Lit Wick

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Ochako POV
I stand in front of my oak vanity, brushing my short brown hair. Brushing it calms me. I glance at the mirror, putting the brush down. My mirror, parallel to the window shows someone in the next house. I turn around. In the blue one-story house beside mine has an attic window just a tad lower than mine on the second floor of my house. I see the figure of a girl in the window, walking across the window. Specks of warm light pop up in the dim window, candles.

The girl leans out the window, and I can make out long dark green hair, and big eyes. She's so beautiful, I think. Maybe one day, I'll meet her.

Ever since that day, I've only seen the mystery girl in the night time, lighting her candles. I've never seen her come out of the house, so she might be homeschooled. Even so, I make sure to turn my lights off early so I can watch her. I know, it sounds weird, but all she does is light candles. Then she sits down and reads. I don't know what book she reads, but it's big and thick. I wonder if it hurts her eyes to read in such dim light.

Tonight, I made it my mission to get her to notice me. I take a flashlight from my desk drawer, and shine it on her windowsill. The light spills off the white windowsill, and flashes for a moment on her face, illuminating the prettiest girl I've ever seen. She gets up, and goes to the window. I hold my breath. She lifts a tentative hand, and waves at me.

Relieved, I wave back. I call out to her: "Hi, what's yo-" but she looks frantic and puts a finger by her lips. Fear is shining her eyes. Instead, she goes out of sight, and pops back with a piece of paper. Scribbling something down, she holds it up to me.

I shine my light on it. In neat but large script, it says 'My name is Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsu'. I smile. Maybe she wants to be friends? I grab a notebook and write 'My name is Ochako'. I point my flashlight at it, and she nods after she finishes reading it. We 'talk' for a while, but after a while she waves, and mimicks sleeping by leaning her head on her hands. I wave at her, and thumbs up. Tsu closes her green frog patterned curtains, and I close my pink ones, and go to bed.

In the morning, I wake up to my phone alarm. 7:15am, time for school. I get up, and put on my school uniform. As I leave the room, I look out the window to Tsu's. Between the frog curtains, all I see is darkness. I sigh, and leave.

Standing outside my house, I can see the blue house clearly. The garden is dead, the lawn yellowish-green. The porch is sparse, a single plastic lawn chair on it. The windows are always closed and curtained, like something is being hidden. I wonder...

No! I have to go to school...

Tsu's POV
Reading my book, my eyes have to squint to see the small words. Suddenly, a light shines in the window. I look over. The girl from next door is shining a light at me. I'm unsure of what to do. Does she want to make fun of me? She's smiling...maybe not. You should wave, say my thoughts, helpful for once. I wave at her shyly. She smiles at me, and starts to say something. Oh no, she can't talk! He'll hear her. I quickly shush her, but I think she could see my fear. I write her a note, saying my name. She copies me. Ochako, huh?

After writing notes for a while, I check my clock. It's almost time for him to check on me. I wave at her, and feign fatigue. Ochako smiles, and gives me a thumbs up. I close my curtains, blow out my candles, put away my book and jump under the blanket, just as I hear footsteps come up the attic ladder.

Word count: 706

Abused Tsu x Ochako ~Hanahaki Quirkless AU~Where stories live. Discover now