Chapter Text
"Fuck it all!! You fuckers are drinking with me tonight!" JJ walks over to the group with two 8-packs of cheap beer and a small baggie of pre-rolled joints, throwing the bag down on a shitty fold-out chair and putting the cans on the ground.
"Why do I feel like something provoked this?" Kiara rests back against a tree and reaches her hand out to catch a beer thrown at her, "Do..." she looks around and leans forward with a whisper, "Do we need to kill someone?" It's only partially a joke. She does try her best not to stare at the fresh bruises on his arms and chest that become barely visible as he moves in his tank top. As soon as she sees the slight strain behind his smile, she drops it and cracks open the can in her hand, mumbling a quick "nevermind."
After a quick peck to his girlfriend's forehead, John B walks up to his long-time friend, clasping a hand on his shoulder and taking a beer from him, whispering a quick, "You good, man? If you need anything, JJ, you can just ask, you know that, right?" He doesn't get a verbal response, and if he's honest he doesn't really need one, the look he gets, with tears prickling in his ocean-blue eyes and a small sniffle to keep it all buried, tells him everything he needs. "Take your time, man, do what you need." He ruffles JJ's dirty-blond hair and brings him in for a side-hug before cracking a beer open with him and taking a sip.
It doesn't take long for everyone around the fire to clock onto the reason for the impromptu party, slowly getting up one by one to enclose him in a giant group hug, a body on all sides of him, arms wrapped tight around his shoulders and a pair around his waist, the tears that were barely being held back before now slowly dripping down his cheeks as JJ tries his hardest to not completely breakdown, sniffling and wiping tears from his face as his voice trembles slightly "Enough with this emotional shit, okay? Lets fucking drink, and smoke, and forget all this shit. Okay?" He raises his drink and chugs half of it as the rest of the Pogues disperse with their own drinks, Kie taking a joint with her as she walks back to her tree, lighting it up on the firepit.
Later in the night, after a lot of drinking and most of the pre-rolls gone, majority thanks to JJ himself, a game starts, started by Sarah of course.
"You guys wanna play a game?" She giggles as she cozies up with her partner, glancing around the fire with a playful smile, "Like truth or dare but like... Truth or truth, or something?"
"Taking away the best part of the game, Sarah?? C'mon," JJ slurs his words slightly as he speaks, laughing a little too loud before continuing, "Truth or dare, right? Sure, lets do it!"
"Hmmmm," Sarah smiles as she thinks, tapping her finger on her chin as she does, "Pope! Truth or dare!"
"Truth, I don't trust a single one of you with a dare."
"What... um..." She laughs at her own lack of forethought, humming out again as she tries to quickly come up with a question, "Would you rather, um... Would you rather eat the same thing every day for the rest of your life, or never be able to repeat a meal?"
"Never repeat a meal, 100%, get to explore different tastes and stuff, can be eating lobster one day and Mcdonalds the next, sounds fun." He tries to answer as honestly as he can, brushing past the awkwardly mild start to their game, "Kie, truth or dare?"
"Fuck it, dare, you're not gonna do anything that bad anyways." Kiara smiles as she blows smoke from her lungs.
"Dance, no music, nothing, just dance."
"Fuckin' easy! Acting like I don't do that all the time," She grins and jumps up and walks close to the fire, taking a moment to make sure everyone's watching before slowly starting to dance, swaying and vibing along to the music playing in her head, even humming out loud to it, laughing as the boys start to clap along and Sarah starts to cheer, yelling compliments at her and throwing invisible dollar bills at her.
As she finishes her dance, she points over to John B "Truth or dare, John B?"
"Dare. Try me, Kie!"
"Jump over the firepit! If you catch fire you gotta jump in the ocean or get doused with beer."
"Done." He smiles that shit-eating grin he gets when he's overconfident, jumps up onto his feet and claps his hands together, bouncing in place as he hypes himself up, his grin getting wider as he hears JJ wolf-whistle at him and yell at him to 'send it!'. He lets out one big breath before stepping back, giving himself a good running start, and jumping over the fire, only singeing a few leg hairs in the process. Almost falling as he lands, he yells out a triumphant "WOO!" And spins to point at his ex-kook girlfriend, "Your turn, Sancho! Truth or dare!"
"I'm gonna wimp out here, truth, I feel like I can't top that leap." She covers her mouth and giggles, biting her lip as she waits for her question.
John B makes his way back over to her as he thinks of a question for her, "First kiss, describe it. Who was it with, what was it like, all of it." He smiles as he sits back down, wrapping an arm around her waist as she starts to laugh at the memory.
"It was definitely a girl, do not remember her name, I don't think she's even on the island anymore? Pretty sure she left. It was one of those 'lets play husband and wife' situations and we were super little, so we just did what we saw our parents do. Was just a peck basically, but it was adorable I'm sure." She smiles as she tells the story, pushing some hair behind her ear, "That felt like a softball question, you better not be taking it easy on me, JB."
"To be honest, thought you'd have a juicier story than that, but fair."
"JJ," Sarah smiles and points across the fire at him, "truth or dare?"
"You should know the answer to that at this point, Sarah! Dare, always. Truths are for pussies, no offense." He grins and almost falls as he leans back, swaying slightly with a joint in his hand, taking puffs from it as he waits for her dare.
"Kiss the first person that comes to mind. If they're not here, makeout with your hand." Sarah bites her lip and smiles as she waits for him to act, giggling as the rest of the Pogues gasp quietly as he rockily gets to his feet, stumbles across the fire, and holds his hand out in front of her partner.
"Get up here, buttercup," JJ sputters out a laugh when he actually gets up with him, "C'mere." He wraps his arms around his pick, snickering for a moment as he feels arms wrap tight around his waist before closing the gap with a kiss to a choir of cheers and wolf-whistles.
Never going into anything with a real plan, they stay there for much longer than expected, holding each other tight in front of the fire, JJ's hands laced through dark blond hair and fiddling with the faded bandana always around his neck, John B's subtly tracing shapes with his thumbs, gripping at JJ's dark tank and occasionally cracking his eyes open to mentally check-in.
After a couple minutes, JJ pulls back and almost tips over, grabbing onto his chosen makeout partner for stability, causing a collection of 'woah's to raise, John B holding him closer again before helping him sit down, next to Sarah and away from the firepit. "Away from the fire, J," the Routledge ruffles the two blonde's hair, "I think it might be time to put our boy to bed." He smiles and turns to the rest of the group, "You guys wanna head home or stay?"
"Stay, I'm stealing his weed." Kiara snickers as she makes her way over to grab Maybank's bag, stuffing it in the pocket of her shorts, "I think he needs some love anyways, right J?" She laughs as he perks up slightly, clearly not paying attention to the conversation in the slightest.
"I'm staying too, I'm not getting left out of this shitshow." Pope stands and grabs a nearby jug of water to put out the fire.
"Harsh, Pope," JJ laughs slightly as he’s pulled back up to his feet carefully by John B and Sarah, stumbling slightly as he’s helped along, snorting as he laughs at his own thoughts, "does this mean I’m your guyses third now?"
"We can decide that when you’re not wasted, JJ," Sarah smiles and kisses his shoulder as they walk, making sure to avoid the bruise there, kissing directly above it as she rubs his back, "it was pretty cute though." Helping him lay down once they get inside, Sarah kisses his forehead and lovingly pets his hair, sitting on the arm of John B’s ratty couch with JJ’s head resting against her thigh, smiling as she watches everyone find their sleeping spots and waits for JJ to pass out — which doesn’t take very long. Once he’s out, she and John B share a kiss and make their way to his bed to sleep on themselves.