.
They passed over him and he was glad, although his ears perked at the mention of his own name. Mother mentioned him, his birth, and for whatever reason embarrassment flooded him. If he knew that the same emotion afflicted his father at the same time he would have felt relief, but to the boy it seemed that his father knew exactly what to say and do in response to any kind of attention, whereas he, for all his outgoingness and bravery in the past, was suddenly shy before the whole pack. Perhaps then he wasn't his father's son, or at least taking after his father, and what a disappointment that was. With that thought he buried his head further into the fur of the grown man until the patriarch's voice was directly to him, privately.
Lifting his eyes to his father, he pulled away. "No one has to know about that." It wasn't that he was embarrassed of his love for Geneva, but it wasn't something he wanted to share. That had been private. Between him and his father, their first real meeting, and then with his mother when he presented the flowers. That perhaps was the turning point. It was after that they began to talk more about Jefferson, and soon after moved in with the brute. No one else could understand what any of it had meant to the young boy, and he didn't want to make them try to understand. And neither did he want to try to explain this to Jefferson. Instead it was easier to avoid speaking all together, but he couldn't do that to his father. He needed some excuse, any would do. "It's not exciting enough. I don't have anything exciting to tell anyone."
And perhaps he didn't, and he knew he didn't have to, but he didn't want to have to talk in front of the whole pack unless they truly were going to appreciate his words. It was much easier to listen to them, their voices floating about the fire-lit clearing, their reflective eyes catching the light as they turned from one speaker to the next. And another arrived, a late comer, and Pripyat was glad for the distraction, for surely Jefferson wouldn't push him any more with a new face to greet.
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