Tummy Trouble II

The school counselor had eaten or drank something that had given her a bad case of food poisoning. That was easily agreed on, as they witnessed Kayama dragging her bodily out of the bathroom after she had thrown up intermittently for around a quarter of an hour.

What they couldn't agree about was who should take her home and look after her.

"No way, uh uh," Hizashi protested. "Yer not the - ah, mothering type, Kayama." He pulled Elly protectively close, his warm arm slung low about her waist.

Aizawa's eyebrows shot up, but he said nothing.

"Why, you little - !"

Hizashi shook his head stubbornly. "I'm takin' her."

The other woman looked him up and down slowly, an unmistakable question in her eyes. "Oh, really?"

Elly whimpered faintly. "I don't feel so good."

He pushed his glasses back up on his nose and didn't rise to the bait. "'Sides, I'm sober. I haven't had anything to drink yet."

"I think Yamada makes a very good point," Yagi murmured from where he was stooping to access the pale woman's condition. "However, she might need extensive care that could be more easily accomplished by another woman..."

"Extensive?"

"He means because you're the opposite sex." Aizawa shrugged. "What if you have to bathe her or something?"

Yagi coughed loudly in astonishment. "Aizawa! Yamada would never take such a liberty with a sick comrade. I just meant -"

"Yeah. Never, and I mean that. I just wanna make sure she's taken care of."

"Besides, are you really going to give up drinking for a night of someone else puking in your apartment?" Kayama rolled her eyes.

Hizashi's green eyes grew cold as he considered what she was saying. He didn't understand at the moment that she was testing his resolve. She became just another person that saw him as nothing but a loud-mouthed, irresponsible party boy.

"Doesn't she get a say?"

"She's busy," Aizawa pointed out as Elly struggled to not throw up inside the bar.

"Yeah," Hizashi said firmly as he picked the shaky counselor up in his arms. "Enough. I'm doing this." He spun and darted out the door as his charge warned him of an impending disaster.

Once Elly had thrown up mostly everything in her stomach, she wasn't likely to do it anymore. And the rest was deposited violently in the alleyway before she could even get to a trash can. Hizashi both blocked her from sight of passersby and supported her so she didn't fall. When she was finished, he tore open a wipe packet he'd taken from the bar and cleaned her gently up before leading her to his car.

"'Zashi..." He knew it was just her slurring because she was ill, but hearing the cute little shortening of his name caused his own stomach to flutter, "'Zashi, m'not gonna throw up in your car!" She sounded panicky.

"No, yer not," he agreed. "I think you'll be fine. Besides, I gotta bag in there. You get the urge to yak again you can do it in that, 'kay?"

She grunted and collapsed in the seat. He buckled her safely up and got in on the driver side.

Hizashi knew the ride home was horrible for her. What made it worse was his sports car was loud, old and low to the ground. He tried not to hit any bumps but some of the roads weren't as well maintained as others. He felt like an ass when the first thing she did upon him helping her out was throw up again, into the bag this time. She had clearly been holding it in until she was out of his car. Judging from the sheer violence and amount, it had taken a Herculean effort to do so, and she passed out as he held her from behind in the U.A parking lot near their homes.

Elly was finally too sick to care. She had been mortified at Hizashi taking her in, though even then gad been too busy with trying not to get sick all over to protest. He would see her at her utter worst - embarrassing for regular people, but this was the man she had a massive crush on. No way did she want to look gross in front of him!

Unfortunately, after fainting beside his car her temperature skyrocketed and she became nearly helpless. Her body was wracked with shivers yet she was sweating so much her hair stuck to her cheeks and neck. She vaguely recalled him popping two barrettes on her sidelocks to keep them from dangling into the basin she was throwing up into. Other than that, she had no memory of falling into a fitful slumber on his couch while he frantically called for groceries to be delivered.

She woke, startled for a split second that this was not her apartment, and then cried out in pain.

"I'm here! What d'ya need?"

Hizashi. He knelt by her on the floor, careful to not sit on the couch lest it rock under his weight and she get sick. He had learned fast after this happened once earlier and now just laid a gentle hand on hers. It was freezing, and he stared at it in dismay.

Elly heard him but only distantly. She knew someone was there, so she tried to communicate how she felt simply.

"Hurts." All her joints felt like they were stuffed with glass and she had a massive headache. Her eyes were bloodshot and had dark bags under them that rivaled Aizawa's. All this alone frightened her nervous blond caretaker, yet her temperature hadn't gone down in hours and that was the worst.

No, he was wrong.

Hizashi's throat closed up as he saw tears slipping out of her tired eyes. It obviously hurt to cry but her agony was too great. He jerked his hand back and bit the heel, whining in sympathy. His own eyes grew huge as he saw that she was twitching away from things - possibly hallucinating, since he saw nothing there.

"Stay put, I'm - I'm gonna get th', uh, check your temp." He rushed into the bathroom and rifled through countless hair product tubs and tubes, shaving cream and manicure sets in his cabinet, tossing them onto the counter recklessly until he found the tiny thermometer. When he got back, Elly's eyes were closed again, and her head lolled to one side. Her ears were flicking sporadically at the sounds he made sitting on the table in front of her, so he knew she was awake.

"Open for me, Ches. Promise it'll only take a second..." Once inserted between her pale lips the tool beeped quickly. He slid it out and flinched at the reading. "Oh, shit," he gasped.

He threw the thermometer on the table and dug his phone out of his dress shirt pocket. "Aizawa? Look, ow - I'm sorry, I know it's super late. Listen, how much would you worry if her temp's up like, four degrees?"

He paused, watching her worriedly as she breathed in quick, shallow puffs. "Oh... uh huh. Well, she can't eat yet so, no. No medicine. Plus yeah. Uh. Okay." Hizashi's mustache twitched as he listened to the advice his logical friend had to dispense.

"What! Are you nuts?!"

Elly jumped a little when he yelped and he apologized, stroking the backs of her hands as she whimpered and held her head. He spoke for awhile longer and then sighed, placed the phone on the table and stood up. He stared at her, swallowing hard, and then rolled up his black shirt sleeves before picking her up.

"Wha?"

"It - it's okay. Your fever's really-really-really bad, Ches. I'm'a help ya come back to me." He brought her to the bathroom and sat her on the floor with her back to the bathtub. "Lemme get you a towel for under your neck - I know it hurts, baby, I'm sorry ... here." He placed a rolled up towel behind her neck to cushion it. Her head lay on the edge, her eyes bleary and confused. As Hizashi took the showerhead down and tested the water, she grasped blindly in the air, catching his arm.

"Don't let ... 'Zashi know."

"Huh?" He blinked down at her. "Uh, Ches, it's me. I'm Hizashi." He took out the barettes he had placed in her hair earlier and set them aside.

Elly shook her head. "No-o-o-o ... sick. Hallucinating." She pronounced the last word slowly, in a deliberate way.

He bit his lip, holding his breath as his heart pounded in his chest. "Tilt your head," he murmured, urging her with the slightest of touches. She instinctively bent and he rinsed her hair and head with soothing, cool water. He made sure to work his hand through her short purple tresses, so the water got to her scalp below. He stopped when her breathing grew easier and her face lost some of the redness that had been worrying him.

"Hih - zashi," she sighed as he took the rolled up towel from under her neck and started drying her hair.

"Hey, you back? Y'know it's me?" He raised her chin, staring deeply into her dark, purple eyes. She squinted, frowning, and then shook her head as if she rejected her vision. Elly clumsily threw her arms around him and he caught her, startled.

"I love him," she sniffled into his chest. "I love him an' he can't know, okay?"

Hizashi choked, his hands tightening around her upper body. She was clinging to his warmth and strength, shaking and crying thinly, her body limp in his arms.

"I p - promise I won't tell," he stammered weakly.

"Good," she said, relieved. He used his fingers to comb her damp hair back and she burped softly, then hiccupped. "H - huh - he doesn't know, an' I'm not good enough for him."

His fingers twisted in the towel and a few hot tears squeezed out of his eyes to trail down his cheeks. "Don't be too sure about that, babe."

She had either fallen asleep or fainted again, he wasn't sure which. It didn't matter anyway; he wrapped a fresh towel around her hair so she wouldn't get too cold and carried her to his bed. She woke as he was tucking her in and muttered something unintelligible, her brow creased and voice high and panicky. Hizashi bent and lightly brushed his fingers across her forehead.

"S'okay. Go to sleep." He stood patiently at her side and waited until her breathing became deep and even before leaving. His first thought was to sleep on the couch, but he thought she might be frightened if she found herself alone, sick, and in a stranger's bed. So he took a pillow off the couch and an extra blanket from his closet, threw them on the floor and prepared for a rather uncomfortable night.

Elly woke naturally around the time she normally got up for work. She groaned when she tried to move and could only feebly flop around.

"Ugh... oh. God, my stomach." She was absolutely ravenous, and with the realization that she desperately needed food and hydration came the memory that she had gotten sick last night. Then she saw the light was coming in from the wrong angle; and the room smelled like leather and bubblegum. She stared down at the sheets, a simple cotton blend, like hers, but not purple striped. They were gold, the comforter black.

"You're awake - I'm, eurgh, oops. Sorry..." There was a shuffling sound and Hizashi's head popped up on her left, coming up from the floor.

Elly's ears flattened.

"N - no no no, don't freak on me, just wait!" His hair was loose, tumbling around his shoulders with a tiny bit sticking up on one side. He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and slipped them on. "I took you to my place 'cause you were too sick. I, uh, slept on the floor here in case you woke up and needed me."

She had absolutely no words to describe how she felt. Nothing had prepared her for the onslaught of emotions from the discovery that she had most likely puked all night in front of him and he had then slept on the flipping floor so she could have his bed.

There was no way he could ever see her as attractive now. Also, she had to go to the bathroom.

Elly gave up.

She buried her face in her hands and wept brokenly. Who cared anymore? She had destroyed her chance with the one man that meant something to her after more than a year of being too scared to try anything. And it wasn't even her fault, really - just luck. Something she had eaten, plus his kind, chivalrous nature had resulted in them being close friends but nothing more, forever.

"Hey, don't do that." His fingers pried hers gently apart and she saw those gorgeous eyes of his looking worried. "You're gonna be weak as hell today. You need to get your strength back up."

She nodded silently.

"I can carry you to the bathroom if you need help. Or just offer an arm." He held one out and she sighed.

"All right." In her defense, she really did try to get up but she hadn't recovered enough yet. He caught her lightly against his side and helped her stagger to the bathroom.

"Good. If you need more help, just, uh. Yell." He grinned at those words coming from him, and she smiled wanly also. "I'm gonna make some breakfast."

Her stomach growled loudly at the mention of food and he chuckled. "Yeah, I'm starving."

"Don't be disappointed," he called as he shut the door behind him. "You get bland shit only. But it's still food, huh?"

After he was gone she cleaned herself up and brushed her teeth with her finger, trying to look a little better than she felt. She couldn't really recall what had happened except blurry bits like him drying her hair or putting the barrettes in. Thinking it was probably for the best, she walked carefully out, hugging the wall for support. Hizashi had pulled his hair back and was boiling something on the stove when he saw her and cursed mildly. Elly blinked, astonished, as he rushed over to her and supported her so she wouldn't fall.

"Don't try to do too much at first," he chided softly, a frown pulling his brows up in a point. "The point is to get better, not break your head open passin' out or fallin' 'cause yer tired."

"Sorry. I just thought ... you obviously did a lot for me already. I don't want to be a burden."

"Burden?!" He snorted as he escorted her to a seat at the table. "Don't think that. S'ridiculous."

"We have to get to school in an hour." She picked up a spoon and stared morosely into the small bowl of rice porridge he had poured her.

"No, we don't." He poured some for himself and sat across from her. Hizashi hated porridge, but he wasn't about to eat his usual breakfast - a huge bowl of marshmallow chunk cereal -- in front of her. He nudged the cup by her bowl. "And drink up. I bought Gatorade 'cause you lost a shit ton of fluids yesterday."

"We don't?" She forced herself to eat slowly, taking small bites and sipping from the cup.

"Yeah, I called us both out."

"You didn't have to do that!" She dropped her spoon, chagrined. "You could've gone in, it's just me and I can go home and -"

"Nope." His chair scraped as he stood up. Elly watched nervously as he walked over to her, bent, and handed her the spoon again. "I'm gonna make sure the girl I'm in love with is all better before she goes back t'work."

The spoon slipped into the bowl as she stared stupidly at him. "Wh - what."

"I love you." He brushed one of her side locks of hair away and smiled. "C'mon, I don't sleep on the floor for just anybody." Her mind reeling, she could hear the rest of what he was saying but barely believe it. "I know you might not feel the same way, but at least let me make sure yer okay enough to walk before leavin', okay?" He sat back down.

She fished her spoon out and cleaned it off on a napkin, blushing, headachey and completely confused. "Did I say anything last night to you?"

Hizashi's smile grew broader. "You said lots of stuff, babe."

She ate a little in silence, then looked him directly in the eyes. "I told you, didn't I?"

"Told me what?"

Elly sighed in defeat and even laughed softly. "I love you too, Hizashi."

"You do?" By this time, his smile was a huge, toothy grin. "What an amazing thing."