"let's go to the beach."

"huh?" denki questioned, springing up from the couch.

"yeah," mina rolled her eyes, "let's go to the beach tomorrow. it's supposed to be hotter than it is today and look at how the heat has us now.

mina gestured her hand at the group, all splayed out on hanta's living room floor. summer was making its presence known with its blazing heat and incapacitating waves.

"and plus, we can invite kyoka and her friends! it's been a while since we all hung out, hasn't it?"

we all hummed in thought, the promise of a cool body of water doing a good job of convincing us.

"and y/n can bring her boyfriend!" denki giggled with a grin on his face.

i threw one of the other boys' shirts at him and watched as he caught it with ease. "shut up, denki, shinsou isn't.. he isn't my boyfriend."

too busy enjoying the resolve between shinsou and i, the lack of labels on our 'relationship' wasn't something i noticed until now.

"anyways," i changed the topic, "i'm on board with the plan for the beach, you nerds coming or what?"

"yeah, the beach sounds good!" eijiro chirped cheerfully.

"yeah, katsuki and i can make something to bring for lunch if we're going to be spending lunch there." hanta offered.

mina clapped her hands together, an idea painting her features. "omg, let's have a bonfire! we can buy marshmallows and make s'mores."

"the beach should be cool enough for that at night." i offered. "kyoka and the others can pitch in with anything we can't cover."

"alright, sounds like a plan!"

-

after constant nagging from mina and the boys, i texted shinsou asking if he wanted to join us for the beach adventure.

instead of getting an immediate response from him, i got a call at a later time.

"hey, y/n." he greeted, pulling a grin out of me with those simple words.

"hi, did you get my text?" i shooed denki away as he curiously approached me.

"yeah, i was calling about that. i'm not going to be able to go."

"oh.."

denki was by my ear, pushing his own to my phone in an attempt to eavesdrop.

"what's he saying?" the blond mouthed to me.

"right," i ignored denki, "that's fine. i doubt you'll miss out on much."

"y/n, i was joking." shinsou said and i wondered what he looked like on the other end, "i was just calling to ask about what i should buy. i'm at the store with izuku and tenya and it's getting a bit out of hand."

as if on cue, i could hear a worried voice exchanging with a rowdy one.

"izuku, watch where you-" a crash interrupted shinsou's warning.

"we just knocked down like three displays, i'll call you back later." shinsou huffed, amusement apparent under his voice however.

i laughed softly. "alright, bye."

"bye, y/n."

"so you're telling me you guys aren't dating but that's the way you talk to each other?" denki spoke up, if he hadn't i would've forgotten he was there, despite him being practically melting into my side.

"huh? we were just having a normal conversation, denki, i have no idea what you're talking about." i slip my phone into my back pocket and returned to the task i was doing before i received a call.

"no, normal conversation is like

'hi, shinsou'

'hi, l/n, what should i buy for the beach tomorrow?'

'oh, just buy this, this and this.'

'okay, thanks. see you tomorrow, l/n.'

'see you.'

end of conversation and then just wait to see each other tomorrow. what the two of you did was practically swoon over the phone for one another."

i stared at denki, in shock from his enactment of what i think was supposed to be shinsou and i on the phone. "i'm kicking you out the kitchen, kaminari. shoo, get out."

"i'm not a dog, y/n! and plus, i'm still cutting veggies, katsuki will get mad if i don't finish."

"whatever."

"whatever," denki mimicked with his voice pitched.

i flicked a rogue, minced vegetable at him.

"hey!"

-

the ride to the beach wasn't all that bad. most of us were sluggish from a good breakfast and the other half was making small conversation. eijiro and hanta had gotten the idea to rent out a van so that we wouldn't have to deal with the hustle that was dealing with two different cars.

izuku, kyoka and the others had texted in the morning to tell us that they would meet us down at the beach. apparently, they had gotten up early to camp out at a good spot.

i was sitting by a window, watching as the waves grew more visible on the horizon. denki was sitting his head out of the passenger seat window with his tongue out like a dog.

his electric blond hair flapped wildly and was tussled once he pulled his head back into the car.

"the air tastes salty!" he exclaimed, laughter rising out of him.

"are you sure it's the air and not the bugs you probably let into your mouth?" katsuki snickered while keeping his eyes on the rode.

"ah! don't say that, katsuki."

hanta and mina joined in on the teasing as we pulled into the make-shift parking lot that opened up into the beach.

"oh my god! i haven't been to the beach in forever, let's hurry up with the unloading so we can get into the water." denki looked ready to bolt of out his seat and was practically vibrating with excitement.

katsuki searched for an open space to park the car while mina called kyoka to see where they were at.

"they're sending some of the boys over to help with the stuff!" mina announced as she ended her phone call and true to her word, a few minutes later, hazy figures could be seen in the distance.

"izuku! tenya! we're over here!" eijiro waved his hands in the air and the two boys jogged over to us.

"hi hi!" exclaimed mina, pulling izuku into a hug with tenya following. "help unload these coolers and y/n and i will take the bags."

after awkward waddle down the shore with sand infiltrating our sandals, we finally managed to meet up with the others.

they were set up under a white canopy, chairs propped up on the sand and plenty ready to hop into the water.

"y/n!" shinsou emerged from under the canopy and jogged up to me.

"hi shinsou," i greeted back but glanced away to hide the grin taking over my features.

"here, let me help you with the bags." he said, reaching over.

"it's okay, i've got it. you can check in with tenya and izuku, i've seen how much the two get into."

he grinned, teeth showing, and nodded. i turn to watch him head off but then refocus so that i could place down what i was carrying.

"hey, y/n!" ochako waved approached from the waves, tiny droplets confirming that she had already been in the water.

"hi, ochako, how was the water?"

"it was great!" she grabbed a towel from one of the chairs, patting herself dry.

"are the others over there, too?" i asked, pulling out a chip bag that hanta had already gotten into and offering her some.

with her hands cupped, i tipped the bag. "yeah, shoutu and kyoka are still out there. oh, and tsu and shinsou were surfing actually! the waves were good earlier but they've calmed a bit. were you planning on surfing?"

"i didn't even know you guys brought surfboards. but no, i don't think i'll surf today." i offered a sheepish grin.

"i get it," ochacko nodded but then threw a glance behind me, "but maybe someone will end up convincing you."

with a wink, she was gone and headed back towards the ocean. laughing softly to myself, i turned to see what the brunette was staring at.

"y/n!" denki was running at top speed towards me with shinsou following behind him, "put sunscreen on my back! tenya won't let me in without it, something about skin cancer or something."

the boy shoved a tube of sunscreen into my hand and quickly shrugged out of his shirt.

uncapping said tube and fulfilling the boy's request, i locked eyes with shinsou. "what?"

"nothing," he chuckled, "nothing."

before i could even tell denki i was done, he was already bounding towards the blue in front of us and kicking sand behind him.

"where are the others?" i asked, rubbing the remaining lotion on my arms.

"i'm not sure, i ran ahead with denki to make sure he didn't get lost." shinsou sat down in a chair, gesturing to the one next to him.

i followed his lead and plopped down, "good call."

taking the fact that it was just shinsou and i for now, i began. "shinsou, i've been meaning to ask wh-"

"y/n! let's go into the water!" a voice that could only belong to mina requested and before i knew it, i was being pulled up and out of my chair.

"uh, right, water." i let myself be dragged towards the water before realizing i had to take off my clothes.

"wait, mina, i still have my clothes on." i pointed out to her.

"oh jeez. right, me too. just drop them right here, we'll pick them back up later."

mina seemed sure of her decision to leave our clothes out in the open, so i did as she said. testing the waters with my bare feet, i shivered at the temperature.

"i don't know what ochako was talking about, the water's cold."

mina laughed, "don't be dramatic, come on."

mina splashed her way into the water until she was at a waist-high level.

"hurry!"

after joining mina, we swam deeper into the blue. we spotted the other group and swam out to them.

"momo! ochako!" mina shouted, giggling as she settled next to the girls.

"hi, mina." they chorused to her, "hi, y/n."

"hi, girls."

"oh, oh. here come tsu and shouto." momo pointed to our right.

the pair were riding side by side on a higher wave. as they got closer to us, we waved before taking a breathe in and dipping below the wave. as we reemerged, tsuyu and shouto were paddling towards on their boards.

i felt something brush across my feet and a small jolt ran down my spine before i realized it was shinsou in the water.

"you ladies planning on getting on the board?" he asked, gesturing to the surfboard floating next to him.

the group all sounded off with a chorus of no's, even swimming away from shinsou as to avoid getting roped into anything. i still hadn't moved and he was looking at me expectantly.

"oh, why the hell not."

-

after multiple wipeouts and several instances of having to cough up water, i had only managed to stand and ride a wave twice.

everyone found it pretty entertaining but soon enough, we had hauled out of the ocean to help prepare lunch.

"look at our merpeople finally back out of the ocean."

"fuck off, katsuki."

lunch wasn't made a big deal, the usual sandwich passed around here and there followed by whatever else was brought to satisfy until the bonfire. it was cut short, however, with the marvelous idea to bury a dozing katsuki in the sand and sculpt him a mermaid body, probably payback for his earlier comment.

"hey, l/n, wanna go for a walk?" shinsou stood up from one of the chairs under the canopy.

i finished packing a handful of sand on katsuki's chest and izuku, with the guidance of denki, gave katsuki a right breast.

"yeah," i tried to dust the sand off my hands, "let's go."

we walked towards the water, where i washed my hands off, and then walked along the lapping waves.

"what's up?" i questioned, watching the way my feet were repeating being wet.

"huh?" shinsou sounded like he had been pulled out of thought, "oh, nothing. i just wanted some time alone. it can get sort of chaotic with that group."

i nodded in agreement, "tell me about it."

"there was something you wanted to ask me about earlier?"

i was hoping he had forgotten about it. after realizing that shinsou and i hadn't put labels on anything, i thought it would be best to at least ask. but now, i didn't think it would be a safe idea and the lack of labels wasn't hurting anybody.

there was also a few things that needed clarifying but it was too early to try to start any problems.

"y/n?" shinsou peered at me, purple eyes shining in the sun.

i pushed his wind-tousled hair back and watched him lean into the touch. "it was nothing important."

i knew he wasn't buying it but i had made my decision.

he hummed by my side, turning to face forward. i felt his hands brush against mine. "let's get back to the group?"

i interlocked our hands and he glanced down at them, "yeah. let's."

~

a/n: ... hi guys.. i'm so sorry i dipped on yall ToT school was beating my ass n i had a lot to do before my last finals for a few of my classes. (swear i had an essay due every two days for one of my classes) but i'm done w that n i have easier classes now so hopefully i can update a lot more !

gave a little beach episode sort of thing bc why not. also i never know what i'm doing with a chapter even though i literally try to have a like a structure beforehand

n e ways, i hope u guys enjoyed it ! like always thank u sm for reading (also thank u sm for 3k!!!!! i can't thank u guys enough) take care n stay safe !!

love all of u !! :)) <3