This Time

Chapter 34

Present Mic grinned like a child awaiting Christmas, and Toshinori couldn't stop from raising his brow a tad incredulously. "It's a Wednesday," he stated the obvious. "Term just started Monday."

"Yeah, but it's also my birthday! Come on, All Might, come get drinks with us!" he pouted - or at least he would have called it pouting if the man wasn't so damn loud!

Mei chuckled from where she sat at the next table over, and he turned his head to see her grinning over the stack of papers she was working on. "Oh, go on, All Might, don't be a stick in the mud," she teased lightly, and he rolled his eyes. How utterly unfair of her to look so cute while she insulted him.

The voice hero laughed triumphantly. "See!? Hara digs it! You're coming too, aren't you?" he asked, turning to the woman whose ocean eyes widened a fraction. Apparently she hadn't thought she'd be invited. "You did say you owed me a drink for that joke at the staff meeting last week!"

"I sure did, didn't I?" she replied, leaning back in her chair and grinning lazily. "Yeah, I'd love to tag along."

"Oh good, I'll be glad to have a little more estrogen in the group," Midnight said, peering over the top of her computer screen. "Although then again, I do enjoy being surrounded by all these strapping young men all the time," she teased.

"Then an old man like me definitely doesn't need to ruin everyone's fun," Toshinori replied with a light cough. A flash of movement in the corner of his eye was all the warning he got (thought it was all the warning he needed), and he snatched the pen out of the air before it could ping off the side of his head. His muscles might be atrophied, but his reflexes were as good as ever. He smirked at Mei scowling back at him, well aware of what she was thinking before she even spoke.

"You're not old, All Might," she scolded.

Aizawa snorted, Midnight cackled, and Present Mic was practically rolling on the floor. "Fiery. I love it!" Midnight cheered.

Toshinori shook his head, chuckling. He'd already decided to join them, but the chance to mess with the dark-haired woman a little bit was too tempting. "Fine, fine. Sounds like fun. Where are we going?" he gave in with a smile.

A few hours later found him seated at a table in a noisy restaurant. Around the table his colleagues talked and laughed as they let off steam after the first few days of term. The new semester wasn't going badly at all so far (unless you counted his two 'problem children' that Aizawa had put on house arrest), but the retired hero was smart enough to know that the people gathered here had been through plenty of stress recently, so the length of term so far didn't really matter. Present Mic's birthday was a great excuse, but even the voice hero likely knew this outing wasn't only for his benefit.

Cementoss leaned across the table, saying something to Mei that Toshinori missed, but he felt his attention snap back to the young woman as her bell-like laugh rang out. She sat to his left and swear to god, if she didn't stop squeezing his thigh under the table he was going to stroke out by the end of the night. Damn, that woman made it hard to concentrate.

Aizawa sat to his right, and it was impressive yet unsurprising how efficiently the tired-eyed man knocked back his drinks. Present Mic didn't look nearly as unfazed as Eraser Head, and Toshinori shook his head with a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Mei would probably have to substitute for his English class in the morning if he kept this up.

Speaking of, Mei downed the rest of her second beer, but waved away the waitress when she offered to bring another. "It is a school night," she said when Present Mic protested. "Forgive me for acting like more of an adult than I look," she smirked.