Otto gently pulled aside the beads hanging from the entrance of the small tent adorned with tapestry depicting the moon, stars, and zodiacs.

He shyly stepped inside and was greeted by a low candle-light, the smell of what he guessed to be some sort of flower, and calming instrumental music playing softly.

"Welcome," the woman sat before a crystal ball said, not looking up from her deck of tarot cards. "I am Madame Mystica. What brings you here?"

"I, uh-"

Madame Mystica turned her attention to Otto. "Sit," she smiled, gesturing to the chair opposite her.

Otto sat down and gave her a nervous smile. "My sister's been raving about you ever since she came here on her birthday last year." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I just got curious."

"Ah," she grinned. "Sweet girl, your sister."

"You remember-"

"Regina Rocket? How could I not? Quite a character, that girl. She's lovely."

"Yeah," Otto agreed, thinking back to how excited Reggie was when she returned to the group after visiting Madame Mystica the morning of her birthday. She gushed about how wonderful she was, how scarily accurate her readings were, how excited she was to see how her future played out, boasted about how pleasant her predictions were. Otto expressed his general disbelief (not quite as obnoxiously as usual, of course, as to not upset the birthday girl), but it seems now that his curiosity has overpowered his skepticism.

"So, then," Madame Mystica started, "what can I do for you this glorious evening? Tarot? Palm reading? A look into my crystal ball?"

Otto thought for a moment. "What did-"

"Regina get?"

"Reggie," Otto corrected her mindlessly, taking in the light glow emitting from the crystal ball.

"Reggie," she repeated. "I read her palms and did a tarot reading for her. A love reading."

Otto cocked an eyebrow. So that's what Reg was so excited about. "Guess I'll try a love reading, too."

"As you wish." She began shuffling through a deck of tarot cards with an elegant diamond design on the back; a very small black diamond lined in white in the middle, nested inside of a slightly larger diamond, repeating until it reached the ends of the card. "This is a simple reading. I always start with a 3-card-draw, unless something else is requested upfront or you have any additional questions after the initial three cards."

"Okay," Otto nodded slowly, mesmerized by the cards.

Madame Mystica placed a card in front of Otto: The Lovers; an image of two geese flying side by side in front of a multi-colored rainbow burst in the background.

"This one represents you," she said. "And believe it or not, my love readings don't always include The Lovers! This is lucky. This card, as a representation of you, marks you as one half of a very deep, loving, mutual relationship."

She pressed a second card down on the table about 6 inches away from the first. "This is a representation of your partner."

Son of Cups; a card with another goose, this one lying behind a cup with the same multi-color rainbow burst erupting from the top of it.

"This one is similar to the Knight of Cups, if you're familiar with that," she said. "Your partner is a sensitive soul, isn't he?"

Otto felt a blush spreading across his cheeks. "He? Oh, I'm not- do the cards say that- I don't-"

"It could be platonic," she added. "A very close friendship. But these cards generally do indicate a romantic relationship. A name comes to mind. It starts with a T, is that right?"

"T-Twister?" Otto laughed nervously. "Oh, that's my best friend. I mean, we're just friends. He isn't- I-I'm not-"

Madame Mystica chucked lightly. "Could be platonic," she repeated. "This card tells me he's very sensitive, though. It tells me he is romantic and perhaps a bit over-emotional. Innocent, almost childlike. It also applies to how you perceive him."

Otto let out another nervous laugh and cleared his throat. "What's the last card?"

"Four of Wands," she said, lying the last card down in between the previous two. The design was similar to the back of the cards; the black and white diamonds stretched from the midpoint of the card to the ends. Inside of those diamonds, a diamond formed from branches framed by more branches in the form of an X. Orange and yellow beams seeped in towards the center diamond, and inside of it was a burst of blue.

"Hmm." Madame Mystica thought for a moment. "How do I put this into a platonic friendship? Let's see... Have you and Twister reached any milestones recently? Any friend-anniversaries? A birthday, perhaps? Celebrated a holiday together?"

"Well, yeah," Otto smiled. "We celebrate everything together. Birthdays, holidays, family trips..."

"This card is about milestones," she explained. "Milestones and celebrations. It could be completely innocent, but I implore you to dig a little deeper. The blue inside the diamond there in the center of the card, that represents peace. Calm. Tranquility. And in the context of this particular spread, it defines the characteristics of your relationship. That calm would indicate the come-down from a storm. Have there been any tensions between you two? An argument, perhaps, or maybe you've been beating yourself up over how you feel?"

"H-how I feel? Uh, no, I..." he blushed again and hid his face behind his hands. "Things with Twist are as good as ever."

And things with Twister were good between the two of them, but Madame Mystica hit the nail on the head when she suggested inner conflict. Otto had, for quite some time now, been harboring feelings for Twister. He occasionally did beat himself up over it, if for nothing other than feeling like he shouldn't feel that way. Twister was his best friend, and romantic feelings could really make a mess of things.

"Speaking of," Madame Mystica said, her eyes moving to the entrance of the tent.

Otto turned to look, but all he could see through the obstruction of beads was small glimpses of the pier.

"Your friend is nearby," she told him. "I can sense it."

"Twister?" Otto asked, his voice low.

Madame Mystica nodded. "Listen."

Otto angled his ear towards the entrance, keeping a watchful eye on the colorful beads slowly swaying in the wind.

"He's probably busy," he heard Sam say. "We have to wait until he gets out. Besides, what if it's not even him in there? You can't just barge in!"

"This is where Reggie said he'd be," Twister replied. His voice sounded closer than Sam's. "Besides, I need to show him something."

"It's not that tadpole, is it?"

Otto smiled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of ten dollar bills to hand her. "Thanks," he said, his voice still in a whisper. "Twist's got something to show me." He stood up and headed for the entrance, parting the beads. He looked back to give Madame Mystica a final wave as she dropped the money into a small purple donations container.

A big, cheesy grin spread across Twister's face as Otto emerged from the tent. "See? I told you he was in there! I know these things. Otto and I have a bond. We're like this," he said, crossing his fingers.

Sam playfully rolled his eyes. "Yeah, something like that."

"What did you wanna show me?" Otto asked, coming up next to Twister. "I heard you talking when I was in there."

"Oh!" Twister exclaimed. He excitedly held up a small plastic container, not unlike one you'd receive a fish in if you won a game of marble toss on the pier. "Behold!"

Otto moved in close to look inside the tank. It was filled with water and, as far as he could tell, nothing else.

"What am I looking at?"

"It's a tadpole!" Twister pulled the container towards his face. "Or, it was a tadpole... where'd he go?"

"You probably lost him when you dropped the container," Sam proposed. "You did drop a container of water into the ocean..."

Twister sighed. "I really liked that tadpole."

"Hey, tell ya what. Why don't we go find you another one? Just the two of us. Er- I mean, the three of us."

Sam waved his hand, dismissing Otto. "No, no, I've got places to be. I'll leave you two tadpole hunters alone." He turned to walk away, giving Otto a wink.

"It was a really nice tadpole, Otto," Twister said, heading towards the ocean. "Maybe we can catch the same one!"

Otto laughed. "Yeah, maybe." What was it that Madame Mystica had said? Innocent, emotional? Childlike?

"What did the psychic lady say?" Twister asked, as if on cue. "If you're allowed to tell me. Is it like making a wish? You can't tell or it won't come true?"

"She, uh." He hesitated, looking away from his best friend to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks. What was he supposed to say? Did hell him the truth? Make something up? Hide it?

"Well, actually," he continued, sitting on a bench near the ocean and beckoning Twister to sit beside him. "I got a love reading." He took a deep breath. "She saw... you."

"Awwww." Twister blushed, too, rosy cheeks on tanned skin bringing out his freckles. "I love you, too, man!"

"I think she, uh, she meant," he let out a nervous chuckle. "I think she meant in a more romantic kind of way."

Twister stared down at his hands, and Otto could see how hot his face was getting. He let out a couple of nervous giggles. "W-what do you think?"

"I think..." He softly put a hand on top of his best friend's, prompting him to meet his gaze. "She may be right. She sounded pretty convincing, and you know Reggie will vouch for her..."

Twister pulled Otto into a tight hug, taking him by surprise. "I think we've both felt this way for a while," he said finally.

Otto tightened the hug, slowly rubbing Twister's back. "I didn't really wanna say anything that might ruin our friendship, and I've been sort of beating myself up for that."

"I don't think anything could ruin this," Twister said, releasing himself from the hug and looking back into Otto's eyes. "What we have is much too special."

"So... are we- God, I can't stop blushing!" Otto laughed. "Are we... a thing?"

"We're the best thing," Twister said, a hearty smile plastered across his face.

Otto initiated the hug this time, pulling Twister in close. "Thank you," he whispered into Twister's neck, who nuzzled his face into Otto's neck in response.

"Mm, hey, look." Otto broke up the hug to turn Twister towards the sunset.

"It's beautiful," he breathed.

"Mmmhm. Beautiful sunset, beautiful boy..."

Twister turned away from the sunset to look at Otto, who was already watching him.

Otto gently intertwined their fingers.

Twister sunk down on the bench to lie his head on Otto's shoulder. He gave his hand a tight squeeze. "We can look for tadpoles tomorrow," he said softly. "Right now, I just wanna stay right here."

Otto let his head fall gently atop Twister's. A content smile covered his face.

Maybe he'd go back and see Madame Mystica again sometime. Oh, and maybe this time, he'd gush to Reggie...