Boku no Hero Academia belongs to Horikoshi Kohei
Ochako tapped her foot nervous, pulling out her pone for the third time to check the hour. It was ten minutes before the time they had agreed to meet, however with the speed the train usually went she had initially thought she would arrive right in time instead of twenty minutes earlier. The moment they agreed on the date her mind began to wonder and plan everything from the timing to what she would wear, this wasn't part of her plan.
She sat on one of the park benches watching the kids running around for a few minutes, it was a bright sunny afternoon, yet, it wasn't hot, just a regular pleasant day. Ochako was just thankful it wasn't windy, otherwise she would have called herself dumb for taking the unfortunate decision of wearing a skirt.
"Good afternoon miss" an old man greeted as he sat next to her, Ochako stared at him for a second as the man hold onto his cane, he had a flat cap covering most of his hair, he was wearing a light green buttoned shirt alongside gray pants.
"Good afternoon" she answered back as the old man smiled at her. The young girl put her hair behind her ear to pull out her cellphone seconds later to check the time, just five minutes had passed.
"He's going to be late young lady" the man spoke aloud, Ochako turned her head to him rising her eyebrows
"Excuse me?"
"That young man you are waiting for, he will be late" The man turned to her, an empathetic smile on his face.
"How do you know?" Ochako pushed herself closer to the other end of the bench perplexed by the man's words, relaxing once she figured it was probably the work of some quirk related to future vision.
"One learns to recognize this kind of things as the time goes by. Plus, you are a pretty lady, so I'm sure he'll arrive. Late, but he'll manage".
Before Ochako could answer, the sounds of cries called her attention. In front of her a child was on the floor, his clothes now stained with dust and his face filled with tears. The teenager stood from her seat rushing to the boy, helping him to stand back on his feet as she tried to clean the tears from his face.
"It's okay" she mumbled always holding her pinky out so the kid wouldn't begin to float, after rubbing his back for a few seconds and the child had finally calmed down he mumbled a quick thank you to Ochako before running after the rest of the kids.
Ochako stood up and returned to her previous seat, she glanced at the man who seemed to be paying attention to the people passing in front of them.
"It's a nice day" Ochako began, the man glanced at her.
"It certainly is" he agreed ending the conversation leaving nothing but silence between them.
"You remind me of my wife" The man began, Ochako tilted her head slightly to the side confused by his abrupt words.
"I do?" Ochako questioned, her voice filled with curiosity at the man's comparison, the man just smiled giving her a single nod.
"I reunited here with her before we had our first kiss" He admitted, there was something endearing and at the same time familiar with his voice.
"You did?" She asked with interest, leaning forward.
"Yes, I took her to the planetarium and heard her talk about the stars and the constellations the rest of the afternoon. I was grounded so it was past my curfew, but she was so happy to talk about it that we just went to a café, we had our first kiss there." As he narrated a smile adorned his wrinkled face.
"That's so sweet"
"You think?" The man laughed "I hope this doesn't come the wrong way, I loved her very much, I still do and every day I love her more than the day before. But it was that date, when I thought for the first time 'crap, this is the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with' and we were just sixteen years old!"
"I'm sixteen!" Ochako pointed at herself.
"Is that so?" The man questioned, somehow, his voice didn't have a single trace of surprise in it. "Well, you have a long life ahead of you and many boys you might meet. Can you imagine what is like to know what you want for the rest of your life?" Her mind immediately went to UA and her hero classes, to her friends and the friendships she had formed there, to her parents and a beautiful home.
"I think I can" she mumbled with a smile threatening to show on her face. She heard the man sigh "Did you and your wife marry right after high school?"
"Oh Lord no!" The man opened his eyes wide before laughing, his laugh was almost familiar to Ochako "She had many things she left to do, and so did I. We chose a very busy path you see, but we did marry somewhat young" he admitted, a small blush crept into his wrinkled face as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"That's wonderful" Ochako smiled. The man stared at her for a few seconds
"I'm glad you think so" He spoke.
"Well, it's lovely two people who love each other get to live happy together." Ochako sighed as she held her hand against her chest "I hope I get something like that someday"
"What about that man you're waiting for?"
"Izuku?" She questioned, beginning to play with her fingers "I, really like him. I'm glad I'm with him, he's great and so clever! He can make these unbelievable plans in seconds and he's always so kind with everyone and he's just so wonderful." She turned to the man that stared at her with wide eyes, a smile showed on his face like if he had gotten a wonderful piece of news and she thought she could see the ghost of a blush on his cheeks. "But we're young, and who knows where life will take us"
"You'll have wonderful things in your life young lady, take the word of an old man" Ochako nodded in response.
"If it serves, when me and my wife just got married we were having a hard time getting used to it in the best way" He spoke.
"I'm afraid I don't understand" She tilted her head, her hair bounced.
"Well, for starters I only had two ways of saying 'she's my wife' and it was with either outmost pride or so embarrassed I stumbled in my own words and she is so cute. Every time someone called her by my last name she blushed, you should see her blushing sometimes it's so adorable to see her accidentally activate her quirk when she is flushed" The man began to ramble. Ochako listened to his every word.
"Did you two ever fight?" She inquired, her voice full of curiosity.
"Of course we did, every couple fights sometimes. I still remember the first one, well, now that I think about it most of our fights were around the same topic" The man put a finger under his chin. "I'm a reckless person. One day I got so hurt that I ended up in the hospital, when I woke up she was by my side, she said nothing then just mentioning how glad she was I had woken up. Later that night, after most of the visits had come and gone we were all alone and she asked me to stop, she told me she understood but I had to put a limit on how much I pushed myself that now that we were together she had finally reunited the courage to say how sad she would be if something were to happen to me" Ochako silently nodded. "We made amends shortly after" the teenager stood quiet, unable to think of anything else to say her mind thought about Izuku and how she'd feel similar to the man's wife.
"How long have you been together?" Ochako asked with curiosity. This time, the man grinned.
"Depends. Do you want to count since we began dating or since we got married?" He asked with enthusiasm.
"From the very beginning" Ochako gave a single nod, with a smile.
"We've been together sixty two years" He smiled, laughing at Ochako's shocked face "And can I tell you a secret? After all that time, two kids, and six grandkids every day I love her at least as much as the first time I met her, I think I love her even more" he laughed, Ochako couldn't help to see laugh alongside him.
"I almost have to go, but let me tell you something else" The man began "Thank you for listening to this old man, I know you will be a great hero someday Uravity" Ochako stood still for a second
"How…?"
"This was a great talk. I'm sorry I have to go; my wife is waiting for me and I'd hate to worry her. Goodbye miss, I'll see you around" The man interrupted standing up with help of his cane.
"Of course" Ochako complied with a smile, even if she believed that the chances of seeing that old man again were slim. The man gave one smile to Ochako before walking away, as she saw his back she thought she caught a glimpse of green and black in his now gray hair.
Once he turned his back on her Ochako pulled out her phone, it was four ten, like the man had warned her Izuku was late. She sent him a quick text wondering if he was alright before returning her phone on her purse a tapping her foot once again, the child who had fallen on the floor was now talking to a woman who seemed to be his mother while he pointed at Ochako. She waved her hand at the child and the mother smiled at her.
"Ochako!" She turned on the direction of Izuku's voice seeing him running her way as he tried to pass the people who were also crossing the street. She waved at him to let him know she had seen him.
"I'm sorry I was late" Izuku ran towards her. "This old lady approached me and began talking with me. I just didn't have the courage to stop her, she seemed to be happy to talk with someone. Did you wait too long?" His head tilted, and he raised a worried eyebrow
"Not at all" She smiled standing up from the bench "An old man came to talk to me too, he was really sweet. I think you would have liked him"
"You think so?" He scratched the back of his head "I was thinking we went to the planetarium. I know you love space, is that okay?" Ochako's eyes opened wide for a second before her hand nervously reached for Izuku's as she joined them with trembling fingers, a blush grew on her cheeks finding herself unable to believe she had the courage to do that.
"That sounds wonderful" she smiled. His face colored pink as he stared at the path ahead too nervous to look at her in the eyes refusing to let go of her hand, she stared at the floor for a second before glancing at him and then looking forward as they began to walk