A/N: I loved this prompt. It was one of the last ones that I finalized an idea for because there were so many different ways it could be interpreted. I ruminated on it for a while, waiting to see what would spark inspiration and trying to think past my first instinct. Even doing that, I settled on stained glass with a biiig question mark next to it, before I thought of something I ended up enjoying a lot more. :) It's always a journey lol

Day 23 | Max/Mariam | Rated: K+

Glass

"There's no one else out here, Mariam."

Mariam tensed. Somebody else might not have noticed, but Max could see the sudden stiffness in her shoulders and the way her fingertips pressed white into her crossed arms. He'd become an expert in dissecting her every movement over the course of the tournament. It was how he was able to beat her in the semifinals and also the reason why his stomach became a sea of butterflies every time she looked his way.

True to form, his stomach fluttered when Mariam turned her head toward him – slowly, to appear casual – and fixed him with an unreadable look. Unreadable could mean a lot of different things and he was still learning them all. In this instance, he figured she was probably embarrassed that he'd caught her scanning the beach for any other people.

"Nobody's watching," Max assured her again. "There's no one here to catch us."

Mariam's unreadable expression melted into a smirk. "Catch us doing what?" she asked, pinning him in place with a teasing look.

Max flushed. She was never one to let him have the upper hand for long and he didn't think he'd ever get used to the feeling of her turning the tables on him.

"Just catch us, uh… together," he stuttered as his cheeks heated up even more.

Whatever this was, whatever they were, they'd decided not to tell their teammates yet. It was too new and nebulous. They mostly stuck to early morning or late night rendezvous, made easier by the fact that both of their internal clocks were perpetually ruined from jet lag, and always chose somewhere they could have bumped into one another randomly, just in case.

"Together, huh?" Mariam prompted, somehow putting just the right amount of emphasis on the word to make Max blush even harder. She navigated the rocky shore expertly, picking her footing carefully as she followed him down the incline, past the high tide line, like she didn't have a care in the world. "Whatever you say."

Despite her words, she used his shoulder to brace herself as she stepped off of one of the higher drops. And, when he reached out to help her and his hands skimmed her waistline, she leaned into his touch for a few seconds. It was enough to set the butterflies in his gut loose once more and he ducked his head under the guise of watching his own footing as they scrambled over the rocks together.

When they made it to the bottom, they were rewarded with the sight of a dozen or so tide pools splayed out like shining panels of stained glass in front of them. The sun glinted off of the water, making them shimmer in the early morning light.

Max snuck a glance at Mariam and beamed at the candid, transfixed expression on her face. He wondered if Sharkrash felt at home here, like he could tell Draciel did when a warm feeling of peace and contentment spread over him inexplicably. He took a deep breath of the sea air, tasting salt and seaweed on the back of his tongue, and laced his fingers with hers.

She whipped her head around this time, too caught off-guard to play it cool.

"Come on," he said, tugging her hand before she could pull away.

Maybe she'd believe that his only intention was to guide her closer to the pools. Or maybe she felt the spark when they touched, too, like fireworks bursting between their palms. Either way, she let him lead her to the closest tide pool. A wave of giddiness washed over him when he knelt on the edge of the water and she did the same. Only then did she let go of his hand to lean forward and peer into the crystal clear water.

Watching Mariam's face light up as she scanned the shallow pool was probably the closest Max would get to knowing what he looked like when he stared at her. There was a rare amazement and wonder there that made him feel like he'd swallowed one of the tiny schools of fish darting around the pool.

He forced himself to quit staring and examine the tide pool instead. There was a starfish gripping the side, half hidden by a jutting rock, so he pointed it out to Mariam. In turn, she pointed to a cluster of sea anemones nestled together in the sand.

They went back and forth until they were sure they'd both seen all there was to see, before moving onto the next tide pool. And then the next one. And the one after that. In one of the pools they found a school of silvery, iridescent fish that scattered when Mariam skated her index finger along the surface of the water. In another there was a surprisingly large lobster that Max debated tossing back into the ocean before Mariam talked him out of it.

By the time they'd seen all there was to see, the ocean was beginning to lap lazily at their ankles with every other wave. The tide was coming in.

"See, Max?" Mariam said as they turned to walk back, hugging the cliff that bordered the farthest tide pools until they could get to the gentler part of the slope that would lead them up to the beach. "Your lobster friend will be back in the sea before we make it back to the hotel."

"Probably," Max admitted.

The word had hardly left his mouth when a larger-than-average wave came surging ashore and forced them back against the cliff face while soaking them both to the knees. Mariam let loose what he assumed were a handful of curse words in her native tongue.

"Great," she said grumpily as the water receded again, "what's our story when someone notices we both came back to the hotel with soaking wet shoes?"

"We can say we were beybattling on the beach?" Max suggested with less enthusiasm than normal.

That last wave had sent something glimmering and emerald green skittering into one of the tide pools; it was the exact same color as Mariam's eyes and, therefore, very distracting. He blamed all the years he'd spent since their first meeting hoping to spot her in a crowd.

Without another word, he walked over to it. His shoes squelched with every step and his socks were uncomfortably wet and he was sure, in addition to being obviously soaked, he and Mariam would both bring an overwhelming smell of ocean water back to their hotel rooms with them.

He pushed all that to the back of his mind when he knelt by the tide pool and, after a little searching and one startled anemone, plucked the bright green piece of sea glass out of the sand.

"Ah-ha!" He held it up and the sunlight seemed to illuminate its frosted surface from within. "Look!"

Mariam snorted at his enthusiasm. "It's sea glass, Max," she said, standing obligingly still while he traipsed back over to her. "You could probably find a dozen pieces just like it without digging around in a tide pool."

Max looked at her thoughtfully. There was a faint irritation lingering in the set of her jaw, more so directed at the water in her shoes than at him. She looked tired too, either from the early morning or in anticipation of explaining her wet feet to her teammates. But there was something else, something like patience and contentment deep in her eyes, that made him feel warm all over.

He smiled at her and her face softened enough that he didn't think he was imagining it. Slowly, he lifted the hand holding the sea glass up to her temple, so close that his fingertips brushed the soft skin of her cheek. They both jumped, but neither pulled back.

Mariam's hand curled around his wrist. "Max—"

"No," he said gently, cutting her off before she could ask what he was doing or push him away or anything else that would make his racing heart fall. "There isn't another piece of sea glass like this one." He smiled sheepishly at her. "It matches your eyes perfectly."

Mariam's eyes widened and a flush spread over her cheeks. It must have been contagious because he could feel it on his, too. Her grip on his wrist tightened and she guided his hand away from her face. He wondered if she could feel his pulse thumping erratically under his skin before she let go and if hers was doing the same.

"You're such a dork, Max," she said with zero bite and the tiniest, telling, quiver in her voice, before turning away and beginning the climb back up to the beach.

Max followed wordlessly with butterflies in his stomach and the green sea glass safe in his pocket.

A/N: I have a little soft spot for this chapter because: 1) it's Max/Mariam and I haven't written as much of them as usual lately, and 2) I got stupidly emotional about sea glass and how the ocean makes something beautiful out of humanity's carelessness while writing it. XP

ANYWAY, next chapter isn't finished yet, but it's one I've been very excited about because I had a random surge of inspiration for it a while back. Excited to work on it some more and bring this collection one step closer to its end. :)

Thanks for reading!