The next morning the kids woke up very early, even Matt (who after becoming totally human seemed to have become more familiar with the day/night cycle than other people, and didn't always seem to want to sleep all day like when he was a crab... even though he was still a bit sleepy), and they immediately started preparing everything they needed to go to the beach; they each grabbed a bag and stuffed in a towel, a beach towel, some lunch supplies, and several potions Eda had provided them that would apparently protect them from sunburn. "So we just have to rub them on ourselves? We don't have to drink them?" Willow asked just to be sure.
"Exactly. Please, put them on even if you're in the shade; you shouldn't mess with sunburn. You too, Luz" Eda said noticing that the puppet wasn't taking any.
"But I'm made of wood!" Luz protested.
"Yes, and do you want to know how wood becomes if it is exposed to the sun for too long without protection?" Eda asked her rhetorically. "If you want to go home completely white as if you were immersed in flour, go ahead! But I can't guarantee that I will be able to give you back your original color"
Those words were enough to convince Luz to also take some potions to protect herself from the sun; she didn't want the wood it was made of to bleach, and if that had happened she wouldn't have had the courage to let anyone see her anymore, and the mere thought of Amity seeing her like that...
Her insides twisted again. Luz swallowed; that day she should have tried to talk to Amity and confess that she didn't mind that kiss... but the closer that moment got, the more scared she felt. Not even a day ago she had wondered why Skara hadn't simply confessed her feelings instead of being afraid of Boscha's reaction, but now that she was about to do the same she was finding out that she would much rather face all the Titan Trappers again alone and with her bare hands. How could something so beautiful also be so confusing and terrifying? To distract herself, she looked at King, who was also packing a beach bag. "Are you happy to come with us?"
King nodded proudly. "Yes, last night I got a little tired, but there is nothing better than a day on the beach to recover! When I was... well, alone... sometimes I went out of the cliff and sunbathed. It's pleasant"
"I'm sure of it" Luz said with a smile, then she noticed a detail: "Uh… you're not even bringing Francois?" she asked confused, given that until that moment the young Titan had never separated from at least one of his puppets.
King seemed undecided on what to answer, then said: "Yes... yes, the troop is tired, it's better for them to stay here and rest, so they can also guard the house. I can spend some time away from them, together with the my friends"
Luz couldn't help but feel her heart do a flip of joy at seeing King behaving this way: not only was he coming to the beach with them, but he was also giving up bringing his toys with him, proving that he wanted to spend time alone with them. The young Titan had truly matured since the day they first met.
When they were done getting ready, they changed into the swimsuits Eda had provided for them; for the girls these were rather comfortable tankinis suited to their size, for the boys a simple pair of shorts; Willow had it green, Gus had it blue, Matt had it brown, and Luz had it multicolored as her school uniform. Although the puppet didn't intend to take a bath, since she didn't want to have another nervous attack, she still wanted to wear a swimsuit since she didn't like being the only one in normal clothes. King, on the other hand, technically wouldn't have needed any swimsuit, since he already normally walked around naked, but Eda still gave him a pair of gray and black shorts which he gladly accepted and wore with pride.
Once this was done, the kids immediately left the house and ran towards the beach, almost ignoring Eda who greeted them and recommended them to have fun. They ran at breakneck speed towards the beach, and once there they reached the pre-arranged point and waited for the others to arrive. They didn't have to wait long: within less than ten minutes Boscha and Skara reached them. Boscha had two big sunglasses over her eyes and a sportier hot pink swimsuit, while Skara had a silver double-skinned one. They had arrived holding hands, and seeing them their friends asked them: "So, is this working?"
"Well… so far everything has been fine" Skara said blushing. Boscha didn't say a word and looked away, but still her fingers tightened around the hand of her new girlfriend, who made an embarrassed noise.
Gus winked at Willow and Luz, who also blushed. Deep down they both would have liked to be in Skara's place... just with another person hand in hand. In Willow's case it was a blond wandering monster hunter, in Luz's case it was a cotton candy hair goddess.
They didn't have to wait the aforementioned goddess too long because the Blight siblings also arrived shortly after at great speed. As a swimsuit, Edric had worn shorts similar to those of Gus and Matt, but longer and bright green; Emira, on the other hand, had worn a rather tight bikini, which highlighted her beautiful curves well, and judging by her look she knew it well because she winked at her friends and laughed out loud when she saw the boys and even some of the girls blushing. In any case, Luz's gaze was focused on the third person in the group: Amity was wearing a double-skinned pink swimsuit that was slightly darker than her hair, which made her look really cute. The more Luz looked at her, the more she felt as if woodworms had made a nest in her stomach and were now flying everywhere and nibbling at her body; and judging by Amity's expression, she wasn't feeling anything much different either. When their eyes met, that contact lasted just a second, but it was enough to make their faces reach the temperature of an oven, so much so that if they had placed an egg on it they would have fried it.
Both Luz's friends and the Blight twins giggled at that scene, but they pretended nothing happened so as not to embarrass the two. "Well... we're almost all there!" Edric said counting them. "Only one missing..."
Just then a quick red light appeared in the sky and descended towards them, and Hunter landed holding his staff. "Hi, guys" he greeted them as he placed his weapon on the ground, but not before tying it with a chain to a rock and placing Flapjack on guard to make sure no one (especially the twins) touched it. Just like Edric he only wore a pair of long shorts as a swimsuit, yellow ocher with fiery red streaks; which meant that his upper body was completely visible to everyone. Even if the previous night Hunter had been shirtless because the Titan Trappers had taken away his armor, no one had paid much attention to it due to the situation they found themselves in, and even after due to the tiredness and the darkness of the night they had managed to get a good look at him; now, however, his perfectly sculpted statuesque body was clearly evident, from the strengthened abs to the smooth arms to the rather prominent pectorals. His physique was neither exaggerated nor lean: it was perfect in every aspect, the ideal combination of physical strength, agility, speed and, last but not least, beauty. It looked like a classic statue of some hero from the stories. Seeing him, Willow almost fainted, in every sense of the word since Gus had to rush to hold her up, and she wasn't the only one as Emira seemed to start salivating too and even Edric made a little noise of appreciation, and even Amity and Luz couldn't deny that the boy was really handsome even though they obviously weren't attracted to him in that sense; Skara also blushed slightly at the sight, but Boscha immediately put her hands in front of her eyes and in turn she closed hers as if she didn't want to be tempted by that beautiful boy.
"Sorry I'm late, guys... I had to wait until the stores were open to buy a swimsuit" Hunter greeted them. "Uh... Willow, are you okay? Do you have a fever?"
"I-I'm okay!" Willow exclaimed in a shrill voice as she tried to fan herself with one hand to lower the temperature of her face. "It's just... it's just the heat! As soon as we get in the water I'll be fine!"
To Hunter Willow didn't seem completely sincere, but his attention was soon drawn to his interlocutor's swimsuit, which although making her a little rounder also gave her an even cuter and sweeter look than usual; as he looked at her he couldn't help but blush a little. That swimsuit looked like it was made just for Willow; if someone had asked him what he would have expected a mermaid to look like, that would certainly have been the answer... all that was missing was the fish tail to complete it all. She was definitely better than the real mermaids he had encountered throughout his career of monster hunter. "Well, then let's not waste time and get into the water immediately!" he said to avoid showing his embarrassment, and grabbed Willow by the arm and almost threw her into the sea; at that touch the girl's heart sank, but she managed to avoid showing it.
When they reached the shore, Willow hesitated for a moment. Getting wet had always been a taboo for her as it meant suffocation as the water would seal all the pores on her skin. Even though she was now fully human, and therefore had lungs that weren't in danger of blocking, she still had a certain fear about entering the sea. But Hunter gave her an encouraging smile and motioned for her to follow him, and Willow felt braver as she looked at him; with a lot of hesitation, she finally put her feet in the water and advanced until she was submerged up to her waist. Even though she still felt a little scared, she had to admit that it was a really pleasant sensation to be immersed in that cold liquid whose waves almost tickled her, and she didn't feel bad at all. "Dive in" Hunter encouraged. "Don't worry, I'll pick you up"
Willow didn't need anything else: the boy's words were enough to give her all the courage to take a deep breath and throw herself completely under the water. She felt the cold liquid envelop her completely and mess up her hair which began to float on its own. She panicked for a moment when she realized she couldn't breathe, but then two arms grabbed her and pulled her out of the water, and when that happened despite her being soaking wet, a quick breath was enough for her to regain all the air she had lost. This completely made any fear go away from her. "It... It was nice" she admitted.
"I'm sure. You'll see, you'll get used to it soon" Hunter told her with a smile.
Willow smiled back, then she realized that Hunter was holding her hips in a rather princely manner, that he too was soaked from head to toe causing his blonde hair to be messy and stuck to his face and his body was shining slightly in the sun due to the water falling from his shoulders, and above all that her face was quite close to the aforementioned boy's body. Blushing like a pepper, she hurriedly got back on her feet and moved away at least half a meter. "That... That was really good! T-Thank you!" she stammered somewhat painfully, but then she asked anyway, "I... I'd like to do more... can you teach me to swim?"
Hunter nodded willingly. "Of course. Anything you want" he replied, and despite his obvious embarrassment a sweet smile formed on his face.
Meanwhile on the beach Emira was drooling so much that a puddle had formed under her. "Oh my... that must be ten kilos of muscle in each arm... and look at those magnificent quads, they look like a beauty of nature... please, take me and tie me to a bed and..."
"Ok, the situation is getting out of control" Edric said throwing a ball at his sister's head to make her come to her senses, with the result (rather predictable) that she immediately abandoned her adoring expression and replaced it with a furious one and started chasing her brother to the whole beach.
"Good, now they'll figure it out on their own" Amity murmured, somewhat embarrassed by her older siblings' totally inappropriate and somewhat childish behavior... even though that wasn't her main thought at the moment.
"Well, I'm glad Willow got in the water" Gus said proudly for his friend, and then he turned to Matt and jokingly said, "Maybe I could use a little encouragement too... what do you say, you wanna...?"
He didn't have time to finish the sentence because Matt grabbed him and after doing a few turns on himself threw him into the sea. "In thi way it's done first" he grumbled; even though he was no longer a crab Darius had left him considerable strength, enough to send Gus flying at least five meters.
The ex-spider emerged from the water and hurled a couple of insults at him, but it was clear that he was only joking; and in fact as soon as Matt jumped in to beat him, they both started laughing and pretending to chase each other. "Hey! How dare you start this battle without me!" King protested, and in turn ran and jumped into the water, swimming like a little dog, and despite his thick fur he turned out to be quite fast and soon caught up with Gus and Matt and joined in their game.
"Well, it looks like everyone jumped in the water. Shall we go too?" Boscha asked Skara, who immediately nodded with a wide smile. "Amity, are you coming too?"
"Um... yeah, I'll be there in a second" Amity replied, scratching her head in embarrassment. Seeing her like this, both Boscha and Skara took on confused expressions, then they noticed how their friend continued to cast furtive glances at Luz; at that point they exchanged a knowing smile and nodded, and they left them alone.
With no one left to distract them, Amity and Luz looked at each other. Both of their hearts were beating so hard that it felt like they would jump out of their chests at any moment. "So..." Luz whispered to break the ice. "How... um... how did it go with your mother then?"
"Uh... it's okay" Amity replied. "We talked this morning at breakfast, and she was calmer than last night and was much more diplomatic... she agreed to continue letting me have fun and see Lilith, although she warned me that if I get into such trouble another time I will see the sun more often painted than in real life"
"Well, everything's fine then!" Luz said happy that the situation was resolved in that way. "I mean... she didn't even punish you. That's a good thing, right?"
"Heh heh! Yes, it is... although I think she'll sulk on me for a while" Amity giggled, and she then silence fell between the two again. "Look... you're not going to take a bath, right?"
"Yes, but don't worry, I'll stay here and sunbathe. King says it's very beautiful. And I don't risk getting sunburnt... or blanching, Eda made me this potion that if spread protects from the sun's rays, if you want I can give you some...". She gasped when she realized what she had just said. "O-Obviously I didn't mean that I'll put it on you! I'll just give you the potion, you can put it on yourself... I don't mean... touching you... or..." "What am I saying!? Why does my brain refuse to cooperate!? Come on, this is the time to function properly, you can't shut down now!"
"Yes... yes, I understand!" Amity exclaimed blushing brightly, and Luz blushed at the sight too. They both wanted to say something, anything, but their minds were focused solely on what happened the night before and refused to stop thinking about it. Amity finally gathered her courage: "Look... about... what happened yesterday... well... could we just..."
"NOT NOW!" Luz almost screamed in an extremely shrill voice. "Now... now go for a swim! We'll talk about anything later! After all, we're here to have fun, heh heh!"
"Uh... okay" Amity murmured; although on the one hand she seemed somewhat disappointed, on the other she was clearly relieved. "Are you... sure you'll be fine here alone...?"
"Absolutely! I told you, I want to sunbathe! Go now!" Luz answered her. Amity looked at her for a moment longer, then she decided to listen to her and even if with a bit of reluctance she also went and jumped into the sea.
As soon as the lavender haired girl no longer looked at her, Luz dropped onto the beach and sat up, and she breathed deeply in an attempt to calm her racing heart. "Why is this so terrifying!?" she whispered as she watched her legs tremble as if the wood they were made of had been replaced by jelly.
"Sir, we can't do the beach episode!"
"Why not?"
"It goes over budget!"
"It's okay. Tell them the boss pays"
"But not even Dana did one in the original series!"
"So what? Here we have to dare, to go behond! The audience likes beach episodes, so let's make one"
"But sir, we would have to work overtime to complete the episode on time, the actors already haven't slept for five days..."
"A person once stayed awake for eighteen days, so they can handle a little more work!"
"But at this rate they will ask the union to intervene!"
"No problem, I'm covered. I have already prepared sharks, tigers, lions and even Tasmanian devils for the survivors"
"Sir, you are an exploiter"
"Ugh! Still with this story? What, you don't know what to invent anymore? Listen to me, you cunt: I'm carrying out you don't know how many projects, and with the release of the new season of Hazbin Hotel I'm swamped with work, yet I get busy! Instead of bothering me, get busy you too! Forcing your employees to work twenty hours a day and do unpaid overtime is not exploitation, in my early time this was normal! It's the fault of those damned politicians who wanted to valorise workers' rights if today the working class has turned into a bunch of useless weaklings. You should thank me because I force you to make efforts, without me you too would be condemned to the physique of minimum-weight lifters!"
"Sir, are you aware that half the crew has already had at least one aneurysm and a couple of them have already attempted suicide?"
"It's called natural selection, asshole. Now get back to work!"