A/N: shout out to you guys for not pointing out that Dick has been wandering around with no pants since chapter one. I kind of forgot. Let us assume he put on a pair before going down to see his mum otherwise things could potentially get even more awkward.

It ends up being about an hour before Dick is able to return to his room and extract a cantankerous (and although he doesn't know it, slightly sticky) angel from his closet; his mother had given him the usual third degree over how his day had been, how were classes and did he make any friends today?

Dick has been going to Valhalla North High since ninth grade, but she still treats him like he's been there for a week. Dick loves his mom, but wishes she'd remember he is 16 years old...

He'd given her some half-hearted answers and finally managed to extricate himself from the interrogation; taking the plate with the sandwich she'd made him and disappearing upstairs again. His mom had looked a little hurt and Dick had felt bad; he knew she was lonely ever since his dad had to go away, but he couldn't always be there for her, not even when he wanted to be.

And at that point he was also kind of thinking that maybe unceremoniously shoving a messenger of God into a cramped closet was a mistake he should really be rectifying.

Dick makes sure to lock his door once he gets inside and hastily puts the sandwich on his desk before cautiously opening the closet.

He yelps as a hand shoots out and fists in his shirt as it pulls him inside.

"What." states Grif, face twitching with rage. It isn't a question and his tone brokers no argument; Dick is going to give an explanation right now or something very bad, possibly some kind of divine punishment is going to happen.

"Sorry!' Dick tries "I panicked! I didn't think I would be gone so long!"

"I am an ANGEL, you ass!' is the growl he receives in reply "I can fucking teleport and turn invisible, damn it!"

Dick's cheeks burn with embarrassment; yeah, of course he can.

"M'sorry..." he mumbles again and Grif sighs, releasing his shirt.

"I guess you wouldn't really have thought of it' he concedes "just keep it in mind in the future."

Pushing past the teen, the angel goes and makes himself at home on the bed. Grif feels a bit awkward being in close proximity with the kid right now; he really would have to figure out what the heck that incident before was. Speaking of which, he uses a little bit of his power to clean himself up before Dick notices anything (and before he does irreparable damage to the kid's blanket)

He'd have done it earlier, and probably have left the closet too had he not been in a state of complete shock; angels don't come in their vessel's pants. They just don't. Besides being an extraordinarily impolite thing to do to someone loaning you their body, celestial beings don't even have a sex drive to speak of really. Sure, sometimes they might slip and suffer from a few of the urges plaguing their human hosts, but Grif has never heard of any of them losing control so badly that they managed to ruin a perfectly good pair of slacks. For it to happen to him on the first day of the job is nothing short of mortifying.

Finding out just what the heck happened is gonna have to wait, though; the kid is starting to look edgy.

"So, uh... You're still here. In my room...' Dick says awkwardly "what exactly are you going to be doing to help me on this path you're talking about?"

"Aside from stopping you getting your ass kicked day in, day out?' Grif shrugs "dunno. Orders weren't exactly specific. They basically say help but don't fuck anything up. Like, I can't just strand the kid beating you on Ilha de Queimada Grande."

"What's in Ilha de-whatsit?" Dick asks curiously.

"Snakes."

"... Ah."

"Look kiddo;' Grif says, abruptly fixing the boy with a serious look "I can warn you when he's gonna try to put gum in your hair or when he's planning to jump you in the parking lot, but I can't force you along the path of destiny. I don't even know what the end result of the prophecy is meant to be. Heaven's got a boner for preserving the autonomy of the human race; it's a pain in the ass when we're literally trying to keep the fabric of the universe together, but them's the rules and I've gotta follow 'em."

"Excuse me for not exactly seeing you as the type to just go ahead and follow orders' Dick scoffs "No offence, but you kind of seem like you're flying blind here, so forgive me if I feel like I'm getting a kind of raw deal."

Grif glares.

"Was that flying blind comment a joke?"

Dick just rolls his eyes.

"I just think you should be telling me as much as possible' he says, picking up the plate with the sandwich and shuffling over to Grif "like are you going to be shadowing me all the time, cos that's kind of creepy, and can other people see you?" he extends the sandwich to the angel and it's practically snatched out of his hands.

"Thanks" says Grif but it comes out 'fanks' because he's already taken an enormous bite of the food. Dick thinks his jaw actually unhinged. After a moment's contented chewing the angel swallows and answers "no, I'm not going to be stalking you all the time but I'm always connected. Like if you need me you can just pray and I'll hear you. And if I sense you're in trouble I can be there instantly. As for other people, they can only see me if I want them too. It's kind of why I have this body, so I can pass unnoticed. They'll just see a fat Hawaiian dude."

"With blonde hair and blue eyes? You kind of stick out. Besides, this is Vermont."

Grif thinks about this for a moment and sighs

"Trust them to stick me in the whitest state to ever white' he mutters "should probably have snatched a vessel from closer."

Dick blinks

"Wait... A vessel? Like, you're riding around in a human's body?" the kid looks absolutely horrified.

"Calm down, freckles; Phil here was willing. He's all up with helping out one of the God Squad."

Dick still looks sceptical and his green eyes rake carefully over Grif's borrowed form.

"Can he hear us? I mean, does he see and feel what you do?" he asks and Grif shakes his head.

"Phil is asleep off in the back of his brain' he assures and then concentrates for a moment "he's dreaming about cheese."

Dick still looks a bit uncomfortable, probably wondering if the guy has a family out there somewhere, but eventually his shoulders loosen like he's accepted it.

"So this isn't how you actually look? Do you have like a real form or something?" he looks so earnestly curious and something about it makes Grif's stomach give a strange little turn. He scowls inwardly; the effects the kid if having on him are quickly becoming a pain in the ass.

"I'm not really sure about the science behind my physiology, kid. I think the egg heads say something like 'multidimensional wavelengths' but I don't know what that even means"

Dick's eyes light up

"That's fascinating! So you can go from dimension to dimension by altering the kinetic energy of your particles in order to change the frequency of your matter waves?"

Grif gives Dick an absolutely scandalized look as if he just vomited science on to him.

"That's a very, and I mean very nerdy way to describe it' he mutters "the egg heads would love you, kid; the hell do you know so much about this kind of thing?"

"I like theoretical physics...' Dick says with an edge as if he's used to defending his interests "there's always something more to discover about the way the universe is put together, it's interesting."

"Bet angels being real is pretty disappointing then" Grif comments and Dick fixes him with a quizzical look

"No, why would you think that? I mean, from what you've told me your existing isn't totally illogical; you're basically just another kind of energy so you must have atoms."

"You are disturbingly calmer about this now that you can rub your science boner all over it" Grif says without thinking.

Yeah... Maybe not good to suggest even in a backwards way that the kid wants to get his dick near him. Not the kind of thing he needs to be thinking about right now.

The kid goes an unattractive shade of red that clashes terribly with his hair.

"Are you going to be making fun of me the whole time?" He grits out and is treated to an unapologetic shrug from Grif

"Depends, are you gonna be this depressingly nerdy all the time?" he quips.

"Asshole..." Dick mutters.

The angel doesn't particularly bothered by it; in fact he just leisurely finishes his sandwich and sets the plate at the foot of the bed before throwing himself down on it to getting comfortable.

"Whatever, kid. Hey, what say we talk about this more tomorrow? I wanna take a nap."

Dick glances at his end table and gives a disbelieving look; the clock there reads that it's just after 6. Grif follows his gaze and shrugs.

"I literally got pushed out of one plain of reality into another today, kid" he points out and Dick sighs.

"Ok, but I've got to do my homework. Do you want me to set you up on the floor, or...?" he trails off as Grif ditches his vessel's shoes and socks then wriggles underneath his duvet. He gives a resigned sigh

"... Or you could just take over my bed. Fine. That's... Fine."

Grif watches the kid sit down at his desk and get out his books; the angel doesn't miss how tense his shoulders are and he swears he can feel the anxiety rolling off of him.

He hates to cut and run, or rather sleep, when the boy still needs someone to reassure him, but Grif's tired and he's got his own doubts about this gig. He doesn't like the way the kid makes him feel and the idea that he might even be starting to care after only just having met him scares the crap out of the angel. Not to mention he's still got to figure out what the hell happened when the kid touched him earlier. The easy ride he'd been hoping for is clearly not going to make it into reality; Grif knows he has to find some answers soon because yeah, for an angel Grif is kind of an asshole, but he's going to try his best not to screw this kid over anymore than he already is.

And attempting to let go of the grim thoughts of hard work, Grif let's himself drift off to recharge in the peaceful hold of human sleep. Right now that's a luxury he will gladly allow himself.