Empathy

The assembly was being held in U.A's biggest arena. The entire school was there at once, a feat usually reserved for the sport and seasonal festivals. The students lined the stadium seats and the teachers were close by.

The hero that was to speak was not well known, but had been chosen carefully by the board to enlighten them about a particular topic. She was quite small, the size of a tall child, with long, pink hair and a white and pink bodysuit as a costume that didn't give away what her quirk was.

"I'll need two teachers for this to work... oh, and they've told me the staff picked already." She pulled back from the microphone a moment to look down at the paper Midnight had handed her moments before. "Ah, Present Mic and Cheshire?"

The two jumped guiltily at the mention of their names. They were seated a few feet away like most of the teachers, save for a few that were patrolling the perimeter.

"What, really? Is this why I couldn't MC this event?" Mic pouted but got up, extending a hand to the counselor on his left.

She accepted his help and stood, a puzzled look on her pale features. "Why us? Why didn't they tell us..?"

"Dunno." He shrugged and they walked up to the chairs that had been set up facing each other near the speaker. She sat them down, smiling, and took the microphone in her hand again.

"So! First things first. My name is Emma, and I'm known as the Empathy Hero."

Elly froze in her seat, her striped tail stiffening and her ears laying back all at once. She glanced quickly over at Mic, who had both his short eyebrows raised high on his forehead.

He met her gaze and mouthed silently, "What the hell?"

She hoped her fear wasn't showing too much in her eyes. Mic suddenly looked concerned, his brows drawing so high up his forehead started to resemble a point.

Emma had been talking, addressing the students, but Elly knew now what this was about.

Empathy.

Feelings.

"Empathy can be a powerful tool as well as the thing that brings us together -"

She just couldn't concentrate. The Empathy Hero droned on in the background as she tried desperately to figure out a way to escape. But long before any of her thoughts could coalesce into anything coherent enough to try, she was being spoken to.

"Excuse me, Cheshire, could you take off your gloves, please?"

She jolted back to reality. Mic had already tugged off his soft leather ones. They lay over one of his legs. Elly could only smile weakly and nod, pulling her soft paw padded mitts away to expose her fingers to the cool air.

"Thanks. I want you to hold hands."

This time Elly shot the group of teachers a panicky look for help. All she saw were poorly concealed smiles ...and one stoic Aizawa, as always. She could put up a fight, in which case would look terribly unprofessional and may cause her an official reprimand, or just hope for the best. She reached out, trembling, as if placing her hands into a fire. They were gently enfolded by Mic's larger, stronger ones.

His palms were moist.

Probably because of the leather, she thought wildly. He did say often that it was a terrible insulator and he sweat badly when it got warm...

"And, if I lay my own hand on one of your teachers, we'll all experience their feelings for the other."

I'm doomed. Elly closed her eyes, wincing.

The student body and staff inhaled sharply as one. Mic's eyes bulged huge behind his orange-tinted sunglasses, his mouth dropping open comically. The counselor was the only one cringing, her eyes closed while she waited for it to be over.

"Oh my goodness."

She couldn't take any more. Tearing her hands away from his light hold, she jumped up and ran off the field, her tail trailing behind her like a banner.

Mic stared numbly at the overturned chair in her wake. "Uh... I'm'a go get her. Okay?" He jerked his thumb backwards and darted off.


-



Never had Elly felt so humiliated in her adult life. It wasn't enough that he knew - no, now everyone knew of her silly, unrequited love. She was a fool to think it would remain hidden in such a school where powers like that showed up more than usual. It hurt far worse than what she had imagined. It was physical pain in her heart - a burning, wrenching twist that was gutting her from the inside out. The cat woman ran blindly into a wall before she could reach a building entrance and slid down the cool brick, hands covering her face.

Mic was lucky she was too distraught to think of using her quirk. He found her easily and threw himself on the ground on his knees beside her. "M'sorry, Ches, I didn't know what was gonna happen! I promise!"

"I'm the one who's sorry," she whispered. "Now you're caught up in this foolishness."

"Wha - huh? Wha?" He tilted his head in puzzlement, causing her to smile despite herself. He looked like a giant bird when he did that. "Wh - no way, wait... you think I'm upset? We gotta get you back to the assembly, babe."

She balked, flattening against the wall blinking up at him with teary eyes. "Why?!"

"Well uh, you'll see? Please?" His green-golden eyes were kind, even warm. He thrust his lower lip out and gave her his very best puppy dog look, pleading with her. "Pleeeease? For me?"

The bastard.

He knew she wouldn't be able to refuse him. Elly sighed tremulously and allowed him to help her up. "All right," she grumbled, "but you better know what you're doing."

He half led, half carried her to the arena. Her ears twitched as she heard the excited babble from the crowd and she vanished momentarily from sight in her embarrassment.

"C'mon, we're right here. Sit down an' we'll fix it."

Elly was so astonished she blinked back into sight. "Fix it?! How do you propose we fix this, Mic? By showing me how much you revere me as a colleague..?" She shook her head, unable to continue.

Emma stood beside them. She was quiet, simply waiting as the Voice Hero gently persuaded his friend to try. "We've gotta do it again," he said stubbornly.

"But why? And if we do, can't we do it somewhere private?"

"Nuh uh!" Mic shook his head firmly. "It has to be like when you did it, in front of everybody."

He took her hands gently in his again, running one of his thumbs over her fingers in a manner intended to be soothing. Elly took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying not to squeeze too tightly shut lest the tears laying in wait just below the surface slip free.

"Okay," she husked painfully. "Let's get this over with."

"At his request... here's Mic's feelings for Cheshire this time around."

His emotions washed over Elly.

And they were ...

They were familiar.

As the school body drew yet another collective gasp, she was lost in his feelings, mingling with her own in the most delightfully confusing, yet harmonious fashion.

It wasn't quite like a mirrored projection of her own love, as everyone experiences and processes things differently. But it was so similar, so much like coming home.

She opened her eyes, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, to find him smiling and bashful, blushing across the bridge of his nose.

"You..."

"That's why these guys meddled an' picked us. They didn't think you'd run off, though." He nodded brusquely at the rest of the teachers. "Or that your love would be that strong," he added in an awed lower tone.

She bit her lip. "Oh. Um... and now we're being watched by the whole school."

"Uh huh. Don't worry." Mic lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles softly. "I got two extra talents. Playin' to the masses is my speciality, baby."

"What's your other talent?" She asked suspiciously.

He gave her that evil grin he sometimes used on villains and tough students. One eye wide, the other squinted, he chuckled. "One's satisfyin' the crowd, an' the other is satisfyin' you."

"One of the simplest lessons to learn is that we don't really know how others feel about us," Emma told the crowd with a smile. "We're often wrong, and our assumptions lead us astray."

The assemblage cheered and hooted as Mic tugged the still shocked counselor off the field, this time in the direction of the teacher's complex. He flashed his biggest grin at them and gave everyone a thumbs-up.