I originally planned the set up to be about a paragraph or two long, just to give some context on the whole dance thing. But the girls wouldn't stop being adorable and supportive of each other, and it became a chapter in its own right ?
One Little Question...
"So... when are you going to ask Midoriya to the dance?" Mina's voice chimed out suddenly from her position on the bed, as she wiggled her eyebrows and grinned wolfishly at Ochako.
"Eh?!" Ochako snapped her head up, earning Mina a reproachful tut from Momo as she nearly whipped her hands out of her grip in surprise and splashed pink nail polish all over the white bed sheets.
"Mina, don't say provocative things while I'm painting nails." Momo frowned. She gave an apologetic look to Ochako, "I'm nearly done with this hand, don't move."
Tooru's pyjamas wiggled in excitement. "Wah, don't ruin the fun Yaomomo! You've got to have some idea how about you're going to ask him, right Ochako?"
Ochako's cheeks burned and she knew there would be a bright blush blooming onto them as she struggled to contain her embarrassment; conscious of Momo still painting her nails carefully, she knew she couldn't bury her face into her hands to avoid her friend's enthusiastic questioning, so instead she bowed her head down and let her bangs hide her flustered expression.
"I-I-I don't-" She stammered, trying to think of what to say. The words 'I don't want to go to the dance with him' stuck in her throat, and she knew it was because she couldn't bear to voice such a lie.
"Don't embarrass Ochako on purpose," Tsuyu chastised, and Ochako looked up at her friend gratefully.
Mina and Tooru made disappointed sounds in unison.
"She'll tell us about her crush on Midoriya when she's ready, kero," Tsuyu added playfully, smiling and putting a finger to her chin.
"No! Tsu! Not you too!" Ochako wailed.
The girls around her dissolved into laughter at the unexpected addition to their teasing from Tsuyu. Even Momo giggled, though she was clearly trying hard to keep her hands from moving so that she could paint perfect strokes without getting any polish on her fingers.
Even Tsuyu had joined in, Ochako thought in a panic, hoping that she could keep a lid on her feelings through all the teasing.
"Finished," Momo sighed in relief. She screwed the top back onto the polish and dropped it back into a bag in her lap with a loud clink, then blew gently on Ochako's outstretched fingers, helping the pink nail varnish to dry.
Ochako bit her lip and kept her eyes glued to the bed below her, wishing she could stop the butterflies flapping around her chest at the mention of Deku and dances.
"Tsuyu's surprising betrayal... an emotional blow for the gravity hero Uravity. How will she respond?" Jiro announced in her trademark deadpan, though she couldn't stop an amused smirk twitching at the edge of her lips. Mina and Tooru made 'ooh' sounds while she nonchalantly twirled an earphone jack around her finger. Tsuyu smiled apologetically and tilted her head with a soft 'kero'.
"I... Um..." Ochako mumbled, realising she really couldn't lie her way out of this one without being completely dishonest to her friends; she did want to go to the dance with Deku. But as for her asking him... There's no way she could do that. She wasn't sure she had that kind of courage when it came to her fragile heart. He was so busy with his training, he probably wasn't even going to go to the dance...
Sensing her genuine distress Momo squeezed her hands encouragingly and gave her a bright smile as she let go, the nail polish now totally dry, and Ochako gave her a shaky smile in return.
They always piled onto Momo's large bed for their weekly catch-up with each other; getting into their pyjamas and relaxing, while they ate their own body weight in unhealthy snacks, painted each other's nails, helped give advice about school (or boys) and chatted about their week together. It was one of the best things about living in a dorm - in Ochako's opinion - and it was easily one of her highlights of each week.
Usually they all very tactfully avoided talking about her painfully obvious crush on Deku, but occasionally Mina would let something slip out that would send her into a blushing flustered frenzy and often ended up with her floating somewhere on the ceiling. At least Momo holding onto her hands this time had prevented her from accidentally activating her quirk by slamming her palms to her cheeks like she usually did.
It was poor timing that the dance had been announced yesterday, so Ochako had known in advance that it was going to be the hot topic of that night's catch-up, but she was disappointed in herself for not thinking ahead and coming up with ways to deflect the questioning that she should have expected... especially from the ever-enthusiastic Mina, who was always ready to talk about boys and crushes and all that stuff...
The bubbly girl was now chatting animatedly to Tsuyu and Tooru, while Momo finished painting Jirou's nails black. She wished she wasn't so bad at discussing her feelings, especially regarding Deku, but she just couldn't help the racing of her heart and the furious blush that sprang to her cheeks every time they brought him up. She sighed slightly, then looked up at the ceiling. These were her very best friends, and they already knew about her feelings really, she just had to own them, and be more open about them. If the others could giggle about the boys and who was cute or who they had crushes on, then why couldn't she? There was nothing she'd like more than going to the dance with Deku. She could trust her friends with her precious feelings, couldn't she?
"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable Ochako," Tsuyu croaked from beside her, reaching out and gently holding her hands in her large ones. She had shifted across the bed without Ochako even noticing. After a small pause she shook her head at her friend's apologetic expression. She knew that Tsuyu always spoke honestly and was never one for keeping things bottled up - if it was on her mind she would come out and say it in one way or another.
Ochako deeply admired and respected that.
"No, no, it's my fault for always running away from how I feel," she confessed with a sigh, "I should have been honest with you all from the beginning about my feelings for Deku... But I thought they'd interfere with my hero work so I kind of locked them away... and I thought denying them to everyone would make it truer somehow... But I do... I really like him."
She squeaked in surprise as she suddenly felt arms wrap around her middle, and looked down to see pink fluffy sleeves with no hands emerging out of them hugging her from behind, accompanied by a sniffle.
"T-Tooru-?" Ochako squeaked, startled by the sudden hug.
"Your confession at last!" Tooru exclaimed, getting the other girls' attention, as they all turned to look at her with excited expressions.
Mina gasped loudly and launched herself into the hug too. "No way! Really? A confession!? I'm so happy for you."
"Th-That was a private conversation," Ochako managed to choke out, blushing furiously.
"It will feel good, to finally get it off your chest. Looking into your own feelings can be hard," Momo spoke with the calm certainty of experience, and helped to ground the situation from getting too out of hand, "but in the end you can come out of it much stronger." She placed a hand to her chest. "Turning away from aspects of yourself is impossible to do without damaging yourself in some way in the process."
Ochako's head spun with how quickly the situation had ran away from her, not expecting Tooru to have overheard her confession to Tsuyu. But it was true, having everyone know meant that she somehow felt lighter, and braver.
"Thank you everyone," Ochako's voice wobbled, "I feel a bit silly, getting this much attention because of a silly crush..."
Ochako felt tears stinging her eyes and wondered why she had ever thought it was a good idea to keep this from her friends all this time. Of course they were nothing but supportive. She'd always just been concerned that having a crush and liking someone was just her being selfish, especially when she struggled not to focus on it during her hero work. But maybe it became such a fixation because she was trying so hard to subconsciously push those warm fluttery feelings down.
Jirou's earphone jacks snaked around Ochako's torso and flicked Mina and Tooru lightly on their noses, making them both yelp in surprise and let go of the tight hug they'd been giving her.
"We're all proud of Ochako, but you don't have to suffocate her over it. Give her some space."
The two girls sat back and rubbed their noses.
"We were showing our support," Mina protested, sticking a tongue out.
Tsuyu gave Ochako a wide, froggy smile that was unique to her, and always made everything seem better. "Your feelings are never silly Ochako, we've all known about them for a long time, but it's so nice to see you voice them. We will always be here for you, kero."
Ochako rubbed her eyes on the back of her hand. "Was I really that obvious?" She asked with a little laugh.
"Only because we know you so well."
"For ages!"
"Painfully."
Their various reactions really made her laugh then.
"Well," Ochako took a deep calming breath, affectionately looking around the bed at her friends, "even with all my... feelings for Deku," she still couldn't stop the blush and her hands fidgeted in her lap, "I still can't ask him to the dance."
"Oh?" Momo was the first to respond, her eyebrows pulling down sadly, "Why not?"
"W-Well, I'm a girl." Ochako stated as if that should be the only explanation she would need. When she was met with blank looks and confusion she continued, "A girl can't ask the boy to the dance, right?"
"Are you kidding?" Mina groaned.
"So old fashioned..." Jirou commented.
Tooru sighed. "Oh, sweetie..."
"What? What?" Ochako panicked, flapping her hands by her face.
Tsuyu raised another finger to her chin and poked her tongue lazily out of the corner of her mouth. "There's no rule saying only one gender can ask the other to a dance."
"But-"
Momo nodded solemnly. "I agree. This is the modern age, and while some traditions are worth keeping, I think that one can happily fade into obscurity."
Ochako considered this carefully. Could she ask him? Could she? A shiver went down her spine at the sudden realisation that there was nothing stopping her but herself. She'd been raised to work hard and be practical, so she'd never really had much experience about things like this - she'd never been to any dances at her old school and had never considered that the times had moved on from the typical 'boy asks girl'. She still wasn't sure she possessed the courage to put her heart on the line and ask Deku to go the dance with her... but then... it wasn't like she was asking for his hand in marriage or anything. She buried her face in her hands at the unexpected mental image of getting married to Deku, willing herself not to dwell on that train of thought before she ended up on the ceiling again.
"Here, I'll show you," Mina suddenly enthused, making the bed dip as she leaped up and bounced across to grab her phone from the bedside table they'd all left their devices on. She dropped down to sit cross legged on the soft mattress and tapped something into her phone while the group watched her with curiosity.
After a moment she grinned at Momo and placed her palms together as if she was praying. "Could you create me a rock Yaomomo? Plea-se?"
"A rock?" Momo echoed while Mina nodded vigorously. Her eyebrows scrunched in suspicion, but she held out a hand and a few sparkles accompanied a shiny black pebble emerging out of her palm.
"Mm..." Mina hummed in disapproval, looking at the pebble from all angles, then shook her head a little. "It's too perfect. It needs to be more, you know," she shrugged, "'rocky'."
Ochako giggled at Momo's outraged gasp, while Tooru fell about laughing, and Jiro leaned over Tsuyu to also inspect what had been created.
"She's right you know. It looks like something you'd pick up from a pebble beach. Except it's totally flawless and symmetrical." Jiro smirked.
"Well I really like it, kero," Tsuyu commented, tilting her head and smiling widely when Momo placed it into her grateful hands.
"I'm glad someone appreciates what I create," Momo huffed, trying not to break into a smile at the enthusiastic yells of 'we love you Momo!' and 'Yaomomo you're the greatest!' between laughter from all sides.
"Ok, ok," she soothed, motioning with her hands for calm, "how about this?" She held out her hand and sparkles glittered out of her palm again as a larger rock than before emerged, dark grey in colour and jaggedly asymmetrical.
"Perfect!" Mina gasped, as Momo handed it over.
Mina held it up by her face with one hand and held up her phone high with the other, then turned and gave the rock a kiss as a camera shutter sound clicked through the silent room.
Ochako watched with anticipation, wondering what on earth her eccentric friend was up to, as Mina brought the phone back into her lap and her fingers whizzed over its surface. Finally she flipped it around to show the group that had clustered together on the bed in curiosity; the picture had a filter of sparkles decorating the image of her close-up kissing the rock, and she'd crudely drawn on a red tie around it and red spiky hair on top of it. A caption had been typed across the bottom reading 'This could be you if you come to the dance with me? ;)'
There were various shrieks of excitement as Mina grinned and her thumb tapped 'send'.
Her friends were so bold, Ochako thought in admiration, feeling inspired by Mina's actions and the twittering of enthusiasm coming from the others as they waited for Kirishima's reply.
The phone chimed nearly straight away, and Mina picked it up, snorting at what she read, then locked it again and placed it back into her lap. "He said yes! But I won't tell you what else he said." She added cheekily.
Ochako wasn't sure she wanted to know. Those two were so great together.
"So," Mina continued, a little smug tone creeping into her voice, "guess I'm the first one to have their dance partner sorted out, huh?"
"Actually..." Momo fidgeted. "I kind of already got asked yesterday after school ended."
"Wow," Ochako breathed.
Mina slammed her hands on the mattress.
"No way! No way! I was beaten to being first by the class vice president, how typical." She groused. "And so quickly!"
"Todoroki was fast," Jirou agreed, impressed.
Momo looked away slightly and shook her head. "It wasn't Todoroki actually."
Gasps came from everyone except Tsuyu, who nodded sagely. "I could tell Todoroki only saw you as a friend."
"Then..." Ochako began with a surprised blink. "Who did ask you?"
"Yousetsu Awase from 1-B," Momo announced, blushing softly.
"The headband guy?" Ochako burst out in her enthusiasm, remembering the story Momo had told them of how he had saved her at the Training Camp and carried her to safety even though she was slowing him down. He seemed a little hot-headed and brash, but he'd obviously earned her respect and affection, so she was intensely happy for her friend.
"Aww," Tooru cooed, wiggling, "you two will look so cute together."
Momo blushed harder and placed a hand to her cheek.
"Now I'm excited to see who's going to ask who!" Tooru continued, punching her pyjama clad arm into the air.
Ochako felt encouraged by all the positivity, and she had to admit she was feeling pumped about it all too. It may just be a school dance, but this was UA and nobody did things by halves here - it was going to be a great occasion, and a chance for feelings to come to light and be realised. It was her chance to spend an evening with Deku and dance with him... If she could just rely on her own courage to ask him. Especially before anyone else got in there first.
She took another deep breath and looked around at her friends' smiling faces.
"I... I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask Deku to go to the dance with me," Ochako stated firmly, smiling at the cheers, "and here's how I'm going to do it..."