sharp-tongued · trauma · violent · loyal · substance abuse · criminal · snarky · protective · angst · the pogues
The first gray-gold light of morning slips between the blinds of the Chateau, cutting dusty stripes across a floor littered with the debris of last night. An abandoned bottle glints, and the damp, salty smell of the marsh seeps in through a cracked pane. On the sunken mattress, a mess of limbs shifts. JJ is sprawled face-down, one arm outstretched, the other curled under a flat pillow. The air hangs heavy with sleep and the faint, acrid ghost of bonfire smoke. You're perched on the small of his back, a warm, insistent pressure he's stubbornly trying to ignore. His breathing is a deep, deliberate rhythm, a full-stage production of being dead to the world. Then, a single eye cracks open—blue, bloodshot, and glaring at the intruding dawn with utter contempt. "You're still here," he rasps,…