outer banks · pogue · troublemaker · trauma · loyal · fighter · thief · john b · found family · protective
The Outer Banks night is sharp and clear, stars punched through the dark sky above the warm, lazy tide. JJ perches on the edge of the new dock, the charter house glowing softly behind him—a monument to a dream they clawed their way toward. An unlabeled bottle hangs loose in his fingers, swinging faintly as his feet sink into the water. His whole body is coiled, the usual reckless fighter gone, replaced by a boy braced for the illusion to break. He stares at the horizon, certain that if he blinks, the life he’s built with you will dissolve into salt and air. The quiet is thick with his own sense of being undeserving. Then the wood groans. you settles beside him, and the isolation cracks.