"So let me get this straight: you were exploring on a beach, found a cave, decided to sleep there, almost drowned, and were rescued by a merman who turned out to be your soulmate?" Roman asked, sounding astonished. The intellectual young man gave an affirmative noise. "Hmm... that's pretty insane dude, but I've got my amethyst from Virgil, so I kind of have to believe you."

Logan rolled his eyes at his words. "Why would I lie to you about this?" he said impatiently. "I'm not lying to you. Patton saved my life."

"Well, that's a pretty normal name for a merman," the bartender pointed out, yawning across the call. "I would think it'd be something weird like Virgil's."

He felt his cheeks flame up at the statement, clearing his throat. "His name is actually Pathos... I kind of gave him a more human name," he admitted. The silence on the other end of the phone made his already red cheeks grow a darker shade. "Look, it was just to make things easier for conversation!"

"Logan, you are a hopeless romantic, aren't you?" Roman asked knowingly, a smirk obvious in his voice.

A groan of annoyance escaped his lips as he shook his head. This earned a fit of laughter from the bartender, making him growl into the phone. "I am not a romantic, Roman."

"Sure you're not, you just happened to be rescued by your soulmate, who you conveniently needed to patch up because he injured himself, and then ended up renaming and teaching bits of English before... what did you say you did again? Oh yeah, shared a soulmate kiss, and now he can speak and understand English, and you can breathe underwater," he said.

Logan felt flustered at his explanation of what happened. He wasn't wrong, that was what happened. It just seemed less ridiculous in the moment.

"It's complicated, okay? I'll admit that this isn't my style," he murmured, remembering to keep his volume down for the merman was sleeping on his couch. "I'm a logical and fairly emotionless person on most occasions, but I can admit that there's some things in this world that aren't able to be explained."

Roman didn't say anything for a bit. "You know, you're a really cool and good person, Logan," he said, a smile in his voice. "Anyone else in your position would probably be like, I'm having a dream or something!"

"Well, he kissed me and suddenly I was breathing underwater," he pointed out. "There's only so much I could dismiss as a dream."

The bartender chuckled on the other side of the phone and they eventually wrapped up the conversation. Logan tucked the phone into his pocket as his gaze landed on the slumbering Patton that was sprawled across his couch. With a small smile, he retrieved a blanket from his linen closet.

As he draped it over him, the merman shifted. "Lo?" he mumbled sleepily, reaching blindly for him.

"Patton, go back to sleep," he whispered.

He ignored his grabbing hands and continued to adjust the blanket to cover him. However, the merman grabbed his arm and tugged him forcefully to fall onto the couch, practically on top of him.

"Patton-"

"Hmm, you're comfy," he said, pulling him closer to cuddle into his chest like he was a teddy bear. "I never get to cuddle the other mermaids. They think it's weird."

Logan wrapped his arms around him, feeling that guilt rise up again. Merfolk seemed like cold beings: they didn't like hugs, they didn't like cuddles, honestly he'd probably get along with them better than Patton did. "It's alright, it's not weird. I'll cuddle you whenever you like."