"Please have a seat, Midoriya-kun. We have quite a bit to talk about~" Midnight cooed, giving him a wink as she sat down behind her desk. Smiling at him.
He had not expected this.
He had not expected this at all.
"T-t-t-thank you. M'am." Izuku gulped as he robotically moved toward the chair in front of her office desk. Her office was small, the walls lined with books and pictures of what Izuku assumed were friends and family. On a rack behind her seat on the wall, Midnight's signature thorn whip was hung with care - as a hunter would hang their prized rifle. After only a few moments he felt claustrophobic, as if the room was pressing down on him on all sides and pushing him toward Midnight. He tried to get comfortable, he did not know why he added, "I-I didn't expect to see y-you dressed in-"
"Not dressed in my costume, hmm?" she finished for him, a knowing smile on her lips as she looked over her red cat's eye glasses. She was wearing a very simple navy blue dress, the ruffled edges left her arms bare and it was drawn around her waist by a simple drawstring. It went all the way down to her ankles where she wore red strap shoes. Technically speaking she was actually showing more skin than she normally would with her hero costume but this was much more…
...cute!
He had been prepared for the 18+ Rated Heroine's normal costume! Even for her to wear something even more skimpy and revealing as she had a reputation a mile wide for being a tease.
This cuteness though...completely shattered his defenses and left him just as flustered.
"Please, you can call me by my hero name or Kayama-sensei. Whichever you prefer. After all you are..." Midnight paused, leaning forward she slowly took off her glasses. She brought the ear tip to her lips and chewed on it as she breathed out, "...MY student~."
The way her voice dipped down, becoming huskier as she said 'My' made Izuku's blush feel like it was going to go nuclear for a moment. He caught a giddy glint in Midnight's eye for just a moment, as she seemed to bask in his embarrassment, before she completely did a 180 degree turn in her demeanor. Her glasses were back on her face, her posture was straight, and she had a file open in front of her. It was said that Midnight was a persona, an alter-ego, that the woman behind the mask used to intimidate heroes and villains alike, if it was she was an expert at switching between "Midnight" and "Kayama-sensei" at a moment's notice.
"I know you heard it before, but congratulations on being accepted to UA University! I know that I and the other staff in the Heroics Course look forward to teaching you and seeing you grow into becoming a hero." Kayama-sensei smiled warmly at him again, there was no more sultry flirtation in it, it was simply the excitement of an educator.
It was her words that threw Izuku more for a loop than the switch up between 'Midnight' and 'Kayama-sensei'. His interactions with his teachers through middle and high school had been tepid at the best of times - except for when a substitute was brought in who was not part of the Aldera educational staff system. Their enthusiasm was largely reserved for Bakugo and other students who "had their quirks together", those who had flashy quirks or ones that seemed to be suited well for a future career in heroics. Given how much Izuku's quirk had been out of control for so many years he had been dismissed as a burden by the Aldera staff.
Which was why when his teachers or the principal had enthusiastically congratulated him on getting into UA their words had only rung insincere and hollow to him.
Though, even if they had praised him from the start Izuku had a feeling it would all have just sounded the same to him - they would have only cared about his quirk - not him. He only had to look at Kacchan to see that.
Which was why Kayama-sensei's words surprised him, she actually sounded sincere.
"T-thank you. M-Kayama-sensei." he blinked and on pure reflex scratched the back of his head, "I-it has always been my d-dream to come here."
"Mmm. You could say it is a dream come true. I was just the same way." Kayama nodded her head, closing her eyes a moment as she seemed to reflect on past memories before she opened them again and continued, "Well, you know this already but you have been placed in my Class 1-B. You were actually almost sent to Class 1-A because of a little mix up when the staff were reviewing student assignments.."
"A m-mix up?" Izuku asked, surprised to hear that.
"Mmhm! It is rare to see a copy sub-type quirk and not only do we have one student coming in this year with one but we have two students! A certain SOMEONE had mixed up your and their paperwork. Fortunately we were able to catch it. It may be boring but paperwork is a necessary aspect of being a hero" Kayama replied with a sigh. There was another first year student with a copy quirk? That got Izuku's interest, his mind was already off and running speculating about this mysterious person.
They have a copy quirk but they were placed in 1-A instead of 1-B with me. That must mean there is a great enough difference between how both of our quirks work to warrant the separation. If they are in 1-A that must mean they can copy Emitter Type quirks, something which I can't do at all. Could that mean they have similar limitations to my quirk? Maybe they can't copy Mutation or Transformation quirks as well. It would have definitely been labeled as an emitter quirk compared to Mutate which while being a transformation quirk effectively makes the quirks I copy into mutation-
"Oh my. I can already bet you will be taking Quirk Theory as an elective after your first year. That is quite the analysis." Kayama smiled at him before she jotted something down on her notepad.
"Sorry" Izuku squeaked, wishing he could turn into sludge and just drip through the floor, "I-I mutter."
"Don't worry about it. It just shows how passionate you are~" Midnight peaked through at him as she gave an enthusiastic squeal to 'passionate'. Once she settled down she continued, "Analysis is a great skill to have as a hero. It allows you a better understanding of the situations you might find yourself in. You might just make an excellent student advisor or TA in your third year."
Again, Izuku was taken aback. An adult, a teacher at that, was PRAISING his quirk analysis? What the what?
"Though that is getting off topic. Let's go back to your quirk, it is officially registered as 'Mutate'. Now ensuring student health and safety when using their quirks is a top priority here at UA. I want you to be honest with me and tell me, are there any health concerns when using your quirk? Fatigue? Nausea? A case of your insides becoming your outsides? Anything you can think of, please. That way we can update Recovery Girl's records and schedule any testing or treatments that she might find necessary."
Memories stampeded through his mind of all of the times his quirk had gone off by accident, when he had collapsed from exhaustion from over use, and worst of all what had happened when his quirk had finally snapped. He licked his lips, "Um-"
"You hesitated." Kayama's words pounced on him, she leaned forward across her desk making him retreat further back into his chair, flustered.
"No-! I didn't-" he sputtered, trying to think of an excuse but nothing came to mind, "I-I did. Yea I did." Izuku resigned in defeat.
"Will you tell me about it?" Kayama asked calmly, her tone wasn't demanding - she was simply offering a hand out to Izuku for him to take. She watched him cautiously, and it hit him that she was concerned for him. This all felt too strange for him. There had been other students with weak quirks at Aldera who had suffered the same indifference from the staff as he had, but Izuku had the misfortune of being a lightning rod for Kacchan's...temper. Everyone with a weak quirk as his had either ignored him or joined in if only so they did not become a target. "If you don't feel comfortable, we can arrange for you to meet with Recovery Girl-"
"I've gotten, um, a lot better with my quirk." Izuku said, pulling at one of his gloves anxiously, "T-the more I use it the more stamina it d-drains and I get really tired and sluggish. Um. I don't feel any pain when I c-copy another quirk or it times out. The worst that ever happened was…" Izuku paused to swallow, "...when I over-extended my quirk. Did not rest it enough and copied too many quirks at once. I just kept...mutating." he quickly added, "I-it always stops when I pass out though or go to sleep. S-so I think your quirk would be great for helping me keep it under control!"
"Oh really? Then that makes me gladder that I am your heroics course advisor," Kayama's lips tugged upward into a small smile from the frown they had dipped into while he had been talking. She continued to speak as she wrote down notes on a pad of paper, "We will have to see if Class 1-A's homeroom heroics advisor's quirk works on you - there has been some debate if it would or not. Still, we want to ensure the safety of all of our little students so you become big, strapping heroes!"
Class 1-A's professor had a quirk that might not work on him? That was an interesting note, Izuku wondered who the professor could be - all of UA's professors were Pro Heroes after all so it would have to be someone with some sort of restraint or cancelation quirk. He couldn't wait to meet them and test out his quirk against their quirk!
The meeting proceeded with Kayama going through his class schedule and his dorm arrangements.
First Year Heroics Course students did not have much choice of electives, their focus being on their specialized hero classes and the generalized classes - math, English, literature, and such for their first year. General Education and the other courses though had more choices than their hero-in-training counterparts. Once he was a Second Year his choices for classes opened up immensely - he was especially interested in Quirk Theory. For now he had chosen a single Art class, which delighted Kayama as she was that classes' professor - he had picked up drawing in middle school to help him record hero costumes and draw out attack combo ideas he had. He felt it also helped him with his nerves as it was relaxing.
For dorm arrangements he would be assigned to the Heights Alliance dorm - which was shared by both Class 1-A and Class 1-B. He kept his worries about running into Kacchan to himself, he did not need to worry his new sensei about it. The move in date was the weekend before classes started, there would be orientation with the dorm's RA's, if he was caught with alcohol or drugs punishment would range from expulsion from the Heroic Course or from UA entirely, and he chose his meal plan. He did blush again when she mentioned that relationships between students were not forbidden, Kayama had then winked at him and nearly sent Izuku falling back out of his chair.
"Now! My favorite part of pre-orientation!" Kayama giddily announced as she practically bounced in her chair, "We are going to talk about costume designs! Have you brought your draft?"
Along with the acceptance letter there had been paperwork for his hero costume design, with the option to either explain the design in writing or to draw it out. Izuku had been so giddy about the prospect he had made several dozen designs before he had settled on one.
"Yes! Here it is, right here!" Izuku smiled as he handed it over to Kayama. Once she had the draft in hand her eyebrows shot up over her cat eye glasses as she took in his drawing and the footnotes he had written.
"Oh my~" Midnight gasped, a growing smile splitting her face as she looked it over, "You have quite the skill with a pencil! If you weren't already taking my art class I would have teased you mercilessly until you joined!"
For what felt like the hundredth time in the space of an hour Izuku blushed a deep red. He wrung his hands together in his lap and tried not to look directly at Midnight's eyes as she seemed to come to the forefront of the two alter-egos beneath Kayama's glasses.
"Black, green, and red. Oh, I do like your coloring here! Mmmhm!"
His costume for the most part consisted of a two-piece compression body suit. His top was colored black from his neck to his shoulders to his elbows and green on his torso down to his waist and on his forearms. His pants were black from the waist down to the knees and green to his feet. Across his chest was a horizontal DNA Helix (kind of shaped like a smile) with the strands black and the rungs a red. Around his waist he wore a utility belt with different sized pouches that went to his back - which he planned to store quirk samples, first aid supplies, communication equipment and any other gear he would need. He had made sure to include his signature red boots and black gloves. What stood out on his costume was on his forearm and legs below the knee were several chevron shaped opening vents which exposed his skin.
"Why the open air skin on your arms and legs?" Midnight asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "To help activate your quirk I bet?"
"Y-yes! That's it!" Izuku smiled brightly and nodded his head, pointing at the draft, "My original design was going to be something more loose and covered my body completely but I realized it might tear more easily if it did not conform to my body and also if I could not get my gloves off then I would be at a disadvantage if I needed to copy a quirk! I've been working with a friend on my punches, kicks, and blocks so I can make sure I don't accidentally copy someone's quirk that I don't want to!"
He sucked in his breath after his long winded explanation, looking away bashfully as Midnight giggled at him. "My~ My~ A very fine first draft of a hero costume, Midoriya-kun. That's high praise from me considering how I pushed the boundaries of costumes in our industry!"
Midnight beamed proudly, but Izuku kept his mouth shut considering she had pushed said boundaries far enough for the country to enact a law standardizing how much skins were exposed and acceptably provocative costumes.
"If you stop by the Support department on your way out, Power Loader can get some...samples from you so that he can make your costume work with your quirk." Midnight said.
"Yes, I was hoping for that! Just like how Ryukyu when she transforms into her Dragon form her costume confers to her new body - or like how when Tiger from the Wild, WIld Pussycats uses his quirk to stretch his suit stretches with him." Izuku nodded, he had hoped that UA would offer that right out of the gate for his costume. With how his quirk worked, the school would spend a fortune just replacing his costumes - if they treated it to adapt to his quirk they would save time and money in spades. Izuku was also happy to finally have clothes that he could not accidentally destroy with his quirk.
"It is missing something however…" Midnight hummed. Izuku leaned in toward Midnight the closest he had been the entire meeting. Part of him fanboying over getting costume advice from Midnight while another part of him just excited to talk to someone about his ideas! After a few moments, she leaned back and quirked her gaze toward her thorn whip that hung behind her, "Have you considered using a capture weapon?"
"A capture weapon? No, not really." Izuku furrowed his brow, his hand coming up to squeeze his lower lip as her suggestion began to tumble its way through his thoughts. He began to mutter "With the quirks I have been practicing with they are very highly mobile quirks and are really well suited for containment actions. So far I haven't had the need for a capture weapon. Though what if I do find myself in a situation where I don't have access to Itsuka's or Tsuyu's quirks or face an opponent just out of reach or is too fast? Having a capture weapon therefore would let me restrain them to either copy their quirk or prevent myself from risking skin contact to copy their quirk if it was unsuitable for the scenario…"
"There you go again, showing off that oh so delightful brain of yours! Good looking and smart? You'll have a hard time fending yourself from the men and women who will be throwing themselves at you~" Midnight teased, which was the right thing to throw Izuku off his mutter storm and make him cover himself with his arms. After getting control of her laughter, Midnight continued, "You are exactly right! A capture weapon would help you in situations where you don't have a quirk to copy or you need to restrain a target. I use my whip to ensnare villains and bring them close enough for me to use my quirk. I also look damn good holding it~ Also getting my students' attention."
Midnight winked.
"W-would a whip be good for me?" Izuku squeaked, peeking out from behind his arms which made Midnight ponder for a moment.
"Hmm. You could secure it to your utility belt but aesthetically I don't know...more beastmaster than beastman...hmmm…" Midnight stared at him for several seconds, each second feeling like she was peeling back his entire being. Then without warning she slammed her hands onto her desk, she shouted, "That's it!"
Grabbing several colored pencils and pens she took his draft and proceeded to draw on it, shielding it from Izuku's nervous looks as she continued to draw. After several minutes of scratching on paper and what sounded like her own brand of muttering, Midnight held up Izuku's original draft, a sparkle in her eyes as she presented the new design. "What you need is a capture cloak!"
"Capture cloak?" Izuku's head tilted to the side as he looked at the new design. She had drawn a cloak, one with a hood that covered his hair and wrapped around his neck before billowing backward down close to his feet. The inside of the cloak was completely black while the outside showed a green-black checker pattern. At the very bottom of the cloak's hem were odd red colored balls that hung down. It certainly did not look bad at all he had to admit.
"Yes! A co-worker of mine uses a scarf made from special alloys and carbon fiber, but I know the Caped Crusader and Sire in America make use of them! With this you can throw it off into a villain's face, the red balls acting as weights to help wrap around the target - like bolas. You could also give it a twirl and it will constrict itself into a whip - you can wrap it around an opponent to tie up their hands - quite a few Filipino and Indonesian martial arts use cloth as improvised weapons." Midnight appeared to be bursting with enthusiasm, was this how Izuku normally looked when talking about quirks? That did not matter, he was already getting more and more excited.
"You're right!" he hummed, his leg bouncing as he spoke, "It would also help me limit accidental exposure - and look with the inside black its hand to see my black gloves which would-"
"-help mask your hand movements! Yes, exactly what I was thinking!" Midnight clapped her hands together, "It does also add a certain air of mystery if I do say so myself~ So? Do you want it added to your official costume? Do you?"
"Yes! Please! Thank you Midnight-sensei!" Izuku couldn't keep the grin off his face, at that moment he felt like he would never stop smiling. UA was definitely going to be different than Aldera ever was.
Nemuri waved goodbye to Izuku as the young man shut the door behind him. She had wished him to have a good two weeks off before he arrived on campus. No sooner had he shut the door, Nemuri slowly took off her glasses, set them on her desk and then reached into her desk drawer. She pulled out her domino mask that was part of her hero costume and with practiced ease placed it on her face.
She took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes and let it out again.
After a heartbeat she jumped to her feet, her heels clacking loudly on the floor, then grabbed her royal blue dress with both hands and pulled - her dress came apart immediately.
Underneath her dress, Midnight was wearing her S&M looking body-suit that was her heroic costume - she had just taken off her arms as they would have been visible while wearing her drawstring dress - which itself was actually a tear away dress.
"Ooooohhh he is just soooooo adorable!" Midnight squealed, her arms wrapping around her as a deep blush came to her face and she wiggled in place. She was biting her lip, "Not only is he a cutie but he is so shy and adorable! Oh if I was only five years younger and not his professor I would just eat him up~"
Midnight continued to coo as she practically pranced around her desk. When Nedzu had told her about Izuku's situation she had been worried for the trauma her new student had suffered and she was absolutely ecstatic that his past years had not seemed to dim his youthful spirit - she had wanted to reach across the desk and pull him into her bosom as soon as she had seen his bright smile.
"Oh~ Oh~ Oh~ This year I have so many wonderful chicks coming into my class this year!" she giggled to herself, pushing her hands to her face as she continued to blush. "Oh so much youthful energy this year! I can tell they are going to make the whole university's blood just absolutely pump with excitement!"
A loud banging noise interrupted her euphoria, it was coming from one of her walls.
"Some of us are trying to slee-work on forms, Nemuri." Shota's voice came through the wall, muffled but still sounding exhausted.
"Oh shush!" Midnight snapped back, her hands went to her hips and she thrust out her chin defiantly even though Eraserhead could not see her, I am a proud mother hen and I have got to strut~"
Aaaaand have one more with Izuku's quirk activated! Once I first saw mattybeach 's drawings for Izuku in "Hero by Choice" I knew I realllly wanted to commission him for Izuku's costume! Whatcha think?
