Game Night

 "The civilian said they ran off this way."

"I know, Eraserhead, but I just don't see anyone -" Elly's ears slowly raised to attention, listening to something her partner couldn't hear. She frowned. "Mic? Is that you?"

Aizawa glanced at her sharply. "Where, Cheshire?"

She pointed off to the near distance, around a corner by a crumbling building. Sure enough, they could see a figure standing there. Aizawa held back while she walked cautiously into the side street.

"Mic?"

He beamed when he saw her. "Hey, Cheshire! I couldn't bear the thought that you were in danger, so I stepped out to team up."

"Mic," she chided gently. "We're all professionals."

He kicked the gravel around at his feet. "Yeahhhhh, but I like you more. Can't have my fave girl gettin' hurt, now can I?"

"What did you -? Wait, okay, did you see anyone on your way over here?" She thought she heard wrong and tried to steer the conversation back to their patrol work.

Present Mic, however, was having none of that. He shrugged and pointed over his shoulder. "No one over that way. But hey, that means we're alone, right? Come on over here, beautiful lady. I've got a secret to share with you."

She lost her ability to speak when he called her <i>beautiful</i> and stared at him, her cheeks burning red.

Aizawa stepped out during the silence with a nod. "Hey."

A look of brief annoyance flickered across the blond-haired man's face. "Hey."

This confirmed Aizawa's suspicion.

<i>Yamada shouldn't be here.</i>

He hadn't said he was coming and he'd never pulled such a stunt before. Although Aizawa surmised the Voice Hero <i>did</i> have a crush on Cheshire, he never addressed her as anything special or hit on her so bluntly. Something was very wrong, but if he used his quirk now, and this man was an imposter, they would lose the element of surprise. He had to try a different tactic before the cat woman took another step.

He smoothed his brow and called out to him instead. "Hizashi!"

"What?"

Elly paused, startled, and even more shocked Mic answered casually. It was very strange Aizawa used his given name, something he never did. She backed up a step and the Erasure Hero reacted quickly, his eye flashing red as the weapon around him snapped out. He caught the other before he could run and dragged him across the rubble in the street towards him.

"Ow, damn it, that hurts!"

"Zashi?!" Elly rushed over, her heart sinking at the sound of him in pain.

"He's gone nuts! Tell him to untie me!"

"You know it's not him," Aizawa grunted as he locked the zip ties around his wrists. Elly cringed when the fake whimpered and he had to shake her by the shoulder before she could look away. "<i>Snap out of it, Cheshire</i>!"

"But you tried to erase the quirk. And I - I can smell him." She blushed but went on. "It's definitely his scent."

"It's me! You know it!"

"Shut up," he snapped, tying off a section of his cloth around the man's mouth as a gag. Then, calmly, "I don't know why my erasure didn't work. It could be any number of reasons, but there is a way I can put an end to your doubts." He stood up, knee popping on one side. "Here. I'm calling Mic."

He put it on speaker and held it out as it rang.

"Whazzup? You all right?"

Elly paled, her ears drooping at the sound of his voice. "Mic?"

"Ches?"

"We just caught... you," Aizawa said with dry amusement.

"Whaaat?"

The man on the ground let out a puff of air and slumped over in defeat.

"A villian that looks like you. Tried to lure us in, specifically Cheshire." He winced, pulling the phone farther away as the sound of Hizashi's worried screeching almost deafened them. "<i>Calm down</i>! She's fine."

A glance over in her direction, however, showed that she was anything but. She was standing with her head down, tail lashing about her ankles and her fists clenched.

"Yeah. We'll be back after we process this one. You're coming?" He affected mild surprise, his eyebrows raised. "All right. Cheshire, ah, will be glad to see you." He shoved the phone away in his pocket.

"He's not Mic."

"No."

"I should have realized." Her deadly quiet tone dripped with humiliation. "So stupid. I would have rushed right into danger, just because - well. Because," she finished weakly.

Aizawa prudently said nothing.

It took twenty minutes for the Voice Hero to show up since this was on the outskirts of town, and when he did he ran straight to Elly. The police jumped up, startled, as another man flew into their midst and he was forced to show his identification. Once they were sure it was him, they let him past.

"You really all right? Why'd he look like me? Did he look that much like me?!" He blurted out a myriad of questions, hovering anxiously near her but not reaching out. His hands twitched at his sides but he balled them into fists instead. "How'd ya know it wasn't me?"

Elly looked helplessly over at Aizawa, her tail swishing in agitation.

Wrong choice.

"He used Cheshire's desire for your companionship against her." The scruffy man shrugged. "I believe he called her 'beautiful lady'."

She choked, betrayed.

"What's that now?" Mic blinked. "I wouldn't have said <i>that</i>."

"Wha..?" Elly's tail stilled, then drooped, falling into the dust of the road. Her eyes, a deep purple, paled until they were lavender in her grief. "Oh, Mic," she whispered in a voice near to tears.

He rushed on. "I'd've said <i>pretty city kitty</i>, or maybe <i>beautiful babygirl</i>. 'Lady' ain't my style, yo. It's too vintage."

"What!" This time the striped fur along her tail fluffed out in all directions.

"Well, what d'ya think I'd say? Huh?" He placed a tentative arm about her shoulders, tilting his neck to look directly into her eyes.

"Nothing like that," she muttered, dazed but with the color returning to her pale cheeks and eyes.

"Yeah, I've, uh, been a total wuss. Kept meanin' to talk to ya, babe, but it's hard to throw yourself out there, yeah? I thought <i>you</i> didn't like <i>me</i>."

From where Aizawa stood he saw the counselor throw her arms around his friend and nodded. He watched them wander off together, shaking his head. She might take the rest of the night off, but he was going to finish their shift.

It was uneventful after that, and Aizawa was tired from lack of any kind of stimulation. While it was great that no one was hurt or needed rescuing, times like these made for very boring patrols. When it was finally over he made his way back to the agency where he lived with Hizashi, his only thoughts focused on getting some coffee in him since he had paperwork to finish. Problem was, he'd run out that morning.

Passing up the second floor where his suite was to go up to the third, he wandered sleepily over to the door and knocked. It swung open and he stepped inside.

He immediately froze, stunned, with his hand still on the doorknob.

The blond-haired man was sitting on that monstrous leather couch of his in the suite's living room area. This was nothing new, but sitting naked on his lap with only his Present Mic jacket wrapped around her shoulders was none other than the school counselor, Cheshire.

All three stared numbly at one another for a solid minute before she flickered and vanished.

"Yamada!"

"Uh!" He wrapped his arms around the invisible woman in a protective manner. "What the frick, yo! The door was locked!"

"It wasn't," the dark-haired man said acidly. "It very obviously wasn't. What are you two <i>doing</i>, anyway?!"

Hizashi squinted at his friend as if trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "We're playin' strip monopoly without a board or pieces." He paused, then yelped, "The hell d'ya <i>think</i> we were doin'?!"

Aizawa had the grace to finally look embarrassed. "Congratulations," he mumbled.

Elly's voice floated out of the air from her general position. "Was there something you needed, Aizawa?"

"Nothing important. I'll, uh, just ..." He stumbled back out of the doorway into the hall. Elly slid off Hizashi's lap and locked the door after him, turning visible as she walked back to cuddle with the Voice Hero again.

"Monopoly?"

"Twister was too obvious." He shrugged.





-

Bonus:


Aizawa Shota was a tired, tired man.

It should be noted that this tiredness was of epic proportions, compounded by Hero work and the care and constant worrying over training a bunch of damn near suicidal teenagers. His eyes twitched and burned, and no amount of eye drops even gave him a tiny fraction of relief. He stumbled around his kitchen, digging through cabinets for some caffeine, <i>any</i> caffeine, but, as it happened, he'd run out. Again.

He sighed and headed up to his friend's suite.

It was quiet tonight so he hoped for the best, and the door easily opened.

<i>He wouldn't be</i> that <i>stupid again, would he</i>?

"Fuck, Yamada," he sighed, one hand rubbing over his exhausted features.

<i>Yes. Yes, he would</i>.

Hizashi blinked over at him, his eyes wide with a huge, lopsided grin on his face. "Uh... oops. Door? Again?" He was sitting on the couch beside Elly, who was dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans. The blond-haired man, however, was wearing only a pair of socks - and one <i>wasn't</i> on his foot.

"Why can't you remember such an important thing?"

"Well, it's not like this is open to the public. An' I swore I locked it this time! I even checked!" He rubbed at the back of his neck, blushing wildly. "Sorry, sorry." He made as if to get up and Aizawa winced, imagining the sock slipping. Then he saw he was also wearing a red-beaded bracelet... again, not where it belonged on his wrist but in a very unusual place.

"Don't get up!" Aizawa barked harshly. "For fuck's sake, please, I'll close it on my way out." He glanced over at the mess of brightly colored pieces on the coffee table. "What the hell were you doing <i>this</i> time?"

Elly spoke calmly, though she was clearly holding in a fit of laughter. "Strip monopoly, what else?"