Hello everyone! This is my new collection of J/C one-shots (how original) based on songs from Florence + The Machine's album, Ceremonials. It's my favorite album of all time and I highly recommend it. A few songs from her first album, Lungs will also be thrown in!
Note that none of these chapters will be related to each other.
This first scene features Jimmy and Cindy in some sort of apocalyptic heat spell. Oddly enough, I wrote the piece before I picked a song as inspiration. It actually matches pretty darn well. Enjoy, and leave feedback!
Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron and affiliated characters, nor do I own any of the music by Florence+TM.
And the only solution was to stand and fight
And my body was bruised and I was set alight
But you came over me like some holy rite
And although I was burning, you're the only light
Only if for a night.
- Only If For A Night
The stars sparkled like minuscule pomegranate seeds in the distance.
Cindy sat next to Jimmy, her knees dirtied by the rotten remains of soil and glades of grass. Jimmy looked pensive, sad even. His brilliant sapphire eyes were the one savory indulgence the world had to offer anymore. The cool blue ocean of his gaze spilled over her, neutralizing the sting of the lava ridden conflagration engulfing her whole.
The heat spell hadn't even been Neutron's making. He'd once brought back the ice age, but this stint was all the universe's doing. In the beginning, he had worked countless hours in the lab, trying to come up with ways to bring the seemingly interminable summer to an early close, but it grew impossible. The longer he toiled, the more energy he lost. The image of his defeated countenance the day he gave up on trying to beat nature was imprinted on her memory with stunning clarity— beads of sweat dripping down his neck, hair drenched, wrench grasped loosely in his left hand, lips hung over with fatigue. Perhaps it was the incessant warmth, or the way the mere sight of him sent her heart pounding, but she'd been dizzy with lust. She recalled the oddest of desires in that moment— the desire to sweep him into her arms and kiss his damp lips until they both burned to ash.
She hadn't gone through with it, of course. Cindy never went through with anything of the sort any longer. Not without some serious consideration beforehand, anyway. But today was another story entirely. The sun loomed in the sky, a dangerous blazing infusion of vermilion death. It threatened to set everyone alight. Somehow staring at it gave her a fiercely new courage. She wasn't sure she could tame her thoughts anymore, and maybe what was more troubling was the possibility that she wasn't sure if she wanted to any longer. If the world was coming to a premature end, then what would it matter if her affections were misplaced?
Thinking up these wild notions were one thing, but believing them was another. Yet, despite her careful reticence, she felt compelled to act on her inclinations. She culled the ever pregnant pause that hung between them by reaching for his hand and clasping it in her own. An act of planned rebellion. His head immediately turned, and he stared at her reproachfully. Cindy gulped down her inhibitions. She couldn't turn back now. A few seconds of silence passed before she interlaced their fingers tightly. He reacted with a sharp intake of breath.
"Cindy?" He looked perplexed, maybe even the slightest bit angry. Who was he to command her? To tell her they could no longer afford these kind of exchanges when there was so clearly nothing left to pursue but togetherness?
She shifted closer to him. Her breath hitched as she offered him a gentle kiss on his parched lips. She'd been starved of love for too long. She could no longer handle the crackling spark between them. Infernos were manageable, but kindling was unbearable.
He looked curiously thoughtful. He looked up for the shortest moment. The sky covered the earth; an odious carmine blanket of red-hot cinders. Then, he turned his attention back to her, with her cropped blonde hair, once long and luscious, now cut short for practicality. Her emerald green eyes flashed vibrantly. He was torn. It was dangerous to play with fire like this. But it was a risk he was willing to take, given the state of things. There was no longer time for mockeries or ministrations.
In a swift, fluid movement, he stroked her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes grew wide as drew her closer and closed the gap between them, boldly crashing his mouth against hers. Cindy set a hand to his chest to feel his heartbeat. With a single kiss, he'd managed to both bring her back to the land of the living and banish the two of them to a private hell of melded body heat. Every labored breath they took from here on out would cost them, but it was a price worth paying. To die of their own volition...to die at the hands of their sweet, blossoming yearning...was a beautiful, beautiful, thing...
