"You can't even reach me. Just know whenever you need me, we'll figure it out. Look up you'll see me and I'll be around."
-Toronto 2014
"Can I paint your nails?"
Verdant eyes shot away from the phone they'd been focused on prior as they focused on the girl whose bed he'd been lying on.
Scratching the side of his cheek, Izuku offered her a shaky nod, unknowing of a reason to refuse.
As soon as he did, Kyouka brightened before sliding off the bed and digging in her desk drawer.
Before long, the lavender-haired girl produced a small container of cream-colored nail polish from the aforementioned drawer before heading back to the anxious boy sitting on her bed.
"Gimmie your hand."
The verdant-headed teen complied and extended his right hand.
Kyouka gingerly took the boy's hand into her own, her lithe fingers ensnaring the boy's scarred, lightly tan palm.
The contact sent a sharp jolt down the boy's spine as the sparse strands of lightning around his body spiked as his green locks rose in tandem with the growing blush staining his face.
If the rocker girl noticed his bout of embarrassment she didn't show it, allowing Izuku to stir in his bout of awkwardness.
Dipping the brush into the polish a few times, Kyouka began to paint her friend's nails, humming alongside the music smothering what would otherwise be deafening silence.
Once the first coat had been applied the teen switched to the other hand, carefully and methodically applying the polish on his left hand.
"Yaomomo gave me it a while ago but I never got around to using it."
The sudden break in music-filled silence caught Izuku off guard, nearly causing the boy to jump out of his skin.
Taking a few breaths to calm his nerves, the teen returned his attention to the rocker girl diligently applying the polish to his fingers, his eyes brimming with confusion.
"Why not?"
The question was simple, however, the effect it had on his friend wasn't as the shorter teen adopted a look of confusion, as though the answer to the question was something she wasn't keen on sharing.
After a few more moments of stale silence, Kyouka took a few breaths of her own before speaking, her eyes firmly locked on the task before her.
"The color. It's a little too girly for someone like me to pull off."
The answer did little to satiate the confusion behind the teen's emerald eyes, causing his brow to furrow slightly.
"Someone like you?"
The look of apprehension worsened as the once gentle motions of the brush became more forceful.
"Someone boyish. That doesn't mean I think you're girly, I just think cream would be a good accent color to your eyes and hair."
Although the latter half contained a compliment toward the teen, Izuku's mind replayed the initial sentence repeatedly as the confusion behind his eyes shifted to outright disbelief.
Raising his single-coated right hand, the teen framed his friend's face with his scarred fingers, forcing the girl to look him in his bright green eyes.
"You're very pretty, Jirou. I'm positive you'd look great in anything you try, nail polish included."
The teen flashed his classmate a smile before retracting his hand, a light shade of pink lightly dusting his cheeks.
Kyouka was significantly worse for wear as a more violent, full-body blush assaulted her skin.
Her friend's words replayed in her mind as she attempted to shrink inside the boy's rack jacket and disappear, something she sadly had no luck in doing.
"See you tomorrow"
Kyouka nodded before turning her coal eyes to her window, a small frown weighing on her lips.
The sun was still outside.
"You don't have to leave so early...Izuku."
The act of even thinking of calling the boy his first name caused the teen to burn furiously, something she attempted to hide by pulling the collar of her new favorite jacket up to her face.
Removing her attention from her window, she instead watched as her friend walked to the door, his stride shorter than usual, as though he himself didn't want to leave.
Luckily for the both of them, a phone call halted the greenette's advance.
Grabbing the purple phone from his pocket, he and Kyouka switched cases, the teen read the number aloud in his head before realizing he didn't recognize it.
"Could be something important."
Justifying his decision, Izuku accepted the call before bringing the device up to his ear.
Something he immediately regretted.
"Hello?"
Ochako never considered herself a lazy person.
But recently she just couldn't find the energy to get out of bed to do anything save for going to class.
The brunette sat in the former, her legs hugged to her chest as a plethora of stuffed animals smothered the mattress.
Stuffed animals Izuku had bought.
Raising her phone to her ear, Ochako anxiously sat through the ringing as she waited for her former boyfriend to answer her call.
"He should, I used a different number this time."
As though listening to her thoughts, the ringing ended as a timer appeared below the name "Deku".
He'd finally answered.
Faster than the greenette could react, Ochako spoke, intent on being heard.
"Hello?"
The line remained silent causing the brunette to bring a finger to her lip, nervously chewing on her nail as she waited for a response.
"C-Can you please leave me alone?"
The question caused the brunette's breath to stall in her throat as the familiar sting of tears made themselves known.
"I-I just want to say sorry! I know you hate me b-but I..."
"..you?"
"...I just wanna talk to you, in person."
The line went silent for a few moments as the sound of shifting weight and a creaking bed could be heard faintly in the background.
Before long, someone finally spoke, however this time,
The voice belonged to neither Izuku nor Ochako.
"Izuku doesn't feel like speaking right now."
Before the girl couldn't even process the words properly, the call ended, leaving the brunette in a pile of stuffed animals and fallen tears.
"Thank you..."
The teen's voice was strained as tears danced on the boy's lower eyelids, his entire body trembling as he clutched his chest.
Kyouka remained silent as she turned off her friend's lavender phone before pocketing the device.
"Jirou?"
His friend kept her silence, instead opting to ensnare the larger teen's hand with her own, using it to lead her friend to the bed they'd been on minutes earlier.
Once they'd fallen on the soft mattress, Kyouka released her hold on her friend's hand, using her newly freed arms to ensnare the greenette in a tight embrace.
"It's alright, Izuku."
Those three words were enough to push the aforementioned teen over the edge, his newly fallen tears dampening the sheets they rested on.
"I called him."
Ruby-red eyes widened as the ash blonde pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Are you fucking with me right now?"
His classmate shook her head, amplifying his irritation.
"Jesus fucing Christ."
Ochako lowered her head, her eyes puffy and red as they struggled to produce more tears.
Exhaling, Katsuki crouched, allowing himself a better view of the young woman's tear-stained face.
"Look, Uraraka, I've known the nerd forever and I'm telling you the best thing for him right now is space."
The brunette's head shot up in response as a bout of anger sparked in her chocolate eyes.
"But I just wa-"
"It's not about you."
Those four words shut down the girl's argument as she cast her head to the side, avoiding the piercing eyes of her classmate.
It was this turn of her head that allowed Ochako to catch sight of one Kyouka Jirou rummaging through the snack cabinet.
The previous spark of anger morphed into spiteful flames as Ochako quickly marched to the rocker girl, much to the protest of Katsuki.
Grabbing the girl's shoulder, the brunette forced her classmate to turn and face her, the rage in her stomach growing ever stronger.
"You."
"Me."
The sarcastic response of the lavender-haired teen only served to infuriate Ochako further as vexed chocolate eyes stared into disinterested coal ones.
"Why did you hang up the call, I was talking to Deku-"
"Don't call him that, he told you not to call him that."
Her previously disinterested tone was gone as one not dissimilar to Ochako's took the forefront.
"You had no right to hang up that call, mine and Izuku's relationship isn't your business."
Contrary to the brunette's expectations, Kyouka nodded, the act nearly stunning the girl stupid.
"You're right, I don't have any business meddling in yours and his relationship."
"Exactly! I'm trying my hardest to show hi-"
"However."
Kyouka cut her off.
"You and him aren't in a relationship meaning that, as his friend, I'm allowed to try my hardest to make him feel happy."
Turning on her heel, the rocker girl began to head back to her room, arms filled with a variety of different snacks.
Before she fully exited the kitchen, however, she turned a lazy coal eye back toward Ochako, a spark of smugness behind them.
"You don't make him happy, Uraraka."
"Did I wake you?"
The greenette reverently shook his head before sitting up fully.
"N-No, I woke up a few minutes before you got here."
Kyouka smiled at the response, glad she hadn't interrupted her friend's much-needed sleep.
Sauntering up to the bed, the lavender-haired girl dumped the variety of treats on the bed, happily watching as her friend's eyes lit up in excitement.
Grabbing a bag of chips, the verdant-haired teen opened them and popped one into his mouth, smiling at the taste.
"What're all these for?"
Giggling at the boy's slightly muffled speech, Kyouka flopped onto the bed beside her friend before grabbing the remote to her TV.
"We're watching every Studio Ghibli movie ever...or at least as much as we can in one night."
The latter half of the proud declaration inspired Izuku's own chuckle as he eagerly nodded.
He couldn't wait.
"Are you up?"
After receiving no response, Kyouka turned to her right, her coal eyes searching for her friend.
Once she found him, however, her breath hitched in her throat as a searing blush overtook her face.
Izuku lay to her right, his t-shirt slightly risen, allowing her a teasing view of his muscled abdomen.
Alongside that, his green hair was strewn about, framing his head as though a verdant crown.
The sight drummed up feelings Kyouka did NOT feel like addressing at the moment as the girl grabbed the comforter lying at the foot of the bed.
Turning off the TV before throwing the blanket over them, the rocker girl allowed herself to nestle up close to her friend, drinking in his signature scent of Shae Butter and lemon.
It was there, surrounded by her favorite scent and possibly her favorite person, that Kyouka allowed herself to fall asleep.
MODdenial: So, what will this story focus more on; Izuku moving on from Ochako after what she did, or Ochako atoning for what she did? Also, I think this is the same reader that drowned Oleanders In Bloom with negativity in their reviews.
Ant: I can't say too much but I wanna try and write both and see where it goes from there yfm?
And the guest can keep the reviews coming, I thrive off negativity.
Guest: why the fuck would you want deku to get back together with someone who cheats on him before they even hit the one year mark
why would you make uraraka that person
why ar you so fucking stupid kill yourself please
Ant: Often times with relationships that end due to cheating, we see the same story of the MC finding a new girl.
As someone who's been cheated on, I wanted to tell the story in a different way, a much more realistic way, in which the cheating party feels just as if not more shitty.
Guest: this version of ochako doesn't deserve to get back with izuku
you don't deserve happiness for writing this fucking story. delete it
Ant: I believe Ochako does deserve another chance.
She's 16 and has the pressure of being a Hero on her hands. That youthful ignorance paired with stress can lead to mistakes but at the end of the day, that's what they are, mistakes.
Guest: :are you dead yet?
Thope you are
I hope you're burning in hell
Ant: I am not dead yet no.
Sadly for you, I'm 16 so I have quite a ways to go before I die.
Chronicle: You might want to turn off anonymous reviews after this considering that the same gooch slurper who hated Oleanders in Bloom found the brain capacity to make it to this story.
Ant: I didn't even know you could turn off Anon reviews.
Regardless I won't because negativity like theirs is a part of what inspires me to write.
At the end of the day, a reader is still a reader, and if they view my work through a negative lens then that's fine, so long as they view the work.