Casey’s eyes lit up. “Brother. You’re the pilot.”
“Was,” my correction came out more clipped than I’d intended.
“Right,” Casey nodded—no change in expression. “I rememberthe story from awhile back. Glad you made it out.”
“Thanks,” the tension in my shoulders eased slightly. “Lennon mentioned you’re over creative?”
“Animation’s our bread and butter. Keeps the lights on so we can fund employee-driven game development,” Casey leaned against the counter, clearly warming to the topic. “Legends of Heliox isn’t the norm around here, but it certainly helped put us on the map.”
Before I could respond, another voice joined the conversation from around the corner.
“Casey, are we still on for the Sherlock demo this afternoon? Because I’ve been working on some voice-command integrations that might—”
The speaker appeared—pale, ginger hair that looked like it had been styled with a ruler, wire-rimmed glasses perched on a nose that seemed too small for his face. Everything about him screamed computer lab dweller, from his obsessively pressed khakis to his obsessively tucked polo shirt.
“Oh. Hello,” he pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’m Jordan. Dev and programming director.”
His handshake felt calculated and the quick visual sweep he gave me felt more like data collection than curiosity.
“Finn,” I kept my voice neutral. “Alex’s boyfriend.”
“Alex’s boyfriend,” Jordan’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “And did I hear something about pilot?”
“Former Navy.”
“Interesting. Are you planning to stay in the area? I mean, long-term?”
The question hung in the air with odd weight. Casey shot Jordan a look I couldn’t quite interpret—warning, maybe, or irritation.
“That depends on a lot of things,” I said carefully, Jordan’s question feeling like an interrogation disguised as small talk.
“Of course, of course,” his laugh sounded forced. “I just meant with everything happening with the company lately, Alex hasbeen pretty focused on... business decisions.”
“Jordan,” Casey’s voice carried a definite warning note now.
“What? I’m just making conversation,” Jordan’s defensive tone suggested he was doing anything but.
I noted a familiar weight starting at the base of my skull—just enough low-level tension that meant I should start monitoring.
My phone buzzed again—probably Dom sending something equally mature in response to my lack of reply to his emoji. But before I could check it, familiar energy materialized behind us.
“How’s the tour going?” Alex’s voice sounded detached—she was operating on autopilot.
I turned to find her scanning the room with calculating eyes—tracking who was where, clearly reading the tension I could feel building between Casey and Jordan. Her gaze landed on me and she smiled, but it looked practiced rather than genuine.
“Educational,” I responded automatically, which earned a snort from Lennon.
“Casey’s been explaining the animation-to-game pipeline,” they added. “Jordan’s been asking probing questions about Finn’s long-term plans.”
Alex’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly, her focused stare snapping to the dev. “Jordan, don’t you have the Sherlock documentation to finish?”
“Right, yes. Of course,” Jordan pushed his glasses up again, recognizing the dismissal. “Nice meeting you, Finn. I’m sure we’ll talk more later.”
Casey watched him go with noticeable relief.
“What’s Sherlock?” I asked, more to fill the awkward silence than out of actual curiosity.
“AI development assistant,” Casey turned back to me. “Helps with coding, debugging, technical problem-solving. We’ve been working on expanding its capabilities for both our animation pipeline and game development.”
