JJ actively, positively, wants to disappear from the face of the Earth. Like, soon, please?

Because John B thought that it'd be a good idea to bring Kat along today. He thinks John B has ulterior motives and he should stop acting like the mom of the group because he is a seventeen year old boy. In all honesty, it does make sense since she helped find the Royal Merchant. She should be here today.

But also, fuck that.

She obviously didn't expect him to ignore her. Which is a bit hypocritical, since she came here, set on ignoring him. Speaking of hypocritical, she thinks he owed her to talk about his dad. After using him against him. What is that about again? And, whatever, she yelled at him real hard the day before, so he has every right to ignore her. Even though John B seems seconds away from jumping into the water to drown because of how stubborn the two are.

John B and JJ are in the back of the boat, staring at where Kat is promising bloody murder on whoever hurt Pope, ignoring the burn in JJ's chest.

John B points to her. "You can't tell me she's not one of us."

JJ immediately rolls his eyes. "I'm not!" he almost cries out. "She got into it first, she should apologize first, that's all."

"You'll get nowhere with that logic."

"That's okay, I'm not planning on going anywhere."

John B stifles a groan, and walks back to Kat and Pope. JJ starts the boat. Is being alone with his thoughts too much to ask? He really wants to know, because it feels like it's just the bare minimum. Besides, he meant what he said. He won't apologize until she does. And well, if she doesn't... Well it'll be on her, not on him.

...Even if he wants nothing more than to apologize for what he said about her mom. He really didn't mean it. It's the last thing he'd mean about her. But it's hard to take away her hurt if she won't do the same for him. He's not saying that it's a good and fair logic. He's saying that he's seventeen and his best friend really hurt him and he can't think rationally.

But bless whoever created this green Earth for John B, because that guy isn't letting her rest until she apologizes. He has some training. He's been mediating between them since the dawn of time.

A groan from him makes JJ perk up from the cabin. "All right, JJ. Pin it here."

JJ can't help his smirk. "Roger that! X marks the spot."

He watches as John B walks away, and prepares the gear. Pope and Kie go to help, and Kat observes them from her spot. Well, everyone but him, of course, because she's ignoring him. And obviously he isn't even looking at her right now, come on, that's common sense.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen," he says as he drops the gear into the ocean. "To going full Kook."

And then JJ realizes that John B might be a bit too good at this then he should. Because if Kie takes care of the tether, John B manages the camera, Pope the controls, then Kat's left with...

"Take this," John B passes her the monitor showing where the boat is and where the Merchant is, and the map. "Go help JJ position the boat."

JJ can't exactly hear what he's saying over the noise of the rain outside, but he isn't an idiot. He knows what it means. It means that Kat and him are going to be stuck in the cabin, for god knows how long, actually communicating. Since when does communication help? This has never been proven before.

With a sigh, Kat gets inside the cabin. JJ's making a great job ignoring her, not even glancing at her. He doesn't even want to look at her and think that, damn, why did she come here only wearing a shirt and shorts? She's going to freeze with this rain.

"All right," she mutters. "Ten seconds northwest."

Her voice is so quiet and the silence is so awkward, JJ considers causing a shipwreck and taking everyone with him as he dies to escape this. And the fact that she's tugging at his bandana on her wrist really doesn't help at all. It's not like his heart is stuttering every time she does it. It's not like his stomach churns at the thought of hugging her to bring her some warmth.

She spares him a glance. He nearly drowns the boat. Fuck.

Fuck, he likes her.

That's not good, he's mad at her right now. He can't like her and be so infuriated with her. It's not like it's the basis of their relationship anyway... It's bad. This is really bad. JJ hasn't moved on since the fourth grade.

"And to quote The Hobbit, 'Down, down, to Goblin Town. Down, down, you go, my lad.'"

"Nerd," Kat scoffs.

JJ sucks in his cheeks to hold back his laughter. Nope, if she makes him laugh, she wins.

"Kathryn, you've read The Hobbit four times," John B chastises.

This time, he can't help it, he just bursts out laughing. He can feel her glaring daggers at his back, but he ignores her, which might just make her even more angry at him, but whatever. It's not like he likes her, haha, wink, wink. This is ridiculous.

Seconds after Kie announces the drone is four hundred feet under, thunder rambles outside.

"The tide is turning!" she says.

The monitor in Kat's hands begins to beep. "Uh, JJ, ten seconds easy... south-southeast."

Now isn't the time to complain about her being bossy, especially going by how much the boat is rocking because of the troubled water. It's getting colder too, and without his jacket, JJ would be freezing his ass off. Which makes him think that Kat might be actually frozen by cold this time.

He risks a glance to her. She's shivering, her teeth are chattering and god, JJ is an idiot.

Silently, he takes his sweatshirt off and hands it to her.

Immediately, she shakes her head, because would Kat really be Kat if she wasn't so stubborn?

"It's okay."

JJ rolls his eyes, and almost puts it right under her nose. "Take it."

She purses her lips and obeys, sliding it on. Eh. He likes her when she's not bossy. Urgh, fuck, shut up brain. This is getting so old.

She looks back to the monitor. "Twenty seconds mid-speed, south."

He's having a hard time steadying the boat with the waves. It doesn't take an idiot to look out the window and see that a storm is coming. They have to take precautions.

"Are we good?" JJ asks, before inwardly cursing himself. What a dumb choice of words. He had to say those, didn't he? "The position, I mean."

What a smooth safe. She totally thinks that he's not waiting for her to apologize so they can salvage their relationship, not at all.

"Uh?" Kat blinks. "Oh yeah, sure, we're good. In good position."

Kill him.

JJ gets why John B sent her inside the cabin, to talk with him but not actually talk. It's frustrating. He knows that, because he's frustrated too. He wants to talk with her, he loves talking with her! She's funny, and witty, and she cares about people.

And JJ Maybank has liked Kat Darcy since the fourth grade. Even when he was convincing himself that he hated her. Even now. Especially now.

"I'm sorry," she blurts out, trying to be louder than the wind outside, and taking him by surprise. "For using your dad. You're right, I shouldn't have. I was panicking and trying to get us out of there and it was stupid."

JJ blinks, looking back and forth between the raging sea and Kat's pleading eyes. "You really wanna apologize right now?" As in, she really wants to apologize while I try to not kill us?

"Take it or leave it, Maybank."

"Fuck that," he mutters under his breath. She was already forgiven when walked in with her big brown eyes. She was always forgiven.

There's a storm outside, and he drives an open boat, and this is stupid, but he turns to stare at her and make sure she hears him.

There's a storm outside and he's not sure he cares. "I'm sorry. You were trying to help, and I know I keep making it hard for you, because I'm an idiot." Because he made it hard for her, whether he wanted it or not.

"You are."

Okay, Jesus. "Fuck you." She laughs. "I shouldn't have pushed, and of course you're not like your mother. She's insane. You're like, only kind of crazy."

She hums, a corner of her lip tugged up. "I love that, thank you JJ," she ironises.

"You're welcome."

"Guys!" John B calls out. "We're super happy for you, but can you focus back on the boat? One of us is going to drown!"

JJ half-wants to tell John B to drown, laughing with Kat like nothing happened, which is everything he wanted. A wave sends her into him, and JJ into the wall of the cabin. They stumble on their feet, like bashful idiots.

For a second, Kat's body pressed against his now bare skin feels like fire and drowning at the same time. They stumble on their feet, and he feels like he can breathe again. Because he stopped. Maybe for several minutes, he isn't sure, but he feels dizzy.

JJ goes back to the controls, Kat turns around. "What did you say about the weather earlier? It's 'good'? John B if anyone goes overboard, I hope it's you!"

"Love you too!" he answers.

The monitor is going insane in Kat's hands. "JJ hold it steady!... Now crank it north by northwest, ten seconds!" He doesn't answer, too concentrated. "Okay, south, southwest, JJ! Hard!" They're getting closer now. "Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ !"

The boat stops, and the monitor lets out a few beeps, signaling them that they're at the spot.

"I'm at the bottom!" Pope cries out.

At the bottom? Then they must be close now.

"Steady here," Kat says to JJ. "Quarter speed, all right?"

He nods, doing as he's told. He likes doing as he's told now. It's his thing.

There's a sudden silence between the Pogues still on deck, and they turn around, looking at them. Well, aren't they going to say something? They're not going to stand around staring all day are they?

"See anything?" JJ screams.

John B chuckles. "It's the Royal Merchant."

Oh damn. Oh damn, that's definitely something. "Are you sure?"

"Fucking positive, bug!"

"Find the gold!" Kat immediately presses, ecstatic.

There's silence again, and JJ can see Pope maneuvering to get something. As minutes pass, their smiles start to disappear.

JJ frowns, not liking that he's out of the loop. "Guys?"

"It's not there," John B explains. "Look, just–just pull the drone up."

Are they joking? Is this a joke? "What?" Kat rushes out of the cabin, to check.

"Look, we can do another pass," Pope proposes. Okay, not a joke then. "Recharge the battery. We can – we can go back down."

Kat sighs, shaking her head. "You've done it three times, right? Chances are, there's nothing there."

"Shut up!" Kie yells at her.

JJ turns to her slowly, blinking. Does Kie suddenly have a death wish?

"It's not my fault the gold's not here, go pass your nerves on something other than me." Kie scoffs, but says nothing. That's probably a wise choice.

"If it was there,it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" John B agrees. "Somebody beat us to it."

JJ frowns a little, before sighing and rubbing his eyes. "Or it was never there."

Kat sighs. "Yeah well, for all we know, it sank to the bottom of the ocean because of its weight, and there's no way we'll get it." She goes back to the cabin. "Let's just go home before one of us says that the real treasure was the friends we made along the way."

He knows that tone. "You were going to say that."

"I definitely was."

Maybe not the friends, sure. And JJ would like to stress that he needs that money. That he wants nothing more than the gold. But if the girl he has liked since the fourth grade doesn't hate him anymore, he'll take it too.

Author's Note: Listen there's something about this scene with jj going 'i've seen worse' when Kathryn stops mid breakdown because he's hurt that physically makes me want to scream

Editor's Note: Spoilers?? For next chapter? I'm a prophet (again, the a/n don't match the chapters. I'm delusional)