Infectious

ch. 8

Chapter Eight;;- Drinks and Conversation

[name] didn't hang out in casual clothes often, especially not around other heroes. It felt a little out of place-- too ordinary-- as she sat down at the table with Kayama, Yamada (Present Mic), and Aizawa. She wasn't even sure she had seen the others in outfits that weren't their hero costumes.

Kayama, surprisingly enough, didn't wear stuff as revealing as her hero costume was. She was wearing high-waisted jeans with a snug fitting purple sweater. Her hair was pulled back behind her head in a sort of ponytail. Yamada (although [name] was sure he would have a tacky sense of fashion) was also dressed relatively normally. He wore ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a white shirt. His long hair was pulled away from his face in a lazy bun.

It was definitely Aizawa that surprised [name] the most by his choice of casual clothing. It wasn't nearly as disheveled as he seemed like he would like. He had on black pants and long sleeved black shirt. His hair was half-up in a bun, done messily. Honestly, now that she looked at it again, [name] thought it looked incredibly similar to his hero outfit. He was still covered in bandages, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

Yamada smiled as he noticed [name] enter the room, greeting her with a wave and a cheerful "hello!" Kayama was next to address her, giving her a smile of her own and a more subdued "hey" than Yamada had. Aizawa nodded his acknowledgement when he met [name]'s eyes.

"Sorry I'm later than we agreed to meet," [name] said as she sat. "I don't know my way around this area too well." The Izakaya they were in was one that was very casual, with inexpensive decor and bustling with conversation.

Kayama waved her hand dismissively. "You're fine, you're fine." She gestured to the dish that sat in the center of their table with her chopsticks. "We ordered some karaage[1] already." She took a piece.

[name] thanked her and picked up her chopsticks, more to be polite than her actually wanted any of the karaage. Yamada called for the waitress and they each ordered a drink. After the waitress left to get the drinks, the three carried on conversation casually, seemingly the one that they had before [name] had come.

They received their drinks and [name] was more than happy to blend into the background-- she had always enjoyed seeing how people interacted with each other and how that differed from interacting with different people-- until she felt a pair of eyes on her.

She looked over, surprised to see Aizawa looking at her. [name] raised an eyebrow, a silent request for him to explain.

"You uncomfortable?" He asked simply. The other two didn't seem to mind him backing out of their conversation.

[name] shook her head. "No. This is nice. I'm glad you guys invited me out." She sipped her drink to prove her point. It was alcoholic, but she was confident that she could hold her liquor and not make a fool out of herself.

He didn't look convinced, despite [name] being honest. "Those idiots didn't mean to pressure you into coming out with them. People persons are just like that."

She laughed lightly. "They are. I used to be a people person during high school, actually." Her grin lingered, but diminished as she thought about high school. Slowly, [name] shook her head. "I didn't feel pressured. I was worried, really, that I wasn't getting along very well at Yuuei-- Well, in Japan at all, actually. It meant a lot to me that you guys considered me enough of a friend to invite out and put up with seeing me outside of work." She chuckled self-depreciatingly.

Kayama clapped her on the back, throwing an arm around her shoulders and giving her an awkward, friendly side hug. She wasn't sure when she started listening in, but she guessed that she definitely heard enough to want to reassure her. "[surname]~ Of course you're getting along well~" She cooed. She topped up [name]'s glass. "Drink, drink, loosen up some~"