"Whoa there, bucko!" Snipe glanced up quickly as the Voice Hero swore so violently the joint desk rattled from one end to the other. Aizawa glared at him, and Thirteen scrambled to catch her pens as they rolled off onto the floor.
Yagi raised his eyebrows, blinking in surprise. The blond-haired man was not prone to fits of violence like this. "What's wrong, Yamada?"
He pushed his chair back and threw his boots up on the desk with a jingle of metal. "Look, I'm sorry everyone. But it's gonna be Ches' birthday at the end of the month and I had this <i>awesome</i> plan -"
Aizawa groaned loudly.
"Shut up, yo." Hizashi glared at his friend. "It's a great idea! Well, but one part won't work 'cause everyone's being assholes." He crossed his arms, pouting so hard his lower lip thrust out.
"Everyone..?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, leaning forward in excitement as he started to explain. "I want to start when we're in school and I've done flowers and stuff already. So I thought, what about if I got some artist to commission a bunch of drawings of us -"
Yagi coughed. "Uh, Mic..."
"Not like <i>that</i>!" He yelped in exasperation. "Romantic ones! Maybe with me saying all sweet things to her. I dunno. It doesn't matter. No one will get back to me!" Hizashi picked up his cell phone and waved it around.
"You're using an alias, right?" Aizawa frowned.
"Yeah, I'm not stupid."
He snorted. "That remains to be seen."
"<i>Rude</i>." Hizashi sniffed at him and pointed at his screen. "Check it, yo. I asked this first person and they told me, and I quote, 'I don't like that ship'."
"Oh." Yagi covered his mouth with one hand, trying not to laugh. "Oh, my."
"Yeah. So, next one, nothing. No text, no reply - but suddenly on their Twitter they're posting tons of romantic art of me with, uh, w - with -" He paused, stammering and blushing, desperately trying not to look at his friend beside him. He drummed his fingers restlessly on the desk and burst out, "with another guy!"
Yagi shrugged. "Is that what's bothering you?"
Hizashi slammed his phone down angrily. "No," he grumbled. "M'not <i>homophobic</i>. But they posted me with that dude saying that was their 'comfort ship', so I guess I know why they ghosted my ass. Real mature from someone that constantly reminds everyone they're a <i>professional</i>."
"Calm down, Mic," Yagi murmured, holding his hands up.
"This isn't cool." He whined and fell flat on his face on the desk. "Uuugh!"
Maybe you should go to a professional portrait artist," Thirteen suggested mildly. "Instead of fans on the internet."
"These artists are <i>always</i> crying that they need money! I thought I'd <i>help</i> them. Plus the studio artists won't do just sketches. I don't want fifteen paintings or full size portraits of us. I just wanted something cute to scatter around so she could find them all day."
"Why not do them yourself?"
He gave her an incredulous look. "Me? I can't draw for shit."
"That's why she'll love them even more."
-
Hizashi was dubious, but since he couldn't find anyone willing to draw them he decided he would try to do it himself. It took many hours of feverish labor and an entire box of colored pencils, but when Elly walked into work on her special day there was a surprise waiting for her.
"What's this on my locker?" She lifted up a heart-shaped magnet and picked up the paper underneath. There were two terribly drawn bean-shaped characters drawn on it. One bean had long, blond hair and was colored mostly black, and the other was purple and stripey, with a split-ended tail. She giggled helplessly when she saw his proud signature on the bottom, then saw there was a word bubble coming out of the Mic bean.
"<i>Your birthday is gonna ROCK! Look out for more of these doodles all day</i>." ♡
"More" turned out to be an understatement. There were so many she started saving them in a manila folder just for the occasion and she flushed shyly and laughed every time she found a new one.
One was sitting on her desk under a fresh cup of coffee from the Cafe she loved.
Another was set like a placeholder near her seat when she went to get lunch.
Scores of tiny, adorably awkward scribbles and loving sentiments filled the folder at the end of the day. She loved every single one, but was surprised that she hadn't seen Hizashi. He'd been flitting about, busy getting her drinks, food and tiny gifts all day so had been too busy between that and classes to do much more than blow her a kiss in the hallway.
Feeling happier than most birthdays, she sighed as she walked to her locker to get her things before leaving. There was another note held with the same magnet like before.
"That's the last one." Hizashi grinned at her, appearing suddenly from around the corner. "Read it, baby."
"This one's just a heart with..." She read it, scanning his writing quickly. "Ohhh. Oh, <i>Mikey</i>."
He blushed, wiggling in anticipatory glee. "I did it, babe," he said proudly. "That entire section of the beach has been rented out to us for the evening. We can't stay <i>all</i> night, but we can eat dinner and watch the sun set."
Her eyes shone as she hugged him. "Thank you," she sniffled.
"Aw, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
-
He was right; he had absolutely outdone himself this year.
Elly felt like she was in a fairy tale as they walked down the sand to a carefully erected pavilion, the sides snapping lightly in the ocean breeze. They had showered and changed after school, as always, but Hizashi wore a very different outfit than what he usually threw on. Instead of the gold chains and retro layered shirt he had carefully chosen a form-fitting, white suit with a lavender shirt underneath. His hair was neatly done up in a tight bun and he even had purple glasses on rather than his red-rimmed ones. She matched his clothing with a sundress in the same color of his shirt and was feeling slightly overdressed until they stepped inside.
The inside of the tent had carpeting on the ground, mounds of pretty, beach-themed pillows for sitting on and beautiful, sparkling lights strung up in the ceiling. Hizashi took out his phone and set it near them, where the playlist he'd chosen filled the space with soft music.
"Here's dinner!" He pointed at an obvious, square shaped box. "I got a local place to try really hard to make," here he switched to English, "New York style pizza." Hizashi's eyes widened, however, when he saw the toppings listed on the side. "Uh oh," he muttered.
"That sounds awesome. Even if it's not perfect, it's so cool that you remembered and they tried!"
"Yeah, but lemme see..." He opened the box and meticulously checked the contents, squinting hard like it was a villain or an unruly student. Elly watched him fondly, thinking that he was getting more adorable by the minute. After a long inspection, however, he sighed with relief.
"I think they just mixed up the box labels. It said mushrooms, but there's no 'shrooms here." He blinked, realizing he'd been sitting there with his face pushed up into the box staring at their food. "Uh. Sorry, princess. Heh heh."
"It's okay. I know how you feel about them."
"Oh, yeah, well. They're a fungus, for cryin' out loud. Why'ncha just scrape off some mold and spread it on my food... ew." Hizashi shuddered as he handed her a slice, then helped himself.
"Ew, baby," she giggled. "Gross. We're eating."
"Sorry!" He took a huge bite and rolled his eyes. "Ohmigodddd, so good."
After they ate he fluffed up all the pillows so they could sit in a giant, puffy cloud of softness and listen to the sounds of the waves mingled with the music.
Elly sighed and let some tears fall. She leaned into his warmth and he immediately hugged her. "Thank you, Hizashi. This meant so much to me, more than I can say."
"Awesome." They sat while the seabirds screamed outside and the last song on his playlist filled the tent with softer music. "That's my cue," he murmured, and, turning to face her, took both of her hands in his. "What's the one thing you want more than anything else, Ches?"
She blinked slowly at him, thinking hard though she knew the answer. It was more how to express the want than <i>what</i> it was, that caused her to hesitate.
Hizashi kissed her hands, his eyes kind behind his red-rimmed glasses. "I already know, love, because I know you. You don't hafta say it." He let go of one hand and reached into the front pocket of his outer shirt. "<i>I'll</i> say it for you."
"Zashi..." Her ears flicked out to the sides of her head as she stared, barely able to breathe. In one hand he held a unmistakable little box, black velvet with a golden microphone on the side.
He cleared his throat and snapped it open with a practiced flick of his fingers, all the while still holding her left hand in his other. "You want all of someone's love with no frickin' strings attached. You <i>deserve</i> it, babe, and I'm so sorry you didn't get it from your family like you were supposed to as a kid." Hizashi took the ring out with only slightly trembling fingers. "I can give that to you. I won't fail you there. If you want me."
Elly nodded, tears running down her cheeks. She watched, speechless, as he slipped the gold band on her finger.
"I promise that everything I hear, everything I do, everything I see, and everything I think about will remind me of you. I'll be there for you, forever, like the someone you've always dreamed about."
He paused, then an impish grin twitched on his lips.
"Happy birthday to the future Mrs. Yamada."
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