Subject: [OTL]: [Hellblazer] Just like Daddy
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 00:10:29 EST
From: Trumpetlee@aol.com

Dunno where this came from.
Note: This may be a bit out of character for John, but I don't really care.
He can be happy sometimes, right?
Disclaimer: John, Kit, Chas, Mucous Membrane, and Brendan are DC's. Pete
Wisdom is Marvel's. Justin is mine. No money. Don't sue.

Just Like Dad
:Lee Tybird

    "And this was me, yer uncle Pete, an' yer uncle Chas at the Casanova Club
after our very first bar fight."
    Four-year-old Justin Constantine sat on his father's lap, looking down at
the old photo album. "Was uncle Pete in yer band?"
    John smirked. "Nah. He didn't go fer that sort o' thing. He was more o'
the type ta listen, and boo when necessary."
    "How often was that?"
    "Too often."
    "Wot started the bar fight?" Justin asked.
    John leaned back on the couch, and glanced at his son. "Too much booze,
an' it was the bouncer's night off."
    "I wanna get inta a bar fight!" Justin grinned, bouncing up and down on
John's lap. He swung his fists out, pretending to beat someone up. "They
sound fun!"
    Kit gave John a wary look from her spot on the floor with Little Cheryl.
"You're giving him ideas..." Her look turned into a smile.
    "Maybe when ya get a bit older, Kid," John ruffled his young son's hair.
He gave a smile back at his wife. "Fer now, I c'n tell ya all about 'em."
    Justin smiled at his father and looked back down at the album. He spotted
a picture of a very drunk-looking John, held up by Pete and Brendan. "Dad,
why'd ya get so drunk?"
    John chuckled. "I thought I was gonna live ferever, Just. Thought I could
live it up."
    "How much alceehol does it take ta... ta get drunked?"
    John laughed. "I'll teach ya that when yer eighteen." He looked down at
the album, and pointed to a picture of his punk band. "That, son, is Mucous
Membrane. The best punk band ever."
    Kit shook her head. "Don't listen to him, Just. They were awful."
    "C'n I be in a punk band, Dad?"
    John laughed. "I dunno about punk, but ya might like ta be in a band some
day."
    "Do I have ta get a haircut like you had?" Justin asked, wrinkling his
nose.
    Kit laughed.
    "It was in style," John protested with a smirk.
    "What instrument did ya play, Dad?" Justin asked, paying no attention to
his parents.
    John sighed. "I just sang," he replied.
    "Coulda fooled me," Kit muttered, holding a bottle up to her daughter's
mouth.
    John rolled his eyes at her, and then looked back at Justin. "But I do
have an old guitar from the band lyin' up in the attic."
    "C'n I play it?" Justin asked excitedly. "I wanna play guitar! Can I?
Can I?!"
    John thought for a moment. "That thing might be a bit big fer ya, but
I'm sure we could get ya something that'll be more yer size till ya get
bigger."
    "Really?! Cool!"
    Kit looked at the clock sitting on the table. "Look at that, eight
o'clock all ready. Time for you ta go ta bed, Justin."
    "Aw, Mum!"
    "Don't 'Aw, Mum' me. Bed."
    John sighed. "Yer Mum's right. Bed."
    Justin frowned and hopped off John's lap. "Fine. Night!"
    "Night, Just."
    He ran from the room, and down the hall. When Kit and John heard that
door shut, they smiled at each other.
    "Some kid," John mused.
    "He wants ta be just like you," Kit replied, cradling Little Cheryl.
"He really idolizes you."
    "You sound pleased," John said in surprised. "Usually, people are
depressed when kids idolize me. I'm a bastard."
    "Not to yer son," Kit told him.
    John nodded. "Never thought I'd see the day when I could look at a kid
that's mine, and think about how great he's gonna be when he grows up."
    Kit smiled, and got to her feet. As she walked towards the bedrooms with
Little Cheryl, she said, "You never know, do you?"
    John thought about this for a moment, then smirked and nodded. He got up,
and followed Kit.

End