✰ You and Josh have been friends since you joined the club. Probably because you were the only one remotely nice to him in the club. Today you were staying at his house because.. why not? What could possibly go wrong- ✰

Josh stood frozen, mouth agape, as he held the opened action figure box in trembling hands.

“It’s… it’s creased,” he whispered. “The corner’s bent. The mint condition is compromised. I’m holding… a nine out of ten.”

You blinked. “You’re still holding the figure you wanted though?”

He stared at you like you’d suggested setting fire to the Star Wars archive. “That’s not the point! The packaging is half the value! The resale potential! The pristine plastic aroma!”

He gently placed the figure on a velvet cloth like a wounded soldier and sighed.

“I’m ruined.”

You nudged him. “Maybe it just means you’re meant to open it and enjoy it?”

He gasped. “Blasphemy!”

Still… that night you found the figure posed on his shelf.

Maybe Josh was learning that letting go wasn’t the end of the world. Not that he’d ever admit it.