The Story Of Forever (Todobaku)

Family

~SENIOR YEAR~

Katsuki was ready.

He held it in long enough, and he refused to regret it. While it might have made his life more complicated, his seven month secret was necessary to give him the courage and the confidence to do what he was about to do.

It was April twenty-first, the day after Katsuki's eighteenth birthday. Last night was everything he hoped his transition to adulthood would be, front row seats to a Tornados game with his parents and Shouto. The Tornados dominated, almost like they knew their biggest fan was watching from the stands, celebrating his greatest birthday to date.

Katsuki intentionally pushed this off until today. If his relationship with his parents was going to change for the worse, he wanted to have one last great memory to hold onto. But the moment had come, and a Friday night in the living room as Mitsuki flipped through a self-help book seemed as good a time as any.

He took a deep breath before poking his head into the entryway. "Mom, can I talk to you about something?"

Mitsuki glanced up, her reading glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose. "Sure, honey," she said as she removed them and set them on the coffee table along with her book.

Katsuki's strides across the carpet were short and quiet. While he memorized the words weeks ago, so much so that they might as well have been engraved on his heart, there was no telling if they'd come out as planned now that he had an audience.

Masaru was outside gardening. Katsuki would wait, but his father took his time tending to the family plants. He even crafted an original song "Plant Them All" to the tune of "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift. Katsuki would evaporate if any of his friends ever heard it, and that included Shouto.

He joined Mitsuki on the couch, the ache in his chest intensifying. Posture unnaturally straight, he clenched his fists as they sat on his knees. Mitsuki's expression was both loving and curious, which should've comforted him, but didn't. It gave Katsuki a small glimpse of hope that she'd be accepting of what he was about to confess, so it would only devastate him further if that turned out not to be the case. 

His mouth went dry, but he pushed through it. "I had a lot of fun last night," he said. "Thanks for letting me invite Shouto."

Mitsuki smiled. "Of course. You know Shouto is always welcome to spend time with us."

Katsuki nodded. "Yeah, well...I want to tell you something about Shouto."

"Okay," Mitsuki answered, no indication that she had any idea what was coming.   

Lungs on the verge of collapsing, Katsuki took a final long breath. As anxiety-inducing as this was, it'd only get worse if he delayed it any longer. So, he spoke the truth he held closest to his heart.

"Shouto's my best friend," he said. "But, um, he's also my boyfriend. I'm bisexual."

"Oh that's lovely, Katsuki," she said, squeezing his forearm.

Katsuki's lips parted. "That's it?"

It wasn't that he was ungrateful. Katsuki was aware of how privileged he was. And he was truly relieved that it didn't seem that Mitsuki would be throwing him out over this. But the way his mom smiled at him, the tone in her voice, it was overly casual. As if Katsuki just told her that he caught a legendary Pokémon on his Nintendo Switch. 

"You don't seem that surprised."

Mitsuki still smiled, but her lips were now pressed in a tight line.

Katsuki's eyes widened. "You knew? For how long?"

She snickered. "A while."

"And you still let Shouto sleep over?"