Hidden Potential

V : For the Class

Your tugging on your friend's sleeve became a little harsher. "Come on!" You whisper-yelled. You knew he would break soon, you just needed to convince him... "For the class, Sero. We'll get praise left and right for this!"

"Fine." He muttered, letting you tug him in the middle of the room where Monoma was proudly standing until he noticed the two of you. Just then, his smile fell into an appalled expression. Most likely because the boy had no fond memories of you, or your would-be-twin Bakugou. You wouldn't be surprised if you scared him a little...

"Wow, I never thought someone from your class would throw away their pride like that, Aizawa!" Midnight praised. "Good job, you're raising them better than I thought." Why is she making it sound like Aizawa's your father?

Before the homeless-looking teacher could answer, instrumental music filled the room and the living chloroform rag (what? That's basically what she is, even if everyone scolded you for the hurtful nickname) shouted something along the lines of 'dance until you're dead'.

1-B's reaction time was a tad better than yours. Monoma grabbed Kendo by the waist and gracefully twirled her around. As much as you hated to admit it, he had way more experience in ballroom dancing and waltzing than you had. Damn rich kid and his private lessons.

Nonetheless, you and Sero still managed to keep up with him, which apparently surprised the blonde copycat. You could visibly see that he was trying to up his game even more, but it proved to be difficult when his dance partner was complaining about how confusing and advanced it was for her, meaning he couldn't do any overly dramatic or expert stuff. It was just perfect for you and Sero, who were around the same level as Kendo herself.

"Lift me up when I tell you to." You muttered between clenched teeth. It's not that you weren't enjoying this. Keeping head to Monoma with Sero (and hearing your class cheer you on from the sidelines) was amazing. It was just getting really intense.

"What?! What if I drop you?" The boy worriedly asked. It'd be terrible if your klutziness were to act up now of all times. "We both know you're a bit wobbly on your feet-" Before he could say much more, the weight your body sometimes put on his hand disappeared and he looked down at your feet, smirking when he noticed they weren't touching the ground anymore. Your legs were still moving to make sure they wouldn't get in his way, but it was obvious that you weren't exactly on the ground anymore. "Ah, I see. Midnight never said anything about the use of our quirks. Smart move, (L/N)."

"Will you lift me up now? We need to make this as concrete as possible and this song has an accent every third beat. Lift me up at that beat and we'll be that much more ahead of 1-B." You explained. "My quirk's activated, so I shouldn't be 'wobbly on my feet' anymore."

Sero sighed but silently agreed to it. You gave him a nod and let go of his hand to place it on his shoulder while his own moved to your waist, lifting you up at the exact beat. This caused a few of your classmates to go 'aah!' while you distantly heard Kirishima going on about how manly Sero looked at the moment. Was there anything the redhead didn't consider manly?

"It seems 1-A is pulling off some moves there!" Midnight exclaimed. "And a nice use of (L/N)'s gliding quirk as well! I'm impressed!" For the teacher (and judge) to praise you, it must mean you're doing good. Looking over, you couldn't help but be disappointed when you noticed that you hadn't exactly won against Monoma yet. Sure, Kendo categorically refused to have her feet leave the ground, but the male was doing everything he could individually to heighten the quality of the couple's dance. He was keeping up with you both, alright.

You needed to do something. Something you knew Kendo wouldn't approve of herself. "Get closer." You suggested. "We're too awkward."

"The hell do you mean by 'get closer'?" Your dance partner asked, cheeks tainted with pink. His question was answered when you repositioned the hand that was on your waist and tugged yourself closer to him. Ah, so you were talking about authenticity now, huh?

A few teasing 'ooh's echoed from 1-A, most coming from Mina and Kaminari, but Hanta didn't have time to get even more embarrassed about the scenario you (literally) dragged him into. He was a bit more focused with reminding himself that this wasn't real. It's really difficult to dance with his crush while trying to remain aware of the fact that you're not initiating physical contact because you like him, but only because you're desperately trying to best someone else. It sort of hurt, but he has to deal with it.

Oh, how much he wanted to spill his every emotion out to you right now. He wanted to so badly, but thank goodness that he could refrain himself for once in his life.

One agressive twirl later, the music stopped and clapping could be heard. At first, it only came from Midnight herself, but then came 1-A, clapping, whooping and whistling. For students who categorically refused to dance, they sure seemed happy that at least two of their classmates took one for the team. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Realizing the first part of the dance-off was over, you separated from Sero and deactivated your quirk for now, a smug grin spreading on your lips when you noticed Monoma's disgruntled expression. Your gazes crossed and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. You couldn't help but widen your grin at his show of satiety. How satisfying it was to piss him off... Really, you could make a living out of this and be happy with your life.

"Good job both classes!" Your teacher's voice ripped you out of your fantasy land where you would get payed for annoying Monoma. How sad. "It'll be extremely difficult for me to judge if things go the same way for the second category. As of now, I'll say it's a tie!"

"A tie?!" Both you and Monoma simultaneously exclaimed. "But we were way better than them!"

Both Kendo and Sero seemed in awe at how synchronized your outraged behaviours were. In a perfect world, the two of you may have been friends...

"Now, now! We promised to put aside our differences and pride before the competition, didn't we?" Midnight warned. "Anyways! The next category; tango!"

You froze up.

"Isn't that a little... Intense for fifteen year olds?" You heard Mina mutter from the sidelines. She was right. Absolutely right. Tango was passionate, raw and almost sexual in some ways. Well, that's how you saw the pros do it, but you wanted to win, so you had to go pro.

"I have no idea how to dance tango." You admitted loud enough for Sero to hear, but still a bit quietly so Neito wouldn't hear your one and only weakness (well, it's not your only one, but did he need to know? No).

"Me neither." Sero answered back, suddenly very nervous. "Let's wing it."