Why did they have to schedule Port's class as the final one for the day? Did one of the other first years do something to piss off Ozpin? I thought as the clock ticked down the last half hour before the exam break would begin and the summer vacation would follow. I looked at the clock behind me resting on the wall above the entryway as the pot-bellied Professor droned on about another 'exploit' of his. I looked back after it felt like twenty minutes passed and my mind nearly exploded from anger at the sight that only five minutes went by.

FUUUUUUUCK! I grabbed a handful of my hair and nearly pulled it from my skull as I held in a muffled shout of rage. Just about everyone else on the team was nearing sleep or already there. Jaune's eyelids were beginning to droop as he leaned forward in his seat while even his normally studious partner was having trouble stifling a yawn. Nora of course was already napping relatively quietly using her hands and forearms as a pillow with Ren fully awake taking the occasional note.

I glanced over at RWBY and sure enough, the only ones not sleeping were those who didn't share a blood relation with each other although Blake looked to be nearing the brink of sleep as she dipped her head before snapping it back towards the front of the class.

After an agonizing twenty-five minutes that felt like two hours, the dismissal bell rang and we all filed out of the room, but not before Port reminded us all that our finals would both be occurring this week.

Our combat portion of the exam would be taking place this Tuesday while the written part would be occurring on Thursday, which kind of didn't make much sense to me because if we were injured during the combat portion, then we'd be too focused on our wounds to write the other part.

While lost in my thoughts, I nearly missed the fact that a hand had attached itself to my own with its owner walking beside me.

"Hey cuddles." Velvet said as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

That was my favorite term of endearment and she knew it well. I started to blush and smiled. "Hey baby girl. How was history with Oobleck?"

"About as good as it can be. Trying to take notes while he's talking a mile an hour is impossible." She declared with a sigh. "How about grimm studies with Port, how did that go?"

I groaned in agony. "Imagine if time moved twenty times slower than it usually did and you could only move at the pace of a snail. That was basically the whole class in a nutshell."

"Yeah well, just think. After the finals, we'll have a whole two months to sit back and relax before it's back to the grindstone."

I grinned at the prospect of spending the summer with Velvet; going to summer carnivals, hitting the beach, maybe paying both of our families another visit and being lazy together.

"Can't wait." I declared as we made our way to the gym to get in a little more exercise before the combat final.

After getting in a good workout and hitting the showers, Velvet helped me with my hand-to-hand combat skills and taught me a few tips and tricks.

When the day came, I wasn't too worried. I just had to fight against a group of grimm holograms that were adjusted to a difficulty level Goodwitch deemed appropriate. Every student was tasked to fight for half an hour to test endurance, skill and their ability to gauge aura in dire situations.

I was in the last five minutes with sweat beading down my forehead, my breaths coming out fast and dry. I had discarded my black hoodie in the first ten minutes to slow the heat build-up, leaving me with my white t-shirt, armor, green combat mask and jeans. Three beowolf holograms stood before me, their simulated growls echoing in the air. One charged and I leapt over it's head in a horizontal roll, extending Castor's blade in mid-air so that it delved through the back of it's skull, causing it to fade away as I landed in front of the other two.

They ran at me at the same time and with Castor's blade still extended, I thrust it through the jaw of one beowolf, making it into a makeshift shield as its compatriot attempted to slash at me while I held it off. Then, as the corpse began to fade away, I shoulder charged the wolf-grimm, causing it to reel back while I planted one foot on it's hind leg and delivered a bone-crushing kick to its knee, immobilizing the limb. The holographic creature fell forward and I retracted the blade on my right gauntlet before unsheathing Dusk and rapidly slashing the beast's chest and finishing with a decapitation.

"Time!" Goodwitch called out. I breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed the sword with a flourish. "Very well done, Mr. Taren. Your grade will be posted shortly after the other Professors and myself have graded the written portion of your exam."

I nodded with a half-smile and retrieved my hoodie before exiting the area and unclasping my mask. Upon opening the doors to Beacon's hallway, I saw the rest of JNPR leaning against the empty wall. Being that I was an unusual case for the team, I was the last one to take the exam after Ren.

"So?" Jaune started with a grin. "How do you think you did?"

I shrugged. "Not bad. Although the written test is going to be a different story."

Come Thursday, the entire first-year population was packed into the amphitheater, which had been turned into the exam hall with desks neatly aligned in vertical and horizontal rows. The topics covered everything from grimm studies to history to study of aura.

I finished about half an hour before anyone was actually allowed to leave and thinking I had rushed through it, began to anxiously check my answers over and over again for any questions I might've overlooked.

"An hour and a half has passed, anyone who is finished may now leave the amphitheater." Goodwitch's voice echoed out.

I saw Weiss, Ren and Blake get up and leave while I nervously checked my test over one last time and put all the papers on the corner of my desk before departing. The grounds were occupied by a few other first-years and a couple second-years who decided to hang out rather than study. I sat on a bench and awaited my teammates to finish their tests before going back to the dorm, the warm sun slowly heating the air.

Next to emerge was Pyrrha, followed five minutes later by Nora and finally, Jaune. Ruby and her sister were close behind my team leader as they exited while Ren, Weiss and Blake regrouped as well.

"Everyone happy with how that went?" The little reaper asked.

Jaune said nothing, merely bit his lower lip and hung his head. Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder appeared to help ease his discomfort and she spoke. "I think I did rather well, and I know he did too."

"Easy." Weiss declared non-chalantly.

"Wasn't too difficult." Blake added.

"Not a problem." Ren piled on.

"I think I'd rather fight grimm. The silence in there is way too daunting." I chimed in.

Nora's eyes brightened up as if she had an idea. "They should play music over the loudspeakers while we work!"

Ren facepalmed. "Some students might find that distracting, Nora."

"It is a proven scientific fact that music helps you think!" She objected.

"How about you, Yang?" I asked. "How do you think you did?" I asked, ignoring the Ninja and Grenadier.

"Meh, who cares? But there is something I've been wanting to ask you guys."

"Oh yeah?" Jaune replied. "What's that?"

"Beach party, who's in?" The blonde brawler asked with a wide grin.

Ruby grinned back and raised both eyebrows, gleaming with excitement. "Who's invited?! Where exactly are we going?! What should we bring?!"

We chuckled at her enthusiasm as Yang answered her questions one at a time. "Anyone that wants to come, a beach that Ozpin's got reserved specifically for students on vacation and anything you can think of, Rubes."

"So does that mean I can bring Sun?" Blake asked.

"What about Neptune?" Weiss added.

"And Velvet?" I inquired.

"Yes, yes and yes." Yang responded with approval. I silently shouted with glee as Yang gave us the location of the beach along with a date and time.

I ran the idea by Velvet and she turned out to be just as excited as I was to spend our first day of summer vacation with friends. After we went shopping for swimwear, which Velvet declined to let me see as she thought it would be better as a surprise, we waited for Saturday to arrive before heading out.

Friday passed by incredibly quickly and we met with RWBY along with JNPR as well as half of SSSN at ten in the morning, as scheduled. All the guys appeared already dressed in their swim trunks; Jaune wearing a solid white pair with his family crest adorning the left leg with a matching t-shirt, Ren wearing green with vertical pink stripes and a solid green long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to match, Sun clad in yellow with his last name written in dark orange over the right thigh and his usual white open-ended shirt, his partner wearing a pair of plain dark blue swim shorts and his red jacket with myself clothed in a pair of cyan trunks and a purple t-shirt.

The girls were wearing their usual day-to-day attire but all appeared to have their swimwear in handbags at their side.

As my dad dropped us off in the parking lot and we approached the group, I noticed that the one who orchestrated the whole event wasn't present.

"Yang's just getting some last minute supplies." Ruby declared as she held her little corgi, Zwei I think his name was. "She took Bumblebee into downtown Vale but she'll be back soon."

"Ah." I replied. "How's it going, cousin?"

He shrugged as he leaned up against his yellow convertible with his arm around Blake's shoulders with her cat ears exposed to the air. "Never better, especially since she's here." Sun replied, his faunus girlfriend flashing him a quick smile.

"What's all that?" I asked, gesturing to the large amount of random beach entertainment gear beside Sun's car.

"Everything and anything we might need for today." Jaune responded. I scanned the pile and realized he was right. A volleyball net, ball and scoring card, sand castle building supplies, Frisbee, cooler presumably stocked with refreshments, a few fold-out plastic chairs, literally a dozen beach blankets and even a mini-barbecue set.

"Just put your towels in the back of the car for now and you can come and get 'em later." Sun said. Velvet and myself complied and passed the next two minutes with idle conversation among our group before Yang arrived with one hand on the throttle of her motorcycle and the other clutching a plastic bag. She rolled up, put the kickstand down and placed the bag in the cooler.

"The burgers and buns. The only things I forgot." She explained with a sheepish grin. "Now let's get this party started!"

With a unanimous cheer from all of us, we headed down to the white sand and crystal clear water where Sun and myself set up the volleyball net while Jaune organized everything, Ren prepared the barbecue, Neptune set out the blankets and the girls changed while Zwei zipped around our feet, our shirts discarded in the pile Jaune was trying to sort.

"No, Sun, you gotta pull it tight!" I yelled at my cousin.

"I'm tryin'! Zwei, get outta the way, buddy!" He scolded the little dog who only circled his feet faster.

"Jaune, a little help here please?"

My team leader looked around and grabbed the Frisbee, causing Zwei to immediately stop and look at the green disc. "You want the Frisbee?" He asked the little dog, who only barked in response. "Go get the Frisbee!" He shouted, tossing it down the long beach as the corgi moved as fast as his little feet could carry him.

I thanked my leader and Jaune nodded back as we finished setting up the net. "Alright, that about does it. How's the barbecue coming along, Ren?" Sun inquired.

"Ready to be used." He announced with pleasure.

"Sweet. Neptune, all good, buddy?" I asked my fellow blue-haired man.

"All set. Feel free to move them around as you want."

"Cool." Jaune declared. "What do we want to do first?"

Sun's eyes suddenly glazed over and his jaw opened slightly. Confused, I waved a hand in front of his eyes but he didn't even blink. "You okay?"

"I-uh-bwuh…" He gibbered out.

"Use your words." Ren advised as he made some last minute touches on the barbecue set.

He continued to say nothing, only pointed behind the rest of us and we turned to see the girls dressed in their swimsuits and proceeded to follow mimic Sun's state of astonishment. Out of the corner of my eye I even saw the normally stoic Ren do a double take as he looked up from his mini cooking station and towards the girls.

They were, in every meaning of the word, gorgeous. But none compared to Velvet. I didn't know whether it was the fact that she was my girlfriend that I always thought her more beautiful than any other woman or what, but I didn't really care. Clad in a dark brown two-piece bikini with the top partially showing off her assets and her perfect hourglass figure, secured under her arms as well as over her shoulders behind her back and the bottom at either side of her waist, I was at a complete loss for words as she approached with a slight hip sway and a light blush on her face.

"Uh, Joe, c-could you please not stare?"

I shook my head to get back to Remnant and gave my angelic girlfriend an apologetic look. "R-right uh, sorry." I looked to her eyes and noticed that she appeared to be leering at me a little bit as well, her gaze fixated on my arms and chest I worked out on a weekly basis. It made me feel good, knowing that I was attractive to her and was about to flex when Sun smacked the back of my head. Hard.

After giving him a glare, I looked to see what the rest were wearing and Yang was clad in a stark white bikini similar to Velvet's that showed as much cleavage as I'd expected from the blonde brawler, the only difference being that instead of the bottom being secured by string, two metal hoop rings tied the ends together.

Pyrrha also wore a crimson red bikini that matched her hair nicely with the sash that usually accompanied her combat gear now tied to her right hip, definitely catching Jaune's eye as I could see he still hadn't removed his gaze from his partner since Sun pointed out their approach.

Nora wore a slightly more conservative swimsuit, the bottom more resembling short shorts with a normal bikini top, all pink with light green polka dots, likely an attempt to catch her boyfriend's eye which I think she succeeded immensely in.

Ruby was wearing an interesting dark red swimsuit in that I wasn't sure whether to classify it as a one-piece or two-piece due to the fact that the top resembled a less conservative sports bra and the bottom, like Nora's, resembled short shorts with the two pieces connected by a black fishnet, exposing her midriff.

Ignoring the debate in my mind, I moved onto Weiss clad in a light blue bikini with a small corsage-like flower over the right shoulder bearing the SDC logo. She appeared just as flushed as her boyfriend, a touch of red on both their faces.

Blake was last, wearing a black (what else?) triangle top bikini, covering her underarms a little more than the others with a classic bikini bottom. While a little more conservative, it apparently still had the effect of sending Sun into a state of unintelligible words.

Zwei broke the silence that formed by planting the Frisbee in front of Ruby and barking, presumably wanting for her to throw it.

"I see you guys got the net set up." Yang pointed out with a hand on her hip. "Shall we play a game?"

Jaune recovered from his stupor after Sun and myself and nodded. "Yeah, let's do it."

The rest of them finally came back after their gawking session at the other sex and followed behind the blondes. Yang picked up the ball and tossed it experimentally. "So how're we gonna' do this?"

"Someone's going to have to keep score." Weiss pointed out.

Blake's hand immediately shot up. "I'll do it. That way I can read as well."

Ruby nodded. "Good. As for teams?"

"How about the leaders as captains?" I offered.

Sun chuckled and stepped forward. "I'm glad you think so highly of me, Joe."

"Not you." I scolded, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back in line with the rest of us. "Ruby and Jaune. You guys take turns picking whoever among the eight of us."

They both nodded in agreement and Yang tossed the ball to her sister before stepping back in line.

"Rock paper scissors for who goes first?" Jaune asked, to which Ruby held her hand out in a fist in reply. The little reaper won and chose her sister first.

"Pyrrha." Jaune replied.

"Nora." Ruby quipped back.

"Sun." My cousin high-fived his fellow blond as he stood beside him.

"Neptune." The trident-wielder nodded and rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"Velvet."

"Ren."

It was down to Weiss and myself. I looked to Jaune and shot him a pleading look. I wanted to be on Velvet's side so bad, but he shook his head with a grimace. "Weiss."

I sighed and began walking over to Ruby's team. I heard Yang scoff. "Aw come on, Blay-boy. We're gonna kick some Jaune Arc ass."

I smirked and shook my head before pointing to Velvet. "It's her I'm worried about."

"Alright, before we start, I think we should have one person off on each team so that it's four-on-four." Blake advised from the sideline, sitting in one of the fold-out chairs.

"I volunteer." I declared with a raised hand, stepping off the court.

"Same." Sun said, mimicking my actions.

Ruby tossed the ball underneath the net at Jaune. "You guys serve first since I won rock paper scissors."

My cousin and I sat on either side of Blake as Zwei trotted up to me. "So why'd you want to be on Velvet's team?" Blake asked as I absentmindedly pet the corgi.

I chuckled lightly. "'Cause I've been on her bad side once and I'd really rather not repeat that incident."

"She competitive?" Sun asked.

"Dear sweet Oum, I hope not."

Unfortunately, as the ball was served over the net and Neptune set up a perfect spike for Nora, the Grenadier hit it as hard as she could and it landed it the sand at high-velocity, creating a small crater.

"What was that, Jaune?!" Velvet shouted. "You could've easily gotten that!"

I groaned and gestured to my girlfriend while looking at the faunus couple. "I'm screwed."

I swapped out with Neptune and Sun switched for Jaune. With myself and Yang closest to the net on our team with Velvet and Weiss facing us down on the opposing team, my girlfriend shot me a glare as Pyrrha called out her serve. It went behind me and Ren set it simply to gain control as Nora set it again and called for me to get it. With my forearms, I sent it to the other side of the net and Weiss easily set up a spike for Velvet. She hit it but I barely managed to catch it after doing a mid-air set, leaving Yang to retaliate. Again, there was a spike and again, there was a set followed by another spike. The ball rebounded off my head with a dull thud while I was still trying to scramble to my feet.

A cheer rang out from the other side while Ren grasped my forearm and helped me to my feet. After a few points and swap outs later, the score was tied at thirteen-thirteen. With Jaune out due to basic exhaustion and Ruby just taking a break to hang out with Zwei, tensions were high on either side.

"Hup!" Sun called out as the ball flew over my head to a waiting Yang who sent it flying upwards. I set it towards Nora and she hit it with as much force she could muster without her hammer, just barely out of Weiss' reach.

After a round of high-fives for Nora, I could practically feel the malice in Velvet's eyes as she glared at me. "For the win!" Blake called out.

"Let's go guys, you got this!" Jaune cheered his team on.

"Show 'em who's boss, everyone!" Ruby replied.

I breathed out as calmly as I could and served the ball towards Weiss who I had hoped wouldn't be able to get to it fast enough. The Heiress managed to hit it, giving Pyrrha the prime opportunity for a set to Sun, who then spiked it at Ren, who was unprepared for the surprising amount of force behind the hit and ended up sending the ball to the side of my head before it landed in the sand.

"Fourteen to fourteen, next point wins!"

I shook my head to regain my bearings and looked at my teammates. Yang and Nora were out for blood, but then again, I think Velvet and Sun were as well.

Ren tossed the ball to Weiss, who then relayed it back to Pyrrha. With the heat catching up with me, sweat formed freely on my brow and dripped into my eyes.

The crimson-haired champion tossed the ball into the air, reared her arm back and slammed it forward, overtop of the net, directly into Ren's waiting forearms, sending it upward, leaving me to set it over to Yang, who then spiked it downwards at Sun, who took a dive, setting it towards Velvet who leapt into the air the same instant I did on the other side of the net in an attempt to block her hit.

Time seemed to slow as my eyes widened and she let out a shout of aggression towards the ball with a devastating spike directly to my head before it landed in the sand.

"That's fifteen for Jaune's team, they win!" Blake announced as I lay on my back, trying to stop my head from spinning. Eventually I sat up to see Jaune and Pyrrha embracing each other with wide grins while the others gave a round of high-fives.

Yang gave me a hand to my feet while Velvet strode over to our side with a wide smirk. "Did I forget to mention that the loser has to buy dinner?" She addressed me.

I smirked back with folded arms. "You did, but I may or may not have already made plans for tonight."

She chuckled, bringing a smile to my face as I noticed her hair was matted with sweat as mine was and brushed a strand out of her eyes, marveling the glorious brown irises that shone brightly in the morning sun.

"Anybody hungry?" Nora asked.

"How about we go swimming first, then eat?" Jaune offered. I looked back and Velvet with a sly grin.

"Last one in owes the other a back massage." I declared before zipping off towards the water.

"No fair!" She called back as I ran.

She managed to catch up and tripped me with her own foot, sending me face first into the sand. I quickly got up and just as she was about to wet her feet, tackle-hugged her, taking the brunt of the fall as my back made contact with the warm water. We both came up sputtering for air and I broke into a grin while she scowled. "I win."

"You cheated." Velvet replied.

"So did you." I countered.

She sighed, put her hands on hips and eventually broke into a smile. "You can really be a pain in the ass when you want to."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm your pain the ass." She shook her head back and waded further into the water until she was waist deep while I floated on my back, slowly drifting towards her as the rest of our friends joined us, save for Neptune and Blake who were rather averse to the water.

After just a couple words from Weiss however, she was able to coerce her boyfriend into going at least shin deep. As we washed off the sweat from our intense game, it didn't take long for Nora to start the horseplay wagon going as she clambered on Ren's shoulders and pointed at Ruby, ordering her partner to attack without mercy. The little reaper got on Yang's shoulders and the four began chicken fights, accidentally bumping into Sun who then fell into the water and retaliated by shoving Yang over, causing a chain reaction that got everybody else involved in splashing around the water.

As soon as Velvet got involved, she immediately interrupted my peaceful floating by pushing me down into the water. After recovering, I gave her a look of warning. "You sure you want to do this?"

She said nothing, merely held a finger out and gestured for me to bring it. I activated my semblance, extended my arms as far as they would go just underneath the water and pushed, creating a small tidal wave that caused more than a little collateral damage.

As I shrank down to my normal size, the only thing I could see for a second was Blake laughing in her chair on the beach. One by one though, my friend's heads popped up and Velvet was last, more than a little angry.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked in a calm, yet threatening tone.

I could only shrug. "You wanted me to bring it, and I think I did just that."

"Yeah, a little too well, Joe!" Yang shouted, wringing out her golden locks. While I was distracted by conversing with Yang, Velvet pushed me over once more and walked back to the beach.

I came back up for air and followed behind with a wide smile as Sun walked back to his car, grabbed everyone's beach towels and handed them out to us as Ren fired up the barbecue and began grilling the burgers.

The sun shone directly in my eyes and Velvet noticed as I winced. "Did you remember to put on sunscreen?"

"No. I guess it would've been a good idea though, right?"

She rolled her eyes, got up and foraged through her bag for the bottle and handed it to me. "You get your chest, stomach and arms, I'll get your back, legs and shoulders."

I squirted the gel onto my hands and rubbed them together before applying it to the areas Velvet indicated. As I lay on my stomach with Velvet straddling my lower back as she applied the sunscreen, her hands ran across a sensitive area of my spine and I unconsciously let out a slightly pained groan. I felt her hands fly away from my body as I bit my lip.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just…well… my back's been sore for a while now."

She let out a light laugh. "So that's why you wanted that massage." I felt a little more heat rush to my cheeks.

"Yeah…" I trailed off.

"Okay, breath in as much as you can." She calmly ordered. I complied, lungs filled to capacity. "And a little more." I was unsure, but didn't question it as I breathed in again, feeling like my interior air pockets were going to explode. "Now breath out slowly."

I did so and felt her palms press down on the sensitive are, cracking my spine and relieving an unbelievable amount of tension. I lay there with the right side of my head on the blanket and the other half to the sky in sheer bliss.

"Where did you learn that?"

I felt her thighs remove themselves from my sides as she got up. "Saw Coco do it to Fox once after he was complaining about back pains. Seemed to work for him, so I figure I'd try it on you." She declared as I rolled over. Velvet applied another squirt of sunscreen to her hands and tapped me on the nose. "Boop."

I chuckled with a wide smile. "You've been spending too much time around Nora." She giggled back and applied the sunscreen to my face as well before declaring she was done.

After thanking her, I sat on the towel with a knee to my chest as Velvet put more lotion on her hands.

I gave her a confused look and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you put on sunscreen beforehand?"

She shook her head with a smile as her hands ran over her arms and chest. "Nope, just didn't want you to call me out on it first." She thrust the bottle towards me and lie down. I put the lotion on my hands and mimicked her movements as she had done for me. As my fingers brushed against her lower ribcage, her back arched slightly and she let out a muffled 'meep'.

I grinned to myself. "Is somebody ticklish?" I asked in an overly astonished voice.

"N-no! It-it's just a scar, still hurts." She denied.

I inspected the skin on either side carefully. "Really? I'm not seeing any marks." I stated.

"M-maybe it healed." She said nervously.

"Well, I think that somebody's…" My hands hovered over her sides. "Ticklish!" I shouted, attacking her ribs without mercy as she rolled over and began to laugh uncontrollably, trying to cease my siege.

"J-Joe!" She chuckled out. "S-s-stop!"

"Never!" I declared, continuing my assault as tears of mirth welled up in her eyes. With a fierce slap to both my forearms, she managed to get my arms away from her ribs and quickly wrapped them behind my neck, pulling me in for a kiss.

Long, sweet, electric and perfect, the connection was supreme in every way. Velvet smiled as she pulled away, using her hands linked behind my neck to hold her off the towel while looking at me. "Tell anyone I'm ticklish there and I'll kill you."

I grinned back. "Secret's safe with me, baby girl." I declared, using the term of endearment I know she loved the most.

She let out a long breath and fell back on the blanket. "Better be. Otherwise Chris and Kay would have a field day."

The idea of telling her siblings about the sensitive spot hadn't popped into my head until she mentioned it, but I decided against it. It brought me great pride in knowing that I was the only one who could make her laugh like that.

"Lunch is ready!" Ruby shouted. After helping Velvet to her feet with a gentle hand, we walked over to the lunch site as Ren handed out the perfectly grilled meat onto the buns we carried.

Yang then opened the cooler, which was not only stocked with refreshments, but also every condiment you could think of. Thankfully, one of the sisters had also packed barbecue sauce and I slathered some on along with ketchup as Sun gave me a look of disgust.

"Whu?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Ketchup and barbecue sauce?" He asked in disbelief.

I swallowed before answering. "Not a fan of lettuce or pickles or anything else." I declared.

"You're strange." Nora chimed in.

"Thought you would've figured that out by now." I countered with a smile.

As we ate in relative quiet with the only topic being what everyone's plans were for the summer which unfortunately for all of us involved Sun and Neptune having to go back to Mistral, a newcomer wearing a pair of dark red swim shorts the same color as Ruby's swimsuit and a similarly colored cloak had Ruby and Yang screeching with glee.

"UNCLE QROW!" The little reaper yelled as she attached herself to the jet-black haired man's arm.

"Hey kiddo." He replied in a deep, gravelly voice as he wrapped his other arm around Yang who embraced him.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde brawler asked.

"Well, this may come as a surprise to you guys but even us teachers have a life." He replied sarcastically.

"Uncle?'" Jaune asked.

"Oh right." Ruby said as she let go of the man's arm. "Guys, this is our uncle Qrow, Qrow, these are our friends."

He gave our group a single nod as we waved. "So what are you doing here?" Yang inquired.

"Meh, figured I'd see how you guys were doing and maybe see if I could get a lifeguard's number."

"Of course." She replied with a shake of her head.

After that short interruption, we returned to our lunch while Ruby and Yang's uncle sat in the sand and pulled out a flask of some sort of alcohol from his shorts.

Soon enough, Nora had the urge to be 'Queen of the Castle' and proceeded to make a sand-fort as large as she could with Ren, Ruby and Jaune's help while Blake read her book, Weiss and Sun tried to teach Neptune how to swim, Yang played with Zwei while Velvet and myself merely lay next to each other on adjacent beach towels and talk.

"So hypothetically…" I started. "You could teleport to anywhere in the world, but every time you did, you'd have to stay on that piece of land within a three kilometer radius for a whole month. Would you want to?"

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Velvet shake her head. "No, I don't think I could. I like to go out and roam so staying in one relatively small place for a whole month would just be torture."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I guess it would be kind of confining. Now it's your turn. Ask me anything you want"

"Okay." She hummed in thought for a moment and I thought I saw here cheeks grow redder. "Hypothetically…if you were a father, would you want a son or a daughter?"

I turned my head to the left to see that yes, Velvet was indeed blushing.

I chuckled and interlaced her fingers with my own. "As long as they were our son or daughter, it really wouldn't matter to me. Why? Which would you want?"

She smiled at me and gripped my hand a little tighter. "Does it really matter?"

I smiled back. "No, not really."

We passed the next few hours by swimming, playing another game of volleyball, this time with Qrow on Ruby's team and myself on Jaune's which ended with the huntsman completely kicking our asses practically by himself, a pizza dinner that Sun so graciously paid for and brought down to the beach after leaving in his car and gazing at the sun setting over the water, casting an orange flame over the surface.

Almost everybody had left; the only ones still at the beach being Velvet, myself, Sun, Blake, Neptune and Weiss. We sat on our towels that were moved beside Nora's six-foot tall sand fort with her head on my shoulder; Velvet wearing the hoodie I'd given her as a cover-up as I donned my shirt once more.

"I think it was a pretty great start to the vacation, wouldn't you say so?" I whispered, trying so desperately not to crack the delicate quiet that blanketed the air.

"Agreed. A day with the person I love most in the world and a few friends? What's not to like?"

"Even if I did find your ticklish spot?" I teased, grazing my fingers against her ribs.

She let out a light giggle and playfully slapped the hand away. "Yes, even then."

Another silence fell as we heard Sun and his partner reluctantly part ways with their girlfriends for now and drive off. Half the sun dipped over the horizon before I heard my favorite four words from my favorite person in the world.

"I love you, Joe."

"I love you too, Velvet." I whispered back with a kiss to her temple.