Exception // JJ Maybank

09 ; sunken boats

"JJ for the fucking eightieth time, I am driving this boat."

Danny sighed in aggravation and purposefully set his eyes on the water through the window.

They bickered about it when they went surfing last night, before they went to bed, as they boarded Heyward's boat, and just about every five minutes since.

JJ rolled his eyes and squeezed into the space between Danny and the wall. He stared at Danny's profile, and Danny had half the mind to elbow him in the stomach.

Kie was setting up the drone in the haul of the boat with Pope and John B, so there was no one else for Danny to focus on to keep a lid on his anger. He felt high-strung since he woke up, and none of this was helping him relax.

"You know, if you'd hit these waves at forty-five degrees—"

"Shut up!"

JJ chuckled. "I'm just saying. Try not to spear them so much."

Danny huffed indignantly and turned to face JJ. He took half a step forward, crowding JJ into the wall. "How about once you tell me what really went down on those deliveries, I'll finally let you drive."

JJ's mouth parted open and closed.

Part of the reason Danny was so fed up today was that JJ and Pope were hiding something from him. He could tell. And they wouldn't even acknowledge that they were hiding something. It made Danny seem like he was crazy.

Pope didn't have a plausible explanation as to where he got the scrape on his forehead. They kept sharing furtive glances, and nudges that weren't as discrete as they thought them to be. Offered evasive responses when Danny asked where they all went.

It hurt.

JJ's eyes flicked to the back of the boat, and then back to Danny. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

Danny smiled mockingly and nodded in dismissal. "Yeah, sure. All right."

JJ blinked harshly. He wet his lips and said, "I know you're mad but I— and he— I can't . . . and—"

JJ sighed and shook his head.

Silence encased the pair as they stared at each other. Danny broke away first with a frown. He took a step back and waved his hand lazily at the controls. "You drive. I'm—"

He shook his head and walked out of the cabin.

"Danny!"

He ignored it and walked over to Kie. He sunk down onto a random crate. He crossed his arms on top of the edge of the boat and rested his chin.

"Finally get on your nerves?" Kie asked offhandedly. She was coiling the tether around the reel cart. "I was about to toss him off the boat if he kept asking to drive."

"Don't say that," he whispered, hardly audible over the steadily growing wind.

Kie smiled and shook her head. "Mad at him, yet still his biggest defender. . ." she commented.

Danny pulled his hood over his head to help shield him from the wind. "I don't even really have a right to be angry. He doesn't have to tell me everything. He doesn't owe me."

Kie dropped the drone into the ocean and Danny stood and leaned over the side, watching it sink until it was out of sight.

"All right, JJ. Pin it here," John B yelled to JJ.

"Roger that! X marks the spot."

"All right, ladies and gentlemen," Danny said, a smile tugging on his lips. "To going full Kook."