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Tsuyu prefers summer to winter, though that doesn’t mean she loves it. (Spring is her favorite, because of all the rain.) Summer gets too hot on days like these, days when the sun is high in the sky and the temperature is still rising, and especially days when the air conditioning goes out.
Most windows are open, fans set up and blowing all around. The common room has become a gathering place, and Tsuyu sits on one end of a couch, Mina sprawled beside her and groaning about the heat. Nearby, Kirishima wilts in front of a fan. Todoroki’s right side is becoming increasingly popular, as several students huddle around it. Ochako lies face up in the middle of the floor, limbs spread out like a starfish.
On a whim, Tsuyu gets up off of the couch and lies beside Ochako. She ribbits, and then, “Hi.”
Ochako looks over, and her mouth pulls into a pretty smile. “Hey, Tsuyu-chan.”
“This heat is unbearable,” Tsuyu says, averting her gaze up to the ceiling. Ochako nods in agreement, her hair rustling against the floor. “Do you want to go get ice cream?”
“Good idea!” Ochako replies, thrusting an enthusiastic fist into the air above them. “Maybe the AC will be fixed by the time we get back!”
Tsuyu’s gaze flickers to Ochako’s hand, and she ribbits again. “I hope so,” she says. “Do you want to meet back here in five minutes?” She looks down at the pajama shorts she still dons from the night prior. “I have to change.”
Ochako sits up, and Tsuyu follows suit. “Sounds good!”
—
The walk to the nearest ice cream shop is mostly unpleasant. Heat radiates from the pavement, and the sun beats down harshly. Ochako had made sure they were both coated in sunscreen before they headed out, but even so, the bridge of Ochako’s nose and the tops of her cheeks are beginning to tint red. Their sandals slap against the ground, the sound harsh and accompanied only by occasional traffic and exasperated birdsong.
And Ochako’s voice. (The not-unpleasant part.)
Ochako’s voice is sweet, and Tsuyu would compare it to what a daisy would sound like if it could talk. She imagines plucking petals from one—she loves me, she loves me not—and she wonders how it would end.
“Tsuyu-chan, do you prefer the hot or the cold?” Ochako asks, and instinctively, Tsuyu presses her index finger to her chin.
“Cold makes me sleepy,” she answers truthfully, “and when it’s hot, I get to spend time with you. So, I’d suppose I prefer warm weather—ribbit.”
Ochako blushes, though it’s almost indiscernible under her already reddened skin.
“And you?”
After clearing her throat, Ochako wipes away sweat from the back of her neck with her hand and says, “I like the cold. It’s easy to put on extra layers to keep warm, but when it’s hot, you run out of things to take off, you know?”
Tsuyu nods understandingly. (After all, not everyone is part frog.)
They continue to chat like this, to chat of nothing of real importance, which is nice. It’s easy to be sucked into the world of tragedy when in the heroics course, and a lot of conversations that the students have revolve around heavy topics. Tsuyu appreciates light conversations when she can have them.
Of course, Tsuyu appreciates any conversation with Ochako. She’s a wonderful person, a wonderful friend, and she’ll become a wonderful hero one day, too. Tsuyu almost grins just thinking about her. Instead, she sticks out her tongue, just a touch.
“Ah—There it is!” Ochako exclaims, arm extended as she points at the sign for the ice cream shop. Her pace picks up, and Tsuyu matches it.
Ochako lets out an audible sigh when they step into the air conditioned shop, and Tsuyu shivers a bit at the sudden temperature change.
It’s short-lived, though. After they’ve ordered their ice cream—Ochako gets mint chocolate and Tsuyu mango—they step back out into the heat.
“Let’s find somewhere shady,” Tsuyu suggests, to which Ochako nods, licking her ice cream. Tsuyu blinks at her, and then they begin on their journey for shade.
It’s not an extraneous trip to the nearest bench with a tree overhead, but both girls still slump down onto the bench like it had been.
“Your face is burnt, Ochako-chan,” Tsuyu comments before sticking her tongue out and wrapping it around her ice cream.
Ochako frowns. “My skin is pretty fair,” she says, reaching up to poke at her cheek. Where she touches it, it turns white and then fades back to red. “I’ll have to put on some aloe vera when we get back.”
Tsuyu hums in response and lifts one of her legs to cross it over the other. In the heat, her thigh sticks to the bench beneath it. She’s just glad that the ice cream is refreshing, at least.
“Do you want to try mine?” Tsuyu asks, then.
Slightly flustered, Ochako stammers, “T—Try yours?”
Tsuyu croaks her affirmation, tilting her ice cream towards Ochako. “It’s good,” Tsuyu says.
Ochako only hesitates a moment longer, and then she leans towards Tsuyu, sticking out her tongue to lick Tsuyu’s ice cream. Fleetingly, Tsuyu thinks, indirect kiss. But then Ochako’s pulling away—with just a touch of orange ice cream left on her bottom lip—smiling, and saying, “I’ve never really thought to try mango before, but it’s really good!”
“I think so, too—ribbit.”
Tsuyu watches as Ochako’s tongue flicks out to catch the remnant of ice cream on her lip, and then as she offers Tsuyu her own, blush only noticeable at this point since it also paints the tips of her ears.
Of course Tsuyu has tried mint chocolate ice cream before, but she leans towards it regardless, though one of them—Tsuyu isn’t sure if it’s herself or Ochako—twitches, and Tsuyu’s nose nudges the ice cream along with her tongue.
This causes her to croak out a laugh, and when Ochako sees the aftermath, she laughs, too, before grabbing one of the extra napkins they’d gotten at the shop and reaching a hand out to wipe at the ice cream on Tsuyu’s nose.
“Sorry,” Ochako says, soft and bubbly, and Tsuyu shakes her head.
“It’s fine,” she replies, “The ice cream tasted good, anyway.”
Ochako smiles, “Well, that’s good to hear, at least.”
Tsuyu nods in agreement, swinging her legs in the air under her. Mint and mango is a bit of an odd combination, but somehow, it works.
—
When the girls return to the dorms, the air conditioner still hasn’t been fixed. Everyone looks a bit like they’re melting, but they’ve since added a cooler to the common room, and Todoroki sits with his right hand in it. As Ochako and Tsuyu pass to go get the aloe vera in Ochako’s room, Tsuyu grabs a water bottle from the cooler.
In the elevator, she cracks open the cap and takes a swig. The condensation on the outside of the bottle makes her hand cold and wet, and before she really thinks about it, she’s transferring the bottle to the other hand and pressing her cold hand to Ochako’s shoulder.
Ochako squeaks at the sudden cold, and Tsuyu chuckles at her. To get revenge, probably, Ochako lunges at Tsuyu, grabbing the water bottle from Tsuyu’s hand before thrusting it forward in the air, drenching the front of Tsuyu’s shirt.
It only takes Ochako a moment to become horrified at herself, and she hurriedly exclaims, “Oh, Tsuyu-chan, I’m sorry! I—I don’t know why I did that—God, that was so—”
Tsuyu laughs, though. “I feel a lot cooler now,” she says, smile pulling at her lips. The material of her shirt sticks to her skin, but it’s cold and actually appreciated in the heat.
Ochako’s shoulder slump with relief, and then the elevator dings and the door opens. “I still feel bad, though…” she trails as they step out and begin to walk to her room. “Do you want to borrow one of my shirts?”
“My room isn’t very far, Ochako-chan,” Tsuyu states, index finger against her chin.
“R—Right…”
“Still, you wouldn’t mind?”
She brightens. “Of course not!”
Before long, while Ochako’s getting the aloe from her bathroom, Tsuyu’s peeling her wet shirt off over her head and then looking down at the t-shirt Ochako had laid on her bed for her. Before she has time to put it on, Ochako steps out of her bathroom and says, “Okay, I’ve got it! Do you need—Ah…”
Tsuyu croaks as Ochako blinks at her, standing there in her bra. And, well, it’s not like they don’t use the same locker room or anything, but still, Ochako’s blushing. Again.
She diverts her gaze. “Sorry,” she says.
“It’s fine,” Tsuyu replies, pulling the light blue shirt on over her head. “You can look now,” she says, then.
Ochako lets out a breath, and then holds the bottle of aloe vera out in her hands. “Do you need any?”
Tsuyu shakes her head. “I can help you put it on, though—ribbit.”
Ochako complies, handing the bottle to Tsuyu and then sitting on her bed, letting Tsuyu stand before her. Tsuyu squeezes some gel from the bottle and onto her the pads of her fingers, and when she presses it to Ochako’s face, Ochako sucks in a sharp breath.
“Cold,” she explains with a sheepish smile.
“You should buy stronger sunscreen,” Tsuyu comments, continuing to spread the gel over Ochako’s burn. Her fingers swipe over the apples of Ochako’s cheeks, and then she draws her hands back, letting them hang limp in front of her as per usual. Ochako hands her a cloth she’d grabbed earlier so that she can wipe off her hands.
Ochako looks up at her, then, and Tsuyu’s breath catches in her throat. It’s weird, Tsuyu thinks, that Ochako can look so cute and breathtaking with gel spread all over her burnt face. But it’s true, nonetheless. She won’t dwell on it.
“Tsuyu-chan, do you have anyone that you like?” Ochako inquires, and it almost seems out of nowhere, but somehow Tsuyu feels like the day’s been leading up to this.
Tsuyu croaks, “Yep.”
Ochako is slightly taken aback by the abruptness of her answer.
“Do you?” Tsuyu asks, moving to sit next to Ochako on the bed. Their thighs are only a shift away from touching, and their shoulders nudge.
Ochako looks down at her hands intertwined in her lap. “I—Yeah. I do.”
“Midoriya-chan?”
Ochako flushes. “No—I mean, I think I used to. But it’s not… It’s not like that anymore.”
Tsuyu offers a reassuring smile. “I believe you,” she says.
They’re quiet, for a moment. The air crackles with potential, and Tsuyu says, “The person I like is you, Ochako-chan.”
Ochako freezes, her head whipping to look towards Tsuyu with wide eyes. “You—What—It’s me?” she stammers.
Tsuyu nods, “Of course it’s you.”
Ochako blinks once, twice, her mouth ajar. “I didn’t think…”
“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way—ribbit.”
“No!” Ochako is quick to exclaim, “That’s not it! I—You—The person I like is you, too.”
Tsuyu’s heart jumps in her chest, light like Ochako’s somehow activated her quirk on it.
“I like you a lot, Tsuyu-chan!” Ochako continues, her fingers fidgeting together in front of her. “That’s why I was surprised that you… like me, too…” She trails off when Tsuyu cups one large hand around both of Ochako’s smaller ones, stilling them. Her hands are warm—unsurprisingly, considering the heat—but not in an unpleasant way.
“I’m very happy,” Tsuyu says, watching Ochako’s lips pull into a smile.
Right as she opens her mouth to speak, they hear a click, and suddenly the air conditioning begins to run. Ochako’s bright smile turns into a relieved one, and she falls back onto her bed with a sigh. Tsuyu looks back over her shoulder at Ochako, at how her hair fans against the bed below her, at how her cheeks and nose are red from the sun but would probably be red by now regardless of burn, and Tsuyu is grateful for the heat.