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At five years old, Ochako is just getting used to sleeping alone in her bedroom in their new house. She likes the little home her family lives in now, so full of sunshine and smiles during the day. She likes having her own space to play with her toys or dance around to music or make up exciting stories with her imagination. It makes her happy.
But what she doesn't like is the nighttime, when the sun sets and takes away all the light to see with. Her bedroom transforms into a dark, unknown space full of strange sounds while she tries to sleep. Sometimes it's a quiet scratching and an occasional thump. Like she's not alone in there. Like something is lurking under her bed.
She spends the nights with her covers pulled up to her eyes, staring warily at the ceiling, too scared to move, listening to the mysterious sounds until her eyelids grow too heavy to keep open and she finally falls asleep.
She tells her parents about her worries, about the weird noises that sound like something is living under her bed. They reassure her in kind voices that there's nothing there. It's only her imagination. If she ignores it and sleeps, it'll go away.
It does not go away.
Each night the noises just grow louder. More scratches. More thumps. Once she swears she hears something like a giggle.
One day, Ochako cries to her mother about it, clinging to her skirt and burying her face into the fabric for comfort. Her mother's soft hands kindly pat the top of her head. Instead of her usual advice to ignore it, she tells Ochako to be brave and face the issue head on. Politely ask the noises to stop.
Ochako stops crying, blinking up at her mother as she considers the suggestion. Could it really be that easy?
"You're very brave, Ochako," her mother says. "I believe you can figure out how to solve this yourself."
Ochako nods, feeling more determined than before.
That night after dinner, she steals the flashlight her father keeps tucked away in a kitchen drawer. It's clunky in her hands and heavy to hold but she uses her quirk to float it easily back to her bedroom.
After her parents say goodnight, tucking her in and switching the lights off, Ochako takes a deep breath. She tells herself she can be brave. She can face this head on.
Ochako clutches the flashlight like a lifeline, a small comforting anchor in the face of the unknown. She then slips out of bed, lying down on her stomach against the cold floor, and with a deep breath, shines the flashlight under the bed.
A pair of glowing golden irises stare back at her.
She covers her mouth to muffle her startled scream.
But she doesn't run away. She can't back down now. She's supposed to be brave.
A closer look at the illuminated face also shows a toothy grin and pink skin along with her black and gold eyes. Messy pink hair and two yellow horns sprout out of the top of her head. And then the flashlight illuminates a pink hand too, waving at Ochako now as if to say hello.
"Hello?" Ochako says, though it slips out as barely a whisper. She didn't imagine the monster to look so… cute.
"Hi!" the monster replies, not seeming to notice her uncertainty. "Are you the one who lives up there?" She points up towards the bed frame above her head.
Ochako nods, feeling her fear start to fade and relief take its place since the monster girl seems friendly.
"Yep. Are you the one making the noise down here?" She points down to the floor for emphasis.
"That's me." The monster grins again.
"Why?"
She pauses, dark pink eyebrows knitting together as she thinks about the question.
"I dunno," she finally replies. She tries to shrug like it's no big deal but it's hard when she's lying down on her stomach just like Ochako. "It's just what we're supposed to do. It's kinda fun."
Ochako frowns. "But it makes it hard to sleep."
"Oh." The monster mirrors her sad expression as she considers this new information, and Ochako immediately decides she much prefers the cheerful sunny grin instead.
"I guess I could stop making the noises if we could play together sometimes? That seems more fun anyway," the little pink monster suggests.
Ochako takes a moment to think over this unexpected offer. She doesn't have many friends yet since they moved to this new place, and maybe it would be fun to have someone else to play with. She doesn't have many toys but she would happily share them. They could listen to music too. And make up stories together.
Actually, the idea seems pretty fun.
"Okay, let's be friends," Ochako declares. She gives a determined nod for emphasis.
The toothy grin returns again, and her whole face lights up with excitement. "Yay!"
"By the way, my name is Mina," the monster girl adds.
"I'm Ochako," she replies, pointing to herself in case there's any confusion.
Mina waves again, promising to return the next night to play, and Ochako agrees. They say goodnight and then she climbs back into bed, hiding the flashlight she doesn't need anymore.
Ochako thinks she likes being brave.
☆~°~☆~°~☆
At ten years old, Ochako considers Mina her best friend.
Almost every night, Mina crawls out from her monster portal under Ochako's bed to hang out in secret. They listen to music and make up silly dance routines until they both collapse with muffled laughter that won't wake up her parents. Ochako talks about her day at school or shows off a new trick she learned to do with her quirk. Mina tells her about life in the Under World, about the different monsters who live there and which ones are friendly like her and which ones are mean and scary. They curl up beside each other on Ochako's bed with different manga to read, discussing their favorite characters and imagining themselves into the stories.
"Hey, Ochako," Mina says at the end of a quieter-than-usual evening together. She's standing in the middle of Ochako's bedroom with her hands planted squarely on her hips, her eyebrows furrowed in a rare moment of seriousness. "It's not weird that we're friends, right?"
Ochako shakes her head immediately.
"Why would it be weird? We have fun together, right? And that's what friends do."
"Some of the guys back home told me it was weird to be friends with a human," Mina admits. Clearly the idea is bothering her because she's rarely anything other than her cheerful self, usually bringing sunshine to their dimly-lit nighttime hangouts.
"That's stupid," Ochako insists. "Don't listen to them. I like being friends with you."
Mina doesn't say anything for a few minutes, like she's thinking hard about this conflict.
"Nobody is a better dance partner than you," Ochako continues. "And I'd be really sad if we couldn't dance together anymore."
She jumps off her bed, and wraps Mina up in a hug.
"Be brave and tell those mean monsters to leave you alone," Ochako says, remembering her mother's old advice. "You can be friends with whoever you want."
"That's right," Mina agrees, finally sounding more like her usual self again. "I don't care what they think."
She adds then, a bit more softly, "You know, you're really awesome, Ochako."
Ochako steps back and sees Mina's familiar grin again. The sight makes her feel relieved. Mina shouldn't ever have to frown, especially if Ochako can do something to make her smile.
"And you know what! I am good at dancing!" Mina continues, declaring suddenly with newfound determination. "Let me show you a new move I came up with!"
They end up accidentally breaking a lamp, forcing Mina to scurry back under the bed to go home early that night and Ochako having to sheepishly apologize to her parents for the mess.
But Ochako thinks the broken lamp was absolutely worth it.
☆~°~☆~°~☆
At age 15, Ochako decides she hates when her teachers assign group work. Because if she was allowed to do this assignment alone, she wouldn't be stuck with this annoying Monoma guy who insisted on visiting her house to complete the homework.
They sit at the desk in her bedroom, and Ochako has to remind her partner several times to stay focused on the work and not keep rambling off topic about dumb things. She wants to finish it as quickly as possible so she can send him home.
Even his voice is grating on her nerves.
Just as they finally put the finishing touch on the assignment, Ochako glances over her shoulder and catches a glimpse of glinting gold irises from under her bed. She stifles the urge to grin, lest Monoma thinks it's directed towards him.
"I think we work well together, don't you think?" Monoma says, leaning closer with some sort of sleazy smile on his face. "I think you'd have a lot of fun if you spent more time with me. We could get to know each other better."
Ochako doesn't even hide her scowl. This guy certainly thinks he's better than everyone else. She can tell by the arrogant look on his face.
"I'm a lot more entertaining than those people you usually hang out with," he adds, sliding uncomfortably closer to her.
That really makes her mad. No way is this guy insulting Izuku and Tenya and Tsu. She glances over towards Mina's hiding spot again, but she seems to have disappeared.
Ochako leans back, hoping to add some space between them.
"You're a creep," Mina's voice suddenly rings out across the room, startling Monoma but giving Ochako a chance for a sigh of relief.
From the darkness of Ochako's closet, Mina appears, looking the most monstrous she's been in a long time. Her fingernails have become claws and the black sclera of her eyes seems somehow impossibly darker than before. Her grin, directed towards Monoma, is more like a twisted leer than her usual innocently mischievous expression.
"It's time for you to leave," Mina says, letting droplets of acid drip from her claws onto Monoma's shoes, resting by the bedroom door.
He shrieks in fright, stumbling to gather up his belongings and his acid-ridden shoes before he runs away in his socks.
Ochako waits until she hears the door slam before she can't hold her laugh back anymore. Mina reverts to her regular, non-scary look and joins her, laughing so hard she has to wrap her arms around her stomach as she doubles over.
"What a loser!" Mina crows between laughs.
"I don't think he'll be coming back," Ochako adds, barely able to speak between her giggles. "Thanks for scaring him off."
"The perks of being a scary monster," Mina teases, and then turns to start digging through the clothes in Ochako's closet, already leaving the thought of creepy Monoma behind. "Ooh, this is cute," she says, pulling out a colorful dress.
In Ochako's mind, Mina has always been the exact opposite of scary.
"I guess I probably should have taken care of it myself," Ochako says, almost wishing she'd found the words to tell Monoma to go away and never talk to her again.
"You totally could have," Mina agrees, but then adds with a sly grin, "but you don't have to when you have me."
☆~°~☆~°~☆
At age 20, Ochako moves into an apartment of her own for the first time.
There are boxes and boxes and boxes she still needs to unpack, but there's plenty of time to do that later. It's a small apartment -- the only thing she could afford -- but she likes the new space, can see its potential in the currently bare walls.
"Can I help you decorate? I have tons of ideas!" Mina's voice rings out from the bedroom, startling Ochako who didn't realize the monster had already arrived. She's not sure she'll ever quite understand how Mina is able to use different portals to appear in any dark space, even after all these years of getting used to it. But she never minds the company.
"Let me guess… lots of pink?" Ochako teases as she enters the bedroom to find Mina surveying the walls with an appraising eye.
Mina fakes an overly dramatic gasp. "How did you know?"
They spend hours unpacking and organizing and rearranging until they both collapse on the floor in a tired heap.
"Even the floor is comfortable," Mina laughs. "You've got a nice place here."
Ochako looks up at the light fixture casting shadows around the room as the sun sets outside. Despite feeling exhausted, it also feels like butterflies are making their own home in her stomach. Moving out is such a big change after all these years with her parents.
"What if I can't do this?" Ochako says, putting a voice to her fears. "What if I forget to pay my light bill? What if I don't throw old food out of the fridge and accidentally give myself food poisoning? What if I set something on fire?" She feels like she's rambling but all the uncertainties hit her at once.
"Ochako." Mina cuts her off, reaching over to grab her hand. "You're gonna be fine."
Ochako looks to the side to see Mina looking directly at her, determination burning in her dark eyes.
"It's a new place and that's weird," Mina continues, "but you'll get used to it. And I'll visit you all the time too, so you don't have to worry. You got this."
Ochako smiles, squeezing Mina's hand but carefully enough not to activate her quirk.
She doesn't have to do this alone.
☆~°~☆~°~☆
At age 25, Ochako realizes she's in love.
The feeling creeps up on her slowly, over the years, until it wraps itself around her like a warm embrace. Constant and unending. The feeling sprouts and sparks from moments of raucous laughter at terrible jokes, days of dancing around pieces of living room furniture, hours of reading stories by the glow of a flashlight, quiet conversations at dinner about dreams and worries and hopes and fears.
She can't pinpoint when exactly it started. Maybe she's been in love with Mina since the first time the pink monster waved and grinned at her from under the bed.
Now, all that's left to do is face her biggest fear and actually tell Mina.
"Do you want to dance?" Ochako asks one night after a long day at work, after she comes home to see that Mina has already commandeered the kitchen to cook dinner.
"I always want to dance," Mina replies, demonstrating her enthusiasm by throwing her arms out to spin around.
Ochako smiles.
Dinner left forgotten, Ochako turns on a slow song and takes Mina's hands, pulling her close. They move to the rhythm of the song, bare feet gliding slowly across the kitchen floor while Ochako tries to find the right words for her feelings.
She's waited so long to finally tell Mina, letting fears and insecurities take root instead of cultivating happiness. She wants to be brave again, like she was as a child. She wants to charge into the unknown like she did clutching that old clunky flashlight all those years ago.
"Mina," she begins, as the last notes of the song fades away. "I love you."
There it is. Simple. No other words needed. Mina will understand.
Still, she holds her breath as she waits.
Mina lets go of her hands, moving them instead to Ochako's face, cupping her round cheeks gently. She smiles -- not the usual mischievous grin or the toothy teasing smirk -- but a soft, sweet smile. Like she had simply been waiting patiently all this time to hear those words.
"You know I love you too. So much. Always."
Mina kisses her then, and Ochako feels like she's floating even without the help of her quirk.
They dance together for a long time after that, adjusting to the new wonderful shift in their relationship. Plenty of unknowns left to explore together.
With Mina in her arms now, Ochako knows she likes being brave.