Unveiled Winds || Katsuki Bakugou x Reader

Chapter 45 - Moonlight Swim

The front door creaked open just as the sun began its slow descent over the horizon, casting warm gold across the floorboards.

You stepped into the beach house first, arms full of paper shopping bags, still slightly sun-dazed from the afternoon heat.

Behind you, the others followed in a staggered line, Mina chattering about shaved ice, Sero fiddling with his phone, and Kirishima yawning so hard it looked like it hurt.

Kaminari flopped face-first onto the couch without a word.

"God, my legs," he groaned into the cushions. "Shopping is pain. Why do you guys act like it's fun?"

"Because it is fun," Mina called over her shoulder, already heading for the kitchen. "You just have the stamina of a wet sock."

You dropped your bags by the low coffee table and stretched your arms overhead with a sigh. The air inside was cooler, scented faintly of salt and laundry detergent, an instant relief after the sun-soaked streets of town.

Bakugou trailed in last, silent as ever, and shut the door behind him with a solid thunk.

"Remind me to never let you people drag me to a vintage bookstore and four different cafés in one afternoon again," he muttered, kicking off his shoes.

"You survived," you said, glancing back at him with a grin. "And you didn't even explode anything."

His brow twitched. "Yet."

You tossed him a look over your shoulder, half teasing. "Admit it, you had fun."

He didn't answer right away, but the corner of his mouth lifted, just barely. "I'm not admitting shit."

You snorted and peeled off your jacket, tossing it over the back of a nearby chair. The others had already started shedding layers and migrating to various corners of the living room like a slowly collapsing star.

Kaminari was still face-down on the couch, occasionally muttering the word "betrayal."

Mina dumped her tote bags onto the floor and crouched down beside you. "Okay, okay haul time. I want a full recap of what we bought."

You grinned, dropping cross-legged beside her. "You mean you want to show off everything you convinced me to buy."

"Same difference," she sang, already pulling out a beaded bracelet and holding it up to the light. "Tell me this doesn't scream 'effortless summer goddess.'"

"I'll give you 'effortless,'" Sero said from across the room, where he was fiddling with the remote. "But goddess might be pushing it."

"Jealousy doesn't look good on you," Mina replied, not even turning around.

Sero rolled his eyes and gave the remote a final click, the small, boxy TV on the low shelf buzzed to life, static dancing before the screen settled on an input screen. "Alright, what ancient DVDs do you think the rental gods left us?"

"There's a whole stack under the TV stand," Kirishima said, kneeling to dig them out. "Ooooh guys, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift!"

Kaminari popped up immediately. "That's the one with the parking garage race and the drifting down the mountain, right?!"

"Peak cinema," Sero said with mock reverence, holding a hand over his heart.

"Boys and their street racing fantasies," she murmured, then tugged one of the skirts out of a bag. "Okay but this with boots? Tell me that's not peak indie grunge."

You whistled low. "Okay, yeah, that actually slaps."

Across the room, Bakugou leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed, watching it all unfold with a look that was half-boredom, half-vague amusement.