Archive of Our Own

“Oh, woah, hey guys, look.” Glenn gestured with one hand at the windshield, drawing everyone’s attention to the large bird that was meandering around the clearing they were parked in. “They have geese here.”

“I don’t know that that sentence has ever been used in a reassuring way before,” Ron said, which brilliantly summed up their situation, and Henry let out a broken laugh.

They were squirreled away in the van, eating some supper that Darryl had managed to rustle up for them as they crowded together in the front two rows of seats. They had been in… Faerûn, someone had called it?… long enough now to not be entirely panicking, but still short enough that they were mostly panicking. Their children had been abducted. They had fought several people and caused enough death that Henry half-considered turning to religion at night. Though they hadn’t had any real encounters with the local wildlife, they had seen odd shapes lurking in the forests and the valleys they journeyed through.

And now, there was a goose somehow, because why wouldn’t there be?

“Well, I’m not entirely reassured, but it could be good meat,” Darryl said, tilting his head as he stirred the vaguely good-tasting mushroom soup he had put together. He had been turned inwards so that he could face Henry and Ron in the backseat, but now, he sat forward in the driver’s seat. “We know geese are tasty.”

“We don’t know that it’s the same kind of geese as back home, gang,” Henry pointed out, and Ron sighed.

“You’re just saying that because you don’t wanna eat it.”

“No, I’m saying that because we’re literally on a different plane of existence!”

“Why don’t you go talk to it?” Glenn butted in, leaning back. He rolled the passenger seat window down as he started feeling his pockets for his lighter and Darryl made a face. Across the clearing, the goose paused and turned its head to look at them. “Go turn into a goose and see what it’s up to. Geese aren’t usually alone like that, it’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

“I can’t talk to-” Henry started to protest before sighing as Glenn lit up a joint. “Well, I don’t wanna get high off of your secondhand smoke right now anyways. I’ll go check out the goose.”

He opened the door and shifted into a smaller form, leaving Ron to pull closed the door behind him. He hopped down to the ground, fluttering his wings and fumbling over himself. He hadn’t taken an avian form before, and while it came more naturally than he would have thought, he still had to take a few stumbling steps before he got used to counterbalancing with the wings. The goose he was approaching regarded him with cold beady eyes that betrayed an intelligence that was intimidating. Henry pretended he didn’t notice, waddling his way up to it.

“Hey, bud! What are you up to over here?”

The goose cocked its head.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m being so rude, let me introduce myself!” Henry straightened his neck and flattened his feathers, doing his best to look harmless. “I’m Henry Oak, and I-!”

The goose reared up and started honking with a fury, its wings spread out like a warning flag. Henry let out a startled squawk, tumbling tail feathers over head as he tried to scramble back, and he could hear the sound of his compatriots reacting back in the van. At least one person was cackling, which he didn’t appreciate, but it gave him a sound to latch onto and follow. He ran as fast as he could without flying and the goose chased him the entire way.

“Oh, fuck,” Glenn said and through the windshield, Henry could see him throw his joint down onto the dashboard. He threw himself half out the window, leaning out at the waist and throwing open his arms. “Come on, Henry! Go, go, go!”

Henry let out a wordless honking noise and started flapping his wings, skipping against the ground and taking off in the air for a few seconds. He hit the ground, took a few shaky steps, then took off again with more confidence. Darryl whooped, starting to rev the car, and Glenn caught Henry out of the air and yanked him into the car. Darryl slammed the stick into drive, the car lurched and shot off across the field, and Ron continued cry-laughing in the backseat as they beat a quick retreat.

“You almost got your butt kicked by a bird,” Ron wheezed out, wiping at his eyes, and Henry harrumphed. “Oh my God, that was great.”

Glenn let out a breathless laugh, leaning back in his seat, and Henry fumbled out of his arms to tumble into the back. He shifted back into a human as he hit the seat, knocking his knee against some hard plastic and letting out a hiss of pain. Ron shoved him away, still fighting down his amusement, and Henry turned over so he could stare at the goose out through the window.

Strangely, it seemed calm now, just staring at them in silence. Henry shuddered.

“I’m sorry, you’re telling us that soulmates are real in this world?”

They were in a bustling village square, wandering through a series of tents that had been set up by vendors to hawk their wares. Henry had been poking through some of the local craftsmen’s work, trying to judge if his companions would notice if he spent some of their hard-earned coin on some new necklaces. The wooden beads here were fantastic. The style of them felt strangely familiar.

Before he could make the purchase though, he had heard a loud exclamation of surprise from a nearby set-up with hanging meat, and he scrambled over to make sure Glenn and Ron weren’t getting them kicked out of another district of Faerûn.

“Yes?” The butcher looked at them with an exasperated look on her face. “Geese chase you to your soulmate. Everybody knows that. That’s why it’s illegal to hunt them.”

“But soulmates aren’t real,” Darryl said, just as confused as she was. “I mean, not in our world, at least. I’m sorry, we’re not from around here! Is this like, a scientifically proven fact, or folklore?”

Ron cleared his throat. “Well, actually, Sammy and I are soulmates.”

The butcher waved a hand at Ron as if that proved anything and Henry sidled up to Glenn, tapping the back of his hand against Glenn’s arm. “Hey, what are we talking about over here?”

“Apparently, people around here believe that geese chase you into the arms of your soulmate,” Glenn said, giving Henry a blatant wink. It took him a moment to remember his swift getaway into Glenn’s arms and he scoffed, warmth flooding his face. Despite trying to play annoyed, he couldn’t fight down a grin, and Glenn nudged him. “What do you figure that says about us, huh?”

“I dunno, Glenn, what does that say about us?” Henry leaned in so their shoulders touched, giving Glenn his best attempt at a roguish grin, and Glenn’s cheeks went pink. “You seemed to have some ideas.”

“You look like a condescending kindergarten teacher when you grin like that,” Glenn informed him, looking away, and Henry laughed.

Dimly, he was aware of Darryl and Ron still talking to the butcher and answering a question from her: “Oh, yeah. It chased Henry over here.”

He came back to attention, perking up, and the butcher glanced between him and Glenn. “So the goose chased you. Are you from this world, then, even if the rest of you aren’t?”

“I’m…” He paused, considering what he had heard from his father throughout their time in the Forgotten Realms. “Uh, unclear, I guess. I don’t remember much before 20, and at that point, I was somehow on our plane of existence instead of here.”

“So you wouldn’t know if you had a goose growing up?”

In the back of his mind, that tugged on some repressed memory. A library. A portal of some kind. A large bird nudging him with care to step forward.

He blinked, shuddered as an odd wave of dizziness swept over him, and shrugged. “I don’t, uh, I don’t know. Sorry.”

“Hm.” She eyed him, then looked at Glenn. “And the goose you met recently chased you to him?”

“Okay, hey,” Glenn said, waving his hands. “It chased him towards our van, I just happened to grab him. That could mean anything. Maybe it just wanted us to drive somewhere else closer to his soulmate.”

The look on her face was doubtful, but she nodded. “I suppose that’s always an option, yes. The geese work in mysterious ways.”

‘Mysterious ways’ was a funny way of putting annoyingly persistent.

Henry wasn’t sure how the goose kept catching up with them. One moment, everything would be clear. The next, an irate waterfowl would be nipping at his heels and kicking up a fuss, undeterred by Henry’s own kicking in return.

By now, several things had become clear: Henry was absolutely born and raised in Faerûn. None of the others had geese chasing them around, it was just Henry. The only thing that kept the goose at bay when holing up in the Odyssey, which Henry had to assume was because the goose didn’t know what a car was. And his goose always chased him back to the other dads.

He had a feeling that that last one was a bit more specific, but if Glenn didn’t want to acknowledge it, then Henry wasn’t going to either. Darryl and Ron couldn’t exactly be the ones to bring it up, though they were more than aware of it. There was just too much else going on to properly focus on the Branta canadensis in the room.

The longer they spent in Faerûn, the hotter the weather had been getting. The area they were in didn’t seem to experience summer the same way that California did - they certainly weren’t at risk of anything bursting into flames - but it was getting too hot to sleep in the van most nights. Sleeping outside didn’t feel much better, but the breeze was nice, and Henry had always been a fan of camping.

The stars were beautiful on Faerûn. He was starting to remember the constellations, so far removed from the ones on Earth.

“That one over there is the bow of an elven king,” he said, pointing and tracing his finger through the air. Glenn hummed wordlessly, leaning around behind Henry so he could see the stars. “You see the four stars ones that form a curve?”

“Yeah, I think so.” When Glenn tilted his head, his entire body moved with it. Henry could feel his long hair brush against Henry’s shoulder as Glenn craned his neck. “That’s neat.”

“It really is!” Henry let out a soft, happy sigh. “It’s beautiful, how even across planes of existence, people still try to find stories in the sky, huh?”

He could feel Glenn looking at him and he turned back, taken off guard by the gentle smile on Glenn’s face. When they met eyes, the expression dropped, and Glenn coughed into his fist. “It’s baller, dude. You reckon they believe in aliens here, too?”

Even in the dark, Henry could tell that Glenn was blushing. He wasn’t sure what to do that that information, so he just played along. “You know, I’m not sure. We should ask around next time we’re in a town, huh?”

It was late at night, and Darryl and Ron had already fallen asleep. Henry and Glenn still sat around the rudimentary fire pit they had dug out, close enough that their legs brushed whenever they moved. Earlier in the evening, Glenn had been bothering him by kicking at his ankles. Now, Henry toed at Glenn in return, trying to tease the smile back out of him. Glenn pulled his feet up and shifted away, swinging his legs under himself to adjust into a kneeling position, and Henry laughed.

“Glenn, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“What? Please. Nothing,” Glenn said, waving him off. Henry just squinted at him, keeping on an open smile, and Glenn turned his head away. “I mean, just, you know. I’ve been… Oh. Hey, your friend is back.”

Henry sighed but leaned forward to peek at the goose, who was predictably standing at the far side of the clearing. In the darkness, it just looked like a mass of shadow, and Henry gave a dramatic shiver to make Glenn snicker. “I can’t tell if I hate it more when it's chasing me, or when it’s looming in the distance.”

“I definitely hate it more when it's chasing you. So fucking noisy.” Glenn clapped him on the back and stood up, stretching his arms up to the sky. “I’m gonna go get some more firewood for cooking in the morning. You wanna come with?”

“Well, I don’t have much choice if the goose is there, do I?” Henry responded, not thinking about his words in the slightest, and Glenn stiffened. Henry felt the urge to wince, and for whatever reason, proceeded to double down instead. “I mean, it’s just going to chase me after you if you do go alone. We both know that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.” Glenn laughed, the sound forced, and he kneeled to start pulling his boots back on. “You hang out here and make sure nothing happens to our sleeping beauties, huh? I’d rather go alone after all.”

“I don’t get the point here, Glenn,” Henry said, something tight knitting together in his chest. “Do you think if you just ignore it, it won’t happen? What’s the game plan here?”

Glenn didn’t bother with a response, just tying his second boot and standing upright. As he headed off, the goose started waddling towards them, and Henry groaned, burying his head in his hands. The honking started up and he shot to his feet, stumbling after Glenn.

“I said I wanted to be alone, Henry,” Glenn reminded him and Henry rolled his eyes.

“What, and wake Darryl and Ron up? No, thank you.”

“You’re losing it. That goose is not chasing you to me.”

“You’re losing it if you think you can just ignore the obvious and everything will be okay,” Henry retorted, grabbing for Glenn’s arm. Glenn shrugged him off, starting to walk faster, and behind them, Henry could hear the flap of powerful wings as the goose tried to catch up. He could already tell that the sound was likely to stir Ron from his sleep, if not Darryl as well, and the tightness in his chest grew more taut. “What is your problem, Glenn?”

“I don’t have a problem.”

Henry slowed down as Glenn reached the tree line, growling to himself. The goose was hot on their trail, letting out another sharp honk, and Henry took a deep breath. It did very little to soothe the anger bubbling up in his chest. As it reached him, the goose nipped at Henry’s ankle, and something in him snapped.

“Yes, yes you do, so get back here and actually talk to me!” Henry called after him, doing his best to push the goose away with his foot. The bird just latched on to the hem of his pants, digging its beak into the fabric, and Henry kicked his leg to try and knock it loose, still haphazardly hobbling after Glenn. “You’re not even the one with this freaking bird all over you!”

“Have some goddamn respect for the wildlife, Henry,” Glenn responded and Henry groaned. He had stopped walking, if nothing else, allowing Henry to catch up enough for the goose to let him loose. His eyes lingered on the animal even as Henry reached him, circling around to Glenn’s opposite side to get some space between them. The goose hung back and Glenn hummed, shifting his weight so that their arms brushed. “It’s not coming closer.”

“Wow, I wonder why?” Henry said, his voice flat and sarcastic, and Glenn huffed. Softer, Henry said, “If you don’t have a problem, then what is going on here?”

“What’s going on with what?”

“Glenn,” Henry said. Glenn sighed, checking his pockets idly for his lighter. “I would sic this goose on you if I could.”

The goose gave a honk of acknowledgement and despite himself, a small smile graced Glenn’s face. Henry nudged him.

“I kinda enjoy the process too much for this soulmate business,” Glenn admitted, not quite meeting Henry’s eye as he fidgeted with his lighter. “I was never into the idea of love at first sight for the same reason.”

“Really? But that’s like the ‘get rich quick’ scheme of romance!” Henry snickered, leaning some of his weight against Glenn. He took it on without complaint, wrapping his arm around Henry’s waist.

“I guess I like the thought of falling in love a little much.” Glenn shrugged with his free arm. He slid his lighter into Henry’s pocket, which was too bizarre a move for anything besides an excuse for a better grip on him. Henry grinned unabashedly. “Sue me. I’m a romantic.”

“I know you, man, and you are anything but.”

Glenn winked, and Henry laughed, and all at once, it hit him how close together they were. The moon was bright enough overhead to cast light through the tree branches and catch on the metal of Glenn’s piercings. It was humid heat, and being pressed against one another should have been gross. It probably would be miserable within the next few minutes. Henry hoped that moment wouldn’t come too soon.

“Is it a crime to want to take things slow?” Glenn asked, shifting his weight so that he could bump his foot against Henry’s, and he huffed.

“Well, according to some people here, it absolutely is.”

They both looked down at the goose at once. It stared back at them, the shadows pooled ominously around its feathered form. Glenn sighed, loud and melodramatic.

“That thing really does freak me the fuck out.”

“You know, it might back off if you just kiss me,” Henry said, and Glenn raised his eyebrows. “You don’t have to be in love with me to kiss me. We can get to that later. But, you know, just to quell the beast.”

He gave a hum of consideration, eyeing the goose again. It stood eerily still, perfectly rigid like a predator animal waiting for the perfect moment to strike. “Oh, fuck it. I’m willing to take that bet. Come here.”

“I don’t actually know if it’ll help,” Henry admitted in a rush and Glenn rolled his eyes, tilting his head so their lips almost brushed.

“I know, Henry. Don’t play cute if you’re not gonna commit to it.”

“I don’t want to kiss you under false pretenses!”

When Glenn sighed again, Henry could feel it against his face. “Play this how you want to then.”

Henry cleared his throat. “Glenn, may I kiss you and later take you out on a date of some sort?”

“Cheesy,” Glenn murmured, and before Henry could protest: “Yes, you can.”

“Well, I know I can, I’m asking if you want me to.”

“Shut up.”

And then he did, because Glenn didn’t give him many other options, bringing their lips together and cradling his face in his hands. Henry melted into the embrace. Somewhere around them, he could hear the crunch of leaves as the goose tromped off into the underbrush. He sighed in relief. Glenn took the chance to deepen their kiss and abruptly, Henry had trouble remembering anything besides Glenn, Glenn, Glenn.