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1.
Ever since her son was kidnapped, Mitsuki was having nightmares. Almost every night she would wake up unable to breathe, scared her son wouldn’t make it home. On weekends when Katsuki was home, she would tip-toe into his room and watch his chest rise and fall. Reminding herself he was still alive.
Tonight was no different, she awoke in the middle of the night, terrified Katsuki was dead. She started sneaking over to his room, making sure not to wake Masaru. She made it halfway across the hallway when she heard a voice coming from Katsuki’s room.
There was only Katsuki’s voice, so he must’ve been on the phone. She could not comprehend why her son would be awake. It was the middle of the night and he went to bed at 8:30 for god’s sake. Mitsuki inched closer, and heard something she never thought she’d hear from her son’s mouth.
“Yeah, yeah, I love you too, dumbass. Now let me go the fuck sleep. Do you realize how late it is?”
Did he just say ‘love you too’?
Mitsuki was running through every possibility. He couldn’t be talking to family, they would all be asleep. Not that Katsuki would ever say he loved them anyway. It couldn’t be a friend, he didn’t really have any. Katsuki never said he loved anyone. He hadn’t told Mitsuki or Masaru he loved them since he was 10. That left one option, he was seeing someone. Katsuki had a girlfriend, and he didn’t tell her. But if he wasn’t ready to share, she wouldn’t force him.
In her musings she almost forgot what she came here to do. She came to her senses, and realized she heard him speaking, so he was very alive. That was enough for Mitsuki, so she went back to bed.
2.
On Friday a couple weeks later, Mitsuki was making spicy ramen for dinner. Katsuki slammed open the door and stomped over to his room, as he does every time he gets home.
“Nice to see you too brat,” Mitsuki called after him.
She finished cooking and called her son down to set the table. Grumbling as always, he set out the bowls of ramen, utensils, and napkins.
Masaru got home, and went into the kitchen, kissing his wife as he sat down. Mitsuki noted that for the first time, Katsuki didn’t fake gag.
They made mindless smalltalk as they ate. Mitsuki mentions work, Masaru spoke about some weird kid he saw on the bus who had a chord in his mouth, and Katsuki sits there brooding. Katsuki goes to put more noodles in his mouth when Mitsuki sees a flash of color on his hand. She looked closer, and realized his fingernails were bright red.
“Are you wearing nail polish?” she asked shocked that her son of all people would wear nail polish.
“Yeah, you got a fucking problem with it.”
“Watch your mouth. No, you just never wore nail polish before. I wasn’t expecting it. How are you so good at it?”
“Shut up you hag.”
“No, I want to know why you started wearing it, and how you’re so good at it without any practice.”
Katsuki blushed and looked away, “...someone else did it…”
“Ooh, a girlfriend, maybe,” She nudges him. She already suspected he had one, but she wanted to hear him admit it.
“I DON’T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!” That wasn’t what she was expecting. Denial, sure, but she was expecting more blushing and looking away all flustered. Less anger.
“Ok ok, no girlfriend. Well I think it looks nice.”
Mitsuki started to rethink the girlfriend thing. He seemed so against having a girlfriend, but that was the only thing that made sense. Who else could he have been saying he loves. Why would he let someone with experience paint his nails, if he wasn’t in a relationship. Hmmm, maybe he just really didn’t want her to know about it. Well, whatever the case she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
3.
Mitsuki has a blue cotton chair in the living room she likes to sit in. It was her favorite chair, it gave her a perfect view of the front door, so she could see when her husband and son got home. It also gave her a view of the front window, so she could people watch. It was in the sun just right at most hours of the day, and it was so comfortable. She liked to sit there and read for hours after she got home from work.
She was sitting in this chair today. Reading a corny romance she borrowed from Katsuki and relaxing.
The front door was gently opened. She looked up thinking Masaru was home early, Katsuki always slammed the door open. What she wasn't expecting was to see her son closing the door, pressing his back against it as he slid to the ground clutching a rose to his chest. Even more disturbing, he was smiling.
She watched him for a moment knowing that if she spoke up the happiness on his face would disappear. He looked so young, so giddy, like the teenager he is. Giggling and holding a rose like it was the best thing he was ever given. She couldn't ruin that.
After a minute he looked up and made eye contact with Mitsuki, scowl immediately reappearing on his face.
“So… you sure you don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Fuck off you hag. I don’t have a fucking girlfriend.”
“You know it would be ok if you did, right? In fact I’d be really proud.”
Katsuki’s face dropped a little into a sadder frown, but Mitsuki couldn’t figure out why. “I don’t care” and he went to his room, slamming the door behind him.
4.
Contrary to popular belief, Katsuki was a very good driver. He had never been in an accident, and his road rage wasn’t nearly as bad as people thought. So when he called Mitsuki after school one day asking to use the car this weekend, Mitsuki had no reason to say no. Although asking was a nice word, it was more of a demand.
“Hag, I’m using the fucking car this weekend.”
Mitsuki knew that this was his version of asking. He could just take it, he was leaving her the option to say no. “You could ask nicely, you know. But alright, what day?”
“Saturday…” then much quieter, “thanks”
“No problem, brat.”
That Saturday, Katuki had been pacing in his room for the last two hours, from what Mitsuki could hear. He finally left his cave of solitude, in a red button down with black slacks, and his eye liner done neatly. He walked over to Mitsuki grumbling.
He held out a black tie and very quietly said, “Could you uh- could you help me tie this?”
Mitsuki knew how hard it was for Katsuki to ask for help, so she didn’t say anything, she just nodded. She pulled the tie around his neck, tied it, and gently pulled it up to his throat. She ruffled his hair and smoothed out his shirt.
“You going on a date?” He looked away blushing. “Alright don’t tell me.”
She pulled him into a hug, and for once he didn’t fight it. She walked him to the door and as he walked to the car she called out, “Have fun with your girlfriend.”
“Don’t have a girlfriend,” he mumbled back.
5.
Katsuki should have been home five hours ago. Every Friday he comes home right after school. When he didn’t come home right on time, Mitsuki assumed he was with his girlfriend, but it’s been so much longer than she thought it would be. All of the buried fears from her nightmares came back full force. He hadn’t been answering his phone, but she kept calling.
This call he actually answered, “Hey,” he sounded very tired and did he just answer politely.
“Katsuki, where the fuck are you.”
“I’m at the hospital,”
“Oh my god, did something happen? I’ll be right there.”
“No no no. Don’t come. I’m not hurt, my friend is. I’m just visiting.”
Mitsuki caught her breath, her son was ok. Everything is fine. “Ok, as happy as I am that you have friends, I need you home.”
“Ok ok I’ll see if I can catch a bus,” He is being way too normal, he must be really tired.
“Stay on call while you check, so we don’t have to redial if you can’t”
“Alright, let me say goodbye,” he pulled the phone away from his ear clearly trying to keep Mitsuki from hearing, but too tired to succeed, “alright, I gotta go. Please wake up soon. I’ll be back when I can. I love you, sunshine,” He put the phone back to his ear after a few minutes, “I can take a bus.”
He definitely had a girlfriend, right? There’s no way that was anything else. That was so soft, Mitsuki felt bad for listening, but it wasn’t intentional.
A half hour later Katsuki showed up looking like he hadn't slept in weeks, bags under his eyes, clothes wrinkled, and he clearly hadn’t showered in a couple days.
He made it a couple feet into his house before he fell to his knees crying.
Mitsuki’s mom instincts kicked in and she immediately knelt down and pulled him to her chest gently running her fingers through his hair. He started sobbing harder.
A couple minutes later, she pulled away and put her hands on his shoulders, “When was the last time you slept?”
He looked away, embarrassed, “It’s been a couple days.”
“Alright, let’s get you into bed.”
+1.
The next weekend after the hospital incident, Katsuki came home clearly in a much better mood. Mitsuki didn’t know exactly why, but she could guess his girlfriend was alright.
Mitsuki was hanging out on the couch watching the bachelorette with her son. Making fun of the contestants was how they bonded. They had just finished laying into some asshole that didn’t know how to impress a woman, when someone knocked on the door. Knowing Katsuki never answered the door, Mitsuki walked over.
She opened the door to see a teenage boy with bright red spiky hair, wearing the most atrocious outfit she’d ever seen. He smiled brightly revealing incredibly sharp teeth and held out his hand.
“Hey, I’m Eijiro Kirishima, one of Katsuki’s friends.”
She shook the strange boy’s hand. “Mitsuki, his mom. Do you want to come in?”
“Yes please.”
She opened the door and let him in. He saw Katsuki over on the couch and bounded over to him. He jumped on Katsuki laughing, and Mitsuki gaped. This boy was going to die, her son was going to kill him. Instead of killing him her son just looked surprised for a second before laughing as well. What the fuck?
Her son then pushed the other boy off, “What’re you doing here shitty hair?”
“I wanted to see you.”
What the fuck? Her son just called this boy ‘shitty hair’ and he smiled and said he wanted to see her asshole of a son. What?
The boys went to Katsuki’s room, while Mitsuki was lost in thought. She decided to make dinner for Katsuki and his friend. What can she say, she was excited, her son actually has a friend, and she got to meet him.
She made curry, not as spicy as usual, because she doesn’t know how much heat Kirishima could take.
She finished the curry, and called the boys. They didn’t respond, so she called again. When they didn’t hear her for the second time, she went over to Katsuki’s room. She opened the door to see her son scrambling out of Kirishima’s lap. She connected the dots easily. She made eye contact with Katsuki and it became clear to him she knows.
“I made dinner. Be down in a couple minutes.” She closed the door behind her. She stopped, lost in thought. How did she not realize? She had just assumed he was straight, and she claims to be an ally. She made a mental note to work on that bias, when she overheard sniffling through the door. Was he crying? Why?
She then heard Katsuki and his ‘friend’ start talking, “Kats, it’ll be ok. It’s ok.”
“No, it’s not. I don’t know how she’ll react. What if she kicks me out, or makes me break up with you, or- or”
Kirishima was saying something comforting but Mitsuki wasn’t listening. Had she really fucked up so bad, that her son really thought she wouldn’t accept him. She knew she wasn’t a great mom, but she thought he would at least know she loved him too much to do something like that.
She walked back down to the kitchen and waited for the boys to come down.
The boys came and sat down across from her. There was awkward silence for a couple minutes before Mitsuki spoke up, “I’m guessing you are dating,” they nod, “Alright, so Kirishima, you seem like a sweet boy, but if you hurt him I won’t hesitate to kill you. Anyway, you guys have my support. Now, how long have you been together?”
Katsuki looked relieved and Kirishima looked excited, “Me and Katsuki have been together for 4 months.”
“How did you get together?”
“Ei, don’t”
“Ok so...”