A/N: Would ya look at that: it hasn't even been a week. Progress.

Day 28 | Mariam and Joseph | Rated: K+

Ocean

"You can't avoid it forever, you know?"

Joseph would have thought Mariam hadn't heard if he hadn't trained himself to read her so flawlessly over the years. It was clear by the way her eyes narrowed and how her lips curled into a frown – she'd heard and was ignoring him on purpose.

He sighed to himself and pushed his hands deep into his pockets. Nothing was ever easy with his sister. With a full stomach and ocean waves lapping periodically at his ankles, Joseph cared less than usual about prying answers out of her.

He followed her in silence, half a pace behind, watching her absentmindedly swerve out of the water's reach as they made their way back to the hotel. With the BBA finally back on its feet, some of the stops during the current World Championship run had been more glamorous than others. Joseph would rank this one, with a luxury hotel and private beach, in his top three.

Mariam would probably rank it closer to the bottom, if only because the close quarters made it harder to avoid a certain blond Bladebreaker vying for her attention. He said as much to her and earned himself a punch in the shoulder for his trouble.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" he snickered, rubbing away the soreness her knuckles left behind.

A breeze kicked up, blowing Mariam's hair into her face and keeping her from replying. She growled in frustration and managed to fling her ponytail over her shoulder in time to dodge the next wave.

"Max and I are just friends," she said firmly. There was a tinge of pink high on her cheeks that might have been from the wind. "We're barely friends. We're more like friendly rivals."

Joseph smirked. His eyes trailed from Mariam to the clusters of other beybladers sprinkled over the beach. They weren't the only ones who thought to take a stroll along the coast after dinner and they weren't the only pair he could see. He thought there were even two people he should recognize holding hands in the distance.

"Hmm…." he said, his thoughts drifting back to Mariam and Max. "How friendly are we talking?"

Mariam stumbled out of the way of another wave.

"The only thing I want from Max is a rematch, Joseph," she insisted, picking up the pace so she was practically stomping along the beach. It took more effort for her to speed up, sinking ankles-deep into dry sand, than it did for him, so it didn't do her much good in getting away.

"Are you sure that's all he wants?"

"I don't know and I don't care!"

The conversation fizzled out after that. The longer they walked in silence, the less irritation radiated off of Mariam and the closer they got to the hotel. Even with the sun setting and the temperature dropping, the waves felt pleasant washing over Joseph's feet. Mariam continued to bob and weave, dodging the tide like she dodged his questions.

"You wanna know what I think?"

"No." There was a warning in Mariam's tone when she answered, shooting him a glare.

Undeterred, Joseph said, "I think he'd kiss you if you let him."

Mariam stopped short and rounded on him. When she went for his shoulder this time, it was with the palm of her hand so she could stop him too. There was a glower on her face, but her cheeks were still pink. He smirked and felt her nails dig in.

"Max and I are rivals, Joseph," she hissed, voice wavering in a way it only did when she felt very strongly about something. He remembered it doing the same thing when she defended their decision to let the Bladebreakers keep their bitbeasts to the rest of their clan. "Anything else is just your imagination."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

Behind her, Joseph could see the hand-holding duo were now meandering along the pier. There were more people spilling out onto the sand from inside the hotel and the wind carried snatches of a dozen different conversations. One head turned their direction.

He shifted his gaze back to Mariam's ire.

"You never let him get you alone," he pointed out, doing his best to ignore her fingers tightening on his shoulder. The crowd from the hotel was scattering in all directions. "Are you afraid of what he might say?"

Mariam scoffed and shoved him back, disgust at either him or his words finally making her let go.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joseph could see someone familiar heading their way and fought to keep a straight face. Perfect.

"I'm not afraid of Max or anything he has to say to me!" Mariam argued, completely oblivious to the bombshell Joseph couldn't wait to drop on her.

"Well," he smirked, tilting his head to peer conspicuously over her shoulder – he wanted her to notice, "here's your chance to prove it."

"Mariam!" a familiar, cheerful voice called out, making the color drain from his sister's face.

Just then, the largest wave of the evening surged onto the shore. Mariam let out a gasp of shock; it easily soaked her up to the knees. He watched her nearly lose her footing when the wave retreated back into the ocean, wet tendrils trying to drag her with it. Max noticed too, if the sound of rapid footsteps on the wet sand were any indication.

Joseph didn't fare any better. Soaked even worse than Mariam, he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. If looks could kill, Mariam would be on trial for his murder.

"Like I said"—he smiled and waved at Max, who was quickly closing in—"you can't avoid it forever."

A/N: For a while I didn't know what to write for this one. My brain went habitually to Max, Mariam, and the beach. Originally I settled on another idea as far from that as possible while still working in the prompt. But then we ended up here, just slightly adjacent from where I started. I spend a lot of time chasing myself in circles when writing, but somehow it always works out lol

Thanks for reading! :)