7th May
Tastes change, re-try something you say you don't like
I think today's suggestion is kind of silly, if we know we don't like something then why would anyone want to re-try it? What do they think I am? Some five year old refusing to eat my vegetables because they look funny or something. I don't appreciate being patronised by my own diary.
Please tell me you agree with me about how dumb this suggestion is.
Jinx
You said you didn't like talking to me before remember? Have you changed your mind about that or are all opinions held by Jinx once forever set in stone?
KF
…smartass.
Jinx
"Agh!" Came the yell from inside Jinx's bedroom. A surprised Jinx with wet hair stuck her head into her bedroom to see a slightly smouldering Kid Flash on the floor of her bedroom.
"What happened to you?" Jinx asked walking towards him. She suddenly noticed the scorched cut in the shoulder of his suit and the singed flesh below it.
"Those dumb lasers outside your base happened to me." Kid Flash said irritably as he pulled off the mask to his suit and tugged the neck down until it came down to the top of his shoulder, with a hiss of pain he gingerly pulled it away from the wound.
"Fastest boy alive and you still get shot by some lasers?" Jinx retorted half heartedly as she knelt next to him and looked at the burn, it wasn't too deep but it looked like it'd be a painful one, it'd probably scar too.
"It was some sort of smart laser, they shot at where I was going to be just as I got there, it can't have been following me, I'm too fast for that." Kid Flash said shaking his head.
"Gizmo probably programmed in some prediction software or something, you probably take the same route here every time right?" Jinx murmured straightening up and grabbing a bottle of anti-septic from her bathroom cabinet along with a few balls of cotton wool.
"Yeah." Kid Flash groaned as Jinx touched his skin with the stinging fluid. Kid Flash couldn't believe how quickly Jinx reacted as the woosh of the door sounded, he found himself shoved on the floor, his injured shoulder prevented from contact with anything by a carefully placed knee, Jinx's blanket had only just settled on him by the time the other members of the HIVE five had entered the room.
"Where is he?!" Gizmo demanded of no one in particular as he burst into the room. Kid Flash felt panic thrum through his veins, he was in Jinx's room, cornered with his mask off and half his costume pulled off and he was wounded to boot. If they discovered him there it'd be over for him.
"Who? That red-headed speedster that just blew through here and trashed the place?!" Jinx snapped back in a hostile voice.
"Your room doesn't look any different to how it usually looks, how did he trash it?" SeeMore chipped in.
"What exactly are you implying eyeball?" Jinx growled threateningly.
"Nothing!" SeeMore squeaked.
"Where is he now then?" Gizmo asked again.
"How should I know? He's not here is he? If you want to find him go look yourself, you can write this room off as not containing heroes." Jinx snorted and tried to ignore the way she could feel Kid Flash tensing against her nervously.
"Good point." Mammoth rumbled.
"Why are you down on the floor?" Gizmo asked after a second.
"I'm tidying up after he trashed my room, a concept you five aren't familiar with I know. Now get!" Jinx ordered sternly. It was only a second or two after he heard the door shut and Jinx let out a shaky sigh that Kid Flash even dared to move.
"That was… close." Jinx breathed as Kid Flash sat up feeling his heart beat at what felt like a million miles an hour.
"Tell me about it." He agreed.
"You've got to go, and don't come back ever again. It's too dangerous, get out of here and trash anything you can on your way out to make it look like that was all you were here for." Jinx ordered firmly.
"But…" Kid Flash trailed off glancing at their diary. The words hung unsaid in the air 'I can't come back?'
"Forget it. I'll keep it hidden, but you're not to come back. I'm not having you risking your life for some stupid diary. I guess I am going to have to re-try just talking to you like a normal person after all, now go." Jinx ordered. Kid Flash wiggled his shoulder back into his costume as quickly and delicately as he could before standing up and whilst still holding his injured shoulder running off and causing as much chaos in the base as he could and leaving in a completely new way to him in the hopes of not getting shot again.
Kid Flash sat in his bathroom and stared angrily at the singed wound in his shoulder with a pair of tweezers in his hand, the heat from the laser has melted some of his costume into the burn and if he didn't do anything about it the thing would likely turn nasty very quickly. Having poked and prodded at it for a while there seemed to be no simple and painless way to remove said fabric. Wally sighed before grabbing a raised piece of the melted fabric and yanking it quickly in the other direction, having let out a stream of curse words that would no doubt have got him grounded for months at home had his aunt heard him he dropped the extracted fabric to the floor. He was just shakily reaching for the bandages when the ringing of the apartment's phone stopped him. He frowned, no one called him, the only person who had called was his aunt once and Robin to check that he'd made it to the place ok and reminding him not to screw up looking after Jump city whilst he was away.
"Hello?" He asked warily as he picked up the phone.
"Hey." Jinx's voice greeted him quietly.
"Jinx!" He exclaimed in surprise almost dropping the phone from where it was cradled between his ear and his good shoulder.
"I guess you made it back ok without being shot by lasers anymore." Jinx said the teasing smirk evident in her voice. Kid Flash grinned, she'd been worried about him!
"Yeah I got back just fine. Hey, how did you get this number? I don't think I can even remember it myself." He laughed to himself.
"I am a well connected villainess you know. I knew your address so it wasn't hard, I just had to get into the phone company's records which was embarrassingly easy actually." Jinx informed him.
"I'm sure that's several different kinds of illegal, I'll pretend I just gave you my number shall I?" Kid Flash said rolling his eyes.
"If you like." Jinx chuckled.
"So… I guess your lot have probably gone nuts about me trashing the place huh?" He asked remembering the devastation that he had caused their base as his way of getting payback for shooting him and separating him from Jinx.
"You microwaved their game system and made Gizmo's hard drive into a tetherball, they're not too pleased no." Jinx said flatly.
"Hey, they shot me and now I can't see you anymore, I was mad." Kid Flash muttered feeling the anger well up again.
"You can still see me, just not here." Jinx replied quietly.
"I know, I just… I don't like people taking away the things I care about." Kid Flash grumbled unhappily.
"You're such an only child." Jinx snorted.
"Hey that's not nice, anyway the fact that I have no siblings has no relevance." Kid Flash pouted knowing that Jinx would think that it defiantly did.
"Aw, I'm sorry. Hey, I'll bring dinner around to make it up to you." Jinx offered.
"Sounds great. I'll see you tonight then?" He smiling.
"Sure." Jinx replied and hung up. Kid Flash grinned to himself, the pain in his shoulder completely forgotten, not too long ago Jinx was barely talking to him let alone casually arranging dinner plans with him.
By the time Jinx arrived at seven he'd barely been out of the house, he'd stopped one carjacking simply because it was outside his apartment and loud but he couldn't do much with an injured shoulder, besides he deserved some time off. That and Jinx hadn't specified when she'd be over and he knew she'd kill him if he was out when she called.
"Hey." He greeted Jinx as he opened the door to his apartment, she was dressed in a simple jeans and T-shirt with her pink hair mostly concealed under a beanie hat that was conspicuous for the hot weather they were having.
"Hey. I brought food." Jinx said raising the bag full of Chinese food to him.
"Which you cooked so lovingly in a Chinese restaurant, I didn't know you had a second job." Wally teased.
"Hey, if you want me to take it away and stop you from having any dinner that's fine with me." Jinx shot back holding the bag with the food in behind her back.
"No! I like Chinese food! I'm sorry Jinx come in." Wally pleaded stepping back away from the door to allow Jinx in.
"That's more like it." She said poking her tongue out at him as she passed.
"So what did you get?" He asked as he followed Jinx into the kitchen.
"A bit of everything, I didn't know what you liked so I thought I'd hedge my bets." Jinx shrugged pulling the cartons out of the plastic bag that she'd brought them in.
"What did you tell your team when you left? They're going to start wondering where you're going to, especially if I can't come and see you at your base any more." Wally said quietly as he laid plates down on the kitchen surface. Jinx clenched her fists against the counter top at this.
"I'm thinking they might not have to worry about it for too long." Jinx muttered as she frustratedly removed the last few cartons from the bag.
"What do you mean by that exactly?" He asked carefully as he tried to suppress his anticipation at her answer.
"I'm not really sure, I mean…" Jinx trailed off, "I don't know what I mean." She finished rubbing her temples.
"I take it those five are really getting to you then?" Wally smiled sympathetically.
"You can say that again, but that's not it. I don't know, I just feel like I need to be making some sort of decision and that I've got some clock that's running out without me knowing how long I've got left." Jinx frowned as she scrunched up the empty plastic bag and threw it in the bin.
"I hope you don't feel like I'm making you decide too soon. Because I meant it when I said that I'd wait for you however long it took." He said soothingly.
"It's not that, I just always get this feeling before something bad happens. It's sort of a bad luck thing." Jinx explained as she popped the lids off of the foil containers of their food.
"You think something bad is going to happen?" Kid Flash asked worriedly.
"Probably not, it's probably just me being paranoid, things don't usually go well for me you know." Jinx said dismissively, Kid Flash bit his lip, that wasn't particularly good news either. Whilst he always attempted to distance himself from practicing armchair psychology Jinx saying things like that either meant that her powers were accurate and something bad was going to happen or Jinx felt really insecure in the current situation and felt like things between them were going to go horribly wrong. He wondered if that was a lack of trust in him or in herself.
"You listening or what?" Jinx frowned waving a hand in front of his face.
"Of course." He smiled pleasantly at her.
"What did I just say then?" Jinx asked with a disbelieving frown.
"I couldn't possibly talk with my mouth full, sorry." He replied as he stuffed a spring roll in his mouth, piled up his plate at supersonic speeds and ran to the sofa. Jinx rolled her eyes and filled her plate at a somewhat slower speed and joined him at the sofa. She put her feet up on the coffee table and settled down next to him on the sofa with her arm brushing against his, the film played in the background but Wally didn't really notice it, he and Jinx ate slowly talking occasionally and quietly. When he used his powers the whole world around him slowed down, it never felt like he ran fast, it felt like everyone else just pretty much stopped; it was as if around him the whole world just faded away and he was the only thing there in this silent tiny world that was just him and the ground that he was running on. But sitting here next to Jinx he felt the same feeling, the whole world outside of him could have vanished and he would have barely noticed, but he wasn't alone in the small bubble that was his world. It was just him and Jinx in this soft quiet acceptance and affection shown in gentle words and gestures, it was perfect and whole, he never wanted the moment to end.
"I'm so happy I could die right now Clem." A character on the screen voiced his emotions for him, he shifted his nearly empty plate onto the sofa arm and nestled into Jinx's side. Who would have known that this vicious, vivacious and violent girl would be so calm with him? So open, so carefree. He loved it. He felt Jinx turn her head to look down at his head resting on her shoulder, her lips grazed his temple in a barely there kiss. Normally he'd have felt the need to comment on this but he simply let the moment carry on and smiled to himself.
"Wow, where did the time go?" Jinx commented as she stretched her back out as the credits of the film rolled.
"Mmm." He murmured in agreement and watched her stand up and grab their plates and leave for the kitchen, Kid Flash stood up himself and feeling suitably domestic today decided to join her in the kitchen to clean up.
"I liked that film, I'm not sure about the memory erasing thing though." Jinx commented.
"What, there's no memory that you'd ever want to get rid of? No person you wish you'd never met?" Wally asked raising an eyebrow at her, he knew that there were moments in his hero career where he'd failed and he wished fervently that he could clear from his mind forever. He wasn't surprised that the business in the film of erasing people's memories was so popular, everyone has something they want to forget but can't.
"I don't think so no." Jinx said quietly.
"Really?" He asked surprised.
"Don't get me wrong," Jinx said tilting her head slightly, "I've met some pretty nasty people in my time, but… I guess everyone that you meet, every memory that you have shapes you. You wouldn't be you without them, there's no one I would erase."
"How deep." Wally grinned at her.
"I can surprise you sometimes." Jinx shot back with a devious smirk, he laughed and leant back on the countertop, his elbow pushing the bag that the Chinese came in off onto the floor.
"Oops." He remarked bending down to pick it up, as he did he realised that there was a slight weight in the bag that wasn't as empty as he presumed.
"Hey, fortune cookies!" He exclaimed happily as he fished them out of the bag.
"Don't open them." Jinx said coldly as she clattered the dishes into the sink.
"What? Why?" Kid Flash asked surprised, did she want them for herself or something? He watched Jinx's shoulders stiffen as she turned to look disdainfully at the wrapped treats.
"It's a bad luck thing, every time I get one of those and touch it or anything it predicts some nasty event that always comes true. I don't want that." Jinx said eyeing them angrily.
"What? That's not possible, it's not like they can make your future, they just say random stuff. They don't actually predict the future you know." He laughed slightly.
"Well they do with me, as soon as I touch it whatever silly fortune was in there turns into a horrible future for me." Jinx snapped angrily.
"Wait, wait. You do know a fortune can't just alter, it says what it says regardless of whether you touch it or open it." He explained patiently.
"Not with me, it's like a… quantum bad luck thing." She said shaking her head at him. She wished he'd just accept that she knew what she was talking about and drop the whole subject and leave the damned fortune cookies alone.
"What? Like Schrödinger's fortune cookie?" Wally laughed at the silliness of the whole thing.
"Yes! Can you not mock me please?!" Jinx demanded getting still angrier by the minute. He could tell from the slight glow in her eyes and the way her slender fingers clenched that she wasn't happy with him, but there was no way she was right.
"Oh come on, this is just silly. They're tiny sweet cookies, not doom incarnate." He said rolling his eyes and tossing a cookie at her, she shrieked and ducked it, it bounced off the wall behind her into the sink.
"Did you seriously just scream at a fortune cookie?" He laughed so hard he almost had to clutch his sides.
"Don't you DARE." Jinx threatened as he laughed and pulled another out of the bag, Jinx yelped and dodged this one too, the third however bounced off her shoulder in a bright flash of pink light and the sizzling sound that often accompanied one of her hexes.
"Whoa, did you just hex a fortune cookie?" He murmured leaning over where she knelt on the floor staring wide eyed at said confectionary treat.
"No," Jinx's voice came out like the sound of an oncoming storm, "you just threw a fortune cookie at me that activated my powers and now has cast a certain and awful event in my near future and it's all your fault."
"Whoa, hey. Nothing is gonna happen." Kid Flash said soothingly, he hadn't realised that she took this so seriously. He'd been so caught up in teasing her that he'd not been thinking.
"Oh well I'm so GLAD that you're so convinced. I'm so GLAD that you're so goddamn sure that you'll bet MY life on it!" Jinx hissed standing up and angrily shoving the fortune cookie into his chest.
"Jinx-" He began apologetically.
"You know what? Next time you're so keen to gamble with fate why don't you put your own life on the line instead of mine?" She spat angrily.
"Your life isn't on the line Jinx, it's just a dumb cookie!" He pleaded with her.
"Well we'll see how convinced of that when I get run over or something and you go tearfully to my funeral only to get home, open the cookie and see the fortune that reads 'good luck dodging that honda'!" Jinx shouted at him as she shoved him backwards.
"Jinx, don't say that!" He gasped horrified at the idea, "I'd be devastated if that ever happened."
"Yeah well, something's going to happen how and it'll be all your fault!" Jinx retorted as she stamped over to the door, wrenched it open, stormed outside and slammed the door shut behind her so hard that it practically fell off of its hinges. Kid Flash simply stood in his kitchen, the half crushed and still sealed fortune cookie held against his chest wondering what the hell had just happened.
