Hello everyone, Fearless Ferret here! This is my first contribution and I will admit I'm a bit nervous about it, though I do hope y'all enjoy it. It might be a little rough on some areas, being as I'm in the middle of mid-terms right now (boo at college!) and I just got a beta so this has been updated :). Feel free to review! I'd love to hear what you think.

Standard disclaimer: I don't own the Titans, yadda yadda yadda, nothing here is mine but the idea and OC, title is a snip of lyrics from the Depeche Mode song Precious.

Precious and Fragile

Chapter 1

Jinx stood in front of her bathroom mirror and sighed deeply, she had finally returned to Jump City after having skipped town for several years and taken haven in a run down apartment she kept on the side… for times like these, when she was broke and shit out of luck.

"Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into now…" she whispered to her reflection, catlike pink eyes staring back at her. "I can't go back to The Hive… I can't go to the Titans… that would just be… wrong…" She shuddered.

Jinx ran her fingers through her pink hair, not up in her signature horns, but rather loose and flowing to her shoulders.

"I can't believe I decided to come back to Jump… I got myself involved way too badly with the wrong crowd in Gotham, it's best to lay low here…"

Looking down at the sink she turned on the faucet and started to fill it with cold water. Turning the faucet off Jinx cupped her hands filling them with water then splashing and scrubbing her face.

"I guess I'm freelancing from now on, gotta make ends meet…"

She took one last look at herself and walked out of the dingy bathroom into the small one bedroom apartment. It had the look of not being inhabited in quite some time, dust everywhere and a stale smell hung in the air. She walked into what was supposed to be the kitchen/living room area and to the fridge. She opened it and grumbled, "Ewwww!" Jinx said as she held up a moldy piece of what used to be a sandwich, throwing it aside she sighed, "Yup nothing… I should've kept up with this place."

Jinx kicked the fridge door shut and walked to a leather loveseat that sat in the corner of the room, a flat screen TV stood on a stand across from it. She flopped down upon the loveseat, laying on her back, her knees bent over the arm rest. Jinx turned to look at the TV, below it green numbers were flashing on a dusty DVD player, she squinted to see. "2:30 am. Geezus, I should get some sleep and worry about all this tomorrow… But I'm not sleepy… shit."

Jinx sighed and stared at the ceiling, "What am I gonna do… I don't have any money… I don't have any food… I can't just stroll out in broad daylight since I stand out so fucking much, geezus Christ!" Jinx slapped her hands over her face and sighed, "Think sleepy thoughts, think sleepy thoughts," Jinx held her hands above her and moved them around in slow hypnotic movements, "sleeeeeeeeeepy, thooooughts…" she drawled then slapped her hands onto the back of the loveseat, making a dust cloud fly up causing her to her sit up quickly and go into a sneezing fit.

"I should clean up this dump maybe that will tire me out." Jinx said as she rubbed the dust away from her nose.

Swinging her legs off the loveseat she walked back over to the kitchen, opening the cabinet doors beneath the sink she noticed a piece of paper tapped to the inside, rubbing some dust off the paper she read the untidy scrawled words.

A clean apartment is a happy apartment, remember that Jinxy Baby. –Ty

Jinx froze… so it was THIS apartment… this apartment she shared with Tyler… life had gotten so crazy she had forgotten about it, no not forgotten… she had blocked out the thoughts of her past… the love of her life.

She sat on the floor and stared at the note, Tyler was always a bit of a clean freak, and it had always taken so much to get Jinx to clean up. When she did though, Tyler would leave little stupid encouraging notes around. This was one Jinx hadn't seen before, never really bothering to go under the sink for the cleaning supplies. Reaching up Jinx was shocked to find tears running down her face, she hastily rubbed them away.

"Well you're gone now aren't you Ty?" She reached in and grabbed an arm full of cleaning supplies. "It just little old Jinx now, always has been, always will be."

Jinx stood up, her arms loaded with cleaning cloths and sprays and went into her massive cleaning spree.

Several hours later the sun was already starting to shine through the blinds and the apartment was spik and span, amazingly it really wasn't much of a dump. All the dusty electronics were clean, as well as the kitchen and the bedroom. Jinx sat on the bed, just the box spring and mattress on the floor… Tyler like it that way… no bed frame to bother with. She sat staring at the closet, she was afraid to open it. She shared this closet with Tyler and she just KNEW… she KNEW all her love's old clothes still occupied it.

Taking a deep breath and slowly working up the courage she needed to walk towards the doors. Finally she stood before them; reaching out with a shaky hand she gripped the handle and pulled. As she had suspected, the closet was full of boys clothing, baggy pants, muscle shirts, button ups, T-shirts, belts, boots, sneakers, baseball caps, boy shorts.

Jinx fell to her knees and gave in to the breakdown she had been fighting all night. Reaching her arms out and hugging a large bundle of the clothing, it still smelled like Tyler. She clutched it, sobbing uncontrollably hanging off it slowly the clothing slipped through her grip until she was laying on the closet floor sobbing, till she fell asleep from exhaustion….

Jinx awoke the next morning with a huge crick in her neck.

"Did anybody get the name of that bus?" She muttered as she sat up and popped her neck, rubbing the back of it and stretching out her sore muscles.

Blinking a few times she rubbed at her eyes slightly disoriented till she realized where she was. Sitting in the closet full of her lost loves clothing. She sighed and stood up. Looking at the closet she turned her back to it and stretched again, "Time for a shower…"

Walking to the shower and undressing as she went, her H.I.V.E uniform being strewn about, cursing as she tried to remove her boots, stumbling and bumping against the wall. Finally her task managed she stepped into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hair was a tangled mess. "Mmm… lookin good there Jinx." She said sarcastically as she winked at herself, noticing her bloodshot eyes then reaching for the shower knobs turning on the hot water. The pipes moaned and groaned for a few seconds then spit out a brownish gook. "Ewww! What died in there!?" Jinx cried as the slop slowly seeped down the drain, a few seconds later the water slowly started to clear till it was flowing cleanly and sent the remaining bits of gook on its merry way down the drain.

"Guess that happens when you don't use a shower for a long period of time."

Finally steam was rising as the water hit its peak heat. Adjusting the knobs till the water temperature was to her liking Jinx stepped into the spray and took the longest shower she's had in quite awhile. Turning off the water and opening the door she looked around for a towel… none were in sight.

"God dammit!" Jinx cursed as she looked around the bathroom one more time, just incase. Sighing exasperatedly she took a deep breath and ran out of the bathroom.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold cold!!" Reaching the bedroom she dashed for the closet. Along the right side of it was a column of draws, opening the bottom one she remembered was full of towels. Quickly wrapping one around herself and pulling out another to dry her dripping hair she sat on the edge of the bed to finish her work.

Draping the towel around her shoulders Jinx stared at the old closet. "I need clothes, I'd really rather not put on that dirty uniform again…" Still staring at the closet Jinx raised an eyebrow and walked over to it.

"Well Ty," she said as she pulled out a pair of Kaki army print cargo pants, "You wouldn't mind if I borrowed these would you?"

She waited for a few seconds, as if for a reply, but none came. "I didn't think so."

Throwing the pants onto the bed she continued rummaging through the closet, taking out a white muscle shirt and a black button up to put over it. Looking down at the floor she looked through several pairs of shoes until coming across a kaki pair of Adidas superstar skate shoes, striped with three army green stripes. Throwing the shoes onto the bed as well she walked over to the vanity dresser that sat on the opposite wall in the room and pulled out the drawers. Looking through them as well till she pulled out a sports bra and some superman boy cut underwear and a pair of white ankle socks.

"At least I left some underclothes here, to bad it's my workout stuff though." Jinx muttered, "These sports bras make my chest pretty much non-existent, bah!"

Tossing these articles onto the bed she stared at them for a bit then dropped her towel and got dressed. Once she had finished she stood and looked at herself in the full length mirror standing off in the right corner of the room. Huffing Jinx kept pulling up the cargo pants, they just didn't want to catch on her hips.

"Dammit Tyler! Why can't you buy pants that fit!?" Grumbling she stalked over to the closet, one hand holding the pants up and looked at the inside of the open doors, both hanging full of countless different belts.

"Belt fiend…" Jinx smiled slightly and picked out a plain black cloth belt with a solid silver buckle. Walking back towards the mirror Jinx looped the belt into the pants belt loops and tightened it, fastening it securely.

"That outta hold you." Standing back in front of the mirror Jinx looked herself over. The cargo pants still hung a little low, exposing about an inch of her toned stomach. Picking up her hand and saluting the mirror she shouted, "Private Jinx reporting for duty sir!"

She laughed at herself and continued looking in the mirror, "I need to hide this hair… cotton candy pink, I love it but damn does it stand out… hmmm…" Walking back to the closet she looked over into the left side where several storage shelves stood, each one containing a different color and style of cap or hat. Scanning them quickly Jinx reached in and pulled out a plain black baseball cap, walking back to the mirror she twisted up her pink locks and quickly fit the baseball cap over her hair, tucking the lose strands under the cap as best as she could.

"Wow." She muttered, "If I didn't know better I would think I was a boy, perfect cover!" Laughing slightly at herself she stuck her hands deep into the cargo pant pockets then noticed her right hand brush up against something smooth and rectangular, clenching her fist around the object as best as she could she pulled the offender out. Once her hand was out she noticed she was holding an old beat up black wallet with a small silver chain dangling from one corner, meant to be hooked onto your belt loop, the clasp was broken.

Jinx hands trembled slightly, she recognized this wallet… how could she forget it. She gently flipped it open. The chain making a soft clinging sound and there… starring back at her was a picture of herself, a huge grin plastered on her face, winking at the camera, holding up a dorky peace sign near her cheek. Jinx then flipped over the other flap. On the inside of it was another picture of Jinx, a content smile on her face, her eyes soft and shiny staring directly at the camera. There with her, was Tyler that short black messy hair she loved falling over in front of the dark sunglasses Tyler wore, one arm hanging lazily off Jinx shoulder a crooked smile on Tyler's face, the right side of Tyler's lip going up higher than the left showing one prominent canine tooth.

Jinx teared up… running her finger along the picture, a tear falling from her eyes and splashing onto the protective plastic covering the photo. Jinx reached up and wiped her eyes… Sniffling softly, she then opened the wallet curious what was inside, Jinx eyes widened, inside were two 100 dollar bills.

"Hah… You knew I'd need this cash didn't you Ty? Always thinking ahead…now what can you tell me to do now? 200 bucks isn't enough to keep me going forever…" Putting the wallet back into her pocket Jinx decided it was time to stock the fridge, with a loud growl from her stomach as a reply.

--

Titans Tower

--

Sipping slowly at her green tea Raven sighed as the rest of the Titans team cluttered around the dreaded chore list posted on the side of their massive refrigerator. The list was compiled by Cyborg and Robin monthly to give everyone a switch of things to do. The list was always laminated so no changes could be made, mostly due to Beast Boy and his Sharpie habit.

"Well." Cyborg said as he smiled and walked towards Raven, throwing a pad and a pen into her lap. "I'd like some waffle mix, eggs, ham and bacon." Whistling he made off towards the garage to baby his T-Car.

Raven sighed sadly, her eyes now little slits under her hood and proceeded to write:

Waffle Mix

Eggs

Ham

Bacon

--

Central Market

--

Jinx made her way over to the market, the wallet clutched in her hand deep within her pocket. Finally reaching her destination Jinx pulled out a shopping cart and proceeded down the isles.

"Okay… I only have 200 bucks, so I gotta stretch it." She then proceeded to dump almost a whole rack full of assorted Ramen packets into the cart. Next came the Easy Mac since Tyler always used to joke that Jinx could burn a pot of water, Jinx tried to avoid the stove. Turning the corner sharply she proceeded to grab several loaves of bread, tossing them messily into the cart with the pasta products.

Slipping slightly and running with her cart Jinx pushed it and mounted the back as she continued down to the meat and dairy isle, tossing in a few packets of ham, bologna, turkey and cheese as she kept riding the back of the cart adding to the messy pile. Planting her heels in the floor and turning the cart sharply she was surprised to hear an "Umph" and then feel herself topple over with her cart. Blinking slightly Jinx was surprised to see violet eyes staring back at her, very familiar violet eyes.

'Oh… Shit…' Jinx thought as she stared, 'It's Raven… Teen Titan Raven… I wonder if the warrants for my arrest from Gotham made it over here to Jump… hmm wow, she's grown up nicely, wha?!'

Jinx smacked the palm of her hand into her forehead at the end of that thought. Jinx struggled, fighting with her Fight or Flight reflex, her muscles tensing. Then Raven spoke, her legs buried in Jinx's groceries as Jinx sat on her butt near the handle of the cart.

"Stocking up I see?"

Jinx stammered, "Uh… ah… yeah, just… stocking up." Jinx felt her voice crack and get horse from nervousness.

Raven smiled.

Jinx blinked back surprise, 'She can smile?! Geezus what next?!' Jinx braced herself for the onslaught she knew would come.

Raven then stood, Ramen packets and Easy Mac slipping off her legs. Jinx jaw dropped slightly, Raven was actually dressed in normal clothing, no Titans uniform, but real, normal, clothing.

Black and white Adida superstars donned her feat, very similar to the ones Jinx wore. Faded black bondage pants hung low on her hips exposing a fair amount of her toned stomach and revealing a small line of red underwear and making Jinx a bit self-conscious of her own stomach. A tight black muscle shirt with a red star in the middle clung to her frame and a studded black belt and plain black wristband completed the simple ensemble.

Jinx jumped to her feet and quickly picked up her basket muttering, "I should be going… sorry about that." Her flight response being the one she preferred to take at the moment.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Jinx cursed softly under her breath and started clumsily picking up her groceries and tossing them back into the cart. Raven bent down and proceeded to help her.

"I take it the stove doesn't like you much, does it?" Raven asked, placing a loaf of bread into Jinx's cart.

Jinx laughed nervously, her voice feeling even worse than before, "I could probably burn a pot of water without even trying; the micro is my best friend."

Raven laughed again. 'Again with the laughing! Though it does make her look cute, gah!'

Jinx smacked her forehead again.

Raven giggled slightly, "Guess that's the curse of being a guy huh? I'm Raven by the way." She said as she extended her hand out to Jinx."

Jinx paused for a moment her mind reeling, 'She really thinks I'm a guy?! Oh gosh, think fast Jinx!'

Taking her hand and shaking it firmly Jinx replied, "The names Ryan."

"Well I have to get going, need to pick up groceries for my roommates, it was nice meeting you Ryan, I hope to see you around Jump."

Smiling one last time Raven turned and started to walk away, "Yeah, Okay, see you around." Jinx said, still shocked that she actually passed for being a boy.

'Geezus I think my heart is gonna explode.' Jinx thought at she pushed her cart now even more messily packed with groceries, towards the checkout feeling slightly light headed.

Authors Note: Well there we go! First little chapter done, yes yes I know "WHO THE HELL IS TYLER?!" Just wait, you'll find out as the story progresses.

It might take me awhile to get the next chapter up, but spring break is next week sooo, I should be able to get the ball rolling on this, REVIEW!