Work Text:
It’s scary to think that Renfield could get to Heyward. That he tracked him down specifically to hurt him and in that way gain leverage with them. It makes Kiara feel uneasy to think about it – how Pope’s dad got caught into the crossfire of this crazy chase, despite having nothing to do with it. How it’s their fault he has a patch on his forehead, now, got jumped at his own place of work.
But then Heyward tells them to go figure it out. That he hasn’t raised Pope to back down from a fight. That they should go talk to Mee-maw and see where that takes them. Pope seems hesitant at first, eyeing the blood on his dad’s shirt, the band-aid on his forehead.
“I don’t know…” he says, looking at her, and then at JJ.
JJ shrugs. “You should listen to your Pops, Pope,” he says.
“Damn right he should!” Heyward weighs in. “Now, now. You kids get home safe, alright? And I’ma head back too before your Mama gets worried, Pope.”
Pope heads home with his dad, afterwards, fussing over him as if he were an invalid until Pops tells him to stop. The other four head back, waving their hands at them until they disappear along the canal in Heyward’s fishing boat. They head back to the Twinkie then, parked just in front of the store, file inside like they always do.
“Kie, you need a ride home?” John B offers, leaning back from the driver’s seat.
The reaction is instantaneous, the grip in her stomach. Home. There’s been no time to go over what happened, today, to bring the others up to speed – besides Pope, but Pope is not here. It’s still so fresh, too raw. Kiara schools her expression best she can, hides it all underneath an unconvinced smile. “No, ah, I– my parents kicked me out, actually.”
“What?” A chorus of voices answer her, heads snapping towards the back of the van, eyes wide.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal, really-”
“It’s a huge deal, Kie!” Sarah says, urgent voice laced with concern. Kiara averts her eyes.
“It’s really not. I’m fine, seriously,” she says, staring out of the window. The grey sky reflects perfectly on the still water, the calm of the evening settling in. Kiara takes a deep breath, snaps her head back towards John B. “But, yeah, I’m coming back with you guys. If that’s okay?”
They’re all still staring at her, not even trying to hide it. John B’s eyes meet hers for a quick moment. His lips twist into a half-smile, half-grimace. “Yeah. Yeah, of course. You know it.”
The sky is darkening by the time they get back, the marsh glistening with the yellow lights from the docks littering the coastline. John B pushes open the front door and they all follow him inside.
There’s nothing in the kitchen cabinets except for expired instant ramen.
“Guys, we need to get some groceries asap,” Kie announces, nonetheless portioning out the ramen and dumping it into the microwave.
Now that the sun has set the temperature has dropped, chilled air coming in from the open windows in the Chateau. Kie steps into the living room and picks up a flannel shirt from the floor that she’s pretty sure belongs to JJ and slips it on.
They eat their dinner in silence, leaning over the kitchen counter. As soon as she’s done, Sarah dumps her bowl and cutlery in the sink, rinses it under the faucet.
“I’m gonna head to bed,” she says. “It’s been a long couple of days.”
Kiara smiles weakly at her. She turns to look at John B, an eyebrow raised. John B sighs.
“Yeah, wait up. I’m coming too.”
They disappear into John B’s bedroom, and soon the lock clicks into place.
“And… that’s our cue to leave,” JJ says, dumping his own empty bowl on the counter by the sink.
“Right…”
JJ looks at her from underneath raised eyebrows. Pulls a baggie of weed from his back pocket and shakes it in his hand, nods his head toward the yard. “Hammock?”
She smiles wide. Steps towards the glass door and holds it open for him. “After you, kind sir,” she says jokingly, exaggerating a bow as he comes through.
“Why, thank you.”
They climb on the hammock at either end, sharing the old throw blanket they keep there to fend off the chill of the evening. JJ rolls up a joint between his fingers, licks off the paper to seal it off before fishing for his lighter. He takes the first puff, exhales a white cloud of smoke that lingers briefly over his head. Twists the lit joint in his fingers and leans over to offer it to her.
Kiara accepts it in silence. Takes a deep drag, then another. She closes her eyes, lets the swinging motion of the hammock take her in. All is quiet around them, the sound of crickets chirping in the marsh mixing in with the lull of the waves. She lets out the smoke through her lips slowly, until her lungs are completely empty.
“Hey.” JJ prods her gently with his foot. She opens her eyes. “You alright?”
Kie sighs. Pushes herself up slowly and passes the joint back to him. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
JJ doesn’t say anything. His eyes are trained on her in that intense way he has. She ducks her head down, shakes it slightly. “I mean, it’s whatever. My mom just finally reached her breaking point and snapped.”
She sits up a little and makes grabby hands at him. He leans in, passes her the joint. Their fingers brush for a brief moment as she takes it from him before she settles back on her side of the hammock.
She takes another puff, blows more smoke over her head. “She thinks she’s punishing me, by sending me to live here with y’all,” she says. “I mean, talk about delusional, right?”
JJ twists the corner of his mouth, and his silence is louder than any words could be. She folds her arms around herself, suddenly feeling small and naked under his probing look. That boy could always read right through her. She sighs, getting a hold on herself.
“I’m fine, JJ. Really.”
He nods, quiet. Wipes his cheek against his shoulder in a quick, jerking motion.
“You know, if you want to talk. I know a thing or two about shitty parents, so.”
He says it so casually, eyes up in the sky, voice sure and unwavering. Something uncomfortable sinks inside her chest, the same heartbreak she feels for him every time family is mentioned. It’s so not the same thing, too. And yet the fact that JJ would say this to her, that he of all people would be the one to allow her to admit that yeah, this is fucked up shit, too. She twists her bottom lip between her teeth, sneaks him a look. They’re not in the same boat, her and JJ. But maybe they are, just a little bit.
JJ turns to look at her, slow and measured. She shakes her head, forces an unconvinced smile on.
“I really don’t, though. At least not now.”
“Fair enough.”
She can see the moonlight reflecting on his face, his edges softened by the late hour and the weed. She leans back, fixes her eyes on him.
“How about we just get spectacularly high, instead?”
JJ chuckles, his head tilted slightly and a dimple in his cheek.
“That I can do,” he says.
He lets her finish whatever’s left of the joint while he gets to work rolling a second one. In between fiddling with it, she catches him eyeing her sideways – with all the stealth you’d expect from a slightly high teenage boy. The easy silence between them suddenly shifts into the awkwardness of anticipation, her shoulders tensing despite the weed as she waits for the inevitable.
“Oh my god, fine!” she snaps when she can’t take it anymore. “Whatever you want to ask, go ahead! Just stop staring at me all creepy, already.”
JJ abruptly drops his gaze, his flushing cheeks noticeable even in the darkness. “Nothing,” he mumbles, scratching the back of his neck. “Just, I don’t know. I didn’t realise shit went down, that’s all.”
She blows out the warm smoke from her lungs, watches it spiral upwards towards the sky and then dissolve.
“Same shit as always, too. Like, my mom just can’t stand the idea that I’m nothing like her. That I don’t want her shiny big house on fucking Figure Eight and the Island Club and whatever the hell else.” She shrugs, shakes her head slightly. “Like, seriously, with all the shit that’s going down, still all she worries about is that I’m spending too much time with you, guys–”
She cuts herself short, shoots him a look. The last thing she wants is to make JJ feel like this is somehow his fault, like him and the boys are the reason for her parents lashing out.
JJ is unperturbed, though, focused on the rolling paper in his hands. “Well, Kie, you know there’s an easy answer to that, it’s just that you don’t want to hear it.”
She can hear the buildup of the joke in his voice, and yet she has no clue where he’s going. “Oh yeah? And what is that?”
“Well, clearly you should just hang out with Rafe and Topper more. Trade the Pogue life for pastel shorts and the occasional murder attempt."
Kiara blinks into the night a couple of times. Her face scrunches up and she snorts out a laugh. “What?”
“Yeah, dude, you should just listen to me. Suck it up, it’s for the greater good.”
The laughter dies on her lips. “You know what the sad thing is? That she actually would be happier if I hung out with Rafe. How fucked up is that?”
“It’s the pastel colours, I’m telling you. Ms Anna is a sucker for a good colour scheme.”
She kicks at his shoulder with her bare foot but JJ skirts expertly out of the way. “So typical of you, making fun of my hardships,” she says, and doesn’t mean a single word of it. He knows it, too, and simply winks back at her with a smile.
JJ lights up, his hand cupped around the end of the joint. A cloud of white smoke blows through his lips.
“Does Pope know about it?” he asks without looking at her. “The whole you being homeless, I mean.”
She gestures for the joint in his hand and he passes it over. She takes a slow drag, exhales. “Yeah, he knows. We were both here last night, after.”
“Right.”
Kie sucks the corner of her lip into her mouth. “I don’t know, he was a bit weird about it. He’s offered for me to stay at his house, and like… I mean, it just makes so much more sense for me to be here, right?”
“I don’t know, man, Heyward’s a blast. You sure you wanna pass on this prime opportunity to cozy it up with him?”
He’s eyeing her suggestively, wiggling his brows. It makes her laugh.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Why yes, Carrera, are you just finding that out now?”
JJ snatches the joint from her hand and they both relax back into the hammock as the laughter dies down, each at their end. JJ takes a long drag and all is quiet for a minute.
“Hey, uhm,” he starts, and she lifts her head a little to acknowledge him. “You know, you can have my room. Big John’s old room, I mean. Like, if you want.”
“What?”
“Yeah, like, so you and Popie can have some privacy and shit. Like, I don’t mind, really.”
Oh. Oh.
She doesn’t look at him. Twists her fingers around a loose thread in the blanket, eyes fixed on the task, unmoving.
“You know that we broke up… right?”
JJ’s eyes snap up towards her and for a moment he studies her, speechless.
“Uhm, ah… obviously not. I’m sorry,” he says. Then, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s better this way, it wasn’t– I wasn’t really feeling it, you know. We agreed we’re better off as friends.”
JJ shuffles somewhat uncomfortably on his seat. Folds and then unfolds his arms.
“Well, then, uhm. The offer still stands. Like, if you need some peace and quiet or… I don’t know. I don’t mind the couch, you know. Quite used to it, in fact.”
She smiles, but it’s a little bittersweet. “You’re good. Honestly, the couch is fine. My parents will get over it eventually.”
“Or we could take turns, y’know, a night each or something.”
“Oh yeah? You that desperate to get back on that couch? I mean, just say the word and it’s all yours…”
“Hey now, I was just trying to be neighbourly.”
She shoots him a smug look, an eyebrow raised. “I thought so.”
“That being said... if your mom sticks her ground we can, like, re-evaluate.”
JJ stretches his arm towards her and she takes the joint from his fingers. She takes a puff, shakes her head at him. “Think carefully before you make these kinds of promises, Maybank. I might end up taking you up on that.”
“Or, you know, there’s always the old office too. I bet if we convince John B to move some junk around we could fit a bed in there–”
“A bed? Have you seen that room?”
“Bunk beds, even. Then Pope can join too.”
She’s laughing by now, holding her side with one hand and the joint in the other to avoid an accident. She sits up and gives it back to him.
“You know what?” she says, “Bunk beds are not that bad an idea. Sharing is caring, and all that.”
“That’s the spirit. I scratch your back, you scratch mine…”
“Ain’t nobody scratching anyone’s anything, here.”
“It’s just a figure of speech.”
She punches his leg, jokingly. “You’re ridiculous.”
She smiles, sinks her shoulders back into the hammock. Rests her hands on her waist, palms down over her belly button. Relaxed. JJ takes the last drag and stubs the joint out against ground, making the hammock swing dangerously as he leans over the edge. She’s feeling the high coming in, the familiar quiet calm, the fuzziness around the edges.
“Hey, JJ?” JJ lifts his head to look at her, his face so open and sincere. Kiara smiles back. “I’m going to be fine.”
“I know you are,” he says, leaning back down. “You’re going to be fantastic. You’ve got JJ Maybank as a roommate, you’ve got nowhere to go but up.”
“Damn straight!” she giggles, a feeling of contentment as he joins in the laughter – the hammock shaking underneath them. Suddenly, she feels a little overwhelmed by her affection for him. It pulls gently at her heart, leaving the echo of an ache.
“Thank you, though,” she says. “I’m serious.”
“Anytime.” He bops his fingers on her ankle through the blanket, gentle. “That’s what Pogues are for.”
The stars are twinkling above them, the milky way bright in the sky, and she thinks he’s more right than he knows. No matter what happens, Kiara knows that as long as she has the Pogues, she’ll be fine.