He looked up from the textbook he was pretending to be reading, “Chem?” The tone of his voice was surprised, like he’d ever be caught dead taking a science class again. “Oh hello no, I do not fuck with Chem. This is why you’re crazy. Clearly.” Santino placed his textbook down on the table and began to fumble through his bag, managing to find a small cologne he’d left in his bag for moments like this and a pill bottle. “Take two of these and-” He suggested, spraying the male besides him, “I’m sorry, you smell like freshman year. It was giving me flashbacks.” A single chill ran down his spine. Those were dark times. “What did I tell you? If you can’t drink on the weekdays, don’t.” Offering a laughing, Santino shook his head, “It’s been interesting to watch, though.”
“It’s organic chem,” JJ added, as if he were announcing the toxicity of a snake. He propped his chin in his hands just in time to get spritzed with drug store Armani. He blinked slowly, unphased-- or rather too trashed to be bothered to dodge the plumes of masculinity and synthetic testosterone.
“I ain’t no quitter. The guys were going so I kept up. I must’ve had a dozen picklebacks. My body’s gonna last forever once I’m dead with the amount of vinegar I drank.”
“how is it that you always manage to do this?” kai teased, shaking his head at the boy in front of him. “you know, i’m going to have to start charging you for this shit soon.” the boy’s words were still playful, fully knowing that the boy was trying to get over a hangover. kai respected him nonetheless, he’d had some pretty rough nights himself that carried on to the morning, so how could he not help a friend in need?
@tigermckinnon
“Charge me whatever you want, man. You and Lav are lifesavers.” JJ couldn’t deny the relief he felt at Kai’s concession. Pre-med was proving itself the kind of beast that he couldn’t believe he was taking on every time he showed up for a class. Just the thought of it made him want to slam another jagerbomb.
“Sometimes I can’t believe they haven’t kicked me out yet,” he admitted, sitting upright to retrieve his books. “And there’s four more years after this one. Minimum. Beats me how anyone does it.”
sydney could smell the boy from a few tables away, it was obvious to her that the boy was now trying to cram. “i’m not.” she told him before lightly shaking her head. “don’t you think it would be smart to take care of your smell and hangover first? you’re distracting yourself and everyone else.”
@tigermckinnon
JJ groaned, dropping his head in between the bracket of his arms and deflating as Sydney chided him, her voice nothing more than another jab at his throbbing skull. He could hardly smell himself but he sniffed his t-shirt anyway.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, yanking himself upright with a renewed sense of purpose. “I just need to make it to Christmas break. Do you know anyone in Chem?”
Lavender was in the student’s lounge when she heard someone open the door, lifting her head to see JJ joining her smelling like tequila. “Can I ask what were you doing before coming here?” She raised her eyebrows at him. After three years in college, she thought he would learn to deal with alcohol and parties only on the weekends. “Yes, I am taking Chem 2220. And, yes, lucky, you, I did my homework. You came to the right person. Honestly, what would you do without me?” The blonde joked with a soft chuckle.
“You’re a godsend,” JJ told her, shoulders sloping in relief as he sat up to sidle up to her. It was a good question that he asked himself frequently as his bad habits doubled and tripled themselves through the school years. College wasn’t the good time people made it out to be. Pre-med was even worse if the alcoholic fumes wafting off of him on a Thursday didn’t say it all.
“I don’t know but I’m glad I don’t have to find out,” he said, kissing her temple. “I was sleeping. Honest. It’s just things ran late with the guys this morning. Really late. So late that it was morning by the time it was all over.”
JJ looked at her earnestly. “I don’t do this all the time, I swear.”
One would assume that by his third year, JJ would’ve have gotten a handle on his hangovers but each passing grade meant one more shot to take to obliterate everything he’d just learned. Call it built tolerance or youthful recklessness but day drinking in the middle of midterms should’ve been considered an extreme sport.
JJ slumped over the arm of the chair in the student’s lounge, reeking mildly of tequila and pickle juice.
“Please tell me you’re taking Chem 2220. I can’t remember if I did the homework. I don’t know where my notes are,” he said. “Please tell me you did yours.”
[ & ; * - kj apa / (closeted) homosexual / he/him ] isn’t it weird how close { JJ “Tiger” McKinnon } resembles { kj apa }? damn, i heard they are a { twenty-one } year old { undergraduate } and a member of { zeta lambda epsilon } studying { pre-med }. outside of class { tiger } participates in { football, boxing & water polo } and their party anthem is { West Coast Smoker } by { Fall Out Boy }. — j / 21+ / they/them / pst
TW: War, military, PTSD, gun implication
TLDR; JJ’s a Navy brat with a father with PTSD and it rattled their whole family when he blew out JJ’s ear drum and left him deaf on one side. As a result of living with his father, JJ has adopted a few symptoms of PTSD which he is fixing with copious amounts of partying. He is an alcoholic golden boy. Nice guy. Loves dogs. Naturally red-headed. Gay but he doesn’t know that.
BIOGRAPHY
Eight schools within four years is what Jason considers ‘not horrible’ considering that he’d gone through five houses before he was eight years old. Born into a Naval family, there were plenty of perks to having parents in the military including the cool stories and a never-ending rotation of addresses but the novelty of trying new food and exploring cultures all over the world lost its luster quickly when Jason could never quite answer the simple question of where he belonged. He wasn’t white, nor was he Samoan. He didn’t live here nor there.
Always the odd one out, school wasn’t the only place he felt out of place when home itself became a war zone. Jason always heard stories about how his father was a hero but all he knew were the bullets and shrapnel Baghdad spat out by the time he was old enough to understand that something about Dad wasn’t right. Night terrors, avoidance, hyper-vigilance were all part of the untreated symptoms Jason’s dad suffered and by proxy, so did the rest of the McKinnons.
Family life went from uneventful to turbulent as Dom grew aggressive and angry, leaving Sarah and Jason to manage the nuclear structure of their family for as long as they could for the sake of antiquated social values. To everyone looking in, The McKinnons were picture perfect patriots. Icons of the good ol’ American.
It wasn’t until an incident during a Christmas eve that left Jason deaf in one ear did things finally fall apart. Sarah applied for divorce and demanded space for herself and her son who’d lost enough already without a reckless father whose denial took a part of his future too.
Jason’s dream of enlisting was shattered in a single bang and he was left to scrounge up the pieces. Luckily for him, Yale had accepted his application and with his recent loss moving the admittance committee enough to grant him a scholarship and a spot on the football team.
What Jason lacked in stability at home, he made up for in an excellent academic career when puberty seemed to make rampant apologies for taking away more of his hearing every year by making him a contestable athlete. He was fast, strong and handsome which easily made him popular with just about everyone who had a pair of eyes. Sweet, compassionate and loving, Jason had all the make of becoming an exemplary model of a human being– except that he took to alcohol like a fish to water and would occasionally (often) make bad choices for reasons no one could seem to make sense of.
No one looked at his degeneration as anything more than average teenage behaviour and they certainly didn’t look at him as a beacon of anxiety when he was hidden behind a studly golden veneer that seemed to have it all.
After all, he did make it to Yale.
HEADCANONS
Unilaterally deaf and has some hearing loss in the remaining ear. Wears a biCROS hearing aid. He has a tough time at parties and in the pool but generally can hear just fine.
Everyone calls him Tiger because of an incident at the beginning of freshman year where he begged his mom to dye his hair black so he could blend in with the other kids. He was unveiled as a ginger by his teammates after the guys saw him in the locker room and the carpet didn’t match the drapes. He’s never dyed his hair again, but often wears a cap to hide all his red.
He’s naturally red-headed even though he’s not entirely white. Listen, it’s a recessive gene.
He’s a good Samaritan so he does volunteer work and all that goodie-two shoes nonsense and probably goes to Church on Sunday too. He’s a really busy guy between football and school, doing his best to get a degree that’ll ensure him a future after throwing balls.
He is really good at throwing balls, though.
People pleasing yes man, says yes to everything.
Incapable of saying no, even if it’s in his best interest to.
Says he’s straight but he’s gay and frankly, in a bit of denial about it. JJ has no measuring stick of what being gay is supposed to be like when he grew up shrouded in military culture that liberally uses the f-word and is generally, pretty homophobic.
He plays the guitar, to no one’s surprise
Very romantic love sick moron
Loves alcohol more than he should (It’s the trauma)
Should probably be in pi tau alpha with how fast he can crush Four Lokos but he likes community service too much for that.
He has 3 dogs at home with his mom and he loves them a lot.
