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┌─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: TO FUCKED UP FAMILIES
└─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘
→ FIVE YEARS AGO.
octavia smiled when she saw jericho walking over to her and the titans. "hey.." dawn said, "look what the surf dragged in."
"beginning to think you blew us off." dick said.
"homework, it never ends." jericho signed. dawn laughed as did octavia. "he said, 'homework, it never ends.'" dawn said.
"well it did for me." hank said, tossing a football in the air, "no school, no books."
"weren't you expelled?" octavia asked. hank shrugged, "some say."
"the stereolab released a new japanese pressing today." dick said.
"twelve inch?" jericho signed.
"twelve inch?" dawn translated.
"twelve inch and the lp. both on clear vinyl." dick replied. jericho signed happily, smiling.
"a little profanity, he says, dick take all my money." dawn said. hank threw the ball in the air and donna caught it, "alright, record geeks," donna said, "come back to the party please."
donna threw the ball at jericho and he caught it. he tossed it back to hank. "oh! nice toss, hey! octavia, you might have some competition."
"oh, we'll see about that!" octavia said, standing up as her, hank, donna, and jericho ran into the open sand to toss the football around.
"hey! over here!" donna shouted.
dick looked at dawn, "you okay?"
"i hate this." dawn replied.
"this is the only way trust me." dick said, "if you start feeling weird.. just.. think about garth."
"i just like the kid." dawn said.
"so do i." dick replied, "but he's deathstroke's son." dawn nodded at the other playing football with jericho.
"touchdown!" hank yelled.
"you sure about that?" dawn asked.
"he's the one." dick replied.
after settling down, the group sat around the campfire, hank next to donna, donna next to dick, dawn next to dick, and octavia next to jericho.
hank telling stories about his school career. "so there i was, sixth grade, braces... doing the doing the full spanish version of the macarena. you know, the five minute version? tiffany hernandez and her friends were sitting there laughing at me while i was doing this thing, dancing my heart out. and i swore then and there, i'd never dance again." hank explained.
"never?" donna asked.
"never." hank replied.
dick looked over at jericho and eyed his cuff, "hey that's a cool little cuff thing," dick said, "the eye of boris. where did you get that?" dick asked.
"it was a birthday gift." jericho signed. "he said it was birthday gift." octavia translated.
"from who?" dick asked.
"my dad." jericho signed.
"his dad." octavia said.
"is he still in the picture?" dick asked. jericho looked down, octavia looked at him, "hey. i get it. not everyone has a family they wanna talk about." octavia said to jericho, signing as well.
alfred has been teaching her sign language and she was happy she could finally use it. and since dawn knew sign language as well, she's been helping octavia while she was at the tower and not at gotham.
jericho nodded at octavia.
"i was raised by a borderline psychopath." dick said, "we don't get to choose our father's."
jericho began signing. "he says his dad was a war hero," octavia translated, "before he was born, his dad was in the army. part of a special unit called hive."
"he missed his birthday and when he came home, he made it up to him by giving him that," she pointed to the cuff around jericho's wrist, "he said it'll keep him safe."
"what's he doing now?" dick asked.
"i don't know." jericho signed.
"he doesn't know." octavia said.
"we don't talk." jericho signed.
"they don't talk." octavia translated. jericho kept signing as octavia translated, "he hasn't lived with him in a few years."
donna reached in the cooler, taking out a can of beer, "fresh one?" jericho leaned forward and grabbed it from her hand. jericho opened the can and took a sip from it.
"why's that?" dick asked. jericho put down his can and started signing again.
"everything changed my dad retired from the military. he went into business with a buddy, this... man..." octavia hesitated.
"a man named wintergreen." dawn finished for her. "his dad said that the new business was risk assessment for an insurance company." dawn continued.
"he went from hardly home to nearly never... then..." dawn trailed off. "there was an attack on my house. i got cut," jericho drew his thumb across his neck, "across my neck." dawn explained.
the group was silent. jericho continued to sign, telling the story, "when he came home from the hospital, his dad was gone." dawn said.
"we all have family stories, right?" jericho asked.
"we all have family stories, right?" dawn translated.
"that's rough, jericho." dick said, "i'm sorry."
"to fucked up families. the only ones we've never known." hank said, rising his can of beer.
"cheers." everyone said, clanging their can of beers together. octavia holding a can of soda since she was underaged.
"to family." dawn said.
——
i have a strings concert today, actually really nervous lmao 😗
