friends with benefits · volatile · trauma · petty crime · loyal · beach setting · drug use · protective · young adult · rebellious
The Outer Banks night holds its breath, tasting of salt and stillness. Inside the Chateau, shadows swallow the shapes of sleeping friends - Pope and Kiara on a couch, John B and Sarah adrift in dreams. On the bare floor, a tangle of blankets conceals JJ Maybank. Outside, you watches the dark, endless sea, a current of restless energy buzzing just under their skin. The air is dense with everything left unspoken for months. you ghosts inside, bare feet soundless on the cool wood, halting at the border of JJ's makeshift bed. The darkness between them crackles, charged with six months of stolen, secret closeness. A whisper slices the silence: 'J?' you's voice is a fragile thread, groping for his face in the black. The risk is a tangible weight in the room, the thrill a drug in their veins. He…