Civilian Restraint

"Midnight's a good actress. Can't we just use her?" Aizawa pointed. The rest of the staff either chuckled or shook their heads as they sat around the table in the lounge.

Kayama grunted in an unladylike fashion. "Nope. Me? Pretend that? You'd need an actual pro actress to be able to play that part convincingly."

Yamada glared at her, his eyebrows drawing down. "Hey!"

U.A.'s counselor sat on the far side of the table, between Thirteen and Snipe. She had listened to the others argue about method acting and how important this was for some time, and had grown tired enough to make an offer.

Elly sighed, her ears low on the sides of her head. She raised her hand in resignation. "I can do it," she said quietly.

"Blech," Kayama shuddered. "Do you really think you can be convincing?!" She tapped her shiny red fingernails on the table in a restless staccato.

"I can do it," she repeated, more firmly this time. She nodded at the blond man staring at her in surprise across the way. "Trust me. If you want authenticity for this exercise, you'll get it."

They filed out to put on their outfits and get ready.

"This is a rescue operation only," Aizawa stessed as he led his class over to the test area. "The area has been cleared of villains but civilians are injured and need to be taken to safety. Several structures have been damaged as well as other hazards you will have to navigate."

This section of Ground Beta was in shambles. A skyscraper had a huge, smoking hole in one side and fire and rubble lined the street. Staff members cried out for help from everywhere, and those were the easier targets. Others were slumped over, too incapacitated to move.

"Oh my god." Someone in the back choked as they heard a shrill scream coming from close by.

"Rescue as many as you can," their teacher told them firmly. "The cut-outs of the citizens count as well."

The students fanned out immediately upon his word.

"Somebody go look for that loud-ass screamer!" Bakugo snarled as he gathered as many cardboard people as he could in his arms at the same time. Midoriya and Uraraka unconsciously paired up and went in search of the sound. Their eyes widened as they rounded a corner and found her.

Elly had been doctored up to look smudged and hurt, but what rattled them was not only that or her cries. She was wearing a pregnancy suit under her clothing and clearly in double the danger as she lay half trapped under some of the broken-off bits of building that had collapsed. Her hands were outstretched towards the street, where a quick glance showed a lump of clothes with a pool of blood spreading out from under them. The lump had long, blond hair that had been mostly torn out of a scraggled bun.

"Ohmigosh, here." The teenager rushed to lift the crumbled bits of concrete off her while his partner helped by flicking still-falling pieces harmlessly away. But Elly wasn't focused on her rescuers.

She squirmed in Midoriya's grip, eyes locked onto the wounded man sprawled on the concrete. "Hizashi!" The cry was absolutely blood-curdling, and the teenager flinched, staring at her in pity.

"Y - you need to stay here, ma'am," he said quickly, "we're going to evacuate the -"

She bit him, hard.

"Ouch!" Midoriya squeaked in shock but to his credit did not drop her, so she took a deep breath and pushed with her hands and feet, shoving herself bodily out of his arms. He wasn't really expecting this, nor did he want to use excessive force on a (admittedly fake, but it was real for the test) pregnant woman, so he let her go.

"Deku!" Uraraka yelled in alarm. "If she goes out there, she'll be in danger! The street's caving in!"

He glanced around, panicking. "Stay here, please," he begged the cat woman. "This is safer."

"Let me go! I have to - Zashi!"

Hizashi lay on the ground biting his lip. It was really hard to stay quiet when he heard her screaming and crying his given name.

"We're gonna bring him to you!" Uraraka placed both hands on her shoulders and spoke firmly, loudly, right into her pale face. "Let us help him!"

She blinked, then nodded. "Hurry! Please!"

It was over in moments.

Uraraka released, and his body floated to land gently beside the hysterically weeping counselor. She flung herself on him, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hey, Els." He spoke in a very low tone. Yamada - Hizashi, in her mind now -- was known for overacting his parts in these, but he seemed subdued by his colleague's acting.

Elly held him tight and whispered, "I love you," so fervently that before he knew it he had responded by pulling her close for a reassuring kiss. He lightly brushed his lips on hers, murmuring softly.

"M'okay, baby. It's okay." He stroked her short purple hair, wiping the wetness on her cheeks away with gentle fingers. All he could think of was stopping her tears; he forgot about the students and staff all around them.

This had a surprising effect on the exercise.

The students froze when they saw the counselor and English teacher kiss. Some of them had speculated they liked each other, but to see the affection in public threw them. They stopped, staring, while Hizashi stood, supporting her in a protective curl of his arm.

Aizawa was livid at his class. "What are you doing?!" He pointed at the rest of the "people" that still needed rescuing. "If a small display of affection is all it takes to stop you, these people would be dead in real life!"

They got off relatively easy, however, since it was showed in the end they managed to get all the civilians to safety. He chewed them out for less time than he might have, especially since he had been just as startled by the sudden display of affection the two had shown.

While he ranted, most of the other staff members headed to the Faculty Dorm to clean up and it was only Hizashi and a very embarrassed Elly that still needed to get their things. They walked slowly into the locker room, him supporting her the whole way.

"I, uh, can walk by myself, Yamada." She opened the door.

He shook his head. "Nuh uh, no way. Yer callin' me Hizashi now. And, uh. Hey, wow," he whispered as she leaned against her locker. "I, whew! I ...that was really real, yo."

"I need a minute," she gasped behind her hands. Her striped tail lashed madly behind her as she struggled to calm herself.

"Hey," he repeated lamely, inwardly cursing himself for not knowing what to say. "If you weren't acting, uh, you know, I like you, too. Obviously. 'Cause I kissed you. It really is okay."

She took a shaky breath and peered out from between her splayed fingers. "You what? You weren't acting?"

Hizashi blinked down at her as he swung his door open. "Of course not," he huffed, his ears burning. "I love you," he told her proudly in English.

Aizawa walked in just as he spoke and, seeing the two of them deep in conversation, turned on his heel and went back out. Neither noticed him, and in fact, Elly could barely stand since her weakened knees wouldn't support her. She trembled and he snaked an arm around her waist to steady her.

"You really do," she murmured in awe. "I never thought this outcome was possible."

He closed his locker with his hip and pulled her closer. "Hell, babe, I never thought ya liked me, either. But hey, here we are. So... what d'ya say, huh? We can go out and seal the deal right. Dinner, some fun at a club or somethin', and maybe stay the night someplace nice."

Elly's ears perked up. "'Seal the deal', huh? As in, a relationship? Because I'd be more than happy to be your girlfriend." She smiled shyly at him.

"Yanno, if that's the case, I'd bet I can make you scream for a far more pleasurable reason." He caught his lower lip between his teeth as he grinned sheepishly at her.

"I'll hold you to that," she murmured.