Work Text:
Reiner's van pulled up to the beach. Everyone piled out. Connie grabbed the sun screen applying it first, especially to his bald head. He had sunburned it the summer before, and the peeling had really grossed him out. Then everyone applied their sunscreen in turn. Today was a day for fun in the sun. They had brought a cooler full of water, pop, tea, and Gatorade so everyone could stay nice and hydrated during their day at the beach.
Reiner got his portable charcoal grill out. They had a separate cooler that had hot dogs and hamburgers in it. That would be lunch today. Of course he would start the grill until later. Everyone was just out there to have some fun for now, show up early, and have fun. Jean had protested the idea of going to the beach. Whenever they did, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa got this sentimental look in their eyes, as if they where trying to hold back some form of tears from flowing. That, and he really was scared of the waves. He could not stand to handle the idea of going into non-chlorinated water.
Connie and Sasha suddenly grabbed him, like they had last year when they done this. This year, they where celebrating the end of their Junior year in high school, not a big feet in the long run, but next year they would be celebrating graduation. Jean struggled as Connie and Sasha pulled him towards the ocean, he called for help from Marco and Thomas, but the duo simply laughed at him as Connie and Sasha flung him into the sea.
Eren and Historia set up a volleyball game and teams lined up as Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, and Marco on one side. With Historia, Ymir, Annie, Mina, and Berhtoldt on the other side, with Thomas as the referee. The game was intense with cheers and laughter from all sides. Mikasa proved to be an irreplaceable server, while Historia proved to be a valuable spiker. The game eventually ended in a tie with Thomas getting hit in the face by the ball and not wanting to referee anymore.
In the meantime, Connie and Sasha where building their sandcastle. They had done so together since they had all been in pre-school. Over the years they had become really good at making sand castles, one could even question just how they made sand castles of that grandeur. It was nothing cartoony, but it was something you would see in only a book or a sand castle sculpting contest. Rare to say the very least.
In the meantime, Reiner had fired up the grill. The hot dogs and burgers where cooking very nicely. He watched as everyone else was having fun. He enjoyed to grill maybe a little too much. In between flips he read some pages of a book he had gotten a few days earlier. He looked up after another flip. "Lunch in five!" He called as the others where setting up the picnic blanket. Everything was absolutely perfect for their day at the beach.
The group sat there eating the lunch, imagining what they would be doing next year when they came. They needed a full day's worth of events again, because night was the true attraction of their beach day.
After the mandated twenty minutes of waiting after you eat, everyone charged the ocean, excluding Jean who took the time to sunbath, though he was forced to solemnly swear to not fall asleep on the beach and risk serious sun burns. Splash wars and beach balls where the main part of the ocean, no swimming, just screwing around and having fun. One would be surprised how much swimming lost it's appeal after one had to do so for a mandatory graduation requirement.
That evening, after Reiner made a quick run to the store, they had steak and corn on the cob as a fire work show was done by fishers returning from a successful spring fishing season. Oohs and ahhs where in the air as every one watched. At one point Reiner started doing poses in different colors and everyone got a kick out of it. After that they had some fun just dancing to random tunes until it reached ten o'clock and the beach was closed. The ride home was quite with everyone warn out, but this, this was just the first event of summer. They could not wait for the rest.