Duece, Clawd, and Heath all smiled as wide and as with as much fake innocence as they could muster, which was actually quite a bit despite the fact that they did have genuinely innocent intentions.

"Good morning Dr. J. Can Jackson or Holt come out to play?" They all asked in unison. From the door way Jackson's mom tried her best to keep a straight face as she played along.

"Only if you promise to be home before dark."

"Awww." And they all pouted miserably at which point she lost the battle and descended into giggles.

"Come on in," she said, once she had calmed down. "It's been quiet all morning so I'm assuming it's Jackson that's upstairs. Either way, he's been locked in his room since he got home from school Friday."

They all froze momentarily at this. Dr. Jekyll placed a hand on Heath's should and stared in straight in the eye.

"You have permission to drag him bodily out of the house." She added, giving a shifty eyed

glance up to the second floor.

"You mean they've been up there for most of the weekend? That can't be healthy," Heath said, pulling a face.

"Jackson said something about a new online game. I'm sure he's fine." She waved off the concern, having long since grown accustomed to her child's eccentricities. As long as his grades didn't slip and there were no fatalities, she was fine with letting him do what he pleased for the most part. Still, it wasn't healthy to stay locked up that long.

"I'm heading out to the store. Good luck."

The three boys headed up the stairs with her blessing and made their way to their friend's room. Knocking received no answer however, so Clawd pressed an ear to the door. The muffled sounds of digital fighting greeted him, so with a shrug he opened the door.

What awaited them on the other side was a room cast in shadows that danced eerily along the walls in the glow of the computer screen. The window shades had been drawn tightly shut and the smell of dead, musty air wafted out at them.

Suddenly nervous, they found themselves not sure if they should proceed onward. Heath ducked behind Duece and gave him a nudge.

"You go first. He's your beast friend."

Duece's snakes hissed at him in retaliation. "Yeah, but you're his cousin. Blood before bros."

Clawd huffed and, making a show of it, stormed into the room.

No reaction from the boy sitting at the computer desk other then to continue his frantic mouse clicking. The light of screen casting a glare over his glasses, making the whole image creepier. Actually, now that he was closer, Jackson was using the mouse with one had and was rapidly typing keyboard commands with the other. Who knew he was ambidextrous?

"Hey man, we were going to hang out at the park, shoot some hoops. Thought maybe you'd like to join us."

He received a noncommittal grunt in reply. The other two had taken courage from him and finally entered the room on their own. Clawd turned to Heath and gestured toward the boy at the computer.

Heath shrugged. This was the first time he'd ever seen his cousin like this and he had no idea how to proceed. Duece went to the window and wrenched the shade up; light spilled into the room.

Jackson's reaction was swift and panicked. He threw an arm up over his eyes and hisses like an angry cat.

"Bright light! Bright light!"

"And just for that, I'm not letting you eat after midnight the next time we throw an all-nighter at my place. Now come on you little gremlin, fresh air and sunlight miss you," Clawd said. He grabbed the back of the desk chair and began to pull Jackson away from the computer, the other boy still grasping tightly onto the mouse.

"But I'm really close to leveling up," he whined.

Heath looked at the screen and gave a low whistle.

"How long have you been playing? There's no way you made it this far in just one weekend. Unless," Heath trailed off and looked at his cousin, really looked at him. Jackson looked a few pounds thinner than usual, his skin had gone almost zombie colored, and his eyes were wide and bloodshot.

"Have you been playing non stop since Friday afternoon?"

"Maybe."

"Dude, that settles it. You're coming with us, no excuses." Duece leveled Jackson with a look that threatened the use of physical force if demands weren't meet.

"But first," Clawd said, pulling the mouse out of Jackson's hand and hoisting the boy, chair and all, up, "you are going to take a shower. You stink."

And with that he carried Jackson into the adjoined bathroom, leaving Duece and Heath instructions to find some clean clothes. A moment later water could be heard running, shortly after that a scream that was a cross between drenched cat and banshee issued out of the bathroom. Clawd flung himself out the door, the chair sailing after him.

"If you don't want a cold shower then do it yourself next time!" Clawd slammed the door just as steam started to drift out.

By the time Jackson was done cleaning himself up, Heath and Duece had managed to find the necessities as well as a t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts that might have belonged to Holt. There were flaming yin yangs on them, so it was hard to tell.

Jackson stumbled out the bathroom, squinty eyed and lurching, whether from lack of sleep or just not having his glasses none of them could tell just yet. He stared at the clothes on the bed, turned to his friends, then violently pointed out to the hallway.

"Get out." His voice was hard with a sense of finality to it. They quickly left.

"I saved place and logged you out," Heath called over his shoulder.

When Jackson finally emerged he seemed in a better mood, though still shuffling about with his eyes half closed. Definitely, it was lack of sleep.

"Maybe we should grab a coffee before we hit the park. You going to make it down the stairs in one piece," Duece asked, grasping Jackson's arm, just in case he toppled over were he stood.

"That might be a good idea," Jackson nodded. He let them guide him down the steps and into the kitchen, were he rooted through the cabinets, pulling out a can of ground coffee. They watched in horror as he pour three parts ground bean to one part water into the coffee maker.

"Um, are you sure you're okay," Heath asked, as a thick sludge oozed into the coffee pot. "Maybe we should let you sleep for a few hours and come back later."

"Nah, I'm fine."

The coffee pot made a tortured sound as it finished. Jackson grabbed the pot and chugged half of it, still scalding hot. Almost instantly he perked up.

"Okay, I'm ready to go."

The three monsters stared at him, nauseated and more then a little worried.

"Are you sure? That stuff you just drank looked like tar," Duece said.

"Yeah, I'm good. Though I should probably get something to eat or I'll pay for that later. Let's stop somewhere on the way."

"Sounds good to me." Heath headed for the door, ready to get out and have some fun now that their last member had joined them.

JJ

Several hours later and Duece flopped down on a bench, taking a break to soak up some sun, the heat making him feel pleasantly sleepily.

Beside him Heath stretched his arms out then chugged some water before he spontaneously combusted, a problem that occasionally occurred when the fire elemental overheated. On the court Clawd and Jackson continued with some one on one, the human boy holding his own fairly well.

Duece watched idly as Clawd sunk another basket, panting hard from exertion and afternoon heat. Jackson was breathing hard too, but unlike Clawd, the heat never really seemed to bother him. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

It was at this pointed that the thought hit Duece hard, taking root in the forefront of his mind and not letting go.

"We really should come up with a better word for what you are," he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked, genuine confusion written all over his face. Distracted from the game, the ball bounced off the side of his head hard, knocking his glasses loose. Jackson glared at Clawd as retrieved the fallen frames, but otherwise seemed unharmed. The ball shot off across the court from the force of the rebound.

"I mean that no actual normie could be out here in this heat, keeping pace with a werewolf in casketball, and not break out into a sweat," he pointed out. "That hit just now should have broken your neck and let's not forget the boiling hot toxic nightmare fuel you drank this morning before we left your house. That probably would have killed you if you were a real normie."

"Are you saying I'm, what, fake somehow? I'm as a real a normie as any other human."

"No, Duece is right man," Clawd interjected, returning with the ball, "That was messed up."

"It was just coffee."

"No, coffee is a beverage. That stuff was an eldrich abomination."

"Fine, for the sake of conversation, what would call me then." He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"A nerd," Heath said. Jackson swatted him upside the head.

"That's it, I'm not tutoring you anymore."

Heath paled and gulped. "Seriously? I was joking. Joking. Come on, if I fail Clawculus my parents aren't going to let me take my driver's test." He dropped to his knees and begged.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Not my problem."

Heath stalled up at this, eyes pleading with Duece and Clawd to help him out. They snickered, but otherwise made no move to interfere.

Heath turned toward his cousin and tentatively added, "I'm sorry?" Then, for added sugar, "You're cool, really."

"Yeah, okay, whatever."

Duece laughed a little before restating the problem.

"I really don't see what it matters. I mean, I'm not a monster. I don't have powers or unusual features."

"Yes, you do." Clawd said. "I don't know too many people who can literally become someone else."

"Eh, but I'm not me anymore when that happens, so it doesn't count." Jackson said, shrugging the matter to the side. "Look, I don't see whats the matter with just calling me human or normie or whatever. If it fits, it fits."

"Yeah guys, who cares," Heath said, he was getting antsy to play some more and growing tired of the conversation.

"How about abnormal." Clawd suggested, completely ignoring Heath.

"No." Jackson said, looking irritated now.

"Peculiar." Duece threw out.

"Stop it."

"How about strange."

Jackson gave a violent, full-bodied twitch.

"How about just Jackson," he suggested, gabbing the ball from Clawd and backing up on to the court. "Now can we drop it and finish our game. Or are you afraid I'm going to make you look bad." He spun the ball on the tip of one figure and smirked.

Clawd growled, "Them's fighting words. Bring in on Hydebrid."

Everyone froze. After a moments contemplation, Duece shrugged, "Yeah, that works."

Jackson rolled his eyes with a deep, weary sigh. "Whatever. Let's just play some ball."

"Hey," Clawd said, suddenly changing the subject, "Why don't we get a bite to eat at the Die-ner after this. Draculaura's working tonight."

"Sounds good to me," Heath chimed in, always in the mood for good food.

"Yeah, alright. I love their poisonberry pie," Jackson said, offhandedly as they headed back to the court.

Yeah, Duece thought to himself, his friend was most definitely anything but 'normal'.

Bah, normal is subjective anyway. Not much to say here, just some shenanigans.