what about a todo/ocha slowburn where todoroki gets cut off and he has to penny pinch and no one knows how to save money better than her.

he doesn’t actually fall for her, or doesn’t realize it at least, and she just brushes off romance because she’s ‘not a dime piece’.

todoroki doesn’t understand the reference, and doesn’t ask because he knows ochako never explains her self depreciation jokes.

just as she doesn’t ask for explanations when he just plops down between her legs and silently demands that she gives him attention. or his jokes.

she shows him how to save, how to stretch his money and make the most of it by thinking before he buys.

it’s almost worrying just how impulsive he throws money away online for the weirdest things.

does he really need ten stationary sets and notebooks when he doesn’t use them?

yes, he argues as he tries to confirm the purchase for a pack of cartoon themed pens.

no, she fights back, stealing his laptop and shutting it before he could click a button.

they bicker over things of that nature a lot, but almost always, he ends up agreeing with her.

and when he finally does start making his own money as a hero, he goes to her door in excitement to share with her.

but she’s pulling away because she likes him, likes the jokes she can make without being given a worried look and the smiles he seems to only make around her.

it’s probably six months after u.a, after he was cut off, that he realizes he wants her in a romantic kind of way. he has debuted already, has an agency he works for, and has income rolling in as his names blows up.

to be honest, he didn’t know what romantic feelings felt like.

but that’s kind of the thing. it just sneaks up out of nowhere.

one moment, he’s okay with the way things were, and the next he can’t imagine not having her by his side as they “secure the bag” or whatever she had called it once.

he’s not very good with internet lingo.

or feelings. or driving. or confessing to his friend after she rainchecks on him for the fifth time that week, and it’s a wednesday.

then pro-hero uravity is seen with some other hero, and he has to stash the watch he bought for her away where he can’t be reminded of it.

she always asked what time it is, always lost her phone and never wanted to look for a clock.

it’s totally necessary, and he did think about the repercussions before clicking confirm. everything she taught him, he did.

yet it feels like there’s a hole in his pocket.

the next time he sees her, they’re working a villain scene together, and a mutual friend offers drinks at his house.

hey, it’s free liquor, and ochako had already agreed so that’s a plus in his book.

they sit next to each other, and his heart is racing as his palms sweat.

he asks about work, about partners, and she just smiles and says everything’s okay, that she doesn’t have a partner in crime.

“what about dating? that kind?”

turns out that’s also a questions she won’t answer because she’s throwing back a shot as soon as it leaves his lips.

the night progresses, and he feels like some kind of creep who keeps hitting on someone who’s clearly not interested.

but is it not being interested if she doesn’t actually answer him?

probably.

he’s really not good at this, at girls and feelings and his knotted stomach.

but she’s giggling, hanging off his arm and smiling with flushed cheeks and glossy eyes.

yeah, she’s drunk, but he has always wanted her underneath his arm. she fits so perfectly, and smells sweet like peaches even after a long day at work.

or maybe that’s just her liquor.

regardless, he offers to take her home, but she won’t tell him her address because, ‘that’s top secret information!’

so he takes her to his house, greets his sister with a fast smile and his father with a nod of acknowledgement.

they stare at him like he has two heads.

“you’re underaged.” enji scolds them both.

“no, i’m uravity!” ochako giggled, and shouto looked up when he heard fuyumi laugh quietly.

“and i’m going to my room. goodnight.” he told them, immediately carrying her away.

she’s slurring, asking what he planned to do in his room.

he just lays her down, hands her clothes from his dresser and then offers to leave the room.

she doesn’t get a choice as he shuts the door behind him, waits for her to tell him to come in.

he almost gets excited at the sight of her drowned in his shorts and t-shirt. almost.

and though he offers to take one of his million guest bedrooms, she pulls his arm and forces him to lay beside her.

he’s a weak man. so when she pouts, he caves fast.

they fall asleep like that, with her head on his left side and his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

when he wakes up, it’s to an elbow in his stomach and his door shoving open.

before he even knows what’s happening, he’s leading her to the closest bathroom and holding her hair back as she pukes.

it’s gross. as much as he likes her, seeing her spit up isn’t a fun time.

he tells her there’s more clothes in his dresser that she’s welcomed to borrow, and decides he’ll start breakfast if his sister wasn’t already slaving in the kitchen.

and ochako’s embarrassed. so deathly embarrassed of her hangover and of throwing up at her crush’s house.

but he doesn’t seem bothered as he keeps her hair in a grip and helps her wipe her mouth.

when she leaves to his room, she’s fumbling with his dressers for clothes while panicking over what happened last night.

they couldn’t have possibly done anything... right? he wouldn’t?

there’s no smell, no condoms and tissue anywhere.

when his door opens and his brother is standing there with a bucket of clothes, she screams.

then he screams.

they both scream, and the door is slamming shut as she fumbled in his dresser for new clothes.

out pops the watch.

she wants to ask who the heck puts a watch like that with their t-shirts, but refrains because it’s in a velvet box with her name hanging off of a satin ribbon.

when a knock sounds at the door, she’s pulling the new shirt on and tossing the watch hand to hand.

it’s shouto.

food’s done, but when his eyes land on the box, his face seems to drop.

despite that, he confesses to liking her, to wanting a date and buying it as a gift for her a month ago.

he’s the one who looks a lot like he was walking in on by her sibling while changing his shirt.

and really, shouto doesn’t expect her to like him. he expects to be let down, friendzoned, or whatever it’s called.

but, hungover, hungry, and hicupping ochako just says it’s beautiful and he’s still so bad at managing money and gifts because he left the price sticker on it.

she agrees to a date, admits to being afraid of rejection herself which lead to her pulling away and busying herself with work and others.

shouto argues the only thing she should be afraid of now is facing his family while sober.

“was i bad?”

“you were terrible.”

“kill me...”