BABYDOLL // JJ Outer Banks

fourteen

jj was lying on the floor of the bus with his eyes shut and head in hannah's lap as she slowly ran her fingers through his blonde locks. a low vibration erupted from his chest when  the girl gently tugged on the ends of his hair.

"you're purring," hannah giggled. "good thing we left pogie back at the chateau or he'd be having a fit."

jj pouted. "i don't purr."

"we all heard you, man, just own it," pope laughed causing jj to flip him off.

"i mean, it's obvious, right?" john b rambled from the driver's seat. "a family heirloom! what better place to hide a message? he had to know it was gonna get back to me."

kie gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "yeah, it's possible."

"it could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with you sad feels?" pope said.

"you know how i process my sad feels?" jj spoke up.

"dank nugs and the sickiest of ickies?" hannah answered.

jj's eyes fluttered open, ocean blue meeting chocolate brown, and he grinned. "that's how i do it." jj sat up, wrapping his arms around the girl and pulling her into his chest. "you know me too well, babydoll."

"i'm not concocting, okay?" john b snipped. "my dad's trying to give me a message."

kie slowly nodded. "if it helps you believe, john b."

"look, i- i don't need a therapy session, okay? i'm not tripping out."

"it's okay to trip, bro," jj tried to reassure him.

"look, my-my dad is missing, okay? missing." john b stated firmly. "you don't know what it feels like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. just wake up every morning, wondering."

the rest of the pogues exchanged nervous looks before looking at hannah who was fiddling with the ring on jj's thumb. none of them really knew her brother very well since he had been five years older than all of them, but they remembered how highly hannah used to speak of him. when he left, she'd become a hollow version of herself and distanced herself from her friends until they forced her to open up to them. it had taken a while to get her back, and even when they did, she was never quite the same.

"it's been almost a year," kie said softly.

"hey, he could've been kidnapped. that's definitely a possibility," jj shrugged.

pope rolled his eyes. "yeah, could be in a soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere."

"absolutely, or, uh," jj wracked his brain for something, "atlantis!"

"jj," kie warned before turning back to john b, "look, what do you think the message is?"

"redfield," john b stated as the van rolled to a stop. "redfield lighthouse. my dad's favorite place."

the teens filed out of the bus and looked up at the tall building. "i wonder what it would feel like to fall from there," hannah pondered, prompting jj to tighten his grip on her.

"right, so here's what's gonna happen," john b announced, "jj and han? you guys are gonna post up and look for bogeys."

"wait, why us?" jj asked. hannah noticed the small ounce of hurt in his voice.

"because you're not coming," pope explained.

"is it because of the jumping comment? because i won't do it if you don't want me to."