Work Text:
Title: the lady doth protest too much methinks. (17th century Shakespeare hamlet)
It’s a well-established fact that Uraraka Ochako doesn’t have as much spending money as perhaps some of her more well-off peers.
But that doesn’t mean that she’s just a taker or a mooch. The key is to protest just enough that she hasn’t actually asked them for stuff while also being demure about letting them treat her.
It’s a balance, a well-walked tightrope that Ochako can practically float across at this point.
Midoriya offers to toss a couple of her favorite snacks into his cart at the grocery store? She playfully haggles him down until it’s one snack less than he had originally proposed.
Iida’s ordering pizza for the class as a random dorm treat? Oh she knows he’s gonna be using the class card, so she can sincerely and generously offer to chip in for her portion— while fully knowing, of course, that he’s gonna turn her down.
Momo and the girls are going shopping? Ochako’s got this one down to a science. All she needs to do is not manage to find anything for herself. If Mina or Momo are the ones to pick out the pair of shoes or the cute little sweater, who is she to deny when they insist she try it on? Of course she politely turns them down once she sees the tag, but if Momo wants to call it an early birthday present, what kind of friend would she be to continue to refuse after that?
And, listen. It’s not like she’s just racking up the bills. She’s always careful to keep an eye on the prices and not accept anything that crosses the line into too much. She’d never take advantage of her friends, of course not.
But if her friends want to treat her, wouldn’t it be downright mean and awful to deprive them of the opportunity and turn them down?
Just to be safe though, she’s started keeping a tally on her phone.
One day she’s gonna be rich and famous, with so much disposable income she won’t even know what to do with it all. And when that day comes, her friends will never have to pay for her, or even for themselves, ever again.
There is one exception to her tally rule, though, one friend above all that she knows she ain’t never gonna pay back.
Todoroki.
With his father’s credit card in hand and a petty need to wrack up the bill, going off-grounds with Todoroki is not only sure to be a treat, it’s practically her civic duty to help a brother out.
The key factor there is to finagle an invitation without being too obvious about it, but that’s always a simple matter. The more the merrier where Todoroki’s credit card is concerned, all she ever needs to do is be present in the room when they’re getting ready to leave, and she’s in!
Ochako has gone to see movies she’d had little to no interest in—with a large soda and popcorn to tide her over, no less. She’s gone to his favorite soba place, much as she’s not the hugest fan of soba. Food is food, though, and nothing beats her favorite kind, which is free. Hell, she’s even gotten to go bowling thanks to him!
Today the group has decided to take a long train ride to the mountains and go on a hike picnic. Ochako is only a little ashamed to admit she uses her quirk to make the trek a little easier on herself, because what the heck kind of enjoyment is this?
But the view when they reach the top is breathtakingly worth it, and most of her friends immediately settle down onto the picnic blanket Momo had brought along.
Ochako is decidedly less winded than the rest of them, considering she’d cheated with her quirk, so she walks over to help Todoroki with unpacking the spread of dishes he had ordered.
“Wow, this all looks so good, Todoroki, thanks!” she says with an excited grin.
Todoroki gives her that small lip quirk thing that they’ve all come to learn is his own version of a smile. “Of course, Uraraka. You know we all enjoy treating you.”
And Ochako is struck suddenly by the thought that maybe they knew, maybe all along they knew, and yet they’d continued to offer even over her token protests because the desire to give her things was real.
Maybe the real gift her friends treat her to is something far more priceless than money could ever hope to buy.
It’s the pleasure of their company and their honest-to-god friendship.