Spring, a season of beginnings and rain. From the flowers blooming, to all of the pollen in the air, the season is a mishmash of good and bad things, feelings of which Kyoka Jirou currently knows quite a bit about. The twenty-one year old in mention currently finding herself face first on her bed, screaming into a pillow.
Now, one might question why she is doing such a thing, and with good reason. After all, many would say she is not the type of person to be yelling like a preppy school girl into her pillows, even she would express disgust at the action. So then, why is she like this?
Well, it's because she is currently dealing with the fact that she has caught feelings, a crush one might say, for her coworker, former classmate, and close friend Izuku Midoriya. The same Izuku Midoriya who is on the rise in the hero world, a genuine ray of sunshine in any room, the guy who just never gives up… And the same man who is still recovering from a breakup with a former friend and classmate after receiving a Dear John and learning that she was cheating on him.
Okay, a crush is playing it too lightly, Kyoka was flat out in love with the man. But, how could she not be? Even back in high school, before the two really got close, she had admitted to herself that she had a bit of an infatuation with the greenette. His smile was contagious, how he was willing to help anyone he could, his genuineness behind everything he did… And she admits when she'd hear him singing to himself in his room, she would find it calming. And now, as adults, it seems this feeling has only grown over time. How he's grown from who he used to be, how life has changed since…
'I need to stop trying to justify this.' She thinks to herself, as she turns over in bed, looking up at the ceiling as she holds her hands together over her abdomen. 'Dealing with this right now isn't good. But it's not like all of these thoughts are going to go away so easily. Dreams about that kind of stuff are definitely not helping either.' Kyoka drags herself out of bed, shaking her head all the while, trying to get the images out of her head.
Living with Izuku in a larger apartment, the two snuggled on the couch… No, not now brain! It's Kyoka's day off, and she's going to spend it away from… All of that stuff. She made plans with some of the others to spend this day out, and made especially sure to schedule it on a day Izuku would be super busy, leaving less chance to run into the subject of her current run a muck thoughts (and possibly her affections).
She heads over to her closet, opening it up, and cupping her chin. "Hmmm, what to wear…" She says to herself. She grabs some of the pieces of clothing that catches her eye first and tosses it out and onto the bed, before she starts to change clothes.
When she finishes, she's dressed in a pair of dark brown boots, black wash jeans leading out of them. A light weight grey t-shirt covers her top, as a red jacket is wrapped around her waist, just in case it rains later (even if it has been getting warmer here in the later days). She puts on a black choker, a small silver ring connected in the middle of it, a set of loose bracelets on her wrist. She looks at herself in the mirror and smiles.
She grabs her phone and looks at any notifications she might have. Sure enough, there's some texts. Most of it's just the people she made plans with talking about when and where they'll be meeting up. But above them all, at the most recent, is a text from Izuku.
'Have a great day off Kyoka! Wait, is that too many exclamation points?' It says, getting a chuckle from the girl. She goes to send a reply text, but quickly shakes her head. This is the exact reason she's taking this break, to get away from the thoughts about Izuku she's been having. She closes her phone, and heads out, her whole day ahead of her.
And what a spring day it will be.
To start the day off, Kyoka decided she'd get some breakfast from a nearby cafe she likes. Stepping inside, she smiles at the familiar scent of coffee and scones, as she takes a seat at the counter. "Yo, owner!" She cheers, as she's greeted with a middle-aged man popping up from out of nowhere, a straw trilby hat on his head, a bright green apron around his button up shirt and tan slacks.
"Ah, Ms. Jirou! It's lovely to see you here! Been a few weeks since we saw you." The owner speaks, a smile on his face, as he adjusts his glasses.
"Well, work can be a bit hectic. How have things been holding out here?" She asks, adjusting herself better in the seat as she looks over at the tv screen playing on the wall. It's a news report, a robbery downtown. If she weren't on her day off, she'd be on her way to stop that right now, but it seems someone in green has already shown up to take care of it. She turns her head awy to focus back on the owner.
"Oh it's been holding. Misora is off to college again, so things have been a bit lonely. But you know, that green haired boy you've brought here a couple times has been a real help." The owner says, Kyoka flinching at the off handed mention of Izuku. No matter how she tries, she can't escape him, can she? "Yep, he's come in a couple times in the morning just to keep this stylish old man company. Loves to sing your praises too!"
Kyoka freezes for a second, looking at the man in confusion. "Excuse me?"
The owner nods. "Mhm. I'll ask how you're doing, and he'll just go on about how great you are. Just the other day, he started talking about your last album, from back in… February was it? Man, has it really been four months? Anyways, he said it really helped him through some tough things he was experiencing, well that and just having you around." The man chuckles, bringing out a small coffee cup and matching plate. "Well, I'll get started on that usual for you now."
Kyoka stares off into space as the owner gets to work on her breakfast, the hearing hero left in a state of shock. Izuku… Talks about her often? Listens to her albums? Says she's helped him? Talks about her?! This is… Some information to process. She shakes her head, trying to clear away her thoughts. Day off, day to herself to clear her thoughts of this stuff.
(Or maybe a day to think about how she truly feels.)
After eating breakfast, Kyoka agreed to meet up with Denki to go over some of his current options for building locations. The blonde haired idiot was planning to open up his own bar soon, saying he'd wanted to do so ever since he graduated, saying it would give him something to do when he wasn't out being a hero. Kyoka laughed it off at the time, but it seems the dork was being serious about it. Good for him.
"So, I'm thinking you should go mid-city. Not in downtown, but not so outside of the city that only the hicks will go to the place. Downtowns for all of the posers and fake people anyways." Kyoka says, looking over a stack of papers on the blonde's coffee table. Why there was a coffee table in his office, that also counted as his bedroom, she has no idea.
"Yeah, you're probably right on that. Most of those fit into my budget for the place anyways." He says, placing down another piece of paper. "Though, I do wonder how I'll fit in a party room for the class…"
"Oh, you planning on throwing a celebration for everyone when it opens?" Kyoka asks, looking at the blonde with a smirk.
"Hm? Oh, no, that's gonna be a more public thing, I'm talking about when we all get to celebrate you and Izuku getting together." Denki replies casually, causing Kyoka to fluster out, as her ear jacks find their way to Denki's side. The man cringes, but then activates a small electric charge, getting her to unplug. "AH! Sheesh, you could at least warn me when you do that! It's pretty much an instinct to discharge when you hit me now!"
"Well then don't say something so stupid, Jammingwhey!" Kyoka shouts back, holding a fist to the man.
"Really, pulling out the old nickname from high school? That's harsh sis." Denki replies, rubbing at his side. "Besides, I thought it was pretty much obvious. I mean, some of the other guys, and before you even think about attacking me I'm taking no part in it, started up a betting pool for when it would happen."
"W-wh-what?!" Kyoka shouts, her cheeks dusting themselves red from embarrassment and rage.
"It's true! Even Koda joined in, and he's usually too shy or kind to do that stuff!" Denki says, his expressions as animated as usual. "Besides, it's pretty obvious both of you have a thing for each other. I mean with the dance club last year, and how close you two started getting after the winter storm back in January. Hell, just last month, you two did something for every day of golden week! We're not even in high school anymore, and you two were doing cutesy stuff like that! Honestly, it made me a little bit jealous."
"Denki, stop talking before I hit you again." Kyoka says sternly, shocking the man.
"Sorry, but it's just… You were the one to save him after that whole mess with Urara-vity." Denki changes the name quickly, the effects of what she did still reaching even now. "Hell even in High School you could tell there was something there. Hell, if she never confessed, I think you two would have gotten together instead, considering how into you he was."
"What do you mean by that?" Kyoka asks, her face returning to normal.
"Eh, that's not really my place to talk about. Say, YaoMomo said you two were going out to dinner tonight, right? Ask her about it then. She knows more about this romance stuff than me anyways, well pretty much anyone does." Denki chuckles, scratching the back of his head with a chuckle. "Oh, but I'll text her to let her know that you'll be talking about that."
"You might want to do that now, so you don't forget." Kyoka says, looking at the blonde with a deadpan stare. Denki looks back at her, before he pulls out his phone and begins to text. Kyoka lets out a sigh, pinching at the bridge of her nose. This was supposed to be her day off, spent trying not to think about Izuku, and yet it looks like more and more, all she's going to be able to do is think about him, and how maybe, just maybe…
They might have a potential future.
After meeting with Denki, Kyoka had agreed to meet with her parents for lunch, it had been a while since they last met up in person after all.
"Kyoka!" Her mother, Mika, cheers, hugging the young woman with a smile.
"Hey mom, good to see you too." Kyoka says as she hugs the woman back. She squeezes her a little bit, a tell tale sign of her troubled mind. One she hopes her mother catches up on.
And with no problem, the elder Jirou woman does so. "Oh honey, I didn't know this visit was going to be like that. We set this up over text, but I really should have called you, shouldn't I?"
"It's fine mom, this is something pretty recent actually, so I figured it would be best if I asked you and dad about it, before doing something drastic." Kyoka replies, stepping inside her childhood home once more. It had been a while since she was here last, so coming back was doing wonders to help her already.
"Well I would hope so, I raised you after all. Well, your father helped." Mika jokes, getting a chuckle from her daughter.
"Hey, I did my part too." Kyotoku, Kyoka's father, steps into the room, a bowl in his hands. "Ah, Kyoka, you're just in time, I just finished making the ramen! Seafood, your favorite!"
Kyoka smiles as she and her mother make their way to the dining table, Kyotoku coming back out to place bowls of the soup in front of them, before making a return trip to the kitchen for his own bowl, before the three sit down together. "I heard from the kitchen, you've been having some thoughts recently right? Anything your old man can do to help?"
"Well, maybe it's more something both of you can help with." Kyoka admits, as she pokes at her food for a moment, before she starts to eat a little, pausing after a moment. "You two remember the situation that Izuku had, right?"
"The green boy, right? Midoriya?" Kyotoku asks, rubbing at his chin with a free hand. "Hmm, yeah. Poor guy, having a relationship end like that. And that girl, hurting him and you and the rest of your classmates! Did she do something again? I'll kick her butt!" The man yells, getting a laugh from Kyoka.
"No, no, we haven't heard from her since, it's all fine on that end. No it's… The night we found out what happened, Izuku spent the night at my place, because I didn't want him to be alone during all of that, especially since that was around the time of those massive blizzards. But that same night, I uh, I realized something…" Kyoka pokes at her food again, her gaze turning a bit distant.
Mika wipes at the edges of her lips with a handkerchief, before looking at her daughter. "You remembered your crush on him from high school, didn't you?" Kyoka's attention snaps back to her mother, as Kyotoku rolls his eyes and grumbles into his own bowl of food. "Oh please, as if we would forget how you felt. And before you start on how we could know about that, keep in mind that we would contact you quite often during those days. How often you would talk about Midoriya made it quite clear that you had a thing for him. Not to mention how sad you were when a certain cheater confessed to him at graduation."
"I still think you should have been the one to say something…" Kyotoku grumbles even further, continuing to eat his bowl of ramen.
"I'm pretty sure you're not my dad, because whenever I even brought up the topic of dating in my high school years, you tried to shut that down immediately. How does Izuku change that opinion?" Kyoka asks, getting Kyotoku to put down his bowl of food for a moment.
"Because when you would talk about Izuku, you would sound like me before I asked your mother out." The man replies calmly, catching Kyoka off guard. "The reason why I was so hesitant to let you date when you were younger is because I wanted to make sure the feelings you had were real. It's the same thing my mother did with me when I was that age. It seems like a dumb tradition, but I'd rather see my pride and joy be in a happy loving relationship than in one she might regret at a later point in life."
"It's why I teased him less about it as you got older. The more we heard about how much fun you had with Midoriya during a study session, or how kind he was in getting you that limited edition Deep Dope vinyl for your birthday, the more we were convinced that you two would have a great future together. The variable that interrupted that was… Well frankly, I'm quite convinced she ended up breaking both of your hearts." Mika says, Kyotoku nodding along to her point. "Which I guess leads us to where you are now. You're having second thoughts about telling him about your feelings, aren't you?"
Kyoka nods, going back to her food.
The two parents nod, as they think in silence for a moment. "That's a tricky situation, isn't it?" Kyotoku says, as he puts down his now empty bowl. "I mean, the man's been through some pretty bad heartbreak, and while it's been over half a year since the initial breakup, it's only been a little over a quarter since he learned the truth…"
Mika nods. "That said though… Maybe now's the time to give love a shot. Today's the last day of spring after all, maybe a new beginning can blossom even today." She says putting down her own empty bowl. "Kyoka, it's a great thing that you're concerned about his feelings, but consider your own feelings on the matter as well. If you care for him, and want him to care for you the same, you need to tell him."
"You're Kyoka Jirou, and Kyoka Jirou takes what she wants after all." Kyotoku smiles, crossing his arms with a nod.
Kyoka looks at her parents, before letting out a chuckle. "Trying to sound all cool like that… You really are a huge dork dad."
"Hey, don't ruin my moment like that! I was really trying there!" Kyotoku complains, getting some giggles from his wife and further chuckles from his daughter. "Mika, not you too!" He complains further, getting more laughs from his family, before his upset expression turns to a soft smile, and he chuckles a bit as well.
Kyoka finishes her own bowl, and nods to herself. She has one last meeting for the day, but there's some time to kill before then. She pulls out her phone, and opens it up, heading to her gallery. She scrolls a bit, before tapping open a picture. It's of her and Izuku back at the rock club, the two smiling as they continue to dance, the girl winking at the camera smugly, while Izuku has a big goofy smile on his face.
Kyoka smiles at the picture before putting her phone away.
Kyoka left her parents a few hours later, giving her about a couple more before she would meet up with Momo for dinner, which left her with a sudden gap in her day. Thinking about how she had been throwing out some clothes with some serious damage recently (damn being a hero sometimes), she should probably go shopping.
Heading out to the shopping district, she soon found rain pelting down on herself and the rest of the city, untying the jacket from around her waist, she quickly put it on, covering her head with its hood. She rushed to the nearest store, a hero apparel place, zooming inside and taking her now soaked hood off. She looked to her side to see the cashier working the store giving her a wave, the bored looking brunette turning the page of his manga with a blue claw. Thinking nothing of it, Kyoka took the jacket off, wrapping it back around her waist.
She heads towards the back of the store, hoping that doing so will help her dry off a bit faster (some weird logic in her head, her brain's been a mess all day so she's just rolling with it at this point). Getting closer, she finds herself in the clearance section, looking over all the items, maybe hoping for a jacket she could wear out.
"Kyoka?" A familiar voice asks, the woman turning to see the person she had originally been trying to avoid that day. There stands Izuku Midoriya, Deku, in a soaked costume, his cowl put over his head like a hood, hands held behind his back. "I didn't know you'd be in this part of town today." He says, approaching her with a welcoming smile on his face. "Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I'd be seeing you today…"
"Ah well, I just wanted to take time for myself you know. It's important to do things you want to do after all." Kyoka replies, looking away from him with a small blush, as she focuses on the clothes. 'Don't think about how cute he looks with wet hair, don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it-!'
"I get that, absolutely! I was thinking about doing the same recently, but maybe sometime in the summer, heh, maybe even tomorrow!" The man says with a chuckle, closing his eyes sweetly.
"Ah, m-maybe." Kyoka says, keeping her eyes focused on the clothing. She shifts through it a bit, trying to keep her focus on the items in front of her until she grabs a jacket… A Deku jacket… In her size. What in the actual fuck is her luck today? Is it good? Bad? Both?!
"Oh wow, I thought that one was sold out!" Izuku says, leaning in close to look at it. "Lot of people bought it when it came out, dunno why though." He says, leaning back away (something Kyoka doesn't know if she's thankful for or not). Though, while he was close, she caught a glimpse of black behind his back, something rumpled in his hands.
"Hey, what's that?" She asks, Izuku looking at her in a stunned smile.
"What's what?" He squeaks out, a small blush appearing on his face. Kyoka leers at him for a moment, before she swings out an arm, the man dodging out of the way, one of her jacks grabbing the item and taking it from his hands.
"Heh, all these years and you still haven't figured out how to avoid that, have you Greeni-?" Kyoka stops, as she looks at the item that Izuku was holding on to. It was a replica of her hero jacket, turned into a hoodie, a stylized drawing of her headphones on the back. The two stood in silence for a few moments, before Izuku slowly took the hoodie back.
"I uh… I wanted to show my support a bit more, since uh… Since you mean a lot to me." Izuku says, a blush still on his face. The two stand in place for a few moments again, before Izuku suddenly zooms over to the counter, quickly making the purchase of the item before running out of the store… And back into the pouring rain.
Did he just…? No, he couldn't have…! Could he…?
(Kyoka would soon find herself purchasing that same Deku jacket that she had grabbed earlier. It was in low stock after all, she would be dumb not to get it! Not like she wanted to hold onto the moment she just had with the man and potentially work up the courage to ask him if her talk with Momo goes well, nope.)
(God she has it bad, huh?)
Kyoka arrived at the restaurant she was going to meet Momo at an hour or so later, the girl still dressed in her wet jacket at the waist.
"You're going to catch a cold, I hope you know that." She hears her best friend speak, Kyoka watching as the creation hero approaches. Momo takes her seat across from Kyoka, a pleasant smile on her face as always. "So, I heard you wanted to discuss the topic of love tonight."
"I- Maybe? Honestly, my brain's been all over the place today, and probably a bit longer too." Kyoka replies, twirling a jack around a finger. "I mean, if I act on these feelings, would I just be bringing more damage to a sensitive situation?"
"You speak of your feelings for Izuku, correct?" Momo says, Kyoka cringing a little at the bluntness. "Oh Kyoka, as if I hadn't known since high school, with the wayward glances and dreamy sighs."
"I don't sigh dreamily." Kyoka retorts suddenly, getting a chuckle from her dinner partner.
"Of course, because those longing sighs I would hear every time Izuku went off on a ramble didn't count for anything, or those frustrated grumbles when someone interrupted him or the time you two were spending time together. I might not have incredible hearing like you, but I am quite perceptive." Momo says, causing Kyoka to blush.
"I was that obvious, huh?"
"Well, in fairness, he wasn't exactly subtle in his own feelings for you then, but he probably never realized them. He was always a bit dense, despite his intelligence." Momo says, as a waiter comes and takes their requests for drinks.
"What do you mean by his feelings? Wasn't he always heads over heels for… You know?" Kyoka asks, rubbing her arm as she finishes speaking.
"Perhaps at the start of our time at UA, but over time, as you two started to hang out more, it became more and more clear that he was starting to develop emotions for you, ones that could rival his own feelings he had for… Regardless, she acted first, and we all see how that turned out." Momo says, glancing to the side warily.
"Yeah…" Kyoka nods, gripping at the bag holding her new jacket. "I guess that's part of the reason I wanted to talk about it with you. I'm scared that if I act on these feelings, I'll just end up hurting him more."
Momo hums, nodding. "Well, do you plan on doing such a thing?"
"What?! No way! He's gone through so much already, I don't want to be adding onto that in any way." Kyoka responds, getting a chuckle from Momo.
"Well then, there's your answer. Kyoka, you must simply follow your heart when it comes to this matter." Momo says, as the waiter brings the drinks over to the table. Kyoka stews over Momo's words, before she takes her still wet jacket off from her waist, and takes her new jacket from the back, swapping the two. She puts the new Deku jacket on, not zipping it up, since it isn't that cold and she doesn't plan on burning up.
"If you tell anyone about this before I'm ready to tell them, I'll be extremely mad with you." Kyoka says, an angry blush on her face as she looks away, cupping her head in her hand, as she leans against the table.
Momo smiles, before picking up the menu. "Of course, but I believe that this just means you've figured out what you want to do."
Kyoka remains silent, before pulling out her phone. She sends a text off to a certain person, before putting it back, a sigh being let out as she did so.
You've gotta try Kyoka, just try.
It's late at night when Kyoka returns home from her day out, having spent a great evening chatting away with Momo, even despite the talk about feelings.
She kicks off her boots at the door, heading over to her couch. She pulls out her phone, looking at the time. Eleven fifty, huh? The day really is almost over. Kyoka slumps down on the couch, when she hears a knock on her door. "Come in!" She says, expecting the person on the other side.
The door to her apartment opens, and in steps Izuku Midoriya fresh off of work. His hair is still wet, but he's in more comfortable clothes. His usual red high tops, some dark blue jeans, a green t-shirt sporting the word 'best shirt', and a familiar jacket from earlier. Kyoka considers the state of both their dress quite ironic. "Uhm, hey Kyoka. You wanted to talk about something?"
Well, it's now or never. "Yeah. Come here." She says, slapping the seat on the couch next to her. Izuku nods, taking his shoes off and leaving them next to her boots, before taking the seat. The two sit in silence for a moment, before Kyoka let's out a sigh. "You uh… You look good."
"Oh, uh… Thank you." Izuku says, looking away.
The two sit in silence again, before they both speak at once. "So how was your day?" The two freeze, before laughing in unison at their shared awkwardness.
"You let me go first every time, I wanna hear about yours first. I saw you stopped a robbery this morning." Kyoka says, motioning her hand towards the greenette to speak his mind.
"Ah, yeah. Honestly most of the day was spent patrolling outside of that. Had some interesting conversations with the others, er, mostly with Eijiro, Mina, Kacchan, and uh my mom. You actually caught me during my break earlier." Izuku admits with a blush, scratching at his cheek bashfully.
"Oh yeah, I kind of figured. But uh, what had you talked about with all of them?" Kyoka asks, Izuku looking away.
"W-well… It's been a while since I broke up with O-Uraraka. And while there are still some scars there, I was thinking I should try and put myself out there again." Izuku admits with a blush, looking away from the girl..
Could he…? No…
"I see… I actually had some similar conversations." Kyoka says, looking away as well. Woman you are acting like a flustered school girl right now, toughen up and take what you want! "Well, it was more about how I was scared to talk to someone."
"Oh?" Izuku hums, looking at Kyoka, the woman looking back.
"Yeah… I was worried about breaking his heart even further after everything that he had gone through recently. A lot of people thought I was being pretty stupid for that. I… Might have to agree there." She admits, twirling a jack around her finger to calm herself down.
"I wouldn't exactly call you stupid for being cautious. That stuff can be pretty sensitive after all." Izuku says, rubbing his arm with a chuckle. Kyoka nods before the two fall into silence. The clock ticks, and the two find their resolve, before speaking with each other once more.
"Izuku…"
"Kyoka…"
The clock strikes midnight.
"Would you go out with me?" They ask at the same time.
Spring has ended, and Summer has begun.