AN: Hello! So, I've had this fic on the works for a while now. I just never posted bc I thought that not many people would still be interested in Boondocks, but I've been really into the show this quarantine I decided to post it anyway lol. Hope you enjoy it!

Missing You

Huey would rather die than admit it, but he missed Jazmine.

He didn't at first, actually, he relished on the idea of being left on his own and not having Jazmine breathing down his neck every ten minutes, but if he was honest, he had grown bored in the first day she was gone.

It's not like she had died, but she had spent the vast majority of the summer break over at New York in a fancy ballet summer camp. Huey tried to reason that this feeling was a product of his loneliness, seeing that Jazmine was the only other person his age whom he'd spend time with. Well, he guessed that his brother counted too, but Riley wasn't exactly a joy to be around.

And Huey enjoyed himself around Jazmine. Of course, they were friends. They had been friends since forever, even if at first their friendship was a bit one-sided.

His phone rang and he didn't even need to see the caller ID to know who it was. "Hello Jazmine," He said, his voice lacking any discernible emotion as usual.

"Hi Huey!" She said in her usual excited tone, which perked up Huey a little bit. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Reading, you?" It had become a routine; Jazmine would call him every night while she was there. Huey didn't really mind it either, even though he hated talking on the phone, at least Jazmine wasn't completely gone.

"I'm packing!"Huey frowned, forgetting his book for a second to focus on the conversation at hand, something he rarely did.

"Packing for what?"

"For going back home, silly." She said. Huey's heart skipped a beat, which surprised him slightly. He wasn't expecting her to be back for at least another few weeks.

"Oh. Already?" She had told when she'd be back, but he didn't pay much attention to most of the stuff Jazmine said.

"Well yes!" He heard her sigh. "I told you I'd be back by the last week of August, and that's good too, I can't stand being here anymore."

"Why? Wasn't it your dream or whatever the hell you said?" Huey only remembered that because she couldn't shut up about it ever since she first auditioned back in april.

"Yeah...You know, it wasn't like I expected it to be. I mean, I learned a lot but..." She hesitated, Huey heard heavy breathing on the other side and he knew Jazmine well enough to know that she was bout to cry. "Some stuff's been happening...I just really wanna get back home..."

"What stuff?"

"Just some stuff. I'll tell you when I get back, okay?" This was odd. Jazmine would never shut up about how she felt, she was very vocal about her feelings, even if Huey wasn't quite interested.

"Jazmine?"

"Huey?"

"You know you can tell me when stuff bothers you, right?" The line was silent for a minute. "I mean, that's all you do! Why hold back now?"

"Huey!" She snapped, taking the boy aback. "I said, I'd tell you when I get back." She said, in a tone that sounded much like his. "Anyway, I got you a gift!"

"Why? It's not my birthday that's coming up," Huey could sense she was trying to talk her way out of his questioning, but he'd let that slide for now, not wanting to pry.

"Well, one of our instructors got sick last week so we had a day to ourselves and I decided to go around the city, and I stumbled upon this book that I think you'll like. Also, I'm trying to guilt trip you into buying me a birthday gift. You know, it's in-"

"September 20th." He rolled his eyes, not that she could see. "I never forget your birthday and yet every year you feel obliged to remind me." Jazmine was the most obnoxious person when it came to birthdays, and with her sixteenth coming up he could only imagine the big ass party with a bunch of people he didn't like and that he'd have to attend.

"A little reminding can't hurt!"

"Well, what's the book about?" Huey asked. Most gifts Jazmine gave Huey he either already had something similar, or were complete shit. It wasn't Jazmine's fault, and she was the only person whom he did not like to see upset (partly because that involved a lot of crying on her end) So he never really said anything.

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise."

"You know I hate surprises."

"Well yes, but I've lost the receipt and can't return it, and if you don't like it I don't want to feel bad for the rest of my time here." She said simply. Fair enough. "I gotta finish packing now, see you on Sunday!"

"Bye Jazmine." And the line went dead. Huey tried to go back to reading, but he simply couldn't concentrate. It was weird. Jazmine never kept anything from him, even if sometimes he'd prefer she would. And why all of a sudden he started to care anyway?

He decided that a shower would help him clear his brain a bit, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. Weirdly, Jazmine had been on his mind more often than usual, and definitely more often that felt comfortable. Even miles away the girl didn't give him peace.

And it didn't stop on the next day, or the days that followed. Jazmine hadn't called again. That was definitely strange. Huey had become a bit paranoid, as he tended to get. Had he done something wrong? Should he call her? No, definitely not. Huey never called anybody, so why did he feel an urge to just hit her up?!

He was put out of his agony at Sunday afternoon when his grandfather said that they'd be going to a welcome back dinner for Jazmine at the DuBois, and he had never anticipated attending one of those little gatherings before like he was now.

"Ayo," Riley said as he entered their room that evening. "You excited to see yo' gurlfriend?" a malicious smirk formed on the younger boy's face but soon turned into a scowl when Huey smacked him upside the head as he exited the room.

"She is not my girlfriend."

"You ain't gotta do that, nigga!" He yelled out. "Just cuz yo' gay ass ain't got no balls to get the gurl! Dayum!"

Riley got on Huey's nerves for a myriad of different reason, but one that particularly stood out was when he joked around about Jazmine and Huey being together. It wasn't fucking funny, as well as it wasn't fucking true. Huey didn't like Jazmine like that. He barely liked Jazmine on a normal scale.

Jazmine was his friend; his close friend and nothing more than that. He didn't know why this joke ticked him off so much but it did.

"Y'all little niggas ready to go?" Huey heard their grandfather call from downstairs. "Shoot, ain't got all day!" He sighed and headed downstairs, hearing his brother's loud footsteps behind him. "Good. Now before we go, Y'all better listen to what I have to say!" He gave both boys a stern look as he held a big pot filled with soup.

"Tom called me and said that New York ain't treat lil Jazmine right, so y'all better behave and not get her more upset than she already is." He glared at Huey. "Especially you boy!"

"Me?! I'm her friend!"

"Yeah nigga, but ain't nobody gets why when all you do is make her cry and be yo' hater self," Riley remarked.

"Alright, don't start this shit right now. Let's go before the gumbo gets cold." Huey glared at his brother and tripped him as he walked out the door.

"Ay! No need to get all aggressive nigga! You just proving mah point!" Huey ignored him, walking ahead of them to the house across the street. He rung the bell and moments later Tom; who looked the same as always, save for a few white hairs showing up here and there, greeted them.

"Boys! Jazmine's excited to see you two,come in! Let me take the pot, Robert, it smells delicious." He said in that cheerful tone that Jazmine had inherited from him.

"Oh hello boys!" Sarah said, setting up the dinner table. "Jazmine's upstairs, you wanna go get her?"

"Huey can go Mrs. DuBois, Imma wai fo' them here," Riley smirked and Huey rolled his eyes before heading up the stairs and to the door with a big "Jazzy" written in pink letters.

"Come in!" She said after he knocked, he slowly opened the door and saw Jazmine's face light up as she saw him. "Huey!" She jumped out of her bed and practically choked the boy with a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"Jazmine, nice to see you too but-" His voice was strained. "I'm suffocating."

"Oh," She let go of him, looking rather flustered. "Sorry." Huey gave Jazmine a once over. She looked...different. Her strawberry blonde hair was straight and going down almost to her bottom, a fact that Huey made sure to scowl at, but there something about her face; her whole body in general. Jazmine always had a full and well-toned body, even though she was rather small. Especially down her waist from her ballet, but she looked slimmer, her cheeks seemed less full. Her body proportions were still pretty much the same, but a size or two smaller. "Before you start; I only straightened my hair because it'd just be easier to manage since I was putting it in a bun and using tons of hair gel every day."

Huey shrugged. "Whatever, conform to the white man's standards, I don't care." Jazmine rolled her eyes. He figured that since she was getting so much exercise she must've dropped a few pounds, it wasn't a big deal. Huey looked around her bedroom, that was definitely different from what he'd last seen of it. It was less pink and less cute, but definitely still a lot Jazmine-y.

One of the few things they shared was an interest with organization, even while unpacking Jazmine still kept her room immaculately tidy. Her shelf of books were organized by size and color. There were also pictures, loads of them. Pictures of Jazmine from when she was a newborn to present day, all of her ballet performances, many pictures with Huey, Ceasar and Cindy, and even some with Riley. It felt like a time machine to their prepubescent years, a time Huey definitely didn't want to reminisce.

"So," She said, sitting back at her bed and folding clothes. "What did you do all summer?"

"The usual," He said, nonchalantly. "Read books, conspired against the government, went on rallies, tried to start a revolution..."

"Yeah, that sounds like yourself," Jazmine smiled, showing off her dimples, her metallic braces contrasting against her pearly white teeth. Huey had almost forgotten how she looked like without them. "Did you miss me?"

Huey thought about that for a second. He did. He missed her a lot. He missed her giggles, and even her silliness. He missed having someone who actually cared about what he had to say. "...Maybe..." He said quietly, not looking Jazmine in the eyes, much like when they were kids. Jazmine giggled, shaking her head.

"I know you did. You're not a very good liar, Huey." She pointed out. Huey was about to retort when they heard a loud knock on the door.

"Ay, y'all niggas got clothes on?" Riley snickered as he peeked his head inside room.

"What? What are you talking about, Riley?" Huey shot him a very warning, very menacing look and Riley sobered up in a minute.

"Nun', I ain't say nun'." Huey looked away from him and Jazmine gave him an odd look but shrugged, it's not like she wasn't used to Riley's weirdness. "So wuz good Jazzy Fresh?" He high-fived the girl. "Haven't seen yo ass 'round these streets for a minute." The girl giggled at Riley, "Anyway, yo momma said dinnah is ready so y'all better bring yo asses downstairs."

Huey sighed and left the room, Riley and Jazmine right behind him.

"Finally!" His grandfather stood up slowly and with some difficulty, from the living room sofa. "What took your black asses so long to-Oh! Hello cutie pie!" Robert said, immediately lighting up a smile as he saw Jazmine. "How you've been honey?" He said, giving the girl a hug.

"I've uh," Jazmine hesitated a moment, so quickly that only Huey noticed. "I've been fine Mr. Freeman!" She smiled, but Huey noticed it didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Well, let's eat, shall we?" Sarah said and everyone gathered around the table. Sarah had made an assortion of Jazmine's favorite foods. From fried chicken to pork chops, Huey stuffed himself with Granddad's vegetarian Gumbo.

"So, Riley," Tom started between mouthfuls of. "Excited about starting high school?"

"Hell yeah!" He said, not bothering to swallow the food already in his mouth. "I mean, I ain't excited to see this nigga at school every day but other than that-"

"It's a wonder how your dumbass even made it out of middle school, I wouldn't be too excited about High school if I were you." Huey pointed out, making Jazmine giggle slightly.

"Nigga-"

"Ay! You two better watch yo' damn mouths!" Granddad snapped.

"Well..." Tom started awkwardly. "Your brother's sorta right, Riley. High school is not just fun and games. There's AP classes you need to worry about, Honors classes, electives, you need to have a good GPA if you wanna go to a good college-"

Huey snorted loudly, unable to help himself. Robert too started laughing, almost choking on his food and Riley was banging his fists on the table, making the dishes clatter from how hard he was laughing.

"Do you hear dis nigga?" "Riley said, trying to catch his breath. "Talkin' 'bout mah GPA!"

"Damn, Tom, didn't know you could be that funny, shoot-" Granddad wiped a tear from his face. "I'm too old to be laughing this hard."

The DuBois eyed themselves awkwardly as the Freemans caught their breaths. It wasn't an unusual occurence.

When everyone was full to the brim with food, enough small talk was made and granddad was sufficiently tired the Freemans decided to leave.

"Damn," Riley said sometime later as they both were in their room, hearing Granddad's loud snores echoed through the house. "Jazmine be looking fine." Huey rolled his eyes, willingly ignoring his brother. "I mean, she always been a snack, but I 'ont kno, NYC did good to her. You lucky you mah brotha cuz if not I'd be all ovah that ass-Ay!" Riley ducked just in time before one of Huey's journal hit him right in the face.

"Riley, shut your dumbass up or I swear to God..." Huey didn't even look up from his book, trying to mask his face that was filled with rage.

"You jealous, ain't you nigga? Juss admit it." Riley threw the journal back but missed Huey terribly.

"No. She's my friend and I don't appreciate you talking about my friend like she's some sort of meat. How'd you like if I said that shit about Cindy?" Riley was quiet, avoiding Huey's eyes.

"Nah see, but thass different." Riley looked flustered and Huey noticed, smirking slightly.

"Really? How so?"

"Nigga it just is okay? Damn!" Riley snapped and Huey just lifted his eyebrows, surprised at his brother's reaction. "Matter o' fact," He looked at his watch. "I'm gone. Deuces nigga." Riley opened the window and before Huey could protest he jumped out, perfectly landing on the grass. Sometimes he wished he hadn't taught Riley some of his martial arts skills.

The boy sucked his teeth, frustrated. "Whatever man..." As he got older and more mature he realized that fighting with Riley every damn day simply wasn't worth it. He was fourteen, he knew what he was doing; most of the time.

And Riley had matured, in his own way and Huey could see that. He didn't go around running after Gin and Ed anymore and prioritized his art over the "gangsta lifestyle", which was a huge relieve on Huey's shoulders. Sure, he still dressed, talked and consumed most of that part of the black culture that Huey didn't necessarily approve, but it gave him a peace of mind knowing that he wasn't trying to pursue it anymore.

He saw a notification pop up in his phone. He had a feeling it would be her.

Jazmine (00:30): Um...I forgot to give u ur book

Jazmine (00:30): u wanna get it?

Huey (00:30): I can just get it tomorrow, it's kinda late.

Jazmine (00:31): Or...idk, we could go to the hill or smth?

Jazmine (00:31): I mean, if ur up to it!

Jazmine (00:31): I can't sleep...

Huey had half a mind to just get the book tomorrow and wish Jazmine good night but...well he wasn't doing anything, he didn't have school tomorrow and Jazmine absolutely did not tell him the stuff she said she would.

Huey (00:33): Meet me at the door.

Jazmine (00:33): :)

Huey showed up not ten minutes later at the front of her house. She was waiting for him with a pink rectangular package on her hands with a golden ribbon. Very Jazmine.

"Here," She said excitedly, handing him the package. Huey prepared himself. Most gifts the girl gave him weren't exactly Huey's favorites. It's not that he didn't appreciate Jazmine's nice gesture, he just didn't like a lot of things in general.

He ripped the pink package off the book and read it aloud. "Macumba, Candomble and Umbanda, The beauty of Afro-Brazilian religions. Wow Jaz..." Huey had been looking for a book about the subject for ages, but he could never find it. A rare smile appeared on his face, making the girl squeal.

"oh my gosh! You smiled! you like it?" Jazmine could burst with excitement at any moment. Huey quickly put his usual scowl back on his face as they walked down the streets.

"Yes, Jazmine. Thanks a lot." Jazmine giggled, elbowing his side.

"Y'know, you should stop scowling so much. You'll have more wrinkles than your grandaddy by the time you turn forty."

"that's a risk I'm willing to take," He stated finally, making her giggle.

"Why you gotta be so...Huey all the time?"

"Why you gotta be so Jazmine?" She showed her his tongue as they settled down at the place that had been their place for years. Jazmine laid down on the grass, looking at the town beneath them. There were a few houses that had their lights on, though the night was mostly lit up the full moon and the stars on the sky.

"I don't think I've ever been here this late at night," She mused. "It's kinda beautiful..." Huey silently agreed, He had been on top of the hill at ungodly hours many times before, but he never took time to appreciate how everything was much more beautiful from up here. God...I'm so glad to be back..."

"What happened at New York, Jazmine?" Jazmine sat up, resting her head on the tree, avoiding Huey's gaze.

"It was just..." She trailed off, finally breaking the silence. "I thought I'd go there and just learn how to dance better, you know? Improve on my technique, make friends who were as passionate as I am...You know, tell stories, share experiences, but..."

"...but...?"

"They were horrible, Huey." She choked out. "I've never been this humiliated all my life...I've never felt so much like a piece of shit!" Huey was taken aback. Jazmine never cussed. As she would say 'When you say bad things you attracted negativity' so she had to be very upset to just throw the word 'shit' out loud like it was nothing. There were silent tears running down her face, though she looked embarrassed.

"And it was everything! My hair, the way I talked, my height...my weight! Even the teachers, Huey!" She stopped for a moment, the only sounds that could be heard were Jazmine's silent sniffles. "I mean, instead of focusing on my posture or my sickled feet, all I could think about was how my fat thighs looked on that stupid leotard! I felt like I was on freaking Dance Moms." Huey didn't know what sickled feet were, but he guessed they weren't that important for the conversation at hand.

"You don't have fat thighs," Huey stated. "You don't have "fat" anything. You're fine the way you are, Jazmine."

"Not for ballet I'm not! I have short legs, I don't have good lines and the list goes on and on...I'm not pretty like them." Maybe one of the things that annoyed Huey the most on Jazmine was how she treated herself.

"What, just because you're not white and deathly skinny?" Huey snapped. "Jazmine come on! You're beautiful just the way you are! Ballet has always been an elitist, racist, eurocentric style of dance and I don't even know why the hell you love it so much, but if you do then you can't just go and be miserable because those girls were bitches to you! You gotta stand up and train to be worlds better than them, and not give a shit about what they have to say!" Huey ranted, Jazmine seemed taken aback, her eyes never leaving the boy.

"I always tell you that." He said, his tone back to normal. "Just...love yourself. You always spend so much time helping everyone, loving everyone...but you never take some time to just focus on yourself." She buried her face on her knees, shaking her head. Huey saw her chest heaving.

"I don't know how." It was muffled, and immediately followed with a choked sob. Huey wasn't good at dealing with that, but that was so different from Jazmine's usual crying fits. Jazmine wasn't timid when she got her waterworks started, but this time she looked embarrassed, appearing smaller than she already was.

Huey sighed, awkwardly wrapping the girl with his arms. Jazmine flinched, not used to the boy showing any form of intimacy, but soon melted in his arms and just sobbed on his shoulder. Even himself was surprised, but it felt like the right thing to do.

"Then you better figure it the hell out." He said bluntly. "the world ain't gonna treat you much better." Huey never sugar-coated things. He couldn't, especially when it came to Jazmine. Maybe that was a good thing. She still was a bit naive and too forgiving at times, but she was much more aware of the world around her, and much more aware of her blackness, thanks to the young revolutionary.

Huey hated that sappy bullshit, but he knew sometimes it was necessary.

The walk back home was silent. Jazmine still hiccuping here and there and Huey holding his brand new book, feeling slightly awkward. Hugging her was so out of place to him that he didn't really know what to do with himself. She was the one that always showed her affection and got more into Huey's personal space than felt comfortable, never the other way around.

"Thanks, Huey." She said once they arrived at the front of her house. "Seriously, it meant a lot."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "Don't get used to it."He turned his back to her and walked to his own house.

Huey sneaked in quietly, thankful that Granddad's snore still echoed through the house. It was a bit past two a.m and he was alone in his bedroom, a brand new book in his hands and conflicted feelings in his mind. Jazmine made him feel so weird, and he didn't quite know exactly why.

She was a confusing, and more often than not confused, girl, but the tricky part was why Huey, a guy most deemed emotionless and insensitive would go out of his way so much just to comfort her. Why he of all people would worry for days about her.

All those thoughts buzzed through his head, but on the house across the street a girl could only think about one thing.

Huey, Huey Freeman, had called her beautiful.

Jazmine slept peacefully that night.

I'll try updating as fast as I can! If you liked it pleeeease Review! It would mean the world to me!

Constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome!

See ya :)

-Ágatha