Kayama Nemuri likes to stay after school on Mondays and Fridays, she makes it clear to all of her classes that they can come after school and talk to her if they have any issues or just want someone to listen. Somehow she's found herself the go to confidant of a lot of the LGBTQ+ students. It all started when one girl came to her specifically early in her teaching career and apparently she did a good job? Good enough that rumors spread and more kids started to timidly make their way to her office anyway.
She'll often wind up giving out resources and suggestions to kids scared of coming out or confused about who they are. Even the kids trying to figure out their gender identity will often find themselves in her office after hours, she splits that unofficial role with Thirteen. For whatever reason, some kids are more comfortable going to her than Hound Dog for some things and they've come to a mutual agreement. She goes to a few conferences and studies up a little every year and he doesn't kick up a fuss about all the kids going to her for what basically amounts to counselling.
She's gotten pretty good at this whole thing if she says so herself and she's seen a LOT over the years. But that doesn't stop her from being just a little bit surprised every once in a while.
It usually takes a while for her to build enough of a rapport for 1st years to build up the courage to visit her, with villain attacks and everything else 1-A has been dealing with it takes a bit longer than normal for her to see her first visitor from that class.
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She gets her first 1-A visitor after their weeklong internships. She can't say she expected the first person from 1-A to walk into her little office to be Todoroki Shouto, but there are stranger things she supposes. She watches with interest as he closes the door and sits politely in the chair in front of her desk.
He makes eye contact... and keeps making eye contact. Is this some sort of new fangled intimidation tactic? Is he nervous? She normally lets the kids talk first but maybe she should start things off this time? Thankfully he puts her out of her misery by clearing his throat and starts off very seriously.
"Kayama-sensei, thank you for meeting with me today."
Why does it sound like she's in a performance review meeting?
"Of course Todoroki-kun, I'm here to help! Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"
"Yes, it has recently come to my attention that I'm rather... uninformed in social matters so I was hoping you could assist me."
"I'll do my best!"
"Thank you, I have a question. Is it weird to want to kiss your friends?"
what.
It's said so seriously it takes her a few extra seconds to process and confirm that yes, she heard right. Todoroki Shouto asked if it was weird to want to kiss your friends. Well, in for a penny as they say.
"Do you want to kiss a... specific friend Todoroki-kun?"
"yes."
That's all she's gonna get isn't it? She was kind of hoping to get confirmation her assigned partners on the last art project was right. She's always enjoyed doing a little subtle matchmaking. Nothing too blatant, just enough orchestrated time together to possibly jumpstart a relationship into something more. Oh well, Nemuri takes a minute to scrutinize the boy in front of her. At first glance he seems unflappable but there's little things in his expression, like the subtle tightness of his jaw, and the way his hands clench and unclench slightly that reveal that he's not as unbothered as he seems.
"Well..." she starts carefully, "I think what you might be experiencing is a crush Todoroki-kun."
The only visible reaction she gets is a single surprised blink before he schools his expression once again. Time to show why she's the best unofficial counselor this school's ever seen.
"Have you ever given any thought to your sexuality Todoroki-kun?"
He inclines his head slightly and Nemuri runs with it. Giving him a rundown on orientation and the differences between sexual and romantic attraction.
She has never felt more awkward explaining anything to a teenager before. She's confident on the outside but he's giving her close to nothing to work with. She can't get a word out of him so it feels a lot like rambling to a brick wall. He just sits there, back completely straight and barely nodding at the appropriate times.
But she's a professional and so she makes the best of it. If she's reading him right she's pretty sure she's gotten through to him since his eyes grow slightly wider by the end of her explanation. When it's over he gets up, bows, and thanks her for her time on the way out as polite as ever.
That might be the end of it, just figuring himself out a little might have been enough. She's seen plenty of kids chose not to act on their feelings for one reason or another and she just hopes their very one-sided talk helped him in the end.
She puts it out of her mind until a few weeks later when she turns the corner of a hallway to see a very pleased looking Todoroki holding hands with a furiously blushing Midoriya. Oh, to be young again. She turns and takes a different route to the teacher's lounge, no need to embarrass the kiddos just yet.