I love this pairing. May be OOC. I own nothing. I just wanted to write fluff for them.
"But don't you ever wonder about it?" That was the question a lot of people had asked him once they found out about his crush on Toru. And, honestly, yes; he did sometimes wonder what her face looked like. But most of the time, he was too busy being happy around her to care. He liked her; her looks were irrelevant.
They ended up paired up a lot on assignments through their first year and quickly became close friends. Being the friendly and cheerful she was, it was hard for him to not like her!
After they switched to dorms, he'd often chat with Kaminari and his other classmates. It was fun, of course! He was on friendly terms with almost all of them (with the exception of Bakugo, Todoroki, and Mineta. The first two were tough to approach, but the third was someone he didn't want to approach.) so why wouldn't it be fun? There was just something...missing. Each time, that feeling would disappear when Toru joined in, energetic and adorable as always. Each time, he couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately, a few of the other guys eventually noticed...
You know how in a lot of manga it's almost always the girls who discuss the romantic pairings in class? Not in 1-A...For some reason, Kaminari was extremely eager to confront him on his crush and encourage Mashirao to confess. "Come on! You gotta or else you might lose your chance forever!"
The others commented on it in passing but the conversation that really made him stop and realise that his crush was more than that was when Toru was out visiting her family and his classmates "casually" brought the topic up.
"I mean, don't you ever wonder?" Mineta had asked, probably referring more to her figure than her face, classy as always. To even his suprise, the answer was pretty easy.
"Sometimes I wonder, but I don't think it matters much." He honestly replied, tail twitching slightly from embarrassment at having so many people talking about his crush. "She's cute, cheerful, and fun. I don't know what she looks like but I know her. And she's the cutest girl I've ever met."
His embarrassment only grew when Kirishima remarked how manly he was, Yaoyorozu hugged Jirou, mumbling excitedly against her shoulder about something (he couldn't make anything out), Jirou's cheeks turned bright red, her earphone jacks pointing straight up in suprise, and Kaminari grinned widely.
"You're really head over heels for her, aren't ya?" He teased. Mashirao could feel the heat rush to his face at the truthful statement, suddenly aware of how much he really did like her.
The day he finally told her like everyone encouraged him to, it was by accident. Because Bakugo had gotten on his nerves too many times that day, Aizawa finally snapped and assigned them all an essay on why heroes need to be able to work in teams in three pages or more.
He was so exhausted and mildly irritated by the time he was done with that and his other homework that he had almost no filter on the things he said. That, naturally, caused a few issues for him like telling Bakugo to stop being a pain in everyone's necks, telling Iida that he was going to put someone's eyes out with all his weird gesturing, and accidentally telling Toru he was in love with her.
"Being in a team would be cool, but I feel like I'd be great at undercover work since nobody really notices I'm there!" She excitedly chatted, encouraged by the smile on Mashirao's face. He couldn't help it; she was adorable.
"I always notice." The words slipped out before he could stop them. "You're like a warm ray of sunshine; you brighten up the whole room! Plus, things always seem better when you're around."
In fact, he had no idea how people forgot she was there or didn't notice her just because she was invisible; the whole room always seemed a lot warmer and the mood was cheerier when she was there. She might be invisible but she was really hard to miss.
"And you're so cute and enthusiastic, there's no way you wouldn't be a really popular hero." He continued, unable to stop himself. "People will fall in love with you in no time, just like I did." He was so embarrassed by what he'd blurted out that he didn't see Kaminari collecting money from his bet.
Years down the road, Ojiro Mashirao and Hagakure Toru made a great hero team, not only because they were an engaged couple but also because out of everyone else she ever worked with, he was the one who always knew she was there even without her clothes giving her away. He often said it was because she was a ray of sunshine to him; everything was always better when she was around. Though nobody else could see it, he knew that she always had a big, beautiful smile on her face when he said that.
It didn't matter what she looked like; she was beautiful.
I can't help but think that nice guy Ojiro has a lot things he thinks but won't say just to be polite. Then if he gets tired, bam. Nice guy is replaced by slightly sarcastic but still nice dude