Cords to a story (Complete)

8

'Can I take your hand if you promise not to let go.'

Izuku stumbled back, pushing Uraraka off. "Kyouka! It's not-! I c-can explain!" He switched his shoe work forward and scurried to her.

She didn't let her legs shake. She didn't bite her lower lip. Her eyes weren't quivering. She wasn't heartbroken...

She turned around on the heel of her leather strap boots. "Fuck off." She kept her voice even.

She didn't let him see any of that.

None of it, as she walked away...

"Kyouka, wait!" He reached out his hand, chasing after her. 'Please!'

"...Deku." Uraraka felt a constricted beat in her chest. 'What... did I do?'

Izuku politely trudged through the hordes of people, trying to keep up with her. "K-Kyouka!" He was shoved to the side by a rambunctious crowd of teens. They apologized, some rude others polite.

"Leave me alone." She shouted over her shoulder. Izuku didn't listen and pushed on. Kyouka flicked a salty liquid off her eye with her earphone jack. 'I'm not crying. I'm not.' She picked up the pace of her steps, and her heels clicked with a frustrated tempo.

Izuku didn't see her quiet action, not knowing how much he hurt her. 'I need to talk to her!'

Kyouka reached one of the escalators and walked down it, not caring for the people who were waiting for it to lower them. She weaved in between them with no problem. She headed straight for the exit and left.

Izuku was forced to wait behind a mob of people blocking the path. He ran his hand through his hair impatiently. Once he got off the escalator, he booked it for the exit. "Where'd she go?!" He was outside, standing in the middle of the bustling city. The street lights and cars obscured his view. He couldn't spot her. He decided to walk in the direction of her home. "It's my best bet."

'Should I use full cowling.' He shook his head. 'No, All-Might gave me this power to become a hero. Using it selfishly for my personal problems would be the farthest thing from a hero. He trusted me with One-for-All, I can't use it for this, no matter how badly I need to explain the situation to Kyouka. I can solve this on my own. I need too!' He resolved himself and jogged forward.

Kirishima, Momo, and Kaminari were all talking about how he got shot down. Bakugou was chowing on his food, only grunting along to the conversation.

"So it's game over." Kaminari finished. "Man, how do we recover from this. I mean, I still want to be friends with her, but now, ugh, I should have kept my mouth shut."

Kirishima disagreed. "Nah man, you put your heart on the line. It was truly manly!"

Momo nodded along, confused about how she felt. Sad that Kaminari stuck out, but also relief... 'Yeah... I'm happy for Jirou and Midoriya. Really...' She rose a teacup she created to her lips.

"Hey, guys." Uraraka had found them. They all glanced out her. She didn't have that energetic flow. She was disheartened, rubbing one of arms with her hand.

"What's wrong with you?" Kirishima rose an eyebrow.

Uraraka sighed. "I kissed Deku, but-"

Shatter.

All heads turned to Yaoyorozu.

Shards of a cup and spilled tea.

"E-Excuse me! I-I'll clean this up, right away."

Uraraka explained the story to them.

The usually calm and collected Momo, cut her palm picking up the broken pieces of her conflicting emotions...

Izuku didn't wait for the bus, he didn't know when it would arrive, and he was getting restless.

He ran down the backstreets of the neighborhood. He knew a few shortcuts, from his morning jogs. 'That's right, that's how I got to know her.'

Without realizing it, he wound up at the park. "Huh? Kyouka does live close by, actually, that's her house." He saw a building peeking out from the other side of the park. "That's why she was here so early that day." And in her pink Pajamas pants and a black tank top. Izuku held back a smile. He never thought pink would be a good color on her but it matched her morning vibe. 'And her music was really beautiful.'

Sniffles.

Izuku stopped his mental reply. His eyes were wide as he stared at the bench next to the pond. "K-Kyouka..." His voice hesitated with hurt.

She had her knees up to her chest, curled up against the armrest, her face buried in her hands.

Crying out a somber sob.

'I did that to her...' Izuku's throat was dry. He his feet stumbled onward, carrying guilt with every step.

She flinched. She wiped the left behind tears. Her puffy eyes narrowed with a glare. "I said get lost." She scolded, then sniffled again. She sat up, straightening herself up on the bench. She kept her punk attitude on display.

"I, um..." But how could he finish? Her cheeks had damp trails, her nose and eyes were rubbed red. She was forcing herself. Izuku almost gasped, seeing her bottom lip quiver. He bit his own to stop himself.

"Kyouka..." He could only stare down in shame. "She kissed me." He admitted.

"Oh, that makes everything so much better!" She threw her arms up along with her earphone jacks. "I trusted you." Dropping her arms and shield.

"And you still can! I swear, it didn't mean anything!" He took a step to her, clutching his hand over his chest.

"Even if didn't." her breath choked and her voice cracked a sad pitch. "How am I supposed to be okay with it..."

Deku felt a painful throb. 'Logically speaking, it's easy to forgive something that wasn't your fault, but emotionally is something else completely. Even when I knew I couldn't be a hero when I was quirkless I never gave up, because my feelings for it refused to. Did I rob Kyouka of her feelings... If someone took that from me... I'm so sorry Kyouka.' "Can't we talk this out." He needed to apologize at the very least.

Kyouka didn't look like she was going to answer. Izuku took his best bet and sat beside her on the bench. "After Bakugou dragged me away. I went looking for you..." He was about to continue but she interrupted during his pause.

"Then how the fuck do you end up tongue-tied with Uraraka!" She glared at him, but her eyes were threatening to spill.

He stuttered back. "Sh-She bumped into me and wanted to hang out. How was I supposed to say no? She's one of my best friends, and I-"

"I think you mean, friends with benefits." She scoffed.

"Kyouka please, I'm trying to explain." Placing his hand out in the space between them.

"And you want to know what I was doing? Rejecting Kaminari. It was tough yeah, but why couldn't you do the same?"

Izuku felt a wave of ironic pain. 'And I was so insecure about losing her...' His green eyes were a shade darker. "I didn't know she was going to-"

"For the love of God Izuku! Enough with the excuses!" She crossed her arms and faced away. "You don't think I know what everyone else says?"

"Wh-What? Kyouka I don't know what you're talking about."

She heaved her chest with a fragile sigh, not believing him. "They're always talking about how you guys are perfect for each other. Everyone wants you guys together, so just go do it already."

Izuku's eyes grew along with every word of her sentence. "B-But what about what we want? Don't we deserve to decide?" He forced a smile. 'Look at me, please..!'

She reluctantly did. Their eyes met and Izuku's lips lifted with some hope. She was internally fighting between reaching out to him or letting go... "What I want?" She whispered with hidden eyes.

"Yeah, Kyouka. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again."

She uncrossed her arms, dropping them beside his, on the bench. She sagged her shoulders.

Raindrops on the bench...

"I think we should break up."