are you still taking prompts? i'm soft for a Jackson & Kira friendship lately, so "You look like you need a hug. Come here." for them?
send me a ship and a quote!
He’s not surprised when Kira seeks him out in the locker room after the game. It’s like she has a sixth sense or something when it comes to Jackson, can effortlessly tell the difference between when he’s acting like a jackass just because and when he’s lashing out because he’s upset.
“Hey, you okay?” she asks gently.
Jackson shrugs, feigning indifference. “Not really. I cost us the entire game.”
He turns to face her, and she takes one look at him and just knows. “You look like you need a hug. Come here.”
Jackson wants to say no, or tell her to fuck off, but he can’t. Not with Kira. She’s too pure and wholesome and sweet to deny her anything. So he does, wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her neck and just breathes.
“It’s gonna be okay,” she murmurs, rubbing soothing circles into his back gently. Jackson can’t deny it, her hugs are top-tier.
“It’s too much, Kira,” he admits, quietly. “Lacrosse, and the swim team, and my classes, and all the fucking werewolf shit, I just…I can’t do it all. This isn’t even fun anymore.”
“Quit the team, then,” she suggests, like it’s the simplest solution in the world.
“What? I can’t,” Jackson argues, pulling back to look at her like she’s lost her mind.
“Why not? You don’t like it anymore. The whole pack can tell that you’re not happy when you’re here, and all we want is for you to be happy. And leaving would give you more time for everything else, and maybe you could finally stop spreading yourself so thin.”
“I can’t, Kira. It’d be proof that I’m not good enough,” he snaps, brutally honest.
“Giving up something that isn’t good for you anymore isn’t weak, Jackson. It’s the opposite, actually,” Kira says, giving him an encouraging smile. “You have to be so strong and so brave to recognize when something you used to love is hurting you and get rid of it.”
He considers her words. He does have to admit, it sounds good. It sounds like such a relief, to be free of this thing that used to be his, but got twisted into a mess of McCall and supernatural shit and an overwhelming feeling of inferiority.
“My parents would be pissed,” he says, because it’s true.
“I’ll tell them with you,” Kira offers, smile growing as he starts to come around. “They love me, it’ll be fine.”
Jackson answers with another long hug, nodding into her shoulder.
He tells his parents the next day, and they are pissed, but Kira defends him so fiercely, coupled with sickeningly sweet smiles, that no one can really argue with her.