Muse

Chapter 29

I had spent the last hour of daylight pacing in the usual route around Takodana prefecture for my evening walk before I somehow found myself standing in front of the Terracotta Pottery studio, scarcely able to remember exactly how I had ended up here. Normally, I did my best thinking while I was walking- it was how I came up with new story beats or rehashed details that needed to be reworked or cut when I had written myself into a hole. But now I couldn't focus at all! I vaguely recalled my iPod playing to "Something Just Like This" on repeat while I was trying to think of how I was going to be able to schedule the rest of my week to accommodate all of my new plans. Next thing I knew, I had forty seven playthroughs and was unable to focus on anything but him and our 'date.' Damn it, Izuku! Why do you have to be so freaking cute? The poor sweet boy had come to me soaked to the bone after working so hard, something that immediately tugged on my heartstrings. Never mind that all of his skin tight soaked clothes gave him a small see-through outline of his muscle definition- like hello there, sexy muscles~ where have you been hiding? -but he looked like someone had just ran over his puppy with a lawnmower and deserved to be cuddled and fed freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And then he had to go and-! I squealed into my hands as I felt my cheeks grow hot after recalling the same conversation for the ten millionth time that day.

'Please go out with me, Alyssa. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone hurting you and not being with you that I beat up those bad guys that tried to hurt you and sprinted all this way through a rainstorm to see you.' My stomach fluttered pleasantly at the warped memory I had imagined, face stretching into a stupid grin so wide that it almost hurt to smile. It wasn't what he had said exactly, but that had been how I interpreted it, and damn it all if I wasn't going to the grave thinking that's what he meant. I could still feel the sensation of his hand wrapped around my wrist. The grip was strong, but not like it was going to break it, and then before when he had crushed me to his chest with such force to save me from being run over by a car while standing in the rain under my umbrella, I was pretty sure I almost had a complete mental blackout from it all. The whole scenario was almost straight out of a shoujo anime, which was a huge selling point for me. Disney fairy-tale type stuff didn't really happen to me (no matter how much I wished they did), so I was probably going to ride on the coattails of this memory for the rest of my life. Even if it turned out to not be romantic in nature, it was still nice to be wanted, to feel some sort of semblance of desire.

Ever since that moment, I wanted to talk to someone about it- scratch that, I wanted to tell everyone! This had never happened to me before, romance being a very rare topic of conversation. I had already sent a dozen messages to Gabby but she was asleep and would probably give me the standard pep talk of just taking it slow. Hell, even the thought of having a girl-talk with my mom crossed my mind, but she was somehow less experienced with guys than I was, and she was married for fifteen years; even the discussion of a possible relationship would only end in tears and her worrying over everything. Most of all, I wanted to talk to Izuku about it. Ever since he told me about his failing business, I made it a personal goal to ask him how he was doing every day. Even if the answers were short or mostly unspoken, it felt like I was helping with his mental health in some small way.

Today, he had told me he had caught a cold. Apparently being out in the rain for long periods of time can in fact give you a cold, so that anime myth was officially debunked. Izuku had texted me back that he was going to be taking it easy at work and only do investigative paperwork, whatever that was. At least it meant that he would be at his desk and not further risking his health. I told him to drink plenty of fluids and to feel better, but that was where I had left the conversation. I felt guilty about having him get sick on my behalf, but then again he probably would have risked his health anyways whether I was there or not. What a great guy. He would have been perfect to talk to about this sort of thing.