A.N. Hi!
I've got the holiday bug, and I've always wanted to do a Kid Flash/Jinx one-shot…
So, I shall proceed?
Kid Flash loves Christmas.
The lights, the laughter, and the insanely over-crowded Macey's stores-he practically laps it up.
Me? I'd be happy if the whole damn thing just upped and disappeared.
It's not that I've got anything against the holiday or Christianity or anything. In fact, I've always sort of liked it-until I got in with the good side and figured out how Titans do Christmas.
Trust me, they're insane.
Lights everywhere. Fake snow dusted windows. Holiday music blasting.
And one GIGANTIC Christmas tree.
This year it's us, the European Titans, who get to decorate said gigantic Christmas tree.
They want me to prance around singing 'Joy To The World' and getting hit in the head Christmas tree branches the size of Mas y Menos?
You're cute.
I sit in Raven's bedroom, going through her books and trying not to feel lonely. She and Beast Boy are out together doing something couple-ish, Cyborg's messing around in his office, Robin and Star are probably having sex somewhere, and nobody besides my Titans branch is her.
And I've really had enough of those guys.
"JINXY!"
Deep breaths, Jinx.
"JINXY! WHERE ARE YOU?" Kid Flash calls, in his almost defiantly loud voice.
"I'm in here, you nitwit," I mutter, soft enough that I can barely hear myself, soft enough that I don't have to worry about Flash hearing and tracking my-
Whoosh.
"Jinx! Why aren't you helping?" He looks at me with large, pleading blue eyes and I feel my Christmas hatred weakening.
No, Jinx, no. Think of…think of Macey's the day before Christmas.
I shudder.
"I don't do Christmas." I shrug. "Sue me."
"Oh, c'mon, Jinxy! As devilishly handsome as I am, I can't provide the attractiveness for the whole tower! A beautiful woman like you must accompany me in my spreading of sexiness!"
"Conceited much?"
"I prefer…self-confident." He leans against the doorway. "Hey, I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry, kid. It's what happens when you're a speed demon." I snort. "Now go away." Please, so I can stop secretly drooling.
Alright, in case you haven't guessed, I am very attracted to Kid Flash.
But I mean, have you seen him? What sane human wouldn't be? And then he had to go and be funny and nice and just the right shade of stupid that I find him endearing…
"I would, but you're coming with me!"
"Wait, what?" I snap my head up.
"Come on, then." He grabs my arm. "I know the perfect place!"
And before I can utter an 'Unhand me, speed demon!', he's whisked me off, and I'm sitting in a café in what looks like Vienna, Italy.
VIENNA?
He can't take me somewhere like Vegas, no, he has to be CLASSY. He has to know that Verona would've been too much romance and girliness. He has to listen to me when I tell him that I get seasick, which knocks Venice off of the board.
He knows me so well, and yet he is so utterly blind to my feelings when I practically wear them on my tee-shirts.
Guys. Whatcha gonna do?
He leads me and my still shaky legs to the table nearest the sidewalk where I can hear the comfortable sounds of people walking and talking by us.
"Ciao, quello che posso ottenere?" A waitress with long dark hair, twinkling brown eyes, and a body that makes me painfully aware of my own complete lack of curves. I turn to Kid Flash, because I speak Italian unless under intense physical compulsion, and I'm surprised when he leans back and gets that flirty look in his eye.
"Bene, bene. Non capita tutti i giorni che una persona bella come te è gentile come pure. Avrò un marinara spaghetti, e tre pagnotte di pane francese."
The waitress blushes and laughs, and I have the strangest urge to throttle her.
Instead, I point to the angel hair pasta on the menu and turn to Kid Flash. "Did you seriously just order French bread in an Italian resturant?"
"Ah, so the lady speaks!" Flash laughs, and the waitress sends me an uppraising glance.
I can tell that she decides that I'm not competiton by the way she swings her hips as she walks away.
I smack Kid Flash's arm. "Do you have to do that?"
"Do what?"
"Flirt with everything that has estrogen and moves! Don't you think it's...wrong? What if..." I blush inwardly. "What if someone actually had...I dunno, one of those things girls get on guys."
Flash raises and eyebrow. "A crush, Jinx?"
The sarcasm is evident in his voice.
"Yeah, those. What then?"
He gives me a long, thoughtful look. "I dunno. I guess I'd stop, if I didn't like them back. Anyway, I didn't bring you here for that."
"Then, why?"
"I wanna know why you hate Christmas, Mr. Grinch." He leans forward, thsoe sexy blue eyes twinkling and a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
"I...I..."
"Earth to Jinx. I know I'm beautiful, babe, but please, try to control your attraction in public."
"I-!"
"Yes, darling, I know you love me. Can we continue, now?"
I glare. "Anyway, I don't hate Christmas. I simply don't like celebrating it."
"Ah." Flash nods, but his eyes are still full of laughter. He snaps his fingers. "I get it."
I roll my eyes. "Fine, Kid Flash. Why don't I like celebrating Christmas?"
"YOU'RE JEWISH!"
I can't help it; I crack up laughing. He stares at me, so sure that he's found the right answer, and it's so put of the blue that it's hilarious.
"No, Flash. I am not Jewish." I say, smiling.
"Woah."
"What?" I ask, puzzled.
"You look...beautiful when you smile, Jinxy. You should...do it..." He seems at a lost for words.
My brow furrows. I look down at myself, wondering what he sees.
I'm just wearing my normal let's-decorate-the-Tower-clothes. Long black jeans. Flowy-ish white top. My hair is hanging in waves, but it's tangled and the pink looks practically fluroesenct.
My skin is light gray, and my eyes are way too big for my face.
Not beautiful. At all.
"Anyway, do you like...putting up lights?"
"Major fire hazard, babe. All it takes is one poorly chosen outlet." I smile, and then frown.
"Grazie, cara," Flash grins devilishly as he accepts the plates of food from the curvy waitress, tucking the loaves of bread underneath his arm.
He begins to wolf down his spaghetti marinara so fast it's like he's using some kind or teleportation device.
I savor my pasta, which is absolutley delicious, and watch the slightly overcast afternoon sky.
"Okay. Do you...sing any carols?" Flash says, slurping down a forkful of noodles.
The boy can even make slurping sexy.
"Nope. If somebody doesn't celebrate Christmas, these carols are just a tad offensive, no?"
"Point taken. Bake any thing special?"
"You've tasted my cookies."
Flash makes a face. "Yep. Never, ever, ever, ever-"
"You sound like a Taylor Swift song."
"You mortally injure me. Please, spare me the wounds of your sharp wit." Flash sighs. "Do you do anything for the holidays? Celebrate any traditions?"
I smile. "Well, only one."
Flash's entire face lights up. "SHARE!"
"Absolutley not." I laugh at Kid Flash's expression.
"I'll find out, my pretty." Flash stand up, placing money on the counter and offering me his hand. "Shall we?"
"Sure." I ignore the tingles and take his profferd hand.
"This tradition. Is it...plum pudding?"
"No."
"Uhm, is it...buying ornaments?"
"No."
"Is it...spending time with your friends and family?"
"You're just spitballing, now."
"AGH!" Flash grabs my arms and pulls me into his, hugging me tight to his chest in the middle of the cafe. "Please, please, please tell me, Jinxy!"
He smells like Old Spice and car leather and whatever hair gel he uses, a surprisingly nice combination.
But I will not, will not, will not tell him.
"Uh, excuse me?" A thin reedy voice enters my ears.
I look down, and a little girl with two missing teeth and blonde hair points up. "You guys are under the mistletoe."
I blush deep, deep, deep, deep, deep pink.
"IS THAT THE TRADITION?" Kid Flash cries, a huge smile on his face.
"Well...yes, okay? I do the whole mistletoe thing. Bite me." I practically whisper.
Kid Flash smirks, in that really, really, really, really sexy way he has.
"I, uh, guess, we, um, have to kiss?" I mumble, blushing all the way.
"Have to? My dear, I'm honored."
Kid Flash takes my face in his warm bare hands and lifts it up, his thumbs stroking my cheeks in little circles.
That thumping you're hearing? That's my heart, betraying how much I want him to kiss me.
"You really are beautiful, Jinxy." He whispers.
"Your breath better not smell like marinira, Flash," I whisper back.
He chuckles and slowly moves his face toward mine.
"You gonna do that all day, or are you going to kiss me?" I whisper when he's only a couple centimeters away.
And then I can't say anything because his lips are on mine, soft and warm and...
You don't need to know the details!
Before I can even register that he's pulled away, he's run me back to the Tower, in front of the doors.
"Jinx! Where were you and Flash! I've been looking everywhere-there's so much you've got to do-the tower has to be decorated-" Argent practically wails.
"Oh, like you haven't been making out with Hot Spot the entire time," I snort. "Give me a minute, okay?"
Argent smiles. "Okay."
As she heads back in, I hear the rush, and before the door even closes behind her, a yellow-and-red blur zooms past me and into the Tower.
My heart sinks, and my steps are heavy as I walk inside. "Well, damn. If he didn't like kissing me, all he had to do was say-" I stop dead.
Because Kid Flash has covered the entire, and I mean the entire, ceiling of the place with little red and green bundles.
"Hey, Jinxy," He says from behind me, his arms sliding around my waist. "We're under the mistletoe."