AN: I remembered when this was supposed to be three chapters... I'll be lucky if it's six at this rate. Anywho, here's what I've got for now. Thanks for reading as always and feel free to check out my rarely active tumblr (therealbluelove22). Enjoy~

Getting ready to record with Bakugo sitting next to him was absolutely nerve-racking.

It had been roughly ten minutes since they'd entered his room to begin with. While Izuku had preoccupied himself with taking in how the room practically screamed "Kacchan" (it was neat like he cleaned in a lot more regularly than a typical teenage boy, filled with items colored mostly black and red with a few vintage All Might memorabilia and a picture of his parents), Bakugo shut the door harshly before barking at him to "get a move on".

Izuku didn't take long to get set up after he'd been given his laptop back. Only a minute was needed to sit down on the end of his friend's bed with his laptop resting on his legs, headphones in place on his head and the small microphone that extended from them just in front of his face. The program was pulled up on the screen too.

The blond sat down on the bed next to him feigning disinterest. As if Izuku could be fooled that he wasn't listening just because he was browsing the internet with his phone.

When enough awkward silence had passed, Izuku simply staring at the screen with the arrow hovering over the green button that would start recording, Bakugo finally let his phone fall onto his lap with a growl.

"What are you waiting for, Deku? Start singing or whatever."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He drawled back. "I thought you were too busy instigating fights in the comments section of HeroTube to pay attention to me."

The other was affronted. "What the hell? Did you just sass me? Also, I haven't done that since middle school, you damned nerd!"

"Sorry," he replied, serious this time. "I'm just nervous."

"Why?"

"Well, you either get mad at or belittle nearly everything I do."

"I do not!"

"You used to tell me my breathing was pissing you off, and that I should stop doing it sometime."

"I never— shit. Okay, maybe I said that a long time ago, but I didn't—"

"This was last Tuesday, Kacchan."

"You know I say a lot of things, okay?" He let out a frustrated groan. "I don't mean most of them. Shitty-hair and the others in the so-called Bakusquad—don't you dare tell them I acknowledged its existence— know I talk shit. As for your singing, I'm not going to make fun of you. I haven't said anything bad about that yet, have I?"

Izuku shook his head. "Well, no, but even so I'm a bit self-conscious. Do you promise not to say anything mean if I record here? I'm going to have to repeat lines multiple times in order to get it right, and after that I need to splice the recordings together, layer them, and add effects in order to get a good final cut. You'll be hearing the same lines over and over again. Are you sure you're not going to get mad at me for annoying you?"

"Of course not! I might not sing or record stuff in my free time like you and earphone girl, but I still get that it takes a lot of trial and error. Just get to it so we can both get to bed at a decent hour tonight, okay?"

Green eyes lingering on the blond beside him for just a moment longer, he relented. He adjusted the headset one more time before steeling his finger over the track pad.

"Alright. Try not to make too much noise then; the microphone will pick up any sounds you make."

"I know what a microphone does, dumbass."

"I wasn't…" Izuku sighed, his hands flinging into the air helplessly as he gave up trying to communicate casually with the other boy. "I'm just going to start recording now."

"Finally."

Ignoring the remark, the greenette pressed the bottom. Immediately his left hand grasped the mic so it was just how far he wanted it from his mouth. His right hand hovered over the track pad on the laptop, poised to stop this recording and start another one in succession.

The music began with five sharp notes, the power in Izuku's voice catching Bakugo by surprise before he could even get out the first two lines. Hearing the boy's voice without any context (music) was strange, but interesting.

"I keep my ideals with me. My fate is mine!"

Izuku's singing style was unique compared to the other songs he'd sung before; the way he held the last word while fluctuating his voice was satisfying, if that made sense.

Sadly, he recorded himself singing the two lines several more times before continuing on. Bakugo couldn't bring himself to tell the other the first take was good enough.

"Time to pay for all of my mistakes," Izuku sang quickly, "that I made without an ounce of shame. I moved on and threw my life away. Thank God I got out while I could, I nearly gave it all away," his voice dropped down, "to an unknown and empty fate. Dead eyes that know the price that I paid. And if they could only just focus on today, maybe they'll shine."

He stopped singing, taking in a deep breath as he pressed the red button that would simultaneously end and save the recording.

"I'm not very good at singing super fast." The younger admitted sheepishly as he prepared to do a second take.

"It sounded decent to me."

Izuku seemed skeptical to believe him. As it was it took between five and ten more minutes before he felt he could go on to the next lines.

His eyes slipped shut as he pressed record, all of his focus going into getting the words out the way he wanted. "What's going on? A brand new life, but I still feel left behind. Every day there's something off, is this what I wanted?" He ended the recording there, because for once he was satisfied with it right away. "What's going on? Is this a game? 'Cause nobody else is quite the same! The possibilities have opened up."

Squinting at his computer, he practiced the last line half a dozen times before deciding on how he wanted to sing the last word. The entire time Bakugo simply listened.

When Izuku continued, he drew himself up more on the bed before warning Bakugo he was going to get a bit louder.

"Ah," he sang into the mic, his other hand waving in the air in front of him as if he were directing an orchestra. "Dreaming! My mind rewinds." Diction was being focused on heavily here. Every word was said exactly how it was supposed to be, a few words even choppy in order to get the syllables differentiated. "I just can't fill the hole inside of my heart, so let's get out, escape from the dark of the night!"

He sang the word "night" just how he sang the word "mine" in the beginning, and Bakugo found himself nodding at the parallelism. It sounded great if he were being honest. Not that he'd say it out loud though.

"The future," Izuku continued after a few retries, "unknown seems to twist and distort itself unless we look straight forward. I'm sick of lying to myself. Got to stand up straight and fight!"

"I keep my ideals with me, each time 'cause dreams and love, so dangerous, the fuel that we need to light the fire. Gongs are ringing out now." He sucked in a quick breath, both hands on his headset as he sang out the last line. "My fate is mine!"

Once that line was done, Izuku busied himself with going through each of the several dozen files he'd saved in his recording session. As he did this Bakugo found himself splaying himself across the bed behind Izuku. He stared up at the ceiling merely listening to Izuku mumble about which sound file sounded the best. The greenette picked the one he was happiest with from what he had available after filtering out the recordings. Then there were the added effects.

Finally, after nearly an hour had passed, Izuku took his headset off. He turned around to see Bakugo lying down on his back. The blond was using one arm as a pillow while the other rested on his stomach. Red eyes met green no sooner than Izuku glanced at his friend, something tugging at Bakugo's gut when he noticed the way the other way kept looking at the part of his torso that was exposed due to his shirt being pulled up a bit.

The blond found himself smirking.

"Did you turn around to ogle me or tell me you finished your song, Deku?"

Izuku's face lit up scarlet. "Ogle? I wasn't—"

"Sure you weren't. What's the song called, anyway?"

"It's titled 'Odd Future', and I was not ogling you!"

"You're a shitty liar. I can't believe I'm the only one that knows the secret about your quirk and All Might with how much of a crap job you do at trying to covering for yourself."

Izuku hid his face in his hands. His childhood friend was too much for him sometimes.

"Kacchan," he whined. "You're being a jerk."

"When am I not a jerk?"

This sobered the other up, a serious look on his face at the question.

"Don't say things like that. You're not a jerk all of the time, so don't think that way. I was only joking."

"Uh-huh." Bakugo really didn't care much for this conversation. He sat up, causing Izuku to move so he wasn't sitting knee to knee with him. The change in position didn't get him to drop anything though.

"I'm serious, Kacchan."

Time for a diversion then, the blond thought. If he let the greenette keep talking he could end up being coerced into talking about his "feelings" and like hell was he going to let that happen.

"Why do you still call me that?"

Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You still call me Kacchan. You only called me that when we were kids because you couldn't pronounce the "tsu" sound in my first name. Even when you learned how to speak properly you never switched to calling me by my first name instead, our falling out aside. Why?"

"Well, I… you've always been Kacchan to me. It would feel weird calling you something else. It's like how you still call me Deku despite us being on better terms now."

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "It's your hero name, for one, and Round Face among other heroes calls you it too. What, are you telling me you want me to call you Izuku now?"

They both went quiet for a second. For Izuku hearing his name from Bakugo sounded strangely intimate. It seemed the blond was thinking on a similar train of thought, because he winced a second later as if embarrassed.

"Actually, I get your point. I'll stick to calling you Deku. You can still call me that childish nickname, and I won't even complain."

"Are you sure you don't want me to call you," Izuku hesitated, "Katsuki instead?"

The blond shuddered at hearing his name. For some reason it sounded wrong not coming out of his mother, father, or Auntie Inko's mouth. Hearing it from Izuku was… not strange, but rather oddly private in context.

"I am very sure."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "That was really weird."

"Yep."

They sat there for a minute longer, neither of them speaking until Izuku silently pulled the cord connecting his headset to the computer out. His computer made a sound alerting them that sound would now be coming out of the computer's speakers.

"Do you want to hear the final version then?"

Bakugo had to work to hide his excitement. Of course he wanted to hear the final cut after sitting there for over an hour.

"I guess so."

"Well, I can just go if you don't want to hear it." Izuku said coyly, a small smile slipping onto his face at the outraged look on his friend's face. "I'm kidding! Here, I'll play it right now."

He was true to his word.

It was more pop than techno, was Bakugo's first thought. He had been trying to figure out the genre of the song since the beginning. In comparison to the other songs written and sung by the greenette it was much different. The beat and speed of the song were faster for one. It didn't sound unpleasant though; coupled with the percussion and piano tracks in the background Bakugo was rather impressed that he was so capable of writing music of diverse genres.

The sound effects were another thing. Some of them made Izuku's voice sound a bit distorted at times, which Bakugo found a bit unappealing in his opinion, but he wasn't going to tell the other how to write his music. Mostly he didn't want to have to explain that he found other boy's voice best when it wasn't altered.

As the song ended, Izuku looked at the blond expectantly.

"It's good."

The greenette cocked his head. "That's all you have to say?"

"Is there anything else you want me to say? The drum parts were pretty sick, I guess. I'm not a critic or crazy about analysis like you, nerd. I'm not going to write you a novel about how good your song is."

"I didn't ask for a novel. I just feel like simply saying it is good is sort of a lackluster response."

Bakugo glared at him. "Lackluster? I can call it shitty techno pop instead, but I don't like lying. It sounded good, alright? I like what you did with those held words at the beginning, middle, and end. The instrumental you put together was excellent. I could do less with the sound effects, but you're the music artist, not me."

Izuku blinked at the input. Then he smiled, which sent some unknown tingling feeling spurring to life in Bakugo's chest.

"Thank you, Kacchan!"

"Whatever. You recorded your song, so either keep working on your music, practice your singing, or leave."

"Is that your way of asking me to sing something else for you, or are you trying to get me to leave?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about, Deku. Sing or leave. It's entirely your choice."

Happiness exuded from the greenette despite the way Bakugo spit out those words. It made sense the blond was too stubborn to ask for something he wanted that could be seen as uncharacteristic of him. He had an image of pride and power to retain after all.

Izuku could humor him this one time, he supposed.

He pulled up HeroTube. "Do you like Breaking Benjamin?"

"Who doesn't?"

The greenette smiled, pulling up the karaoke version of a song a moment later.

"I love his music. I'm going to sing my favorite of his," he explained. "If you know his stuff though, then feel free to join me."

"I don't sing."

"Whatever you say, Kacchan."

A moment later a soft, familiar guitar tune started up. Bakugo watched with rapt attention as Izuku began bobbing his head just a bit. By the time he was supposed to start singing his eyelids had already slipped closed.

"Will the faithful be rewarded when we come to the end?" He started quietly. "Will I miss the final warning from the lie that I have lived? Is there anybody calling? I can see the soul within, and I am not worthy;" his voice sounded emotional, like he was referring to something else (maybe All Might's quirk?), "I am not worthy of this. Are you with me after all? Why can't I hear you? Are you with me through it all, then why can't I feel you?" Now it felt like he was singing directly to Bakugo. The blond didn't have much time to think about it though; he was too swept up in the chorus that came afterwards.

"Stay with me," Izuku sang languidly, "don't let me go, because there's nothing left at all. Stay with me, don't let me go, until the Ashes of Eden fall."

It amazed Bakugo how quickly some people seemed to get lost in music. As he watched Izuku sing it was like watching someone else take over. The timid demeanor he often gave off disappeared in an instant, and the boy looked so at ease. Every word he sang was sung with the utmost care and passion permeated every syllable. Bakugo had liked the song before, but hearing Izuku sing it made him wonder if this wasn't his favorite song by the artist too.

"Will the darkness fall upon me when the air is growing thin?" The greenette thought of the looming threat of evil and frowned. "Will the light begin to pull me to its everlasting will?" He's been close to death a few times before. Still, even as he remembered the fear that he'd felt, he couldn't help but feel more scared for those he cared about. The sludge villain and Stain incidents came to mind. "I can hear the voices haunting," there were too many to count, "there is nothing left to fear, and I am still calling. I am still calling to you. Are you with me after all?" This part always reminded him of Bakugo after their falling out growing up. "Why can't I hear you? Are you with me through it all, then why can't I feel you?"

"Stay with me, don't let me go, because there's nothing left at all. Stay with me, don't let me go, until the Ashes of Eden fall."

There was a break in the song for an instrumental, to which Bakugo also allowed himself to close his eyes as well. He always enjoyed the ending part of the song the best. He particularly loved the overlapping lyrics at the end, but Izuku wouldn't be able to sing them by himself. Maybe he could…

"Don't let go," Izuku sang softly. He gradually grew louder each time he repeated the words. "Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go— why can't I hear you? Stay with me, don't let me go, because there's nothing left at all. Stay with me, don't let me go, until the Ashes of Eden fall."

As he took in a quick breath for the last few lines, Izuku heard the other's boy's voice beat him to the main part. His eyes snapped open in shock as he forced himself to take the other part instead.

"Heaven above me, take my hand," the blond sang at the same time Izuku sang "stay with me, don't let me go." They came back together to sing out "shine until there's nothing left but you." They repeated this one more time before the song came to an end. It was only then did the greenette open his mouth to voice what he was thinking.

"Kacchan! You've been holding out on everyone!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You can sing!"

"Anyone can sing. Well, anyone but Mineta. Short creep screeches like a dying vulture."

"That's mean, Kacchan." Izuku shook his head to clear it, not wanting to get distracted. "That's not what I meant though. Your voice is a lot less rough than I thought it would be singing. It's deep and husky, but in a good way! You also have good control with your pitch. Your singing was really good because of that," he went on.

Suddenly it was like a light bulb had gone off in his head.

"Do you think you sing this one part of 'Singing to the Sky' for me? I don't really like how it turned out in the recording I gave everyone. Jiro was having trouble getting it right too when we practiced it. I can't really get my voice as low as the part demands, but you—"

"Nope."

"But—"

"Not happening."

"You don't have to decide right now!"

"Not doing it," Bakugo said with his arms crossed and determined smirk on his face. Something about riling Izuku up was just so entertaining to him.

"Just think about it for a day or two. It's only a few lines, so it'd be easy to learn."

"I highly doubt my answer will change."

"Kacchan," he whined again. "Humor me! Please?"

Shit, Bakugo thought with some horror, he's using those damned puppy eyes. This is completely unfair.

"Ugh, fine! Stop whining already you stupid Deku."

"Okay!" All of a sudden Izuku was all sunshine and rainbows again, and the blond realized the other boy had been playing him with the fake tears that had began forming in his eyes a few second earlier.

That conniving little shit.

"Anyway," Izuku continued after letting out a yawn, "it's already well past curfew. Are you sure you don't want me to leave so you can go to bed?"

"It's not that late." You don't have to go yet.

"You're not tired?"

"No." You can stay.

A look of realization entered Izuku's green-eyed gaze. After readjusting so that he was sitting with his back up against the head of the bed, Bakugo silently shuffling until they were shoulder to shoulder, he nonchalantly moved his laptop over so half of it was on Bakugo's lap as well.

"Okay then. I'm going to sing a few more songs by this group then, just for practice."

"Pull up the acoustic version of 'Without You'," the blond found himself saying. "Your voice would go decently with it."

"Sure thing, Kacchan."

With that Izuku continued singing, Bakugo joining in every now and then which sent butterflies fluttering in the other's stomach. They sang until they eventually found themselves falling asleep against each other, Izuku's laptop going to sleep not long after.

The next "morning"…

When Izuku woke up, he found he wasn't in his room.

A spike of panic went through him. His entire body tensed as he prepared to move away from Bakugo before the other could wake, but it appeared it was already too late for that. A calloused hand grabbed his forearm.

"Calm down, nerd. It's barely five in the morning." Bakugo's voice was thick with sleep. There was no anger behind his words, yet they did not lack authority.

"S-sorry," Izuku apologized as he quickly shut down his laptop properly. It was a miracle it wasn't dead. Thank goodness for sleep mode, he guessed. "It just startled me when I realized I wasn't in my room. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't wake me up. I've been awake for twenty minutes uncomfortable as hell with your head commandeering my shoulder. Sleeping upright any longer was going to leave a crick in my neck so I just stayed up."

The greenette tilted his head in confusion. "Why didn't you just wake me up then? I would have understood."

Bakugo shook his head. "I'm not weak, Deku. I dealt with it. Now that you're awake though, put your computer and junk away and shut off the light. I'm tired as f—" An appropriately timed yawn cut him off before he could finish.

"Oh, okay." He couldn't help but feel a bit dejected as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His entire body was begging to stay in bed. Be that as it were, he still got up with his belongings and flicked off the light. He was just about to let himself out when he heard a groan of annoyance.

"What do you think you're doing? It's too early in the morning for you to leave. If someone catches you going back to your room they're going to want to know where you were, and I swear if someone catches on that you fell asleep here I will not be putting up with the stupid questions that'll follow. Put your stuff down and come back over here."

Izuku was extremely confused.

"Um, Kacchan, wouldn't it be less risky for me to leave now? Surely nobody is awake at this hour."

"Shitty-hair is up at the ass-crack of dawn. If he sees you I'll never hear the end of it. Just stay here until later on in the day when I know everyone else on the floor will be at dance practice. Pinky said she'd meet you at the gymnasium at what time?"

"After lunch. She told everyone to meet in there at nine for group practice though, which means I should probably be there too."

"Forget it. Tell her you accidently slept in."

"But I should really—"

"Deku."

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Izuku gave up on arguing with the blond in favor of setting his stuff down on the other boy's desk.

"I'll stay like you asked, but can you at least give me a blanket and pillow? Your carpet is kind of thin and…"

He trailed off when he heard Bakugo get up. A moment later Izuku was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and all but thrown back into bed. With the moonlight streaming in the window he could make out Bakugo's red eyes glaring at him in the dimness.

"Shut up and go back to sleep," he demanded. "You can borrow a pillow, but if you so much as hog one extra centimeter of my blanket I'm making you sleep on the floor. Mention this to anyone and you die."

With that the blond crawled into bed beside a flustered Izuku, turning away so he was facing the wall instead of the other boy. It took another few seconds for the other boy's brain to begin working again. When it did, however, he settled beneath the blanket and forced himself to sleep on his side facing away from the center of the bed.

This is happening. This is really happening! We're sharing a blanket and everything, and he's so warm I can't even—

He forced himself to take a deep breath. If he didn't stop freaking out, then he wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight.

After doing some mental exercises to stop himself from having a mini almost-panic attack, he felt his eyelids growing heavy. It barely took a couple more minutes before he vaguely felt his limbs going slack. Sleep overcame him all at once then, and Izuku would wake up later having dreamt about what it would have been like to close the gap between him and the owner of the bed.

Several hours later...

The next day would be a busy one for Izuku.

Once he was finally allowed to leave Bakugo's room, he quickly grabbed something to eat before getting in some of his routine exercise and a bit of quirk training in the woods. By the time he finished with that, squeezing in a five minute shower before everyone gathered in the dorm for lunch, it was already time for his second dance lesson with Mina.

"Queue up some songs that you feel comfortable dancing to, Midori." Mina instructed the moment he entered the gymnasium. She handed him her phone once he was on the stage with her. It was bright pink with little alien stickers on it, along with a few stray sparkly star stickers as well. "Make sure to pick a mix of genre. I want to see your creative skills shine today along with your newfound dancing skills!"

He couldn't help but smile widely at her enthusiasm. It was contagious.

"Sure thing, Mina-kun!"

Several song picks later, it was time for the warm up.

"I don't know all of these songs, but from what I do recognize this seems like a good playlist. Since you're going to be singing later tonight we'll mostly just work on improvising choreography. Near the end I will have you sing along with the music though. It will give you a feel for how much you can realistically move without ruining your singing."

After that is was just Izuku standing center stage while Mina readied her speaker.

"Here we go, Midori. Show me what you've got!"

And so he did.

"There are times when I don't know where I stand (oh sometimes)," her speaker blasted. "You make me feel like I'm a boy and not a man (oh sometimes). There are times when you don't give me a smile (oh sometimes). I lie awake at night and worry for a while (oh, oh)."

Izuku started dancing to the song with a simple repetition of side shuffles and spins. It was nothing much to look at, the moves beginner level for sure, but this song screamed at him for simple, fluid movements.

"It's okay, 'cause I know you shine even on a rainy day and I can find your halo," he brought his hands above his head mid-shuffle in order to create a circle, or "halo",falling to his knees in one slow motion during the next words, "guides me to wherever you fall. If you need a hand to hold," he carried out a calculated stretch forward that allowed him to stand back on his feet. In the next moment he walked quickly forward, almost skipping as he reached a hand out, "I'll come running, because you and I won't part till we die. You should know we," he came to a stop, dropping his head to the side and closing his eyes as he made a heart with his hands and placed it just under his left collar bone, "see eye to eye, heart to heart."

During the break he found himself shuffling around with a few spins thrown in. He continued dancing in his self-created box until he heard the verse he was waiting for.

"There are times when I cry 'cause you shed no tears (oh sometimes). Your mind's so far away but your body's right here (oh sometimes). There are times when I just walked out your door (oh sometimes)," he added the "hug" move Mina had taught him for the remaining line, "and thought I'd never get to see you anymore (oh, oh)."

He repeated his last routine for the repeated chorus. "It's okay, 'cause I know you shine even on a rainy day and I can find your halo, guides me to wherever you fall. If you need a hand to hold I'll come running, because you and I won't part till we die. You should know we see eye to eye, heart to heart."

"Whoa..." Izuku stilled completely, wrapping his arms around himself loosely before beginning to sway as the instrumental picked back up. "Whoa... Oh sometimes. Whoa... whoa..." He swept his arms out to either side, a smile lighting up his face as he spun around the stage as if he were dancing joyously with another person.

"Wherever you fall, if you need a hand to hold, I'll come running, because you and I won't part till we die. You should know, we see eye to eye, heart to heart." Then he was bending down on one knee, both hands splayed over his heart. "I can find your halo, guides me to wherever you fall."

Loud clapping met his ears the moment the song ended, sending a wave of pride through him. He was so glad she liked it.

"Great job! I really enjoyed the flow in that one. Do you need a breather before going into the next song?"

He shook his head, adrenaline making his body buzz with a nervous excitement.

"No thank you. I think I'm ready to go straight into the next one."

Mina grinned. "That's just what I like to hear!" And with that she skipped to the next pick.

"High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life. Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time. Hold still right before we crash 'cause we both know how this ends. A clock ticks 'til it breaks your glass and I drown in you again."

This song had Izuku flowing directly into one move after another. He never stayed in one position for long, his body pulling him somewhere else at nearly every other word.

"'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need. Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why." He put his arms in the air briefly. As he quickly got the idea for what he was about to use next, he utilized many of the moves Mina had taught him the day prior."If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity? If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?"

From where Mina was watching she hummed, impressed. She thought she might have to ask him to up the complexity or speed of his moves just to see if he was capable after a day of rest, but it seemed that wouldn't be needed. He was honestly already more than prepared to come up with a few simple stage moves to add some flare to his festival performances.

"Walk on through a red parade and refuse to make amends. It cuts deep through our ground and makes us forget all common sense." Izuku nearly faltered as he found his mind wandering to Bakugo once again. "Don't speak as I try to leave 'cause we both know what we'll choose. If you pull then I'll push too deep and I'll fall right back to you."

He nearly messed up another move when he realized he'd been thinking about his childhood friend since the beginning of the first song, his crush on his friend reveling in being at the forefront of his attention after last night. How could it not have flared back up full force after he'd slept in the target of his affection's bed?

"'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need. Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why."

He knew they were rivals, but things were different now. They didn't fight senselessly after that night where the truth about All Might and his quirk was shared. Still, memories of the past few years of torment were hard to forget even when his heart betrayed him.

"If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?"

Izuku was in love with Bakugo. That much was plain and simple no matter how much his mind berated his heart for feeling this way. What could he do though? The boy was a constant in his life despite the strain their friendship had gone through. He admired him to the utmost degree.

More than All Might even.

"If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?"

He knew he wore rose-colored glasses sometimes when it came to the explosive blond; however, he was aware of the flaws in his character when it mattered most. Every time he imagined telling his crush how he felt (as if it wasn't obvious with how flustered he acted whenever the other boy was around), fear reared its ugly head and squashed his desire flat. Part of him was scared to lose the friendship they had recently gained back. That same part was terrified Bakugo would react with cruelty or anger, and that was something he wasn't sure if he could deal with at this point in his pining.

"Why are you my clarity? Why are you my remedy? Why are you my clarity? Why are you my remedy?"

Maybe he was being too soft again. Uraraka and Iida had both mentioned how he wore his heart on his sleeve, and how letting his emotions lead his actions might someday lead to putting someone in danger. Danger could lead to pain.

Was Bakugo worth his pain? After all of the burns, scratches, and bruises Izuku gathered during his childhood, let along the emotional trauma he'd suffered, his brain was telling him Bakugo wasn't worth more than the dust on his shoes. On the other hand, Izuku's heart was much more forgiving, optimistic, and arguably a bit masochistic. His heart screamed for him to try. It wanted him to be happy, and if being happy meant going after his childhood friend romantically it would only waver once it was given a definite denial. Curse him for being such a... what had Hagakure called him before? A cinnamon roll. Curse him for being such a sweet pastry.

"If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?"

By the time the song came to an end Izuku was ready for a small break. Not because he was physically tired, but because he needed a brain break. He listened to Mina gush about his moves while draining a third of his water bottle.

"You're doing amazing, Midori! I think what we're going to do next is do some skipping around with your picks though. There's no need for you to dance to an entire song when experimenting with different rhythms; I don't want to getting exhausted when you have practice with the rest of the dance team in a few hours and with band team tonight."

Izuku made a noise of affirmation, walking back to the center of the stage with a slightly clearer mind. He needed to focus on dancing.

"Remember, this time you're going to sing along with the song to see how you can handle dancing on top of it."

Correction; he needed to focus on singing and dancing.

"The singing part is honestly more important than dancing in your case," she continued with a slight pout. "Since the movements you'll be doing are more for aesthetic, you being the lead singer of your songs is more paramount to the performance. Still, I want you to try and see what your limits are by putting dancing slightly ahead of singing during our lesson. You can put singing before dancing later tonight when you practice with the band team."

"Okay, Mina-kun."

With that Izuku was forced to think up a spur of the moment dance routine for every song Mina chose, attempting to sing along all the while.

"I wanna see you run anywhere you want." The greenette internally groaned. He liked the song, yes, but he didn't particularly singing it since it was difficult for him to match the right pitch of the singer. "Never let the darkness hold you back, no fear of getting lost." As for body movements, he stuck to staying in the same spot and relying more on his arms at first. "I wanna see you fly way beyond the sun. Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come."

As the first hint of chorus began, he attempted to sing while doing a maneuver that would bring him to the floor. Unfortunately it ended with him messing up the lyrics, which Mina couldn't hear with how loud the music was around them, but she could tell by the way he stopped singing for a moment.

"But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom, and you can't get back where you started, any place any time you gotta know for you I'll fight."

He repeated a similar routine for the next part as he did in the beginning. This time he threw in some head and shoulder rolls.

"Where you wanna go? I'd love to take you there. Wish that I could make the road easy; I wish that life was fair. Don't wanna see you cry even when it rains, and I hope you don't forget this. You were born for better things."

Instead of trying to do a move than mimicked falling, he decided to walk forwards instead. He worked in a few moves that brought him stepping backwards again and reaching his arms out in a motion similar to grabbing something.

"But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom, and you can't get back where you started. With no strength to stand I'm gonna reach for your hand. When the going gets rough, right when it's hurting I will be there to help bear the burden. Any place any time you gotta know for you I'll fight." He had his hands flat and arms held in the air as he repeated the line with more volume. "Any place any time you gotta know for you I'll fight."

And then the music changed, and Izuku groaned out loud.

"Mina-kun! You said we'd use my music today."

The pink-skinned hero in training grinned while 'Long Shot' by Kelly Clarkson played from the speaker. "I felt like you needed more variety after all. Also, we are using your music today."

"I didn't put this song on the playlist…"

"You didn't, but it is on your phone." She giggled as she held said object in the air for him to see. "You really need to learn to lock your phone better, silly. Your password was super easy to guess. All Might is seriously the first and only thing I tried, and I got in immediately. Interesting taste in music by the way. You've got all sorts of artists on here I wouldn't have pegged you listening to."

"Mina-kun."

"Alright, alright! I'll shut up now. You're still doing the songs I pick though. Hmm... how about this one instead?"

When a familiar Fallout Boy song began, Izuku relaxed slightly. He didn't mind this choice.

"I was just an only child of the universe," he sang as he walked forward. "And then I found you," cue left arm sweep, an identical one with his right following just after, "and then I found you. You are the sun and I am just the planets," he brought his arms and hands us up the air before doing two slow spins, "spinning around you, spinning around you. You were too good to be true," he pointed forwards, "gold plated, but what's inside you," adding some turns and shimmies in, "but what's inside you. I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you," his voice grew a bit firmer as he threw his hands up, as if gesticulating to the world before him. He put them down a moment later when he sang the next lyric though. Instead he pointed at himself, eyes closing for just a moment as he let his head tilt to one side. "But not as much as I do, as much as I do. Yeah..."

Jumping up with a clap, he moved left, right, forwards and backwards while throwing in arm movements. They weren't super complex since he was trying to balance out his singing and dancing, but he found it worked rather well.

"'Cause you're the last of a dying breed. Write our names in the wet concrete. I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me? I'm here in search of your glory. There's been a million before me. That ultra-kind of love you never walk away from. You're just the last of the real ones."

The line is repeated multiple times before moving onto the next verse.

"I am a collapsing star with tunnel vision, but only for you, but only for you." He fought off the obvious thoughts trying to make themselves known. While the song had used to remind him of All Might, which it still did to a lesser extent, it had become associated with the blond not too long after their emotional fight outside a while back. "My head is stripped just like a screw that's been tightened too many times when I think of you, when I think of you." His arms wrapped around his head loosely and dramatically before he dropped them and threw them outwards. "I will shield you from the waves; if they find you, I will protect you. I will protect you. Just tell me, tell me, tell me, I, I am the only one, even if it's not true. Even if it's not true, yeah..."

Just as he prepared to go into another movement, Izuku was hyper aware of the door to the gymnasium bursting open.

"Yo, guys! I have a message from Mirio!"

The song continued playing as Mina and Izuku curiously made met the red-haired hero in training halfway across the room. They didn't need to ask again about the message though, because as soon as they were in front of one another Kirishima broke the grin on his face to speak.

"Mirio and Eri-chan just stopped by the dorm to tell us they were going to be with Mirio's class for a while. Apparently he got called in to help with some of their preparations for the festival. He wanted to know if we wanted to spend some time with Eri-chan after dinner for a few hours while he visits with Nejire and Tamaki. I told him yes of course, but I just wanted to let you both know as well."

Mina clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, I love Eri-chan! We're horn buddies ya know. She's going to have so much fun watching us dance and listening to the band team tonight!"

Realization dawned in Kirishima's eyes. "Oh yeah, that's right! The dance team is practicing on the gymnasium floor tonight since it's supposed to rain."

"Yep! The band team will be having their own practice on the stage while that's going on, so Eri-chan can listen and watch everything from the stage too."

"Awesome! I'll talk to the guys on the staging team about tagging along. We haven't really seen or heard any of you practice much since we've been so busy with our stuff."

Izuku listened to them chat for a few seconds while he let the news sink in. He was happy Eri would be with them tonight, but part of him was a little stressed. He wanted her to have fun while she was there with them. Sitting there and watching them was bound to be a little entertaining, yet he felt like something was lacking. He wanted to something special for the girl.

"Hey," the greenette found himself saying. There was a telltale spark in his eyes that his friends knew meant that he had an idea. "After we get some practicing in tonight, do you think everyone would be okay with a little dance party?"

Kirishima and Mina looked at each other briefly before blinking at him in shock. Then, all at once, their smiles were all teeth.

"Dance party!"

In order of appearance:

Sam Luff (Studio Yuraki) Cover of Odd Future by Uverworld

Ashes of Eden by Breaking Benjamin

Heart to Heart by James Blunt (video that loosely inspired dance: watch?v=UZSyrtMr-nA&feature= &t=97 )

Clarity by Zedd ft. Foxes (video that very much inspired dance: watch?v=gVX2BVDuOXo )

I'll Fight by Daughtry

The Last of the Real Ones by Fall Out Boy (video loosely used to inspire dance: watch?v=o0PiB-tSoqY )

Mentioned:

Without You (acoustic) by Breaking Benjamin

Long Shot by Kelly Clarkson