I think JJ is the sort of person to have a secret 'keep sake' box. one he hides from everyone that's filled with photos, bracelets, objects gifted to him by his friends or things he finds on their adventures. But the only person he's ever shown it to was Kie.
As they lived on the cut, he probably wasn't gifted 'expensive' gifts a lot, if at all, so even if one of his friends made him something out of old wood, or tried to paint something for him for his birthday, Christmas, or just because they wanted to, he'd treasure it and keep it safe in this box.
I bet there'd be loads of painted pebbles of all different sizes in there from Kiara. Painting cute things on pebbles seems like a very Kie thing to do. His favourite would be one she did of a detailed turtle wearing a backwards cap. She said it was his spirit animal.
He's probably got things in there like his very first lighter, keyrings he 'collected' from all the locations they went to, the first lure he ever used when he went fishing with John B the first time, an old maths test sheet where he got a good score for the first time because Pope helped him study, the broken remnants of his first loved pair of sunglasses that he still wore even when the lenses were falling out...
little things that he always kept to silently look through in the middle of the night when he's having a bad day, to remember the people he has around him, even when they aren't there in the room with him.
The most recent addition was a group photo of him and his 5 best friends, his family. Pope, Kie, Cleo, John B and Sarah. He remembered the day well. It was his birthday actually. The group were smiling and laughing while JJ was being held down by Kiara as she tried to force a birthday hat onto his head. The group sang him happy birthday out of tune as John B carried over a chocolate cake with a surf board on top that Sarah had made from fondant. It was the best birthday he'd ever had.
He shed many tears that night in front of the bonfire as he glanced around and saw the people he loved the most sleeping peacefully beside him, knowing that they loved him just as much. He wasn't sure why so many people wanted to be around him, why they loved him like they did, but it didn't matter... The thing that mattered was that he had a family he would go to the ends of the earth for, and he knew they'd do the same for him without hesitation.
For the first time in his life he had a real family. And be dammed to anyone who'd try to take them from him.
izzy806
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
