They stagger up the stairs of the apartment complex clinging to each other.
Mina has a deep gash on her side, the pain and blood loss making it difficult to walk, and Ochako is barely coherent from overusing her Quirk on patrol. It's just past midnight, and they're both exhausted enough from the day's work that they don't bother talking, using what little energy they have left to keep one foot in front of the other.
It didn't seem serious enough at the time to grab the attention of a medic, but the injury seems to have been worse than Mina originally thought. She wouldn't have been able to make it to her apartment on her own to take care of it, but Ochako knows her way around a first aid kit well enough.
"205," Ochako wheezes out. Finally, a few doors into the narrow hallway, they arrive at their destination. Mina scrounges through the pocket of Ochako's hero costume, grasping around for her key, and places it in the lock. They hear the faintest click as the mechanism to door 205 unlocks and they're able to push it open.
It's not a big apartment, being only a couple years out of U.A. Ochako hasn't made as much money as she'd like. Most of it goes to her parents.
It's the tiniest of flats with the barest of furnishings: a worn bed and desk shoved into a too small bedroom, an old dining set in the kitchen/living room that creaks when you sit on it.
But it's warm, and it's Ochako's, and that makes it perfect in Mina's eyes.
Ochako helps Mina into one of the dining chairs before stumbling to the sink a few steps away. She grabs a glass from the dishrack and with shaking hands fills it halfway with tap water, gulping it down in no time. She refills it near overflowing before handing it to Mina.
"The first aid kit, 'Chako."
"Mhm, sure." She grabs some fruit from a bowl on the counter and sets it down on the table before going into the bathroom, the harsh light illuminating the entirety of the apartment. A few moments later and the first aid kit is shakily floating into the room towards her.
The kit lands on the table with a press of Ochako's fingertips and a murmured "release", the heavy thud too loud in the small room.
Mina carefully shrugs off her cropped jacket, then pulls down the top of her hero costume till it hangs low on her hips. She peeks at the wound that has thankfully stopped bleeding while Ochako removes her gauntlets and washes her hands at the sink. A villain had thrown her across the street during a brawl, resulting in road rash all across her back and a gaping cut in her side. It's long, crawling up her waist from her belly button to under her arm, but shallow enough she knows it looks worse than it actually is. The worst it'll leave is a cool scar. Mina exhales with relief.
She gets some wipes from the kit to clean the dried blood surrounding the wound. A hand waving a half-peeled banana appears before her, and Mina automatically opens her mouth to take a bite.
"It's too mushy," Mina whines in complaint, but continues chewing anyway.
"Probably," Ochako agrees as she slumps onto the floor, an arm flung across Mina's thigh carelessly. "I got these half-off the other day because they're overripe, I was gonna use them for my morning smoothies." She finishes off the banana and throws the peel at the trashcan in the corner. It misses and lands on the edge of the rim, before plopping onto the floor.
Ochako peers closely at the wound with half-lidded eyes, and Mina can see exhaustion in her every movement. She looks like she's going to collapse any moment, and only sheer stubbornness is keeping her awake. She takes the wipe from Mina's hand and with utmost concentration takes over cleaning the area, shining her phone flashlight on it to see it better.
"Just pad it up, it'll be fine." Mina drops several packets of sterile gauze on Ochako's lap followed by a roll of surgical tape.
"Mina, I can't just wrap it up! It'll get infected!" She huffs, irritated, and puts the gauze back on the table.
"Ochako."
"What."
"Ochako."
"Yeah, yeah what?" Ochako finally looks up and seeing those dark circles under her eyes are making Mina more tired by the second.
"I just wanna sleep, and you look like you're 5 minutes away from passing out. I'd rather we do it on the bed than the floor. So could you just–" She waves her hand tiredly and finally notices an apple that Ochako had left balanced on the table. She picks it up with shaky fingers and takes a bite. It's refreshingly juicy and sweet, but not nearly filling enough. She feels like she hasn't eaten in days, and soon enough she's gnawed it down to the core.
Ochako, steadfastly ignoring her warning, had thoroughly cleaned it and smeared it with an antibiotic ointment while Mina ate.
"I should probably do your back too before bandaging it," She muses. "Turn around."
Mina obediently faces away from Ochako, resting her right arm on the back of the chair to keep it away from the wound. Ochako gently rubs a warm washcloth over the skin of her back, apologizing softly whenever Mina winces. She applies a heavy layer of ointment over her back, the cool paste doing little to soothe the stinging, before turning her attention back to Mina's side.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Ochako tries to be careful, but she presses on the wound harder than she should with the gauze. She tapes it securely in place, wrapping it thickly. The bandage is thick and messy, and she adjusts her arm so it doesn't press against it.
"I bet Recovery Girl's gonna bring you in for a first aid lesson after she sees your shitty work," she teases, though admittedly it's neater than she could've done.
"Don't complain, you know you should've seen a medic," Ochako grumbles, her clumsy fingers tearing the tape raggedly one last time.
"It was fine at the time," She says, pouting. Mina holds back another wince as Ochako finishes applying the bandage. She inspects Ochako's handiwork: there's more gauze than what's necessary, it's bulky in certain areas, and she used an ungodly amount of tape.
"You'll probably need stitches."
"It's fine for now, stop worrying! Help me up."
"Yeah, gimme a sec." Ochako heaves herself up with both hands on the table for support, then drapes Mina's arm over her shoulders. Together they sway like a pair of drunken idiots towards the bedroom.
It's a tough squeeze, the double bed, wardrobe, and desk take up most of the room. She trips over nothing, and Ochako uses her Quirk to keep her upright.
"Just– Wait," Ochako dumps Mina onto the bed so she can ruffle through her wardrobe for pajamas, and she sinks into the soft mattress with a sigh, pressing her face into the pillow.
"You suck," Mina croaks out as she struggles to get comfortable, every jerk and twitch of her muscles bringing hellish pain to her side.
"Love you too." Ochako toes off her boots and slides off her grimy, blood stained hero costume, leaving it in a heap in one corner.
"Ochako." Mina's vision is hazy and swirling. She's not going to last. She feels hands help her sit up to gently tug off the rest of her bodysuit until she's left in her underwear.
"So many layers," Ochako mumbles in complaint, and she nods her head dazedly in agreement. She's just awake enough to kick off her shoes before plopping back down. The last thing she remembers is Ochako settling into bed next to her, her soft hair brushing against Mina's outstretched arm.
/
Mina wakes up to Ochako's loud snoring.
It doesn't feel like she's been asleep long, maybe a few hours. Beams of moonlight pour into the room from the small window, dimly illuminating the room. Her side is still in pain, but it's not burning or screaming anymore. Her mouth tastes disgusting, but she's sleepy enough that she can ignore it for now. If only Ochako would stop that racket, she'd be able to fall back asleep easily.
She looks to the left where Ochako is lying on her side curled into herself, her back facing Mina. Her snoring is ungodly, various snorts and wheezes and hums. Mina giggles into her palm. Now she knows why Ochako had been so reluctant in the past for her to spend the night.
Mina reaches out a hand, tip-toeing her way up from the small of Ochako's back until she's reached the nape of her neck. Her bare skin is soft and burns Mina's cold fingers like fire. She feels her face flush involuntarily. Get a grip, she tells herself. You've seen her naked before! This is nothing compared to that!
But there's a certain intimacy to this she hasn't felt before. She smoothes her hand over Ochako's throat, feeling the way her pulse flutters beneath her fingertips. Mina draws patterns on her skin, delicate swirls and loop-de-loops.
She must've disturbed Ochako more than she thought, because Ochako groans in her sleep and shifts restlessly on the mattress until she's facing Mina.
Mina can feel every soft exhale that Ochako makes, her snores all but gone due to the change in position. There's just enough light from the window that she can see her long lashes. Her messy bangs are all over the place, and will surely tickle her nose into a sneeze soon enough.
Moving her right arm hurts because it pulls on the wound, but Ochako is near enough that Mina can brush those spare strands away from her face.
Her cheeks are soft too, round and streaked with dust from the fight that she hadn't bothered to wash off. They look remarkably similar to mochi, and Mina swallows down a laugh.
She feels sleep starting to consume her again. With a frown and an annoyed huff, she pecks Ochako on the forehead before snuggling close to her side, wrapping her arm around her waist to keep her close.
"Why are you still so cute when you're sleeping, that's so unfair," she grumbles. Her hand goes limp as she falls unconscious again, Ochako not even stirring.
