Smiling

Huey never smiles. At least, no one in Woodcrest has ever claimed to see it. The only one who remembers what it looks like is Riley, and Riley don't snitch.

When Huey smirks at him after a beatdown, or when him actually listening to Huey brings a half-smile to his older brother's face, Riley doesn't say a word. No one knows that half the stupid shit he does is to get Huey to smile (kidnapping Oprah would have been fun if Huey could pull his head out of his ass for more than five seconds), and it's going to stay that way, capische nigga?

Parenting

Over the years, Riley must have asked Granddad about his and Huey's parents over a dozen times. Each time he got a different answer.

"You don't have parents; I picked you and Huey from a grape tree."

"They were kidnapped by the CIA."

"They went on a hot air balloon that got away."

"They're on a super-secret mission to Mars."

Riley wasn't a nerd like Huey, but he wasn't stupid neither. He could tell when someone was bullshitting him, and his Granddad was a big old bag of fertilizer. Eventually, he figured that it didn't really matter, knaamean? Not knowing gave him some angst, would make his raps more real when he finally got around to writing them.

Birthdays

Huey was not unaware of the fact that Riley wanted to know what had happened to their parents. Using his impressive google-fu, Huey had found out what had happened long ago. It wasn't anything special.

Eight years ago, a woman had died due to complications during childbirth. It could have been prevented with a C-section, but hospitals tended to not do expensive procedures for the uninsured. Her son survived. Her husband sued the hospital, but delaying tactics drew the case out for years.

Almost three years after the death of his wife, the man was awarded a large cash settlement out of court to prevent further bad publicity. The man hanged himself soon after.

It was interesting enough to have earned a small piece in the local paper because it was their five year old son who called the authorities to take the body away a full day after the fact. When the paramedics turned their backs for a minute, the son and his just turned three years old brother were gone, with a note written neatly in crayon claiming they were going to their grandfather. It should have been an amber alert level shit storm, but the kids were black, so it was a small article in the local paper instead.

It wasn't anything special. It also wasn't something Huey would ever tell Riley.

Moving

Huey would never admit it, but he's glad that Granddad moved them out to Woodcrest, theories on taming white men with cheese aside. He's… mellower out here. Being out here gave him time to put his thoughts in order. He retired, and concentrated his efforts on his family. On how they were going to survive the end when it came.

Being out here was okay. He was farther from the struggle, but that was acceptable because Riley was also farther from legit gangbangers (Ed and Rummy were the closest thing to, out here), and closer to where Huey could keep an eye on him. Granddad's friends were tolerable (He likes Mr. Dubois, at least), and best of all, the lower population density guaranteed that there were fewer dumbasses around him.

Listening

Riley listens to Huey just enough. Which is really more than anyone else could say. Huey is not sure if he should thank Riley or the other way around.

Considering that bulletproof vest saved Riley's life, he's leaning towards the latter.

Happiness

No one would call Huey a happy child. He had watched that documentary about Obama after it came out, and though he stands by his "Eh.", he resented being called depressing. He wasn't sad. He was…melancholy. Brooding. He rather valued his broodiness. It used to be a personality trait one was allowed to have. Now everybody wanted you to smile and say things like "Great!".

Man, fuck that noise. Right now he was being cheerful. If he wasn't, he would have already blown everything up and killed himself. He knew what was coming, just around the corner. The darkest days were yet to come. And if he wasn't such a goddamned optimist, he would be insane by now.

As it was, the only thing keeping him in North America was Riley and Granddad. That and the fact that he couldn't get a ride out.