Fluff - y

 "How would you... oh, my." Kayama smiled evilly, leveling the full weight of her stare at the long-haired man across from her.

Hizashi flinched slightly, fearing what was to come. "Crap."

"How would you propose to her?"

"Ohhh." Elly gasped.

He let out a huge gust of wind, almost as if he were deflating. "Well..."

"You don't have to answer this one!" Elly rushed the words, tumbling them out of her mouth faster than she could form them properly.

"No, it's fine." He hugged her again. "I did think about it, after all. Dreaming and stuff."

"You did?"

"Sure!" He gulped loudly when he realized she was awestruck and desperately tried to dodge the question. "But, uh, well. Who doesn't? When they really like someone? Yeah? Am I right, guys? Yeah?" His grin showed all his teeth and he was starting to sweat. "<i>Back me up, please</i>," he grated hoarsely.

"I've done it." Kayama surprisingly answered with a shrug. She pointed at Hizashi then, her eyes fierce. "But this is about you. So, spill - how do you propose in your dreams?"

"Huh." He stared at his fingers helplessly for a few seconds, then sighed and looked up. "Okay. Maybe I would make sure she was listening to my broadcast and dedicate a song to my special listener, you know? Like, maybe, 'I Live My Life for You' by <i>Firehouse</i>  - "

"Maybe?" Elly's ears flopped on either side of her head as she stared adoringly into his earnest face. "You thought about this. You picked a song."

"Is it a good song?" Kayama poked her companion in the side.

Yagi shook his head, baffled. "I don't know it."

"You picked a <i>song</i>," Elly repeated, dazed.

"Oh! It's kinda, uh, what I do. Heh, like, you know? Right? DJ and all, I uh, I know s - songs..." He trailed off when he saw her teary-eyed expression. "Uh... but I dunno what I'd do for real."

Kayama Googled the lyrics, pestering Yagi even more when she saw they were in English.

Elly saw her chance. She leaned towards Hizashi and whispered, "...you know I give myself to you, and no matter what you do, I promise you my heart."

Hizashi sucked in a quick gasp of air in shock, but it didn't last long. A slow smile replaced his dropped jaw and he turned to hug her. "That's my girl," he said proudly. "I knew you'd know it."

"Yes," she answered with a hint of a smile.

Fluff - x

 Kayama plowed ahead. "How well are you able to read her?"

Hizashi glanced at his beer and saw how Elly wrinkled her nose. "Enough to know I shouldn't order another drink." He squinted at her. "Any particular reason why besides, well, you know?"

"The smell," she answered promptly. "I've got a sensitive nose and beer is <i>stinky</i>."

"Oh." He stared, crestfallen, at his second empty glass. "Oops."

"No, it's fine, though. It'll wear off. Especially if we get coffee after."

He wiggled his eyebrows. "And then I can have kisses?" She dug her fingers in his side and he choked, then started to giggle. "Don't! I'm ticklish!"

"Oh, <i>hell</i>," Elly breathed, staring at him with wide eyes. "Just when I think you can't get cuter."

"Cute?" Aizawa snorted. "He'd break all the glass in the building if you kept it up." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Can we please wrap this up? I'm getting tired."

"Tired? You slept through half the night!"

"I've got patrol later. Some of us have to work tonight and are thinking about <i>sleep</i>, not getting lucky."

"Why you gotta do me like that, bro!" Hizashi spluttered, flashing beet red again.

Kayama chuckled. "It's not going to hurt your chances, Yamada."

"B - but! Augh!" He smacked face down into the table in mortification.

Elly was quick to pat his hair gently, wincing at how hard he'd planted himself on the wooden top. "She's right, you know," she ventured as softly as possible.

Kayama still heard, however quiet she tried to be, and gave her a thumbs up.

Fluff - w

 "Get <i>on</i> with it," Aizawa grated. His bloodshot glare was focused on Kayama.

"Oh, all right. Spoilsport." She turned back to the couple. "How do you feel about her fighting?"

"We both have the same job." Hizashi shrugged. "I've seen her take villains down, same as any of us. See, thing is, you could get hurt even if you've got a 'safe' job, yeah? Like, anything can happen."

"True," Elly murmured.

"But how do you feel when you see her <i>fighting</i>?"

He squirmed around, sniffing lightly. "Can I skip this one?"

"He gets turned on," Aizawa offered blandly.

"Shota!"

"What? It's not like it's unheard of." The dark-haired man laughed dryly. "I heard there's a type of people who like that sort of thing."

Kayama pursed her lips. "Mmm, BDSM and stuff? I can't imagine Yamada being into submissive scenes." She burst out laughing at the thought. "If he was, he'd be the brattiest sub ever!"

"Oh, stop." Hizashi was turning purple at the thought of such play. Elly stroked the back of his hand to calm him down. "It doesn't  have to be a fetish, though there's nothing wrong if it is. I feel the same when I see you fighting. It's sexy."

"Hmmm?" His eyebrows shot up. "Wh - sexy? Ya think?"

"If I'm not worried about you at the time, yes."

"Ohh. Yeah. Yeah, I get that." He drummed his fingers restlessly on the table top. "You, uh, get hot seeing me in my gear at all?"

"With that hair?!" Kayama cracked up, throwing her head back to laugh long and loud.

Elly ignored her and motioned for Hizashi to lean down so she could purr in his ear. "I've fantasized about Present Mic countless times."

Hizashi shuddered pleasantly. "Whoo, <i>baby</i>," he wheezed. "Now you know Mic's fantasized about you, too."

She shivered just like he had, and he grinned.

Fluff - v

 "So, what's V?"

Kayama frowned. "<i>Vaunt</i>..? Geez, they got freaking desperate at the end here. What the hell does that mean?"

Aizawa shrugged. "Look it up."

"Yagi's doing it." She jerked her chin in his direction.

He cleared his throat politely, getting their attention before reading off his phone. "To boast about or praise, especially excessively."

"Well, then I guess it fits. What are you proud of her for?"

Hizashi fiddled with his mustache for a minute before answering. "I guess... hey, this is hard. She's a Hero, yo, there's a lot to be proud of."

"Specifics, Yamada." Kayama snapped her fingers, impatient. "And it doesn't have to be so, so... pedestrian as that. What's the first thing that came to your mind?"

"Coming to Japan," he answered promptly. Elly snuggled against his side, looking thoughtful. He bit his lower lip and blushed again, wriggling around with glee. "Imagine going somewhere new - a whole country! Where they don't speak your native language an' everything's different."

Yagi nodded.

"That's right, you did that, too." Kayama nodded. "In reverse! You went to her home country; she came to yours."

Elly spoke up very softly. "It wasn't really brave or anything, though." She stared at the edge of the table while she talked, not looking at anyone. "America hadn't treated me very well, so I felt that anywhere I went had to be better."

"Aw, babe."

"I mean it," she stressed firmly. "My family, my colleagues - all I had was one friend. I suppose things wouldn't have ended well for me if I hadn't had him. But, in the end, I came here to find something better than what I had." Her hands tightened in his shirt.

Hizashi blinked. "And you did. Riiiiiight?"

"Yeah."

"Good." His expression grew extremely satisfied, a rather smug smile stretching his lips.

Fluff - u

 "There's only a few left," Yagi commented quietly.

"Yeah, we're up to U, right?"

Kayama nodded. "How does she act when you’re upset?"

Hizashi grew very quiet at this question and didn't answer right away. He finally shrugged in an offhand manner. "How would I know <i>that</i>?"

Kayama smacked the table with one fist. "C'mon, Yamada, don't hold out on us! We wanna finish this list!"

"But I don't  -"

"Look, even All Might over here wants to get through it all." She burped, politely covering her mouth.

"I <i>am</i> curious," Yagi murmured.

"Awright, sheesh," Hizashi grumbled under his breath. "There was a - <i>were</i> a few times she saw me lose my cool, yeah? She's a therapist. She helped me out."

"Although I didn't react very professionally," Elly blurted out.

"Oh?" Kayama raised an eyebrow.

"There was a lot of physical comfort," she explained, squirming. "I swore never to cross those boundaries but for Hizashi - and <i>only</i> Hizashi -- I did. I'm still conflicted about it." She looked up into his eyes. "You didn't mind, obviously, and it seemed to help, but it made me so guilty."

"No way! Don't be!" Hizashi rubbed her shoulder gently. "You never like, <i>touched</i> me, touched me, like ..." He coughed and turned a shade darker when he saw the others watching. "Ya hugged me and held my hand, geez. It's not like you came on to me or anything." He scrunched up his brow in exasperation. "<i>I</i> thought you were professional. I - I actually thought you were only doing it because it's your job, yeah?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"I wanted to help, but I also wanted you to know that I can be there for you as me... not the counselor. <i>Me, the person.</i> I guess my messages got mixed up along the way - half person, half psychiatrist."

"My fault, that was my fault," he interjected. "You were fine. I thought there was like, no way you were interested, so I reasoned you were bein' professional." Hizashi broke out into a sheepish grin. "I liked the hugs, though."

"It means so much to me when you smile," she told him seriously. "An honest smile, not the ones that cover your pain. The real ones that are more <i>Hizashi</i> than Mic."

His lips twitched, and he turned so he could bury his face in her hair.

There was a long silence as no one knew what to say. After several minutes Kayama cleared her throat. "I guess we'll move on, then."

Fluff - t

 "How long did it take for you to get together?"

Hizashi shook out his wrist to stare at an imaginary watch. "Uh... today o'clock? You all made <i>this</i> -" He gestured with the hand that was on Elly's shoulder -- "possible. Right? Otherwise I probably woulda chickened out tonight. Again."

"Probably?" Aizawa's voice rippled with a subtle undercurrent of humor. "Don't forget I was the recipient of a lot of texts whining about how you 'missed your chance'."

"How long?" Elly asked curiously.

"How long?"

"Yeah, how long has he been 'chickening out'?"

Hizashi mumbled something under his breath and stared at the ceiling.

"Shit, I don't know... half a year? More?" Aizawa shrugged and glanced at the others for approval. Yagi nodded, but Kayama wobbled a hand back and forth.

"I think it's more like a year," she hedged. "At least it seems that long! I hope you didn't mind this whole fiasco tonight, by the way." She dropped Elly a sly wink. "I was going crazy seeing him fail so many times in a row. I had to help!"

Hizashi opened his mouth to protest that he didn't need help, then closed it with a snap as both women stared at him. <i>Okay, okay. Point taken</i>.

Yagi smiled at the two of them, however. "You two would have eventually gotten together," he told them confidently. "Some things are bigger than we are by ourselves."

"Oh? Ya know, I never figured you were so sappy," Hizashi teased. "Peace, sure, but peace 'n love? I guess it fits, though."

The other man's smile broadened. "I like seeing people happy."

"I'm on freaking <i>cloud nine</i> over here."

"I see that."

"Barf." Kayama yawned hugely in a show of boredom. "Let's get back to the juicy stuff."

Fluff - s

 "How open are you with her?"

"Uhhh, the barfing my guts out thing?" He wrinkled up his nose at the memory. "I don't do that in front of everyone."

"Thank fuck for that," Aizawa snorted.

"That's different, though." Elly shook her head. "I think this means talking. Like, secrets and things you wouldn't tell other people."

"Ooooh, juicy!" Kayama leaned in close. "So? Have you shared stuff with her and no one else?"

Hizashi smiled. "I'll tell her anything. All she has to do is want to hear me talk."

"Aww, I love your voice, Zashi. I could listen to you all the time."

This clearly flustered him and he pushed his glass around in its puddle of condensation for a few seconds. "Stop it before I fall more in love with you," he mumbled. Elly mewed and hugged him tightly, her eyes misty with tears.

"I didn't realize you were a romantic, Yamada," Yagi commented quietly. "Before tonight, I mean. You don't seem the, uh... the <i>type</i>. No offense!" He smiled in an attempt to take some of the sting out of his words.

Hizashi shrugged. "It's okay. Most don't think of me that way at all!" He thought for a moment, then admitted, "I don't think I'm very good at it..?"

"The clinging woman at your side is an indicator of how well you're doing," Kayama drawled comically.

Aizawa, meanwhile, was staring wide-eyed at the counselor. "You made her purr, Yamada. I <i>really</i> didn't think you had that in you."

"I might question her taste, but she's definitely into him. It helps."

Hizashi gave his scruffy friend a scrutinizing look. "Hey, there, I know you're fascinated an' all, but this kitty's mine."

She pulled up a little at this and nipped his shirt, tugging on it.

"Hey!"

"Easy there," Elly laughed softly. "You didn't sign any of the adoption papers yet."

"Oh! Um... yeah. Guess not." He squinted quizzically at her. "Are you really gonna say no, though?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and the table erupted in good-natured laughter.