The Bet (Hizashi)

"C'mon, I'll bet you."

"Hizashi, I was just teasing." Elly gave the tall man an odd look, staring up at him from her laptop. "I like you the way you are, loudness and everything. "

"Aw, but they're always goin' on about how I can't be quiet." He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder at the other teachers who were avidly watching the altercation between the two. "Let's finally put it to the test!"

"Ugh," she groaned, her ears laying back. "Okay, okay. If you can stay quiet - no talking -- for an entire school day, what? What would you want?"

"You take me out to karaoke," he answered a little too quickly.

Her ears flicked, as if already anticipating the pain. "And if I win... let's see. You have to come with me to the aquarium."

He blinked. "Uh, okay."

"In full hero costume," she added.

Hizashi wrinkled his nose in thought - all those people and tourists there! -- but ended up nodding.

"This ought to be amusing," Midnight murmured to Thirteen.

The next day Present Mic was, for all intents and purposes, mute. He made sure all his classes knew and encouraged them to make sure he kept his bet, too, though the staff were the real judges.

They had a glorious time with this, teasing him and trying to get him to break his silence. And yet Hizashi was determined. Not only did he want to show everyone he could do this, he really wanted Cheshire to take him out. No one liked to karaoke with him, for obvious reasons. He tried pleading with them, pointing out that he had been back multiple times after that unfortunate incident and nothing had happened ever again, but it stuck in their minds.

Going to the aquarium with her... that wouldn't be too bad, except Mic was something of a celebrity hero. He was seen at events and on television, and because of this, people had a habit of kind of, well, bugging him in public. He wouldn't mind going with her in civvies, though.

Hizashi sighed and glanced up at the clock. He had some time before the next class, so maybe he should go grade some papers. He bit his lip at least ten times in the hallway on the way there, stifling his friendly greetings at the students in favor of a quiet thumbs up or some trusty finger guns along with his winning smile. When he got there he cracked the door to the office, rolling his shoulders back with a determined look.

He was pretty lucky that only a handful of his colleagues were there at work. Midnight, Eraserhead and the small form of All Might sat at their shared desk, typing away. Midnight looked up at the sound of the door and her eyes lit up with mischief. She pointed with a sly grin off to the side.

Cheshire was also there, reading some of the notices the school board had stuck up for everyone on a bulletin board.

"Hey, Ches, look who dropped in on us!"

Hizashi swallowed nervously when the counselor approached him.

"You're doing pretty good there, Mic," she complimented him with a smile.

I thought so, too, he signed to her with a smirk. Elly was one of the few teachers that had a smattering of American Sign Language, and she wrinkled her nose at him cutely at his workaround.

"Don't get too cocky, Present Mic. I can win easily, you know. All I have to do is this." Elly took hold of his long collar on each side of his leather jacket and tugged. He squeaked faintly, arms pinwheeling as his eyes bulged out of his head behind his shades.

Midnight leaned forward breathlessly, her dark eyes alight and a huge grin on her face. "You think she's going to..?"

Aizawa was frowning at the scene unfolding before them. "Is Cheshire ...interested in Mic?"

"Has been since she started," Yagi murmured quietly. Aizawa shot him a suspicious look, and he shrugged. "I can sense these things," he said weakly, spreading his hands in apology.

"Yagi's a closet romantic," Ectoplasm chuckled. He had walked in unnoticed a few seconds ago.

"Shhh! You guys!" Midnight hissed. "Look!"

She pulled him so close their noses touched. Hizashi's heart pounded in his chest like a jackhammer and his mouth was papery dry.

What was she doing?!

Her eyes were - no, they couldn't be -- they were starry, her ears laid back and her lips slightly parted.

Her lips?

"Ches, wait -!"

She let go of his collar at once and turned away. Midnight hooted raucously, calling out that he had lost the bet. Aizawa shrugged and turned back to his work. Yagi, however, winced, his sunken eyes full of pity. He was the only one not surprised when she walked quickly out of the lounge.

"Wh - what? Shit, I thought she'd be happy she won! Tryna' push me over the edge like that..." Hizashi blinked when he saw the other blond man crossed the space between them in two hasty strides.

"Please, Mic," Yagi entreated, reaching out to his colleague. "Go after her. She's - she..." He leaned down close, cupping one hand over his mouth. "She meant that. She thinks you rejected her."

Hizashi's jaw dropped. "No way, All Might. There's no freakin' way that hottie wants m -"

He was cut off by a hard shake to his shoulder, and quite suddenly spun about. His green-gold eyes blinked in astonishment at Midnight, who had a very unhappy look on her face.

"You idiot!"

"Whaaaaat?" He whined, ducking though he was much taller than the dark-haired woman. "Ow! Kayama! Quit!"

She whapped him on the arm again with her cat o' nine tails. "Why didn't you just kiss her, Yamada? What's wrong with you!"

Hizashi snapped. "There's a buncha people here watchin', fer one!" He yanked his shoulder out of her reach and glared around. "Maybe I got a little, I dunno, stage fright."

"You?!"

"Aw, geez," he fidgeted, staring at the door Elly had walked out minutes before. "What do I do, yo? I don't know how to fix it!"

"You have to take her out, right? Make it like a date." Everyone turned around to stare incredulously at Aizawa Shota's back. He didn't even move, just went on. "It's the most logical course of action. You both set yourselves up to date the other in your bet. Take her to the aquarium, treat her, and tell her how you feel."

He was actually going to take romance advice from Shota Aizawa. Today just kept getting weirder and weirder.

Hizashi adjusted his shoulderpads and cleared his throat. Upon his friend's advice, he bought tickets immediately online for a night trip to the nearest aquarium. Midnight's contribution was in his hand: a peace offering of a small spray of lavender bought from a local shop. The florist had been stunned when Present Mic had barged into her shop and exclaimed he needed "pretty, purple flowers, quick", but she had delivered.

He tapped on the door to Elly's office. "Ches? It's me..."

There was a long pause, and then she opened the door herself. Her eyes looked tired, and he was ashamed to see her cheeks were damp. "Yeah? You can, you know, forget about the -"

"Oh, no," he said firmly. "We're doin' this. Here." He thrust the flowers awkwardly at her.

"M - Mic, you didn't have to..."

"Look," he told her seriously, dropping his voice into a low baritone that he was pleased to see make her ears perk. "I want to, okay? I'm'a take you out tonight. My treat entirely. I'll even buy you one of those giant stuffed whale sharks the kids are always screamin' about."

Elly hugged the flowers to her chest. "All right. What time?"

"Tickets are, uh..." He checked his phone. "Eight. Hey, we can get dinner at that cafe they have, too."

He knew this was going to be an event of massive public relations in the making, so he showered and re-dressed himself very carefully as his hero persona before going to pick her up. Elly had also refreshed her costume, and appeared nervous as he offered to drive.

"I thought we were taking the - ohmigosh. You have the perfect car." She crammed a hand to her mouth, stifling a serious case of the giggles.

He rolled his eyes, grinning. "Yeah, yeah. Loud as hell an' flashy."

"And American." She gave him a sly, side long glance. "Do you like a lot of American made things?"

Hizashi smirked at her as he buckled in. "Yeah, I do, baby."

"I don't have a problem with that," she said softly, blushing.

The small crowd at the aquarium froze as one, startled to see two pro heroes - neither of which was Gang Orca -- entering the gates.

"Do you really want to get food before?"

"Hell yeah." He pointed. "Look, Ches, they got burgers. Burgers."

She laughed and gave in. "I am hungry. And I do love a good burger."

"A woman after my own heart," he cooed, patting the left side of his chest extravagantly. They walked in without any interruptions, and even managed to get in line. But then Elly felt a very small hand tugging at her suit.

She looked down and saw a very tiny, white rabbit headed boy. "Hey there," she asked quietly. "What's up, little guy?"

"Can I get yours and Mic's autograph?" It came out as 'autogwaph' and her heart nearly melted at his adorableness.

"Of course. Tiny listeners are my favorite," Mic chimed in, peering down and flashing him a huge smile.

They signed for him and she purred happily as he dashed back to his parents, waving the book he had held out for them over his head triumphantly. "Oh Mic, he's so freaking cute."

"I was half afraid he was gonna say we were late," he quipped.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

The food was pretty good, and they went over the map of the place while they ate, picking out which areas they liked the most. They made their way inside the cool, dimly lit building and Hizashi had his phone scanned for their tickets. It wasn't so bad in the dark, as people were interested in the sea life and many didn't expect to see pro heroes walking around as if on a date in full costume. Quite a few people noticed them but were polite about it, respecting their privacy. Hizashi wondered if this was due to her reputation as the Insanity Hero, but then remembered the kid hadn't been afraid earlier.

As expected, Elly loved whale sharks but he found she was especially fond of lobsters and squealed with glee whenever she spied one in the tanks. Her tail lashed cutely about her legs and her eyes lit up as she watched them crawling around on the sandy bottom. He reached out, hand shaking slightly, and placed his arm around her as she stood pressed to the glass. Startled, she looked up to see him very close, smiling sheepishly with a light blush creeping up from his neck gear.

They stood there for a few minutes, vaguely aware that people were whispering behind them. "You want to go see the wraparound tank?"

"Yeah," she said quietly.

He didn't remove his arm from around her and she didn't say anything, just walked a little closer. Hizashi's heart was pounding as they reached the tunnel and he peered cautiously inside. There was a large crowd here, this area being a huge attraction. They walked up and immediately there were a few startled exclamations and camera clicks.

That wasn't enough for him, though.

He waited until they were in the middle of the tunnel, surrounded by people but paused as everyone looked around in wonder.

"Ches," he murmured softly.

"Hmm?" She looked up.

He leaned in, slow enough so that the crowd of people could plainly see what he was about to do. Cell phones were whipped out with all haste, cameras at the ready and video recording. This was much more than a few of the staff at U.A. Hizashi took a breath and gently kissed her, relishing the way her purple eyes went extra wide and then slowly slipped shut. No one kisses very well in public, really, but when they watched some of the videos released later, they thought the official start of their relationship looked pretty damn good.