Yay yay yay, today's the day! Patton was excited and gleeful to say the least. Beach day! He'd been helping Logan plan this all week!

When he said helping... well, he mostly played music and talked about various memories of the beach while Logan researched local beaches near Thomas's house and made sure everyone would be safe and secure.

Patton was now running through the house like a chicken on overdrive, doing his best to gather as many beach-friendly items as possible in a small amount of time. In fact, he was going so fast that he bowled right over Roman, knocking them both to the ground.

The prince sputtered indignantly and kept Patton from crushing his body. What in the blue-polo-shirt-and-cat-hoodie blazes was Patton doing?

"Patton! Goodness gracious, what in the heckity heck is going on?" Roman asked.

Patton squealed and squirmed excitedly in Roman's hands. He scrambled up off the fanciful trait and raced down the hall with his glasses skewed. No time to explain! He had to grab the beach chairs!

Roman stood and spent a long moment straightening his clothes into their original pristine condition and smoothing out his hair. Alright, time to find out why Patton was dashing around the house like a spinning top. He strutted proudly into the living room and confronted Logan on the couch.

"Logan! Please tell me there is a reason Patton decided to deck me in the hallway. He messed up my clothes!" Roman huffed and smoothed his jacket just to prove his point.

Logan sighed and looked up from the book he was reading, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. Ah, the Prince. Wonderful. "Salutations, Roman. I see you slept well." Of course, Logan needed to keep up formalities. Surely chaos would befall the Sides House if Logan was not able to at least give the others a proper greeting in the morning. Despite his recently developed emotional capacity, he was still trying his best to keep up appearances by remaining as unemotional and routine as possible.

Roman rolled his eyes. Great. So Logan decided to be a smart alec as usual. "Don't play around with me Mr. Android Sent by Cyberlife. I want to know what's going on in this house!" He waved his hands around in the air in front of Logan's face to emphasize his very important question.

Logan looked up from his book with his trademark laser eyes. "You at least have the time to give me a proper greeting. 'Hello' would suffice."

Roman practically groaned in frustration. Ughhhhh. "Fiiiiiiiine. Hello, Logan. What in flibbity jibbitz is happening?!"

The corner of Logan's mouth quirked up ever so slightly. At least Roman knew when to be decent after necessary prompting. Logan could work with that in the future. "We are going to the beach today."

A chill ran down Roman's spine. The beach? That means water... "Logan," he growled.

Logan held up a hand to stop the fanciful trait quickly. "Stop your worrying, you'll wake Virgil and make him grumpy. I have kept your situation a secret, as you requested. However, because you insist on keeping up the false pretense that you aren't, in fact, afraid of water, you will attend the beach with myself, Patton, and Virgil. And you will not complain because I have spent a week planing this." His tone softened just a little and he set his book neatly on the coffee table in front of him. "Besides, you saw how excited Patton was. He would be crushed if you declined your invitation to attend this event. Please come... if it helps, you can watch over Patton and keep him safe."

Roman chewed on his lip. Logan's points were infuriatingly logical. Damn. How was he supposed to argue against that? He shook his head and put his hand on his forehead. "Damn it, fine. I will come with you, but ONLY for Patton." He was still upset with Logan for planning this trip, knowing Roman's fear and what happened when-

Logan stood from the couch. "Roman... I do apologize. I promise I will not divulge what happened in the past. Your fear is safe with me." He patted Roman awkwardly on the shoulder and moved past him. "Change into something lighter. The beach will be sunny today."

~🌤~

Virgil grumbled. Something woke him up this morning and he was not happy. He could have at least been told that they were all going to the beach today. When Patton barged into his room, barely able to speak without squealing, Virgil mourned for his ears and the chance to go back to sleep for a little while longer (probably until 2:00 or 3:00 if he was being honest).

Sighhhhhh.

He dragged himself from the bed and rummaged around in his closet for his regular clothes. He threw them on and grabbed his jacket from his chair, slipping into it. The others may force him to come to the beach, but there was no way in hell that he'd be changing out of his clothes. He was willing to suffer for the sake of keeping up his norms.

He trudged down to the stairs, past the kitchen, and into the living room. Logan was sitting on the couch, reading a book. Virgil raised his eyebrows and muttered, "Hey."

Logan was wearing a light blue t-shirt and a pair of dark blue beach shorts. Surprisingly, he'd managed to forgo the tie for once. He looked... fine, Virgil supposed.

Roman sat in a chair away from Logan, his face decidedly hostile. "What the hell happened to you, Princy?" Virgil asked, plopping down on the couch next to Logan and shoving his hands into his pockets.

Virgil's eyebrows raised when, instead of ranting in his usual dramatic fashion about some minor inconvenience that troubled him greatly, Roman huffed and crossed his arms, turning away. Should... should Virgil be laughing, or alarmed? "Roman?"

Logan scoffed lightly. "Pay him no mind, Virgil. He is upset because I didn't tell him that beach day was today and he had to wash off his make-up."

Roman sputtered indignantly and his face turned red. "It was a half hour endeavor, Logan! I had to wash it all off and put on these unglorious garments!" He gestured to his bright red shirt with the word Slay on the front and his pair of orange shorts with gold trim.

Logan adjusted his glasses and looked up at the creative side. "It's inglorious, Roman." Virgil snickered down into his lap. "And I think they are not so terrible, at least you dressed for beach weather, unlike Virgil." Virgil gasped, staring at Logan.

"Gee, thanks for not throwing my clothing choice under the bus, Logan," he snapped sarcastically. Roman was the one giggling this time.

Logan opened his mouth to reply, but Patton came down the stairs, dressed in-

Virgil choked on air and pressed himself into the back of the couch in shock. Roman, being his naturally dramatic self, practically fell off his chair and gasped out a cry of "oh mY gOoDNeSS PaTToN!"

Logan's cheeks immediately turned pink and he stared at Patton with his mouth open wide. He drank in the image of the fatherly trait wearing a small sun hat and a frilly blue pull-over dress. He quickly shifted his gaze away for the sake of politeness, but he was absolutely flustered into silence. This didn't make any sense. Why was his heart beating at such an incredible rate? He wasn't experiencing anxiety. Quite odd. Perhaps he would research possible causes after their outdoor excursion.

Patton giggled and did a little spin for the group to see. "Do you like it? I picked it out at the store just for today!" He bounced up and down on his heels.

Virgil realized that all three of them were stunned into silence, so he cleared his throat. "Uhum... you look... really nice, Dad. Yep." Wow he was awkward. He just tried to settle down into the couch and let his bangs fall into his face like usual. Maybe then the others wouldn't notice how wide and surprised his eyes were.

Roman finally got over his gawking and stood from his chair to run around Patton with absolute glee. "Amazing! Wonderful! I didn't know you could pull off a dress so well!" To be honest, they probably all could. Roman looked fine as hell in a ballroom gown, but there was no need to discuss that at this time. "You've done absolutely splendid, Patton. I may not have been able to pick out a better dress outfit for you!"

That was high praise coming from Roman, and Patton blushed and giggled. He put his hands over his eyes, all the while smiling a brilliant smile that lit up the room. If that little hiding gesture wasn't cute, nothing was. Patton's heart beat so so so incredibly fast and he looked to Logan, who seemed to have turned away and bit his lip a little.

Which, Patton needed to actually stop time in his head for a moment to gush over how hot that was. Logan doing the lip bite? Patton wanted that. Logan blushing? Patton went crazy for that. It was no secret to Roman or Virgil that Patton had a massive crush on Logan. Possibly the only person that didn't know that was Logan himself.

Unpause time, Patton stepped forward and the frilly trim on the bottom of the dress fluttered a little. The movement brought Logan's eye back to him and- yep, Logan blushed even more.

The logical trait looked up into Patton's golden brown eyes and he needed to fight to keep his breath from catching in his throat. The frills were beautiful, 3 inches apart, light blue like clouds in the sky... that smile was like the sun to Logan. Too blinding to look at. What was going on with him? Had he contracted an illness? Logan was becoming quite concerned with his health.

"Logan... do you like it?" Patton asked softly. He really wanted Logan to like it... Logan's opinion mattered most out of all the Sides. Not that Roman or Virgil didn't have any weight! Patton loooved the praise from the two. Virgil even managed to scrounge up a compliment for Patton, and Roman gushed over Patton's outfit. Patton's eyes now held Logan's and he waited for an answer to his question.

Logan took a deep breath. Breathing slowly seemed to help calm his rapidly beating heart. Virgil quirked an eyebrow when he sensed Logan's obvious anxiety, but he didn't need to confront Logan about it right now. Confrontation? Gross.

Logan looked into Patton's eyes and did- did he just smile? And it wasn't one of those fake smiles that he usually did for the camera to keep the audience placated? Patton could have squealed with joy right then and there, but he didn't get to because Logan started to speak.

"You look beautiful, Patton." He nodded at his assessment, then set his book down and stood from his place on the couch. "Shall we exit to the car? I will drive." The others nodded and he made his way to the door, opening it and stepping out onto the porch.

Virgil made his way out second, and while the left brain Sides' backs were turned, Roman slid a sturdy arm around Patton's waist. "I've got you, padre. Never fear, the Prince is here."

Thank the chocolate chip cookie gods for that, because Patton was absolutely weak for Logan's compliments, and his knees almost gave out when Logan said the "B" word. He leaned heavily on Roman and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Ro." He gave the fanciful trait a cute little smile and they both made it out the door. Time for the beach.

~🌥~

Everyone was in a good mood when they got to the beach.

Well, Virgil was in an "okay, whatever" mood.

And Logan insisted on keeping emotions out of his life as much as possible.

So Roman and Patton were in good moods at least.

They all disembarked from the car and started to unload everything Patton packed into the trunk. Virgil balked at the insane amount of beach stuff that Patton managed to cram in there. "Patton? How much cra- I mean stuff is in there? I'm surprised you didn't try and shrink ray the house and squeeze it in along with all this..." He gestured to the trunk. Logan rolled his eyes and pulled the beach chairs from the back.

Patton giggled and ruffled Virgil's hair (the grumpy boy only let Patton do that to him, no one else). "Easy kiddo! I only brought what I thought would be fun! I store all this stuff in my room."

Sometimes Virgil really did wonder if Patton had one of those Harry Potter sized closets that just seemed to somehow go on forever.

"Roman, grab the beach umbrella. I have a feeling Virgil will need it to keep cool. Virgil, you grab the water bottles and snacks. Patton, you grab anything you want to have out on the water. Don't bring small toys, they'll get lost. Roman, why don't you bring the bag of towels as well. Virgil and I will set them up." Thank goodness someone had the brain enough to assign the unloading of this trunk in an orderly fashion.

Thanks to Logan's plan, all of the Sides managed to haul the contents of the trunk out to the beach. Thankfully for them, Thomas's mind was vacant of people. The only time human beings appeared in the mindscape was when Roman managed to summon some from the imagination. Virgil was particularly grateful for that, because he really did not do a crowded beach. At least there wouldn't be people around to judge his clothing choices. To be honest, he was pretty hot. Temperature wise.

Logan set out the chairs, one for him and another for Virgil. He wasn't particularly in the mood to swim at the moment. This was why he brought his book. Ahhh, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Perfect. Now he could relax under the beach umbrella with Virgil and catch up on some light reading.

Patton squealed now. It was time! Time to go out and get splashy! He threw his sun hat onto the towels set out at the foot of the chairs, then carefully lifted his blue dress up over his head to reveal a pair of navy blue swim trunks and a very well toned back, if Logan was one to judge.

Roman fiddled with his hands a little bit. Logan eyed him for a moment before standing and rummaging through his bag to hand Patton a pair of prescription goggles. "Roman? Would you like to keep your shirt on? I realize that you may be slightly self conscious because of your scars." He knew that wasn't the real reason for Roman's obvious anxiety, but he realized he at least needed to help Roman cover it up, considering he was the one who forced Roman to attend the outing.

Roman gulped and nodded. He was fine, just fine. "I believe I will keep the shirt on, thank you Logan." He set his shoulders. Okay. He wasn't about to leave Patton out in the water by himself. That wouldn't do, not in a million years. He could do this. He could. He was a prince. He just needed to man up and bring his bravery to the table.

Patton helped a little. He laughed loudly and grabbed Roman's hand, dragging him to the edge of the ocean. "Come on, Roman! Time to get swimmy!"

Roman wasn't quite sure that that was an actual word, but okay. They both ventured out. Roman had a spike of fear when his feet hit the water, but he eventually got over his initial fear and focused on staying with Patton. They playfully splashed around and Roman looked mildly offended when Patton managed to shove a small wave of water right over his hair.

He got his revenge by picking Patton up and tossing him into the water. HahA!

An hour passed uneventfully for both pairs. Back on the beach, Virgil grumbled and shifted uncomfortably on his chair for the eighth time.

Logan sighed exasperatedly and lowered his book for a moment. "Virgil, please, I am trying to read. What seems to be troubling you?" Honestly, if he could solve Virgil's problem and return to his reading he would be greatly satisfied.

Virgil huffed and slouched a bit. "It's nothing. Princy's just giving off some pretty anxious vibes and they're throwing me off." They were annoying, to be honest. He was confused. Since when was Roman afraid of the ocean? Surely he wasn't scared of Patton the Puffball out there, that was just insane. Speaking of anxious vibes... "Logan, why were you so anxious when Patton came down in that dress? That's kinda odd of you, Mr. 'I'm all cool and logical, bleh bleh bleh'."

Logan didn't really appreciate the name calling, but he let it slide for the time being. "Virgil, it was nothing. I merely believe I have contracted a minor illness." Now could he please leave him alone to read his book?

Virgil scoffed. "Yeah right. You've never gotten sick. Tell me what's really going on, Lo. I'm not dumb. If it helps you feel less anxious and makes my job into less work, I guess I'd be fine with... with helping you." He grimaced and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Logan was squinting out to the two playing around in the water and he opened his mouth to reply when his eyes locked onto something. The water was very high. Patton and Roman were rather far out into the surf. Logan's back straightened and he watched the waves with trepidation. "This isn't right..." he murmured.

Virgil scrunched his nose and looked out as well. Then he felt it. There was an incredible swell of water, along with a swell of anxiety through his system. He gasped and one hand clutched his chest, almost willing his lungs not to seize up. "Logan, they're scared. Logan. Logan!" His voice became more urgent and panic-stricken by the moment.

Simultaneously, they jumped up from their chairs and ran down to the water, stripping clothes as they went. They could hear Patton's scared cries from their chairs.

"They're caught in the riptide!" Logan yelled to Virgil. The anxious trait stripped off his jacket and shirt, leaving them in the sand behind him. Logan stripped off his shirt as well as they neared the water. Logan swung an arm out to stop Virgil.

"Virgil, you're on the edge of a panic attack. You are in no condition to swim. Stay here and wait for Patton, I'll get Roman." Logan knew that Patton was up to date on beach safety protocols, but he also knew that the moment Roman was swept away he most likely forgot everything about staying safe and tried to fight, which could lead to his drowning.

"Okay Logan, just get him!" Virgil yelled, his voice quivering. Logan nodded once and then ran into the water, diving at his first available opportunity.

Virgil was left on the beach, waiting and watching the water. Please someone... please. Just show up. Come on Patton, Logan, Roman, anyone! Damn it all, he couldn't wait forever!!!

No one came.

~⛈~
To be continued...