Heroes and Thieves

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Well I'm stubborn and wrong
But at least I know it
I keep moving along until I can get through this

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My name is Jinx. I'm a villain, and that's all I am. Well, that's all I thought I was – all I thought I could be – until he came and began to make everything so much more confusing.

Him. Kid Flash. The fastest boy alive, a superhero with an unnatural interest in me. I've been asking myself why for a really long time. It started out when the HIVE Five robbed a museum, and he gave me a rose. Just one single, red rose.

That shouldn't be very important, especially to a villain like me. But I couldn't bring myself to dislike it – nobody had ever made me feel…special like that. I hate to admit it. Kid Flash made me feel special.

It almost – almost! – makes me fear for his health – does he know how the hero/villain cycle works? I guess not.

I think you could do better.

His words echoed in my head as I stood in the dark alleyway, a vase holding a single rose at my feet – courtesy of him.

My team is full of a bunch of idiots. It's kind of sad – Gizmo is a genius and I still classify him as an idiot. The most tolerable of all of my team is by far Kyd Wykkyd for one reason – he doesn't talk. He never argues, which is really nice. Billy Numerous…he's just a hick, See-More gets cocky with his perfect vision, and all Mammoth cares about is how much food he gets to eat.

It's kind of disgusting.

I hate to say it, but I followed Kid Flash's advice – not the becoming a good guy advice, but leaving the idiots known as my team – or, ex-team. I couldn't take any more of Billy Numerous talking to himself, or Mammoth eating so much I feel like puking.

The Brotherhood of Evil was – emphasis on was – the group of adult super villains I'd been trying to impress. Their second in command, Madame Rouge, was (again, emphasis on was) my idol, until I discovered that she was incredibly cruel. Okay, that sounded really weird, but it's true.

I tried to turn Kid Flash in to the Brotherhood of Evil, to impress Madame Rouge, but she took all the credit for when I caught Kid Flash again.

He's been bothering me for the last while – ever since then.

"Why are you so interested in me?" I asked him angrily.

"There's something about you that's different," he replied.

He thought I could do better. That thought shouldn't make me feel good in any way at all. Kid Flash was only trying to make me into a good guy so crime fighting would be easier. Well, I wasn't planning on helping him out.

Kid Flash is just as infuriating as the rest of my team combined. Ugh, just thinking about that kid makes my brain hurt. Everything goes way too fast for him, and I seem to get caught up…and when his blue eyes look at me I…

What's wrong with me? Why can't I get that exasperating hero out of my head? I can literally hear his voice in my brain telling me that I can do better.

I was walking down the same dark alleyway I'd been only days before, where I met Madame Rouge for the first time ever.

With no where to go, I was just taking a walk around Jump before I had to find someplace to crash for the night. Lately, I'd been breaking into hotels and staying in empty rooms. I discovered that Marriot pillows are incredibly comfortable.

Suddenly, I was caught up in a whirlwind of bright red and yellow. Of course – my stalker had arrived. With a bright grin, Kid Flash appeared in front of me, holding a rose in one hand and a basket in the other.

"What do you want?" I asked, looking him up and down disdainfully. He was such a bad do-gooder. If that makes any sense at all.

"Oh, you know," he said airily. "I was in Italy and I picked up a little dinner for two. I was hoping to find someone to enjoy it with me."

It was so weird how he talked about going to Italy for dinner. I've never been out of Jump before, and he goes to Italy for a grand total of, at most, two minutes.

"Go find someone else to bother," I said irritably. "I'm not in the mood, okay?"

"Come on, Jinx," said Kid Flash coaxingly. He purposely wafted the warm smell of Italian pizza in my face. "It's not like you've got anything better to do, now that you've quit the HIVE Five."

"How did you – oh, of course, you know everything about me," I said, annoyed. "Because I have my own personal stalker. Why don't you go creep someone else out?"

Kid Flash smirked, his blue eyes trained on me. "No one else is nearly as fun to bother," said Kid Flash matter-of-factly, with a winning smile. With a flourish, he took the rose and put it in my hand.

I shook my head – this kid was unbelievable! He was so full of it. It pains me to admit that his hand over mine sent shivers up my spine.

Kid Flash looked at me with the kindest expression I've ever seen directed at me I'd ever seen. "Jinx, it wouldn't kill you if you didn't act so tough all the time," he said softly.

I couldn't help but stare back. His eyes were so tempting, and I was barely aware of anything. Until logic came and knocked me on the head. Without changing my expression, I continued to look back at him. Kid Flash seemed extremely pleased, until I opened my hand and a pink hex shot out.

He was knocked off of his feet, and I smirked.

"Ah," said Kid Flash, still smiling even though I'd just knocked him down. He stood, brushing himself off. "I think you're just hungry, aren't you?"

Before I could say HIVE Five, there was a whole picnic spread out in front of me. Three white candles burned in the middle of a blanket, and Kid Flash was sitting down, taking out big slices of Italian pizza. He indicated the spot next to him for me to sit, but I just stayed standing, and crossed my arms.

"You have a problem," I told him blandly.

Kid Flash laughed. "Thank you, Dr. Jinx," he said. "Thank you for that diagnosis. Maybe we could talk about it over dinner?"

There is one word that I can use to describe Kid Flash right now – persistent.

"Do you ever give up?" I asked him. "You're wasting my time, and yours." I shook my head disdainfully at him.

"It's not like there's too little time for me," he said innocently. "And I don't think you were planning on doing anything important tonight."

I would have argued, but unfortunately, that was true. I didn't have anything to do that night – although, I was pretty sure I could have found something to entertain myself.

"You can't tell me you're not hungry," pressed Kid Flash. "It's midnight."

"Oh, it's midnight? Shouldn't good little boys like you be in bed by now?" I asked mockingly.

"I guess there's more than a good little boy here, then," replied Kid Flash smoothly. He took a bite of his slice of pizza. "Come on, there's plenty to spare."

"I'm not hungry." And, of course, you guessed it – my stomach growled. Nobody listened to me – not my ex-team, not Kid Flash, not even my own organs.

"Then Chewbacca must be around somewhere," said Kid Flash.

I shot him a death glare. "You irk me." I sat down grudgingly, and accepted a slice of pizza. I was hungry – I wasn't thinking straight.

I've eaten plenty of pizzas, but pizza straight from Italy is by far the best I've ever tasted.

Kid Flash beamed, looking pleased with himself. "So, you quit the HIVE Five. Now what are you going to do?" he said, as if he was talking about something as simple as the weather.

"I hadn't quite figured that out yet – stop it! I hate it when you do that!" I snapped angrily. He is the person who has been able to get the most information out of me. He always talks about something like it's no big deal, and I always fall into that trap.

"Maybe I wouldn't have to do that if you'd just talk to me," said Kid Flash calmly, but his eyes were serious.

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you," I said, miffed.

"Then why stick around? Are we doing anything other than talking?" he asked.

"You're really, really annoying," was the only comeback I could think of. That brought a smile back to his mouth and eyes.

"Are you still thinking about joining the Brotherhood of Evil?" he asked, taking another bite of pizza and leaning back on one hand.

"No, Madame Rouge is so – you're doing it again!" I snapped. I finished my pizza, feeling somewhat better.

"And now you see the story from my side of the book," said Kid Flash with a smile. "They're not the kind of people you would want to get involved in anyway."

"How do you know what kind of people I want to get involved in, anyway?" I flared up, angrily. Kid Flash shrugged, and took a sip of water. I snapped my fingers, and his water poured all over his face. I smirked, and he sputtered, surprised.

"That was wet," he said ingeniously.

"Hm, I wonder why?" I asked sarcastically.

"I could always show you why," he said with a grin.

"No," I said flatly. "No way."

I snapped my fingers again and the rest of his water was dumped on his head.

"Fine," sighed Kid Flash. He put down the empty cup in defeat. But before I knew it, I was drenched with water, and he was holding a second empty cup.

I stared at him. "You are a bastard, you know that?" I snapped. He grinned and took an innocent bite of pizza, which I shoved in his face.

Soon, it turned into a fully fledged food fight. It was sad how at home I felt with Kid Flash – it wasn't right. I dodged his flying olive, and hexed his next weapon.

We both collapsed, finally. "Truce?" asked Kid Flash, looking at me questioningly. He offered me his hand for the second time that week.

I hesitated, and threw a piece of pizza at his head. "Yeah, truce," I said, satisfied. I shook his hand. Kid Flash laughed as he took his pizza hat off. His laugh sounded nice – why did he do that to me?

"You really are a piece of work, Jinx," he said, grinning broadly at me.

I smiled cheekily.

"I had a great time tonight, Jinx," he said. "Thank you." Within three seconds, the picnic had been cleared up, and there was a rose in my hand.

"You know, with you shoving roses in my hand all the time, I could get cut," I said.

"No, you can't," said Kid Flash with a smile. "I hand cut all the thorns off. You're welcome."

I didn't say thank you. "Good night, Jinx. Stay safe," he said in goodbye. He disappeared into the night, and left me standing there, with a single rose in my hand.

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This is my first Flinx story, so I really would like some feedback. I hope you liked it! Please review.

The song is Heroes and Thieves by Vanessa Carlton.

Disclaimer: The Teen Titans do not belong to me, unfortunately. ): This disclaimer carries over for the whole story.