The Chronicles of the Merch

Four smiled at the camera, gesturing to his sweatshirt.

“Remember, my merch is only out for a few more days, so make sure to grab it while you can! Oh, and remember; everyone who buys merch over the next three days is entered into a raffle! You could get the chance to hang out with me! One lucky person is gonna get it, so get buying, and good luck!”

Four shut off the camera, instantly losing his grin and rubbing his forehead. His visor poked at the sides of his head, and he took it off, letting the colors come back…even if they were mostly grays.

“42, why do I have to do this again?” He asked, turning to look blindly over at his friend as he walked from blue into the doorway.

“Because I’m worried about you, dude. You’ve been so….” 42 squinted, “Gray since everything happened.”

“Yeah, well what’d you expect?  That I’d be all light again as soon as we got out of there and made a life for ourselves? Leaving doesn’t change what happened to One, 42. Leaving doesn’t help Six.”

42 sighed.

“I know that, but killing yourself over it isn’t gonna do anything. Killing yourself isn’t gonna help at all.”

Four paused, shooing the blackness away.

“….how could you…”

“Four, it’s written all over you. You’ve been acting fake ever since we got the last pager.”

Four looked down.

“I…”

He trailed off, knowing 42 was right.

“Four, just give it a chance. It was really fun when I did it, I met an awesome dude who I still keep contact with them today.”

Four blinked.

“You didn’t know NoveScott before that?”

“Nope.”

“…huh.”

He went quiet.

“Four, just do this for me, okay? Maybe whoever wins the merch raffle will end up being someone you’ll come to like a lot!”

At 42’s words, Four let out a surprised laugh.

“You’ve always been a hopeless romantic, huh?” He asked, smirking.

42 stuttered, trying to think of a comeback, but couldn’t come up with one.

“Alright, fine, you caught me. So what? It could happen.”

Four shook his head, amused.

“So, romance aside, how am I supposed to act? Do you expect me to just…give away all our secrets?”

“Fuck no! Are you crazy??? Just…take a few days to chill, make a new friend. It’ll be fine.”

Four slid his visor back on just to make sure he wasn’t just hearing 42’s voice wasn’t the only skeptic thing.

“Alright, loser, I will!”