Heated Lies (Jiara)

Arrival

Luke sat at home, flicking the foundation stick between his thumb and index finger. The moment was risky as soon as they arrived. JJ had already taken the incentive, which means he was in debt. Luke replayed the thought that JJ would feel guilty enough to obey.

If the man was being honest, after his high with Barry, he'd stopped caring. Every time he came down he'd begin to wonder if he'd messed up. That turned into not letting himself come down.

"Oh, shit."

If he thought about it too hard, he'd have to apologize and change his whole way of life. It wasn't JJ's fault that Luke acted the way he did. The man could blame his son all he wanted, but it was really Laura that had fucked them over.

She was a beautiful woman. The memories Luke had were a little different than JJ's. She was feisty, moving from one thing to the next like a wild forest fire. She did love Luke when they were first together, but the thought of a child consumed her in fear.

Despite Luke reassuring her that they would do fine raising their newborn baby, she left. This grew into heartbreak when Luke realized she wasn't coming back. Meanwhile, JJ was just beginning to witness his fathers drunken meltdowns.

Five and six year old JJ seeing tears followed by the smashing of plates on the floor. Yelling for him to pick it up since it was pretty much his fault. The blaming for what JJ didn't even know existed yet.

In some odd way, taking his anger out on the boy was revenge. He knew the deepest way to hurt her was to hurt her son. And he was the reason she left, anyway, right? In his mind, this was right.

***

"Nora, wake up." Pope nudged her shoulder.

This only made her snuggle closer. Being buried in the smell of his shirt caused a few stares. The bed of cotton fabric her head lay upon was just the start. Pope nudged her one last time.

"Plane landed."

She blinked, eyes wide when she noticed his arms around her form.

"Shit!" She sat up, face burning in embarrassment. "I'm sorry!"

"No, it's coo-"

"No, I-I didn't mean to do all that. I swear, I was just tired. That's it."

His face nearly showed disappointment in her statements, but he faked a smile. "No, I know. It's all good."

She faded back into a smile, covering her face with both hands to giggle like an idiot. Sarah and John B had witnessed the whole thing. It was like their own personal sitcom.

Upon recognition, Nora stood to wake Kiara and rid herself of the embarrassment. When she got to the middle of the plane, she stopped to admire them. JJ was hugging her tightly even though the plane looked cramped.

She kept her head in the crook of his neck, close enough to press her lips to the skin. JJ looked more relaxed than Nora had ever seen. His hair was a strange mess of highlighted yellow backwards and forwards.

"Guys!" She whisper shouted, tapping Kiara.

It was instinct to flip off whoever had touched her. Kiara wasn't necessarily directing her middle finger at Nora, just the thought of having to get up.

"Kie!"

Her eyes opened, quickly putting her hand down and apologizing with her eyes. JJ tightened his grip around her waist, grunting and turning farther away from Nora.

"Is he good?" The shorter girl asked.

The Carrera glanced at his eyebrows which had knitted together, his lips not even an inch parted, and the small swallow he'd done seconds later.

"Lemme get back to you on that." She gave a sad smile. "We'll catch up."

He still hadn't replied to Rafe. The Cameron expected this, but it didn't make him feel any better. He had no clue when the Pogues would come back.

He wasn't sure why this bothered him so much. He'd been an asshole to JJ his entire life without knowing his home situation. Then he finds out, and nails him to the wall with absolute harsh ridiculing.

He was trying to change. He wasn't sure if he would actually succeed, but he wasn't dumb. He knew something was wrong much earlier in his life. He figured this might be the first step.

***

They'd stopped in the airport bathroom. Pope and Nora waited outside while the couples completely ignored the gender separation rules. Both boys followed their girlfriends.

"JJ, when's the last time you checked on... you know..." Kiara spoke tentatively.

The subject would never get easier to talk about. JJ didn't pause this time, though. The cat had clawed it's way out of the bag forever ago.

"Um, the last bandages I had on were from Shoupe. I took those off a while ago, and it looked a lot better so I didn't replace them. Dude said something about letting wounds breathe or whatever. They've been healing."

"What, you didn't get a chance to see last night?" John B laughed, and Sarah hit his arm. "Jesus, sorry!"

JJ was chuckling with him though. A playful type of anger. He was glad John B could still joke around them. He hated the Pogue's stuff movements. When they saw JJ's reaction, their relaxed laughter followed.

"So, wait, Shoupe?" Kie suddenly paused. "He knows?"

His jaw clenched. "He promised not to tell in exchange for me not going home."

He looked to her eyes for reassurance. She nodded, letting him exhale a breath. Then she ran water to muffle their conversation when someone walked in to shut themselves in a stall.

Not a single one of them paid attention to their confused stares. Two boys in a girls bathroom? The Pogues had seen worse.

"I'm glad Shoupe wasn't a total asshole. W-When I told him, he sounded like he'd take it the wrong way."

"I thought he would too. He surprised me. Started being nice. Kind of felt like a trap until he let me run free."

John B looked to Sarah, who had been running water through her hair. She then combed her fingers through her boyfriend's hair. This gave Kie and idea. She started doing the same before turning to JJ.

"You know that's gonna make your hair frizz up when it dries, right?" He questioned Sarah.

"It's hot." The blonde girl replied, shrugging. "Ready?"

Nods followed, and they exited the facility.

Unedited.... obviously