Long Way Home || JJ Maybank

.00.

Music played loudly in Dakota Solace's headphones, blocking out any hint of sound from the outside world. He mouthed along to the lyrics as he roamed around his room, looking for everything he wanted to take along with him. He made his way over to his desk, looking down at the open sketchbook.

Thumbing through a few pages he let out a scoff, annoyed at his own art. For a while the sketches were normal. When he was in class he would draw the people around him, when he was at work he would draw customers enjoying their meals, when he was (forcibly) at church he would draw the people sitting the pews ahead of him, when he was with his friends he would draw them lounging around at the chateau. Everything was normal until one person would start to take over the pages.

JJ Maybank.

He ran his thumb across a specifically good page, in his own opinion. Views of JJ's side profile decorated the page, times when the blonde hadn't noticed Kota's staring, along with his figure lounging in the hammock in John B's yard. The sketch wasn't finished and a soft smile crossed Kota's face as he remembered why.

Kota stood back against a tree as he held his sketchbook with one hand, leaning it on the inside of his arm so he could easily draw. He glanced back and forth between the page and the sight in front of him a few times to make sure it looked good.

JJ was sitting in the hammock casually, hat turned forwards and pulled down over his eyes to block the sun. He looked so relaxed, so serene and peaceful that Kota just had to draw him. He turned his eyes down to the page again, pencil scrapping the page to create the soft lines of JJ's torso.

"Kota."

"Hmm?" Kota hummed out as he kept his gaze back down to his page, continuing his work. Everyone in the group, JJ especially, were used to Kota's usual antics of drawing them. It was just something he did to keep his hands busy more than anything. He had been doing it for as long as he could remember, for as long as anyone could remember, and everyone had accepted it at this point.

"Stop drawing and come sit with me." JJ all but whines, tilting his hat up more so he can look at the other boy.

Kota glances up, noticing the slight pout on the boy's face and a small smile forms on his face. "I'm almost done, stop whining."

JJ lets out a huff and for a moment Kota thinks he's won their small back-and-forth, until he feels a hand wrap around his wrist. He looks up to meet JJ's eyes, raising an eyebrow silently. The look on the blonde's face can only be described as shit-eating as he tugs the boy away from the tree. Kota feigns reluctance for a second with a groan, standing his ground and pulling back against JJ before he lets himself be pulled.

He drops his sketchbook and pencil in the short distance, having no regard for how it thuds against the ground as he allows himself to be pulled to the hammock. His grin matches JJ's at this point as they tumble, with some level of awkwardness, into the hammock together. Kota's practically on top of JJ but neither boy seems to care much, instead they laugh softly together.

A hand on his shoulder immediately pulls him out of the memory. He flinches as he turns slightly to see his dad, quickly shutting the sketchbook before he turns fully to face him. He pulls his headphones off letting them rest around his neck as he discreetly reaches into his pocket for his phone, turning the volume all the way down before his dad can hear the profanity from the song that was previously blaring in his ears.

"Where do you think you're going, Dakota?" His dad asks, accusation immediately lacing his tone as he gestures over to the backpack sitting open on his son's bed. Kota's jaw tenses as he glances past his dad to the door that was now open, his mom standing there now.

The hand on his shoulder tightened for a second, pulling Kota's gaze back to the man. He wets his lips quickly, trying to decide on the answer that gets him in the least amount of shit.

"Um..." He plays with the ring around his pointer finger, trying to think quickly. He can't say work, they know his schedule. Every week when he gets it they make him show them so they can know exactly when he is leaving and should be back. Admitting the truth, that he's going out with his friends, puts him in the position to get lectured for hours about his 'horrible choice in friends'. His parents would never hold back about how his friends were basically the devil incarnate, with all their drinking and smoking, and how a good Christian boy like himself shouldn't be tempted by them. Any time they got into an argument Kota would bite his tongue, silently screaming that he didn't even believe in God and even if he did his friends were good people. "I'm going out..."

He pauses there, hoping that the answer is enough to get them off his ass but he knows it won't be.

"With who?" His mom says from the door, solidifying Kota's thoughts.

He knows if he sits and thinks for too long it'll be obvious he's lying so he blurts out the first name he can think of that isn't one of his friend's. "Sarah." He pauses for a moment. "Sarah Cameron. The girl who got me that job painting the mural at Kildare academy, you remember her, right?"

His parents turn to look at one another as if they're asking the other if they believe him. Kota bites the inside of his lip slightly as he feels his phone buzz, knowing it's a text from JJ that they're here to pick him up in the usual spot at the end of the block. His dad turns back to him, finally letting go of his shoulder.

"Alright, you should've asked before but at least you're not hanging out with those heathens." His dad huffs, turning to leave the boys room.

"Be back at a reasonable time, Dakota." His mom calls out as the pair leave his room.

Kota lets out a deep breath when they're out of ear shot, turning to grab his sketchbook and pencils quickly. He grabs his backpack off his bed, shoving them in before heading out the front door as quickly as possible.

As he shuts the door behind him, he all but sprints down the road to the end of the block where John B is parked. He throws open the back door, climbing in and shutting it after him.

He takes a few deep breaths as he looks to the two boys sitting in the front now staring back at him.

"You alright?" John B speaks up first.

They all know about his parents, how they treat Kota and what they think of all of them.

"Yeah, all good." He shrugs off the question quickly, not wanting to worry his friends. His parents hadn't even really done anything today, he just felt like he was suffocating when he was in the same room as them and he needed to get out as quickly as possible.

John B nods, turning back around as he starts the car up again and pulls off to go pick up Kiara and Pope.

JJ stays turned around though, silently watching as Kota stares out the window back towards his house.

The blonde boy forces his way into the back, climbing over the center console to join Kota. He lands next to him, their sides pressed against each other in a way that way comfortable and familiar. JJ wraps his arm around his shoulders, leaning in. Kota finally tears his eyes away from the window and looks to the boy next to him, smiling as he notices the joint in his hand, now reaching out to offer it up. Kota takes it happily, taking a long drag and exhaling the smoke slowly before handing it back.