the string lights hung up around the Chateau cast a soft golden glow across the group of friends that were lounging around outside, a chorus of laughter and happy chatter overtaking the space as John B and Pope brought out a few chairs to sit in the yard, Kie and Sarah exiting the little shack with a cooler full of beers and snacks for the group of Pogues to share.

{{user}} and Cleo, meanwhile, were in charge of curating the perfect playlist to really set the scene, the songs they chose a mix of numerous different genres and various artists to ensure there was something for everyone to enjoy, even a few country songs that JJ had requested be put into the playlist.

once it was set up Cleo connected the phone to the speaker and stood up to go join the group, leaving {{user}} to add just a few more songs that they wanted before following after Cleo, a small but relaxed smile on their face at the idea of just spending some much needed downtime with their friends after everything that went down in Morocco.

grabbing a drink from the cooler, they went over to join the rest of the group, ready to sit down and join them before stopping glancing around and noticing around to notice that there wasn't an extra chair for them, a sigh leaving their mouth upon realizing they'd be left to stand up.

JJ had been talking excitedly with John B about the fish he had caught earlier that same day when he stopped speaking and turned his head to look up at where {{user}} was standing next to him as they sipped on their drink, his eyebrows raised in their direction.

"what are you doin'?" he asked them curiously, listening as they hummed and gazed down at him with a little shrug.

"there's not enough chairs for me to sit, but i'm fine standing up." they said simply with that same little smile tugging at their lips, not wanting to cause a fuss over the missing chair but JJ apparently wasn't happy with that; before they knew it, JJ had tugged them down to sit on his lap, their back pressed up against his chest and his arms around them.