him as if he was crazy, or as if a second head had grown right next to him. He stood up irritably and grabbed Monoma's arm to head to his room.
Shinso's room in Class A was pretty normal, of course.
— What's the matter? — The purple-haired man began.
— It's just that... — No, he wasn't going to chicken out!
Neito considered himself brave, swallowing saliva, he continued, making himself comfortable, sitting on his boyfriend's desk chair.
— Recently... you've been kind of mean to me. Did I do something wrong? Are you feeling all right?
— Huh?
— Tell me, Hitoshi, does it have something to do with Bakugo?
Shinso froze, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water, Monoma didn't feel in his element.
— You have to tell me why...
— I don't like you anymore, Monoma.
The interruption was rude. Neito swallowed a sob.
— I think we should break up. — Monoma spat, masked again in his work of false maturity.
— Oh! Good! I was just going to ask you the same thing. — He continued speaking, leaving Neito speechless. - Things really weren't working out between us and — While I was waiting for us to sort ourselves out, I started to get interested in someone else.
— Ah?
Monoma couldn't believe it, he felt his fingers trembling from the pain, so he grabbed the armrest of the chair.
— Yes, I'm glad you understand.
So it didn't mean anything? Neito didn't cry, he couldn't even speak properly, he averted his gaze so as not to see Hitoshi move his lips.
— I'm glad I can tell you everything, as a friend.
That was enough, Neito easily got up from the chair, ignoring the trembling in his legs as he approached the door.
— So... everything okay between us? - Hitoshi had always been strange, tense, nervous.
— Yes, everything's fine.
— I'm glad to have you as a friend.
Friend him fucking three times.
...
Not even three days passed when he saw his ex-boyfriend and his proclaimed friend holding hands confidently, walking through the high school corridors, just as he had done with Hitoshi just a few days ago, averting his gaze only when they shared a simple and pleasant kiss on the lips.