The jingling of the small bell above his door and quick, light footsteps alerted Katsuki that someone had entered his shop, but he didn't bother to look at them, keeping his eyes focused on his sketchbook. "Welcome to Explosive, what can I draw on you?" he said in a voice that could only be described as a loud mumble, prompting a delicate laugh from his customer—it was almost soft enough for him to miss it, but there was something strong underneath, lying in wait.

"Actually," his guest said, in a voice that matched the laugh, soft but strong—heavy and airy—"I was wondering if Kirishima was in? I have an appointment with him today." It was this moment that Katsuki decided to look up, and to his surprise, he was not disappointed in what he saw. Standing in the middle of his shop stood a girl, admiring the art on the wall. Seemingly sensing his eyes on her, she turned around—big, brown, round eyes and pink, round cheeks. She was dressed in a long sleeved pink shirt and black leggings, leaving only her ankles exposed. She looked curious as she walked up to his counter, innocent as she placed a hand underneath her chin, and downright adorable as she smiled up at him—awaiting his answer. "We were going to be starting a new piece," she lead on, tapping her fingers against her chin.

"He's not here," Katsuki said, "he isn't going to be in for a while."

"Aw," the girl whined, her big brown eyes downcast, "is everything okay?" Her voice wavered slightly, almost cracking, and Katsuki chalked it up to curiosity more than anything else.

"He's fine," he deadpanned.

She glanced back up at him, her eyes round and fierce, and said, "I don't think he'd just cancel and not say anything if everything was fine." She clenched her teeth before opening her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Releasing a heavy breath, she said softly, "I just really need to know if he's okay. I care about him—a lot."

"Okay." That was all it took for Katsuki to say something other than the normal pleasantries. "He's having some family issues—I'm not going to go into detail—and I don't know how long he'll be out." That was all he could say on the matter. Truthfully, he didn't know much more than that—his employee and best friend hasn't said much before storming out of the shop with a quick 'I'll be back!' three days ago after receiving a particularly stressful phone call from his mom. There had been a few phone calls here and there, but Kirishima wasn't too forthcoming with any information—which was especially strange for him. The girl looked at Katsuki with suspicious eyes—'there's something you're not telling me' reading heavy in them. She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first, offering, "I can do the tattoo for you. Is this your first one?"

She eyed him up and down before saying, "I've let Kirishima work on me for years now." She looked down, taking a peek into his sketchbook before adding, "Can I?"

"Yeah, sure," he said, before flipping the book around and letting her look through it. "Where are you getting the piece at?"

"My thigh," she mumbled absent-mindedly, thumbing through the pages, studying his work, "It's supposed to be a fairly large piece." Meanwhile, Katsuki moved from behind his counter to get a good look at his client—and his prospective workspace. "I want it to take up my entire left thigh," she said, tapping her leg. "Think you can handle it?"

"This is my shop," Katsuki said, a smirk growing on his face, "I can handle anyone that walks in here, angel."

"You're confident," she said, a dry chuckle slipping through her lips, "but it took Kirishima years before he could think he could get me out of my pants, and I'm just supposed to let you talk me out of my clothes after five minutes?"

"Yes."

"You're really confident," she laughed, loudly and wholeheartedly. It wasn't soft nor delicate like before, but boisterous and edgy, slightly venomous—something Katsuki would never expect to come from her. It threw him off for a moment, until he noticed that her big round eyes were completely closed when she laughed, and that her smile stretched from one side of her face to the other. And just like that, the softness was back. The delicateness that was lost in her voice reappeared in her face and he couldn't help but stare, just for a moment.

"I'm Katsuki," he said, after that moment was over.

"Ochako."

x

She watched him sketch her tattoo without a sound, his hands quick and deft against the paper. He started from the roots—she was adamant that her tree had roots—making them strong and giving them weight before moving onto the trunk. "A tree, huh?" he asked, not looking up from his paper.

"A cherry blossom tree," she corrected, a smile on her face. "I think they're special." He only hummed—a deep, delightful sound, in her opinion—in response, but she took this as a sign to keep speaking. "They're not around for forever, not that anything is, but they really don't have long lives."

"That's pretty fucking morbid," he interrupted, glancing up from his drawing.

"It's life," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "The tree only lasts a month, but it still manages to make an impact on us. I think it's beautiful," she sighed dreamily, placing a hand underneath her chin. Katsuki noticed the small smile forming on her face and took his attention away from her and back to his sketch, using smaller, more deliberate strokes.

"It's still pretty morbid," he said, focusing on his work.

"Literally."

They fell into a comfortable silence afterwards, to which neither of them minded. It was nice, relaxing, the only sound between them being the sound of his pen on the paper. He'd occasionally steal glances at her, studying her—learning about her without being taught. She kept her nails short and clean and unpolished. Her hands were small and delicate, though she had a bruise on her right knuckles. Her eyes were really wide and really round, and when she caught him staring, there was a particular glint to them that put him on edge. It was almost threatening, dangerous and sharp, but when he searched the rest of her face, he couldn't find any traces of malice. And when he looked back at her eyes, the glint disappeared. It was almost like she was teasing him. Did I do that? he imagined her saying, that playful smirk on her face.

"Uh," he said, breaking the silence, "I could probably finish and have you completely done today, but it'd take forever. I can keep working on the sketch and have it ready next time you come in, but it'd have to be in like, a week or something."

"Can we make it two weeks?" she asked, gathering her things. "I had a big order at my shop and it's going to be insane this week."

"You have a shop?"

"I'm a florist," she said quickly. "And it's gonna be hectic this week."

"Just come in whenever—call first though. You can grab my card off one of the counters. We can set up a time day of or day before," he said, looking back down at his work. She nodded before walking out, throwing a smile and wave in his direction.

x

"Hello?"

"You doing okay?"

"Not really...someone broke into my moms house. They stole damn near everything and broke whatever they couldn't steal."

"Shit, Kirishima," Katsuki said, leaning onto his kitchen counter. "Does she have any idea who did it? I'll gladly kick their ass."

"I don't know, man. I think she does but she won't tell me." He heard Kirishima sigh heavily into the phone, a loud, angry sound. "Tell me something good."

"I took one of your clients, if that counts as good."

"Shit, I had clients?"

"Yeah—a girl. Ochako."

Katsuki heard Kirishima's breath hitch over the phone, and almost said something,but decided against it. "Was she mad?" His voice sounded strange—almost nervous. It was in his nature to care about his clients—he cared about everyone—so Katsuki didn't question it. "Please tell me she wasn't mad. I-I just completely forgot. I-It was an accident," he stammered. This is where Katsuki raised an eyebrow.

"She was worried about you. Really concerned."

He heard him release a sigh, relieved. This had officially gotten weird. "Oh thank God she's so sweet."

"She seemed real nice."

"She's a saint. It's funny, most people like her would've been all over my ass for something like this, but she's so cool about it."

"People like her?"

"Yeah, you know—hold on, my mom's calling me. I'll talk to you later."

"Later." The line went dead a moment later. Still, his words rang through his head, as clear as they could be. People like her would've been all over my ass...people like her? The girl that walked into his shop did not allude to 'being all over his ass', especially over something as trivial as a tattoo. In the few years of owning his business, he's only cancelled a few appointments, with maybe one or two having no notice. And still, every client understood. Katsuki didn't know a single person who would get angry over a cancelled appointment. It just wasn't a big deal.

The sound of his phone buzzing took his out of his thoughts. A text message appeared on his screen from a number he didn't recognize. Frowning slightly, he swiped open the message, reading it.

next wednesday at one cool?

its ochako btw

your cell was on the card and i figured itd be easier just to text you instead of calling tomorrow

'Sure', he texted back. 'Next Wednesday at one. I'll have everything ready and my schedule clear.'

clearing your schedule for me? sure know how to make a girl feel special lol

'It's a big ass piece. It's gonna take a long ass fuckin time to finish and I wanna do it in one go'

sounds good to me

He looked at the words on the screen and clicked his phone off. He didn't mind taking over for Kirishima, especially considering his family issues, but he wished there was something more he could do for him. He'd probably stop by Kirishima's mom's house, help clean and replace anything—he should probably bring something. Turning his phone back on, he sent another, quick text to Ochako.

'You're a florist, right?'

yessir. you need flowers?

'A real big, real pretty bouquet. For Eijiro's mom.'

k. do you want them to have any particular meaning? color?

'I don't care as long as they're gorgeous.'

gorgeous is my middle name.

'I don't doubt that. How much do I owe you? I could just knock it off of your bill, if you want.'

or i could pay full price for the tattoo, have the bouquet ready in the morning, and you can spend the 35.76 buying us dinner Thursday?

She had guts, Katsuki had to give her that. Smiling, he texted back, 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.'

i could go for pancakes.