The Sound of Your Voice

Chapter 5

"I- you what?"

Present Mic laughed awkwardly, "Sorry, I know it's kind of out of nowhere. But I've been thinking about it for a little while now and well, a friend said now's as good a time as ever so I thought, why not? You know?"

Aizawa stared into space with an unamused expression. Of course, Ms. Joke, it had to be. He was going to strangle that woman. "A friend," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "You don't say."

"Oh, shoot, I probably shouldn't have said that," Present Mic said sheepishly. "Back to the point, I was thinking we could watch a movie?"

"A movie."

"Yeah! It would be fun. Or we can do something else, what we do isn't really important. Of course, if you don't want to go on a date with me that's fine too, I get it. We've been friends for a long time and I'm not trying to make things weird or anything, I just had to ask-"

"Okay!" Aizawa said, cutting off Present Mic's rambling, knowing full well that if he didn't the loud blond would just keep going forever. "Okay, no, it's fine. I don't, I mean I. Yes, I do want to go out with you, no I don't think it's weird."

He took a deep breath, "That's actually what I was going to ask you too," he said weakly.

There was a moment of silence, and then, "Oh. You were?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's certainly a happy coincidence, isn't it?" Present Mic said with a chuckle. "Makes me feel silly for worrying though."

"Truly," Aizawa agreed, his mind already starting to move on to a more pressing matter. "I'm sorry, I just remembered there's something I need to take care of," he said, "Why don't you decided what we do and text me the details?"

"Sounds good," said Present Mic, "Is everything alright?"

Aizawa nodded then remembered he couldn't see him, "Yes, everything is fine. More than fine actually now that I've gotten this off my chest. I just need to check up on something. I'll talk to you later?"

"Alright, good luck with whatever you're doing then," Present Mic said, as chipper as ever, "Cheers." And with that he hung up.

Aizawa let out a long breath before bracing himself for yet another phone call. The wait was significantly longer than before and by the time the call finally picked up, Aizawa was more than a little annoyed.

"Y'ello?"

"You set this up, didn't you?"

"Oh! Hey! Eraserhead," Ms Joke said, audibly suppressing a laugh, "How's it going?"

"You know how it's going," Aizawa grumbled, "What was it, ' A friend said now's as good a time as ever'? Is this a joke to you?"

"I mean it's in the name. But what do you mean specifically?"

Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Did you tell Mic to ask me out?"

There was a long silence before Ms Joke spoke up. "Maybe?" She said, drawing out the sound in a teasing tone.

"Joke..." Aizawa said slowly, taking on the same threatening voice he often used when his students were misbehaving.

Ms Joke scoffed and answered with a question of her own, "Did you say yes?" When Aizawa didn't answer right away, she pressed further impatiently, "Well?"

"Yeah..." Aizawa admitted reluctantly.

"Exactly," said Ms Joke, the self satisfaction clear in her voice. "And I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't know for sure it was going to turn out well. We are still friends after all."

Aizawa sighed, "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I didn't mean to get snappy. I guess I was just embarrassed to be so caught off guard, that's all."

Ms Joke laughed, "Yeah, that sounds about right. But enough moping around, when's the date?"

Aizawa felt his face heat up at the question and he cleared his throat awkwardly before answering, "Actually we didn't decide yet. I told him to text me what he wanted and left to call you."

"Your self sabotaging tendencies are going to ruin this relationship before it even starts," Ms Joke chided, "Now stop talking to me and go figure things out with your new boyfriend."

"We don't know if that's where things are going yet," Aizawa protested before cutting himself off with a resigned chuckle. "But you're right of course. I'll tell you how it goes once everything plays out I guess. And umm, thank you, for your help."

"No worries. Now go! And good luck."