Chapter Summary: Aizawa and Matsuda happen to have a run-in with Matsuda's ex-boyfriend.

Chapter 12: A Blast From Matsuda's Past

Aizawa and Matsuda had just finished lunch and as they stepped outside of the cafe, a voice behind them called out, "Touta? Touta Matsuda?"

They both turned around. Aizawa spotted a young man, probably about the same age as Matsuda, approaching them. He had short, black, slightly curly hair, was roughly the same height as Matsuda, and dressed rather professionally.

"Satoshi Takiyama?" Matsuda said. "It's been a long time."

Matsuda put out his hand, but Takiyama pulled Matsuda into an embrace that was a little too tight for Aizawa's liking. Matsuda did not seem all that thrilled by it either.

"It sure has been," Takiyama said, finally releasing Matsuda. "What have you been up to?"

"I'm a police officer now," Matsuda said. He indicated Aizawa and said, "This is my partner, Shuichi Aizawa. Aizawa, this is Satoshi Takiyama. We were friends in college."

Aizawa shook hands with Takiyama and the latter turned back to Matsuda.

"Just friends, Touta?" Takiyama asked him. "Because if you'll recall, for that one summer, we were a little more than friends. You remember that, don't you?"

Matsuda seemed to immediately grow very uncomfortable. In fact, there had been something odd about Matsuda's demeanor toward Takiyama from the start. He had greeted the other man when they first saw him, but it seemed to Aizawa that Matsuda was not really all that happy to see Takiyama.

"We really need to get back to work," Matsuda said.

"You do remember that summer, don't you?" Takiyama asked him.

"Of course I do," Matsuda said quietly.

Takiyama reached out and took Matsuda's hand, giving Aizawa the sudden urge to punch this guy right in the face. Aizawa could see Matsuda trying to pull away, but Takiyama wouldn't let go.

Aizawa had to step in. "I would appreciate it, if you would let go of my boyfriend's hand."

"Boyfriend?" Takiyama said. He was clearly surprised, but instantly dropped his grip on Matsuda's hand. He turned to Matsuda and said, "When you said he was your partner, I thought you meant your partner in the police force."

"Well, yeah. That too," Matsuda said. He took hold of Aizawa's hand and continued, "Shuichi is my partner, both professionally and romantically."

"I see," Takiyama said. "So I guess you figured out who you are."

"Yes I did," Matsuda said and he sounded a bit upset. "On my own. Without anyone else pressuring me."

Aizawa listened silently. He had no idea what this exchange was all about.

"I thought you would come find me once you were ready. That's what you said."

"No, that's what you wanted," Matsuda was now starting to sound defensive and angry. "You asked me to do that, but I never said that I would. I didn't want to."

"Touta, how can you say that?" Takiyama took Matsuda's other hand and actually pulled him away from Aizawa. "We had a great time together that summer. We had a lot of fun." He put his other hand on Matsuda's shoulder and moved closer to him, he almost seemed like he was about to kiss Matsuda. Aizawa saw Matsuda lean back away from him as much as he could. Meanwhile, Aizawa himself was seething. Who the hell did this guy think he was? And couldn't he tell that Matsuda wasn't interested in him anymore?

"I never really got over you, Touta," Takiyama said. "I think about you all the time. I always thought we would end up together. And now, we've been given a second chance."

Matsuda reached up and removed Takiyama's hand from his shoulder. Takiyama's other hand still held onto Matsuda's. Matsuda yanked it away from him and came back over to Aizawa.

"We haven't been given a second chance, Satoshi," Matsuda said. "You and I don't get a second chance. I'm with Aizawa now. Who, by the way, you are being very disrespectful toward. And I've got to tell you, I do not appreciate that. I love him. And I would never leave him for you, nor for anyone else."

Takiyama said something in return, but Aizawa didn't really hear it. Instead, he was focused on something that Matsuda had just said.

It was the first time that Aizawa had heard Matsuda say that he loved him. They had now been together for four months, but they had never said it to each other yet. Though Aizawa could not deny that he loved Matsuda. He had never said it though, for fear of Matsuda not feeling the same way.

And even now, he wondered if Matsuda meant it, or if he was just saying it in the hopes that Takiyama would then leave him alone.

"I understand of course," Takiyama said. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and took something from it. He held this out toward Matsuda. "Here. Take this."

"What is it?" Matsuda asked, sounding as if he didn't really care what the answer was.

"My business card, but my cell number is on here," Takiyama said. "Just call me sometime."

"No. And I don't want your card either."

Takiyama took Matsuda's hand, placed his business card in his palm, and folded Matsuda's fingers over it. "Take it. In case you change your mind."

Takiyama left his hand on Matsuda's for a few seconds after this, until he caught Aizawa glaring at him.

"I think you'd better go," Aizawa told him coldly.

"Right. Of course. I'm leaving." Takiyama turned to Matsuda once more. "Give me a call. We'll meet for coffee or something. Just to talk, of course."

Takiyama finally took his leave. Aizawa looked over at Matsuda; he seemed a bit troubled by this encounter. He didn't watch Takiyama leave, he hadn't even moved. He stood there, his hand folded around Takiyama's business card, and looked like he was in deep thought.

"Tou-chan?" Aizawa said. Matsuda did not even hear him. "Tou-chan."

Matsuda started and looked over at him.

"Are you okay?" Aizawa asked him.

"Yeah. I-I'll be alright."

"So...that Takiyama guy," Aizawa said. "I'm guessing he's an ex-boyfr-"

"I don't want to talk about him," Matsuda quietly interrupted.

"Oh, okay. Sure. I can respect that," Aizawa said. "But if you decide that you do want to talk about him, I'm willing to listen."

Matsuda nodded, but didn't say anything.

Aizawa wondered what it was about Takiyama that affected Matsuda in such a way. But he didn't want to push Matsuda for more information, when he didn't want to talk about it. When he was ready, Matsuda would bring it up.

Aizawa also wanted to ask if Matsuda had meant it when he said that he loved Aizawa. But now didn't seem like the best time to bring up that subject either.

They made their way back to the patrol car and got inside. Prior to lunch, they had been working their way through a list of witnesses. Aizawa pulled out the list and looked at who the next person was. He pointed out the next name, but Matsuda didn't really look up. "This man here is next on our list. Should we head over to his place? It's actually not too far from here."

"He was the first guy I ever liked," Matsuda said suddenly.

Aizawa had just put the key into the ignition. He stopped and turned to Matsuda, quietly waiting for him to continue.

"Or I guess I should say that Satoshi is the first guy that I allowed myself to like." Matsuda paused for a few seconds before continuing. "When I was in high school, there were a couple of boys that I had crushes on, but I was more confused by it, and a little scared to feel that way. I liked girls, too, so in high school, I only dated girls. I was already bullied enough as it was. The last thing I needed the other kids to know was that I liked boys, too."

"You were bullied in high school?" Aizawa never knew about that.

"High school, grade school, middle school...yeah."

"I had no idea, Tou-chan. I'm so sorry you went through that."

"It was tough, but it's what inspired me to be a police officer," Matsuda said. "Anyway, as I was saying, I met Satoshi in college. We became fast friends and we had a lot in common. We liked the same music, the same movies, you know, that kind of thing. Then one day, about one week before summer break, he tells me that he likes me."

"Were you surprised?" Aizawa asked.

"Kind of," Matsuda said. "I knew he was gay, he had told me that early on. So that part didn't surprise me. But I never knew that he had any feelings for me. The thing is, he followed up by saying, 'I know you like me, too.'"

"You did. Didn't you?"

"I did. Or I thought I did. I wasn't sure." Matsuda hesitated a bit. "We did date during that summer. And we did have fun. I can't really say that I ever fell in love with him, but I cared deeply about him. He meant a lot to me. Satoshi was the first guy that I ever went out with. And the first guy I ever kissed."

"Did you two…?" Aizawa asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer or not.

"What?" Matsuda asked. Then he seemed to realize what Aizawa was getting at. "Oh, that! No, we didn't. Not that Satoshi would have minded though."

Matsuda paused. "That was the problem. All of this was still new to me. I told Satoshi that I wanted to take it slow because I was still trying to work out exactly who I was and what I wanted. He was okay with that at first and everything seemed great. After awhile though, he got impatient."

"How do you mean?"

"He started to constantly put pressure on me to sleep with him," Matsuda said. "This was my first relationship with another guy and I was still trying to figure things out. He was already falling for me and I just wasn't there yet. I kept telling him that I wasn't ready to take our relationship to that level, but he didn't want to wait. He never tried to force me into anything, but he was persistent."

Matsuda paused again, before continuing. "Don't get me wrong. He's a great guy, and I really enjoyed the time we had together. We didn't have any problems otherwise. But he began to constantly ask me if I was ready. It got to the point where I couldn't even fully enjoy being with him sometimes. We just weren't on the same page anymore when it came to our relationship. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and I knew that I had to end things with him. I still debated with myself for a couple of weeks. A part of me really didn't want to break up with him, and I certainly didn't want to hurt him, but I knew that staying together wasn't going to be good for either of us in the long run. I really couldn't see us having a future together."

"So what happened?"

"I broke it off. I had to. For my own sanity." Matsuda sighed. "I could tell that it really hurt Satoshi when I broke up with him. And I felt bad about it, but I-I had to. And now he's telling me that all these years later, he still hasn't gotten over that?"

"He hasn't gotten over you," Aizawa said. He hesitated before saying the next part, because it made him jealous to even think about it. "I hate to admit this, Tou-chan, but I think that Takiyama is still in love with you."

"You noticed that too, huh? Then again, he wasn't exactly hiding it."

"No he wasn't," Aizawa muttered. "The way he hugged you, looked at you, and kept trying to hold your hand."

Aizawa felt anger and jealousy brimming at the surface. It must have shown, because he felt Matsuda's hand on top of his own and looked over at him.

"Shichi," he said quietly., "please tell me you're not worried about this. Even if Satoshi is still in love with me, I don't feel anything toward him. You know that, right?"

"I'm not worried about it," Aizawa said truthfully. The envy he had been feeling began to melt away at Matsuda's words. "Tou-chan, I trust you. It was just hard to see another man so openly show such affection toward you."

"That made me so angry, how disrespectful he was of you," Matsuda said. "That's why I had to confront him about it. I mean, you're my boyfriend and you're standing right there beside me. But he just kept touching me and hugging me, and saying all these things about how he wants us to get back together. Right in front of you. It was like you didn't even matter. You don't deserve to be treated like that, Shichi. Not by anyone, and certainly not by him."

"Tou-chan..."

"Hopefully he got the hint and I won't have to see him again," Matsuda said. Then he quietly added, "I've never told anyone about Satoshi, because I don't really like talking about him or our relationship. I wanted you to know, but everyone else…"

"I understand," Aizawa said. "I won't tell them anything if you don't want me to."

Matsuda smiled. "Thanks, Shichi."

"No problem," Aizawa said. "So, are you alright?"

"Yeah. I am now."

"Then, can I ask you about something else?"

"Sure."

Aizawa hesitated, trying to figure out the best way to address this.

"When you were talking to Takiyama, you told him that you love me," Aizawa said.

"Right...I did say that." Matsuda paused. He seemed unsure about what to say next. "Well, I wanted Satoshi to leave me alone. So I thought if I said that, then maybe he would."

"Oh. I-I see," Aizawa said, trying not to show how much it hurt him to hear this.

"And I also said it, because it's true," Matsuda added.

He slowly turned to Aizawa and he looked anxious as to what Aizawa's response would be.

Aizawa could not believe it. "It is?"

Matsuda nodded. "Yeah. I love you, Shichi. And I've felt this way for about a month now. But I was afraid to say it. Now that I have, if you want me to get out of the car and walk back to headquarters, I won't blame you."

"If I made you leave, then how could I tell you that I love you, too?"

Matsuda smiled. "You do?"

Aizawa reached over and took Matsuda's hand. "I love you, Tou-chan."

As they were in a marked patrol car, Aizawa glanced around to see if anyone was nearby. The coast clear, he leaned in and very briefly kissed Matsuda. Having just stated their love for each other, Aizawa wanted to kiss Matsuda more passionately. In fact, he wanted to do more than just kiss the younger man. But they were on duty and they were seated in what was clearly a police vehicle. So instead, he kissed Matsuda, letting it linger only a few seconds, before pulling away.

Aizawa noticed that Matsuda was blushing slightly when they broke apart. It was so hot and adorable at the same time, that Aizawa had to look away before he did something that would get both of them fired.

Instead, he grudgingly forced himself to focus on their list of witnesses. He smiled and said, "What do you say we actually get some work done now?"

Matsuda laughed. "That might be a good idea."

Aizawa started the car and headed for the next witness's house. As he drove though, Aizawa thought over everything Matsuda had told him about Takiyama and the bullying he faced in school. He had learned more about Matsuda and the struggles he had faced.

He had also been touched by the things that Matsuda had said about Aizawa when he was talking to Takiyama. And by Matsuda's anger toward Takiyama for being so disrespectful of Aizawa. But the best thing was finding out that Matsuda loved him just as much as Aizawa loved Matsuda.

And it was because of this that Aizawa could not stop smiling.

*The next few chapters are coming very soon! I'm going to do my best to post two or three chapters every week. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far. I would appreciate any feedback, so please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading!*