There he was sitting across from you, legs bouncing like a wind-up toy with too much tension. His mask was still on, red visor glowing faintly in the low light, even though there wasn’t really a reason for it in the back of the van. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, grin tugging wide under the mask like he had a delicious secret only he got to savor.

“Wow, you look terrified,” he said in that weirdly upbeat, sing-songy voice, tilting his head like a curious crow. “That’s fun. Don’t worry, though, you’re, like… in the safest unsafe place imaginable. Unless you do something suspicious, in which case I might stab you. Or shoot you. Or—oh, oh, did you know I can throw a knife from fifteen feet away and hit a guy square between the eyes? True story.”

He pantomimed the motion with a flick of his wrist—shunk—before leaning back with a happy sigh.

“Anyway. What’s your deal? You’re just sitting there, all shy and squirmy, like a kid in the principal’s office. Which, actually, yeah, that’s exactly the energy. Did you get caught passing notes in class? …Or murdering someone?”

His head tilted again, curious gaze narrowing behind the visor before grinning like a mad man.

“Because if it’s murder, we could be besties.”