Work Text:
It had been a quiet evening at the Wreck and Kiara’s dad had let her go early, feeling bad about the amount of hours she’d been doing recently, trying to save up for after they graduate high school. Vague ideas of a surf trip had been thrown around between her and JJ, and despite them not being too serious at the moment, she’d like to be prepared.
She heads straight to the Chateau from work, knowing she’ll find at least one of the boys there, at best all of them and maybe even Sarah, considering how much of their time is spent at the fishing shack, especially now that school is once again over for the summer.
The drive to John B’s house is one that Kiara could do with her eyes closed, and she finds herself hoping that the boy won’t ever move- the Chateau holds too many memories for her, and for all of the Pogues.
When she pulls into the yard she sees both the Twinkie and the HMS Pogue in their respectful places and figures that John B must be home. She hops out of her car and instantly misses the air-conditioned interior, the muggy midsummer air sticking her clothes to her skin, not relenting even as the sun is making its way lower in the sky, making her want to go for a swim off the dock to cool down. In her haste to get out of the heat and into the hopefully cooler house, she completely misses the sight of JJ lying in the hammock and his bike leaning against the surf shed.
She calls out to John B as she makes her way up the porch steps and through the screen door, and is only somewhat surprised when he comes into view wearing what looks like a plastic astronaut’s helmet.
“Um. Hi JB” Kiara greets him, not even bothering to ask. Knowing John B, he could be doing anything from trying to breathe underwater, to protecting his face from the skeeters that have come out in full force this evening.
What does take Kiara by surprise is the look of fear that paints his face at the sight of her, and she opens her mouth to speak again when he says, “Shit! Quick get inside, you might have already been exposed.” Kiara makes a noise of protest when John B grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her through the door, slamming it shut behind them. He seems to think for a second before sliding the lock home too.
Kiara stands in the living room of the Chateau staring at her best friend, who she thinks might have gone mad, and watches as his face clears of worry and breaks into a grin. “Hey Kie!” he exclaims, like nothing out of the ordinary has occurred in the last 10 seconds.
Kiara blinks at him for a moment. Maybe she actually hit a tree on her way here and she’s really in a coma.
“John B, what the fuck is going on?”, she asks slowly.
He blinks back at her for a few seconds, as though she’s the one acting strange, and then bursts out with, “what do you mean, what’s going on, did you not see him outside?”. Well, that clears everything up, she’s so glad she asked.
“Who is outside, I didn’t see anyone?”. At this John B frowns, and says “JJ” as though that explains it all. “Didn’t you see the group chat?” he continues.
Kiara hadn’t checked her phone since she’d arrived at work that morning, so no she had not seen the group chat. She pulls her phone out of her pocket now, and sees messages from all three boys on their Pogue group chat, and curiosity peaked, swipes her lock screen open to read the messages.
JustJoints MakeBank: yo which one of u losers made me sick :(
ThePope: Logistically you probably have a cold so you’ve gotten yourself sick and you can’t blame any of us for that.
JustJoints MakeBank: u wanna know where u can shove ur logistics??
Jombee: JJ do not come anywhere near me im not getting sick!!!
JustJoints MakeBank: lol im already on the couch so i guess u can just stay in ur room all day ill have the place to myself
ThePope: JJ I would recommend staying hydrated and getting some rest if you want to get better.
JustJoints MakeBank: oh im staying highdrated alright ;)
ThePope: That’s definitely not what I meant :/
The messages carried on for a while and Kiara didn’t bother to read them all, just looked back up at John B with a disbelieving look on her face. “Wait,” she started, “you’re wearing… this,” here, she gestures to his head and the stupid helmet, “because JJ has a cold and you don’t want to catch it?”
“Exactly yes,” he replies with a smile, happy that she understands now. Yeah that figures, Kiara thinks.
“So, what, you’ve just banished him outside? Because I don’t think that’s exactly going to help him get better John B!” Kie exclaims, feeling exasperated with the boy in front of her for not taking better care of the boy outside.
“Kie, I’m going to the mainland with Sarah tomorrow, remember, I can’t get sick!”, John B argues back, and Kiara just looks at him blankly.
“Yeah, your little daytrip with your girlfriend is more important than JJ getting better to be fair, I don’t know what I was thinking”, she deadpans, pulling a face at John B.
His face clears for a moment, when he thinks she’s agreeing with him, and then his brow furrows, and he stares at her. “Okay…see, you’re telling me one thing, and then your face is saying something else, so like…what’s going on?” Wow he really can be clueless, huh?
Kiara throws her hands up in the air and huffs, stomping back over to the door, muttering something about boys and how stupid they can be, leaving John B in the living room, feeling confused, but delighted now that the threat of catching JJ’s cold has decreased significantly. He peers out of the window by the door to see Kiara walking over to where JJ lies in the hammock, and quickly slides the bolt across the door once again. Germs can’t get through a locked door. Course not.
Back outside, Kiara spots JJ, and wonders how she missed him the first time round, purely because of how red his nose is, and how loudly he is sniffling. She thinks one may be a direct cause of the other but seeing as he’s practically been evicted from the Chateau, she can’t blame him too much.
JJ looks up upon hearing Kiara approach, and attempts to smile at her, which sends butterflies whizzing around her stomach, but the end result looks more like a grimace. It’s the thought that counts, she thinks to herself.
“Hey,” she says softly once she’s close enough for him to hear her, “how you doing?”
“Kie! You aren’t avoiding me like John B?” he asks, voice hoarse, with a forced sounding chuckle which devolves into a cough. “Traitor!” he adds on, presumably aimed at the offending friend, once he’s finished coughing.
Kiara smiles sympathetically at the sight in front of her. In all the time that she’s been friends with JJ, she’s not once known him to be sick. He clearly isn’t taking it very well.
“For what it’s worth, I think John B’s being an asshole for making you stay out here when you should clearly be resting. Inside.” Kiara declares, still feeling bitter towards their friend.
JJ squints up at her, as though he doesn’t quite believe what she’s saying, and then frowns. “Oh no. Oh shit. Is mama Kie about to come out in full force?” he asks, sounding genuinely scared.
At this Kiara frowns and exclaims, “what?”, and before JJ can explain himself further, goes on to say, “you know what, if me wanting to take care of you when you’re sick rather than leave you to probably die, let’s be real, unlike some people” here she pointedly glares at the Chateau, “makes me ‘mama Kie’, then sure, but just so you know, I think it’s incredibly sexist of all of y’all to label me that just because I’m a girl in a group of mostly guys.”
Feeling proud of her mini speech, Kiara looks down at JJ and his amused expression, as he says, “Kie, you literally came up with that name yourself at a kegger, but to be honest, I don’t blame you for not remembering. You were high out of your mind.”
The smile on JJ’s face takes the sting away from realising that she was wrong, but JJ doesn’t have to know that, so, because she is very mature thank you very much, she simply replies with, “whatever” and crosses her arms over her chest.
She remembers what she was doing out here in the first place when JJ sniffles loudly and looking back at the boy in the hammock, who is currently wiping his nose on the bottom of his t-shirt, she realises he could really do with a tissue. And maybe an actual bed.
“Ok, come on,” she says to him, holding out a hand to help him up. JJ stares at it, before looking up at her, head cocked to the side like an adorably confused puppy, and ever so eloquently asks “what?”
Kiara tries to bite back her smile at how cute he looks, blond hair flopped over his forehead, brows furrowed together and his red nose scrunched up, but ultimately fails, so she looks away to her car, hoping he didn’t see it, and repeats, “come on. We’re going to my place. You need to lie down in an actual bed and have some soup or something. Not to go all ‘mama Kie’ on you, but I can guarantee you that staying out here won’t help you get better.”
At the sceptical look on JJ’s face Kiara sighs and continues, “my parents aren’t home,” knowing that will sell it to him. He’s nothing if not consistent; he breaks out into the brightest smile Kiara thinks he’s capable of in his current condition, and she can’t help but return it. She never can.
“Ok fine, you’ve convinced me Kie,” JJ begins as he takes her hand and she pulls him out of the hammock. “I’ll come with you into the heart of Kooklandia, but only so that you can nurse me back to health and then I can kick your ass on the waves this weekend. Don’t think I’ve forgotten our bet just because I’m on my deathbed.”
Kiara rolls her eyes fondly at his rambling and complains, “you’re hardly on your deathbed Jay. I should’ve known you’d be this dramatic with just a cold” as she starts leading him towards her car, his hand still in hers, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by either of them.
“You know what, seeing as I might not make it to the end of this week—”
“—You’re literally fine JJ.”
“No, I might not even make it to tonight actually,” he continues as though she hadn’t spoken, holding up a finger with his unoccupied hand, “I totally think you should wear one of those little nurse costumes while you take care of me.”
“No. Nope.”
“No okay but just hear me out—"
“It’s not happening JJ.”
“But Kie, how can you nurse me back to health if you’re not dressed as a nurse? Like the logic just isn’t there you know? Honestly, it’s like you don’t even want me to get better. Anyway, you’d look smoking in the outfit, I don’t see the problem.” He argues his case the entire way back to the car, and once they reach the passenger side door she opens it and practically shoves him inside, only feeling a little bit bad for doing so.
She takes her phone out of her pocket and texts John B quickly to let him know she’s taking the invalid to her house.
Kiwi: John B u can come out of hiding
Kiwi: im taking JJ to mine seeing as u chose to neglect him
ThePope: I would help you but I have to help my dad right now.
Kiwi: pope for someone who loves dead bodies u sure are scared of getting sick huh
Jombee: *picture of a cross*
ThePope: I’m not scared!! I just have to study for a test.
Jombee: i thought u had to help ur dad?
ThePope: Yes! Help my dad help me study for my test!
Jombee: *gif of ??? ??? meme*
“Kie! I’m dying over here and you have time to text?” JJ’s voice pulls her attention away from her phone, and she rolls her eyes but gets in the driver’s seat and starts the car anyway.
“If you say that you’re dying one more time I’ll just drop you off on the side of the road and see how far you get that way ok?”, she says sweetly, pulling away from the Chateau and starting the short drive to her own house. He swallows and nods, before looking around for her aux cord.
“Gotta have my tunes though seeing as I am sick,” he says before descending into a small coughing fit. Kiara looks over in alarm, but he just smiles weakly at her and says, “see?”. She looks back at the road to hide her fond smile. Of course the bastard would use his cold to prove a point.
JJ puts on a country music playlist- a guilty pleasure of his that she found out about accidentally and has been holding over his head ever since, and then leans his head against the window and closes his eyes. Kiara thinks he might have dozed off until she hears him say quietly, “thanks Kie.”
She looks over to him and sees that his eyes are still closed but he has a small smile on his lips, and she can’t help the way her face softens at the sight. She reaches a hand over the centre console and covers one of his, squeezing it slightly, eyes back on the road so she misses the way his eyes fly open and land on their hands, joined for the second time that day.
She only pulls her hand away from his the next time she needs to change gear, and as she glances back over sees him staring out of the window with what looks suspiciously like a blush on his cheeks.
After only about three songs have played, they pull into the Carerra’s driveway, and Kiara nudges JJ’s shoulder gently from where he was trying to sleep. “We’re here,” she says softly, and he blinks his eyes open tiredly, rubbing at them and smiles at her.
Kiara gets out of the car and waits for JJ to get out before making her way to the front door. Only he never gets out. Sighing, she goes around to the passenger side, and sees him smirking at her through the window. She opens the door while shaking he head and pre-emptively says, “JJ, you are capable of getting out of the car yourself.”
His smirk only widens as he replies, “but you’re my nurse, it’s literally in your job contract to help me in and out of cars, and beds. And clothes,” he adds with a wink and a shit-eating grin.
Kiara flushes at that last comment, as the picture of her helping him out of his shirt flashes through her mind, but she quickly pushes it away and slaps him on the chest, saying “in your dreams Maybank.”
“Oh, I do dream Kiara,” he replies, and seriously, what is with him today? Yes, Kiara is used to his flirty nature, and has grown accustomed to being on the receiving end of it most of the time, but this is bold even for him. Maybe it’s the cold going to his head.
“Ok, let’s get you inside JJ, come on.” She decides to just ignore his comments, and wraps an arm around his shoulders to help him out of the car. In his defence, he does stumble a little as he slides out of his seat, so maybe this was necessary. Maybe Kiara just likes being this close to him. Whatever.
He slides his arm around her waist and leans against her side slightly as they walk towards the front door, and her breathing hitches a little. She tries to just focus on getting the key in the lock, but all she can feel is his fingers against the bare skin of her side where her top doesn’t quite meet the waistband of her shorts.
Get it together Kie, she wills herself, and manages to unlock the door. They make it through the doorway together and she directs them into the kitchen, so she can get him some water and some paracetamol. After she deposits him on one of the island stools, she heads to the cupboards to look for the painkillers.
“Kie”, she hears JJ’s quiet voice behind her.
“Mmm?” she hums distractedly, still rifling through the cupboards. She swears they were here yesterday.
“Why are you doing this? Aren’t you worried you’ll get sick like the others?” he says. And if that doesn’t break her heart.
She turns around to face him, and is shocked at how vulnerable he looks in that moment. He looks as though he’s just waiting for her to confirm that this is a burden for her and she’d rather be out doing anything other than helping one of her very best friends while he’s sick. It’s at times like this that she curses Luke Maybank and all of the lies he ever told his son. Well, more than usual anyway.
She can’t stand that look being on his face for another second, so she just says, “JJ, the others are being assholes, of course I’m gonna help you when you’re sick. You’re my best friend,” she shrugs, “I’d help any of you.”
Kiara wanted that vulnerable look off his face, but I guess the saying ‘careful what you wish for’ is actually true, because the moment those words left her lips, JJ’s face shuttered, as though that was the last thing he wanted to hear. It passes as soon as it came though, and soon enough his ever-present smirk is back in place.
“See? That’s exactly why we call you Mama Kie!”, he says smugly, but it sounds slightly half-hearted, and Kiara’s too focused on why his face fell when she said that she would do the same for any of the pogues, to scold him for the nickname.
Kiara just rolls her eyes and turns back to the cupboards, finally spotting the painkillers. She grabs the box and takes out two for JJ to take and then goes to get him a glass of water.
“Okay, here you go, take these,” she says as she heads back to the boy slumped on the stool, and is surprised to find his eyes already trained on her. He quickly looks down to where his fingers are drumming on the island surface, and then back up to her as she hands him the medicine and the glass.
He clears his throat and says “uh, thanks,” with a small smile. She smiles back.
******
Kiara decrees that JJ needs to lie down and get some rest, so she ushers him up the stairs to her bedroom. Predictably JJ cracks some jokes about her getting him in her bed, which she ignores thank you very much (alongside the butterflies that said jokes bring about), but he follows her instructions without any protests.
Kiara closes the door behind her when they get to her room, misses the way that JJ watches and swallows hard as she does so, and heads to her drawers. “I’ve got some sweatpants in here that you can wear, Jay, they’ll be more comfortable than your shorts,” she says over her shoulder, and JJ just hums in agreement, as he looks round her room.
It’s not that the boys weren’t welcome in her house, it’s just that they all felt more comfortable at the Chateau, or anywhere else really, Kiara included. Which is why JJ hadn’t been inside her room all that often, and still looked around it as though for the first time, when he was. It was like being inside Kiara’s head; it was full of everything that was just so completely her. JJ thinks it might be his favourite room he’s ever stepped foot in.
He heads over to join Kiara at her drawers and laughs when he sees the contents of them. There were several t-shirts from each of the boys’ wardrobes as well as a couple of sweatshirts. “Are you hoarding our clothes our somethin’ Kie?”, he says with a grin and pulls out a grey jumper of his that he hadn’t seen in a while. “I’ve been looking for this for months!”
Kiara doesn’t even look sorry as she snatches the jumper back, and says primly “don’t be dramatic I’ve only had this for a couple weeks. And I took it from John B anyway, so obviously he stole it from you first.”
JJ just shakes his head at her with a grin playing on his lips. “What?” Kiara exclaims indignantly, “I like to sleep in them, they’re comfortable,” and the boy notices a slight blush rising to her cheeks, and god, does the idea of Kiara sleeping in his clothes do things to him. He pushes down those less than honourable thoughts, and just holds up his hands in surrender, says “alright, alright”.
She pulls out the promised pair of sweatpants, and throws them over without looking at him, trying to hide the blush she can feel on her face. JJ takes the trackies and she glances at him as he kicks off his boots. He walks over to her bed and starts unbuttoning his cargo shorts and she forces herself to turn around fully, the sight giving her ideas she definitely shouldn’t have, and cries, “Jesus JJ, I’m still here”.
He looks up and says, “whoops” with a grin, not sounding sorry at all, the bastard. “Alright I’m done now anyway”. Kiara composes herself before she turns back to the bed, and watches him throw himself down on top of the covers.
She smiles and asks, “how are you feeling? Are the painkillers helping?”, as she comes to sit on the bed next to him, cross-legged.
He shrugs as well as he can while lying down, and replies, “yeah, I’m okay”, but approximately two seconds later he sneezes, and all Kiara can think is thank god he covered his nose.
“Yeah okay, my ass. Ew!” the girl shrieks, as she jumps off the bed when JJ extends his now snotty hand out towards her. “Get away!” she cries, laughing, and he just cackles at her disgusted expression.
“Oh, you didn’t wanna see this? I thought nurses like examined this shit,” he snickers, and Kiara just backs away, says, “do not touch me with that,” with her finger pointing at him, “I’m serious JJ.”
Kiara keeps her eyes on him as she steps into her en suite to get him some tissues, not trusting him to not ambush her. He just sits in her bed looking very happy with himself, and she can’t help but notice how cute the sight is. She bites her lips to hide her smile, and goes back to the bed to hand him the tissues.
“Do you want some soup?” she questions, as he cleans up, and he looks up in surprise. “Really?” he asks and she frowns.
“What do you mean? My mom always made me soup when I was ill, I think it’s supposed to help your throat or something” she explains, not understanding what he was asking.
“No, but like, you’d wanna make me soup?” and Kiara gets it. He’s got that same look on his face again, and sitting in her bed looking up at her, hair flopped over his forehead, he looks like a small boy. Like the boy he was when she first met him, back before his mom left and his dad threw his first punch. Back when maybe his mom would make him soup when he was ill too.
She smiles gently at him and sits back down on the edge of the bed. “Course I will Jay,” she says softly, while reaching out to brush the strands of blonde hair off his forehead. He sighs quietly, and leans ever so slightly into her touch, before shaking his head and frowning a little.
“Because we’re best friends, right?” he asks with a smile that looks just a bit too forced to be real.
She inhales, and bites her lip. What does he mean by that? she thinks, but just keeps her eyes on his as she replies, “because I care about you. Because you deserve to have someone care about you. You deserve to have someone look after you when you’re sick, no matter what your asshole of a dad tells you”. She feels herself start to get worked up thinking of Luke, and sees JJ’s frown deepen at the mention of his father, so she dials it back, and finishes off with a soft, “and yeah, because we’re best friends”, hoping against hope that he hears the but I think I want to be more in her voice.
She thinks he just might, when this time he smiles back at her, a genuine, soft smile that reaches his eyes. That’s her favourite smile of his, one that he only ever lets the other pogues see, one that makes her wonder how the rest of the island, how her parents, could ever see him as anything other than the sweet, broken boy who would walk through hell and back for his friends, that he is.
“I’ll go make you that soup,” she breathes, but JJ just shakes his head and says, “nah, come here”, gesturing for her to sit back next to him against the headboard. She does.
She feels his arms go around her middle, and she wraps hers around his shoulders, resting her chin on the top of his head when he presses his face against her collarbone. “Thank you”, he mumbles into her neck, lips brushing her skin, and she shivers.
She presses a kiss to his hair, and whispers, “you’re welcome”, her lips lingering against him.
They stay like that, limbs tangled together, faces nuzzled into each other, until JJ falls asleep finally getting the rest he needed. When Kiara wakes up the next day uncomfortably warm and with a sore throat, well. It was worth it for the sight of the boy in bed next to her, with his arm resting gently on her waist, and a small secret smile on his lips, looking for all the world like the most peaceful seventeen year old on Kildare Island.