A/N: Heyya there!

This fandom has so few stories I decided to contribute a bit! :)

Thanks to my best Friend Hannah for being the Beta for my story! Love you 3

It was almost winter, and Masahiro Setagawa was a second year in high school already! His first year had gone so fast it was almost a complete blur to Setagawa; however, he would never forget what had possibly been the best year of his life. Kousuke was his, and if that wasn't a cause for celebration, then they had actually made friends with people in his class.

When he had been younger, he had been unable to make many friends at all due to his mum's bad reputation amongst the other mothers in the area. As a result, kids had been warned against being friendly with him, which left him alone for the majority of his life.

All of that's in the past now, huh. Setagawa mused to himself as he walked home from visiting his closest friend, Kensuke. Of course, he had also visited Kousuke, his - boyfriend? Lover?

It had been so long already but he still had no idea how to refer to Kousuke. Perhaps it wasn't too important yet as their relationship was still mostly hidden for fear that Kousuke would lose his job.

Setagawa started climbing the stairs to the flat he shared with his mum, wondering whether or not she would be there today. She had spent an awfully long time away with some new client of hers.

Reaching into his bag, Setagawa fished around for his keys for a moment before finding them and sliding the key into the lock of the door. He went to turn it before realising the door was unlocked.

"She must be home…" Setagawa murmured to himself before opening the door and preparing himself for the worst - his mum could have brought the client home again after all.

Walking inside Setagawa found the house dark as if no one had been there all day. It was oddly clean - his mum must not have come home, he decided inwardly. That meant he must have left the door unlocked all day! How could he have been so negligent?

Panicked now, Setagawa turned on the light to ascertain whether or not anything had been taken. At first glance, it all seemed undisturbed apart from a piece of paper on the coffee table that had definitely not been there when he had left that morning.

"What's this then?" He murmured as he picked up the hastily written note and read it.

Masahiro,

You're sixteen years old now and more than ready to take care of yourself. I've provided a roof over your head for long enough, and now the time has come for you to stop relying on others and fend for yourself. As you know, Daichi-san and I have become very close, and he has kindly invited me to move in with him. I will be doing so immediately.

The rent is paid for the next three weeks.

Love you lots

From your mother

Setagawa's hands began to tremble violently. He re-read the note, certain he had misconstrued something.

...take care of yourself...roof over your head… long enough… stop relying on others…

Setagawa slowly sank to his knees. As if in slow motion, the note fluttered to the floor, landing face-up just out of reach, as if to taunt him. He felt sick.

Minutes ticked by but Settie remained frozen in place. A joke... it had to be a joke, right? There was no way his own mum would leave him to fend for himself out of nowhere.

But was it out of nowhere? He was a useless person after all. He always needed saving and was always following after Kousuke like a lost dog…

So, then, his mum must have merely gotten annoyed with having to put up with him, and paying his school fees, especially when he failed to turn up to classes for days at a time.

One thing was for sure, he would need to ask for more shifts at work.

Thinking practically, the blond realised he would also be unable to stay in this flat. It was much too expensive for him to be able to afford while he was a student and only a part-time worker. He had contemplated dropping out but his tuition fees had already been paid for the full 3 years and he wouldn't want to worry Kousuke nor Kensuke.

He had decided that he would definitely not be telling the two brothers of his current plight. There were no spare bedrooms in their house, and even if there had been, he wouldn't want to bother the family. Kousuke especially needed no distractions at this time of year. Third years aiming for colleges needed the help of the maths teacher now more than ever.

He didn't need to bother them anyway. It was simple: find a new flat and take on a few more shifts. It shouldn't affect anyone but himself.

The next four days sped by and were filled with moving preparations. A significant portion of his time had been spent at work. He had only partially explained his situation to his boss who had easily allowed him to take on a few more shifts and had even upped his rate slightly. He had tried to protest but the man would not hear of it.

"A hard-working boy like you deserves a higher wage anyway." The man had stated and walked away before he could complain again. It was just as well.

Even with his savings, he would struggle to afford the deposit on the small flat he had found; however, he would manage the following monthly payments, and, luckily, was given the go-ahead to move in whenever was convenient for him. It was a lot closer to the school - and his workplace, too - which was rather useful.

Speaking of school, he had not bothered to ring in about his absence and he would not be telling them about his new circumstances because Kousuke would find out. It's not like I'm hiding it. He consoled himself, It's just not important enough to bother people with.

Kousuke likely wouldn't see it that way but he didn't have to find out.

Setagawa shook himself out of his thoughts and looked around his new flat. It was a lot smaller and consisted of two rooms- his bathroom and his living space. The living space had a small kitchenette complete with a microwave, kettle, and oven. There was a small television sat on a low cabinet just a meter away from the kitchen. Unfortunately, he didn't have cable so if he wanted to use it he would need to spend money to set it up, not a priority.

Just in front of the television sat a small table that could be moved to the side at night to make space for a futon.

It wasn't much but he would happily make do. It had been a stroke of luck to find this place in the first place.