After amazing food truck tacos and a bit of hiking, they arrived at the cave. It was surprisingly bright, and mostly secluded. Two other couples were ahead of them, taking photos. Shoto smiled and took a photo of the opening at the top of the cave, then one of Izuku silhouetted by the sunlit entrance. They had to get wet to get in, so they put their shoes on a high rock and sat to watch the sunset. "We'll have to keep an eye on the tide." Izuku reminded as he picked up a tiny seashell to examine it. "Oh! Tomorrow there'll be fireworks, we'll have to find a good spot to see them.." He started excitedly, then ended with a yawn. He laid his head on Shoto's shoulder. Shoto looked around, waiting for the last stranger to leave. As soon as they were alone he found Izuku's lips. "MmShommto.." Izuku wanted to push him away but admitted this was a romantic and an obvious outcome. After a satisfying make-out session, which thank goodness didn't go any further, they felt a cool breeze. "Let's get going." They grabbed their shoes and were careful with slippery rocks. Shoto looked at his hand, the tide, then at his hand again. "I know what you're thinking, but please don't." Shoto quickly hid his hand behind his back, caught. "We have to be careful with our quirks here, keep local enforcement happy and preserve natural formations.." He waved around. "Weirdly enough, there are many quirkless around this area. I made friends with some of them.. I was quirkless until UA so I felt a certain solidarity. Using quirks around here would rile them up." After Shoto digested this for a beat, "I'd like to meet your friends. They'll be partying tomorrow, won't they? ..I heard parties here were wild out of control." Izuku shuddered. "Hah, not everywhere here is Hollywood or LA, Shoto.. nor is it all like it is in the movies. It's.. chill here. ..I'll see who I can round up by the end of the week. It can be a going-away thing, too. Two birds, one stone."
"Oh! the water is blue!" Shoto pointed. Well, yeah, Izuku thought dumbly. Oh wait, Izuku turned to see a happy Shoto with his phone out, taking pictures. He was frowning when the glow didn't capture well. "That's the bioluminescence I was talking about! I've been here for months and had only ever heard about it! Lucky.." Izuku bent down trying to get a video. Scrolling through, he found frames that were decent enough to screen capture and shared them as pics. "Can I post this one?" Shoto asked. "You're on social media?" Izuku deflected, surprised. "Oh, um.. Momo and the girls are. Most of the pics in your gift are from their profiles.. I don't use my name or face though." "Oh.." They walked along the beach. Izuku felt bad for not keeping in touch, he had really gotten lost in himself here. "So.. why do you want to leave?" The question made Izuku feel really tired all of sudden, double dose of jet lag and he wanted more tacos. "Sorry.. I told you I'd wait for you to be ready.. I didn't mean to push." Shoto withdrew. When Izuku didn't say anything to that either, he remained quiet the rest of the walk back.
Sleep came to them fast. They woke up and Izuku got them going to have açaí bowls for breakfast. "THESE ARE SO GOOD." Izuku repeated every few bites. Shoto liked it too, Izuku had ordered him one with granola, honey, peanut butter and more fruit. "I think I've seen these back home as well.." Shoto pointed out, peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth. "Oh good! I wouldn't want to miss these.. I didn't go out much back home, when I was younger or besides what we went out for as a class.. so I've only 'discovered' a bunch of trendy stuff after coming here."
After a walkthrough of the different beach areas of San Diego, and many reapplications of sunblock later, they returned to shower and rest before going back out to see the fireworks.
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"How about here?" Shoto asked, blanket over his shoulder and bag of drinks in hand. "That should work." Izuku approved, still making his way through the busy crowd. They set up the spot and relaxed with their refreshments. "Thank you for inviting me, Izuku." Shoto appreciated as the first test firework went off and he tried his first Gatorade. Izuku smiled as he leaned on him. More test fireworks went off and the crowd cheered when the real show began. It was a great show, with some new designs they had never seen before. Shoto kissed Izuku on the head and took more photos. He felt someone watching them, and used the camera zoom to check. "Do you recognize the guy by the lamppost?" Izuku perked up but there was no one there. "I didn't see.." "Zuku's back!" Shoto was immediately annoyed by the sudden voice and nickname. Oh no.. "I'm an illusion." Izuku imitated some kind of smoke with his hands, "A mirage." He insisted. A tall and tan surfer dude crashed down on him from the side for a hug. "Lol," Did he just use lol as a word? "Where have you been?! Oh, hola by the way," Liam gave Shoto a courteous wave before continuing. "Noah and Xander have been asking about you all week!" It hasn't even been that long, Shototried to keep a pleasant face for Zuku's sake. *Eye roll* "Let's get drinks after this, I'll round them up." The newcomer suggested cheerfully. Izuku hung his head briefly, scratching the back of his neck before coming up with a smile, "Sure!"
"Ugh, I just want to sleep!" Izuku whined as they walked away from the crowd. "Then let's do just that." Izuku smiled at Shoto skeptically. "Of course you'd want me in bed." Shoto smirked, "You have work tomorrow, don't you? I'll let you sleep.. let's just go back to your place.." Izuku looked at him curiously, "You just said you wanted to meet my friends though..?" Shoto replied matter of fact, "That was before that guy was all over you." Pfft, "You're too honest Shoto! Liam is harmless.. think, Kaminari." Shoto scrunched up his face like Really? That guy is a danger to himself!
Izuku blew off the impromptu get together. It'llbe fine, he told himself. He felt his phone vibrate a few times and worried he'd end up with rambunctious visitors for ignoring them. They'll get the hint..
