A/N: Originally written and posted for the Tumblr fandom. Hinted Hunt/MC, can be read without. Generic female MC.
"This week's lesson," Professor Hunt said as the last of his students settled into their seats, "is on musical improvisation."
There was a collective groan. By the third quarter, most of Hunt's students were looking forward to specializing. The directors and fashionistas wanted to spend more time behind the camera, and the movie stars in front of it. Few of them had any interest in music. One budding pop star towards the back cheered halfheartedly.
"Stop complaining," Hunt snapped, his back to the class as he scribbled improv on the blackboard. "It's an important skill for more than just theatre. Award shows, for example, sometimes require you to improvise, and often musically."
He threw the chalk back onto the ledge in front of the backboard, where it clattered around in protest for a second or two before falling silent. "Now then. Before you can improvise your own lyrics, you have to be comfortable singing at a moment's notice."
With the exception of a few musical theatre enthusiasts, each and every one of Hunt's students sank back into their chairs.
In the sudden silence, the end of a stage-whispered sentence—it might have had something to do with "never pictured him the singing type"—rang out, along with a clearly audible laugh. Hunt's gaze fixed on the source of the noise.
"M/C. You have a flair for the dramatic. Come down here, if you would."
After sharing a long glance with Addison, who was flushed with secondhand embarrassment, M/C shrugged and made her way down to the front of the lecture hall. "Happy to oblige, professor."
Hunt bristled. Somehow, however he baited her, it was always she who got him annoyed. He cleared his throat. "Pick a relatively well-known song, for the sake of the rest of the idiots in the class."
M/C's face drained of color, but she quickly regained her composure. "I'd rather do a duet, if you don't mind. Anyone care to sing the male part?" she asked the class at large. Everyone fervently shook their heads no. She looked pointedly to her professor, who sighed, defeated.
"As part of the demonstration, I will sing the male part. I obviously have no idea what song you will choose. Nothing explicit," he said quickly.
M/C laughed, clear and bright. "Would I ever do such a thing?"
Hunt grumbled something unintelligible to himself, but shook out his shoulders. "Very well. Whenever you're ready."
M/C cleared her throat and winked at Ethan, who gave her the thumbs up. He held up his phone, ready to press play on a YouTube video, and suddenly Hunt realized just what a chasm he was about to leap into. Was this a song she had practiced in advance? Something she regularly sang with her friends?
He watched M/C dance a little on the balls of her feet and nod to Ethan. She spun on her heels to face Hunt, a wicked grin on her face, and took in a huge breath. She looked deranged.
"Anything you can do, I can do better!" she said matter-of-factly.
"Ha!" Hunt barked back, though whether it was the half-remembered lyric or an automatic response he couldn't say. So this was how she wanted to do it.
M/C turned and slowly began swaggering away from him, singing the arpeggio-like melody with the ease of a hundred karaoke sessions. "I can do anything better than you."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't!"
"Yes I can, yes I can!" She faced him once more as a few of her classmates clapped and laughed, a smile on her lips and a challenge in her eyes.
Hunt leaned nonchalantly against his desk. If she wanted to play this game, then so be it. He allowed his lungs to fill with the stale air of the classroom, projecting his strong voice with ease. "Anything you can be I can be greater. Sooner or later I'm greater than you."
"No you're not." A dismissive flick of the wrist.
"Yes I am."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am, yes I am!" Hunt stepped one foot onto his desk, leaning his elbow on his knee to sight an imaginary rifle. All in the name of the improv lesson, of course—he certainly wasn't falling for M/C's silly game of one-upping each other. "I can get a partridge with a single cartridge."
"I can get a sparrow with a bow and arrow," M/C parried, placing a kiss in her palm and launching it into the desks with the invisible weapon.
"I can live on bread and cheese!"
"And only on that?" she asked, eyes wide and a hand sarcastically clasped to her chest.
"Yep."
"So can a rat!" She spun away again.
Hunt pretended to wince. "Any note you can sing, I can sing higher."
M/C examined her fingernails. "I can sing any note higher than you!"
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't," Hunt began climbing his admittedly limited range.
"Yes I can," she replied, already most of an octave above him.
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you caaaaaaaan't," he pulled out in a reasonably high vibrato.
"Yes I caaaaaaaaaaaan!" she shrieked in a warbling tone.
Hunt pretended to look discouraged, half for the song and half to keep from showing his pleasure on his face. He still had not found a field where M/C did not excel. "How do you sing that high?" he asked in mock amazement.
M/C rolled her eyes. "I'm a girl!"
He scanned her ratty tennis shoes, old jeans, and baggy hoodie in one sweeping, judgmental glance, finally meeting her eyes with a raised eyebrow. "Oh."
Someone in the audience hooted. M/C shook her head and sighed, sauntering away a little.
"Anything you can say, I can say softer," Hunt called after her.
"I can say anything softer than you!"
"No you can't," he mumbled.
M/C took a large step towards him. "Yes I can."
"No you can't." He was leaning forward now, his words barely audible to the first few rows of students.
M/C stepped forwards again. Their noses were approximately one inch apart. "Yes I can."
"No you can't." There was a smudge of mascara at the corner of her eye and her lips barely moved. Their eyes were locked.
"Yes I can, YES I CAN!" she yelled in his face, shattering the moment.
Hunt stepped back in a controlled stumble, his ears ringing, and then exaggerated his lack of balance as he pretended to swig from a bottle. "I can drink my liquor faster than a flicker."
"I can drink it quicker," M/C sang gravely before sinking slowly to the ground, "and get even sicker."
"I can open any safe!"
"Without getting caught?" She gaped at him.
"Yep!"
"That's what I thought, you crook." This last in an aside to the class, who snickered appreciatively.
"Any note you can hold, I can hold longer."
"I can hold any note longer than you!"
"No you can't." And he honestly didn't think she could.
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
Here was his chance to tweak the song to his advantage. He relaxed and expanded his chest as far as he could, the air whooshing in in a dizzying rush. "No you caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…"
"Yes IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…"
They faced each other, a few feet apart as tension crackled between them. M/C was turning a pale shade of pink after about ten seconds, then red, then purple. Hunt's features were undergoing a similar transformation. Dark spots danced in both of their visions.
"…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…"
"…IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…"
"…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant," Hunt finally cut off and doubled over to catch his breath. M/C raised her eyebrows but the effect was rather lessened by the fact that she was swaying where she stood.
"…IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…" her voice was audibly cracking now. Ethan had long ago paused the video. Hunt moved surreptitiously closer to her in case she should faint—it seemed like a very real possibility.
"…IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—can!" M/C choked out before drawing a heaving breath. Hunt stared at her in amazement for a minute.
"Yes you caaaaaaaaan!" he finally responded as Ethan continued the music. His lungs were still recovering from the exertion and it came out a little weak. "Where do you keep all that air?"
M/C smugly readjusted the front of her hoodie. "In mychest cavity." She coughed a little.
"Oh." Even though it was all part of the song, Hunt felt the beginnings of a flush under his suit collar. He cleared his throat and bounced impatiently until the music caught up with them. "Anything you can say I can say faster."
"I can say anything faster than you."
"Noyoucan't," Hunt snapped.
"YesIcan," M/C gushed in response.
"Noyoucan't."
"YesIcan." Their words melted into each other as they shoved the jumbled syllables out of their mouths.
"Noyoucan't."
"YesIcan."
"Noyoucan't."
"YesIcan."
"I can jump a hurdle," Hunt asserted, leaping precariously onto a chair. Someone in the front row started forward, afraid that he would overbalance, but he glared them down.
"I can wear a girdle," M/C retorted, smoothing her hands sensuously over her waist and hips.
"I can knit a sweater."
M/C smirked. "I can fill it better."
"I can do most anything!" Hunt yelled, exasperated.
"Can you bake a pie?" M/C asked, quirking her head interestedly.
Hunt slumped his shoulders. "No."
She waved her hand dismissively. "Neither can I."
"Anything you can sing I can sing sweeter," Hunt proclaimed from his perch on the top of the chair.
M/C stepped dramatically onto a slightly taller chair. "I can sing anything sweeter than you!"
"No, you can't," Hunt intoned, the layering the melody in thick honeyed tones.
"Yes, I can," M/C responded, her voice feather-light and wavering like light through clear water.
"No, you can't." The notes snarled around each other in a complex (yet smooth) progression.
M/C held her hands gracefully above her head, like a dancer might. "Oh, yes, I can!"
"No, you can't…"
"Yes, I can..."
"No, you can't!"
"Yes, I can!"
Hunt's dreamy expression was replaced with a snarl as he leapt down from his chair and stormed over to M/C. "No, you can't, can't, can't," he yelled, his voice harsh.
M/C smiled serenely, nudging him gently away with her foot. "Yes, I can, can, can!"
Hunt grabbed her arm, causing her to stumble down to his level, and sang out "No you can't!"
M/C recovered herself and called "Yes, I can!" in unison with her professor. They held out the last note for several seconds, finally allowing it to echo around the silent auditorium. The class held a terrified breath and the combined aggression of M/C and Hunt, then burst into vigorous applause.
Hunt turned away from M/C, trying not to look at the shiningly happy expression on her face. "You can sit down now. Each and every one of you is doing a solo tomorrow. Class dismissed."
And everyone filed outside to the usual music of complaints.