He didnât know why he had expected anything different from the boy, the words lacing themselves between his fingers until he had enough of them to pull himself up, to fill him with the five words his boyfriend had spoken. He opened himself like a shuttering elevator, too slowly for anyoneâs comfort, as he did his best to pull a smile out of nothing at all. There was no happiness in this motion, in this expression, if only because he didnât want to scare him off.Â
Katsuki had always been hard to spook. He just didnât want it to start now.Â
âI was held in slavery, when I was a kid.â He shook his head, wishing that he had better words, wishing that he could have started this differently, trying not to over think this because he knew that if he did he would stale out and not be able to get to his actual point. âI,â He pulled up his sleeves as he was talking, holding himself together together so much better than he had in the past. âI got all of these from there.â He was speaking of his scars, the burn marks left behind by something that was less than forgiving.
âI was young when there was an explosion big enough that I could leave. I ran. I left people behind. Iâve done thingsâŚâ He shook his head, not sure how to tell him about the things that he had to do when he left, distance in his eyes because it was the only place he allowed those emotions to sit. âI did what I had to in order to survive out there.â
He felt tears forming on the edges of his vision, but he didnât want to break yet. He took a deep breath, shuttering exhale and continued. âI wanted to tell you all of this because I thoughtâŚâ He shook his head, his smile as genuine as his tears as he pulled his eyes to look to Katsuki. âI wanted to tell you my name.â
He held out his hand as if he was meeting Katsuki for the first time, shaking but steady in form, the man holding himself together with expired glue guns and rusty staples.Â
âChul Min-Tang.â It left him like an exit wound, the truth behind his scars, the fucked up beginning to a boy that did nothing wrong and he exposed himself, his true self, to Katsuki. It felt like a thousand pounds was hovering just over his chest as he waited for the boy to react, to give him anything, to say something. Anything. // @groundzcroâ
Before Warwick even opened his mouth, Katsuki knew it was heavy. That much was damn obvious from all the fidgeting and nervousness. Nothing could quite prepare him from what Warwick actually had to say though.
Slavery. As soon as that word was thrown out there, Katsukiâs hand tightened into a fist, nails scraping against the table surface. Katsuki could feel a tension in his brow, a dark scowl settling over his features. He felt.. anger. A deep seated anger that burned from his chest. Made his eyes steeled in bright embers. Still, Katsuki kept quiet. Kept his thoughts to himself to let Warwick finish.
As his boyfriend showed off his scars, his eyes flicked down, studying them for a brief moment before his eyes flashed back up to the other. He wasnât stupid. Katsuki had seen the scars before. Had figured that they came from something not so pretty. They werenât like Katsukiâs, earned in fights or missteps. These ones were cruel and painted an entirely different picture. Warwick was starting to cry, something that unsettled the blond. But Warwick needed to get this off his chest, and Katsuki wasnât going to stop him.Â
Well.. he couldnât say it was a shock. With a story like that, it was no wonder he changed his name. To put the past behind him. For safety. To cut off that part of his life. To make sure whoever did this to him couldnât find him. Whatever it was, it didnât matter. That was Warwickâs past, and it was a part of him. Still, this was now.
Warwickâs hand was shaking, but Katsukiâs wasnât. Reaching out, Katsuki grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, standing up to lean across the table and press a little too rough and demanding kiss to his boyfriendâs lips.
Leaning back, Katsuki let go, sitting down again.
âI know who you are. I donât need another introduction.â Leaning against the table, Katsukiâs brows furrowed in thought. Concern. âThanks.. for telling me. So.. what do you want me to call you? In private, at least.â