𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

12: "𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚝."

After their incident at the graveyard, the five teenagers found themselves standing in John B and Y/n's house, it being all cleaned up since the last time they were here, meaning the brother of the siblings had cleaned it all up. The siblings sat side by side at the table while they both stared at the envelope from their father, to them.

Walking out into the room his friends were in, Pope had been able to find himself a pair of shorts in John B's closet, meaning he didn't have to wear his white boxers around the whole time with his hands constantly covering his crotch.

JJ found himself standing in the kitchen by himself, a plastic butter knife in hand as he continued to apply peanut butter to moldy bread laying on the counter.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope states while walking past the blonde.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts." JJ responds. "Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."

Finishing up his peanut butter sandwich, JJ walks into the room, stopping right beside the Routledge girl as he takes a bite of the sandwich, only to start gagging. He spits out the piece he ate into his hand, dumping it in the trash before joining his friends again, watching John B open up the envelope and Y/n then placing a map down on the table.

"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope says, pointing at an X on the map.

"Longitude, latitude. Wait, there's something else in there." Y/n speaks.

Reaching into the white envelope, the girl brings out a tape recorder, both the Routledge siblings staring at it curiously.

"What's that?" JJ asks.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Kie responds.

"Dear Bird and Peanut." A deep voice begins on the tape recorder.

"Who's Bird and Peanut?" JJ questions.

"That's what our dad called us." John B replies.

"I hate to say, "I told you so", but I told you so. And you two doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you, Bird, are filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, especially when it was in front of Peanut, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. You too, Peanut. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out, Bird. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kids? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, living off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you two find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kids. I love you, Bird and Peanut, even if I didn't always act like it." The voice of their father, Big John, explains. "I'll see you two on the other side."

Swallowing the lump down her throat, Y/n turns off the tape recorder, then rising to her feet, John B doing the same. The older boy grabs his sister's hand, the two starting to walk out of the room together as their friends watch. However, they don't make it far when both stumble against each other before John B wraps his arms around his sister, holding her close to him as they both start sobbing.

"Holy shit, he did it! Big John found the Merchant--" JJ starts.

"Can you... Can you please?" Kie stammers, motioning for the blonde to be quiet.

"Sorry." JJ murmurs.

Walking over to the Routledge siblings, Kie wraps her arms around the two as both siblings still held each other in their arms. Kie holds them close as they continue to sob loudly, tears falling down their cheeks.

***

The five teenagers now all sat around together, outside on the docks at night. The sound of Kie's ukulele could be heard the silence they all sat in. JJ had been occasionally glancing over at the Routledge girl.

The siblings had calmed down from earlier, no more sobs leaving themselves. Y/n sat beside her brother, head resting on his shoulder. John B took small swigs of his drink as he had his head rested on top of his little sister's.

"How much was it again?" JJ asks suddenly.

"Five hundred mil." Pope responds.

"Alright, let's talk the split." JJ starts. "Now, before we say "evenly", may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You haven't trained." Pope states. "You've done zero training."

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there." JJ responds. "Any objections? Didn't think so."

"What are you gonna do with your 100 mil, Pope?" Kie asks.

"Pay for college in advance." Pope replies. "And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."

"What about you, Kie?" JJ questions.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope adds.

"Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing." Kie responds.

"Peter Tosh is dead." Pope reminds.

"I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." Kie replies.

"I know what I'm gonna do." JJ speaks up, catching all their attention. "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope repeats in question.

JJ nods. "Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond."

"I'm never visiting." Kie informs.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Pope suddenly asks, looking at the siblings, JJ and Kie following.

Y/n lifts her head from her brother's shoulder, glancing at him as John B does the same.

"To going full Kook." They reply.

Smiles come onto all of their faces as they slightly stand up, holding their beer cans up in the air and clanking them all together.

"To going full Kook!"