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“I...can’t.”
Dave’s response was met with a combined gaze of one-part surprise to one-part dejection.
It might as well have been a proposal for marriage. There was no ring involved- thank god, or else this discussion a lot more difficult -it was just a subject brought up purely influenced by their latest activity.
This whole situation...showing up for a free-pass night with Toshi months ago, falling in love with Aizawa after just one night, blinding himself in an idyllic, rose-colored life with these two just to escape the other problems in his life.
No, this wasn’t fair. To him. To them.
If you love them, let them go.
He had been telling himself this ever since they got together. But time after time, he would go against his better judgement and continuing to allow himself to partake in this temporary fix.
No matter how tightly they’d hold him, no matter how many declarations of love were made or kisses exchanged or nights spent together after long durations of being apart, it always came back to the same thing he had been telling himself for months...
He didn’t deserve this. He shouldn’t be intruding on their happiness like he was- indecisive and unable to commit to them wholeheartedly.
The last person he was committed to had died because he had failed her. And now Yagi was dying because he had failed him...he couldn’t possibly fail another person. Not again.
They wouldn’t know how he felt because he simply didn’t want to burden them. They wouldn’t understand. And it was best they didn’t.
Tired arms wrapped themselves around his waist and shoulders where he sat at the edge of the bed, gazing out the open French doors at the moon reflecting off the calm beach. They weren’t about to let him go that easily…
“Dave?”
“I can’t leave,” he repeated softly. “This...was my first house. Melissa was born in the city. She was raised here...I can’t leave it all behind. And I wouldn’t ask you to leave it all behind either. You guys have kids who need you, who depend on your guidance...”
“We wouldn’t ask you to drop everything at once,” Yagi told him, his large hands rubbing his stomach soothingly. “Things like this take time. If and or when the time comes to decide where to live together- whether here or across the sea -Aizawa and I would be there to make sure you have nothing to worry about. Trust us.”
“Damn it Dave, you’re going to get more grey hairs if you keep on worrying about things like this…” Aizawa murmured while combing fingers through his mane. He was already mildly displeased with the grey that was present.
And just like that, they were able to coax him back into bed. Laying beside him and embracing him from either side, pressing kisses against his cheek and neck, uttering sweet words to him.
In the end, he still loved them. Despite that voice urging him to just end this, he couldn’t possibly let them go. Not now. Not ever.
He was exhausted from the constant internal battle, the constant loop he had fallen into. His better judgement knew they would understand if he just...told them. He knew they would still hold him even when he fell apart. He trusted them.
“Going back to our original conversation...I think I’d make a great house husband.”