"Hey, Kiddo!" Patton called, wading back out of the ocean. Somehow, he'd gotten his hair soaked and his curls were plastered against his forehead, droplets of water spattering his glasses. "Aren't you gonna come play?"

Logan looked up from drawing in the sand with his finger and shook his head.

"Why?" Patton asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Logan shrugged.

"Father wouldn't like it if I got my feet wet." He said, dusting his hands free of sand. "And he's already stressed enough with the shop sales going down and stock being late and-" Logan hesitated before shutting his mouth, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Patton sat down next to Logan in the shade and leaned his head back. He sighed contentedly, grinning his usual winning smile up at the trees and sky.

"Oh, don't let me stop you from going back to... frivolous frolicking in the water." Logan pushed his glasses up his nose. They were too big for him and kept slipping down.

Patton giggled. "Frivolous frolicking." He giggled again. "I like that." He took his glasses off and dried them on his sleeve. "Besides, I don't wanna leave you alone. I'mma stick by you forever."

Logan looked at the other boy in surprise but Patton wasn't looking at him. He was grinning up at the sky.

"Hey, don't you think days like this are perfect?" He asked. Logan cast his eyes up to see if he could see what Patton did.

"I don't know what you mean." Logan said. Patton grabbed his hand and lay down on the sand, pulling Logan down with him. He put his hands behind his head and Logan crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing his hand slightly. He missed the feeling of Patton's hand in his.

"I mean... look up at the clouds." Patton said. Logan looked up obediently at the little puffs of white and pale grey in the sky. "Don't they look just so perfect against the sky? Like candy floss on the pretty blue stands at the May fete, remember?"

Logan shrugged, not wanting to admit he'd never been to any kind of village celebration. "I suppose..."

"And days like this just smell so perfect." Patton took a deep breath. "Like every single part of the day decided 'let's be perfect and wonderful, just for these two friends'. And I think that's really magical." Patton turned his head to look at Logan, whose dark eyes reflected some of the clouds behind his glasses. "Don't you think?"

"I, um, I suppose."

Logan jumped and looked up as something above him creaked. Of course, it was just the rigging. He wasn't back in the bookshop, he was here, on a pirate ship. And he wasn't a scared little six-year-old, he was a mermaid who he doubted he'd even recognise as a child.

"You said you'd always stay by me, Patton." He mumbled. He rubbed one of his markings by his wrist. "You said you'd stay by me forever." Logan looked up at the creaking rigging and faintly turning wheel. "I wonder, would you think the same thing if I told you I want to escape?"

Violet: So, Queenie, how are we going to end this story?
Queenie: ...End?
Violet:
Violet: Oh sweet Jesus, not this again.
Bye,
Blaize