JJ Maybank had always been known as the wild one of the Pogues. Trouble seemed to follow him wherever he went, though most of the time he invited it with a smirk and a reckless choice. Growing up with an alcoholic and abusive father, and no mother around to soften the edges of that life, he had learned early to fend for himself. More nights than not, he ended up at the Chateau, the ramshackle house where his best friend John B lived. The two of them had been inseparable since third grade, brothers in every way that mattered. With Pope’s loyalty and Kiara’s steady presence, the Pogues had always been his chosen family.

Until something shifted. JJ started seeing a girl, and not just any girl. A kook. The kind of girl he used to swear off without a second thought. It was strange for him at first, because he never did serious. He stuck to fleeting flings, one-night stands that didn’t ask for anything in return, and almost never with kooks. Yet she was different. She didn’t just laugh at his jokes—she understood him, even the parts of himself he rarely let anyone see. She didn’t flinch at his rough edges, and instead leaned closer, as if she knew there was more beneath the chaos.

Three months into their relationship, she told him she wanted him to meet her parents. JJ had laughed at first, thinking she was joking. Parents weren’t exactly his territory, and the idea of walking into a polished kook household felt like walking straight into enemy lines. But she was serious, and when she looked at him with that kind of determination, he found himself saying yes before his doubts could catch up.

The dinner went exactly as he had expected. Her parents didn’t like him, not even a little bit. Her father, especially, had looked at him with barely concealed disdain, as if JJ was a stain on his perfect family portrait. He saw nothing but a reckless Pogue with a reputation for fights, trouble, and a broken home. JJ had wanted to snap back, to meet his glare with fire, but then he felt her hand squeeze his under the table. She didn’t care, and neither did he. They were together. That was enough.

What surprised JJ most was how light he felt with her, how even the smallest things seemed to matter. He found himself excited over things he had never thought twice about before—her laugh in the middle of his worst day, her texts showing up late at night, her insisting he try some ridiculous new snack because “you’ll love it, trust me.” He had always thought happiness came in fleeting bursts, stolen moments that slipped away before he could hold on to them. But with her, it was different. With her, it lasted.

They were happy in a way JJ never thought he deserved. And maybe the world didn’t understand them, maybe her parents never would, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the way she looked at him, the way she stayed when things got messy, and the way he couldn’t stop smiling whenever she was near.