chapter seventeen

"BEER?" JOHN B QUESTIONED as he held a fresh can up to show the eighteen year old.

"no, thanks." dom shook his head, leaning into jj's shoulder as they sat in the hammock.

"since when do you turn down alcohol?" sarah rose an eyebrow.

"i've decided to be sober for a while." the brunet stated. "i really don't want to be labeled an alcoholic."

kie smiled at the boy, "good for you. that's really great."

"thanks." he returned the smile before putting his attention on jj who was whispering something in his ear. he looked up at the boy with a smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek before laying his head back down on his shoulder.

the group sat around joking about random bullshit for a while before dom decided he didn't want to be around the alcohol anymore. he'd been drinking so much that being around it was almost triggering to him at that moment. jj excused the two of them as they made their way inside and to the guest bedroom, closing the door behind them.

"you okay?" jj asked, sitting down on the bed next to the brunet.

dom nodded, "yeah, i'm fine. i just don't want to feel tempted, you know?"

"i know." jj nodded back in understanding. "we can hang in here until you want to go home. i'm sure john b will let me drive the van."

"i'd like to stay here if that's okay with you." his puppy dog eyes made jj smile.

"of course. i enjoy sleeping with you." he pressed a kiss to dom's forehead. "in an actually sleeping way, obviously." his comment made dominic chuckle.

"let's play twenty questions. i know we've been hanging out for a while now, but i'd still like to know more about you."

jj nodded, "okay, question me."

the two asked each other questions, going way past twenty and by the time the rest of the group had come in to go to bed they were probably over two hundred questions in. it was crazy that dominic had no idea what jj's favorite color or favorite food was until then.

a yawn fell from jj's lips and dom frowned. "we can go to sleep."

"no, no." jj quickly shook his head. "i wanna stay up and keep talking to you." he shifted closer to dominic and brushed his hair away from his eyes. "ask me another question."

"i only have one more question." dom licked his dry lips.

jj hummed, eyes fluttering open and shut a few times. "what's that?"

"can you kiss me?" dom mumbled, wiggling himself even closer to the boy so that their noses were brushing against one another. jj smiled small and a chuckle escaped his lips as he gently pressed their lips together. dominic could tell that the blond boy was extremely tired, so he didn't attempt to push things further than a simple kiss. "goodnight, jj." jj only hummed in response before his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep.

dom laid there, staring at him for only a few moments before deciding to get a drink from the kitchen since he'd finished his water bottle. he carefully got off of the bed and made his way out of the room and into the kitchen where john b was leaning against the counter with a water bottle of his own.

"is jj asleep?" john b asked as he watched dom open the fridge and pull out another water bottle. dom only nodded as he leaned against the fridge, twisting open his water bottle. "since we're alone..." john b trailed off and dom looked up at him. "can i ask you a question?"

dom nodded, "sure."

"what are your intentions with jj?"

dom was completely thrown off by the question. it was not what he expected to come out of john b's mouth. "what do you mean?"

"i know how jj feels about you." john b began. "and i know that you already know how he feels about you, too." dom tilted his head the slightest bit to show that he was listening. "but how do you feel about him?" he scrunched up his nose in disgust. "the last thing i need is for you to break his heart and run back to rafe."

dominic understood john b's concern. he wasn't entirely sure what was going on with his own feelings, but he knew he wouldn't romantically run back to rafe. rafe expressed his love for dom far too late, but dom knew he didn't feel the love for rafe that he felt for jj.

"dom?"

the brunet snapped out of his thoughts, eyes meeting john b's. "sorry, i—i'm not going to go back to rafe. jj—he means too much to me."

"do you love him?"

he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. did dominic love jj? he practically admitted it to himself already, but was he ready to say it out loud? he'd never told someone that he loved them except his parents and that was also on a rare occasion. he also was never good with deep conversations like such.

"i don't know." he blurted. he watched the frown form on john b's face and he licked his lips, heart beating hard in his chest. "i think so." the younger boy raised an eyebrow at dom and the brunet felt his cheeks get hot. "i've never told someone that i loved them before and even admitting it to their best friend is new to me. i—i just really don't want to fuck things up with jj. he's practically the one reason as to why i'm still going sometimes and what i feel for him is something i have never felt for rafe. that i know for sure."

a small smile appeared on john b's face and he nodded. "okay, cool."

"'cool'?"

john b nodded, "yeah, cool." he gave him a nod as a 'goodnight' and made his way to his bedroom, leaving dom alone in the kitchen with his thoughts. he took a sip of his water bottle before returning to the bedroom, letting jj cuddle into him and rest his head on dom's chest before he turned the nightstand light off and went to bed himself.

i'm dying with
bronchitis so idk
if this is even good
i apologize i'll rewrite
it later but i wanted to
at least give you an update