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Hizashi softly laughed to himself as he spun, watching the hem of his dress fair with the movement. The deep emerald green was the perfect background for the golden snakeskin belt and the slit in the skirt allowed him to show off his golden lace-up sandals.
The gentle tugging against his scalp reminded him that he needed to be careful with the headpiece before he tossed it off just from messing around. And besides, having fake snakes woven into his natural hair was heavy enough. He didn’t need to add centripetal force to the equation.
He slowed his steps before coming to a stop, not that the slow change prevented the slightly woozy feeling that overcame him when he stopped.
It must have shown on his face because a low chuckle came from behind him.
Leaning against the doorframe to their bedroom was Shouta, love of his life, husband of ten years, and a grade-A asshole. If that smirk he had on wasn’t so dang cute, Hizashi might’ve been able to keep the smile off his face.
“Yeah, yeah. Not every hero does mid-air ballet just to get home from patrol, Shou. My inner ear isn’t as refined as yours,” Hizashi shot back, making sure to lace the words with a teasing tone.
“I was amused by you trying on your Halloween costume in September, ‘zashi. If you didn’t set up couple costumes for us, I’m pretty sure I’d grab something the day of.”
Hizashi frowned at Shouta’s reflection. “Shouta, if I didn’t pick our shampoo, you’d still be rubbing bar soap on your hair.”
Shouta just hummed a soft response before walking up so that he was behind Hizashi in the mirror. Originally, Hizashi was going to make a joking comment about how nicely the dress accents what little ass he has but he was interrupted by Shouta leaning in and gently kissing a thick scar crossing over his shoulder. Just the warmth of that kiss on what Hizashi considered an imperfection made his heart melt just a little.
The soft moment ended when one of the fake snakes coiling out of his braids fell out and made Shouta jump, which made Hizashi jump, which made more snakes fall. Shouta snorted, a smirk appearing on his face despite the fact that he got startled too.
“I think you might need a better way of securing those otherwise you’re going to be leaving snakes all over the place. I don’t think any of our students are deathly afraid of snakes but it’s still a bad idea to leave them around.”
Hizashi hummed an affirmation as he started to pull the rest of the snakes out before going after the bobby pins and hairbands holding up his braids and bun. Warm, calloused hands joined in, gently searching for more pins before letting it all fall into a wavy, golden waterfall. It was likely that Hizashi would grumble about having to flat-iron his hair but it would be only kinda genuine considering how much daily work Present Mic did on his hair.
“So, do you have everything you need? You’ve got the outfit down but I’m guessing you need a necklace and plenty of makeup.”
Shouta took a moment to shut their bedroom door, a new habit due to a certain little girl sleeping a room over, before walking back over to help Hizashi out of his dress.
“Yep! I know what necklace I’m looking at but him having trouble with the makeup. The casual stuff I already own but I need the contacts and I kinda was to do some special effects makeup but I’d kinda need to know how to do it first.”
Hizashi chuckled to himself as he pulled out a random shirt and pair of sweatpants to throw on.
“Well, depending on what my Ms. Maki decides on for my public costume, I might have to anyway.”
The softness slipped off Shouta’s face as he frowned at the mention of Hizashi’s PR agent. She had been getting more and more touchy over the past few years, even to the point of demanding to see and reject Hizashi’s costume for the Halloween party Best Jeanist was hosting. She apparently was not happy with Hizashi’s choice to go with a more feminine costume this year and insisted on choosing something for him.
You could curdle milk with the expression Shouta made when Hizashi first mentioned her insistence of weeding out Present Mic’s more feminine clothing because, “ If women think he might be a little...y’know, it will make him much less marketable as a bachelor . He needs to be single and available to attract the fantasy of a chance meeting and him falling hopelessly in love with some random fan. ”
Needless to say, as Hizashi’s husband, Aizawa wasn’t happy about this statement but Hizashi insisted that she was the best of the best and he was going to listen to her. She was a part of the pr team that made Endeavor look good enough to be number 2 instead of a felon.
And so, Hizashi’s Medusa costume was put back onto the rack until the mini-party 1A wanted to throw.
“I’m still gonna be a statue?” Shouta asked, face softening somewhat back to what it was now that Hizashi wasn’t talking about shitty pr managers.
Instead of answering verbally, Hizashi grinned at his husband before walking to their closet and pulling out a plastic “greek” chest plate.
“I’ve only got a couple of parts and I still need to paint the chest plate to look like real stone but it'll all be easy to slip on and off and… Don’t give me that look, I’m doing all of this because I want to. Plus I’m the one who chose the costumes.”
“I coulda just gone as a caterpillar again,” Shouta mumbled, ignoring Hizashi’s unamused look.
“Don’t stress it. We’ve got this.”
-----
“We” aka Hizashi, did, in fact, not have this.
The airbrushed scales were perfect, his contacts didn’t bother his eyes, his golden gladiator sandals were probably the comfiest dress shoes he’d ever worn, but there was one issue.
“Shouta where the fuck are you?” Hizashi hissed at his phone, probably actually sounding like a snake.
He kept assuring himself that he did not need to leave their dorm to go find him, even when Shouta’s phone went straight to voicemail. But after half an hour of reassuring himself, he really wished he had gone to check on him first thing.
Just as he put in his temporary fangs, he heard a muffled shuffling at the front entrance.
He marched straight up to it, eyes locked on Shouta’s half-asleep pout as he tried to pull his boots off. He was about three seconds until losing his shit but when Shouta glanced up and was genuinely startled by Hizashi’s presence, he hesitated.
“Shouta, you-”
“Why are you in your gorgon costume? Did Ms. Whatever give you the okay to wear that for tonight?”
A deep chill ran down Hizashi’s spine as he tried to mentally go through his calendar, trying to pick out which party was that day. It made sense sort of. The kids were definitely much more attentive than he had thought they would be on Halloween day, none of the teachers seemed as excited as he was for the party, Ms. Maki had texted him, insisting he double-check his costume-
Oh he fucked up.
Thankfully Shouta was able to steady him before his knees gave out.
“Shit ‘zashi. When’s the last time you had a good night’s sleep? I know you weren’t doing great last night but this is nuts.”
He was right, sadly. Between the stress of three jobs, Hizashi had tacked on piecing together two complicated costumes for Shouta and he, dealing with Ms. Maki’s changes, and prepping to DJ for BJ’s Halloween party. So he might be cracking under the pressure.
“It’s been a long time since I got this overworked, huh?” Hizashi mumbled, not really looking at anything in particular. He wanted to cry but his makeup took forever and he didn’t want it washing off.
“I don’t think you should go tonight,” Shouta said slowly gauging his husband’s reaction. “You clearly aren’t doing w-”
“What time is it?”
Shouta sighed silently out his nose, not trying to make Hizashi feel bad.
“You’ve got about fifteen minutes until your driver is here to take you. I have a feeling you aren’t going to be able to get this all off and the other costume on before that.”
A little spark of pride lit up when Shouta was able to recite Hizashi’s personal schedule so easily but it was quickly dashed out before he could enjoy it.
“I can’t be late either. Jeanist has a crazy-tight schedule and will have my head on a platter if I delay him by so much as a minute.”
“So you can’t just rip this costume off and go as something really simple to save time. Right. The only thing I can think of is just going like this.”
Going by Hizashi’s expression, you’d have expected Shouta to have suggested shooting the moon out of the sky with rubber bands.
“‘Zashi. You haven’t had to hide anything about yourself until that damn PR lady started butting her head into everything. Anyone who gives a shit about you being feminine isn’t worth having as a fan.”
In all honesty, Hizashi wanted to throw his hands over his ears and scream in frustration. Shouta would hopefully cancel his quirk before he started so he could at least silently shriek out his emotions. But neither of them had time for that.
“Sho, does Kan still owe you a favor?”
“Yeah?”
“And Eri is with 1A all night?”
“Yes? ‘Zashi, where are you going with this?”
Hizashi ignored the question for a moment while grabbing the bag with Shouta’s finished costume in it. His eyes were at least a bit brighter when he turned back around (if you consider that manic look to be “bright.)
“You’re coming with me.”
-----
Jurtleneck
If you were any other hero, I’d say no. But 1, I need a DJ for this party, and 2, I you’ve never let me down before. So yes, bring a plus one but it better not be an animal.
DJSnakeSkin
your first assumption is that I would bring an animal?
Jurtleneck
You’re you. That’s enough for me.
DJSnakeSkin
You wound me.
DJSnakeSkin
But no I wrangled Shouta into comming Shit happened and Im pretty sure he was going to make Nemuri knock me out if he wasn’t coming to keep an eye on him
Jurtleneck
Should I be worried about you?
DJSnakeSkin
Probably but I’ve done too much for tonight to back out now
DJSnakeSkin
The show must go on!!!!!
Jurtleneck
…
Jurtleneck
I’m still worried about you.
Jurtleneck
I’ll figure out something else if you need to back out
DJSnakeSkin
Too late. Already in costumes
DJSnakeSkin
And in the car
DJSnakeSkin
This is Aizawa. I took Mic’s phone because he was speaking aloud as he was typing and I
wanted to say something to you. He’s still going to try no matter what I do so just have that
backup ready in case I need to pull him away.
Jurtleneck
I will but even I know when to take a break and he’s missed that window by a week.
DJSnakeSkin
True
DJSnakeSkin
Eat a dick
DJSnakeSkin
Idk why I typed that instead of saying it outloud to Shouta
DJSnakeSkin
Sorry
DJSnakeSkin
ETA 5 mins. Get the cameras warmed up for me ;)
Hizashi sighed as he shifted in his seat, readjusting his dress for the millionth time before Shouta grabbed his hand and gently squeezed it. He was trying to comfort his husband but the pure grey contacts made his kind expression a little unnerving. Not that Hizashi’s snake eyes were any better.
When the venue came into view, Shouta grumbled at the number of reporters and photographers that were crowded around the walkway up to the door. It sounded something like, “ They don’t have anything better to report on ,” but Hizashi chose to just smile and ignore it.
Once pulled up against the curb, Shouta had to take a shaky breath before opening his side door which was the one facing away from the reporters. The cameras still flashed and people still shouted at him, absolutely sure that this muscled man dolled up to look like a greek warrior colored like a statue would certainly be a pro hero that they needed to photograph. No one could tell who he was but they decided to figure that out later.
Shouta, of course, ignored them as he walked around to grab Hizashi’s door and pull it open.
The rapid camera flashes were cranked up to an eleven the moment Hizashi got even one foot on the ground. The thick, woven, gold necklace reflected that light right back out, shimmering just as the golden scales painted and sculpted onto his skin did. The dark emerald dress at least managed to absorb some of the light, despite the golden embroidery.
There was a slight rush when Shouta handed him his staff, a golden and gem in-laid mockup of a cobra stretched out, reminiscent of that one Disney villain. It was honestly his favorite part of the outfit thanks to a favor from Power Loader.
Shouta started walking a little too fast for the occasion so Hizashi caught his arm before silently encouraging him to mimic usual couples on the red carpet. Hizashi shifted them both so Shouta could offer his elbow for Hizashi to hold.
Even the press conference the night of the incident at Kamino ward couldn’t compare to the sheer noise and chaos of the night. Shouta had to force himself not to flinch away from the flashes irritating his sensitive eyes. At the very least he had the comfort of having his scar and other distinguishing features covered by the stone makeup.
Hizashi, though, was eating up the attention like a starving man introduced to a buffet. His smile was as bright as ever, the curl of fangs accenting the dramatic grin. Even as reporters shouted and asked who he was, he just smiled at them and winked.
On the other side, Shouta got a little too close to the barrier and got a microphone in his face.
“Your costumes are fantastic but I don’t recognize you. Who are you and how do you know Best Jeanist?”
Shouta blanked for a millisecond before calmly saying, “I’m just a nobody who’s here to make sure the night goes smoothly. He’s the one you’d want to talk to.” The reporter was pointed towards Hizashi who had started talking about where he’d “bought” his costume from.
As Shouta was turning away from the reporter, he missed the too quiet question of, “ He? ”
When they finally made it to the door, Hizashi stopped and turned towards the closest reporter, flashing his dazzling smile.
“Oh, I forgot to answer a question. Can you pass this along for me?”
The reporter looked stunned, her wide yellow eyes screamed of innocence and naivety but Hizashi still trusted her when she nodded vigorously.
“Thank you, sweetie. Some people were asking who I am and I’m Present Mic of course.”
And with that, they slipped inside, leaving the poor reporter with her jaw on the ground.
-----
The main cue for Hizashi that he shouldn’t have been worried was when Jeanist walked up to him in one of the most beautiful fairy costumes he’d ever seen. Renaissance fairs had nothing on Tusnagu’s pale white tulle falling past his knees like wisps of steam.
“I thought you said you were going as a zombie, not that I mind the change. Where did you get this dress?”
Hizashi looked back down to the sound system he was trying to connect to his microphone and had to force down laughter.
“This? I needed a really simple dress to add accessories to. All of this is either secondhand or from, like, JCPenney.”
Jeanist seemed to be taken aback by this but Hizashi was already moving on, unlatching a door in the head of his snake staff to reveal an open compartment. With a few slight adjustments, he was able to slip a microphone back in and shut the whole thing.
“I hope your peeps don’t mind me using my own mic. I kinda had this whole plan for carrying it like this all night so it fit my costume a bit more. “
Shaken out of his stupor (and the moment he took analyzing the polyester Hizashi’s dress was made of) Jeanist nodded, making the beads hanging off his circlet jingle with the motion.
“As long as it doesn’t affect your performance, I trust you, Yamada.”
He glanced back at Aizawa who hadn’t moved from his position watching Hizashi set up for the past twenty minutes.
“Though I sometimes question the company you keep.”
You couldn’t quite see it through his signature mask but both of the other heroes could tell Jeanist was smiling like the Cheshire cat even as they both half-heartedly glared at him.
“I kid. But seriously, thank you both for this. I see how busy you’ve been and while I’m worried for you, I’m happy to have you here as long as afterward, you get some sleep .”
To get his point across, he gently yanked on the gold belt Hizashi had clipped around his waist, making the hero squeak with surprise. But before he could stand to get back at his friend, Jeanist was already walking away, saying something about “Showtime”.
With a hand up from Shouta, Hizashi made it to the side of the stage. Everything was ready but he felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Either he was more excited about this performance than usual or he had overdone how much coffee he’s consumed. But Shouta's hand kept him grounded, even as he had to let go to walk out on stage.
He scanned the crowd for a short moment, taking in the heroes and costumes, and wide eyes as he made his way across the stage, holding his staff up to his mouth.
“Hey everybody! How’s it goin’ tonight?”
There was a reasonably loud but polite cheer from the crowd.
“Glad to hear it. As you might have guessed, or not depending on how good my costume is, I’m your pro hero DJ Present Mic!”
The majority who hadn’t heard about what happened outside and hadn’t seen him dress up like this before looked stunned but Hizashi smiled though it all. Even then he was just realizing that it was stupid to have agreed to a ‘masculine’ costume in the first place. Having the backup of his loving husband and friends didn’t hurt either.
When their cheer died down, he looked to the side, to Jeanist offstage.
“But you’ll hear my voice enough tonight. Let’s welcome your host, Best Jeanist! Putting the magical to shame as a fairy so beautiful, I thought I’d stepped into the fey realm.
Jeanist jokingly glared at Hizashi, with a smile in his eyes, before walking up and taking his own microphone.
“Thank you, Mic. Just don’t turn me into a statue, please. I have other outfits much better fitted for limestone.”
With the roar of laughter from the crowd, the knot in Hizashi’s chest finally loosened.
-----
Halloween Ssstyle 22XX
By Beverly Tanaka
Not even a fortune-telling quirk could have prepared the hero scene for the showstoppers tonight. While a few heroes decently wowed the crowds with their elven majesty (Best Jeanist), witchy wonder (Midnight), and feral fashion (Tension), one boisterous DJ had heads turning and a few statues left in his tracks.
Walking up the red carpet of Best Jeanist’s Halloween bash, Present Mic threw reporters for a loop when they couldn’t recognize him in a mesmerizing emerald green gown with his hair braided close to his head with a crown of golden snakes sticking out. In his own take upon the myth of Medusa and her deadly stare, Present Mic reportedly either thrifted or made the entirety of his costume, down to the heavy golden necklace and lace-up golden gladiator sandals.
The change from his usual designer clothing, according to Present Mic himself, came from a wardrobe malfunction and a decision to fire the PR manager who originally told him that he needed to be less feminine. Between openly being pan and an enigmatic and androgynous icon, most fans can’t seem to imagine Present Mic as a solely masculine person. Between the sharp words from longtime fans and scathing comments from other LGBT+ pros, it doesn’t seem like that particular manager is going to get any new work anytime soon.
On a more mysterious note, Present Mic brought a plus to at this particular event. A muscular and heavily scarred man dressed as one of medusa’s stone Greek warrior victims and only identified as “nobody important” accompanied Present Mic to the event and apparently never left his side.
This could be easily brushed off as a last-minute bodyguard or civilian friend who didn’t want to be in the spotlight, but inside sources say those “casual” touches caught on camera between the two were too often and too sensual to be just friendly. One source even said that they caught the pair sharing a quick kiss behind the stage at the end of the night.
We have yet to receive either confirmation or rebuttal of this particularly provocative story so we, along with the rest of the public, will just have to wait to find out whether Present Mic is off the market or just has a particularly touchy friend.
Whatever happens, let’s just all be thankful for that first wardrobe malfunction, otherwise, the snakeskin beauty of this man would have never seen the light of day.