Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You told me,” you screech, “that nothing at a mystic beach would try to kill me!”

“No, I told you that nothing on this beach will kill you,” Leo says, arm windmilling to cut another portal open through the sand. “Not when NEON LEON is here!”

He laughs. You do not.

“LEO –”

The ground quakes.

“And in we go!”

With a grin way too gleeful for someone about to be slurped up by a giant worm with teeth, Leo tackles the two of you into the portal.

Everything is a blinding whirl of blue and tangled limbs and the next thing you know, you have a mouth full of cold sand and the plastron of one about-to-be-hunted-for-sport turtle digging into your back. The sand tingles strangely – magically – on your tongue, so you spit it out quickly and wriggle out from under Leo to scrape off the leftover bits with your fingernails. With any luck, you won’t turn into a sandcastle or something.

Another mystic beach. You pin a dangerous glare onto Leo.

His eyes nervously dart around before meeting yours, bright and confident. “Would you look at that!” he chirps. “A reverse beach. I gotta say, this one’s waaaay better than the others.”

With a stubborn huff, you cut your gaze away from him to appraise the beach. It’s tiny, secluded, two-thirds of it surrounded by cliffs. The sand is smooth and blue against your skin, tangles of seagrass sprouting up in clusters around you. Strange-looking fish drift about in the air. And a few yards away, rolling gently into the shore, are waves the color of tangerines.

The most striking detail, however, is the complete lack of man-slash-yokai-eating monsters.

Your fists slowly relax, though you keep your frown out of pride. “It’s fine … I guess.”

Leo snorts. He gets to his feet, then sticks out a hand to help you up. “Aw, c’mon,” he exclaims when you merely squint at him. “Am I seriously still on the chopping block?”

“Is this place really safe?” you grumble in lieu of an answer, causing his mouth to pinch into a pout. Still, you reluctantly accept his hand and heft yourself up.

“I dunno. Let’s walk around and find out.” He lifts his sword into the air and starts marching down the beach. “Don’t worry, we won’t stop until we find the best beach in the Hidden City that doesn’t result in serious injury and/or death!”

Keeping a firm grip on your hand (just in case something happens, you reason, so you don’t protest), he leads you along, scanning the sand and the water for potentially dangerous creatures. None of the ones you see pose any real threat, usually swimming or scuttling away once you draw near. After some thought, you and Leo also dip your toes into the orange water and find that the only thing strange about it is the color. It’s also warm, and you do your best to hide your delight.

“Is that a smile I see?”

Crap.

“No.”

“Oh-ho-ho, that was definitely a smile,” Leo preens, letting go of your hand to toss your bags and his sword to a spot further away from the water. “I, Leonardo, officially deem this beach turtle- and human-friendly. Which means …!”

With that, he sweeps you up onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and dashes towards the shore.

“Leo!” you shriek, but this time, delight underscores the name leaving your mouth. He skids to a stop once the water reaches above his waist, and your stomach swoops in that familiar way as he hoists you over his head. (Gosh, he’s strong.) “Don’t you d –”

He sucks in a deep breath and launches you into the air.

“YEET!”

For a split second, you’re flying, limbs flailing. Then the waves rush up to swallow you whole.

You resurface quickly enough, sputtering and laughing; Leo breaks into a grin as you leap up and try to dunk him underwater.

“You jerk!”

“What was that? ‘I forgive you’?” he yells, kicking and splashing back at you. “You accept my heartfelt apology and we’re best friends again? That’s great!”

“Your apology almost got me killed three times!”

“I’m sorrrry! But you’re still alive, right?” Leo chuckles, but there’s a note of guilt in his tone, and his smile fades. You blink. The horseplay ceases as he rubs the back of his head. “I swear the pamphlets didn’t say anything about shell traps or giant worms with teeth. I probably should’ve checked the socials before portaling us.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” He looks down into the water, then glances up at you hopefully. “But this one is fun enough, right?”

“Fun enough to make up for everything, you mean?” you ask. He winces. “Fun enough to make up for the very important fundraiser that I worked on for three weeks and reminded you about for a whole week leading up to it, only for you to miss the whole thing because you ticked off a giant yokai in the Hidden City on purpose? Fun enough for me to forgive you?”

Leo swallows dryly, looking every bit as remorseful as he did last week. “Yeah …?” he says, voice small.

You stare at him. He shrinks beneath your gaze, and it’s impossible to tell whether the moisture on his forehead is sea or sweat.

Eventually, you break into a small smile and pat his shoulder. “It is.”

He slumps. “Oh, thank god.”

“But I’d also like pizza at Run of the Mill and a shot at your portal sword.” You glance enviously at the giant blade lying in the sand, gleaming underneath the sun.

Leo gives you a wary look. “Okay, you got a date for the pizza, but I dunno about letting you use my sword. Not to be a wet blanket, but you don’t exactly have the best track record with mystic weapons.”

“Just let me hold it while you make a portal, then.”

“That I can do. You got yourself a deal.” He winks.

Your face floods with heat. Panicked, you splash him in the face.

“Pfft – hey!”

“Race you to that weird-looking rock!” you shout, diving beneath the surface.

“I don’t think that’s a rock, but you’re so on!” you hear Leo shout back before he quickly follows suit. Phew.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two of you goof around on that little beach, racing and cliff jumping and sunbathing. And when the sun begins to dip beneath the horizon, Leo lets you portal to Run of the Mill, sort of, his hands covering yours the whole time, and he treats you to your favorite pizza with money he probably cajoled from Donnie. The anger and the guilt are put to the wayside, forgotten. It’s just how it is with you and Leo. You can never stay apart for too long.

(Truth be told, you probably forgave him the first time around, anyway.)