His Island Paradise

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/53584372.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandom: Outer Banks (TV)
Relationships: Kiara "Kie" Carrera/JJ Maybank, Kiara "Kie" Carrera & JJ Maybank
Characters: Kiara "Kie" Carrera, JJ Maybank, John B. Routledge
Additional Tags: Kiara "Kie" Carrera Loves JJ Maybank, JJ Maybank Loves Kiara "Kie"
Carrera, Kiara "Kie" Carrera/JJ Maybank In Love, JJ Maybank Has
Feelings For Kiara "Kie" Carrera, Kiara "Kie" Carrera Has Feelings For
JJ Maybank, Endgame Kiara "Kie" Carrera/JJ Maybank
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2024-02-07 Words: 2,787 Chapters: 1/1
 His Island Paradise
by jsmits25

Summary

JJ and Kiara; Poguelandia

or

What if JJ and Kiara’s kiss at Kitty Hawk was actually their second kiss, not the first

Notes

We really needed more insight on what the shift between Kiara and JJ looked like on
Poguelandia so I wrote a little something. Hope you like it! Comments and Kudos are
cherished and keep me going! ❤
He's not exactly sure when she started looking at him like this, was it in the life raft when he
came to, was it in the shipping container or earlier than that? He wonders if is all a figment of
his imagination, playing a deceitful trick on his subconscious.

It's their seventh night on the island, the sound of the waves splashing on the shoreline and
the palm trees whistling in the gentle breeze providing him a sense of calm given the
extenuating circumstances of being shipwrecked on a deserted island, he's not even sure that's
exactly how one would describe how they got here. He's thankful for the momentary peace
and quiet as he sits and stares into the orange of the fire as everyone else has fallen into
slumber. He didn't get much sleep the first night. Kie, in his opinion, overly paranoid about
his potential for a concussion although Pope was just as concerned with that as she was. The
two took turns waking him throughout the night and he grumbled every time although he'll
admit he gave Pope a harder time than Kiara. Arguing with her was always a lose/lose so he
thought better of it and kept the grumbling to a minimum during her watch.

He remembers her waking him the first time, gently brushing her fingers across his forehead,
moving hair out from his eyes and when he opened his she looked like an angel in the glow
of the moonlight. His angel. He felt it in her touch on his neck when he came to on the life
raft and again with the brush of her hand that night. And he swears she's looking at him...
differently.

****

"J... wake up." She whispers shaking his arm as he quietly groans at the interruption. His
hand finds his face, rubbing his eyes before opening them to look at her.

"What is it, Kie?" He asks quietly so not to wake the others like he has every night since
they've arrived on the island, aside from the first.

"I heard something." She's sitting up, looking into the dark thickness of the unknown.
They've been in, rummaging for berries and water, firewood and other things during the day
but the darkness of night seems to affect her more than the others.

"Kiara, you have to stop this. There's nothing out there." He tries to reassure her, running his
hand up and down her arm when he says it, sitting up to look at her. When she doesn't pull
her eyes away from the darkness he goes to lay back down, pulling her with him, "Come
here."

****

John B. was the first to stir every morning. He always was the earliest riser of the Pogues,
had been for as long as JJ knew him so it was no surprise to JJ that he would be the one to
notice the sleeping arrangements between him and Kiara changing from sundown to sunrise.
Yes, they fell asleep near each other every night but when John B. awoke every morning,
Kiara was nestled in tightly against JJ, his arms wrapped around her and their breathing
almost always in sync. The two looked so... peaceful.
As plans were being made for the day on who would be responsible for what, John B. had
decided that he and JJ would do the fishing, leaving Kiara with Sarah to continue on the palm
tree makeshift beds that were a day or two away from being finished. They weren't sure how
comfortable they would be but it had to be better than the current sand beds they were lying
in.

The Routledge boy didn't fail to notice the looks JJ and Kiara gave each other, the two hadn't
been split up since they arrived on the island and in his opinion both seemed a little uneasy
about it which only solidified his desire to get his chosen brother away from the rest of the
Pogues, specifically Kie, so he could check in with him.

After grabbing the makeshift spears and heading down to the water, John B. doesn't waste
much time before asking, "So, what's going on with you and Kie?"

"What?" JJ asks, confusion on his face at the question.

"I couldn't help but notice the two of you cuddled up next to each other the last few
mornings." He says it with a knowing smirk on his face, brows lifted high making JJ roll his
eyes at the sight.

"Nothing's going on... just drop it." He reaches for one of the spears from John B.'s hands and
is annoyed when the Routledge boy pulls them away and out of reach.

"So something IS going on!"

"Stop making that face and give me a spear." JJ tells him with a pointed look.

When John B. still doesn't hand him a spear he gives in, "Look... she's been waking me up at
night. Thinks she hears something and getting her to lay down with me seems to help calm
her down is all."

John B. nods his head as a smile grows on his face, "And you like it."

"Is this why you wanted to go fishing today? So you could interrogate me about this?"

"Maybe." The Routledge boy says with a slight shrug of his shoulders passing a spear to him
before continuing, "You know... I've never seen her like that. In the life raft, pleading for you
to wake up. Don't get me wrong we were all worried but she was another level of scared man,
I'm telling you."

JJ sits with what he's heard for a minute before responding, “Well I wasn't conscious to
compare the two but I remember her being pretty scared when Pope wasn't waking after
Ricky stuck him with that pediatric dose of epinephrine. I think you're making things up in
your head, John B. Maybe you've got a case of island fever."

He chuckles, "No. I'm telling you... it was different. I see the way she's been looking at you
since and I see the way you look at her, although I can't say that's really new."

"Stop it, John B. It's never gonna happen."

"Why not?" It's a question JJ feels he's been asked more than once since they've been friends
and it's getting difficult to come up with reasons why if he's being honest.

"Uh... I know you weren't around a whole lot during that time but her and Pope had a thing."

"So? Seems like that's done and over with.”

"Look, it’s weird… thinking about being with her when she and Pope... you know."

"Had sex?" John B. bluntly asks.

When the unpleasant scrunch of JJ's face answers John B.'s question he adds, “I think your
overthinking it, JJ."

"Okay, when did this turn into a therapy session, John B.? Are we going hungry today or are
we fishin?"

****

Later that afternoon, when the boys returned with their catch for the day, bringing it to Pope
and Cleo to filet and prepare JJ took it upon himself to seek Kiara out. Fishing didn't seem to
distract him from his worry over being separated from the brunette for the first time since
arriving although he of course wouldn't admit that to anyone but himself.

Sarah had already moved from their spot to welcome back the other boy leaving Kiara alone
in her weaving.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Missed you out there today." He tells her, running his hand through his hair out of what feels
like nervousness now whenever he's around her.

"I'm sure John B. was a better fishing partner than I've been." She replies softly with a shrug
looking back down at what she's doing. It was true, she hadn't really caught anything but he
didn't care about that. Simply put he enjoyed her company over her lack of fishing skills.

"Nah... he talks too much." He says, pulling a giggle from her but when she doesn't look back
up at him he continues, "Let's take a walk, stretch those sexy legs of yours. They've got to be
stiff from sitting here half the day. What do you say?"

She brushes past his flirty comment with a smile, "Yeah... okay." When she stands a little too
quickly though her knees buckle and he's grabbing for her arms to keep her from falling.

"Whoa... you good?" He asks, feeling the softness of her bronze skin under his fingertips.

"Yeah... sorry. Guess I have been sitting here too long."

When she regains her strength the two make towards the water, walking along the beach had
become something they did every day, almost routine at this point. Both finding solace in the
sound of the waves crashing onto the white sandy beach. They would talk, mostly joke
around with each other, at times finding it helped keep the anxiety of their situation at bay, or
at least hers. JJ had no desire to leave his professed island of Poguelandia.

"How you doin?" He asks, picking up a fallen palm tree branch and tossing it aside.

"With what?"

"I don't know...guess I wanted to ask you about the last few nights. Are you having
nightmares or something?"

"No." She's so quick to respond he's not sure he believes her.

"Are you sure? If you were... are... you know you could tell me, right?"

"I'm sorry I've woken you up every night. I'll try to stop." She claims, looking anywhere but
at him and he notices.

"It's not about that, Kie. It's fine, really. I just wanna know what's going on. Let me help you."

"Look, I totally understand if the change in sleeping arrangements in the middle of the night
is too weird for you. I get it... don't want anyone giving you a hard time about it. It won’t
happen again.”

Before he can argue with her she's walking back towards camp leaving him alone, cursing
himself for making her think he was uncomfortable being close to her because it was actually
the complete opposite. Fuck John B. for getting in his head this morning. This was all his
fault.

During dinner she didn't sit next to him per the usual routine and she wouldn't even make eye
contact with him. Nobody else but John B. seemed to notice, giving him questioning looks
that JJ chose to ignore out of frustration.

A few hours later, he noticed when she settled down for the night farther away from him and
although he had expected it, it still felt like a punch to his gut. If she didn't want to sleep near
him there wasn't much he could do about it and he wasn't about to approach her and argue
about it in front of the Pogues. He told himself he'd talk to her tomorrow before drifting off to
sleep.

****

He wasn't sure what woke him, the glow of the fire all he could make out as his eyes slowly
adjusted. But before long he could make out the silhouette of a person sitting up on the other
side of the dimming fire, face buried in their hands as they rocked back and forth, quietly
sobbing. And it didn't take him long to figure out who it was... Kie.

He quietly shuffles to his feet and makes his way over to her, being careful not to wake
anyone. He knew the last thing she would want is an audience. Was probably going to be
upset enough that she had woken him.

"Kie..." He starts before brushing his hand up and down her back. When she doesn't show
any sign that she's going to acknowledge him he inserts his hands under her arms from
behind and lifts her to her feet, turning her towards him and walking them away from the fire.

When he's gotten her far enough away he hugs her a little tighter, "Please stop crying, Kiara...
please." His heart is breaking seeing her like this. She's always been independent, strong and
fierce. He wasn't used to seeing her scared or in tears.

"I'm sorry." She says as she tries to control her emotions. Her hands finally leave her face to
wrap around his backside and he can feel her thumbs moving back and forth on his lower
back and the feeling makes him shiver. Her face now planted against his chest he can feel his
shirt become damp with her tears.

"Don't be sorry, Kie. Just tell me what's wrong." He whispers in her ear, keeping her tucked
safely in his arms.

He feels her chest inhale a breath before she says, "I lied earlier. I am having nightmares."

Not knowing what the nightmares are exactly he doesn't know what to say besides, "It's
okay... you're okay."

"You're not... in my dreams. You die, J."

It's then that he realizes what her nightmares had been about. Him. Dying. He only knew
what he had been told, the last thing he remembered was putting himself in harms way to
save her before waking up in her arms on the life raft. He can’t say he would go back and do
anything differently. John B. had tried to tell him earlier how distraught she had been but
until now he didn't really believe him.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that? Why tell me you heard something?”

“I guess I just needed to hear your voice, J.” She says, still weeping.

He removes an arm to bring his hand to the back of her head, lacing his fingers in her curls,
forcing her head to turn towards the water wanting her to feel the breeze against her face
hoping it would help calm her. "I'm alive, Kie... I'm not going anywhere. I don't have any
plans to leave you."

It's an honest statement. He's been in love with her since the day he met her, even if he fought
against her joining the Pogues at first. But now, he can't imagine life without her and he
wants to tell her, he does but he's scared. Scared she'll rip his heart out like she did Pope.
Pope... how would he feel if they became something? So many excruciating variables to
consider, not to mention the fact that she's completely out of his league ten fold or so he tells
himself.

"Promise?" She asks, looking up at him now and even in the darkness of night he can see her
eyes looking into his as if she can see inside his damaged and broken soul.
"I promise." He reassures, pulling his hands from her hair and back to gently wipe away the
last of her tears. When she lifts up on her tippy toes unexpectedly and plants a kiss to his lips
he freezes in the moment and for a second he wonders if he's the one dreaming. When she
pulls away he's quick to look back towards camp to confirm it's still just the two of them
awake. He breathes a sigh of relief to himself at the confirmation before he’s looking at her
again, a shy smile letting her know all she needs to know.

"Should we get some sleep?" She asks, her hands brushing up and down his back.

"Uh... yeah... yeah we probably should." He says overly nodding like an idiot but in his
defense Kiara Carrera just kissed him and his mind hasn't fully caught up yet.

She takes his hand in hers as she pulls him back towards camp but when she attempts to
break free to lay back down where he found her he tightens his hold on her hand. He doesn’t
have to say anything, pointing in the direction of their usual spot in the sand. She shyly
smiles and follows his directions as they lay down, taking a couple seconds to awkwardly get
comfortable. He wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her back into him and wishes her,
"Sweet dreams, Kie."

The next couple weeks are filled with the same daily tasks, sleeping arrangements, Pogue
fellowship and stolen walks along the beach. They don’t talk about “it” and although they
haven’t kissed again JJ can feel the shift between them; the longing glances, the brush of a
shoulder or hand and the feeling he gets just being near her… it’s… something.

****

21 days later, he’s staring into the sky as a small plane passes over his island paradise and he
looks at her when he hears her yell, waving her arms to try and draw attention to them. He
can’t hide the disappointment he feels when she looks at him. Returning to OBX, to the shit
show that was his life, wasn’t in his future plans and he can already feel her… slipping away.
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