Work Text:
‘Happy B-Day, Himiko Toga!!’
The frosting was a bright cheery red, piped in looping, messy letters across a soft pink cake sealed inside a clear plastic box. Toga had reread the writing at least twenty times now, maybe more. She kept sneaking peeks, like it might disappear if she looked away too long.
A guard had handed it to her that morning during meal rotations, along with a small note taped to the lid. The handwriting was bubbly and uneven, like it had been scribbled in a rush between patrols.
Happy birthday, Himiko!
I’m so sorry I can’t visit today, but I hope this makes up for it. I’ll stop by the second visiting hours are back on and give you a real present then!!
XOXO,
~ Uravity <3
Toga traced the little heart drawn at the bottom of the page with her fingertip, over and over. It glowed in her hand like something radioactive. Warm, sweet, and a little dangerous, just like Ochako.
It had been a week since the prison went into lockdown. One week since visiting hours were cut after a failed escape attempt in the cell block next door. One week since she’d seen her hero in person. And honestly, she’d been spiraling.
Her and Uraraka had a bit of a routine. Weekly visits, talk therapy, supervised training, and long conversations about the future. Not just vague dreams, but actual plans. Toga had been trying, really trying.
But this place was cold. The walls buzzed like static. Every day bled into the next like paint in dirty water and without that soft pink light in her week, she’d started slipping back into the old her. Sharp thoughts, heavy ones.
But then this cake, with its messy icing and uneven letters, lit up the entire building with ease.
She hadn’t had a birthday since she was four, not a real one. Not one that wasn’t just another day to be ignored or feared or punished. But now she had a cake, a note, and a soft reminder that someone was out there. Someone warm and kind that was thinking of her, and that thought made little butterflies dance in her skin.
She clutched the box to her chest, ignoring the odd stares from the other inmates in the lunch hall.
The TV sitting in the corner was playing another hero news report. Probably meant to intimidate the prisoners. Big shots in their shiny costumes beating villains into the dirt, over and over. But Toga’s eyes were only ever looking for her.
And there she was, right on cue.
Ochako Uraraka. Gravity Hero: Uravity. Hair up in her usual bun, a few strands loose around her face. That determined little smile as she talked to the press after a rescue. She was saying something about rebuilding and hope, but Toga could barely pay attention to the words she was saying. She was too focused on the way the sun hit her eyes just right, making the warm brown pop, or the way her face was just a little pinker than usual, still catching her breath from saving countless of lives.
Toga smiled at the screen, silently hoping that Uraraka could feel her happiness. “Thank you..” she whispered, voice barely louder than a breath.