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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 16

Movie night at the Chateau is usually a fun occasion for the Pogues, until JJ confronts Topper about his intentions with Elle.

Warning: brief mention of alcohol

A/N: this chapter is going to lead into some of the events from S2, and for the premise of this story the Pogues don’t know that Rafe killed the Sheriff.

happy reading <3

Word count: 2.5k

Elle was nervous. Shaky hands, butterflies in her stomach, mind-spinning nervous. And she could tell that Topper felt the same, with his hand tightly gripping hers as they walked down to the front door of the Chateau.

Topper wasn’t exactly thrilled when she told him their change of plans earlier that afternoon, and she couldn’t really blame him. They were both looking forward to hanging out together now that school was back, and swapping their quality time for a confrontational meeting with the Pogues wasn’t ideal. Kie was right, it needed to happen though. If Elle and Topper were going to be doing whatever they were doing, then he needed to be able to get along with the others. Elle internally cringed at how right the Spice Girls were.

The pair paused at the door, exchanging reassuring smiles. “It’ll be fine Topp. Just be yourself”. She squeezed his hand, entering before the Chateau.

Elle noticed that it looked particularly tidy. Tidier than it had earlier that afternoon. JJ had been living there ever since John B went missing and she had never seen it look like this, even when John B was made to keep it clean by Big John. Had JJ tidied up for her and Topper? Moving past these thoughts, she noticed the Pogues in the kitchen, preparing some snacks like they always did for their movie nights.

“Hey guys, we’re here”, Elle called as she dragged Topper along with her to the kitchen to greet them all.

Topper was, to put it lightly, shitting his pants. He had overheard the words exchanged between Elle and JJ at the Island Party and was very aware of JJ’s opinion of him, and was not excited for how this confrontation would unfold.

Kie greeted them with an almost exaggerated smile, moving towards the fridge. “Elle! Topper! Hey, did you want a beer?”. Pope and JJ turned their attention away from the cheese toasties they were currently pan frying, Pope offering a soft smile, calling out his hello. JJ nodded at the pair, taking in their hands still tightly grasped, before diverting his eyes to his beer resting on the kitchen counter.

“Yeah sure that’d be great Kie”, Elle responded, grateful for her welcoming hospitality that eased some awkwardness. Kie grabbed two beers, removing the bottle lids and passing them over.

Pope decided he should probably at least act welcoming, as Elle and Topper stood awkwardly in the kitchen doorway. “We’re making cheese toasties if you want some. Grown Ups is in the DVD player ready to go”. Grown Ups was one of their favourite movies and Elle couldn’t count the number of times they’ve watched it. Everyone claimed that it was because it was such an upbeat happy movie, but everyone secretly knew it was actually because they hoped that they would remain friends in that way even when everyone had their own lives. Elle ignored the pang in her heart at the reality of John B and Sarah not being there to watch it with them again.

Having not said too much since entering, Topper spoke up, “Oh I love that movie! The toasties smell great too”.

JJ rolled his eyes at his response, lifting his beer to his mouth to take a sip. He hadn’t stopped drinking since Elle had left earlier, and had downed maybe four beers in the time before she’d left and returned. He knew that he was going to need some liquid courage if he was going to watch her and Topper act like a couple all night, but four for JJ was almost childs play. He’d built his alcohol tolerance up too high for someone of his age.

Gathering their snacks, they all headed into the lounge room. Topper sat closest to the arm of the lounge, Elle sitting next to him, followed by Kie and Pope. JJ had chosen to sit in the armchair that was slightly turned towards the lounge, internally cringing at how he felt like a 5th wheel. From his seat he could clearly see Elle and Topper, and how she subtly leaned into his side as his arm was thrown across the back of the lounge. An angry heat spread through his body, forcing himself to look away from the pair and focus on the TV.

An air of tension was still present as they began the movie, but it started to dissipate as the group relaxed into their seats and made brief commentary throughout. JJ was especially quiet, which everyone knew was not like him. Usually his hyperactiveness would heighten whenever he was required to sit still for an extended period of time. He’d become fidgety and restless, needing to have something to do with his hands. Or he would talk, a lot, about anything. Facts he knew about the cast, how unrealistic a scene was, or questioning the ending of the movie before they had even reached it. His silence was unsettling to the Pogues, knowing how out of character it was for him. Elle snuck a glance over to him, watching him play with his rings, twisting them around his fingers anxiously, his knee bouncing continuously, his eyes unwavering from the TV. She felt as though she was waiting for an outburst of some kind. JJ had never been good at communicating his emotions, either; staying deadly silent, lashing out in rage, or completely crumbling, like the night in the hot tub.

Pope interrupted Elle’s memory of that night, “I love the idea of arrow roulette, I reckon we should try it one day”, he turned, raising his eyebrows suggestively as he looked first at Kie and then to Elle.

“Ahm, I don’t know about tha-”.

“Can we just cut the crap here?”, JJ spoke, cutting Elle off. This is exactly the outburst Elle was expecting. Everyone’s heads snapped towards him, surprised after remaining quiet for so long. He shook his head out of exasperation, “Why are we pretending like we’re one big happy family right now?”. His eyes darted to each figure on the couch, lingering on Elle for a split second longer.

Topper shifted in his seat, rubbing his hands along his legs, preparing himself for the conversation that would follow.

“JJ-”, Kie began.

Topper leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees, clasping his hands together. “No, Kie it’s okay. I deserve you guys an apology”.

He took a deep breath before continuing, his gaze remaining on the floorboards. He had felt so guilt-ridden this past Summer for everything he had done, especially after losing Sarah. This was his chance to ask for forgiveness and put their mistakes behind them. “Look guys, I know that I’ve done some pretty fucked up things to you all recently and I don't expect you to forgive me for all of that”.

JJ scoffed, raising his hands before dropping them. “So then why are you here?”.

Topper glanced over to Elle who sat close by his side. He tried to ignore the heat of her thigh pressing against his because he knew if he focused on it too much those damn butterflies in his stomach would begin fluttering around again. “Elle’s told me about how you’re trying to clear John B and Sarah’s names, and I think I can help”.

Kie’s eyebrows furrowed, her face demonstrating her confusion. Topper took their silence as his sign to continue. “I just think that I could offer a different perspective”. To say they were taken aback by his reasoning was an understatement.

“A different perspective?” Pope dragged out the question, signalling for him to expand.

“Yeah. I mean, you’re all Pogues, and I’m a Kook”, Topper answered.

JJ let out a sarcastic chuckle, “Real great detective work there Topper! You’re hired”.

Ignoring JJ, he continued. “What I mean is that you’ve been looking at this through the lens of a Pogue, but you’re dealing with Ward Cameron. If you want to bring down a Kook, you need to know how they operate, how they think. I’ve been around the Camerons’ long enough to be able to do that for you”.

JJ, Kie and Pope were suspicious, each trying to piece together what he was saying. “So what do you get out of all of this?”, Kie asked, sitting forward in her seat to get a better view of Topper’s face, trying to determine his intentions.

Topper wasn’t surprised by their apprehension, he had been expecting it. “I know you guys don’t think I treated Sarah correctly, and I agree with you. I was obsessive and controlling and jealous, but she is”- he pauses, self-correcting himself- “was, everything to me. She deserves justice too”.

The group fell into a brief silence, everyone trying to process the conversation.

Making eye contact with Topper, JJ furrowed his eyebrows. “How are we supposed to trust you though?”.

“J, he just said he’s doing it for Sarah”, Elle spoke, breaking her silence.

JJ quickly dismissed her answer, “I’m not talking about that”.

After carefully choosing his words, JJ continued, “How do we know that this thing between you and Elle, is real. You said it yourself Topper, you’re a kook. You guys couldn’t be honest even if you tried”.

So this is what he’s been worried about, Elle thought. He wasn’t actually worried about her seeing Topper, he was worried about her getting hurt. Hurt by a kook, again. Elle hadn’t been romantically involved with anyone since Archer, and boy was that a shitshow. Being forced by her parents in her third year of living in the OBX to move from Kildare County to the Kook Academy, she’d met him and fallen in- what she thought was ‘love’ very quickly- and was betrayed even faster, not only by him but by her friends as well. It still boggled her how everyone had known Archer was cheating on her, and yet she was clueless. It had taken her a long time to forgive Rafe, Topper and Kelce for not telling her, when they claimed to be some of her best friends (other than the Pogues who had taken a backseat since her move to the Academy). Sometimes Elle thinks that she was most hurt by the obvious deceitfulness of her friends instead of the heartbreak itself. She’d become really close to them during her time at the Academy, somewhat filling the space of John B, Pope and JJ when she couldn’t see them.

Elle sighed softly, finally understanding where his defensiveness was coming from, “JJ…”.

“No, Elle. Why should we trust him after he and his friends let you keep dating Archer even though they knew he was cheating on you? He let you humiliate yourself in front of everyone, did he even apologise for that Elle?”, JJ’s voice rose, becoming more agitated by the past events.

Elle cut in before anyone else could, “JJ, so much has happened since then. That feels like it happened a lifetime ago”. She was hoping that by downplaying the severity of the situation, he might realise that she’d moved on.

JJ shook his head, raising to his feet, “Yeah but you were heartbroken Elle. Like - full-blown sobbing, couldn't get out of bed, romcoms on repeat- heartbroken. You can’t honestly sit there and say that you want to go through that again”.

Matching his attitude, Elle also rose to her feet, needing to feel more in control of the conversation. “Of course I don’t J! But I can’t live my life by avoiding things that could hurt me!”. JJ’s response got lost in his throat as he felt the true meaning behind her words. She was referring to him. No matter how many times he had hurt with his words or actions over the past few months, and no matter how many times she claimed she was done with him, she had never stuck to her word. She had always come back.

She took his silence as defeat. Waving a hand over to Pope and Kie beside her, her shoulders slumped, “This is why I didn't want to do this. I knew you guys wouldn't understand!”.

Kie felt terrible. How had she let her relationship with Elle get to the point where they couldn’t communicate, about boys, of all things. She knew she’d been prioritising work and her budding romance with Pope, but she didn’t truly comprehend the effect it had on her other relationships.

JJ scoffed, turning his head to look out to the marsh for a second before returning to Elle, “Oh I’m sorry but I don't understand why you would want to date someone who not only betrayed you, but then proceeded to nearly kill Pope, get me locked away and make our lives hell!”. Pope’s phone buzzed in his pocket, Kie’s dinging at the same time. Topper sat silently, watching the scene before him unfold. He felt incredibly awkward, and unwelcomed. But a part of him enjoyed watching Elle defend him. He hadn’t had many people defend him before and actually mean it. Sure Rafe and Kelce did from time to time, but that was mostly due to their Kook status, it carrying a certain camaraderie.

Elle was getting frustrated now, “God can't you just give him a chance! I know what has happened and I'm not excusing any of that behaviour”, Elle felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket, choosing to ignore it, “But things are different now, and we've”-

“Guys”, Kie attempted to interrupt as she stared wide eyed at her phone screen.

Her voice was lost amongst Elle’s yelling, “we’ve all changed since summer. Don't you think it's possible that maybe he has as well?”, she spoked, pointing at Topper. Pope noticed Kie’s reaction, pulling his phone out.

“Yeah I’ll believe that when I see it!”, JJ began to walk towards the porch, grabbing his phone from the coffee table, becoming interested in what the others were looking at.

Elle continued on as JJ walked away, “Can’t you see it now? Do you really think Topper wanted to come? No, of course not, but he's here because he knows how important you guys are to me. He’s trying-”.

“Guys!”, Pope shouted, finally stopping the constant bickering, “look at your damn phones!”.

Elle slipped her phone out of her pocket, noticing one new WhatsApp message from an unknown number. Opening it up, she felt her heart fall out of her ass. It was a photo of John B smiling brightly at the camera, with Sarah next to him, covering her mouth to suppress her laugh. The Pogues were deadly silent, each staring at the image in complete shock. Topper stood, walking over to Elle to check her phone over her shoulder. He couldn't believe his eyes, feeling his heart beat raise at an alarming rate.

“Is this real?”, Kie asked softly, her eyes filling with tears as she looked around at the group.

JJ began typing as he curated a message to send back to the unknown number, sniffling in an attempt to hide his emotions, “There’s only one way to find out”.

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 15

The tension amongst the Pogues is thick with Elle and Topper's budding relationship.

Warning: mentions alcohol and drinking

Word count: 2.1k

The Pogues had returned to somewhat of a normal routine. With already being 2 weeks into the new school year, their studies had become a priority (for some). Pope spent all his free time either studying or working for his Dad, Kie doing the same, trying to mend her relationship with her parents by putting in extra shifts at The Wreck. When Elle wasn’t studying, she was babysitting for working parents around The Cut, and JJ, well, he was attending school and that was really all they could ask for.

However, a thick cloud of tension hung over the group. Ever since the Island Party, JJ and Elle kept all communication to a minimum, leaving group hangouts especially awkward. Kie and Pope had discussed whether they should try and diffuse the situation by addressing it, but decided that it was probably best if they all just ‘chilled’ out for a second while they got their lives in order.

Elle couldn’t lie, not speaking to JJ had proved to be a struggle. Although they had had numerous fights over the Summer and had always managed to somehow find their way back to each other, she felt as though they had reached a tipping point. She was right in thinking this, because JJ felt the same. He would never admit this out loud, but he was hurt. Really hurt and also incredibly jealous. JJ, who was currently drowning his sorrows with his emotional support flask, couldn’t seem to stop replaying the laundry room scene in his mind. The image of Topper’s grubby hands on her waist, and the way she was caressing his face made him want to puke up the alcohol currently swirling in his stomach. He thought he may be able to cope with the idea of her being friends with him (as long as he didn’t have to be), but knowing that they were together, changed everything. Of course they hadn’t actually spoken about Elle and Topper’s relationship status, but he felt that they didn't really need to. What he saw told him everything he needed to know.

Elle didn't even think she knew the status of her and Topper’s relationship. Because honestly, she had no clue where they currently stood. They had hung out a handful of times since the party, mostly spending their time in Figure 8 as to avoid any awkward Pogue encounters, soaking up the last of the Summer sun on the boat or in their pools. They had managed to watch The Society together, twice, loving the idea of a dystopian world that was drastically different from their own. Neither of them mentioned how it felt like a nice change from the current heartbreak they were working through. Elle felt comfortable around Topper. They actually spoke about John B and Sarah, and their memories of them both and how much they missed them. It was refreshing to have someone so emotionally vulnerable to confide in.

However, throughout this time spent together, they hadn’t mentioned the kiss. Elle - too afraid of the conversation leading to a romantic place that she wasn't sure if she was ready for, and Topper - too afraid that he would lose control over his emotions the same way he had with Sarah. To say both parties would like for it to happen again though, was an understatement. Elle had enjoyed the kiss and the way it made her feel. It took her a little while to distinguish what that feeling was, coming to the realisation that it was the feeling of being wanted. Something she hadn't felt in god knows how long. She ached to feel that way again, of someone being so invested in her that instead of hiding behind emotions, they acted on them. There was something incredibly attractive about someone who knew what they wanted and had no shame in trying to get it.

Topper on the other hand craved for the feeling he got when he was around Elle. Ever since the events of the storm, his heart constantly felt heavy but she made him feel light. In the sense that nothing seemed to bog him down when they were together, he could just be. They laughed a lot when they were together and actually had fun, he couldn't remember the last time someone made him feel so genuinely happy when he was around them.

Since school started back up, they haven't managed to spend a lot of time together. With Topper at the Kook Academy and Elle at Kildare County, their paths didn't seem to cross, hence why they had organised to hang out tonight and grab dinner in Figure 8.

Sat around the garden of the Chateau, Elle observed the way Pope acted with Kie as she sat on the arm of the chair he was currently on. His attention remained on her face as she animatedly discussed something about a new eco-friendly boat product, his arm around her waist, half ensuring she didn't fall off and half ensuring he was touching her in some way. His eyes mimicked Kie’s excited expression, bringing his beer up to his lips to take a sip. She wondered what he was thinking about. Was he actually listening to what she was saying, or was he just mesmerised by her.

Pope thought he was slick about his crush on Kie, but Elle knew. She was too observant to miss something like that. Especially when Pope was so oblivious to the way his body language gave away whatever he was thinking. She remembered the exact moment in which it clicked for her. They were out on the HMS Pogue. A Saturday maybe? She wasn't sure, the warmth of the Spring days giving the illusion of Summer. It was before the Gold Game had started, a couple months before Agatha hit. The sun was setting, the alcohol had clearly hit due to the fact that they were all dancing and giggling over the stupidest moves. John B had pulled Elle by her arm into his chest before spinning her back out and into JJ’s arms, she pushed him away as he jokingly leaned in for a kiss, walking over to the esky to grab another beer. Looking up briefly, she saw it, the glimmer in Pope’s eyes as he looked longingly at Kie doing the robot to John B.

Elle didn't think love could be that recognisable, but it was at that moment. Clear as day. She hadn't mentioned it to either Pope or Kie, knowing that her nose didn't belong in their business. But she hadn't forgotten it, and often saw that look reappear on Pope’s face from time to time.

What Elle hadn't seen though, was JJ gazing at her in the exact same way, over the course of the 4 or so years they had known each other. He’d always thought she was breath-taking, even doing the most mundane of tasks, like unpacking groceries in the kitchen of the Chateau, or when she would subconsciously twirl her hair around her finger as she sat on the couch reading. He always made sure he didn’t stare at her for too long, worried that someone would catch on and discover his true feelings. He couldn't risk that. He couldn't risk losing you, no matter how much he wanted to cross that line.

JJ watched Elle curiously, as she took in Pope and Kie. They’d been avoiding each other like the plague so he took this time to really study her. He noticed the way she looked at them, eyes flitting from Pope’s face to Kie’s. He guessed that she was trying to read them, she loved doing that. Trying to read people's emotions and feelings based on the way they looked at others, and the little signs like what they were doing with their hands, or how they positioned themself in relation to the other person. Elle had told JJ once that “you can know everything you need to know about how someone's feeling by the look in their eyes, because no matter what their words or actions say, their eyes can never lie”. At the time he thought it was an insanely cheesy thing to say, but over time he could come to the conclusion that it was true.

Kie and Pope returned their attention to the group, feeling Elle’s gaze on them, “What do you guys wanna do tonight? I was thinking about a movie night?”, Kie suggested a hopeful look in her eyes. She thought that maybe one of their old-fashioned Pogue movie nights could help mend the fragile relationship between Elle and JJ.

JJ nodded, his eyes moving to focus on his beer. He had been sleeping at the Chateau since the night of the storm so it's not like he wouldn’t be here anyway.

“I’m down”, Pope replied, looking at Elle expectantly.

She bit her lip lightly, feeling guilty for the way she was about to shoot them down to hang out with a person who had caused them so much trouble. “Uh sorry guys, that sounds fun but I kinda have… plans tonight”. Shit, she had made that sound way too suspicious.

Kie’s brows furrowed, quickly glancing at Pope and JJ before continuing. “Plans, with who?”.

JJ couldn't help but think of how stupid of a question it was. Who else would she be hanging out with other than Topper. He remained quiet, waiting to see if Elle’s response confirmed his hunch.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke to herself ‘short and sweet Elle, rip it off like a bandaid’. It’s not like they didn't know she was hanging out with him as of recent, but she was still hesitant about their reactions. “With Topper”.

Kie paused, nodding her head slowly, “Oh, uh. Cool, I guess”. It wasn’t cool and Elle knew that, but she couldn't help the way she was feeling about him. She was excited to hang out with him, and truth be told, hanging out with him felt like a lot less pressure than hanging out with the Pogues.

They sat in a brief silence, the awkward tension being felt throughout the group. This made Elle’s guilt triple. It was her fault that they were acting like this.

“Would he-”, Pope paused, questioning whether he wanted to finish his sentence, “wanna come, by any chance?”.

JJ scoffed. Was Pope serious right now? He was inviting Topper, who was currently, whatever he was, with the girl he was in love with, into JJ’s sanctuary.

Elle’s surprise was visible on her face, her eyebrows rising as she responded, “To the movie night? Are you sure you guys want him there?”.

JJ raised his arm, his jaw clenching as he spoke “I don’t”.

Kie gave him a disapproving look, “JJ be nice. If he has changed the way Elle says he has, maybe we could mend some old wounds?”.

“Speak for yourself. I don't need to mend anything”, his distaste of Topper shining through in his cold tone.

Elle remained quiet, thinking it over. She would love to be able to combine her two worlds, although she didn’t want to create any more trouble for either party. She sighed, “I don't want to make you guys uncomfortable or bring him somewhere he's not welcome”.

“It’s a little too late for that”, JJ huffed.

Kie stared at JJ. Pope followed suit in order to silently convince him that he should just go along with it if he wanted the group to get back to the way it was.

Taking his red cap off his head, he raked his hand through his hair before placing it back on his head. If he had to go along with this, he wasn’t going to play mister nice guy. He plastered on a sarcastic smile, “Ok fine whatever, bring your boyfriend. We’ll have one big family movie night! Just like old times huh?”.

Elle shook her head, rising from her seat and placing her bag over her shoulder, “It's alright guys. It's probably better off if we just keep these situations...separate”.

Kie stood quickly, grabbing onto Elle’s hand before she could begin walking to her car, “No Elle. We can surely give him a chance. You’re our best friend, and if we ever want to move past this, we need to understand what you see in him”.

Elle offered a close-mouthed smile, maintaining eye contact with Kie. She could see the sincerity in her face. Her eyes moved from Kie to Pope and JJ, taking in Pope’s hopeful look and the way JJ kept his focus on his beer can. “Okay, I’ll let him know. Text me what time and we’ll meet you here”.

Kie’s smile widened, nodding along, “Will do”.

The alcohol in JJ’s stomach did a somersault at the thought of spending the night watching Elle and Topper together. One thing was for sure, tonight would be interesting.

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 14

JJ catches Elle and Topper in a compromising position, eliciting a fight in which some truths are exposed.

Warning: brief mention of alcohol, smoking. hella angst

Word count: 1.5k

“JJ! Wait!”, she followed him out to the side entrance of the garden that was thankfully empty, watching as he made his way over to a catering truck that stood in the carpark attached to the club.

“For what Elle?! What I just saw doesn’t need explaining!”, he huffed, as he continued walking away from her.

“What are you even doing here?”, she questioned, unaware that he was going to be attending the party. Noticing his navy shirt and slacks, she realised that he was working one of his multiple jobs in order to earn enough to pay off his restitution. He opened the back doors of the truck, beginning to unload them.

“What does it look like? I just thought I’d swing by for shits and giggles”, he sarcastically answered, his arms out wide, looking around at the crates around his feet.

“Well you could’ve told me that you were coming!”, she exclaimed.

JJ scoffed, “What difference would it have made, you looked like you were having a pretty good time in the laundry room!”. The fuzzy feeling that she was experiencing with Topper had definitely dissipated, leaving the all too familiar sinking sensation in her stomach.

“It would have made a lot of difference JJ!”. For starters, she might not have agreed to be Topper’s date in front of the boy she actually had feelings for.

Rolling his eyes, he turned away from her again, continuing to work, “I don’t even care, it's just that I didn’t think you’d move on so fast”, he shrugged, trying to make his disinterest believable by adopting an apathetic tone of voice.

Elle’s eyebrows furrowed, confused by his choice of words, “What? Move on?”. As far as she was concerned, they had nothing to move on from, he had made that very clear as of recently.

“John B’s only been gone for 2 weeks, you know I just wouldn’t have thought that you’re the type to just-”.

Elle cut him off, utterly bewildered by what he was implying, “Wait wait wait. John B?”.

“Yes John B, Elle! It’s so obvious that you’re into him”.

It was her turn to scoff, “Are you out of your mind? I do not have a thing for John B! I never have!”. He thought she was into John B? Maybe she’d thought she had a crush on him when she first moved to the OBX, but that quickly changed as soon as met JJ. She was even sure that John B was aware of her feelings for JJ, making sneaky comments that only she could hear, or winking at her whenever the pair were left alone together for more than 5 minutes. But she’d never actually had a conversation with him about that, he was the kind of friend who knew what you were feeling before you even knew it yourself.

“Could’ve fooled me”, he mumbled, locking up the back of the truck as he had now emptied the crates into numerous stacks.

Looking around the garden, puzzled by how he’d come to this conclusion, she sighed, “God JJ you really do talk out of your ass sometimes!”. Had he forgotten about how obsessed John B was with Sarah? Or the fact that Elle was actually excited when Sarah joined the Pogues?

This seemed to get a rise out of him, turning on his feet and walking over to her, “Oh please! All the times I would come over to the Chateau and you were already there, in his bed fast asleep, or answering his door basically naked?”. He knew that the way he spoke definitely portrayed his jealousy, and was uncalled for, but he hoped that masking it with confusion or anger wouldn’t give away his true feelings.

Honestly, it killed him the first time he entered the Chateau and found out Elle had decided to sleep in John B’s bed instead of the empty spare room. It was the morning after they’d been hanging out as a group, smoking, watching movies and binging on the snacks Pope had brought over. Often, on nights like that everyone would stay over, usually having already fallen asleep during the last movie. However, JJ had decided to sleep in his own bed that night, knowing that his Dad was on an overnight fishing trip with his workmates. He hadn’t even thought about whether Elle had stayed over or headed home, until he walked in the next morning, calling out for John B and banging on his bedroom door, not expecting her to answer in nothing but one of John B’s oversized t-shirts. He quickly put two and two together, knowing that she had a drawer in the spare room with some clothes in it for whenever she decided to stay over, and concluded that the scene in front of him, reeked of sex. And of an unspoken betrayal that JJ promised himself never to mention.

That wasn’t the last time he had caught her in that situation, it recurring exactly 5 more times, over the space of the past year. To ensure that he would never feel that betrayal again, JJ had pushed down his feelings for Elle, rebuilt some of the walls that he’d let come down around her, and used sarcasm to hide how he actually felt about the idea of his best friend hooking up with the girl that he thought he was falling in love with.

Shaking her head slightly out of disbelief, she rebutted, her voice rising a few decibels, “Excuse me? I have never slept with John B. So what we shared a bed, does that automatically mean we were hooking up? We couldn’t have just been friends who fell asleep in the same bed after talking for a few hours? JJ I’ve shared a bed with you, Pope and Kie tonnes of times! Was I hooking up with all of you as well?”.

Looking down at the ground briefly, he lowered his voice, becoming aware of how loud they were being. “It’s different with us and you know it”.

Following his lead, she lowered her voice, her anger showing through in her tone instead, “Do I J? I’m surprised you even noticed with all the tourons coming and going from your room”.

His eyes darted up to her face, “What's that supposed to mean?”.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she continued, “You get to have your fun, aren't I allowed to have mine?”. That’s all JJ ever referred to his one night stands or brief flings as, fun.

Pointing back at the door that they’d emerged from, he referred to Topper, “This is what you call fun Elle? Fine, have all the ‘fun’ in the world, but please spare me, I don’t wanna see it”.

She raised her eyebrows out of surprise, two could play at this game. “Oh and you thought I enjoyed watching you mack on anyone with a pulse at our keggers?”. She couldn’t count the times she had watched him sweet talk a touron at a kegger into going for a walk down to the water with him, often not returning for over an hour. Not that Elle was keeping track (although she was definitely keeping track). In that hour, she’d usually devoured way too many shots, or danced, or began chatting up a guy herself, to ease the dull heartache that seemed to consume her.

Defeated by this argument, and his blood still boiling, he resorted to his defences, “You know what, do what you want, just don't come crying to me when he turns out to be exactly who we think he is”.

“From what I can remember, you wanted nothing to do with me, so what do you care who I’m macking on?”.

“The only reason I care is because of John B and Sarah. We’re trying to find ways to clear John B’s name and get justice for Sarah, whilst you're hooking up with her goddamn ex.

When this whole thing between you two blows up like it inevitably will, just know that you have no one to blame but yourself”, he spat, turning and walking back over to crates, beginning to take them around to the kitchen entrance of the Yacht Club.

“Thanks JJ! I’ll be sure to keep that in mind”, she called out after him, watching him make his way inside. She felt as though steam was coming out of her ears and she swore that her face was beet red right now, matching the faded stain on her dress. She was expecting some sort of drama to occur tonight, but not once had she thought that it would’ve been with JJ instead of Topper.

Hearing the door to the garden close behind her, she took a deep breath before turning around to face him, “Hey, are you alright?”, he asked softly. He had definitely heard the fight, probably opting to stay inside so as to not incite any more tension.

“Yeah I’m fine”, she nodded, grabbing his hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze, “let’s head back inside, you might need to show me how to act like a proper Kook, I think I’m finished with being a Pogue for the night”, she winked.

Topper recognised her joking tone, hinging from the hips in a faux bow, “Why of course my lady, follow me”. If she was going to be treated like a Kook, what’s the harm in acting like one?

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ X OC) Ch. 11

The Pogues get a surprise visit from Agent Bratcher, causing tensions to rise in the group. JJ exposing Elle and Topper’s budding romance doesn’t help either.

Warning: swearing, brief mention of death

Word count: 1.5k

“This is so messed up”, JJ sighed, keeping his eyes down to the ground, shaking it in disbelief.

The Pogues silence that followed allowed them to mull over the possibilities of what could happen with their ongoing police investigation, before it was broken by knocking, Elle removing herself from the living room to answer it.

Opening the door she froze, coming face to face with Agent Bratcher. He took in her reaction, looking over her shoulder, “Hi, I’m Agent Bratcher of the SBI. I’m investigating the disappearance of John Booker Routledge and Sarah Cameron. I believe you and your friends may have some information that could help me.”

He definitely had come to the right place. Crossing her arms over her chest, she felt her heartbeat begin to quicken as a wave of anxiety washed over her. They had already given their statements to Deputy Shoupe, did they really have to recount the occurrences of this Summer again. “We can’t speak to you without a lawyer present sir, sorry to disappoint”, she spoke with confidence, hoping that it was enough to create a facade that he wouldn’t be able to see through.

Hearing footsteps approach her from behind she was soon joined by the others, relieved that she had some backup. “All due respect Agent, but it’s best if you leave”, JJ spoke, stepping in front of Elle and sizing up Agent Bratcher.

“I know you kids are going through a lot right now and the last thing you want to do is answer more questions regarding what’s happened,”,a look of genuine sympathy was displayed before it was replaced by seriousness, “but I think there’s more to the story than anyone is letting on”.

“We’ve already given our statements to Shoupe, there’s nothing more to say”.

“Look, between us, I think Shoupe is… overlooking some aspects that I would like to dive deeper into”, JJ turned to the others standing behind him, biting his lip whilst silently asking him with his eyes what Bratcher was talking about.

Bratcher took their curious faces as his signal to carry on. “The day of the storm, Sarah came to the SBI tents very aggravated… hysterical almost. It looked like she had been crying, she had a very anxious energy to her. But her father brushed it off as her recent diagnosis,”, he flipped through his pocket sized notebook searching before reading off, “Bipolar Disorder”.

Kie’s head flicked up from the ground that she had previously been staring at, confusion and surprise making her head fill with questions. Stepping forward between JJ and Elle she made sure she had Bratcher’s attention before speaking. “Sorry what? Bipolar Disorder?”, she turned her head to look at the others to confirm her own thoughts, “Sarah...wasn’t Bipolar.”

Bratcher shuffled on his feet, bringing his notebook down in front of his body before it was joined by his other hand, his eyebrows lifted at the news, eyes flitting from one Pogue to the other to check that they all thought the same.

“I’m sorry, I’m confused. Her Dad said that she had been recently diagnosed”.

“You really believe a thing Ward Cameron says? Come on man, you don’t need to be a detective to tell that he’s full of shit”, JJ expressed. Pope following that up with, “Wouldn’t that information be on her medical records sir?”.

Bratcher nodded, his eyes holding a pleading look as he skimmed over the Pogues once more. “Do you guys see why I need your help in this investigation now?”

Based on the silence that followed his question, he realised that the group may need some more convincing. “Listen, you all knew these two probably better than anyone else on this planet, let alone this island. Every little insignificant piece of information you have about them could lead us to either finding them, solving the case, or both. I need you to do this, not for me, but for them. They would’ve done the same for you right?”

His emotional tactic seemed to work, the Pogues glancing at each other before once again silently reaching an agreement. JJ stepped to the side, his arm outstretched to welcome the man into Elle’s house, “Come on in sir”.

---

“And then they were chased into that raging storm”, Pope finished. They had spent the past 2 hours in Elle’s living room describing the gold game and everything that occurred during their Summer, Agent Bratcher sipping on the tea Elle had prepared for him, in between jotting down notes on his pad. There were multiple instances where everyone had to hold back tears, when the memories of John B and Sarah became too painful.

“So that’s where the story ends?”, Bratcher enquired.

“Yep, forced into the storm by your men after being falsely accused of murdering Sheriff Peterkin”, JJ snapped sarcastically.

“So why didn’t anyone tell the police, try and clear John B’s name?”.

“Were you not fucking listening? We tried, and no one believed us. No one will ever believe us because we’re scum from the poor side of the Island”.

Bratcher maintained his gaze on a disgruntled JJ, before turning to others. “Look guys, I know the tension is high right now and you’re all grieving. But I’m not the bad guy here. I just want to solve this case. I want to find out what really happened to Big John, Scooter Grubbs, the Sheriff and your friends. And it seems like you have the answers. If you can all trust me, I can get the justice you all deserve. That your friends deserve,” he paused, “aren’t you guys tired of fighting this on your own?”.

The group pondered on his words. They were. They were all so tired.

Nodding his head, Pope spoke, “Yes, Agent Bratcher, we want justice, and we’re willing to do anything to get it”.

----

After another half hour of deconstructing the recent events, Bratcher decided it was time to leave. The Pogues all meeting in Elle’s living room, with solemn expressions, the exhaustion of the day catching up to them.

Letting out a sarcastic chuckle, JJ was the first to interrupt their thoughts, “Well that went well”.

Elle shook her head, fed up with his attitude, “JJ you didn't need to be so rude, he’s trying to help”.

Rising from his seated position on her couch, his tone became even more sarcastic, using his hands to exaggerate his point, “Oh yeah really Elle? Why should we trust anyone!”.

“Because we don't have much of a choice anymore!” Elle exclaimed, “Sarah and John B are gone, and now we’re being held responsible for this shit show! You really think they would’ve let us take the fall if they were still here?”.

JJ and Elle were face to face now. “Don’t try to play the emotion card with me! You might be naive enough to spill our secrets to Kooks in hopes for some sympathy and attention but I’m not. The more we tell them, the more they have to pin on us!”.

Kie and Pope snapped their heads to Elle, JJ’s revelation clearly surprising them.

“Wait wait, hold on,” Pope stepped forward between the two, turning to Elle, “Who have you been talking to?”.

Frustrated, she ignored Pope’s question, “God JJ you’re blowing it out of proportion!”.

“You’re falling in love with a Kook but I’m blowing it out of proportion, yeah right”, JJ replied, running his hand through his hair and walking away from the argument to the other side of the room. If Elle was paying attention to the blonde boy she would realise that his reaction wasn’t truly one of anger, but rather hurt.

Kie stepped forward, taking JJ’s place, “I’m sorry, you’re what now?”, she spoke bewildered by the accusation.

Continuing to ignore the other two, Elle’s attention remained focused on the boy who had his back to her, staring out the ceiling to floor windows at the sun setting below the horizon. She walked closer to him, hoping to regain his attention. “Jesus JJ, I get asked on one date and all of a sudden I’m the enemy”.

Taking his cap off his head, he ran a hand through his hair, before taking a breath. Turning his head to the side to face Elle, he held her eye contact. She couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes. She’d seen him angry and upset before, but this was different. She had seen this emotion only a few times, trying to place a finger on what it usually meant. Suddenly, the emotion had disappeared, replaced with one of betrayal, “when that date is Topper Thornton then yes Elle, you are the enemy”.

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#jj imagine #jj maybank #Outer Banks #outer banks imagine #rafe imagine #twoburningheartsaredaredtobreak #JJ x Elle #jj x oc #john b #kie x pope #outer-bnksimagines #outer-bnkswritings #jj series #outer banks series #outer banks netflix #jj x kie #jj x pope #jj x reader

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 12

Elle discusses her possible date with Topper and gets some negative feedback from the Pogues.

Warning: swearing, brief mention of death and grieving, angst

Word count: 1k

“JJ you’re being dramatic”, Elle stated, rolling her eyes at the way he was dramatising a simple situation.

Pope glanced between the two, noticing obvious tension but deciding to ignore that for the time being, “Okay, hold on a sec. Can someone tell us what is actually going on?”.

Elle walked over to her lounge, taking a seat next to Kie who had her signature puzzled face. Taking a deep breath, she considered how to approach this before deciding on the short and sweet version in hopes to suppress emotional reactions. “Ok, well, it's kind of a long story but Topper asked me to the Island party”.

“He what?!” Kie stood, her voice giving away her exasperation. She spared a look between Pope and JJ, the latter of which had resorted to sitting on the armchair that faced the waterfront as to avoid eye contact with anyone. Turning back to Elle, she pressed in a lighter tone, “Elle, why would he do that?”.

“I don't really want to get into it but I bumped into a very drunk Rafe the other night and we talked, and obviously I couldn't just leave a drunk kid, especially one like him, on the beach alone and I was too far from my house so I called Topper to pick us up,” she explained.

“So what have you told them?”, Pope questioned hesitantly.

“Nothing that they could get us in trouble for okay?”. She moved her focus from the grey carpet to her friends, scattered around the room, taking in their silence and blank stares, whilst JJ’s eyes remained on the water.

“Guys, I know this situation is weird. Trust me, it's just as weird for you as it is for me. But the other night I actually talked to them. And they’re not that bad anymore,” she tried with a soft tone, hoping that they would understand.

It didn’t work as JJ finally looked at her, “Anymore! Did you forget about the multiple times when they nearly killed us! When Topper almost strangled Pope to death? That wasn’t that long ago!”. “Of course I do! I’m not excusing what they've done. But also, we’re not innocent here guys.Those things wouldn't have happened if JJ hadn't started that fight and shot that stupid gun at the kegger, or if Pope hadn't of messed with Topper’s boat!”.

Pope stepped in, sick of the continuous back and forth. “Can we stop playing the blame game here? My question is Elle, why would you want to go on a date with Topper. Especially to the Island party, the kookiest kook event ever created”.

She gathered her thoughts before settling on an answer that she deemed the most appropriate, “Look I’m sorry guys, but the other night, when we were talking... I realised how similar we are. And honestly, it was nice to talk to people who are going through the same thing I am”.

Kie scoffed, “The same thing? How?”.

“Guys, Rafe lost his sister and Topp lost the girl he's in love with. I don’t know if you know how that feels but it fucking sucks”. Of course she was relating it to the way she felt about JJ after their fight not too long ago.

“Tell me about it”, JJ mumbled, fiddling with his rings.

Kie made her way over to Elle, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her, “Look Elle, we’re sorry we haven't been there for you. We kind of got swept away in our own grief”, she confessed, feeling guilty for the way she had been neglecting her in a time of need.

“No I'm not blaming you guys, I get it,” she gave a gentle smile to Kie, “It's just that usually I can turn to John B, and now that he's not here-”, she paused, attempting to stop herself from tearing up, “... it was just nice”. That seemed to get through to the others, all focusing their attention on her after hearing the crack in her voice.

Pope let out a sigh, coming to terms with the situation. Treading lightly, he asked “So is this thing with you and Topper… romantic?”, he finished, momentarily darting his eyes over to JJ to gage his demeanour.

Elle quickly shot down Pope’s proposal, “No no, of course not. I think he’s looking for someone to talk to as much as I am”.

“Well it's up to you Elle, but please just”, he paused, his face holding a very serious look, “be careful”.

She nodded, offering a soft smile, “I will”.

JJ studied the moment for a second before rising to his feet, his normal attitude returning, “Sorry to break this heartwarming moment but we should get going Pope if we want to hit up the store before it closes”.

“Yeah you’re right man”, Pope grabbed his Dad’s keys from the coffee table, “Okay, see you guys, love you!”, he called as they walked towards the door.

After hearing the door shut, Kie turned to Elle, “So are you sure this thing is not romantic? From what Sarah said, Topper falls pretty hard and fast for people”, she pressed, wanting to have an actual conversation about now that the boys had left.

Back outside JJ realised he had left his vape on the entranceway cabinet, notifying Pope before quickly darting back inside to grab it. Finding it, he placed it in his pocket, walking back towards the door, catching the tail end of the girl's conversation.

Placing her head in her hands and letting out a groan, Elle’s confusion getting the better of her, “I don't think it is. It's kind of too early to tell. Plus with everything going on I’m not too sure I can trust my emotions right now”.

“Well, would you like it to be?” Kie challenged.

Elle stared down at her feet, thinking back to the moment they shared the other night, and how if she hadn't pulled away when she did, they definitely would’ve kissed.

“I think I might”, she answered truthfully, her voice giving away the guilt she felt.

Pausing at her words, JJ felt his heart plummet.

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#JJ Imagine #Outer Banks #outer banks imagine #outer banks series #jj maybank #outer banks season 2 #john b #JJ x Elle #jj x oc #jj x pope #kie x pope #Kie x JJ #twoburningheartsaredaredtobreak #outer-bnkswritings #outer-bnksimagines #outer banks netflix

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outer-bnks · 2 years

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Update on Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC)

hey guys, I know it’s been SO long since an upload and I’ve been receiving so much love for this story on here and AO3.

just wanted to give you the update that I finish my uni for the year next week and will be dedicated solely to his story.

i’m so so excited to write again!!

#JJ x Elle #jj maybank #outer banks imagine #Outer Banks #jj maybank imagine #twoburningheartsaredaredtobreak #outer-bnks #outer-bnkswritings #jj x pope #jjpope #Kie x JJ

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 10

JJ begins to see a spark forming between Elle and Topper, bringing his feelings for her closer to the surface.

Warning: N/A

Word count: 1.3k

“Topper? Why the fuck is Topper calling you?”.

Elle felt herself tense up. Why was he calling her? They’d only seen each other a couple of days ago. She racked her brain for a second trying to think of reasons why, was he in trouble? Had something happened to Rafe?

“Maybe he wants to say hi?,” she asked sceptically, “ooo or invite me to a luxurious day of charming the kooks of Figure Eight”, sarcasm coating her words.

JJ rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed with her responses.“Well are you going to answer it?”, he asked, getting tired of the ringing sound.

“With you here?”, she scoffed, “Right, I don't think so”.

He shook his head incredulously, “So you apparently don't know why he's calling you but you refuse to answer because of me? Yeah that makes sense Elle”, he let out a sigh slumping back into the passenger side chair.

She rolled her eyes, sick of the way they were speaking to each other. “God why do you have to make everything such a big deal?”.

“Just answer the damn call”, he spoke, turning to look out the window.

“Fine, just shut up”, pressing the accept button and turning up the volume from her steering wheel.

“Hello?”

“Hey Elle, it’s Topp, how are you”, he answered confidently. From the sound of his voice everything seemed okay, calming Elle for a second,

“Yeah I’m um, I’m alright, you?”.

“Doing as well as I can”, he paused, sighing before continuing, “I just wanted to say, about the other night, it was uh..”, trying to find the words that he had rehearsed for about 5 minutes before calling her, “It was really nice talking to you again, like we used to”.

Elle didn't need to turn her head to know that JJ’s brows were furrowing, trying to figure out what Topper was talking about.

“Yeah, it was Topp,”, she replied sincerely, turning to look at JJ and noting how his leg was bouncing as he looked out the window, that was his telltale sign of anxiety, “is that why you called?”.

“Uh no actually”, silence filled the line for a moment, Topper trying to find the courage he needed.

“I called to ask if you, uh, I don't know, wanted to come to the Island Party with me on Friday night?”

It was Elle’s turn to furrow her brows, “The Island Party? The one where everyone dresses up and celebrates absolutely nothing?”, she clarified. He was inviting her to the Island Party, a kook tradition that Pope worked at with his Dad. Last year Pope had met the pogues at the chateau afterwards, complaining about the absurd requests guests had regarding lobster preference, the others poking fun at the ridiculous lifestyle as they spread out on the couches with beers.

“Yep, that would be the one”, he laughed.Was he asking her to be his date? She didn’t know how to respond to Topper Thornton of all people asking her out, especially with JJ sitting next to her. To say that Topper asking her out was completely unwanted on her part would be a lie. She had been thinking about the other night often, remembering how sweet he was and how he truly listened to her. Since John B and Sarah’s disappearance she was aching for someone to just listen. Not to mention their ‘almost’ moment which she had been questioning the meaning of ever since.

Topper broke the silence, “I just thought that, it might be nice for us to hangout again and talk about everything. How’s it going with J-”.

Elle quickly cut him him off before he could continue, “You know what Topp, I’m driving right now so I’ll have a think on it and get back to you if that’s alright? Talk to you later?”.

Surprised by her response, he nodded his head on the other side of the line, “Oh alright… bye Elle”. He didn’t know whether that was a rejection or whether she really was just driving.

She ended the call promptly, glad to have nipped that conversation in the bud before JJ was mentioned. Taking a deep inhale she prepared herself for how she was going to explain the phone call that just occurred to the boy sitting next to her.

“What the hell was that about?” he questioned, his voice holding an accusatory tone, raising his eyebrows at her.

“Did you not hear the call? He asked me to the-”

JJ cut her off, “Yeah no I heard it. But my question is why?”.

“Why?”, she repeated, confused as to what exactly he was referring to.

“Yeah, why is Topper Thornton inviting you as his date to the Island party?”, he further pressed, the word date coming out with a tone of disgust. She ignored the pang in her stomach at the idea that a date with her would arouse feelings of revulsion from him.

To mask her emotions, Elle turned on her sarcasm switch again, “I don't know, maybe so he’s not lonely”, she responded, flicking on her turn signal as they sat at the stop sign.

“Cut the sarcastic shit Elle”, JJ was clearly getting fed up with the half-assed responses he was getting, staring her down to try and crack her facade. She sighed deeply, the car ride and the constant interrogation finally breaking her. “Not that I owe you an explanation but, the other night, I called Topper to come and pick Rafe and I up, and we got to talking about… everything”.

“Everything? What do you mean by everything”, he pressed, the concern coming out clearly.

“Relax, I didn’t tell him anything that could get us in trouble. It was just nice to have someone to talk to who actually cares”. JJ felt the sting of her words. Is that really how it looks to her? That he doesn’t care? He scoffed at the idea, if only she knew how she was all he ever thought about.

As she pulled into her driveway, silence engulfed them once again, JJ looking down at hands as he twirled his rings. Nervously he muttered out,“So, are you gonna go with him?”.

She was surprised at his question, expecting him to keep interrogating her about what exactly she had told him. “I haven’t really thought about it”, she said, parking the car in the driveway of the chateau and pulling the keys out of the ignition before turning to look at him. “Do you think I should?”.

JJ’s breath caught in his throat. He didn’t expect her to ask for his opinion on this, and he couldn't tell if his head was screaming no because Topper was a piece of shit or if it was because if anyone should be making Elle their date, it should be him.

He shrugged his shoulders, ignoring what his heart was telling him to say and settling on “If you want to, go for it”.

Elle pulled her gaze away from his eyes, feeling a familiar sinking sensation start in her stomach. She was stupid to think that he might’ve told her not to, and that Topper isn’t the type of guy that she should be going on dates with. Looking down at her lap and nodding her head, she accepted his answer, which felt more like a rejection, and after composing herself opened her car door.

“Pope and Kie are waiting for us inside, we should probably head in”, she said, pulling herself out of the car and heading inside, trying to ignore the dagger she felt wedged through the chest.

JJ hadn't taken his eyes off of her since he had responded, waiting to see how she would react and if he could gage how she really felt about them. Watching her slam the door shut and make her way up to her front door, JJ could feel his stomach tighten, removing his hat and running his hand through his hair before placing it back on. Letting out a final sigh, he followed her in, wishing that he had the balls that Topper so clearly had.

-----

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outer-bnks · 4 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x Original Character) Ch. 1

What happens after you lose one of the most important people in your life? After losing John B and Sarah, JJ and Elle realise that the only thing they have left is each other.

Picks up directly after 1x10.

Content: sadness, grief, slow burn, eventual best friends to lovers

Warnings: swearing, mentions of child abuse/bruises from child abuse, mentions of grief, mentions of anxiety, non-sexual shower scene

Inspiration: OBX the series, especially 1x10.

A/N: I’ve had this idea in my head since finishing OBX the first time. I want to make it into a slow burn series with angst and pining. Also want different love interests introduced which causes obvious tension (Topper character redemption arc). Let me know if you’d be interested in reading that.

Also, I’m Australian so beware of UK spelling habits instead of American eg. Mum vs. Mom.

Word count: 2388k

feedback/likes/comments really appreciated

It’d been roughly an hour of sitting in the makeshift SBI tent, the tropical storm raging on whilst the heavy rain pelted down around it. Pope with one arm around Kie as she continued to sob into his shoulder, her parents sitting in silence beside them. Heyward took the initiative of talking to Shoupe after he had delivered the news, pulling him away from the kids to try and gain some perspective on the matter. Members of the SBI were bustling in between the tents, continuing on with their investigation.

Across from Pope and Kie, JJ sat, head in his hands, trying to block out the sounds of everyone around him. Shoupe’s words on repeat in his head “We lost them… we lost them”. Elle sat to his right, staring blankly at the ground. Unlike JJ, her head was empty, and not the peaceful kind of empty, the kind that would slowly drive you insane. This kind of silence between the pogues was rare, each too consumed in their thoughts, or lack thereof to attempt any kind of conversation.

Elle felt JJ shift beside her, finally lifting his head from his hands. She turned to watch him, cautious of an emotional outburst. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks wet with the constant stream of tears that had been trailing down his face. Wiping his face clear, he stood up abruptly, gaining the attention of Pope, Kie and her parents.

“Can we leave this fucking tent yet?!” he questioned, looking towards the SBI agents guarding the entrances. As if on cue, Shoupe and Heyward entered, pulling their soaking hoods down from their heads.

“Not yet son, we need to get statements from each of you and do some questioning” Shoupe responded, hands on his hips as if to maintain his authority, but his face held a solemn look. Elle couldn't tell if it was due to the guilt or the pity.

“Questioning?! You’re going to question us about how you and your minions drove our friends right into a raging storm?!” JJ challenged, taking his signature red hat off and running a hand through his tousled hair out of frustration.

“Look, I know you’re all hurting right now”, JJ scoffed, Kie finally lifting her head from its place on Pope’s shoulder, “but this is still a criminal investigation, and you’re all accomplices as far as we’re concerned”.

“That’s absolute bullshit Shoupe, he wasn’t a criminal and you know it!” Pope exclaimed, surprising everyone in the room.

Heyward stepped forward, as if to take control of the situation, “Come on man, look at these kids. Do they look like they’re in any way to be interrogated right now?”

Holding eye contact with him, Shoupe sighed, lifting his eyes to glance around the room from one pogue to the next. “Alright, go home and get some rest. But we’re going to have to bring each of you in tomorrow”, pointedly looking at JJ he added “and we want to know the truth about everything”.

Rolling his eyes JJ looked across to Pope and Kie, who both shared the same looks of worry on their faces. Talking to the police about everything that’s happened over the past few weeks was the last thing any one of them wanted to do.

Everyone started to disperse from the scene. Kie hugging them all before leaving with her parents, her Mum’s arm holding her close as they walked to their car. The Heyward’s followed their lead, bidding goodbye to Elle and JJ before heading home. JJ turned to look at Elle after watching their friends leave, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread just thinking about returning back to his house.

Elle, like always, picked up on the fear radiating off of him, grabbing his right hand in her left and squeezing it gently. She knew there was no possible act of affection that could slow the thoughts racing through his mind right now. “Hey, come and stay with me tonight”, she offered softly. The very idea of returning to her house alone tonight caused feelings of anxiety to arise, at least if she had JJ there, her house wouldn’t feel so empty.

It didn’t take much to convince JJ. Going back to a mansion in Figure Eight with his best friend seemed a hell of a lot safer than returning to his beat up shack with his father, who no doubt was already passed out on the couch. JJ’s eyes moved from their place on their interconnected hands up to meet Elle’s eyes. They held a pleading look, silently begging him to let his walls down and accept the offer that on any other occasion he would refuse.

“Uhh, yeah.. Okay”, he nodded softly.

“Alright then”, Elle turned back to the seat that she had occupied, picking up her keys and beginning to drag him along with her, “let’s get the hell out of here”.

----

The car ride was silent. The only sounds coming from the engine of Elle’s jeep as they drove through the Cut, the water pelting down onto the exterior of the car. JJ sat next to her, his gaze never wavering from the window to his right. The torrential downpour had soaked through their clothes, leaving Elle shivering slightly as she gripped the wheel. She’d always loved driving, especially around the Cut. The scenery was similar to that on her side of the island, but the feelings that it evoked were the opposite. The Cut felt more like home than Figure Eight ever would, but there was a nagging thought that that feeling was due to the boy sitting next to her, and not the Cut itself.

Passing over the bridge into Figure Eight, it was only a matter of minutes before they had arrived at the Sterling residence. The grand house stood on a large block of bright green land, surrounded by a carefully maintained flowerbed, displaying the hard work of the Sterling’s gardeners. The outdoor automatic lights switched on as Elle and JJ made their way to her front door. JJ had only been inside Elle’s house a handful of times, despite their 4 year friendship, but he still doesn’t think there'd be a time where he wouldn’t be astounded by the sheer size of it and the never ending staircase that greeted you as you entered the front door.

“Are you hungry? I can grab us some food before we head up to my room” Elle proposed, pointing towards the kitchen.

JJ denied the offer, in spite of the slight grumble that came from his stomach. He was worried that anything he tried to get down might not stay there.

Elle nodded, leading them up the stairs to the second floor which held her and her brothers bedrooms, as well as another living area. JJ felt out of place in his wet, muddy clothes and bruised skin, a strong contrast to the white walls and clean carpet.

Entering her room, JJ stood awkwardly, noting her large queen sized bed with a quilt cover that matched her blue and white colour scheme, and the walk-in wardrobe to the left of it. He wondered why she’d needed such a closet when her wardrobe consisted of tank tops and shorts throughout the summer.

“Did you.. uh.. wanna take a shower? There’s towels in the cupboard under the sink and shampoo and conditioner inside the shower if you need it” she asked whilst rummaging through some drawers in her closet. She pulled out a pair of soft black shorts and a tee that she had borrowed from JJ when staying over at the Chateau a few weeks ago, holding them out to JJ shyly, “these are yours, freshly washed. Think they might be a bit more comfortable than what you’ve got on”.

JJ had to glance down to remind himself of what he’d been wearing. She was right, the combat boots adorning his feet were sturdy and heavy, his shorts stiff from a mixture of dried rain and mud, whilst his button down clung to his body, entirely saturated. Glancing back at Elle he accepted the clothes, offering what he could muster up of a smile.

“Yeah..thanks”, making his way toward the on suite bathroom that was to the right of her bed.

Elle busied herself by searching through her drawers for clothes to change into, when she heard JJ began to speak.

“Um, Elle, would you mind uh”, she turned, watching him stutter over his sentence.

“Yeah?” she encouraged softly, curious as to what he was getting at.

“I… uhm, well, I don’t really wanna be alone right now”, he confessed, mumbling the last part whilst avoiding eye contact by focusing on how his boots were dirtying her floor.

Taken aback by his admission of vulnerability, Elle’s brows furrowed slightly, somewhat confused of what he was asking.

With caution, she pressed “Do you want me to come into the bathroom with you?”.

“Well like, yeah… if you don’t mind”, finally lifting his gaze to meet her eyes. Compared to the pleading look they held back at the tent, they were curious and inviting. JJ would never understand how her eyes were able to show every emotion she was feeling.

Giving him a reassuring head nod and a comforting smile she responded, “Of course I don’t mind”.

Turning back to her drawers, she grabbed out a pair of pyjama shorts and a run-down oversized t-shirt she had bought from the country club’s charity fundraiser a few years back. Opening up her underwear drawer, she spotted her pale blue bikini. Grabbing it out, along with a pair of clean underwear, she walked over to where JJ was leaning against the bathroom door, watching her.

Contrary to Elle’s usual confidence that she displayed, nervously, she held up her bikini whilst proposing her idea “I know you don't want to be alone right now, and to be honest neither do I. Would you mind if I hopped in the shower with you?”

His blue eyes widened slightly, with both surprise and affection. Under any other circumstance he would make an inappropriate or flirtatious comment, when faced with this kind of situation. God, he really wished they were under any other circumstance right now.

Despite the heavy feeling in his heart, he cracked a small smile and joked “As long as you wash my hair”.

Elle giggled, a sound that he hadn’t heard in a few days. Since the gold game had taken a turn for the worse. He’d missed it.

Following her into the bathroom, he stripped down to his boxers, whilst waiting for the water to warm up. Once he’d stepped in, he relinquished in the feeling of the hot water running down over his head and down his body.

Elle, now in her bikini, his favourite bikini to be precise, stepped in after him, sighing at the feeling of the hot water slightly scalding her body, after being uncomfortably damp for so long.

Observing her movements, JJ watched as she picked up a body sponge and pumped some body wash onto it. Turning back to him she motioned for him to turn so that his back was facing her. Beginning at his shoulders, Elle moved the sponge in circular motions, the grime starting to lift off of his tanned skin. She worked quietly, focusing on the task at hand, distracting herself from the thoughts of the past few hours that threatened to enter. JJ remained silent while Elle worked, attempting to relax under the water and her gentle touch.

Once she had completed his back, she applied some pressure to his right arm, turning him to face her. They met eyes, a mutual feeling of vulnerability connecting them. Moving her eyes away from his face, as to contain some kind of break down, she began the circular motion from his shoulders and collar bones, down to his torso. Elle sucked in a breath after being faced with the dark purple bruises that covered his toned body. She doesn’t think she will ever be able to remove the images of these bruises from her brain. Anger surged through her temporarily at the acts of violence that had led to such bruises to arise. Elle crouched down slightly, now eye to eye with the marks and using a gentler motion than before, cleaned over them, wary of applying too much pressure and causing him even more pain than he’s already in. She let the water wash off the soap from the injuries, softly pressing her lips to the area, kissing lightly, before moving onto the next mark.

JJ sucked in a breath at the act of affection, watching her press the kisses to his skin. No one had ever treated him with such care, as if he were porcelain and pressing too hard may just shatter him. His heart swelled with a feeling he couldn’t describe, tears prickling at his eyes. His breathing began to shallow, willing himself not to break down completely.

By the time Elle had returned to a standing position, JJ had tears streaming down his face. With the same gentle touch as before, she wiped under his eyes, ridding them of what she thought were tears, it was hard to tell amongst the water of the shower head. She searched his face, trying to decipher his emotions. Did she hurt him? Had she gone too far? Had she crossed an unspoken boundary that wasn’t supposed to be crossed? JJ cut off her overthinking when he pulled her into his body, holding onto her for dear life. Elle tightened her arms around him, his body shaking while he sobbed into her neck, the warm water running over them, blocking out the sounds of his whimpers.

With more emotion than she’d ever heard in his voice, he finally spoke “He’s gone Elle. He’s just gone.” Between sobs, and spluttering he continued, “What am I supposed to do now? He’s gone. He was all I had”.

Elle joined him then. She tightened her hold on him even more, as the tears beginning to fill her eyes, turned into streams of tears, and then into a full-blown breakdown. They stood there, under the water, holding onto each other desperately, crying. Crying for everything that they’d been through. For everything that they’d lost. For John B.

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 8

Elle finds out bad news about the police investigation and calls Kie and Pope to help her decide whether to tell JJ or not.

Warning: mentions of police

A/N: The Pogues don’t know that Rafe killed Sheriff Peterkin for the premise of this story so Elle and the others think he’s *innocent*.

Word count: 1.4k

The startling sound of Elle’s ringtone woke her from the deepest sleep she’d had the past few weeks. She’d only been able to sleep for 2 to 3 hours in bursts before waking up breathless and sweating from nightmares of the storm, so being disturbed in the middle of such a peaceful slumber irritated her.

“Hey Dad, what’s up”, she answered, fumbling with her earring to calm her nerves after seeing his name appear on her phone.

“Hi Elle, I just got off the phone with the lawyer, and… it’s not looking too good”, he sighed.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What does that mean. “What? What are you talking about?”.

She heard her Dad let out a sigh before continuing, “Well, they’re continuing the investigation because they don’t believe you and Kie were the only ones who had anything to do with what went down. Especially with the trouble the boys have been in previously”.

Her head began to swim with all the negative possibilities that could happen. “Wait, are you telling me that JJ and Pope are getting investigated? On what evidence?”, she pushed.

“I’m not sure, Shoupe said and I quote that he ‘wasn’t allowed to disclose that’”.

“That’s bullshit!” she exclaimed, feeling herself getting angrier by the minute.

“I know darling. But he did tell me that JJ owes money, and has some possible breaking and entering charges, do you know about any of those?” Elle could feel her chest closing in on itself with the thought of JJ getting into anymore trouble.

“No Dad of course not. Uh, what about Pope?”

“He didn’t mention anything, to be honest I think his case for Pope is a lot weaker than it is for JJ, knowing what JJ’s like”. Usually she would defend JJ, but the end of his sentence went in one ear and out the other once finding out about Pope.

Silence filled the line, Elle too caught up in her thoughts attempting to piece everything together.

“You need to stop hanging around these kids Elle, they’re clearly no good for you”

“I’ll tell you what Dad, you get a say in who I hang out with when here for more than 2 weeks at a time. Thanks for the information, I’ve got to go”, she fired back, promptly ending the call.

Giving this information to Elle wasn’t a good idea. The most indecisive of the Pogues, she now had to debate whether to tell the others or not. She knew that she should tell them, to keep them in the loop of the investigation. But telling the boys that Shoupe was going to do a deep-dive on them, would only result in chaos. Pope would freak out, his anxiety sky-rocketing and mulling over a possible criminal record that would make all his hard work this year for his scholarship redundant.

Elle could predict how JJ would react; rebellion or packing up and running. Neither was particularly ideal. She wouldn’t even know where to find him after 2 weeks of no contact. She ignored that dreaded feeling in the pit of her stomach that rose whenever she thought of him and tried to think logically about her options.

How could this happen? Peterkin being shot by who they believed to be Ward. John B had never gotten around to telling them who it was, but they knew that he, Ward and Sarah were the only ones present when it happened, making it an obvious no brainer. And yet, John B was the one framed, and now that he’s not around for them to blame, they’re going to place it on the next best thing, the Pogues.

Elle paced back and forth as she contemplated what to do next, twirling her rings around her fingers, thoughts rushing through her mind, one being replaced by the next. Settling on a decision, she walked back over to her phone resting on her bed, opening up their group chat and typing out, “We need to meet. Can y’all be at mine in 30?”.

-----

“So what’s going on?” Kie asked, plopping herself onto the outside sofa on the porch. Her and Pope had arrived together, something Elle wouldn’t have found strange previously but now left her feeling a tad uncomfortable. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of them together during all of this, and she was yet to properly talk to either of them about it and figure out what was actually going on.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for their reactions as she filled them in on everything her Dad said.

Pope’s face visibly drained of colour, and Kie’s eyebrows creased with worry. “Oh shit, I’m done for aren’t I”, Pope said, placing his head in hands and staring at the ground.

Elle took that as her cue to calm him down, “You’re not done for Pope, they haven’t even found anything yet”.

“Elle that doesn’t matter, they’re searching as. we. speak.”, he added, pausing between his words for emphasis of the severity of the issue.

Kie who had remained silent processing the information butted in, “Does JJ know?”.

Waving her hands around in front of them to draw attention to the three of them, she replied frustratedly, “No, as you can see, he’s a no show”.

Kie nodded solemnly, picking up the sadness underlying Elle’s words, “So you’re still not talking”, she pressed gently.

A sarcastic laugh escaped her, “Bingo!”.

Pope looked between the girls, sensing the tone of the conversation and awkwardly adding, “I uh… know where he is, and you’re not gonna like it E.”

Her head perked up, eyebrows raised with interest, “What, where? With his dad?”.

“Not exactly”, Pope paused, trying to prepare himself for her reaction, “he’s working at Barry’s, trying to pay him back for what he stole from his place.”

You have got to be fucking kidding me, Elle thought. “I’m sorry, what? Are you joking right now? He’s working as a dealer?!”, she spoke, feeling her hands becoming clammy with stress as this conversation progressed.

Pope shook his head vigorously, “No, not as a dealer. He’s doing maintenance on the house and his land. Apparently there's enough work needed to be done to repay everything he stole”.

She couldn’t believe her ears right now. He was going to earn 30k back from doing handyman work? She let out a sigh, “This is insane. He’s literally turned to the dark side. I have money, Kie has money, why didn’t he just come to us?”.

It was Pope’s turn to let out a sarcastic chuckle, “Do you really think that JJ, our JJ, JJ Maybank, would ask you for money to pay back someone for something you told him not do in the first place. Not with his pride and stubbornness Elle”.

Pope was right. Of course he wouldn’t do that. He liked to fend for himself, for everything. There was no way he was going to actually ask anyone for help. “Do you guys think we should tell him. I think it’s just going to make things worse and I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” Elle questioned softly.

Pope and Kie both took a couple of seconds to think. Pope finally making a decision, “Yeah, I do Elle. He’s going to end up in a much worse place than just working for Barry if we don't get him out. I tried to talk to him the other day. All he said was that I didn't need to worry about him anymore and something about freeing me from his chains, which made no sense but I know that what he meant wasn't good”.

“Ok, I’m going to head over there and try and get him out”, Elle stated, grabbing her phone and getting ready to leave.

Kie let out a soft laugh, “Good luck with that. If there’s anyone he loves saving him from his messes, it's you”.

Elle could hear the sarcasm dripping off her words. She did have a habit of cleaning up his messes, whether he liked it or not. That’s what friends do right? They help you out when you need it, they give you money when you’re broke, they call you out on your bullshit? And then they ignore any attempts of contact for 2 weeks after breaking your heart? That’s how friendship works, right?

-----

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outer-bnks · 3 years

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Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 9

In which Elle and JJ fight over her budding relationship with Rafe, aka angst.

A/N: The Pogues don’t know that Rafe killed Sheriff Peterkin for the premise of this story so Elle and the others think he’s *innocent*.

This chapter ended up being really long so I split it into 2 parts and the 2nd part should be up in the next few days!

Word count: 1.7k

Arriving at the dump of a house that Barry called home, or as others liked to call it, the coke den, Elle took in a deep breath, holding it for a second or two before letting it out. Hopping out of the car, she stormed up the driveway past the overgrown lawn and random pieces of furniture stewed around the yard.

The door swung on its hinges and Elle entered, Barry rising to his feet as if he was used to this kind of entrance, “Yo, what’re you doing!”.

“Where’s JJ, Barry?”, she demanded, acting much tougher than she felt.

She watched his mouth turn up into a slimy smirk, “Oh here for Maybank. What a lucky guy, coming here to rescue him,”, he paused, dragging his eyes up her body, resting on her chest for a moment before continuing. “He must have your sweet body on demand any time he likes to repay you for all the times you save his ass, huh? Tell me I'm right.”

A chill ran down her back, disgusted by his demeanor. “You’re a pig.” she scoffed, looking around the house before finding the back door. She wasted no time in pushing past him, bumping his shoulder on the way out the door.

Like always, her eyes found him immediately, in the corner of the garden pulling out weeds. His grey shirt billowed out behind him in the wind, his hair held back by his blue hat as his dirt covered hands worked on manoeuvering the weed out of the ground. She made her way over to him, trying to keep her strong attitude in his presence, “Come on Jay, you don't need to be here anymore, let's go”.

His head shot up, recognising her voice before seeing her. Oh god what was she doing here. JJ’s seen the way people act around here, and even worse, how they get treated by Barry. Turning to look at her, he took in her crossed arms, and pursed lips. He always thought she looked adorable when she was trying to act tough but right now, he was too concerned about the fact that she was actually standing in front of him, in the coke den’s yard, with Barry watching her from the deck with narrowed eyes and a creepy grin. He stood to her height, wiping his hands on his soiled shorts and reaching out to her with his hand, “Elle, please leave, you shouldn't be here”.

Brushing off his hand, she let out a short chuckle, “Yeah and neither should you”.

For the first time in too long, JJ’s eyes connected with Elle’s, pleading her to leave. It usually didn’t take much for either of them to give in when looking into each other's eyes, but his cerulean eyes weren’t going to make her surrender this time.

“I’ve payed him back. Get your shit and let’s go.”

JJ did a double take, “You did what?”, he asked, taking a step closer to her, his face heating up, “I don't need you to pay off my debts Elle”, he said, placing emphasis on her name.

Elle rolled her eyes, she shouldn’t really be surprised though, after all, she knew how much he hated her fighting his battles for him.“You really think he's going to let you leave once you've paid him back JJ? I know you like to play dumb but come on, give yourself some credit”.

They held eye contact as her words sunk in. She was right. Of course she was. She was always right. And JJ hated that. He hated how she knew what to say and exactly when to say it, how she could calm him down just with a few words, and rile him up with even less. For pretty much any situation, she was right, unless it was about anything to do with cars or boats or fishing.

Barry broke up staring contest butting in, “Yo JJ, it’s alright, you can leave now. Your girl gave it all back”, holding up the bag of cash in one hand, “and then some”, he added, throwing in a slimy wink.

In a split second JJ was in his face, holding him with two hands by the fabric of his shirt. “Look at her like that ever again and I’ll make sure she’s the last thing you see with those eyes, you piece of shit!”, he spat, shoving Barry away from him. “And stop selling coke to my Dad, he’s reselling it for more than you’re charging”, he added, trying to rile him up. His Dad would never sell his coke, unless it was for a larger amount. But JJ knew the only way to get Barry to stop selling it was if he thought that Luke was profiting off it more than Barry was.

He felt Elle’s presence behind him, turning to her and signalling with a nod to follow him out. They thought they were in the clear as they made their way up the driveway to her car, until they heard him yell out with a teasing tone, “Hey, Rafe told me about your little rendez vous the other night Elle! If I were you, I’d be careful there sweetheart!”.

She flipped him off with both hands, feeling her stomach flip, god Rafe has a big mouth. JJ didn’t seem to react until they had both hopped into her car and began heading out of Barry’s, onto the road back to Figure Eight.

“You’ve been hanging out with Rafe?”, he asked incredulously, a slight tone of accusation slipping through.

She sighed, fed up with their constant back and forth arguing lately, “No, I haven’t”, she replied, hoping to cut this conversation topic short.

“Then what was he was talking about?”, he pressed, eager to know the truth.

Elle’s eyes remained on the roach but she could feel him staring at her side profile. “It’s nothing JJ! I bumped into him the other night and we had a conversation, that’s it”.

He let out a sarcastic chuckle, not believing her blatant lie, “Yeah that’s great Elle, fraternizing with the enemy”.

“He’s not the enemy JJ, he’s a fucked up kid who just lost his sister, one of our best friends might I add”, she responded quickly, the reality of the situation being apparently lost on him.

“Yeah who almost tried to kill us Elle!”, his voice raised, becoming more frustrated with what he was hearing, “Did you forget about that huh? When he had his hands wrapped around Kie’s throat, or when he pushed you into a wall and bruised your entire fucking body? Do you not remember that? Or do you just not care?”.

She tried to remain calm but her voice was rising too, “Of course I fucking remember it JJ!”

“Then why isn’t that enough!”, he exclaimed. “Why isn’t that enough to keep you away from him?!”.

Elle finally turned to look at him before turning her attention back to the road. Leveling out her voice, she calmly responded “Look, I found him drunk on the beach, the night of…”, she paused, unsure of how to address it, “the night of our fight. We had a conversation, I called Topper and he came and got him, nothing happened, end of story”.

Jj nodded his head, looking down at his lap. He wasn’t sure if he fully believed her, or if she was telling the truth or not, but JJ could count on one hand how many times they’d lied to each in the past. Sure they lied all the time to get themselves out of trouble or get some time to hang out away from the other Pogues when they’d missed each other. But it wasn’t something they did. They’d never had a reason to lie to each other, however, JJ couldn't help the niggling thought that maybe, after everything that's happened, and how much they'd been arguing recently, maybe that had changed.

They let silence fill the car. They needed to take a breather after the intensity of that emotional outburst. Elle debated in her head on what to say next, settling on “What do you care anyway”.

Emotions rised again once JJ let out another chuckle, bewildered at her question, “Really, Elle? Are you really asking me that?”.

Elle kept her hands on the wheel, glad that she had something to focus on right now so that she wouldn't have to see his real-time reactions. “Oh I’m sorry Jay, but the last time we talked you made it pretty apparent that you wanted nothing to do with me”, she quick fired back, sarcasm levels at an all time high.

“And yet, here you are”, he muttered, loud enough for her to hear.

She tried to contain the burst of anger that shot through her veins after hearing that. Instead deciding to change the topic, “Yeah because I have some information on the police investigation we’re involved in, just thought you might like to know about that”.

“What information?”, he calmly responded, the energy in the car changing drastically from sarcasm to curiosity.

“Shoupe is investigating you and Pope further because he doesn’t believe Kie and I, and he’s pulling up anything you can and will be charged for”.

Looking out the window, he removed his hat, playing with it in his hands, “For fuck’s sake”, he let out a sigh, placing the hat back on, “this isn’t going to end well is it?”.

“Pretty sure you can answer that question by looking at what’s already happened”.

Elle expected him to say something. Anything. To discuss the investigation further, and ask her everything she knew, or ask him what he should do to get out of this mess. She was secretly hoping he might ask her how she’s going, or bring up John B and how much he misses him, or that he can’t believe this has happened.

A ringing sound filled the car as Elle’s pocket vibrated, her phone connected to her cars bluetooth interrupting her train of thought. “Topper Thornton calling” displayed clearly on the screen.

“Topper? Why the fuck is Topper calling you?”.

-----

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outer-bnks · 3 years

Text

Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 7

In which Elle and Topper have a heart to heart after putting a drunk Rafe to bed.

Warning: mild swearing, mentions of underage drinking, mentions of being drunk/intoxicated

A/N: This chapter is a little short but here it is nonetheless. I have recently had a huge surge in motivation to continue this fic so let me know if there’s anything specific that you wanna see in it (fight scenes, confessions etc.).

Hoping to update again soon, thanks for reading :)

Word count: 758

“And that’s how I ended up with a drunk Rafe on a Wednesday night”, Elle finished her story. She had explained everything to Topper, leaving out certain details about the gold and the Pogue’s that she knew weren’t for his ears.

Topper nodded his head, studying her face for a second before drawing his eyes down to his hands that rested over the light blanket covering his legs. They’d been sitting on the couch for over two hours, with the lights on the dimmest setting. The cool Summer breeze flowing from the open glass porch doors and the sound of the crashing waves providing the perfect setting for emotions to be spilled.

“So, what’re you going to do about it all?” he pushed lightly, not wanting to make her feel any worse than she already was.

“Well, I don’t know if there’s much I can do. Clearly JJ doesn’t want anything to do with me, Kie and Pope seem to be in their own little world, and the only people who have actually asked how I’m going are you and Rafe”, she let out a slight chuckle, adding on “which is probably the strangest part of it all”.

“I know we’ve had our issues in the past Elle,” he started, making eye contact to ensure she was hearing him, his left hand reaching out and resting atop of her intertwined hands that she’d been fiddling with nervously, “but I’ll always care about you”.

Warmth creeped up her neck and flushed her cheeks, a smile gracing her face. “Thanks, Topp”.

“Um, there’s also something I should probably tell you,” Elle nodded, encouraging him to continue. “You know that night at the Church, when John B and Sarah were on the run?”, he asked, moving his eyes down to their hands still touching.

“Yeah what about it?”

“Well, I swapped clothes with John B”, he rushed out.

Elle stared at him for a moment, trying to understand what exactly he was telling her.

“What do you mean?”

“At the Church, I went up, knowing that they were in there, and I, uh… I was trying to show Sarah how serious I was about her, about us,” listening intently, Elle waited for him to finish. “She said that I could show her, by swapping clothes with John B.”

“So they could escape unnoticed?” Elle questioned, piecing the story together.

Humming in agreement, Topp flashed back to that night. Walking out of the Church with torchlights and guns pointed at him. He would never admit this to anyone but it was one of the scariest, yet proudest moments he’s had. Knowing that he was sacrificing himself for Sarah. His heart ached at the thought of her.

Elle was silent. Both stunned and comforted by Topper’s actions. Maybe some leopards do change their spots, she thought briefly.

“That’s”, she paused, trying to find the right words, “um, that’s..” she tried again, “just, thank you.”

“I don’t deserve a thank you, I did the bare minimum Elle.”

“Yeah but you could have done nothing, and you didn’t. That says more about your character than you know Topp”.

Meeting her eyes once again, Topper felt his heartbeat accelerate, bewildered by her words. For as long as he can remember his mother has been picking his character apart piece by piece. His gaze flickered between her eyes to the freckles sprinkled across her face, down to her lips, noting how soft they looked.

Elle could feel the warmth of breath against her lips causing her to inhale from their sudden proximity. The thought of leaning forward an inch to connect their lips briefly passed, before she suppressed it with logic. This guy had nothing but caused issues for the Pogue’s, was she really going to kiss him in a moment of weakness? Her mind flashed to golden hair and blue eyes, different to the ones currently in front of her, pulling back to reality.

She cleared her throat, brushing her hair behind her right ear. “It’s, uh, it’s probably time I head home, I’m exhausted”, she said as she rose from the couch.

Topper ignored the sinking of his stomach, sighing slightly before nodding his head, “I can drop you home,” he offered, pushing his hands into pockets, an air of uncertainty surrounding them.

“It’s nearly 2am Topp, the Outer Banks isn’t exactly the most dangerous place after 10pm,” she laughed lightly.

“Maybe not, but there’s no way I’d be able to go to sleep knowing you’re walking home at this hour.”

Feeling surprised at Topper’s caring nature was a running theme tonight it seemed.

Sending a shy smile his way, she nodded, praying that this leopard’s spots had permanently changed.

------

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outer-bnks · 4 years

Text

Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x Original Character) Ch. 2

After a night of comforting JJ, Elle wakes to him gone with no explanation. The Pogues meetup to discuss what they’re going to say in their police interrogations. Elle hatches a plan to get them out of trouble.

Picks up after 1x10.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of child abuse/bruises from child abuse, grief, death of a loved one, talk of juvie/police interrogation

A/N: The Pogues don’t know that Rafe killed the Sheriff in this fic. Also does anyone know if the Pogues actually found out about Rafe killing her?? I don't remember seeing John B or Sarah tell them - only Topper. Anywhoo, this picks up directly after Chapter 1.

A fight/angst scene between JJ and Elle coming in the next few chapters.

Word count: 1,979

feedback/comments/likes/reblogs really appreciated

---- A dull, insistent buzzing woke Elle, rolling onto her side to grab her phone from her bedside table. Incoming call: Kie kie.

Still half asleep, Elle answered groggily, her head still resting on her pillow “Hello?”.

“Hey babe...uh.. how are you?”, Kie asked cautiously.

Elle sighed, the reality of their situation slapping in her in the face. The storm. John B. Sarah. JJ. Looking to her left, her bed was empty, the blonde haired boy missing.

“Alright as I can be I guess. How are you, did you manage to get any sleep?” Elle questioned, knowing that Kiara’s brain constantly working in overdrive wouldn’t have allowed her the rest she needed. The rest they all needed.

“Uhm, I got a few hours in. Oh, do you know where JJ is? Pope messaged me saying we should meet at the chateau before the questioning to sort out our stories, but he couldn’t grab a hold of JJ”. Elle sat up her, her head feeling as though it was throbbing. She looked around her room, searching for any sign that JJ was still around. Whether it was from the two hours sleep she’d gotten after she’d spent the night holding JJ, whispering words of affirmation whilst he attempted to calm down, or from the idea of having to face the police after the major shit show that had occurred over the past few days.

“Yeah J spent the night with me, but”, moving from her bed and down the stairs, she checked each room she passed to see whether he had snuck off during the night or had woken up and left her so not to disturb her, “It looks like he’s gone”. Now in the kitchen there was no sign of JJ. No plates or pans left over from a possible breakfast, no sound coming from the TV, Elle thinks if he was still here the TV would definitely be on. JJ had always preferred some kind of sound on to distract him when he’d been feeling any other than his usual self.

“Oh ok.” Kie paused, racking her brain to come up with their next steps. “I’ll check by all our usual places and meet at the Chateau in 20?”.

“Yeah, sounds good. See you then”, Elle didn’t waste any time, heading back to her room to get ready for the, probably disastrous, day ahead of her.

------

The drive to the Chateau felt excruciatingly long. Jumbled thoughts ran round and round in Elle’s head, trying to conjure up a plan that would decriminalise John B and get Ward the retribution he needed.

Pulling in, a wave of emotion rushed over her. Her heart sinking into her stomach, their place of sanctuary, that held every memory that the Pogues had together, was now empty of life and cold.

Pope enveloped Elle in a tight hug as soon as he saw her in the doorway. Placing his face in her shoulder and squeezing slightly before letting go.

Wordlessly, they moved over to the couch on the porch, taking a seat. Elle broke the silence first “Is Kie here yet?”.

A flicker of pain crossed Pope’s features, looking towards the water, “Nah, she’s still looking for JJ”. Silence followed, guilt crawling its way into Elle’s thoughts. She had one job. To make sure JJ was okay. And she couldn’t even do that. “Right...” she answered, looking out to the water, bringing her bottom lip into her mouth out of habit.

“Where would he even take off too? I thought he stayed with you last night?” he questioned. Elle studied his face, trying to decipher if he was mad. But there was no accusation or underlying frustration in his tone.

Elle nodded, “He came back to mine after the, uh.. the storm. Woke up to Kie’s phone call and he was gone”. Pope picked up on the sadness that was laced in her answer, wondering if there was more to the story than she led on.

As if on cue, Kie’s four wheel drive turned into the driveway. Elle’s eyes not leaving the car, waiting to see if she had found him.

Begrudgingly, JJ exited the passenger side. Wearing a clean white t-shirt that clung to his toned body, his usual style of shorts and boots adorning the lower half of his body, his trusty red hat pulling his hair out of his face. He must’ve gone home and changed. Elle felt herself release a breath of relief at the sight of him, simultaneously cringing at the thought of him leaving her this morning to return to that house, instinctively searching his body for any visible signs of new marks or bruises.

Stepping up onto the porch, Kie and Elle embraced in a hug, a rare moment of affection between the girls. Usually they showed their love for eachother through words and actions, but at this moment Elle didn’t know if there were any words left.

JJ walked straight past the pair, nodding at Pope in acknowledgement and plopping himself down in the chair to the left of the couch. Taking a puff from his jule and blowing out while keeping his eyes on the backyard.

Kie took Elle’s seat next to Pope, Elle choosing to stand against the railing of the fence. Glancing at JJ, she studied him, waiting for him to turn and acknowledge her. She felt a strong pang of hurt when he made an obvious effort to keep his eyes on anything but her, his jaw clenching and releasing a breath of smoke.

The tension went unnoticed by the others as Pope spoke up “We need to get our story straight before we get dragged into questioning. They’re gonna want to know everything, and I don’t know about you guys, but I really don’t want to go to jail for being an accessory to crimes, for stealing, for trespassing or for any other illegal shit we did. I can’t.”

“Why can’t you, it’s not like you’re getting that stupid scholarship anyway”, JJ responded. An air of arrogance and disregard around him.

Pope scoffed in disbelief, “Yo that scholarship was the only thing that was going to get me out of this fucking place! And I lost it, for the gold that we didn’t even get. I didn’t lose that scholarship for me, I lost that scholarship for us!”

“Pope” Kie tried to mediate.

“No, Kie. Just because I lost the scholarship doesn’t mean I’m happy to spend the rest of my life rotting away in a cell.” Pope responded, looking between his friends.

Silence filled the group.

“You’re right Pope.” Elle interjected.

Pope abruptly turned his head to her. “What?”

“You’re right. You have so much potential. You actually can get out of this place. You’ve got too much to lose. You shouldn’t have to take the blame for this.”

Pope and Kie shared a look of confusion, JJ still maintaining his avoidance of his friends looks.

Kie, tied her hair up, the North Carolina heat getting to her “What do you propose then E?”

Elle looked at each of her friends, organising her thoughts. Did she want to go through with this? Was this going to come back to bite her in the ass? Definitely. Was she willing to go through with this to save the only friends she had left? Of course. “I’ll take the blame”.

“What, are you serious?”

“No, you’re not doing that!”

JJ was the only one not to speak out. His gaze finally shifting from the horizon to look at her. She searched his face. For anything. Any kind of emotion, but found nothing.

“I’ll take all the blame. Look, if we admitted that we all had a part in this, then we’ll get in the shit. It’ll be put on record, and even though we’re minors, this county isn’t going to just forget it. We’ll probably get tried as adults, where they can really charge us for the things we’ve done”.

“E, stop.”

“No Kie, listen”

“If Pope admits to it, his future is gone. It’s hard enough to get into a college when you’re from the Cut, not to mention a criminal from the Cut.” Pope nodded, agreeing with her points, but his face held a look of slight concern.

“Same with JJ. And after already being arrested so recently, he’s sure to get thrown straight into juvie. And if not, he has to return home.” Elle’s tone showed that returning home might be just as bad as juvie, if not worse.

JJ rose from his seat, pointing a finger at her, “Don’t Elle. Don’t bring my Dad into this” maintaining eye contact. “We got ourselves into this shit, for someone who’s dead, why should we pay for it at all? They killed him and Sarah. Not us. I say we don’t speak at all. Pull that ‘5th amendment or I’m waiting for my lawyer shit’ that they do in movies”.

Everyone felt the blow of him speaking about John B and Sarah like that. But Elle considered his idea. It wasn’t horrible. If none of them spoke, what would they do? What could they do? But surely, knowing Shoupe and the way they relentlessly chased John B down, there was no way they were gonna let Peterkin’s murder fly under the radar.

“That’s not going to work JJ. They’re going to keep pressing and pressing until one of us cracks. Why not beat them to it?” Elle responded.

“Wait, why can’t we just blame John B and Sarah?” JJ asked, oblivious to how inconsiderate a question like that was right now.

Kie shot back immediately, “For killing the Sheriff? Because they didn’t do it you asshole!”.

JJ rolled his eyes, his ignorance clear in his words, “No not for that, just for everything else, they’re already dead, what’s the har-” he asked with a shrug. It wasn’t what he was suggesting, it was how he was talking about them.

Kie cut him off “Stop saying that they’re dead, you don’t know that JJ!”

JJ shook his head in disbelief, “I do know it. And so do all of you. You’re kidding yourselves if you think they could’ve survived that fucking storm. Don’t be so gullible, they’re never coming back!”.

Raising his voice, Pope shouted, “Enough!” cutting off the conversation.

A deeper sombre mood fell over the group. No one knowing what to say or what to address. The conversation had led to the truth that none of them wanted to acknowledge.

Ignoring the outburst, Elle continued, “Kie, if you admit it, you’re going to be in deep shit too. Except you have Kook privilege and will still probably be able to get into college, or go overseas to build homes and schools in third world countries. And that’s the same for me. My Dad’s probably already hired some fancy hot-shot lawyer and hopefully we’ll get off with a slap on the wrist. As long as they know we had nothing to do with Peterkin, and we tell the truth about Ward, we’ll be fine”.

“Yeah, sure, we’ll be fine” JJ sarcastically laughed, sitting back down on the chair. But instead he kept his eyes on Elle, making her shift with nerves.

Focusing on Pope and Kie, Elle quirked an eyebrow, silently questioning if they agreed with her idea. Looking at each other, a silent conversation was had.

“Ok, I’m in. But my parents are going to ground me for life when they have to pick me up from juvie”, Kie stood, walking up to the railing beside her and taking a deep breath.

Elle turned to the boys, waiting for their disapproval. JJ took another puff of his jule, blowing the smoke out and avoiding the group. Pope sighed, knowing that this was the best option they had right now. “Alright, talk us through the plan then, Mrs 007”.

----

let me know if you want to be on the Taglist, this is going to be a longgg fic haha

Taglist: @mybillyhardgrove

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outer-bnks · 4 years

Text

Two Burning Hearts Are Dared To Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 5

In which Elle finds a drunk Rafe on the beach after her fight with JJ and turns to him for comfort.

Warning: mild swearing, mentions of underage drinking, mentions of being drunk/intoxicated

A/N: this gif is something else!!! Drew Starkey deserves more scenes in s2, just saying!! Was really fun to write Rafe as a big softie and explore their history together. Elle doesn’t know that Rafe killed the Sheriff. This chapter gives a little bit more info on Elle’s background and her relationships with the other characters. Also this chapter kind of made me wonder whether Rafe would be a good match for Elle.

Who should she end up with, JJ, Rafe or Topper? Let me know.

Word count: 2k

She had ended up at the beach at the bottom of her house. It wasn’t a surprise that this is where she’d end up, the water glowing in the moonlight, the waves calmly washing onto the shore. It had been a few hours since she had left JJ’s house, her mind still reeling over what had happened between them. The tears had long gone, but the churning in her stomach felt like it wasn’t ever going to end. Watching her feet as she walked along the water's edge, she heard quiet muttering coming from the beneath the tree line.

Walking towards the sound cautiously, she caught sight of a figure moving up into a sitting position, “Hello?”, the mystery person sounded. She recognised that voice, sighing at the realisation.

“Rafe? What’re you doing here?” Elle questioned as she moved to inspect the situation more, his face coming into focus.

“What does it look like?” he responded, arms out wide. Elle remained silent, taking note of his tear-stained face and the slight vulnerability that came through in his voice.

“Want some?” he offered, outstretching his hand holding up an almost empty bottle of whiskey. She shook her head, taking a seat next to him, holding her bent legs close to her chest. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“What’s up with you?” he asked confusedly.

Keeping her eyes on the water so as to not give her emotions away, she asked “What do you mean?”

“Well aren’t you supposed to be with your Pogue friends in The Cut, instead of sitting here with a kook, drinking Whiskey on Wednesday night?”. He was right. She should be with her friends right now, grieving, sharing memories, eating, Elle would’ve been happy doing anything with them right now.

She remained quiet, moving her gaze away from the water to her feet in the sand, not able to find the courage to open up to Rafe of all people yet.

“Did something happen?” he asked softly, wary of pressing too hard, after picking up on her defeated body language.

She scoffed, “You could say that”.

He studied her side profile for a minute, “Do you wanna talk about it?”.

Elle let out a short chuckle. Never would she have imagined that she would be sitting next to a drunk Rafe considering telling him about her feelings.

So instead of doing just that, she put her defences up, sarcasm seeping into her tone “As if you care Rafe”.

He sighed, “I know I’ve been a dick-”

“You could say that again”

“but… things are different now”

“So what, I’m just supposed to forgive and forget all the times you’ve come after us? You, Kelce and Topper have nearly killed us, on more than one occasion”, she snapped, her eyes narrowing to finally look at him.

Rafe swallowed, his throat working at the seriousness in Elle’s tone. And although he was drunk and couldn’t form coherent thoughts, he felt himself sobering up at her words.

“No. You’re not. You shouldn’t forgive me at all. But you’re one of the only people who would actually understand how I feel right now, and it seems to me that you need someone just as much as I do”, his voice quieting at the last part of his sentence.

Elle searched his eyes, for the smallest glimmer of insincerity, silence falling upon them once again.

“It’s just that. Usually when I need someone to talk to, I go to John B. And now that he’s, um, gone, I don’t know who to turn to” she blurted out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Rafe masked his surprise at her outburst with sympathy, “Can you not talk to the others?”

“Hard to talk to them about the issue when they’re apart of it”, she sighed, twirling with the rings on her right hand. It was one of her nervous habits that she did without realising, along with playing with her earrings.

His eyebrows raised, finally understanding what she was upset about, “Oh”.

He paused for a minute, trying to gather his sober words amongst his drunk thoughts, “Maybe just give it some time? From what I’ve seen, you guys are like...real friends. That doesn’t just disappear after one fight”.

Elle nodded, his words somewhat comforting her.

They both looked back out to the water, a calmness washing over the both of them.

“Do you ever think that they might still be alive?”, he mumbled, taking another swig from the whiskey bottle.

She sucked in a breath, surprised at his question. Everyone was still too sensitive to talk about John B and Sarah, which made it hard for Elle to process her thoughts and emotions about the whole situation.

It was her turn to study his side profile, watching for any emotions to arise, “Yeah, sometimes. But holding on to that slim possibility, I don’t think it will do us too much good”, she confessed.

He nodded, looking at her quickly before turning back to the water, not wanting to see her reaction when he admitted this. “It was my fault”.

“What?” Elle questioned, her eyebrows furrowing.

“She’s my little sister. I was supposed to protect her. I’m supposed to protect my family”, his tone was rising, his frustration shining through.

She held a calm and steady voice, “Rafe, it’s not your fault.”

“Yes it is Elle! I’m the reason they got on that damn boat and drove into the storm.”

“Rafe you can’t think like that. You’ll tear yourself apart!”

“A little too late for that”, he scoffed. He ran both hands through his hair before resting his arms back onto the top of his bent knees.

Elle felt an urge to open up to him. To tell him about everything that she was feeling, about her grief and her anger and her loneliness.

She shifted in her position, moving into a crossed legged position. “JJ and I had a fight”.

Rafe waited for her to continue.

“He does this thing, when things become too much for him, he pulls away and tries to shut himself off. Usually you just need to give him time to cool off and he comes back to you. But I don’t know-” Elle shook her head “this time felt different.”

The words that came next didn’t need much preparation, “Well these circumstances are different Elle, he probably just doesn’t know how to cope. I’m sure he’ll come back to you. I doubt he’d ever give you up by choice, that kid’s like in love with you”, he finished, laughing lightly.

Elle laughed, stunned by his response, “What? No he’s not!”.

He shook his head, knowing she’d deny it. “Come on Elle, you’d have to blind- or just stupid, to not be able to see that he is head over heels for you”, he turned, watching as a glimmer of hope flickered in her eyes.

“Nah Rafe, you’re being dramatic”.

“Whatever you wanna believe Elle, but trust me on this,” he paused, maintaining eye contact with for, “if I had someone who cared about me the way that you care about him, I’d never let that go”.

Elle felt her heart swell slightly. Rafe hadn’t been this kind or honest to her, in a long time. She gave him a close-lipped smile, grateful for his words.

Elle watched as the wheels in his head turned, waiting for what question was coming next. Her and Rafe used to be good at this, at sitting and talking and asking each other questions about their lives.

When Rafe landed on the one he wanted to ask, he turned to her again, his eyes glazed over from his intoxicated state. “Is it fun being a Pogue?”

She took a minute to think about his question,“When you’re a Kook who doesn’t have to worry about money it’s fun. Why do you ask?”

He broke his gaze from her, looking down to the sand, drawing shapes into it with his index finger, “You guys just seem so… carefree?”. His statement came out more like a question.

“I guess. It’s easy for me to be carefree because I come from a privileged background, but uh, for the boys, there’s definitely a lot more to it. Can’t be all that carefree when you have to work 24/7 just to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head”. Her mind flashed back to JJ, the way it always seems to.

He brushed the sand off from his hand, “You know, if I was sober I definitely wouldn’t be saying this but” Elle’s heart quickened for a moment, worried about where this confession was going- “I have a lot of respect for you.”

She couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Respect? Ever since I left the Kook Academy you’ve bullied the shit out of me”. Although what she had said was of a usually serious topic, Elle kept the smile on her face, amused by this conversation.

Rafe nodded, “I know I know. But leaving this lifestyle to be with people who you actually love, that makes you a far better person than I’ll ever be.” He hoped she wouldn’t question him further, he wasn’t ready to hurt her more than she already seemed to be.

Thankfully, she didn’t, “Never too late to be a good person Rafe”

Moments of silence passed before Rafe sighed addressing the elephant in the room, “I’m sorry. For everything.”

“I’m sorry too,” she responded, sincerity in her tone.

Rafe’s face contorted out of confusion, “What are you sorry for?”

“Well, after everything that happened with Archer, I kind of just... got up and left you guys” she said, bowing her head to look down at the sand.

He understood what she meant. Her departure from their friendship group had been abrupt, but for a good reason. He let out a soft laugh,“I don’t blame you, he was a piece of shit”.

“Yeah he was, but we were friends.”

“How do you trust people again after what happened with him?’’ he questioned quietly, afraid to open old wounds.

“Rafe we had a shitty relationship, it’s not like he ruined my life entirely” she laughed.

“It was more than a shitty relationship Elle. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that. And I should’ve told you about her as soon as I found out about it all”. Elle detected regret in his words, but the usual anger that she felt when thinking about Archer and her was absent. Even though it was an emotionally draining time for Elle, life seemed so much lighter back then compared to now.

“Can’t argue with that one.” she shot back, adding in a laugh to let him know that she wasn’t angry.

“Rafe-” she paused, unsure if she wanted to know the answer, “how long did you know about them before I found out?”.

“Uhm,” he hesitated, “maybe like 5 months?” he confessed regrettably.

Elle nodded her head slowly, processing his answer.

“If it’s any consolation, I beat the shit out of him for you”

Elle broke out into laughter. “Yeah I don’t doubt that, but thanks, I guess?”

His face broke out into a full smile, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him smile like that, let alone be the reason for it.

“You’re welcome.”

A cool breeze washed over Elle making her shiver, deciding that now was probably a good time to get drunk Rafe home. “Hey, we should probably get out of here”.

“Yeah you’re right, I can feel my hangover coming already”.

Elle got out her phone, unlocking it and searching for one of the numbers she never thought she’d have to call again after leaving the Academy- Topper Thornton.

-----

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outer-bnks · 4 years

Text

Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 4

When you’ve already lost everything, what’s a little more? Elle confronts JJ about the way he’s been treating her and their relationship falls to pieces amongst the emotional turmoil of losing John B and Sarah.

Warning: angst, mild swearing, using the lord’s name in vain, heart break :(

A/N: this hurt to write :( clearly they’re both a mess right now and don’t know what they’re doing…but Topper redemption arc is cominggg though and I’m excited

Word count: 2k

It had been 3 days since the funeral, 6 days since their police interrogations, and 7 days since the storm. And apart from the shower she had shared with JJ, Elle hadn’t cried yet, hadn’t let it sink in that this was their new reality. That it was normal for her to not hear from JJ for 3 days and that it was normal for Kie and Pope to spend all their free time together without the other Pogues. That her found family had now joined her biological family as a distant memory. That she was on her own.

She had decided that 3 days had been enough time. Enough time for JJ to collect his emotions and have the space he needed. As she pulled into his driveway, her hands shaky and head full of things she needed to say to him, she recollected her breath before opening the door and making her way over to where he stood, working on his bike.

“Hi Jay” Elle greeted softly, wary of what side of him she was going to receive.

JJ lifted his head from his crouched position, giving a slight nod of acknowledgement whilst continuing to work on his bike. It seemed like Elle was getting the distant and quiet side today. This side of him always left Elle feeling on edge, like at any moment he might explode in an outburst of anger, or just completely break down.

“Nobody’s seen you for days”, she added, keeping a gentle tone in her voice. Wanting him to pick up on her care, not concern. He didn’t respond well to people worrying about him, after the years they’ve spent as friends, she knew how easy it was for JJ to close himself off.

Keeping his eyes on the movement of his screwdriver, mumbling out a short and sharp “Yeah, it’s better that way”.

“Well, how are you? I’ve been thinking about you” Elle sighed, already dreading how this conversation was going to end.

“Despite what you think, I am completely capable of taking care of myself�� he snapped, lifting his head briefly to shoot her an icy gaze before returning his gaze to the task at hand.

She tried to ignore the hurt that began to form in the pit of her stomach. Meeting his sharp tone with her own she quickly rebutted.

“I’ve never thought that JJ”.

He ignored her. Somewhere along the line, the patience she had for him had dissipated, leaving a burning feeling in her chest.

“You can stop pretending you’re okay, cause I know you’re not Jay”.

He remained silent, Elle’s frustration building. “Just talk to me” she sighed, making her way around the bike. Not standing close enough to scare him off, but close enough to gain his attention.

He finally stood, his stature causing him to look down at her slightly. She held his eye contact, trying to find some kind of emotion in them. She tried reaching her hand up to his face, as if to gently touch his cheek. His bruises were finally starting to fade, the cut on his lip healing.

“You know, if I could, I would change the whole world for you. In a heartbeat.” An unrecognisable emotion flashed across his eyes before disappearing. Flinching away and crouching back down to work on his bike, sourness slipped through in his voice.

“Yeah, well you can’t. And I don’t need my world to change, I need everyone to just leave me alone”. She had lost him, the softness she was beginning to see had left.

“Okay well if you needed space all you had to do was ask”, she shot back. She couldn’t understand why he was acting so cold. Had she done something? Or was he just taking his anger out on her? She knew he’d needed space, hence the 3 days without any contact. But JJ wasn’t usually one to ruminate with his feelings, or if he was, he didn’t show it. He always felt his emotions intensely, he’s quick tempered and impulsive, but Elle had always wondered if that was just his surface level reaction. She sometimes feared that underneath his hard and brave exterior, that he was too fragile for the world that he’d been given.

“God, it’s not space that I need Elle. I’ve had plenty of space”, he replied, making his annoyance apparent.

Elle shook her head, still not understanding what he was getting at. “So what do you need, because you’re making it pretty hard for me to figure it out Jay.”

Standing up he turned to her, his features showing his irritation with her. “What I need is for you to leave me alone. I don’t need your help, I don’t need anyone!”.

She took a step back, as if his words had delivered a physical blow to her body. Shaking her head slightly, her arms coming up to cross over her chest she scoffed, “You might not need me JJ, but have you ever thought that maybe I need you?”.

He scanned her face, looking for the truth behind her words. “Find someone else then Elle. I can’t be that person for you anymore.”

The dread in her stomach grew with every blow that was delivered in his words.

Exasperated, she uncrossed her arms, using them while she spoke, “What are you even talking about?! You’re my best friend, what do you want me to do, go and pick someone off the street. How are you not understanding that right now, you’re the only person I care about?”. She could feel herself derailing, trying to make sense of it.

JJ scoffed, looking at her confusedly, “What about Pope and Kie huh, what, you don’t care about them?”

“You know that that’s not what I meant JJ. Plus, they’ve been hanging out with each other all week, I’m sure they’re doing just fine” sarcasm coating her words heavily.

“Well maybe you should be checking in on them instead of bothering me”, he near shouted.

Elle couldn’t help the tone of betrayal that slipped through in her tone. She narrowed her eyes, “Bothering you? I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that my visit was such a burden on you”.

He lifted his hat off his head, running a hand through his hair before placing it back on. Coldly he responded, “Yeah well, it is”.

Elle’s head felt as if it was spinning. Replies and comebacks and the fear of where this conversation could end filtering through her mind at record speed.

“And who’s gonna be there for me, huh JJ? Kie and Pope have each other, you, well apparently you’re good on your own. Who do I get? You know I’m going through this as well?” she responded. She’d felt lost this past week without John B around, and having no one to speak to only amplified how alone she now was.

“I don’t know Elle, why don’t you go find a Kook, that’s always worked out so well for you in the past” JJ snapped, his voice antagonising her.

Elle’s stomach dropped. Tears that she had been fighting back throughout this argument beginning to slip through. For JJ to throw her past in her face like that made her blood boil, what felt like bile was rising in her throat.

She wouldn’t be able to stand this argument any longer. Her heart rate accelerated, it felt as if her fight or flight responses had been activated, and her brain was screaming at her to run as fast and as far away from the pain that JJ was inflicting on her right now. But her heart wondered how much further she could push him, to find out what his limits really were.

Elle swallowed, trying to gain her voice again, she felt defeated. “Right, then I’ll leave you to it.”

“Finally” JJ sighed with relief. Usually JJ being relaxed gave Elle a sense of peace, but his gratitude for her leaving him made her want to collapse onto the floor and crumble.

Elle began making her way up the driveway, her mind spinning with things that she could say to try and salvage what they had left.

Turning around her hopelessness and exhaustion was displayed through her body language, her arms falling limply by her side. “So what? That’s it. Four years of friendship down the drain because you’re scared of letting people in? This is your way of trying to protect yourself? Cut people out of your life before they leave you? That’s bullshit JJ! You and I both know that I am the last person that would ever leave you.”

JJ’s throat worked. Her words cut deeper than they had before. Is this what he’d driven them too?

He shrugged, gnawing on his bottom lip, his eyes glazed over “I’ve already lost everything, what’s a little more”. His voice showed his carelessness, but his face betrayed him exhibiting the panic that was behind his actions.

Elle let out a shaky breath. Unbelieving of what his words meant. Two of her biggest fears coming to life right in front of her- of caring too much for someone who would never care about her, and losing JJ for good. She’d truly hit the jackpot. She sniffled, her emotions beginning to take over her, shaking her head softly.

Quiet enough not let him hear she mumbled, “I hate how much I love you”.

JJ’s head snapped up, his eyebrows furrowing at her words. Of course he’d known she loved him, she told him all the time. When they were out on the boat and the sun was gleaming and everyone was laughing at Pope’s lame Dad jokes, she’d blurt out how much she loved them all. At their keggers, tipsy, dancing along with tourons, wrapping her arms around whoever was closest, pulling them all into a group hug and confessing her undying love for them. When she’d cleaned up his bruises and cuts after another run-in with his father, the first one slipping out when she knew JJ needed to hear it, and then every time after that to reassure him that he always had her. Elle wasn’t afraid to let people know that she loved them. She had said it to him a countless number of times. But she’d never said it with a sense of hopelessness behind it. As if loving him physically hurt her. JJ always thought that when people complained of their heart aching that they were being overdramatic. But he felt as if his heart was throbbing, it truly ached, in a way he didn’t think was possible. So he did what he does best, he made it ache even more.

“Then stop loving me.”

Turning around, he retreated back to his bike, grinding his teeth whilst picking up his wrench and pretending to work on the nuts and bolts underneath the seat. He couldn’t watch her walk away, he knew that whatever remained of his heart wouldn’t be able to take it and he’d be reminded of how he’s royally screwed up the one thing in his life that he actually had left.

He silently begged for her to leave, so that he could relinquish in the feeling of his heart shattering, and scattering throughout his body in fragile pieces that would never be able to be wholly put back together.

And she did.

After watching him walk away and return to his bike as if he didn’t just dismantle her whole world. Tearing her gaze away from his back, she turned, wiping her hands under her eyes and trying to collect herself. She carried what felt like her lifeless body up the driveway, back into her car. Mindlessly putting the keys into the ignition and beginning to drive.

She didn’t know where she was driving to, and frankly, she didn’t care. As long as it was as far away as she could get from him and the shattered remnants of their relationship.

—-

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outer-bnks · 4 years

Text

Two Burning Hearts Are Dared to Break (JJ x OC) Ch. 3

After their police interrogations, the Pogues are invited to a funeral for John B and Sarah, but instead of finding closure, they find anger.

Warning: brief funeral scene

A/N: Everyone's kind of a hot mess right now, They’re all slowly trying to process their grief in their own time and because they’re such different characters, I want to really give them the time to do it in a way that feels natural? This chapter isn’t the best and was a bit of a filler to ensure that the storyline makes sense - the Pogues don’t know that Rafe killed the Sheriff, hence Elle’s empathy to him.

Word count: 2,237

“Alright, thanks for your statement, we’re gonna need a few days to assess whether charges will be made and we’ll let you know. But if I were you, I’d be expecting to be back here fairly shortly” Shoupe hinted, leading Elle down the hallway to the front of the station.

Elle turned to him, a sarcastic smile filling her face “Can’t wait”. Shoupe began to walk away, before she caught his attention again, “Hey Shoupe, just make sure Ward gets what’s coming to him. Sarah would be ashamed if she knew he got away with it” she stated, a coldness to her tone, before slamming the door shut.

She’d left her lawyer inside to fill out the rest of the legal papers that made no sense to her, grateful to finally be alone after spending three hours being pressed for answers she didn’t have. Her Dad really didn’t let her down this time, hiring one of the best lawyers in the North Carolina distract, a lady maybe mid-30s who was promised a big payout by Elle’s father if she was able to make some kind of settlement that would get the Pogues off the hook.

Crossing the road, Elle got into her car, wasting no time before heading to the Chateau to meet the others.

-----

“How’d it go?!” Pope yelled from the porch as he watched Elle make her way out of the car. He’d been on the edge of his seat ever since he got back from his time at the station. Kiara had to calm him down by subtly bringing up something about autopsy school which launched him into an animated discussion about a new discovery he’d read about. Kie figured that he’d increased his trips to the library in hopes of keeping his mind occupied, and to probably find out what happens to one’s body when they drown.

“It was fine. Shoupe was super suspicious about Kie and I being able to pull off stunts like that without your or JJ’s help but I pulled the sexism card and he quickly shut up. Plus I think our Pogue reputation may have helped a little”, Elle disclosed as she made her way past Kie and Pope to the fridge to grab a beer. Cracking it open she took a large swig, feeling the cool liquid run down her throat.

Sighing, she looked around at the shack, searching for any signs of JJ. As if on cue he entered the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. She ignored the fastening of her heartbeat at the sight of him. Cocking his head to the side he asked “So are they gonna arrest Ward?”. Elle noticed the harsh tone of his voice, something she was getting far too used to.

Looking at her converse to get a break from his intense gaze, she muttered “Not yet, they.. uh.. need to assess whether to charge Kie and I first, and then they’re going to look into it.”

He scoffed, “Yeah, sure they are”, before turning around and heading back onto the porch.

Pope, Kie and Elle remained in the kitchen, absentmindedly chatting about shifts at the Wreck and Heyward’s, and returning to school, in hopes of gaining some concept of normalcy.

JJ’s voice snapped them out of their pleasantries, the sounds of rustling and groaning coming from outside. Hurrying out they saw JJ, on top of Rafe in the driveway, both hands clenching his shirt in his hands, both of their faces red with anger. “What made you think you could come around here?” JJ spat, shoving the back of Rafe’s head into the gravel.

“Dude...ugh get off, fucking relax” Rafe huffed, trying to maneouver his body to find a way to push JJ off of him.

Darting down to the driveway, Pope and Kie managed to pull JJ off him, Elle standing between the two as they got back up on their feet. She watched Rafe with cautious eyes, watching him brush off the gravel from his clothes and running his hand through his hair, meeting his gaze “What are you doing here Rafe?”.

“Look, I know I’m probably the last guy you wanna see right now, but I uh, came down to let you know that we’re going to hold a ceremony for her. For Sarah, and uh, kinda John B, I guess. For the accident.” he spoke, an unexpected softness in his tone.

Pope and Kie exchanged looks, JJ stilling in Pope’s hold. Kie shook her head with disbelief, trying to wrap her mind around what Rafe was telling them,“A funeral? They haven’t even been dead 2 days yet, and you wanna throw a funeral? Are you serious?” she exclaimed.

Elle kept her gaze on Rafe, attempting to decipher how he was coping with all this. Hesitantly he added, “It was Dad’s idea. He wanted to make sure she got the send off she deserves.”

“The send off she deserves?! She shouldn’t be having a funeral at all! It was your Dad that pushed them into that storm!” Pope spoke, his frustration coming out in the coarseness of his voice.

Rafe averted his gaze down to his feet, kicking at the gravel. Elle pretended not to notice the tears that formed in his eyes and the shaky breath he let out. Jumping in before he had the chance to respond, “Where will it be?”.

Rafe looked up, noticing the softness in her voice. “It’ll be at the white church in Figure Eight on Tuesday at midday, and then a wake at our house”.

Elle nodded, turning around to face the others. They all looked between each other, a silent conversation taking place. Pope, Kie and Elle picked up the resistance from JJ, sending him pleading looks. They needed this, Sarah had become just as much a member of their pack as each of them.

Pope, stepping away from beside JJ, came to stand next to Elle. His attitude muted after the emotional turmoil that had washed over the group, “Is this really for John B too?”

Rafe nodded solemnly, “Yeah, it’s for the both of them.”

“Alright, we’ll be there”, Pope responded, “you can leave now”, his firmness coming back into his tone.

Rafe gave a slight nod of his head, walking past the group up the driveway to his Jeep.

“Jesus Christ…” JJ breathed out.

The group returned to the silence that had become all too common for them, retreating back into the Chateau.

-----

Tuesday rolled around, the group deciding to get ready individually and drive in together. As Elle finished off the touches to her light makeup, she tied her hair into a low pony, checking over her appearance. The mid-length navy blue dress she wore was far too flowy for a funeral, but she’d never had to have a funeral dress before.

Kie beeped from out the front. Grabbing her phone and purse, which mainly held tissues, she headed down. “Hey” she offered softly, hopping into the car. Pope, next to Kie in the front turned, giving her a slight smile, “Hey, you alright?”

“I think I will be. You guys?”

“I just want to get this done with” Kie sighed sadly, backing out of the Sterling residence.

JJ remained quiet next to Elle, fumbling with his lighter in his lap. She gazed over his outfit, opting for his navy shorts, a black button down, and no hat. Elle couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him this dressed up, well, dressed up in JJ terms.

The ride was silent except for Bob Marley playing quietly through the car's speakers. Arriving at the church, Elle exited the car, staring up at it she was struck with a strong sense of realisation. Their lives the past few weeks had led to this. And it was their fault.

Elle didn’t know that the rest of the Pogues' minds had also arrived at the same conclusion.They had done this. They could’ve prevented this if they’d just gone to the cops and told them everything they knew about Ward and the gold. But it was too late.

Kie reached for Elle’s hand, giving her a slight tug to make their way in, JJ and Pope trudging along behind them, taking in the scene occurring around them.

The inside of the church was beautiful. Although there were only about 10 rows of seats, the ceilings were high, the walls covered in colourful glass windows, everything in pristine condition. It was crawling with people, extended family, Kooks and people from the Academy that Elle could recognise from her brief time there. At the front sat a table holding two photo frames, one holding a beautiful image of Sarah smiling directly at the camera that must’ve been from some fancy Kook event last year, due to the light pink gown she wore. And next to her, in a noticeably smaller frame, a photo of John B that Kie had taken one day after a surfing session, holding his surfboard, his hair still wet and droplets covering his skin. Where’d they even get that photo? And then piles and piles of colourful flowers, all different bouquets, resting in front of the frames. Elle swallowed down the bile that raised in her throat, averting her eyes from the gut-wrenching reality that this was their funeral.

Choosing one of the smaller, back rows, they sat and watched as everyone around them fussed over Sarah, not once hearing the tiniest mutter of John B’s name. Elle could feel the anxiety radiating off of JJ from her right, his leg bouncing rapidly against hers. As everyone began to be seated and the celebrant took to the stage, she placed her hand on his thigh in an attempt to calm his nerves. Flinching slightly from the contact, but then allowing her act of affection to settle him. As the woman launched into a symbolic story of love and loss, Elle pretended she didn’t notice Pope’s arm slip around Kie’s waist, her body melting into his subtly.

Scanning the crowd, Elle caught eyes with Topper clearly not engaged in the conversation that Rafe and Kelce were having beside him. Elle couldn’t help but feel a small ball of sympathy gather in her stomach at the sadness that swum in his eyes. Looking away, she squeezed JJ’s thigh slightly, whether it was a reminder that she was still there for him, or a reminder of who she should actually feel sympathy for, she wasn’t sure.

Elle couldn’t help but notice how little the ceremony was about John B, and how many times Sarah’s name slipped out of the woman's mouth, her insides burning at the idea of his memory being forgotten. She tried her hardest throughout it to hold back her tears, biting her tongue to suppress the urge to sob at the stories that were being shared of Sarah, and the lack of ones about John B. She wasn’t good at holding in her emotions in such circumstances, but something about this situation told her that this was not the place to express them.

Sweet relief was granted when the ceremony finished, the Pogues quickly filing out of the church and back into Kie’s car.

As Kie began driving out, she scoffed. “That was a joke. Are they kidding me? A ceremony for Sarah and John B my ass!”

Pope reached out his hand, hesitantly placing it on her thigh as she continued. “They were clearly using John B to make themselves look better. Oh look at us, look how caring we are, it’s bullshit! And now we have to go to this stupid wake, to hear them talk about the stupid storm, and probably how stupid John B is for dragging Sarah along with him. Why, huh? Why should we?”

The group becoming accustomed to her outbursts, remained quiet.

“Alright then, let’s ditch. Where should we go?”JJ spoke. Elle noted how subdued his usually boisterous voice was.

And that’s how they ended up at The Wreck, amongst a few Touron’s enjoying the last moments of their Summer holiday. For this time of the afternoon, it was oddly quiet. The Pogues sat at the table, absentmindedly picking at the food Kie’s Dad had offered them when he saw their defeated faces walk through the door.

A soft melody filled the room, before changing to a more upbeat song. Elle recognised the tune, trying to place her finger on where she’d heard it before. Turning to Kie she’d realised. It was from the night that they’d filed into The Wreck after stealing the drones, absolutely starving. And John B and Kie had danced. She watched as a tear ran down Kie’s cheek, pulling her into her shoulder as she began to sob. Elle had been waiting for this, for her breakdown to happen. Knowing Kie as well as she did, she knew she could only keep a front up for so long before cracking. And it had, the wall had cracked, and what had begun as a small stream of water that flowed through, turned quickly into a flood.

Pope watched on, his heart aching to comfort the girl he loves. Unlike Pope, JJ couldn’t bear to watch it, afraid of it triggering his own reaction, moving his chair out from under the table and swiftly making his way out of the restaurant without bidding goodbye to any of them.

----

I didn’t expect to write Kie as so vocal and angry after losing JB + Sarah but it feels right so she’s kinda losing her shit.

Excuse JJ, lil baby doesn’t know how to process his emotions :(

Angst coming in the next chapter finally!

----

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