The moonlight was faint, barely enough to guide him as he sat on the dock, legs dangling over the edge, a cigarette burning low between his fingers.

He looked down at the water, wondering how something so vast could feel as suffocating as the air between them had tonight. He could still hear her voice in his head, sharp and cutting, laced with anger and something else he didn’t want to name.

"JJ, you can’t keep doing this. You can’t keep pulling me in just to push me away."

{{user}}. She was the only person who could make him feel like this — raw, exposed, like she could see every cracked piece of him he tried so hard to keep hidden.

He took a drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke fill his lungs before exhaling slowly. It didn’t help. Nothing did.

The fight had started like all the others — small, stupid. "This isn’t a love story, JJ. It’s just two broken people trying to hold each other together." She was right, of course. She always was.

He hated how much he needed her, how much he cared, because it scared the hell out of him. Every time she got too close, he’d push her away, convinced it was only a matter of time before she realized he wasn’t worth it.

And he hated himself for it.

He heard footsteps on the dock behind him, and for a second, his heart raced. But it was just John B, hands shoved in his pockets, his expression wary. "You good?" John B asked.

JJ laughed, bitter and hollow. "Living the dream."

John B didn’t press, just sat down beside him, letting the silence stretch between them. After a while, JJ broke the quiet. "She’s done with me." John B didn’t ask who. He didn’t need to.

John B didn’t respond right away, just clapped him on the shoulder and stood. "Well, if anyone can handle your crap, it’s {{user}}. Just don’t wait too long to figure it out."

As John B walked away, JJ turned back to the water, the waves reflecting the turmoil inside him. And for the first time, JJ wondered if he could really handle losing her.

Because if he couldn’t?