Caramel[Commission]

𝐈.𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ━━━━━━

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￣￣  :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   ￣￣

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Hello! Today, I'm doing a

commission for Aslan. This

story contains OC x CC, so if

you don't like or such

pairings, walk away. I don't care.

Manga coloring by freezinrain

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━━━━━━ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏.𝐒𝐈𝐒 ━━━━━━

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Melli was hoping to spend some

quality time with her crush,

but Ochako seems to only be

able to think about Izuku.

➥ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:

             Mellifulous Murano

             Ochako Uraraka

             Tsuyu Asui

              Izuku Midoriya

              Tenya Iida

➥ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Romance

➥ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2079

➥ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 11630

"We should have invited Sato," Tsu croaked. "I don't think any of us have made home-made chocolate before."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out," Ochako sighed, tilting her head at the empty pan. "We can just look it up, right? I don't want to invite a guy. This is a girl's night."

"Found it!" a third voice piped up. Ochako turned toward the kitchen island to see a pink-haired woman with a small pin in the shape of an ice cream cone holding her bangs out of her one good blue eye. She had her arm outstretched, her phone screen facing the rest of the girls. "How to make milk chocolate, yeah?"

"Wow, Mel, you work fast," Tsu said, moving over to look at the phone screen. "This seems pretty easy. Do you have all the ingredients here?"

"Uh, yeah, I should," Melli replied, turning the screen back toward her to look through the ingredients again. "Although, I think we should probably go and get fresh ingredients. I haven't been here for a few months." The group was staying in Melli's old apartment for the night. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day, and they wanted to surprise the boys with some chocolate.

"Are you telling me you just left expirable food here?" Ochako asked incredulously.

"Well, I thought I could convince Nezu to let me keep living here," Melli shrugged. "And, I guess I've always been too busy or tired to come back and clean up. I ended up forgetting."

"I'm scared to open the fridge," Tsu confessed. "Did you leave milk in there? Cheese? It's gonna stink."

"Oh, don't be a baby," Melli shook her head. She shifted off her chair, moving over to the fridge and opening the door. Ochako smiled as she reeled her head back, quickly closing it again. "Okay, maybe we should get some cleaning supplies too."

Two hours later, the girl sat at the island, resting after their work. They hadn't even begun the chocolate. They had discarded the spoiled food, cleaned out the fridge to get rid of the stench, and bought more ingredients. "I almost don't wanna make the chocolate," Ochako sighed. "It's just more work at this point."

"I don't think it's too hard," Melli said, pulling out her phone again. "Yeah, WikiHow says it only takes seven steps."

"Really?" Ochako asked, perking up. "If it's so easy, how come I've been buying chocolate instead of making it?"

"Okay, so the first step..." Melli explained what they needed to do. Ochako and Tsuyu quickly searched through her cupboards to find the tools they needed. Pot, mixing bow, sifter, measuring cups, cookie pans. "I don't think I have any cute little shape molds. I should have read this before we went to the store."

"It's okay, we can just shape them by hand," Ochako suggested. "We could do little hearts! That should be easy enough, right?"

"Hearts? I know it's Valentine's Day, but we don't want them to think we're actually into them," Melli said. "It's just a celebratory surprise."

"R-Right," Ochako nodded. "Don't want them thinking we're into them or anything..." She trailed off, looking into the distance. Melli watched her, a small frown on her face. She knew Ochako liked Izuku. Almost everybody knew it, even though she'd never confess.

"Today isn't about them," Melli insisted. "Tomorrow, when we give them the chocolate, it can be. But tonight it girls." It was already hard enough to drag Ochako away from Izuku. It upset Melli that the only way she had managed to convince her to come tonight was because ultimately, she'd be able to give a gift to the green-haired geek. Melli felt like Ochako and Izuku were the closest, and the rest of them were left in the background. Melli had to basically fight for Ochako's attention. She was jealous.

"Water's boiling," Tsu croaked near the stove.

"Oh, it's not supposed to boil," Melli said, shaken from her envious thoughts. "It's too hot, it'll burn the chocolate apparently."

The girls got to work, doubling the ingredients and cooking time to make twice as much. As they laid the small bits of chocolate, shaped like circles, into the container, they realized they had far too many. Even after laying wax paper on the first layer to make room for another, they had half a bowl left. "I don't see why we can't enjoy the fruits of our labor," Ochako said, looking at the two other girls. "Wanna sit down, watch a movie while we taste-test our chocolate?"

"What movie?" Melli asked, already moving toward her kitchen. "I have a bunch of DVDs, or we could log on to Netflix or Disney+."

"Should we watch a romance movie?" Tsuyu asked. "I don't watch a lot of them, but I keep hearing good things about them."

"We can watch 50 First Dates!" Ochako suggested. She quickly turned to Melli, who was already beginning to sit down on her chair. "That's the movie I was telling you about where the girl's memory resets every day."

"I don't have it," Melli explained.

"I can get it from Redbox," Ochako offered. "Please? You'll love it."

Melli tilted her head, seeing how excited Ochako was. She really wanted to watch this movie with them. "I mean, be my guest," she smiled back. "Tsu and I will just chill until you come back. The nearest Redbox is at the grocery store down the block."

While Ochako was gone, Tsu and Melli both tried the chocolate. "It's...okay," Melli decided. "It's not disgusting, but I think I know why most people buy it rather than make it."

"I like it," Tsuyu voiced, having another. After half an hour of chatting, Ochako finally returned, holding a DVD triumphantly. She slid it into the DVD player, and they all sat down to watch.

The girls hardly paid attention. After the first fifteen minutes, the dialogue of the movie had quickly been drowned out by chatter. The girls lounged in the seats, the movie serving for background noise. "It's weird that Todoroki doesn't have any gear, isn't it?" Ochako asked. "Like, his quirk is super strong. There has to be some drawback or limitation that some gear could help with."

"I haven't seen any drawbacks," Tsuyu shrugged. "But his quirk is pretty simple. I can't think of anything that would help him."

"Ochako, catch," Melli interrupted. Ochako turned her head to see a piece of chocolate flying toward her. Reacting quickly, she lurched forward to catch it in her mouth, earning impressed cheers from the other two. "Wow, Ochako, you could give Snipe a run for his money."

"Don't be ridiculous," Ochako said with a fake blush. "I caught one piece of chocolate."

Without warning, Melli threw another into the air. At first, Ochako hesitated but ended up leaning back to catch that one too. "What did I tell you?" Melli challenged. "You're a natural."

"I think we just work well together," Ochako said shyly. Melli grinned sheepishly, blushing slightly. She couldn't agree more and was even about to voice that when Ochako continued. "I should try that with Izuku, see if he can catch it." Her voice was light and joyful, completely unaware that she had just put the pink-haired lady in a sad mood. She was fine with Ochako liking Izuku. But, the fact that nearly everything always seemed to circle back to him...was it more than liking? Tonight was supposed to be a night where she could hang with her without her obsession with Izuku hanging over the situation, but it seemed it was unavoidable.

After an hour and a half of talking, they eventually ran out of topics, settling down to watch the rest of the movie. Even though they had missed the first half, it was pretty easy to get the gist of what was happening. By the end, Tsuyu had fallen asleep on the couch, leaving just Melli and Ochako. "So..." Melli said. "I'm guessing you'll be giving plenty of chocolates to Izuku?"

"Well, yeah," Ochako said. "He's a friend. Iida and Todoroki will also be getting chocolate. But, Deku has done a lot for me. This is a small bit of repayment."

Repayment. That's what she called it. She was even fooling herself. With a sigh, Melli stood. "I think you guys should go back to the dorms tonight," she mumbled. "I don't have any spare bedrooms, and this is the only couch."

"I can sleep on the floor," Ochako offered. "I don't mind."

"No, I..." Melli trailed off. She had been hoping the night would be light and airy, full of fun. But instead, it seemed everything just reminded her of the one thing she can't seem to grasp. She was frustrated and wanted to be alone to avoid taking out her frustration on Tsuyu and Ochako. "I have mice. When I left, a bunch of them. I doubt they've just left." It was a complete lie. She used to have mice, but it had been taken care of.

It seemed to do the trick. Ochako shivered, looking around as if she expected to see small eyes peering at her from the shadows. "Why didn't you mention that sooner?" she asked nervously. She leaned over to the sofa Tsuyu was sleeping on, going out of her way to avoid getting out of the chair. She poked her body, and the frog girl raised her head sleepily. "Tsu, we're gonna go back to the dorms. I can drive us, you can sleep on the way."

"Wha?" Tsuyu asked groggily. "Okay." The girls bid farewell to each other, and Melli was left alone in her dark apartment, with nothing to do.

*            . • .     • .                 • .    • °. •.    •     . •    . • . ✦• . • .      • . • .               •.     . • . • .    •                  ★               . • . ★     . ° . •          . • .       • *.     •         *            . •★     . ° . •          . • .           .

The next morning, Ochako grabbed the box of chocolates from her nightstand, hopping down the stairs to the common area of the dorms. Most of the class was already awake and eating. Her gaze focused on Deku and Iida, who were watching the morning news. She skipped over and placed the chocolate on the coffee table. "Surprise!" she said.

After a second of confusion which was quickly cured with a bit of investigation, Deku beamed at her. "You bought us chocolate? Now I feel bad for not getting anything for you."

"Well, actually, we made it," Ochako explained. "Melli, Tsu, and I. And don't feel bad for not getting anything! It's a surprise."

"Oh, Tsu and Melli helped?" Iida asked. "I haven't seen either of them today."

Ochako felt a twinge of guilt. She should have waited for the two of them before presenting the chocolate. She had simply been too excited and made it look like she was the only one who participated. She'd have to apologize to them when she saw them.

The three shared small talk for a short time before they had to head to class. On the walk there, Tsuyu caught up with them, and Ochako had to explain she had already given them the chocolate. Tsuyu didn't seem to care. Ochako briefly wondered where Melli was but decided she must already be in class.

Entering the classroom revealed a few students to already be there, but not Melli. Ochako wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. Had Melli forgotten to set an alarm? What if she hadn't even woken up yet? "What's on your desk?" Deku asked, bring her attention to the desk in question.

There was a baby blue box wrapped with a soft pink ribbon. Her confusion was immediately washed away by curiosity. She strode over, untying the ribbon and removing the lid. Inside were pieces of chocolate shaped like hearts. She instinctively popped on into her mouth and realized they had a caramel center. "Somebody bought me chocolate," she said through a full mouth.

"Oh, looks like you have a secret irer," Iida commented. "But, if they know where your desk is, it must be somebody in the class."

Ochako's face flushed red. She had to stop herself from glancing over at Izuku. It had to be from him. It was the only thing that made sense.

Little did she know, Melli was sleeping at the dorms after staying up all night learning to make caramel-filled chocolate.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 ━━━━━━

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￣￣  :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   ￣￣

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I hope you enjoyed! If you want

to me AND get a writing

piece out of your coins, you can

commission me here.