Chapter Text
The plane was shaking the whole way back home. After an hour or two of the steady vibrations, they all became adjusted to the constant jerks and pulls around the cabin of the plane. Despite the rough trip home, they hadn’t slept for days and were too exhausted to keep their eyes open a second longer. Slowly, it got dark out, and one by one, each Pogue fell fast asleep. Pope was first, Cleo a close second. They fell asleep side by side, Pope looking awkward about being so close beside her even in his sleep. It was cute how flustered she made him. Third was Sarah, curled up in John B’s lap, and next would be John B. He stayed up with Kie and JJ for quite some time, the three of them talking about what they would do with so much gold. John B talked about his adventures with his dad, the ones they couldn’t be a part of before he passed, and tears were shed before he told them both he needed to sleep before they landed. So, fourth was John B, his head resting against the shaky metal walls of the janky plane, sound asleep.
Now the two remainings were JJ and Kiara, and suddenly the plane got quiet. They hadn’t had time alone together since their bike ride to their last plane ride and it made Kie realize just how much she had been craving just talking to JJ and JJ alone.
“Well, here we are,” Kie said, leaning against some kind of crate, her head turned to admire JJ’s features up close. “I honestly still can’t believe it, but somehow we got here.”
“We got here together,” JJ said with the same kind of smile he always gives her, one that’s small but only because he’s trying to hold back his whole grin. “Don’t think I coulda made it this far without you.”
Kie gave him a watery smile and reached for his hand in his lap, intertwining their fingers together like missing pieces to a puzzle. “I know I couldn’t have,” he turned his head to meet her eyes, and they just smiled at each other for a moment, soaking in the peace that surrounded them. Then reality started to click, and Kie said, “What are we gonna do now?”
“‘Bout what?” JJ furrowed his brows.
“We’re heading back home but… is it really home anymore? The chateau burned down, you’ve been evicted, if I go home my parents will just send me right back to Kitty Hawk or worse. Where are we supposed to go?” she looked like she might cry, and JJ was not having that.
He shrugged, but it was a calm kind of shrug. The kind that said, ‘who cares’ more than ‘I wish I knew the answer.’ He squeezed her hand in his and responded with, “We’ll figure it out, just like we always do, alright? Worst case scenario, Sarah’s got a pretty empty mansion. I bet she could spare a few rooms for us if need be.”
“I don’t think any of Sarah’s family would like that very much,”
“Yeah, well they don’t gotta know. Look, Kie, it don’t matter where we go. ‘Cause, we got the gold. We’re like zillionaires right now, we don’t gotta worry about anything ever again.”
Kie gave him a soft smile and said, “Money doesn’t solve everything, Jayj.”
“No, you right, but it most definitely helps.” He pulled her hand up, still tangled with his, right to his lips, and gave her a soft kiss on the knuckles. “We’re gonna figure it out. We always do, don’t we? Ain’t nothing’s stopped us yet. Even your crazy Kooks of parents trying to take you away from us, from me, not even that worked. We’re unstoppable Kie.”
Kiara knew even JJ didn’t fully believe that, but he was being positive for her, and she couldn’t help but want to believe every word. “Thank you, by the way. For saving me.”
JJ laughed a little and looked back down at their hands. He gazed down at them like he couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming; like he wanted to pinch himself but then he might wake up. Then he said, “Yeah, well, I kinda owed ya, didn’t I?”
Kie knew why, but she still chose the route that would make him blush. She loved making him blush. So, with a smirk smugly on her face, she said, “How so?”
“Well, ya know, how I treated you and your folks and how I…” he trailed off, avoiding all eye contact now. “Well, how you were real with me and opened up ‘bout your true feelin’s and I just sorta…”
“Ignored them?” she said, amused. Her feelings were no longer hurt, especially once she heard those three words spoken back to her. The moment she realized he truly did love her back, everything he did to push her away made all the more sense.
“I did more than just ignore them Kie, I … I acted like they didn’t mean anything to me and shit, they meant the world to me and I…” he looked back up at her smiling face, his nerves melting away from the sight. “What’s got you so happy?”
“You,” she said with a little shrug. “I’ve gotta admit though, I really thought for a minute there that you really just saw me as a sister or a friend and I had completely misread something-”
“A sister?” JJ choked out, “God no, never, no, no no Kie, I…” he reached up to brush her dirt-stained cheek with his thumb and finished with, “I’ve been in love with you since we were kids. I just never in a zillion years woulda thought you’d ever feel the same about me.”
She grinned and couldn’t even hide it, “Oooo, guys, guys,” she hissed as if they all could hear her - but they were all knocked out. “JJ looovveees me.” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Don’t,” JJ leaned back and ducked his blushing face away, “now you’re just makin’ it weird, Kie.”
“You’re in loooove with me, you wanna kissss me,” she teased him even more. He deserved it, for the time she told him she loved him and he said thank you in return. “You wanna daaaaate me, you wanna -”
“Shh, shh, Kie, shhh,” he was laughing now, putting his hand over her mouth but accepting defeat. “Yeah, I will be the first to admit I wanna do those things, but I for one don’t wanna wake up sleep-deprived Pope or John B right now or all we’ll get for the next hour is an earful of lecturing. So, maybe less singin’, alright?”
She nodded, his hand still over her mouth. She was grinning at him through his palm and the look she was giving him made him want to kiss her even more. He slid his hand from her mouth to the side of her face, cupping her cheek and gazing longingly at her lips without even realizing it. They’ve only kissed three times in their whole lives of knowing each other, once when they were in middle school she spun the bottle on him and the whole room roared with oo’s and awes, but she just pecked him on the lips, and moved on without another mention of it again. The second time was when he saved her from Kitty Hawk, and the third was right before they got on the plane to help John B and Sarah find Eldorado. Only one of those kisses was longer than 3 seconds, and now that he actually could kiss her without hearing “get a room” from the Pogues, it was really hard to think about anything else.
But they hadn’t talked about really what they were yet, and they hadn’t told the Pogues about what happened at Kitty Hawk, and this plane was the least romantic setting possible, so he just gave her a gentle, loving smile and pulled away. They sat there in silence for a long moment, Kie overanalyzing everything, JJ overanalyzing even more. Kie watched him from the side of her eye, then looked back down at her now empty hands and started to wonder if she was pushing him away already. She had to be delicate with him, he had made huge leaps and bounds the past few weeks, but he was still JJ, and if she pushed too hard, he might just run again. She wanted to lighten the mood, move away from the talk of love and commitment and maybe focus on the past for shits and giggles. So, she said, “You know, I never really thought I was your type.”
JJ scoffed and looked up, expecting her to be joking. She wasn’t being serious in the way that those words hurt her, if anything she was laughing about it, but the words were still true. “Wait, I’m sorry - you’re serious?” he was baffled.
“Yeah, I mean sure you would jokingly hit on me sometimes but I don’t know - I always figured I’d be the last kind of girl you’d go for. I mean, I am a Kook by blood after all.” She was smiling and shrugging and nothing about her came off mad or upset but JJ still felt guilty, because he was the asshole that told her that to begin with.
“Kie, no look listen to me, alright? You are not a Kook. I know I threw that in your face before but I didn’t mean it, I - I have never seen you as a Kook.”
Kie was surprised at how serious this conversation turned out. She nodded slowly, then bit her bottom lip and said, “Guess now, without my Kook parents, I really am a 100% Pogue.”
“You’ve always been 100% Pogue, Kie. Shit, you’re more Pogue than I am most times.” He situated himself against the crate in a way he could look at Kiara better, then said, “Blood doesn’t got anythin’ to do with being a Pogue. I mean, look at Sarah. She should be the most Kook out of anyone we know, but she ain’t. She’s one of us. It’s not about blood, it's about soul.”
She bit back a laugh and said, “You can be really cheesy sometimes, you know that?”
“Yeah, well, what can I say? Just comes naturally I guess.” He smirked at her and Kie grabbed both his hands in hers this time. He watched their hands fold together and said, “And you could’ve been the kookiest Kook I’ve ever seen in my life, and you still would’ve been my type.”
Kie pulled him in for a hug then. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. He hid his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in, and she didn’t want to let go. She never wanted to let go. She did however pull back just enough to press her forehead against his, both hands now finding the sides of his face and brushing her nose against his. JJ wound his arms around her to bring her further in, and they stayed that way for a little while, just being together, just breathing the same air, just being safe and free of worry for once in their lives.
“When we get home, how about I take you on a proper date?” JJ asked, eyes flickering closed.
“Hmmm,” Kie responded, eyes closed as well. “Maybe an afternoon of surfing, then take the bike and ride into the sunset?”
“You read my mind. Maybe catch some fish for dinner, cook it on the fire while we watch the waves crash and fall.”
“Sounds perfect.” She hummed.
JJ opened his eyes to admire her, then it finally occurred to him that every time anyone has made a move in this relationship, it's been Kie first. If he wanted her to stop thinking she wasn’t his type, he needed to be ballsy for once and just make the first move himself. So, he tilted his chin forward and kissed her. She seemed surprised at first but melted into his embrace seconds later. Her hands tangled in his hair and he pulled her so close he was practically squeezing her, but neither of them cared. They just got to be together, without anything in their way. JJ happily noted to himself that they had now kissed a total of four times, and every kiss was somehow better than the last.
It wasn’t until they heard a, “Shut up!” from their side that they pulled away from each other. They turned and saw Sarah sitting up from John B’s lap with her mouth gaped open, and John B just sitting there with a smug look on his face.
“I’m sorry, how long have you guys been awake?” Kie said with burning red cheeks.
“Um, around the time you two talked about going on a surf date,” Sarah said like she was in shock, but the grin on her face said everything else. JJ looked at John B, and his face said he’d been awake for much longer than that. “Oh my god, you guys!” Sarah exclaimed.
“Shhhh,” Kie shushed her, gesturing to sleeping Pope and Cleo.
“Sorry,” she mouthed. “But since when?” she now whispered to them, but mainly to Kie.
“Uhh,” Kie laughed a little, “since Pogulandia? But not really until he saved me from Kitty Hawk…”
Sarah shook her head and sat up completely beside John B, who was still just looking at them with the smuggest of smirks. “I’m sorry, I should be leaving you guys alone, I’m just…” she looked at both of them with teary eyes and said, “it’s about damn time.” Then she huffed, wiped away the tears, and said, “God, I don’t even know why I’m crying. John B, did you know?” she nudged his ribcage and he gave her a frown and a shaking head.
“How could I? They’ve been so discreet about everything,” John B met JJ’s eyes and JJ wanted to throw something at him. John B has known at least since JJ asked for the Twinkie for his ‘saving Kie’ mission. But in all honesty, he’s probably known a lot longer than that.
After a while of talking, the pilot loudly announced that they were about to land into the OBX. This got Pope and Cleo stirring awake, and everything went back into the focus of life right now. Sarah would sometimes just smile at them though, with a little excited dance every now and then, and go back to whatever she was doing at that moment.
Once getting off the plane and onto dry land, anxiety started to creep in. The moment she felt her mind start to spiral, Kie found JJ’s hand in hers. He gave her a little squeeze and she looked up, being met with a comforting smile and a wink. “We’ve got this, together, right?” he said in a low voice, just to her, only to her. “Facing our demons together, just you and me baby.” Then he looked over at John B, and Sarah, and Pope and Cleo, and he rolled his eyes jokingly and said, “Okay, them too. So just you and me, and also them.”
She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek, then said, “Just you and me. And also them.”
“Shit I love you,” JJ said breathlessly, as if the words didn’t even mean to come out.
She beamed up at him and said, “Shit, I love you too.”
The End