Author's Note: So here's this arc's Lost Tales! I'm sure some of you expected something like this, but I'm not sure if you expected this exactly. Somewhat short, but incredibly fluffy. They need some fluff after everything that just happened to them. Enjoy!
"You're sure we have to do this." Hitoshi said. It wasn't a question. It was a plea against reality.
"Well, yeah." Mei said as she turned around and gestured to the zipper on the back of her dress. "Eri asked for it. It's especially the least you can do after she saved your ass from being one with a psychopath."
Hitoshi stepped forward and zipped up her dress. "Don't fucking remind me." He said under his breath. "That was a waking nightmare."
"I know, 'toshi." Mei said. "I may not know how it felt, but I've seen how it's affecting you. And it's that much more of a reason to show your thanks to Eri like this."
Hitoshi sighed. "Yeah… You're right." He pulled his tie tight around his neck as he looked in the mirror in the room. "Listen, Mei. I know you can make anything using that Yaoyorozu girl's quirk. Why'd our suits and dresses have to be the same color as our hair?"
"Another request from Eri. And before you moan and groan, think about it. She's never had real friends. She's never had a tea party. Something so simple in the eyes of everyone. I'm going all out for this shit." Mei said, adjusting her dress so that she was comfortable in it.
"Look at you. Normally so focused on work or your babies. What happened?" Hitoshi teased.
"She reminds me of what could have been me." Mei said. When Hitoshi looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she hurriedly continued. "Not the whole psychopathic yakuza thing! Just… the complete lack of friends or interaction. I guess it's just… she's found a soft spot in me." Mei admitted with a blush. "If it wasn't for Kyouka reaching out again, Izuku in tow, I don't know what I would be doing now. I can guarantee that you and I wouldn't have met let alone started dating."
"You were the one to approach me when we first became friends." Hitoshi recalled.
"At the behest of Kyouka." Mei added. "I knew nothing about making friends. I just kinda looked for the biggest loner and approached them because I felt alone a lot of the time too."
"Wow." Hitoshi said simply. "Harsh."
"Hey, I'm just telling you what nine year old Mei Hatsume was thinking. What I can say about it now is that it was one of the best decisions of my life." She turned around and smiled softly at him.
Hitoshi hummed in agreement. He slowly leaned forward and grabbed Mei around her back. They both slowly melted into a kiss that Hitoshi planted on her lips.
"Ahem." A voice called out from their door. The two of them wheeled around in shock. "Her Highness is waiting." Kyouka said with a smirk.
"So she is." Mei nodded, blushing as she separated from Hitoshi. "Look at this, 'toshi. Kyouka doesn't like dressing up, and yet here she is, doing it for Eri." She gestured to Kyouka, who was in a slim, form fitting purple dress.
"Eh, partly." Kyouka smirked. "Izuku's stares are a welcome perk, too."
Mei gasped in mock horror. "You harlot!"
"There you are wrong, dear best friend. I am simply a woman in love." Kyouka said, her smirk growing by the second. "Regardless of what I am, you two are late. Her Highness is a gracious one, so your tardiness is pardoned, given that you hurry your asses up and get out here."
"We're hurrying!" Mei said as she lifted her dress up to talk into the living room. Hitoshi and Kyouka followed her out.
Sitting at the head of the table was Eri. She had a white dress on. A frilly white dress. A frilly white puffy dress. She could hardly put her arms down. In one hand, she had a teacup, and in the other, she had what looked to be a toy wand.
Then there was Izuku in a green suit, Fumikage in a black suit, and Shouto in a red suit. Himiko's dress was, surprisingly, not red like Hitoshi had expected. What, with blood and everything. The cream color of her dress shone off against her porcelain skin.
"I am deeply sorry, My Lady." Kyouka said, curtsying in front of Eri. "I have brought the last two."
"It's alright." Eri said, somewhat awkwardly.
Kyouka walked up to her and whispered in her ear. "I know you've been watching those shows with miss Inko." Eri's face lit up in a blush. "I know you have a voice." An even darker shade of red.
"I'm s-sorry." Eri whispered.
Kyouka's smirk changed to shock. "No no, it's okay. I just wanted you to know that you can use it if you want to. This is about you. You're our princess today."
Eri's face lit up again, but this time with wonder, not a blush. It quickly changed to a determined look as she closed her eyes and gripped her teacup. A deep breath, and then she opened her eyes again.
"Let us begin now." Eri's voice had become fake posh as she began to speak. Kyouka smiled.
"Of course, my princess. It would be my privilege." Kyouka responded in a similarly bad posh accent of her own.
Izuku smiled at this. Once Kyouka sat down next to him, they began. Tea was passed around, and the small talk quickly became like any conversation that they would normally have as friends: light teasing, jokes, and raucous laughter filled the room.
Eri had been quiet for most of it, not exactly understanding etiquette or some of the jokes that the people around her were telling. But that didn't really matter to her.
As the people that saved her were around her, participating in this activity that she had almost been too scared to ask for, she felt… happy.
That was new. She hadn't felt that in… well, a long time… The corners of her lips raised briefly. "Thank you…" she said quietly, her smile growing a bit more.
Kyouka obviously heard that. It snapped her out of the conversation that they were having. "Of course, Eri. Are you having fun?"
As Kyouka addressed Eri, the rest of them went quiet as they all looked at her with smiles on their faces. Eri felt tears well up in her eyes. She was still smiling, though. Wasn't crying supposed to be when you're sad? So then why was she crying now? She wasn't sad. She was happy. Can you cry from happiness?
After a bit of time and tears, she nodded. "Yes!" She said. "I am!"
Everyone stood up from their chairs and moved over to where Eri was seated - the head of the table - and hugged her or put their hand on her. A show of support and solidarity.
"It makes us happy to see that you're happy." Himiko said.
"You're safe here." Mei said.
"We're not going to let anything happen to you." Izuku said.
"Hitoshi and I…" Kyouka started, looking at Hitoshi. "We're here today because you saved us. Thank you."
"Yeah…" Hitoshi agreed. "You're our hero, kid. Thank you."
Eri looked at each of them, her gaze staying for a few seconds before moving on. "You guys…" She started. "I like being here with all of you…"
"We like you being here too, Eri." Shouto said, earning some surprised glances from the others at the table.
"That's why we're going to keep you safe." Izuku agreed, unphased by Shouto's statement, specifically the fact that he so easily put himself with the rest of them. If Izuku was phased by it, he didn't show it.
"Thank you…!" Eri said.
"Of course." Izuku said.
"Now, our illustrious princess." Kyouka said. Eri didn't know what that word meant. "What would you have us do now?"
"Your princess declares ice cream!" Eri said in her accent, smiling fully.
"Yes, your highness!" Kyouka responded in kind.
All of them shortly crashed from the sugar save for Kyouka. She watched as Mei and Hitoshi headed back to their room. Himiko was asleep in the loveseat. Shouto and Fumikage had elected to take naps at the table where they had been sitting.
What made her smile was where Eri and Izuku had fallen asleep. Izuku had laid down on the couch in front of the TV, one arm dangling off of it, and the other wrapped around Eri's sleeping form on his chest.
She smiled to herself as she sat in front of the couch, back to them, and leaned her head into the crook of Izuku's neck. Her jacks instinctively wrapped around Izuku's arm as she fell asleep, content.
Even if the nap ended quickly, she hoped beyond hopes that this feeling wouldn't.