𝟎𝟒𝟏.                      𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 "𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮"

just the way you are ──── bruno mars

( i love my couple <3 )

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖨 𝖲𝖧𝖮𝖶𝖤𝖱 𝖶𝖧𝖤𝖭 𝖨 𝖦𝖤𝖳 𝖡𝖠𝖢𝖪 𝖳𝖮 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖳𝖤𝖠𝖴，needing to clean off the reminder that I was within the presence of somebody like Rafe. Tiny bruises have started to form where he grabbed me, and every time I move my wrist, this intense ache runs up my arm. I now just have this constant reminder that I let myself be in that position, that I let myself be vulnerable and easy to grab ahold of. I hate that Rafe Cameron saw me in that way, even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

I stay in the shower till the water turns cold, and then I stand, staring at myself in the mirror for longer than needed until I finally force myself to change into suitable clothing. I then step out of the bathroom, crossing into my bedroom to find JJ sleeping soundly on my bed.

I had no idea he was in here. I bypassed Kiara and Pope who were asleep on either end of the sofa, and I went straight to the bathroom, not bothering to check if Sarah or JJ were anywhere. I'm unsure where Sarah is, but JJ is just here, sleeping without a care in the world. I come to a standstill at my bedroom door, not moving a muscle as I don't want to wake him.

Honestly, I just want to stare at him.

He looks to be wearing a jumpsuit of some kind, but I don't know why. It's pulled down to his hips, a white shirt underneath that clings a little too nicely to the muscle of his arms, chest and stomach. I lean back against the door, eyes dragging up the length of his body. He looks so at peace, so relaxed and calm. Not only that, but even asleep, JJ has this undeniable beauty that cannot be ignored.

I push away from my door, shuffling across the floor to reach him. I press my knee into my bed, watching as he shifts slightly but his eyes remain closed. I then lift my other leg up and onto the bed, bringing myself to his side. My knees press into his arm gently as I lean forward, delicately placing my fingers against his shoulder blade.

He stirs, eyes blinking open to find me staring right down at him, nothing but content in my eyes. I know I hurt him earlier, and I know we have to talk, but I hope he isn't upset to see me. I never wanted to hurt him in the way that I did, and all I want to do is talk it through, assure him that I, of course, have feelings for him. It's just complicated with Kiara, I can't even begin to explain it.

His eyes close, a sigh falling from his lips. "Sunny?" His voice crocks, bringing a smile out of me as I drag my hand up, brushing my knuckles against his cheekbone.

"Morning, Sunshine." There's a teasing edge to my tone, but JJ doesn't look amused.

One eye blinks open, squinting in my direction. His hand lifts slowly, finger pointing in my direction. "That's your name." I nod back at him, continuing to press my knuckles against his face in a slow, gentle motion. "Hey, Sunshine."

I exhale, my thumb stretching out to brush over the hair of his eyebrow. He hums, head tilting to lean into my touch. "Hey, JJ."

His knuckles brush my knee, and because I can't help it, my body responds to him. My skin tingles even at the gentlest and smallest of touches from him. I love that I respond to him in such a way, and what I love even more is that he responds to my touch in a very similar way. That is proved by the way he pushes himself closer to me as I drag my fingertips across his forehead, pushing the hair away.

"Where were you?" I had hoped that he wouldn't have noticed as he seems completely exhausted, but alas, I was wrong. As I was running back to the Chateau, I had already decided in my mind that I wouldn't tell my friends about my interaction with Rafe. I'd prefer to forget about it, to move on and be done with whatever bizarre thing just took place.

So, naturally, I don't tell JJ, and besides, there's really nothing to tell.

"I was just walking," I say, not entirely lying, but also not entirely being honest. I then clear my throat, looking to the jumpsuit that hangs low on his hips. "What did you do?"

"Busted the wrong guy out of jail."

I huff out a laugh, finding that only JJ would be the one to do something like that, but his efforts to break John B out of jail are not discredited. No, despite how reckless and dangerous it was, I do think that it was good to try something like that just to see if it would actually work.

We're going to find a way to bring John B home, I'm sure of it. I just need to have hope, as lame as that sounds. Hope needs to be my friend right now as does Karma because I need her to rain down on Ward and Rafe Cameron.

"How is John B?" I ask, desperate for any kind of information. I hate that as part of my punishment, I've been banned from seeing him until I pay this fine. Hopefully, we get him out before then, but with how things have been going, I'm feeling slightly doubtful.

I just want my brother back. In one piece, preferably.

"Very proud of you." My eyes flare in surprise, not expecting to hear that.

"What?"

"Well, I told him how you broke that cop's nose for, you know, hurting him, and well, he said to pass this on..." JJ lifts his hand, and I smile as I clap mine over his, taking John B's message with me. "He isn't happy about the fine though."

"Well, committing crime has its consequences."

JJ's fingers push into mine, intertwining them. "They overcharged you, the bastards." I breathe out a laugh, fingers squeezing his as I bring our hands down, wanting to feel his hand against the skin of my knee again.

In all honesty, I want to feel his touch all over me, but I settle for resting our hands against my knee, and he doesn't protest, he lets his hand drop.

His eyes are closed, showing me that he's tired, but he still finds a way to talk to me. His hand lays in mine, resting upon my knee as I had hoped, and my other hand traces gently patterns and shapes on our closed fingers, brushing over his knuckles softly. He hums appreciative noises, subtly telling me that he likes the glide and press of my fingers, so I continue my movements, keeping my eyes on his face.

I'm glad he is the one I found after the day we've both had. I'm glad he is the one that's in my bed. I'm glad he is the one that's letting me touch him despite all the hurt I've brought to him recently. I'm glad he exists. I'm glad he's my best friend. I'm glad he's... mine.

Then again, he isn't mine, not after what I did. I saw the defeated look in his eyes. I heard the betrayal in his words as he spoke to me. I hurt him, more than I thought possible. I don't want to ever be the cause of his hurt ever again. Not even twenty fours hours after JJ brought me a kind of pleasure I've never felt before in my life, I went and kissed Kiara in the exact same place. How could I do that to him?

I hurt him. I was the cause of his hurt, and now all I want to do is amend that hurt I brought him because he doesn't deserve that, not after everything he's done for me, not after he's been painfully honest with me.

Things with Kiara are... confusing, to say the least. For one, I don't know what it is that draws me to her or what it is that draws her to me. For two, I don't know how we came to be intertwined in that way. All the yelling, all the frustration, all the anger, and what? We kissed. How the fuck did that happen? Kissing her, as great at it was, it seemed like a final heat-of-the-moment thing where we needed to kiss one another to move on.

Well, that's what it seemed like to me.

I'm not trying to defend my actions, not in any kind of way. I don't regret what happened, okay, I just don't think that kiss, much like the first time we kissed, was the start of something between me and Kiara.

That is why it's confusing.

She said she likes me, yes, but does she truly see something between us? I don't know. I need to talk to her and explain that while I feel strongly for her, I don't want anything more from her.

God, why did all this have to be so confusing? Why couldn't it have been simple between me and Kiara? One kiss and boom, we go back to being just friends. Why does it have to be all these annoying questions and frustrating answers?

At the end of the day, my heart will never beat for her in the way that it does for him.

As horrible as it seems to say that, it's true.

I love JJ. I have loved JJ for eight, nearly nine years. I wear his bracelet on my wrist everyday. I carry the reminder of his mouth against mine everyday. I miss him when he's not near me which is rare, but it does happen. I think about kissing him, about laying next to him every morning and night, about having him in the same way I did the other night.

There's no denying it.

I want JJ in any way he'll have me── as a friend, as a partner, preferably both. I've always wanted him, that fact has never been denied, but there is this is this unanswered question of Kiara that I can't just ignore, hoping it'll answer itself. I have to talk to her, explain to her that while I care about her in every sense of the word, I want to be with the boy that's been right here this entire time, watching over me in the best possible way.

I want the boy who broke my mirror with a stupid ball. I want the boy that used to sit with me at the lighthouse whenever we'd choose to ditch school. I want the boy who kissed me in front of all the girls to show that I deserved to be kissed too. I want the boy who held me while I cried about my dad disappearing. I want the boy who gifted me the bracelet that has sat on my wrist for the past seven years. I want the boy who has unfailingly been there for me for nearly nine years.

I want JJ Maybank, and that's always been the truth.

I lift our hands, bringing the back of his hand to my mouth. I press a small, delicate kiss to his skin, hearing a deep sigh come from him in response. I close my eyes, holding his hand tightly as I whisper the words, "I want you, JJ."

I don't open my eyes as I press my forehead against our hands, holding my breath as I wait for him to say something, anything. Hell, maybe he'll leave me to suffer in silence as a way of getting back at me for hurting him. I wouldn't blame him. I mean, I did──

"I want you too, Brooke."

My eyes open then, immediately finding his.  They're soft around the edges, a dangerous shade of blue as he looks back at me. He's looking at me in the way that I love, in the way that I missed earlier when he was mad at me. I bite the inside of my cheek, my mouth pressed to our joint hands as my heart beats rapidly. I fear he can hear it, but then again, I don't care as he knows the kind of effect he has on me.

I open my mouth to talk, but he's already speaking, his voice gentle. "But don't do that again." I know what he's referring to, and there's not an ounce of hesitation in me as I nod in response.

"I won't, JJ."

He nods firmly, shuffling to one side, his hand still in mine. He tugs gently, not hard enough to make me move, but I understand what he's asking of me without saying any words. Like I've said before, he speaks volumes without uttering a single word to me, it's unbelievable.

I move, laying my head on the same pillow that his head rests on. With our hands still intertwined, I lay them in between our bodies that rest with our backs to the bed, our eyes on the dark ceiling.

I then get this urge, this desperation to draw this exact moment. This is a piece of artwork that I'd be able to understand, that I'd be able to read in seconds. This── the act of being in one another's company, bound together by a single touch of our hands is easily read through my eyes so can be easily transcribed onto the pages of my sketchbook.

However, while I want to draw how I feel at this current moment in time, I don't move a muscle because there's nothing more I want than to lay right here next to him, listening carefully as he breathes through his nose and out through his mouth. His chest rises and falls slowly, falling in line with how he's breathing.

I could watch him all day, map out his features onto paper just so I can watch him when he's not around. I know he'd let me draw him, he's already asked in the past, but I never had the chance to finish that drawing of him, so for my new collection of drawings, I want nothing more than to sketch him.

"What you thinking about?"

His voice surprises me, mainly because I've been talking to myself in my head── you know, as one does── but I answer him.

"Drawing," I reply, leaning my head into his shoulder.

"You wanna draw now?" To say he's trying to sleep, he doesn't seem to stop talking. His eyes remain closed, and his voice sounds tired, but he's still speaking to me.

"Kind of, but I also just wanna lay here."

He hums, head bobbing. "Cool."

"You know, I won't be offended if you fall asleep." He's exhausted, I can see that. I mean, he busted somebody out of jail, it's a tiring job, I imagine, and while it was the wrong person, it still takes a great amount of effort, so he's more than welcome to fall asleep.

He suppresses a yawn, obviously thinking I'm not watching him closely. "I'm not tired."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm never tired around you, Sunshine."

I can't help the redness brightening my face upon hearing that comment, and based off the laugh he offers me, he can feel the warmth radiating off my face as I lean into his shoulder. "Your face is red," he breathes out, fingers squeezing mine.

"No, it's not." It's always red around him, he knows that.

His head turns, one eye blinking open to look down at me. I don't look up at him, I keep my face pressed into his shoulder, passing my warmth onto his skin. "Hey." I shake my head which pushes him to remove his hand from mine, lifting it to rest upon my face. He turns his body, now resting on his side. I mirror him, also laying on my side. He tilts my face up, fingers sliding under my jaw. "I like you red."

"Well, that's just what you do to me."

"Only me, right?"

I think he's not being serious, but based on the way he grips my face just a little tighter, I suspect he's not joking. My eyes bulge, my laugh dying in my throat. "What?"

"Only I make you feel this way." He doesn't ask it as a question, not this time. His fingers brush a strand of my wet hair past my ear, knuckles dragging down my the redness of my cheek. I swallow, teeth tugging at my bottom lip as I watch him carefully, my face a deeper shade of red now.

"JJ." My voice doesn't sound like my own as his name stumbles out of my mouth in a breathy manner.

"I like you." He breathes out a laugh, fingertips pressing into my cheek. "I really like you, Brooke. You know that, right?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah."

"Do you even like me?" I hate how he doesn't already know the answer to that question. I hate that he has to ask that question. I hate how uncertain he sounds upon asking. It pains me to know that he hasn't got the answer to that question when the answer is so painstakingly obvious.

"Yes." I scoff, my hand lifting to press against his chest gently. "Of course I do, JJ."

"Then why'd you kiss her?"

"I──"

"I mean, I know we aren't together, together." His hand still holds my face, knuckles moving against the skin of my cheek carefully. "But I just thought that we had something── that we have something. Don't we?" He sounds so hopeful, so desperate for a response, and I don't know how I can assure him that despite what happened between me and Kiara, I want him. I can say I want him until I'm numb, but I fear his trust in my intentions have declined.

I sit up, his hand sliding from my face as I sit with my legs crossed, facing him. "JJ." He sits up on his elbows, peering up at me. "I am sorry, okay? I'm sorry that I kissed her, but I can't sit here and say that I regret it because I don't. I don't regret it, JJ, but I do regret how it happened, and especially where it happened. I shouldn't have kissed here there right after me and you..."

He fills in the blank, his eyes pulling off me, and not having his eyes on me, even for a second, devastates me. I want him to look at me all day, everyday, but I've brought him pain, and I hate that I'm the one behind his hurt.

I press my lips together, swallowing thickly. "JJ, I care about Kiara, of course I do, but I do not feel for Kiara in the same way that I do for you. The feelings I have for you, they're strong and loud and terrifying, but I want you." I exhale loudly, teeth gnawing at my lip anxiously. "I want you so badly that it makes me feel sick..." I shake my head, forcing out a laugh. "I-I mean, you make me feel sick in a... in a good way."

Okay, I have no idea what I'm saying.

JJ looks back to me, chuckling. "I make you feel sick in a good way?"

"Yes," I exclaim, placing my hands on his arm. "You make me feel sick and happy and... twirly?"

Okay, I really don't know what I'm saying.

A smile brightens his face. "Okay, what?"

"JJ, I like you. I like you a lot. I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that you would ever feel the same way about me." I take his hand in mine, sliding our fingers together once again. "Kissing Kiara was a heat-of-the-moment thing, I don't know, it's strange, but I need to talk to her about it. I will talk to her about it."

"How do I know you won't have more heat-of-the-moment..." He scrunches his face up, bringing a smile to my lips. "...moments with Kiara?"

"Because, to me, it felt like the last," I say clearly, and it sounds like the right thing to say. I'm unsure how Kiara feels, but to me, I truly believe that what happened last night was it for us in that department. She's my best friend, nothing more, nothing less. "You can believe what you want, JJ, but I need you to trust me when I say that I like you a lot."

If only I could blurt out that I love him, and that I have loved him for eight years, but I don't want to freak him out. JJ doesn't love me, not in that kind of way anyway. Well, I don't think he loves me, but how can I be sure. At the moment, he just likes me which is fine, I do too, so I cannot blurt out that I'm in love with him. Not yet.

"I do trust you, Brooke." His hand leaves mine, instead dropping it to rest on my knee which, of course, sends a zing of electricity up my leg, warming me from the inside out. Even with the smallest of touches, JJ makes me feel so alive. "I trust you more than anybody else."

While I think I've always known that, it is nice to hear it. "Don't tell John B that," I joke.

"John B knows that." His head falls back against the pillow, hand still clasped over my knee. "You know things about me that nobody else knows, Sunny. I mean, you know what I'm scared of── don't ever tell anyone else, by the way." A laugh ripples out of me, bringing the sweetest smile to his lips. He clicks his fingers together. "Oh, you know my favourite colour."

"John B doesn't know your favourite colour?"

He shakes his head, eyes closing once again. He so desperately wants to sleep but he's clinging on for this conversation with me. "He thinks it's blue," he replies, voice quiet.

I pause, hand falling over his. "I thought it was blue."

His eyes open, his head tilting to meet my gaze. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. What's your favourite colour?"

He turns away from me, letting his eyes close again. "I'm not telling." He pulls his hand back, taking his warmth with him. He slumps back against the bed, crossing his arms over his chest in a silent act of protest. "I can't believe you don't know my favourite colour, Sunny."

"JJ, I'm sorry. I thought it was blue!"

He shakes his head, a frown on his lips that looks a little too amusing to be serious. "Nope. Eight years I've known you, Sunny. Eight years." He blows out a scoff. "Eight years, and you don't even know my favourite colour."

"John B doesn't know either, and he's known you for three hours longer than I have." John B met JJ first, and then I was introduced to him later in the school day. While I'm obviously JJ's number one best friend now, he and John B did declare "best friends" first.

JJ's head turns, looking right back to me. "Actually, I saw you first."

I narrow my eyes. "What?"

"Third grade. Math class, I think. You had your hair up in braids with these stupid little pink bows at the end, I don't know. You were wearing one of John B's shirts, I think, because it didn't look like what every girl in our class was wearing. You didn't answer one question the entire class, you just kept doodling on the table. I don't know what you were drawing, but I was interested."

I stare at him, baffled that he remembered such tiny details such as my hair that day or the shirt I was wearing. He payed more attention to me than I realised. I don't think I had even noticed him then, not until I was instructed to him by John B. He was watching me from afar, and I had no idea because I was too caught up in scribbling stick men onto the table while the teacher explained simple math.

I feel a swelling in my throat, a burning behind my eyes and a tremble in my lips because, all this time, I had no idea he noticed me first. He noticed me in a way that I hadn't even noticed myself.

His knuckles brush my leg, and I meet his eyes, my favourite colour clashing with my eyes. "I then turned to the boy who was sitting next to me and said, "Hey, that's girl's pretty", and I pointed right at you."

I exhale a laugh. "You didn't."

"I did. You can ask him."

I rear my head back. "What?"

"The boy I was sitting next to was, of course, your brother." A much needed laugh rips out of me because, once again, I had no idea. "He threatened to hit me if I ever called you pretty again." Even at eight years old, John B was a firm believer that he was stronger than anyone.

"How did you become friends then?"

"Well, I asked if I could borrow the answers after the class because I was, you know, distracted by a certain someone." He winks at me, earning a roll from me. "He laughed, gave them to me, and then we agreed to be friends because he said it wasn't cool that he was only friends with his sister." I gasp, trying to act offended, but he's not wrong. It totally wasn't cool to just be friends with your family. "I met you later that day outside school, and John B said that you were off-limits, and that he'd kick my ass."

"He said he'd kick your ass at eight-years-old?"

"Yeah, but then I saw you and you just smiled, stuck out your hand and shook mine. I had this..." He sighs, turning his head away from me, so I suspect he's going to say something embarrassing that he so doesn't want to admit. "I had this crush on you." I catch his cheeks turning red at the mere mention of his elementary school crush── also known as me.

Oh my God, JJ had a crush on me at eight-years-old. All this time, I always believed it was a one-sided thing, but he liked me first. Ha! Well, I mean, I developed a crush almost instantly. I remember my tiny heart hammering so loudly when I shook his hand, feeling him squeeze back. Who knew it was him that liked me first?

I suspect he then stopped liking me, and I fell in love with him accidentally.

"You had a crush on me." I can't stop smiling at that fact. I don't think I'll ever stop smiling over that fact I always wished to be true.

"Hey." He jabs a finger in my direction. "Don't act like you didn't. I saw you watching me when you thought I wasn't looking."

"Yes, I did have a crush on you, but I didn't think you had one on me," I exclaim. "I mean, every girl liked you when we were kids."

"Well, I don't care about them." His hand falls upon my knee, thumb tracing my kneecap. "I saw you first, Sunny."

Don't get me wrong, I'm a girl's girl, alright, but all I wanna do is yell and laugh in the faces of all those girls that thought they could take him from me. He liked me first. Silent cheers, thank you.

I'm annoying, aren't I?

Oh, I don't care.

"I can't believe you knew what my hair looked like that day." I don't even remember my hair that day, but he did. "I thought boys didn't notice that kind of stuff about girls."

"I notice everything about you, Sunshine."

My heart is doing somersaults in my chest, my stomach is being swarmed by the tiniest of butterflies, and my throat is closing up from being so overwhelmed. He's here, perfect as ever, telling me all these things when I don't even deserve to hear them, but I can't help but want to hear them.

I could listen to him talk all day about anything, but tonight seems to be all about us.

I'm glad. I'm really, really glad that it is.

I love talking to him in this capacity, hearing the sincerity and sweetness behind his voice as he talks about us back then when we were just kids. I find it refreshing that, even after all he's been through, he can still remember parts from the day we met. I just never knew how much he truly remembered from that day until right now, and I'm honoured that I was noticed in such a way by him.

"And now look..." I lift my hand carefully, dragging my fingertips up his arm, tracing the muscle under my fingers. "We're here."

"Do you think John B would kick my ass now?"

I pin him with a look. "You're kidding, right?"

"I think I have a chance of beating him this time."

"You had a chance then," I defend. "He was kind of scrawny looking back then." John B would absolutely kill me if he could hear this conversation.

He can't hear this conversation. He's in prison.

JJ's hand squeezes my knee, obviously noticing the drop in my smile. "We're going to get him out of there, Brooke, one way or another, alright?" I nod, believing and trusting him because if anyone can figure it out... well, Pope probably can and then JJ would figure something out, I'm sure. I'm glad he can't hear all my thoughts.

"I miss him," I say, shrugging one shoulder. "It's only been a day and I just miss him a lot."

"He's going to get out, Brooke."

I look at my hand that moves against the muscle of his bicep absentmindedly. "Yeah."

I don't want to keep discussing John B, not when we were having such an easy conversation before. I clear my throat, shaking my head as my eyes meet JJ's. He definitely wants to go to sleep, but his eyes strain open so he can look right at me as I talk. I appreciate him staying awake, and I swear I'll let him sleep soon.

I just love talking to him.

"Hey, do you know my favourite colour?" I ask, continuing to move my fingers against his arm silently, just wanting to feel him.

"Yours is blue," he replies instantly, only further proving that he's quite literally noticed me. He's right, by the way. My favourite colour is blue, and has been for as long as I've known him. "The colour of my eyes is your favourite colour," he interrupts, pointing at himself.

"Well, aren't you arrogant."

"Am I wrong?" I stay silent, not offering him the answer as he already knows it. "I'm always right, Sunshine. Always."

"No, you're just arrogant," I laugh, flicking my finger against his arm affectionately. "Now will you just tell me what your favourite colour is? I promise I won't forget it." I flash him a smile, watching as he rolls his eyes, looking up at the ceiling as his hand squeezes my knee harder.

"I have three."

"Well, no wonder I don't know. You have three?"

He holds one finger up. "My first favourite is the colour of your face whenever I say something." I breathe out a laugh, looking away from him because he's about to see that damn colour. "Yep. There you go. Thank you." I look back to him, lips pressed together in a tight smile.

"Okay, smartass, what's the next colour?"

He holds a second finger up, grinning like a fool. "Yellow. Obviously. Colour of the sun, Sunshine, and the colour of my best friend."

"I'm yellow?"

"You're my best friend?" I scoff, hand smacking his arm gently. He laughs, open and loudly. "I'm kidding. Yes, you're the colour yellow, you already know that."

"Right." I nod, trying to stop myself from showing him his first favourite colour, but there's no killing that colour. My face is just constantly that colour whenever I'm around him. "What's the last colour?"

He holds three fingers up, reaching them up to rest just under my eyes. "Whatever that colour is."

"Brown," I deadpan.

"They're pretty." His fingers drag down my cheek, pressing under my jaw, his thumb pushed to my chin to force me to look directly at him. "Like a chocolate kind of brown, I don't know."

"You're gonna eat my eyes?"

"No." His hand moves. "Other parts of you though..."

My eyes widen. "You're not a cannibal, JJ. You can't just eat me."

"Shut up," he says softly, head shaking.

He lifts himself up, his thumb digging into my chin, forcing my lips to part as he covers my mouth with his.

Just as he kisses me, he pulls back, leaving me with fluttered eyes and parted lips, wanting more. He always, unfailingly, leaves me wanting more. He falls back down, head hitting my pillow, his arms resting under his head as he grins at me.

"What was──"

"Punishment, Sunny. You kissed somebody else."

My jaw slacks. "I said I was sorry!"

"And I forgive you, but that's all I'm giving you tonight. Now come here."

I scoff, not being able to find it in my body to be mad at him as he's right, I did kiss somebody else, and he should be more mad than he is right now, but he's not. So instead of arguing, I shuffle towards him, delicately laying my head upon his chest like this is just second nature to us. One arm moves from under his head, coming to rest around me, keeping me glued to his side.

I cuddle my arms around him, lifting my leg over his as I nuzzle my head into the crook of his shoulder, feeling this great sense of calm from being this close to him.

I literally want his touch tattooed on me.

"Hey, Sunshine?" I hum, breathing him in, my eyes coming to a close from how comfortable I find him to be. "Only me, right?"

A smile warms my red face. "Only you, JJ."

──────────────────────────

❀ soph speaks

i've read through my old copies of these chapters and i just internally cringe bcos EW, my writing five years ago was cringe worthy

anyway, i love my couple so so much <3

i've always been team jj, don't you guys worry

merry christmas eve eve!!!