Celestial ~ JJ Maybank

05.

The next morning went smoothly. JJ and Celeste had woken up with the smell of pancakes – the typical morning smell of the Fraser household. Also, JJ's favorite. They had a quick shower to get rid of the sand and saltwater from their bodies from the day prior. Separately.

Obviously.

Neither of the two paid any mind to the fact that they were about to eat breakfast with her parents – it had happened many times before with the others. This wasn't any different. To them at least. It wasn't even the first time that it was just her and JJ. It was no different than normal to them.

But not to David and Luna.

They watched as their daughter and the boy they thought of as a son came through the kitchen, laughing and raving about the smell of pancakes. The parents sent a look to each other, questioning the same thing.

Did they finally get together?

But with a quick shake of the head from their daughter, they understood that it sadly wasn't the case. But they were more than happy to have JJ over. They made plenty of pancakes so he was in luck.

It might seem like her parents were very involved in their daughter's relationship with the Maybank boy. And in the best way possible, they were. But they loved him. He was practically their son. They cared more for him than either one of his parents ever did. And seeing the love the two teens had for each other, whether they admitted it or not, they knew it was only a matter of time. And once they did, it would be for a long time. They just knew.

They sat in the garden as usual, chatting about all sorts of things, eating enough pancakes to feed an army.

JJ felt at home. For the first time in his life, he felt safe. He felt loved.

He didn't want to change that for the world and he would stay here forever if he could. But sadly he couldn't. He just had to make the most of it while he still could.

After breakfast, JJ and Celeste decided it was finally time to face the others. They didn't know how bad it was going to be but they all knew that none of them could stay mad at each other for too long.

They had eventually made their way to the Chateau after picking up Pope and Kiara on the way and were now sat in John B's front yard, in a weird silence. It wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable. They didn't want to broach the subject of the day before in a bad way which would only grow into a big argument, knowing how fiery some of the Pogues could get. That being JJ, John B and Kiara.

"Look I'm calling it off, alright?" John B announced to the others as they all turn to him with frowns on their faces. "Peterkin said if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS"

"And you believed her?" JJ spoke up, thinking his friend had gone completely off the deep end.

"Yes, I believe her, JJ" he retorted.

"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop" the frustration was clear as JJ threw the piece of rock he was fiddling with.

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out" John B tried to convince them, "it doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun"

"Stand down John B. If it weren't for JJ, you would be long gone" Celeste told the Routledge boy. He clearly didn't understand that what JJ did was for him. Yes it was wrong. But drastic times call for drastic measures.

JJ immediately stepped forward in defence, sending a small smile in the girl's direction.

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass!"