Wonderland: 17

"Whafuck!" Hizashi sprayed beer across the table directly at his friend. Aizawa stared blankly back at him, liquid running down his face. "Ohhh shit, Shota, m'sorry..." He grabbed a handful of napkins and attempted to wipe him dry.

"Hizashi."

"Sorry!"

"Zashi."

"Well, whaddaya think I was gonna do?! You asked her to marry you? Are ya nuts?!"

Aizawa didn't move. "She said no."

The blond man froze, his green spiralled eyes widening in sudden sympathy. "Wh - so she's leaving, and she turned down your proposal besides?"

"I didn't, ah, think things through." He rubbed the back of his neck, staring off into the distance as he spoke. "I simply asked because she could stay if we were married. It wasn't a real proposal and she knew it. I don't blame her for refusing."

"What're you guys going to do?"

He sighed, cradling his own mug in two hands. "For once I do not know. There's nothing I can do to prevent her leaving. I suppose we shall have to keep as much in contact as possible."

Hizashi winced. "I hate to be a bummer, but this'll be, like, super freaking long distance. You're thirteen hours apart, time wise, for one."

"I know." One hand rubbed at his unshaven cheek as he frowned, thinking hard. "Fuck."

"Hey, you guys really love each other. It's not fair. Things have to work out."

"No, Zashi - they really don't. That's life."

He wiped a hand over his pointed mustache and shook his head. "There has to be a way," he insisted stubbornly.

"I could go visit her."

"Aw, what? You'd leave us?"

"My class has been tested time and again over the months they've enrolled with us. In the beginning they needed me, certainly. But now?"

"Someone else needs you more?"

He frowned harder. "I can not condone leaving in the middle of a school year..."

"Shota, c'mon. In all the years you've been working, let alone teaching - or, hell, even so far back as high school here! I've never known y'to take a break unless we forced you to."

"True. I have substantial time saved for emergencies."

Hizashi thumped the table in exasperation. "This is an emergency!"

"Yes... I think I'll get all my time off and go see her as soon as I can." He drained his beer in several long gulps. "Because I fucking love her."

"Damn right!" Hizashi raised his glass. "Let's get another."

''Another'' led to several hours of drunken revelry - which, to be fair, for Aizawa meant nothing more than he talked more than usual to his friend. He confessed his ineptitude about relationships and sex in general, prompting the Voice Hero to lecture him about anatomy. He had a rather special use he had worked out for his quirk that intrigued his friend. Aizawa learned several things that he hoped to try on his girlfriend some day.

If they could stay together somehow.

It was never far from his mind.

Elly was calm and quiet while she finished up her last days at UA. Time rushed by far too quickly, heading towards the weekend when she would be forced to leave. The students she had befriended were upset, and she consoled them as was her job. Many of the staff were disgruntled as well, though she hadn't made too many friends people knew she was highly qualified. It didn't sit right with them, especially because of her close relationship with Aizawa. The close-lipped homeroom teacher was growing progressively aloof and frustrated. It was clear he would become unbearable to be around once she was gone.

She stunned her detractors, who couldn't believe she was so composed. They had thought the worst of her illness, believing that she couldn't handle herself in a crisis.

A light tapping at her door brought her to her senses. She shook her head to clear it. "Come in."

It creaked slightly and the invisible girl she had been mentoring walked in nervously. "Everybody's talking about you and Mr. Aizawa," she began hesitantly.

"I know," Elly said simply, her purple eyes conveying the sadness the rest of her face did not. "Sometimes things happen we can't control. Falling in love was one of them, for both of us."

"But it's not fair!"

She smiled a lopsided smile. "You're right. It's not."

Toru paused, nonplussed that the counselor had said the one thing she hadn't expected. Her gloves came up as if she touched her face in shock. "Wh - what?"

"It's not very fair that I found the special person I want to be with, only to be separated because of something I can't control." She sighed and passed a weary hand over her face. "But it happened. And it's not the first, or last time life won't work out the way we hope it will. We can try to find a way, and we're not giving up - but for now, this is what must be."

She knew the girl was crying from her choked sob. "But - but Ms. Cheshire -- "

"I know." Elly got up and hugged her. "I feel the same way. I don't want to leave you guys, either." She looked across the room and saw what looked like class of 1-A crowded in the hallway and spilled half into her office.

"Ms. Cheshire!" The one her boyfriend referred to as 'problem child' was in the front row yelling earnestly with tears pouring down his face. "We won't forget you!"

"Mr. Aizawa will think of something."

"Don't give up!"