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"Good afternoon everybody! Today's assignment in acting will be improv and romance. You will all be assigned a partner out of a hat, and you must perform a short skit as lovers. Your skit must contain at least one slow dance sequence, a book scene, and a kiss, real or not."
Those were the acting teacher's instructions. And then she began pulling the names.
Kirishima knew that there was a disproportionate amount of boys in the class, but he was dying to be paired up with a girl. It would mean fewer questions asked. And girls were easier anyway.
The teacher began listing off all the pairs
"Momo will be paired with... Shouto!"
"Hagakure is paired with Ojirou!"
"Ochako is paired with... Iida!"
"Jirou is paired with Kaminari, Mina with Sero, and Tsuyu with Tokoyami."
"Any more girls?" She looked around, "Oh yeah! Violet with Aoyama." She finishes, "Now for the rest of the boy pairs. We've got...
Midoriya and Mineta, Shouji and Hinata, Satou and Kouda, and lastly, Bakugou and Kirishima. Find your partners and get started. You'll have this period and next period to practice and then you will be presenting on Wednesday."
Kirishima turned to Bakugou and nodded, "So you're my partner?"
This was possibly the worst person he could've been paired with. Not because Bakugou was a bad person but for another reason. Kirishima had liked his friend since... forever. He always had a crush on the blonde, but to be paired with him on a project to act like a couple was like a living hell.
"Sup dude! So you're my partner?" Kirishima smiled, "Let's just get this over with, since this probably isn't fun for either of us."
"Shut it, shitty hair. We're going to be fine. Do you dance?"
"Yeah, I can. Where do you want me to be?"
"You'll be the 'girl.' Do you know how to do that?"
"I usually dance as the guy since I'm a guy?"
"But you're shorter"
"By 2 centimeters! Seriously?" Kirishima sighs.
"Listen just put your hand on my hip," Bakugou grabs his hand and moves it to his hip, causing Kirishima to blush.
"All for an acting class? So I'm assuming our setting is a prom?" Kirishima puts his other hand on his waist.
They're so close. God, so close. Kirshima's mind and heart races. It was just like being a couple. They were slow dancing without music. Well not exactly.
Bakugou set his hands on Kirishima's shoulders and began to sway. Kirishima followed along with it, barely able to pay attention to anything but the other boy.
The way his lips were slightly parted. The way it seemed he had a total nother beat in his head. The way that he was able to take control of a situation so easily.
That's what made Kirishima fall for him.
Falling for his best friend was so hard. Especially when he thought that best friend was straight. They never talked about girls together, but he just assumed it was girls. Why would a boy so perfect as Bakugou, all edgy, relaxed, and every other positive adjective you could think of, be gay? Even if he was into guys, he would never be into him.
"Hello?" Bakugou looked at him, "You've been staring at me for the past five minutes, you dork. What are you doing?"
"Getting into character?"
"Whatever, I think our dancing is good enough. What are we going to do for the opening scene? I say we should be eating spicy wings at the table. Then we get called to a slow dance or whatever, stare longingly for awhile, then finish it up. They said we need to end with a kiss-"
"Actually, they said a hug or a kiss," Kirishima corrected, trying to get out of possibly exposing his feelings to his friend.
"We're already slow dancing together, why don't we just do a stage kiss and really show off? We want to get the most points we can," Bakugou shrugs, "Why not? There's no harm."
No harm in kissing your best friend. No harm in kissing your crush of nearly a year. No harm in stage kissing for a stupid assignment when even just slow dancing makes his heart pound and his cheeks bright red. No, there was no harm in that.
"Sure... We're already close enough with each other. I'm shocked you'd suggest that, considering you let nobody touch you."
"Whatever, I don't care," Bakugou rolls his eyes, "Let's just stage the opening."
"Why are we doing this out of order?"
"Because this assignment is stupid as fuck," Bakugou sits down next to him, "So other than dancing, what do couples usually do? All that I see in the hallways just grind and kiss all the damn time. And I'm certainly not doing that for the skit."
"Well..."
Now was Kirishima's time. he could tell him to basically whatever thing and act like a couple. Yeah, in front of the entire class. But if it had to be in front of them, so be it. Nobody knew he was gay anyway. Nobody knew he was slowly falling for his best friend.
"They lean on each other. They stare longingly across class, and hold hands a lot. They trust each other a lot. Oh yeah, and usually they drive each other to school... I don't know. We'll do whatever you're comfortable with," Kirishima shrugs.
"Okay well-' Bakugou starts before being interrupted by the bell, "We'll work on it tomorrow. This shouldn't be too hard, right?"
"Yeah. I'll see you at lunch!" He waves to him.
The next day, Kirishima goes into acting knowing exactly what to expect. Unlike yesterday, he was prepared for whatever would happen.
"So one more day and then presenting... Right?" Kirishima asks, sitting next to him, "That shouldn't be too bad."
"Plus, it's not gay if you say no homo."
"You're hilarious," Kirishima awkwardly laughs. He was definitely talking to a completely straight dude, one that could never like him like that.
Fuck.
"Okay so how about we sit like..." Bakugou leans on him, "This, and improv talk a bit. Some sappy shit I guess."
"Then what?"
"How about then I'll..." Bakugou pauses, "I don't know"
"What type of teacher comes up with this assignment? It's like- have 2 single people pretend to date and grade them on it! That makes perfect sense and definitely isn't creepy!" He laughs.
"How about I...." He puts his hand on his leg and brings it up.
Kirishima blushes again, "Bakugou!"
"I'm kidding," He removes his hand, "Too far?"
"Just warn me next time," He puts his hand in Bakugou's, "I think this will be easier? Your hands are so sweaty"
"Shut up, they're always like that," Bakugou sighs, "Whatever. So we'll do couples shit for a while and then I'll play some shitty slow song and we'll dance, right?"
"Yeah. I think we'll be fine. I'm going to grab a drink from the water fountain." Kirishima swiftly gets up.
"Alright, I'll see you," Bakugou says right before Kirishima shuts the door.
He jogs down the hallway and goes out of sight. He's an absolute disaster, falling in so deep for Bakugou. And worst of all, it was like Bakugou knew and was milking all he could out of it.
Teasing his legs? It was like he knew that Kirishima would turn bright red and get all choked up. There were nights when he would be awake and think of Bakugou touching there, and maybe a bit higher.
It was like the other boy knew how to make another boy fall for him.
Fall for his touch. Fall for his being.
But he'd never feel it again after tomorrow.
The next day, they arrived back to class and Bakugou seemed oddly put together. he'd actually added the tie to their uniform, as well as not taking up the whole row of seats.
"Hey," Kirishima sat next to him, "You ready?"
"Definitely. Let's get this thing done."
The teacher begins to call up the groups. Only 2 go before them, and both seem to really go all out. That's when Kirishima remembered they didn't even rehearse the kiss.
Shit.
They get up onto the stage to begin their skit.
"Hey babe," Kirishima walks across the mini stage and sits next to Bakugou on the 'couch.'
"How's it go?" He leans on Kirishima's shoulder as planned
"I'm well... How do you like the dance?"
"It's fun. You know, I don't go to these often," He shrugs, "You look handsome today."
"You do too," Kirishima smiles and brushes a hand through Bakugou's hair to hide him starting the music, "This dance?" He stands up, putting his hand out for Bakugou.
"Yes," he grabs his hand and gets into position.
"One two three," Kirishima whispers before the dance begins. Their two rhythms become one, and for a few minutes, so did their heartbeats.
The song eventually ended, and the big moment came. They pretended to run hand in hand to a balcony and stared longingly at each other.
"You ready?" Bakugou whispered.
"Yeah... I think I am, my love," Kirishima looked deep into his red eyes. The way they were relaxed just a bit, open and looking right back at him. Bakugou began to lean in.
And the rest was like slow motion.
Yes, Kirishima knew they had to kiss for the skit. But mentally, he was freaking out. They already agreed they would be this would be the first time he kissed somebody.
And it just had to be Bakugou.
Bakugou looked at him one last time before closing his eyes and kissing him. Things would never be the same. And that was okay.
Kirishima put his arms around Bakugou’s waist and leaned onto him. Maybe that wasn't scripted, but he lived life boldly.
Eventually, Bakugou pulled back, not to raise any suspicions, and turned to the audience to take his bow.
The teacher ended up giving them a thumbs up and an A+.
During lunch, Kirishima pulled Bakugou aside. He'd decided it was time. He couldn't keep hiding from himself forever.
"Bakugou!" He said, tugging him off the line, "I have something to tell you."
"Hm?"
"I think I like you... I didn't want to tell you before the skit because it would make things weird but... When I kissed you on that stage I just felt a spark. And I have felt like this for a while. I know it's weird coming from your best friend, but I need you to know." Kirishima confesses.
"Kirishima I... I think I like you too. Even with your shitty hair and stupid face, I felt that too. What we did takes so much guts but we did it and... I think there's a reason we were paired and did all that. Because we do have chemistry. Even if you suck at that class," He chuckles, "Now that we've been all sappy and shit..."
"Will you be my boyfriend?" Kirishima blurts out
"Yes, Kirishima. I will."