Logan rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, fiddling with the stem of a bluebell nervously. He checked his watch again but the time hadn't changed in the last five seconds of checking.

"Hey, sweetheart." Roman said, running up to Logan. "I'm not late, am I?"

Logan looked down and shook his head. "No. Sorry, um, I'm just nervous."

Roman laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, so am I." Logan handed Roman the bouquet of bluebells.

"Um, these are for you." He said. "I just thought- Blame Violet, they said that you were meant to give people flowers on dates."

Roman smiled. "Thank you, Logan. That's really sweet. I didn't get you anything, sorry."

Logan waved his hand. "It's fine. Really." He said when he saw Roman was about to intervene.

"Anyway, um, should we go?" Roman asked. Logan nodded and Roman took his hand gently. "Is this okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. This is perfect." Logan said.

The Spring Fete was a lot louder than Logan had expected. There were loud thuds and thunks from the coconut shies, laughs and yells from every part of the fete and raucous, joyful screams from some of the rides. The air was bittersweet with burnt sugar and candy floss blocking the natural smells Logan was so used to. The Spring Fete would've been scary to navigate on his own but Logan wasn't on his own.

He had Roman.

Roman looked at Logan and squeezed his hand. "You okay?" He asked. Logan nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just... it's all so different to what I'm used to." Logan looked up at the fete. "It looks fun, though."

Roman nodded eagerly. "It's really fun, you're gonna love it. C'mon, d'you wanna go play some games?" He was getting so excited about this, like a little kid in a sweet shop.

"Yeah, sure." Logan barely finished his sentence when Roman was dragging him over to one side of the Spring Fete.

"Oh, hey Janus." Roman said once they reached a game. The game in question was Laughing Clowns, which was a name Logan found very unnerving.

The boy at the stall looked up. "Hey Roman. Who's this?" He asked, pointing to Logan.

"I'm Logan." The boy nodded.

"Janus." Janus turned back to Roman. "Anyway, any particular reason you're here, Roman? Or is it just to talk?"

"Well, Logan's never been to the Spring Fete so now he's here, he needs to experience all of it." Roman said. Janus laughed.

"Okay, that's fair." Janus looked at Logan. "You know how to play?" He asked, gesturing to the game.

Logan tilted his head and looked at the game. Little basket of ping-pong balls and moving clown heads with mouths that took up about 50% of the face... easy. "I assume it's something to do with the balls in the basket. Guessing that you have to throw one in the clown's mouth to win." Logan looked at Janus for confirmation. "Yeah?"

Janus blinked. "Jesus, how'd Roman get you? You're so much smarter than him."

"Hey!" Roman protested. Logan laughed.

"Yeah, basically." Janus said. He looked around before leaning a little closer to Roman and Logan. "Little tip cause I like you two and hate my dad. Dad's rigged the three middle clowns. They may look easy but they're not. Aim for the outside ones."

"Aren't we technically cheating if you tell us that?" Logan asked. Janus shrugged.

"Eh, who cares?" He asked. "Now, you each get one go and if you get a ball in a clown's mouth, you win. If you don't and you want another go, it's a ha'penny a go, got it?"

Logan and Roman nodded. "Well then, let's play."

No. I don't know what this is. Yes, I kind of hate it.
Bye,
Blaize