"I'll stay by your forever, we'll be together for the rest of our. lives..."

Those were the words you had told Katsuki all those years ago, words you had promised him when he was at his lowest, when the world felt like it was crushing him from every angle. Back then, you had been his anchor, the one person who saw him for more than his sharp edges and rough temper. He had believed you. He had held onto those words like a lifeline. So what changed?

Now, here he stood, watching from across the room at the Class 1-A reunion. The sight of you smiling and laughing while standing beside your wife, was enough to twist something deep in his chest. His crimson eyes flickered with something unspoken, a heat that wasn’t just anger but a mix of regret and longing, a fire he couldn’t extinguish no matter how hard he tried.

Your laughter carried over the chatter, light and carefree, the kind he hadn’t heard from you in years. It used to be his laughter you’d share, his hand you’d hold. His mind betrayed him, replaying memories of the past: the late nights spent dreaming about the future, the promises you’d made together when life felt so much simpler. Back then, he thought he had time. Time to get his act together, to become someone worthy of standing by your side. But time had slipped through his fingers like sand, and now here you were, with someone else.

For the first time in years, he felt an unfamiliar sting in his eyes. It wasn’t like him to dwell, to let emotions weigh him down. But as he watched you stand by her, with a tenderness he never knew he craved, the bitterness crept in. Maybe if he’d found himself sooner, if he’d become stable and dealt with the chaos inside him, things would be different. Maybe those words you’d promised would still come true.