This makes me want to die. Flat out. Full stop. Die. Here I am, sitting next to Ryuko Tsuchikawa watching the bar like a hawk, the lights all bright and the drinks non-stop. Her blue eyes widen at some young guy making conversation with the bartender.

"I'mma go talk that tasty looking stud up." she says to the others, almost catlike in her movements.

"Good luck, Ryuko! Don't let it out of the bag! Pahahaha!" The woman across from her, Emi Fukukado, Miss Joke, cackles like a witch and I almost want to bang my head into the table.

There is no amount of liquor that can make this night go any faster, and all of this is because Aizawa and Mic had to bail on me. I knock back the cherry wine mixed with cola, the buzz barely tickling me when rising from the tunnel vision I've had burning into the karaoke machine in the corner and the 40-something year old pot bellied salaryman crooning into it.

When Freddie Mercury said, 'Do anything with my music, just don't make it boring' he didn't mean butcher Somebody to Love in barely hit high notes! But then, fake friendly and dolled up like she's still thirteen is the newest star to the bunch out of the four of us.

Yu Takeyama, platinum blonde hair and purple eyes with a dress that pretty much screams, 'LOOK AT ME, I'M HOT!', speaks to me.

"Yoo hoo, Kayama-san!" she exclaims with a happy grin, "There's some really cute guys out tonight! Oh wait, I forgot, you're too old for most of them!" that sends Fukukado onto the table again, losing her shit.

"Hey! I'm not that old, Takeyama! I don't see YOU mingling!" I snarl, "Plus it's none of your business what I do or who I spend my nights with!"

Fukukado laughs harder and all I can do is bury myself into the drink I have. She's already drunk, Ryuko's buzzed, and Takeyama is completely sober because she needs to 'watch her image'.

Fuck off with that shit. As I'm trying to enjoy the only good thing so far, the door swings open and there's a new pair strutting in from outside.

"See? I told ya, Koyurei! It's not that bad!" There's a girl with yellow green flames for hair leading in with a guy who looks like he wanted to be anywhere but here with a heavy black coat on and sharp, dull blue eyes.

His hair is wavy and… white with red splotches almost like someone got busy with the ketchup and it sprayed everywhere. Takeyama gasps.

"No way." her mouth drops open, "There's… oh my god, that's…"

He looks uncomfortable. Sitting ramrod straight at the bar with his jaw set and scowling at whoever met his gaze, his hands even on the bar surface, drumming nervously. He's buzzing with the energy of 'I don't want to be here, why in the HELL am I here?!'

Yu gets a… certain smile on her face and gets up, "I'm going to shoot my shot with Enavant!" she decides, fixing her hair and heading over to him. What happens is nothing short of a stonewall.

No matter what she tried, the boob jiggle, the compliments, nothing could budge him. Nothing but a cold stare meets her, and a soft but strong sounding, "No. Thank you." his voice rumbled with power but a steady calm.

Despite how jumpy and shivery he was. His friend went off to do some karaoke and probably dumped a five song run into it, singing some poppy number. Yu flounces back to us with a frustrated huff.

"Urgh! Everything I tried and he didn't budge?! What is he, stupid?!" when that gets to me, I get up.

"Takeyama, sit your ass down before you pop a gasket. Watch the master at work." She scoffs and Fukukado loses it AGAIN for the millionth time. Getting over there, he's sitting almost on guard, but there's something I notice about him.

He's sad. There's a heaviness to his shoulders, tired circles under his eyes gouged there kind of like Aizawa's. He looks at me. Shorter but still ramrod straight. His eyes meet mine and I almost melt down to nothing on the spot.

"Are you here to flirt with me?" his voice billows over me like a warm blanket. I almost want to cave and just say yes but that's not why I want to do this. He's scared, and sad, and probably wanting to go back home and cry or something.

"No. No, I just noticed how you're squirrelly, are you okay?" I ask, getting on the stool next to him with a smile.

"I'm fine." he denies, "Just… I've never been here before. All these people…" he drifts off with a soft expression of worry and fear, "They scare me."

"Well, preaching to the choir there…" I sigh, "My name's Nemuri,"

"Koyurei." he answers with a soft, barely-there smile. But I just focus on the area around us. Even though everything bothered me, Koyurei wasn't so bad. We both sit silently. The pregnant silence between us broken by him surprisingly enough.

"So, are you a hero too?" he asks.

"Yeah, R Rated (or R18 for other countries) Heroine: Midnight. You?" I order another drink, this time something stronger, and smile at him. He caves and orders… more soda.

Huh.

"The Shining Flame Hero: Enavant, means Onward in French." he smiles, "I know, it sounds like Endeavor, which… is the point!" he huffs and crosses his arms with a puff of blue fire from his mouth, cheeks reddening.

"You admire him, huh?" I lean close, seeing him look at me and drop the smile. His gaze sharpens and flames ignite on his face in an almost crown-like mask. His hair billows gently in the hot draft.

"No. I don't. I want to surpass him!" the thunder in his voice strikes like heat lightning and shakes with conviction. Deep down inside my heartbeat quickens, heat rushes to my cheeks and I cover my mouth with thoughts of that thunder being purred in my ear outside in the alley…

No, no no no, keep those thoughts down, Nemuri! I down the stronger drink and he looks almost longingly at the Karaoke machine towards the back of the joint. Patting his shoulder and grabbing his hand, I drag him along behind me to the machine. There's a lot of options, but surprisingly enough he takes the lead on it. The song he picks is Heroes by David Bowie, one of my personal favorites but when he starts singing… It's not bad. It's full of emotion, almost like he's coping with the fact something went horribly wrong.

But then he grabs my hand and we dance, not close, more like spinning. He's yelling like he'd do in the song, just yelling his head off and smiling. It's like I'm the only person in the world. But once the singing is done, he's right back to quiet again.

I pick Somebody to Love and it's just magic. I take the song like it's my own, Koyurei does the backing vocals, the entire bar joining in. But to me, it was like I finally found him. Right at the end of the song, he and I near-perfectly harmonize, breaking into giggles and rollicking our way out of the bar. We ended up at an open late fast food restaurant, the employees blowing a gasket at us.

"Enavant! Midnight! You two don't need to pay!" squeals a geeky fifteen year old like he's about to sing soprano, Koyurei holds up his hand. The kid's shorter than both of us and has an armadillo quirk.

"We'll pay. It's only fair for you all working so late." That makes the kid gawp even more. He's looking at him like he's from another planet. It's weird, because he's got the biggest reputation for being a hardass.

But back then, I didn't know what to expect from the son of Endeavor. He orders a big burger, I guess he's indulging because he's finally out of Daddy's watchful eye? Well, that's what I thought at first. In reality, he was nervous. Eating put things out of mind and well that was one of them. He chows down like it's the last meal he could ever have while I just ordered some ice cream.

"This'll fatten us up, yeah?" I tease.

"Indulge with me, Lady Nemuri." he answers with a pompous air to his voice, "Indulge and be merry!" Deep down, we both know the hero job sucks. Strict diets, people constantly watching every move you make like we're being stalked, stuff like that.

It sucks. I grin.

"Of course, Lord Koyurei~!" I bow my head, "Thank you for paying!" We practically descend on them like it's the last meal on earth. Eating, consuming, masticating. Both of us like ravenous wolves, indulging in the pure comfort of before the heroics called.

Or in his case...

They never let him go. Afterward, we paid and ended up walking together. The barely-there buzz fading and his steps are very... militant. Not like they're natural but if he's crushing the earth or a soldier marching to a soldier song.

Like my little brother did when he visited. As we wandered the brightly lit streets, his fingers lightly brushed my own. I remember looking at his face. His eyes, dazzling in the nightlife around us. Koyurei's soft humming of something... I think it was Tears for Fears? Still going through my mind. I noticed one thing that made me decide to make him mine.

His smile.

His gentle, rough hand wraps in mine, and I squeeze. One date turned into two. Two to three. Every time I wanted to see him smile, to hear that warm crackling voice pitch up in sheer happiness and laughter.

This was just the first night. The first time I ever felt like someone saw me for me. No heroism, no cameras, nothing but us.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I feel him press into me. His face buried into my long hair, hands around my stomach, the rough scar tissue on his arms brushing against my skin and my own scars.

Almost like a dream, there's a moment where I float, thinking of the possibilities. If we could just get over his shyness, if we could just get over that crushing shyness that keeps him from being with me...

We'd win. I see how close he gets to breaking every single day. How tired he is when he stumbles in and he's clearly lost all track of time. I roll over as best as I can, my fingers gently dancing through his hair, it's soft and downy. His eyes are closed, and he buries himself into my chest, his weight's comforting and gentle. When I told Aizawa and Yamada, my two seniors from way back in the beginning of my career about him, they said...

"Oh, Endeavor's kid? He's a real peace of work, Kayama." Aizawa had glared over his cup of coffee, "Overzealous, angry, and more like a weapon than a person." Of course that's a little harsh.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Aizawa! Don't scare Nemuri-chan away from her boyfriend!" Yamada snaps, "Listen, Nemuri-chan, you gotta be careful. Endeavor's a real piece of work, and Enavant's his special baby boy."

"Really? But from what I heard from him is that he doesn't really like his Dad all that much. N-not that he doesn't at all; but there's just that feeling, y'know?" I sputter, coming out of the memory to watch him sleep again.

They still warned me up and down and back and forth that he might hurt me. But there's nothing suggesting that at all. Sure, he's shy and nervous, and sometimes doesn't really get jokes...

But he's mine. That's the honest truth. I lean down and kiss him on the lips. He doesn't wake up, or shift at all. He's just snoozing away like he's deep asleep. Sometimes when I overuse my quirk I can't sleep at all.

I guess it's another one of those nights where that happens. It's my main drawback, insomnia. The one person who can put others to sleep can't put herself to sleep, how dryly ironic.

I try to roll him off me, but his arms wrap tighter around me, "Nooo..." he murmurs, "Nooo..."

I guess it's too comfy for him but I don't blame him at all. I brush his hair out of his face, that still young face barely out of being new. We met when he was twenty, and I was twenty-two.

But then I see the scars. Light and shimmering, playing spackled on his face like an artist that got too eager with the sealant. Rough scar tissue tapers down his neck, his arms, spiraling like the flames that ate at his baby-fat flesh back then had a mind of their own. His hands were mercifully spared, so was his middle and groin. I trace the scars on his arms, almost with a wonderous discovery. His body doesn't shudder as I wrap myself around him.

He's still so soft. Every touch I give him he leans into almost desperately. He bleeds out the vibes of a hurt man, of someone scared to give in to love and all that. But it's not just that. He acts like any second would be our last together. Every kiss, too. Every night he just wears his underwear to bed but that's because his body is venting out the excess heat or cold. I hold him close though and just relish being with him.

Out there, I'm Midnight the R-Rated slash R18 heroine. Lingerie, dildoes, condoms, even perfumes were her domain. Mine? Mine is to just be the vehicle for her. The sadism, the whips, the innuendoes...

All of it a carefully crafted persona, even my quirk Somnambulist is changed. It's not inducing sleep for a heightened sense of suggestion anymore, it's gendered to work better on guys. Midnight must always be horny, must always talk in innuendoes.

But Nemuri?

What about her? Laying in the arms of her latest 'fling' as they called it on those inane talk shows. 'Fling.' Right. Hah.

I want love. I want that love. That pure, safe feeling. The feeling I could take off the hero costume and the lipstick, dull down the sadism and the horniness just to be with someone. More than just a tryst, more than just a fling. I want romance, I want this dashing boy to sweep me off my feet and love me for me and not Midnight. So far, I found him in the most hurt man I've ever dated.

Koyurei Todoroki, Endeavor's heir apparent. The one that's going to be the king of all he surveys. But I can tell he doesn't want it at all. I mean, who would? He's been molded into a person he doesn't even want to be. So with me, he's figuring out who he wants to be. What he wants to do. I'll be right here and I'll be by his side. Because underneath that fear is someone I love. I'll do whatever it takes to see him become the man he wants to be. All I need to do is figure out how to help him get there.

At least I hope he's willing, because I won't hold his hand all the way there. For now though, I wrap myself around him. So small in my arms, so hurt, and so adorable. I found him.

I'm never going to let him go.