Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, amigos. Life is tough, y'know. Lots and lots of busy work. Plus, Monty's passing hit me hard. He was one of my inspirations. But all the art and writing I've seen and/or read in his honor has been beautiful. Monty was a legend, and he will be missed. This chapter I'm posting here is an AU one-shot of Nep and Yang, though not the same AU which is also in this story. This was inspired by an Avengers fanfiction I read. Please leave a quick review. I love reading them. Thanks, guys, and happy reading.

Jaune vaulted out of the bunk above Neptune's at reveille, and grabbed his towel off the line that was strung between two cabins. "COME ON!" He shouted at the other boys.

"Jaune, you even got your shorts on?" Ren grumbled, stuffing his head under his pillow.

"He slept in them," Neptune said. He was putting on his staff shirt; his hair stuck up at odd angles thanks to a shower after his dawn run around the camp. It was also his turn to hose down the kids at polar bear, and he had to leave now or face Ozpin's wrath. "Boys, up and at 'em. Either go to polar bear or hit the showers. Breakfast's in thirty, and if you're not ready, you get to walk through girls' camp in your tidy-whities."

Jaune sprinted across the Polliwog field and through Tadpole territory toward the pool. Neptune followed at a more leisurely pace. It was only day two of this two-week session, and Jaune showed no signs of slowing down in his excitement about summer camp. Scarlet, still stretched out in his bunk (though the blankets were gone), stuck up his first three fingers as Neptune waved at his cabin. Flipping the bird was frowned upon at Camp Beacon. The three-fingered salute was one of the few time-honored workarounds passed down through the generations of camp counselors. Neptune just shook his head.

He started jogging when he saw the line of kids waiting outside the pool gate. Technically, polar bear didn't start for another five minutes, but there was a heated rivalry around these parts that was serious business. There wasn't a prize for it, only a matter of pride: Girl's Camp vs. Boy's Camp in a battle to the death of who could get the most people out of bed and into a pool before 7:15am. So far it looked like there were more boys than girls, but the boys had the home field advantage, as the pool was closer to them.

Neptune unlatched the gate and slipped in among a chorus of whining. "Easy, fellas, two minutes. Let the girls catch up."

"Ew, no way!"

"Why would we do that?!"

Neptune shook his head, and went to the pool house to get the hose. "Don't worry, Vasilias, cooties go away eventually," Yang's voice rang out from atop the lifeguard stand as he bent down to grab the bundle.

Neptune straightened and shielded his eyes against the morning sun. Yang was redoing her ponytail, backlit by the sunrise. She looked beautiful. "Not soon enough. Any problems last night?" He called, taking the hose to the spigot.

"Nora tried to put out raccoon bait, and Pyrrha wouldn't stop shining her flashlight at the ceiling and counting the spiders, so Coco and Velvet kept screaming about spiders all night… You know, the usual Monday."

"I'm so glad boys like bugs."

Yang shook her head, and Neptune finished hooking up the hose, turning the water on, and waiting for Sage and Ruby to open up the gate. "You ready?" The other teen called.

Neptune nodded, and in came a flood of preteens. Neptune dutifully sprayed their feet free of grass and mud; some of them he sprayed all over just because it was fun to watch them pretend to get mad about it. "It makes the pool warmer!" He called.

The kids screamed about how cold the pool was anyway.

Blake came to stand next to him as her girls got their feet sprayed. She had piled her mass of black hair on top of her head; she looked like she hadn't slept at all. "You alright?" Neptune asked.

Blake shook her head. "Skunk fight."

Neptune winced. "Anyone get hit?"

"No, thank God, or we'd all still be bathing in tomato soup."

"I thought that didn't work."

"Whatever. I hope I don't ever have to find out. Anyway, the girls weren't exactly sleepy after that… Giggle, giggle, giggle all night. Maybe nodded off around three."

"Sorry, Blake."

"I'll live. I just need some tea- WALK DON'T RUN!" She and Neptune shouted it at the same time as Weiss's girls came sprinting through the gate. Yang was a beat behind them, on the other side of the pool.

Weiss, her white hair a lion's mane around her face, grimaced outside of the fence. "Sorry."

"Hair tie?" Blake offered one of the dozens on her wrist.

"Thank you," Weiss exhaled, grabbing it as if her life depended on it. "Little demons hid my hair kit, and I can't dig through their trunks until first period."

"Jesus, what'd you do to them to make them hate you already?" Blake asked.

"Oh please," Weiss made a face before flipping her hair upside down to tie it up. "I'm the best, they just haven't realized it. And at this rate they never will."

Yang blew the two-minute warning whistle, causing a chorus of whining from those still in the pool. Most campers were happy enough to abide by the polar bear rivalry rules: jump in at least the shallow end and it counts. There were always about twenty kids who were part-dolphin, though, and often had to be dragged out of the water and down to the mess hall. Yang's mornings on duty tended to clear out fast though; she was plenty scary when she put her mind to it. "Go get dressed for breakfast!" Blake yelled.

One of the kids was asking for a hand up from Sage; Sage shook his head with a knowing look on his face. "Don't even try it, kid. Ladder's right there."

Neptune turned off the spigot and sprayed one of the girls still lingering in the water until the hose ran dry. The girl screeched. "You heard the whistle, get out and go get dressed!" Neptune told her, grinning.

"You're a jerk, Neptune!"

"You're already wet!"

She stuck her tongue out, then swam to the edge to hoist herself out. Blake just laughed. "Discouraging crushes early, I see."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Neptune's face was the picture of angelic innocence as he rolled up the hose again and stowed it.

Yang came up to them, playing with the key ring coiled around her wrist. "Morning. Can I lock up, or are you looking to rent?" She teased.

"Lock away," Neptune grinned and blew her a kiss. "Good morning."

Blake gagged. "Please, I haven't had any caffeine."

"Vasilias, knock it off," Yang scolded, locking the pool house and leading the way to the gate.

"You really shouldn't have encouraged me, I'm completely hopeless now."

Yang rolled her eyes, and looped her arms between both Ruby's and Blake's. "Come on, before he gets any more ridiculous."

"See you in a few," Neptune told them, and joined Sage on the walk back to the boys' tents.

Scarlet was awake; alert was another matter, if the two nine-year olds attempting to climb up on the roof of their cabin was anything to go by. Neptune plucked one from the shoulders of the other while Sage administered the scolding, and then walked up onto the pad to smack Scarlet upside the head. "Morning, champ!" He bellowed.

"Ow. Also loud. The heeee-eck did I ever do to you?" Scarlet censored himself quickly.

"Almost got two kids with broken necks. Come on, round 'em up and move 'em out."

"Need sugar," Scarlet said, a hint of a whine in his voice.

Neptune opened the trunk at the foot of Scarlet's bunk and pulled out one of his Secret Stash: Kool-Aid powder, sugar included. "You can have all you want at breakfast," he tossed the container to Scarlet, who fumbled it.

"Too far."

"Too bad. Boys," Sage raised his voice and Scarlet's campers came scurrying in. "Scarlet here needs to be dragged to breakfast. Care to do the honors?"

The boys gleefully yanked Scarlet up and frog-marched him down the path to the road. Scarlet hollered over his shoulder, "YOU ARE BOTH TRAITORS TO THE CAUSE AND I HATE YOU!"

Neptune and Sage just laughed and went to gather their own campers.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The crowd outside the mess hall buzzed at the smell of Mr. Port's famous cinnamon rolls. Yang and her girls found Neptune and his boys near the porch. "I wonder what the occasion is?" Yang mused. "Port usually saves these for the last Saturday."

"Maybe he had a bunch of eggs that were going to go bad," Neptune suggested, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

Yang's girls giggled. "Are you her booooooooooyfriend?" One of the girls, with short dark hair, asked in a sing-song voice.

"Yes I am," Neptune said proudly, and kissed Yang's temple with a loud 'smack'. Yang gave him a mock-annoyed look. "Coco, don't listen to him, he's not. He's only dreaming."

"Coco?" Neptune asked.

"Coco Adel," the girl said, her chest puffed out. "That's me."

Neptune noticed Jaune looking up at Yang shyly. "You alright, Jaune?"

The body turned bright red and nodded. "Yu-huh."

Ren was in an intense debate about something with Cardin, Russell, and Dove. Some of Yang's girls were jutting in with their own arguments. Neptune figured they were alright for now. "What's your schedule for today?" He asked Yang.

"Goodwitch has me down at the boating lake all morning, and it depends on what the lake-lake is doing for the afternoon," Yang replied. "If it stays quiet like this, they'll probably bust out the big banana."

The kids turned towards her at once at the words 'big banana'. "What's that?" Dove asked.

Yang winked conspiratorially. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

The kids went wide-eyed, and debated this news in hushed voices amongst themselves. Neptune chuckled. "Rope swing this morning?"

"Only if they put another guard down there. I'll probably be roasting on the docks by myself."

"I'll swing by and keep you company."

"I'll push you off the docks," Yang threatened, "and I'll leave you for the snapping turtles."

Neptune put his hand over his chest. "You don't love me anymore. Jaune, you take her, she'll be nicer to you."

The boy turned red again, and shook his head so hard Neptune feared he might sprain something. Yang punched him in the arm; Neptune winced. He swore the girl could be a boxer if she wanted to. "No teasing, that goes double for you. Or I'll for real push you off the docks."

"As opposed to for fake?"

The kitchen crew threw the doors open, and there was a surge of humanity towards the food. Neptune's boys tried taking their chairs down early, but he reminded them to wait until after the blessing. He exchanged a secret handshake with his best friend Sun as he passed with his boys. "Thursday, we're heading out for the night, you up for it?" Sun asked.

"Tukson's?"

"Is there anywhere else to go?" Sun grinned.

"Well… Wal-Mart," Neptune said with a grin of his own.

"Nah, we'll save that until Scarlet runs out of mini-muffins."

"Which will be next week."

"Exactly. Spread out the love, man," Sun went to his table, three rows back. He was a Frog counselor, or the oldest boys at thirteen and fourteen, while Neptune had Polliwogs, who were eleven and twelve.

Ozpin came up to the mic and gave the morning blessing. This gave way to the clatter of chairs being taken down from the tables, and then the kitchen crew came out with the hot food. While it was good manners to let the kids have first dibs on the food (their parents were the whole reason he had a job, after all). it was common knowledge that it was every man, woman, and child for themselves on Cinnamon Roll Day. As there were only six of them, Neptune managed to get everyone to have one cinnamon roll and divided the other two.

The meal was about halfway over when a ruckus erupted from Sun's side of the room. "CABIN 43, WHERE ARE YOU GOING FIRST PERIOD?"

Cabin 43 was Neptune's. He looked over and saw Sun grinning. Neptune deliberated with his boys; they were fairly similar in interest, so they quickly decided. Neptune counted softer for them, "One, two, three, PROBABLY ARCHERY OR SOMETHING. WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?"

A few moments passed, then Sun's table responded with "WE'RE GOING ON A CREEK HIKE. COOL KIDS ONLY."

Neptune's boys looked at him with pleading, puppy-dog eyes. Neptune grinned. "Alright, alright. Sounds good, meet at the horse barn. One, two, three, SOUNDS GOOD, MEET AT THE HORSE BARN."

There was an eruption from Sage's table, a few feet away. "HEY, CAN WE JOIN YOU GUYS?"

Neptune and his boys debated on a response for a moment, but Sun's table responded first. "WE SAID COOL KIDS ONLY."

There were shouts of outrage from Sage's boys. He corralled them long enough to try and plan a response, but Scarlet's table shouted, "WE'LL HANG OUT WITH YOU, CABIN 47!"

"WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP? WE'RE TRYING TO EAT OVER HERE." A table of girls shouted from the other side of the dining hall.

Neptune looked over. It was Weiss's table. She waved cheerfully, he blew her a kiss back. "How many girlfriends do you have, Neptune?" Cardin asked.

"All of the girlfriends," Neptune replied, taking a bite of cinnamon roll.

"All of them?"

"Yup. Sorry, kiddo, the ladies love me."

"Whatever. Girls are dumb," Cardin muttered, stabbing his cinnamon roll with more force than necessary.

"Some girls are okay," Jaune said, looking toward the girls' half of the hall.

This resulted in a lot of teasing, and then Neptune telling them that they could forget about any creek hikes if they didn't straighten up. This shut them up quickly. Neptune used the moment of silence to divvy up the cleanup chores, and sent them on their way.

Ozpin came up to the mic again after cleanup, and started the morning announcements. There was indeed a nature hike along the creek that would take up the entire morning. The boys were restless during most of the announcements, so Neptune missed most of them, including that day's art project. He liked hanging out in the craft shed, it was peaceful. And Peach let him bring in his boombox and play CDs while he helped the kids.

Oobleck, the waterfront director, led them all in a rousing rendition of "I like big boats and I cannot lie" before announcing that the rope swing would be open at the boating lake. Neptune glanced over at Yang; she was conferring with one of the other lifeguards. Oobleck continued, saying that the morning at the lake-lake would be dedicated to "sandcastles and swimming, on such a fine morning" but after lunch they'd be introducing the big banana. This announcement concluded with a conga-line of most of the activity directors leaving the hall, chanting "BIG. BANANA. BIG, BIG BANANA."

"What's the big banana?" Teddy asked.

Neptune only winked, holding a finger to his lips as Mrs. Goodwitch concluded the morning announcements and dismissed them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"And you made fun of my Crocs," Neptune said as Sun winced his way back up the hill to their cabins.

"I wasn't expecting the flip-flops to break…" Sun muttered.

"They were five bucks at Old Navy, dude, what did you expect?"

The creek hike had been successful; no boys had been lost to the wilderness, many a crawdad had been caught and released again, and Sun's shoes had broken on the trip back, making him walk barefoot along the side of the creek. "Crocs are fuckin' dumb, man."

"I will fork over the money for them myself so your princess feet don't get torn up more," Neptune joked. Sun pretended to stumble, shoving Neptune into the railing of the stairs, causing him to laugh. "Jerk."

"What time is it?" Sun asked.

Neptune checked his watch. "We've got like, twenty minutes before the period ends. You've got time to wash off the leeches and poison ivy before lunch."

"Your mouth is writing checks your ass can't cash, man."

Neptune grinned at that. "What, you think I'd've changed by now?"

"Oh don't even pretend with me, I know what you're doing. The stairs split here. Go on, go down to the boating lake and woo your girl. I'll get back to the camp or die trying," Sun gave an exaggerated sniff. "Just remember me well, if the bears do come for me."

Neptune rolled his eyes. "Drama queen."

"Go get her, lover boy."

He waved Sun off and set off at a trot down the trail to the boating lake. He came out of the woods as a car horn was blaring and Ozpin's truck roller past on the road the separated the woods from the lake. Neptune waved, and then ran up the knoll to where Yang was standing. "Hey," he called.

She caught the rope as it swung back and a child cannonballed into the lake. THe girl resurfaced with a shriek, and strode back to shore, driving herself into the mud at the bank with the force of her strokes. Yang glanced at Neptune over the top of her sunglasses. "Aren't you supposed to be up a creek without a paddle somewhere?"

"Got back early. I thought you were on the docks."

"I was, but I switched with Emerald because there's shade here," Yang said, helping a boy up onto the swing stand. "Alright, see how many times you can get through the alphabet before you hit the water," she told him.

The boy froze for a moment, then his face went hard with determination. He jumped from the stand, clinging to the rope, zipping through the alphabet as fast as he could. At the top of the rope's arc, Yang shouted, "DROP!" and the boy let go. He dropped seven feet into the water, and resurfaced with a gasp. "Five and a half!" He shouted.

"I counted four," a girl on the shore said.

"Four and a half," her friend said.

The boy growled as he swam to shore. "I'll go again, and you'll see. Five and a half."

Yang shrugged. "Get in line and try again. The record is eight, and no one has broken it in twenty years."

The kids goggled at one another. Yang winked at Neptune through her sunglasses and he chuckled. He watched as the kids gleefully went sailing through the air. "No turtles today?" Neptune asked as the boy who laid claim to five and a half alphabets went again.

"They're probably scared and at the other end of the lake, over by the willow trees."

"Ah."

Ruby called in all the boats with the megaphone, and Yang cut the rope-swing line off. "Go on, dry off and get back up the hill. Lunch in forty minutes."

As the kids trudged off, Yang stripped off her shirt and shorts, and kicked off her flip-flops. Neptune's eyebrows went up. "Did I miss a memo?" He asked. "Not that I'm complaining, I mean, don't get me wrong."

She glared at him, dropping her sunglasses on her clothes. "I'm hot, Vasilias. Overheated, though we both know I mean it both ways."

She stepped up to the rope stand, and went sailing through the air, letting out a Tarzan yell that made any remaining children stop and look back as she let go. To Neptune, time slowed down for a moment. Her arms arched above her, her golden ponytail streaming and glinting in the sunlight, as her outstretched limbs came together into a cannonball. Neptune remembered to breathe only when she surfaced, shaking water out of her face. She grinned, and swam for the rope, swinging helplessly above the water. She grabbed it, and came to shore. She held out the rope to him. "Let's see you fly, Vasilias. I'll spot you."

He blinked, and then shrugged. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it next to hers, kicked off his Crocs, and took the rope. He caught her looking him over, and raised an eyebrow. She raised one of hers in return. He got up on the stand. "Alphabet or Tarzan?"

"Alphabet."

"Shit."

He took a deep breath and jumped, rattling off the alphabet as fast as his tongue would let him. He heard Yang shout, "DROP!" and he let go. He was airborne for a few seconds, and then he landed hard in the water. His back was on fire. He scrambled for the surface, gasping and coughing. He saw Yang doubled over with laughter. Neptune bobbed for a moment in the water, still in shock from the landing, before he remembered the snapping turtles, and made for shore. His feet dug into the mud, and he collapsed onto the grass. "Oh my God…" he mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Yang gasped, wiping tears away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing… Are you okay?"

He felt her kneel next to him. There was a light touch on his back. "Does this hurt?"

"The whole damn thing stings… Was it that bad, really?"

"It was amazing," she said, and started giggling again. "You were like a baby giraffe, all limbs and no coordination. The best backflop I've seen in years."

"I hate you."

"You love me. You'll be fine, you're just really red."

She dropped her towel on him, and moved away. He got up, dried off, and put his shirt and shoes back on. He threw her towel on her head as they walked to the path in the wood. "How many times did I get through the alphabet?"

"Four and a half."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Mystery of the Big Banana was solved after the rest period, when Oobleck revealed to the kids that it was a giant inflatable banana that seated eight. A jet ski tugged it down the coast and back. There was a song that went with it and everything, and Oobleck made everyone sing it the entire time they were on the banana. Neptune knew this already, and gladly missed the occasion to spend the hot afternoon in the craft shed, painting sun catchers with the kids and playing "The World's Greatest Air Guitar Album" on repeat. Okay, he did more air guitar tutoring than actual painting, but art was versatile. He did regret not getting to watch Yang on the back of the jet ski, but there would be other banana days.

After dinner, they had an all-boys-camp activity: dodgeball in the Polliwog field. Neptune tried not to groan; his back still stung from earlier. "I'm gonna go play Quidditch with girls camp," he said during the downtime after dinner.

"Nooooo, Neptune, you're HUGE. We need you on our team!" Russell pleaded.

"I'm huge?"

Russell held up his arms, trying to make a muscle. He was still small and scrawny, though, so it didn't work out so well for him. Neptune nodded in understanding. "Ah. See, that makes me a target, not an offensive player."

This turned out to be more or less true, with Neptune resorting to deflecting as many balls as he could to the boys on his team, and ducking a lot. "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!" Scarlet, on the opposing team, yelled over the line.

Neptune threw his ball, his only means of defense, at Scarlet, and got him out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Thursday rolled around, with anticipations skyrocketing for their night off. The all-camp activity that night was an enormous game of Capture the Flag, and it shocked Neptune how dirty the girls played. A couple of the bigger Nymphas and Butterflies managed to drag the smaller boys into girls' territory for imprisonment. Granted, Neptune wasn't one to talk, especially when Weiss was taunting him in No Man's Land and he resorted to tackling her, picking her up and carrying, fireman-style, into the boys' territory. Weiss's campers were screeching about cheating the whole time, while the boys hooted and hollered. Weiss ran to join the human chain.

The "prison" was the tree by Polliwog Lane. The girls formed a human chain, hand to foot, to No Man's Land. Technically not illegal, as long as one person still touched the tree, but proved frustrating when a swift Caterpillar girl ran in and slapped the hand of the Butterfly at the end of the line, freeing thirty players. This caused enough distraction and mass confusion in boys' territory for Yang and Blake to lead in a legion of ten swift Butterflies and Nymphas with almost no repercussions to capture the boys' flag. When the boys chipped away at their numbers, they managed to hot-potato the flag all the way back to the line for a victory.

After that, Neptune hit the showers and changed. He retrieved his phone from its secret hiding place (phones were contraband except on nights off and weekends). He welcomed the kid from kitchen crew who would be taking his boys for the night. "I'll be back when you wake up," he promised Jaune before he left. "As long as you go to sleep, that is."

Jaune nodded, and Neptune strolled off to Frog Point to meet up with Sun. He turned on his phone and scrolled through the various texts that buzzed in. Scarlet was already at the Point, waiting, and together they set off for the staff parking lot. "Real food. Real soda. Real food. Real soda," Scarlet chanted.

"Yeah, yeah," Neptune said distractedly, wondering just how many texts his mom could send before remembering he wouldn't get them on time.

To Neptune's surprise, Yang and Blake were sitting on the hood of Sun's pickup, playing on her phone. "You didn't mention them coming," he accused, his voice soft.

"Like you're complaining," Sun retorted.

"The hell you got a truck for, Wukong?" Yang called. "You hauling logs or some other outdoorsy shit?"

"Get the hell off my truck, woman! No respect, I tell you," Sun patted the hood with affection as Yang slid down. "It's okay, Jingu Bang. She doesn't care about you like I do."

"She liked Ruyi Bang, the hippie van, better. More room," Yang said. "And why the hell didn't you yell at Blake too?"

The black-haired girl smirked at her blonde friend. "He's too much of a softie, he'd never yell at me."

Scarlet called shotgun, so Neptune, Blake, and Yang wedged themselves in the back. "Where we going?" Yang asked.

"Tukson's."

"Please, can we stop at a McDonald's? I am jonesing for some fries."

"It's amazing how low your vocabulary drops when you aren't around the kids," Sun commented.

"Fuck off, like you're any better."

Scarlet pointed an accusing finger at her. "She gets to make requests?! Mini-muffins! Wal-Mart!"

"You should ration your shit out, man, this ain't no joyride," Sun scoffed, starting the truck and heading out of camp. "Wal-Mart is next week. Besides," he grinned in the rearview mirror, "She said 'please'."

"Mama taught me manners," Yang muttered.

"Says the one who just told her best friend's boyfriend to fuck off," Blake chuckled in reply.

"Okay, to be fair, I was mostly raised by Taiyang and Qrow."

"So that's where the recklessness comes from," Sun noticed with a laugh

Scarlet grumbled, and changed the radio station. They traded stories on the ride into town, making each other laugh until they felt sick. It was the weirdest thing, Neptune thought, not for the first time. Save for him and Sun, none of them would have probably become friends had they not gotten this job. But, with three summers under their belts, they were inseparable. They had inside jokes and lingo that no one outside of the camp staff would even begin to understand. Camp legends about Ozpin and Goodwitch, the directors of boys' and girls' camps, respectively; Sun swore that last summer Ozpin would just appear in places when Sun was breaking curfew. Scarlet agreed, saying it was like Bloody Mary. "Say his name three times, and there he is."

"Goodwitch is the same," Yang insisted. "One time, I swear to God, I was working the archery range, and she just walked out of the supply closet. Unless she's got some secret teleportation shit going on, I have no idea how she got there."

Sun pulled into Tukson's, a local restaurant. Neptune told Sun to get his usual while he called his mom. The reception was shoddy, though, so he only managed to talk for a few minutes. They came back with their sandwiches, and Sun let the tailgate down on his truck. "See, no logs," he told Yang as they hopped into the back.

"What," she replied, "You got it to sit in?"

Sun shrugged and bit into his sub. "For whatever I need it to be," he said, his mouth full.

Yang made a face, and speared a meatball with her fork. Neptune sat on the tailgate, as opposite from Scarlet as he could get; the Brit was making obscene noises of appreciation at his 'real food' and 'real soda'. Yang, perched on the wheel hub, caught his eye, and they laughed. When they finished, they sat or lay in the bed of the truck, appreciating the semi-rural night's silence, unbroken by the sounds of children. "I like the job, but I'm so fucking glad they pay me," Scarlet said at one point, and they all understood.

Then, Sun said they had to get going if they wanted to stop at McDonald's before they broke curfew. They all scrambled to get back into the cab. Yang yawned as Sun started the engine. She leaned against Neptune, and he put his arm around her. "You two cozy back there?" Sun asked, catching Neptune's eye in the mirror.

"Peachy, thanks," Neptune nodded.

"Just fries, Xiao Long?" Sun questioned.

"And a lemonade."

"Sizes?"

"The biggest fry I can legally obtain in the state of Vale, and a small drink."

"That is oddly disproportionate," Scarlet muttered.

"Jonesing, Scarlet David. Jonesing."

They drove for about ten minutes before they found any golden arches, and Sun ordered. Yang slid him five bucks. "Ah, fuck. Shoes," Sun said as he pulled around to the window.

"You're the one who didn't want to go to Walmart tonight," Neptune reminded him. "The shoeless heathen remains for another week."

Scarlet huffed, and put his feet on the dashboard, arms crossed tight against his chest. "I have no sympathy for you."

"Hey, feet off the dash," Sun warned his friend.

Scarlet gaped in overdramatic incredulity. "You let Blake put her feet up there!"

"Yeah, well, you're not my girlfriend."

"My sympathy level for you has dropped into the negative numbers," the ginger sneered, slipping his feet off the dash and thudding them onto the floor of the red-and-yellow truck.

Sun scowled for a moment, and then turned on the charm for the girl working the window. He passed Yang back her bag and her drink. "Wow, when you said 'small', I didn't think you wanted a Dixie cup," Scarlet remarked as they pulled out onto the road.

Yang looked at her very small cup of lemonade and tried to keep a straight face. "This is quite possibly the smallest size existing at any fast food chain in the great nation of Remnant."

"With the biggest straw they could find," Neptune remarked.

"Seriously, like, wasn't there a smaller straw for the kid's menu? I'm almost afraid to take a sip. It'll all be gone in one fell swoop."

"They thought about giving you the regular small, but they thought you deserved a little more," Scarlet quipped.

"The biggest small they could find, just for you," Sun said.

"I'd retort, but I need to take a drink from my stupendously tiny lemonade," Yang took an exaggerated sip. "Seriously, I think I drank it all right there."

Neptune opened her bag and took out a few fries. "Thanks," he told her.

"Hey! There'd better not be any wiggly ones in there!"

He opened his mouth so she could hear the crunching. She made a face. "You're disgusting. I can't believe I ever considered kissing you."

"Say whaaaaaaat?" Scarlet twisted in his seat to look back at them.

"You are such a gossip," Yang shoved him.

Neptune made a good show of pretending he was a normal human being with a regular pulse. "No, no, go back. You were saying something about kissing me."

"Nope, forget it. You're a fry-stealer. Fry-stealer don't get kisses from hot lifeguards."

Neptune pouted. Yang stuck her tongue out, and ate a handful of fries.

Back at camp, Sun led the way through the woods with his 'enormously small' keyring flashlight. He stopped at the stairs to the girls' camp. "You ladies need us to walk up with you?" He asked, gesturing with the flashlight.

"Nah. We'll be alright. If you don't see us at polar bear, assume I broke my neck and feel horrible about not insisting on escorting us back to my cabin, though," Yang teased. She held up her phone, proving she had a light.

"Will do."

Yang punched Neptune in the arm affectionately as Sun and Scarlet started down the path. "Good night, loser."

"Night, O Queen of Tiny Lemonades."

He waited for her and Blake start climbing the stairs, then jogged to catch up with the others. "You get any sloppy French-fry-breath makeouts?" Scarlet asked.

"Nah."

"Shame," Sun said.

"I've got you guys for that," Neptune joked.

Scarlet scoffed. "Please, I specified French-fry-breath. Try another time."

"If you're offering." Neptune's phone buzzed. As he pulled it out of his pocket, he noticed the text was from Yang. 'I'm not on duty Saturday.' He smiled to himself, and shot back an affirmative reply. "Besides, I've got all summer."