AN: This one kind of sucks. I had no idea what to write for it so I just kind of winged it. Also apologies for it being a bit late - I had a migraine so I was trying to avoid using my phone until it eased off.

Words (excluding author's note): 613

Both Nick and Lucas supposed they should have noticed it a little sooner than they did. Okay, a lot sooner.

In their defense, nobody else had noticed the budding relationship between Toby and Jessica blossom from friendship into love with competitive rivalry keeping them on their toes.

The two had started out as best friends, first meeting at the age of five. They were both highly stubborn and also very optimistic people. Of course, over the years, they'd had their disagreements but they always came out of it, their bond stronger than ever.

Discovering their status as the Lords of Nature had been the turning point, they think. It was as though they now had two separate relationships. On Earth, they were friends but also rivals. They'd lost count of the number of times they'd had to watch them compete in a competition but suffice to say, it happened a lot.

Meanwhile, in Gorm, their rivalry took a backseat. They had to focus on saving not only their world but a whole other dimension they would never have known existed if it wasn't for the timely visit of a small lizard named Razzle.

They couldn't pinpoint when exactly their friends' feelings for each other would have changed. It could have happened at any point and they hadn't noticed.

What they had noticed is that, after Supreme Luminous sacrificed himself for the selfless purpose of saving Gorm from Obscurio's evil, their once separate relationships had begun to merge into one.

Neither of them saw it as a coincidence that they partnered up whenever the group had to go their separate ways. In fact, there had been times when they had outright insisted upon it.

The trust they had in each other seemed to have grown exponentially. Now they were partners, not just in Gorm but on Earth too. They were still rivals, yes, but it seemed less important to them than whatever it was that was going on between them.

After they had finally recovered their orbs from Magor, their memories were a little blurry, a side effect of the curse according to Old Sage. One thing that stuck out in Lucas' mind was how Toby had been able to recognize that something wasn't right.

He had remembered Jessica's dislike of the lava-like shade of orange.

It was this that Lucas had mentioned to Nick. This, that caused the wheels in both of their heads to start turning. Neither of them, Lucas especially, were all that astute when it came to romance but they couldn't help wondering if something was going on between their friends and if that something was more than platonic.

There were times over the years when they seemed to be in their own little world. As if nothing else mattered but the two of them. Even as young children, they'd been ridiculously close and protective of each other. If anybody attempted to hurt one, the other would immediately jump to their defense.

Despite all this, they weren't sure that it was a good time to confront them about what was going on. For one thing, they seemed to want to keep it a secret. It didn't surprise them - a relationship was special in many ways so they probably didn't want to share it with everybody straightaway. They also could have been throwing things way out of proportion. But they had the deepest instinctual feeling that they weren't. They were convinced one hundred percent.

Something was going on between Toby and Jessica.

It would take another two years until their friends finally confirmed their suspicions.