Summary: Ochaco asks Izuku out on a date. Simple, right?

Knock, knock, knock.

After a few seconds of rustling from behind the door, Izuku stood in the doorway, eyes quickly going wide.

"Oh! Hey Ochaco! Sorry, I thought it'd be Iida."

She just stood there for a moment with a bright smile on her face.

That seemed to make him a little nervous, and he chuckled. Not the cute kind, but the anxious kind.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Well, I was planning on going to the mall this Saturday with Tsuyu, but it looks like she's going to be busy with something."

"Oh, that's too bad," he said, visibly relaxing and visibly missing the subtext. "What about the other girls? You're not going to have to cancel, are you?"

Would I even if they weren't?!

"Oh, um, I'm not totally sure," she said. "I was actually, kinda . . ."

A blush rose to her cheeks, one hand rising to block some of her face as if that would hide her own nervous smile.

" . . . hoping you'd like to go with me?"

He cocked his head to the side, that empty-headed, good-willed look settling in. "Sure thing. I wouldn't want you to go and be lonely, I guess. Should I invite Iida or-"

"No!" she cut in, perhaps a little too desperately.

At least, definitely desperate enough that it caught him off guard, and the wide-eyed empty-headed look became more exaggerated as he struggled to continue missing the subtext.

"Oh, okay," he said."

This time it was her turn to give a nervous chuckle, but once it abated, she was able to drop her hand from her face. She was bright red and she knew it, but she was just going to have to eat the blow to her pride long enough to say what she came here to say.

"I was thinking more like we could go as a date," she said all in one breath, now her turn to have wide eyes and no thoughts in her head.

She counted the seconds in her head as he stood with a smile on his face, totally silent: 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . .

"Oh, like a-"

"Like a go-on-a-date-with-me date." Interrupting him felt rude but she couldn't take the anticipation his own stupidity caused any longer. It was her fault for going and falling for a boy so utterly unthinking when it came to romance that she probably could keep the subtle approach up for months without him even noticing something was off.

"Oh," he said, deadpan.

Then, with comical animation and volume: "OH! LIKE A DATE-DATE. WITH YOU."

"Yes, a date" she said, pressing a hand to her chest, "with me."

"RIGHT! UM! WELL! I . . . I . . . THAT SOUNDS . . ."

His hesitation was cute, and it was also annoying. Why did he have such fierce determination except when it came to deciding whether he liked her or not?

Her expression dropped slowly. Quietly (and hoping to quiet him), she said, "It's okay if you don't want to. As friends or a date. Whatever you want is okay."

His voice got a lot quieter, but not much steadier: "But - but. You want to go on a date . . . with . . . me?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah.

Finally his own anxiety seemed to exhaust him, and Izuku relaxed, taking a few slow breaths to compose himself. He scratched the side of his head in thought, pensive for a few seconds.

Then, with a totally disproportionate amount of determination on his face, he said, "I think I'd like that."

"Great!" she replied, suddenly bright and cheery. "Just meet me Sunday at 11am at the station near school and we can go together."

This also appeared to catch him off guard a bit, but now his eyes were doing that thing where he was trying to analyze the situation - one step before he'd start muttering to himself creepily. Adorably.

"You don't want to just . . . text me? And we could walk to the station together."

"Nope." She shook her head. "Let's meet at the station. I can surprise you better that way. It'll be fun!"

"Ah, okay!" he said, the determination fading from his face. "Yeah, that'll be fun, and I'll . . . wear something nice."

It could not be more painfully obvious from the way that he said that that he didn't own anything nice to wear, and he'd probably sneak off with Shoto or someone to the mall before the date just to get ready for the date at the mall. Like an idiot. Like a big, loveable idiot.

Her mouth started to curl, but she fought the urge.

No. Not yet. Hold it just a little longer.

"Awesome," she said, still beaming. "Sunday at 11. Don't forget."

"I won't. Promise!"

"Bye, Izuku."

Hearing his first name only made him blush, which was exactly what she was hoping for.

"Oh. Bye!" He said, and closed the door.

Her mouth threatened to break into a real smile again, but still she resisted, bolting for the bathrooms. She took inside the girls' bathroom, saw no one inside, then turned around and went into the boys' bathroom. Also no one inside. Perfect. She snuck inside, safe at last.

She let her grin break, wide and wicked. She raised her hands up to the side of her face, just feeling the warmth in her cheeks. Her fingers traced down along her bottom lip, as soft as she could only imagine.

Ochaco was beautiful. So beautiful she could barely stand it. How could he even stand to look at her every day without telling her how much he loved her?

Time was running short though, and she didn't have time to sit and enjoy her face nearly as long as she would like to. She entered one of the stalls, fished a small bottle out of her pocket, and set it next to the toilet while she stripped.

She hated doing this in boys' bathrooms, but anywhere else would be too dangerous.

As soon as she was naked she could tell this form was already starting to lose its shape. She was in no mood to see her own body right now, not while she was already riding the high from Izuku's acceptance and the look of her own face. She unstoppered the bottle and swallowed the contents, the taste heavy and metallic on her tongue.

Knock, knock, knock.

After a moment of moment of rustling on the other side of the door, Ochaco appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide with surprise. Ochaco was wearing a black tank top and jeans, and a shiver of delight passed through her. This was something new.

"Oh, hey Izuku! What do you need?" she said, smiling brightly.

And with every ounce of willpower she could muster, Toga held back her grin.