The Joke's on You

The school had arranged to host several guest speakers for a special assembly. As usual, the teachers stood along the sidelines while the students filed slowly in. Hizashi, Nemuri, Aizawa and Elly were standing together in a loose group when there was the loud sound of laughter from behind them.

"Hey, look who's here!" Present Mic snickered when he caught sight of a flash of green hair.

Aizawa glanced up and his face absolutely fell. He looked like he had swallowed a stink bug the way his features twisted.

The woman Hizashi had pointed at flung herself at him, giggling with glee. Elly's eye started to twitch and she stepped back from the crowd.

"Oh, dear." Midnight sighed.

The green-haired woman wore garish orange clothing resembling a jester's costume. She linked her arm with the scowling Erasure Hero. "My handsome man!" She crowed loudly.

Every bit of Elly's fur on her tail fluffed out and her ears snapped back so flat against her skull they folded completely into her hair. She bared her fangs as she growled. "Who the hell is that?"

Present Mic cleared his throat and spoke in a deep game announcer's voice resembling the one from Mortal Kombat. "Emi versus Elly. Fight!"

Midnight elbowed him in the ribs, though she had to press a hand tightly over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "It's Ms. Joke," she explained to the distraught counselor. "She, ah... has a thing for Aizawa."

Meanwhile, the newcomer was continuing to harass him. "I thought we could go to Hawaii for our honeymoon! Wouldn't that be sweet?"

"Not marrying you," he declared flatly, and crossed his arms, hoping she would drop off. She only tightened her grip, however, causing him to scowl harder in disgust.

"You want to skip right to the having kids part? That's okay too!"

Elly growled. The paw gloves on her hands tensed, and a deadly steel sound accompanied the metal slivers resembling claws as they unsheathed. She stood still for a moment, her head down, before starting to walk towards the other woman.

"If anyone even mentions 'cat fight' I'll clobber them," Nemuri warned. She held her arms out to block the male heroes, who were clearly panicking at the Insanity Hero's expression. "She's not gonna actually kill her."

"I hope you're right."

"Our babies would be so cute..." Unaware of her possible impending doom, she kept babbling.

Aizawa didn't even dignify the woman latched onto him with a reply. He glanced up as the cat woman walked past, his eyes widening slightly. "Hey, Ches, are you -"

"Dropped your guard, sweetie!" Ms. Joke took this extremely rare opportunity to quickly dart over and kiss his cheek.

"Ouch," Mic murmured. His green eyes filled with sympathy. "That was uncalled for."

"Oh, my." Midnight sucked in a breath of air, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "She might maul her a little now, and I might agree with her."

She did neither, but what occurred was upsetting nonetheless.

Elly's head suddenly and shockingly vanished. She was not one to use her quirk like this, and it came as a surprise to all of them. She brushed past the teachers and hurried down the hall, flickering completely out of sight as she did.

Aizawa pushed away from the woman clutching him, crying out and scrubbing at his face. "Damn it, woman - back off!"

"Aww, cute."

"What the hell? Where did Cheshire leave to?"

"Uh, we don't know."

"Yeah."

"She could be anywhere, Eraser."

Ms. Joke scrunched up her face. "Why're we talking about her? She probably had to pee really bad. That's what it looked like..."

"Well, she needs to be here for the assembly," he said firmly, ignoring her again.

"Yeah, but who's gonna find her?"

"True. She's invisible and knows how to stay silent." He scratched the scruff on his chin.

"I'm not so sure she's going to be so quiet, Shota." Midnight shook her head. "Or hard to find, even... especially if you're doing the searching. I bet if you listened a little harder, you could find her easily."

He went to her office first, thinking that was the most logical place for her to hide. Of course nothing could be seen, but when he entered quietly he heard a faint noise.

There was a muffled sound of sobbing coming from the corner of the office. He frowned and walked over as if he was going to look out the window, and as he got closer it stopped all at once.

"Don't make me use my quirk, Ches."

"Please don't." She gasped raggedly for air.

He shook his head and trained his burning eyes on her, canceling her invisibility. What he saw when she came into view caused him to falter. She was crying, but he had known that. What he hadn't expected was the amount of pain in her large, purple eyes. She flinched and tried to cover her face with her hands, but he reached out and brushed them away.

"The hell's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She launched herself past him, desperately trying to get away. Aizawa swore and jumped nimbly after her.

Ms. Joke had followed after him despite the other teachers warning her that she might be better off leaving him alone. It was just as well, for when they burst out of the counselor's office the small group was just around the corner.

"Uh, I kind of don't want to be the bad guy, but you may want to look over there." Midnight reached over and physically turned Joke's head so she faced the hall where Aizawa had grabbed hold of Elly's arm.

"Let me go," she pleaded, tears falling messily everywhere. She really hated crying and it was so much worse doing it in front of the unflappable homeroom teacher.

"Come here," he grunted shortly and tugged so she spun around into his waiting arms. "Look. Look at me."

Elly cringed but did as he asked. "I didn't do anyth -"

He pointed at his cheek. "Make it better," he snapped.

"I don't..."

He sighed wearily. "Just kiss me. Don't argue."

She lightly brushed her lips on his stubbled cheek, trembling as she did. Aizawa, however, turned in the middle of the kiss so their mouths met. He rumbled with approval and heard her start to purr. Elly threw her arms around his neck as her tail lashed wildly behind her. They stayed that way for a very long time, and eventually his hands cautiously wrapped around her lower waist to hold her tight.

Joke stared blankly at the sight, the smile fading from her face for the first time since any of them had known her.

"Fatality," a voice snickered softly on her left. Then, seconds later and a lot louder, "ouch!"