Hello! If Jade/John isn't your thing, I suggest you don't read this.
Homestuck isn't mine, and I don't own the characters, blah blah blah. Enjoy the story. :)

We could finally relax. This realization came to all of us like the transition between seasons; fast, but gently, calmly. We could make up for lost time.

Sitting on the end of the ship with my feet dangling off the edge, I slowly came to a crushing realization that although we could make up for lost time, we couldn't make up for lost innocence.

But that thought didn't come to me until later, before everything that happened. The beginning of our three year story began on the calm, transitional season feeling. John, Davesprite and I ventured through the planets, scavenging for food and catching up with old animal friends. I admired how the salamanders looked up to John on the Land of Wind and Shade, how he was but a prince, a hero in their eyes. Every time we visited the Land of Wind and Shade, John made sure to preform a ritual of gathering a vast population of the fellas, standing before them and doing his windy thing. He'd gotten quite good at it, seeing as the ashen gray clouds stayed away for hours at end, and the fireflies roamed about the land in a playful manner. Sometimes, John, Davesprite and I would make it a game to see who could capture the most fireflies in a set amount of time. Davesprite inexplicably always won. John once said he believed the bugs held a fascination for a creature different than them that could emit such a pretty orange light like them.

Before long, the salamanders were making us blankets, and even new sets of clothing as to not get our god-tier outfits stained by the oil. We spent most of our nights on LOWAS, as the temperature was cool and comfortable, and the soft glittery glow of turquoise mushrooms, the dark violet sky, and the light hum of the oil rivers made for a sweet night's sleep tucked in the wings of Davesprite. The first morning on our three year journey, I awoke, for the first time in a long time, with the ones I loved around me. It made me smile, and I even had to contain my giggles so I wouldn't wake up John and Davesprite, or worse, woof unexpectedly. That feeling of happiness didn't stop for a while.

One evening later on in our journey while waiting for Davesprite to return from his trip in LOFAF gathering food, John and I found ourselves playing a board game a salamander salesman sold to us and sharing our favorite memories from Sburb. I usually tried to stay on the topic of our session and avoid the troll's session, but the conversation almost always detoured to the trolls. I think John began to get the idea that I disliked the trolls, which was untrue, but it made me upset to hear John ask about Vriska.

"Getting the hang of Sburb was horrible! I swear, I must have ripped up about twenty utilities from Dave's house. Although, I did find some interesting items in his house. I never knew Dave liked apple juice so much." I laughed and waited for John to complete his turn.

"Well, at least you didn't have to deal with the problem of a cake in your toilet," John said with a smile. He finished his move, and rightly trumped me. I barked, which only made John laugh harder, and flipped the board game. I flopped over on my back and crossed my arms. John, in a mocking manner, did the same, and huffed. We laid opposite direction, and our heads lay side by side.

"You know, this ride has turned out better than I thought!"

"Well jeez, I hope so!" I knocked my head against his. "I didn't force you to be here or anything."

"Ow!" He knocked mine right back. "No, of course not! I just mean, it has given me a lot of time to think."

"Really?" I pondered on the difference of our lives for a moment. I drummed a beat on my stomach as I thought. "John, tell me about your dad."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "Well, technically, he is a relative of mine, and I've never had anyone around but Bec and Grandfather, who growing up, wasn't even alive."

John shifted. "Well, Dad was, I mean, is, really...awesome. At first glance, he looks kind of goofy, and his collection of harlequins doesn't really help. Rose thinks he tries to bond with me through them, but anyway, he's a really cool dad. He baked the meanest cakes, and that's coming from someone who doesn't like Betty Crocker." He laughed. "I think he's a really great worker too, even if I haven't seen him in action, but I can just tell he's the best there is. Growing up, I knew I always had a friend in him. Father and son, we were a team." John sighed and looked up at the speeding emerald sky. "He can be pretty badass... I'm sure he put up a great fight against Jack."

"I'm sure he did," I added in a low voice.

John turned to looked at me. "What was life like on your island?"

I turned over to my stomach and laid my head down on my arms. My feet swung up behind me. "I guess it was kind of...lonely. Don't get me wrong, Bec was always a great dog and kept me company and I love him and all that, but..." I sighed. I hadn't opened up to anyone like I was doing then, and I certainly hadn't talked about my life on the island to anyone. I think John noticed, as he moved his right hand to one of my ears and scratched the tips. "Life was really fun, to be honest. The island was grand, and really was alive with all the animals and plants, and exploring all the caves and hills and valleys was super amazing! But, I don't think that all of that really made up for what I felt, waking up every day to the silence. Growing up, I always believed that I was the one who killed Granddad. That I was the one who killed the only other human on the island. I always used beat myself up about it when I was younger. I'd wake up to the normal sounds of birds and Bec roaming about the house, but no one was there to greet me in the mornings. No human to share breakfasts with, lunches with, dinners. I had Dave, Rose, and you to talk to, but not actual face to face conversations. And I used to say to myself that I deserved to live in such silence. I used to blame myself so much for it. Growing up... Do you know how terrible it is to think you were a murderer? That you were the one to end such a great man's life, and the only person you could ever talk to? It was like being the last person on earth, being alone in a room and just staring around you...No one..." My sentence was cut off as I saw a big tear plop down on my arm. My lip quivered, and in no time I had my head buried in my hands, crying.

"Ah! Jade, don't cry!" John exclaimed. He sat up and pulled me to his chest. "Shh," he cooed. He ran his fingers through my hair and scratched behind my ears. He held me for as long as I cried, which I did until I had exhausted myself. I only stopped when my eyelids no longer wanted to keep themselves up, and my body slumped against John's. I followed the beat of his heart as a way to calm myself and lull me to sleep, which I had almost fallen into when John spoke.

"Jade?" He whispered.

"Hm?" I moaned ever so slightly.

"I know we're stuck on this spaceship together, and so it figures, but you know, you can always talk to me about whatever. And Jade?"

"Yes, John?" I looked up at him.
"I'll be here to protect you."

"Thank you," I said with a huge grin. "John, you're a wonderful brother."

He scratched harder in reply to my compliment, and I laughed at the feeling.

Davesprite returned a few minutes later, and we all enjoyed a satisfying dinner, making jokes about our surprise of Davesprite making a good dinner (as his past attempts had not turned out as fantastic as he liked to believe).

We prepared for bed, deciding to sleep on the ship for once, and as I was about to lie down, my door opened. It was John.

"Need something?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Only wanted to say goodnight."

I walked up to him and gave him another hug. "Goodnight, Johnathan Egbert," I said with a smile.

He leaned down and gave me a small kiss on the cheek. "Night, Harley. We'll all be here tomorrow, ready to greet you good morning." He strolled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I returned to my bed, but I found I couldn't get to sleep. I rolled over on my back and rose my hand up from the depths of the covers to touch my cheek. I decided I was making a mountain out of a molehill, that it was just a kiss, and shut my eyes tightly, determined to get to sleep. But I didn't for a very, very long time.