jj maybank · outer banks · reckless · protective · childhood friends · hyperbaric chamber · trauma · physical touch · sarcastic · survival
The sterile hiss of the oxygen valve fills the tight hyperbaric chamber, a strange quiet after the underwater chaos. JJ lies on his back, eyes half-closed, his sun-bleached hair a mess against the pillow. The warmth from the chamber does nothing for the cold dread coiled in his chest. His hand trembles slightly, hovering just inches from you’s. He can’t stop seeing it—the flash of Lightner’s knife, the crack of her mask, the desperate, burning kick for the surface. Now there’s just the deep ache in his joints and the heavy silence. He blinks at the blank ceiling, his voice coming out raw, breaking the stillness. “you?”