So this wound up being just a bit shorter than I was expecting. Might not have needed to split it up after all, but oh well.

Yep. Definitely regretting this.

Mina had pulled Izuku right into the heart of the dance floor. The two of them were surrounded on all sides by other clubgoers, music blaring and lights shining. It was sensory overload for Izuku, who felt like he might pass out.

But… Despite all that, despite that his stomach felt like it was doing somersaults and his heart was pounding, he stood his ground. He wasn't doing this for himself, after all.

Besides, he was a bit too distracted by what was going on in front of him to think about all that.

Mina had wasted no time getting into her groove. And in true Mina fashion, she was putting everything into it. She was like a whirlwind, moving wildly every which way. At a glance, it looked spastic and chaotic, but if one paid attention they would see there was an order to it, a rhythm that matched the music currently blasting out of the speakers. There was a clear technique going on here.

Izuku felt mesmerized by the display. The way her body swung to and fro, how every part of her just seemed to completely loosen up… She almost looked possessed, in a way. And of course, she had the biggest smile on her face the whole time.

She had always stood out to him, but now? Whether it was the dancing, the light bringing out her features, her attire, her smile, or some combination of it all… He couldn't deny how beautiful she looked.

To some degree, he had always found his pink classmate attractive. He just never gave it much thought. This, though? This was different. It was like he was under some sort of spell.

It wasn't until she stopped that he snapped out of it.

"Hey, hey, what's with the standing around? Come on, dude!" Mina yelled over the music.

"Wha?" Izuku had been so distracted by her that he didn't even realized what he had been thinking. "But I can't-

"Just start by tapping your foot! Get a feel for the beat, you know?" She moving her foot up and down, showing him. He followed her instruction, trying to keep his foot in time with the music. "Yeah there you go! Now start to do that with the rest of your body." Mina started bouncing up and down a bit, bobbing her head. Once again, Izuku did the same.

He could only imagine how silly he must have looked. Still, nobody was laughing, or even paying attention.

"You're too stiff, dude! Loosen up a bit!" His "teacher" shouted. "You gotta kinda… Let yourself go with it, you know?"

No, he didn't, really.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"What?" Trying to talk over the music was all but impossible for someone as soft spoken as him. "Look, just… Close your eyes! You really gotta let yourself feel it!" Again, her vague instructions were not really helping, but he followed them anyway.

Slowly, the green-haired boy tried to concentrate on just the music, trying to drown out any other noise. He thought about how Mina moved, how it seemed every muscle in her body was loose and relaxed. He inhaled, then slowly exhaled, trying to get himself to calm down.

Inhale… Exhale.

Inhale… Exhale.

Inhale…

"Woohoo! There you go!"

Opening his eyes, Izuku realized he had begun to subconsciously move his body back and forth. Mina was beaming, giving him a couple of thumbs-up as she resumed dancing.

"Shake that thing, Midori!" Izuku's face turned crimson as he realized what she was referring to, but for whatever reason he didn't stop. His body was more or less moving on its own.

It was a feeling he was very familiar with.

He still wasn't very good, he could tell. At least compared to his companion. But he let himself continue, no longer caring how ridiculous he may have looked. Mina continued to cheer him on, which simultaneously encouraged and embarrassed him even more.

He didn't know why being around her was making him act this way. He was no longer forcing himself to do this to make her feel better; he was genuinely enjoying himself.

The two continued to dance the evening away, both grinning like idiots the whole time. If Mina was still upset about her date cancelling, she sure wasn't showing it. Izuku lost track of how long they danced; all he knew was that several songs had played, all of which Mina exclaimed she loved. Each time, the more inexperienced dancer needed to readjust to the beat, but he always managed to get back into it before long.

After a while, the two were starting to get a little tired. Izuku was actually amazed Mina managed to keep going for this long with how much she put into her moves, but then again, she was Mina. He was about to suggest they maybe take a break before the music changed again.

This time, though, the song was much quieter than normal. And much slower. For a moment, Izuku was unsure of what to do; the tempo wasn't really quick enough to dance the way they had been this whole time. Looking around, he tried to see what everyone else was doing.

His eyes went wide at what surrounded him. Evidently, there were a lot of couples on the floor tonight.

"Oh, I love this song!" Mina's exclamation made him turn back to her. She was looking at him expectantly.

"I… I, uh…" His awkwardness was quickly returning. "M-Maybe we should t-take a break?"

"Aw, come on Midori!" He tensed up as Mina took a step toward him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Just relax. Like you said, we're just a couple of friends hanging out, right?" Izuku gulped, his cheeks burning bright.

"R-R-Right… F-Friends." Telling himself that didn't really help much.

…Especially since part of him was starting to wish this was a date.

Still, he decided to at least try to oblige his friend. Slowly, reluctantly, he rested his hands on her sides as the two started to sway back and forth together.

It lasted maybe 10 seconds before Izuku finally hit his breaking point. With a small sound, he quickly pulled away from Mina.

"I… I'm sorry, I just… I can't…" His emotions were going haywire at this point; he was starting to think things about Mina he knew he shouldn't be thinking, and him being that close to her was not helping. The pink-haired girl looked at him somewhat apologetically.

"R…Right. Sorry, I guess that was a bit much." She rubbed her arm, looking to the side a bit. "Um… Why don't we go sit down? I could use a rest."

"Y-Yeah, sure."

The two made their way back to their table. They were both quiet for a moment after sitting down.

"Again, I'm really sorry about that, Midoriya," Mina apologized again. "I mean, you were clearly already waaaay out of your comfort zone as it was…"

"I-It's okay," Izuku assured her. "A-Again, I'm not really used to this sort of thing, but… It was a lot of fun. I just… Yeah, that was a bit much for me, sorry."

"I understand." She gave a small, sympathetic smile. "Still, glad you had fun with the rest of it. Didn't I tell you it'd be fine?"

"Ha… Yeah."

He knew what was going on in his head. He'd had these sorts of thoughts about someone before… And he knew he couldn't act on them.

"…Tell you what. Why don't we go somewhere else?" Mina suddenly suggested.

"Huh?" Izuku checked his phone. It had been about an hour since they got here. "A-Are you sure? I mean, if you want to stay, we can…" To be honest, he did want to leave; all that dancing had tired him out, and he all the noise was finally starting to get to him.

"Yeah. I think we've been here long enough… And you look a bit, well, drained." He obviously wasn't hiding his fatigue well.

"Well… Yeah, I guess I am," he admitted. "S-Sorry."

"Quit apologizing, dude!" Mina playfully punched his arm. "I'm not upset or anything. Honestly, I'm feeling a bit tuckered out myself. I'm thinking we can go somewhere a bit quieter and just… Hang, you know?"

"L-Like… Alone?" Izuku paused. "I-I-I mean, i-if you want t-to…" His classmate rolled her eyes, smirking.

"Yes, alone. Hence the 'quiet' part." She giggled as Izuku's face flared up for the millionth time that evening.

"O-Okay…" He nodded. "Th-That sounds good."

He should probably just suggest they head back. Say he was too tired to do anything else or something. But she clearly liked spending time with him, otherwise she would have said something like that…

Did she…? No. No, that was an insanely stupid thought. There was no way she felt anything like that. Izuku pushed the notion out of his head.

"…So needless to say, my brother's banned from the petting zoo now," Mina said, finishing her story. Izuku had a mixture of amusement, confusion, and terror on his face from the tale he was just told.

"Uh… Wow," was all he could say in response.

"I know, crazy right? I mean, I love him, but I swear I could write a book about all the stupid crap he gets caught up in." The horned girl laughed.

"I… I can believe that." Mina's family sounded… Quite interesting. It shouldn't have been so surprising; she had to get her personality from somewhere, after all.

The two students had left the mall altogether, deciding to walk down the city streets until they found somewhere to stop. They eventually came across a small park, which they decided to spend some time in. It had been maybe 40 minutes since then.

While it was certainly more peaceful here than at the club, Izuku still found himself unable to completely relax. He was now completely alone with Mina, and his mind was all over the place.

What were with these thoughts he was having about her? Why was she able to make him act so unusually bold, yet at the same time make him hardly able to speak? Deep down he was pretty sure what it was, but he refused to acknowledge that possibility. It didn't matter that he recognized these feelings from back in middle school.

He had lost count of how many times he had to tell himself this wasn't actually a date.

"Uh, Midori?" Mina's voice brought him back to reality. "You're doing it again."

"Doing wha…O-Oh." Apparently, he had been mumbling those thoughts out loud. Fortunately for him, it seemed she hadn't actually heard what he was saying.

"See? Like I said before." She poked the side of his head a couple times. "No off switch." Her giggling only made his blush worse.

The two of them were currently standing on a small bridge that passed over a creek emptying into a decent-sized pond. The sun was setting, creating a striking scene as the water shined beneath a red-orange sky.

Mina's constant pokes and prods were not helping Izuku's mental state. Why had she started calling him "Midori", anyway?

"Man…" The pink girl leaned forward, resting her arms on the bridge's railing as she gazed out at the water. "This is like, a postcard or a wallpaper or something. Seriously, it's freaking gorgeous!" She was enamored by the sunset.

"Yeah." Izuku had to agree.

"In fact… Hold on. Fishing her phone out of her purse, Mina turned around so her back was to the sun. "Come on, I gotta get a picture of this!"

It took Izuku a moment to realize she wanted him in the picture too.

"Come on, quick!" She gestured to him excitedly. Practically shaking, he managed to shuffle up next to her. He made a strange sound as she suddenly threw an arm around his shoulders, giving a peace sign as she held the phone out. "Smile!"

Izuku wasn't sure if he was capable of that right now. Nevertheless, the photo was taken.

"Look at us!" Mina checked the picture before showing him. She looked pretty normal, but him…

Well, he was smiling. A lot. In fact, it was unusual how big his smile was; he hadn't even realized he was doing it. Of course, on top of that, his face was a brilliant shade of red.

"Aren't we just a couple of cuties?" She asked, looking rather proud of her photography skills.

"C-C-C-C…" Izuku couldn't even get the word out. Mina seemed to not notice as she continued staring at her photo.

"…You know." She looked back at him, a sly look on her face. "I just realized, you haven't said one thing about my outfit since we started hanging out."

"What? But I…" What was she doing!? He had mentioned it when he first ran into her… Though it was more of an observation than anything.

He supposed he could at least compliment it.

"Um… You… You look nice." Simple, but he figured it would be fine. A mischievous grin said otherwise.

"I look nice? Not just the dress?" Izuku made various sounds as he failed to form actual words, much to Mina's amusement. "Man, you are just too easy."

The human tomato said nothing, turning back to look at the pond as he tried to get a hold of himself. What was she trying to do here? Why was she suddenly acting so… Flirty?

"Alright, alright, I'll stop." She finally decided to relent, letting him get calm down again. For a few moments, neither of them spoke as they just stared out at the water. "…Thanks, by the way."

"Hm?" Back to his normal level of uncomfortableness, Izuku turned to look at her. "For what?"

"For… Well, everything. Spending time with me, going along with all the stuff I wanted to do, just… Making tonight fun." She smiled warmly at him as she spoke. "Again, I really appreciate it."

"Oh, d-don't mention it," her classmate insisted. "I'm… Glad you had fun. I was kind of worried I'd… Bore you."

"Dude, you're anything but boring."

Another silence. As Izuku reflected on everything they'd done that evening, there something he remembered. He had, in fact, not gone along with everything Mina wanted to do.

...

"H-Hey, Ashido?" He really shouldn't do this…

"Oh, just call me Mina."

"R-Right, M-Mina… Um…" He should really stop. There was no need to do this. "S-Since we're alone now, um… I-I'd be willing to try… Try that dance again…" He looked at his feet, color rushing to his face. "I-I mean, if you s-still wanted to." For a moment, he didn't get an answer.

"…You sure?" She finally asked. "I don't want to force you if you're still not comfortable…"

"N-No, I'm… I'm fine. Just, all those p-people at the club were making me feel…"

"Stage fright. I get it. Well, if you're sure…" Pulling out her phone again, Mina took a few seconds to type something. A familiar song started playing out of the device's speaker; it was that same slow song from the club.

Setting the phone down on the railing, the pink girl stepped toward him, not saying a word as she placed her hands on his shoulders. Slowly, and a bit shakily, Izuku rested his own hands on the sides of her waist again.

"…Guess I'll lead," She finally said.

The two slowly rocked back and forth in time with the music. Mina guided Izuku's movements as they danced, making sure he didn't trip over himself. It was still a bit clumsy, as there was more coordination required here than what they had done earlier, but he slowly got the hang of it.

They each gazed into one another's eyes during the dance. Mina's black-and-gold eyes were almost hypnotic, putting Izuku into a sort of trance.

Once again, he couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was.

It wasn't just her looks, either. Her laugh, her smile, her personality… Everything about her was just… Wonderful. The longer they held each other, the more he wanted to just stay with her like this all night.

…Oh god, what was he thinking? Ugh. This was getting annoying.

But then again… The way she was looking at him, the way she had been speaking to him… Everything about this evening.

Maybe… Just maybe…

"Hey… Ash… Er, Mina?" He needed to put this to rest.

"Hm?" He suddenly became aware of how much closer their faces had gotten.

"Um… I-I-I know e-earlier we said… Th-This wasn't actually a d-d-date, but… U-Um…"

"…You wanna retcon that?" Mina finished.

"Uh… Um…" Izuku clamped his eyes shut. "Y…Yes. I-I-If… If you w-want… To…"

He waited for the laughter. For the slap. Anything like that.

"…Izuku, look at me."

Hearing his first name, Izuku slowly began to open his eyes. They quickly widened as he realized Mina was now maybe an inch from his face, still smiling.

"I…"

Once again, his body moved on its own as the two of them closed the remaining distance between their lips. For a split second, every part of Izuku's brain screamed at him to pull away, but that was soon overtaken by the sheer amount of joy he was experiencing. In that instant, all his worries and doubts about what he had been feeling all night melted away.

His first kiss lasted only a few second, but it felt like hours in his head. Mina rested her forehead against his as they separated, their noses still barely touching.

"…That answer your question? She asked, some magenta in her cheeks.

"…Uh….Uh-huh…" In contrast, Izuku's entire face was redder than it had ever been in his life.

"Good. Glad we got that settled."

The pair continued to dance beneath the sunset. Mina threw her arms around Izuku's neck, resting her head against his shoulder. Izuku in turn wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close.

Their dance continued long after the music stopped.

I might just combine these chapters together after a few days, not sure. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this little adventure. If you want to see more fun of these two, feel free to check out my other stories. Or don't. I won't tell you what to do, I'm not your dad. See yah!