#jiara fanfic
IF YOU’RE TOO SHY (LET ME KNOW)
CH3. Neon
It was another night and another kegger at the boneyard, probably the last one for the summer, to be honest. The days were growing shorter now and the heat from the afternoon sun didn’t linger in the air as much as it used to. But there were still barely dressed bodies littering the beach, empty beer cans stacked on top of slabs of driftwood and there was still a bonfire, roaring hot in the same scorched pit of sand.
The only difference was, JJ was sober.
It went fairly unnoticed by his friends, every time John B offered him another beer, he simply raised the can he was still nursing from when he arrived, his friend none the wiser to the fact it was the same one from two hours ago. He played dumb when a kook asked him for some weed, told him he didn’t have any and merely shrugged his shoulders when Pope raised his eyebrows at him. But the two boys brushed it off and didn’t ask questions. Everyone was either too busy or too drunk to notice.
If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)
The crossfaded touchy Kie fic that nobody asked for.The boneyard was busy. It was the height of summer, the first Saturday in July and the temperature had soared throughout the day. Now it lingered over the bodies that danced together, slick skin everywhere and salt, tequila and sun cream sitting heavy on the breeze.
When John B had watched Sarah take a tumble into the sand as she danced with Kie a few feet away from the boys, he downed his last beer, chucked the keys to the Twinkie at Pope and went to retrieve his girlfriend from where she lay, laughing at Kiara’s feeble attempts to pick her up.
“God, they’re wasted,” Pope muttered to JJ, an affectionate smile on his lips as he watched John B try and fail to rally both girls together. Every time he took his eyes off one to herd the second towards the van, the other wandered back into the crowd of dancers.
JJ smirked and leant back against the Twinkie, his arms crossed and a laugh bubbling in his throat as he watched an extremely harassed John B trying to pick up the girls at the same time.
“Should we help him?” Pope asked, not sounding overly concerned.
“Nah.”
After around fifteen minutes, JJ grinned as he saw Kie and Sarah finally walking towards them and up the sandy embankments. They had their arms wrapped around each other, whispering and giggling as John B stood behind them, arms out like he was ready to catch anyone who decided to do a runner.
“Nice night, ladies?” JJ quipped, laughter playing in his words. He watched Kie’s eyes light up and the sound of his voice and she threw herself forward and into his arms.
“Oh shit,” he muttered, before dropping his empty can just in time for her to wrap herself around his neck. He placed his hands on her sides a little awkwardly, her body warm against his and god , she smelled like peaches and weed.
“JJ!” She exclaimed, as if she hadn’t seen him for weeks rather than just the hour her and Sarah had gone off to dance together.
“Hey, Kie,” he said back, frowning in confusion as he looked at Pope and John B for answers. Affection was something that Kiara wasn’t usually known for, “you doing okay?”
John B closed his eyes and rubbed tiredly at his brow, “ask her what they’ve had to drink.”
But before the blonde boy could ask anything, Sarah grabbed at his arm excitedly and gasped, her brown eyes wide and a little glassy. Kie still had her arms looped around his neck and she laughed into the crook of it.
“We had wine!” She proudly told them all.
JJ shared a look with John B, who was still rubbing small circles at his temple and Pope snorted from behind him.
“So much wine,” Kie chimed in, her body swaying against the boys. He wrapped an arm around her waist for support, trying not to think about all the bare skin he was touching between the waistband of her shorts and her bikini. “The good shit too! From Sarah’s wine cellar.”
Sarah nodded happily in confirmation and everyone ignored Pope’s comment about how he never got offered ‘the good shit’.
“And, and, and,” Sarah continued, stumbling a little in the sand until her boyfriend settled his hands on her shoulders, “Kie got some weed off this guy at the kegs and yeah, she’s like,” she waved her fingers in front of JJ’s face, “she’s sparkled.”
“We’re adding another pogue rule”, John B groaned, “no weed from strangers, only JJ.”
“Wine and weed, that’s a brand new combination for Kie, isn’t it?” JJ mused, a little pride colouring his voice. He tried really hard not to grin when he pulled back from Kie a little, biting his lip at her mumbles of protest. He looked down at her big, brown eyes and let out a low whistle, “oh, girl, you’re gone.”
Kie actually giggled and whispered, “prove it,” before tapping him on the nose, “boop,” she laughed.
JJ just blinked and looked at the other boys, “uh, I don’t really know how to handle this.” But Kiara had already pushed her way back into his arms, her head against his shoulder and her fingertips softly playing with the hem of his tank.
“You smell good,” she said casually.
Pope choked on a laugh as he got into the driver’s seat of the Twinkie and he grinned when he hung out the window and saw JJ’s wide eyes.
“Dude, breathe.”
The ride back to the chateau consisted of Sarah arguing with Pope that no, the music was not loud enough, and yes, One Direction did count as music. John B just shrugged when Pope looked at him for help and petted his girlfriend’s hair.
Kie spent the journey with her head against the window and laughing every time they hit a bump in the road. Which was a lot. But she had her hand on JJ’s leg and she was tracing circles onto his shin with a lilac fingernail that Sarah had coaxed her into painting the night before.
When he moved, she followed, a pout on her lips and JJ eventually gave in, letting the goosebumps erupt over his body at her touch, ‘cause shit , he couldn’t say no to her.
Which is why he relented fairly quickly into giving her a piggyback from the van to the chateau. ‘Cause she told them all she didn’t wanna move and she tried to bite John B’s fingers when he attempted to take her hand and pull her out. Sarah had cackled and Pope had shook his head, lifted his hands in surrender and said:
“Nuhuh, I ain’t getting bitten, she’s yours JJ.”
And that’s how he had Kie on his back, her bare legs wrapped around his waist and his hands tucked under knees. She was warm, so warm against him, all over him and he tried to ignore John B’s smirk as he opened the door for them.
She slid down his back when they all piled into the living room and Sarah grabbed her hand, demanding that they both needed to pee. When the door to the bathroom slammed shut, there was only silence from the boys and the echo of giggles and a few thumps from the toilet.
“Okay, so weed and wine has, like, unlocked a brand new Kiara,” Pope murmured, his face painted in shock.
“She’s like a fucking Pokémon,”, John B whispered manically, “she just keeps evolving with different alcohol!”
JJ swiped a hand over his face, “dude, she’s so crossfaded.”
“Why’s she suddenly obsessed with you?” Pope asked the blonde boy who just widened his eyes in return and sank his hands into his hair.
John B snorted, “ha, ‘suddenly’. That’s funny.”
JJ glared and flipped him off just as the girls stumbled back out of the bathroom giggling and shushing each other despite no discernable words coming from their lips.
“Heyyy, babe,” John B said, overly cheery and bright. He wrapped an arm around Sarah, “time for bed?”
“Nope,” she replied and threw herself on the sofa, thumbing at the remote until the TV turned on and she found Jurassic Park playing on a channel.
“I fucking love dinosaurs,” Kie whispered, voice serious and she fell down beside Sarah, toeing off her shoes. She patted the space on her other side, looking up at JJ with a smile. “Sit next to me?”
The boy swallowed, hard.
He exchanged glances with the other boys and mentally deemed them fucking useless when they just grinned at him. John B winked and shot him a thumbs up.
JJ looked back at Kiara and ran a hand through his messy hair, ‘cause she was all long, tanned legs and bare skin - bare skin everywhere . Her bikini top was cherry apple red and JJ was pretty sure his face was turning the same colour because there was no fucking way he could sit next to her like that when all she wanted to do, apparently, was touch him.
“I, uh, I’m gonna go grab you a sweater,” he said, clapping his hands together.
“JJ, it’s eighty outside,” Pope chimed in.
“Shut the fuck up, Pope,” JJ hissed, “Kie, sweater?” He grinned at her, hoping to god his voice didn’t just crack.
“Your sweater?” She asked him, eyes hopeful, god she was so pretty, “the grey one? It says FastArch on it.”
“Yup, sure, I can do that,” and he strode down the hall to get away from his friend’s laughter but he swore he heard Kie whisper to the other girl, “that one’s my favourite.”
He tore what was now deemed his room apart, trying to find that one goddamn shirt, ‘cause honestly he hated disappointing Kiara at the best of times but this was quickly turning into a life or death situation. Her eyes were hazy and her curls were still wild from dancing all night and she kept smiling and goddamn pouting at him, all soft and shit. He was getting the girl what she wanted, okay?
“Oh thank god,” he breathed when he found the grey sweatshirt at the bottom of his drawers.
She beamed at him when he returned to the living room with it, shook his head and smiled when Sarah gave him a round of applause and tried his damn hardest not to let his jaw drop when Kie stood up and wrestled her way into his clothes.
The hem fell to her knees and she frowned a little as she tried to wiggle her hands out of the way too long sleeves, and shit, if that wasn’t the most adorable fucking thing JJ had ever seen.
He cleared his throat quietly, hoped the rest of the pogues were busy watching the T-Rex tear apart a jeep and told her, “it suits you.”
She grinned in return, clutching at his hand and pulling back onto the sofa with her, her legs thrown over his own. Which wasn’t anything overly new, not really, they’d all fallen onto sofas and into beds together before, drunk and stoned and sleepy.
But Kiara was looking at him and she kept shuffling closer into his space and he was sure he stopped breathing when she announced:
“You’re so pretty .”
The girl petted at his cheek, her thumb brushing at the corner of his mouth and he stilled, glancing over to where John B and Pope sat and he let out a curse on an exhale ‘cause the boys were staring.
“You’ve got the prettiest eyes,” Kie told him, looking into the depths of his goddamn soul. “Your hair is like, my favourite thing, it’s so soft . And I like your jaw,” she mused, running a fingertip along the edge of it.
“Isn’t JJ so pretty?” Kiara had his chin cupped in her palm and she was asking the rest of the room, her eyes sparkling.
Oh my god she was so fucking high.
“Should we be recording this?” Pope whispered to John B, but the other boy was nodding at Kie, his voice solemn when he replied at the same time:
“The prettiest.”
“Isn’t he!?” Kie exclaimed, nodding back at John B who winked at him.
JJ swore.
Somewhere from the other side of the couch, Sarah giggled and she left to sit on her boyfriend’s lap, watching the other girl with amusement.
“She’s done nothing but talk about him all night,” she whispered into John B’s ear. John B hummed in response, a smile pulling at his lips and he bit back a chuckle when JJ took a sharp breath in when Kie let her back hit his chest and lay against him.
“You good, Kie?” JJ asked into her curls, pointedly ignoring the laughter that came from across the room. “You need some water?”
Kiara nodded but wrapped her arms around the boy’s waist when he went to stand up. “You can’t go ,” she said, horrified.
“But, water,” he replied weakly, pointing towards the kitchen and decidingly not looking at her legs, the legs that were trying to wrap around his own. She was half way into his lap when he suddenly stood up, his heart hammering in his chest and Kie falling back onto the sofa.
“Water,” he repeated, his hand scratching at the back of his neck and he tried his damn best to act natural . But his chest was heaving and his throat felt tight and god, look at her.
Kiara was a puddle of soft, brown eyes, messy curls and his too big sweater. She pouted at him again and Jesus Christ, he was a wrecked, wrecked man when she did that.
“Water and food. You need food,” he nodded and he wasn’t sure if he was talking to the girl or himself.
“Ooh, do we have pizza rolls?” Sarah perked up, her hands busy making tiny braids in John B’s hair.
“Routledge, kitchen, help,” was all JJ could bark out and he watched as the other boy rolled his eyes and let his girlfriend tumble out of his lap before spinning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchen.
“You’re on babysitting duties, Pope,” he clicked his fingers at their third boy who was completely invested in the movie on screen.
John B walked into the kitchen with his hands already in front of him, palms out placatingly and his smile almost hidden.
“JJ, you need to chill the fuck out.”
“She keeps touchingme.”
John B smothered his grin with his knuckles, looking at the blonde boy who was pouring water into a glass with more concentration than was required.
“It’s fine!” John B, “dude, you touch each other all the time, shit, you’re usually chatting her up at every chance you get. It’s totally fine.”
JJ raised his brows and started ransacking the freezer for something processed and with cheese, “this is different,” he pulled out some pizza rolls and chucked them in the oven, batting away the other boy’s hands when he tried to lower the temperature.
“She called me pretty,” JJ whispered.
John B let the back of his hand stroke down the blonde boy’s face as he tried so, so hard not to laugh. His lips twitched, “you’re like, so pretty.”
He burst into laughter when JJ slapped his hand away, his cheeks warming in a way that felt very, very foreign to him. He scowled and pressed his fingers onto the oven dials until something beeped and a timer was set.
“Clearly, Kie wants some comfort right now, and water,” the brunette reminded him, passing him the glass he’d forgotten about, “and apparently, you , big boy,” John be clapped a hand on JJ’s shoulder, “are exactly the kinda comfort she wants.”
JJ had absolutely no retort for once, so he spun on his heel and left the kitchen, but not before John B landed a slap to his ass and whisper-yelled, “go snuggle!”
“Hey! Where’s the pizza rolls?” Sarah demanded as soon as JJ sat back down, handing Kie her water and making sure she drank a good amount of it.
“Jesus, Cameron, they’re cooking, alright?” He didn’t take his eyes off Kiara and he tried to keep his cool when she lay back down against his side as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He placed an arm around her shoulders and she smiled, taking his hand in her own two and playing with his rings.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah had monopolised the entire plate of pizza rolls, John B was snoring and Pope was searching Netflix for the second Jurassic Park movie.
JJ had wondered if Kiara had fallen asleep against him, her small body tucked into his side and her curls falling into her face a little. But she twisted around to look at him, both of them slumped low against the sofa, the chateau dark and quiet.
“Hey,” she whispered, looking at him in a way that made his knees weak. She had her hand in the cut out of his shirt, where his sleeves once were and her fingers were tracing the outline of his ribs. Honestly he wasn’t sure if he was breathing.
“Sup?” He replied and he watched her break into a grin before letting her head fall into his shoulder. He felt her breath huff out onto his neck, her lips brushing his collarbone before she spoke again.
“I just,” she sighed like it was effort to talk, “I just think you’re really pretty, J,” there was such sincerity in her voice and the boy knew his cheeks had turned pink. This was usually when he’d fire back a smartass comment, or something overly flirty. And that’s when Kie would normally send a punch to his shoulder or slap at his head.
But this Kie was still a little hazy around the edges and she could still taste rosé wine on her lips. This Kie liked to touch JJ and look at him with soft, appreciative eyes, she liked to whisper into his skin in the dark.
So, JJ licked at his bottom lip, tried not to grin too much when he pulled back enough to look at her and say:
“I think you’re really pretty too.”
The girls whole face lit up, a wide smile on her full lips and JJ swore down dead, there and then, that he’d tell her she was pretty every fucking day if it made her look at him like that.
It didn’t matter that she’d be sober tomorrow, that she’d be hungover and have a headache like she always did with too much weed. He didn’t care that the boys would make fun of him, make subtle jokes towards Kie about her behaviour. He’d call her pretty and hope she blushed like she did then.
He had quick reflexes, he could avoid any fists she’d surely send his way.
“Youdo?“ She gasped quietly, her fingertips dancing up his sides, still inside his shirt and across bare skin. God this felt illegal, a feeling this good should be illegal.
“Oh yeah,” he nodded seriously, smiling, “I think you’re the prettiest girl on this whole island,” and he ‘booped’ her on her nose, just like she’d done to him earlier.
He couldn’t get over how delighted she seemed with his words and it warmed his fucking soul when she sank back into him, her arm still looped through the low cut out sleeves of his tank and across his stomach. JJ wondered if Kie could feel his heart vibrate through his bones, if she knew his stomach had turned over and in on itself twenty plus times.
________
He was in the kitchen when she woke up the next morning, the sun still rising slowly across the marshes and the chateau was still quiet, bathed in orange and peach light.
Kiara knew she’d fallen asleep beside JJ, maybe even on him, ‘cause she’d been lulled by the movement of him breathing slow and steady underneath her. She had a crease imprinted on her cheek that looked like it came from a necklace she didn’t wear, a sweater that fell to her knees and a headache like a motherfucker.
He was leaning against the counter when she walked into the kitchen, barefoot and squinting at the sunlight. He was glowing in it, blonde hair too bright and blue eyes looking crystal clear. When he smiled at her, Kie swore it was golden.
He passed her a cup of coffee he seemingly had just poured, extra milky, just the way she liked it. She accepted it with a hum and a ‘oh my god, thank you’, and eyed the boy over the rim as she took a long gulp.
She wondered why she’d tasted like wine when she woke up, what she’d said last night, why she was wearing JJ’s clothes and why he was looking at her like she’d hung the moon.
But then he smirked, just a little, still soft and he looked at her through his lashes. It was too early and he was just looking far too-
“Do you still think I’m pretty, Kie?”
