Oh. Oh geez. It sounds once Luca got out of the water and started learning about the wider world he discovered his nerdy side. That's totally legitimate, Fern has known a lot of nerds in his life and he'd never begrudge them for being passionate over things like science, but what that would mean for Alberto....

Yeesh, he doesn't even know the kid and he feels bad for him. It couldn't have been easy from going about talking about running away with your... friend, to said friend wanting to go to school instead. At least it sounds like the kid had someone else there, so he wouldn't be completely alone.

"Maybe. Fishing's got a good way of bringing people together," Fern says thoughtfully, remembering back to his fishing adventures with Will Graham before he had left. "Plus, it sounds like you two care about each other a lot, and those kinds of feelings don't just go away. If you were home I don't doubt you guys would figure things out so you're both happy."