Fluff - n

 "N... nightmare. In other words, what she's afraid of."

"Oh. Ohhhhh, that one I don't know." Hizashi cocked his head to the side and thought for a minute.

"I know you don't like bugs, but that's not your biggest fear," Elly suggested gently. "You know my little one, too."

"Little?" Aizawa snorted. "Few bugs run up his leg and he lets students run right by him -"

Yagi waved his hands around. "Now, now, Aizawa. We were <i>supposed</i> to let them win if they figured out how to circumvent their circumstances."

"Yeah, how'd that go?" Kayama chuckled, remembering. "You hit boom boom brat so hard he barfed."

"I was just -!"

"Being All Might?"

During this heated conversation, the two were having a much quieter one of their own. Hizashi was upset to find out he knew so little about Elly's innermost thoughts. "Geez, I thought I knew ya better than that," he confessed, frowning slightly.

"Well, we have fun when we're together." She shrugged. "Fear is definitely not something I would offer to chat about."

"Yeah." He rubbed her shoulder gently in a soothing manner while they sat in thought for awhile. Eventually he blurted out a question he'd been wondering. "Hey, d'ya have a lot of bad dreams?"

Elly sighed, though she was smiling. "Yeah. You?"

"Uh huh. Although, honestly, not on these nights."

The others had stopped arguing long enough for Kayama to listen in again and, of course, she had something to add. "That's not surprising, the way you drink!"

Hizashi picked up his new mug of beer and took a long swallow.

"If that's how he deals with his bad memories, we should all be so lucky," Elly said softly. He raised one eyebrow at this and she rushed on, "no, I mean it. It's not healthy, sure. But you set rigid limits on your drinking and only do it once a week."

"I'd much rather find another source of comfort," he mumbled into the glass.

Her ears twitched, and she placed her hand on his.