Kiss of Life

 "Hey! Good job locking him in here with us," Mic told Cheshire, clapping her on the shoulder. "None of the kids'll get hurt."

"Yeah," she replied tersely. "Looked like he was on me, though. Why was a villain targeting me?"

"Dunno, but there he is again!" He scooted back, fists back at his sides and ready.

Cheshire flickered into invisibility and they were fighting well as a team until they got separated.

Mic clambered up from a pile of rubble, coughing. "Shit, he's quick," he groaned.

Elly reached out to help him up, and that's when he heard her gasp. "Mic? What're you doing?!"

Hizashi blinked hard, then rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. He was staring from many feet away at the back of a leather jacket and a wild up-sweep of blond hair.

<i>That's not me!</i>

This man held his startled partner in his arms, intimately close. As the imposter bent down towards the Insanity Hero, he found his voice. "No, Ches! <i>That's not me!</i>"

Her ears snapped straight up and she vanished again. There was a loud <i>crack!</i> and his doppelganger staggered back, shimmering oddly before changing into a large, amorphous slime. Mic took a deep breath and screamed at the jelly pile until it wobbled and slipped into a puddle. The cops identified the villain once they arrived, and after giving short statements for now, they were told to see Recovery Girl for their various bruises.

The old woman had heard of the fight and looked Elly over very carefully. "That guy uses his quirk to get close to people and then..." She spread her fingers with a grim shake of her head. "He didn't kiss you?"

"No, Mic stopped him before he could try."

"Actually, you did," he interrupted. "All I did was tell ya he wasn't me."

Chiyo glanced sharply over at the Voice Hero. "Oh?"

"Yeah! She belted him back into his normal form when she saw."

"You should know that he wears a thin coating of poison on his lips on top of a layer of wax to protect himself. It could have killed you."

"Mimic quirk plus poison," Elly said in a shaky voice. "My god." She brushed her fingertips on her mouth, shaking, as she fully realized the intent of the villain.

Recovery Girl stared intently at her. "You better get <i>that</i> under control," she said firmly.

Elly blushed.

After Mic was pronounced healthy, they stumbled out into the hallway together. Elly bit her lip and tried to walk casually off but he stopped her.

"So, uh, hey," Hizashi called out. "You thought that dude was me, right?"

She coughed in embarrassment, not turning around. "I should have known it wasn't by his scent," she groaned.

"But you did think it was me," he insisted, stepping closer.

"Yeah, he fooled me." She flicked her ears, annoyed.

"Were you really gonna let him kiss you?"

Her tail fluffed out and she very slowly looked down in absolute embarrassment. "Mic..."

"You were, right?" He walked around to stand in front of her and she put her hands up to hide her flaming face. "I mean, he had that poison on his mouth for a reason. He wouldn't've done it if he thought it wasn't gonna work."

"I - I'm so sorry."

"Wait-wait-<i>waiiiit</i> a damn minute!" He caught her shoulder when she spun about, trying to run. "You gotta let me know, yo!"

"Why?" She looked up and he was stunned to see she was near tears. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you. I promise to try harder to be more professional in the future -"

"What? You didn't embarrass me!" He glanced around in exasperation and muttered, "<i>Fuck it</i>," under his breath before unhooking his neck gear and setting it at his feet. "Look, I like you. I've had a massive crush on you for ages, an' if you want a kiss, I'm all for it!"

She backed up, confused, and he quickly grasped her forearms in a gentle but firm hold. Elly stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. They stood there for a full minute, Hizashi's hands locked onto her arms. Then he swallowed loudly and let her go.

"What did you..?!"

Hizashi dropped his head and began scuffing the ground with one boot like a schoolboy. "Okay, alright. M'sorry. I didn't mean to get rough."

"You weren't."

"I shouldn't have grabbed you."

"No. But you were right." Her ears settled at odd angles to her head and she leaned against the wall nearby with a huge sigh. "You deserve an explanation."

The bell rang and she nodded to him, reaching out to take his hand as kids poured into the hallways, chatting and laughing loudly. Hizashi grabbed his neck speaker and followed her. She led him into her office and motioned for him to close the door. He did, then set his gear down on her desk in the middle of the room. She stared at it for a long while, until she smiled and ran a hand through her hair with a soft laugh.

"Somethin' funny, babe?"

Her eyebrow raised at the nickname, but she nodded. "You look so different without that on. Your neck... it's so bare."

He pulled at his extra long collar and cleared his throat shyly. "Just when I've got the rest of the outfit on. That makes it look off."

"I'm going to be blunt," she warned, and saw him wince. "I need to, Mic. Let's get this out of the way now that it's come up. I - I really like you. I want to have a serious relationship with you. More than the times we've gone out in groups from school, I want to know more. Things others don't know, you know?"

He let out a long, whistling sigh and dropped into the chair on the other side of her desk. "Thank <i>god</i>," he said in English. "I was almost wetting myself that you were gonna reject <i>my</i> confession."

"Your..?" Her face grew very still, eyes wide.

"Hell, yeah." He jumped to his feet and lunged across, grabbing her paw glove in his leather one. "I love you!" He sang this out in a voice so loudly, so exuberant, that she swooned.

Elly came to in Hizashi's arms, his worried face inches away. He'd pushed his prescription sunglasses up so as to better see and breathed a sigh of obvious relief when her eyes fluttered open.

"Ohmigod," she whispered. "Now I <i>know</i> I'm dreaming."

His face registered confusion for a second, then his eyes grew sly and a devilish smirk lifted his lips. "Well, then. <i>Wakey wakey</i>, princess."

Elly inhaled sharply as one gloved hand caressed the back of her head, combing through her hair to hold her securely. He bent without hesitation and brushed his lips on hers, pausing to gauge her reaction. She pressed back at once, softly at first but with more enthusiasm as her reserve fell.

For Elly, being kissed by Hizashi - dressed in his Present Mic outfit -- was nothing short of amazing. Slick leather clung to his fit body everywhere and she could smell the scent, mingled with the hair product he used and his soap and shaving products. His stiff updo had soft, feathered hair on the back of his neck. Her fingers ruffled these locks and he shivered and licked, lingering on her lower lip. She dipped, catching his tongue in her mouth and the kiss deepened.

After several minutes they parted, both of them breathing heavily with dazed expressions, gradually focusing on the person inches away. Once their eyes locked, however, their mouths ravenously fused together within one breath to the next, heads turning as they angled for just the right amount of pressure. All thought vanished other than a frantic, desperate need for <i>more</i>, hands roaming with kiss after kiss after kiss.

Hizashi babbled between breaths, light, quick intakes of air followed by a litany of sweet, corny nicknames such as <i>baby</i>, <i>babygirl</i> and his favorite, <i>princess.</i> She melted under this onslaught of loving ridiculousness, at first grabbing at his jacket to try and hold on but then slipping as she grew weak when he kissed her just right. He jerked his head around, kicked one leg out to push her desk chair out and sat, pulling her onto his lap.

"Mic -"

"Hizashi," he pleaded, his green-gold eyes taking on a begging look.

She gulped, heart beating so hard in her chest she could hear it thudding in her ears. She couldn't deny him, especially when he looked at her like that. So she popped one side of his headphones up and whispered, "Hizashi."

He squeaked and gave her a happy hug. "Awesome."

Elly smiled and set the can back over his ear. "When you've got the outfit on, though, it's hard not to call you Mic."

He pondered this, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah... that's the way it should be. So how about a date later on when we're Hizashi and Elly?"

"That sounds perfect."

"And then about a million others," he said in a lower pitched voice. He winked at her and fixed his glasses.

"More than perfect," she sighed happily.