Sure, the Summer season was a bit more tolerable in Vale compared to Mistral or Vacuo, but it was better spent in pairs at most.

Alongside friends, business partners, couples. Normally they would spend this time indoors due to how unbearable the heat is in some places.

Not at the beach, though.

Case in point: Here at a rather small one on the Valean coast, just across from Beacon campus outside of the Forever Fall in a river valley.

In the distance was a shingle hill that was just across a small rural town which was well-defended from Grimm making it a good tourist trap.

Whenever a Huntsman would arrive, word traveled faster than his/her weapon’s spent shell casing hitting the ground upon discharge, and they got some rather cheap discounts on visitation.

It just so happened that the lucky four to check out this area’s shingle beach was Ruby, Oscar, and their friends Blake & Sun.

That made two alumni couple from Beacon who were looking to hit the waves and get some sand in their feet after dealing with dreary paperwork.

A nice change of scenery compared to the office interior of the nearby combat school was in order to lighten things up a bit.

“I’m not so sure about how I would work on your routines, Sun.” Oscar admitted, looking up from his rock-hard farmer’s body which showed off well for someone so short underneath his sleeveless shirt.

“I get enough of a workout moving hay bails and hacking through grass with a sickle just to get the crops moving. And that’s even before my Aunt even considered bringing in combine harvesters to get the wheat and corn processing when we expanded the farm.” Oscar then rambled.

Sun Wukong just simply flashed his signature grin and looked to the side at his little buddy while they walked across the sands before speaking.

“Ah, dude, Huntsman training isn’t exactly the same thing.” The simian admitted with a shrug.

“Sure, you’re being asked to put your life on the line to kill Grimm and defend sentient life, but you kinda had it easy before you teamed up with Ruby and the gang during the Vale Crisis.” Sun then said, grin fading.

“Dang right. That was kinda out of nowhere for me.” Oscar admitted. “Of course, I can’t really go into details on that one. What I will tell you is that Ozpin was a distant relative and trusted me with accompanying them to track down who ransacked Beacon.” He explained. “But I can’t say much else. Sorry, Sun.”

“Say no more, man.” He assured him. “If it’s classified, I won’t pester you about it.” He said, ruffling the younger man’s hair which he normally found to be an annoyance.

But the way Sun wasn’t bordering on a noogie, he couldn’t refuse. “What I am curious about is how long you and Ruby have been together.”

“Um, about six months at this point.” The pipsqueak answered. “It’s nothing, really. We just didn’t have time to look into it during the Crisis, but we’re doing pretty good together.”

“Blake and I have been dating for about ten. We hooked up not long after Beacon was fully rebuilt, all while helping some Faunus from Menagerie get into the school.” Sun spoke. “Consider us ambassadors for the Faunus capital of Remnant.” He said, grin returning.

The boys’ conversations carried on as they made their way to a nice, quiet spot in the sand where they were supposed to meet with Ruby and Blake.

Took longer than expected, honestly. Must have been girl talk that was causing them to run late.

Sun drew his Scroll from his duffel bag as he opened the map of the area, a hologram showing the meetup point at the beach where they were supposed to rendezvous.

The gold and dark green blips indicating him and Oscar, the purple and red blips indicating their girlfriends off-screen.

Oscar squinted.

“Weird. They said that they would meet us here after breakfast so they could get changed and ready.” The younger man said. Eyebrow raised as he looked side to side for them.

“Yeah, where are those two?” Sun inquired. “Obviously they’re taking a while, but we’ve beat them to it. Where could they be…”

“Right here, guys!”

Their heads snapped to the side as they were greeted by a rather breathtaking sight: Ruby and Blake in their swimsuits.

On the right, Ruby tied her hair into a spiked bun along with her having a new haircut which brought back her old hairstyle.

The right bang had been kept lengthier than it used to be. A pink flower holding up the makeshift bun while her one-piece swimsuit was that of a black design with a splatter-like rose pattern at the bottom.

Blake on the other hand, in her one-piece had her midriff visible for all to see, her stomach as flat as Gambol Shroud's blade.

The straps on the suit were as thin as string cheese, her hourglass figure fitting perfectly within her black swimsuit. Her white sandals and sunglasses referencing her usual combat attire.

The young huntresses exchanged a smirk upon seeing their boyfriends squirm at how beautiful they looked in their swimwear, letting their reactions speak for themselves.

“Oh my god…” Sun gasped.

“Holy crap, Ruby…” Oscar gasped afterwards. His and his male friend’s faces flushing.

Ruby giggled while Blake strutted up to her handsome little monkey now that they’ve been ogled hook, line and sinker.

“Hehehehehe! Wasn’t expecting this, weren’t you, Oscar?” Ruby teased as she walked up to her boyfriend.

“Well, I mean…I knew you were probably gonna have roses on yours, but that flower in your hair? It, it, uh…” He stammered.

“Yeah. I know it’s pretty cute.” Ruby answered for him with a wink.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you, Sun?” Blake spoke teasingly, hugging her man with raising one of her slender legs.

“Pfft, whaaaat? Me? No way, babe! This, this is- -Oh, wow.” He sputtered, noticing the makeup she put on earlier.

“Blake. Your makeup looks awesome.” He said with a more lovestruck smile at the sight of her normally dull purple eyeshadow having a less desaturated shade.

Blake blushed with a smile, pillowing her head onto Sun’s rock-hard pecs and tightening the embrace.

“Mmm, thanks, sweetie.” She said. “Figured I’d go with a more visible shade for this trip. Give you a bit more to look at.”

“You know I don’t need much convincing with you.” He said as he scratched behind Blake’s ears. Eliciting a purr from her in response as he smooched her head.

Oscar folded his arms and smirked at this display of affection between the two Faunus. It always astonished him how open that they were with body language in the presence of a significant other.

The farmers from Oyadji, a Faunus-heavy province in Mistral, weren’t so subtle either, when compared to Humans when interacting with their families.

“Aww~” Ruby cooed from this sight. “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get wet.” She declared.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Let’s see. What should we do today?” Oscar thought out loud, together with Ruby as they sat at their spot with the umbrella, sunscreen, shades and everything.

“There’s a beach volleyball tournament going on later.” Ruby suggested.

“We could give that a shot, show them how us short Hunters play the game.” She added, turning onto her chest to let the shade almost camouflage her black and red swimsuit.

“Not a bad idea. I wonder how they play it in Menagerie?” He wondered, putting a finger up to his chin. “If their topography is any indication, they gotta be naturals at it on the side.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Ruby answered. “Though, if I were to use my speed Semblance, that might be considered cheating. Heh…” She trailed off.

Oscar shrugged.

“And? Hasn’t stopped you from being quick with cleaning our motel rooms up and organizing our weapons.” He argued.

“I nearly hit my head on the TV cabinet.” She pouted, looking up to her squeeze. “Can’t always rely on it for some mundane task or some cool trick in sports.”

“Okay, okay. Point taken.” He replied with his hands up. “Really, though. Can’t wait to whoop Sun and Blake at volleyball.” Oscar said with a sinister smirk.

“We managed to take down Salem. I’m sure this will be child’s play.” Ruby pointed out, imagining the tactics they’ll use against the Faunus couple by kicking their butts into low orbit.

Speaking of butt-kicking...

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“And then Qrow said ‘kick your butt’ before dropping his martini. That way, we could hold off the Manticores from the Argus Limited.” Blake explained as she and Sun walked on the beachfront, doing a lame guttural impersonation of the corvid drunkle.

“I swear that dude’s Aura just has a special layer of protection for his liver.” Sun pondered.

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” She said with a shrug as she and her man walked over to a nice vacant spot at the beach with a pause.

They said nothing with merely getting lost in each other’s eyes as Blake took charge.

She leapt into Sun’s arms with a kiss that lasted two minutes before they broke their lip contact. Sun then smooched and nibbled at her neck which caused her to sigh and moan with content.

Blake’s secondary ears drooped as she practically melted in Sun’s embrace, but upon opening her eyes as he figured what he was going to try and pull: Get her to fall into the water so he could get her to play damsel.

Well, Blake wasn’t falling for that again. Just as Sun ran, carrying her bridal style she faded into thin air.

One of her Shadow Clones, as Sun turned around to see Blake behind her giving a grin and a wink as he fell into the shallow end of the ocean.

“Waah!” He exclaimed, tripping in. Then popping out appropriately soaked.

“Ohh, I knew you were gonna pull that trick!” He groused after spitting out some saltwater.

“Whoops!” Blake sarcastically exclaimed. “You gotta be more careful there, Sun.” She teased as she strutted into the water feet first.

As his girlfriend stood cocksure in her stance, Sun’s tail began to snake its way around her hind-leg. Then coiling around Blake’s waist as he stood up in another embrace.

“You were saying, beautiful?” He teased. Raised eyebrows and all.

“No, no, wait Sun I didn’t- -AHHH!”

Splash!

The joke was on Blake this time as she ended up relying on Sun’s buoyancy in the water as they popped out, her black as night hair soaking as she moved it from her eyes seeing Sun grinning at his playful payback.

Blake was initially unamused but burst out laughing upon his counterattack. She splashed Sun in the face, which in turn made him splash her back.

Both Faunus ended up laughing in joy at their antics before they pulled each other in for another kiss. This one being softer and less passionate than before Sun’s attempted prank.

“I guess I better watch out for your Clones whenever we’re near a body of water.” Sun joked as they broke their kiss.

“I could say the same about your tail.” She said as she helped him up and they got back to dry land.

Well, sandy land. Considering how it would get stuck in their toes. The scent of saltwater wafting off their bodies as they proceeded down the route.

“We should probably use one of the showers to wash off the salty smell, shouldn’t we?” Blake inquired. Her nose wrinkling at the dry scent.

“Yeah, saltwater’s not exactly aromatherapy material, now is it?” Sun responded, holding his nose as they made their way to wash up.

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“I’m telling you, Oscar. We’re gonna outmaneuver Blake and Sun, unarmed or not!” Ruby enthusiastically spoke as they stretched in preparation for the volleyball match.

“I believe you, Ruby.” He said with a smile while he did curl-ups. “The question is how will they perform when we can’t hit that high?” He asked.

“Yeah we can.” She replied. “You just gotta put some force into your legs in order to hit it higher. All that power in Sun’s arms aren’t quite enough if we can bank the ball behind them.” She observed.

“Or with Blake’s agility.” Oscar observed as he finished another set of curls.

“True.” Said Ruby. “But we’re already signed up, so there’s no backing out of this one. You sure you’re ready to take ‘em on?” She asked.

Oscar nodded.

“No time like the present, let’s get ‘em.” He said with confidence.

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“The results from the judges are in. The winner, by unanimous decision is…”

Both teams stood side by side between the referee. Eagerly awaiting the judges’ decisions on who would take home the volleyball trophy.

“Team Black Sun!”

The crowd burst into applause and cheers as the Faunus couple jumped up and bowed before the audience and receiving their trophy.

Ruby and Oscar applauded them in return while receiving their qualifier ribbons.

They were greeted by Lisa Lavender who was covering the event in place of VNN’s usual sportscaster to cover local tournaments like this one.

“An astonishing verdict from an astonishing competition!” Lavender greeted those watching at home and at work. “Four Beacon graduates in a tense fight for bragging rights at beach volleyball."

Lavender turned to the winning couple, eager for their response.

"Blake, are you surprised that you won in such a close match when it looked like you were outnumbered?” She asked the victors.

“No, not exactly.” Blake replied into the microphone.

“We were relying on some old tricks that Sun and I picked up back home from Menagerie. We’re just flat-out naturals on the island, so we went in there blind, see what we could do against Team Rose Garden, and it looked like the tables turned in our favor.” She finished, smiling to the crowd as her cat ears shot up in joy. The crowd cheering again.

“Plus, you know...” Sun added. “If we spoke of some secrets at Beacon at how else we’re so good on a Volleyball court, we might have to challenge one of you guys as well. Loser is buying drinks!” He joked to the crowd, causing them to laugh as Lavender moved onto Team Rose Garden.

“Ruby, you’re kind of a big deal back in the central part of the Kingdom. Did you feel any pressure at all from performing against two of the most well-known Faunus to become Beacon alumni?” She asked.

“Yeah, a little bit.” Ruby answered with a nod. “I mean, we’re friends with them. In fact, Blake is one of my teammates, as I’m sure some people in the crowd know. But you know, we brought our A-game, the brought theirs. Still had fun, though.”

Lavender nodded as she spoke to Oscar next.

“Oscar, were you surprised at the result?” The journalist asked.

“Well, we practiced for hours soon as we settled into the resort. But I guess practice doesn’t always make perfect. But Ruby and I still had fun, we still managed to bring the pain, and I’m glad we could have competed. So yeah, it was a good time all around.” He humbly answered.

The crowd cheered again as Lavender thanked them for the interview with the competition closing out.

“You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen. For VNN’s local sports report, I’m Lisa Lavender. Back to you, Cyril.”

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The competition closed shortly after, with the four of them getting out for some space on the beach.

Blake and Ruby went to work on their tans while Sun and Oscar exchanged guy talk about who outperformed who in the volleyball match.

“Hey, man. You were good, but one thing that we tailed Faunus don’t lack in is balance.” Sun told Oscar. “But your strength from that farmer’s bod? Remind me not to challenge you to a dead lift."

Oscar grinned at how humble Sun was being.

“Thanks, but it was nothing, really. You and Blake just happened to be quicker on your feet than me and Ruby.” He bashfully replied.

“At least she didn’t resort to using her super speed. She was THIS close to using it at the pool in Beacon.” Sun indicated with two fingers closed in together. An inch holding them apart.

“Seriously?” Oscar asked in disbelief.

As the young men continued their discussion about Semblances, Blake and Ruby sat up from their tanning session to witness their men chatting it up about who was stronger or more skilled than who.

“I didn’t know Oscar would be so up to debating skills at the sport with Sun.” Blake observed.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Ruby answered.

“Not necessarily. He always prefers to beat around the bush. You think seeing us in action on the volleyball court has something to do with it?” Blake inquired.

Ruby shrugged.

“Who knows?” The reaper replied. “It’s fun watching him try to argue about entertainment.” She then added, grinning at Oscar’s shy and reserved nature with the topic of sports which Sun had such a ball (pun intended) discussing.

“Yeah…Hey, after we get our tans, you wanna stop by the beach bar? I hear the burgers here are something else.” Blake suggested.

“That would be great!” Ruby answered. “But I call dibs on the strawberry smoothies.”

Blake and Ruby called their boyfriends over and set off for some lunch. The food had it’s own rustic charm to it, being grilled almost like seafood.

But it still tasted darn good with the appropriate amount of juicy flavor in it to make it’s price of 20 Lien each worth it.

Blake, a bit off put from the lack of tuna casserole sandwiches went for simple baked crab with a godly side of steak fries.

“I didn’t think you were a fries kind of woman, Blake.” Oscar admitted.

“What? You didn’t expect me to have a perfect diet, did you?” Blake joked with a raised eyebrow.

Sun laughed, while Oscar chuckled.

“No, not really. I guess it can’t be helped given your job scheduling.” The farmhand observed.

“She’s the one who suggested it.” Said Ruby before she took a bite. “It’s not like we’re bodybuilders or anything.” She then said after swallowing a piece of her burger.

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They carried on with their conversation at lunch for a bit before they resumed beach activity such as walking, swimming, and returning to their motel at sunset, their volleyball trophy and medals respectively being brought back to their rooms so they could enjoy each other’s company further after such a long day.

Long? Yes. But worth it? You bet.

“When we get back to the city, I’m challenging you and Sun at Absurd Competition some time.” Ruby insisted.

“Challenge accepted.” Blake replied while she hugged Sun from behind.

“I had fun today, how about you two?” Oscar asked with a smile.

“Totally, bud.” Sun responded. “Let’s come here again some time.”

Both couples agreed upon that offer and shared a kiss with one another, their bliss radiating as they headed to their neighboring rooms for the evening to settle in and prepare for the return trip back to downtown Vale later tomorrow.

Another great memory to Ruby and Oscar’s double date experience in the bag.