Chapter Text
God fucking damn it. Those are the only words to describe John B’s current predicament. If someone told him 3 months ago that he would be here in this exact situation at 16, he would have laughed in your face.
Well, maybe someone did and karma’s just a bitch.
But at the end of the day, he’s not an idiot. He evaded CPS for a while, so it was only a matter of time until they finally took their job seriously.
They couldn’t leave him alone, could they? They saw a happy teen just living life with his friends and that just threw their panties in a twist. How dare he enjoy the life he didn’t even ask for, right?
Despite all his endeavors he’s never been in the police department before, and he just wants to go home. Not with whatever snot-nosed Kook they planned to put him with. “You’re going to love it with him”, his ass.
He hated all the people rushing around him, but the sounds of phones ringing and the rustling of paper was slowly but surely starting to tick him off. He just wanted to go home. A unexpected pang sadness shoots through him. He already missed his bed. Which is kind of sad that that’s the main thing he misses from home. Well, I guess he misses his friends, no they’re more than that to him they’re family-
His depressing thoughts were cut off as the officer came back into the room. The officer stopped in his motion and sighed a bit at John B’s downturned face. “Kid, I know this is hard. You’ve got to understand however, it’s not right for you to be on your own.”
John B didn’t answer, he just looked up at the officer irritated. The officer narrowed his eyes at John B.
“I’m going to call you bumblebee kid, it fits you.” The officer chuckled a little at John B’s incredulous face. He started walking towards the door, John B taking the cue that they were leaving.
John B sighed excessively; the officer only rolled his eyes with a bit of fondness. Teenagers these days, they get angstier by the minute.
“Come on kid, they’re almost here. Let’s go to the lobby.” John B’s heart rate spiked subtly. He prayed for the first time in a while. Please let everything go well.<\em>
John B swallowed thickly and grabbed his bags. He forced his legs to work as he followed the officer. They reached the lobby and almost with an unnatural amount of coincidence a car pulled up and parked right in front of the station.
“Perfect timing,” the officer muttered under his breath as he pushed the doors of the station open letting the man in.
Ominously, he slowly stepped up to John B. The officer placed a hand in his curly hair and ruffled it softly. “Alright bumblebee, this is Paul and he’s going to be watching over you for the time being.” The man in question flashed a happy smile.
“Hey! Um, bumblebee, was it?” The man says the name quietly as in testing it out. John B blinks at the man blankly. Great, he was a moron too.
“My name’s John B.” The man's eyes narrow in what seems to be annoyance before he rights himself. He chuckles and rubs the back of his neck, his sun-spotted and freckled skin lightly tinting a soft shade of pink.
“Sorry about that, I just thought… Never mind, is he free to go?” Paul questions taking his attention off of John B now addressing the officer.
“Yep, he’s all set. You’ll be okay kid.” The officer says it with so much confidence John B almost believes it.
“Yea, we’ll see how long he can hold me.” John B mumbles under his breath. The officer chuckles internally and pretends not to have heard that. He pats John B on the shoulder and gently nudges John B towards Paul. “Get going kid,” he says with a small smile on his face.
The smile on his face weakened. The officer looked at the retreating figure of John B and couldn’t help but feel as if he’s released John B into the claws of a predator.
- - - - - - - - -
John B looks back at the gradually shrinking image of the officer standing in the station with a grimace on his face until the doors harshly slam shut bringing him out of his daydream.
He stumbles back as he collided with Paul’s back, the seemingly kind man looked back at him with a look so full of venom John B gets whiplash. “Get your head out of your ass and get in the car.”
John B was left speechless at the words before his face twisted into a sneer. “Chill out pal, it’s clear none of us want to be here so let’s lay back on all the attitude m’kay?” He turns around and enters the passenger seat of the truck.
He enters the car feeling a burning gaze he looks up. Paul had entered the driver’s seat before staring at John B with such an expressionless and invading stare. It felt like he was being dissected so he diverted his eyes before reaching to turn on the radio.
“Don’t touch that thing, boy,” Paul muttered while pulling out of the parking lot. John B’s hands stuttered in their movement and his hand fell back into his lap.
During the silent drive, John B’s hand reached up to twirl a curl in his hair. It was a nervous tick he had. He felt a bit awkward however as Paul kept sneaking glances at the hand in his hair.
After what felt like hours of silence Paul spoke up. “You must love your hair.” John B’s mind stuttered at the question. The question itself didn’t bother John B but it was the tone he used. He sounded choked and strained in a way. It felt ultimately very suspicious to John B, so he made sure to answer carefully.
“Um-, yea, I guess? I’ve been growing it out for a while so I’m a bit attached to it.” John B answered. Paul hummed under his breath and that was it. There weren’t any more weird-sounding questions or glances at John B. He felt oddly relaxed and just waited until they reached Paul’s house.
They reached Paul’s house and they left the car. It was small, small as in ‘I-live-here-with-myself-and-now-one-teenage-boy-small.’ John B decided he didn’t entirely hate it. Paul lets him into the house.
Paul looks at him again with that weird look of his and it unnerves John B all over again. “Anyone tell you that you’re a handsome young man?” John B shivered, it was a compliment but it felt a bit...
John B cleared his throat and smirked. “I mean yea? Look at me, I’m gorgeous.” John B exclaimed smugly.
Paul smirked his breaths coming in just a tad bit faster, “Yea, I sure lucked out.” John B’s stomach dropped, what?
Paul took a deep breath and pointed to a room just down the hall. “The last door on that hall is yours.” John B nodded and passed by Paul. As he did, he felt a hand brush through his curled locks. He startled and whipped his head around to look at Paul.
He at least had the decorum to look a bit apologetic, “Sorry, just wanted to know what it felt like.” His voice had that strained tone to it again and his cheeks were flushed a light red. John B felt his chest start to tighten in this strange feeling mix of fear, anxiety, and curiosity.
John B nodded softly and kept glancing back until he reached his room. He closed the door behind him and only then did he feel relaxed and settled for the first time since he left the station.
His mind kept replaying the way Paul’s voice sounded and his heart stuttered in fear again. Why did he sound like that? A voice buried deep in his head was attempting to whisper something to John B, but he took a deep breath to silence it. He didn’t like it here.
He wanted to go home.