this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine)

kiss me before sunset

good news! sundays will be my regular update day from now on :) anyways, consider this a chapter summary: "honey, you got a big storm coming"

~*~

"Quick, Flash, take a picture with me," Betty said, waving him out of the water. "I want to document your man bun before we go back to the hotel. The sunset will make a great backdrop."

Flash rolled his eyes, exchanging an amused glance with Ned as they together started walking out of the water. "I pull my hair up for one day at the beach and it's like I decided to grow a mullet."

"If you decided to grow a mullet, Betty would have a camera on you 24/7 to document the process."

"What, you're telling me she'd become a tabloid journalist? Doesn't sound like the Betty Brant I know."

Betty must have overheard Flash's comment as he and Ned moved onto the shore, because she shrugged, giving him a sly grin. "There may come a day when I need to cut corners to cut a paycheck. You wouldn't deny me the opportunity to profit off a Thompson's hairstyle gone wrong, would you?"

Flash snorted. "Even if I wanted to, you have unspeakable amounts of blackmail on me from middle school." Especially 7th grade. That just wasn't a good year for anyone.

"See? We're on the same page." Betty waved him over again. "Now come here and take the damn picture with me."

Biting his tongue to hold back laughter, Flash completed his trudge through the sand and stopped at Betty's side. A grin stretched across his lips as Betty took several quick selfies of them. "You must have a thousand pictures of this trip by now."

Betty laughed as she dropped her hand to scroll through their succession of photos. "Well, five days into the trip, maybe a hundred pictures each day—not quite a thousand, but I should have close to that by the time we head home."

"You'd better send me the best ones."

"Don't worry, I've already started compiling them into a Google drive. I'll share the folder with all three of you guys and Liz."

"Ever the pragmatist, huh?"

"I'll have you know my girlfriend adores my pragmatism."

Flash couldn't say that surprised him.

"Hey, where's MJ?" he asked after a pause, glancing around them. Last he'd seen her, she'd been wandering down the coast, determined to find at least one sand dollar. She'd struck out their first two visits, and they only planned for one more beach trip after today, meaning their time was running low—or so MJ had concluded, at least.

Ned pointed to their left, and if Flash squinted, he could see the faint outline of a person against the horizon. "On a journey."

"I don't suppose she wants to join us for some food and drink before we return to the hotel, does she?" Betty said, amused. She pulled on a pink tunic over her swimsuit, careful not to snag the heart-shaped sunglasses resting atop her head in the loose fabric.

Ned laughed, grabbing his t-shirt and MJ's beach cover-up from atop the pile of towels. "I'll retrieve her. Flash, you help Betty pack up."

Flash rolled his eyes. "I would've helped her without the command."

Ned winked at him before he began tracking MJ's steps down and down the shore, leaving Flash with Betty. She promptly threw his t-shirt at his face, which Flash did catch, albeit with a startled yelp.

"Get dressed and get folding, bucko."

Flash shook his head as he pulled on his shirt. "Order after order. You sure you aren't descended from some general?"