Divorce

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If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son

I got 99 problems and a bitch ain't one

Shouta Aizawa really hated anything to do with the press. He didn't like being interviewed, he didn't like being on TV and he didn't like being in the newspapers. He especially didn't like any live shows, because they always somehow ended up being unbearably awkward. Shouta wasn't sure why that was the case, but it had happened to him too many times for it to be a coincidence. So he tried to avoid them as much as he possibly could, even though that wasn't always possible.

Sure, he was an underground hero and not very well known. But he was still a hero and that unfortunately meant that he was going to get attention from the media, whether he wanted it or not. The only thing he could do was to be the kind of person that no one wanted on their show. It meant that maybe he wouldn't be as popular and that he wouldn't make as much money, but at least he had some peace and quiet. Plus, it strangely enough got him some small following of teenage edgelords that thought he was the coolest thing to ever happen to Japan. (He didn't really agree, but he also wasn't going to tell them what to think of him. And it did feel kind of good to have some resemblance of a following, no matter how insane they might be.)

Still, media stuff was a pain and he didn't like people prying into his personal life, because he was very much convinced that they had absolutely no business doing so. And he knew that all of this circus was part of being a hero, but he still didn't have to participate more than absolutely necessary if he didn't want to. Or at least that was the mantra he lived by and it had worked for him for the last few years. It hadn't worked so well during the last year when he got divorced from his wife.

Honestly, Shouta should have known that getting married so young was kind of dumb, but he was... well, young. And kind of dumb. And he didn't think that they would end up hating each other that much in a few years' time. Of course he didn't think that, he wouldn't have married Kyoko otherwise. But unfortunately things hadn't worked out and they had ended kind of ugly and while Shouta wasn't a fan of being in the limelight his wife... his ex-wife sure was. She loved getting media attention. And she had hated the fact that Shouta had tried to keep their media involvement to a minimum.

So when they had broken up and filed for a divorce she was determined to air out all the dirt from their marriage to everyone who wanted to hear it (which thankfully weren't that many people, but still). Which meant that Shouta got dragged into a medial mud war that he never wanted and which also meant that he was getting way more media attention than he was comfortable with. All of this was especially bad, because he really wasn't his best self whenever the press was involved. He was not a nice person around them and he knew it, but no matter how much restraint he showed, something about them poking around in his private, personal life always just made him go into rage mode. And that triggered even more media attention, of course.

In short, the last year had not been a good time for Shouta and he was trying to work on his image, trying to repair it enough to still get paid and be at least somewhere up there in the approval ratings, but it was tough. And it involved all the things he hated like interviews, TV show appearances and the likes. It had probably been the worst year of his life and he was hoping that it would all soon be over, but Kyoko seemed intent on dragging the situation out as much as she could and his best friend Hizashi (who was clearly better when it came to the press and how to play them) was of the opinion that Shouta's work was far from done. Shouta didn't trust Hizashi with a lot of things, but this was one area where he knew he was better off following Hizashi's advice.

So here he was on the couch of some ridiculous talk show that he had always made fun of - the kind of show that was on during the afternoon when no one had any time to watch TV anyway. The kind of show that killed brain cells. The kind of show you could watch when you were hungover and that would immediately make you feel better about your own life. That kind of show. Shouta still didn't know how he had sunk so far to be on this show. He hated it. He hated it more than anything, but he was here now and he had to go through with it. Not many people would watch it, at least, so that was a bit of a comfort, even though it didn't help much.

While he was sitting on the couch (that wasn't very comfortable to begin with) Shouta kept zoning out all the time and just snapped back to reality in time to hear whatever question the host was asking him. He honestly felt completely out of his depth. Hefelt like a fraud, like he was just making things up, like he was saying a lot of stuff that didn't make any sense whatsoever. But apparently it was all fine. People seemed entertained and no one was questioning his answers. So that was good. Maybe this would be over before he knew it. It would all be fine.

"So, Eraserhead, there has been a bit of upheaval in your personal life lately. Why don't you tell us a bit more about that?" the show host asked him next. Shouta could feel himself breaking out in cold sweat. This was the exact question that he feared. He didn't want to talk about his divorce or his ex-wife, especially not publically. Why did everyone want to know about that? Why was it such a big deal? Sometimes things just didn't work out and it happened to lots of people, why should he be treated any differently for it? Shouta looked back up and saw that everyone was still waiting for a response. A response he was absolutely not prepared for.

"Uhm... yeah, that is true, there has been a bit of... upheaval... as you put it. I mean, it's not really a recent thing, it's been a year since my wife has been gone and..."

"Stop talking about me as if I'm dead, you moron! I'm still alive and this whole mess was really your fault!"

Shouta wasn't really sure where that distant shout was coming from, but he knew that it was his ex-wife's voice. It just made him more nervous than before. Why was she here? What was she doing here? Shouta had no idea what the hell was going on, but he knew that it was awkward as hell.

"Uh-oh... looks like there's trouble..." the host said and gave Shouta an expectant look. He looked panicked and then tried to find Kyoko in the crowd. And there she was, at the very back, standing up and giving him both an accusatory look and a triumphant look. Of course. She had won this one. She had won in some game that Shouta wasn't even playing and he honestly thought that it was ridiculous, but everyone else seemed to be thinking he was playing it, too.

"Kyoko, please. We can talk about this in private, not now..." he said to her, his tone pleading, but Kyoko just scoffed.

"You know what? I'm done talking to you. You never listen anyway!" she replied and walked up to the security man that was standing at the end of her row. It seemed like she was done here. But Shouta felt like he couldn't just let her leave like this. Because this was ridiculous. She was acting as if the divorce was only his fault, when it wasn't. Hell, she was acting as if it was still an issue, when it had been over a year and all she wanted was some headlines about her.

"You're just fucking salty that I got to keep the coffee machine!" Shouta yelled as she was escorted out. He knew immediately that this had been a very bad life choice. He shouldn't have been yelling at her. He shouldn't have said that either. It was stupid and he knew that everyone was going to pull him up on this for weeks to come. The worst was that this was all on live TV. If his students had seen this he would be done for. He'd never have any peace of mind. Shouta sunk back into the couch, hoping it would swallow him already and never spit him out again.

"Well, that was certainly something..." the host said with an amused expression. Shouta wanted to die.