The Window to the Soul.
Time almost seem to stand still, frozen like the air around them and the droplets of white descending from the night sky, the temperature indicated by her ability to see her breath, the white mist quickly evaporating into nothingness as his gentle face became clear to her again, unperturbed by any masking's of snow or wind. She wasn't sure if his cheeks were red because of what he had just said, or the cold overpowering his natural body temperature, either way, he had said what he had said.
His lips were jagged, rigid, clearly he was embarrassed about it, unsure of it was the right call, a mistake easily made by the fact that when he spoke his words flowed like water down a babbling brook, but his tone indicated passion, as if he had wanted to say this for a number of months; or at this point the whole year since they started UA around the spring and it was almost right around the corner. He was always this way, for as long as she knew him, his words shot out of his mouth before his mind could even fathom or even slightly catch what he said, it was embarrassing at times to say the least, but it was the truth, everyone knew that, and for the most part they all appreciated it form him; refreshing to hear someone say how the felt unfiltered by any kind of pressure or anxiety.
No, for him, those things came second, whenever they caught up with him, you would always see one of two reactions from the freckled teenager: 1. Determination in his resolve to stand his ground and believe furiously in the things he said, or 2. Nervousness and Embarrassment that proved he didn't exactly proof read himself before he connected his brain to his mouth. The ladder was what Jiro was witnessing, his red gloved right hand quickly rose to cover his mouth, the other hand still wrapped around her to keep her purple puffy coated from losing balance, it beginning to shake from his overpowering fear and mortifying state of mind.
You would think he would try to work on this, but old habits tend to die hard, it was funny though, since he had asked her to go with him ice skating tonight. The humor in this situation emanating from the fact that Izuku couldn't be social to save his life aside from baseline conversation tactics, nor could he keep any semblance of the word 'cool' whenever a girl he thought to be stunning would try to either talk or hang out with him. Never the less, the shy rocker received the call two hours ago, and despite her hesitation she had said yes, don't get her wrong she wasn't opposed to spending time with him quite the contrary, it was credited to the act they would be preforming that evening. Jiro had attempted ice skating in the past, and it never went well, always finding the most consistent and fitting connection she made with the leisurely activity was always between her glutes and the cold icy floor beneath her feet, and after far too many times gravity made an enemy of her she had asked her parents and Yaoyorozu to call it quits on trying to get her to see the appeal.
However, Izuku was bailed on by most of his friends, not through any malicious or cruel means, just most of them had family events to attend. Shoto's mother got to come over for the first time since he was a child, Iida's brother Tensei wanted him to join in at his agency's annual Christmas party since he would one day call it his own, Uraraka's parent's were in town and wanted to see their baby girl for the only time they would get to for the holidays, and Tsu's little sister caught a nasty fever so she had a much needed babysitting duty to fulfill. Izuku's mother didn't have anything planned until after Christmas so he was the only one free to prowl the town, alone however, which wasn't all that appealing of an idea to him to just ice skate alone after the mall incident back in the summer, so he decided to reach out to Kyoka, which made her feel a bit obligated, but this wouldn't normally be enough for her, for some inexplicable reason, she genuinely wanted to spend time with him, the idea of ice skating with him in a judgement free zone and his sweet personality, made her instinctively give him a much wanted and anticipated yes.
Soon Kyoka found herself out the door, dressed in her previously mentioned puffy bright purple coat, black pants, bright purple beanie, white boots and gloves, and a set of ear muffs that accommodated her quirk, to fight the under forty degree weather predicted for the evening. The walk to the train station was very pleasant, the seasonal lights for the holidays always looked pretty when coupled with the night sky and the falling snow, she wasn't a huge fan of season in December but this would always sway her just a little.
Finally she reached the station, and quickly spotted the green haired nerd in the crowd, if his appearance consisting of a lime green coat, blue pants, All Might color coded gloves (yes, really), and red boots wasn't enough to identify him, then his incoherent muttering was a dead giveaway, it was weird…but charming in a way. Breaking his trance, she tapped him on the shoulder, nearly giving the poor lad a heart attack as he jumped instinctively, making her laugh and embarrassing him a little, which made him blush, but not as much as when he saw her when he turned around. Finding her attire both quite fitting due to her usual style, but also really cute on her, causing him to turn even more red in the face, and to look like an idiot as he looked at her longer than he should have, soon it caught up to him that he was looking too long so he quickly apologized and complemented her state of dress, she coyly teased him about his obliviousness (even though she secretly appreciated it) which was always adorable to see his innocent reaction to it, and it didn't help that it would be just them, her favorite jab being an indication that he had set this up as a date for them, he didn't obviously, but he explained it like she spoke fact, it got to him but it made him happy that in his own way, he made her laugh.
Soon, they got on the transport to their destination…
It was rough at the beginning, once they had got there and got their skates on, it took a bit of time for them to get used to the new mode of movement, but Izuku caught on quick, his shoot style benefitting him greatly to any adjustment involving his legs. Kyoka on the other hand didn't adapt as well, needing to stay close to the wall and Midoriya to make sure her face nor her butt met the ground like previous times, she believed she looked like a fool, cursing herself that she had teased Izuku for his stare earlier, this was a gold mind for ridicule and jokes at her expense, but to her relief he was always smiles and support, taking a side-bar from the crowd of various couples, parent's, other teenagers, and kids to help give her some helpful pointers to keep her far away from failure.
Eventually in her practice she had left the wall, standing perfectly well on her own completely balanced, giving way to a mountain of praise from her skating sensei, his bright and exuberant smile warmed her heart to a large degree, this time it was his turn to make her blush; albeit not on purpose. She smiled, looking to the ground at first, priding herself in her accomplishment, but then raised her eyes to his, a momentary gaze shared between them, his clapping at her newfound skills slowed as he seemed transfixed by her, he swallowed hard before breaking eye contact to look away, not wanting to appear creepy again. Jiro frowned, finding herself enjoying the moment between them there, which distracted her focusing on her stance, her foot sliding and eventually catching her other one, and surely enough she was on a crash course with her old nemesis the cold hard floor yet again.
…
Or so she thought, her descent quickly and sharply halted by the quirk inheritor, Deku having wrapped both arms around her, one wrapping around her torso, and the other her waist, his grip allowing her to stand up proper again; even when he was outside of school, and a life threatening situation, his first instinct was always to save someone. Their eyes quickly met again, both of them looked nervous and concerned for each other, Midoriya was scared she had sprained her ankle back there, and Jiro was terrified that he may drop her due to his always oncoming nervousness. This time however, it didn't arrive, he merely just held her there, slowly raising her up her knee's straightening out despite her not looking down at them, no they kept eye contact for a good little while, what made Izuku keep it this time was the profound impact it had on him.
Kyoka was already very much a pretty girl to him, but looking into her eyes was always mesmerizing to him, as if it transported him to a tranquil paradise in his mind. He always knew that it would be the death of him socially, but anytime they would catch each other's glances, he would take advantage of it, it certainly didn't help that where she was angled now her iris' reflected the various lights around the arena and the stars in the clear evening sky, it was beautiful…and he couldn't say otherwise.
A few more seconds passed before Jiro's blush became prominent to her, despite his emerald eyes being quite the trip themselves, deciding to speak up, "Th-thank you M-M-Midoriya," she teased him about this, but she was just as bad which made her relate to him more than she thought possible at the beginning of the year, but viewing him all this time, had shifted her opinion of him, growing from her initial viewpoint of him being an awkward nerd, to a cool and kind hero in the making, she would be lying if she said she didn't develop a little crush on him.
Maybe that's why she said yes, maybe that's why she didn't mind spending time with him at whatever chance she got, and…maybe…that's why she didn't freak out when he said what he said, his response to her thank you, and his true feelings that he had held onto for months.
…
He said, "Your eyes are beautiful Jiro…"
The world almost stopped for Jiro, he said it almost in a whisper but it was the only sound she cared about even a little, the skating of the other occupants, the overbearing seasonal music, the talks and tribulations of others, none of it sank in after he had spoken those words that pierced her very being. She felt like she was going to explode, the butterflies in her stomach wanting to erupt out of her, her knees almost gave way again as stared onward at his eyes once again.
The glove lowered from his mouth, as he made sure she was balanced, before he let go much to her dismay, he lowered his head as his bangs cast a shadow over his eyes from the festive lights around them, she wasn't sure of he was sad or just disappointed, either way she didn't have time to debate as he spoke once more.
"S-s-sorry," he squeaked, shaking like a branch in the wind, a million thoughts ran through his mind, all of them berating his action, his lack of composure, and his far too forward half hearted confession to her, he believed that if he didn't have a shot before, he definitely didn't now, even then he just wanted to have a good time with her, nothing romantic involved in the slightest, not a single ulterior motive to be had. Now he just wanted to bury his head in the ground, and not come up for a long time, a feeling that soon faded when he felt her take his hand.
"Thanks…yours are to."
He was dumbfounded as he raised his head, seeing her now mere inches in front of him, wearing a grin, her eyes welling up a bit since her own low confidence in her looks became a staple for her, and yet here she was in an ice skating rink, being called beautiful by a boy she liked.
She couldn't be happier.
Izuku's frown soon straightening out, his unadulterated joy at the compliment, and her returning the feelings he shared made him smile just as wide as when he was accepted into UA, however he was still shaking, but at least he was happy.
Jiro giggled at his this pure cinnamon roll, before turning back to the center of the ring, "Wanna teach me how to twirl in these things, it always looked pretty cool on tv ya know so I'd like to try it."
"S-s-sure."
"Good man, oh also."
"Hm," he tilted his head in confusion, making him the perfect target for the kiss on the cheek she gave him, warming up his face more than the blush could ever hope to. Happy about the kiss, and embarrassed from when it made him fall flat on his rear, but instead of being met with teasing's like before, he was met with Jiro extending her hand to him.
"Don't worry freckles, happens to the best of us," he laughed a little before taking her hand to pull himself up, still holding her hand as they joined the fray again, she didn't mind though, she didn't plan on letting go either.
From that night onward, Jiro didn't think ice skating was so bad anymore.
The End.
Authors Note: I loved writing this in all honesty, today had been a bit rough and I wasn't exactly in the best of spirits, I really wanted to get alot done this month writing wise and I didn't want to disappoint, and I really hope I didn't with this one.
Not really dialogue heavy like my other ones but I felt like telling my story through this means rather than my usual style to change things up and make this distinct.
If you're familiar with my previous work you'll know I just love the winter setting for romance stories, and even though it's a bit corny to do one on ice skating I thought Izuku and Jiro as a shy couple would be perfect for it, and I just really wanted to write a short, sweet, and wholesome little story about it.
And I hope to publish more winter season stories this month before I start my new job so possibly look forward to that as long as the pressure and anxiety doesn't get to me again.
Anyway as always stay safe out there, I hope you have a wonderful day and holiday season at that, and keep up the good work!
-T.L.C
