𝐇𝐨𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬||𝐈𝐙𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀

"Merry Christmas, Izuku,"

 "Mina," The green-haired boy sighed.

"Izuku," She whispered. A sudden lump in her throat formed when she said his name. It was swelling.

"Hey," He smiled awkwardly at the pink-haired girl.

"Hey," She managed.

The wind gently carried snowflakes throughout the night and flew past his hair lightly. His nose was a little red, and his eyes had a tired glow to them. Nonetheless, he was outside with her instead of being with Ochaco.

She hated the side of herself that perked up that the freckled boy was spending the latter half of the evening with her. She had to keep her distance.

She hated it. She hated how Izuku could be all over her and then come crawling to Mina. It wasn't fair to both of them.

"Can I sit here?" He finally said. His words snapped Mina away from her negative thoughts. She wanted to smile. She wanted to say, "of course, Izuku."

"Mmm," She managed. She moved over and allowed Izuku to sit next to her. She missed it. This proximity, she would be lying if she said she missed it. How their knees touched, cheeky glances, laughter coming from the living room, she closed her eyes and let herself relive better days.

His knee nudged into hers, and for a second, she let herself daydream about what it would be like if Izuku missed this proximity too.

"Your hot cocoa mix is good. Even my mom approves. " She started. It was random, but it came to mind. Small talk was a good way of stalling. Mina wasn't going to sit and act dumb. She knew the real reason he was out here.

"I'm glad," A faint smile played on his lips.

"Your hoodie's comfy," At this point, she was talking to talk. She swung her legs forward and back, watching them disappear under the bench.

"I'm glad you think so," His lips lifted a bit before he sighed again. There was no helping the silence.

Stalling wasn't working.

It was coming.

"Mina, I'm sorry," He rubbed his hands and exhaled a small breath before stuffing them inside his jacket. "Can we talk?"

It came, and with that, the weight on her chest increased.

"I mean, we're talking right now, Midori," She added a teasing tone and his renowned nickname to lift his spirits.

He didn't even glance at her. Ouch.

"You know what I mean, Mina," His words fell flat on his voice. He sounded tired, annoyed.

"Go for it," is all she could say, no more stalling.

"Why'd you lie about the party?" He started. "I knew you were tired, we all were, but you told me you didn't want to go."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, when I asked about it over break and-"

"Oh," She yawned. "I guess I did."

"It's just a lie, Izuku. A tiny one too. Why does it matter? Just let it go," She waved her hand in dismissal for him to drop the topic. Midoriya flinched at the tone of annoyance in her voice. A little hurt.

Why am I doing this? She pinched the side of her jeans. This attitude wasn't her, this tone wasn't her. It's not fair to him. Midoriya wants answers.

In all truth, she didn't feel like telling people why she skipped. She wasn't obligated to answer.

"Okay," he started. "Why'd you lie about Misha then?"