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The sound of crunching snow on the bustling streets of Musutafu filled their ears. The frosty breeze nibbled at pieces of exposed skin, forcing out-goers to take on at least four layers of clothing. Despite the multiple scarves draped around her neck and the number of knee-length jackets Jirou had wrapped around her, the cold still managed to force its way in. Though, the boy that trailed half a pace behind her was enough to make her forget all about the overwhelming temperature that almost weakened her knees more than he did. Just for a second, she allowed her scarf to fall away from her nose to draw in the scent of Kaminari’s familiar cologne. The sensation instantly spread a feeling of warmth through her.
Although he could make her forget most other things with the bat of his eyelashes or a side smirk from across the room, today she couldn’t shake the fear of the swarms of people around her. She had Kaminari, and held him close inside her bubble, but couldn’t help but feel there were too many others pushing up against her personal space.
“Want a piggy-back?” Kaminari nudged her side, sensing her mood and attempting to liberate her from the anxiety for even just a little while. Jirou remained silent, her eyes still darting between the people they were trying to maneuver around, so Kaminari bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist. He lifted her up, his cheeks flushing a light pink when he held her against him.
“H-hey, let me down!” She flailed. All it took was one crossover of Jirou’s leg with Kaminari’s to send them plummeting into the snow.
“You idiot!” Jirou smirked, pushing Kaminari off of her and onto the footpath, earning them multiple irritated glares from passing strangers. Jirou gathered a pile of snow with her hands and forearms, dumping it over Kaminari’s face. He immediately began writhing and shouting from the cold and jumped up to shake out the snow that had fallen into his jacket.
Jirou jumped at her time advantage and ran in the opposite direction, her boots sinking a whole foot into the snow with every step. She’d hardly made it ten metres away when she felt something hard explode against the back of her head, the snowball Kaminari had hurled. He cheered in victory, making a break for a side street. In his headstart, he crouched and pressed a handful of cold snow between his palms, readying himself with a blockade of snowballs the second that Jirou rounded the corner.
He took an offensive stance and hurled the few balls he had managed to create at her one after another. The first snowball rocketed just inches from the side of her face and she turned wide-eyed to witness the explosion of snow when the ball smacked a stranger in the side of the head. Jirou was too shocked to notice the hard, cold impact of the following three snowballs. She turned to Kaminari and exchanging a look of fear, abandoned his remaining armful of snowballs and took off down the street.
The frosty air infiltrated their lungs as they gasped for oxygen, running from the snowball-victim that had begun spouting insults at them. The side street seemed to never end, their ears filled with the sound of snow squeaking beneath their heavy footsteps. Jirou clutched her chest from the icy pain and pulled her scarf to cover her mouth in an attempt to soften the air that entered her lungs. They finally rounded the corner and collapsed back against the cold brick wall.
“You… I-..diot…” Jirou huffed. She allowed herself to fall against Kaminari, just this once, in her excuse of being exhausted. He stiffened at her touch, shocked, but softened as she dropped her head onto his shoulder. His mind raced at the feeling of his heart pumping so hard it threatened to burst out of his chest. Why do I feel like this? Why does Jirou suddenly make me-
His rapid thoughts slowed at the sensation of Jirou’s hand against his chest. He silently thanked the gods that today was freezing. The only thing stopping Jirou from feeling the pounding beat of his heart was the four layers of clothing between her palm and the bare skin of his chest. Kaminari’s lips curled into a small smile, relaxing against the brick wall and wrapping his arm around Jirou. She sunk further into his embrace, surprising Kaminari who assumed she would protest the action. He leaned closer to Jirou, resting his head only slightly above her shoulder. She shuddered at the sensation of his warm breath against her skin, relaxing as she took in his familiar scent.
The two seemed to recognise their unusually intimate actions at the same time, because they straightened and pulled away simultaneously, avoiding eye contact and quickly filling the uncomfortable silence. Kaminari cringed with the embarrassment of how quickly they had forced the situation to change. Cuddling up against one another, and then seconds later refusing to meet the other's eye.
“So, I-” Kaminari started.
“I’m freezing. Let’s go home,” Jirou blurted out, raising her scarf to mask the heat she could feel rising in her cheeks. To her surprise, Kaminari grabbed onto her hand and dragged her in the opposite direction, leaving the remnants of their snowball fight and their fleeting moment behind them.
“Not just yet,” Kaminari cut Jirou off as she began to protest, “let’s warm-up first, my treat.”
Jirou hesitated, wanting to curl away from her embarrassment, but she didn’t stop her feet from moving forwards. No matter how much she denied it, the yellow-haired boy’s presence soothed her. She officially caved the second his fingers intertwined with hers.
They walked for about ten minutes in comfortable silence until Kaminari pulled Jirou through the doors of a café. The toasty warmth rushed at her, a homely feeling flooding Jirou as she took on the interior of the building. Unlike the outside, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright, welcoming lights and colourful walls.
The purple-haired girl took a seat at the table closest to the café’s crackling fire while Kaminari spoke to the waitress. Jirou took no notice of their seemingly extended conversation and peeled off the layers of heavy coats and scarves she had been wearing. She didn’t say anything, only closed her eyes and tilted her head backwards, taking on the scent of freshly baked cookies and basking in the warmth of the fire.
Jirou let her muscles relax and felt a wave of relief wash over her as soon as she did. Jirou has always liked to be on her own, practising her music, doing the things that make her happy away from the criticising eyes of the outer world. But, when Kaminari seated himself across from her, for once, she allowed herself to crave his company. She had always aggressively denied the fact that he soothed her, bringing her peace after a long day. But maybe now she could let go of that, let somebody in for a change. Her stomach turned over every time she smelt his cologne, toes curling when she felt him brush up behind her. It was the most exciting and terrifying feeling Jirou had ever experienced. The nerves, the anxiety, the euphoria she felt when she was with Kaminari all merged into one feeling. When she was with him, she would suddenly forget she was freezing cold. When they were together, even when the two of them remained silent, she could feel like she had the best conversation with him. The most comfortable silence where she felt so many swirling emotions, but at the same time, was completely at peace. And when Kaminari reached forward and took her hand in his, although her face told a completely different story, this was one of those moments. All she could do was remain frozen in shock, frantically searching the universe for a pause button to remain in this space for eternity.
“Kyouka…” Kaminari started, Jirou watching his deep red cheeks with parted lips, the swirling sensation in her stomach suddenly making her feel lightheaded. Her eyes flickered to Kaminari’s hand, which was intertwined with her own. It was so warm, wrapped perfectly around her own fingers. Jirou gazed as he gulped and parted his lips to speak again when the waitress set down two cups of hot cocoa in front of them.
“Enjoy,” she smiled, breaking the moment between the two of them. Jirou cleared her throat and turned her head away when Kaminari’s hand recoiled at the sight of the waitress. She could feel her cheeks blushing a furious red, begging it to stop. She stared at her hands folded anxiously in her lap, letting her hair fall forward to cover her face. The café suddenly fell quiet, other than the gentle hum of the coffee machine and the crackling of the fire as the only other customers previously occupying a table walked into the cold streets. Jirou returned her gaze to Kaminari as the door swung closed behind the vacating customers and the cold breeze was forgotten. The edges of Jirou’s lips curled into a tiny smile as she watched Kaminari nervously comb his fingers through his blonde hair. His eyes darted all over her face, desperately trying to search for a hint that she felt the same way as he did. Out with it, dunce face! he heard Bakugo shouting in his head. Kaminari pressed his legs forward to meet Jirou’s beneath the table but quickly recoiled when her figure stiffened at his touch. His gaze fell, words dying on his tongue when he realised that realistically, there was no way she could ever return his feelings.
Jirou reached forward and grabbed his sleeve, pulling his arm towards her and attempting to hide her smile as she held up his fingers one by one, intertwining them with her own. She tilted her head and smiled in the way Kaminari loved. The way she smiled when he first met her, the adorable look she wore when he would catch her eye from across the room. He squeezed her hand when she leaned closer to him, reaching out with her free hand to pretend to romantically stroke his cheek, before letting out a quiet giggle when she lurched forward and pulled his beanie down over his eyes. He laughed, pulling her hand to his lips and planting a kiss across the back of it. He held her hand close even as he pulled his beanie back, immediately meeting eyes with the pink-cheeked girl that sat across from him.
“Kyouka, I’m… I’m in love with you,” he whispered, his words breaking along with his newfound confidence. Hearing his own voice speak such words aloud, he fought against the urge to withdraw his hand and back away from the girl he wanted so desperately to accept him. Instead, he watched in shock as Jirou rose from her seat and leant across the table, pressing her nose against his, her eyes closed and breathing shallow. She wavered there as if asking for Kaminari’s permission before he quickly closed the gap between them and pressed his lips gently into hers. His hand rested on her cheek, thumb stroking her face. She pulled away and fell back down into her chair. She stared blankly at Kaminari for a few moments, but her eyes soon widened and her face burned a furious red when she processed what she had done. She threw her hands up to hide her face, but Kaminari quickly pulled them down.
Jirou couldn’t help but soften at the look of his sheepish smile, paying no mind to the cup of cocoa that had begun to go cold on the table before her. They remained in an understanding, comfortable silence.
“Denki,” Jirou was the first to speak, but choked on her words as she decided she was too nervous to admit out loud, that she loved him, too. “Why did you pick this café?” she quickly diverted the subject, “we passed a few on the way here that we could have just stopped into.” The grinning boy rose from his seat without a response and disappeared around the corner of the café’s bench. He reappeared moments later clutching what was obviously a guitar case lazily wrapped in a few pieces of decorative paper, with large chunks of the case still showing through the paper. Jirou couldn’t help but laugh.
“Happy birthday,” he held the case out to her, shock choking Jirou’s laugh.
“You… I…” she whispered, “for me?” her glossy eyes met Kaminai’s, who was smiling giddily, struggling to contain his excitement.
“Open it,” he urged eagerly, “I dropped in and left it here before I picked you up this morning. Sneaky, I know.”
Jirou gently pulled away the loose pieces of wrapping paper that covered the case, a smile taking over her face. Denki was definitely the person who wrapped this… Her breath hitched in her throat as she flipped the buckles on the case, raising the lid to reveal a beautiful, deep red acoustic guitar. Running her fingers lightly over the small grooves and imperfections in the wood finish from years of use, she could tell it was second hand. Though, it was beautiful nonetheless.
“I don’t know what to say,” Jirou could hardly force the whisper out of her mouth. She raised the guitar delicately out of its hard case, which she placed on the floor, the waist of the guitar resting on her thigh. Jirou’s fingers slid gently down the strings, plucking them and twisting the tuning pegs to adjust the sound correctly.
“Why? Why would you do this for me?” Jirou choked out.
“I was shopping with my sister, and we walked into a second-hand music store. As soon as I laid my eyes on that guitar, I fell in love with it,” Kaminari was silent for a long time before finally whispering, “and I couldn’t help… but think of you.”
“I worked my ass off to afford it, so look after it, dummy,” he paused, forcing Jirou to look up at him, “will… will you play me something?”
Jirou clung to the guitar, pulling it close to her as if it were a possession that she had cherished for years. As if it were now a part of her. She couldn’t think straight, the only words she could decipher in her own head was her unconscious willing the flush in her cheeks to go away.
Then, slowly, her fingers moved up and down the neck of the guitar, and she began to play Kaminari a song.
Jirou’s voice was sweet and soft, she sang a song in Japanese that Kaminari didn’t recognise. First, he was mesmerised by her voice, his stomach tumbling over more times than he could count, he felt lightheaded and the song brought out such a sense of euphoria that all he wanted was to open his mouth and force out the lyrics despite how bad of a singer he was. He mentally punched himself for not knowing the song already as he was left to smile and sway to the tune by himself.
As she sang, Jirou’s layers slowly melted away one by one to leave herself exposed before the eyes of the boy she loved. Kaminari could feel the strong flourish of emotions that sprouted inside of him, a sensation of weightlessness rising through his whole body.
Kaminari slowly felt himself tuning out the song despite the calming tone of her voice and fell into a daze as he watched her gently pluck the strings of the guitar. He noted the cutest things about her, the light pink that dusted her cheeks, how she’d avoid eye contact when she was embarrassed but when the two’s gaze finally did connect, how they’d stare, mesmerised at one another. How she sat with her knees and tips of her shoes touching in a self-conscious way. He felt a gentle tightening in his chest as Jirou sang and all he wanted to do was lurch forward and sing with her. Slowly, the strumming pattern became silent and Jirou’s voice sung, high and sweet, dragging out the last note of the song while she dropped the volume to slowly fade out.
Jirou turned her head to the side and fixed her gaze on the fireplace, “you’re the first one to hear that,” she whispered. Slowly, Kaminari put the pieces together and clenched his fist.
“That was an original?” He scooted forward in his chair, attempting to make enough movement to force her to look towards him and he hoped he’d catch her eye when she did so. He shot her a small smile of success when their eyes connected.
“I, uh… I wrote it… about you,” she managed to choke out, fear rising and filling her entire body as she realised what she’d admitted to Kaminari. Her mind went rampant, overflowing with self-doubt and an uneasy, nauseous feeling. No, no no. Why did I say that? He’s going to think I’m creepy… normal people don’t just write songs about each other! She watched Kaminari closely, looking for any sign that could confirm Jirou’s uneasy thoughts.
“That is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me,” he whispered, standing from his seat and closing the space between himself and Jirou, “thank you.”
Jirou leaned the neck of the guitar against the table and stood up, allowing Kaminari to take her hands in his and turn them over, running his fingers along the small grooves in her palms. His gaze moved up her body and rested once more on her dark eyes, dropping one of Jirou’s hands and tucking a lock of her dark purple hair behind her ear.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, pressing his lips gently against hers. Jirou’s hands wrapped around the back of Kaminari’s neck, his on her hips.
“Happy birthday, Jirou,”