Ochako

Ochako's eyes flutter open and she immediately smiles to herself once she realizes what day it is.

For some reason, her birthdays bring out the best in her surroundings. The sun is sunnier, the sounds are sweeter, every breath she takes feels deeper and fresher than on any other day.

Tsu shifts beside her. They've pushed their beds together to keep each other warm at night. Ochako watches as two wide eyes blink into consciousness.

"Morning, birthday girl." she mumbles, leaning into her arm.

"Good morning," Ochako says around a growing grin. She snuggles back up against Tsu and presses her cheek up to hers.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah, actually." she says. She'd dreamed of picking stars right out of the night sky and collecting them into her pockets until they ran out of room. Then Katsuki had stepped up and wordlessly volunteered the seemingly endless pockets of his cargos to keep her stars.

They spent the rest of the dream like that, in amicable silence. It was nice, but she couldn't help but feel a little sad about it. Even though he was doing exactly what she'd asked him to, it felt off.

Ochako hums as Tsu dozes back to sleep. She gets out of bed as gently as possible and walks to the bathroom. After washing her face with the skincare set Momo had gifted her, she combs her hair back to pin it with a pearl barrette.

She's smiles at herself in the mirror again. Even if it's probably not true, she always feels a hundred times prettier on her birthday.

Tsu's on her phone when she walks back out. She starts stripping her clothes off. Tsu wears her discarded flannel like a scarf.

"What are you gonna wear?" she asks without looking up from her phone.

Ochako looks into her suitcase. She'd brought her best winter clothes for the holidays, but Mina's dress outshines them all.

"I'm thinking the dress Mina got me."

"Cute."

"But should I wear it now or wait until later?" she asks. It seems strange to eat breakfast in a tight pink dress.

Tsu shrugs. "Why not? It's your birthday all day."

"True," she says, kicking her pajama pants off.

Ochako eyes the neckline of the dress and the bras in her suitcase. She frowns suddenly. "Did you happen to bring a strapless bra?"

Tsu puts her phone down. "No. Why?"

She sighs as she brings the dress up to her chest. "I don't want my bra to show."

"Just go braless."

Ochako steps into the dress and considers it as Tsu zips her up. The fabric is thin and velvety at the bust. The straps are skinny and neat and the skirt is even tighter on her hips. She'd feel out of place going downstairs like this. "Should I change?"

Tsu gives her a once over and shakes her head.

She bites her lip. "I just feel like it might be too much."

There's two knocks on the door before Mina barges in. "Good morning, birthday bitch— daaaaaaa"

Ochako covers her face with her hands. "Stop!"

"—aaaaaaaaamn."

"Mina, shut up! I'm taking it off."

"Why?"

She looks back at her reflection in the dresser. The dress hugs her tighter than her suit. "It's way too much."

"Oh, it's too much?" Mina asks, putting a hand on her hip, "Yeah, I mean it's not like today's your birthday or anything."

Tsu shrugs her shoulders. "Guess it's just any ordinary Sunday."

Ochako rolls her eyes. "I can't show up like this. We're just having breakfast."

Mina grabs her by the wrists as Tsu pushes her out the door. "Birthday breakfast."

That's how she shows up in the kitchen looking like a drunk girl who lost her shoes in the club.

Todoroki sees her first and keeps his eyes respectfully on her face. "Happy birthday, fellow Capricorn."

"Oh," she blinks twice. She feels kinda bad because she doesn't remember when his birthday is, but it's cool that they share zodiac signs. "Thanks!"

"Uraraka, happy birthday!" Deku says, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

Iida comes up on her left and kisses the other side. "Happy birthday, Uraraka." he says.

Her cheeks stretch as she smiles between their kisses. "Thanks, guys!"

She steps further into the kitchen and takes her designated seat with a balloon tied to it.

Katsuki's at the stove with his back turned on her. When Kirishima notices what she's wearing, he almost drops the bowl in his hands. Kaminari chokes on his juice. "F—fuuu,"

"Happy birthday," Kirishima says, setting the bowl down safely to embrace her.

"Thanks, Kiri," she says, eying the line of Katsuki's back.

"Oh, today's your..." Kaminari gawks. "Happy birthday, Uraraka!"

She looks up from Katsuki and blinks. "Thank you, Kami."

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and nods.

"Happy birth!" Kyouka chants, throwing her arm over Ochako's shoulders.

"Happy birthday," Momo says as she walks in through the door. Ochako gets to smell the fresh scent of her hair when she plants a kiss on her head.

Tsu walks in a moment later, wearing another sweatshirt over her clothes. She smiles over at Ochako and takes her seat beside her.

Mina looks around the kitchen. "Where's Camie?"

Iida coughs into his fist and avoids eye contact with anyone. "Oh. I." he takes his glasses off to wipe them on his shirt. "She's still tired but said she'll join us later."

Mina and Ochako share a little look before they both press their lips together tightly and try not to laugh.

Katsuki finally turns around as she's still smiling and he almost smiles back.

All the breath seems to leave her lungs. It feels like she hasn't seen him like this in ages.

"Hi," she exhales.

He dips his head into a firm nod and sets a plate on her bamboo placemat.

It's stacked with those soufflé pancakes she sees on her Pinterest feed or in her fantasies where she's rich enough to eat at a breakfast diner in Shibuya. He'd sliced the strawberries into hearts and cut the bananas into little stars. She closes her eyes as the recollection of her dream comes back to her.

The kitchen is full of people, but when Katsuki's lip pulls into a small smile it feels like it's just them.

"Happy birthday." he tells her.

She smiles back. "Thank you."

Reality sets back in as their friends shuffle awkwardly around their little moment. Ochako looks back down at her breakfast with a shy smile. She almost feels too guilty to eat them.

"That's cute and all," Kaminari mutters, spinning his placemat with his finger. "But what about our food?"

Katsuki smacks him with the spatula as he turns back around to the stove. "Wait your damn turn."

The morning melts into afternoon until the sun sets on her birthday. She'd just gotten off the phone with her parents when she noticed the dusky sky.

The holidays always felt like one celebratory week with her birthday right in between. They were too poor to buy two separate gifts for each occasion, so her parents would usually wait until her birthday to give her a present that would double as both. Ochako looks down at all the gifts under the tree and feels like today is her own Christmas.

She's always been good at guessing what's inside the presents based on the shape and size of them. There are a few bags that could be anything from candy to clothes. There's a basket-shaped present and a cute suitcase that looks like it could house a tea set. There's also a terribly wrapped box the size of a shoebox that she hopes is the sneakers she'd told Kaminari about. Oh, well. No use trying to guess right now, seeing as she'll have to wait until after they cut the cake to open them anyway.

Ochako brushes past Katsuki on her way back into the kitchen to check on dinner. He's been unusually civil around her all day. Not that it isn't an improvement to what their relationship's been like for the past for days, but it still doesn't feel like them. He's acting like she's a stranger and he's a nice person.

She thinks he's going to let her walk by again like he'd done all day, but he gently catches her elbow to pull her closer.

"Can I talk to you?" he asks into her ear.

She looks down at their feet. He's wearing the Keroppi socks Tsu had gotten him for Christmas. When they were at the mall, Tsu was adamant on finding something he wouldn't like. Ochako had tried to explain that he'd probably be really happy to receive socks, but she didn't believe her.

She's still barefoot so she curls her toes into the tile and nods. "Yeah, actually, I've been meaning to talk to you too."

"Alright," he mutters, and she lets him pull them somewhere more private.

This is the closest they've been since that night. She can see bags under his eyes that weren't there before. "Did you wanna go first?" he asks. His cheeks and nose are mildly windburnt and his lips are a little chapped. She misses the feeling of them against hers.

"Um." she momentarily forgot what she was going to say. "No, you go."

Katsuki takes his hand off her elbow and looks her over. She thinks this is the first time she's noticed him look at her all day.

"First," he clears his throat. "You look really, really, really, fucking beautiful."

She feels her face heat up. This dress really is like a second skin.

"I mean you always are, but today," he swallows. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"You already told me that." she mumbles, fiddling with a piece of hair.

"I know," he nods absently, staring at her face. "Still."

Ochako smiles again and nods back. "Okay... and?"

His eyes fall down to her hands. She fidgets with her fingers slightly. "And I told Deku I was sorry. About his dad. And the snow. And everything else."

She nods along.

"And when I told him, he said it was okay. And," he closes his eyes, "It kinda made me feel worse."

The corners of her lips tug downwards. "Why?"

He shrugs as he looks back at her. "Guess I don't really feel like I deserve to be forgiven."

She frowns. Sometimes she wonders if he'd ever come to his senses had she not stepped in. "Was your apology sincere?"

"I mean, yeah, I'm sorry that I hurt him," he mutters, "But I'm even sorrier that I hurt him so much that it doesn't hurt him."

"Katsuki—"

"Look, it really is just how we are. He'll always take it, and," he shakes his head. "We'll both pretend I'm not an asshole."

She can see why Deku is so ready to forgive him. Self-pitying Katsuki is insufferable. "You're not an asshole."

"Right, I'm a dick."

"You..." she sighs. "Act like one most of the time."

Katsuki nods to himself. She reaches up to cup his cheek.

"But you're a good person," she tells him.

He holds eye contact with her for the span of three heartbeats. "No, I'm not."

She swipes her thumb under his cheekbone. "To me, you are."

"Didn't seem like it." he murmurs, looking away.

"Well, when you mistreat my friends, I take it personally."

Katsuki begins to restrain himself on what looks like the beginning of another fight.

"Don't tell me I shouldn't." she pinches his cheek, "What would you do if Tsu started talking to me the way you talk to Deku?"

"AP shot," he says. "And her family's next."

"But what if that's just our relationship," she mocks, "Huh? What if that's just the way we are? And you don't understand, so stay the hell out of it."

He winces at hearing his own rationale. "Honestly? I don't know. But I wouldn't stop talking to you."

Ochako lets go of his face and wraps her arms around his neck. She could've handled that better herself. Maybe they both could have.

"I'm sorry," she says into his collarbone.

He presses a kiss on the crown of her head before embracing her. She's missed feeling his solid chest against hers for a while now, his strong, steady heartbeat thumping with her own. They're so close, she thinks they're going to fuse together.

Suddenly she feels his lips smile over her scalp. "How sorry?" he asks, sliding his palm over her thigh.

She hums and tips her head up to meet his grin. They keep up the staring contest for a few seconds before she shrugs. "How sorry should I be?"

"Well," he mutters, "It's just been me and my hand for the past twelve days now, so... do the math."

She entertains the thought for a moment. Letting him make it up to her with some birthday sex. Asking Tsu to go join Deku on the couch so she and Katsuki can disappear in her room like Camie and Iida. Then she sputters all over his face. "You wish."

He grimaces but doesn't make a move to wipe her spit off of him. Instead, he licks his lips. "Alright, then, let me give you your gift."

Ochako stiffens as he pulls her closer to him. With her chin jerked up, she notices the mistletoe over them. "We have to cut the cake first."

"Don't want cake." he murmurs before giving her three senseless, moony, head-spinning kisses.

"That was three gifts." she points out weakly, still dazed.

"One for your belated Christmas present." he says against her lips. "One for your birthday— happy birthday, angel." he croons, lips making their way down her jaw. "And one just in case we fight again and I don't get the chance to kiss you on New Years."