At breakfast the next morning, Glenn and Jodie sat at opposite ends of the long cafeteria table. No one sat between them.

Glenn knew, logically, he would have to talk to Jodie again eventually. But waking up in bed with his arch-enemy really made their usual back-and-forth a little awkward. Plus, Jodie kept looking at him with a weird look on his face -- like he wanted to say or do something, and he was holding himself back. Luckily it was an extremely punchable look on his already-punchable face, so Glenn figured it wouldn’t be too long before he was ready to go back to insulting him like normal. 

After everyone ate, the teachers spoke to the kids again, explaining something about the assignments they were expected to complete in the upcoming week and the plans for disembarking the island. They were given the chance to make groups and start their projects in the time before the ferry came, with an open offer to ask questions to the staff.

That sounded like A+ 'sit around and do nothing' time to Glenn, so he kicked his feet up on the table and leaned his chair onto its back two legs. He'd left a pair of sunglasses in one of the inner pockets of his jacket, which he flicked open and put on to hide his eyes in case he dozed off.

He probably would. He hadn't exactly slept too well last night...

Stupid sexy Jodie.

No, wait. Stupid not-sexy jerk cop loser Jodie.

The glasses gave him the freedom to glance down the table without being noticed -- Jodie was still down there, of course. He was looking at his phone in his right hand, the left idly spinning his wedding ring. Glenn still had his own wedding ring hanging on a chain around his neck under the thin fabric of his t-shirt. 

For some reason, the metal of it always stayed a little cool against his skin. Jodie’s ring warms with his hands, which kind of makes sense. They’re hotter than the hands of a regular human; hot like the sun, or the fires of the hell that burns in his veins, or the hot passion he has for being a huge bag of dicks. Glenn may be a demon too, but he actually runs a little colder now than he had in life. Maybe because he died into it, where Jodie was born into it.

Ugh, why was he still thinking about Jodie? A frown crossed his face as he tried to clear his mind and think of something else.

Music. He'd heard some of the emo music Grant and Terry listen to a few weeks back when he was hanging around Darryl's place -- invited as a taste-tester to his and Ron's newest beer recipe, but eventually hanging out for a while because he had nothing better to do. It wasn't bad, really. The chord progressions were simple. Maybe if he mixed it over with one of the classics, it could be something fresh.

His fingers twitched as he mapped out chords in his mind, flipping through songs in his head to imagine what might mesh well with what he'd heard. He wished he had his guitar on him. It was quiet enough without an amp that he could test a few things out without being a distraction. It was a Fender Professional Telecaster, with a solid black alder body and a gorgeous rosewood fretboard. It was probably the second most satisfying guitar he'd ever had. The first was the Battleaxe of Hatred, but of course, that had broken when it released the demon trapped inside...

Wait. That demon was Jodie. Was Jodie aware of what was going on outside the guitar while he was trapped there? Glenn felt the blood drain from his face as he remembered some of the things he said and did in the presence of that gorgeous, gorgeous instrument.

Fuck.

He tried to backtrack through his time with it to remember if anything had been absolutely damning. Jodie hadn’t mentioned anything, so either he wasn’t aware of what was going on outside of it, or he was too awkward to mention anything weird. He couldn’t remember saying anything that he wouldn’t say in front of Jodie now, or about any other guitar, but... 

The idea that all that time, he'd been holding Jodie Foster against his body, gently running his fingers up and down the frets. He could imagine Jodie would be uncomfortable with that. Or-- his brain supplied an image before he could stop it. Hands trailing down Jodie's bare chest the same way they had moved down his strings, his face looking a lot like it had last night----

Glenn startled violently awake, scrabbling for a moment to stay upright before gravity pulled his chair backwards and onto the ground. His glasses hit the floor next to him, but he snatched them up before they finished their second bounce to try and hide his reddened face.

When he sat up, some of the kids and teachers were looking over, seemingly concerned. Jodie was also looking over at him. Glenn cleared his throat as he stood, brushing off his jeans. "Sorry. Fell asleep. All good." His eyes flicked to Jodie, then away. "I'm gonna, uh. Go piss."

He felt eyes on his back as he walked outside towards the bathrooms, fists shoved in his pockets.

Stupid sexy jerk loser motherfucking Jodie.

---

Glenn spent enough time in the bathroom splashing water on his face and reconsidering everything in his life that led him to the very stupid crisis he was currently experiencing that when he returned, the teachers had started loading kids back onto the ferry to go home. That was fine by him. Either Jodie or Nick had chucked his overnight bag in the cargo hold/luggage pile already, so he was good to go. (Or maybe Henry had. Glenn hadn't actually seen Henry yet today, but he was probably around here somewhere.)

He ended up bringing up the rear of the group, getting pulled aside to help a teacher count heads. Once the stragglers were rounded up and the boat shoved off, Glenn was left choosing a seat from the few left over.

His boots clomped up the stairs to the upper deck. Henry must have taken some kind of anti-nausea this time around, because he was on a bench near the back, leaned forward to talk to Jodie and Nick in the bench ahead of him. Jodie looked a little flustered, or irritated, avoiding eye contact with Nick (who was wearing a shit-eating smirk) and Henry (who patted him on the shoulder with a chuckle).  Henry was the first to spot Glenn coming up, so he stood, leaning forward to say one more thing to them before moving over to Lark and Sparrow's bench across the deck.

Glenn was fully prepared to find a seat somewhere else, but Nick caught his eye and smiled his big cute Nick smile, waving him over. "We saved you a seat!" he yelled, loud enough to make the kids in front of him flinch, and Glenn couldn't hold back a chuckle as he walked over. Nick scooted a little closer to Jodie, patting the bench on his other side.

Well, that ruined Glenn’s plan to avoid Jodie for as long as possible, but it’s not like he could turn down Nick even when he wasn’t looking up at him with those big, sweet eyes staring expectantly at him. He flopped down onto the seat, arm automatically moving to rest on the back of the chair behind his son. Instead of hitting the bench, though, it hit another arm -- Jodie’s, which was already back there, upper arm resting on the plastic with his hand on Nick’s shoulder. He flinched away. Nick didn’t seem to notice, but Jodie caught his eye. 

They looked at each other for what felt like minutes, but it was probably just a few moments. Jodie’s eyes were passably human again, but they stayed a weird shade of violetish-indigo-blue and deeper than the depths of the ocean below them. His expression was saying... something, something that Glenn couldn’t put into words but he somehow sort of got the jist of.

They didn’t see Jodie again until they had gathered up all the kids after dinner, about to start their hike up the big hill. He looked tired, and his hair was mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it. He seemed otherwise normal, though. Just as stiff-upper-lip as always.

He lagged behind a bit during the hike itself, which Glenn hardly noticed, because Nick was talking to a girl and he was trying to eavesdrop without being too obvious about it. It would’ve worked better if they were in a building, or at least not walking at the same time, but he couldn’t keep up while also being quiet enough to hear what they were saying.

Before he knew it, they had reached the peak of their ascent -- a clearing with what even Glenn had to admit was an impressive view of the sky. The sun was still setting, casting a haze of pink and purple across the horizon. If the guys were here, he would’ve made some snide remark about Henry jizzing his pants about it, but they wouldn’t have laughed anyway.

Blankets were already laid out on the grass, probably by the staff or the more responsible chaperones. Nick was already sitting on one with the girl, so Glenn gave him some space, choosing one of the blankets along the back of the group. Henry got a blanket with his boys, which was sweet. It’s not often those two settle down enough to have quality time, he’d imagine.

As the hill filled with teenagers, he caught sight of Jodie hovering around the edge of the clearing. He waved him over, free hand pulling the cling-wrapped sandwich out of his pocket as Jodie approached.

"Have you eaten?" Glenn patted the blanket next to him, and Jodie flopped onto it.

"No. I took a shower while waiting for the bison to leave, to cool off and relax a bit. And by the time I was done, you were all heading out..."

Glenn handed the sandwich over as Jodie trailed off. He didn't take it right away, so Glenn looked over to see what the issue was, and was met with a quizzical expression.

"What? I didn't want your stomach growling to interrupt the learning, or whatever." He scowled, shaking it a bit. "Just take it, before I throw it into the trees for Yogi Bear."

"I don't think they have bears here," Jodie said, taking the sandwich. Then, quieter: "Thanks."

"Yeah. No prob."

Glenn watched the sun set and the stars twinkle into view as Jodie ate, resting his chin on crossed arms supported on his knees. The kids kept their volume at a low murmur, talking in hushed tones which felt appropriate for the cool evening breeze. 

He snuck a peek at Nick, to see how he was doing. He must have kept that old Close charm, because the girl was laughing at something he said, hand resting lightly on his forearm. Glenn felt a bit proud, and tried not to think of Morgan.

A new teacher sat in the center of the kids, pointing out constellations in a quiet, almost soothing murmur. For as much as Glenn didn't care about the biology lessons earlier, he cared even less about patterns made up to link the stars together. He laid back and pillowed his head on his arms to stare out into space, letting his eyes wander between the twinkling stars of their own accord. There was less light pollution out here, so there was a good view of the sky, more than he usually saw.

Honestly, he almost forgot Jodie was next to him. He almost reached into his inner pocket for the blunt that he saved for the end of every day, filled with the strain of weed that dropped him low enough to fall asleep without issue.

When he looked over, Jodie was just... sitting there. Legs crossed, head tilted back to look at the sky. Not paying him any mind at all. He expected Jodie to be watching the kids, or him, or something. Maybe pacing the edge of the woods, patrolling for predators. It was odd. Glenn took his apparent indifference as permission to light up.

He took a long, slow inhale of herbaceous smoke, paired with an equally long, slow exhale. On his second inhale, he saw Jodie's nose crunch. Jodie looked over, then down at Glenn, then rolled his eyes.

“It is legal, you know,” Glenn pointed out, more smoke escaping with his words.

“Yeah, but it's—We're on a school field trip.” Jodie flopped backwards to lay parallel to Glenn, a sigh huffing from his chest. “Could you at least be more subtle about it? You're like a goddamn chimney.”

“Sure,” Glenn said, a bit of a laugh in his voice. He did make an effort to exhale smaller puffs of smoke, angled away from Jodie. He could feel the other man radiating agitation next to him, and did something he honestly never thought he would survive doing.

“Do you want a hit?”

The agitation turned to indignation, and Glenn turned his head to look at him.

“It won't fuck you up, man, it's a mellow strain. Chills you out, relaxes the nerves. It helps me sleep at night.” He turned his gaze towards the sky as he spoke, blunt-hand held halfway between his body and Jodie's. “Otherwise I have a hell of a time falling asleep, and if I do sleep, it's...”

He trailed off. He didn't really want to admit that he was still having nightmares to Jodie, of all people. Especially now that a third of the nightmares were about the death of his wife who was still alive and not technically his wife, and another third of them were about...

Another third of them were about someone taking away a son that wasn't technically his son. He took another hit.

“It just calms my mind,” he finished instead.

The joint smoldered quietly between them as Glenn studied a star in the sky. The north star, his idiot brain supplied, because it's the brightest one in the sky. Or is that one the brightest? It's kind of hard to judge them against each other while they twinkle and shit.

His mind had wandered sufficiently far from upsetting topics when he felt Jodie gently remove the blunt from his hand. “I just... inhale it like a cigarette?”

“Yeah. Hold the smoke in your lungs for a few seconds, though. And don't take too deep of a pull, or you'll choke on it.”

Glenn turned his head to watch Jodie raise it to his mouth and take a moderate-sized inhale of smoke. He passed the joint back as he held it in, and to his credit, only coughed once on the exhale.

“See? That wasn't so bad.”

“Not a word of this, Glenn.”

“Scout’s honor.”

He passed the joint back to Jodie twice more before it was spent, which is more than he thought the narc would be able to handle. Must be the demon side of him rather than the cop side.

Glenn was counting the stars in a pleasant haze when the kids started getting up, folding the blankets and piling them where the soft-spoken astronomy teacher directed them. He hoisted himself up to a seated position, stretching for long enough to pop his back, then looked over at Jodie.

Jodie was still laying there, one arm folded behind his head, eyes closed and face lax. His chest rose and fell slowly, in a way that could only be sleep. He didn't snore, though.

Glenn watched him for a few moments. He wasn't usually this relaxed or vulnerable around others, especially around Glenn. Even asleep in their cabin last night, there had been a scowl on his face. But here, now, he looked... peaceful.

The annoying part of Glenn’s brain had to admit that Jodie Foster was an attractive man -- when he wasn't in a cop uniform and wasn't standing like he had a stick up his ass, anyway. His chest was broad and strong, a combination of cop training and demonic genetics, with a narrow waist which gave him that reversed-dorito silhouette. There was a little dimple in his chin, barely noticeable. Jaw square enough to cut with, clean-shaven every morning but already growing a bit of evening stubble which made him look a little rough around the edges...

God. Fuck. What was he thinking? Maybe he mixed something weird into his bedtime blend. There must be something wrong. He stood up, brushing off his jeans with a huff. Stupid Jodie and his stupid pretty face. He stepped off the blanket and grabbed its edge, pulling it up hard enough to roll Jodie's sleeping body off of it. Jodie woke with a snort, arms flailing a bit in a half-asleep half-stoned attempt to defend himself.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Glenn groused, starting a shitty attempt to fold the blanket. “Time to hike back.”

---

The trek back down the hill was very quiet. The kids had a long day, and were finally tired out — the chaperones had the same long day, but they'd been tired out for a few hours now. One of Henry's twins was passed out and slung across his fathers' back to be carried. Glenn wasn't sure he could piggyback carry Nick any more, but he was also fairly sure Nick wouldn't want him to.

Jodie went straight back to the cabin, looking a bit more awake than most of the other parents after his little nap. Glenn went to the bathrooms to take a hot shower first, letting the steam relax his muscles the same way the weed had relaxed his mind.

When he got back to the cabin, Jodie was still awake, which was a little surprising. Maybe he would've put a shirt on if he'd known, but Glenn wasn't ashamed of much of anything, especially not his body. Jodie looked up from his book when Glenn walked in, but he looked back down almost immediately upon seeing him.

“Hey Jodie,” he hummed as he passed by, idly drying his hair in a hand towel.

“Glenn.” Not much of a greeting. Glenn had thought they were starting to become friends, but apparently not.

“Ooookay,” Glenn answered with a laugh, flopping down onto his own bed.

“What?”

“Nothin', man, nothin'. Hey, why didn't you go demon on that buffalo earlier? You didn't have to kill him, you could've just...” He tossed his arms out to the sides to mimic Jodie's usually impressive wings. “Spooked him, you know?”

Jodie closed his book around a finger, frowning. “With my luck, it would have stampeded through camp or something...”

Glenn rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. From where he was sitting, Jodie seemed to have just fine luck — he was the one with the wife, and the son, and the fucking ten-foot wingspan.

“Plus, Nicholas has been saying for a while now he's excited to have a normal human field trip. I don't want to bring demon bullshit into that.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Glenn conceded.

“You didn't exactly help,” Jodie groused, putting a marker in his book and tucking it away.

“The fuck was I supposed to do, man? The girl said all we could do was wait.“

”You at least didn't have to enjoy it so much.“

Glenn rolled his eyes. ”You're a real piece of work, Joe, you know that? You ever think there's a reason you don't have friends?“

”Fuck you, I've got plenty of friends. At least I've got more of a personality than 420 blaze it.“

”Yeah, because cop is such a good personality.“

”It’s better!“ Jodie was the first to raise his voice, which Glenn counted as a point towards victory in his column. ”At least being a cop is respectable!“

Glenn snorted. ”Respectable, my ass.“

”Cops protect people,“ Jodie snarled, pointing an accusatory finger towards Glenn. ”And it's a job that provides for my family — I don't think you could ever say the same.“

”You're a traffic cop,“ Joe.” Glenn sat up and rotated to look at Jodie, humor gone from his face. “You're not protecting jack shit. You're a glorified meter maid.”

“Fuck you, Glenn,” Jodie barked, standing up. Glenn stood up to match.

“What'cha gonna do, Joe? Give me a ticket?”

Jodie's fists clenched at his sides, and he stepped forward. Glenn crossed his arms over his chest, a smug smirk on his face, one hip popped casually to the side.

“Oh? You gonna hit me? No demon shit, but I'm sure Nick will love you giving me a normal human black eye, huh?”

“His name's Nicholas,” Jodie growled through his teeth, taking another step to close the distance between them.

Later, when thinking back, Glenn would swear there was something not right in the bedtime blunt, or maybe just that he'd never fought with Jodie after smoking it. There was definitely something... different, about this fight, that he couldn't put a finger on.

He took the last half-step he could, looking up at Jodie's face with his shit-eating grin. The cop was a half-head taller than him, which on a usual day would frustrate him, but not tonight. He still looked human, but there was a furious fire burning in his eyes, and the teeth showing from his snarl almost looked like fangs.

Glenn put his hands on Jodie's chest, smirk widening as he looked up at that stupid handsome face.

“Jodie Foster. You want to fuck me so bad, it makes you look stupid.”

Jodie’s eyes widened, rage crossing his features in a way Glenn had never seen before. The temperature of the room rose a few degrees, but he kept his glamor mostly under control, and nothing caught on fire, which was a win. 

Part of Glenn’s brain derailed to try and come up with a way his impending homicide could not ruin Nick’s school trip. Hopefully Jodie’s demonization stripped away enough of his Catholic guilt to let him lie about Glenn heading home early, or something.

A clawed hand wrapped into the front of Glenn’s shirt, and Jodie used it to lift him the few inches he needed to be eye-level. Glenn’s self-assured smirk didn’t falter, though it was hard to look cool when your feet aren’t touching the ground.

Then Jodie’s mouth was on his. His eyes fell closed, and his hands came up of their own will to dig his nails into the back of Jodie’s neck. He felt them slowly shift back into claws, and dug them a little harder into Jodie’s skin, drawing a snarl out of the taller demon. 

Jodie broke the kiss off with a disgusted sneer. “I can’t fuckin’ stand you,” he growled, dropping Glenn back onto his feet. His pupils had turned to slits, like they did in his demon form, but besides that and the claws he still looked human.

“What, still human? It’s just you and me here, Joe.” Glenn waved a hand towards the door, causing it to make a knock sound followed by the click of a lock. “Let yourself go.” Jodie rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I’m so impressed, you know the knock spell. Some shit I learned in grade school.” His free hand came up to grab Glenn’s face, claws digging uncomfortably into the meat of his cheeks as he ducked to kiss him again. 

Despite his quip, when Glenn reached up to tangle his hands in Jodie’s hair, he felt Jodie’s horns were free -- tall, thin horns, which added a solid foot and a half to the asshole’s already too-tall height. His own horns curved around his head rather than shooting straight up, and his skin was reddish rather than Jodie’s indigo. He let his own glamor fall as Jodie bit down on his lower lip, drawing a gasp from somewhere deep in his chest. Jodie’s tongue invaded as soon as he was given the opportunity, his mouth full of more demon tongue than one would expect Jodie to have in there just by looking at him. His hands twisted hard in Jodie’s hair, warmth rolling over in his stomach as a too-hot tongue traced across his soft palate and nearly licked his goddamn tonsils.

Jodie broke away from the kiss, a little out of breath. A frankly embarrassing amount of saliva connected them as they separated, but Jodie didn’t seem to notice, his tail whipping back and forth behind him like a cat about to pounce. “You taste like weed, you useless fucking stoner.” 

Out of breath, Glenn snorted, taking a few seconds to pant out a response. “You taste like bacon.”

“--What?”

A toothy smirk. “Oink oink, little pig.”

Jodie roughly shoved him down onto his bed. “Every day it’s a test not to fucking kill you. The only reason I don’t is because you would just come back again.” 

Whoever had the idea to get teenagers up for a sunrise hike was not a friend of Glenn’s. It was hard enough getting his own ass out of bed, but twenty-some odd high-school students? By the time everyone was up and moving, it was barely a sunrise hike as much as it was an early morning hike.

Henry was annoyingly chipper, but that was no surprise as someone who claimed his favorite show was the sunrise. Jodie, once he got a cup of black coffee in his system and another in a travel mug, was also annoyingly chipper, which was no surprise as someone whose entire purpose in life was to grate on Glenn’s nerves in every way possible.

The kids picked up a bit once they got going, invigorated by the fresh air and the prospect of minimal supervision in the wild with their friends. They walked and talked, laughing with each other, the groups of teens shifting and morphing as they went. Henry started out walking with Jodie, chatting amicably. Glenn couldn't deny that he was curious what they were talking about. He was bringing up the rear, trudging behind the group with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. 

Stupid charismatic Jodie.

At some point along the hike, the Oak boys did what the Oak boys do, drawing their father away to try to limit the damage they did to the Catalina Island ecosystem. Jodie shook his head, chuckling, and hurried his gait to catch up with Nick, since the loss of Lark and Sparrow sent the remaining three boys into different teen-bubbles. Glenn's instinct was to interrupt the two, to try and separate Jodie from his son, but... Nick laughed, giving Jodie's arm a shove. Jodie was laughing too, which wasn't something Glenn saw often. 

As much as he wanted to hate everything about Jodie, Glenn loved his son, and Glenn loved his w—Morgan. And his son and his Morgan loved Jodie, for some godforsaken reason, so... he let them be, putting his fingers into the innermost pocket of his jacket to pull out one of his special cigarettes to get him through the end of this hike. While Jodie was too distracted to be an ass about it.

---

The chill of the morning abated through their hike as the sun rose in the sky. They gave the kids a bit of free time before lunch, to hang out by the water or walk the trails with their friends. Glenn went back to the cabin to grab a nap. He woke up ravenous, but it was lunchtime with teenage boys, so he wasn't the only one.

After lunch, they helped corral the kids into the Science Center for a series of academic-type activities. The schedule, as Glenn was told, started with a lecture in the classroom, followed by a walk through the center's exhibits, then back to the classroom to dissect something.

Since it had warmed up so much, he left his jacket back at the cabin, swapping it out for a torn up denim vest. It had some patches on it, and it showed off his biceps, so losing the jacket wasn't too much of a downgrade. It worked great for lunch at the picnic tables outside, but the center itself gave him a bit of a chill as he watched the kids file into their seats.

"Shouldn't've ditched the jacket," Jodie pointed out as he rubbed his hands against his upper arms.

"Guess not," Glenn grumbled. "I didn't know they were gonna have the A/C up high enough to recreate the fuckin' arctic."

"Well, I guess they say it's melting. Gotta make a new one."

Was that a joke? Glenn genuinely couldn't tell. He just hummed, crossing his arms. As he did, he heard a little ugh from Jodie, and glanced over to see him wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"What?"

"I keep forgetting."

"Forgetting what?"

Jodie rolled his eyes, lightly thumping Glenn's bicep with the back of his hand. "Your stupid tattoo. Are you ever going to get that ugly thing covered?"

Glenn had forgotten too, to be honest. A shit-eating grin grew across his face. "Oh, does it bother you?"

"It doesn't bother me, it's just juvenile and idiotic."

He still remembered the look on Jodie's face when he had first seen the art that adorned Glenn's upper arm. It was a stylish, rock-n-roll block of four stylized letters— ACAB. At first glance, it could be mistaken for an AC/DC logo, which he figured was why it took a few months for Jodie to recognize it for what it was.

"You're setting a bad example for Nicholas," he had said, and Glenn had scoffed.

"Nick always thought it was cool."

"Well Nicholas would agree it's idiotic."

The current Nicky wouldn't tell either of them what he thought of it. Glenn figured he probably thought it was cool, but didn't want to make things weird at home.

"Sure, man," Glenn answered, back in the present, with a wave of his hand, "whatever you say. Hey, do we have to stay for the lecture or is it just for the kids?"

"I don't know. I doubt it matters—"

"Cool. Peace." Glenn pushed off the wall he'd been leaning on and wandered deeper into the Science Center as the teacher started quieting everyone down for the lesson.

He only made it about twenty minutes on his own. He was looking at a tank of garibaldi, California's state fish, when he heard Jodie grumble "there you are." He rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"What, man? Do you have something else to lecture me about?"

"Well, I didn't, uh. Trust you wandering around on your own..." Glenn's complete and total exasperation seemed to take him off guard, and his words lacked their usual bite. After a moment he surprised Glenn with an amendment: "And, well. Henry was more interested in the lecture than I was. And there's not much else to do while we wait for them..."

Ah. The other parents didn't seem to take too much of a liking to Jodie, either. Glenn honestly wasn't sure why — he wasn't a terrible looking guy, annoyingly involved in the community, and it's not like they could claim he was a bad influence like they had said of Glenn. Maybe it was his naturally irritating personality. Maybe their dislike for Morgan was also universal enough to exist in both of their realities, and it rubbed off on her husband. Maybe they also hated cops on principle. No matter what it was, though, it left Jodie with just him, Nicky and Henry to talk to on this trip, and apparently even Glenn's company was better than being alone.

"Right." Glenn didn't look back at him, watching the garibaldi circle. Jodie came to stand next to him, hooking his thumbs into his belt as he looked up to the brightly colored fish. 

They stood in silence for a bit as the water in the tanks around them sloshed and bubbled. Glenn scratched behind his ear, grappling with his discomfort. 

"These bitches bite, you know," he mumbled, gesturing towards the fish. 

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Was on one of those signs back there."

"Huh. Who knew."

Glenn looked over at Jodie, studying his face as he watched the fish. The aquarium light glowed down on them, casting his profile in a strange light. Looking at him for too long felt weird, though, so after a few seconds he had to shift his gaze—

"Ooh, they have a jellyfish tank!"

---

The hour Jodie and Glenn spent among the exhibits of the Science Center was quiet, but not overly awkward. They spent a long time watching the jellyfish bob, something about their weightless floating hypnotic. A sea cucumber trundled along the bottom of the tank. Apparently all these things were native to the area, which was news to Glenn.

It was kind of cool you could just have these things living in your house, though. Glenn probably didn't have the patience to keep up on something like that, but Jodie seemed like he might be the type to have a fishtank. Or a model train. Something kind of weird and boring like that.

The kids' class let out as they pondered a shallow, hip-level tank of water and sand. The rim of the tank was about a foot wide, and Glenn had been considering if he could sit there, but the kids drew his attention back. The teachers corralled the kids past the orange fish and the floating jellies to gather by the shallow tank, so Glenn acted like they'd gone over there on purpose to direct them, gently leading the shorter kids to the front.

"Come on, kids, there's room enough for everyone," Henry was saying, spreading the kids out along the rim of the pool. "Lark, Sparrow, get in there together, make space..."

The teacher from the Science Center disappeared around the side of the tank, fiddling something metallic by the back end of it. Whatever she did shifted a panel connecting the shallow tank to a larger one, letting the waters mix between them.

"Just give them a minute," she said, running her fingers through the water. "Feel free to put your hands in. They love people, so once they know you're here they'll all come on up. Don't splash, though, or you'll scare them!"

Nick was across the tank from Glenn and Jodie, between one of Henry's twins and Terry Jr. He said something to Terry, making them both chuckle, and Terry gave him a little shove to the arm. Whichever Oak boy was on his side was also laughing, and also gave him a shove, which Henry fussed at him for almost immediately.

The kids had pushed him and Jodie together, which was... fine. He wasn't going to let Jodie’s presence keep him from touching some stingrays and shit.

The rays were the first to come out, circling the edges of the tank to brush against the proffered fingers. They had a surprising amount of muscle for tiny little pancake fish. Jodie remained leaning away, his arms folded protectively over his broad chest.

"You wanna get in here, man? They're not slimy or nothin'."

"No, I'm... good back here."

Glenn furrowed his brows, but he didn't care enough to push. He was a little surprised to see jellyfish float in behind the rays.

The Oak boy on Henry's other side from Nick sent up a small splash of water as his hand shot into the air. "Miss Hernandez! Don't jellyfish sting?"

"They do, usually," the center employee answered pleasantly. "But these are moon jellyfish! Their sting isn't usually strong enough to get through our skin to hurt us. Still, try not to touch its tentacles directly — they can still irritate your hand. Its squishy dome is perfectly safe to touch!"

The jellies floated in with the current of the water, unaware of the chaos around them. Glenn took the teacher's suggestion to poke one on its dome, and he felt Jodie peek over his shoulder.

"What," Glenn asked him, "are you scared?"

Jodie seemed surprised to be noticed, and his arms tightened across his chest. "No." Glenn was visibly not convinced, so Jodie continued, pointing into the water without unfolding his arms. "One of those things killed Steve Irwin, you know."

"A jellyfish?"

"No, a stingray. They have barbs."

"Our stingrays' barbs are actually trimmed," the employee explained, more enthusiastic than Glenn expected a girl her age would be about stingray barbs, "so they can’t sting. They're also very docile. The barbs are really just for self defense."

"Does trimming the barbs hurt them?" Henry asked, drawing her attention back off Jodie.

"It's similar to how we clip our fingernails! They take a few months to grow back, but since there aren't any predators here, they do just fine without them!" Her unbridled enthusiasm about the objectively kinda boring subject was almost reminiscent of Henry’s. He’d wonder if they were related, if he didn’t already know all about Henry’s fucked-up family. Too much, really.

"See?" Glenn said, reaching to brush a knuckle against another stingray's wing. "Harmless."

"Sure." Jodie still seemed wary.

Glenn gave it a whole second's consideration before acting. He pulled his wet hand from the touch tank, turning to grab Jodie's wrist. Jodie squawked, but he was caught off-guard enough for Glenn to yank him forward and plunge his hand into the tank, gently knocking the cop's knuckles against a jellyfish that had floated into the way.

"Glenn!" His muscles were tensed under Glenn's grip, but he only made a nominal effort to pull away. As much as he hated to admit it, Jodie was stronger than he was, so if he really wanted to get away...

"Relax. Stay still, you're scaring them all away." He could hear Jodie huff air out of his nose, but he continued to stay put, which was surprising to say the least. Maybe he was just trying to keep from drawing attention.

If that was the case, it already wasn't working terribly well — Glenn caught sight of Nick watching them across the tank, laughing and shaking his head at their foolishness. He was distracted by that when he heard Jodie suck in a breath.

"Oh. Oh my god."

"I didn't think that was a thing you could say."

Jodie didn't dignify that with a response. A stingray had taken an interest in his hand, and gently swam its wings over Jodie's fingers. Glenn could feel Jodie's pulse on his own fingertips where he held his wrist — it was faster than expected. Jodie was legitimately nervous, or at least surprised. His hand had turned demon-y from the stress, nails becoming sharp claws under the water. He buried the claws into the sand, which protected the fish exploring his hand from their sharp tips, though he probably did it to hide their transformation from anyone who looked over. The stingray was undeterred, brushing against his knuckles and up to his wrist where Glenn held it.

"It's... weird." His pulse was slowing, but he still looked uncomfortable.

"Not so scary, eh?"

"I wasn't scared," Jodie insisted. "They just... freak me out, is all. Give me the heebie jeebies."

"Sure, whatever." Glenn released his wrist, and Jodie pulled his hand out immediately, taking a few paces away from the tank. He held his hand in a fist near his chest. Glenn waved him off. "Go take a lap, man. We can hold down the fort for a bit."

Jodie looked at him with a weird expression for a moment before nodding, turning to leave the Science Center's automated front doors.

---

When everyone had their fill of the touch tank, the teacher took the kids around the rest of the Science Center's displays, and Glenn wandered outside for a smoke break. He expected Jodie to come back and nag at him for it at any moment, but he smoked half a blunt without interruption. He licked his fingers and extinguished the tip between them, tucking the remaining half into his pocket for later.

The next activity on the kids' agenda was to return to the classroom for a hands-on lab session. The lab was dissecting squids, which was rad, actually, so Glenn stuck around for this one.

He approached Henry as the teacher paired the kids off in groups of five. He looked a little green around the gills again.

"You good, man?"

"Glenn!" Henry smiled, weakly. "I, uh. I'm fine! No problem here!" He was talking in the high-pitched voice he used when he was not fine, and there absolutely was a problem. A bit more color drained from his face when the teacher started showing the kids their victims. He would've thought their time in the Forgotten Realms would have toughened Henry's stomach, but once a vegan, always a vegan, he supposed.

"Do you wanna sit this one out?"

"Uh. Yeah, I think that would be for the best." He swallowed, glancing over to the group of their kids. "Can you keep an eye on my beautiful boys? This is the sort of thing they tend to... get in trouble during."

Everything seemed like the sort of thing they would get in trouble during. "Sure thing, man. Go get some air." Glenn clapped him on the shoulder, making him stumble forward a few steps. He gave Glenn a weak smile before scurrying off, the second man Glenn had sent out for fresh air in the past few hours.

A weird trend that's started, really. Either way, he was running out of guys in the room.

He trotted over to the kids he gave a shit about, gently plucking a scalpel from Lark-or-Sparrow's hand. "Alright, kids, let's cut some motherfuckers open!"

---

Turns out squids are squishy enough to just... pull apart. Glenn had no idea where Lark-or-Sparrow had gotten a weapon. He decided it was better not to ask.

Once all the squid's parts were out on the tray, the kids set out to start labeling them, which Glenn found boring very quickly. He tried to whisper answers in Nick's ear, but they ended up being wrong.

He checked his watch. It had been almost an hour since Jodie left... It seemed like the Oak twins were probably fine on their own, now that the possible weapons had been returned to the teacher and the organs had been pinned down. The boys had looked a little feral, tearing the squids apart with their bare hands. That wasn't terribly abnormal, though.

"I'm gonna go look for Jodie," Glenn told Nick. "He's been gone a suspiciously long time."

"Sure. You guys seem to be getting along," he pointed out, leaning back to look at him.

"Uh. Well. Trying not to... you know. Argue too much, during your trip."

"Right." Nick smiled at him, in a way Glenn wasn't sure if he liked. "Good luck finding him."

He just nodded, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. He ran into Henry again on the way out, sitting on the front steps with his head between his knees.

"Oh, hey Glenn! Are the kids done already?"

"Nah, but they're done with the dissecting parts. Just doing the science bit now."

"That's usually when they cause the most trouble..."

"No sharp objects."

"Oh thank God. Where are you headed off to?"

"Looking for Jodie."

"Oh yeah, he's been gone a while, huh? Hey, you two have been getting along real well this weekend!"

"Oh my God, why do people keep saying that!" Glenn ran his hands through his hair with a groan. "We just aren't being dicks to each other for a weekend! You know, for Nick! Jesus..."

He walked off in a huff, lighting the remaining half of his blunt to calm his nerves.

The winding path between the Science Center was plenty long enough for Glenn to storm off, slow down, and finish the blunt before he saw any signs of anyone else. The weed cooled his head a bit, but not as much as he would've liked. He always packed the weakest shit for this sort of thing, smoking more out of habit and to take the edge off than a desire to get actually high. Sometimes there was just no better way to distract himself or busy his hands.

There were a few trails that branched off the main path deeper into the island... Hopefully Jodie hadn't wandered down one and gotten lost. It would be a huge pain to send out a search for him. It would probably be really embarrassing to Nick, and Glenn certainly didn't want to be the one to tell Morgan her stupid cop husband died of exposure on Catalina island.

If it was Glenn who had wandered off, he would have headed back to the cabins, so that's where Glenn went. He made it to the end of the path, to the little dirt cul-de-sac surrounded by cabins, and then he saw why Jodie hadn't come back.

In the middle of the circle stood a mountain covered in curly brown fur, placidly grazing on a tuft of weeds. The bison stood between Glenn and the building that housed the communal bathrooms and showers, his horns nearly touching the railing of its little decorative front porch. The door was cracked, and with a squint Glenn could see a familiar head peeking out.

"Jodie?" he called across the clearing.

Jodie pulled the door open a bit to gesture wildly, shushing and pointing at the bison, as if Glenn couldn't see it.

He felt a laugh bubbling up in his chest. Stupid bastard looked so goofy, trying to communicate with hand signs over the head of a wild animal.

"Dude, you're—" He glanced over both shoulders, to ensure he was alone. "You're a demon, dude, just—get rid of this thing!" With both of their heightened senses, they didn’t have to shout to each other, which was good both for keeping his words between the two of them, and for keeping the wild animal calm.

"I—" Jodie visibly huffed, sending Glenn into another fit of giggles. "I'm not gonna do that!" he insisted, hiding his body behind the door in case the bison got mad.

"I'll keep watch, if you want?"

"I can't hurt it! Aren't these things endangered or something?" Glenn shrugged. "Plus, how are we gonna explain a dead bison in the middle of camp?"

Well, that was true, at least. Glenn couldn't suggest anything else, though, because the whole situation had hit his funny bone hard. He doubled over laughing, one hand resting on his thigh to hold him up.

"Glenn! Shut up and help me, you bastard!"

"Seems like a ‘you’ problem to me, Joe!"

He got to laugh for a few moments longer before he heard the distant sounds of people approaching, his pointed demon-ear twitching behind the glamored disguise. He would've been a good lookout. But he had no reason to try and save Jodie's dignity, so he just kept it to himself.

"Holy horchata!" Henry yelped, pronouncing his stupid phrase with a Spanish accent, even though he was perhaps one of the whitest fathers at San Dimas high school. Even though he was so white he could get lost in a snowstorm. Even though he was so white he already looked a bit sunburnt. Even though—

"Oh! Oh dear." Henry had approached chatting with the employee from the Science Center, who, to her credit, didn't even look like she was irritated by him. "It's fine! It's fine, everybody stay calm."

The kids had started to gather behind them, so Glenn decided to be the adult and pass responsibility off to the twenty-something year old girl instead. 

"Jodie's, uh, stuck in the can over there. Is he gonna be alright?"

"Stuck in the—oh. Hm!"

Across the clearing, Jodie had stuck his head out again to wave. Anybody else probably wouldn't be able to hear them talking from so far away, no one seemed to notice the oddity.

"Well," she said, clearly debating the best way to word what she wanted to say. "Usually we just... let them wander off on their own. Trying to scare them off has a chance of just upsetting them, and you do not want an upset bison coming at you..."

"What's next on the schedule?" Glenn asked Henry. "Is it something we need a full cadre of adults for?"

"Uh." Henry looked at his watch. "Dinner. Then a hike up the hill to map constellations."

"Oh, he'll definitely probably move within the hour," the girl piped up. “He should be gone by the time dinner is over!”

"Cool. See you after dinner, Jodie!" Glenn made a circling motion with two fingers in the air, spinning on his heel. "C'mon, kids, time to move out."

Henry followed behind, but he seemed worried about it. "We're just-- leaving him?"

"He'll be fine," Glenn insisted with a wave of his hand. "We'll save him a sandwich or something for later. Besides," he added quietly, in a tone only his demon-ears and Henry’s elf-ears could hear, "you and I both know Jodie could get out of there if he really wanted to."

"Glenn!! Come on in!" Morgan pulled Glenn into the house with a kiss on the cheek, turning to lead him into the living room without missing a beat. His hand came up to touch the spot before following her into the foyer in a bit of a daze. 

He’d tried not to tell her about what had happened in the forgotten realms, or the version of history he remembered, but she’d always been able to read him like a book. Apparently, she was a bit like Nick -- she had some fuzzy recollections from both timelines, though not as clear as the memories their son had regained when shit broke loose. So she’d already had an inkling that there was something weird between them, and when she saw Glenn, Nick and Jodie all dancing around something, she easily rooted her way to the truth like a hog digging up truffles.

And, it turns out, she didn’t find it as off-putting as anyone had expected. She still lived with Jodie and Nick, but she treated Glenn like-- like... he didn’t know what. More affectionate than he was prepared to handle. He was slowly getting used to it, but reuniting with the woman you mourned who is now married to someone else isn’t easy, no matter how she acts about it. He sort of got the feeling she would be fine with just having two husbands, if Glenn wasn’t so cagey.

Well, if Glenn wasn’t so cagey, and if the two husbands in question could get along for more than five minutes.

Morgan’s head popped around the corner. "You coming?"

"Uh. Yeah." He closed the door behind him before shuffling down the hall. "Where’s Nick?"

"He should be down in a second," she said with a glance at her watch. "He’s pretty punctual getting ready for school."

That must be one of the things he picked up from his newer dad. Glenn tried very hard to keep the distaste from showing on his face. He wasn’t sure if it was working or not, because true to Morgan's word, Nick came trotting down the steps moments later.

"Hi Glenn!" The bright smile on Nick’s face made all the gross feelings in Glenn’s gut evaporate, and he grinned back, wrapping his son in a hair-ruffling hug.

"Hey kiddo!" It had been a while since he could run his hands through Nick’s hair without demon horns getting in the way. At home, Nick usually defaulted to a sort of half-demonic appearance, which was cool. When he was alone, Glenn tended to let it all hang out, but to each their own. 

"Daaaaaaaaaad," Nick whined, without any real irritation behind it. "I just finished doing my hair..."

Glenn snickered a bit, releasing his hold. "Eh, still looks good. Tousled." Nick rolled his eyes. "You ready for field trippin', man? My bike’s parked outside, got a helmet just for you--"

"Aaaaaactually," Morgan interrupted, one finger raised in the way she used to do when she was about to drop some news that would absolutely harsh the vibe of the day. Glenn frowned, but he couldn’t actually be upset by anything she said, these days. "You’ll probably need to take the car for this one..."

"Huh? Nick’s been on my bike before. It’s totally safe, and the way to the school is like, thirty miles an hour, tops--"

"No, no, it’s not the bike. Well it is the bike, but just-- it doesn’t have enough seats." She was so cute when she was beating around the bush... wait, no, Glenn, focus.

"Dad--er, Jodie also signed up to chaperone this trip," Nick jumped in, saving his mother from the bad-news obligation. "He said it was going to be a surprise, but I hadn’t mentioned you were already chaperoning, because whenever I mention hanging out with you, he makes this face... Kind of like that one you’re making right now, actually."

"...Right." Glenn tried not to grind his teeth together.

"So I said you guys would carpool," Morgan added cheerfully, scooping up a duffel bag from the floor and handing it to Nick. 

"It would probably be better if I just call and cancel," Glenn said with a sigh, pulling his phone from the pocket of his leather jacket. "I wouldn't want to distract Jodie from his important chaperoning duties." 

Plus, it was hard enough to convince people he's Nick’s uncle without Jodie there trying to create as much distance between them as possible. Nick had enough to deal with, without rumors of his weird extended family conflicts circling the PTA. 

...Also, the idea of spending a long weekend with Jodie Foster made his stomach turn.

He heard Nick's genuine "nooooooo" the same time he felt Morgan's hand on his, and he looked between the two, insides feeling wibbly again. "Danielle and her mom already canceled because they got the stomach flu, plus Jake's dad had something come up for work, so if one more chaperone cancels the trip is off!"

Morgan caught his eye, and she gave him a look which managed to convey something along the lines of you have to do this for him, he's been looking forward to it so much. Glenn was just glad he'd skipped breakfast today, lest his turning guts decide to dump their contents on her shoes. "Henry will be there with his boys," she said with her mouth instead of her eyes, and Nick nodded.

Glenn put his phone away with a sigh. "He'll probably be occupied wrangling Lark and Sparrow all day. Let me get my bag off the bike, then..." 

Morgan gave him a quick hug in thanks. He didn't put his arms around her, not wanting to be awkward with how reluctant he would be to let her go.

"Where's the Narc at, anyway? He'd better not make us late." The nickname earned him a small look of reproach, a bit of distance which he was thankful for.

"He's already waiting in the car." Glenn rolled his eyes hard, but Morgan had turned away to hug Nick goodbye.

So much for a fun nature trip with the boys...

---

"We’re going to be late."  Jodie’s shoulders were hunched up by his ears, his face screwed up in a mix of irritation at the red light in front of him and irritation at his unwelcome passenger.

"We are not," Glenn disagreed from the backseat, his feet kicked up on the center console. "They said we were supposed to be there at nine."

"They said they’re leaving at nine!"

"Uh, yeah? That’s what I said?"

"That’s not--" Jodie cut himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. From the passenger seat, Nick put a calming hand on his elbow as he took a deep breath. After a moment he continued, his voice schooled into an infuriating faux-calmness. "We should have gotten there an hour ago, so we could have parked and helped load everyone onto the bus."

Glenn debated pointing out that he would have been there a lot faster with Nick on his bike. On one hand, it was true, but on the other, it was a bit early in the morning to hear the traffic cop lecture. ‘Motorcycles have to follow the same traffic laws as cars, Glenn.’ ‘Just because you can fit between cars doesn’t mean you can weave through traffic, Glenn.’  ‘Red lights mean stop, not punch it, Glenn.’  Eugh. Just the thought of it threatened to give him a headache.

He studied the back of Jodie’s head, instead. He wasn’t really sure what Morgan saw in him... Close-cropped, almost military style haircut, boring gray polo shirt tucked into khakis over steel-toed cop boots. Almost the inverse of Glenn in every way -- Glenn’s shoulder-length hair held back with a torn bandanna, face overdue for a shave, worn leather jacket and ripped-up jeans almost made them look like they were made to oppose each other. He supposed there was still some level of bad boy underneath all the beige of his cop uniform, but Glenn only got to see the demon side of him when shit went seriously wrong, or he managed to piss him off really badly.

Which was fun, but it tended to upset Morgan and Nick when they went at it in full demon form outside the Infernal Plane, so Glenn did try to keep that to a minimum. Usually.

How did he express that naughty side before he could turn into a demon? Probably by yelling at people he pulled over, waving his taser around. Or his gun? Do traffic cops get guns?

"We're here," Jodie pointed out in the most deadpan monotone imaginable. "Get out of my car."

Glenn took his time doing so, only a little on purpose. He closed the door in time to see Nick catch up with his friends -- Grant and Terry Jr. were there, along with a few other kids in their class whose names Glenn hadn't bothered to memorize.

Lark and Sparrow were also nearby, listening to their father speak with one-half boredom and one-half misguided respect. Henry put a hand on each of their heads to say something-- judging by Sparrow's smile and Lark's eye-roll, something affectionate-- before sending the boys off to join their friends. When he caught Glenn's eye he grinned, waving an arm in greeting with enough enthusiasm to involve his whole body in the gesture. Henry always seemed surprised to see him as a living human; he supposed it was a combination of him usually meeting the guys in demon-form and Henry literally seeing him die once before. Luckily, a long weekend was a short enough time for the demon glamor to hold up, so he’d be in human form with two unscarred eyes for the duration of the trip. As for the other half -- well, death is only permanent if you're a loser. Glenn gave him a nod in return. 

The slam of Jodie's hatchback trunk made him jump. "Well? Care to join us, Mr. Close?"

"Ladies first." Glenn waved his hand for Jodie to go first, earning himself an eyeroll. As they approached the bus, the teachers started loading the kids on, paired up in twos or threes. Nick, Grant and Terry ran up the steps about halfway through the line -- the other boys must have saved a spot for Nick. That was nice of them, but it left Glenn and Jodie bringing up the rear together.

So much for hanging with his boy all weekend. With Jodie around, Glenn couldn’t even sit with one of the single moms on the bus ride...

"Mr. Close, Mr. Foster," the teacher gave them a nod as she checked their names off the list. "Cutting it a bit close on time, aren’t we?"

Jodie glared daggers through the side of Glenn’s head, but he didn’t dignify it. "Fashionably late," Glenn responded, shooting her a pair of finger guns. She didn’t seem amused. "We made it in time, no worries! Would’ve been here faster if we didn’t have such a slow driver," he added, throwing an arm around Jodie’s shoulders.

Jodie stiffened. His teeth were grinding together audibly. "We would’ve been here faster if we could have left when I planned--"

Glenn slapped him on the back a little rougher than necessary, passing in front of him to get onto the bus.

---

The destination: Catalina Island. It seemed like a fancy-schmancy kind of place for a school field trip, but apparently they were trying to teach the kids about nature and the ecosystem and stuff like that. 

Since it was an island, though, after the two-hour bus ride, they had to load all the kids off the bus and onto a ferry for a two-hour boat ride. They were all beyond antsy, and it took them about a half an hour to get all the kids through the requisite bathroom breaks and on their way. Lark and Sparrow just about launched themselves out of the bus as soon as it stopped. Glenn felt similar, after two hours of tense silence next to Officer Narc.

"Don’t forget to wash your hands!" Henry called after them, watching his boys race into the bathroom. He sighed, shoulders rising and falling with familiar fatigue. 

"Man, those two never stop going, huh?"

Henry startled a little, but brightened when he saw it was Glenn. "Hey Glenn! Yeah, they, uh, they’re very... passionate."

"Passionate, yeah." Glenn scratched inside his ear with his pinky finger, which was easier when he had claws. He scanned the group for Nick, but none of the kids he bothered to remember were around. Must be in the bathroom. Jodie was there, though, interrogating one of the other adults with his stupid chest puffed out.

"So. You and Jodie, huh?"

"Me and Jodie? What, me and Jodie." Did he sound defensive?

"Nothing, nothing." Henry’s hands were up, placating. "I just didn’t expect to see you both here, is all. Usually when they say Nick’s guardian is a chaperone, it’s one or the other."

Chaperone. Glenn hated that word. "Believe me, man, I didn’t either."

"What did you tell the teachers about your, uh. Unique situation?"

"Not a damn thing." He shoved his hands in his pockets, wishing he was better at changing the subject. "As far as they know, Jodie and I are brothers. Anything else is none of their damn business."

"Right. Sorry." At least Henry had the decency to feel awkward about it. "Nick looks like he’s doing good with everything, though."

Glenn relaxed a bit, letting out a breath he hadn’t known he had taken. "Yeah, he’s a strong kid. He’s not so different from how he was before..."

"Yeah, yeah." Henry nodded. "I see a lot of you in him, you know."

"Really?" These days, he wasn’t too sure about that. He tried to size up if Henry was lying or not, but insight wasn’t always his strongest skill.

"Yeah, dude, totally!" Henry’s voice cracked a little, which made it sound a little less true, but Glenn opted to believe him anyway.

"Thanks, man. That means a lot."

---

Glenn didn’t get to talk to Henry any more once the ferry started its journey; the weedy little man turned green almost immediately upon setting foot on the rocking deck of the boat. He threw up once over the side before the staff ushered him into a little bathroom near the center of the boat, where the rocking was minimal and he could sit by the head in peace.

Since it was a Friday during school hours, there weren’t too many other people on the boat. A few of the kids stayed inside on the lower level, sitting by the little tables chatting about whatever teenagers chat about, but most of them sat up top to watch the waves. 

Glenn was planning on finding a spot near the back to kick his feet up and enjoy the salty air, but in the spot he would have picked, Nick was already sitting. The other kids didn’t seem to be around.

"Hey, Kiddo." Nick looked up as he approached, smiling. "Where’s the crew?"

Nick shrugged. "Lark and Sparrow had some kind of plan they wanted help with, while their dad’s not around. I figured I would leave them to it."

"Probably smart. Mind if I...?"

"Go for it." Nick made a little gesture for Glenn to sit, so he flopped into the seat next to his son.

"Sorry if I made you late for your trip." He still didn’t think he made them late, but if he’d known Nick had wanted to be there early, he would’ve tried to get there with a bit more haste.

Nick waved a hand. "No worries. I didn’t think we were that late. He’s just a little..."

"Yeah. A little." Glenn kicked his feet forward, crossing his ankles over one another. "Are things good at home, with him and your mom?"

"Huh? Yeah, it’s-- it’s fine, it’s good." Nick looked away, though Glenn couldn’t tell if it was to hide his face or to look out over the water. He directed his gaze over the water too. "It’s not too different to how it was before. Or, you know, in... one version of before."

"Right." He wondered if this was a smoking or non-smoking area. It was open air... "You been practicing your guitar lately?"

"Yeah!" Nick perked up a bit, glad to not be talking about home life any more. "I’ve been trying to convince Grant to learn the drums. I think he’d like it, and we could start a band!"

"Oh shit, dude, that would be rad as fuck!"

Nick nodded. "Right?"

"If you ever need a place to practice, there’s no curfew or decibel limit at Casa de Close."

"Da--Jodie doesn’t actually mind if I get kinda loud. He joins in with his bass sometimes. I dunno how much louder we’ll be with drums and a lead guitar, though..."

Right. Glenn’s Nick played lead guitar, but Jodie’s Nick took after the bassist in him with rhythm guitar instead. At least it was still a guitar.

"You have someone in mind for lead?"

"Well, uh..." Nick broke eye contact, scratching at his hairline where his horns usually interrupted it. His cheeks were turning a little red, but not demon-red. "There’s... this girl at school."

Glenn grinned. "A girl? Nick!!" He tossed an arm over Nick’s shoulders, hand coming around to muss his hair again. 

"Shhhh, don’t--"

"You’re growing up so fast!" 

"Daaaaaad!" He made a whining noise from the back of his throat, and Glenn laughed. "She’s just a friend! Like, a really cool friend who plays lead guitar and sings..."

Releasing his son, he leaned back again, keeping an arm around the back of Nick’s chair. "Right, of course, of course. Just for the band."

"Yeah, for the band." He was still blushing, but he was smiling too. He turned back towards the water, fiddling his hair between his fingers. It was getting long, which a part of Glenn was very happy to see.

He found his mind wandering, as a comfortable silence settled over them. He wondered what Jodie’s version of before was. Should he ask about Morgan, or would that be weird? He definitely had questions he could ask. He stared out over the water, hand behind Nick fidgeting and digging his nails against each other. He was still debating when he saw the water splash funny out in the distance. 

After a second of squinting and a few more splashes, he reached across Nick’s front to point. "Dude, is that a dolphin?"

---

The majority of the ferry ride was really, surprisingly nice. Nick and Glenn sat together, pointing out dolphins and jellyfish, talking about school and music and the newest show on TV. They didn’t talk about Jodie, or Morgan, or the Forgotten Realms, or Hell.

Everything was perfect, until the last fifteen minutes, when the teacher called everyone’s attention to pass out cabin assignments. The kids were in groups of six of the same gender, three bunk-beds to a cabin. They had been allowed to submit who they wanted to room with to the teacher, and she incorporated those requests into the assignments, so most of the kids had at least one friend in their room.

The adults’ cabins were smaller, three beds to a cabin. Glenn had almost pumped a fist in joy when he heard he was sharing a cabin with Marley Winters, but then the teacher added that their third was Jodie Foster. Then, to make it worse, when he asked Nick about Marley, what did he say?

That’s Danielle’s mom. The one who couldn’t make it.

So he had a cabin to himself, with Jodie Foster.

"Would you quit moping and move?" 

Glenn suddenly realized he had been staring at the empty third bed for... a while. Jodie stood behind him, holding his duffel bag half-open. He’d taken his stupid polo shirt off so he just had on a stupid wifebeater undershirt, tucked into his stupid pants with his stupid belt. His phone was clipped to his belt. What a loser. God. 

"Glenn. Can you please have your crisis once I’ve left to go to the showers? I’d like to get ready for bed."