Chapter Text
The door to the classroom slid open with a slam. After months of this sort of entrance, few students in the class jumped in surprise at the sound. Midnight pouted at the poor reaction and sauntered over to the podium. Everyone quieted and gave her their attention. She moved swiftly and snapped her whip against the podium, giving everyone a small startle since she already had their attention. A satisfied smile spread across her face. “Alright, now that everyone is sufficiently titillated, we have a special class in store for you today. It could count as a type of modern hero history, but with more practical applications…” She trailed off and winked dramatically. She watched as several faces grew bright red, adding to her satisfaction. “For this exercise, we have a special room booked, please follow me.” She turned and started to make her way to the door. She paused thoughtfully as everyone began to move in time. “I’ll leave it up to you if you would like to bring materials to take notes, but since this will be practical, I expect everyone to be completely at attention…” She trailed off again, licking her lips for extra measure, before moving out the door and waiting for the class to congregate. She watched them gather, Iida helping organize the line of students, and led them down the twisting corridors of UA.
They reached a thin hallway lined with several doors. The class bottlenecked in the entrance to the hallway and she turned to address them, cracking her whip to get their muddled attention. “Here…” She gestured, waving her hand out making sure to curl her fingers invitingly. “…we have the UA interrogation rooms. Today I will be teaching you my favorite course, one that is sure to delight, seduction.” Everyone paled slightly in response.
Yaoyorozu was the first to speak up, “T-that can’t be appropriate! Is this really a necessary class for hero training?”
Midnight’s lips pursed, “But of course my dear. Not all hero work is cut and dry. Now that you are all in your third year, this is of course appropriate. I argued that we should have started you all younger, but for one reason or another, the other faculty did not agree with my sentiment.” Midnight allowed another pout to cross her features, before replacing it with an excited smile. “All hero work does not have to devolve into direct sparring matches. It all depends on a villain’s intent. Several of you have done specialty training in situations where a matter can be settled with no combat at all. Seduction is nothing more than another negotiation tactic. It is absolutely a vital skill that a hero may have ready in their arsenal. That is to say, however, that you may not find the need or the skill to use this type of negotiation, but it is my job as an instructor at UA to prepare you for any and all situations.” She finished her spiel dramatically with another crack of her whip. She observed the class and watched their various reactions that ranged from downright glee to absolute disgust. She let herself chuckle inwardly and moved toward one of the doors.
“So as typical police-style interrogation rooms, one of the rooms harbors the interrogation while the next room allows for surveillance.” Midnight let her hands gently caress each door as she passed. “I will be taking the main seat in the surveillance room, joined by the classmates not participating. We will have a single student go at a time. Since we are at odds, I believe that we shall have the boys go first. We will have one of you fine young gentleman enter the interrogation side of the room. Each room occupies a table and two chairs. Feel free to move them as you wish. We will have our lovely ladies enter one by one and the chosen boy will have his chance at seduction. There is no timer on attraction, but there are social cues which you all should hopefully be familiar with. I will judge the moment you have failed or succeeded and stop the exercise when sufficient. We will then send in the next participant and you can see if you can correct your previous mistake. After all the boys have gone, I believe then would be the best time to regroup and discuss the matter of what was right and wrong. We can compare all of your collected data at once. Oh,” Midnight brought a finger to her lips thoughtfully, “I almost forgot to mention, the girls will not be joining me in the interrogation room at this time. They will be kept in an adjacent room so each boy can have his chance at a renewed unknown attempt.” Several girls shuffled in discomfort.
Iida cleared his throat to garner attention. “Midnight-sensei, should we not get a lesson in the aforementioned tactics beforehand? We will hardly be successful without prior knowledge!”
“Hmmmm,” Midnight let out a long drawn out purr, “I would rather see your raw talent. You are all of age, you have many years studying and manifesting your quirk’s capabilities. Along the way you should have also been becoming more in tune with your body.” She moved her hands downward, making a languid gesture to her curves. “We will begin blind!” She announces clearly, silencing any further questions. “Boys if you will accompany me!” She turns, shifting her hips wide, gesturing for the boys to follow. Mineta moves the quickest to the front of the line. “Girls, please if you would like to wait in the room across the hall, please decide the order you would like to enter in. Repeat that same order as I call on you, alright?” Midnight asks sweetly as she opens the door to the monitoring half of the interrogation room fluidly. A few of the female classmates nod, while several are bright red.
The boys file in as Midnight holds the door open, observing them intently one by one as they pass. There are several dozen folding chairs set up and then a center chair, closest to the two-way mirror and a control panel. She takes her seat and swivels around to view the boys. “Alright then, show me who among you is a man among men!”
Mineta hops up before anyone else can react; she nods to him as he moves to the other half of the room. She takes a small clipboard and pen, readying herself. Midnight and the boys watch as Mineta slips into the other room and studies the layout, he uses a chair to hop up onto the table and makes several strength poses before settling in turned away from the door. Midnight presses a button on the control panel, activating a loud speaker attached to the room Mineta is in. He looks up and zeroes in on the speaker.
“Are you ready?” She asks warmly.
“You have no idea!” He growls back hungrily.
She let’s go of the button and flicks on another, seemingly attached to the girl’s room. “Alright, the first one of you may enter now.” She says in a warm, inviting tone.
Mineta turns his back away from the door again and steels himself. His thoughts betray him and dance wildly. As he hears the door make the slightest creek to enter, he turns, revealing a bit of drool slipping down his face. Ashido jumps back slightly at the sight in horror.
“Fail,” Midnight’s voice comes in clearly over the intercom.
Mineta glares back at the speaker, indignantly, “I didn’t even get a chance!”
“Like you had one,” Ashido retorts with disgust before closing the door.
Midnight moves over to the girl’s intercom, “I just want to remind you girls not to discuss your experience, but we are ready for our next participant.” She switches the intercom off and listens to the boys laughing loudly amongst themselves. Mineta tries to readjust himself in a similar back turned position to little success. His next three failures happen rapidly in the exact same way. He tries facing the door, but again his thoughts dance before him. Process of elimination leaves his last two targets as Uraraka or Yaoyorozu. The thought of Yaoyorozu entering and blushing before him excites him to the point that he starts panting.
“Fail!” Midnight’s voice rings through the room, the laughter of the boys bolsters in the background.
Mineta is ready to rip the speaker from the walls, “NO ONE EVEN ENTERED THE ROOM!” He screams at the object with small tears in his eyes.
“Exactly.” Midnight comes over the intercom again.
Through the muffled door he can hear Yaoyorozu’s voice, “I could hear you panting before I even entered…” He can almost hear her shudder.
He sits upon the table defeated and barely even registers when Uraraka enters the room, ensuring his sixth and final failure. He slinks back to the other half of the room completely defeated. As he returns the energy of the monitor room has shifted completely. Midoriya is scribbling down notes while simultaneously flipping back to prior pages to review what he has already written. Iida hovers over him studying the notes, making small additional comments when he feels necessary. Todoroki and Tokoyami seem deep in thought, staring at the glass. Koda is in a tizzy. Sato and Shoji are right next to him trying to calm his nerves. Ojiro is trying to stretch his nerves out in a corner. Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima all flank Bakugou talking strategy. Bakugou is trying his best to check out of the conversation, but they keep turning to him with questions that, even though he brushes off, they continue to barrage him with. Midnight observes the lot with an amused look. Her eyes are peeled away when Aoyama stands up triumphantly.
“I will show you all! I speak the language of love, so allow me to give you all a shining experience!” He shouts, all but dancing out of the room. The boys scramble to their seats, not wanting to miss a moment. As he enters the designated space, he moves the tables and chairs out of way and positions himself gracefully in the center of the room. “I am ready!” He shouts. As before, Ashido enters first and is almost blinded by his brilliance as she enters. She is able to make her way in, but as the glare dies down, she catches the ballet-like position Aoyama is in and bursts out laughing. Aoyama’s smile does not falter, but he immediately earns a failure. As the girls continue to enter, he turns up the brilliance earning himself the second unanimous failure. As he stands shocked in the center of the room, his smile continues to power through. “Ah, but what is a beautiful rose without the prick of its thorn…” he says forlornly before returning to the monitor room.
Iida perks up next, ready to set his own example. He also earns a unanimous failure for being too direct with his female counterparts. Defeated as he returns, Ojiro flexes himself nervously and, with a now or never attitude, charges to the adjacent room. His nervous shuffling trips him up and he earns a similar loss. Kaminari decides it’s his time to shine. He’s studied through his material and pummels each girl with a series of cheesy pick-up lines, disqualifying him the second he finishes each quip. Todoroki moves next, his cold demeanor does not earn him immediate disqualification. The girls are intrigued by his mysterious air and he garners three failures and three successes. Buoyant from someone finally passing, Sato moves next. He re-sets the table and chairs and takes a seat, setting out a cake he had prepared for afterschool training. He is able to acquire the first unanimous victory. As he enters, floating on air, he gently ushers Koda off next. Koda nervously enters the room and pushes the chairs back from the table. He stands on the other side of it, bracing himself against the door. As Ashido enters, he tips it, barricading himself behind it. No one is able to convince him to move, so he garners a full set of failures. Shoji moves next, he speaks calmly and reassuringly to the girls. He is able to gather another half vote. Midoriya slams his notebook shut as Shoji returns, he believes he has gathered enough data on successes and failures to do his part. He moves into the other room, but the sudden emptiness of it throws him off. He is a mumbling mess of facts as each girl enters. It even puts Uraraka off, ending in a full set of failures. Sero’s happy demeanor earns him half marks. Tokoyami comes on a bit too strongly, reciting dark poetry earning him a single mark from Jiro. She muses to him that she may use the idea for a future punk song. Kirishima nudges Bakugou sharply in the ribs.
“What’s up, man? Are you gonna go last?” The redhead asks him through sharp teeth.
“I’d rather not do this dumb shit at all. I don’t give a fuck what Midnight says, this isn’t even kind of practical,” the blond growls in response. Kirishima pouts and then shrugs it off, moving next. His attitude comes off as too cocky and earns him a straight series of failures. As he returns, the boys wait expectantly for Bakugou to move but he stays seated lazily.
“Bakugou,” Midnight warns in a harsh tone. Bakugou returns her gaze harshly. Her hand twitches and shifts her whip slightly. At the sight of it Bakugou scowls and stands with a stomp, his metal chair screeching against the floor in protest. He continues his march out of the room and into the other, grumbling to himself the whole way. Once on the other side of the glass, he kicks heavily at the table and chairs, sending them crashing into the opposite wall. He turns and glares at the door when ready. Ashido enters first and nervously glances between Bakugou and the wreckage.
“Point your freaking fucking eyes somewhere else, Pinky!” He growls at her, and she glowers in return.
“Fail,” Midnight’s voice clicks sharply over the intercom. The other girls come in and before they can even gauge the situation Bakugou shouts a myriad of insults ushering them away. He glares directly into the mirror as if he can see through it to Midnight, challenging her. Uraraka enters in the final position and Bakugou widens his stance ready.
“Fuck off Uraraka, let’s just end this shit,” he growls at her. She stares at him with disappointment and starts to turn. She hears the intercom click on, but before Midnight can project her final fail, Uraraka interjects.
“You know, I’m surprised Bakugou,” she tells him simply. He glowers at her in response. Midnight raises a brow inquisitively. “I just can’t believe you would let yourself purposely lose at anything. I thought Katuski Bakugou was supposed to be number one, regardless of the challenge.”
“Are you kidding me right now, Uraraka?” He stalks toward her predatorily, “You missed a word, space case. I want to be the number one hero. I don’t need this manipulative shit to get me there. I can do that on my actual skills alone.”
She straightens her back to keep her composure under his intense gaze. “I know you’ve calmed down a bit over the years, but even you should know that clawing your way up on skills alone leaves a lot to be desired. Remember how on edge everyone was when Endeavor took the number one spot? No one wants an unlikeable hero to be number one,” She challenges, her mind reeling. She had gone into the whole exercise nervous at the thought of her male classmates hitting on her. As the exercise progressed she found it fun to watch them try, but something about Bakugou’s complete apathy triggered something in her. He threw himself whole heartedly into everything he did, something she was envious of in him and several of her other classmates. The thought of watching him give up without even trying disappointed her at a fundamental level and lit a fire in her.
Bakugou watched her, mouth slightly agape. He blinked a few times at the thought and moved his eyes back to her. “Well then, if you’re such a fucking expert of bullshit niceties then show me!” He snapped, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Let’s see, maybe you’ll have a career in image consulting,” he spit with venom.
She refused to back down, even though she knew he was provoking her on purpose. She glanced at the mirror and nodded once, hoping Midnight would let her continue, she really wanted to put Bakugou in his place. She turned back to him, her competitive nature seeping out, “If you mean not being an ass, then allow me to teach you!” She stepped forward and shoved him slightly. He gaped at her and started to hunch down to retaliate. “Let me prove you wrong,” she hissed. He glowered at her.
“Kick your ass without even having to do anything? You’re on.” He responded impudently. She stepped up to him again.
“Ok, stand up a little straighter,” He obliged slowly. She gently put her leg out and kicked at his knee gently. He cursed her under his breath, she shot him a glare. “Knees forward, try not to put on your usual ‘I’m gonna kick your ass’ Bakuaura. See if you can drop it for…” she taps her chin in thought, “… more of an ‘I don’t care’ or ‘I’m above you’ aura.” He thinks over her statement carefully before adjusting his stance. He looks more approachable now, but it could be better. “I don’t need you to smile, but can you put on a neutral expression instead of glaring daggers.” He gives her one last harsh glare, before closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. She watches him focus on his center and when he opens his eyes again, his face is neutral. She blinks at him stunned slightly. “That’s much better…” He tilts his head, eyes narrowing slightly in curiosity at her reaction. She scrunches her nose up and he returns to a neutral face.
“Ok now approach me like you don’t care, but with purpose.” She steps back from him several feet and waits.
“You’re directions are shit,” he says simply, but takes a lazy step toward her.
“Doesn’t seem like it,” she responds deep in thought, “Wait wait, we have to work with your character!”
He stops and looks at her incredulously. “My character?”
She nods, “This has to be an extension of yourself. If it’s not then everyone will see right through it. You can throw on the air of superiority because you think you’re better than everyone. Making your face neutral is something that will just take practice, you’ll never get anywhere with a vicious scowl, but you can definitely scowl a little bit. Focus more on keeping your eyes open though, use that straight laser focused gaze of yours, but don’t squint. You want to make the girl feel like she is the only one you see in the room, not your only target to kill.” He thinks over what she says carefully and nods curtly.
“So when you walk over… no when you stalk over, make sure you don’t have that killing intent. Instead having it as focused intent! And you need to say something… something that you would say… but not you you,” she studies him with slight distaste. Her eyes light up and she looks him over. “Say something like…” She pouts and puffs her chest out imitating him the best she can, “’Why are you always surrounded by so many other extras? It’s annoying to be around so many people…” Her chest deflates and she thinks. “But you have to end it with something that singles her out.”
The wheels in Bakugou’s head start turning and he begins to stalk forward while she’s in thought. When his first foot moves forward it jars her out of her mind and she’s caught in his vermilion gaze. “Why are you always surrounded by so many extras? They’re all so annoying…” He comes in closer and she can feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. She feels herself step back as he moves forward. “It’s so hard to get you alone. Why do you waste your time on those dumbasses…?” He lets his last question trail off with a husky voice. Her back bumps into the wall gently and he steps right up in front of her. She can see his eyes up close now and is caught by his gaze like a deer in headlights.
Her mouth, thankfully, isn’t caught and keeps directing. “Now wall-slam…” She gets out in a small voice. He slams his right hand into the wall right next to her head. She can feel her heart thudding loudly in her ears. She suddenly regrets everything she’s done up until this moment. Years of romance novels and movies suddenly flood her mind. She has fantasized about a moment like this many times, it was always with someone she care not name, or some nameless prince, but now she has led Bakugou into playing out one of her fantasies. Her mouth begins to move again without her knowledge, “When you suddenly corner a girl like this, it can startle them. I know you relish in scaring people so that should be easy enough for you. The finishing move is saying something sweet in a whisper right into her ear…” She trails off, her mouth slightly agape. He leans in gently, continuing their locked gaze.
“You should ditch the losers and hang out with me instead…” He murmurs to her. She can feel his breath on her ear and a small gasp-like moan escapes her lips. They both twitch at the sound and go bright red.
“Success!!!” Midnight shouts happily over the intercom and Bakugou jumps back from Uraraka. The door suddenly bursts open and all the boys flow into the room.
“Holy shit, Uraraka that was incredible! I can’t believe you made Bakugou palatable!!!” Kirishima booms.
“Ahh!! Wall slam!! It’s the oldest trick in the book, why didn’t I think about it!?” Kaminari gripes, ruffling his hair with slight static discharge.
“You are incredible! You should be an instructor!” Iida shouts mechanically. “I envy your ability to reign in even our most unruly of classmates!”
“Working with someone’s character, that’s genius! Do you have any idea on our characters?” Midoriya says sheepishly, ready to take notes.
Uraraka nervously shrinks under all the praise and Bakugou slips out of the room. He stands in the hall nervously, trying to catch his breath. When the door to the girl’s room bursts open and the girls file into the interrogation room, Bakugou swiftly turns his back to them, trying to scrub the residual blush off his face.