"Man Cyborg, how do you have so much junk in here?" Kid Flash asked as he sped out of the room with one box and returned in less than a second to grab another, the vibrations he created making it rattle.
"Careful with that!" Cyborg hollered at him from the other side of the room as he carefully stacked some pieces of faintly glowing machinery on his desk. "And it's not junk! They're just some of my old projects from a while ago."
"Only some of them? No wonder you needed to clear out." Kid Flash replied, his attention quickly caught by another box of shiny metal objects. "Cool, what do these do?"
"Don't touch that!" Cyborg shouted before admitting "They probably did need clearing though. This whole place was a mess. We wouldn't even have done it if the Honouraries didn't need a place to crash."
Ever since the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil a few weeks before, the Titans Tower had been almost bursting with people, meaning more space had to be made. A few had trickled away over the past few days back to their home cities but Kid Flash was in no rush to get back home. This was partly because he knew the Flash would take care of it in his absence but it was mostly to do with a certain pink-haired witch who had just converted to the side of good.
Jinx. Even the thought of her made him grin like a fool, he just couldn't help it. She was so beautiful, he thought in a daze, and smart and funny and totally kickass. He had been amazed by her from that first moment he had seen her outside the museum and even more so when he had seen how effortlessly she had taken down her old team. There was still a part of him that couldn't believe she was now his girlfriend. As painfully apt as it was, he couldn't believe his luck.
"Oy! Kid Flash!" Cyborg's loud voice came crashing through his daydreaming and nearly made him hit the ceiling in surprise. Cyborg laughed at him, gripping his sides like they would fall off. "Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face! Priceless! I'm just going to grab some food, do you want anything?"
"Have you ever known me to turn down food?"
"Fair point. I'll get you a sandwich."
"Make sure there's plenty of mustard! I hate dry sandwiches!" Kid Flash shouted at Cyborg's back as he left the room. He then went on sorting through the boxes.
This is so dull, he thought, as he ran another box to the other side of the tower and back again in the blink of an eye. How did I get roped into doing this? Damn you Robin! Still, at least I got a sandwich out of it.
He was just about to make another run when he spotted something out of the corner of eye that was right at the bottom of the gigantic pile of boxes. He squatted to get a closer look and, grabbing a huge manual that was about the same thickness, he swapped them. The mountain of Cyborg's stuff didn't move an inch.
Still got it, Kid Flash congratulated himself proudly as he inspected his find. Unlike the cardboard monstrosities they had been lugging about all morning, this small box was about the size of a shoebox and was made of a dark reddish wood. There was a small bronze fastening on the lid which clicked as he opened it, his blue eyes wide with curiosity.
Inside the box there was a single grey ring sitting daintily on top of a scruffy pile of paper. At first, Kid Flash found nothing of interest to him; a few essays in Cyborg's scrawl, some blueprints of weapons of mass destruction with giant self-destruct buttons clearly labelled and reports addressed to someone named Stone. He was just beginning to get bored when he reached the bottom of the papers and found a stack of photographs lying face down. He picked the first one up eagerly then almost had a heart attack when he saw who it was.
It was a picture of Jinx that must have been taken some time before, when she was back at the HIVE Academy. He could tell she was outside as the entire background of the photo was blue cloudless sky like a slate of blue crystal. She was laughing, her eyes closed and shoulders slightly hunched, her fingers unable to cover the big smile she had across her face.
Kid Flash's finger caressed the edge of the photograph, as if he had to prove it was real. He picked up the rest and began shifting through them, feeling a little sicker inside with each one.
Each one had Jinx in it whether she was on her own or in a group. There was one of her standing with her old team, the HIVE Five, where Gizmo was holding two fingers up behind her head. The next one showed the same scene but had Gizmo nursing his fingers and Jinx grinning a little more evilly. There was one of her during a fight where she had her leg planted in some poor guy's abdomen and her fingers were sparkling with pink magic. There was one of her drawing something on her trusty notepad, frowning with concentration and her tongue peeping out of the corner of her mouth. In one of them he saw a grey hand stretching out to her from behind the camera, the only glimpse of the photographer he could find. Who was he? Kid Flash thought frantically.
He was imagining ways he could beat up this stranger when he came to the last picture and it made his heart flutter a little. It showed a close-up of Jinx as she looked up into the camera. Her eyes were seductively half-closed and her lips were pouted a little as if she were leaning in for a kiss. Kid Flash had seen her pull that face many times and it always had the power to make his knees go weak. The idea that someone had frozen it and had it locked away for their own purposes made him tremble with fury. Why does Cyborg have these in his procession anyway? He thought angrily. He had noticed that out of all the Titans, Cyborg had seemed the one keenest to avoid her and Jinx had also seemed very reluctant to talk to him when he had pressed her about it. Was this why?
Behind him the door opened and Cyborg's voice came rumbling into the room.
"Grub's up!" He announced joyfully. "I put ham and chicken in your one cos I didn't know which you liked more and Starfire drank all the mustard so I used mayo instead…Hey what you got there?"
Cyborg walked over and peered over Kid Flash's shoulder. When he saw the photos he reeled back and his face went red. "Err…Kid?" he said softly. "Are you…?"
"Cyborg," Kid Flash cut him off, his voice struggling to keep calm and neutral. "Why are you hoarding pictures of my girlfriend?" His fingers shook and the photo flapped dramatically like it was a butterfly trying to get away.
Cyborg sighed. "Jinx didn't tell you, did she?"
"What? Tell me what?" Kid Flash stood up and turned around to face him, eyes blazing. "Does she know about these?"
"Yes…and no. Listen it's kinda hard to explain…"
"Well I'm sure Jinx will explain it for me just fine." Kid Flash scooped up all the pictures and dashed from the room.
"No wait!" Cyborg tried to grab him but he was far too fast and within seconds he was outside Jinx's bedroom door just down the corridor from his own. He knocked on the door rapidly until it was sharply opened.
"Wally? What are you doing here, I thought you were helping Cyborg?" Jinx stood in the door frame with a confused expression on her face. Her hair was freed from her usual horned hairstyle and tumbled loosely down her back in thick waves of candyfloss pink. She was wearing a tight black T-shirt with jeans and the effect of this with the hair made Kid Flash stare at her dumbstruck for a moment. Jinx lightly tapped his hanging jaw and he closed his mouth embarrassed before shoving the photographs into her hands.
"Do you know about these?" He garbled quickly and watched her and she looked through them with shock.
"What the-" Photos flew all around her like oversize confetti as she tried to pick them up. She glimpsed a few of them and her face went even paler than it usually was. "Wally, I-"
She stopped as Cyborg came hurtling down the corridor. "Stop!" He yelled grinding to a halt and wincing when he saw the pictures were in Jinx's hands. "Jinx, I-"
"You kept them?" Jinx said in a whisper and Kid Flash froze in horror. She looked up at Cyborg who was blushing furiously. "I thought you would have chucked these out ages ago."
"I was," Cyborg said, barely able to look her in the eye. "But when it came to it I couldn't."
"What the heck is going on!?" Kid Flash exploded. "Jinx you knew about these!? Wha-"
"Let me explain." Jinx stepped towards Kid Flash and rested her hand on his cheek. The action calmed him-he could never resist her after all-and he prepared himself to listen after shooting a quick dark look at Cyborg.
"OK. A while back when I was at the HIVE I met a guy named Stone," She started. "He was really nice to me and really supportive and we became good friends, maybe a little more though we never did more than a quick kiss," She added hastily after seeing Kid Flash's expression. "And one of our homework projects was to get into pairs and take photos of the other whilst in combat so we could analyse them and I was in a pair with Stone. Then it turned out that Stone was actually Cyborg undercover." She paused for a second before turning back to a shame-faced Cyborg. "You'll never realise how much that hurt, you know."
"You left her there?" Kid Flash accused as his arms wound protectively around her. "How could you do that?"
"It was a different time Kid." Cyborg said guiltily. He looked up at Jinx and both of them had regret on their faces. "It hurt me too, leaving you there. I wanted so much for you to come with me but then you turned to Brother Blood and shook your head like you hated me…"
"I never hated you Cyborg. I understood in a weird way. If you had asked me to go with you, I would have." Jinx said softly.
"I know that now." Cyborg said and tried to manage a smile. "That's why I couldn't throw all that stuff away. What happened to your photos of me?"
"They kind of got destroyed…" Jinx admitted with a small smile. "My powers and all…"
"Yeah." There was an awkward moment before something seemed to click in Kid Flash's mind.
"You two were dating!?"
"It was a long time ago Wally," Jinx told him, turning around in his arms and leaning in close. "And like I said, it was nothing. Right Cy?"
"Right." Cyborg agreed, looking relieved. "I'm with Bee now anyway."
"See? Besides," Jinx's face was now centimetres from Kid Flash's and his hands were making their way to her back. "I thought I was meant to be the jealous one." She purred into his ear irresistibly and Kid Flash seemed to melt, nuzzling his head against hers.
"We can talk later Cyborg," She said, resisting the urge to giggle at his clear embarrassment. "Friends?"
"Friends." He agreed with a smile.
She looked back at Kid Flash who was looking at her with clear relief. She took his hands in hers and pressed her forehead to his. "Do you mind if I borrow him for a bit?" She said to Cyborg. "Just for a little while…"
"Go ahead." Cyborg said, keen to get out of there as quickly as he could. "See you both later!" He called as he practically ran back up to his room.
Jinx and Kid Flash shared a look and both burst out laughing, clutching each other for support as they threatened to fall over several times.
"Oh my God did you see the look on his face?" Jinx cackled.
"I know!" Kid Flash grinned. "Right now that you've got me some time off, let's go to the kitchen. I never got that sandwich…"
"You and your stomach Wally…" Jinx sighed but she took his arm and he drew her closer to him, placing a swift kiss on her lips. They walked down the corridor together, leaving the photographs scattered on the floor behind them like autumn leaves waiting to be blown away.