Chapter Text
The room still smelled of disinfectant, but they’d long gotten used to it; it was comforting now. The dim light from a lamp did its best to illuminate the room and its two inhabitants. It felt odd to have the ceiling lights on so late at night. It helped reinforce what he’d been feeling for a while now. The worst was over—or at least that’s what he had thought until this conversation.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in you. But really, I’m disappointed in myself. This is all my fault; I should’ve done this years ago,” she said regretfully.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. “I’m sorry, okay? I had no idea it meant so much to you! Could we please get back to it; we’re wasting time!”
In hindsight, that may not have been the best thing to say, “Oh, so now talking things out is a waste of time? This isn’t something you just drop on someone randomly in a hospital room and expect a mere apology to fix! Three years, Izuku Midoriya. We’ve known each other for three, long years. And this is the first time you bring this up? Do you have any idea what I’ve been feeling since you told me?” The frown that had been plastered on Ochako’s face since Izuku had let something slip grew deeper still.
“Sheer regret at ever bringing it up?” He asked sarcastically.
“This is no laughing matter!” exclaimed Ochako, turning in her bed to look at him for the first time since this debacle had begun.
“Really? I think it’s hilarious that we’re even still talking about this! Especially since we just spent 6 hours—how did you put it? ‘fixing my critical error’. I don’t know what more you want from me.”
Silence hung in their shared room for a moment, as Ochako considered his words. “I want you to say it.”
“I already said it like an hour in!”
“Say it like you mean it!”
Izuku could feel sweat pool on his face as he thought about what to say next. The next few words he spoke could have lasting effects for the rest of his life.
He put aside all annoyance, took a deep breath, and began. “Ochako, I’m really sorry I called Avatar the Last Airbender a kid’s show without having ever seen it. You’re right; after watching a couple of episodes with you, I take back what I said and admit it tackles some serious themes and is really nuanced, and it’s still fun too! Thank you for showing it to me.” Putting his hands together in a pleading gesture, he begged, “Now, can we please get back to bingeing it? I’m dying to know how the Siege of the North ends!”
Several seconds passed, and all Ochako did was stare at him. She supposed she could let him off the hook now. Besides, she really wanted to see what Izuku would think of the Avatar State stuff! “Okay, all is forgiven, we can get back to bingeing now!” Almost as she flipped a switch, her once regretful expression turned back into one that she’d been wearing often lately.
An expression of joy.
Ten days had passed since Izuku had convinced her to let him donate half his liver, and the surgery had been carried out very soon after he had done so. It was extremely successful and today was their last day in the hospital. Gone were the traces of bruises and injuries on her face, and her skin had regained its previous color. While they were both still having their vitals monitored, it was hardly an issue. Thanks to their parents, they were even wearing their clothes now. If Ochako ignored all the machinery and hospital paraphernalia surrounding her, it was almost like they were having a stay in a fancy hotel!
That gave her pause.
Izuku and her, alone in a Hotel room? ’Oh my god, don’t make it weird, Ochako!’
“Are you alright, Ochako? Your heart rate’s gone up.” Izuku’s voice jolted her out of her head and nearly had her leaping out of her bed; were it not for the pain she felt from the still healing surgical incision, she might’ve floated off.
She struggled to come up with a clever excuse and failed miserably. “Fine! I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m just, just annoyed that I can’t find the remote; yeah, that’s it!” Hurriedly, she turned her back to him to hide the remnants of her blush and tried to focus on finding that remote. Her thoughts weren’t so focused, though.
Tomorrow morning, they’d be allowed to return to UA to spend the next few months recuperating there, surrounded by their friends.
Despite feeling much better overall post-surgery, surgery wasn’t something you just walked away from easily. Their parents and friends had been wonderfully supportive, spending hours in this room chatting with them and helping however they could—Even Iida, before they had to ban him from visiting after he’d broken down in tears for the nth time at how touching and heroic it was seeing them, ‘persevere in the face of such adversity together as partners, romantic and otherwise.’ Ochako loved him to bits, but— Iida, please.
But it was Izuku who made all this bearable. He kept his promise and was right there next to her, every step of the way. Anytime she’d stumble, he was there arm outstretched to get her back on her feet. Anytime he regressed and felt bad about their situation, she’d bonk him on the head and tell him to focus on getting better with her. She’d help him; he’d help her. Ochako wasn’t about to forget that again anytime soon.
“Found it!” She exclaimed.
“Great! Toss me the remote, and I’ll pull it up on Netflix again. Can’t wait to see how Todoroki—I mean, Zuko gets out of that blizzard.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at his latest slipup. Although she hadn’t seen it until he mentioned it, now she can’t unsee it. Zuko and Todoroki could be the same person!
It was both hilarious and deeply disturbing. “I still can’t believe how similar they are,” Ochako remarked as she dug through her blanket looking for the TV remote. “It’s crazy! It’s also crazy that you keep mixing up their names now. Did you see the look on Todoroki’s face when you called him Zuko the last time he came to visit?”
“Listen. It just slipped out, okay! I apologized! It did make him curious about the show, so I think the others are going to make him watch it back in the dorms. Zuko’s backstory has the potential to traumatize him for life—but maybe he’ll enjoy it! That show has a surprising amount of parallels to our actual life; it’s kinda scary.”
Ochako was about to float over the remote, but then she had a… different idea.
‘It’s not like anyone else is around at this time of night anyway,’ she thought, trying to convince herself as she stood up and slowly made her way to Izuku’s bed.
The boy in question had his head tilted in confusion at her sudden appearance at his bedside. “Oh, you could’ve just thrown it over. You didn’t need to walk over here!” he said, assuming that she was only thinking about the remote.
Which was not accurate. “S-scootch over for me.”
Izuku, lord help him, still was not getting it. “Eh?”
The blush on her face continued to grow as she tried to clarify, “Make some room for me, Izuku,” said before throwing caution into the wind and sitting down on the edge of the bed, remote in hand.
The speed at which Izuku made the correct connections in his brain, and how quickly his blush grew and eclipsed her own, was truly impressive.
“O-okay,” He managed to squeak out as he shuffled to make more room for her.
She tried to play it cool, like she wasn’t ecstatic and blushing like mad at the same time. “You know this isn’t the first time we’ve done this; i-it’s a pretty normal thing for couples who’ve been together a while to do!”
“—times.” She was so caught up in convincing herself this was no big deal, she missed Izuku accurately stating just exactly how many times they’d done this.
She was red head-to-toe now. “Ohmygosh have you been keeping track?” ‘Do not float yourself, Ochako. Do not do it.’
“N-not on purpose! And don’t say it like that you’re making it sound weird!” Izuku frantically waved his arms around trying to explain himself. “It’s just… We don’t get a chance to do things like this much, you know? Even though this wasn’t exactly how I’d’ve wanted it to happen, I’m really glad we got all this time to ourselves and even more in the future with still needing to fully recover together! A-and it’s not like I keep track somewhere that’s creepy and I wouldn’t do that it’s just that anytime we c-cuddle or hold hands or that kind of stuff it means so much to me because I still can’t believe how lucky I am so it’s just easy to remember all the times we do it—and I’m so overexplaining this so I’ll shut up now ohmygod I’m so sorry Ochako. Ochako? Oh, you’re up on the ceiling now.”
Most traces of his flabbergasted state vanished at seeing Ochako’s current predicament, and he reached out with Black Whip to gently pull her back down before grabbing her with his arms.
As Ochako removed her hands from her face and glanced at Izuku she could see that his blush had begun to return. “Hi.” He whispered.
“Hi.” She said back, “You’re still really honest when you mumble, huh?” she giggled.
“Uhh, so it would seem. Sorry.” He said sheepishly.
“No, don’t be. That’s one of the things I love about you. Now,” Leaning forward, she planted a quick kiss on his lips before positioning herself next to him, holding onto his left arm tight and leaning back against the headboard, “Press play already!”
His response was delayed. “… Oh! R-right!” Izuku turned on the TV at last and leaned back with her and pressed play—but not before getting revenge for reducing him to a puddle of mush by kissing her forehead. “Love you, too.”
For once, she didn’t fly off to the ceiling again and just grinned. “I know you do.”
‘Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the Four Nations lived in harmony…’
Ochako hadn’t expected things to turn out this way when she’d set out for their dinner on that day. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but they were both okay and they had each other. They’d always have each other. Ochako wouldn’t have it any other way.