The warm summer breeze blows through the street as Tim and Darik eye each other down, Tim’s eyes tracking the boy’s every move. His muscles tense as Darik walks forward, getting closer and closer to him casually. Tim readies himself to activate his wristband and leap away, first thing’s first, get Darik away from such a populated place, a populated place that includes Jane within its count.

  In slow motion, Darik raises his hand up to Tim, his hand flattening out, like he’s about to play paper in rock paper scissors.

  “Thanks.” Darik says begrudgingly, waiting for Tim to take his hand.

  “What?” Tim blinks.

  “God I hate you.” He takes back his hand and moves it through his hair, “So what? Do you think I’m fucking, incapable of being thankful? You saved my friends, saved me.”

  This certainly isn’t on Tim’s bingo card, and he feels like an asshole for being so taken off guard. Like Jane said, Darik isn’t a psycho, why would he walk up and start a super power fight with the person who saved his life?

  “Right, no I just... Have a lot going on and I'm on edge.”

  Darik rolls his eyes, “Whatever, look just take the fucking thank you, I don’t need an explanation.”

  “And I don’t need a thank you.” Tim dismisses. “That’s not why I do this.”

  “Yeah, it's to “make drugs extinct,” or some bullshit.” He rolls his eyes. “So, are me and mine safe? You have Cristine, right?”

  “She’s locked up.”

  “Locked up?” He scoffs, “How are you keeping someone like that “locked up?”

  “Its a whole process.” Tim shrugs.

  “Get to walking me through it then.”

  Tim looks around and sighs, leading the way into the apartment complex. They go and sit on some benches by a few overflowing trash cans that he and Jane would often sit at when both of their houses were too much, and Tim begins to go over everything. Not just the Supernatural either, and how salt and iron could keep it at bay, but the House Burners and Arch as well.

  “Salt? You’re fucking with me.”

  “I was expecting more of a reaction to the evil government cell and—”

  “Yeah, scary, nothing much to do about it though. Especially since you’ve been getting so much attention.” He rolls his eyes. “Like deleting videos and footage stops people from talking or something. There were rumors everywhere about you day one, and then the shit with the lightning guy, the clouds, power outages when the titties went down. Good job with fucking up all those windows by the way.”

  “The windows I broke while stopping Cristine? You’re welcome.” Tim narrows his eyes.

  “Tch, whatever, fine, sorry.” He shrugs. “The salt shit though, what? Is she trapped until a light breeze blows it away?”

  “It’s embedded into the stone work, in a basement, nothing is blowing it anywhere. Salt isn’t by default what you find in the grocery store you know? It’s rock, and when—”

  “Whatever, I get it.” He waves it off, then goes quiet for a while. “Look, I still think you’re a piece of shit, but we’re square now, alright?”

  Tim chews it over, then shrugs. “We’re ‘square’ as long as I don't catch you selling drugs again, especially to kids.”

  He glares at Tim and chews on his inner cheek. “It ain't that easy, but I’ll try.”

  Tim blinks, “Really?”

  “Yes, like I said, you saved my friends. Shit happens, but I'll try.”

  “Huh...” Another thing he didn’t expect, Darik was about as cooperative as Tim normally is, so hearing that he’ll give it a shot...

  “Thank you.” Tim nods to him.

  “Me trying is a thank you, keep yours to yourself.” Darik frowns.

  “Right...” This is going shockingly well, Tim barely even wants to punch him, there was still one more thing to cover though.

  “Do you know what powers you got?” Tim asks.

  “None that are as bizarrely related to me as yours. What the fuck are even the chances of you getting dinosaur powers?”

  “In context? Probably higher than we think.” He shrugs. “But anyways...”

  “It's hard to explain, and it's apparently not safe to show you.” He thinks for a bit. “I absorb stuff, into some hole that opens up on my chest. Well it ain't on my chest but you get the point. It only works on plants and animals. Then the stuff can come out, cover me up, turn me into it. There’s way more of it too, and I can pick and choose what goes where, and shit.”

  “Wow, you’re shit at this.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” He narrows his eyes.. “Anyways, that's what I do.”

  “What happened to the animals?” Tim takes an accusatory tone.

  “I didn’t kill a fucking dog or anything.” Darik scoffs, “I did it to some bugs, some roadkill, a dead hummingbird I found on the ground. With small stuff it just sucks them up and it mulches them I guess, with bigger stuff it just takes a chunk.” He points to a tree with a hole in it.

  Out of everything Tim has encountered so far this power was definitely one of the most out there, and he’s not sure if he’s getting the full scope of it from this description. He also passively wonders how the power would interact with him. If Darik took a chunk out of him, will whatever he “summons” have his powers? Is Tim’s anomaly tied to his physiology fully in that way? Probably—his blood has become green after all.

  “Right, well, if you practice anymore be careful, avoid people and cameras if you can.”

  “No shit.” Darik shrugs.

  Tim wrinkles his face at him and sighs. “Well, if that’s it?”

  “Yeah, that's it.”

  “Kay.” Tim gets up and resumes his journey home, glancing back at Darik for a moment.

  Despite his “gratitude” it’s clear they’re never going to get along, Tim isn’t sure if he wants to in the first place, but maybe Tim was worrying about him for no reason.

  That helps ease him more than he thought, today in general has been shockingly therapeutic. There’s still plenty on the horizon to worry about, like finding Creature and or Tesla, but Cristine and Darik seem to be off that list. Maybe he really can just take a relaxing weekend to recover...

  ***

  “A lot happen while I was gone?” Tim asks after he shuts the door to his and Jane’s bedroom.

  “If a lot you mean this bitch keeps trying to get me to go home, yes.”

  “Alicia? Just tell Delele or my mom to kick her out.”

  “I texted Delele but she hasn’t texted me back yet.” Jane rolls her eyes and yanks him into a hug.

  “Right, I forgot you have a phone. I need to get her to get me one.”

  “Be more grateful then.” She shrugs and Tim frowns at her with dead pan annoyance.

  “Sorry... it was a joke.”

  “You're fine my love.” His annoyance with her quickly fades as her cheeks redden.

  “Good, anyways, is Lance going to come so I can let the others know?”

  “He can, yeah.” Tim says as he sits at the foot of the bed, grabbing a comic book and flipping through it.

  “Ok, god he’s going to hate Robyn.”

  “What reasonable person wouldn’t.” Tim sighs.

  One thing all of his friends have in common, including Lance apparently, is a very dysfunctional family. As much of a problem as Tim’s mom is, as much disdain as he holds for her, in a lot of ways he’d pick her any day over Rowan’s mother.

  “Oh shit, can Lance pick us up?” Jane asks hopefully.

  “I’m sure he wouldn't mind.” Tim nods.

  “Thank god, we can avoid Robyn hanging a ride over our head then.” Jane sighs with relief as she sends a text.

  Jane crawls into the bed and goes behind Tim, putting her arms over him and tugging on him a little.

  “How’d things go at Lance’s anyways?”

  “Good I think, I almost lost my shit on Cristine buuuut, you pulled me out of it.” He puts a hand on her arm and squeezes it. “Inspired me to give a little speech that I'm hoping has her thinking.”

  “Really? Nice.” She stuffs her face into the nape of his neck.

  “I ran into Darik on the way home too, actually.”

  “What?” She looks up. “But I didn’t hear and crashes or feel any tremors.”

  “Haha.” He rolls his eyes. “But, it also went well, I might've been worrying for nothing.”

  “Hmm, not nothing. He’s still an asshole.”

  “Yeah yeah.” He feels Jane pull on him and lets her take him onto his back, on top of her. “Is this comfortable?”

  “Yes, no, shut up. We’re going to Bible land soon, let me have my cutesy shit.”

  “Sure.” That did make Tim think though, should he tell Rowan and Alex about them, and more importantly, about his powers?

  As Jane wiggles out from under him he decides that there’s not much point in telling them Jane and him are dating now, they’d figure out quickly and it’d be funny if they didn’t, well, if Rowan didn’t. There’s no way Alex isn’t going to catch on fast, but the PK stuff? There’s more reasons not to tell them than there were Jane, that’s for sure. Like Rowan having a big mouth, for example, he’d “keep a secret,” sure, in the sense he’d never purposely tell anyone, but he’s too open, too loud. He’d start talking about it in the middle of a public area and not realize other people are hearing him.

  He could tell Alex, and the quiet and reserved boy would never utter a peep about it unless the other person brings it up. But Alex also isn’t fond of secrets, within their tight knit group at least. When you’re friends for as long as they have all been, inter group drama and secrets are more or less inevitable, and Alex hated those short lived stints. That isn’t to say he wants them all to share anything and everything, but a secret was different, especially one that could affect others. He’d still keep them in the dark, for now at least, until Arch and Site 51 are less of a problem.

  ***

  Rowan and Alex live in the nice part of Lakeside, away from the meth labs and near the border to Alpine, the flat ground beginning their incline into hills and mountains. Their house is a nice, two story, white picket fence sort of home, and definitely gives off the impression that a perfect, Christian, classical nuclear family lives within. That fabrication lasts longer than Tim is used to as he, Jane, and Lance enter the home, Lance is new after all, Robyn will want to make a good impression.

  “Oh, this is gonna be good.” Jane smirks and nudges Tim as Robyn approaches the three of them, mostly honing in on Lance.

  Robyn is around Tim’s mother’s age, mid 40s, and despite her attempts, looks past it. She is small with wrinkly skin, especially around her eyes, and a crooked smile. The way she carries herself is the same way Tim imagines a noble woman from long ago would, if they entirely lacked any sense of grace, humility or composure anyways.

  “Heeey Tim, Jane...” he eyes linger on Jane, earning some confusion from her. “And you must be Lance, so tall!” She looks up to him.

  “It is nice to meet you, Mrs. Wayne.” Lance holds out his hand for a shake.

  “Oh such a gentleman.” She smiles wide and shakes his hand, then twirls around. “Do you like my outfit?” She fishes for compliments while gesturing down her black dress. “I’m going out with my husband for a nice dinner tonight and would love any thoughts.”

  “I have no opinion.” Lance says simply, waiting for someone to lead them out of the entryway.

  Robyn blinks in disbelief at the response, the genuine disinterest in his tone completely throwing her and, very likely, offending her to her core. Tim can barely suppress a laugh as the display and Jane has to cover her mouth as it twists into a smile and she starts quietly giggling.

  “Well then,” she stammers, then clears her throat. “The boys are up stairs, let Alex know when you’re hungry and he’ll whip you up something.”

  “Gotcha, thank you.” Tim takes the lead with Jane stepping forward to stand beside him before Robyn grabs her hand.

  “Jane, sweetie, can you come with me to Gale’s room?”

  “Why?” Jane quickly yanks her hand out of the woman's gasp, making Robyn’s face twitch.

  “Just come Jane.” She orders.

  “Kay.” Jane frowns and follows after the woman as Tim leads Lance towards Alex and Rowan’s room, extending his senses and locking his hearing onto Jane.

  “You didn’t mention how accomplished Alex is.” Lance says as he stops to look over something.

  “Huh, what?” Tim turns around and sees Lance looking over a trophy case, holding quite a few trophies and ribbons.

  “Oh, well... they’re not a huge deal to him.” Tim explains as he tries and multitasks talking to Lance and listening to Jane.

  “They aren’t? You mentioned he’s competitive, though...”

  “You should be much more careful about what you wear.” Robyn scoffs. “What were you thinking?”

  “What?” Jane asks with genuine confusion.

  “Tim.” Lance raises an eyebrow to him.

  “Huh? Sorry, I’m trying to focus on more than one conversation at once.” Tim says as he tunes back into Jane.

  “...not even low cut though?” Jane finishes a sentence

  “They’re boys, you don’t want to give them the wrong—”

  “Ah, apologies, I’ll wait.” Lance nods in understanding.

  “Sorry, I’ll let you gush about uuuuh, physics later to apologize.” Tim winks.

  “I'm not nearly passionate enough about—”

  “... eyes wander.” Janine finishes saying something.

  Jane scoffs, “Yeah, if their eyes wander than its a bigger fucking problem than—”

  “Do not cuss in my house Jane!” Robyn’s voice snaps for a moment, which isn’t nearly enough to phase Jane but sends Tim into more of a boil than it would normally. He almost storms off to give her a piece of his mind but stops himself. He doesn’t want to “earn” Rowan and Alex any flack, and Jane can handle herself.

  “Sorry.” Jane huffs, “look I’m just saying...”

  “Just change your fucking shirt Jane, or you can get out.”

  “Ok, a little flack.” Tim starts to head in their direction when the sound of someone sliding down the stair railing catches his attention and a weight is thrown onto his shoulders.

  “Finally, it's been forever!” Rowan hugs Tim and hops off him, grabbing Tim’s head and bringing their foreheads together. “What’s been wrong?”

  “Has something been wrong?" Tim questions as pulls away and waves to Alex, who casually and quietly makes his way down the steps.

  “Eh, Jane thought so last time she was over. I told her you were fine though.”

  “Spot on as always.” Tim winks.

  “I know... wait you always say I’m wrong with this sort of thing though, was something actually going on? Oh, hello Amazonian.” Rowan waves to Lance.

  “Nice to see you both again.” Lance gives both the boys a nod as Alex reaches Tim and gives him a fist bump.

  “Are you the reason Tim hasn’t been hanging out as much? Stealing our best friend!” Rowan playfully accuses.

  Lance considers his answer for a few moments, then nods. “In a sense.”

  “Wow, just out and admits it! I—” Rowan continues on as Alex nudges Tim’s arm.

  “Where’s Jane?”

  “Robyn dragged her off.” Tim sighs. “I’m sure we’ll hear about why soon enough.”

  “I have an idea already.” Alex frowns.

  “Something been going on?”

  “No,” Alex sighs.

  “Ooooh, gotcha, rough.” Tim sighs in return.

  Alex is referring to something common in their household, Robyn making things up just to cause drama. She is a very, very bored woman after all, stirring up nothing in the house was something for her to do besides... being a good mother or whatever task she was tired of doing.

  Jane shuffles towards them, shoulders drooping, wearing Rowan’s older sister’s shirt with big, white lettering in a fancy font that reads “Praise Jesus,” a look of utter defeat across her face.

  “You looting Gale’s things now? New low.” Rowan mocks her, causing her to take a step forward and raise her fist before Robyn sets her hands on Jane’s shoulder.

  “Oh I just had a conversation about her being more considerate to you boys, made her realise she should dress more modestly.”

  “She had a tank top on, it's summer.” Tim shakes his head and sighs.

  “Plus she’s hideous.” Rowan shrugs, Jane rolling her eyes.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Robyn, I don’t think—” Alex tries to say but she shuts him down with a cruel looking smile.

  “Alex, why don’t you go get everyone some snacks? I bought that charcuterie board special for you all.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Alex nods and starts to make his way to the kitchen.

  “Oh, and make me a sandwich too.” She calls after him as she goes to stand by Lance.

  “Yes ma’am.” Alex repeats.

  Tim goes to follow before Jane puts a hand on his arm and steps ahead of him, “I got it, protect Lance from the Waynes.” She winks.

  “Got it.” He smiles and winks back, watching her follow after Alex.

  “Oh! Notice Alex’s medals?” Robyn asks Lance as Tim returns to his and Rowan's side, Rowan suddenly shoulder checking him and Tim placing his hand on Rowan’s face and pushing him away.

  “Yes, I was asking Tim about them, he never mentioned Alex was interested in sports, his hobbies seem more video game related.”

  “Oh well, they were, but thankfully I stepped in and got him into this instead.” Robyn puffs out her chest with pride.

  “Stepped in?” Lance asks Robyn, Tim seeing him raise an eyebrow at her as he lets Rowan take him to the floor as they mock wrestle.

  “Oh you know, those video games are so bad for you, make you violent. This is much better, and he’s so good at it. You know his fencing coach says Alex is so very talented, I’m so glad I was able to take him in and nurture that.” Robyn places both hands over her chest and takes in a deep breath of satisfaction. “I still pray for him every night, he’s come such a long way.”

  “I’ve never heard the story of how he was adopted.”

  Tim forces Rowan’s face to the ground and is about to step in to end the conversation, as much as Tim loves Lance, he’s still the “new kid” and was not nearly close enough to Alex to hear that story. Luckily however, Robyn seems keen on talking about something else.

  “Oh it's an awful story, very sad, but it's just another thing the lord has helped him overcome. You know,” she places a hand on Lance’s arm, “his coach actually invited us to a huge party soon. I’ve always heard of them, always wanted to go, but the only one of my kids that was ever sporty is my oldest.” She sighs, “so I never got to meet him, until Alex, he really is such a blessing.”

  “Was Alex already interested in fencing?” Lance questions, thinking.

  “No no, like I said, I got him into sports.”

  “Fencing specifically? Or did you offer alternatives?” Lance asks.

  “His school has the best fencing team in the country, it was really the only option.”

  “And you were well aware of these parties beforehand?”

  Robyn starts to get a little suspicious of the line of questioning but continues, “Yes, before we even adopted him.”

  “It comes off as if you’re using him.” Lance puts his conclusion bluntly, Robyn blinking, dumbfounded.

  Tim saw it coming, more or less, and thought about stopping it but he was glad he didn’t as he sees the look on Robyn’s face, almost sending him into a burst of laughter. Rowan is totally stunned at first, before letting out a huge laugh, covering his mouth.

  “I, what? Ugh, no, I’d never!” She says with disgust.

  “Ah, sorry, I came to the wrong conclusion then.” He says casually as he turns back towards the trophy case.

  “And why are you two laughing?” Robyn stares daggers at the two wrestling boys on the ground.

  “Lance is a funny guy mom.” Rowan shrugs.

  “Ugh, after I let you have your friends over, eat my food, you two laugh at me.” She scoffs. “You know, I bet a lot of people think that about me, people are always talking! Maybe if you could accomplish anything, Rowan, like you brother, then they wouldn’t be so... focused on twisting the truth like that.”

  Rowan flinches at the mention of his eldest sibling, and Tim is about to to speak up for his friend, when Lance takes the conversation back.

  “How do those things correlate, Mrs. Wayne?” Lands turn back to the conversation at hand.

  “Because people are just awful! Listen to me Lance, you shouldn’t act like them, say things like that. Only God can judge people after all.”

  “Ah, I’ve offended you. Sorry, socializing is not my strong suit. I had no intention of judging you, I simply collected data via my questions and made a conclusion based off of said data, but in such a small amount of time, my conclusion could be lacking.”

  “It's very lacking.” She huffs as Alex and Jane return from the kitchen, Alex offering a plate to Robyn who quickly snatches it away and starts digging into it. “Thank you sweety, a little too much mayo but it's good.” Some food dribbles from her mouth and onto her dress. “Oh God damn it, now I need to go change again for dinner!”

  “Don’t use the Lord's name in vain.” Jane says, smirking.

  Robyn doesn’t offer a retort but stares daggers into Jane as she turns in a huff and walks off.

  “You know, you're better at reading people than you give yourself credit for.” Tim gets up from the floor and brushes himself off.

  “Yes and no.” Lance shrugs.

  “More yes.” Rowan laughs as he pats Lance on his back. “You basically nailed it.”

  “What’d we miss?” Jane asks before throwing some cheese cubes into her mouth.

  “I apparently—“

  “No no, shhhh.” Rowan cuts Lance off. “That was special, that’s just for us.”

  “Very well.”

  “Greeeeat, they’re bonding.” Jane complains with her mouth full before heading to the stairs and holding up the tray. “Hurry up before I eat it all.”

  Rowan’s and Alex’s room, even with the two boys sharing it, dwarfs Tim’s by a good margin. If Tim has to guess he’d say it’s roughly four times as big, and can probably fit his Utahraptor form. The space is a near even split between the two boys, though on occasion some of Rowan's things spill over to Alex’s. Unlike his parents and two older siblings, Rowan is very determined to not smother out Alex’s identity, but the boy’s messy and scattered, so sometimes it can’t be helped.

  Rowan’s side of the room reflects this, his dirty clothes are scattered about around crates of disorganized figures, electronics, etc. He goes through one, pulling out a childhood stuffed animal, a bag of zip ties, and an ethernet cable before finally finding a classic Gameboy and tossing it over to Alex, who sits on his bed and flicks its switch on.

  Alex’s side of the room is the total opposite from his adopted brother’s. Clean and organized, bordering on spotless if it wasn’t for a few dishes on his desk that he’s failed to bring down. Alex doesn’t have nearly as many interests out on display as compared to Rowan, or Tim for that matter, he’s much more subdued. A few fighting game posters decorate his wall, and by the head of his bed sits a Banette, Beelzemon, and Heartless plushie. Tim chuckles a bit, always finding the kindest of his friends' weakness for the edgy amusing.

  “So, trying to seduce us huh?” Rowan snorts at Jane as he grabs some grapes and starts throwing them into the air, trying to catch them but failing each time.

  “Not just you, your dad too.” Jane rolls her eyes.

  “Yeah, mom’s decided that she suspects he’s cheating on her.” Rowan chuckles.

  “I’m shocked she didn’t make that up earlier.” Tim shrugs.

  “Its been causing... more fights than usual.” Alex sighs. “She even told Grace that her shorts were too short when she came to visit.”

  “Seriously?” Jane scoffs, “Cause Roland is going to be fiending for his own daughter.”

  “Nah, just for you.” Rowan teases.

  “Your mother is actively insane.” Jane scoffs.

  Roland, Rowan’s father, is far from perfect but he definitely isn’t as awful as Robyn’s fantasies often made him. If anything he’s too faithful to her, in the sense that everything he did is for her and he made little time for himself, aside from drinking on the weekends when Robyn wasn’t dragging him to parties, dinners, or church.

  “Do things like this happen often?” Lance looks around the room.

  Alex lets out a heavy sigh, “Yes, sorry about her Lance.”

  “I am unbothered, aside from mild concern for everyone’s mental welfare. Perhaps she should seek therapy?”

  “That’s what church is for silly.” Rowan hops from his bed onto his office chair, sending it into a spin. “Ha! Taller than you now! Anyways, you don’t need professional help when God can just heal you, duh!”

  “That is not the way God works.” Lance states, “also I find your fixation on my height odd. Surely there’s others at your school who are six one or more.”

  “Yeaaaah, anyways!” Rowan goes to jump from the chair back to the bed, but Jane kicks it out from under him, causing him to trip and fall to the ground with a loud thud.

  “Eat shit.” Jane snickers and Rowan leaps at her, but her foot shoots out and lands square in his chest.

  “Ack, bitch. I’m going to...” Rowan's cut off Tim throws a pillow at his face a little too hard.

  “Ah! What the hell!” Rowan rubs his nose.

  Tim shrugs, “Don’t call her a bitch.”

  “Huh? Why do you care?” He asks as he takes the pillow and swings it at Jane, knocking her food out of her hand.

  “I’ll kill you.” Jane grabs the pillow and enters a tug of war for the weapon.

  Alex raises an eyebrow as he watches the struggle then turns to Tim, giving him a smug smile.

  “Shut up,” Tim turns away and blushes.

  “How long do you think it’ll take Rowan to notice?” Alex chuckles.

  “Who knows, he’s pretty dense.”

  “You too.” Alex says.

  “In retrospect I can’t argue.” Tim winks.

  “The hints were beyond obvious.” Alex chuckles.

  “While I’ve only seen you two interact a limited time,” Lance chimes in, “I too, thought they were obvious. I just assumed that I was incorrect when you told me that—”

  “What are you guys talking about?” Rowan asks as he loses the pillow.

  “Nothing.” Alex smiles and puts a finger up to his mouth and looks at Lance.

  “Indeed, nothing.”

  “Great, now they’re bonding.” Rowan almost rolls his eyes right before his skull is rattled by a pillow strike.

  The night goes on and Tim hears Robyn and Roland head out for dinner, leaving the house to themselves, assuming Gale didn’t return from whatever friend’s house she’s at. The five of them make their way downstairs and raid the fridge, Tim taking it upon himself to make an unholy amount of breakfast food that he decimates half of himself. He leaves plenty for his friends, but the exhaustion from the mark makes him want to go for seconds, after all, his powers are somehow tied to being fed.

  Lance and Alex stay mostly quiet as Rowan and Jane go on about their school life, but the two eventually break and make idle conversation.

  “Forgive me, I'm not much of a conversationalist.” Lance says, taking a sip of ice water.

  Alex chuckles, “It's alright, what friend wouldn’t want to know each other's favorite color?”

  “I suppose we should share our favorite dinosaurs?” Lance asks Tim.

  “Therizinosaurus.” Tim nods.

  “Allosaurus.” Jane says. “Man we watched that documentary so many times.”

  “Ballad of Big Al is a classic.” Tim winks.

  “I don’t have one really, no strong feelings.” Alex chuckles, earning a sigh from Tim.

  “Pterodactyl.” Rowan puts on a shit eating grin and looks at Tim.

  “Ah, I see you seek violence.” Tim says as he gets up and walks around the table, Rowan putting his hands up to defend but Tim is already on him, putting him in a headlock.

  “Hm, is it because it's a pterosaur?” Lance asks.

  Jane sighs and starts talking like she’s reading off of a script, “There’s no such species of pterosaur called a Pterodactyl, when people say Pterodactyl they’re usually thinking of Pteranodon.” She takes another deep breath and continues, “Pterodactyl comes from a shortening of an actual species named Pterodactylus that got popularized in the general public, so now people often refer to any pterosaurs, incorrectly, as Pterodactyl.”

  “This comes up often?” Lance asks Alex.

  “Often enough.” He chuckles.

  “Peculiar.”

  The fatigue really starts setting in around nine pm, causing Tim to yawn up a storm far earlier than he normally would.

  “What the hell? Tired already?” Rowan asks as they lean back on his bed, playing a round of Smash Bros.

  “I've been pretty busy lately with... school. Been getting a lot less sleep.”

  “Just school?” Alex smirks over from where he watches Lance disassemble a few old laptops Rowan had fished from their garage.

  Tim rolls his eyes and glances at Jane, who hides her face with her phone.

  “Yep, not doing anything else at the moment.”

  “Do you want to go nap in the hammock?” Alex asks. “I’ll sit with you till you fall asleep, I wanted some quiet time anyways.”

  Tim yawns and nods, “Sure, let's go.”

  The Wayne’s backyard isn’t as impressive as their house, it being relatively small compared to the rest of the neighborhood, and the only reason it looks well kept is because of Alex with some help from Rowan. It did have a few stand out features though, an above ground, small pool in its center and a chicken coop by its back corner, behind a short tree on which the hammock hangs.

  Tim hops into the blue and white, floral pattern hammock and starts swinging it back and forth, yawning and staring past the leaves to what stars are visible. For fun, he zooms his vision onto the biggest source of light, pushing it as far as he can, but un-shockingly doesn’t catch a glimpse of whatever sun burns out in the distance.

  Alex brings over a metal chair and unfolds it, planting it by Tim and taking a seat, joining the stargazing. They sit there for a long time, in silence, letting the rising breeze cool the sticky, summer night air. The quiet is eventually broken as the fluttering of wings comes through the night, a few crows suddenly landing near Alex, and hopping up to him. Alex reaches into his pocket and brings out a few peanuts, offering one to each, the birds quickly snapping them up then flying up to the chicken coup.

  “Still jealous birds will just approach you.” Tim chuckles.

  Alex chuckles back, “It's only ever been crows, I’d rather it be cats and dogs, like you.”

  “Eh, crows are basically cats with wings.”

  “I guess.” He smiles and watches the birds. “You know I was really scared of them at first?”

  “You didn’t show it.” Tim says.

  “I don’t think I was showing much of anything back then.” He gives a sad chuckle.

  God Tim wishes his friend’s memory wasn’t as good as it is, wishes that he wasn’t so mature, so aged, by what they’re about to talk about.

  “It was just... ominous.” Alex continues. “After I found mom, they just started showing up, like a bad omen. I even thought they were hallucinations, till you saw them too.”

  “I just wish they didn’t hate me, I just want to pet them.” Tim sighs.

  Alex chuckles, then sighs, “I feel kind of bad about it, but sometimes it still sort of feels like they are actually omens.”

  “Its just superstition Alex, I mean, it seems like they’re always around you, they can’t always be an omen.”

  “That's why I feel bad about it.” He chuckles. “Still, especially around now? It just feels...” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Tim asks.

  “We have so many times before...”

  “Yeah, cause it almost always helps. I’m here for you man.”

  Alex thinks it over, then brings his knees up to his chest and lets out a heavy sigh.

  “Well the nightmares are back, not as often, and they seem foggier, but I still see her face so... clearly, bulging and blue.” Alex goes quiet for a while, but Tim doesn’t push. They’ve done this before, and probably will countless more times, pushing isn’t the way to handle it.

  Alex swallows, then starts up again after a pained breath, “But there’s a different dream now, one with my sisters. It's not a... scary one, not unless the two start to mix, but it still wakes me up.”

  “What happens in it?” Tim sits up in the hammock now, not wanting to give his exhaustion the chance to take him.

  “They all go, all into a car, one by one by one. It's always the same order too, Madison, Tabby, then finally Abby.”

  That was the order they each left in real life, Robyn only kept, only ever intended to keep, Alex. Madison was, is, very, very troubled, she had endured the brunt of their Mother’s abuse, leaving her psyche fractured. Robyn only kept her around for as long as it looked good, then shipped her off to an orphanage when she “just couldn’t handle it.”

  Tabitha, Tabby, was basically a baby, the youngest and only 2 at the time, a family from their church took her in quickly. Not long after, they moved to somewhere in Oregon. Abigail stuck around awhile longer, and they all thought that Robyn would change her mind and keep her with her brother, but, turns out their Pastor’s brother, out in Texas, was having trouble conceiving a child, and Abby was such a wonderful kid...

  “When I wake up, it's not like when I see mom, when I see them there's this tightness in my chest.” He balls his shirt in his hand, “It just feels like... I’m drowning.”

  Tim swings the hammock and hops out of it, and hugs Alex tight.

  “Drowning huh, well, call me a life jacket then.”

  Alex chuckles and leans into it. “Thanks Tim.”

  “Anytime Alex.”

  The embrace continues for a long time, before Tim sleepily returns to the hammock, waving to Alex as he heads back inside. Tim’s eyelid grow heavier and heavier and his body relaxes, the comfy breeze washing over him. The last thing he remembers before drifting off asleep, is the two crows sitting on top of the chicken coup, calm now, and staring. Tim feels a tingle of unease, but it comes too weak and too late as he drifts off to sleep.