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Heat bled from the sand as the golden haze of the late afternoon sun soaked in. Most of the group had already drifted farther down the shore where Black☆Star could be heard loudly challenging Maka and Soul to a doubles volleyball match.
Kid was kneeling in the sand a little ways away from the water, helping his sisters build what could only be described as the most architecturally correct sandcastle in existence. Every tower matched and every window was perfectly aligned with the one next to it.
“Patty, the right turret’s three grains taller than the left,” he said without looking up.
Patty stuck her tongue out at him and continued to pat down the sand. “How do you know that?”
Liz laughed from where she was lounging on her towel. “He just feels it.”
Kid brushed a few grains into place carefully, sitting back to admire his work. The sun hit the wet sandcastle and glinted across the smooth surface of the moat.
That was when a shadow fell across him.
Crona was standing over him.
They were holding something in both hands with their fingers curled protectively around it. Their pink hair was still a little damp and messy from being in the ocean earlier.
“Hi,” they said in a soft voice.
Kid looked up, expression brightening. “Crona.”
Liz elbowed Patty. “Aww, look at that face.”
Patty giggled. “He likes you!”
“Patty, they’ve been together for months.” Liz sighed.
Patty blinked. “Ooh yeahhh.”
Kid ignored them, or tried to. “Did you find something?”
Crona nodded and opened their hands. Resting in their palms was a seashell. It was small and pale cream with a dark brown swirl that spiraled into its center. It didn't have a single chip or crack on its surface and was perfectly symmetrical.
“I thought…” Crona hesitated, glancing down. “It looked like something you’d like. So…um… here.”
Kid stared at the gift nestled in their outstretched hands, its pattern balanced in the way only nature could manage.
He reached out and took it carefully, his fingers brushing against theirs as he did so. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “You noticed the symmetry...”
Crona smiled a little, the corners of their eyes crinkling. “You talk about it so much, I think I’ve started seeing it too.”
Kid turned the shell over in his hand and looked back up at Crona, sunlight reflecting gold in his eyes. “Thank you. I’ll keep it.”
Crona shifted their weight sheepishly, sand crunching beneath their feet. “You really don’t have to—”
"I want to." He closed his fingers around it.
A grey blush bloomed across their face. “Oh.”
Patty poked her head out from behind the sandcastle. “Hey! You two gonna help decorate orrr just flirt over seashells?”
Kid shot her a look. “Patty.”
He looked back over to Crona who was now laughing softly under their breath. “…can I help?”
“Of course,” Kid said, passing them a small shell for the castle wall.
They worked side by side as the waves sighed in the distance. The little seashell Crona had given him was saved for last, placed safely in the middle like a crown jewel.