title: one of us
rating: k
pairings: victor stone & jinx (is there a couple name?)
warning: random unedited nonsense
summary: Jinx always did like a boy who could surpass expectations, and Victor Stone has done that in every way - even when it broke her heart.
note1. i was just in some mood for a oneshot, and i've always wondered what happened between victor stone and jinx. so much potential! do i know that some of you hate this pairing? yep. do i know that the show is a bit ambiguous about their relationship? of course! but that's where i get to have fun - i get to scribble in between the lines until i like what i find! so i hope you enjoy.
note2. i don't particularly like this oneshot, but hey, it'll do! enjoy ~
I.
"Did you see the new kid?" Nasal taunts and exaggerated eye rolls punctuated the responses to the pink-haired girl's casual question; of course they had. How could they miss him? He was at least six Gizmo's high, and at least two Gizmo's wide, a perfect example of a human at his physical peak. He kept to himself but rose to each challenge the H.I.V.E. students tossed his way, often outshining the school's top students themselves—one of them being the aforementioned pink-haired beauty.
"He thinks he's so great, just because he's new and Headmaster thinks he's all that," said a pint-sized, bald Asian teenager. He cracked his knuckles and glared at the infamous Victor Stone, sitting alone at a table not far from theirs, out of the corner of his eye. "He's dead meat if he tries to mess with us!"
"Yeah!" Mammoth heartily and rather dumbly agreed, slamming his fist against the table. The massive man grunted as if to emphasize the threat he posed to even the muscular Victor Stone - though in Jinx's opinion, the two were evenly matched. What Victor Stone lacked in brawn, he made up for in brains. He had proven that much.
"Why are you so interested anyway?" sneered Gizmo.
"Oh, look, he's noticed us," Jinx pointed out casually, keeping her tone light as she met the new student's eyes with a peace that seemed to unnerve him; he looked away as if surprised by her pleasant expression. He must have expected chaos from the H.I.V.E.'s very own bad luck charm.
"He knows not to mess with us." Gizmo slammed a tiny fist into a tiny palm and bared his teeth.
"Eurgh!" Mammoth slammed the table again.
The two boys waited for their only female friend's response, but they received none; the girl was staring off into the distance, a blank expression on her face. The two looked at each other, acknowledging their mutual confusion, and shrugged their shoulders simultaneously before returning to their school lunch.
Jinx always did like a boy who could surpass expectations.
II.
"Hey, that's the last brownie!" An angry, booming voice, distraught and indignant and challenging. A challenge, she could deal with. Anger, she could deal with. Fights, she could deal with, for what was rightfully hers.
"What are you going to do about it?" A tone seared at the edges, not unlike the snapping of a vicious, irritated alligator. A toss of the head, a blur of pink, and a narrowing of pink eyes, now darkening to a deep purple.
"I'm going to knock you out, that's what I'm going to do about it!"
That was how the greatest food fight went down in history. It lasted hours after lunch period was over, with the Headmaster off on official business and none of the other instructors willing to step in the middle of heated rage. It all started with a brownie, and it all ended with a large hand completely covering a small, delicate one as sheepish and begrudgingly respectful smiles were exchanged.
III.
Science was her worst subject, and his area of expertise. The first tutoring session was an accident, orchestrated by fate in an empty library, save for the two of them.
"I don't get it - why doesn't the Beer Law have anything to do with actual beer? What a stupid name."
"Technically, it's called the Beer-Lambert law."
"Well, it has the word beer in it, okay?"
"Hey, don't get angry at me, you're the one who doesn't understand the simplest concepts of physics!"
"Are you calling me simple?"
"Well, yeah!"
Each session ended with a fight, a lack of vocalized apologies, and a long explanation of how their fight was an example of science at work. And once the two were in the safety of their own rooms, they would smile - one at how predictable his student was, and the other at how he had been so willing to go over the smallest things with her.
IV.
"Just go to the dance with me!"
"Why should I?! You don't actually want me to go with you, you just don't have anyone else to go with!"
"Oh, that's not it, why does that even matter to you, anyway?"
"Because I'm no one's second choice. Do you know how many guys would kill to go to the dance with me? See-More is planning on asking me, and so is-
"See-More? You're going with See-More when you could be going with me? Are you crazy!?"
"No! What's wrong with See-More?"
"Uh, the big eye that's always looking down your shirt, maybe?"
"He does not!"
"Does too!"
"How would you know?"
"I just... know."
"Oh yeah? How? Evidence, please."
"Hey, I have to keep tabs on you - you're my student, and I need to make sure you're not getting distracted from your, uh, schoolwork!"
"... Victor?"
"What?"
"I'll be your date to the dance."
V.
"Hey, Victor?"
"Hmm?" Sleepy, so sleepy... so much late-night investigation... so much sneaking around... mmm, tired tired tired...
"Are you falling asleep on our date?!" Livid shrieks, too loud, too screechy, not sleepy at all...
"Shhh, this is not a date!" Then again, he isn't so sleepy anymore, more like shocked by what she just said.
"We're on a picnic. I'd say it's a pretty date-y situation to me." Smug, arrogant, sassy little thing, that attitude isn't good for sleep.
"We're not on a date!" Neither is his, actually.
"Alright, alright!"
"Good."
Silence. Nice silence. Mmm... sleep...
"Victor?"
...
"Victor!"
...
"... Here, that looks uncomfortable, come put your head in my lap. Ugh, you big lug, your head is heavy..."
VI.
He could have been one of them. He could have been with her. But as always, heroes chose their duties over their heart. A rock tumbled over the roof of a particular T-shaped tower. The clouds rumbled and threatened to storm on a thin pink-haired girl. She was alone; she always was.
She sat down in the center of the roof and looked up. It was about to rain. What did the Titans do when it rained? Did they go out on patrol anyway? Or did they have a big movie night and spend the night talking and sharing scary stories?
Now that she knew, now that he was gone, it was so obvious. The kindness, the gallantry, the insistence on treating her right, even when she didn't even want it. No bad guy was capable of being so thoughtful.
It was why she had thought he cared. But she was a means to the end.
Another rock went over the tower, flung from an arm that may be thin but was still capable of great strength.
"Stupid. What goes up must come down. Physics," the pink-haired girl murmured to herself as she rose to her feet and left the home of Victor Stone. Or Cyborg. Whoever he was.
endnote1. how did you guys like it!? ^^ let me know! tell me what i need to work on, as well. i love critique, guys, i need it! i also need to start editing, but i really hate it. so if you want to be my best friend/editor... please, hollaaaaa at me
endnote2. wow, i will never use the word 'holler' again. i promise. it just doesn't fit me at all.