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jj sighed contentedly from his spot high in a tree outside the chateau, the warm afternoon sun and the cool breeze coming from the water wrapped around him and left him relaxed and sleepy. he’d been there since that morning, having shown up a little after john b would have left for school. he’d skipped again, and probably would the next few days as well, due to the severe bruising along the entire left side of his body, as well as his split lip.
jj had no problem showing off his wounds and scars to anyone, but only if they were products of some fight with a kook or whoever else he’d managed to piss off. it was different though, if the bruises and scrapes and cuts were the product of his dad’s anger and hatred. he felt ashamed then, instead of proud. it was almost like those around him could tell where the sickly looking injuries had come from.
and so there he was, basking in the warmth of the sun and cradled safely between the branches of the large willow tree. the leaves and the moss shifted with the wind, sometimes sending a bit to brush across his face.
it wouldn’t be long before john b returned home, and jj would eventually, quietly, climb down and run around the the chateau to the front door, acting like he’d just got there and hadn’t been dozing on and off all day up in a tree.
jj reached into his pocket and took out the phone he’d swiped a few days ago and that was surprisingly still working. it was a little after 2 now, which meant that john b would be finishing his last class and then driving home soon.
jj decided that a few more minutes basking in the sun couldn't hurt, so he stuffed the phone back in his pocket, shifted a little to get more comfortable, tilted his face up and closed his eyes.
---
jj woke to the feeling of someone carefully running a finger over his left cheekbone. the barely there pressure tickled a little but it didn’t hurt the fresh bruising there. he cracked his eyes open, just enough to see the bright light of the sun making its way through the moss. the hand moved away and jj could just barely make out the blue bandana tied around the wrist of whoever it belonged to. jj hummed and went to close eyes again when it caught up with him.
his eyes burst open and he sat up so quickly that he had to reach out and grab onto a branch with one hand and john b’s wrist with the other to catch himself before he fell to the ground.
“dude what the hell?” jj asked, his voice rough with sleep and his heart beating fast in his chest, so hard that he was sure that john b could hear it too.
john b didn’t even react, his gaze holding steady with jj’s as he tugged his arm free from jj’s grip and brought his hand up to gently run his thumb over the cut on jj’s lower lip.
“what happened?” john b asked but it wasn’ a question. john b knew that if jj looked like this and didn’t come to school, there could only be one person who was responsible for it.
jj considered not saying anything for a moment, of letting it go but with john b staring straight into his eyes, his soul, he couldn’t even think of telling him anything but the truth. he still hesitated, taking a second to prepare himself.
“just the usual, y’know,” jj shrugged it off, like it wasn’t a big deal, and really, to him, it wasn’t. not anymore, anyway. “you know how he can be when he loses.” jj laughed, a hollow sound that was as much of a joke as his father was.
across from him, john b closed his eyes, letting his head hang low for a second before he raised it again, his eyes bright and his jaw clenched tight. he scooted forward on the branch that they were now sharing.
“j, you know that you can stay here. not with him. this place is just as much yours as it is mine. uncle t isn’t even here right now and it’s not like he’d care if he was. just, please, jj, stay here with me, okay?” john b begged him, moving forward to hold jj’s face in both hands.
jj reached up, grabbing onto john b’s forearms tight enough that jj was sure there’d be marks from his nails cutting into john b’s skin. he refused to look up, knowing that if he did, he would be agreeing with john b in a heartbeat. he didn’t want to be a burden on anyone, anymore, not his dad and definitely not his best friend who hadn’t seen or heard from his own father in months.
“j, please,” john b started, his voice on the edge of a sob. “i can’t lose you, too. please.”
jj looked up then, his heart clenching in his chest at the sight of tears running down john b’s face. he could feel his own tears flowing slowly down his cheeks, john b brushing them away before they could fall. he’d known earlier that he would eventually accept john b’s offer to stay with him, for a few days at least, just until his dad had cooled off. now though, he couldn’t imagine leaving the chateau. he couldn’t imagine leaving john b.
“okay,” jj started, trying to catch his breath and stop himself from bursting into tears. “i’ll stay.”
john b nodded, a relieved smile taking over his face as he reached forwards and carefully pulled jj into a hug, pressing his lips to the bruise on jj’s cheek in a soft kiss.
“‘come on, let’s go inside, we can have a movie night and just chill, yeah?” john b asked, letting go of jj slowly, like he was scared that jj would disappear if he wasn’t touching him, like he’d float away if john b wasn’t his anchor.
jj nodded, his heart heavy in his chest as he slowly moved to follow john b down the tree, feeling the aches and pains from luke throwing him into the wall and kicking him repeatedly when he’d slid to the ground the night before.
once they were both on the ground again, john b immediately moved to wrap his arm around jj’s waist, guiding him along the worn footpath and into the back door of the chateau. the inside of the chateau was kind of a mess, but a nice one, where you could tell that the people who lived there were happy and not at all like the rundown shack that jj lived in. the chateau was a home.
a home that jj could now officially call his own.