Another day, another… well, day, I suppose…

I am super ill right now, sheesh, like the flu came out of nowhere and sucker punched me straight in the throat.

Cover Art: Coeur al'Aran

Day 3 – Love-Love-Time

"You're still wearing the same bikini, hasn't it gotten a little dirty by now?"

Neo raised one brow, as though to point out that someone had spent a vast amount of time designing it, and that as such she'd make the most of it at every opportunity so as not to waste their hard work. Jaune simply nodded, looking back at the sand between his legs as he considered that.

Man, Neo had expressive eyebrows.

The two of them were sat on the sand by the shoreline, right at the point where the water reached up to – creating that perfect consistency of sand that was still soft, but not too grainy. Ideal for the creation of sandcastles.

Now that he considered that earlier point though, the question had to be raised… he'd never actually seen Neo getting changed. Not that he'd been looking, of course… but not that he hadn't either, if that meant anything. In fact, the first time he'd seen her change clothes was when she clicked her fingers and seemed to transform her clothes before his eyes.

Which, at the time, he'd assumed was an illusion. Did that make her bikini an illusion too?

Did… did that mean she was actually na-?

Holy shit, didn't Cinder do that too!?

I'll never be able to look at her the same way again…

Okay, so the dangerous thought that they might both be walking around the school commando aside, Jaune focused once more in the sandcastle before him. He'd never been one with an eye for art, or architecture, but it wasn't a bad attempt by any means. Four walls erected in a faint parody of a square, a larger lump in the middle for the keep.

Maybe it was childish, trying to build the best sand castle he could… but there was some strange catharsis in it too. Maybe in the way he could dedicate all his thought to it, without having to worry about other things like criminals, students or paper work.

His ego did take a significant hit when he looked elsewhere on the beach though… seeing children of eleven or twelve building castles much more superior than his own. But he comforted himself with the little white lie that he wasn't actually putting in his all.

Tryhard kids… really, who did they think they were impressing?

"Mrbll… grbll… damn kids," he grumbled, digging his hands through the sand to create a moat. Neo's head perked up at his words, glancing towards him. "You stick to your own castle, I'm still miffed with you."

"…?"

"I don't ask for much Neo," the blond sighed, fixing her with a dead stare, "and I've been putting oil on you every morning, and every afternoon."

It had become a ritual she enforced on him, her laying down atop the sheets of their bed as he would rub lotion into her body. Each morning she'd look at him expectantly… and every time he'd pretend to argue, before giving in faster than he really ought to.

Damn hormones, damn Neo's skin… damn maybe non-existent bikini…

"And in return I asked for a single thing – just one thing."

Pink and brown eyes blinked, switched places, and generally gave him a headache – even as she tilted her face to the side and smiled innocently. The kind of smile that said she had no idea what he meant, and that she'd never betray his trust in such a manner.

"You drew a penis on my back in sunscreen!" He hissed, turning around slightly so that she could see the angry red drawing. As though the sun itself had decided to try its hand at crude teenage humour, and he had been the canvass.

And if everyone in the general vicinity didn't stop snapping pics on their scrolls, then he was going to go over there and dispense justice. Xiao-Long style…

Neo remained unrepentant, as she always did – the little smirk on her face stretching just enough to let him know she was thoroughly amused at the situation. He'd consider doing the same to her, except that he knew full well her revenge would be about ten times worse.

Something wet and sloppy struck the westward facing wall of his castle, buckling the defences inwards as an avalanche of sand slaughtered the inhabitants. Blue eyes narrowed as he glanced towards Neo, noticing the careful and dedicated attention she was placing on her own castle. She wasn't even looking in his attention, and with a soft hum, he went back to work.

Only to frown as another globule of sand slapped against the keep, failing to knock it down, but merging with the side of it so that it looked less like a square building, and more like some hideous growth.

Neo began to whistle… or rather, she pursed her lips and blew between them.

Hmmm…. Jaune looked back towards his castle, reaching down for a single second – before quickly spinning back to look at her, prepared for her sabotage.

Prepared for the wet splat, as a handful of soggy sand dripped down his face. He didn't have to see her, as he wiped it away with a grimace. Because he could hear her laughter, the faster pants of breath that escaped her whenever she laughed.

Heh… two can play that game, he reached down, fingers digging into the sand as he made sure he got a good amount, before tossing it at her sandcastle. His aim wasn't the best. Not with sand in his eyes, but it managed to land against one wall – not even managing to knock it down.

The girl froze.

She looked down at the structure between her legs. Then up towards him… then back down again, this time leaning in to inspect the clump of sand that had done approximately no damage to her wall.

Then she nodded… and the next thing he knew, he was rolling in the sand trying to keep an angry Neo from tearing his eyes out.

"But you damaged mine!" He cried out, trying to roll over so that she was on the bottom – only to be flipped over himself by her surprising strength. All he could see as she tore into him was flashes of pink and brown, even as their bodies bumped into things.

People cursed, deckchairs fell, and one familiar-sounding ten-year-old child began to cry as his eight-storey artistic sandcastle became a mere hillock under Jaune's back.

"Neo, whyyyyy!?"

"Okay," the preppy woman before them cheered – with that sort of fake happiness that made you want to snap a person in two. "Let's talk about respecting boundaries, okay?" Middle-aged with blonde hair, she clapped her hands to accentuate the sheer fun of the concept – even as the only members of the audience. An embarrassed looking Jaune, and a cross-looking Neo, failed to respond.

"Very good!" She laughed, as though they had been leaping for joy. "Now, we understand that love is young and eternal, but you need to remember that our beaches are for everyone – children included. So you need to keep your love-love-fun-time private!" She leaned forward as she said that, waving one finger back and forth with a wide smile.

Then, with no concern for her own life, the woman turned her back on them – rummaging around in her bags. It was only Jaune's Neo-trained reactions that allowed him to prevent bloodshed, as he caught the furious hellion mid-air, before she could land on the holiday rep to rend and tear.

Neo squirmed in his arms, empty hands making stabbing motions as she seethed. The moment the rep turned around however, she went still.

"Aww, you two holding onto one another – you're so cute! But remember, love-love-time is for back in your bedroom!"

If she calls it love-love-time again… then I'm not going to be responsible for what Neo does to her.

"Say it with me now!" The woman cheered, the room descending into immediate silence.

"I've told you-" Jaune tried.

"Ah, ah, ah – I don't think it begins with that now mister! Say it with me now."

"Love-love-time is for the bedroom…" Jaune spoke along with the woman. Somewhere within his brain his ego took a fatal wound, limping across his psyche as it tried to find help - before finally expiring, hand held up towards the sky.

"My… uh… partner is mute. She can't speak."

He'd tried explaining that she was just a friend earlier, hell – they'd tried explaining that they hadn't been well… love-love-timing on the beach too. Every attempt at an explanation had been ignored. The woman either too into, or conversely too bored, to listen to anything they were saying.

"Well that won't do," she said, waving her hands from side to side. "I'll say it then – and you need to wave your hands to the beat! Love-love-"

To Neo's credit, something was raised. But it certainly wasn't her hands… or rather, not all of her hand.

"Now that's just rude missy – let's turn that frown," she paused to do a spinning motion with her hands, "upside down!"

Neo looked up to him, the question in her eyes clear. He did consider it for a moment… which ought to have been the first sign that his morals truly were deteriorating after hanging around with Roman and her so much. But in the end, hiding the body would be a nightmare… especially with so many people around.

The small girl huffed and crossed her arms, making it clear – if her glare didn't already – that she would die before she waved along to the LLT beat.

"I can wait a lot longer than you can little missy," the blonde woman cheered, waving her hands back and forth as she continued to chat her annoying tune.

It turned out the woman did have quite a lot of patience… as the minutes ticked by, and nearly an hour passed. It also turned out that Neo was equally gifted – which was the bigger surprise to Jaune. She seemed more than willing to give the woman the finger over and over again.

But in the end, both had miscalculated.

Because Jaune didn't share that quality.

"It was a moment of weakness," he winced, head in his hands, "she had her back turned – the singing was killing me, it had to stop."

Neo offered what comfort she could. Which wasn't much considering she had an expression that one might have expected to see on a proud parent, watching their child ride a bicycle for the first time.

"She was okay, right? I mean… you said she was fine?" Neo nodded, waving one hand dismissively. It hadn't been his best moment… somewhere between the one hundred and seventy-sixth chorus, when she's turned to look at her watch… he'd moved before he had even thought about it, employing a technique Peter had shown him to subdue those without aura. Perfectly safe, and an important move to learn if he didn't want to be accidentally killing criminals…

Jaune wasn't sure Peter had expected him to use it like this…

"I'm so proud of you," Neo's expression seemed to say, as she leaned down to rub the top of his head. Jaune wasn't sure what was worse… that Neo was actually pleased with something he had done...

Or that he actually felt proud for having pleased her.

I'm going straight to hell…

True story, I went through that. Well, except with mine we actually were… well. Anyway, pro-tip, don't ever do it. Sand gets everywhere, including inside.

Enjoyment deteriorates very quickly in those circumstances. For a similar experience, consider taking some sandpaper to your privates.

Or... you know... don't.

. com (slash) coeur