Blargh, my illness gets worse and this week is super heavy on work. I feel like everyone in the world right now has some form of cold or flu, it's insane. Trust this to come on at the exact moment I decide to do a chapter a day for a fic.

Fml!

Cover Art: Coeur al'Aran

Day 4 – Tricky Questions

Jaune Arc was in disguise.

Well, sort of…

Was it really a disguise, when all he'd done was add a pair of sunglasses and a flowery shirt? And when Neo was walking on the shoreline beside him, looking the exact same as she had the other day?

Not that it was easy to hide that distinctive hairstyle or anything… but seriously?

Didn't she realise the danger? If that crazy love-love-time woman found him, they'd be doomed. Already his sapphire eyes were scanning the beach, watching for any sign that someone had recognised them, even as Neo rolled her eyes.

Typical beach-goers, one of those kids from the other day who'd tried to hit him, a few elderly couples lounging about enjoying their time off. His eyes landed upon a pair of middle-aged women, chatting between themselves even as they clearly pointed towards him and laughed. For a second he suspected they were laughing at the angry red penis on his back, before recalling that they couldn't see it beneath his incredibly garish shirt.

Where they laughing at his clothing then? The flannel shirt with bright pink powers on a field the colour of nuclear fusion? He didn't think so… Neo had assured him the shirt matched his eyes. Or rather, that's what he assumed the motions she made towards her own eyes and something exploding meant.

Were they talking about him and Neo then? He wondered, as his eyes slid to the small girl beside him. Her feet padded into wet sand as she walked beside him, eyes lighting up whenever the water would wash up to sweep by their ankles.

Wait… did they… did those people think Neo and he were being romantic?

He wanted to laugh at the thought. In a small way he could see it. Two people walking side by side along the shoreline, not hand in hand, but obviously close enough to be together. He with his blonde hair and impossibly bright shirt… she with her multi-coloured locks and pale skin.

He supposed it was possible that they looked like a couple.

Sure don't act like it though, he scoffed, glancing across the ocean. In the distance the vague spires of Vacuo's own CCT could be seen.

No… despite their strange circumstances, there was very little that could be classed as romantic between the two of them. After all, Neo was a little bitch at the best of times – always making a mess, disrupting his work, sneaking ice-cream into his fridge (and any alcohol he bought out of his cupboards).

Though she did help me train… he was forced to admit, eyes drifting down to the top of her head. Sure, she seemed to enjoy beating him up every single night, but even then, she still went out of her way to make sure he was able to fight. If it wasn't for her then he wouldn't have been able to defeat Cardin in that first trial… his charade over before it had ever begun. More than that, it would have cost Velvet her life too. For it was that same training that had allowed him to stand against those Ursa at Forever Fall.

And even that hadn't been enough… when he'd been thoroughly defeated and knocked down, that moment where he'd accepted death through every part of his body.

And Neo had come.

Brimming with hatred and hellfire, he could still remember the way she cruelly decimated those standing over him, before then killing every other Grimm that tried to come near. His eyes drifted lower, watching the girl's face as she walked beside him. She didn't meet his gaze; attention captivated by the way the bright sunlight flashed atop cresting waves.

She'd saved his life that day.

There'd also been that embarrassing moment in his office too, hadn't there? When she'd sat on his lap to help him fool Blake and Yang. Even if she'd made sure to punish him for his… little problem, she'd still been willing to put up with the humiliation (and the sexual harassment) to protect his secret.

And hell… that had only even happened because they'd been living together for so long.

Which sounded wrong when he said it like that… it sounded like they were involved, or even married. Was that what those women on the beach thought? Sure, he supposed it might seem that way… but honestly all they did was share a bed, in those rare moments she wouldn't kick him out of it. He would cook her breakfast… okay, actually he would cook himself breakfast, then cook it again when she stole his – but that wasn't the point.

Other than that she'd steal his food, sleep on his bed, make work for him and generally demand attention at every moment.

Less of a wife and more of a housecat…

Still… it did make him wonder about the other things.

"Hey, Neo…" he kept his eyes fixed ahead, only noticing her face tilt from the corner of his vision. "Why did you… what do you keep helping me train?"

She seemed surprised by the question, shrugging and looking away for a second in thought, before turning back and holding up two fingers.

"The favours I owe you?" A quick nod, and then she was back to watching the ocean. "Guess that makes sense…"

He couldn't pay her back if he was arrested after all, and one of the favours was for training him… that said, unless she asked for something really big, he was getting much more out of it then she would. Neo was dedicating one to two hours of her life, almost every single night, to helping him learn to fight…

That wasn't an equal trade no matter how you looked at it.

"I was just wondering…" he drifted off once more, waiting for her to look his way, "when you live out in Vale, do you have your own place?" Neo nodded slowly, not offering any more than a yes to the question. So she did have her own place in Vale, that made sense… after all, she needed somewhere to lay low or sleep.

But then that raised the other question, didn't it?

"Why do you stay in my rooms then, with me?" Mismatched eyes met his for a moment, before looking away, the girl increasing her pace as she frolicked in the water. He watched her for a moment, as she slipped behind a nearby pier – before jogging after her.

He found her easily enough on the other side, leaning against the stone as she licked at some ice-cream. As always, she seemed wholly focused on the task, eyes drifting shut at every bite. With a silent laugh he leant one arm beside her, offering some shade to her form with his body, while also stopping her from running off again.

He didn't want to imagine what havoc she might be able to get up to on her own. Better to keep her entertained himself, than deal with the aftermath of whatever took her fancy.

"Why did you save my life at Forever Fall?"

She looked up at him briefly, huffing in clear displeasure before ignoring the question entirely and going back to her treat. Jaune found his eyes following the melted streams that fell from the cone, trailing across her fingers before dripping down onto her pale breasts. He looked away when she raised her wrist to her mouth, licking at the skin there. Her eyes were locked onto his, saying she knew exactly what he'd been looking at.

"Ah-hem," he coughed, trying to ignore the heat building in his cheeks. "I just mean, you've gone out of your way to help me, you know? And I don't even know what the favour you want in return is." He glanced back to her, just in time to see the smaller girl huff and shrug. She looked unimpressed with the interrogation, even if he couldn't understand why.

"Have you decided what you want me to do in return?"

She shook her head, not even looking at him as she leaned down to lick some cream from the cone itself, before it reached her hand.

"Why did you choose to come on holiday with me? I mean, you could have done just about anyth-" His words were cut off as the girl struck, driving cold ice-cream into his mouth before he could finish speaking. The blond nearly choked on the taste of strawberry and vanilla, rearing back from the wall with arms held out. As he looked down at the melted ice-cream dripping from his chin.

"Neo! What the hell? I-uh…" Something wet touched the underside of his chin, slowly dragging across his neck as small hands came to rest on his shoulders. Jaune didn't dare move, as those hands slipped up to cup his cheeks – tilting his face down to look into mismatched eyes. One brow was raised, either in question or some kind of challenge… he couldn't tell which.

"N-Neo?"

Her eyes dipped, even as he swallowed, mouth incredibly dry. For a moment he didn't dare breathe, as she leaned in to him.

Before, with a small grin, she licked a tiny drop from his chin, scant millimetres beneath his lips.

Then she was gone, pushing past him as she forced the remains of the cone into his hand. He could only watch her as she walked away, licking sticky sugar from her fingertips.

…

It took him a minute or two for his mind to reboot. Even then, it wasn't able to come up with any kind of conclusive answer. What, why… okay he had the who, when and where – but two out of five wasn't bad.

What the hell!?

Was that just for the ice-cream, to shut him up? Or… was it something more? The girl ignoring him as she walked away was as silent as ever. Leaving him with more questions than he'd started with! And only an empty wafer cone to show for it.

Wait… where did she even get the ice-cream?

"Oh Timmy, what's wrong baby?" A voice came from nearby, even as his eyes drifted shut in horror. "Did you lose your ice-cream? Shh, don't cry – mummy will buy you another."

Hmmmm. Here we go, that'll do for now. I'm not used to the idea of squeezing an entire romance into so few chapters, let alone at such a rapid pace. Usually I love the challenge, this week? Well… flu sucks.

Like seriously, I've been through worse agony – emotionally and physically (any man who has been on a roller-coaster with a hang over will experience both). Yet why is it, that you take a man, give him a sore throat and a sniffly nose, and suddenly everything breaks down? You could take sodding Qrow Branwen – a man so manly his lunch SWEATS – and he would probably still be a melodramatic bastard with man-flu.