Midway through September, a carnival rolled into town, which Peter, Morgan, and Amy eagerly went to, bringing Samael in tow. The four spent an entire day at the area, on their own and with friends they didn’t know had also come by. The sun was starting to set and they were still there.

          One of the carnival rides was the spinning tea cups, where Peter and Morgan found themselves trying to spin the tea cup fast enough to knock the other out. 

          “I’m gonna throw up!” Morgan yelled at Peter.

          “You throw up on me, I will sue you!”

          “Try me punk, I know the law!”

          Samael and Amy opted to sit out the wild ride, instead walking through the carnival with food searching for another game or ride.

          “So what exactly are the Two Gun Fun movies?” Samael asks Amy between handfuls of his popcorn. 

          Amy waits a moment before answering, swallowing her pastry. “So the first m-m-m-movie is like this buddy cop comedy where there’s these, these, these two agents who have to stop this secret society and one’s like the good cop and the other, the other is, is like the bad cop. The second one is the exact same title, except they swapped out the ‘Two’ in the title for the actual number.”

          “Very creative.”

          Amy laughs. She grabs a piece of his popcorn and flicks it at him.

          “I was gonna eat that!”

          “Shut up,” Amy says with a smile. “Anyway, the second one is still a comedy, but it’s much more serious. They need to like break into this asylum to meet this old agent who’s like, who’s like gone crazy and is a cannibal now, for some reason, but whatever. They also introduce this gu-guy called the Doomsday Man who could end the world, but the twist is he’s actually a decent, he’s actually a decent guy who just got caught in a bad situation.”

          “The Doomsday Man?”

          Amy slaps his arm. “I didn’t say they were the best written. The third one that just came out is called ‘Two Gun Fun: Fool Me Once’, and the bad agent, David, turns out to have been an assassin before he became an agent, so like now the good agent, Jordan, isn’t sure if he can trust him and at the end they go their separate ways and-”

          “I thought you said this was a comedy series.”

          “It was a comedy series! The next one got announced called ‘Two Gun Fun: Hallow’d Be Thy Name’ and apparently David turns to r-re-re-religion and now he’s trying to regain the trust of Jordan, who is starting to go rogue and I am so excited to see that one!”

          “I thought there were several years between movie releases though?”

          “Usually, but the thing with these, apparently they’re all filmed like back to back, like the fifth one is going to be in p-po-p-p-post production by the time the fourth one is out.”

          “I am just going to pretend I know what that means,” Samael says, getting another laugh out of Amy. 

          Over by the teacups, Peter and Morgan walk away on unsteady feet. While Morgan had been joking about throwing up, Peter felt like he might actually throw up. And to make matters worse for Peter, his phone goes off with a ringtone he only puts for girls who he’s interested in romantically. A sound Morgan recognizes, spending so much time with Peter.

          As the sound goes off, both their eyes meet and widen.

          “Is that her?” Morgan asks.

          “Shut up,” Peter says as he fumbles for his phone.

          “That’s her, isn’t it!” Morgan says excitedly.

          Peter ignores her as he reads her message.

          “Oh my god, it’s he-”

          “Yes, it’s her! Who else would it be? Do I look like I text a lot of girls?”

          “Well I mean, objectively, from like an unbiased opinion, you are handsome, to people who like guys, so- fuck, I sound straight.”

          Peter laughs. “Thanks? I think?”

          Morgan motions for Peter to show her his phone. “What’d she say, what’d she say?”

          “Uh, ‘sorry for taking so long, someone yelled at me for having a tattoo’ and a laughing emoji right after.”

          “Hmm,” Morgan starts. “Did you know she had a tattoo?”

          “Yeah, she’s mentioned it, but I don’t know what it is,” Peter says.

          Morgan snaps her fingers. “There you go! Ask her what it is, but make it funny.”

          “How do I make it funny?”

          “Give me a sec, dude, genius takes time.”

          “So does stupid,” Peter jokes under his breath.

          If looks could kill, Morgan would’ve murdered Peter. Instead, she wracks her brain trying to think of something witty to send back. Then she snaps her fingers.

          “Type ‘what is your tattoo, by the way? You’ve never told me’, then ask if it’s something stupid, but don’t ask ‘is it something stupid’, ask something stupid like ‘is it a box’.”

          Peter looks up at Morgan, confused. “Boxes are national heroes, carrying the weight of our actions.”

          “Yeah, but cardboard is funny,” Morgan says laughing. 

          Peter shakes his head smiling. “Weirdo,” he says as he types out what Morgan told him. After a moment, he gets a reply and exhales with a smile. “Uh, she said… uh… actually, I don’t know if I wanna show you this…” 

          “You’re a lost cause without me, let me see that!” Morgan takes the phone and reads it quietly. When she’s done, she raises her eyebrows. “Well that’s suggestive.”

          “It could be nothing.”

          “Dude, she’s offering to show you a tattoo on her shoulder blade, you can see the suggestiveness there!”

          “Alright, so then what do I say?”

          “Ask her out,” Morgan says. “Say something like ‘maybe on your next day off you could show it to me after dinner’. Bam, Pete’s got a date.”

          Peter hesitates for a moment, staring at his phone.

          “Dude, the longer you wait, the less interested she might get.”

          “Fuck, fine.” Peter types the message and rereads it twice before finally pressing send. He immediately puts the phone away. “I don’t want to look at it, I don’t want to look at it.”

          Morgan holds her hand out. “Then give me your phone, I wanna look at it.”

          “No, I’m not giving you my-”

          The phone goes off and Peter seems to jump, causing Morgan to laugh. With shaky hands he pulls his phone out and reads the message. His eyes scan over the message twice and when he’s done a grin breaks out onto his face and he jumps in the air cheering.

          “Ahem. ‘Yeah, I would love that, I’m not working tomorrow or Wednesday if either work with you’, let’s fucking go!”

          “Woohoo!” Morgan cheers with Peter. The two high five in the air, excited by Peter’s date.

Back over with Samael and Amy, the two have gone from game to game, losing some and winning others. They go from one booth to another, until Amy spots something that catches her eye.

          “Look at that duck plushie!” Amy yells. She wraps her arm around Samael’s and drags him over to the booth. Hung over the top on a metal bar is a large yellow stuffed duck, with two dots for eyes and a tiny knife under one arm.

          “I think you have shown me that duck before,” Samael says.

          “Yeah, it’s a meme I like and I can’t believe there’s a plushie for it, I just freaking love ducks! They’re so ador-adorable!” Amy practically jumps up and down at seeing the stuffed duck. 

          Samael chuckles. “Alright, calm down, ducky, I will win that one for you.”

          “What, really? Oh my god, thank you!” Amy nearly tackles Samael over with a hug. The angel needs to take a step back to not fall over. When Amy lets go, she whispers, “No angel powers, okay?”

          Samael holds up one hand. “I will make you a solemn angelic vow.”

          “That’s a thing?”

          “It can be…” 

          Amy laughs. “You’ve been spending too much time with Morgan. Ooo, that guy just lost, it’s your turn!”

          The game is simple. Samael gets three plastic balls he needs to land in cups that are in a tub of water. There’s nothing keeping the cups still and there actually seems to be something creating a current, keeping the cups moving. If Samael lands one, he gets a small prize. Two, and he gets one of the mediums. Three, and he can get one of the large plushies, with choices between ducks, penguins, one polar bear left, or turtles. 

          Samael aims his ball for a moment before tossing it and landing it in a cup effortlessly. He picks up the second ball and tosses it towards another cup. The ball hits the edge of the cup and barely falls into it. Samael picks up the third ball and waits for the right moment. With little movement, he tosses the ball and it lands perfectly in a cup, flipping the cup over. Three for three.

          Before Samael even has a chance to pick the duck, Amy hugs him from behind and squeezes. Try as hard as he might to get her off, Amy doesn’t let go until Samael hands her the duck.

          “I’m gonna na-name, name him Goose Quackington, son of the great earl Duckworth Quackington,” Amy tells Samael as the two walk away from the booth. “Goose wanted to be a chef, which his father Duckworth disapproved of, so Goose killed his father so he could live his own li-life. Then Goose runs away from home after his brother Duckworth Jr. calls the cops on Goose. And then Goose runs strai-straight into my arms because I’ll love him forever,” she finishes, hugging the duck tightly.

          Samael laughs. He claps for her story. “Written and directed by Amy ‘Ducky’ Young. Coming to a theater near her apartment.”

          “I would slap you, but now Goose can stab you for me.” Amy presses the plushie to Samael’s arm and says, “Boop.”

          Samael laughs again. “Would you believe me if I told you this is not the first time I have been stabbed by a duck?”

          Amy laughs. “Keep it up and it won’t be the last.” The two keep going, until Amy asks, “So di-d-did you use your powers during that game?”

          Samael feigns confusion. “Powers? What ever could you mean?”

          Amy laughs and simply presses Goose into Samael’s arm again. “Boop.”