Notes: I had two or three very serious ideas to write for this series once I was given the chance to revisit it - and instead I went the cracky, humor route. It's difficult to write humor from Shigaraki's POV and I'm not sure how I managed it, but oh well, I had fun writing how Ochako is fitting in with the League. This involves quite a time jump, all the way into her second year, but like I said before, I don't plan on this being linear or chronological. Also, oof, I have a massive headache.
Tomura had learned to expect a lot of random things when it came to this particular group in the League. Ever since they'd started to expand again, he found that the main core of them tightened together further. It was kind of like they were some weird, makeshift family. Had Kurogiri not been in jail, no doubt he would've been proud of them. When they got him out, he would show him how much they had all grown together. Once upon a time, their near-constant presence would've irritated him - didn't they know not to bother him? - but after they had gone through together, for the first time, he felt like he could trust people.
Is this what it feels like for Ochako?
The thought was errant, but once it popped into his head, he latched on it. He hadn't meant to think something like that. A lot of people have placed their trust in Ochako. She was a trustworthy girl with a smile and bright can-do attitude that drew people in. All that faith, all that trust… It was all false. The kids in her hero course didn't know the real her - they couldn't - and so any friends she did make were held at an arm's length no matter how warm and friendly she was with them.
It occurred to Tomura that he was perhaps closer or at the very least more honest with the people in his life. Even if he sometimes wanted to strangle Dabi sometimes or had to keep an eye on Toga if she was in a particularly stabby mood, he trusted them. They knew his goals, his desires, his hopes. They knew what pissed him off and what he did whenever he was feeling sour and down. Ochako's friends would only ever know half of her until the truth came out.
Were they even friends then? If Tomura thought about it long enough, it was kind of...sad. Lonely. It wasn't a life that someone like Ochako usually wanted. Then again, they'd never really talked about things like that. For as long as he could remember, even when it was just the two of them, their roles in Sensei's goals had been important to them. Tomura had his role here and she had her role out there. Those were the only paths they saw, the only ones meant for them, carved out carefully but with twists and turns only they could follow.
It never occurred to either one of them that they could do something different - be something different. This was what they were meant to be. They'd been raised their entire lives for this moment. They could not fail.
A lot about his role as the leader of the League of Villains meant that he was involved with the other villains. Back in the day, he'd kind of stuck to himself and many of the members didn't stick around to hang out, but not these guys. Oh no, these guys liked to hang around like they belonged here. It wasn't unusual for him to walk into the main room and find either Toga or Dabi sitting on the couch, the former drawing in a diary or the latter flicking through a magazine.
When he walked into the main room today, Tomura caught a glimpse of a person lounging on the couch. All he really noticed was that they were short and a girl before he busied himself. "Can't you find anywhere else to hang out besides here?"
"Nice to see you too."
Tomura jerked around so fast he was shocked he didn't get whiplash, his eyes almost bugging out of his head. It wasn't Toga reading on the couch but Ochako, who had a textbook in her hands and an assortment of notes all around her. She looked absorbed in whatever she was reading, her eyes focused on the text. "What are you…?" He narrowed his red eyes at her behind the hand covering his face. "Are you doing homework?"
"No, I just like to study for fun," Ochako replied dryly, finally tearing her eyes from her notes to give him an exasperated look. "Yes, I'm doing homework. Our first final exams are this week and I can't fail."
"So you came to a villain hideout to do your hero course homework?"
Ochako rolled her head to pop her neck and then plopped back onto the couch. "I live with nineteen other kids my age. They're so loud. People asking questions, getting into arguments, playing around. I couldn't think straight at all. I needed a change of scenery or I wasn't getting anywhere."
"Hero work...in the League of Villains stronghold…" Tomura felt a headache coming on and reached up to scratch at his neck to starve it off.
"Yes, I won't be of much help to you if I can't infiltrate the hero society because I didn't pass my exams," Ochako pointed out. That was her role. She had to fulfill it to the fullest lengths. That meant doing something as simple as taking tests, doing homework, and getting good grades. It even involved making pretend friends. He had the sneaking suspicion she didn't come here just so she could find a quiet place to study. They both knew this place was anything but that if the whole gang was here.
Stepping over to her slowly, Tomura peered at her notes in a cautious manner. "Do you know what you're doing for your exam?"
Sighing tiredly, Ochako shook her head. "Not yet. They like to spring it on us so we can't fully prepare - you know, to make it more realistic. We never know when a villain may strike." They snorted at the same time. The irony of that statement was not lost on either of them. They might not know, but she did.
Ever since the Kamino Incident, they had gotten better about communication. Maybe Tomura had been looking at things the wrong way. Seeing her with those wannabe hero kids and with those other pro heroes had unsettled him. He hadn't liked her there, even though he'd known she had been born to play the part. A part of him had thought she would choose them over the League - over him. It would've been so easy for her to do. She could belong in that world.
She hadn't, but she could have. She still could, if he was being honest, but he'd learned to trust her again over his own insecurities and issues.
The door to the kitchen area opened to reveal Mr. Compress. He was sans mask, but still had his balaclava on. It was hardly something Tomura could comment on when he wore Father's hand on his face still. He had been about to take it off with only Ochako here, but changed his mind when the older man walked into the room.
"Here's some hot tea to help you," Compress said, handing over a steaming cup to Ochako who took it gratefully.
"You're a gift," she replied, carefully sipping on the tea. When she caught the gawking expression on Tomura's face, she set the cup back down and waved a hand to Compress. "He saw how stressed out I was and offered to make tea. Did you want some?"
"No, I don't want tea," Tomura scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. She knew he didn't like tea or coffee. It wasn't healthy, but he'd been gulping down energy drinks since he was a kid. He wasn't about to stop now.
Ochako gave him a little knowing smile. "Your loss. This is wonderful."
"Were you going to sit down and help her with her homework too?" Tomura demanded, unable to help himself. He was used to seeing a lot of strange things, but it still caught him off guard whenever he saw Ochako interact with the other villains.
For so long she had been kept separate from them. When they had been kids, before she grew into understanding her role in the League, the adults treated her like, well, a child. They knew that Tomura would eventually join them in full, but her position was a little vaguer. Sensei left it that way on purpose. When she decided she wanted to apply for the heroics course at U.A. when she was twelve, Sensei was so excited, but it also meant that she no longer met any new members of the League. It wasn't long before only a select few knew of her existence, as if it this had been the plan all along.
He'd gotten used to things being like that - to things being separate - that seeing her here now talking with Compress like it was nothing threw him for a loop. She'd started coming around more like she used to after her first year at U.A. came to an end. He couldn't say why or what prompted her change, but maybe it was something simple like wanting to become more familiar with the League members that knew her. It made sense statistically speaking. They could coordinate better if they knew each other.
Maybe she was just lonely. Ochako wasn't like him. She needed people. She always had.
As if sensing his tension, Compress demurred, "I could never. I know very little about what she's learning."
"I could stand to learn from your agility," Ochako said thoughtfully, tapping her pen on her textbook. "I'm lacking in that area and speed. Those two would really help out with my quirk."
"It comes from my days as an entertainer," Compress replied, amusement in his voice. Slowly but surely all of them were beginning to learn more about each other. When Tomura thought about it for more than a minute, he found it strange to think of all the paths the other members had taken to find their way here. Sensei had found Tomura and saved him. Ochako had been born into this world. A handful of the others had arrived her through the Hero Killer Stain, although their motivations still varied. In the end, it led them here. They had different reasons and different paths, but a common goal more or less.
Tomura saw the flicker of interest glow in Ochako's eyes as she thought about Compress' particular path, her homework forgotten for the moment as she leaned forward. "That sounds like fun."
"It was on most days," Compress said, "others, not so much."
"You'll have to tell me about it sometime," Ochako told him.
Compress chuckled, like an uncle who snuck candy to the kids on holidays, which nearly made Tomura lose his shit all over again. "And lose my mystery? I'm not so sure about that."
Ochako actually laughed, throwing herself back into the couch. It was such a light-hearted moment that Tomura felt out of place in his own hideout. He'd forgotten how warm she could make places with just her presence. It wasn't like she could visit nearly every weekend like she had as a little kid.
"Is that Ochako I hear?" a girlish voice cried out excitedly.
Her laughter died so fast that Tomura almost began to laugh himself. A stony look fell over Ochako's face and she just managed to catch eyes with him before a blur nearly knocked him over and launched itself at her. She barely had time to defend herself, managing a quick touch with her five fingers on her attacker's arm and sending her floating to the ceiling.
It didn't phase Toga in the slightest, who wrapped her hands around her middle and giggled. "Oh, I love it when you use your quirk on me. It's like I'm flying!"
After pulling herself up and off the couch, Ochako grumbled, "I'd rather you fall," before pressing her fingers together and saying, "Release," in a louder voice. Toga hadn't heard her, too busy squealing and dropping where Ochako had been sitting moments before, but Tomura thought Compress had caught it judging from the openly amused gleam in his eyes.
That was something Tomura could agree with him on. If there was one thing that made this shithole good even on its worst days, it was Ochako's disdain for Toga. By all accounts, the two girls should've gotten along considering they were the closest in age. After recruitment started in earnest again (no thanks to Dabi's piss poor help), they had managed to snag a few more female members in the League, but they were older and, well, not like Toga. She was a peculiar creature even for Tomura's standards.
To be fair, he thought that Ochako had developed a dislike of Toga over the attack on her school camping trip and later on Toga's use of her visage to trick Midoriya during the Provisional License Exam. It had been almost a year, but she was still salty about it. The whole thing had fueled the idea that she liked Midoriya even more, which worked in her favor for her disguise but frustrated her to no end. They had explained her relation to him a while ago, which seemed to have excited Toga even further.
What Tomura thought was truly entertaining, besides Ochako's fake pleasant attitude towards the other girl, was that Toga's attitude towards her varied between friendship and a crush. It was hard to tell on some days. There was also the issue where Toga's mood with those two types of relationships varied from sweet to almost violent. Maybe almost was an understatement. Either way, it drove Ochako mad, which he thought was amusing. Seeing her puff up and get red in the face was worth it sometimes.
Hey, she always got onto him about needing more joy in his life.
"What are you doing here?" Toga asked curiously, sifting through the notes.
"Homework," Ochako said, a stiff smile twitching onto her face.
Toga's eyes light up and her cheeks blushed even further. "Oh, you're paired up with Deku for your final exam! How cute!"
Ochako wiggled her fingers at her side. "Yeah, so cute."
Tomura narrowed his eyes at her. "Seriously? When were you planning on telling me that?"
"Today," she replied without batting an eyelash, "because I just found out today at school."
She kept her voice neutral, which usually meant she was trying to figure out how she felt about something. For someone whose entire life depended on her ability to act and lie, Ochako was a pretty honest person. It was what made her so believable in her role as a U.A. hero student. Her feelings on Midoriya varied at best. On one hand, she seemed to truly like him as a friend, but on the other, with her knowledge about him and her father, she was a little confused and irritated with him.
Tomura knew exactly how he felt about Midoriya: he didn't like the little shit one bit, even if he was Sensei's son and therefore her half-brother.
"So are you working together to fight a fake villain or something else?" Tomura asked.
"Like I said earlier, I don't know. This whole thing was done at random." Ochako sighed. She was the source of a lot of their information, so it was tough on her when she didn't know things. U.A. had screwed on a much tighter lid over the past year unknowingly thanks to her. "I kind of got the feeling we might be put against each other."
Toga pouted. "I want to fight Deku."
Ochako rolled her eyes. "I know you do."
"It's too bad you can't fight your crush," Toga added.
Her face burning pink, Ochako snapped, "I don't have a crush," which only made Toga giggle. It was hard to take her seriously when talking about silly things. She better not have a crush though. There wasn't time for dumb shit like that and especially not on one of those dumb hero kids. He'd have to ask Toga who she meant. "I don't know how I'm going to fair if I'm up against him though." Ochako frowned to herself. "He's gotten so much stronger over the past few months and I just…"
"You're strong too!" Toga insisted, patting her on the arm.
For a moment, when Ochako's eyes flickered to the other girl, Tomura wasn't sure she was going to stab Toga for touching her or genuinely thank her for the encouragement. In the end, she did neither, only nodding her head and saying, "Not like him though. It's like his quirk is evolving or getting better every day. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm at a standstill. Everyone is growing, changing, and I'm just-" She touched her textbook and they all watched it float to the ceiling. "I'm sitting over here floating things. It's nothing compared to everyone else."
"It's all about how you manipulate your quirk," Compress told her. He reached out to grab the floating textbook, activating his quirk to compress it into a marble. To be honest, his quirk wasn't the most impressive. Most people would probably consider it more of a gimmick and even harmless. However, Tomura had seen it at work in a much different light. It wasn't just a cheap trick. It was incredibly dangerous and powerful - but it was only that way because Compress had made it so. "Even a weak quirk can become deadly if used in the right way."
"Or you can learn to manipulate your body," Toga added, actually helpful with her advice. Her quirk allowed her to change into anyone whose blood she ingested, but she could not imitate their quirks too. She'd still manage to pass the Hero License Exam without the use of a quirk except to change her appearance. It was a raw sort of talent that few could manage and Ochako could stand to learn even if she didn't like the girl. She'd said that she needed to work on her speed and agility. Toga was spot on for that.
Ochako clenched one of her hands into a fist. "I just wish I could do more."
"Then do more," Tomura said flatly.
She glanced at him, but instead of getting angry over his short comment, she pressed her lips together in understanding and nodded. Like she had told him when that first Nomu had failed to kill All Might - make another one and another and another. All they could do was do more. The only other option was to give up and they couldn't afford that.
"Hey, what's Little Miss Hero doing here?" a bland voice asked from behind.
Tomura glared back at Dabi, who had strolled into the room. "Why is everyone coming here anyway?"
Dabi held up his hands. "My bad for checking to see if there was anything I could do - you know, to be helpful."
"Since when are you helpful?" Tomura muttered, even though he knew that wasn't exactly true. Okay, so the High End incident had peeved him off, but they'd gotten over that. They'd learned quite a deal from that, even if it had come off looking like a failure for the League.
More importantly, he still wasn't sure about Dabi's contact with Hawks. One hero traitor was good enough for him, but it did present a unique opportunity. He didn't trust the number two hero though and, while he'd worked with Dabi for a year, the other villain was still one step removed from all of them. Oh, sure, everyone acted warm with him, but he remained cold most of the time.
If Ochako could somehow score some sort of internship or work-study with Hawks to feel him out, that would be even better, but it would place her in an even more precarious position. They were both still on the fence about him. For his part, Dabi seemed to be as well, but he kept a lot of his thoughts close to his vest. Ochako had pointed out to him a few weeks ago that it felt like Dabi was playing another game, but she couldn't be sure.
Then again, weren't they all? A similar goal did not mean the same one. Tomura liked to think that he and Ochako had the same goal, but even then, there were some days he looked at her and thought maybe he didn't know what she was thinking at all. What did she want? It was hard to say when it had taken him time to define his own desires past killing All Might as revenge for what he'd done to Sensei. She didn't really talk about her own goals.
"Aw, don't be so mean to him, Tomura," Ochako teased. If he thought her dislike of Toga was entertaining, then of course the same could be said for him and Dabi. He didn't dislike Dabi though. The other villain just liked to grate on his nerves for fun sometimes. Toga genuinely liked Ochako in some fashion.
Tomura scowled at her. "Don't be so nice to him."
Ochako bit her lip, but it didn't stop the smile from appearing on her face or the shit-eating grin on Dabi's. Even Toga giggled again and Compress shook his head good-naturedly. All that was missing was Twice popping up from behind the couch or Spinner hanging around. The last time Ochako had checked in, she had played GTA with him in an attempt to improve so she could beat her classmates. As long as she didn't learn to drive from the game, they would be fine. Ochako was already prone to speeding.
Whatever her reasoning for showing up unannounced (and he knew better than to ask if she was careful), Tomura decided not to question her. He trusted her.
Watching her talk and joke around with the others, he got a good sense of why she had come. She needed to be herself. She'd spent her entire life acting as two different things - a normal girl and then the daughter of All for One - and she rarely had any time when she could be honest. Maybe she pretended Toga didn't irritate her at times or she wasn't afraid of being caught, but here, she didn't have to hide one side of herself. She could be both.
She could do away with the roles, if only for a moment.
How strange those Class A kids would look at her if they knew just how little she was afraid of villains. They didn't look at villains like they were people. Ochako did, but then he had never been a villain to her. There had never been a time when she was afraid of him, even if other people thought she should be. She was always defying expectations. She was anxious about the upcoming exam, but he knew it was more than that. She was afraid of failing something much bigger than an exam. He had faith in her. Sensei had chosen to raise her, not Midoriya. That had to count for something. She would prove to everyone that she was as strong as he believed her to be.