<b>!! Hero Charity Gala !!</b>
<i>Bid for a night with your favorite heroes, up-close-and-personal on the dance floor! Many different heroes are here for any lucky (or generous enough!) person to spend the evening with in our grand ballroom.
All proceeds will be going to Children's Mercy of Musutafu, which is in in sore need of rebuilding the left wing after the latest villain attacks.</i>
Elly fidgeted in her finery as the event was about to take place. She couldn't take her eyes off her colleague Present Mic, several people ahead of her in line.
Mic - Yamada Hizashi -- was so breath-takingly <i>handsome</i>, standing there with his hands out and dangling at the wrists in that awkward way he had. His blond hair was done up in his traditional spike and he wore a Western style suit with a large, gray bow tie and his prescription sunglasses. It was in the best interests of the event to keep the heroes looking like their personas, after all.
Elly sighed and caught a glimpse of herself in the backstage mirror. She wore a dark purple, sequined dress with fur trim and heels. Her makeup greatly accented her look with dark purple lipstick and striped purple and lavender powder on her eyelids. The people here had made her look as beautiful as they could, and she couldn't even see his reaction. That might be just as well, of course, as she personally didn't think she was good enough for him.
That didn't matter, though. Her beauty, be what it may, wasn't for him tonight. And of course that meant the opposite was true, and he was going to be someone else's partner.
She sighed bitterly as she waited in line.
It was going to be a terrible night.
As it turned out the Voice Hero was third and there were quite a few bids. Mic appeared as full of frenetic energy as always. He didn't seem put out by what was going on in the slightest. Her chest tightened when the final bid was set and she watched him step down to stand beside his date. The woman's arm latched onto his at once, curling around it possesively.
She had been very wrong.
This was going to be <i>worse</i> than terrible.
She waited what seemed an eternity until her name was called. Elly forced herself to smile, reminding herself that this was for charity, and she was a professional hero. This was work, not fun, though some of the heroes looked pleased with themselves as they garnered large donations. Eventually she was sold for a decent bid and helped offstage by her bidder in a very gentlemanly fashion. He was a leopard-headed anthro that possibly had an interest in her because of her feline attributes. His whiskers twitched and he bowed as he helped her down with one hand.
"Careful," he murmured in a pleasantly low voice with just a hint of a purr. "Those shoes look wonderful, but must be absolute hell to walk in."
She agreed. "I can manage to dance," she warned, "but I'm not very good at it. Especially with these on."
"Well," he laughed, "I won't press you. Maybe just a couple of turns on the floor."
She learned his name was James, and he worked at the nearby hospital as an anesthesiologist. His quirk wasn't related to sleep as Midnight's was, but rather pain numbing. Though useful it wasn't strong and he applied it when he could help his patients. He seemed a nice man and he was interested in what she had to say. Yet, as they danced, she couldn't help but grow more and more uncomfortable when she caught glimpses of Mic with the woman who had won his time. Each moment produced more horrible, gut-wrenching pain than the last until her heart felt like it had burnt up in her chest and she could taste the bitter ashes of it in her mouth.
"Chesire." Her date saw her distress and called her name quietly. "Are you unwell?"
"Oh. No... nothing's wrong. I'm sorry." She forced her ears up and smiled as calmly as she could.
"I thought this event was a little barbaric, but then my friends convinced me since it was for charity..." He shrugged. "Please don't blame me for taking this opportunity to get to know you."
"I don't. It's really not your fault." Elly apologized again, her eyes dim, and he glanced over where she was casting heartbroken looks in the Voice Hero's direction.
"I think I understand," he murmured. "I've had a wonderful time and don't want you to force yourself to be here. If you want to go, go."
"I'm sorry, James. You're a very kind person. Thank you."
"No, thank you." He flashed her a fanged smile suddenly. "I hope you feel better."
She fled.
Through the crowd, past the people sitting on the sidelines mingling, she walked as fast as those stupid shoes would allow until she was out of the main doors. Then she kicked them off, growling under her breath, and turned down into a darker hallway. There was a lone bench in the middle, and she flung herself on it. It was near enough that she could hear the music in the ballroom, but safely secluded. No one would find her unless they went looking for her, and who would do that?
Elly crumpled in on herself, sobbing softly with her head covered in her arms. She knew if she could just wait long enough, she wouldn't have to see him leave.
To leave with <i>her</i>, as she was certain he would.
She wasn't sure how long she sat in the dim light crying, but after some time passed she heard a soft footstep in front of her.
"Hey, Ches. Ches? You okay?"
She jerked out of her reverie, harshly wiping a hand across her damp eyes. What she saw caused her mind to go completely blank in shock.
<i>It's him. Oh no, it's</i> him. <i>Now what?!</i>
Mic was hovering over her with a look of genuine concern. He'd pulled his sunglasses down to make direct eye contact, and his gorgeous, green-gold eyes were filled with worry. "That guy didn't hurt you, did he?" His brows drew down in sudden anger at the thought.
She shook her head. "No. Nothing like that."
"But yer so quiet an' it looks like ya been bawling your eyes out." He reached out and took her hands in his, kneeling down in front of her. "What happened?"
She but her lip and tried to think of an answer that didn't expose her secret. They both wore gloves as their hero personas, and this skin to skin contact was amazing. His hands were softer than she imagined, and warm.
"I - I don't like dancing."
He gave her an endearing, wildly cockeyed look. "So you're here sobbing your heart out?"
"I don't like watching some - some people dance!" She burst put all of a sudden.
"Wha? Like who? Who could make you <i>cry</i> if they ... danced with, someone, uh, else..."
"Shit," she swore under her breath. That was it. She was finished.
"Oh," he said, frowning, as he started to understand. Then his small brows shot up, giving his forehead a pointed look as his eyes grew wide. "Ohhhh!"
Elly blushed deeply, fidgeting and looking for a way out. His hands were still lightly entwined with her own, however, and though it was a gentle grip she was powerless to remove them.
"Hey, Ches."
"Mic."
"Was it me?"
"Was what you?"
"Knock that off," he chided her gently. "You know what I mean. You almost fell over when you saw me, and you're awful pretty when you blush like that."
"Wh - what?!"
He let go of her hands to wipe the tears from her reddened cheeks. "Maybe we should ditch this place, huh? I don't want you upset."
She choked a little at that. "We agreed to do this. I should have stayed, but I just... oh, well. There's still time, we could go back." She bent and put her shoes back on, wincing at a blister that had formed on her left heel.
"Uh uh," he said, shaking his head and causing his cockatiel-spiked hair to rustle alarmingly. "No. No way. There's still one dance left, and we're gonna take advantage of it."
"I just said that."
"Not with our dates. With <i>each other</i>." He dragged her up into his arms, and she was stunned into silence by the warmth and closeness of his lean body. "Listen, Ches," he said in a low, serious voice unlike his usual carefree tenor, "I want you to one-hundred-freaking-percent understand I only wanted to dance with <i>you</i>. And I'll pay for it, too, if anybody bitches about it."
He proceeded to walk back into the ballroom with her close by his side, and leaped easily up onto the stage with a lazy kind of power that caused her to shiver. Mic walked over and waved the band to stop. Although he didn't need it, he leaned over and spoke into the mic.
"May I have your attention please, everyone? Sorry to pause the <i>fun</i> right before the <i>last big dance of the night</i>, but I've got an announcement to make."
His voice was low and rich when he spoke, toned for the crowd. It was akin to an easy listening DJ, pleasant and not jarring in any way. Elly smiled up at him, and he winked at her and bent to lend her a hand onstage, so he could wrap his arm around her in full view of the confused folks out there.
"Excuse me. <i>We've</i> got an announcement to make." He paused, then flashed his winning smile as large as he could. "Ches and I have - ah," he thought for a moment, "<i>found</i> each other tonight, so to speak. I'm in love with this pretty kitty -"
There was startled chatter, some applause, and not a few whistles at this. Elly gasped and hid her face shyly in his chest, which prompted scattered laughter, in good nature for the most part.
"...but seeing as there's one dance left, it would be unfair to the wonderful people that donated if we didn't spend the time with them, right?"
There were mixed feelings about this, as everyone thought how they would feel in such a situation. James was nodding affably but Mic's date, however, looked smug.
"That's why I decided to buy it myself." He chuckled, then dipped into a pocket in his suit jacket, bringing out a black leather wallet. "Half of both our prices, added together, for this <i>one</i> dance."
Elly drew back to stare incredulously at him, but he was serious - he handed a card to the hospital member in charge of the donations, nodding. The man bowed several times, beaming from ear to ear, and set about withdrawing the money. Once it was finished, Mic tucked his wallet away and pointed towards the dance floor.
"Shall we?"
She followed as if in a dream. Once there, he rested his hand low on her waist with a cheeky grin. Elly's tail fluffed out and she gingerly wrapped her arms around his neck. She tried to avoid looking in his eyes but he'd taken his shades off, propping them up into his hair where his headphones usually were. His face was oddly naked without them and he squinted more, but she had no choice but to meet his gaze since she was by default looking up in her position. The concentric circles surrounding his pupils whirled with emotion, so warm and obvious in emotion that she gasped and tripped.
"Careful, baby." When she stumbled, he swept her closer into his arms and in a far more intimate embrace than anyone on the dance floor.
"Mic, did you just..?" She shook her head in disbelief. <i>No, must've heard that wrong.</i>
"Hmm?" He parted to look into her eyes and her heartrate doubled when she saw how dreamy they were now. "You tell me what you like better," he suggested, spinning once to make her cling tighter. "Baby, or maybe babygirl. Can't say 'lover' yet, technically..."
"Mic!"
"Gotcha." His laugh was infectious, and she giggled even as she burrowed sideways into his warm chest.
"But the dance is almost over," she sighed sadly.
"Ha! We can go wherever you like to continue!"
She curled her tail around his lower body and he jumped a little, his eyes widening. "Ooh!"
"That sounds great," Elly purred.
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