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That Goddamn Whistle

VAV

V

"Fox. Fox. Wake up. We've almost landed." A soft hand soon joined the voice as the person in question leaned further into his small corner of the plane, eyes resolutely closed. "Wake up or you'll get a kiss…"

His head tilted a little, whether in his sleep or a dozy manner Coco couldn't tell. Which was fine, she still had a minute or two to kill. "Fine. Mouse, lick him."

Fox woke up fully as the slobbering tongue happily covered his face and furthered ruined what little control Coco had managed to impose on his wild hair. A jolt soon followed by their plane's landing gear hitting ground, bringing the oversized lapdog tighter to his chest as Coco tried her best to calm the siblings with a few gentle pats and a napkin to clean his face with. "I thought you mean actual kisses."

"If you had heard me the first time, 5 minutes ago…"

"Sorry, never actually expected to fall a sleep."

*Beep* We are now arriving at Berlin Airport, please enjoy your day and thank you for flying with us." *Boop*

The couple exited the plane, trusting Coco to follow the telltale shock of his yellow-mane student and the silver side-burns of their fearless leader the led the gym-mates through the airport's crowded concourses. They were a small group this trip representing Ironwoods various Paralympics programs, with Coco tagging along officially as Fox's and Arslan's chaperone, since the event was more of a mid-season showcase for the spring games in Spain. Which Fox promised would mean more interesting events for Coco to watch from both the athletes and sponsors than they normally would have in a more competitive tourney.

Grabbing the shuttle from the airport they soon made it to the hotel, leaving the students to mill about in the spacious lobby as their 'glorious general' tried to get the room reservations in order. Both Coco and Fox took no small amusement whenever they used and heard Ironwood's dislike of that nickname, even if he was retired military.

"Fox, long time no see."

He didn't turn around at first, almost not recognizing the evenly woven voice that broke through the surrounding noise around them. "Cinder, you sound well. I wasn't expecting you here. I thought you only came to tournaments with prize money."

"But how I'd hate to pass up such an opportunity to check up on old friends."

"Of course, you would."

"And what's this? You have a girlfriend now I see, how nice. Our friend is going to be so jealous, you know. She'll be practically traumatized."

Fox dropped his and Coco's suitcase while widening his step into a low-fighting stand. His pales eyes tightening into a grimace as he cast his ears about, more in line with his sparring posture than how he normally when he was with Coco. "She can't be…" But Cinder was already walking away with silent laughter as her response.

Coco barely saw the multihued blur as it came up fast behind her boyfriend. Latching on to a tensed arm first with hands that looked tiny against his scarred muscles, then with both legs as the arms spun about in a cartwheel to send them both down fast to the ground in a perfect flying armbar. Leaving Coco with a brief afterimage of a wide smile and hair split down the middle between pink and brown locks.

The two scrambled on the ground for a bit, faster than any spar or rolling she had ever done with Fox in his classes, as they moved around as a tumbleweed of limbs across the hotel floor. But at that speed all she could say for certain was that he must have slipped the armbar, and only ended when Fox stood up with a new humanoid backpack. The girl was tiny, at least a foot short than him and her legs wrapped around his waist. Her long, cream-colored jacket with pink trim whipping about as Fox made his way back over to his girlfriend, pointedly ignoring the rear-naked choke around his neck with just a hand tucked inside to let him breathe through the thin arms constricting him. "Coco, meet Neo; Neo, meet Coco. Both of you don't kill each other."

Neo paused her attack just enough to give the onlooker a wave, before returning to her choke.

"An old girlfriend, how sweet to introduce us."

"Girlfriend? Coco, she's trying to strangle me."

"You should give me more piggyback rides, your back looks comfy."

The backpack in question nodding in response to Coco's assertion and now altering her hands to try and slip through his defense. Her smirking face turning annoyed as she gestured exasperatedly at Coco over her targets current state of not being unconscious when he was supposed to be.

"You could try a twister instead, but he's never shown me how to do one standing up."

A shaking head told her no, it wouldn't work.

"Do you have to help her? And Neo, if you go for a triangle up there I swear I will slam you down on this marble and let them clean up the mess."

"So, what's your deal with her then?"

"We met at a Paralympics back in grade school, her dad helps run our rival school in Italy. She decided she wanted to be my guide when I compete, even though she's mute, and now routinely tries to kill me. We do a showcase match each year since she's a kickboxer and it makes for a good show to have grappler versus striker. She is also the evilest being I have ever met."

"Young love."

Neo gave her another smile and patted her ride on the head before pulling something out of her pocket and putting it up to her mouth." *tweet tweet*

"Goddamn it Neo, not the whistle."

*tweet*

"Does Ironwood have room keys yet?"

"Yeah, but we're all enjoying watching you two flirt. We should just bring her up with us if you two are going to keep at this."

"I'm not making you carry the suitcases. Neo, down or we start doing throws."

Her grin remained fixed at the challenge, but her legs uncrossed as she slid off his back with a punctuated *tweet* of the whistle and a slap on his ass.

"Not you too."

Leaving Fox to brew, both women just gave him a quirk of their eyebrow over that last comment and his attacker strode over to give Coco a proper chance to see her slasher smile. The smaller girl flashed a few hand signs, but fished out her phone instead as it became clear that her sign language wouldn't work. [You took my toy.]

Coco took a careful look over at Fox, his back still to her and far enough away that a normal guy wouldn't hear her. "Can I borrow that?" Taking the phone, she typed quickly. [He was your toy. You two can play your martial arts games as much as you like, but hurt him and you'll answer to me. And I don't play around." She threw in a little gun emoji and handed it back as she switched back to speaking. "I like the outfit, but not so sure about the colors. Pink, brown and white don't normally go well together."

Neo took a quick read of the message as she gave a look of mock horror at Coco's critique. Clearly the choice was flawless. Handing out a finger gun, she mimed a shot at Coco's confident expression with her own silent sound effects of *pew pew* as it turned into a handshake. [My name's Neo Politan.]

"Of course, it is, should have realized. Coco Adel. I'll see you around Neo." Neo just responded with a bow that looked every bit as sassy as Coco could manage on her good days. Her heels clicking away as she retrieved a decorative parasol from the stand on her way out of the hotel. Returning to Fox as he stood waiting for the elevator, she retrieved his backpack so that he didn't have to carry it and the suitcases as they made their way up to the room.

XOXOXOX

Coming back from dinner, the two found themselves in what was technically Coco, Arslan and one other girl's room. But with the two younger girls elsewhere, the two were left to curl up on her bed with Mouse next to them as the TV idly flipped through channels. Wrapped up in her favorite bathrobe, she lay tight against his chest allowing him to enjoy the feeling of her hair against his cheek and the gentle sway of her weight that came with each breath. Now that they were here, he could agree that it had been totally worth the effort of cramming the thing into their carryon luggage. These were the quiet moments that made him eternally grateful she had refused to give up on him. That didn't mean he wasn't more than a little tentative over the next question even as he said it. "You're not angry about me and Neo, are you?"

Mm? "Eh. Were you two actually dating?"

"I would say no, but it wouldn't surprise me if she disagreed. Her throat's been damaged ever since I've known her, so I've only ever heard her talk once and you could tell why she doesn't bother with all the pain it took. Mostly we sparred whenever we found each other at one of these things, she would try to communicate with that whistle of hers and between us we would give some adult a headache. She was like Mouse for events like this, if Mouse routinely tried to kill me. But she was a friend I suppose, in a really weird way."

"That's what I figured. And no, I'm not angry. I've had worse exes, and at least she doesn't seem to be trying to break us up or anything sneaky like that. For someone so small she seems to just enjoy a more brute force method to stuff.

"We should go to some of her side of the tourney so you can see her compete. She's one of the best fighters I've ever met; the only reason I win in grappling contests is because she limits her strikes and only does them when I have some contact to know what's coming. She's like a shark, just playing with her food." His body shuddering at the thought of what would happen if she went all out.

"Don't worry; I'm sure she'll stay civil."

"Did you threaten to shoot her?"

"It was implied, but I'm sure I can MacGyver something considering I don't have any of my guns with me."

"You and Velvet with your crazy engineering, it's no wonder Yatsu is so scared of girls he can bench press. It's like living with mad scientists who like guns and lasers."

Coco shifted herself over a little to reach up and plant a quick kiss on his lips. "I take that as a compliment. Come on, they have a hot tub downstairs and we need to stay awake if we want to kick the jet lag." Her legs sweeping out of the bed as his hand trailed along with the person leaving his embrace, giving him a taste of the bare legs that lay underneath. That alone had him rolling out of the bed to join her, giving Mouse a quick order to not break anything while they were gone.

XOXOXOX

Leaning back in the hot tub, Coco rolled her shoulders as they settled into the warmth around her. It was nice, relaxing, and with those two tearing up the pool she even got a show to go with it. She really shouldn't be surprised, neo hadn't even bother taking off her sarong before sitting behind Fox and wrapping him in a reverse triangle. She gave the smaller girl gave a polite wave before sending them both off to the main pool instead of kicking her here in the tub. At least they seemed to be having fun, for a guy who liked fighting as much as Fox, the peaceful tenets of Judo that he taught to his students and demonstrated normally were at odds with what he displayed here. And frankly, it made for a more invigorating performance without them.

"{Shame, you here all alone like this}"

She didn't look up at the speaker as she answered in the same French that he had spoken with. Her own accent that of a native speaker accustomed to large cities like this, and nothing like the small city of Causton that she lived in or the rural towns of Midsomer County. "{I would not call it a shame, I have such lovely company already and a show to go with it.}"

"{Then you would not mind us joining you?}"

She looked up at the word 'us' to give the four guys standing over her a quick look. "{Don't let me stop you, just leave a seat for my partner once they are done winning that tussle.}"

"{No worries, we would hate to stop her from coming in.}"

"Coco? Neo just reminded me about the twister question."

Her eyes refocused, smirking as they could fixate on his scarred chest and the dripping water that now highlighted the curves of his muscles. Benefits of a blind boyfriend, high on her list was the ability to stare however she wanted. "So, you can't do it standing?"

"You can, but it's rare. Easier to pull a RNC like Neo was trying earlier, or you can do a kimura like you see with handcuffing procedure. I'm sure you can pull it from that standing rear guard Neo had, just need to isolate on of the hands and get it back there between your chests, but she is one of the few you will meet that is small enough that they can just cling on like that without someone unbalancing in the process."

Fox was demonstrating lightly on Neo as he spoke, prompting a critique from the Frenchmen as they question his odd actions. "{What is he doing to your friend there?}"

"{Showing me a submission from Judo.}"

Ha. "{Like that would work on anyone other than her small frame.}"

"{Oh? Should he show you?}" Coco's voice changed back to English as it dropped into her lowest contralto; into a tone Fox and any of her friends would recognize as one she reserved for threats, but came out as an almost sexual growl. "Hey babe, this guy would like a demonstration."

"No problem."

In short order the first, followed closely by and over protective friend found themselves flying into the main pool under Fox's careful guidance, the sudden change in water temperature a shocking memory to add to tonight's embarrassment. The other two held in their seats by a rap from Neo's feet, callused on top from thousands of kicks, and a few words in French from Coco to compliment her skill, even if the Italian didn't speak the language the compliment seemed well received; The small girl's unnatural smile that came with the rough housing not hurting the effect either. With a contented sigh, Fox slid back in next to Coco and let the warmth seep into several large bruises that were already starting to form, mostly in the shape of a thousand kicks.

Her voice returning to its more natural tone, she pulled him over to lean against her and laughed a little as he nuzzled against her shoulder. She would have to check with her roommates of course, but they shouldn't mind to much if he stayed with them tonight and they both seemed to appreciate the extra warmth that would entail. "{This is my partner, Fox.}"

"{Pleased to meet you.}"

"Fox, he's trying to shake your hand."

"Oh." Earning the three young men left a confusing minute as her previously graceful boyfriend in a fight fumbled around for the invisible hands being proffered.

"Wait, he's blind." Earning one young Frenchman another laugh as he spoke his first English words of the evening.

"Blind, who's blind? Some idiot just left all the lights off."

"When do you want to head up?" Her lips pressing against his head in comfort as she let him relax once more, now that formalities were covered.

"Give me another half hour, I don't want to be tripping about if I'm going to give you the ride like you asked."

VAV

V

Neo never showed up again in the series, and that's honestly a shame. She provides a nice character comparison for Fox since she was the first person shown as his equal in a fight and gave a glimpse into his childhood. Plus, Neo has a certain level of amorality that still feels right in a realistic AU, but shows where Fox differs. His stories, comments, all suggests he likes fighting as much as Neo, but he values control more.

Cinder comes back for PC which is the reason she was almost edited out of this chapter and replaced with Torchwick, Neo's father in this AU. However, laziness and authenticity won out. Meaning at some point, I'll have to explain how she goes from being a student in Italy, over the Midsomer, without Fox having the slightest clue. Actually, that last part is pretty easy.