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“-but seeing as we haven’t seen this new skill from you in your previous rescue, does that mean you’ve recently developed it?” A man around her age asked her, his pencil touching his notepad as he looked at her with anticipating emerald eyes.
Ochako managed to make her smile grow wider as she repeated the question to herself, all the reporters in the room noticing how her eyes softened. All cameras that were there quickly captured the moments, a few reports jotting this detail in their books.
It wasn’t the first time this occurred with the Zero Gravity Heroine.
It started four years ago, two years after her Hero debut. Ever since the rookie reporter -Deku- came into the scene, Uravity started to answer more questions, made her press conferences longer and convinced her agency to do more Q&A sections in her conferences that didn’t relate to the recent incident.
Everyone knew that Deku was the reason behind Uravity’s change, but they didn’t know how exactly. After all, what can a Quirkless reporter like him do to change one of Japan’s Top 20 Heroes?
Not only was he Quirkless, he had a horrible sense of fashion. Round glasses, a blazer and hat combo. And no, it wasn’t a fedora or a regular solid colored shirt. It was always, always, some type of hero merch.
Today’s outfit included Creati merch under his brown blazer. Yes, that simple red t-shirt was Creati merch, a matryoshka doll peeping from the breast pocket.
“Yes! Yes I did! I’m so glad that you caught it!” Ochako said with glee, placing her fingers together, making sure her pinkies didn’t touch. Despite having one of her pinkies covered by a single band-aid, it was still a habit Ochako did as a precaution. Old habits die hard after all. “I found out I was able to stabilize the amount of gravity pulling on a person a few months ago and only until this recent rescue was I able to show everyone the efforts placed into developing this skill.”
Ochako watched as the reporter wrote furiously into his notepad, not once looking down. She couldn’t help but notice the breton hat on his head, his hair peeking from under it.
If she remembered correctly, that was the hat he got from when he went to interview the Wild Pussycats. An anniversary report relating to the Waterhose Heroes. A very emotional read now that she remembered.
“And do you plan to keep working on your Quirk?”
“I do! After all, it’s how I perfected this skill.” Ochako looked down at her hands, clenching and unclenching them. She looked at the scars that ran across them, each one a story to them. She looked back up. “Who knows what other skills I have yet to uncover! The only way I can discover them is if I keep working on perfecting my Quirk to save everyone in my reach.” Ochako said with a soft smile, watching as the freckled reporter watched her with starry eyes through his round framed glasses from Creati’s new fashion line.
Red definitely complimented him.
“Seeing as we are running out of time,” the conference planner said, hearing complaints from the myriad of reporters in the auditorium. “We’ll allow one final question pertaining-”
“Is it true you have yet to find a partner, Uravity?” One idiot reporter yelled from the back, all the senior ones groaning in annoyance.
Who’s clown was this? Who forgot to teach this idiot that asking that type of question made a conference end earlier than intended? That it got rid of all opportunity on elongating the already short conference? And why did he think about that question now? Uravity’s Q&A was in two days. Two. Days! Why couldn’t he wait until then to ask that question?
As the conference planner tried to wrap things up, Ochako sighed, grabbing the microphone from her manager, mouthing an apology.
“Can the reporter who said that please come to the front?”
Everyone looked around as they wondered what idiot had asked Uravity the question of the status of her love life.
Everyone groaned as they watched Reo walk up to the stage, the man sporting a grin as he walked up.
Reo - Cupid’s Nightmare. Notorious for digging into every hero’s love life, as if his life depended on it. (It didn’t.) He would do anything to try and grab a scoop, especially when it came to single heroines, but everyone also knew that he had a thing for the anti-gravity hero.
He even admitted it during a panel when he was a guest at Tokyo’s Hero Con last year.
“My ideal girl? Probably Uravity.”
Ochako frowned as Reo stood in front of her, fully knowing where this was going. “Can you repeat your question?”
“I asked if there’s anyone you’re seeing, Uravity.” Reo stated, taking out his phone to record their conversation. “After all, you’re the only heroine in your age group that has yet to find a partner. Being 24 years old, everyone would expect you to be in a relationship or at least been through one.” Reo let out a smirk. “Any guy would die to have you, seeing as you haven’t changed a bit since your highschool years.” Reo let out a chuckle before stretching out his phone to Ochako. “So tell us, are you seeing anyone?”
Ochako sighed, wanting to badly roll her eyes, but she knew that it wasn’t worth it.
She had heard of Reo through her friends, Momo and the rest of the girls had warned her about him. How they talked about him finding their old apartment addresses, how he would stalk them, how they had to get restraining orders for him and how he would pester them until they would give him an answer to satisfy his question and make them feel uncomfortable and at times unsafe.
She wasn’t going to let him get his way. Not against her.
“First and foremost, I find it very rude and uncomfortable that my body should be the sole reason as to why someone should ever date me.” Ochako started, her lips a thin line. She hated that Reo still had a grin on his face, as if saying he had finally cornered her. Oh how wrong he was. “But setting that aside, my answer to your question is yes,” oh how she loved the way Reo’s grin fell. How his face paled. “I am seeing someone.”
Gasps filled the room, reporters shouting about who the lucky person was as camera shutters attempted to drown them down. No one watched as a breton hat made its way to the side of the stage.
“As a matter of fact, the two of us are getting married.” Ochako said with a smile, internally grinning as Reo dropped his phone, his eyes wide. “In the timespan of five months, may I add.”
The room soon filled with applause and shouts that congratulated her.
“You’re lying!” Reo shouted, Ochako still smiling. She had already done her part, so she let him go on. “You’re lying! I would’ve known if you were dating some!” Reo blabbered on, not registering as cameras rolled, filming his every word. “You’re just saying this to-”
“Why would she lie about something she greatly respects?”
More clicks and shutters filled the room as everyone stared with wide eyes as they saw Deku on stage, his hand on Uravity’s waist, snuggly pressed against him. “Seeing as you’re her biggest fan, you would think that you would know that Uravity holds marriage with the utmost respect. Or am I wrong, Reo?” Deku asked, a smirk on his face.
“Deku. How-”
“How did I get up here?” Deku tilted his head towards the side stage. “The perks of being her fiance I guess.” The room once again ruptured into shouts.
“Stop lying. The two of you.” Reo gritted through his teeth. He looked at Uravity with round eyes. “Please tell us that you were lying, Uravity. That you were simply saying it so that-”
“-so that people like you would get off her back?” Deku cut off, frowning. “Look man, do you know how frustrating it is to hold myself back every time someone kept hitting on her? How hard it was to pretend like I was just another face in the crowd? That I couldn’t punch you for saying countless disturbing things to my girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?” Reo asked, looking at the smirk on Uravity’s face. “You’ve never-”
“Interacted with her? Um, sorry to disappoint, but I have?” Deku pretended to count his fingers. “Have been for the past five years. We’ve been dating for the past four years though.”
“How can that be?”
“Result of being an ace reporter I guess.” Deku provided, telling the truth. He also had his quirklessness to thank.
When was security going to learn to place barriers that kept everyone out and just not those with Quirks? Thanks to the flaw in the system, Deku was able to slip through Quirk detection barriers and since he didn’t have one, he was able to slip every single time.
“Ace reporter my ass. You’re just another Quirkless idiot who can’t do a single thing besides run after heroes, seeing as that the next best thing besides having a Quirk.” Reo crossed his arms, smirking when Deku frowned. “What makes you think that you’re capable of protecting Uravity. Of deserving her love?”
“First off, it’s called connections buddy.” Izuku smiled, snapping his fingers. Soon, security was escorting Reo out the room, Reo shouting insults at Deku. “Second, if she chose me, that’s all I need to know that I am worthy of her love.”
“You’ll regret taking Uravity from me, you Quirkless Deku! You'll pay for this!”
“See you in court!” Deku yelled back. “I also suggest you invest in a lawyer! I’ve never seen so many lawsuits against a tabloid reporter like yourself!”
As Deku watched the room quiet down, Ochako decided to speak up.
“Now that that is over, we would be happy to answer any-”
“KISS!” Someone from the back shouted, the other reports laughing at the request. Ochako couldn’t help but also laugh, only to stop when she felt hands cup her face.
“Izuku?” Ochako stared with wide eyes as she felt his lips pressed against hers, the clicks of cameras going mute as she melted into the gesture, pulling Izuku deeper into their kiss as she closed her eyes.
How long she had waited to do this with him. To announce her happiness to the world.
How she found love with the reporter who viewed her as Ochako and not only Uravity.
The reporter who managed to sweep her off her feet by simply asking her questions about her Quirk and work along with other mundane questions about her day.
The man who talked endlessly about his job and how he enjoyed learning about Quirks despite not having one himself.
The reporter who managed to keep Reo away from her and her friends thanks to his connections and collections of blackmail.
The man named Izuku MIdoriya, who proposed to her after having received her ranking of number 11, just like the hero she had idolized as a child and who heavily inspired her career.
As the two parted from each other, Ochako stared at Izuku, watching as he stared at her with dreamy eyes before a blush formed onto his face.
“I just remembered we are on a live stream.”