Quick Info~
Coming back again after a slight hiatus with another chapter! :) I'm super stoked about this one, as I am with all of the chapters, to be honest. And let's just ignore the fact that every kissing scene I write is in water of some sort... After writing this chapter I just noticed it. Maybe it's Jinx's kink? 0.0 Anyway, thanks again for all of the wonderful feedback! I've been sick recently and finally got online to check the most recent favorites/follows/reviews. You guys made me feel 1,000 times better!I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! The meat of the plot is just getting started :)
"Ekko?" Jinx asked, her voice quivering.
"Jinx was part of my family once," Ekko answered. "You can tell the Chief that if you want, Pix. You seem to understand family well."
Lulu nodded and Pix landed on her shoulder. She bounced away happily, her hat nearly falling off of her head as her hair dragged against the ground.
"What does that even mean?" Jinx asked, smirking at Ekko.
"A faerie is interested in my love life and you want to know why I gave it the answer I did?" Ekko asked.
Jinx shrugged. "Humans have weird feelings that are hard for other creatures to understand. That's why I try not to feel 'em."
Ekko nudged Jinx playfully. "Or because you can't understand them yourself."
"Whatever. I'm not the one who gave that awful answer," Jinx said.
"Well, you could ask me yourself, you know," Ekko said, making Jinx stop in her tracks.
"Has the thought occurred to you that I don't care?" she responded, her voice beginning to quiver again.
Ekko forced her to stare into his eyes, holding her gaze like every fiber of his being depended on it. "Has it occurred to you that you do?"
"Stop," she breathed.
"You don't have to worry," Ekko said.
"Yes, I do. Because if you tell me that you're in love with me, then I have to start thinking about how I feel. That ruins everything. I won't be able to talk to you. I won't be able to even think around you," Jinx said, covering her eyes with her hands and dropping to the floor.
Ekko crouched next to her, his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, look at me. Jinx? Please?"
Jinx opened her hands slightly, her eyes peering at him through the cracks in her fingers. "What?" she asked, her voice quiet and defeated.
"I'm just as confused about all of this as you are. I'm not ready to say anything like that. Please don't worry, okay?" Ekko said, his voice gentle and reassuring.
Jinx nodded and fell forward into his chest. He made an audible 'oomph' sound at the sudden contact, but quickly enveloped her in his arms. He wasn't sure how long they sat there like that; his eyes were too fixated on the faeries and his thoughts too fixated on Jinx.
He caught glimpses of Rumble and Tristana for a while, but as the hours passed and they disappeared, he realized they must have gone to sleep. Lulu, on the other hand, was engulfed in some sort of faerie game. She was pointing at what looked like nonsense, but would soon explode into miniature fireworks in the air. No matter how hard Ekko squinted, he was never able to see what was causing the explosions. Magic, he assumed.
Ekko knew that sleeping was going to prove to be a significant struggle as the hours dragged on and no sleep came. Instead, he watched the faeries. They did not seem to sleep, at least in the way that humans do. Their bright colors blurred together the longer than Ekko stared at them, creating a smear of spattered circles that reminded him of lights on a Christmas tree.
It had been awhile since he celebrated Christmas, or any holiday for that matter. After his gang disbanded, special days passed by pretty uneventfully. He couldn't remember the last time he got to blow out the candles on a birthday cake or help hang ornaments on the tree. The gang did all of that stuff together because they were family, but when you don't have a family, celebrating seems useless.
Ekko turned his attention to Jinx, sleeping peacefully on his chest. She usually sprawled out as far as her spindly limbs could stretch, but tonight she was curled up on him completely still. He hesitantly lifted his hand to her forehead, brushing the lose strands of hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. He might have been confused. He might never fall in love with her, or admit to it if he did, but his feelings for her were as real and present as his breathing.
She was scared for him to admit it, and he could never blame her for it. It was something that they all had to deal with. Constant betrayal was just part of being born in the slums. After awhile, Ekko knew, you had to get smart. You had to start building the walls around your heart with stronger materials so that it would finally stop getting broken. And Ekko also knew that Jinx's walls were thicker than his because of Vi. So he decided to keep his mouth shut about his feelings. For himself. For Jinx. And for the unspoken sacredness of the walls.
"Thanks for everything, Lulu!" Tristana called, waving as Ekko held back the branches for her.
"Anytime!" Lulu said, scooping up handfuls of faeries in her hat and spinning around until they came tumbling out.
Tristana stepped through the branches and Ekko tucked them snuggly together again. The forest was meant to remain untouched by human hands and the thickness of the branches provided the perfect shelter for the faeries from the outside world.
"She's got guts," Rumble said. "I'll give her that."
"Absolutely," Tristana agreed.
"Did you end up getting the magic you needed?" Ekko asked.
Tristana smiled and slung her gun from her back over her shoulder, smoothing her hand over the shining barrel. "Not as much as we were hoping for, but I've got some new buffs I'm dying to try out on those pirate scum."
"Miss Fortune won't be able tell 'shock' from 'awe' when I'm done with 'er," Rumble said, laughing mischievously.
"Aw man, I should've asked for something for Fishbones!" Jinx whined.
Rumble scowled at her. "Yeah, like the faeries would've helped you. They can smell crazy from a mile away."
"Whatever. Fishbones is already perfect," Jinx retorted, hugging the gun to her chest and planting little kisses along the side of it.
"Bandle City couldn't be further away right now," Tristana mumbled, rolling her eyes before grabbing Rumble's ear and yanking him upward.
"Ouch! Okay, okay. I'll shut up. Stop," Rumble said, batting her hands away and glaring at her.
As Rumble nursed his new injury, the group trudged on in silence. Ekko was grateful for getting to see so many new places on their journey, but there were only so many trees, rocks, and dirt he could pass before each became just another tree, rock, or dirt.
Bandle City was tiny no matter how close they got to it. The buildings were various shades of the rainbow, each with a curved roof and chimney happily puffing out smoke. The ground was mostly cobblestone swirled around each building before fanning out and connecting to the next. Lights strung from the tops of buildings on one side to the tops of buildings opposite. Carts lined the walkways with Yordle vendors advertising their goods on the sides of each street.
Jinx was in absolute heaven, dashing from one cart to the next and pretending to haggle with the Vendors. She stroked her chin and held each trinket up to the sun, out of reach of the disgruntled Yordles.
"I dunno sir, I collect these for a living and this one looks amateurish," Jinx said, squinting at a hand-painted Teemo figurine.
"You're tryin' to tell me that you collect Teemo figures?" the salesman said, his mustache twitching angrily.
"It's a hobby my family has had for generations," Jinx said. "You tryin' to tell me you think I'm a liar?"
Ekko, noticing the heat growing between Jinx and the Yordle, slung his arm around her and snatched the figure from her hands.
"Really sorry about her, sir," Ekko said. "She's not exactly all there upstairs, if you know what I mean."
The man continued to grumble under his breath, taking the Teemo figure from Ekko's hands and cleaning it off with a rag. Ekko steered Jinx back towards Tristana and Rumble, his grip on her shoulders tight.
"You're such a party pooper," Jinx said.
"Yordles and humans don't exactly see eye-to-eye," Ekko said. "It'd be nice if you didn't get us kicked out on our first day here."
"How long are you planning on staying here?" Tristana asked, stopping in front of a purple house lined with white lilies.
"We were just hoping we could use your shower and then we were going to leave," Ekko said, realizing how selfish he sounded as soon as the words came out of his mouth.
"Good," Tristana said, unlocking the door and ushering them inside. "I'm already harboring one fugitive. I don't need three."
Rumble scoffed. "I left on my own."
Tristana's house was as cute and color-coordinated as she was. It was extremely small for a two story, with only two rooms downstairs. The kitchen was bright and open, with nice hardwood floors covering the ground. The living room consisted of one small couch with an equally small television and coffee table. Pictures of all of Tristana and all of her Yordle friends were stuck on a corkboard on the wall with purple and white pins.
"The shower is upstairs in the master bedroom. I'd apologize for the size, but you knew what you were getting into coming here," Tristana said, reaching into a closet underneath the staircase and pulling out two towels.
"You can go first," Ekko said, plopping a towel in Jinx's arms.
Ekko sat awkwardly in one of Tristana's kitchen chairs. He had to scoot away from the table to avoid his knees hitting the top of it. Tristana and Rumble ignored him for the most part, instead discussing battle strategies against Bilgewater. As the minutes passed, Ekko grew more and more restless.
Vi and Caitlyn were so close he could almost feel their presence. In less than two days, he would have Ajuna's goggles back and Jinx would have her new gun. He prayed that Miss Fortune would honor their agreement. Even if she was involved in a battle, she wouldn't refuse him when she listened to his story. She couldn't.
"I'm going to see what's taking Jinx so long," Ekko said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears.
He pushed in his chair and made his way to the staircase. It was cramped and creaky, but he squeezed his way to the top regardless. When he walked into the master bedroom, steam hit him in the face like he had just opened the door to a hot spring. The water was no longer running and he could hear Jinx grunting from outside of the bathroom door.
"Jinx?" he asked, knocking on the door and putting his ear up to it.
No response.
"Hey, Jinx. Open up," Ekko said, tentatively putting his hand on the doorknob.
She still refused to respond. Ekko rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the doorknob.
"Alright, well I'm coming in," he said, turning the knob and pushing the door open.
Jinx squealed, dropping the towel at her feet and turning her back to him. Ekko's cheeks instantly burned.
"Pervert!" she yelled, glaring at him out of her corner of her eye.
"You…you didn't answer me! How was I supposed to know you weren't dressed?" Ekko asked incredulously, unable to keep a prepubescent sounding squeak out of his voice.
"I couldn't get the towel around my boobs," Jinx said. "I've never had that problem before."
Ekko bit his tongue to keep the chuckle rising in his throat from coming out.
"And I left my clothes on the bed in there and didn't want to get it in case someone was trying to be a perv. Apparently, I didn't even have to leave the bathroom for that to happen," Jinx said, her hands still covering her chest despite the fact that Ekko couldn't see anything.
"I'm sorry," Ekko said sheepishly. "I'll grab your clothes for you, okay?"
"Good," she said.
When Ekko returned with her clothes, she snatched them out of his hands almost immediately. Ekko wanted to tell her that her hair was long and thick enough unbraided to cover up anything she didn't want him to see. But he knew it was futile, so he kept his mouth shut.
Hooking the back of her top, she said, "You can shower now, if you want."
Ekko laughed. "Oh yeah? With you right here?"
Jinx rolled her eyes. "I won't peak. Besides, the glass in there is frosted."
Part of him felt hot all over, embarrassed by the mere thought of showering with Jinx right outside the door. Another part of him yearned to get to Vi as soon as possible, and that part didn't care where Jinx was. He mulled it over for a while, feeling like an idiot standing in the middle of the bathroom floor as Jinx continued to get ready, and eventually decided that leaving as soon as possible was more important.
The shower handle squeaked loudly when Ekko turned it and he winced at the sound. Jinx seemed unfazed as she ducked down towards the mirror to smear black eyeliner around her eyes. Hesitantly, Ekko began to unzip his pants, wondering if she was going to try anything funny. It felt like it was a painstakingly slow process, inching the fabric down his body one leg at a time, but he refused to be made a fool.
Soon, his clothes were in a heap on the floor and he squeezed into the shower. His head poked over the top, his mohawk nearly brushing against the ceiling. The showerhead was spitting out water directly onto his chest and he quickly realized the only way he'd ever be able to wash his face was if he stooped down.
The water was the perfect combination of refreshing, yet still warm to the touch. Ekko let the water run from his forehead to his chin, holding his breath for as long as he could.
"Sneak attack!"
He could barely register Jinx's voice by the time the shower door was yanked open. She sprayed some sort of purple foam directly into the water stream and Ekko was covered in a steadily growing pile of it. He could hear her maniacal laughter still within his reach. Her first mistake.
He grabbed a towel and fastened it around his waist as best as he could before stepping out of the shower towards Jinx. He extended his arms, mountains of purple foam protruding from his body. Jinx screamed and tried to run, but she wasn't fast enough.
Ekko pulled her into his arms, taking handfuls of foam and shoving it in her face. She was still laughing, spluttering whenever the foam would touch her tongue, and trying to wriggle out of Ekko's grasp.
"No fair!" she protested, her hands pushing against his chest with all of her strength.
"You ambushed me," Ekko said, throwing her over his shoulder and walking back into the shower. "Looks like someone got Jinx'd."
Although Ekko was prepared for Jinx to retaliate the second that he put her down, he was not prepared for her revenge to be so…injury free. Instead, she wiped the foam away from her face and pulled Ekko down towards her. When their lips touched, Ekko was moved to a state of thorough shock. Jinx's kisses were messy on their own. Crazy and unpredictable, just like her. And Ekko usually kissed with a decent amount of hesitancy. But as soon as he kissed her back, the two styles meshed together in a perfect balance.
Jinx was the first to pull away, her eyelashes still fluttering in a daze. When she finally opened them, a wide grin spread across her face.
"Looks like you got Jinx'd," she breathed, and her voice made the hairs on the back of Ekko's neck stand on end.
Giggling, she hopped out of the shower and her footsteps disappeared down the hall. Ekko was left standing with his back to the water, feeling rather lightheaded, but more alive than ever before.