Temporary Problems

Yamada Hizashi - a.k.a Present Mic -- was looking over some homework after class when the door opened. He looked quickly up and saw it was the temp the school brought on to help with their counselor's huge allotment of case files she had to go through. She seemed odd, to him, always smiling just a bit too much around Cheshire and taking a little longer to do her tasks than necessary.

He shrugged inwardly. Not his problem; if anyone could handle this one it was a licensed psychiatrist, which their cat lady was. So he waved her cheerfully over, taking a break from the onerous grading.

"'Sup?"

"I think you need to read this," she told him cryptically, handing him a nondescript notebook.

He frowned but glanced at the pages she set it open to in front of him. It was in English, and at first he thought she needed him to translate. But Ches was from the States and spoke even more fluently than him, so why hadn't she gone to her?

The reason why jumped out at him from the pages almost immediately.

<i>I want to hold him in my arms - no, more than that -- to</i> be <i>held, to have him squeeze me and tell me he loves me. I want to stroke his hair and know what it smells like up close, to touch that long, blond hair and see if it's as soft as I imagined.

And oh god, that adorable mustache...</i>

He clapped the book shut, his cheeks burning.

"This is private, yo!"

The woman huffed. "Only to her."

"Th - this is me. This is Ches' handwriting. She's writing about <i>me</i>." Hizashi pushed the book away as if it were hot, his heart racing. "Why'd you show me this?!"

"She needs to get over you." The woman sniffed. "The only way that's going to happen is if you recognize her silly crush and tell her off."

The Voice Hero's mustache points twitched as his lips thinned. He carefully placed his hands on the edge of the desk, gripping it so firmly his nails turned white. The tinted sunglasses he wore flashed in the artificial light above them, obscuring his hazel eyes but not his eyebrows, which slowly drew down into a hard frown.

"Get out." One leather-gloved hand pointed at the door.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing; the words were soft and spoken in a deep voice unlike the blond man's usual tenor. "What?"

Hizashi inhaled slowly. The temp took a nervous step back, hands jerking towards her ears in sudden fear.

"I said, <b>GET OUT</b>." He did not use enough force to deafen her yet it knocked her off her feet momentarily. The startled temp scrambled to her feet and escaped into the hall.

Hizashi picked up the journal in one hand and his papers in the other. He slammed the teens homework in his desk drawer and stood resolutely. "Gotta give this back," he said out loud.

He grew more nervous the closer he got to the counselor's office. He wasn't sure how she'd react, but he had an idea, and it wasn't good. He knew her pretty well and she was always kind to him. They joked around and were really friendly towards each other so on one hand, she might forgive this trespass. This was a very private circumstance, however, and he was uncertain of the outcome.

"Ches? Ya in here?" He tapped lightly on the door.

"Uh huh. C'mon in, Mic."

He sighed and stepped forward, standing for a moment with the book clutched in his hands. He took another step, then thought better of it and locked the door.

Elly raised her ears, the furry points perking up along with her eyebrows. "Whoa. Is this serious?"

"Uh, yeah." He walked over to her desk and set the notebook down.

She blinked several times in rapid succession. "How did you..?"

"I was given this. Look, m'sorry. I read some of it before I knew." He sighed and wrung his hands nervously. "I stopped the second I realized, but, uh..."

Her eyes darkened in despair but she only nodded. "I see. Thank you, Mic." She blankly scooped into a drawer with an uncaring arm.

"Er... what do we do now?" He caught his lower lip adorably between his teeth and sat down heavily in the chair across from her desk.

"Whatever you like," she said simply. Hizashi's heart caught in his throat at the soft, resigned sadness in her voice. "You can ignore this and I'll never bring it up again. You can also acknowledge it made you uncomfortable and," she laid her ears back but continued, "choose not to associate as much with me from now on."

"Aw, Ches..."

"Basically I'll do whatever you want," she said, her voice breaking a little. "I understand. But please, make your request quick." Her tension was evident not only in her voice but the way she was holding herself, her once-proud tail and shoulders stiff and her eyes cast down.

"Look at me," he begged.

Elly lifted her chin. Although she did what he asked, it wrong, somehow - he wasn't sure but he thought she might be distancing herself so as to soften the blow she thought was coming. She wasn't truly focusing on him.

"I need ya to <i>really</i> look at me, kitty."

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then reopened them. This time there was so much hopeless, raw agony in her stare that he almost recoiled. He sighed and hooked a finger in his sunglasses, dragging them down so his own were bare. Free of the orange tint they looked more golden-green, the spirals thin with anxiety.

"<i>Please</i> get it over with," she whimpered.

Hizashi jumped up out of his seat and his long legs carried him around to her side in a single, huge step. Elly flinched but he fell to his knees and threw his arms around her in a tight hug. He pressed his head above her breasts, feeling the wild thumping of her heart on one cheek.

"I like you, too," he blurted out. Then he added in English, "I love you."

"<i>What</i>?!" Her cry came out almost like a cat's shriek, she was so shocked.

"Ow! I thought I was supposed to be the loud one here!"

"Sorry." Elly let herself be held for a long time, relishing in the feel of his arms around her. And when she separated to look down at him, she got her second surprise.

Hizashi kissed her.

His mouth pressed firmly on hers, a little moist, with some awkwardness and a lot of desperation. Warmth spread throughout her body at his obvious desire and she gently ran her hands through the softer hairs at the nape of his neck as the kiss progressed. Her fingers couldn't go far, however, because she was blocked by his directional speaker. They rested on top and she tapped a rhythmic tattoo as he swiped his tongue along hers.

"Mic..." She paused, then whispered hoarsely, "<i>Hizashi</i>," before kissing him again.

He groaned low in his throat and pulled her closer, his own hands desperate and shaking. "Mnnnf... ahh, <i>baby</i>." He drew apart briefly. "How secure's the lock on that door?"

"Enough."

He squinted at her greedily, one hazel eye wide and the other narrow as he took in the situation. "Thank god." He unhooked the clasp at the back of his heavy gear and set it on the floor. "'Cause we're not gonna want to be disturbed for awhile."

The temp was furious when she saw her plans had backfired in such a spectacular fashion. She tried to peek through the frosted glass on the door but it was impossible. What she heard, however, caused her to rush to get another teacher.

Aizawa was crankier than usual as she dragged him towards the office. He slumped along, still in his sleeping bag and not impressed by her need for a "witness" to Present Mic and Cheshire's breaking of school policy. She nearly shoved him at the door and they listened for a brief moment.

"We can't," Elly gasped. "Not at school, Mic!"

"Chill out, babe," he laughed softly, his voice dangerously low. "Sure we can - look, just a little here, and..."

"Ooooh."

Aizawa grinned mercilessly and produced a skeleton key. "If this will shut you up..."

"Open it already!"

The door swing wide to reveal Elly seated in front of her computer with Hizashi behind her. They were looking up with almost identical puzzled looks, blinking innocently at the intruders.

"Hey, Aizawa," Hizashi pointed a finger gun at him. "What up?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Elly gestured at the screen in front of her. "We were talking about throwing a party for one of the kids."

"Ches thinks they wouldn't like it 'cause, you know. They'd rather have it at home or someplace cooler."

The temp took in the Voice Hero's ruffled hair with a few strands from the huge plume falling down his shoulder, and the self-satisfied smirk on Elly's face that she couldn't quite hide. She stormed off down the hall, swearing loudly.

"What's her problem?"

"Don't piss her off, guys, okay?" Aizawa sighed wearily. "She's almost out of here. And, Mic?"

"Yo." He threw a pair of finger guns cockily at his friend and colleague.

"Put your pants back on."

Hizashi turned beet red and froze in place until the door closed again. He waddled out from behind the chair, grasping for his pants that were puddled around his ankles. "How the <i>crap</i> did he know?!"

She coughed. "Lucky guess?"