✓THE SPACE BETWEEN THE STARS|| BakuDeku Au

Chapter Seventeen: . . . No Matter How Far.

Sitting down beside a crying Katsuki, Shinsou did the one thing he rarely does: He hugged him. "I know it's hard. And yeah I still have Denki and Eiji but . . . we all lost someone, Kat, all of us did. We grew up with him, he was like our brother—dad practically lost a son, how do you think he's doing?" he sniffed, "But doing this . . . shutting us out . . . you know damn well Mido wouldn't have wanted this,"

It was true. Katsuki could practically see the boy now, hands on his hips and lips pressed into a thin line as he scolded Katsuki for his recent behavior. "Kacchan, they've been nothing but supportive for you—despite how they feel. Can't you try and see things from their perspective?"

"I miss him," Katsuki rasped through his curtain of tears.

Shinsou sighed, burying his face deep into his brother's hair as a single tear rolled down his own cheek. "I know . . . I know,"

[ Present Day ]

Katsuki wasn't exactly positive at first who had come bounding after him, who placed a hand on his shoulder and lightly shook it. That is until a monotonous voice whispered in his. "You know, you really had me fooled there, jackass."

The elder pivoted on his heel, only to realize how close he was to the other male. "Not now Sho . . . I'm busy—"

"—Busy pushing away your ex-boyfriend who you told me was dead?" Shoto raised an eyebrow, a taunting smile slipping on his face for only a brief second. "What's that all about?"

Katsuki paled, the palms of his hands collecting an unnatural amount of sweat as he slowly rubbed them on his pant legs. For a split second he pondered lying to the boy, but quickly dismissed the thought . . . for lying had gotten him nowhere in the past few months. Besides, Shoto knew better than to believe a lie from him.

"It's a long story," he swallowed thickly, shaking the memory of Izuku's hurt and scared face from his mind.

"Well, I got—" Shoto shoved his sleeve up to check his watch, "—three hours before the gala starts. You better start talking,"

With a sigh, Katsuki gave him a rundown of the past three months. Going on to explain how he and the others assumed Izuku was dead only to figure out his mother faked the whole thing and the boy got amnesia. His brows furrowed as he explained how they all were still in the dark on Inko's motive for it all . . . for the woman was not up for talking and quite frankly at the moment they weren't up for listening. 

Katsuki raked a hand through his hair. "Then when you walked in I guess he saw the box and we got into an argument about and he . . ." he trailed off, motioning his hand to the path Izuku had taken off on.

"Shit," Shoto heaved a deep sigh.

While the two were constantly at each other's throats due to their rivaling record companies, it was hard for them to deny the history they had with one another. Again, Katsuki had lied to Izuku when he told the boy what he had with Shoto was just a fling . . . Sure, they kept it a secret—but for a good few months, Katsuki almost found himself moving on and falling in love with the dual-haired male.

Clearly, things did not go as planned.

"I'm sorry," the words burned with bile as they stumbled out of Katsuki's mouth, but he knew an apology was due.

"For?"

"For everything when we were . . . ya know. Together," he whispered. Because in the end, it was Katsuki's unwavering love for Izuku that had gotten in the way of their relationship—he regretted it up until the day he realized the boy was alive.

Leaning against the wooden beam of the bridge for support, Shoto looks out onto the water. Tossing small pebbles in and watching the ripples that trickled into a roar. "I never blamed you. Damn, I feel like such an idiot though—life would be so much easier if you had shown me a damn picture of your ex when we were together. Midoriya and I have been friends for . . . well before you and I began seeing each other!"