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Ochako is nervous. To the point where shes locked herself in her room, is laying on her bed in a full ceremonial gown, and is on the verge of crying.
Today was supposed to be special. It is special. But all she can think about is how much she does not want this.
She's never wanted this.
Ochako let's out a long, drawn out sigh. Even that simply reminds her that something as simple as a sigh could get her reprimanded. She's supposed to be proper, she's supposed to be perfect, but she can't be. She never could be.
A knock on her doors makes her silent instantly, and the voice of one of her guards filters through the bottom of the door. "Excuse me, miss? Everyone is ready, and all waiting for you. Are you alright?" His voice tilts up at the end, edging on genuine concern, but she knows it's fake, no matter how much she would like if it wasn't.
"Yes," she calls out in response, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of her bed. "I'll be right out, and I apologize for keeping everyone waiting."
Ochako always has to be polite, so much so it's simply ingrained itself in her normal speech. She hears footsteps going away from her room outside.
Steeling herself to go make one of the most important decisions of her life, Ochako gets up and leaves the room. She walks with haste, but not too fast that it's loud or seen as rude. Within a minute or so, Ochako reaches the dining hall.
She hesitates just a second outside of it, but pushes through. She knocks kindly, twice, before walking inside.
Ochako instantly takes in all of the people sitting at the table. The edge seat, the second one of the far right of the room, is open for her to take. She sits down at her spot quickly, keeping herself as controlled as possible. That's all anyone wants, isn't it? Something easily tamed, something easily given and sold. Something, not someone.
Opposite of her is her father, the current King of their kingdom, and sitting next to him is her mother, the Queen. Both look at her as if she pleased them, and given how perfect she's been acting, she likely did please them.
The rest of the people at the table are princes from kingdoms all across the continent. There's 8 in total, and by the end of this meal, she either needs to pick one, or choose two or three to continue to engage with, until she can choose one.
They all start eating.
The sound of utensils hitting plates and food is loud in the echoey dining room, but quiets down once Ochako gets used to it. She also begins to eat, but keeps careful to eat in small bites, and to never eat her whole plate. After all, she'd been overeating them, and no princess is allowed to overeat. Its considered extremely unbecoming of a future Queen.
Ochako knows a few of the princes, she realizes once she gets a better look at them. There hasn't been introductions yet--Ochako doesn't know if they will have introductions--and she hasn't spoken to any yet, that typically happens after everyone eats, but by look alone she remembers a couple. Some, she'd known as a younger princess, still a child, still oblivious, who thought meeting new people was fun and not for any other purposes. Recently, she has also met a particular prince, one who's 2 seats away from her on her left side. She doesn't remember his name, but the kingdom crest on his suit had her recall meeting him briefly.
Throughout the entire time they all eat, Ochako is stealing glances at the nearby princes, since the ones closest to her mother and father are too far for her to see. None have exactly caught her eye--none would, not really. She's never even interested in princes, or at least she can't ever remember having that attraction.
After perhaps a half hour of very little conversation and a very extravagant meal, everyone finishes eating. Its time for them all to talk, Ochako supposes. She wasn't exactly told what would happen during this process, just that she would have time to get to know each prince individually and in a group. Its quite a long and annoying process, especially with 8 people to meet individually, but it's 'necessary,' as her parents have told her.
Ochako is directed to sit in one of her castles lounge rooms, a smaller one with only one opening to the castle and a door to one of the gardens. She will get however long she likes with each prince, and once she's done she asks to meet the next one. In her mind, this is a bit rude, to just suddenly tell someone to leave and bring the next person. Oh well, she's never understood Royal traditions.
She's sitting calmly at the large couch in the middle of the room, hands clasped in her lap, when the first prince walks in. He politely knocks twice then joins her, sitting across from her on an adjacent couch.
He looks nervous, is the first thing Ochako notices. His smile is slightly lopsided, and his eyes are dartinf everyone, telltale signs of being uncomfortable. He has dark green hair thats very curly, and well cared for. His eyes are a brighter green. He also has freckles. All in all, Ochako feels like hes pretty, but... She doesn't feel anything for him. Yet. Truthfully she'll never feel anything romantic for him, nor any man. But it's just a phase, and she'll find a husband here. She has to.
"Hello," Ochako greets, since she senses the boy will be too caught up in his head to begin the conversation. She smiles kindly, and continues. "You seem nervous. That's ok, I am too. Uh..."
Ochako forgot that she doesn't like talking to people, mostly. People seem to find her observations rude when she says them aloud, but she hopes the green-haired boy in front of her won't. "Well, you already know that my name is Uraraka. Whats your name?"
The boy takes a deep breath, and beams at her. "Sorry, I am a bit nervous, haha... My name's Midoriya, I'm from the Kingdom of Might."
The names of kingdoms were quite odd to Ochako, since it was based entirely on the original King and Queen pair, and their magic type. Magic used to exist in this world, but slowly dried out as people used it for the wrong reasons. When magic was created as a being of good. It was a gift, and people drove it out. Ochako believed that it was horrible what happened to magic, and has personally seen its remaining holders as beings far better than the human race.
Respectfully, Ochako reached out and shook Midoriya's hand. He didn't seem like a bad person, he was definitely nice. She will keep him in her mind for her choices.
"Its nice to meet you, Midoriya."
"You too!" He replied happily. It was a contrast to Ochako's blankness, and was slightly contagious. Ochako began to smile a bit more genuinely.
"So, why did you come to meet me?" This was a question Ochako would ask to everyone. She was simply genuinely curious as to why, why would someone choose to meet a potential future partner? Wouldn't it be someone one would rather happen naturally?
Midoriya rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well, to be completely honest, I'm nearing the age where I need to find someone to marry, and my parents are getting pretty old. I don't want them to be unable to enjoy their lives beyond ruling together."
"That's... Really sweet, actually. I'm sure they appreciate what your doing," She replies. "This is somewhat of a completely different subject, I apologize, but I'd like to get to know you, since we're here. What are some things you enjoy doing?"
The boys eyes lit up, and he began talking about his love for learning, analyzing, and fighting. He seems to have a particular respect for knights and all those who do a public service, and views every life as valued. He seems kind.
So why cant Ochako get herself to like him?
It would be so simple. It would be so simple to just tell her parents that she chooses this boy, this kind, compassionate, good man.
But deep down she doesn't want to choose any of the princes. And it's slowly becoming less, much less 'deep down', and more conscious, more known.
She doesn't want any of these princes. Or any prince in the entire world, for that matter.
After a subsequent amount of time conversing--mostly listening to the boy ramble about his interests, which Ochako didn't entirely hate hearing about--with Midoriya, she decided it was time to move on to the next person. All in all, it took her maybe 15 minutes to talk to him, so she presumes that it'll take maybe two hours to get through everyone. Not as bad as she thought.
"This has been a nice chat, Midoriya, but due to time reasons, I'm going to see to the next prince, if that's alright with you?" Ochako asks, though she knew he wouldn't refute--that would be incredibly rude.
He smiles at her oncemore, "That's okay! I hope you enjoy the next one, and I'm hoping to see you again, Uraraka!" He says before standing and leaving the room swiftly.
Maybe she'll go out to the garden for the next chat, just to get some fresh air. If she gets caught not paying attention, she can blame it on staring at a pretty flower or something like that. No one would question that, not without sounding quite odd.
Ochako is pretty spaced out, which is why she only notices the next prince arrived by the way she felt a hand interlocking with her own.
She jolts, and instinctively pulls her hand back, aghast at the audacity of whoever that was. Randomly grabbing a princesses hand, and even interlocking fingers with them? Without them knowing? Whoever this prince is, they have no manners, that's for sure.
"Excuse me, but that was quite discourteous-" Ochako cuts herself off by finally looking at the prince in front of her.
Mainly because, in front of her, there's a prince with short, blonde hair, piercing yellow eyes, and a smirk on his face that's so familiar, Ochako could recognize the person based on those fangs alone.
"Himiko?!"
The prince--princess, really--infront of her lets out a laugh, and her form changes from looking like a prince to looking, very distinctly, like a princess. Like the princess that she is.
Ochako launches herself at the girl, who catches her with an oof, but wraps her arms around Ochako's middle almost instantly.
"Hi Ochako," she mumbles, head nuzzled in the mentioned girls neck.
They stay in that embrace for several moments before Ochako pulls back, Himiko easily letting go. Ochako grabs her hand, interlocking it like the 'prince' had done just a minute or so ago, and pulls her to the larger couch, and falls back onto her.
Ochako lays her chin on the girls shoulder, as Himiko cards through her hair.
Taking a deep breath in of her girlfriends scent, Ochako is finally happy for the first time today.
"How'd you even get in here...?" Ochako mumbles, eyes closed and thoroughly relaxed as her girlfriend plays with her hair.
"Well, I'm still technically a prince."
Ochako hums in confusion, so the other girl explains.
"So, when I ran away, my parents never actually told the public that I ran. They told 'em I was taking a long break from publicity to focus on my studies and learning about being a future King, which, they bought for some reason. Basically just means I showed up here and they let me in, 'cause they remembered I was a known, respected prince."
Slightly surprised, but not enough to dislodge herself, Ochako simply goes quiet as she processes the knowledge.
Himiko followed that up with, "But hey, it helped me get here, so it's alright." Since she could apparently tell that Ochako wasn't all that satisfied with what her parents did.
"Yeah, yeah it did." Ochako said sleepily--damn, when had she gotten so tired?
Himiko laughed, and Ochako felt it through her entire body, given how close they were. "Don't go falling asleep on me now, you still have other princes to interview."
Yesterday, Ochako had been ranting to Himiko about today specifically, and called it an interview, since the princes who came were basically being assessed for a position, just like a job interview.
It caused Ochako to smile a bit. Then, she remembered, "Actually, I can end it if I meet someone I wanna pick. Or I can just spend like, an hour with you. No one checks during this, no one would know~"
"Alright, alright," Himiko relented easily. She kissed the top of Ochako's head gently, "But let's go to the garden, yeah? I wanna get some fresh air."
Ochako pouted slightly as she was forced to move from her comfortable position, but didn't actually feel sad. She took Himikos hand in her own, and they went to the garden, the glass door to the outdoors opening and closing shut behind them.
They found a quiet place outside, surrounded by bushes and flowers, and nearby a pond that gave them ambient water sounds from the mini waterfall inside it.
"What do you wanna do?" Himiko asked, and Ochako thought for all of one second, before deciding.
"Mmm, I wanna cuddle." She stated and promptly fell on top of Himiko, who could not catch the brunette this time, and fell to the soft grass laughing. Ochako smirked, eyes closed, as she laid across the girls torso. "You're so comfortableeeee..."
Himiko huffed out another laugh, and pushed the girl off, but in a way so that she lands right next to the fanged girl. Ochako opened her eyes, but didn't look up at the sky like Himiko did, oh no, she looked at her beautiful girlfriend, who was gorgeous, even compared to the heavens above.
The aforementioned girl noticed Ochako had turned her head to the side, and had been staring at her. She turned her whole body towards Ochako, and laced their hands together oncemore.
"I missed you." Himiko admitted, and Ochako fully turned to her side as well to be more comfortable.
"I literally saw you yesterday?"
"Exactly! Yesterday! That's not today!"
"...I'm literally with you right now??"
Himiko wistfully sighed, and looked at Ochako lovingly, "I know~"
Ochako used their clasped hands as leverage to pull the girl closer, and let go to use both hands to wrap around the girls waist. Their faces were almost touching, it wasn't like the two had never kissed before, but Himiko was caught off guard and started blushing like crazy.
The brunette giggled, and Himiko groaned, placing her head on the other girls shoulder. "You just love seeing me all flustered, don't you? Evil..." She mutters the last part, but Ochako easily hears it.
"Awhh, yeah, I do like seeing you all blushy. Its adorable, you know that?" Ochako replied, grinning like a maniac.
Himiko just groaned again.
After some minutes of just being alongside each other, wrapped in the warm embrace provided solely by one another, Himiko lifted her head and stared at Ochako's face. Her eyes were closed, and she looked so peaceful. Himiko couldn't help but look.
Seemingly feeling that she was being stared at, Ochako opened her eyes, and felt a warmth spread through her face at their closeness. She initiated last time, and was mentally prepared. Now, she wasn't, and her very obvious flush was giving her away.
Something established in their relationship was that you ask for things like this, so Himiko, almost fully intranced by her girlfriend, did ask, "can I kiss you?"
Ochako nodded slightly, and pulled the girl just ever so closer, until their lips met. They didn't kiss often, but when they did, Ochako tried to remember every detail about it. How her hands were around Himikos waist, the feel of the grass brushing against both of their cheeks, the warmth that came from Himiko--in multiple ways.
Himikos heart pounded in her chest, as it has every time she's kissed Ochako. Something about it, the feel of them really, truly being together, it made something in her feel complete.
They both pulled away after several moments, Himiko breathing ever so slightly quicker and Ochako taking a deep breath afterwards. They stayed like that, smiling at each other like lovesick teenagers--which they were--for a bit.
It was such a happy time for Ochako that she didn't even care about how much time was passing. It could've been 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, but it was with Himiko, so she didn't know, and didn't care. She was allowed to stay with each 'prince' for however long she wanted to, after all. Himiko was the only prince that she wanted to stay with for longer than strictly necessary.
"What if we get married?" Ochako blurted out before she realized she was talking.
Himiko blinked a few times, before smirking. "Aw, you want us to get married? A bit soon, ain't it?" She says, as if it hasn't been almost 2 years since they started dating.
Ochako took a moment to collect her thoughts, before realizing that, what if they got married?
"I mean..." She mumbled, "it's possible. I can always just say that I decided on you to marry, they have no reason to not allow that."
It took a second before Himiko realizes that Ochako was being serious. "Wait wait wait, did you just propose to me?" She asks in surprise and joy. Honestly, she never thought they could get married, but...
"Um..." Ochako blushes furiously as she realized what she'd truly just asked. "Only if you want to! And, uh, I know that you'd need to pretend to be a guy, but... I mean... If you want...?" She stutters out, not meeting Himikos gaze.
Neither spoke for some moments, and Ochako was about to start apologizing and saying they didn't need to get married, that she didn't mean to make Himiko uncomfortable, but-
"Lets do it."
"Ididntmeantomakeyouuncomfo-" Ochako rapidly said, and her expression quickly went from apologetic to confused, "wait, what?"
Himiko looked longingly into Ochako's eyes--even though it might be weird to say that, there's no other way to describe that stare. "Lets get married. I mean, if you want to. Though, you asked, so..." She looked so innocent and cute that Ochako momentarily floundered for words.
Instead of speaking, Ochako just giggled. That turned into a full laugh, and Himiko was starting to get concerned and confused as to why her girlfriend was acting like a drunk person.
Ochako plops her head onto Himikos shoulder, still shaking with laughter, but slowly stops.
"We're gonna get married, Himiko." She finally says, voice filled with joy. Pure joy.
Before Himiko can respond to that, Ochako suddenly pops her head back up, "wait, wait, no, wait, hold up-"
The brunette then sits up, and grabs Himiko to sit with her. They stand up together, and Ochako let's go of the blonde girl. Then, she rushes to a nearby flower patch.
She grabs a vibrantly red orchid, only one, and slowly walks back to Himiko, who was standing confused where she left the girl. A look of surprise, then understanding, crosses her face.
Ochako walks up to her, holding the orchid in both hands, and once she's a foot or two away from the fanged girl, she takes a deep breath, and kneels down on one knee.
With the largest smile she could have, Ochako looks up at Himiko, holds out the bright red orchid towards her, and asks a question neither really thought they could ever ask each other.
"Himiko, we met three years ago, and since then, my life has been everything I dreamed it would be. Ever since we got together, and I was able to call you mine, life somehow got even better. I love you, with all of my heart, mind, blood, and body. I never thought I'd be able to ask this question, but I'm so, so happy that I can." Ochako takes a moment to catch her breath, and finally, "Toga Himiko, will you marry me?"
The girl in front of her had tears in her eyes and a giant, dopey grin on her face, as she takes the orchid from Ochako's hand, lifts the other girl up from her kneeling position, and nods.
"Yeah," she breathes out, "Yes. Yes, I don't think I could ever say no."
"Can I?" Ochako checks, and Himiko, ever the perceptive one, nods again.
Ochako pulls the girl closer, and kisses her again. Himiko wraps her arms around Ochako's neck, one still holding the orchid, and Ochako puts one hand around the other girls middle, her other hand going to Himikos head to push her just a tiny bit closer.
Ochako pulls away after a few moments, but her smile didn't lose any of its brightness. Himiko still had a few tears in her eyes, but Ochako wiped them away for her. It only made the girl chuckle slightly, which sounded like she'd been holding back tears.
"You can cry," Ochako murmurs to the girl, who allows herself to be extra vulnerable, and starts wholeheartedly crying. Its not sad crying, not angry or overwhelmed or any other emotion. Its pure bliss, happiness that overloaded her so much that she couldn't help but cry. Himiko doesn't lose her smile as she cries, it simply gets hidden as she stuffs her face into Ochako's neck area.
Ochako, in turn, rubs the girls back, humming a small tune that she'd learned from Himiko herself.
Once the tears had run their course, the blonde girls crying stifled out into sniffles. She stayed out in her spot, using Ochako's neck crevice as a pillow, basically. Neither cared.
Eventually, Himiko lifted her head, and Ochako kissed her forehead. "Better?"
Instead of speaking, the fanged girl hummed. It was enough for Ochako to know that she was good.
"I never thought we'd be able to get married.." Himiko admitted, just like Ochako had thought as well.
"Yeah, me neither. But... We're doing it." She smiles softly at the girl, who brightens marginally because of it. "And, haha, speaking of us getting married, we should probably head back and tell them that we are?" Ochako doesn't want to rush, but, she is kind of on a schedule. The princes all need to be out of the castle by nightfall, and the sun is beginning to get close enough to the horizon that she's starting to worry.
Himiko nods, giving Ochako a smile of her own, and wetly giggles, "Yeah, yeah.. We probably should do that."
"You ready though?"
"Mhm." Himiko takes a deep breath, "I'm good."
Ochakos face breaks out into a wide grin, and since she's already holding Himikos hand, simply starts running off, towards the door that leads to the room they were originally in. Himiko gets pulled from behind her, but giggles the whole way back.
At the door, Ochako pushes it open, and lets Himiko go in first, "Ladies first," she says.
Himiko rolls her eyes playfully, "One, your a lady too, two, were holding hands," she raises their connected hands, "we go at the same time."
Truth be told, they did go in together, mostly due to Himiko protesting against going first. Bickering over the most minor things, such a normal, dumb thing for teenagers to do, and they're going to be able to do for... Hell, the rest of their lives together. Himiko smiles a bit wider because of that thought.
Thankfully, Himiko remembered to change back into her prince form. Its really just her, but her space buns are switched for short, shaggy hair, and shes a few inches taller than Ochako.
They knock on the door, alerting the guard outside to open it--they made sure it was guarded so they could talk inside safely. The next prince was already lined up, surprisingly, and almost knocked straight into the two coming out of the room, since there was usually only the prince going out. The guard also looks a bit baffled, but quickly schools her expression.
Its a short walk from the lounge room they were using to the secondary hall that Ochakos father and mother were at, talking to the rest of the princes about various things. The door was left open for easy access, and Ochako knocked twice on the door to alert them of her presence.
Her mother and father quickly turned, and we're surprised to see her, and holding hands with one of princes nonetheless. Her father smiled, "You chose one? So soon?"
Ochako nodded immediately.
Her mother waved the two over, and they both went. The rest of the princes were allowed to leave early, and we're thanked for coming by her father.
Once the goodbyes were said, and everyone else left, Ochako, Himiko, and Ochako's parents all say down in the main living room--they had a lot of lounge rooms, and a few side living rooms.
Ochakos father looked pleased, and her mother looked grateful. Her father spoke first, "Im very happy that you found a good match here, they were all fine princes, but I see you've made your choice. I apologize, but remind me of your name?"
Himiko, just as versed on how to act in important conversations as Ochako is, gave a small smile, "My family name is Toga, and I'm from the Kingdom of Change."
The King hummed and nodded approvingly, and the Queen beside him also looked happy. "Well, if both of you accept, then we'll get you two arranged to marry soon."
Himiko looked to Ochako, "I accept."
Likewise, Ochako glanced at her future wife, "I also accept."
The Queen reached across the gap in couches separating the two pairs, and shook Himikos hand. "I'm sure you'll be a lovely addition to our family,"
The King added, "Yes, you'll be a good husband to my daughter."
Or a good wife, Ochako thought, grinning at Himiko.