Chapter Text
Day 5
It was day 5 on this deserted island in the middle of nowhere but all hasn't been too bad. The last few days they have basically spent all day finding food, a water source, and setting up shelter.
They managed to find a clear stream not too far off of where they set up camp. Cleo and Kiara both know what berries they can eat or can not eat from Kies old girl scouting days and Cleo having to learn to fend for herself which included finding easy access to food.
Sarah's weaving skills come in handy and she has already started to weave a shelter for them and sleeping mats. It’s gonna take a while for her to finish but she needs something to get her mind off of her psycho brother and father who allegedly tried to kill her.
John b has been helping Sarah and scavenging the island for any better reliable food sources or people he might come across to help them.
Pope has been the medic, forcing JJ to take it easy after almost having his head sliced off with a machete. Of course he didn’t listen but it was worth a shot.
JJ has been occupying himself by searching the jungle for food and making a spear so he can spear fish them dinner. Kiara finds herself adventuring off with him more times than not. Ever since she almost lost him 5 days ago, she hasn't left his side.
Sleeping together, eating together, hunting together, just sitting on some rocks and talking together.
Over the years she has known JJ, he was always the hardest to connect with. Not that they didn’t have anything in common, hell they had so much it was confusing since she came from such a different lifestyle.
But he was always there for a good laugh or to talk to because he was a surprisingly good listener even if he didn’t know how to comfort people very well. He was her best friend, partner in crime. But lately she is noticing herself coming to him for more.
Coming to him just to be around his presence, too soak in his laughs and dimpled smiles. To memorize the way his face lights up whenever she says a witty comeback or John b does something stupid. It's like she is lost in the dark and he is the only way to see.
Okay.. sometimes, maybe her heart swells when his dimple makes an appearance or she does a double take whenever he takes his shirt off (which has been a lot recently) screw her!
This is how Kiara Carrera finds herself stocking after JJ Maybank as he makes his way through the uncut forest.
“Hey! Wait up!” Her voice echoes through the leaves as she hurries to catch up with the blonde's long legs.
“You ready to kill something!” He says as he turns his head to face her, causing his hair to fall into his eyes, it was getting really long.
“When you say it like that it sounds so.. barbaric,” Kiara shakes her head with a laugh, recognizing their little inside joke.
He lets out a laugh as he pulls away some more branches, holding on to them so she can duck under as well. They always have to be on high alert where they step, when they first got here JJ and John b made sort of a trail but it only leads to the small river so they have to go off it a bit to get to the best hunting grounds.
So far the pogues have only been eating fish and berries. It’s been good but the constant meals are going to get old fast so JJ was prominent on venturing into the forest to see if there is any easy prey there.
JJ and Kiara venture further into the endless amount of trees with their spears held firmly at their sides.
“How’s your head?” Kiara questions, mostly to break the silence but she also really wants to know the answer.
“It’s good.” That’s it. Pope looked at it when they first got there, told him he had a concussion and to wash it daily because he doesn’t want the sucker to get infected, that would be absolute shit. But every since then, JJ’s been firm on saying “it's fine” and “there's more important things to worry about right now besides a little scratch on the head.”
It was hardly a scratch but if you pry with JJ, he’s gonna close up. So she lets it be but notes to make sure he cleans it later and to see if she can see any possible dizziness signs.
They venture for another five minutes or so until the blonde's head suddenly shoots up, causing the curly haired girl to quickly dart her eyes around their surroundings.
“Do you hear that?” He whispers, eyes roaming the area.
“No..” Kiara whispers back, a sharp gasp escapes her lips when she sees JJ suddenly lunge forward.
A shriek of an animal spills through the air as she looks to see what JJ’s spear is stuck in, at the end of his now bloody spear lies some kind of rodent.
“Oh my gosh, J! You did it!” Happiness overrides her as she runs to pull the blonde in for a crushing hug. Having a new source of food gives them some more reassurance that they won’t run out.
“Hell yeah I did, did you really doubt me Kie?” JJ says with a smirk taking up his whole mouth. Kie suddenly sees a little bit of the rodent's blood coating his left cheek. Without even thinking, she reaches her hand up to wipe it away.
The action is so small but also so big when suddenly the ocean meets the earth and their gazes are locked on eachother. They both are not saying a word as they admire each other, Kiara’s hand still resting on his cheek.
“Hey guys, you over there?” Their trance is broken once they hear Pope trekking over towards them.
“Yeah!” Kiara's voice rings out, a little unsteady but still strong enough not to be suspicious.
JJ grabs the animal he dropped onto the ground when Kiara hugged him, now lifting it into the air like it was Simba.
“No fucking way dude, you actually did it!” Pope exclaimes as he practically sprints over towards them.
“You have to have a little more faith in me than that, Pope.” The blonde says with his signature smirk plastered on his tanned face.
Pope just rolls his eyes as he takes the spear with the rodent embedded in it. “This is a Sciurus granatensis!”
Kie and JJ just send each other a dumb folded look. “Pope. English.” JJ remarks.
“It’s a squirrel home to the Caribbean, dumbass,” Pope shoots back which causes Kiara to snort. “Um- all I see is dinner so... take your chemistry talk somewhere else.”
“It’s actually biology..” Kiara replies with a smile growing on her rose, kissed lips.
“Same thing. Potato pa-ta-to.” JJ quips back, taking his spear back from Pope.
“Mmm.. they’re actually very different. Biology is the study of living organisms while chemistry is the branch of scien-”
“Pope, if you keep talking you will be sharing this spear with the squirrel.” JJ deadpans, causing Kie to snort for the second time.
“Um first off rude. Secondly, if you are gonna make a comeback at least make it factually correct.”
“Pope. I wasn’t kidding about the spear up the ass thing. Now let's go back and cook this thing before my head explodes from your poor attempt at teaching me chemistry.”
“Biology!” Pope calls back but JJ is already set off back to the beach, Kiara falling suit right after him.
“People and their incorrect terminology these days.” He mutters, following right after the messy, haired blonde and the wild, curly haired brunette.
-
They make it back to camp right before the sun sets and JJ gets to work on skinning it. Kiara goes to sit with Sarah, she is all about survival and all but she can not watch JJ skin that thing, it makes her stomach churn.
She plops down next to her other favorite blonde and starts to help weave some of their sleeping mats.
The silence washes over them, they just work in peace and once in a while Sarah will stop and show Kie some new technique to make it easier.
JJ finishes skinning the squirrel pretty fast and now Pope is watching it cook while JJ and John b are wrestling in the water like idiots.
JJs laugh carries across the water right after John b trips and falls, her heart skips and a smile blooms on her lips.
Sarah picked up on it fast, not like she was very discreet. “So Kie, be honest with me. Okay?” That breaks the silence as Kies head snaps back to her best friend.
“Yeah, of course. What's up?” Her full attention now on the blonde girl in front of her.
“Do you like JJ?” She could tell Kiara was taken back by the bluntness as her smile wavers and a nervous expression is replaced.
“Of course, he’s my best friend.” An easy blow off of her question but Sarah ain’t letting this slide.
“Well no shit Sherlock, you know what I mean. I mean.. come on Kie, I know you. The way you look at him is telling enough.” She can see Kiara breaking around the facade she’s built.
“Sar.. ok, fine. The honest truth is.. I don’t know. Like how am I supposed to depict this as if I actually do like him or is it just like the thing I had with Pope. I don’t want to screw up another one of my friendships with my best friend.” Kiara huffs out.
“Kie.. I know the whole Pope thing didn’t work out but the way you told me about it seemed like a spur of the moment kind of thing. You guys were grieving, it didn’t work out, and you guys moved on. Now Pope is in love with Cleo whether he likes it or not.”
“You’re right about that.” Kie shakes her head with a big smile at how obvious it is but Pope won’t admit it.
“And to be honest, I always thought it would be JJ. I was shocked when you told me you kissed Pope because I was so sure. I mean, you had a crush on him in 8th grade, said you were over it in 9th but I could always see the way your face would scrunch up whenever he would talk to another tournon, rich girl.”
“Um- correction. It was actually 7th and I was totally over it in 9th. I mean when I left for the kook academy, we all fell apart so the feelings just died.”
“Did they die or did you just convince yourself they did?” Sarah questions back.
Kie just stares back, trying to find a response but failing. She’s right. What if all this time, she just pushed those feelings down and buried them. When the pogues finally welcomed her back, she didn’t want to mess up the friendship she just won back. It always hurt seeing JJ dance with other girls, watching him smirk at them, deep down wishing it was her.
She kissed John b infront of JJ, I mean it was on the cheek but still. Was it to make him jealous? I mean she did the same thing with Pope, kissed him right in front of the boy. When she asked John b if he told JJ about the kiss and he said yes, a part of her sunk. Why?
The realization hits her when all these moments start flooding back into her mind. The hug during midsummers, the constant need for physical touch from only him, the tension in the storage crate on the Coastal Venture, the overwhelming panic she felt when he fell overboard only just 5 days ago, the feeling of needing to be with him all the time on the island.
Everything over the past 4 years has brought her back to this very moment, this realization, back to JJ. The dorky blonde who always puts a huge smile on her face, the person she can go to if she ever needs comfort because he will always listen, someone so selfless and determined to protect his friends from any harm.
Someone so broken from his abusive, asshole of a father that he doesn’t recognize his own worth. Someone who should be completely broken, shattered even from the abuse he has received over the years but still strives to make sure he can hear his friends' laughter.
His dimpled cheeks, messy blonde hair that can’t be tamed, his toned chest and arms. Those blue eyes, god those eyes.
Oh.
Fuck.
Did she like JJ? No. No, she loves him. I mean of course she does, he’s her best friend. But the love she has for him is so consuming and overflows her entire heart. The way her heart will stop when he flashes her a small smile or laughs at something she said.
Kiara Carrera was in love with JJ Maybank. Well shit.
-
Once the realization hits her, she can’t take it back. Not that she wants to. “Sarah, I think I'm in love with JJ Maybank.” Kies eyes are wide as the sudden truth brushes past her tongue.
“I knew it!” Sarah squeals with only excitement for her best friend. Kie frantically hushing her, head darting to the boys in the water to make sure they didn’t hear.
Sarah mouths an apology and whispers, “For the record, I was always team Jiara.” the blonde girl winks, her lush lips twerk upwards as happiness overrides her.
“Jiara? How long has that been a thing?” “Um well me and John b kind of had this bet going to see how long it would take for you two idiots to figure out your feelings. I said a year and he said never because you were both too stubborn to realize what was right in front of you. I won.”
“But Sar- how do I act on this? Like what if it screws up our entire friendship or he doesn’t feel the same way. You know how closed off he can get and how hard it is for him to open up with his feelings. I just- I can’t lose him.”
“Kie, first off you have to do what you feel is right. I know you, I know that these feelings are gonna eat you inside for that rest of your life. I also know that there is no way in hell that boy isn’t head over heels for you because have you seen the way he looks at you. It’s literally the definition of the heart eyes emoji.” Sarah chuckles and causes Kie to laugh a little with her, easing the tension in her shoulders.
“You’ll know when the time is right, for now just don’t stress it. Ooo, and now I get to tease you whenever you get all googly eyes towards him whenever he’s shirtless.” Sarah gives a knowing smirk to her best friend.
“I do not get googly eyed.” Kie rolls her eyes but heat rising to her cheeks says it all. Does she get googly eyed? Maybe she doesn’t realize it, shit. Does everyone else see it?
“I can practically see drool coming from your mouth.” Sarah’s smirk only grows widder as Kiara playfully pushes her shoulder. “Oh shut up.” Kie reaches in to wrap her in an air tight hug.
“I don’t know what I would do without you and your advice.” Kie mumbles into her shoulder as the smell of firewood burning and the boy's laughter rings in the distance. Everything is so perfect, too perfect.
“You’d be lost in this world. Now let's go eat, I would eat anything just about now.” Sarah pulls Kiara up with her as they head back to the group. Pope is sorting out portions while Cleo is helping to rip apart the meat. John b and JJ are walking back as well, still laughing about something stupid.
The sun is setting in the distance over the crystal, blue water. Everything is just so perfect. Yeah, they are stranded on an deserted island in the middle of the knowhere with no idea if they will find help. So what?
They are healthy, they are fed, and they are happy because they are together. What more do you need?
-
Day 6
Pope is the first one up this morning, like most mornings. Usually right after Pope gets up it’s Cleo and then Sarah following shortly after. Cleo and Sarah go off on a morning berry run while Pope starts on his daily island check to see if he finds anything that can help them contact people or help make the camp better equipped.
JJ wakes up next, as he opens his eyes to adjust to the light, he feels a weight on his chest. Wild curls spread out over his chest as she’s cuddled up and tucked into his side. The sights make his heart swell up as he admires her sleeping face, well until a new pounding pain suddenly echoes throughout his head.
He has been getting headaches throughout the day from his concussion, it’s nothing new. But this headache is definitely the worst he’s had so far.
He lays his head back down on the sand and squeezes his eyes shut to try and stop the throbbing pain. He feels like he lays there for 5 hours but in reality only 30 minutes until he feels Kie start to stur next to him.
She fists his shirt and buries her head in his neck, warmth shoots through his body. It lightens the pain for a little just to see her so content in her sleeping form, the stress from her parents washing away in her sleep.
Her wild curls circle around her face and everywhere around her. Her lips pushed together almost in a pouting motion that JJ can’t seem to not find adorable. God how is he so lucky to even get to see this side of her, to get to wake up with her in his arms every morning.
“Morning, J,” she sighs out, eyes flutter open and like always, the earth meets the ocean, a wild personality meets an even wilder one. “Morning, Kie.”
He couldn’t help himself but to place a chaste kiss to the crown of her head. He hopes she doesn’t notice, she seems unbothered so he takes it as a good sign. The movement causes another spike of pain so fast that he grimaces.
“Hey? You okay?” Concern laces her voice as her eyes search him. “I’m fine, just got a little headache is all.” His heart can’t help but squeeze at the concern on her face, the concern for him. It’s still so odd for him that someone as amazing as Kiara Carrera, could care for him.
“J, when was the last time you cleaned your cut.” She reaches to pull his hair back to inspect the injury but is stopped by a gentle hand on her wrist that guides it back down. “It’s good, I was just about to go and head to the river to clean it. How about you make sure John b gets up and pulls his weight. He could sleep forever.” He tries to lighten the mood with a joke but the concern on her face never falters.
“Ok, but come find me after. I want Pope to have a look at your cut.” JJ wants to intervene and says it’s not necessary but he knows better. Kiara is too stubborn for own good and nothing he will say will change the fact that he will have Pope look at his cut, so there’s no reason to argue.
He starts to get up but a sudden wave of dizziness takes over as he scrambles to find his footing. Kie doesn’t notice this luckly because she is shaking awake a dead John b.
He sets off to the small stream, which is only a 5 minute walk from the camp. He made sure to grab and refill the water bottles that were in the lifeboat. He hates to admit that the 5 minute walk took more like 15 from the amount of times he had to stop to catch his breath or take a break from a dizzy spell that just hit him.
He has never felt so out of it before, not even after his dad bashed his head in with a beer bottle a couple years ago. Everything is fuzzy, noises are muffled with the ringing in his ears. Everything is blurring past and going in and out of focus. His head feels like someone is taking a hammer and repeatedly banging it in.
He drops to his knees in front of the crystal clear water and splashes the cold liquid onto his feverish skin. The relief is instant but short as he continues to splash the water onto his face.
He can feel most of the pounding coming from his cut and is afraid to look. Maybe he didn’t wash it as thoroughly as he should have but he was tired and needed sleep.
His reflection looks back at him as he swipes his hair away from the cut, leaving a yellow, greenish mess. Fuck that’s not good.
The blonde cruses at himself for not being more thorough when he cleaned it out the first day. What are they supposed to do? They have a small medical kit from the lifeboat and Pope's very low grade medical skills.
He cups some water in his hands and starts to try and rinse the cut as best he can while grimacing from the sting. Satisfied, the boy tries to stand, wobbly on his feet as he heads back to camp with the refilled water bottles.
He’s not gonna tell them, he doesn’t need them to freak out right now considering that they are literally stuck in the middle of nowheres land. There’s nothing they can do so why worry them? He’ll try to sneak some antibiotic cream from the boat when know one is looking later.
For now he is just gonna deflect and pretend like nothings wrong. He’s good at deflecting, just deny, deny, deny.
-
The rest of the day goes on like normal. Kie goes out on a berry run with Cleo. Pope set up provisions for building a safety fire. John b helps weave with Sarah and goes to gather some bananas that have fallen from trees.
And JJ spear fishes. He has to admit that it’s a lot harder to spear fish when your head is pounding and your vision keeps going in and out. It's a miracle he even caught them dinner.
No one suspects a thing when JJ takes longer to stand up, trying to brace himself for the immediate dizziness he will experience. Or when sweat drips down his forehead from the fever he is running even though the sun set a while ago. Or the fact that his face is so pale compared to his normal skin tone.
Well everyone but Kie. Kiara always sees right through him so when she saw his face grow pale as the fire light reflected off his features, she knew something was wrong.
“JJ?” Kie asked, stalking towards the pale boy, trying to gauge his well being as she racks her eyes over his body and face. He doesn’t answer and now she can see just how glossy his eyes are.
He looks so out of it, so unlike JJ, it terrifies the shit out of her. “Hey, JJ!” She says more frantically as she reaches to shake his shoulder. Before she can make contact with his skin, his eyes roll back and she scrambles to try and catch him.
She catches his head before it makes contact with the ground as a frantic yell of surprise shoots out of her. That gets the attention of all their friends who were just engaged in an intense conversation about how eels reproduce.
“JJ! Hey, J!” She yells.
“Wow, what happened?!” John b is the first to sprint over, followed closely by Sarah, Pope and then Cleo. “I don’t know he- he just collapsed out of nowhere,” her frantic voice, panicking as she rests the palm of her hand on his sheet, white face.
“Hey, hey, J. Can you open your pretty eyes for me, yeah?” Her eyes roam over him, he looks so ghostly white. Sweat gathers under his nose and along his forehead. His breathing is shallow and his eyes glued shut.
Her hand glides to rest on his forehead and she fights the sudden urge to quickly pull it away from the burning heat under her fingertips. “Pope, he’s burning up.” She doesn’t even try to hide the panic in her voice at the sudden realization.
“Shit.” That’s all he says as he hurries to take the spot next to Kie, checking himself. “Fuck that’s not good. Was this sudden or has he just been feeling sick and didn’t tell us?”
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say it’s the second option, man.” Cleo’s voice comes from behind but Kiara’s laser focus on JJ is muffling most of the background noises out.
“H- he said he had a bad headache this morning because I heard him wince when he stood up but I didn’t think much of it because of his concussion.” Everyone can hear the break in her voice but she doesn’t care.
“His head!” Pope frantically moved forward, lifting up the blonde’s bangs from the swollen cut on his forehead. Kie gasps from the sight of it, it was a mixture of yellow and green which is covered with a layer of Eschar, according to Pope.
“Oh fuck, that’s not good.” Pope mutters with panic edging his voice as he frantically scrambles for the med kit.
“What’s not good, Pope?!” John b must have snapped out of his trance from the suddenness of his best friend collapsing.
“He has a head infection,” Pope curses to himself while he digs through the bag, trying to find the antibiotic cream.
“JJ- J, please open your eyes for me.” Kiara can feel the tears in her eyes as she stares down at his lifeless face while Pope is still frantically searching the bag.
“Found it!” Pope yells as he runs back to his best friend. He opens the tube cap and squirts a little onto his finger, the small tube of antibiotic cream is all they have so they have to be cautious about how much they use. Kiara holds back the blonde's hair while Pope rubs the cream into the infected cut.
“What now?” Sarah’s voice breaks the sudden silence the group fell into. “Now we wait. I only read a little bit about head infections but they can cause fevers, loss of consciousness, vomiting, seizures, changes in vision, trouble moving, etc. We just have to wait till he wakes up and pray that the antibiotic cream takes care of it.” Pope says in a rush, still shaking.
“What if it doesn’t work?” Cleo speaks up again, saying the question they were all thinking but didn’t want to say out loud.
“That’s just not an option.” Pope replies.