Work Text:
thunder rumbled outside the chateau, making it shake on its foundations as it rolled. rain beat heavily against the old tin roof, filling the air with a pleasant rhythmic noise. pope was sitting in his “assigned” seat, meaning he was sitting in the corner of the couch, his legs stretched out with a book placed in his lap. kiara was fast asleep in the recliner, her science homework left untouched on the side table. john b and sarah were in the kitchen, possibly cooking something? pope wasn’t too sure that either one of them knew what they were doing but he still had faith that maybe it would be edible.
jj was out with his cousin ricky, helping him drop off some batches of brownies to people on figure eight and the cut. jj had been promised a pan of his own along with some cash if he helped him out. pope figured he’d be arriving soon since ricky was on night shift this week. until then, pope continued to read his book, a tattered old copy of “the hobbit”, and let the sounds of the storm wash over him.
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he was proven right, not longer after, when the back door to the chateau swung open and jj came walking in, soaking wet with a plastic bag in one hand and his backpack in the other. he was dripping water everywhere, water which most likely would not get wiped up by anyone. jj looked tired, almost dead on his feet and pope sat up, closing his book as he did so. pope made to stand up but jj shook his head and leaned down to kiss him, first on his forehead and then a quick peck to his lips.
“i’m gonna go take a shower and warm up real quick, i don’t need any of you asshole’s getting sick on me.” jj laughed and even that sounded strained.
pope nodded but he knew that the only person who would be getting sick was jj who had walked into the kitchen to set the brownies down before turning to go into john b’s room where he had a stash of his own clothes. after grabbing something to change into, he made his way into the bathroom.
pope picked his book up again, reading it distractedly as he listened to the rain hitting the roof and the creaky old shower that was probably doing more hard to jj than good since the hot water heater was so finicky. pope stood up, once again closing his book and leaving it on the coffee table in front of him. he made his way to john b’s room and grabbed the comforter off of the bed and drug it back to the living room, grabbing a brownie on his way back through the kitchen.
by the time pope made it back to the couch, jj was already curled up in his corner, his cheeks flushed and his hair still wet with the towel around his shoulders. pope set the comforter down and gently nudged jj over so he could sit back down. jj went willingly and didn’t even protest when pope handed him the brownie so that he could grab the towel and dry his hair more.
after pope was finished, he pressed a kiss to the top of jj’s head and pulled him close so that he could rest his head in pope’s lap and stretch his legs out on the other part of the couch. jj shifted just once and hummed quietly, so quietly that pope felt it more than heard it. he took the brownie back and set it down on top of the coffee table on a napkin that he’d also grabbed, right next to his book. he figured that he and jj could share it later on if jj was feeling any better. until then though, he settled back onto the couch, content to just lie there for as long as he could with jj’s head in his lap as they both dozed off.