kie allowed the car to slowly come to a stop outside of the familiar yellow house.
'home sweet home.' jj sighed.
'i'm coming with.' ivy said.
'no, you're staying here with kie. this'll only take a second.' jj replied.
'no, you're doing this for my brother, and i'm coming with you.' ivy continued.
jj let out another sigh, 'kie, you gonna help me on this one?'
'you really can't say no to her.' kie replied.
'yea, thanks for the help.' jj turned back to ivy, 'you stay close behind me, especially if my dads in there, ok?'
ivy nodded in response, following jj out of the car into his house, his hand tightly holding hers.
'dad?'
with no answer, jj walked further into the house, finally stopping once he saw his dad asleep on the couch, a half drank bottle of alcohol next to his head.
'dad, i need the keys to the phantom. dad?'
luke continued to snore as he laid on the couch, ivy stood and watched as jj reached down and picked up a bottle of pills, which was now almost empty.
jj set down the pill bottle, his eyes locking with the keys around his fathers neck.
'v, go around the corner.'
ivy nodded, backing up, leaning against the wall so she could still see what jj was doing. she watched as he picked up a pair of tweezers and a pencil and walked over to luke. he crouched down, and slowly began reaching for the keys.
'i didn't expect to see you. you're back.'
'yea, no, i just- just checking in.' jj stuttered.
'school out already?' luke asked.
'what?' jj said.
'did you ditch?' luke chuckled. 'it's all right, you can tell me.'
'yea. i hit the break, you know?' jj said, going along with luke's hallucination.
'i hated school too, that's my boy.' luke smiled, standing up and placing his arm on jj's shoulder. 'listen, hey. look, i know i'm hard on you sometimes. but sometimes, i see your mother in you, and it gets me a little tweaked, you know? you're a good boy. and i love you son.' luke pulled jj into a hug, 'come here, i love you. i love you son.'
'love you too dad.' jj choked out. 'i'm sorry.'
'ain't got nothing to be sorry for.' luke said.
jj allowed luke to fall back onto the couch, 'you're a good boy.'
jj quickly pulled open luke's shirt, then ripped the keys off of him.
before jj could make it out the door, ivy stopped him by hugging him, allowing him to rest his head on her for a few seconds, letting his breathing go back to normal.
ivy lightly kissed jj's cheek, 'you ready?'
jj nodded, continuing to walk out the door, getting into kie's car.
'how'd it go?' kie asked.
jj held the chain up, which was now entangled in his fingers and smiled.
———————————————————————
kiara continued speeding down the road, looking back at ivy and jj every so often.
