Chapter Text
It felt like the school day just didn’t want to end, and Joan was starting to get sick of it.
She was sick of all of it.
The pervading stench of sweat that stuck to the inside of her nose, the constant buzz of mumbled gossip, the endless sea of insecure teens just trying to get through the day, she was tired of it all.
Especially Abe and Cleo.
It was Joan's last class of the day, and she felt like she was about to snap at any second.
Abe and Cleo were standing a little ways away from her at Cleo’s locker, his arm hanging over her shoulder protectively. Cleo’s arms were linked around his waist as she asked him to give her a ride to The Grassy Knoll after class for a milkshake.
Joan could only look on as Abe smiled dopily and kissed Cleo on the forehead.
It hurt seeing Cleo get all the casual affection that Joan wanted.
She wanted someone to be so proud to be seen with her that they didn’t care who saw them together. She wanted that intimacy, that care.
Joan swallowed thickly as the final bell rang and they walked away leaning on each other.
She was so distracted she didn’t notice that JFK had come up to stand beside her, his usual wide grin missing from his face.
“Hey, er uh, Joan?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“What do you want, JFK? I’ve had a long day and I just wanna go home.”
He took a slight step back and raised his hands in a surrendering movement.
“I just wanna ask you somethin’.”
Joan held back a groan and turned to face him. She really wasn’t in the mood for whatever bullshit he was going to spout.
“Well, er uh,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “I know that, er uh, you have the hots for Lincoln-”
“I really don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Joan snapped.
“And I want Cleo back as well, so I, er uh, have an idea.”
Joan raised an eyebrow. JFK wasn’t one for coming up with ideas, so it must have been something important to him.
“Well, what is it?”
JFK looked around the hallway at the students still milling around and frowned.
“There’s too many people here, step into my, er uh, office.”
He held onto Joan’s arm and pulled her toward the boys locker room.
It was a mess. Discarded socks littered the corners of the room. The stench of deodorant, or lack thereof, was overpowering. A moulding jockstrap was taped to a locker. In thick black sharpie “Vincent Van COCK!!!” was scrawled on the door. The jockstrap was signed “from JFK.”
Joan scrunched her nose as she looked around.
“Why did you bring me in here?”
JFK sat down on one of the wooden benches, his elbows on his knees as he hunched over.
“Remember, er uh, when you helped me with my campaign and, er uh, we made that smear ad against Lincoln?”
Joan nodded, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Well, I don’t know if you noticed but, er uh, Cleo got kinda jealous and, er uh, spent more time with me after it.”
“And I’m supposed to care, why?”
“And with Cleo hanging out with me, you got to, er uh, hang out with Lincoln more.”
Joan narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow.
“So what’s your idea?”
JFK pressed his hands together and pointed them at her, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
“We pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend to make ‘em both jealous!”
Joan blinked in surprise, letting his words sink in.
Her instinctual reaction was to punch him in the face and walk away, but Joan stopped to think if his idea had any merit.
Abe was mad at her after the campaign for helping JFK instead of him. He didn’t like it when she spent time with other guys, and he would always take her out for a milkshake if he caught her hanging out with other dudes.
Sure, he would spend the entire time telling her off, but it was better than being ignored.
Joan stared at JFK, trying to check if he was joking.
His big eyes looked up at her expectantly, shining brightly under the fluorescents. His fingers were clasped together tightly against his chest. He looked so earnest, waiting impatiently for her answer. Joan was pretty sure he was going to start vibrating if she didn’t reply soon.
“Fine.”
JFK shot up from the bench and wrapped his arms around her as he laughed and spun her around in a hug.
“Thank you, Joan! This idea will never backfire on us! Haha!”
“Put me down!”
Joan wrestled out of his strong grip and pointed a finger at him.
“We need ground rules if we’re going to do this properly.”
JFK nodded, staring at her keenly.
Joan cleared her throat, smoothing her mussed hair as she thought about what she wanted from this.
“No kissing. Forehead and cheek kisses are okay, but no kissing on the lips.”
“Gotcha, no smoochin’. Anything else?”
Joan bit on her lip as she thought, struggling to think of rules on the spot.
“Once Abe and Cleo break up, we’ll ‘break up’ a week later so it isn’t obvious that we aren’t dating.”
“Mhmm,” JFK hummed in agreement, writing what Joan was saying in a small notebook. His tongue was poking out between his lips in concentration.
“Are we, er uh, gonna announce it to the school? And by announce it to the school, I mean-!”
“We can go on a few dates before we start telling people. Oh, and Kennedy?”
Joan took a step closer to him, making intense eye contact with the boy. He took a small step back, raising his little notebook between the two of them.
“We are not going to have sex. Got it?”
JFK nodded, using his notebook as a shield.
“Sure thing, Joan. No sex. Gotcha.”
Joan stepped back, her lips curving into a satisfied smile.
“This was your idea Kennedy, what now?”
JFK straightened up, putting his notebook in his pocket.
“Joan of Arc, will you, er uh, go on a date with me?”
Joan smiled and linked her arm in with his.
“Yes I will, Kennedy. Yes I will.”