Chapter 6: Formulating the Plan

Bakugou Katsuki was surprised when Denki asked him if Monoma could tag along for the weekend activities that they had planned.

Sure, he knew Denki was tired of being a fourth wheel, but maybe he should have thought about that before rejecting the idea of being in their relationship. They would have gladly increased their triad to a quad, but Denki was already so hung up on Shinsou, and Denki gets what he wants. Tch.

Katsuki was furious when he found out that Shinsou had been cheating on him, and with Monoma Neito of all people. And now Denki was asking if it was okay if Monoma came along. Sure… fine. Katsuki wasn't above murder to protect his friends.

Kirishima Eijiro had found Katsuki in their garage, pulling out shovels from the back of the shelf.

"What are you doing?" he had asked, knowing that he was going to be in for an entertaining evening.

Katsuki had turned around and growled at him, pushing his hair out of his face and giving up on the shovels as he responded to his boyfriend.

"Denki is bringing Monoma over with him, so I'm getting the shovels ready," Katsuki had explained matter-of-factly, like it should have been obvious.

To Katsuki, it was obvious. Eijiro might as well have asked him why he was drinking water or why he was breathing air, it was so obvious.

"We aren't killing Monoma," Eijiro had deadpanned.

"I'm not above murder," Katsuki had shrugged off, only half joking, and went back to rummaging around the items blocking the shovels.

"That's not what I meant," Eijiro explained, finally getting Katsuki to give him his full attention and stop trying to pull the shovels out.

Honestly, he was just making a mess that they would have to put back together. Of course, Eijiro would help him put everything back where it belonged, but he wanted to poke some fun at his boyfriend, first. Katsuki was nothing short of entertaining when he felt like a friend had been wronged, and he was the first to start planning a revenge scheme to get even for them. He was a good friend, and his heart was in the right place, despite the awful way of going about resolving situations involving his friends.

"I just got off the phone with Denki. He's involved with Monoma, not planning his murder with you as an accomplice. Though, you would be a great accomplice, babe!" Eijiro had tacked on with a wink.

Katsuki's confusion was visible on his face, and he was so damn cute.

"Denki thinks that Shinsou was only cheating on him with Monoma," Eijiro started, holding up a finger when Katsuki tried to ask why the hell that mattered. He wasn't done explaining, thank you very much. "And now that Monoma and Denki are getting more serious…"

Katsuki's eyes widened and then darkened.

"That dumbass!" he exclaimed, but not unkindly. "He'd form a triad with those losers but not join ours?!"

Eijiro smiled as Katsuki stormed past him, back into the house that he shared with both of his boyfriends, knowing that in a matter of minutes he would be back to normal after stomping around and muttering through his thoughts (something that he would deny doing if you ever pointed it out. He loves Izuku with all of his heart, but will deny muttering like that lovable nerd if you ever dared to point out the habit he had picked up from him).

The truth was, they would have loved to have Denki join in and make them a quad. There are only a handful of people they would be willing to allow in like that, and Denki was one of them. But Denki had always had eyes for Shinsou since the first year at UA. Eijiro knew that Denki successfully forming a triad with both Shinsou and Monoma would be the best possible outcome for all of them if they could somehow forgive Shinsou for his transgression and combine all of their separate relationships into one.

On the way to Denki's parents' house, Denki had wanted to ask Neito a question, but he hesitated. Neito encouraged him to ask, so he did, despite his reservations.

"When we confronted… Hitoshi… he didn't react the way I was expecting him to," Denki had mentioned, trying to keep it light in case Neito didn't want to discuss their cheating ex and dampen the easygoing mood they had developed between them.

"I know what you mean," Neito had agreed, admitting, "I thought he was going to call me unhinged for yelling at him. Maybe turn it back around on us, you know?"

Denki had nodded in understanding. "I thought he was going to call me stupid. Maybe stupid for not finding out sooner, or stupid for thinking he might ever choose me over you…"

"Oh, Denks," Neito had started, but stopped. Neito didn't want to be coddled over his past insecurities of being considered unhinged, so he wasn't about to dwell on Denki's admission of worrying about being called stupid, like he was back in middle school and the first year of UA.

"The point is," Denki stated, "even when he found out that we knew, he didn't fight back. Do you think he's over us?"

"No way," Neito said immediately, not even having to think about it. "You saw him when he saw us on campus. He's… hurt. He probably feels like it's what he deserves… and he would be right."

"Maybe we should all sit down and talk about what happened now that our emotions aren't so raw," Denki had suggested.

"What? Why would we do that? He betrayed us," Neito reminded him, but not harshly. He did truly want to understand where Denki's thought process was leading him.

"Never mind," Denki had said to Neito's displeasure. He didn't want to make him shut down.

"I'm interested in your thought process. Are you thinking of something that I hadn't considered?" Neito had asked, trying to keep Denki talking.

"It's just… he acted like he immediately knew that he screwed up and didn't try to defend himself or anything…" Denki had said, trying to put his thought process into words but failing miserably.

"Because we caught him red-handed. There was nothing he could do or say to hide the truth any longer," Neito countered.

"Yeah, I guess," Denki conceded dismissively.

Neito was not having that. "I'm trying to understand."

"I know. And you will after this weekend," Denki answered cryptically.

Neito's only relief was that Denki seemed like his perky self, not flustered or discouraged at all by not having Neito understand why he wanted to talk with Hitoshi again.

Denki knew that Neito was really smart and would figure it out quickly, and Denki was right.

Neito was not surprised that Bakugou and Kirishima were dating. Everyone could tell, even during the first year of UA, that they were good for each other.

Neito thought he was hallucinating for a second when Midoriya walked in after finishing his patrol shift and gave Bakugou and Kirishima both a welcome kiss before waving to Neito and Denki before skipping off to get changed out of his hero costume.

When Neito realized that they were in a relationship, all three of them dating each other, his eyes widened in understanding about what Denki was insinuating during the ride over.

"You want something like that?" he had turned to him and asked immediately, either not having the tact or not caring that he was asking something like that in the company of others. Neito just wanted to understand.

"Depending on what Hitoshi says about why he…" Denki trailed off, not wanting to say it. He was tired of saying it and tired of thinking it and also didn't want to get Bakugou going. "I think it could work, if you wanted to give it a shot."

Denki agreed to give Neito time to think about it, and then they had a fun weekend with the triad. Watching them interact lovingly and without jealousy was a whole different experience for Neito.

Neito had thought hard about it and wondered if he would feel so jealous that he would ruin everything. The more he thought about it, though, the more excited he became. When thinking about how he would feel if he saw Hitoshi and Denki kissing, he was surprised to find that he wasn't upset. If he was dating both of them, he might even find it kind of endearing. Especially when he imagined himself pulling each of them into a kiss of his own to even the score.

It would be a delicate situation, Neito had decided. He would be able to do it if it was exclusively the three of them. He already had strong feelings for Denki, and he had already been in a serious relationship with Hitoshi and those feelings don't just go away so quickly. He didn't think he would mind if he had two boyfriends who were also dating each other, but only if the only other person they were dating was the other boyfriend.

When he had explained and explored his concerns to Denki on the way back to campus, Denki had agreed that Bakugou, Kirishima, and Midoriya had the ideal setup of a closed triad without other branches off of the main relationship and it would be what he preferred as well.

Denki and Neito had come up with a plan of attack to see if they would be able to forgive Hitoshi's betrayal, which would be made easier by them already exploring the new relationship with each other. If they decided that Hitoshi's heart was in the right place and it was something they could forgive, they would introduce the idea of starting a triad, go over the expectations of what it would be like, and see if Hitoshi would want to join them in the new adventure.

Both boys' excitement grew as they thought about Hitoshi's heartbroken face when he had seen them together but did nothing to stop them or interfere at all. They both hoped that Hitoshi had been put in a tough spot where he could explain what happened in a way that made sense and didn't feel like he was toying with them. The look on his face and his reaction and the space he was giving was already contributing to the fact that he was truly remorseful for what he had done, and he wanted what was best for each of them going forward, even if that meant them having a relationship and leaving him behind.

But they didn't want to leave him behind, damnit.

When they got back, Neito texted Hitoshi, asking if they would be able to come by for a talk and discuss what had happened between the three of them.