I glanced up from my phone as Foolish walked over. "Took you long enough." I said teasingly, smiling.

"I got caught up doing something, sorry!" He apologised. "I am excited though, we haven't hung out in a while."

It was one of the first times I'd seen him without his blindfold. He had bandages covering his right eye, makeup that somewhat covered up the gold veins on the right side of his face, and a dark grey hoodie.

"I was thinking maybe we could go to the beach or something. It's really nice this time of year." I suggested. He nodded.

"Sounds great! Race you there!"

——

I rushed forwards, collapsing onto the sand. "I win!" I panted.

"Only because you tripped me up." Foolish muttered crossly, although his brown eye glittering playfully.

"I did not trip you up!" I sat up, brushing the sand off of my pants. "Ack, I have sand everywhere!"

"I don't mind sand. Although I'm not the one who tripped and fell face first into it." He said, just about managing to stop himself from laughing.

"I didn't fall face first into it- you know what, never mind." I glanced up as Foolish rushed over to the water, leaning down and grabbing something. "What on earth have you got?"

He slowly walked back over, and showed me a tiny ruby red crab that he was carefully cradling in his hands. "Look! A crab!" His face was lit up, and he looked as delighted as a small child on Christmas.

"Aww, cute!" I said brightly. "Crabs are adorable!"

"Aren't they? I mean, I prefer sharks, but crabs are cute." He walked back over to the waves and carefully placed the crab back down where he had gotten it. Foolish then picked something else up and ran back over.

"Look!" He was holding a white pebble with black and gray speckles.

"That's pretty!" I said brightly.

"Do you want it?"

"Sure." He handed me the pebble. "Do you go pebble hunting every time you go to the beach?" I teased.

"I meannnnn, kind of. They're pretty! I have a bunch of them, and I found a pretty brown one with gold stripes once!"

"That sounds nice." I rubbed the sleeve of my hoodie on the pebble, which was a tiny bit wet, to dry it, and put it in my pocket. "I'll treasure the pebble forever." I declared.

Foolish laughed. There was a moment of silence, and he muttered something I couldn't hear.

"What?" I glanced at him.

"Oh- um- nothing. Actually, I need advice." He admitted.

"I'm listening. I give the best advice, everyone says so." I boasted jokingly.

"I'm sure you do. So, basically, I think that I, um, like one of my friends, but I don't know if they feel the same way... and I don't want to ruin my friendship with them." There was silence.

"Well... I think that you should try and see if they feel the same way, and if they do, be honest. Worst case scenario, you just carry on being friends with them. Who is it?" I asked curiously.

"I'm not gonna tell you!" Foolish said with a laugh.

"I'll figure out! I'll go detective mode!" I declared brightly.

"Argh, I shouldn't have told you." Foolish said jokingly with a small smile.

"Correct!"

——

"Well, that was a good day." I grinned.

"Indeed! Do you want me to walk you home, or...?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks for the concern, though." I said with a shy smile.

WAIT. NO. DONT FEEL THOSE THINGS! WHY ARE YOU MAKING THAT GOOFY FACE? THIS IS FOOLISH! YOUR BEST FRIEND! AND YOU ARE NOT HAVING ANY FEELINGS OF THOSE SORTS!

"No problem. Talk to you later." He waved and turned to walk down the street.

"Talk to you later." I said quietly, watching as he walked out of sight.

I started to walk towards my house, turning down a deserted street and leaning against the wall with a sigh, my eyes closing slightly.

I jumped at a thud from around the corner, my eyes opening swiftly. Is someone getting mugged or something? Is this hero work?! I pulled my mask out of my bag, letting out an annoyed mutter as I caught my finger on a sharp gem, carefully putting the mask on and running around the corner.

There was no-one there. Wait, but I can hear someone breathing. What the hell?

"Who's there?!" I demanded. I don't have a weapon on me, but they don't need to know that. I can still unbalance them and try and get their weapon. If they have one. "Show yourself!"

"Or what..?" A voice asked quietly, and I saw the reflection of a small piece of glass being moved.

"Or I get some other heroes down here. Just tell me who you are and what you're doing, and I'll leave."

"Oh no, don't leave! This is perfect!"

I froze. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm friends with Mercator." There was a crash as a vial was thrown down, and a cloud of lavender smoke appeared. "Do try not to breathe it in."

I clapped my hand to my mouth as the smoke surrounded me, determined to hold my breath. The smoke hit my eyes, and they started to hurt. I closed my eyes, stumbling backwards into someone who grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my mouth.

I gasped for breath and immediately the world began spinning around me as my eyes snapped open.

I struggled to keep my eyes open as the person let go, and I collapsed onto the floor. I saw two figures appear out of the smoke as my eyes closed.

The last thing I heard was a muttered, "I told you not to breathe it in."

👀