Patton Universe: A Sanders Sides/SU AU

Part 7: Beach Buddies

He had seen him before, there was no doubt of that. In fact, Patton had been waiting for this day for a while now. For about half an hour he had watched this strange boy pacing up and down the beach stopping every so often to settle onto the sand and watch the tide retreating. His pace was awkward, not exactly following the regular rhythm but seemed to at least allow him to walk with any significant difficultly but still slightly off. 

"Patton, off the ledge." One of his watchers chastised. Patton had hoped that perhaps since the conjuring of his shield Logan would have laid off him but he still persisted with his needless fussing.

"Sorry." Reluctantly, he hopped back and began routing under his bed. He knew it was in there somewhere among his collection of briefly touched toys. The key to his success.

"What on earth are you doing?" the sapphire continued.

"Ah-ha!" With the bustle of dozens of plastic pieces scraping past each other, a strange sort of weapon emerged.

"A water gun?"

It had been collecting dust for some time now, only being used a few times each summer but perhaps now he had found another opportunity to make the most of it. "You bet. This is gonna be so cool! Logan? Can I borrow yours?" The excitement that turned the boys every step into a small bounce was oddly adorable that was irresistible. 
"Okay, okay... May I ask why?"

Patton froze up, almost choking on his words and his face flushed. "I don't wanna say."

"Is this about outside?" He himself peered, round the curtains and too saw a small thing minding its own business, "Ah, you want to go make a new friend?"

"Heh.." It wasn't like Patton to be shy, per se, yet beyond the gems, he didn't really talk to other folks much. He would thank and greet the townspeople as he passed but they were certainly far from "friends". Logan chuckled and pulled out an identical device yet a much darker blue.

"I won't ask. Go have fun." Once filling both up to their limits, he trotted out into the sunshine, humming all the way down the trail until his sandals were filled with sand. He was only a few feet away now but the strange boy took no notice. No questioning looks or even any sign he even acknowledged his existence, just continuous pacing. It was rather rude if you asked Patton, but nonetheless he thought that maybe he was just a little hard on sight.

"Woo," he smiled, trying to silence the eternal screaming wretching from his head, "These water pistols sure look fun." The boy was now sat down, but still completely oblivious. 'Aw, come on.' Patton grumbled silently in his head. He had not even thought that all of this friendship stuff would be this hard. He sauntered round to the other side so that he was directly facing the kid and though his eyes were closed, he thought that maybe the change in light would perk him up. No luck. He buried his bottom lip under teeth and pressed down, causing a slight sting to build up. "If only I had someone to pl-" Somehow, with his mind occupied the front of his shoe had peeled over and threw his entire body off balance and sent him headfirst in the sand. It worked it's way into his mouth leaving him a permanently grainy feeling as he pried himself up and found that the boy was very much staring straight at him.

"I- uh-" stuttered Patton, trembling and dropping both of the guns to the floor. "I'm sorry!"

The rush back to the beach house seemed so much longer than it was and not only that but the soles of one of his feet, having left it's sandal behind, was being beaten by the stone of the path. The door was still open, which was relieving as Patton racing heart couldn't bear to slow down until he was safely curled up on the bed. Upon entering he saw Logan and Roman both sat against the window, holding the curtains wider as to get an optimal view of the scene.