"Nelly!!" The bright cheerful voice of her best friend, Maria, sounded behind her.

Fifteen year old Nell smiled and braced herself for impact as Maria barreled into her from behind and they both went flying to the floor in the busy hallway at school. A few people threw them dirty looks and walked around them as Nell struggled to roll over onto her back so she could look up at her best friend.

Maria was the most beautiful girl in school, though perhaps Nell was a tad biased since she was her best friend. She had long dark curls that hung to her waist, she swore there were miniscule strands of gold woven into her hair that could only be found in the sun. Her eyes were a deep carribean blue, like the crystal clear waters in the tropics. She had a spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and dusted beneath her eyes and her skin was a perfect sunkissed bronze.

"Guess what!" Maria was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm sure you'll tell me before I even hazard a guess." Nell stuck her tongue out at her.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Damien...ya know bad boy hottie with the rockin body-."

"Gross." Nell rolled her eyes but she couldn't stop smiling, Maria's bubbly energy was so infectious, "do continue."

"-asked me on a date! He's taking me to a Motionless In White Concert!!!"

Nell felt her smile start to slip a little. The last girl Damien had taken on a date ended up dropping out of school and no one knew what happened to her after that. His dating record was a bit sketchy...well honestly, everything about him was a bit sketchy. "It's a school night." She tried to voice a reasonable concern not wanting to put a damper on Maria's obvious happiness.

"It's fine, we've snuck out on school night's before." Maria looked at her curiously, "you okay?"

"Yeah..." Nell paused, she didn't want to ruin her friend's good mood but she felt like she needed to say something, "it's just, he doesn't have a great track record with dating...are you sure about this?"

"Those other girls weren't me." Maria smirked with a confidence only she could achieve.

"Y-yeah." Nell nodded.

"Besides, he got us presents." Maria pulled two fake ID's out of her pocket, "now we can go get some ink."

Nell frowned, "he got one for me? Why?"

"Probably because he's smart and knows the quickest way to my heart is by spoiling my best friend." Maria tickled her sides causing Nell to let out a shriek of laughter.

More people avoided them.

"Come on, admit he's awesome!" Maria tickled her mercilessly.

"If it will make you stop, fine he's awesome!" Nell cried.

"I don't think anything he said in the last twenty minutes stuck." Natsuo's voice sounded beside her, shaking her from her reminiscing.

She felt a single tear slip down her cheek and hurriedly wiped it away. "Y-yeah, I zoned out for a bit there." She turned to him once she was sure she was composed. "Shall we?"

Natsuo followed her out of the lecture hall and in the direction of her apartment. She lived two blocks away from campus in a fancy looking skyrise building. Nell paused as they reached her door and looked to him curiously.

"You're not allergic to roses or anything, are you?" She pondered as her hand hesitated at the doorknob.

"No?" Natsuo tilted his head to the side.

Nell bit back a smile, he looked kind of like a bright eyed puppy when he did that. "That's good." She opened the door.

Natsuo was immediately enveloped by the powerful scent of roses. His eyes grew wide as he stepped through the door and for a moment he wondered if it hadn't been a door but a portal as he stepped into a rose palace. There were roses EVERYWHERE. They were standing in vases, growing out of the floor, walls and ceiling. There were thick black thorn covered vines draped on the walls and ceilings, some hanging low with more roses sprouting out of them.

"Whoa." Natsuo stared in awe at the rose palace.

"Sorry...it's a lot..." Nell frowned as she saw him staring in awe at all the roses. She didn't really have much control over it, they just appeared whenever she got upset, and when she was left alone to her own devices and her thoughts returned to home, she was often upset. "It's part of my quirk." She explained

"It's pretty." Natsuo admitted before blushing as he realized that sounded really lame. He turned to her to try and recover and say something cool but paused as he realized she was smiling.

Nell closed the door behind her and led him through the rose covered entryway into a rose filled living room. She motioned to a comfy looking sofa that was luckily rose and thorn free. He took a seat, his gaze drifting up to a lavish chandelier that had been overtaken by black thorned vines and vibrant roses in an unsettling blood red color.

"So, homework or video games?" Nell asked as she dropped onto the sofa beside him and kicked up her combat boot laden feet onto the coffee table.

"If we play video games, I'd probably have to come over again another night for homework." Natsuo pointed.

Nell smiled, "Video games it is." She hopped up to grab a pair of controllers as Natsuo's cheeks burned.

Natsuo noticed a framed picture on the wall that seemed to be completely overtaken with roses and had black thorn covered vines practically strangling it. It looked like Nell in middle school, she didn't have any piercings or tattoos but her bright green eyes were as wild as ever. There was a blinding smile on her face. She was hugging another girl, a beautiful girl with perfect long dark curls and carribean blue eyes. They appeared to be at some kind of rock concert and were posing for a picture in front of a mosh pit.

"Did you go to a lot of concerts with mosh pits?" He asked curiously.

"What?" Nell asked with a frown and turned to him, she realized where his gaze had been drawn to, "I suppose so." She replied somewhat distantly.

"Aren't they dangerous?" He asked.

Nell smiled, "I suppose they can be, but more often than not, the other moshers are pretty aware of their surroundings and everyone looks for people who fall to make sure no one gets injured." She shrugged.

"Have you ever been injured in one?" Natsuo asked.

Nell thought for a moment before lifting the side of her shirt to reveal what almost looked like a sharkbite.

"How the hell did that happen?!" Natsuo asked in awe, "were you moshing with Jaws?"

Nell giggled as she thought back on the day, "some guy tried to grope Maria, I punched him, his friend bit me and then-..." She trailed off as she realized she'd said her name. How long had it been since she'd said her name aloud?

"Nell?" Natsuo tried to get her attention.

Roses and thorn covered vines began to sprout up from the floor and cover the legs of the coffee table. Nell shook her head. "Sorry." She straightened up and returned to the couch before handing him a controller.

"What happened after the friend bit you?" Natsuo asked quietly.

Nell smiled a sad heartbroken smile as she thought of Maria, "Maria bashed his face in and a huge brawl broke out."

They'd gotten in SO much trouble with Nell's parents when they finally snuck back into the house with two broken noses, busted lips, black eyes and a plethora of other cuts, scrapes and bruises, but they'd never felt more alive.

"That sounds horrifying." Natsuo shook his head.

"Best night of my life." Nell smiled with tears in her eyes. She blinked them away and turned on the playstation.