Izuku successfully avoided Shinsou for an entire week. He was a little proud of himself for that. Not that avoiding Shinsou was hard, he seemed to be avoiding Izuku just as much. He was mostly proud he hadn't crawled back like a kicked puppy begging for scraps. 

Of course, Kaminari and Sero helped with that. Whenever Izuku even debated sending the purple-haired man a text, his phone was swiped, and he was quickly distracted. Usually, that distraction was video games or a movie. When it got really bad, they'd go out and do something, whether it was grabbing some food, swinging by the mall, or just driving around. 

Izuku was content, happy even. He felt like himself for the first time in a long time. Kaminari and Sero, however cluelessly, were healing some part of him that had been nearly destroyed in the past few years. He couldn't help but be grateful for them. 

The following Saturday, Izuku's streak came to a crashing end. He was supposed to have a Transformers marathon with Sero and Kaminari, per the blond's request. He'd just walked into their house when the sight of wild lavender hair caught his eye. 

"Shortie," Shinsou greeted with a nonchalant nod as he moved to slip his shoes on. 

Izuku blinked back his surprise. He'd been overly obvious with how much he was avoiding Shinsou, so the casual greeting caught him off guard. He fumbled to take his shoes off, forcing an awkward smile onto his lips. "Oh, uh, hi." 

Shinsou looked him up and down, the faintest tug at the corner of his lips. "What's got you all worked up?" 

"Nothing," Izuku said with a huff, forcefully thrown back to reality. He was mad at Shinsou; he needed to remember to act like it. 

Shinsou scoffed a quiet laugh at his answer, his eyes glancing to the side for a moment before they met Izuku's again. "Yeah, sure seems like it." He bit his lip, messing with the piercing there and short-circuiting Izuku's brain. 

He violently shook his head a second later, catching himself. He scowled at the older man, unamused. "Stop doing that," he demanded. 

"Stop doing what, shortie?" Shinsou asked, amusement dancing through his eyes. He was playing dumb, which was ironic with his IQ. 

Izuku narrowed his eyes as he moved to the side to shove past him. "You know exactly what," he grumbled, knocking their shoulders together as he went. 

Shinsou's hand flew out and caught his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. "What's with all the hostility, Iz?" he asked in a much softer tone than before. 

Izuku could feel his resolve crumbling at his feet. He was such a sucker for a bad boy with a bleeding heart, and he suspected Shinsou knew that. It didn't matter, though, he'd already been caught: hook, line, and sinker. 

"Nothing," he said again, this time through a tired sigh. "It's not a big deal; I shouldn't be so put out by it. We never said we were exclusive, so I really have no reason to be so bitchy-" 

His rambling would have continued if Shinsou didn't heavy an equally tired sigh. 

"Which one told you?" he asked simply, releasing his hold on Izuku and letting the other man turn to face him. 

Izuku's brows furrowed at the question. "Which one told me what?" 

Shinsou shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, his shoulders raising slightly as he nodded behind Izuku toward the living room. "Dumb and dumber. Which one told you I was sleeping around?" 

"Oh," Izuku mumbled, his eyes searching for something in Shinsou's. He wasn't even sure what, remorse? Guilty? Anything but the cool indifference he was finding. "Hanta," he admitted after a beat of silence. 

A cold laugh cut through the air, Shinsou shaking his head as he took a step back. "Figures. He's always had a problem with stealing other people's toys," he grumbled. 

Izuku wanted to know what the fuck he meant by that. He'd have to be an idiot not to know that Sero was a player, same goes for Kaminari, but he'd never gotten the 'stealing' vibe from either of them. He was starting to realize that maybe he didn't know enough about any of the men living in that house. 

He knew that if he asked, Shinsou would be all too happy to paint a not-so-pretty picture of the raven-haired man. He'd spill everything he knew without missing a beat, that much was obvious. It'd be too easy for Izuku to get his side of things. Unfortunately, he owed Sero enough to ask him directly. 

"So I'm just a toy, then?" he asked instead, his lips pulled back in a scowl as he crossed his arms. 

"It was an analogy, shortie," Shinsou explained with a wave of his hand, like that somehow made it all better. 

Izuku turned on his heel, moving toward the living room, where he knew his two friends were waiting for him. "Pretty shitty analogy, Shinsou," he called over his shoulder as he left the hall. 

He walked into the living room with a purse on his lips and a scramble in his brain. He was ruffled, and he didn't like being ruffled. His eyes stayed glued on the carpet in front of his feet until he'd thrown himself on the couch next to Kaminari, then he pointedly glared at the TV. 

"Ran into Shinsou on your way in, huh?" the blond asked, seeming unperturbed by Izuku's fowl mood. He was slouched into the cushions, so far down his chin was resting on his chest and a controller in his lap. There was a faint flash of pink as his tongue peeked out while he tried to kill someone in the game, only for him to die first. He let his controller fall with a huff as he turned to Izuku, who hadn't spoken yet. 

"He got you really worked up this time," he mumbled. 

Izuku let out a breath and pulled his legs to his chest, turning to face his friend with a frown. "Where's Hanta?" he asked instead of answering anything. 

Kaminari shrugged one shoulder, tossing his controller behind him as he gave up on the game and gave Izuku his full attention. "Said he had to run an errand or something. What's wrong, Iz?" 

"Nothing," Izuku grumbled, resting his chin on his knee and hugging his legs closer to himself. "Just something Shinsou said before he left." 

"Which was?" 

Izuku's head tilted so his cheek was resting on his knee instead. He looked at Kaminari for a moment, deciding if he should tell him or wait for Sero to get back. In the end, his curiosity outweighed his morals. "He said Hanta always had a problem with stealing other people's toys." 

"Oh," Kaminari said, sitting back and looking more than a little uncomfortable. 

That was all the answer Izuku needed. 

He scoffed as he readjusted to sit crisscross, stealing a couch pillow to hold in his lap. It was one of those velvet ones that you could draw designs in if you tried hard enough. He desperately needed something to do with his hands. 

"Yeah, but you two are the good guys, for sure," he mumbled, trying not to be as bitter as he felt. 

"Hey," Kaminari called with his own frown. "He's only stolen, like, two girlfriends and a boyfriend. It's really not that bad, and it's not like the guys he stole them from made it hard. Honestly, he did everyone a favor." 

"Oh, so it's a game. That makes it so much better," Izuku snapped, his eyes narrowing as he scooted back on the couch. "You're good at this, Denks." 

"I am not the one you're mad at," Kaminari said firmly, grabbing Izuku's thighs and pulling him back to where he'd just been. "Don't be a brat just because Hanta had a life before we met you." 

Izuku's head moved back at the statement. "A brat? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not-" 

"Hey, Iz?" Kaminari called, cutting him off in a flash. "Shut up." 

Izuku's mouth snapped shut, not because the blond told him to, but from the sheer surprise at his audacity. 

"Good boy," Kaminari praised with a faint smirk just as the front door opened and shut. 

Izuku couldn't just take that lying down. His shock wore off in an instant, "Excuse me-" 

Kaminari gave him a pointed look and held one finger up. "Don't make me take the praise back. I know you're a slut for it," he said in a painfully casual tone. 

Izuku could feel his blush spreading, starting at his ears and creeping down to his cheeks and neck. It was suddenly way too hot in that living room. 

Footsteps sounded from the hall, and Sero entered the living room a moment later. His dark eyes took in the scene, and an amused smile pulled at his lips. "Why does Iz look like a strawberry, and why are you so damn smug?" he asked, the question directed at Kaminari as Izuku was still too stunned to form thoughts, let alone words. 

"I just stated a fact," Kaminari said with a shrug, leaning back on the couch and making room for Hanta to sit between him and Izuku. "How was I supposed to know it would break him?" 

Hanta looked unbelieving as he glanced between the two of them. He shook his head as he pulled his hoodie over his head just as Izuku regained enough consciousness to turn toward him. As the hoodie came off, Hanta's shirt rode halfway up his torso, giving Izuku a front-row seat to his abs. 

Why does he have abs? Since when does he work out? Izuku's panic thoughts were running at a snail's pace, each one taking way too long to form as his mouth went dry. 

"And what was the fact?" Hanta's voice brought him back to reality. He grasped the meaning of the question just as Kaminari answered. 

"Said he was a slut for praise." 

"Awe, c'mon, baby," Sero said to Izuku, making his way across the living room and tossing his hoodie on the other couch before falling next to Izuku. "That one's obvious." 

Izuku shook his head, shifting to put as much space between him and the two other men as possible (which wasn't a lot). "No. I'm mad at you, and Denki tried to fix it by being hot." 

"Awe, you think I'm hot?" Kaminari asked with a lopsided smile, leaning forward to look past Sero. Izuku ignored him. 

Sero reached a hand out, tucking a stray curl behind Izuku's ear with a small frown. "Why're you mad at me, mi corazon?" 

Kaminari snorted at the question, relaxing back into the couch and answering for Izuku, "Because you run through hookups almost as fast as Shinsou. Can't imagine why that would make your corazon so upset." 

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. So uh, kinda disappeared for a while. Sorry bout that. BUT!!! I know what I'm doing with this fic again, so there should be more frequent updates. I make no such promises for any of my other ongoing fics. Honestly, who let me have four ongoing fics at once? That was such a terrible idea.