Fluff - k

 To everyone else it seemed as though Aizawa Shouta was asleep. If the intermittent grunts and snoring was anything to go by, he was... but he woke periodically when a loud laugh or banging of the table startled him. The next question was the one Kayama had been waiting for, and her loud squeal of delight set his teeth on edge. He opened his bleary eyes just in time to hear his friend bragging.

"Now I've <i>got</i> this one." Hizashi preened a little, combing his blond hair with his fingertips as he smirked smugly. "It's not embarrassing at all, yo. I have kissing <i>down</i>."

Aizawa couldn't help but butt in. "Probably because he runs his mouth all the time. He's got a lot of practice with that area most people don't."

"Hey!" Hizashi protested with a raised eyebrow. "Yer not baiting me this time. Ha, <i>no way</i>." He emphasized that last point in English. "I know what I'm good at, and I'm a real good kisser."

"You're not telling me that you've kissed a lot, are you, Yamada?" Kayama looked downright skeptical.

"Why's that so hard to believe? I'm a Pro Hero, an' a celebrity one, too. Girls have been known to throw themselves at me."

Elly stuffed a piece of sushi in her mouth to try and combat the bitter taste that flooded her tongue.

"Uh oh, she's turning green."

"Knock it off," she hissed angrily, chewing and trying not to look upset. "Jealousy is a waste of energy. Plus, it's silly."

Hizashi leaned into her space, pursing his lips and wiggling his eyebrows. "So? You jealous, babe?"

"I told you -"

"Nuh uh, you said it was silly. Not that you weren't. Are you jealous, Ches?" He batted his eyelashes at her and damned if she didn't blush. Hizashi blinked. "Wait... you <i>are</i>. Oh, woooow, holy shit."

She stared him right in the eyes, and though her gaze was a little hard her voice was soft. "The past isn't worth getting upset over. It's the present that matters."

"But you are, and it's flattering." He shrugged. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of your others, too. I'm willing to bet I can beat 'em on the first try, though." He laughed out loud, his eyes sparkling with good-natured mirth.

She started to shake when he sat up and placed his arm around her shoulders once more. The fingers of that hand gently toyed with her hair and randomly stroked her neck, causing her to bite her lip and blush even harder.

"There are so many different kisses," he mused. "Romantic, I mean, yeah? Soft, simple brushes of lips to the knock down, drag out soul kisses with lots of tongue wrestling... and everything in between."

"Yeah," she agreed, feeling faint. He was so close ...did that mean he was going to try to kiss her <i>right now</i>?!

Hizashi read the look in her eyes and shook his head, though. "We only get <i>one</i> first kiss, baby," he whispered, "an' I ain't wasting it right now." He licked his bottom lip slowly, staring deeply into her eyes. "I want to make you weak in my arms, giving yourself up in the moment. An' we can do <i>aaaall</i> the other kisses after." He gave a little shiver and grinned at her response, watching her eyes grow wide and her chest start to heave with passion.

"H - Hih - <i>zashi</i>," she gasped.

"Ohhh, my given name. Yeah, that's much better."

Kayama was left gaping with her mouth open in shock. "Wh - what just <i>happened</i>?"

"You underestimated him." Yagi's smile was like the sun coming up.

Aizawa went back to snoring.

Fluff - j

 "Do you like to joke around with or prank her?"

Elly spoke up right away this time. "He likes to tease me," she laughed.

"Whaaaaa? Me?!" He gave her his most innocent look, complete with large doe-like eyes.

"Yes, you! You're always calling me names when I least expect it."

"What's <i>this</i> all about," Kayama asked, perking up right away.

Hizashi shrugged, a secret smile on his lips. "I dunno what she's talking about." He swirled the last dregs of beer around in his glass, staring at the amber liquid as it sloshed around.

"Baby," a sleepy voice snarked off to their left.

"Aizawa, c'mon!"

"Or babygirl? You think I'm not paying attention when you flirt? You're terrible at it. Who calls someone a <i>baby</i> as a term of endearment?"

"See?" Elly burst out in giggles, covering her face with her hands as she laughed.

Hizashi patted her side as she wiggled around in mirth. "M'glad my efforts at least amused you."

"So he calls her cutesy names? Why haven't you done that tonight?!"

"I try not to when we're all together," he sniffed. "<i>Some</i>body is too invested in our relationship and would've made a big deal about it."

"It used to be our secret," she smiled. "But if you want..."

"Yeah? Baby?"

Elly sighed and melted into his warmth.

Fluff - i

 "Huh." Kayama set her phone aside and took a sip of her drink.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

Elly gave her a decidedly flat look, her ears sideways. "What's the next?"

"Injury," she said quietly, watching Hizashi closely because she had a hunch. "What would you do if she were injured, Yamada?"

They all knew getting hurt on the job was an eventuality; there was no way around it. But as the dark-haired woman predicted, this panicked him. He tried to brush it off in true Mic fashion, blustering and joking, but Elly didn't even hear what he was saying. His high-pitched laugh was almost a shriek, and the circles around his eyes grew thinner.

"Hell, we all end up in the hospital at some point! Like, yanno, when Eraser here got fucked over by those Nomu at school an' ended up a Mummy Man, all wrapped up in bandages -" He choked to a stop as she placed a finger on his mouth.

"Shhh. Deep breaths." Hizashi took a huge, shuddering gasp of air and she squeezed his shoulder, maintaining physical contact. "Tell me something you can see."

"Uh, uh, your eyes," he babbled. "They're pretty an' purple a -"

She interrupted him firmly. "Tell me something you smell."

"Yer perfume," he whispered. His eyes were focused fully on her, now, his anxiety evaporating. "Ya smell like a flower... it's nice. Sweet."

Elly stroked a long lock of blond hair back from his cheek, tucking it behind his ear. "Good, very good. That's lavender, by the way. I only wear it when we go out on nights like this."

He sighed, leaning into the touch, then remembered they weren't alone. Hizashi snapped upright, his ears burning. "Um. Sorry?"

"You don't have to apologize." Her eyes were filled with sympathy and a warm, soft affection. <i>This dear man had a panic attack just thinking about the</i> possibility <i>of me being hurt.</i>

No one said anything else. Aizawa continued to snore, the muzzy sounds filling the room for a long while.

Fluff - h

 "When and how do you like to hold hands?"

"So, yeah, I'm a touchy guy." He shrugged. "I just need to know it's okay, like, if we were dating, see, I'd be holding your hand right now." He lightly caught her fingers with his, tangling them together. Not only was the contact electrifying, he began gently rubbing a thumb on the sensitive skin on top of her hand.

"That's not just holding," she stammered, her face bright red.

Hizashi looked down and also blushed. "Yeah, uh, I can let g - go, if you want..." He trailed off as she squeezed tighter for a second, but she took her hand back.

"Okay."

"Damn," he breathed. "It's not like I wanted to, it's that I thought, yanno, maybe <i>you</i> didn't..?"

"Yamada, you had your arm around me earlier," she pointed out. Elly cleared her throat and went on shyly, "I'm not going to say no, whether it's your arm or hand."

He immediately took her hand in his again. "Wait," he then said, his eyes widening, "does this mean I can -"

"Next question!"

"I <i>was</i> askin' a question..."

"Kayama?"

"Hmmmm? Oh, no, I'm all ears. What was that, Yamada?"

The Voice Hero glared at her for a moment, then turned back to Elly. Instead of asking, he disengaged from her hand and raised his arm on her side. His hazel eyes glowed golden as his hair in the dim light of the room, and he gave her a syrupy slow smile. She hesitated, then snuggled into his side with a low sigh. Hizashi's eyelids drooped and he sighed with contentment.

"No sleeping," Kayama muttered.

"They're cute together."

"Cute or not, we're not finished -"

"Keep asking," Hizashi said, his voice dreamy. "Fire away."

Fluff - g

 "How do you feel about gift giving and what are your general habits?"

"We all know this one. Yamada likes gifting." Yagi drank a little water, thinking back to when he'd first started working at the school and the DJ had given him a memory stick with hours and hours of his radio show on it. He chuckled.

"Yeah, but his gifts are crap."

Hizashi's lower lip thrust out in a pout. "They are <i>not</i>! Music is good for the soul, Kayama ..." He paused, then snorted, "which may be why you don't like it."

"I like music. Not a million hours of whatever the hell you decide is good, with your babbling filling the gaps."

"Does he give CDs?" Elly looked confused.

"Oh, I forgot! His attitude toward you is completely different." Kayama rolled her eyes expressively. "For you, he buys the good shit. Like Valentine's."

"What?!"

"Heh heh heh." Hizashi ducked his head, hiding his face from her intense gaze.

"Yamada," she asked very quietly, "Is what she said true? Were <i>you</i> the one that sent me all those presents on Valentine's day?"

"...and whaaaat if I said yeahhhhh?" He set his pointer fingers on each other with a sheepish expression. "Yeah?"

"Oh my god!" She clutched her heart, dramatically tugging on the fabric on her shirt. "There was <i>so much</i>! Too much!"

"Well, when I started it was only the roses an' the candy, but then you were so freakin' <i>cute</i>, you didn't believe anybody would do that for you, so I kept going."

"I remember that," Yagi murmured. He bent forward, his side locks dipping as he looked fondly over at the counselor. "You thought it was a joke at first. But after lunch when you got the rest, it became clear it was too much money to be spent on a frivolous jest."

Aizawa grunted sourly. "It <i>was</i> too much money."

"No." Hizashi surprised him by dropping his voice low when he answered, a trait he reserved for only serious occasions. "No, it wasn't too much. I needed to show Ches that she's worth it - despite what she thinks."

"I have it all," she marveled quietly. "I ate most of the candy, but the flowers were forever roses and the stuffed animals are on my bed." <i>I may just snuggle them a lot more now that I know who they came from</i>, she thought in bewilderment.

"Did he give you any music?"

Elly nodded. "There wasn't anything with him speaking, I guess because it would've given him away. There was a <i>cassette</i> -."

"Seriously?!"

"I thought she'd ask me for help, to play it..." He pointed at his neck where his gear would be when he was dressed as Mic. "I had this whole speech prepared!"

"Does the cassette player work on your speakers?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, shit, I didn't know that! I had to search forever to find one afterward!"

They all burst out laughing except Aizawa, who picked up two napkins and proceeded to stuff them in his ears.

Fluff - f

 "F ...oh, do you want a family, and the same goes for Ches." This time Kayama looked genuinely curious.

"Don't most people want children?" Yagi looked wistful as he spoke.

"I don't know," Elly answered truthfully. "A family could mean just a pair of people, or their families combined. It doesn't <i>have</i> to involve children."

"True dat."

"Yamada," she scolded gently.

"Sorry." He coughed. "Uh, here's a question for ya, though. Have you never wondered what our kids might look like?"

Elly blinked several times in rapid succession as she struggled to come up with an answer that didn't incriminate her. "Um."

"They might look like Yamada, the poor things."

"Now really, Kayama," Yagi spluttered. "That's unfair."

"Like they'd have little, furry kitty ears but be blond?" He reached out and stroked the velvet triangles, smiling to himself. "You'd want the babies to have my eyes, right? You said you like them."

"Yamada Hizashi!" She bit her lip, a frown wrinkling her forehead as she pulled away from him. "Now, Kayama, this has gone far enough. That's not <i>fair</i>, and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I'm sorry? Ches? Ches?" Hizashi's throat closed up as he stared at her sulking beside him in the booth.

"It's okay," Kayama soothed. "I'm sorry, too... imagine how traumatic imagining having kids with <i>Yamada</i> would be."

"I shouldn't have gone along with this," Yagi sighed, his own heart hurting as he watched the counselor's face twist in agony.

Elly's ears folded back and she was about ready to leave when Aizawa spoke up, silencing them all. "He picked names for them, you know."

"What."

"Who?"

"Aizawa?!"

She glanced back over her shoulder. "Names? Who did?"

"One night when he was really drunk," the dark-haired man confirmed. He pointed at his friend, who was making slashing motions across his throat. Aizawa ignored him and plowed on. "He told me he'd been thinking what he wanted to name his kids with you. He mentioned he'd had a dream or something..."

"Buaahaahaha! <i>What a <b>kidder</b></i>, Aizawa!" Hizashi clapped him on the back repeatedly. The smile plastered across his sweating face was wide and nervous. "Hey, sorry if I joked too hard, huh? Huh? I didn't mean to embarrass you. For real. Don't go."

Aizawa fixed him with a murderous stare. "Cut that out or I'll mute you for the rest of the week."

He shrugged it off, however, catching her sleeve between his fingers instead before she could stand up fully. "Please, <i>please</i> sit back down. I'm an idiot, I know I am -"

Elly sighed and fell back into the padded booth once more. "You're not an idiot," she sighed wearily. "I did the same thing. But let's drop it for now, okay?"

"Uh huh!" He nodded furiously.

She relaxed slightly and turned to see Aizawa was holding up a bar napkin. He'd gotten a pen from somewhere and written the names on it. Elly clapped a hand over her mouth, not upset but rather suddenly feeling the urge to burst out laughing.

They were ridiculous.

She <i>loved</i> them.

Fluff - e

 They ate for awhile, but Kayama couldn't hold back and was soon reading off the list again. She was, however, displeased at the next question.

"How do you express emotions around her..?" Kayama scoffed. "That's not juicy at all. Besides, we all know Yamada doesn't hold anything back."

"I resent that." He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Yes, he does." Elly shook her head. "I'm a therapist, remember?"

"Oh. Oh, shit."

"He holds in too much," she said sadly. "No, Yamada, you do. It comes out as that over-the-top cheerful persona, but there's a lot more of you I'd like to know better. Especially the messy parts you haven't been able to let out. Those are what make you, you."

"Huh." Hizashi fidgeted with a red-beaded bracelet he wore on one wrist, spinning it around. His brows were drawn up into a point but not too high, just enough that those that knew him saw he was thinking.

"I want to be here for you, okay?" She laid a hand on his and he frowned harder, but then shook himself out of the mental fog that had been building up.

"Yeah! Okay!" His huge smile was back and he spoke in English, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Boring." Kayama yawned. "Can we move on now?"