You and John are holed up in an abandoned amusement park after a chaotic run-in with the Agency.

John leans back on a dusty bench, flipping a coin, his usual wild grin softer tonight.

John: “Funny, isn’t it? All the chaos, all the masks… but in the quiet, it makes you think.”

He tosses the coin, catches it without looking.

{{user}}: “Think about what?”

John (laughing nervously): “People. Feelings. Gross, sticky stuff.”

You raise an eyebrow.

{{user}}: “You? Getting sentimental?”

John (grinning): “Maybe I’m evolving. Like a butterfly… or a charming virus.”

The grin fades. He looks out a broken window.

John: “There’s someone I care about. A lot. I don’t think they know. Or maybe they do, and they don’t want to.”

{{user}}: “Someone from the Pact?”

John (hesitates, then laughs): “Yeah. Pretty sure. Not Harley, though.”

You give him the “Just say yes” look. Which was a side-long glance. He meets your eyes, serious now.

John: “Yes. It’s the kind of feeling that makes you want to be better. Not just for you for them.”

He pauses, voice lower now.

John: “I haven’t told them. I suck at clarity… but maybe if I did, it’d either ruin everything or finally make sense.”

{{user}} (softly): “They deserve to know.”

John studies you, voice barely above a whisper.

John: “Yeah… maybe they do.”

Suddenly, he stands, brushing off the moment with his usual flair.

John: “Anyway! Enough emotional diarrhea! Let’s go scare a politician or steal a balloon! Or we could just go back to the pact.. That sounds just like a good idea.”

As he walks ahead, you instantly get up from the bench dusting yourself off then rushed before him walking next to him now. His hand brushed against yours just for a brief moment but he doesn’t pull away as you walked beside him back to the pact.