What the hell just happened?
Ochako stared at the empty space in her living room where her blonde, bubbly and slightly psychotic girlfriend once stood. The carpet still indented with her slipper prints, the soft pink rug holding the dip of their previous argument. They'd fought before. Bickered. Snapped. Rowed even. But nothing to this extent where Himiko had walked off. Still in her slippers. She grabbed the keys from the bowel on the table by the door, snatched them with such force it fell with a thundering clunk, before ripping the pale grey door from the wall and walking out. Her steps so heavy that each stomp echoes down the stone steps. Echoed in Ochako's ears. Still so stunned, she hadn't even closed the gaping frame yet. The wind gusted in, rustling her hair and chilling her arms...yet all she could so was stare at the emptiness.
Hours (that were actually minutes) passed before Ochako Uraraka dragged her feet to the door and shut it, slowly gripping the handle to allow the cool metal to seep into her fingers. It sank into her bones as she closed the door. The act felt wrong. The moment the latch shut and that tiny clink rung through the air, she felt as if this was a metaphor or prediction or symbol of her relationship closing. Ending. Like shutting off any way for the blond love of her life could waltz back in and claim it was all a mistake.
But was it?
Uravity had long nights and confidential missions before. She'd come home exhausted from the day with bruises on every limb, blooms of purple and brown bleeding into older yellowey-green. Sometimes a busted lip or cracked rib or broken arm. But no matter how battered she was as she slipped into her house late into the night there would be a fanged smile waiting for her. A cup of her favourite tea in her hands as her girlfriend gently washed the days mucks from her face and arms and legs, eagerly ready for cuddles once she was dry. On especially gruelling nights it seemed the two were connected and the bunned-blonde would lick the dried blood from her face and allow the pain to fade into euphoric pleasure. It happened so often with Uravity's rise in rank, the joyous reunion became a blissful routine. And every night would end with her face in her loves neck, smelling the citrus and blossom perfume that lingered. Feeling each exhale on the crown of her head before falling into a slumber so restful she was refreshed the next day to do it all again.
What THE HELL just happened? The thought persisted.
Even to begin with, their relation ship had never been this...complicated.
Ochako was assigned to watch over Himiko Toga, the notorious knife-wielding league member as she awaited trial. Mr. Compress had managed to brake out of prison. Through means no one knew. The cell held the man one night and by morning, it didn't. After such incident a hero was made to live in a safe-house with each league member. No windows. One door. All shackles. Toga had developed a soft spot for the brunette hero and the Hero Commission took note of that, ordering such hero to be her guardian. Or Keeper as Toga referred to it. She was instructed to watch the villain 24/7, they had to eat together, pee together, exercise together, everything but sleep. No, for sleep they were to be sedated that cuffed to the iron bedframe. And no less than 7 hours of sleep, 'it reduces violent tendencies if they are well rested' was the excuse. So for weeks on end Uraraka and Toga were housemates. Wednesdays and Thursdays were lawyer visits for 4 hours and on Fridays the blond was permitted to leave the residence with her hero guardian to explore the expansive meadow that flanked the property. That privilege, however, could be revoked at Uraraka's whim. Rain. Bad behaviour. Admitted feelings.
It seemed over a span of 2 months Toga had caught feelings for her Keeper. She'd had crushes, crushes on such person even, but nothing like this. It made her... soft. The thirst for blood was quenched when watching those fluffy cheeks blush, the constant need to stab was eliminated when those eyes would light up when telling a story, the rage that settled in her was overrun by something much brighter. And Himiko wasn't scared for once. She'd always felt like her blood was permanently rushing in tandem with her wilding thrumming heart and jittering energy. Then it all started to slow when Uravity of all people painted her nails as she gossiped about how much she disliked Deku in that moment for concocting this buddy-buddy plan. She didn't train all those years and push through the ranks to be stuck babysitting.
It seemed over the span of the same 2 months, Uraraka had also caught feelings but those flustered moments were clouded by fear. Because a hero couldn't fall for a villain. Let alone one she was supposed to remain objective on for the safety of Japan. And when she discovered her fluttering feelings were reciprocated it sent her fear into hyperdrive. She shut the villain out. Can't be in love if you don't pay attention to them. Ochako failed at her plan though. As if she was a magnet pulling towards Himiko's every move, she couldn't not give her attention to the blond. Each subtle giggle, each flicker of the eyes, each blooming of the cheeks, each shuffle closer towards her, each smile, and she began to crave.
Now here Ochako was, cursing her younger self because the hero was positive she had just lost the most important thing in her life and she had wasted the start trying to ignore it. Should she run after her? Should she let out an alert? Should she do nothing and wait?
It was all so confusing. The frustration had led to Oachako burring her hands within her hair, tugging at the routes as if the act of ripping each follicle would allow for a thought to grow in its place. She grit her teeth together and willed her vocal chords not to scream because if she let even an inch of emotion take hold, then she'd cry. But all that held tension bubbled over anyway and caused her vision to blur, salty tracks painted her cheeks as it all crashed. The moment came washing over her. She didn't need an epiphany to know what she had done messed it all up.
Uravity had returned from her usual hard day. She took the steps. Kissed her giddy girlfriend, took the piping hot tea and drank it as she filled the tub, lowered her self in and waited for the blond beauty to join. The girl didn't though. Ochako could smell delicious sweet curry fumes permeating the air and assumed her company was making dinner, she dried then exited the ensuit to see a comfy gold pyjama's splayed on the bed, the silk embroidered with sparkling stars and a goofy sleepy koala cozied on a moon on the left breast pocket. She dressed easily, feeling a slight weight around the pocket, but then again, expansive embroidery was kind of heavy. Ochako left the bedroom and walked the kitchen following a path of pink rose petals? Fairy lights adorned the hallway and each room in the house, bathing it all in an amber glow. As she approached the archway to the living room, a big arrangement of pink roses and yellow tulips and baby's breath stood proudly before her. beyond that point, Himiko stood in matching Pyjamas. Her's, however, were pink with sparkling stars and had a matching koala snoozing on a sun. Behind her, on the wall, were large hot pink balloons that read "Marry Me?" and polaroids of every stage in their relationship stuck around. Their first date in the meadow behind the safehouse, Ochako's apology for being negligent and admitting she was well too inlove with her villain assignment. The Hero Gala this year where they announced their relationship (simultaneously Uravity's public coming out). Himiko's birthday last year when the two took a trip to Shuzenji- since Toga couldn't leave the country- and spent a week in the hot springs. The whole display left the hero speechless.
"Himi, this....you.....ha....what is that?" Ochako asked incredulously.
"A proposal" Himiko replied with a giggle. She seemed so carefree, smiling like that with her hands behind her back. But her girlfriend could see the tenseness in her cheeks, the fiddle of her fingers, the back and forth of her eyes between the floor and Uararaka. " 'Chako-" a strained cough, "- you know I love you, with all that I am, and all that I hope to be. I was never the best person to begin with yet you make me want to be better,"
"Himi you already-"
"Please shut up." Toga interupted, "Sorry. I just, I just had a speech prepared and now you're here, WE are here, I'm trying to remember it all. It's kinda hard to remember anything when you look so pretty," she chortled, the smile ever present as her hand pushed the golden locks behind her ear. "OK! Again!" It was Ochako's turn to giggle.
"Okay..." the brunette encouraged as her excitement rose from a tingle in her toes to electricity in her veins.
"I love you, with all that I am, and all that I hope to be. A person like you only ever exists once in a blue moon and the fact that this incredibly strong, talented, beautiful, kind and understanding woman would even consider to tolerate me is mind blowing. Even when I couldn't deal with who I was, you could, and it drove me to be a better person. Every day I strive to be a better person so you can be proud to stand with me by your side. Every minute with you is a joy and I want to be greedy and have more of them. So..." Himiko didn't get down on one knee, but rather stepped towards gargantuan flower bouquet to become toe-to-toe with her beloved and reach into the pocket of Ochako's pyjamas.
The ring was rose gold and leafy, the metal spiralling in a vine-like pattern with small diamonds embedded in the leaves complementing the round pink ruby in the centre. Even with this glittering ring in the hands of her girlfriend, all Ochako could see was Himiko's face, her eyes shining as she said "Can I be your wife?" Then the blonde laughed, "Wait, no!" Toga plopped the ring back into Ochako's pocket and scooted back, redoing her steps and, again, pulling the ring out, presenting it to Ochako, toe-to-toe, with a beaming smile.
"Will you marry me?"
Though she was crying, Ochako nodded furiously and leaned her forehead on the other woman's as the ring slipped on her finger.
No words were exchanged as the hero leaned in and smashed their lips together, snaking her hand's around Himiko's waist and picker up, spinning her around with joyous laughter. Both began to float but neither seemed to care as they kissed passionately. Himiko's giggles rang out at the realisation, hugging her fiancé and whispering "I love you" before kissing her again with just as much fervour. The two stayed in the air, basking in the moment and each other till a burning scent filtered through Himiko's nose.
"Shit! The curry! Oh My God! 'Chako put us down before I burn down the house!"
"You tried to cook?" The other woman questioned as they gently lowered to the ground, a brow lifted.
"Yes I did, coconut chicken curry, as you like but I think I'm burning it," the blond ranted as she speedily walked to the kitchen with her fiancé hot on her heels, laughing all the way.
"Don't laugh at me!" Himiko complained, albeit beaming, pivoting on her heals and not even making it to the kitchen entryway. "I wanted this all to be perfect!"
"It is," Ochako whispered as she pulled the woman in for another kiss and a hug. Feeling roughness on the back of her fiancé's shirt, she spun her to see the words 'wifey' etched in gold along the shoulder blades. "Wifey?"
"Yeah. Did you not see yours? It also says wifey but in pink....cos your gonna be my wife!" The blond was bouncing on her balls of her feet and clapping her hands, spinning back around to show her elated expression as the knowledge Ochako Uararaka, the gravity hero: Uravity, the love of her life, was going to be her wife!
Ochako matched her expression, "Yeah I am! You're about to become Himiko Uraraka," she said, dragging her hands along the air for emphasis as if the letters would appear in lights between her palms.
"You mean you'll be Ochako Toga," the blonde added.
Ochako denied such a thing for how could the hero 'Uravity' be 'Uravity' if she wasn't 'Uraraka', to which Himiko stated that no cared and she could still be an 'amazing hero with a badass name' while also a 'Toga'. "But what if I don't want to be a Toga? I like being Uraraka, it's my parents' name." She said, not backing down. But Himiko stood on the same principle, she wanted to rebrand her name and remove the hardship from her 'Toga' memories and make them anew. "People will respect the Toga name more if a hero has it. Society hated me and you made them realise I was just a hurting human. But I don't hurt anymore...I don't want my name to either-", "Then change it to Uraraka." Himiko dropped her puzzled smile and stared at her fiancé with creeping-in pain as she said, "Do you not want to take my name?" and without even thinking Ochako stated, "no"... and it all went silent.
This argument was pointless and they'd just got engaged, neither wanted to taint the memory with harsh words and angry feelings.
"Why?"
"I just... can we not? I want to celebrate."
"I want to know why?" Toga repeated.
"'Cause I don't... a-and the hero stuff,"
"I know you've fought to be taken seriously, I definitely didn't make that easier. What hero dates a villain? But you've always said you didn't care, do you?"
"What?"
"Do you care? That I'm a villain?" Toga emphasised by gesturing to herself with pained eyes.
"No of course not-"
"Then why?"
"Why don't you want to be an Uraraka?" Uraraka rebuttled.
"I told you, rebrand my name and make it something special."
"You can be special as an Uraraka," she interjected quickly.
"You can be a hero as a Toga," she responded quicker.
"Well I don't want to,"
"'Cause you're ashamed of it," that wasn't a question.
"I never said that,"
"You though it."
"I wouldn't have said yes if that were true," Uraraka huffed as she flashed her ring.
"You didn't say yes."
Toga was being petty. Purposefully. And that pissed Uraraka off.
"I nodded. I want to marry you. I want to be your wife."
"But you don't want to be a Toga."
"No, but that's irrelevant-"
"IT'S NOT," Toga raised her voice
"WHY'S IT IMPORTANT?" Uraraka matched the volume
"Pride? Love? Because I want you to be my WIFE!
"BUT YOUR WIFE DOESN'T WANT TO BE A TOGA!"
"YEAH, AND SHE WONT TELL ME WHY!"
"MAYBE BECAUSE SHE'S PROTECTING YOU'RE FEELINGS-"
"FROM WHAT? THE BOOGIEMAN!"
"FROM THE FACT BEING A TOGA-"
"BEING A TOGA WHAT?" Toga interrupted. And it was the push that blew Uraraka over'
"IT'S A VILLIAN'S NAME!"
Then silence. Deafening silence after so much screaming. Uraraka regretted it the moment after she said it, when she watched her fiancé's face fall. Then she looked at the ceiling with tears gathering in her waterline, tongue swiping over fangs, a nervous tic, and the silence remained. She looked back at Uararaka and waited with increasing breaths, tears pouring down her face and the longer she didn't say anything the more Toga's eyes widened in horror.
Then she hurried to the front door, snagged her keys and left. Not looking back to even close the door. And Ochako Uraraka knew she had fucked it up. As she turned from the door to assume a hopeless position on the couch, a knock at the door sounded. Whipping at the speed of light, she pivoted and wrenched the door open to see sparkling eyes...and freckles and green curls.
Midoriya Izuku's elated smile faded as he realised tear marks and anguish painted his friend's face rather than joy. The cake in his hand's that read 'congratulations' only caused Uraraka to cry harder and head back to her previous plan, sit sadly on the couch. It was clear her best friend was in on it and wasn't expecting to be faced with such a wreck.
He didn't say a word as he walked in, putting the cake on the now clear door-side table, and joined Ochako on the couch. He wrapped his muscled arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his broad chest, allowing her to cry harder and regret further. Her soothed her by stroking her hair, whispering 'it's okay' and gently rocking them till the brunette was calm enough to speek and explain what the hell he just walked into.
"I messed up Izuku,"
"Okay...elaborate please," his voice was hesitant but Midoriya knew couldn't help if he didn't know what went on. Could it be to do with the burned smell in the air?
With a hiccup and averting her eyes, Ochako explained the whole night. The beautiful proposal, her excitement, the useless stupid argument and how she'd destroyed it all. "Izuku you should have seen her face! It's like she gave me her heart and I did worse that stomp on it, I threw it at the wall, used it as a target practice then torch it while I made her watch. How-How could I- How could," and Uraraka began crying again not able to get her words out.
"She took her keys?"
"Mhmm,"
"Which means she plans to come back," Midoriya said while holding her close. And he was right. Why would have Toga taken her keys if she wasn't planning on returning. "You're right, you did screw this up pretty bad and you did hurt her feelings. But you guys are going to be fine, easy solution is you both keep your family names and this all blows over. Or you have a calm discussion whem emotions aren't running high. It'll all being ok Ochako."
"How do you know?"
"Because before you got together, you tried to kill eachother...many times."
Ochako nodded and wiped her tears. She stood up with a determined sigh and walked to the door, taking off her slippers and replacing them with her running shoes. "What are you doing?" asked her green-haired friend, "Going to get back my wife, please turn the stove off," she replied, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Loving Himiko was the easiest thing in the world. And as Izuku had listened to her ramble about her fuck up, she realised she needed to fix it...even if that meant becoming a Toga. Because what was worse than hurting Himiko was Ochako not being their to comfort her. Tentatively, she opened the front door and jogged down the stone steps.
The night was breezy and starless, only street lamps illuminated the path with an artificial light. And Ochako began to sprint...
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Himiko stood shocked she watched her fiancé run down the steps and in the opposite direction of where she was, her head whipping frantically from left to right as she searched for something. Her breath plumed infront of her as she whispered the woman's name. She was returning from her furious walk, still angry but with a clear enough head to know the whole situation was ridiculous. She never walked out of a fight...although Ochako never called her a villain but she wasn't calling her a villain, she was saying the person the world saw was a villain and they called that villain Toga and she was so hooked on that word. Why did it matter? Why did it matter that Ochako didn't want to be a Toga? Why did it matter that they shared a family name, families didn't always share a name. Toga wanted to scream at her stupidity, at both their stupidity. But all she managed was a hoarse wheeze of her lover's name as she watched her run away.
"Ochako," She repeated weakly forcing her legs to drag after her.
"Ochako." She said again, her voice now holding a purpose. The purpose to reunite them. The purpose to get her wife back.
"Ochako!" She didn't say but shouted. But the other woman was too far away. Damn her and that hero training!
"OCHAKO!" Himiko screamed as she willed her legs to run after the woman despite their tiredness from bitterly stomping around the street. But it worked. The brunette looked behind her with amazement and wasted no time running to the woman she loved, solace on her face only when they collided. Like two atoms smashing together, they burst into tears and love and regret and relief. The two clung to each other, shivering, and basked in the reunion. Being apart for even a second felt like holding a breath in a room full of smoke, knowing you would die from the inhalation, the world distorted from its murky grey colour as it filled higher and higher through the air, one to the other like oxygen they so desperately needed.
"Himi I'm so so sorry! I didn't mean any of it, I- I don't even know why I said it. I love you and I missed you and I'll take your name if you'll still have me, Oh God! You still want to marry me right? Please Himi, now that I know it's an option I don't ever want to to back I just-" Toga cut off Ochako's rambling with a kiss, so deep and passionate it conveyed all the words neither of them could articulate. It was an apology and forgiveness all in one. The two stood in the street, in their matching pyjama's, kissing like the smoke had finally cleared and they needed to fill their lungs with each other.
No words were exchanged as they parted and swiftly shuffled back to the house, wishing to be rid of the cold and the probable on-lookers roused form their sleep by Himiko's calling. They entered to the smell of rice and omlette as Deku appeared with two plated and a knowing smile. He placed them on the coffee table before quietly saying his congratulations and farewells, slipping out as the hero and her villain sat happily with their plates and ate in silence. A silence both of them hated.
"You don't have to," Himiko finally said.
"What?"
"You don't have to take my name. I'm still angry at you for...all that, but I won't force you to become something you don't want to be."
"I want to be your wife,"
"and I want to be your wife."
END.