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Nemuri supposes that her fondness for Todoroki all started after the first internships when she saw Todoroki on the street one day.
She was just done with buying groceries when she saw him on the street. He was kneeling down petting a stray cat with a soft smile on his face.
The cat was on his left side, probably because of his fire quirk making him warm on that side. She recognized the cat, it's the cute little one with soft white fur despite it living on the streets that likes to hiss at her whenever she lays eyes on it.
She couldn’t help but coo at how adorable the two were being. She had never seen either of them look so soft and gentle before, it really made her want a kid and cat. God, she really needs to bring up adoption with Emi soon.
Ah. Speaking of Emi, she should really bring the groceries home.
Taking one last glance at the gentle pair, Nemuri continued walking back to her home.
Ever since the dorms got implemented, Nemuri would visit the 1-A dorms often and watch over whatever hang out session the girls were having at that time.
The dorms were always lively and homey whenever she visited, it was as if 1-A was one big whole family. She wouldn’t be surprised if they do consider each other as one, considering everything they’ve been through together.
It’s currently a Friday night, and that’s when the girls stay in the living room and hang out. Nemuri was just sitting in one of the couches on her phone when Ashido spoke up.
“Hey Todoroki-kun! Wanna join us?”
She looked up behind her and saw said boy’s curious stance freeze up at seemingly being caught.
“I- Well, this is a girls night, right? I shouldn’t..” He trailed off, unsure and about to leave.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Jirou spoke up. “Join us if you want, Kaminari-kun and Midoriya-kun join us sometimes. Plus, I felt the same way as you do too.” Those last words seem to have a knowing tone that everyone doesn’t understand but they all nodded in agreement.
“Oh, okay.” is all Todoroki said before he decided to sit down next to Nemuri. “Please just continue what you were doing.”
The girls seemed satisfied at that and went to continue whatever it was they were discussing.
Nemuri observed the young boy as he stared at Hagakure painting Uraraka’s nails in silent curiosity. She hummed and asked, “Todoroki dear, do you want to paint your nails?”
He looked at the older woman in surprise and confusion. “But.. Isn’t nail polish a girl thing? I was never allowed to have them. I’m a guy.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “No dear, it can be anyone’s thing. Society shouldn’t dictate what you want to do. If you want to wear nail polish, you wear nail polish. It’s as simple as that.”
“Oh. I see.” The young boy nodded and furrowed his brows as he thought. “Yes, then. To the nail polish thing.”
She smiled and patted him on the head, causing him to squeak in surprise. Ah, how adorable! “Alright then, dear!”
She turned to the girls and got their attention. “Girls, what colors do we have for nail polish?”
“We have red, light blue, dark blue, white, dark green, purple, and black!” Yaoyorozu chimed. “Pink is being used by Hagakure-san and Uraraka-san right now.”
“Thank you, dear!” She then turned to Todoroki. “Which would you like, darling?”
He blinked in surprise. “..I get to choose? I.. I guess black is alright.”
Nemuri hummed. “Good choice, dear!” She turned back to the girls. “Can I get the black nail polish?”
Asui nodded and gave it to her. “Here, kero.”
“Thank you, dear.” Nemuri grabbed it and looked at Todoroki. “Just show your hands to me like how you saw Uraraka-san do earlier.”
“Okay.” Todoroki said. “Thank you, Midnight-sensei.”
Nemuri chuckled. “It’s no problem, dear. But just call me Kayama, it’s not school hours right now.”
“Okay, Kayama-san.”
That night ended with Nemuri watching as the young Todoroki went to his room with a small smile on his face as he looked at his newly painted black nails.
Nemuri had decided to do a little shopping at the mall when she ran into a few of the students from 1-A.
It was only four of them, Ashido and Kaminari were chatting excitedly while Jirou and Todoroki were listening in silence. It seemed that everyone except the quiet boy were holding shopping bags.
“Oh! Kayama-san!!” Ashido seemed to have noticed her and waved animatedly, which made Nemuri chuckle and walk over to them.
When she got closer she noticed that the blonde and dual haired boys were holding hands with the latter having that curious look on his face again. She smiled and waved. “Hello, dears. You four are shopping too?”
Kaminari nodded. “Yep! We’ve been looking for new outfits for all of us! Shouto’s the only one who hasn’t found anything he liked yet!” Shouto quietly nodded at that.
“Ah!” Nemuri smiled. “Would you mind some adult supervision then? I’m doing the same thing!”
“Sure thing, miss!” Ashido grinned. “The next shop we’re going to next is just nearby!” Once she said that, she immediately went off in the direction of said shop, followed by the other three kids.
Nemuri chuckled and followed the four.
Once they reached the shop, the kids agreed to split off and meet up at the entrance once they’re done. Kaminari let go of Todoroki’s hand and sprinted off into the men’s section while the two girls walked off to the women’s section. While the girls were walking away, Jirou looked back and stared at Todoroki for a few seconds before looking back and walking away. It was a bit strange, in Nemuri’s opinion, she noticed that the girl had the same knowing look from before too.
She brushed it off and looked at Todoroki, who had a conflicted yet curious look on his face as he looked at where Ashido and Jirou walked off.
“Todoroki dear.” She softly spoke. “Is something wrong?”
The boy looked at her. “Um..” He looked down and fidgeted with his shirt. “Can.. uh..”
Nemuri softly smiled. “Hey, it’s alright. I won’t judge.” She said as she patted him on the head, which caused him to squeak. “You can tell me.”
“Can anyone wear skirts and dresses..? Denki bought a few earlier..” He asked with a hint of worry and curiosity. “Is it like the nail polish?” He tilted his head a bit. Ah, what an adorable kid!
Nemuri chuckled at the last part. “Yes, dear. Anyone can wear skirts and dresses. If you want to buy one, then buy one, dear.”
“Thank you, Kayama-san.” The young boy quickly brightened at that and immediately walked off to the women’s section.
Nemuri’s smile widened and she went to go look for clothes on her own.
Once she was done and went back to the entrance, she saw the girls watching Kaminari cheering about how Todoroki finally found something he liked and how adorable his smile is, to which her kid just blushed and nodded at whatever the electric boy said.
Nemuri was glad Todoroki is slowly learning how to express himself. She was willing to help her kid as many times as he needed.
“Emi!” Nemuri yelled as she wrapped her arms around her wife and gave her a kiss. “What a surprise to see you, my dear!”
Emi laughed and returned the hug. “I just missed you so much, Nem! Living in an apartment with no one around anymore is just too lonely! I felt like I was gonna die! Being deprived of my wife like that!”
“Yes, I missed you too my darling but unfortunately safety measures call for the teachers to live on campus, we both know that.” She shook her head at the jokester’s antics, chuckling a little.
“Oh no.” “Fukukado!”
The two women turned around and saw Shouta and Hizashi, with the former having a tired expression on his face while the latter had a huge grin.
“Hey, hey! Well if it isn’t Yamada and the most beautiful black cat in existence~” The green-haired woman winked at Shouta, which made said man groan and the other two laugh.
“You’re a lesbian with a wife, who is literally right there, why are you doing this?” The man groaned.
Nemuri hummed and pretended to be in deep thought. “Well, I dunno. It’s quite funny, no?”
“Absolutely not.”
Hizashi chuckled and patted his husband on the shoulder. “Alright, alright. Enough now.” He turned towards Emi. “Have you heard from Nemuri yet?”
Emi blinked and tilted her head in confusion. “Heard what?”
“She’s got a kid!” Hizashi exclaimed.
What.
“Huh?! I didn’t get a kid!” Nemuri yelled in shock. “What are you talking about!”
“Todoroki.” Shouta huffed out.
“That ice and fire kid?!” Emi yelled this time. “Why didn’t you tell me you got a kid, Nem! I could’ve met him sooner!” She whined.
“That’s because I don’t!” Nemuri denied. “Todoroki is just a student I care about! NOT my kid.”
“You’ve cooed about how adorable he was and how you wished you had a kid like him for 10 minutes straight in the teacher’s lounge once.” Shouta deadpanned. “That’s not just a student you care about anymore. That’s your kid.”
“Ugh! Traitors! All of you!” She huffed. “Fine! But can you blame me?! He does this adorable squeak whenever I decide to pat him on the head and he always has this curious look on his face whenever he has a question to ask me! It’s so cute! And he’s so soft and gentle with cats! How could you not want him as your kid?!”
Emi gasped. “Oh, that is so adorable! I want to meet him ASAP!”
“Absolutely not!” Nemuri immediately disagreed. “It’s 11pm! He could be sleeping right now! Todoroki’s a kid, he needs all the sleep he could get!”
Shouta immediately raised an eyebrow at that. “It’s the weekend, no one in 1-A is gonna be asleep at 11pm.”
Hizashi nodded. “Especially someone who’s close to Kaminari, no doubt he’s trying to convince Todoroki to play some video games right now.” He added.
“Well then we don’t want to interrupt those two hanging out!” Nemuri said. “Todoroki needs to learn to be a kid! Let’s not interfere with that.”
Emi laughed. “I’m pretty sure you just don’t want me embarrassing you in front of your kid, but alright, I won’t go to their dorms.”
Nemuri sighed in relief and after that, things calm down and the four continue to chat for a few minutes more before they all head to bed.
She supposed she does think of Todoroki as her kid.
All this and more had led to this important moment during a regular lunch period on a regular school day.
Nemuri was bored and had nothing to do since she finished her paperwork so she decided to walk around the school hallways until she saw Todoroki sitting alone on one of the staircases.
He had that curious and contemplative look he had every once in a while that seemed to happen more often as time went on. It seemed he was thinking quite hard about something.
It made her concerned so she decided to walk over and sit beside him. “Is everything alright dear?” She quietly asked.
“Ah!” Todoroki slightly jumped when she spoke. “Oh, hello Kayama-san.” He greeted her, a bit embarrassed.
“Hello, dear.” She chuckled. “Are you alright? You looked very deep in thought earlier.”
“Ah, well..” He furrowed his brows, trying to find the right words. “Jirou.. She told me a few things.”
“Oh? What about it?” Nemuri asked.
“Is it..” He bit his lip. “Is it true that even when you’re born as.. a boy.. that you can feel more like a girl?”
Ah. So it’s that type of conversation, one that she’s had multiple times before with other few “boy” students she used to have. She chuckled and answered their question. “Yes, dear. Some people feel happier as a different gender than they were born. It’s normal and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
They looked at her in shock. “I.. I always thought I was weird for not being like father or my brothers..” They looked down. “And Fuyumi always said I was far quieter and more gentle than them, she even joked that I felt more like a little sister than a little brother sometimes. That.. felt nice actually. Even in UA, I never really felt like a “man”. Not like Bakugou, or Kirishima, or Iida.”
Nemuri hummed and nodded, listening to Todoroki’s words, smiling to encourage them to speak more.
“Then I.. joined that girls hangout and it didn’t feel weird like it did when I hung out with other guys. I felt like I belonged for once. And the nail polish made me happy. It was strange. But not in a bad way.” They softly spoke. “Then in the mall, I looked for skirts to buy.. And when I tried them on in the dressing room, I felt.. so happy. I didn’t understand why I was so happy and why I felt more like myself than before..”
They took a deep and shaky breath. “And then a few days later, Jirou asked me why I wasn’t wearing the clothes I bought. I just.. Even though you told me that it was okay to wear one, I didn’t understand why I felt so happy back then so I didn’t know whether I should actually wear them.” They start to fidget with their tie. “I told Jirou and she told me that she used to feel the same way. That she thought for a while now that maybe I’m like her..”
“That I’m..” Todoroki paused and slightly trembled. “That.. I’m.. a girl. That this weird feeling I had my whole life was because.. I didn’t feel like a boy. That I was happy because I felt like a girl for once…” She looked back up at the teacher, tears threatening to spill out. “That’s.. Okay? Is that okay? You said it’s okay, so it is, right?”
Nemuri softly laughed and patted the young girl on the head, causing her to squeak. “Of course, dear. It’s okay to feel like that, there’s nothing wrong with becoming the person you truly are deep inside your heart. I’ll always be here to remind you that, alright? There is nothing wrong with you, Todoroki-san.”
At those last words, tears finally fell down Todoroki’s face which made Nemuri gently wrap her arms around the young girl.
No matter how many times this has happened with Nemuri and another young student, she will always be there to guide and comfort them.
“Shouto..”
“Hm..? What was that dear?”
“You can call me Shouto..”
“I’ll always be here for you, Shouto dear.”
Including Shouto.