|| Sunlight || k. bakugou x oc || mha x oc ||

• Chapter Twenty-Three •

Bakugou POV

This was a fucking mistake. I hastily throw on a baggy shirt and an old pair of sweats. I have no idea what people wear to a dance class. I kick on my shoes, toss an electrolyte drink in my gym bag, and run out the door. To my surprise, Kai waits calmly on my driveway.

"Ready?"

"This is stupid."

"It's too late to back out now." She shrugs, "You wanted to learn my fighting style? This is the first thing I started doing."

"When did you start dancing, anyways?" I frown. I don't need her making a fool of me in front of an entire class of experienced dancers.

"Basically since I could walk. A great way to train a little kid in basic coordination. When I turned five, I started training in martial arts as well. The two went hand-in-hand surprisingly well." She hastily adds on, "Don't worry about the class though. You won't be the only beginner. If anything, I'll struggle the most out of anyone in the class."

"That makes no sense."

"I'm blind, dumbass. Generally speaking, dance is figured out through visual learning. It takes me a lot longer than most people to figure out choreography." She scoffs slightly, seeming irritated at that fact. I guess I'd never thought about that. Dance is a visual art, so trying to learn how to create visual art without seeing it is near impossible.

"Tch. I'll be your eyes for you, then. I can at least try, so we both don't look like fucking amateurs in there."

A small smile tugs at her lips, "Thanks, Bakugou." Moments like these always throw me off. Her sarcastic tone softens into something more genuine. She calls me by my real name instead of those shitty nicknames she's come up with for me. And her expression warms too. Most of our interactions were of the sarcastic, borderline enemies side of things. When she turns them into something genuine, it feels strange. How do I react to this?

I shrug and look away, "I just don't want to look like a complete idiot, with an even more idiotic partner." I clear my throat, "But I'll be the best in the class by the end. I'm always the best." She snorts and rolls her eyes, but doesn't say anything.

Hiro POV

Everyone's super excited about this dance class, taught by a famous street-pop dancer who incorporates her jumping quirk into her dancing. Not ten minutes before the class starts, a pair rushes through the door. They look about my age, no older than sixteen. The spiky-haired blonde doesn't look like he wants to be there, but the girl seems eager to be here. She's pretty.
   
Seeing as I'm the resident street-dancer of the group, I walk over to introduce myself. Putting on my best smile, I offer a polite bow to them, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Hiroshi Yamada. But I go by Hiro, please feel free to call me that. I specialize in street dance and freestyle, so let me know if you guys are having any trouble." The blonde scoffs and glares at me, but the girl punches him in the arm.

"Thank you for the offer, Hiro. I'm Kai Himiko and this is Katsuki Bakugou. Please ignore him, he can be kind of rude." She gives a wry smile. I laugh at her comment.

"I assume you signed up for the short set of classes because of the teacher?"

"Yes. I've heard so much about Miss Sara Nishimura, I wanted to experience it for myself." She puts her bag in an empty cubby before removing her jacket and setting it on top. Similar to her partner, she wears a baggy tee and sweats.

"So.." I glance between her and her sulking partner, "How'd you guys decide to partner up for this?"

She shrugs and gives me an obnoxiously obscure answer, "We're classmates."

"That's neat. My dance partner, Maia, is over there in the corner. She's my twin sister. We've been taking dance classes together since we were eight."

Himiko smiles, "That's really sweet." She gently tugs the shirt of her spiky-haired partner, "Come on, Bakugou, let's find a place on the dance floor. It has to be pretty big, I don't want to bump into anyone."

"Tch. There's a spot over here." He grabs her wrist and pulls her away, not even sparing me a second look. Rude. Everything about his attitude sucks. What's his deal anyways?

Bakugou POV

It's so weird how Kai is more outgoing here. I guess it makes sense, seeing how much she seems to like dance, of course she would get along well with other dancers. Still, she's always so detached from everyone at school. Like she's always pushing people away.

Some lady walks into the class and welcomes everyone. Next to me, Kai chews on her lip anxiously. The lady at the front of the class starts some music and begins to instruct us on stretches, demonstrating for us. After some easier stretches, she encourages everyone to sink into a split, however far we're able to go. I groan, determined not to be the worst one. Without hesitation, Kai slides into a split with an irritating amount of ease.

"What the hell?" I growl, struggling to sink past halfway.

"Don't pull something, idiot." Kai mumbles next to me, still sitting comfortably in her split.

"Shut it." I hiss through gritted teeth.

I'd always considered myself decently flexible, at least compared to most. I'm athletic and physically healthy. My kicks were always high in fights, but god, this was another level of flexibility. Every muscle in my body strains to accommodate the stretches. A few people struggle like me, but the experienced dancers barely use any effort. How annoying.

A gentle hand rests between my shoulders and there's a rush of warmth to the spot. I glance over and Kai rests the palm of her hand between my shoulder blades, "Relax." I can feel her quirk taking effect. She must be influencing the flow of my energy. I force my jaw to grow slack, relaxing my muscles as much as I can. Kai hums in approval.

Once the warm-up wraps up, the teacher jumps right into the dance. Seeing as there are only six classes for us to learn an entire dance, it makes sense. Kai stands at attention, her eyes blankly darting back and forth. The teacher describes the song we'll be dancing to and the story the dance will be telling.

"I'll be demonstrating with my trusty partner, Mako, who I won gold with at the last international pairs dancing competition." She waves forward a man with long hair pulled into a low bun. He looks pretty normal, not particularly athletic. But the moment the song starts, it becomes clear to me that he's a seasoned athlete. The control he has over his movement is nothing to be taken lightly. I can definitely do this, though. Especially if such a scrawny guy is able to accomplish this. When they finish, the class bursts into loud applause.

The teacher smiles and claps her hands together, "To start today's class, we'll be splitting up the partners. Partner A should be a bit shorter if possible, Partner B should be a bit taller and stronger due to the lift. Partner A's will work with me today, Partner B's will be working with Mako. You will work separately for the first three classes. We will join back together to synchronize the choreography for the last three."
The Mako guy raises his voice, "Partner B's follow me."

Kai turns to me and smirks, "Have fun, Partner B."

Fuck this.

* * *

Every damn muscle in my body hurts. The choreography is complex and there's so many small, subtle movements. They require using weird muscles that I don't normally use when I'm combat training. The result is soreness in places I'd never been sore before. Least of which were my calves. So much of the dance is raised on the balls of my feet. In fact, I don't believe there's more than two moments in the entire dance where I stand flat-footed.

I'm lucky that I'm already a natural athlete. Even so, the choreography is stupidly confusing and hard to remember. Walking into class on Monday, I'm still sore despite stretching multiple times yesterday.

Before class starts, Kai leans against her desk, flicking my ear with surprising accuracy, "How'd your first class go?"

"Shut up." I roll my eyes, "I can't believe I agreed to take that stupid class with you." My response just elicits a small chuckle from behind me.