For: @maplelattes22, who asked for “JJ x Kie, request where he tries to braid her hair/do a hairstyle but is having a hard time”
Notes: Turned out to be a little softer than comedic. I’m always taking requests!
Summary: Kie is sick the first week of summer and JJ knows exactly how to make her feel better.
The first week of summer, official summer with no school and endless days for surfing and boating and drinking around bonfires, and Kiara has a cold. So today at least she is basically bedridden, sinuses too stuffed to put her head in the water, eyes too sensitive to go outside in the bright sun. She’s moping around her bedroom, propped up on pillows and aimlessly leafing through one magazine or another, when her window slides up and in tumbles JJ, a thoroughly unappreciated knight in damp boardshorts.
Kie barely registers the devil may grin he always has on his stupid gorgeous face before she’s pulling her bedcovers up and over her head. JJ, like all the Pogues, has seen her scraped up after a long day surfing, expelling water and snot out of her nose, hair tangled and definitely not at her most composed, but being sick is something entirely different. She knows she isn’t that pretty at the best of times, but she will not allow JJ to see her with her nose as red as a reindeers and feeling like cotton balls have been shoved up her sinuses.
JJ laughs at her reaction, and that does not help her mood. “Aw, Kie, don’t be like that. I’m here to help you feel better.”
She stubbornly keeps the comforter over her head even as she hears his footsteps come closer. “Go away, JJ. I’m sick. Go bother the other guys.”
“John B. picked up a shift at the Club. They didn’t need me today. Pope is studying for some test with letter–“
“the PSAT?” She interjects, and he continues, “—yeah that one—and I saw them all day every day at school, when I went to school anyway, so I figure now is the perfect day for some JJ and Kie quality time. Turn on that fancy TV of yours.”
Letting out a huff of air, she peeks one eye out of the comforter. “I really don’t feel like company right now. I’m sick, I’m gross, and I just want…”
Kiara trails off when JJ puts his hand on her head. “You’re not gross. I’ll leave if you don’t want me around, but…you’re never gross.” He looks awkward all the sudden, uncomfortable with what he just said and a little defensive like if she makes him leave, he’ll take it the wrong way. And at worst, JJ is always entertaining. If he wants to hangout and watch her blow snot rockets into a tissue, then who is she to deny him his entertainment.
“The remote is on the dresser.”
“Yes!” He cheers, bounding over to grab it, then effortlessly flinging himself on the other side of her mattress. “What daytime soap is on now? The Bold and the Beautiful? The Young and the Restless?”
Either is an apt description for JJ, she thinks. It’s actually pretty nice to feel his solid body next to hers, and maybe she does feel a little better after all. She twists her head to look over and up at him.
“Aw there she is.” JJ grins down at her, back against her headboard, looking at ease and her heart flutters. “Come on out, princess.”
Kiara slowly, more for show than anything else, lowers her blanket down. She sits upright for a moment, then scoots back toward the headboard too, intending to lean against it as JJ is. Instead, he, looking deliberately at the tv, lifts his right arm to the side, a clear invitation if she’s ever seen one. Hesitantly, she settles into place, tucked under his shoulder. She can smell him here, salt and sun and boy, and her stomach is fluttering a little.
They watch the show quietly for a bit. Kie acknowledges she isn’t really paying attention, more focused on the smooth, warm skin covered muscle under her cheek, and the slight pull from where he’s playing with the ends of her hair.
It doesn’t take long for JJ to get twitchy from just sitting there. She can feel his eyes drift down toward the top of her head, and the light stroking of her hair becomes more deliberate and thoughtful.
“My mom taught be how to braid hair, you know.”
She shook her head, turned her neck to catch his bright blue eyes with hers. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah,” He says, voice tight, like he’s forcing it to be casual. “I’d braid her hair after…when she was feeling sad. She used to say it made her feel better.”
Kie shrugs a little, heart aching for him and trying not to push because she knows that’s a surefire way to get him to retreat like the ocean at low tide. “I’d probably feel better if you braided my hair too.”
“Yeah? Ok!” He’s eager suddenly, a little puppy like, and he’s poking at her until she leans up and moves forward so he can scoot behind her. The TV plays on in the foreground, but she can picture how JJ’s eyes are squinted in concentration as he gathers her heavy mass of hair into his hands. Thank goodness she’d washed her hair just that morning.
It’s surprisingly painless. For some reason, she’d expected his calloused fingers to be rougher, to catch on the curls of her hair. Instead, JJ makes an effort to be gentle, combing lightly through any tangles and carefully navigating the strands. The warm summer sun shines through the window, the TV volume is a low murmur, and he hums to himself as he focuses on the pattern. It feels like he’s doing multiple smaller braids, which makes sense for her hair type. Kie thinks maybe this is what contentment feels like and she likes it.
She’s drifting in and out of awareness, always conscious of the warmth of him behind her and his hands occasionally lightly brushing her neck, but she didn’t really realize how much time passed until he announced triumphantly, “Done!”
JJ hopped off the bed, and tugged on her wrist until she followed him into the floor and over to her mirror. “Tada!” He says, gesturing broadly.
The braids are actually pretty tight—both in that they look good and are structurally sound. He braided four thick braids, and she ran her fingers over them before turning to face him.
“I’m impressed, JJ.” She tells him, smiling up into his face. “You did a really good job.”
“And you feel better?” He prods. “You’ll come out with us tomorrow?”
Kie laughs a little. “Yeah, I feel better. I’ll see you at the Cut tomorrow morning.”
Their eyes catch, and she’s still smiling but doesn’t feel like laughing anymore. She doesn’t recognize the small half twist in his mouth. It’s not his usual recklessly wide grin, or his got-away-with-something smirk. There’s a fondness to it coupled with an unusual softness in his eyes that is utterly new. For a moment, she thinks this is the moment when he kisses her or she kisses him and all the feelings she’s been so careful to never acknowledge come out and all the rules she’s been so careful to obey become irrelevant.
Neither lean forward. In the golden light of the early evening, JJ reaches up to trace the braid closest to her face. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kie.”
Then he’s back out her window and running off into the sunset. She stays by her window for a minute, watching him go. The braids will need to be undone eventually—not even she is willing to wear them out in public like that. But they can stay exactly as they are for now.
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