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Chapter Text

Everything had started summer after 5th grade.

Grif had been really excited for Summer and not even a day had passed since school ended where he couldn't be found surfing at the beach by noon time, with his friends and his little sister, Kaikaina. 

Grif could remember how clear the ocean had looked, how the sun glinted off of the water, how there had been barely any clouds in the crisp blue sky that day, how big Kai had been smiling when she came up from a wipe out, and how his friends had given each other looks of surprise when someone managed to knock someone else into the ocean.

He remembered standing on his surfboard posing for his friends as a wave came in and knocked him over. He had been confused at first but quickly tried swimming towards the surface.

He remembered feeling as though someone was dragging him under and remembered the growing fear that he was caught in a riptide.

Last thing Grif remembered seeing before something struck the back of his head and everything went dark, was the glow of the sun through the water interrupted by the vague shape of his surfboard above his head...

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When he woke up in a hospital bed, he was chilly, his head felt like someone had tried cutting it apart with an axe, and it was pitch black. There was a vague pressure on his face and when he reached up he could feel bandages covering his open eyse. He blinked confused as he heard someone step into the room. "Dexter? Are you awake?" A male voice asked quietly.

He turned in the direction of the voice but was met with more blackness. "H-Hello? Who's there?" Grif asked, frightened. Last thing he knew he had been under the water.

He felt the edge of the bed dip as someone sat on it "I'm Doctor Tsugumi. You were transfered into my care 24 hours ago. Roughly 48 hours ago, you were pulled under the water by a riptide and hit your head on a reef. They treated you at a clinic in your hometown before sending you here for better treatment." A slender hand gingerly rested itself on his shoulder before adding, "I'm going to remove the bandages on your head now, okay Dexter?"

Grif nodded hesitantly. The hand left his shoulder and there was a faint tugging sensation on his scalp as the bandages were unwound. He blinked, squinting, expecting to be blinded by a blast of light but there was nothing.

Just blackness.

"Ummm...D-Doctor? Why's it so dark? Is it...nighttime?" Grif asked, confused and worried. He felt Doctor Tsugumi stiffen before cursing under his breath. "Grif? Can you see me?"He demanded, sounding panicked.

Grif shook his head "It's just...blackness..." Grif raised a hand to feel his eyes, checking if they were wide open.

They were.

Grif's heart plummeted as he distantly heard the doctor getting up, shouting for a nurse. Grif fumbled with the covers, throwing them back so he could squirm out of the bed, the pain of his IV being ripped out of his hand very vague. He staggeered over to the wall, and felt along it until he reached a curtained window.

He pulled the curtains aside and he could feel the warmth of the sun on his face, he could smell that it had rained recently, he could taste the salt in the air and he could heard the familiar roar of the sea in the distance.

But he couldn't see anything.

He collasped to his knees, dimly aware of Doctor Tsugumi pulling him into a ginger embrace, sobbing at how dark and lonely his world had become...

Chapter Text

A suspected blood clot in Grif's brain is what Doctor Tsugumi said he believed caused his blindness. He refused to prescribe blood thinners to try and get rid of it saying that the chances that it would make his condition worse was too high.

He ended up suggesting that they visit a hospital on the mainland in New York in a place called Blood Gulch where he personally knew a doctor who worked with special cases lived. His mother started to protest having to go all the way across the country when Grif quietly said that he had a couple of penpals in Blood Gulch, the first words he had spoken since waking up to his new dark world.

Within a month, Grif was sitting on the curb in front of their new house, listening to his mom direct the movers as they moved to and from the moving vans to the house.

“Hey, why aren’t you helping move your stuff in?” A young male voice asked from in front of and above him. He lifted his sunglasses and flatly replied “Can’t see jack, so why bother…”

“Oh…I see…Ah! Hang on a second! I’ll be right back!” The person ran off, leaving Grif to wonder what they were up to.

He heard a set of footsteps go past as someone sat next to him. “There! Now Church and Allison will help your mom out for you!” The voice from before said cheerfully. Grif frowned slightly, the names ringing a bell in his head faintly, “Church and Allison…?”

“Yup! Their my big brother and sister! My bro’s name is actually Leonard but I call him Church so I don’t confuse him with Leonard who’s our dad!” The voice told him. It continued “I never introduced myself did I? My name is Michael J. Caboose!”

He felt a large, warm hand surround his, and shake it firmly a few times. Grif blinked, realized where he had heard the name before, and gave Caboose a small smile, “Nice to meet you Caboose. I’m Dexter. Dexter Grif.” Caboose, predicatively, squealed and hugged him tightly.

“Oh My GOD! It's YOU~! Donut’ll be soooo jealous to hear that you’re my next door neighbor Grif!” Caboose was unusually sober as he softly said “I feel really bad that you can’t see how pretty Blood Gulch is now Grif-with-two-Fs…” Grif had to smile at the familiar online nickname.

“Eh, don’t feel so bad. It’d be worse if I did know what it looked like before I went blind…” Grif paused and mumbled, “like my hometown…” Caboose squeezed his shoulder briefly before saying “Once you’re all settled you should come over to my house! Then I can introduce you to Donut before school starts!"

Grif's lips twitched as he slowly smiled, his first in over a month, "That'd be great thanks Caboose..."

Chapter Text

It took a few days but they finally managed to move everything into their new house. Once they were done Caboose, who had taken to coming over with his adopted siblings (Grif learned from Church that Caboose had been adopted after his mother had died in an accident and his father abandoned him at 4 years old), asked Grif's mom if he could take Grif to a pizza shop called "Juniors" in town. As soon as Grif's mom said yes, Caboose dragged Grif out of the house, Kai following them. Every now and then Caboose would stop and direct Grif towards some place or another that he frequently visited with the others.

After 15 minutes or so, Caboose lead Grif into a place that smelled amazing. Spicy tomato sauce, melted cheese, fry grease, soda, and the faintest scent of lemon floor cleaner. "Caboose! Over here!" A voice called out. Grif tilted his head towards it as Caboose let go of his hand to run over saying "Donut! Guess who I found!" A small hand grabbed onto his sleeve as Kai whispered "How are you feeling, Kekela?" Grif turned his head towards her voice and gave her a small smile, before murmuring back, "I'm good, don't you worry Kai..."

He started making his way over to the table, his sister following close behind, where Caboose was chattering away, his cane carefully sweeping back and forth, barely touching the floor. "Hey Caboose." Grif said, stopping when his cane hit a chair. Said chair shifted as someone said, their voice high-pitched and a little whiny, "You're Dexter Grif right? Donut and Caboose's penpal from Hawaii? I'm Frank DeFresne but you can call me Doc." Grif held out his hand and a small slender hand clasped his and shook it politely "Yep. Why call you Doc though?" The first voice that spoke when they entered the pizza place answered "It's because out of all of us, on the Red Team or the Blue, Doc's the one with the most medical knowledge."

The voice continued as Doc's hand was replaced by one slightly larger one, though not as large as Caboose's, "You already know me but I'll reintroduce myself: Franklin Delano Donut. Pleased to meet you in person Grif." Grif smiled in his general direction "Same here Donut." Kai spoke up then saying "I'm Kaikaina, Dex's sister! You guys can just call me Kai or Sister if you want. What did you mean Blue Team and Red Team, Donut was it?"

Donut laughed, light and cheery, "That's right. As for the Teams...Well...They're kind of the neighborhood gangs I suppose you could call them..." Doc chuckled, and wryly added, "More like the town's troublemakers. All they do is prank the other teams' leaders and steal said leaders' bandanas that they call their 'team flag'..."

Kai asked curiously "Then how do you tie in 'Doc'?" Doc lightly responded "I'm a neutral party. If the Blues try pranking Sarge or the Reds try pranking Church, while I am present then the 'attack' is considered invalid." There was the sound of another chair being pulled out and someone (probaby Kai) nudged his cane, and therefore Grif, towards it as Doc continued "There's also a small group of other neutral people that we've nicknamed the Freelancers. So far they consist of Tex, who is Church's on-off girlfriend, Florida, DC or Washington, CT, and Maine."

"Tex, Florida, Washington, CT, and Marcus?" Grif asked as he sat down, hearing someone sit in the chair next to him. Not long after sitting someone put a plate of what smelt like plain cheese pizza in front of him. Grif eagerly dug into the slice as Donut responded, across the table from him "Tex is short for Texas which is where this girl Allison Terra is from, Florida's last name is Flowers and Florida basically means Land of Flowers, Washington's initials are DC hence his nickname, CT is Constance (don't let her know that we told you her first name, she hates it) or Conneticut, and this guy Marcus came from somewhere in Maine a while back."

Caboose added from next to Donut, "They can join either team they want! Like if they want to help Sarge they do that or if they want to help Church they can do that!" Doc snorted, "Mostly Tex and Florida help out the Blues though, Connie helps out the Reds and Maine goes with whatever Wash wants to do, which is usually siding with me as witnesses of foul play."

Their conversation then evolved into the types of pranks that were okay and which ones weren't and little things about the rest of the Reds, Blues and Freelancers.

Not once did anyone talk about Grif's inablity to see and that made him happier than anything.

Except maybe the heavenly pizza in front of him...

Chapter Text

The first time Grif met Tuck, they literally ran into each other before homeroom on Grif's first day of middle school a week later.

They had collided at full force into each other, sending them both sprawling across the tiled floor.

"OUCH! Watch it ya fat fuck!" an unfamilar voice snapped at Grif. "Would if I could see ya prick!" Grif shouted back, scrambling for his cane. Silence greeted him before the guy said quietly, standing up, "Sorry man...Here..." Grif felt someone gently tap his hand  with the handle of his cane.

He snatched it from them, annoyed as they said "Where were you headed in such a rush anyway?"

"Homeroom." He spat back as he stood up himself.

A moment passed as the other guys processed what Grif said.

"Oh shit! " The guys shouted "I was trying so hard to get away from Carolina, I didn't notice the time! FUCK!" Grif raised an eyebrow as the guy freaked out "What'd you do to 'lina to piss her off that much?"

"I...uh...I may have tried...grabbing her ass...?" The guy sheepishly said.

Grif burst into laughter, raising a hand for a high-five, "Dude, I'm blind and I don't have the balls to try and do that! And I'm pretty sure I could get away with it too!"

There was a pause and then a rough hand was slapped against his as the guy laughed enthusiastically.

"I'm Lavernius Tucker. You can just call me Tucker or Tuck though." The guy said, clasping his hand and gently bumping their shoulders together.

"Tucker huh? I'm Dexter Grif, and you're a Blue right?" Grif grinned at him.

"Grif...Grif...Ah! You're Caboose's pen-pal right? The one who went blind recently?" Tucker asked as they pulled apart.

Grif nodded as the bell rang for homeroom to begin.

"Shit! That was the bell!" Tucker cursed and released Grif's hand. Grif patted his shoulder saying "I got this. Just lead me to my homeroom and say that since I'm new and blind, you offered to show me around the school before homeroom and we lost track of time!"

"That's genius!" Tucker cheered "Let's get going then!"

Grif grinned as they walked along, side by side.

Including Tucker, Grif now had 6 friends in Blood Gulch.

This may actually turn out to be a pretty good day... 

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Grif had at least one friend in all of his classes before lunch (Donut, Tucker, and Doc in first period Gym, Caboose for second Math, Doc shared Science third, and Tucker snored with him through History fourth) and none of the other students had said much about him being blind other than the occasional curious question. He stopped by his locker to switch out his books for the rest of the day and he was just finishing taking out his books when someone slammed his locker closed  in front of him.

He froze as someone sneered from behind him, "Looks like the new kid's all alone ain't he boys?" There was a murmured assent as someone shoved Grif roughly from behind and pinned him against the lockers. He cried out in pain as the impact made his sunglasses dig into his face and the metal door bit into his palms as he dropped his books and cane. "Why don't we teach him who's in charge here hmmm?" The boy said slamming Grif's head into the locker, knocking his sunglasses off.

Grif gritted his teeth, his head spinning, as he heard the crunch of someone stepping on them before he was turned around and punched in the stomach, knocking him to the floor. A flurry of kicks to his back and sides soon followed as he curled up and just as he resigned himself to getting beat up when a voice called out "Hey! Get lost!"

The kicks stopped, though someone's foot remained on his shoulder "Get lost yourself, Campbell!" The ringleader sneered at the newcomer. There was a yelp and the foot on Grif vanished as a voice rasped from somewhere above his head, "Get lost."

There was moment of panicked movement and Grif's tormentors fled.

"Marcus....Maine, you didn't have to lift Jameson off the ground..." The first voice chided the other person. They only grunted in response which was followed by "I don't care if you thought that was the only way to make them leave off the new kid! If Mr. Burns saw what you just pulled we'd be in trouble for sure!" Someone large grabbed his right arm and lifted Grif to his feet, making a grumbling noise as they did so.

"W-Whoa...Thanks...Ummm..." Grif looked blankly in the direction of the person who helped him up.

"That's Marcus." The first voice said from his left "I'm David." There was a growl and the first guy replied "I'm not gonna introduce myself by that nickname!" The person holding onto Grif's arm rasped "Not Marcus. Maine."

A bit of the conversation from Juniors came to mind as Grif slowly said "If you're Maine then that, um, makes him Washington...right?" There was a pleased grunt as the other guy sighed, "If you must use that nickname, then yes, I'm Washington."

Maine let go of Grif's arm and growled, the sound of plastic cracking and clattering to the ground reaching Grif's ears. "Oh no...Your sunglasses are ruined..." Washington said, coming closer. Grif attempted to grin "D-Don't worry! They were a cheap ass pair I got from Walmart. I can buy another pair easily..."

There was another growl and a different pair of shades were placed onto Grif's face, "Keep mine." Maine growled at him. Grif blinked (not that it did anything) and raised a hand to trace the edges of the shades.

They were bigger than the cheap pair he had before with metal frames and real glass lenses. "Uh...T-Thanks Maine." Grif said, amazed. There was a slight grunt as Maine rested a hand on his head and ruffled his hair slightly. Washington spoke then "What do you have next?"

"Lunch." Grif replied. A slender hand rested on his shoulder as Washington said "We were headed to lunch too. We'll stop at the nurse's office first though. Need to make sure you're alright..." Grif nodded mentally ticking 2 people off of his list of potential friends.

8 down, 4 to go...

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The nurse had deemed him well enough to continue with the day though she warned him that if he felt any pain to get someone to bring him to her ASAP. After leaving there, when they got into the lunchroom Grif was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of noise.

Faintly he heard someone, a girl from the sound of it, shouting "Washington! Over here!" He pointed in the directiion of the voice saying "Wash? I think someone's calling for you over there..." Washington made a happy noise and started off in the direction of the voice. Maine put a hand on Grif's shoulder and gently guided him around the tables until they got to a quieter area.

"Who's the new kid?" A girl's western sounding voice said. Maine's hand tightened briefly before relaxing and moving away as Church's familiar voice replied making Grif relax somewhat. "That's the new neighbor I was telling you about Tex. The blind one." 

"Ya don't say? Huh..." Someone stepped in front of him and grabbed his hand, shaking it in an almost unbearably tight grip "Names Allison but you can call me Tex." Grif could almost see the smirk accompanying those words. "Dexter Grif. Grif is okay though." He responded with an awkward smile.

"Grif? What a cool last name!" Another voice cheerily said as someone else took Tex's place "I'm Butch. Butch Flowers. Everyone else in the group calls me-..." Grif interrupted extending his hand towards him "Florida. I heard from Donut a week ago." The girl who Grif had heard calling out to Washington whistled as Florida eagerly shook his hand before stepping away, letting the girl take his place, "You remembered from that long ago? Nice. No one but Washington's been able to remember to call him Florida."

Grif shrugged "Since I can't see I tend to try and remember names so as soon as I hear their voices I can connect who is who easily." The girl chuckled before patting him on the shoulder "Then just remember that I'm CT, Washington's better half." There was laughter at that as Washington whined "Connie..."

Someone growled in a thick Southern accent from the side, "You're the new recruit eh, Grif?" The voice barked towards someone away from Grif, "Donut! If he's gonna be on our team he needs a color. Suggestions?" Donut said "Orange sounds good to me Max!" Grif snorted "Max?"

Someone smacked the back of his head and snapped "That's Sarge to you Private!" Grif rubbed the back of his head as the voice quieted somewhat as it adressed Donut, "Orange sounds perfect for our new recruit Donut."

Once his color had been decided everyone either settled down and started eating their lunches, went up to buy lunch, or sat around chatting as they did their homework. Grif smiled, raising a hand to touch the shades on his face.

Maybe life in Blood Gulch wouldn't be so bad after all...