If Jimmy Hadn't Been So Damned Curious
A/N: This is about what might have happened to Jimmy if, in the first episode, he hadn't been so curious, gone to see what the men in black were up to, therefore preventing his being drugged and reverted into a child. I'm sure you read the summary and that's why you even decided to read this, so I realize that this is a pointless author's note, but it's here anyway. Deal with it. Also, to those of you who read my Twilight story, Engaged, sorry for not writing anything in a while, no inspiration struck me until I saw one of my favorite episodes of Case Closed. I figured I'd try broadening my horizons, try and make a oneshot. If I have the inspiration to write more, I will. If not, this is a oneshot. I'm going to shut up now. Please enjoy.
Huh. Wonder what they're up to. Jimmy started running after the men in black, who had just disappeared into the shadows. Then he thought of Rachel. Rachel, who he kept blowing off. Rachel, who would kick his ass for this afterward-he saw what she did to that pole. Rachel, who he loved. Rachel, who was so frightening when angry, so small when scared. So tender, emotional, all that she needed to make her perfect. Strength, both physical and emotional, useful when she lost her mother. Tenderness, why she was so sad right now, because she felt other people's pain. Fear, not just for herself, but for all those she cared about. If, and he'd admit it, it was a long shot with the way she acted around him, but if she cared about him at all, even as a casual friend, she'd worry about him the entire time he was off in the shadows. This passed through his mind in less than a second. He stopped, and walked back to Rachel. "Sorry, I won't play detective with the men in black. Any other rides you'd like to go on?"
Rachel couldn't have been more relieved. Those men looked dangerous, and even though it didn't seem like Jimmy liked her as more than a casual friend at best, she couldn't help but care about him the way she did. His cockiness bothered her, but it was as much a part of him as her strength was. He grew up with a successful author for a father and a model for a mother. Self confidence was something in surplus in that happy home, it could only be expected it would rub off on Jimmy. But she loved that he had a goal, a job he knew he wanted to have. A lot of people their age didn't, herself included. She loved that he was athletic, just like her. She loved that he didn't scare easily, so he was a perfect antidote to the fear that overtook her sometimes. She loved that he was passionate, that he could care about something so much. She loved him.
But she knew she shouldn't. She shouldn't even like him as a close friend. He took business from her father, and then joked about it casually as if it were no big deal with her. She felt like a traitor every time he'd be in her thoughts when he didn't belong there. When she'd be reading a romance novel, when she was dreaming. Every time, it would be him. Boys on the boy's karate team had asked her out, but she'd always turned them down because the one time she didn't, Jimmy was on her mind the entire time. She was a traitor to her father, who worked so hard. But that didn't change the way she felt. A small smile tugged at her lips, and she took his hand and led him to the next ride she wanted to go on. Her face flooded with heat from the contact, and when she looked back at Jimmy he looked just like what she was sure she did. Embarrassed and red, with just a hint of happiness sneaking out. Her stomach did flips while her heart felt like it was being squashed. She didn't like the ride, it scared her, but she loved it when he calmed her down when she was scared. The only other time was when Jimmy was on the soccer team.
The soccer and karate teams had a bet, and the soccer teams lost. They had to take the karate teams to a movie, and despite Rachel's protests, it had been a horror. She had sat next to Jimmy, despite attempts to sit elsewhere, and within the first five minutes of the movie, two people had already been slowly dismembered by a man with a hockey mask and a chainsaw. Both young girls who looked like they would have been her age had they been real and gone to her school. She was curled up in a small ball, quietly whimpering as the chainsaw was ripped to life and maniacal laughter filled the theater, when someone had begun rubbing her back. She was ready to elbow Paul, a boy on the boy's karate team who never seemed to stop asking her out, in the face when she realized it was Jimmy. She relaxed, and started to lift her head when she saw the parts of the most recent victim. It was horrifying. Quickly she resumed her position, now adding a slight rocking motion to calm her down. Then Jimmy went back to rubbing her back, and tipped her slightly so her head was against his chest. The rubbing paired with the steady rise and fall of his chest calmed her, but Jimmy's heart was racing, and it was rather loud to her. She noticed it seemed to go even faster when she would press her face into her chest every time someone else was killed, their slowly weakening screams filling the theater time after time. She couldn't let herself hope it was from her face pressing into his chest that caused it, it was probably just a delayed reaction from the carnage on the screen. He was just comforting her because she looked so scared. Anyone probably would have done the same.
What? This ride? But she scares so easily… no, don't think that. She isn't riding this just so you'll calm her down. She probably just picked it because it had a short line. Seeing the ride, his mind couldn't help but wander back to that night, that movie. Poor Rachel had been so scared, when he looked over at her, she was in a tiny ball whimpering. He began to rub her back without thinking, when he felt the muscles in her back tighten, then relax. She lifted her head, so he pulled his hand away. Whatever she saw on the screen had her back into the ball, now rocking back and forth. When he pulled her against his chest he nearly exploded. He expected her to push away from him, instead she relaxed. And as time went on, she relaxed even more. He was sure once she calmed down enough, she would shift away from him. But every time screams would fill the theater, or the chainsaw would rip to life, her face would press into his chest, and his heart would become helicopter blades in his chest. When the credits began they had about ten seconds of the villain's laughter before the music began. She crushed her face into his chest, thinking it was someone else was being killed, but all to soon, she realized it wasn't and lifted her head. Her forehead had a slight sheen of sweat, and she looked so relieved, probably because the movie was over. She looked embarrassed, too, as if he wasn't meant to see her frightened, but mostly it was probably about the way she had behaved during the movie. The flush on her cheeks made him want to die. She was embarrassed, because she didn't like him. Or rather, she didn't like him the way he did her. She just didn't push away because she was scared. That was all it really was.
Rachel had been watching the play of emotions as they flitted across Jimmy's face. Shock when he realized what ride she wanted to go on. Then… sadness? But that was quickly replaced by a tender smile, one that seemed to radiate love and adoration. Then there was that sadness again. She would have loved to believe he was thinking of what she had just been reliving, but he didn't like her like that. She was nothing special. He was Jimmy Kudo. Handsome, smart, athletic, successful. He was probably sad because he was thinking of some girl he had taken here, someone smart and pretty, who most certainly wasn't her. He was sad because it wasn't her. That smile was probably because the girl hadn't been scared on this ride, because she was brave, too. Just like Jimmy. She probably moved or something, that's the only reason she wouldn't be his girlfriend, and the only reason he would be sad. The line was short, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good: She'd be off the ride all the sooner. Bad: She'd be on the ride all the sooner. She got in, strapped herself in, and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She didn't need to have a panic attack. The ride started, and she squeezed her eyes shut. After a few seconds, Jimmy's hand was on her back. Thank you, God. Rachel instantly relaxed, but her eyes didn't open. Seeing that she seemed better, he took his hand away. But soon enough, she was even worse. He kept rubbing her back, up, down, circle, circle, up, down. Then the ride stopped. Damn it! Jimmy's excuse to rub Rachel's back was over.
It was almost time for the park to close, so the two made their way towards the gate. Come on Jimmy. You can do this. You've done much scarier things. Just tell her. Jimmy wrestled with himself until he was almost at the gates. There weren't many people nearby. Good. That way no one will see Jimmy Kudo being rejected. He opened hiss mouth, but no sound came out. Instead, a sigh. Rachel didn't seem to notice it, thank god.
Meanwhile, Rachel wondered why Jimmy hadn't followed the men earlier. He definitely wanted to go. But he didn't. What would have made him stop? She would love to believe it was her, and it was only supported by the fact that there wasn't any other reason she could see. Jimmy turned to look at her, and saw a simple happy smile on Rachel's face. "You didn't follow those men before for me." she stated. She was so happy with that knowledge. That smile, the fact that his doing something for her made her so happy, completely shut down his thought process. Words flooded out of him without the filter kicking in to stop any of it until it was well past too late.
"Why wouldn't I have done something for you? You're smart and strong and beautiful and perfect and-and-and I'm going to shut up now" I am officially screwed. Better make a run for it. Jimmy turned on his heel and started to run, not noticing how Rachel's smile was big and goofy, and how her face seemed to glow. As Jimmy took off running, Rachel snapped out of her stupor, and started running off after Jimmy. When Rachel reached a turn, cut across the grass and grabbed Jimmy's jacket sleeve. "What the crap, Jimmy? Why'd you run off? My god! How can you call yourself a detective! you're terrible at it!" Jimmy was totally and utterly confused. She said if he cracked one more joke about her dad, my face would face the same fate as that streetlight this morning! She called him narcissistic and hit him with her schoolbag whenever he laughed about all of his female fans! What the hell? How could any one woman be this confusing? What the crap, she asks? He could ask the same of her. The puzzle that was her mind was harder to solve than a Rubik's cube.
"What do you mean I'm a terrible detective? I believe a kindergartener would be able to tell that you don't like me much as a person, let alone the way I feel about you!"
"Well maybe you should stop asking kindergarteners for advice Jimmy, because quite clearly they aren't the best source of information when it comes to anything outside of what happened on Barney today!" My god, he's dense. I can't believe he's making me say this. Making me admit that I'm a traitor to my father. "I am a traitor to my father, Jimmy, happy? Happy that your plan worked?"
"What? You make no sense at all, Rachel. What the hell are you talking about, a traitor to your father?"
"I mean your stupid irresistible Jimmy-charm affects me too. I mean that I love the boy taking all clients from my father, even though I shouldn't even want to be your friend. My father works very hard, and has little to show for it, because you're out there on TV as a hero, solving cases faster than they should be developing!" Rachel was screaming now, drawing much unwanted attention to them. Jimmy couldn't care less that people were staring at them. Rachel just said she loved him. Well technically shouted that she loved him, but it was all the same to him. His pupils dilated and a big goofy grin formed on his face. "That, that right there, is what my face looked like less than five minutes ago! You are the biggest idiot ever!"
"You said you love me." Jimmy couldn't think, at all. Rachel's words became real as he dazedly said that.
"No shit, Sherlock." Rachel was quickly becoming impatient with this new, stupid Jimmy. Though she would deny it tooth and nail, she rather liked it. It proved he could be caught off guard, that he wasn't as perfect as he'd like to believe. She would have loved it any other time, but right now she desperately wanted last night's dream to become a reality. Her in his arms, kissing one another passionately.
"Thanks for calling me Sherlock, but I'd prefer it if next time you'd say it to me nicely, instead of in that sarcastic tone. Like, maybe after I solve my next case, you could call me that lovingly. Then you could kiss me." Jimmy's smugness bothered her, so she walked up, slapped him, and then kissed his cheek where she slapped him, and then his lips, very briefly, very softly.
"If you keep talking like that, you won't be able to solve the next case. Because the case will be your murder. Of course it wont be very difficult because there'll be a note on you that says 'I did it, totally worth it he was getting on my nerves -Rachel Moore.'" Jimmy had never seen her this angry, and it was hot.
"You're hot when you're angry, too bad I'm too scared to make you like this more often."