Tidus had nearly crashed through the front door head-first – he was so worn-out. What was supposed to be just a sports interview underneath a parasol in Luca had turned out to be much, much more. A fiend scare to be exact. He had offered to trudge around every nook and avenue of the coastline city with the guard, bludgeoned by the blistering sun, searching to weed out any ravenous monsters that might be lurking in camouflage. After all, he would never ignore any potential threats to the people.

Not if it wasn't a waste of time.

It turned out to be a prank by a gang of teenagers in fur costumes and voice enhancers. They were the only ones laughing. Though it was satisfying to see their faces plummet upon hearing they would receive a swift reprimanding (and hopefully at the guards' station), Tidus felt so cheated. Mad, even. All of that time spent in some little brats' trap could have gone to much better places. He had tried so hard to not audibly grumble the whole trip home.

At least getting to be with Yuna the rest of the day cheered him up in advance.

"Yuna, I'm home!" he steadied himself on the wall, glancing around. "Yuna?"

She was nowhere to be seen or heard. The only sight that had changed in the small sea cottage was stacks of papers were sprawled out on the floor, either accidentally or out of frustration. He sighed disappointedly and focussed all of his might in making it to the bedroom. He snapped the curtains together and plopped onto the sheets, lighting one of the candles. He lolled his head over and noticed a scarlet, rectangular box on the bedside table.

He hummed with intrigue and set it on his lap. Turning over the note he saw that she had addressed it to him, complete with a little heart mark and the subtle scent of floral perfume. He grinned, squeezing his already tired eyes into slits. Was she ever the sweet one; she had made something just for him.

He lifted the lid ever so slightly. The smell of vanilla permeated the room.

Inside was a collection of dome-shaped white chocolate neatly cushioned into the spaces. Beside that section were a handful of ripe berries, looking like they had recently been washed. A bundle of long, wooden skewers sat on the leftmost side. All of it was topped off with a vanilla-scented white flower, with its petals having given all of the chocolates a lovely glaze.

Tidus froze. Words refused to form. All he could comprehend in that moment was the pressure in his tear ducts and the slight constriction in his throat. The sound of shuffling fabric came from just in front of him. All he could see was a smudgy hazel-white figure moving to settle in closer to him.

"Well?" Yuna smiled shyly, twirling patterns into the sheets. "What do you think?"

He could only manage to say how he felt with his motions. So he gazed at her with a gentleness to match the ocean, shuffling closer to her and cradling the box between them. He could see her cheeks reddening deeply, only highlighting that sparkle in her eyes.

"It took me a long time— I actually haven't done anything like this in a long time," she was trying to play it smooth and not exactly succeeding. She was wonderful. "I wanted to thank you for all you've done, Tidus – all those times you helped me with my stress. I wanted to try something new. Something I thought you'd like."

He brought her into his space by the shoulders and kissed her deeply, yet softly. She rested one of her hands on his clavicle and let the other one roam to the box. She fumbled for a skewer and stabbed a chocolate and a few berries with it. They slowly pulled away and grinned widely. She held the white, red and purple delight between them and nearly tapped his nose with it.

"Chow down. You know you want to," Yuna whispered with a bit of cheek to her.

He took some of the food into his mouth and turned away to crunch the mixture. A strong, tangy flavour sprayed all over his mouth before the mild sweetness of the chocolate melted into his tongue. Everything seemed normal… until a stream of adrenaline pumped itself into his senses. His eyes snapped open and his strong hands dented pits into the mattress.

"Yuna?" he twisted back to see her smug, victorious expression. "What the heck did you do?"

"A little bit of caffeine, some white magic and my special hybrid berries go a long way," she said casually, lying back down on the pillows. "I knew you'd be exhausted. That why I wanted to give you a boost so we could… play."

"Ah," he exclaimed knowingly, the shadows on his face getting more intense.

"All alone, nobody to bother us – nobody can see us," her smirk only got wider when she could hear him ruffling the fabric around his torso. "Good way to relieve even more of that stress, huh?"

The rush had fully kicked in by now. He crawled over to her form, his hands placed at both sides of her head and his face lowering to her ear. The candle gave the dark room a golden glow. The faint ambience of the waves resonated throughout the house. Yuna clasped her hands together and her eyes fluttered closed – she was eagerly awaiting those three words from him. The words that would confirm their entire afternoon. And sure enough…

"Paper mache duel."

"We should totally do this more often. Call it something weird, like, I dunno. 'Candy Paper Mountain' or somethin' like that!" Tidus rambled, both of them chirping meaningless giggles from the sugar rush they were going through. It turned out that the mess of papers was set out by Yuna after all. Glue and paper scraps littered the entire living room, both from their creativity and their playful sabotages.

"Na-h. 'Paper Candy Mountain' is better. Your name sounds like wafers," she flung some of the glue from her fingers onto his chest, taking another clean brush and caking her latest work of art with the sticky liquid.

"That sounds even more like wafers!"

"What's wrong with wafers?" now glue was getting stuck to her growing hair. A dorky, prideful grin crossed her features as she upheaved her latest creation: a six-inch moogle. Its pompom was drooping, probably because it was attached to a very weak piece of string. "Whatcha think? Do I earn another chocolate?"

"It's like you know all my weaknesses…" he stood awestruck at the adorable little creature. He leapt over to the table in the middle and picked up the rapidly-emptying box of desserts; it wasn't like the two of them tried to follow the rules. He picked up one of the chocolates and tossed it to her. "Guess what? Ya earned it."

Meanwhile on the other side from the cottage stood the beach, where children and their parents were wondering where that strange, constant laughter was coming from. They had tried to ignore the commotion in favour of returning to their games and sunbathing, but the increasingly-unsettling noise eventually got louder than even the children's squeals.

Tidus wasn't going to let Yuna best him. He still had his final card. His magnum opus to best even her dolls and his catapults.

He snuck into the other room while she was distracted by her pick-me-up and carried out a life-size sculpture covered by a bathroom towel. He pulled it off to reveal a mockery of who was supposed to be Seymour Guado. He appeared to have a exaggeratedly-large finger crammed into his nostril. His 'hair horns' were made out of paper tied to washing-line poles. Water was dripping out of the loose ends. Yuna could hardly believe her eyes when Tidus got behind the sculpture and started making motions with his fingers.

"My name is Seymour Butts. I come from the Planet Pompous!" he declared in a hammy, parodying voice. He gave out a fake gasp and grasped at one of the poles. "Oh no! My brain juices are leaking again!"

Now the islanders were really starting to get concerned. The laughter had gotten so loud that they were able to trace it back to the cottage, which was visibly shaking. Then rumours of the spectacle spread to the ones who were just fishing or playing blitzball. Eventually an entire clan of people was observing the sight with frightened faces. Concerned mothers were clasping their children's ears shut and the elderly folk covered their mouths with disgust.

"Hey, did you hear something?" Tidus inquired after he calmed down from his fit, shooting a glance at the curtains which obscured the window.

Yuna had calmed down as well. She went over and peeped through, just enough to see a crowd of confused people. "Seems we have guests."

An idea flashed through Tidus' mind and he smacked his hands together. "Woah. We could have a mache party or something! Let's go invite them."

And without a regard for what their appearance even seemed like, he flung the door open and they approached their standing ovation. Some of them gasped in shock. Most of them went dead silent. Tidus and Yuna's hair and clothes were completely tousled. Glue was stuck to her hands, her face and his chest. A spurt of milky-white saliva was dribbling down her mouth from the laughter and her chocolate. Both them were way more giddy and hyper than what was recommended.

And without even going over the words in his head or their situation thanks to his rush, he proudly requested the crowd of something with all of his sincerity:

"Hey, guys! You wanna join in our fun?"

It was nearly a week now, and nobody apart from Tidus and Yuna had gone down to the beach in that time. When they went up to the village the civilians seemed incredibly hesitant to talk to them. Even Lulu was giving them the raised eyebrow when she saw them together.

"I don't understand. Why won't anyone talk to us?" Yuna mumbled sadly, strolling beside Tidus along the coastline.

"Ah, I guess some guys just can't stand getting messy. It's like they have no taste," he shrugged, pulling her up to sit on the flat rocks. "Or maybe it's cause we're not that open in public. They'll get over it."

"I hope you're right," she released her breath, gazing at the pink clouds as the last of the sunset burned trails into the sky. "At least we had the beach to ourselves."

He eventually shifted to hold her from behind, nuzzling his nose into her hair while she leaned back further into him and held the arm that was across her chest. The tides were beginning to calm down and nightfall was beginning to seep in in the sun's place. The clouds broke apart, assembling new shapes. The tiny glows of stars were beginning to appear. Birds and frogs hopped across the darkening sands.

"Yuna."

"Yes?"

He quickly pecked her cheek. "Thanks again for the box you made me."

She giggled, feeling her heart swell.