Dancing Shadows

Chapter Fifteen

Bakugou's POV-
   "Bakugou, let's take a break." Shitty Hair says as he takes a seat of the ground. "While we do, tell me, how did your dance class go this morning?"

   "It was fucking stupid." I respond as I sit down as well.

   "You find a date yet?" He asks before he starts chugging his water.

   "Sort of."

   "What do you mean?"

   "I'm taking a friend is what I mean, Shitty Hair."

   He sets his water bottle down and looks towards me curiously. "Who?"

   I sigh, already knowing that he is going to make a big deal out of this and frustrate the hell out of me. "Cherry."

   "Ellowyn? I knew it!"

   "You don't know shit Kirishima. Didn't you hear me say that we were only going as friends?"

   "Oh, whatever. I can tell you think that she's cute. You look at her a certain way, Bakugou."

   "What the fuck are you talking about?"

   He rolls his eyes. "Are you really so oblivious? Do you not realize that she is the only one you actually go out of your way to listen to? And even when she annoys you, you choose to talk with her. You just walk away or ignore everyone else. Plus, she is one of the only people who you will actually admit is your friend."

   "I admit that you're my friend," I grumble in response. "My chaotic, nosy idiot of a friend, but still my friend."

   He thinks for a moment. "You have me beat there."

   "Of course I do, you fucking idiot, because I don't like her. Anyways, who are you taking? Pikachu?"

   His previously ecstatic mood is gone all of a sudden. "Actually, Denki doesn't think he wants to go with me."

   I'm actually surprised by that. Those two are constantly all over each other, so much so that they try to do everything together. "Why?"

   "His family is not very accepting of him at all, specifically when it comes to us being together. He's nervous about going to the dance together since there are going to be reporters and pro-heroes there and our relationship is going to become very public very quickly. He wants to keep us private."

   "What about you?"

   He shrugs and offers me a half-smile. "I respect him enough to respect his choice. I do want to be able to have a public relationship at some point, but I'm okay right now."

   I know that he understands what Kaminari is going through as well, at least on some level. Since Kirishima and I have been friends since the beginning of this whole fucking mess we call the hero course, he's told me about some of the bullshit people used to say to him in middle school. Even though it isn't exactly the same thing, hearing his stories made me feel like a legitimate prick for all the shit I used to put Deku through.

   "That's real manly of you, Kirishima." 

   He's right back to fucking smiling again as soon as I say that, except it's more of a bittersweet smile this time around. "Thanks, Bakugou." He pulls his phone out of his bag to check the time. "It's almost two o'clock and I'm getting hungry. Wanna head back to the dorms?"

   I nod. "Yeah, let's go. I'm ready for lunch too."

...

   When Shitty Hair and I get back to the dorms, we walk in to see Cherry, Pikachu, Flat Face, and Raccoon Eyes all sitting on the couch. Cherry waves at us before turning back to the group. "So you just have to match the correct nucleotide bases."

   "And A pairs with T, and G pairs with C, right?" Mina responds.

   "Perfect!" Cherry responds.

   "What are you guys doing?" Hair-for-Brains asks as he sits down next to Sparky, completely forgetting the idea of eating lunch altogether.

   "Bio homework," Pikachu replies without even looking away from his paper. "Ellowyn is helping us."

   I head to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich before coming back and sitting on the couch next to Cherry. "What the fuck are you teaching these extras and how are they actually understanding it so easily?"

   "I'm telling them about the stuff we learned in biology last week about genetic code and they are understanding it because I am being patient, Bakugou." She says in a playful tone.

   "Oh, fuck off."

   She just laughs quietly to herself in response before turning to talk to everyone else again. "Okay, is everyone finished?"

   "Yeah, we all finished." Flat Face says. "Thanks for the help."

   "Of course." She says with a small smile. "I'm going up to my room for a bit now. See you all later."