This Time

Chapter 22

Toshinori stared at the woman in his hotel room's doorway, and it took him a moment to register her actual words.

She brushed past him and started pacing back and forth in his room, agitatedly wringing her hands, and chewing her bottom lip. Before he could even find his voice to ask what was wrong, she was already talking. Words tumbled from her mouth quickly, and he would have normally been much faster to reply (and also mildly annoyed by her rambling) if he wasn't so damn distracted by how Mei looked right now.

Fuck, I'm not at all ready to deal with this, he groaned inwardly.

She was gorgeous - and while he always thought she was beautiful of course, the long silver gown hugged her waist and hips, and the way the neckline of the gown dipped to show the hint of cleavage was almost enough to give this old man a heart attack. As she paced, the slit that ran up the side of the gown to just below her hip showed flashes of thigh that somehow were even worse. Lord help him, it ought to be illegal to look as unbelievable as she did right now.

Focus, Toshinori, he tried to snap himself out of it.

"Midoriya just texted me, and apparently almost everyone from class 1A is here. Everyone! And to top it off they're all going to the party together. Dammit, you know how excited I was to just get to be me for a bit? To not have to play pretend? Well, at least not as much anyway. And of course, I'd just finished getting ready for this reception thing and now I probably shouldn't even go! And -"

"Hara, breathe," Yagi interrupted the woman, finally finding his voice. Placing a hand on each shoulder, he stopped her from pacing and turned her to look at him. "Slow down, you're rambling," he told her.

Mei groaned again, and he tried not to be distracted by the way her eyes had turned grey and matched the dress she wore. "I'm at a loss, Yagi. It's not worth the risk of the kids recognizing me, but at the same time..." she sighed and chewed her lip again, and it took all his will power not to let the look on her face break his focus again. "I was actually looking forward to the party."

Toshinori smiled, causing the woman's brow to furrow when she saw his expression. "You're thinking about it too hard. The kids won't recognize you, don't worry," he tried to reassure her. "Besides, there will be plenty of heroes at this party. You could wear a mask if you wanted and completely get away with it - no one would think twice."

"That's a thought at least. I did bring my suit like you suggested, but it kinda sucks that I spent so long on my make up just to cover half my face," she sighed.

"It is a shame," he agreed without thinking. "But it's the easiest solution."

"A shame, huh?" she repeated, smirking suddenly. "That was almost a compliment."

Toshinori rolled his eyes and dropped his hands from her shoulders. "It's uncouth to fish for praises, you know," he chuckled, but looked her in the eye with a smile all the same. "You look beautiful tonight, Miss Hara."

She blushed and looked away. "Thanks. Anyway, you're wearing your hero suit, it looks like. I guess that's not surprising."

He shrugged, for a moment feeling quite underdressed in the loose-fitting costume compared to her elegant evening gown. "Most of the heroes will be suited up."

Nodding she picked up the heels that she'd unceremoniously dumped by the door upon entering his room and sat on the edge of the bed as she pulled them on. Toshinori tried not to stare too long at the way the dress's slit showed even more of her leg with her sitting like that. "What time are you heading over? Can I walk with you?" she asked.

"Of course! I was going to head that way in about five minutes actually."

"That works. I'll go grab my mask and I'll see you in five then," she said, standing up. It amused him that even with the heels she didn't reach his shoulder.