𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐉𝐉 | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

25. you beg with your eyes.

Otto didn't know how to feel.

But after a few minutes she spoke, "Thought you did a runner." She said lazily, her voice full of indifference, like his actions hadn't hurt her.

She smirked when she saw him jump, he turned around and looked up at the tree to see the girl he got pregnant sitting on a low branch. He was so out of it he hadn't taken any notice. As he looked up at her she shifted her gaze to look out at the water.

Warm tones had begun to spread themselves other the tranquil water.

JJ didn't really know what to say, so he was silent for a long time. He watched her, from her outward appearance he had no clue that his actions had actually hurt her. She was so good at putting up a strong front that people would forget she wasn't invincible.

"Wes paid me a visit." He broke his silence, he still didn't know what to say but he knew he probably should say something.

"Came 'round to the Chateau, he made me an offer. Enough money for me to set up a new life, life changing money. But the catch was I had to move away, far away. And I could never contact you ever again." He began to explain the events that happened a little over a week ago.

He shifted in his seat, running a hand through his messy hair. "I told him to go fuck himself, and to shove the money up his uptight arse."

Otto was pleasantly surprised.

He had the offer to change his life, to live a life free of financial burden. But he turned it down.

She climbed down the tree, once down she wiped her hands on the back of her trousers.

When she looked at JJ he was already looking at her intently.

She saw his face, a matching set of black eyes that had begun to fade into greens and yellows, there was a scabbed over cut on his cheekbone and the reminiscence of a split lip.

Otto didn't really know what to say, so she chose to say nothing. She didn't say sorry, she didn't want the second-to-second details of what had happened.

She sat down on the log next to JJ, close enough that it made JJ's heart speed up.

Then she did something neither of them expected, she lent her head on his shoulder.

JJ stopped breathing for a second, expecting her to pull it right off.

After it stayed there for a while he let out the breath he held hostage and tried to breathe normally.

They stayed that way, with her head on his shoulder, their legs brushing up next to each other in silence until the sun had disappeared.

After it began to get properly dark Otto got up, she didn't want to leave JJ alone so she went back to the Chateau with him.

"If you weren't here, or your house where were you?" Otto asked as they got inside the Cheatu. JJ shut the door behind her and sat on the sofa.

"You know the granny flat at you--"

"You slept in the granny flat at my house?"

"No. Let me finish. There is a granny flat at my dad's house, except instead of like, a real granny flat it's a glorified pile of wood."

Otto looked at him wide eyed, "It's freezing."

JJ shrugged, "After a few blunts you kinda stop feeling that."

Of course, everything comes back to drugs. Nevertheless Otto nodded and sat down on the sofa next to him.

It took all of five minutes for Otto to fall asleep, her head lulling over against her shoulder. JJ smirked, she'd kill him if she saw him laughing at him. Carefully he stood up and pulled the cleanest blanket from his room and threw it on her, she'd obviously subconsciously shifted so she was laying down. He put it on her and went to his room.

This was the second time she'd slept the night at the Chateau, except this time when she woke up she knew where she was.

And she didn't regret it.

She walked through the house in search for the blonde haired boy, she poked her head into his room and he was sound asleep. Sprawled out on the Queen sized bed his limbs spread in an uncomfortable looking position.

It was her turn to smirk at him.

Otto went to the kitchen and looked something semi-edible to eat, but she came up short.

So she did the next logical thing and went to the local store and picked up non-perishable goods. JJ didn't seem like the type to enjoy an aubergine or dragon fruit.

After walking back from the store she put the two bags on the counter, she had no clue where to put them so she decided the best course of actions was just to dump them there and leave.

"First you offer me a place to live and now you're buy me food, you must think I'm a proper charity case."

She turned to look at him, he had ditched a shirt and had a lazy smile on his face. His blonde hair stuck up in various places, he looked strange. In a good way.

"You're quite possibly the biggest charity case I know." Otto rebuked.

"That's mean."

"Beggars can't be choosers."

"Last I check I haven't begged for anything." He pointed a ringed finger at her.

"Your eyes, you beg with your eyes."

"You're really mean sometimes, you know?"

Otto grinned and pulled out a tooth brush she bought, and some toothpaste, she hated the feeling her mouth had in the morning. "I'm well aware."

She scrubbed her teeth while he looked through the bags, he settled on canned pineapple. Once opened he used a fork to stab pieces out and eat them.

Otto had a question burning at her mind.

JJ needed money, it was clear if you looked around the Chateau, there was no food in the kitchen and most of the time the electricity was off. He also only had a few months until he turned eighteen so no one could stop him - not that Luke would send out a search party anyway.

So, why hadn't he taken it?

Once spitting out the foamy paste she washed the brush off. "Why didn't you take it. The money I mean."

JJ's eyebrows furrowed and he set down the can with the fork inside, he was a little hurt. Although he had little right to be, he hadn't really showed that he wanted a part, he'd only said the words.

"I want the baby to have something I didn't. I want it to have one great parent and a semi-decent-at-least-he's-trying parent. That's all I can promise. I know I'm a fucking mess, but in the next few months I'm going to sort it all out, okay? I promise. I'll figure it out, I'll priorities the right things. I'm not perfect, and I'm never going to be perfect but I'll try."

He noticed the slightest hint of a smile on her face, one only a few people could recognise.

Otto was quietly optimistic, but she was trying not to get her hopes up.

Around midday Kie and Pope came around, they were shocked for two reasons. One, Otto was there and she didn't look angry, and two, JJ's face was still a mess, a mess they had yet too see.

They walked outside and each took their designated place, Pope on the sofa near the door, Kie next to him, JJ in the chair near the hammock and Otto, obviously, in said hammock.

Otto laid back while JJ gave them a run-down of what happened with him and Wes. About the offer, and that when he turned it down Wes jumped him with some of his friends, and he needed a few days to sort himself out before coming back.

•

The beginning of JJ's 15th redemption arc, let's see if this one stick lmao.