Chapter 10
"Puppy Dog eyes"
The conditions that allowed the Pro Hero to ride with them were layered one on top of the other. Alarice was a minor, a teen, and technically, Mic was her guardian for now. The bleeding was slowed, but she had lost a significant amount, and the EMTs were worried about what might have been hit. Mic was also needed to keep her conscious, since her blood-loss was bad enough that her losing her consciousness, was a real concern.
It wasn't just the sad puppy-dog eyes she'd given him when she'd been placed on the stretcher to get loaded up into the vehicle. There was also that small note of medical information, to which she had some of her own memorized... but Mic had the rest pulled up on his phone. Aizawa had sent him everyone in the little group's medical information in case of the worst possible scenarios.
He was grateful now, even if he had sent 'mom' emojis to Aizawa in response.
He nodded to the EMT, giving them said information.
They nodded back and he noticed that she'd reached out one hand, to be held, probably by any one who was willing. So he did the hero thing and held Alarices hand, who had finally given up trying not to cry.
"It's okay to cry when your the one on the stretcher, you know. " His voice came out unexpectedly soft and reassuring. She nodded stiffly, hiding some of her face behind her other hand. She heard one of the nurses say she was being a model patient.
Alarice, however, felt nothing but shame and pain. She'd tried really hard not to cry the whole time, even though she was in terrible pain. She'd done so well to not cry and wail while her newfound friends were around.. and then..once she was in the privacy of the vehicle, she couldn't help it. Even in front of her favorite hero she still couldn't keep it in and cried. Hell he was even holding her hand for her while she cried like a big dumb baby.
"I didn't really get to ask," Mic started, he really was unable to stand awkward silences, especially those where someone was crying as the only sound, "Does you hair...does it naturally do that?"
Alarice sniffled back tears. "w-what?" her voice made her sound tired.
"Your hair, does it just grow like that?"
He meant the thick twisting curls of hair that formed tight cords of hair, she picked up one. "y-yeah. I help it so doesn't look really messy but... yeah it just.. does this."
She couldn't really pull it like a spring, but as she ran her thumb over the corded hair, it was clear the care she did give it.
"Huh, That's pretty cool, I think that would defeat the gel I use for this sky-piercing mane of mine." He added in a flourish of silly tone to make up for the lack of gesturing he could do. One hand bracing himself, the other holding on to her. He noticed one of the nurses make some gesture to him to keep talking. Like he needed to be asked to do that.
"pr-probably it's pretty hard to style it any other way." Alarice admitted, "and you'd look weird with blond, dread-like hair."
He made a face in return to her commentary about his hair. "Pft, well I'm going to try it out now, just to prove I wouldn't."
He got one teary smile as a reward for his silliness. He needed to keep it up, they were almost to the hospital. "So, do you wanna hear something about your homeroom teacher?"
Her eyes kind of widened for a second, "yeah?"
"He and I? We went to school together, same place, UA." He started, there was an impish look to his face as he began his short story. "So you know your teach, very serious, all rational right?"
Alarice just nodded, she was at-least listening now, but how much attention was there, was dubious..
"He once, and this is totally true, had a crush in high school." This was such a benign, half-farcical story, "It's weird right? Like he's so serious how could he even hear the call of his heart? Well he did. He denied it, claiming the emotion itself was just an irrational feeling, even though he tried to figure out a rational way to communicate it... And the big day came..."
Alarice wasn't 100% familiar with social customs to confessing feelings in Japan, but she was starting to guess they weren't that different from the States.
"He didn't do it. He came back, flushed pink, whole face. That's how he blushes, his whole face turns pink and red. He chickened out." He nodded confidently to confirm his story that Aizawa chickened out on confessing his feelings to some one else. " Oh he made up some excuse about it not being a logical thing to do and they should focus, blah blah. But I could tell."
Alarice really didn't know what this had to do with their current situation, but she couldn't help but crack a smile about it. The idea of her stern, honestly scary homeroom teacher Aizawa, Eraserhead, being too scared to confess his own feelings to some one was a bit ridiculous.
"But he's so... Weird."
"He is, He is a very, very weird man." Mic confirmed, with a nodding smirk to his face. "He's not good at it even now. Pros just aren't always good at emotions sometimes, especially when it comes to themselves. 's different for everyone."
No way was Mic about to admit his own fear of bugs, but he was willing to throw out a half-true tidbit about his boyfriend, to keep Alarice talking.
"Mic, can I ask you a question?"
"Mhmm, I'm all ears, shoot."
"Is it because of his quirk that he just.. sleeps where ever,or...?"
Mic was quiet for a second, then cracked a half smile at Alarice about it. "It is, I think mostly because of how little sleep he gets." He then shrugged a little bit "He might also enjoy the reaction it gets out of people."
"Maybe.."
"We're here." called the driver, as the ambulance was a flurry of humans-in-motion, again. Mic followed where he could, promising Alarice he'd definitely be waiting for her when the doctors were done with her. She nodded, and she was taken away, into the care of Doctors and Nurses who knew what they were doing.
Leaving Present Mic, Pro Hero, standing there a little awkwardly with only a few mildly interested stares. He was handed paperwork to look at, sign and fill out as the impromptu guardian for Alaraice Stone. Which he did before he acknowledged the buzzing in his phone that he'd ignored in favor of the injured student in his care.
Even a temp teach apparently, had been given some access to the phone numbers for the other teachers, it looked like.
Sunshine: What happened with Alarice?
Sunshine: I'll be over to the hospital soon!
He hadn't messaged her, and he hadn't given access to his location information to her; at the moment it was strictly for UA security and Eraserhead. He had temporarily given Nemuri access as an emergency contact for the night. That was how she'd been able to come get the kids so quickly. He looked over at Alarice's phone, which he'd been handed earlier, little message alerts had popped up from Sunshine, asking her if she was okay. He was pretty sure Alarice hadn't messaged her yet.. or at all. The phone had mostly been with him the whole the time.
Did Sunshine have a tracker in Alarice's phone? That didn't give precise information, but a quick search would tell where she was more specifically. He hadn't even contacted Aizawa yet, and only had hesitated because Aizawa needed to sleep. The homeroom teacher should know of course, and he would, if he didn't already. Aizawa would either show up or call him, and Mic trusted that his partner would trust him as a perfectly capable caretaker for the student for now.
He saw Sunshine come in, to his surprise. 'Gotta find out how she moves that quickly...' She caught some attention with that golden skin of hers, and waved him over to her.
"ah, I'm so sorry I took so long to get here, Is she alright?"
"They're seeing to her now. I'm waiting since I promised her I'd see her when she got out." His voice was low and calm, he was in a damn hospital after all, no point in being loud here. He watched Sunshine carefully behind his sunglasses.
"Well, shes safe now, did you-?"
"Yup, The villain has been taken care of. We'll know more later about why, if there's a why." When Alarice wasn't in surgery though he suspected he'd be going down the station later to talk to the man he'd caught, or sit in on an interview, typical stuff. Someone would need to get a statement from the other UA kids, Alarice would need to make one.. paperwork. Fun fun!
"Alright, I'll probably head over there next, now that she's okay." Sunshine nodded her head, her curls bouncing a little. She shifted her weight and headed to leave before his arm blocked her path.
"Wait a minute now, there's no rush, the police are seeing to him right now any way." She gave the voice hero a strange look that he didn't particularly like being given. Especially not by another "hero".
"You're right, I've just.. been very busy." She said, letting out a sigh, her shoulders sagging a little bit, before she ran a hand through her hair. Whatever it was he just saw disappeared from her features. "Do you mind doing me a massive favor? Can you stay with her tonight, please? I'll compensate you if you have to stay longer than that too."
He wished for Aizawa's poker face, feeling his eyebrows shoot up on his head. A million questions popped up in his head, as well. Ones he knew instantly, not to ask her. So he gave the safest answer he could give. It was the weekend, technically, so he didn't have school to teach, and by luck he didn't have any patrols either... "Sure."
She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a gentle hug that surprised him. She let out another long sigh, but this one ended with a wide pleasant smile. "Thank you so much for taking care of her during this Mic, I really owe you one later!"
With that, she was gone before he could stop her. Despite all the shine and glamour, there was something he didn't like about her. That golden flower was a rose, with long sharp thorns she wasn't afraid of using. Aizawa would no doubt be by at some point, so there would be a chance to talk to him about this.
When they released Alarice from surgery, stitched up and under, they'd set her up in her little room, letting the nice Pro Hero (who had been so graciously quiet) know where she was. Which was where he was now, legs propped up on a chair, taking a page from Aizawa's book: he was taking a nap. He'd taken off his speaker ( really no use for it right now ) so his bare neck was free, despite still being in the rest of his hero uniform. His sunglasses and headphones were also off, sitting on a nearby table, and another pair of glasses, very plain looking, were threatening to fall off his face.
Alarice didn't really know what to think, or how to feel. She felt okay, glad that when she woke up, in the clear middle of the damn night, that she indeed: wasn't alone. He was sound asleep but he'd kept his promise. So she instead busied herself with lifting the cover off her bed to check her side. There was a set of bandages on her side. She couldn't feel any thing there, probably from painkillers. An IV was in her arm, which she knew better than to fiddle with, looking up at the bags the clear tubes led up too. Well. One was clear. The darker one looked like it was almost empty.
She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, and realized she was terribly bored. Though that said, Alarice felt like her thoughts were swimming through syrup. So maybe bored was a good thing right now.
It took her far to long notice the nurse who came in to see how she was doing. She only noticed the nurse when she said something.
"How do you feel?"
"mkay.. fuzzy. I'm a little hungry I guess." Alarice practically mumbled. It was weird being in a hospital. She was definitely glad she wasn't alone here, that was for sure. Their conversation seemed to have woken Mic, who rubbed at his own eyes for a second, before pushing his glasses up to a proper position. "Ah you're awake, Listener Stone. "
"I am. I think." was Alarice's confused response as he re-adjusted himself to be sitting properly.
"what time...?" He asked, his voice surprisingly subdued.
"It's 2:30 am." the Nurse answered pleasantly.
"Ahh pretty late huh, Listeners?" He smiled warmly at both of them, the nurse blushing a little and laughing quietly. Alarice looking confused for a moment, before the nurse gently touched her shoulder to get her attention. "I'll see to you getting something to eat."
Alarice mumbled an okay, before zoning out almost, and then coming right back. Looking at Mic who was now looking at this phone, before he was yawning audibly. This had not been the way she had planned her first show with Present Mic DJ-ing, to end. Yet there it was: she was laying in a hospital bed, stitches in her side and her favorite radio show host flipping through his phone while in the same room with her.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled out quietly after a moment of dead silence.
Mic looked up at her confused for a moment as to what she'd be apologizing for, then realized why she would. This probably felt all kinds of weird, weird enough to be his fan and his student, now he was basically her impromptu-guardian.
"You don't have anything to apologize for, Listener." He offered, while he watched her fiddle with the fabric of the sheet covering her. "although I accept it any way."
He gave her a toothy grin, that she halfheartedly smiled back. Still clearly not sure about this at all.
"and, technically as your teacher, since UA is a boarding school now, and as a Pro Hero, nothing I've done so far should be anything you feel guilty about." He gave her ankle a gentle little pat.
There was a quiet 'thank you' in response to him, that he nodded approvingly too. She continued to fiddle with the blanket a moment longer. "Mic, um.."
"Yes?"
"Does Sunshine have to know... about... that I got stabbed?"
"Her? Well, we can't very well hide that, can we?" He was the one fidgeting with the cloth on the bed now. Now he knew for sure she hadn't messaged Sunshine at all. He looked up and her eyes had become dinner-plate huge. "Whats that for now!?"
Her voice lowered to almost a whisper; "Aizawa-sensei has to know, too, doesn't he?"
The look on her face told him all he needed to know, and he recalled the conversation he'd had about the 'new transfer' with his boyfriend. He tried to be reassuring when he answered her.
"ahh, I'm afraid he does, Listener. Don't worry too much about it, he's just a rational guy, not unreasonable."
Now her big dinner plate sized eyes locked onto him, her eyebrows coming together to show how serious she was; "Don't tell him I criedin the Van! You said I could!"
He put his hands up in surrender, trying not to smirk or smile at her worry. "I wont tell! I promise!"
Alarice was in the middle of giving what was probably intended to be a stern, suspicious look, when the door opened again, and Nemuri was there. A bag over one shoulder and a brown bag that wafted out the smell of burgers.
"Oh Hizashi what are you promising this time~?"
"Nothing you need to know about, Nemuri." Hizashi said with a grunt, as he got up to take the bag from her shoulder, heading into the attached bathroom.
"Hiya Alarice, they stitched you up huh?" Alarice nodded slowly in slight confusion to her. Not really recognizing the woman with long dark hair. She smiled either way and only nodded. She didn't think to sniff at all either, not that it would have helped at the moment. " You usually see me as Midnight! You can call me Nemuri right now."
Against her will, her cheeks turned pink, and she wished for something to hide her face. Her initial interactions with Nemuri had been a little on the uncomfortable side. Another nurse came in after her, a cup with a straw in her hands. "Sorry Kiddo, you have to stick to liquid food for a little bit."
Alarice nodded, dropping into her more normal, quiet observational self. Taking the cup with a 'thank you' and a nod, and giving it a try. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. It would have to do. Hizashi came back out of the bathroom, wearing normal, street clothes. His hair was down too. It was weird seeing him like this, why was he still there? He was going way out of his way... not that she didn't appreciate it.
Nemuri pulled a burger out of the brown bag and pushed it into Hizashi's hands. He let out a soft noise of relief; "oh thank you, Nemuri."
A comfortable silence settled while the three people in the room settled into eating. Nemuri clearly settling-in, to eat and sit in company of others. Even though no one seemed particularly up to saying much of anything.
Not too long into their burger fest, yet another person had made their way into the room, much to Alarice's quiet distress. Trying to hide herself behind her phone, which still had the permanent signature on the back of it. Hizashi looked up from his own phone, Nemuri glanced behind her before returning to the bag of burgers.
"Yamada. Nemuri.."
Aizawa's deep, tired voice carried easily in the quiet room. He looked over at his transfer student, she looked like she was doing fine, if trying desperately to pretend he couldn't see her. "Do both of you-" He was some what cut off by the burger being offered to him. Which he, with the slightest of nods, accepted. He turned to his transfer student, who despite being obviously unable to turn invisible, was still trying. "Are you doing okay, Stone?"
"Yeah.. I mean yes, Aizawa Sensei." He nodded, unwrapping the burger with less than delicate care.
"Hey Sho', I need to talk to you, out in the hall." Hizashi said, standing and heading over towards the door with Aizawa, who gave the blonde a glare for using that nickname for him in front of a student. Still he allowed himself, while chewing on the burger, to be lead outside by his partner. He listened quietly to what Yamada Hizashi had to say about 'Miss Sunshine' and Alarice's relationship, remaining in that exhausted-man expression while he filled up on a gifted burger.
Nemuri and Alarice waited in silence, trying to listen to the two talk, but neither seemed to be getting what they wanted hearing wise. The older woman mumbling something to herself before finally showing some sign of exhaustion herself, yawning. "You wanna talk about what happened, kiddo?"
Aizawa and Hizashi came back into the room, Aizawa looking at his transfer student. She was nodding off, phone held up as if she was reading it but the screen had already gone black from non-activity. Nemuri had left as they walked in, heading home to sleep herself. He calmly reached out to get Stone's sleepy-eyed attention, a little thankful that he wasn't receiving the 'I'm invisible don't look at me' act from her again.
"We'll do something different when you get back, for your extra training, so for now just rest." He put a little of that 'hero act' into his voice, since she was probably not of the clearest mind right now. Stone looked a little relieved to hear that. Though he was already planning that any way, Recovery Girl needed a vacation too after all, and her assistant wasn't quite as gifted.
"And I'll be staying just a little longer, hah, Standard stuff!" Hizashi added, though he watched Alarice's eyes really droop completely. He got a mumbled answer and a small flutter of her eyelids before they just stayed closed. He stopped from heading back to his chair by a firm hand on his shoulder, the man attached to said arm, was gesturing silently to be quiet, and to look at the door.
From beneath the door, was the clear cast shadow as if some one was standing quite close, right in front of it. Waiting for the door to be opened to them. Hizashi could feel his heartbeat go up, even though he told himself it might be a benign situation, something else told him to be cautious. Maybe that something else was Aizawa, who even dressed in his civilian clothes, moved like a ghost across the floor. Closing the distance to the door way, getting close enough to hear the deep inhalations of the person on the other-side. He looked to the shadow's cast from underneath the door, and reached out for the handle. Before his fingertips even touched the metal, the shadows vanished, as if the person outside the door had ceased to exist. Acting on instinct, he opened the door in a hurry, activating his quirk, in attempt to catch whoever had just been standing outside the door, smelling at it like a dog.
Nothing.
Just two nurses walking down the hall way.
He pulled himself back inside the threshold of the doorway, hair settling back into its lazy state as he did so. Hizashi was standing just as still as he had been tasked, but now was quietly walking over to Aizawa's side, who was processing what had just happened.
"It's good your staying here Hizashi." Aizawa said, closing the door, and coming quietly back over. Hizashi was quiet for a second, looking at the other seriously, before brushing some of Aizawa's dark hair gently to tuck it behind one of his ears. Laying a soft and quiet smooch on the others scruffy cheek. Hizashi could handle protection on his own.
"Yup, now you head on back, I'll keep watch over this little chick."
Aizawa cracked that odd ball smile back at him; "Don't you mean Pup?"