Who Scent You?

[midorkiya]

WHO: Bulla Brief, Izuku Midoriya
WHAT: Midoriya is attacked by an aggressive men's body spray salesperson! A new friend comes to his aid and introduces him to the world of fashionable cologne.
WHEN: September 24th, 2018
WHERE: Genessia City - Hamete Shopping Mall


Izuku was only too glad to convey his earnest gratitude to Mavis and the others living at Fairy Haven for allowing him to stay there rent-free. He wouldn't have turned his nose up at the commons, but he did like having a good-sized room all to himself, some basic furniture, and the option to share meals with everyone else.

It saved him from spending a great deal of the currency he'd woken up with. He wasn't about to blow it all just yet, but he did need to pick up some things, like some different changes of clothes. Fayren's style was unique to the area, and he'd made sure to buy one adventurer's outfit so he could fit in more easily with the populace there. But he was more comfortable in the casual wear in Genessia. He found himself a couple of pairs of cargo pants and one pair of good slacks, an assortment of long-sleeved t-shirts and a back-up hoodie, and several packages of socks and boxers that he kept buried at the bottom of his shopping basket.

He figured he should probably see about getting one nice shirt that buttoned up the front in case there were any formal events at the guild hall. He needed shoes that weren't big red sneakers too, but he was running out of basket space.

As he skirted past the cosmetics and fragrance islands in the center of the store, a wild-eyed man suddenly lunged at him from behind the counter.

"MACE ALL YOUR DAYS BE CHEERY AND BRIGHT!" he shrilled, just as a cloud of strong and very spicy cologne punched Izuku's sense of smell into another effing dimension.

"GAH!" he yelped, jumping back, arm raised too late to ward off the peppery stink that now clung to his face and hair. "What the--?!"

"It's Mace body spray!" Pish pish! "With a scent guaranteed to drive the girls wild!" Pish pish pish!

Izuku coughed into his elbow, too polite to stop the assault on his senses in the most efficient way possible. "I never said I wanted t--"

"Aw, c'mon, sonny! With a plain face like yours, you've got to get the attention of the ladies somehow. Try Mace body spray! Guaranteed to drive the girls wild!" The swirling mist of uncoolness stopped abruptly as the salesman turned his head, then gave Izuku a meaty slap on his back. "See what I mean? There's a nice young girl headed straight for you right now!"

Izuku's head snapped up. "S...seriously?" Did this stuff really work that fast?

Comments

[fashionably_strong]

She barely knew Izuku, and certainly not enough to pick his ki out within Fairy Haven yet, but in a store full of people she didn't know, and many of whom weren't pendant bearers, it was familiar enough to get her attention. The stench of Mace body spray almost had her fleeing the scene, however Izuku gave off the impression of a person who would have difficulty fending off a pushy salesperson.

Hands on her hips, she turned to the salesman and stared him in the eyes. "You shouldn't just spray people without their permission! What if he had an allergy? Be more considerate next time!" While she normally wouldn't grab the arm of someone she barely knew, they needed to make a quick departure from the area. She grabbed Izuku's wrist and gave it a light pull. "Anyway, thanks for your time! Bye!"

That was an excessive amount of spray even by human standards. By the standards of someone with superhuman scent, it was downright awful. She couldn't do anything about what had already been sprayed on him. What she could do was rescue him from further spraying and further attempts to upsell an unappealing product and the multitude of Mace scented products that accompanied the body spray.

Once they were a good distance away from the fragrances and cosmetics, she finally released him. "Are you okay? You aren't going to have an anaphylactic reaction from that awful stuff, are you?"

[midorkiya]

Her hand was so soft. What did girls do that made their fingertips like that? He was actually holding a girl's hand...!

(He wasn't; she was holding his wrist while he grasped nothing at all.)

Izuku couldn't do anything at all but stare at the sway of her teal hair, powerless to resist even if he wanted to. And he didn't want to, save to put some distance between them to spare her the overpowering and potent chemical warfare that covered him.

"...What? I'm all right," he reassured her quickly, hoping to the heavens he didn't look half as stupid as he felt right now. Fighting villains was one thing. Pushy fragrance salespeople were scary on a completely different level. "The only tough part will be avoiding my classmates until I can get to a shower. I hope this stuff washes off," he said with a worried frown, glancing down at his arm. ...And her hand.

"Thanks for stepping in. That guy's persistence was kind of admirable."

[fashionably_strong]

"I guess he gets commission on top of his hourly salary," Bulla said, digging in her purse until she found what she was looking for. A packet of fragrance free cleansing towlettes intended for removing makeup. She passed one over.

"I can't do anything about anything that got on your clothes, but you can wipe off whatever got on your skin with this."

No one's senses deserved to be assaulted by Mace body spray. It took effort on Bulla's part not to wince. She didn't want to make Izuku feel even more embarrassed about the situation than he already was.

"If you're looking for cologne, I can help you find something that does smell good once you've gotten most of this stuff cleaned off. The best scents are the ones that are made with a lot of natural ingredients. At least in my opinion."

An opinion that came from having a superhuman sense of scent. The natural smells were pleasant and appealing to her. Cheap and heavily chemical scents like Mace body spray were incredibly unappealing.

[midorkiya]

"Ah, thanks." His mom used to carry these around in her purse. He hadn't seen them in a while, but he definitely remembers wincing as his mother cleaned his face after getting bruised or scraped on the playground. Tearing open the foil packet, he unfolded the moist square and diligently wiped off his arms and neck as best he could.

He turned his attention to Bulla at her offer, and he had to admit, he was kind of intrigued. He didn't think his sense of style was all that bad, he dressed pretty normally for a teenager.

Of course, his costume design did leave something to be desired, but...

"Yeah? I haven't gone shopping for things like that before. Just soap and shampoo, that kind of stuff."

He hadn't even started shaving yet, so aftershave would remain a mystery for a few more years yet. He wasn't planning on buying cologne, but she seemed to like it. Maybe he should try it out. "What kinds do you like?" he asked, swiping his brow with the cloth before placing the stinking wad and the crumpled foil packet into his basket so he could throw them away later.

[fashionably_strong]

The scent hadn't completely faded, but after he'd thoroughly wiped himself down, it was a manageable level of scent. In fact, to a normal human nose, a scent that probably wouldn't even be picked up unless they were within a foot or two of him. It no longer felt like her nostrils were being assaulted.

"For myself, or on boys?" she inquired.

There was some overlap between the two. Some scents were just pleasant generally. Others tended to mesh better with some people's body chemistry while being off on others.