Today is the 1 year anniversary of this collection (on AO3, at least)! Yay!
Deku has Sword Birth from Highschool DxD. Nemuri thinks about her relationship with her old friend.
Sword Birth Deku
Midnight looked at the youthful faces staring at her— some of which not being at all subtle about where they were looking— and felt a twinge of nostalgia. About...what, at least ten years ago? (A number which did NOT make her feel old, thank you very much!) Around that long ago, that was her. Full of piss and vinegar and more hormones than one knew what to do with most of the time.
Being a teenager was not something she missed in of itself, but the youthfulness (not that she isn't still young, thank you very much!) was rather enviable.
Bah, she wasn't usually this nostalgic. But considering who was here today, well, how could she not be?
"Excuse me, Midnight-sensei?" Iida Tenya asked, arm in the air like he just didn't care, except the boy cared a little too much about things that would make his hairline recede years before it's due. It was endearing...sort of.
"Yes, Iida-kun?" Midnight said, throwing in a dash of seduction to see his reaction.
As expected, it went off like water on a particularly prudish duck's back. "Where is All Might-sensei? Hero Studies started thirty seconds ago, yet he is not here. Also, why are you here, Midnight-sensei. This is not Modern Hero Art History class!"
Midnight held back a smirk at the idea of a teenage boy questioning her physical presence. Clearly some of his classmates weren't complaining. Still, she answered. "All Might is unavailable today. Something came up with his agency that required his attention. Some admin thing." Which was code for 'All Might, being the lovable moron that he can be, used up too much of his time again this morning and couldn't be here'.
Nezu hadn't been happy to say the least. All Might's only saving grace was that today's class was unlikely to be attacked by a gang of lowlifes again. However, a certain someone's presence made All Might's absence a tad embarrassing. UA had certain professional standards to uphold, and to make the school seem disorganised when a guest was present…
Midnight was pretty sure All Might was still being lectured.
"Anyway," Midnight said, clapping her hands together. Her lips twitched as the effect the movement had on her chest didn't go unnoticed. "Today is a rather special class for you all, and not just because I'm covering it," she said, winking. "Today you'll be having a guest teacher, someone I'm sure you'll all recognise."
Midnight sat back on Shota's desk, watching as the class mused among themselves who it could be. She could tell them straight away, but you couldn't just skip the build up. That was no fun at all~
The class went silent as the door opened, and Midnight looked over her shoulders to send the entrant a smouldering gaze. As expected, several feminine gasps could be heard from the students, and Midnight could not blame them at all.
"Oh my god! It's the Princely Hero, Sword Prince!" Ashido said, her already pink skin going even more so. Midnight stifled a smirk, partly at the four other identical expressions in the room— she'd bet good money that Hagakure was making it five— and partly at the well hidden twitch at the corner of the man's eye at the title.
Well, he shouldn't have given her free reign to come up with his hero name then, should he? Well, it wasn't like she was going to give him a choice— what kind of name was Kiba, anyway? It made him sound like a dog or something.
Ah, there was that nostalgia again.
Sword Prince— or as Midnight had always known him, Midoriya Izuku— gave his trademark smile at the class as he stepped up next to her. As much as the name might have rankled him, his hero costume did nothing to disauge the title. He looked like he fell straight out of a shoujo manga, tassels and all.
Well, if you have an image, you might as well make bank on it. She knew what people used her posters for. And she also knew what many women— ages may vary— did with Sword Prince's merch. As did he; as uncomfortable as the idea made him, he still capitalised on it as part of his hero identity.
The Prince of UA, he had been known as back then. He might've protested the title, but if he didn't want to be called that, he shouldn't have acted so damn princely all the time. Recovery girl fixed many an eardrum while Midoriya Izuku was prowling UA's halls, being all polite and handsome and shit.
Sword Prince the princely little shit he was— did a straight up bow to the class, hand against his shoulder and all. "Greetings, class 1-A. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He made brief eye contact with Uraraka, and the poor girl looked ready to combust.
Midnight pouted, shifting her weight so she leant on her hand, getting right into his personal space. "Aren't you going to say hello to me too, Sword Prince? You'll make a girl feel left out."
A deadpan look that didn't go beyond his eyes was her answer. After a long look that screamed 'I'm already done with your shit and the day has just started', he said, "Hello, Midnight."
"It's been a while. We get all hot and sweaty together and you don't call back? You'll make a girl think she isn't wanted," Midnight said, pushing her arms together against her breasts, her eyes hooded.
Most of the class either choked or flushed.
"I don't think defeating that villain was that much of a workout," he said, not even blinking at the suggestive wording. "And that was only a week ago."
"A week too long," Midnight said, giving him a wink.
"E-E-Erm, M-Midnight-sensei…" a meek Uraraka raised her hand, her little cheek blushes enveloping her entire face. "Why is S-Sword Prince here?"
Midnight pouted but sat up, deciding to be a teacher again. "He's here as a personal favour to me—"
"Principal Nezu, actually," Sword Prince said, smoothly cutting Midnight off.
"—a personal favour to Principal Nezu," Midnight said, not even blinking. "Sword Prince is perfectly suited for a certain lesson that all heroes need to learn. So," Midnight took out a remote and pressed a button, making the student's hero costumes pop out of the wall, "suit up, and gather at Ground Beta."
The students gathered their gear and left, with the girls sending glances at Sword Prince as they went; except Uraraka, her red face staring at the floor. It was only thanks to Iida that the poor girl didn't power walk into the doorframe.
Nemuri laughed once the students had left. "Still making the girls swoon, huh? As much of a heartbreaker as ever, I see."
Izuku, no longer in the presence of civilians (hero students they might be, but students they still were), relaxed his stance and finally sent her the dry expression he'd clearly been holding in. "Still making boys uncomfortably cross their legs in class, I see. Don't you think that's a little inappropriate?"
Nemuri shrugged, "If they get distracted by a little sexuality in a safe environment like this, then they wouldn't stand a chance against a villain who dresses or acts the same."
Izuku grimaced, the same way he did every time they had this discussion. "I suppose I can't oppose that logic."
Nemuri laughed, jumping off the table. "You never can. Come on, let's get down there. Wouldn't want them to get any ideas about what would hold us up." She said this without the usual dash of seduction or innuendo.
It was nice to not have to be Midnight around someone, sometimes. With Izuku, she could just be Nemuri.
Even so, she couldn't help but throw a wink his way as she walked past him. It was a normal walk: no sensual sway of her hips, and she didn't stick out her chest— staples of the Midnight walk. Still, Izuku blushed, and Nemuri hid a pleased little smile.
"So, today's lesson!" Midnight declared, strutting in front of her students with a sharp turn of her hips. "Your quirks are all useful for hero work, or else you wouldn't be here. If you're planning on being a rescue hero, chances are you won't be fighting too often. But even rescue heroes need to be prepared to defend themselves, and others."
Midnight paused to let them take that in. Uraraka in particular seemed to be focusing on her words.
"However, sometimes there will be villains whose quirks counter yours perfectly." Midnight saw Bakugou's eyebrow twitch at that. "Even so, you still need to be able to do your jobs. So! In today's class, you will be facing your quirk's weaknesses, so that if it happens to you on the job, you won't be caught with your pants down!"
Unless you were like Hagakure, in which case your pants aren't even on.
"Which is precisely what Sword Prince is here for," Midnight said, spinning around to point at Sword Prince with her riding crop, the air snapping as it moved. "His quirk is well suited for this kind of thing." Midnight swayed over to Sword Prince, and trailed the tip of her riding crop over his jaw. "You'll be in very skilled hands."
Sword Prince pushed it away with a finger, face unmoving. "You'll be facing me in short, one-on-one sparring sessions," he said, stepping away from Midnight without so much as another glance at her. "If you can land a hit on me, you'll pass today's lesson. If you fail, you'll write a short essay on how I countered your quirk, and how you could have done better."
"So! First up is Todoroki," Midnight said, pointing her crop at the boy. "You get five minutes to try and land a hit on Sword Prince."
The other students moved aside (with Bakugou cursing multiple times over not going first), while Todoroki nodded and...didn't move at all. Not even a stance. Cocky little shit, isn't he?
Sword Prince took a stand opposite Todoroki and...also didn't take a stance. Midnight shook her head, but raised her crop. "Alright, make sure to get hot and heavy. Go!"
Todoroki didn't waste a single second to send a wave of ice towards Sword Prince, but in a flash of light, a wave of fire melted and evaporated his ice in short order. There were many gasps as all eyes were on Sword Prince.
In Sword Prince's hand was an orange sword with a spiky handguard. The most obvious thing about the sword, however, was that it was on fire. A strong fire, too, and the flames cast delicious shadows over Sword Prince's face, really highlighting his princely features. Midnight waved a hand at her face, not sure if it was the heat of the flames or not.
The next five minutes, Todoroki did nothing but send wave after wave of ice at Sword Prince, but to no avail. Once the time was up, Todoroki glared at Sword Prince, then stormed off to brood on the edge of the group.
Next up was Bakugou, but as soon as the fight started Sword Prince summoned a blue sword that splashed water on Bakugou's palms, leaving him incapable of anything other than wet slaps.
Midnight had to sedate Bakugou afterwards to stop him assaulting Sword Prince outside of a spar. To which Sword Prince summoned a sword that absorbed her gas. It was times like this that Midnight was really glad Sword Prince wasn't a villain.
And on like that it went.
Uraraka technically passed, but Sword Prince summoned an incredibly heavy sword that stopped him from floating away, then proceeded to batter Urakara around for a bit before passing her. It was the kind of pass that Shota would have chewed her out over abusing the fact that it was only training.
Kaminari fried his brain against a wall of rubber swords (oh my!). Sero's tape was incinerated by the flame sword. Asui was frozen in a block of ice by an ice sword. Iida tripped over giant swords that Sword Prince would summon right in front of his legs.
Yaoyorozu tried to catch Sword Prince with a net gun, then while he dealt with that, threw a flashbang at him. After flashing the hero (heh) she tried to rush him, only for Sword Prince to return the favour with a sword that shone bright light into her eyes.
Against Hagakure he summoned a sword that emitted smoke, then watched for movement in the smoke to find the invisible girl. Ashido had her acid burnt away, then slipped on a frozen floor when she tried to aggressively breakdance at him. The reveal that he could summon two types of sword at once had been a discouraging moment for many.
Jirou was deafened when he summoned two tuning fork like swords and slammed them together. Ojiro was a surprise when he landed a hit with his tail, but despite how simple his quirk was, it led to very few counters that Sword Prince would be willing to use, what with mutilation being off the table.
Mineta of all people almost passed, but Sword Prince knocked him out within two minutes (he never had liked perverts). He led Sato on a goose chase for a while, simply not letting himself be hit until Sato's quirk wore off. Shoji had his senses overwhelmed by noise and light, like Jirou and Yaoyorozu. Aoyama had his laser reflected by a giant, shiny sword. Koji surrendered when all of the narby animals were scared off by the loud clanging of Sword Prince's tuning swords.
Kirishima spent the whole five minutes punching through the many swords that Sword Prince summoned in his way. Dark Shadow was kowtowed into submission by a ring of light swords. Finally, Shinso managed to brainwash Sword Prince, simply by using the man's overly polite nature to his advantage.
Three out of twenty passed. Shota would not be happy. And neither would All Might when he realised that he'd have to mark seventeen essays. But hey, that wasn't her problem. They could take it up with Sword Prince if they liked~
Sword Prince smiled at the mostly disheartened class. "Today's lesson has taught you that there will be times where your opponents' quirks will simply counter yours. It's rare, but it can happen. Technically speaking, even Uraraka-san, and Ojiro-san should consider their versions failures too." Said duo looked offended, so he expanded.
"Uraraka-san won because she technically passed the exercise, but if I were a real villain I could have still defeated her, as her bruises will attest to." Uraraka rubbed her arms with a sheepish wince. "Ojiro-san's passing took advantage of my unwillingness to do grievous bodily harm to his tail." Ojiro gulped and put his hands over his tail.
"Shinsou-san was able to take advantage of my personality, which is a failing on my part, and so shouldn't reflect on him." Shinsou smirked. "However, Shinsou-san, imagine if your opponent was mute, or deaf." The smirk on his face vanished faster than Todoroki's ice. "Still, most of those points were my own failing, so I won't have you three write an essay, but do keep in mind what I've said today." The passing trio each gave a firm nod, a serious look in each of their eyes.
"Alright!" Midnight clapped her hands together, enjoying the collective flinch from the students. "Now that we've all gotten hot and sweaty, you should all go shower and get changed. Off you go, class dismissed!"
Nemuri yawned, stretching in her chair in the teacher's lounge. She'd had a busy day today, having to cover not only her own classes but All Might's too. She groaned as she pulled at a twinge in her back.
Izuku sat down next to her, placing a cup of tea on her desk. A smile shoved its way on her face as she got a whiff of her favourite tea. "You are a beautiful man," she said, closing her eyes and taking a sip.
Izuku chuckled, taking his own sip. "This is the fourth time I've done this lesson for the first years, and each time it doesn't get any easier. The fact that you can teach so many kids every day is pretty incredible."
Nemuri hid her blush by taking a deeper sip. While she enjoyed all the fame and attention being a hero got her, getting praised for her teaching made her feel warm in a way that had nothing to do with the tea. She fiddled with the cup for a moment, then glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Hey, if you're not doing anything tonight...want to come over for dinner?"
Izuku blinked, then took his own deep sip. Nemuri resisted the urge to bite her lip— she wasn't a teenager, damn it. Finishing his cup, Izuku cleared his throat. "I'd love to, Nemuri. Should I bring some nightwear?"
"Nah, there's some still in my closet from last time," she said, deflating subtly with relief. Despite how many times they've done this, some part of her worries he'll say no.
Yet, when he smiles at her with that real, not remotely princely smile, she knows that he wouldn't have given any other answer. Just as always.
Sometimes, she almost wished her brand didn't involve being a national sex icon. Or that his wasn't that of a charming bachelor. That they could be themselves in public, without disguises and secrecy.
But at the same time, she loved being Midnight as much as she loved him. And she knew he felt the same about being Sword Prince.
And the secrecy...well, it was thrilling in ways that being in the wet dreams of millions couldn't even touch.
Still, they couldn't be heroes forever. Maybe it was time to start considering some rebranding. Build up to it. Then one day, maybe the world would be ready for Midnight and Sword Prince to be more like Kayama Nemuri and Midoriya Izuku.
Or, a more romantic part of her thought, Midoriya Izuku and Midoriya Nemuri.
(That night after dinner, when he got on one knee and held out the ring, she made a mental note to start on that build up...but maybe in the morning...or even the afternoon…)
(Two days later, Nemuri made a call to her agency. She had a brand to reconstruct.)