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[cursedwords]

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[cursedwords]

Toge sighs and leans back a little bit, resting his head against Shoto's shoulder as he thinks about it for a moment, because he thinks usually when he's misunderstood it's his own fault.

We've been apart awhile. I don't know what you want...how to navigate that. That's kind of a different question from if I love people. I love you, but that doesn't mean you owe me a relationship if you don't want to. I don't know how you've been.

[heir_conditioned]

Shoto shifts just enough to hold him when Toge leans back, one arm settling around his waist without hesitation. "I didn’t know you thought we weren’t together," he says quietly. "I kept thinking we were apart, not... finished."

He doesn’t try to meet his eyes. He just lets the words settle between them. "That wasn’t fair. I never said what I meant, and I can’t expect you to hold onto something I never made clear." Shoto sits with that for a moment, then adds, "I want to know you again. If you’ll let me. We can take it slowly to find what we both want again. It doesn't mean I don't love you still."

[cursedwords]

Toge shakes his head and moves to put his hand on Shoto's chest to stop him. It isn't that, he just wasn't sure. Maybe that's his own insecurity at play, but all the same, he's glad to hear it.

I wasn't sure. It's not you, I wondered if you would change your mind that's all.

Yeah, that's all him, he knows it.

I love you Shoto. I'm very happy to be your boyfriend if that's what you want.

[heir_conditioned]

Shoto keeps his arm around Toge, eyes resting on the hand pressed to his chest. He doesn’t move away. He just stays close, quiet, trying to make sense of what’s shifted without letting it take back what he offered.

He still wants this. That part hasn’t changed. But he hadn’t realized they weren’t on the same page until now, and starting slower suddenly feels more necessary than gentle. He looks still into the other man's eyes after reading. "Of course I want that, but I didn't realize... Yuta felt very similar when it came to who he felt strongly for. Is this something your world has this sort of view on?"

[cursedwords]

All Toge can do in the face of the question is shrug lightly. He isn't exactly sure.

I don't talk to a lot of people, including Yuta about this. Dating isn't an option for me, if you forgot. It wasn't ever going to come up, one way or another.

[heir_conditioned]

"I didn't forget." Shoto relates, arm still around him. "If this is how you feel, this is how you feel."

[cursedwords]

I'm worried you're taking it the wrong way. It's not anything about you and I don't need another romantic relationship to be happy. I've always been happy with you.

Toge admits a little openly, lightly concerned.

[heir_conditioned]

Shoto is worried about a lot of things, but until that moment taking something the wrong way wasn't one of them. His eyebrows knit together, not angrily, but sincerely curious as he asks. "That means a lot to hear. I'm not minimizing that by asking if the opportunity presented itself, what would you want to do? I realize it's hypothetical, but I want to understand. I don't want to misinterpret."

[cursedwords]

What, if someone asked me if I wanted to date them while I was dating someone?

The thing is, yes, he kissed Katsuki on the date and had a very nice date - but he wouldn't have agreed to the date in the first place, had he known Shoto was his version of Shoto.

That depends on the person I'm with. If they expect me to be faithful, I would respect their wishes. If they don't mind, I would probably date both, in some version where two people actually wanted to date me.

Toge's skeptical this would actually happen. Neither options diminishes how I feel about the people in question, just what form our relationship takes. I'm happy with whatever form it takes. I don't have a lot of people to worry about here.

[heir_conditioned]

Shoto is trying to sort it out. Trying to figure out what he wanted to do, what he needed to do. What he doesn't want to do is limit Toge and Shoto is assuming if he said that he could be what he's calling faithful, that it may be something that crosses the man's mind. Even if it's not something Toge thinks can happen. "I see." it isn't tinged with anything or on the heels of being angry, he really is just trying to understand. "Can I think about it later? I'd like to let myself have time with it, and if I'm sincere, I just want to be happy with you."

[cursedwords]

"Salmon." Toge answers easily, without hesitation. It's not really something he mentioned before, not because it wasn't true, but it just never came up. He's really not looking for something more than he has, he's happy to be with Shoto.

He's certainly not upset one way or another and he knows that Shoto likes to think sometimes. He'll only worry if he thinks too long.

I missed you.

[heir_conditioned]

It never did come up, the point was never in front of either of them. Shoto has a lot of what ifs floating in his head, all of them grinding to a halt when Toge says he missed him.

Shoto's arm tightens around the man's back, laying his head on top of Toge's. "I missed you, too. Even back home, something felt like it was missing." He raises his other hand to complete the hold around him. "Now it doesn't."

[cursedwords]

That was true, even if he didn't know what he was missing, he felt the loss keenly all the same. Granted, Toge didn't have much time to process that, with everything else going on, but he's held his own. He knows now what exactly the loss was. Shoto, Izuku and Katsuki, all of them, and his other friends he made but hasn't seen again.

He agrees with a smile. "Salmon."

The ache he'd been feeling is lightened simply because Shoto is around. That counts for something.