Seven-Sixteen PM. Mina glanced at the numbers on her phone, before switching it back into the standby mode and shovelling it into her pocket. She glanced around again, though she found out that nothing around her had particularly changed all that much. She had hoped that she would have seen Izuku making his way towards her and waving so she could see him. Then again, she knew she'd probably hear him before she saw him. He wasn't exactly great at keeping quiet.
She made herself laugh at the specific choice of words her mind decided to use for that, and then decided to pass the time. She reached for her phone again, flipped it on, and loaded up one of the many games she had on the device.
As both she and him had agreed on back in the hospital, the two of them hadn't been on an actual date in quite some time. Nothing that was just the two of them trying to enjoy themselves together, and nothing that they didn't just plan on doing with the others that they'd just be joined at the hip during. They hadn't made the choice to go out and enjoy themselves for an evening, although that could be partially to do with the fact that they had been insanely busy, and less than fortunate circumstances prevented them from doing so.
Back in the hospital though, Izuku had said that they needed to arrange some kind of date. It would do the pair of them some good, and would help them get their lives back on track. Besides, after dealing with Villains and failed outings and drama in the 1A class, a few hours away from anything even remotely Hero related sounded fantastic to the pair of them.
And when Izuku found himself looking forward to getting away from Heroism for a few hours, anyone who knew him knew that he needed a change of pace.
Hence why Mina found herself stood just next to the main gate for the famous Hero school, waiting for him.
Although it would be nice if Izuku could be on time. Mina thought the whole being late for things was her thing.
They had planned this since they got back to the dorms, and although they had found themselves busy with various things throughout the rest of the day, like costume upgrade discussion, training and refurbishment, Mina had gone out of her way to make sure that the pair of them were still up for their date that evening, which Izuku confirmed that they were. She could also tell from him smile and how he acted – Minus the nervous stammering that he seemed to have grown past when it came to her, at least in most cases – That he was looking forward to it.
So, she doubted that he forgot. Knowing Yuuei, someone, or something, had come up.
She could always head to the dorms and look for him herself, but that almost felt like defeat in a way. A very weird way that was particular only to Mina, but it was there. It wouldn't exactly be the… Best start to a date, reminding the other half that they were being waited on. That would kind of kill the magic, in Mina's head.
Of course it was equally possible that she was just thinking way too much about this. Spending so much time around Izuku was bound to have some… Side effects.
Her clothes weren't anything all that special either. It was still summer, and summer was boiling, especially in a crowded city like Musutafu. Sure, it might be late, but it would still be warm, though as the night went on, it would hopefully cool down. Her clothing reflected that, opting to dress lightly for the most part, with a light grey shirt with a dark blue circular symbol in the centre of her chest, the symbol being space agencies that apparently existed centuries ago – An old birthday shirt from her eldest brother. She combined that with loose-fitting shorts that ended up above her knees. She had considered skin-tight ones, but decided that given the heat, it might not have been the best choice. She also kept a jacket tied around her waist, just in case it got colder. Said jacket was remarkably similar to the jacket that belonged to Izuku she held onto while he was kidnapped – Dark grey sleeves, with a dark pink shade making up the torso section. A beaded necklace around her neck, and a hand bracelet hooked around her left horn. It served no real purpose, other than Mina thinking it was fun to have on. Even though she loved them, she acknowledged that her horns weren't exactly the most useful or practical mutations, so they might as well be accessorised a bit. To cap it all off, she carried a dark pink and black shoulder bag, which kept all her walking around belongings in it.
She didn't know where they were going on this date – And that was part of why Mina was looking forward to it. On previous dates, she recalled the pair of them either not knowing and making it up as they went along, or her being the one to suggest things. This time, Izuku was the one who had opted to choose where to go, and she found herself intrigued and excited. The only time Mina could think that they planned out a date in any way was the aquarium, during the day that they ditched class. It had been a relaxed day, primarily due to everything that had gone down the day prior. She couldn't think that she'd mind something relaxing again tonight. And knowing Izuku, he'd probably agree.
The pink girl dragged her finger across the screen, hitting one of the targets on her game with a satisfyingly perfect swipe. Mina smirked, and then prepared to drag her finger once more across the screen.
"Mina!"
While her swipe did hit the target, her name being suddenly called out did surprise her, and made her aim waver, and she caught the bottom of her intended target. Under normal circumstances, she'd be irritated by such a distraction. She recognized the voice though.
She pressed her phone into standby, and looked up, just in time to catch Izuku stopping just in front of her, and bending over so his hands used his knees to keep himself upright. His face was a gentle shade of red, and he was out of breath. Had he just run over here?
"S-Sorry." He said, glancing up as her while still getting his breath back. "Sorry I'm late."
"Did you just run over here?"
"I…. I got held up… By Hatsume." He explained between breaths. Mina didn't have even the slightest bit of trouble believing that story – Hatsume was certainly not the type to just let someone excuse themselves when she had questions and upgrades and tests and whatever the hell else was on her mind to get through.
"Hold on." The Acid Quirk user said, before reaching into her bag and retrieving a bottle of water. Given the heat, she'd assumed that they were going to need some, just not this soon. "Here, drink up." She instructed, handing it over to her boyfriend, with a partially amused, slightly concerned smile.
Izuku immediately took the bottle, uncapped it, and took a couple large gulps of water. Mina honestly found amusement in considering what exactly caused him to need it more – Running to meet her, or talking with Hatsume.
A gasp escaped his mouth once he took the bottle away from his lips, and he took in a few deep breaths. "Th… Thanks."
"You good?"
"I… Yeah. I just… Need a second."
As her boyfriend took that moment, Mina took a moment to check out what he was wearing. Plain, as usual, to the point where Mina was starting to wonder if he was in on the whole 'plain-looking guy' joke. He had a dark green jacket on, which was just a slightly lighter shade than his hair, though not by all that much. Unlike her, Izuku actually had his on, as opposed to wrapping it around his waist. Mina remembered him once telling her that he lived near this general area pretty much his whole life, so perhaps he was better acclimatized to the area than she was. He left the zipper undone, showing that underneath that, he had adorned a black shirt, with white kanji spelling out 'Black Shirt'.
Seriously, there was no way he wasn't just doing this on purpose now.
Black clothing with white Kanji though – That was probably the closest to customization that Mina had seen him wear, outside of All Might merch. It was only slightly less plain because the colours were inverted from the norm.
Eh, it was a start.
He also had on a set of tracksuit pants, a light grey colour. And of course, his trademark red boots. She had to wonder where on earth he got those things from – She could swear that she'd never seen him without them. He also carried a rucksack, though Mina suspected it was more out of habit than any real need for it.
"I uh… I think I'm good now." Izuku said, giving her a thumbs up.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Was just… Out of breath. Come on." He gestured towards down the street, and the lights that came from the city. "We should get going." He held out his hand, for her to take hold of.
Mina smiled, and took it, interlocking her fingers with his, and then following him as he led her away from the school.
There was definitely a very different feeling to tonight than on all their previous other dates, Mina noticed. They hadn't even gotten ten meters out of the school, and she could already tell that there was going to be something different about tonight. Izuku wasn't normally this forward, or this relaxed about… Well, anything, never mind spending time alone with her, or any other girl for that matter.
Given the things that he'd gone through though, it wasn't like she should be surprised. After being kidnapped for two days and seeing All For One And All Might go at it, and having everyone know the truth about his exceedingly unique Quirk now… A date probably seemed like a skip through the rain to him now.
Which suited Mina fine. As much as she found the flustered dope she ended up dating adorable as he was back then, she knew that really, it would only have been a matter of time before he found his footing and stopped being so anxious about being around her.
It was a good thing. He was getting past all the silly social anxieties that came from him just making a nightmare all in his head, and was finding more confidence and calmness in himself.
Even if it was just a small thing, it was something Mina couldn't help but notice, and smile about.
Besides, all that meant was that she was going to have to try some more… Creative methods to make him blush. That could be fun.
"Nothing too fancy, I'm guessing." She said, casually trying to make conversation.
"Huh?"
"I know you're committed to this whole, 'plain looking guy' thing," Mina smirked as she noticed Izuku check his clothes and realize what she was talking about, "But if we were going someplace fancy, I feel like even you would dress up a bit."
Izuku blinked, before scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "I… Can't afford anything fancy. Sorry."
"Nah, dude, I'm just messing." Mina smiled, moving so that she walked closer to Izuku. The outside of her forearm brushed up against his. "If I wanted fancy, I'd just go hang at Yaomomo's place for a few hours."
The freckled boy let out a small chuckle, before his eyes seemed to glance over his girlfriend's face. "You're in a good mood."
"Am I that obvious?"
"Well, you've never been that great at hiding when you're happy."
"Fair point." Mina smiled, proving said point, not that she cared. She drummed her fingers against Izuku's hand and took another look at the path they were headed down. "Just kind of… Excited I guess. We haven't been out like this in ages." A slight pause. "I mean, not if you count the aquarium. Though I don't, cause I dunno how well 'Traumatic recovery while skipping class' counts as a date. More a spontaneous 'Eh, let's do something' kind of thing, y'know?"
"I… Think so."
"I'm just really lookin' forward to this." Chirped Mina, not even making any effort to suppress her trademarked Ashido smile. A skip made its way into her step as she walked along. "I've been looking forward to it since you first brought it up!"
Musutafu's night life had a very different feel to the kind that it did during the daytime.
In the daytime, like most cities on Earth, Musutafu was, for the most part, orderly. Like many cities in Japan, it was crowded and busy and loud, but pretty much everyone seemed to act in the way that they were supposed to act – They had places to be, people to meet, and they were going to those places. They had jobs, and responsibilities that they had to attend to, and that was why they were in the city in the first place. There was always the possibility of a Villain attack, so Heroes would patrol the streets, either on the ground, or in the sky above, to make sure hat the peace was kept.
At night though, it could be a bit of a different story.
Night time belonged to the people who were out to have a good time, and for a great many of them, that meant clubs, people, noise, and alcohol. They stopped moving around, and instead held down one particular area, and drank and talked to people. Unlike the daytime, the night belonged to people who were all about self-indulgence, a good time, and carefree fun. And while there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with that, it could lead to some… Less than pleasant experiences when one indulged too much, and they came across people who wanted nothing to do with their scene.
Both Izuku and Mina had encountered those sorts of people throughout their lives, and it wasn't all that difficult to avoid them, bar one or two drunken catcalls towards Mina, and one towards Izuku. Considering anyone who was doing that from a bar had to be over the age limit, the Quirk Inheritor wasn't sure which of those concerned him more.
Of course, with this being the natural course of the day in just about any major city, there were more police and Heroes active during the night, to make sure that things didn't wind up becoming too much chaotic. A fact that made Izuku feel a lot more secure. When he didn't have a Quirk, those was virtually the only things that made him feel safe going anywhere in the big cities at night. Even though he now had One For All, those familiar sights did still help put him at ease.
"Man, sounds like everyone's trying to have a good time, huh?" Mina commented as the pair of them passed another building, which was playing some of the loudest techno music Izuku had ever heard.
It certainly wasn't difficult to understand why. With the loss of All Might, people were unsure and concerned about what came next for their Hero society. What would happen now that their symbol of peace had fallen, and what was going to happen now that they had lost one of the most effective Heroes in decades. A Hero whose mere existence seemed to deter crime. Could the next top Hero fill those massive boots? Would things be the same ever again?
Not everyone was equipped to think about these questions every minute of the day. The average person would want to just allow themselves to forget about those sorts of problems that they had no control over, and just lose themselves for a few hours, with people, drinks, and loud, loud music. To numb the pain. The loss of All Might may have been a devastating blow to the Heroics industry, but it was one hell of a boost to the entertainment industry.
A scene which, really, wasn't exactly Izuku's. But it was very much Mina's kind of scene.
Izuku lead her around a few streets and corners, managing not to crash into other night-lifers, until they reached a comparatively small building, but one that was reputed to be just as entertaining as any of the other places the pair of them had just passed.
"Ubara Kell?" Aloud, Mina read the name of the place, blinking a couple of times before she looked at Izuku, who looked back at her. The pink girl then looked up at the writing on the side of the building, and then back at her boyfriend. "You know this is a night club, right?"
"For students." Added Izuku. Yuuei certainly wasn't the only school in the city, and there was no shortage of underage teenagers who wanted to let loose and enjoy themselves at night. Again, clubbing and the likes wasn't exactly Izuku's scene, and on his own, he wouldn't consider entering such a building. But he was with Mina, and Mina liked this sort of thing.
And besides, there was a certain logic as to why he thought that this would be a good idea.
"No, I mean, this is a straight up, loud music, rave, dance and noise place."
"I know. I searched up places like this online before bringing you here." Izuku paused for a moment, before the idea that he might have misjudged her desires for tonight. Suddenly, he felt a lot more self-aware. "Uh, we don't – We don't have to head in if you don't want to. I-I just thought… You – You mentioned that you liked the dancing scene before, and I thought you might enjoy somewhere like this…"
Sounds of loud music and then excited yelling and screaming from inside perked both Izuku and Mina's ears. "Dude, this kinda place is my jam. I'm more worried about you though. I thought you didn't like loud, crowded places?"
"I mean… Normally I don't." Izuku scratched at the back of his head again, this time less out of awkwardness, and more to attack an itch that had sprouted up. "But after spending a few days in a dead silent cell with only Kacchan for company, I think someplace full of people might do me some good."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure." He nodded. "Plus, it's kind of the only thing I can think of that doesn't involve Heroism directly in any way."
While not entirely convinced, Izuku's logic was pretty solid. If he said that he was fine with this place, then Mina trusted that he'd be okay. And if he got overwhelmed, there was nothing stopping them from leaving.
The pair of them entered, and to Mina, a number of things were immediately recognizable. The moment that they opened the door, a familiar blast of sound shot straight through Mina's body, whilst an unfamiliar one shot through Izuku's. The music and the speakers were so loud and refined, it felt like the music as being shot directly through their blood. This wasn't the first time that she had been to this kind of a place, and she recognized certain aspects of the clubbing scene – Groups of friends all huddled together and laughing as loud as their vocal cords would allow them, pairs of people, about half of which looked more like they had been dragged out by their friends and would rather be elsewhere. The people who were here on dates always seemed to either be the ones who occupied the dance floor, or the stalls in the furthest corners of the room.
People from all sorts of schools were here too. The place was aimed at a younger crowd, and as such was filled with people ranging from anywhere between thirteen to nineteen – Essentially anyone who was unable to legally drink. Middle schoolers and high schoolers, and even graduates all found themselves here as one of the more popular places to enjoy the night life of Musutafu without being able to get drunk. Some hadn't even gotten changed out of their uniforms, and had presumably been here for hours by now.
Playing out loud was some kind of Anglo-Japanese band that had hit the music industry in the last couple of months. Two Islands Armies, or something else ridiculous like that – Mina recognized the band, but didn't have even the first clue what the name was. Someone who had an Avian Quirk certainly did though, as they were shouting – Not singing, shouting – the lyrics along as they blared out through the speakers. The main entrance, Mina quickly decided, was not where they were going to want to be, at least not for a while. Too many groups bunched up together, and too loud, even for her.
It didn't take the pair of them too long to find a stall that wasn't occupied. There were empty glasses there, but no bags or personal belongings, so as far as either could tell, the previous occupants had departed. Sliding the glasses to the edge of the table, both teenagers sat down, letting out gentle sighs as the weight was released from their feet.
"Aaaaaah…" Mina let out a long, comfortable sigh as she felt herself sink into the foamy material the seats were made from. "Thank God. We had to walk a fair bit to get here, huh? I wish Yuuei would organize some bus routes from the school or something."
"Uh, d'you want a drink?" Izuku asked, glancing towards the counter.
"Why, you planning on getting me drunk?" Joked Mina. "I'll just have… A soda. Just, anything fizzy. Sugary." She clarified. She needed her energy.
Surprisingly, it didn't take Izuku all that long to actually order the drinks. Normally the lines for this sort of place were enormous, but they had apparently come in at a fairly quiet point in the night – Who knew what this place was like when it really got lively?
Izuku gave the tender behind the counter the table number they had, and placed their order.
"They're bringing them over." He explained as he returned empty handed, and sat down. He sat down opposite her, and allowed himself to lean back. "Said it shouldn't take more than five minutes."
"What'cha order?"
"Orange Soda and Cherry Soda."
"…The cherry is mine, isn't it."
"Do you want the cherry one?"
"More that if it's yours, I think I can make a pretty fun joke about the colour of cherry's and my skin."
"Well, it is yours."
"Damn it."
"We can swap if you want." Offered the gently amused teenage boy.
"Nah, I'm good. I like cherry soda. Just missed a golden opportunity." Mina joked, fake-pouting slightly. "Next time, I'm ordering the drinks, so I get to set it up so that I can make fun of you." She giggled gently to herself as she thought up the numerous number of ways she could mess with him with various drink orders. Once she calmed herself down, she leaned back in her seat, and opted to make casual conversation. "So, what'd Hatsume want?"
It took Izuku a few moments to realize what she was talking about. He looked at her with an expression of cluelessness before he remembered being held up. "Huh? Oh! Oh, Hatsume just had… A bunch of ideas she wanted to try and get my consent to try out with my costume upgrades."
"Anything you let her add?"
"I… Didn't feel all that comfortable letting her add a 'Wrist mounted laser beam' onto my costume."
"That sounds amazing!"
"It doesn't really help me with my issues with my Quirk though."
"I mean, I guess not." Mina said, putting a shoulder against the table, and holding her head in her hand. "It'd be sweet though! You just do like a - " The Acid Quirk user made a gesture with her hand, which involved her folding in the ring and index finger, and tucking in her thumb. " – And then shooting a laser outta your wrist! Like, zyoom!"
"You make it sound like I'd be one of those old-age comic Heroes that didn't have Quirks."
"It works on multiple levels!" Chimed the pink girl. "Plus, we'd match."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at that statement. "How?"
"I spoke a bit with Hatsume while you were going over your blueprints with Power Loader." She explained. "You were talking about upgrading your costume, so I thought I should see if she had any ideas on how I could upgrade my costume to help with my Quirk." A small grin. "She came up with this idea of making wrist-mounted turrets that can shoot acid from them! She said I should be able to increase my range with them pretty dramatically. We went over the design a bit and came up with something that she thinks she could have ready in a couple days!"
Wrist-mounted range extenders. Izuku blinked as he considered the idea, and then smiled. It was times like this that did make him a little upset that he such control over his Quirk that he couldn't utilize range. All Might used to have the ability to send shock-waves with the sheer power of his attacks, but Izuku doubted that right now, he had even remotely enough control to attempt something like that without shattering his entire body. Sometimes, he wondered if he would ever be able to utilize his mentors' power in such a way.
"I thought you were working on improving your range with Ectoplasm." Izuku asked.
"Yeah, it's for my special moves. I still wanna try a buncha stuff!" His girlfriend chirped eagerly. "But I thought that having extra range would help too. Plus, I might not always have the new equipment, so it's not like adding them would lose me anything. I'd still need to practice without them. And get good at aiming with them."
Her logic made a lot of sense – Train in case she didn't have them, train for when she did have them. And it wasn't likely that these wrist mounted launchers would be able to utilize special moves like Mina was trying out.
It was certainly a creative idea too, and a logical step for upgrades to her costume. Then again, if there was one word to describe Mina, creative would be one of the first ones that Izuku would go for. She was always full of ideas, and had about a million of them she wanted to try out. Something like that was going to be a massive asset to her throughout the rest of their time at Yuuei, and when they hit the Pro-Hero scene.
Before Izuku could comment on it though, a waiter arrived at their table, and on the platter he held, their drinks.
"Ah, thank you!" Mina chimed, before taking her drink and taking a big, long sip of it through a drinking straw.
Izuku thanked the man as well, before he took a more reserved sip of his drink than Mina had, whom was already about a third of the way through her cherry soda. The drink was fizzy, and felt like it snapped him fully awake, eradicating whatever fatigue that he might have had. Not to mention that it tasted nice on top of that, and was cold and refreshing. A sigh escaped from his lips as he parted ways with the drinking straw.
For a couple of minutes, the pair of them sat in silence – At least between them – as they refreshed themselves with cool liquid and enjoyed their drinks. Considering how energetic Mina was all the time, Izuku wasn't even remotely surprised that she consumed a ridiculous load of sugar – A part of him wanted to warn her about in-taking that much sugar, but he decided against it and opted instead to just let her enjoy herself for tonight. That and caffeine. In the short time that they had lived in the Yuuei dorms, Izuku had quickly learned that Mina definitely had a dependency on the caffeine provided by things like coffee and soda. He'd assumed that she was like many others, and needed a coffee to fully wake up properly, but it turned out she could go through maybe three cups a day if she really wanted to. It was no wonder that she had all the energy that she had.
A perfect display of her fondness for these kinds of products came about thirty seconds after Izuku made the previous observation, when she rapidly finished off what was left in her glass, already having slammed down the entire soda. A deep sigh escaped her, before she glanced at Izuku's drink and smirked.
"You've barely had anything." She pointed out.
"You've already drunk everything in your glass."
"I was thirsty." She paused, and then pointed at him. "No jokes."
"I… Don't… What joke would I make here?"
"Never mind." Mina picked out the straw from her glass, and then placed it between the index fingers of each of her hands, the finger covering up the hole on either side. "Y'know what we should do?"
"What?"
"We should do like they do in the movies."
Once more, Izuku blinked, utterly clueless as to what Mina was even suggesting that they do.
Although that confusion quickly sorted itself out when she plopped her straw into his orange soda and then wrapped her lips around it. She looked up at him with her eyes, just waiting for him to apparently do the same. Izuku blushed – Properly blushed – For the first time all night. "I - I – Wh - What?"
"Hah!" Mina sat up straight and grinned from ear to ear. "I knew I could still make you blush!"
"H-Have you been trying to do that all night?!"
"I've been trying it since we got back to Yuuei! You're harder to embarrass now." Mina's smile remained on her lips throughout the entire time she spoke. Her eyebrows narrowed downwards as her expression turned into one of smug self-satisfaction. "You're adorable when you're flustered, y'know."
"I - I am?"
"I've told you before dude, you are. Like I said though, it's harder to get you all flustered. At least for me. Hatsume seems to manage it pretty well though." She laughed as she remembered Izuku's expression at the intrusive girl's lack of the concept of personal space. "She grabbed you and you went up like a traffic was freakin' hilarious."
"I'm glad I can amuse you…" Izuku muttered, though he did still smile. He used the glass he had just emptied to try to cool his cheeks – Thankfully, it was still full of ice.
Mina just flashed him another bright smile.
The night went on, and the pair of them found themselves discussing a great number of things, ranging from the work that they still had to do at Yuuei, to ideas for what they could do for other dates, to sharing silly stories, and talking about their classmates. Mina brought up a number of upcoming video games that she wanted to try to get a hold of, as well as a second controller, so that she could try to teach Izuku how to play all sorts of games with her – Izuku had no doubt that Mina would absolutely obliterate him at pretty much any game that she and he played together, but he couldn't find himself too concerned about that. Izuku told her about some of the comics that he had read while he was in the hospital while she was sleeping – He hadn't felt right about reading them while she was right there, and had been there since he had been admitted into the hospital.
They both talked about how Yuuei was really starting to push its students, although both of them understood perfectly why. They both had the first-hand experience needed to explain why that was necessary. Mina suggested a few new move ideas, and some names that Izuku had no doubt that she thought sounded super awesome… But ended up in reality being way too long, complicated and convoluted to actually say. When she wound up sulkily muttering how he was probably right, he tried to help her come up with some better names.
Mina mentioned about how weird Yaoyorozu seemed to be acting lately – Quieter and more contemplative than normal. Izuku suggested that maybe there was something on her mind. Mina immediately suggested she was in love.
Before the pair of them even really knew it, they had ended up going through about five drinks each, and nearly two hours had passed.
Once Izuku noticed this, he gulped, and then checked behind the pair of them – The place had gotten a bit more crowded, and the music was still playing some high-beat tempo… Thing. Izuku barely recognized the genre, never mind the band, or the singers, or the song.
"Uh…. Hey, Mina? He asked, cautiously.
"Hmm?"
"I uh… I don't suppose you uh…" somehow, now that he was actually asking, the words became more difficult for him to get out of his throat.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I…. Uh… D-Do you want to dance?" He quickly forced the words out before he could think about them too much, feeling his cheeks redden and heat up as he got them past his lips.
"…You do realize this isn't exactly dance music, right?" Mina asked, quirking an eyebrow up. "At least, not the kind of dance I think you mean."
"N-No, I mean… I mean…" He pointed behind him, towards all sorts of people dancing without really any kind of prompting at all – No meaning, no instructions, just them moving their bodies to the rhythm, and letting them arms and legs swing in which whatever direction they felt like. "…That kind of dancing."
This time, it was Mina's turn to blink. "You wanna freestyle?"
"I-Is that what it's called?"
"Freestyle yeah – You just kind move and do whatever you feel like." Mina's lips curled into a smirk. "D'you even know how to dance?"
Izuku's face went redder.
"Oh – You're hoping I could teach you." Mina's smirk grew wider and wider. Quickly, she also came to understand his logic for coming here too.
Dancing was good for the body. Not ball-room dancing, or any of the other traditionally romantic styles of dancing that were associated with couples.
No, this kind of dancing, the kind Mina loved, was all about energy and movement, often gave those doing said dancing a complete workout. There wasn't grace as much as there was raw energy. Energy and a complete workout.
Which would double up not only as a fun date activity, but as physical exercise for their Hero training.
Mina wasn't sure what version of events amused her more – The idea that Izuku had chosen this place knowing this, or the idea that he'd done this without even realizing it. Her grin grew wider and wider. "Gotta say, Izu – This isn't what I expected from you of all people. DDR is one thing, but this is whole other ball game, y'know."
"I know…" He made eye contact with her, and put on a smile of his own. "But I'm willing to give it a go. I-If you want to."
"Oh, this is gonna be fun."
The rest of the night ended up being a flurry and array of dance moves, failures, and teaching as Mina tried to instruct Izuku on how to freestyle-Breakdance. As expected, he wasn't even close to being even a remotely competent dancer at first. He was all over the place, and his style of dancing was less what Mina would call dancing, and more what she'd call 'flailing around and calling it dancing'. She instructed him, demonstrated for him, and then eventually let him just go loose on his own for a while when she felt he had gotten the hang of it.
It was exhausting. It was hilarious. It was embarrassing.
And above all, it was fun.