preview from a fic i’m working on just because:
The summer before senior year Pope buys an old burgandy Harvard sweatshirt at a thrift store on the cut.
Kiara calls it manifesting, something about spirituality and fate, and then sprays frankincense inside the collar for ‘good luck’.
He doesn’t understand it, but thanks her anyway, and hopes she knows he means it.
John B doesn’t get it. He’s always had drive and motivation, but never for school, and he’s perfectly content to attend the little community college in Dare county. But he cheers Pope on, always happy to listen to his rants about forensics or asks him questions from a deck of flash cards.
JJ, of course, loves the sweatshirt.
He steals it from Popes drawers until the frankincense scent mixes with weed and gasoline and sea salt. Pope loves it even more then, because that way he can always carry JJ with him.
And one night in January, when Pope opens his email to discover that his Harvard dreams weren’t just dreams after all, JJ is there to jump up and down next to him, kiss him shamelessly while their friends cheer. The room smells like frankincense and JJ’s mouth tastes like hope.
