Wonderland - 1

Shouta Aizawa/Eraserhead x Els/Cheshire

(Alternate from King of My Heart series)

_

"So, she's here already?" 

"Somebody from America! I'm super psyched!"

"Oh, shit."

Nezu swung about in his chair at the sound of the voices clamoring behind him. He steepled his fingers and grinned at the grouping of teachers clustered in front of his desk. "She arrived... ah, here we are," he murmured, taking his phone up to glance briefly at it. "In our district early this morning. She just texted me to let me know she'll be here after classes. To formally introduce herself to the staff, and in case anyone wants to get to know her better before she greets the students."

They thanked the principal and started to leave. As they walked out the door, the woman standing on the far left stopped, letting it close behind her. She pursed her lips, rolling a strand of dark hair between her fingers in thought. "We can go out to that karaoke bar around the corner!" She burst out suddenly, eyes lighting up. 

"Ugh," the tired-looking scruffy man standing as far away from her grunted. "Not that, Midnight. Anything but that." 

Midnight pouted. "But Aizawa -"

"Yeahhhh!" His buddy beside him clapped him on the back almost as hard as he suddenly yelled. Aizawa stumbled and swore under his breath. "C'mon, Sho, karaoke! You don't have to sing. This new teacher likes music, right right?" 

"Damn it, Mic, you're an idiot." He rolled his bloodshot eyes, seeing where he was going with this. He strode out of the main offices and down the hall.

"Well, then we have to be polite." The other man lengthened his stride and caught up quickly. He ran a hand along his huge, slicked-back mass of blond hair jutting out the back of his head, preening slightly.

"You have to." Aizawa scowled and turned his head quickly so they couldn't see the faint burn across the bridge of his nose. "I don't care."

"He's right, Eraser," the bondage-dressed woman stuck her tongue out at him, for once not seductively and only in jest. "Hizashi might be an idiot, but if we want to get to know her better this is a great way!"

"Hey!" The blond man narrowed his eyes at the teasing. "Cut it out."

"Oooh, it's gonna be forever before she shows up," Midnight whined, staring at the clock in the hallway they were heading down. 

"Time will move just as fast as it always does." Aizawa shrugged and moved off towards his class. He was sweating more than usual in his black jumpsuit, and he knew why. 

Of course, time wound down like it normally did and before they knew it, they were standing in the teacher's lounge watching the doorway in anticipation. The students had left to go back to the dorms and most of the teachers had ended up gathering together to at least meet the arrival, if not party with her afterward. They all had gotten enough time to go home and change into civilian clothing and were comfortable and ready.

"Principal Nezu went to meet her with one of the staff cars," Midnight gossipped gleefully. "She must be important."

"She's a Pro Hero from another country," Aizawa said quietly. "It's probably not so much her as the status of our nation." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, trying to ease the tired neck muscles. "We're playing nice because we have to," he clarified at their blank stares.

"C'mon c'mon." Hizashi was impatiently snapping his fingers. "I don't care about that, I just wanna get to the bar!"

He was cut off as voices were heard approaching. Everyone perked up as the door opened and Nezu walked in with his hand held up, smiling in welcome. "Here we are," he said. "This is most of the staff here at UA."

"Welcome," they said almost in unison as the woman stepped nervously in. 

She immediately bowed upon hearing their greeting. "Thank you for having me." When she straightened up again, Aizawa swallowed audibly. Hizashi raised one of his eyebrows and stared incredulously at his friend. The normally pale man was flushed, his gray eyes darting this way and that, literally anywhere but at the woman approaching them.

"You all right, Sho? You look sick."

"I'm fine," he snarled under his breath.

She was going about shaking hands and answering various questions. He watched as she moved about her unfamiliar surroundings. Hesitant, yet that was normal as she probably had jet lag and this was a different country than she was used to. Her Japanese was excellent, and she seemed to shake off what remnants of anxiety she had upon the friendly reception they had prepared for her. And she was indeed heading right for him.

"Smile, Sho! We don't want her to think this is an unwelcoming committee." Mic cackled at his own cleverness. Aizawa rolled his shoulders back and plastered what passed for a smile on his face.

"This is Shouta Aizawa," Midnight was introducing them. He inclined his head briefly as she added, "Eraserhead," mentioning his hero name as she had done for all of them.

The woman smiled and nodded back at him, unperturbed at his unusual method of smiling. He looked like her nickname - that creepy grin that disturbed people, the one she had painted onto her respirator on her costume.  Still, she was here to make friendly, if not friends exactly. She could hope, of course, but things would take time. "My name is Elly Sketchit. Hero name, Cheshire."

"I know." He had looked up her files the moment the principal informed them she would be working with them. It fit her perfectly; she had cat ears sticking up out of her purple, short-cropped hair and a striped, double-tipped tail. Her outfit was simple, obviously as casual as theirs were. She wore a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt under a shorter one with some quote on it in english. He assumed it was from the novel she took her name from as it had an illustration that looked like one of the characters. Minimal jewelry; one ring (thankfully not on her left hand, he noticed, then swore at himself for noticing). A black leather choker with a silver bell on it circled her slender neck. 

"Read my files, did you?" Her striking, dark purple eyes fell upon him and for a startling moment, he found he was tongue-tied. He opened his mouth but no words came out. Obviously yes, he had, but why did this make him so ... nervous?

"Hizashi Yamada," his friend came to the rescue, grabbing her hand to shake it vigorously. 

"Present Mic?"

Hizashi blinked, staring at her in a new light. "Are you a listener?" He asked incredulously. "I didn't think anyone knew about my station in America."

"Or cared. Ouch." As soon as Aizawa spoke Hizashi elbowed him, hard.

"I - um, didn't know what your civilian look was." Her ears twitched in amusement at his reaction. "Although I should've realized. I tune in every Friday."

The statement brought new life to Hizashi. He threw his hands in the air and yelled, "She's got good taste! Awwwwww-right! Let's go party!"

"Where are we going?" She was grinning broadly by this time as a fairly large group ushered her out of the school. They had picked up on Aizawa's nervousness and were very, very curious. Mic, Eraser, and Midnight, besides Elly, were all that would fit in one of the small rooms, however, so that's who ended up actually going. Thirteen pointed at them and waved frantically. Midnight giggled noiselessly and gave her a thumbs-up. She'd keep them informed.

"Karaoke!" Mic chirped happily, pointing swift finger-guns around the corner of the street. "There's a place not far from here."

"Savvy business tactics," Aizawa approved. "They saw the need for a place for us to unwind, students and staff. Civilians go there, too, but it's often us."

"They have private booths and stuff, and you can order food. I heard it's different in America." Nemuri looked questioningly at her and she nodded.

"Yeah, we don't have a lot of private rooms for that kind of thing. It'll be fun." 

When they got there they ordered a larger room than usual and sat down to order food and drinks. Elly appeared to love their culture's food and was thrilled to get the chance to taste a lot of things she normally wouldn't back home. Midnight immediately leaped up to sing, grabbing Elly's shoulder to drag her up as well.

"So, uh..." Hizashi adjusted his square-rim glasses and stared blankly at the menu. "Hell, I just want a huge beer." 

Aizawa grunted and circled a simple sushi roll. "Don't get wasted, idiot. You're the one who was talking about good impressions."

The blond man laughed. "I'll only have one! Maybe two," he added under his breath. He paused. "Heyyyyy... listen to that." Elly had begun to sing. Her voice wasn't spectacular enough to be a professional's, but it was better than an amateur.  "Shit! She's good!" He turned back to the table and saw his friend was immobilized. He had started to tug at the messy black hair tied up in the ponytail behind him but then heard her. His hand floated in midair, eyes so wide the bloodshot lines were even more pronounced. Midnight caught him staring and chuckled wickedly, walking over to the table.

"Hey, Mic, it looks like turnabout is fair play with our grumpy friend here."

"Eh?"

"We finally found something that erases Eraser."