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Here we go.
Ochako knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. An anonymous note with strangely familiar handwriting led her here. Skipping one of her most important classes of the day out of nowhere would definitely not go unnoticed.
The thing about the handwriting was that she’d actually never seen it before. The swoop of the letters and the slight misspellings reminded her of someone she shouldn’t be thinking about.
And there was no way to tell if she was correct, but the thought of meeting was enough to drag her away from U.A.
I’m going to get killed.
And yet, the image of sweet sunshine eyes and a wide giddy grin enticed her like a siren’s song. She couldn’t help herself from being drawn towards the curious villain.
That’s what she is. A villain.
Ochako knew she had to keep reminding herself of that, because heroes and villains don’t mix.
As she wandered deeper into the woods just outside Musutafu, her heartbeat grew quicker and her stomach grew tighter. Nerves began to creep into goosebumps on her arms. A slight breeze was blowing, lightly shaking the trees and causing a few leaves to sway down to the grassy ground below. Besides the gentle whisper of the trees, the forest was eerily quiet, sending a chill down Ochako’s spine. She had no idea how far she’d have to go before either getting lost or finding the person expecting her.
Whoosh.
Ochako jumped as she heard the leaves brush near her. It might’ve been the wind, sure, but she couldn’t help but hope it was the girl she expected.
You have to stop thinking about her like this.
Another swoosh left the brunette’s heart beating faster. Goosebumps crept up her arms as she stopped.
“H-Hello?” Ochako called out.
She heard a faint giggle from the distance, one that sounded innocent yet mischievous at once.
“I’m here from…a note you wrote me?” She called again. “Are you here?”
“Hehehe~”
Oh?
“Hey, is that you? I can hear you laughing, you know.”
“Hello beautiful!”
Ochako’s breath caught. Did she just call me beautiful?
“Is that you?”
“Are you scared, darling?”
The girl grabbed her stomach as she scanned the area, trying to calm the swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
“Stop that.” She shakily exhaled by accident, attempting to push down the smile fighting to curve her lips.
“What, are you afraid of lil old me?”
“No, I’m not.” Ochako remembered to keep her voice firm and yet gentle. She wanted to appeal to the peculiar girl—no, no you don’t. Stop thinking like that. You know you can’t—
Thump.
Ochako stumbled back; a figure landed in front of her from a tree, startling her.
“Toga…”
“That’s me!” The blonde haired girl looked on with cat eyes. “Have you missed me?”
Ochako felt her heart in her throat. The girl was in her usual clothing, but her villainous aspects were absent. There were no teeth, no gear, no needles. Just…a girl with spiky space buns and a skirt and cardigan.
“I…I-”
“Careful now, you might burst a blood vessel! Your cheeks are already so red, you don’t need any actual blood on you.”
Shoot, I’m blushing?!
“It’s cold out here, you know it is. Aren’t you freezing too?” Ochako pushed back.
“Oh, it’s just a little breeze cutie, it’s nothing to me!”
“Right, I’m sure.” Ochako’s tone turned slightly teasing. Realizing that she was being flirtatious, she backed up more, sensing that she was in trouble she didn’t want to be a part of.
Toga was quick to notice her nerves, as well as a patch of light the girl was now standing in. “Ochako-pyon, your eyes are so wonderful in the sunlight…they’re like shimmering molasses~!”
“Stop that.” Ochako finally broke her eye contact with the blonde. She evened her stance, folding her hands into fists. “I’m not your ‘pyon’, and I don’t know what you want or why you brought me here.”
“I didn’t bring you anywhere, I simply made a request. It was you who wandered to me.”
Ochako looked back up. Toga was only a few steps away from her.
“I’m not here to hurt you, so you can put your fists down.” Toga’s voice softened. “I wanted to hear you speak and admire you.”
“Why? You’ve got the power to lure a pro-hero-in-training into the middle of the woods outside of the city, and you’re saying you don’t want to fight me. Right.”
“Because, Uravity,” Toga moved a bit closer. “I like to be with you.”
“You know what, here.” Ochako took her fingernails and scratched deep into her arm until tiny droplets of blood blossomed through the skin. “You want some of my blood? Just take it and go.”
“Why are you so anxious?” Toga said, even as her eyes drifted towards the red droplets. Ochako noticed the tiny spark that seemed to take up her eyes, and how her smile slimmed. Her vampire-like canines were barely visible now, unlike the wide grin she usually wore.
“You’re a villain, Toga.” Ochako firmly stated. “You’re a member of the League of Villains. Your group is our enemy and has done extreme harm. You’ve messed a lot of things up. I have every right not to trust you.”
“Do you want to fight me?”
“I mean, not really. I don’t want to fight anyone unless I have to.”
“Then why did you come here?”
The silence encompassed the girls as their eyes met again.
“If you knew you were going to encounter me, and you knew I was a villain, and you knew I might fight and hurt you, then why did you come here? You didn’t even know it was going to be me, and yet, you said my name as if you expected me. So tell me, dear…”
Ochako’s hands slowly unfurled as Toga got close enough to touch.
“...Why are you so afraid?”
This was so unfamiliar to Ochako. Since when could such a threatening and psychopathic villainess be so…kind? gentle? careful? Since when was this…who Toga was?
“Toga, I…I’ve never seen you like this.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry, I just…I don’t understand.”
“We might die someday.”
The words startled Ochako, yet her voice stayed soft. “Wha–why is that relevant?”
“Because if I’m going to die someday, and I’m only going to be alive one time, I want to see if the person I want to live it with wants to live theirs with me too.”
“I…what…what are you saying? I-I…” Ochako laughed, nervousness lining her tone and a million thoughts circling through her head. “I’m lost.”
“Why don’t we sit?” Toga grabbed the girl’s hand, guiding them to the leafy ground. Ochako could feel her heartbeat increasing in tempo, until it felt like it was pumping blood in her ears. Is this real life?
“Ochako-chan…” Toga started again. The psycho whirlpool that the brunette was used to seemed to have calmed into gentle waves—and even so, Ochako still feared the water. “I’ve noticed you.”
The blonde adjusted her cardigan sleeve so her fingers folded over it, and gently patted at the blood on Ochako’s arm. Ochako’s brown eyes wandered to the hand now holding hers, while the other held the cloth with newly red polka-dots.
“H-How so?”
“During battles, during your own training, during the average day in the city. You do know my quirk, don’t you?”
“Y-yeah…that’s why I’m confused, I guess.” Ochako continued watching Toga clean her arm. “...so you’ve been stalking me?”
Toga was about to defend herself until she looked up and noticed the small smirk across Ochako’s lips. She lightly smiled.
“I mean, it sounds a lot worse that way.” she stammered, looking down again.
“Why do you do that? Don’t the League–” Ochako’s throat caught at the name. “...don’t they need you?”
“Of course they do, but I take my detours too. I like to see you; you’re nice to look at.”
Ochako sighed out a small laugh, glancing away. “You’re cute.”
“You think so?”
Toga’s hands quickly moved to sit upon Ochako’s shoulders, causing Ochako to turn back to look at her. A glimmer of Toga’s usual state returned to her eyes, but this time, it was different—only slightly, but enough that Ochako could tell. It wasn’t the same as the bloodthirsty, psychopathic sparkle; this look wasn’t hungry for her blood, but her attention.
“Yes,” Ochako nodded. “I do…you’re the cutest girl I’ve ever seen.”
Toga’s eyes and smile widened. She looked like a puppy about to receive a treat with how giddy she was. Ochako giggled at the sight.
“I think you’re really cute too, Ochako-chan.”
“Oh, I’m flattered!” Ochako giggled, putting a hand to her chest. Toga giggled, her own heart fluttering like she’d never felt it before.
“You’re blushing again, honey.” Toga gently reached out a hand to cup Ochako’s cheek. She flinched at first—only by instinct of a hero with a villain—before resting her head on Toga’s hand herself. She let herself sit for a moment.
“Your hands are cold, Himiko-chan, let me warm them up for you.” Ochako took the girl’s hands in her own, rubbing them together between hers. She closed her eyes for a moment, replaying the blonde’s first name in her head.
“You…”
“Hm?” Ochako looked up from her task.
“You…you called me…”
“Chan?”
“No…Himiko.”
“That’s your name, is it not?” This was exactly the reaction she’d hoped for.
“Of course it is, I just…I just wasn’t expecting it.” Toga shrugged, looking away.
“Why not?” Ochako asked.
“I don’t know,” Toga giggled. Ochako could see a light hue of pink spread across the kitten’s face.
“Hey, look at me.” Ochako inhaled, trying to calm her heart before she was about to say. She stopped rubbing the other’s hands so she would look at her. Just like a cat, as soon as Ochako stopped, Himiko’s eyes darted back to hers.
“I like you…like, a lot, Himiko-chan.” Ochako felt the floodgates open in her heart, and her eyes moved back towards the ground. “And I know it’s not right, with you being a villain and me being a hero, and we’re supposed to be enemies, and this could never work, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re unworthy of people’s affection because of your quirk or your personality or whatever. I will always remind you of that if you forget, and even if you hurt me, or I hurt you, or you take my blood, or I encounter you in my body one day, I want you to know it’s not because I hate you, because that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I love you, Himiko Toga, and I don’t know how else to say it or how much longer I can hold it.”
Ochako couldn’t look up. A wave of heat flowed through her body, though she couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment or romantic nerves.
The only sounds in the brunette’s ears were the gentle breeze and leaves crunching under the girls’ seats. The quiet was unnerving, and it only made the hamster in Ochako’s mind run faster on its wheel.
It felt like hours before Ochako received any sort of response.
That is, until she felt the cold hands slip out of hers and instead pull her into a hug she never could’ve predicted.
Her breath caught, causing a sharp inhale, as the hamster in her mind tripped over its feet and tumbled off the wheel. Her breathing stayed shallow as she attempted to process what was happening.
She felt a bun of hair against her neck. She felt the fabric of the cardigan against her bare arms. She felt the girl’s head upon her shoulder. She felt a warm body against her own. She noticed the girl’s back and her socks and shoes as she leaned into the brunette’s body.
She felt drops of water soak into the shoulder of her uniform.
Himiko…is crying?
Ochako’s arms wrapped around Himiko’s waist, pulling her even closer into her embrace. She, too, nuzzled her face into Himiko’s shoulder as she felt tears well up in her own eyes.
“H-Himiko…” Ochako choked on the words, her voice cracking as she fought the lump in her throat.
Upon hearing her name, Himiko’s tears became audible. Muffled sobs escaped her mouth, as she clutched her puppy closer.
“Himiko, I–” Ochako let out a shaky exhale. “I mean it.”
Himiko tried to calm the whirlpool of emotions swirling in her heart—though she was already failing at that. Ochako’s hands began to streak along Himiko’s back, her fingernails catching occasionally on the cardigan. Ochako noticed that her arm had stopped bleeding; she hadn’t scratched too deep, so the injury would likely scar and heal pretty quickly. Eventually, with one arm around her waist again, Ochako’s hand wandered up to her head, gently holding the tearful girl as she wept.
“Please don’t cry,” Ochako exhaled, her voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Himiko stumbled over her words. Syllables spilled from her mouth, but none of it truly connected to words.
Himiko didn’t remember the last time she let herself cry like this.
And she surely didn’t remember the last time someone told her she loved her.
“Hey…look at me.” Ochako’s hands moved to Himiko’s shoulders, gently pulling her out of the hug.
Himiko’s eyes were glimmering with tears.
“Look at me, sweetie.” Ochako repeated, lightly shaking Himiko. Her eyes eventually glided up to Ochako’s. “Take some deep breaths for me, okay? Just inhale…” The two breathed in shivering breaths. “...and exhale.”
Ochako led Himiko—and herself—through her emotions. The two laughed when they made eye contact, losing seriousness at how emotional they both were. Ochako cupped Himiko’s cheeks, using her thumbs to wipe her tears. Eventually, their crying subsided, and the two still held each other close, with Himiko’s hands around Ochako’s torso, and Ochako’s hands holding Himiko’s face.
“How are you still so pretty when you cry..?” Ochako asked, smiling and tilting her head.
Himiko giggled. “So are you, cutie.”
“...I love you, Himiko-chan.” Ochako said, her voice as soft and comforting as a bed of feathers.
“Ochako-chan…I love you too.”
Ochako’s heart fluttered rapidly, the wave of heat rushing through her body again, and she pulled Himiko in closer. Her hands drifted towards the back of the blonde’s head, and Himiko’s eyes sparkled. Ochako’s eyes wandered down to the lips lining the girl’s vampire teeth—and in her peripheral vision, she noticed Himiko’s bounce from her eyes to her lips. Ochako’s face slowly rested, and she looked up at Himiko one last time for confirmation. The eyes of the kitten met her own, and Himiko couldn’t help but notice how her lover’s eyes glittered like a unicorn’s mane. She truly felt like she was sitting next to a fantastical being of her fairytale dreams.
Ochako’s head tilted slightly, and she carefully pulled Himiko in closer until they could feel each others’ breaths upon their noses. Ochako's eyes fluttered as butterflies swarmed her stomach, and within a moment, her lips met Himiko’s.
The hero’s heart practically exploded at the contact.
Even with their lips together, neither quite knew how to kiss, so it was awkward and clumsy and not perfect—but neither could care, because they were kissing and this moment was theirs.
Ochako was with the girl of her dreams, who she never thought she would exist with this way, and Himiko was in love with a girl who truly and wholeheartedly loved her too.
And even when the moment were to end, and Ochako inevitably had to return to U.A. and face her teachers after skipping class, and Himiko had to return to the League and continue to fight the heroes, this moment would never leave their hearts and their minds.
“Himiko Toga, I love you so much.”
“Ochako Uraraka, I love you more.”
…
Maybe heroes and villains do mix after all.