MB Short Story: Gone Fishing (Patreon)

Featuring: Grayson and Kent, with appearances by Nick and Ferro 

Inspired By: This weekend's most live recent Q&A, where the subject of unlikely pairs going camping got brought up

* * * *

If asked, Grayson would’ve been hard-pressed to explain the elaborate series of events which had led to him driving an RV. Although, to clarify, the RV wasn’t the mystifying part—the camper had been rented two months in advance—but rather how, in addition to Nick, Gray had ended up playing chauffeur to a pair of coworkers whom he barely knew.

He and Nick were supposed to be taking this trip with Ellery and Sally, not with two near strangers. But then Ellery had cancelled, explaining with much handwaving and over-earnest emphasis that—although she and Sally had so been looking forward to sleeping in a drafty tent on the rocky ground—it had just so happened that, totally unforeseeably, they’d won tickets to see their favorite band, Tiny Apocalypse of Hector, at a live concert that unfortunately just so happened to occur during the same week which Gray and Nick had taken off work for the camping trip. What a shocking coincidence!

Her and Sally’s decision to bail had, Ellery repeated at least five times, in no way been deliberate. Sally had called in to a radio show, and she’d won the tickets. Yes, Ellery claimed, that was precisely what had happened. The girls had most definitely not paid an exorbitant price to a scalper at the last minute due to their mutual aversion to mosquitos.

Gray had accepted Ellery’s excuse with a polite smile, despite the fact that he’d heard less dodgy excuses from the Ment convicts whom he’d apprehended. Since he had already rented the RV (it had two beds, since Sally had already made her aversion to sleeping outside known) and bought camping supplies for four, Ellery suggested that he bring Kent and Glitch instead.

“Ever since they graduated and the NPO Program became public knowledge, there’s been some pushback,” Ellery had explained. “Having the two lead members of UCRT take Kent and Glitch under their wing on vacation might help the other AMOs accept them as part of Unity.”

She’d had a point, so Grayson had issued the invite. Kent appeared genuinely excited at the chance to take his dogs to the beach (at least, that’s how Gray interpreted the man’s small smile); Glitch only agreed on condition that he got to sleep in the RV.

“We’re out of marshmallows!” Glitch hollered from the back of the RV.

“They mysteriously disappeared,” Nick added in a too-innocent voice.

Grayson sighed, but didn’t take his eyes off the road. He’d bought three entire bags, for crying out loud. How did they go through three large bags of marshmallows over the course of a two hour drive?

“I saw a gas station about twenty minutes back,” Nick continued helpfully. “They probably sell marshmallows there.”

Since the campground was only five minutes, Gray made the executive decision to keep driving so as not to lose more daylight in order to set up his and Kent’s tents (Nick, like Glitch, had insisted on sleeping in the RV as soon as it became clear that the girls weren’t coming). When they arrived at their site, the first thing Gray did was take a deep breath. Hungry Bolder State Park wasn’t as densely wooded as some of the places he’d visited on the West Coast, but the air just different this far away from the city. As if, for the first time in months, he could inhale and completely fill his lungs.

He noticed Kent doing much the same thing after he’d finished laying out the dog beds (the shih tzus themselves were still snoozing in the back of the RV, having been dosed with what Kent called “doggy dramamine” in order to not get anxious while on the busy highway. Kent was looking through the trees and towards the lake, his expression serene as he watched the setting sun.

“Does Illinois have snakes?” Glitch demanded, stepping tentatively over a suspicious-looking twig. “Are there snakes here?”

“Rattlesnakes,” Nick said with a smirk.

Glitch shuddered.

While Kent took his dogs for a walk, and Glitch tried to keep his feet from touching the ground, Gray and Nick set up the tents. Or rather, Gray set up one of the tents, and Nick managed to bend the rod of the other so badly that Gray had to use his telekinesis to undo the damage.

“Why don’t you and Glitch drive back for some marshmallows?” Gray suggested, more to get the two out of the way than any overwhelming urge for s’mores.

Thankfully, Nick and Glitch seemed just as eager to leave as Gray was to get rid of them. When Kent returned from his walk, he looked towards the missing camper with a frown.

“Dog food is over by the blue tent.” Gray nodded towards the bag of kibble and bowls which he’d already set out. “The others went marshmallow hunting.”

Kent snorted.

“Fine,” Gray admitted. “I was afraid that if they stayed, one of them would end up doing lasting damage to the tent.”

Kent looked surprised. “Ferro tried to set up a tent?”

“Most the mangling was done by Nick.”

Kent nodded, as if that made more sense. Which Gray supposed it did.

“How do you feel about hot dogs for dinner?” Gray asked. “I put a few on the grill.”

“Can you make an extra one for Annie and Cass?” Kent smiled at the two dogs, who were now fully awake and dancing energetic circles around his feet as he picked up the bag of dry food.

“Already did.” Gray frowned at his phone. “I texted Glitch asking how long I should do his vegan sausages, but his response was cryptic.”

Kent walked over to look at the screen over his shoulder. His dark brows rose upon reading the text from Glitch. “What’s a ‘marshmallow emergency’?”

* * * *

“We found a marshmallow specialty store in Hammond which gets great reviews.” Having decided that it took too long to text, Nick had defaulted to telepathy to tell Gray about why he and Glitch had been gone for two hours.

“Isn’t Hammond in Indiana?” Gray asked.

“Is it?” Nick’s thoughts had that same too-innocent tone that he’d had when claiming the marshmallows had ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. “Anyhow, we’ll be back soon.”

“Why are you going to Indiana for marshmallows?” Gray started to demand, but it was too late—Nick had already cut the connection. He texted the question just in case, but he doubt that Nick would look at his phone.

“Ferro says that they’re seeking the Holy Grail,” Kent read from his own cell. He shrugged and set his phone down on the stool next to his chair.

He sat near the fire, keeping one eye on Annie and Cass and making sure that their long leashes (which were tied to a tent nail as per campground regulations) didn’t get tangled together as they attempted to play fetch with each other’s tails. Gray joined him, feeling uncomfortably full due to having eaten both his and Nick’s share of the hot dogs. Kent had taken one bit of Glitch’s veggie sausage, then promptly given it Annie and Cass. Annie had likewise turned up her nose, but Cass had happily devoured the whole thing.

“Nick claims that they’re still looking for marshmallows.” Gray reclined his camping chair so that he looked directly up at the night sky above. Kent did the same.

Neither of them spoke; the starry canvas framed by treetops was too perfect to spoil with words. It was on when the fire began to die, and the dogs curled around Kent’s legs for warmth, that the two men stood.

“I guess we should head in then,” Gray said. “Do you have everything you need for the dogs?”

Kent nodded. “I got everything out earlier. Do you think that they’ll ever find their way back to the campsite?”

Gray glanced once more at the sky. “It would be a shame if they missed this. But there’s always tomorrow night.”

* * * *

When Gray’s alarm went off the next morning, he discovered a new text from Nick: “Stopped in New Buffalo for the night. Still looking for marshmallows.”

How the bloody hell had those two ended up in Michigan? It was two states over, for crying out load. Shaking his head with exasperated bemusement, Gray unzipped his tent’s flap as quietly as possible. He liked to get up early when camping to appreciate the sunrise, but the last time he’d attempted to rouse Nick to join him, his invitation had been met with a pillow to the face. He didn’t know Kent well enough to determine whether he was a morning person or not, but it was better to be considerate and quiet than to risk having the shih tzus sicced on him.

To his surprise, Kent was already outside, fully dressed and with both dogs on a leash.

“Up to see the sunrise?” Gray asked.

Kent shook his head. “The dogs got excited by the birdsong.”

“Ah.” Gray wasn’t certain what to say. It wasn’t as if he and Kent were friends. Other than Operation Hemera two years ago, they were barely even coworkers.

Kent seemed to pick up on his awkwardness. He gestured to the two fishing poles which Gray had left propped up against his chair. “I’ll join you.”

"You fish?"

“No. But since Ferro and Nick are in Ohio, I have time to learn.”

“Ohio?” Gray pulled out his phone and reread Nick’s text. Sure enough, it said New Buffalo, which a quick GPS lookup confirmed was in Michigan. “Last I heard, they were spending the night in Michigan.”

Kent passed Gray the dogs’ leashes and took out his own phone. He showed the Gray the text that he’d received: “Don’t wait up, Kenzie! Justice and I are staying in Buffalo for the night. Will c u 2morrow.”

“The closest Buffalo is in Ohio,” Kent said. “Ferro’s usually better at lying.”

Gray shrugged. “Nick isn’t.”

The two men exchanged a look of complete understanding. Neither had any clue where their respective best friend was, but both could recognize that they were on the receiving end of a collaborated cover story.

Gray handed Kent back the dog leashes, and grabbed the fishing poles. “Let’s head out. Maybe by the time we get back, they’ll have returned to Illinois.”

“If they ever left,” Kent said.

* * * *

The lake was deserted enough that Kent risked letting Antigone and Cassandra off their leads. The two dogs splashed in the shallows, disturbing any fish that the men might catch on their lines. But Gray got the impression that Kent didn’t mind, that he just enjoyed the serene silence of being out in nature, and truthfully Gray felt the same.

After having received new texts from both Glitch and Nick—one which claimed to have been slowed by a car crash, and the other by road construction—Kent and Gray turned their phones off. Nick could always reach out with his telepathy should anything truly urgent happen, or if the two missing persons ever got their story back on the same page.

As for the campers, they spent the entire day fishing. Unsuccessfully, of course, due to the presence of the dogs, but it was more about the view than the catch. Gray had to admit, as much as he loved Nick, there was something nice about the way that Kent was content to not talk. His company was peaceful.

Twilight set in. Both men had their feet hanging off the side of the dock, and the dogs had curled in their laps, having exhausted themselves from spending the entire day scaring off fish. Gray absently scratched behind Annie’s ear, who yawned happily and nestled against his chest.

“We should do this again,” he said suddenly.

“Go fishing?” Kent asked.

Gray shrugged. “Sure. Or take your dogs to another one of the national parks. I’ve tried to convince Nick to go camping with me regularly, but you’d think I was asking him to sleep naked in a poison ivy bush given the way he reacts each time.”

The corner of Kent’s mouth lifted in a slight grin. “Ferro’s afraid of snakes. And of going without wifi.”

They both laughed, their affection for their friends tying with their current exasperation over their disappearance. Kent stood up, dislodging a grumpy Cassandra.

“I’d like that,” he said. “To see some of the other parks, that is.”

Gray grinned. Something occurred to him as they headed back to the campsite, something which was entirely too cheesy to ever vocalize, but that he sincerely felt nonetheless: today, his fishing hook may have gone unused, yet he’d still managed to catch a new friend.

* * * *

Stay tuned next week to learn what Glitch and Nick were really doing.