A/N: here's the next update, sorry it's so long but my new job is really killing me. Anyway, i hope you enjoy the chapter, but i also wanted to let you all know that i've started a comic of this fanfic on my deviantart account. The account name is TriffidQueen but you can just search for 'kid flash jinx' and mine and loads of lovely other people's work will come up.
"No more bike! My legs will fall off!" Jinx shouted after about three hours of solid cycling, she skidded to a halt, clambered off the bike and dropped down onto the grass verge.
"Aww, my poor Jinxie's all tired." Kid Flash teased as he wheeled her bike off the road and sat down on the grass next to her.
"I'm too tired to beat you, but mark my words I will later." Jinx moaned and closed her eyes.
"Nah, I'm only teasing you. You've done well, we got further than I though we would, not that I wanted to say that in case you stopped." He smiled at her.
"You're a wicked wicked boy." Jinx grumbled weakly.
"You must be rubbing off on me." Wally shot back as he stretched and laid down in the grass next to her.
"You wish." Jinx snorted. Kid Flash smiled to himself and shuffled slightly until he felt comfortable on the grass before settling still.
"How can you keep running for so long?" Jinx asked after a while with a weary sigh as she rested her arm across her eyes to blot out the harsh sun shining on her face.
"I have stamina like you wouldn't believe." Kid Flash grinned deviously at her.
"I really hope for your sake that your tone of voice was misleading and that was a completely innocent statement on your part." Jinx said flatly as she decided against opening an eye to check as Wally would no doubt be grinning from ear to stupid ear.
"Oh! Hey, while we were in the store I got food for lunch… or brunch I suppose. Want some?" Kid Flash asked quickly changing the subject and opening his duffel bag and pulling out the food he'd bought.
"What'd you get?" Jinx asked propping herself up on one elbow.
"I got… a few cans of coke and stuff, two foot long baguettes, half a dozen donuts, some chocolate, chips, cookies-" Kid Flash said pulling everything he'd bought out of the bag.
"Feeding the five thousand are we?" Jinx said incredulously, Kid Flash looked at her deflatedly with a baguette still in hand.
"I didn't know what you'd want." He mumbled putting the sandwich down and looking at it sadly.
"God it's like kicking a puppy." Jinx muttered taking the sandwich and unwrapping it, she looked pointedly at Kid Flash and took a bite.
"Yay!" Kid Flash cheered happily, Jinx rolled her eyes, she could never keep up with his sudden mood changes but at least for the moment he was happy.
"This isn't half bad actually." Jinx said swallowing her mouthful of bread and filling.
"It could use mustard." Wally said spraying crumbs down the hill.
"When I take over the world, I'm going to kidnap you and just throw you in a vat of mustard." Jinx said darkly.
"Could you really do that?" Kid Flash asked seriously.
"What? I guess, I mean it'd be expensive but I'm sure it's not hard to bulk buy the stuff." Jinx blinked surprised at his interest.
"I meant take over the world, not the mustard thing." Wally said rolling his eyes.
"Oh, right." Jinx said turning red.
"Well? Could you? After everything that's happened I mean. Could you still try and do something like that?" He asked looking at Jinx piercingly, she shifted uncomfortably and mumbled something in response.
"What?" He asked with a frown.
"I said I don't know okay?!" Jinx snapped angrily.
"You seemed pretty sure when I first met you." Wally said neutrally, he watched Jinx intently out of the corner of his eye and tried to recognise the emotions that played across her face.
"I was." She said finally, she sounded disappointed with herself and glared at her sandwich like it was responsible for all her frustrations.
"And now?" Wally asked carefully, he watched a muscle in Jinx's jaw twitch.
"Not so much." Jinx muttered.
"So… why would you say that is?" Kid Flash asked hopeful for the answer of 'everything I did before was wrong and bad'.
"Can we not talk about this? I don't feel like being lectured by a brainwashed superhero okay?" Jinx grumbled taking a vicious bite out of her sandwich.
"Sure, that's fine with me." Kid Flash said holding up his hands in surrender, he noticed that one of his hands had a donut in it, he waited until Jinx's attention seemed to be entirely on the sandwich before scarfing down the whole thing in one bite.
"What the hell? Why is there a giant splodge of… jam? On my shirt?!" Jinx said wiping the gooey splot of food substance off of her shoulder where it had suddenly landed, she looked over at Kid Flash who looked like a hamster with full cheeks of food.
"Napharhs?" Kid Flash attempted through a mouth of donut.
"You're a dork." Jinx said despairingly, she heard a gigantic swallowing sound behind her and her head snapped around expecting to find the boy choking and in dire need of the Heimlich manouver but simply found him grinning at her with his face covered in powered sugar.
"Do you actually CHEW your food?" Jinx asked critically.
"Sometimes." He replied glibly.
"Your face is covered in sugar you know." Jinx said flatly hoping to embarrass him.
"Wanna help me get it off?" He grinned sexily at her as he leant in towards her, he was surprised to see Jinx flush a startled and embarrassed shade of red before shoving him hard down the grass verge by the road. Even when he hit the tree at the bottom he still didn't regret it, Jinx's face was priceless and totally worth being covered in dirt and sugar and having a pointy twig poking him in the back.
"We're GOING." Jinx said darkly, her face still red as she pointedly got on her new bike and cycled off leaving him there. He laughed some more before picking up their things and half finished lunch and running after her.
"I think the bike was definately a good idea, we went way farther today than yesterday." Kid Flash said opening the door to the room of that night's motel.
"Me and my legs hate you." Jinx groaned falling down onto the bed.
"Aww but I'm so proud of you both." He said teasingly. Jinx wearily lifted her head off of the bed and brought her leg up to her hand and unzipped the boot and with careful aim kicked it in Kid Flash's direction, he yelped and caught it well aware that it could easily go through the cheap motel walls.
"Ugh. I'm going to go cut and dye my hair and then I shall sleep for a thousand years." Jinx said lifting herself achingly off of the bed and taking her other boot off.
"I'm interested to see what you'd look like blue." Kid Flash said fishing the dye out of the bag for her.
"Like me but with blue hair I should think." Jinx said dryly.
"Or, you know, like a giant smurf." He grinned cheekily at her, Jinx looked down at her hands and tiredly flexed them, a few pathetic little pink sparks flew off and singed that carpet slightly.
"I'm too tired to beat you to death now, remind me tomorrow." She said walking slowly to the bathroom.
"Will do!" Kid Flash called as the bathroom door shut behind her. His happy expression fell the second he suspected she wasn't listening any more. He turned to the TV with a serious look on his face and turned it onto the news, his own grinning face beamed back at him, a picture of him with Dick out of costume one summer when Bruce had taken the two of them on a fishing trip and surprise ninja training in the woods, but hey, that was Bruce for you. The picture showed Dick threatening him with a large flapping fish and him shrieking like a girl and trying to run away, he had always been impressed that the camera had been fast enough to catch him before he bolted.
"Why can't you just trust me for once old friend? I need her, I need this, stop chasing me." He whispered at the TV as he reached out and touched Dick's image frozen in time.
He flopped back on the bed and ate a donut, the sugar rush felt good. Even with the sugar rush he was half asleep when Jinx came out the bathroom about an hour or so later, he opened an eye to see a pyjamaed Jinx climbing onto the bed next to him and laying down. Her new short blue hair framed her face nicely.
"Hey gorgeous." He murmured sleepily.
"Shut up." Jinx said absently, he pushed himself up on one elbow and leant over her and looked at her new hair. It was indeed blue, a nice deep blue with a few streaks of purple in it where the dye had clearly not overridden the pink completely. He ran a hand through her hair experimentally, it was soft and smooth and still slightly damp.
"I like it." He said quietly.
"Good." Jinx said in a suddenly squeaky voice, he noticed that her face was red and actually he probably was a little too close to her what with people needing personal space and all that. He pushed himself up further and exhaustedly rolled over the other way onto his side and pulled the covers over him, Jinx blinked in a confused way a few times before climbing under the covers herself and closing her eyes and letting sleep take her.
"Jinx! Wake up!" A voice snapped at her. Jinx opened her eyes to find herself lying on… something. She couldn't see, everything was black, and yet she was perfectly lit. She looked up to see… herself… towering over her, her old pink hair perfectly in their horns looked intimidating from where she lay.
"We need to talk." Her other self said firmly.
"What? You're breaking up with me?" Jinx said trying to deflect the attention of her accuser whilst she tried to think up some better plan.
"Shut up, I'm here to tell you something important." The other Jinx snapped.
"What is it then? I'm assuming this is my subconscious I'm talking to?" Jinx said with a glare.
"Close enough, I'm more like your common sense which you seem to have FORGOTTEN lately." Her other self said pointedly.
"Is this the point where I'm supposed to enquire how that is and how I can redeem myself oh ghost of Jinx's past?" She said mockingly.
"You're only making fun of yourself you know, I'm you." Her other self pointed out.
"Shut up." Jinx shot back lamely.
"How I live in fear of your rapier wit. Listen, you're making a big mistake okay? And I'm here to try and avert it." The pink Jinx said urgently.
"Let me guess, you think that running away from the Titans with Kid Flash is a bad move?" Jinx said folding her arms.
"Hardly, there's not a part of you that thinks that, believe me, I'd know." The other Jinx said kneeling down in front of her.
"So what then?" Jinx asked.
"You need to stop these feelings you have for Kid Flash." The other Jinx said in a soft voice.
"I don't have feelings for him." Jinx said sternly.
"I see your dreams Jinx, I feel your emotions, I know your wants and your desires. You can't lie to me." The other replied.
"I don't know what you mean." Jinx snapped angrily. The other girl sighed and in the air behind her appeared a scene from the dream she'd had in prison, Kid Flash leaned over her on a bed running a hand up her side and kissing her neck. Jinx felt herself flush at the image.
"Okay, so I had one dumb dream. I have hormones, so what?" Jinx said folding her arms and closing her eyes, when she opened them Kid Flash knelt in front of her in his uniform. He looked at her and peeled his mask off and leant forward taking Jinx's cheek in his hand, his face was impossibly close to hers and she could feel his warm breath playing across her lips, she could practically taste him he was so close. His eyes fluttered shut and his lips grazed hers, she felt her heart leap in her chest and her own eyes slid closed as she leant in to deepen the kiss but suddenly found him not here. Her eyes snapped open and in his place was her other self again.
"See!" it snapped triumphantly.
"That-that wasn't fair." Jinx muttered angrily.
"You feel for him, your attracted to him, he makes you happier than you've ever been, you feel safe with him, in short: you love him. And it needs to stop, right now." Her other self said firmly.
"Well why should I? What's the harm?" Jinx pouted childishly.
"BECAUSE. You like him and you suspect that he feels the same, he certainly gets close often enough to suggest it." The girl pointed out.
"I fail to see the problem here." Jinx said dryly.
"The problem is he's not himself, he's infatuated with you thanks to that stupid spell. He doesn't know right from wrong and he doesn't know his own mind, you might as well just throw Rohypnolin his drink!" Her other self said throwing her hands in the air in despair.
"That's not what it's like at ALL!" Jinx said furiously.
"It IS what it's like, you imagined what you'd feel like if the situation was reversed, now imagine if one of your stupid fantasies came true. How used and disgusted would you feel if you woke up to find that some guy had been taking advantage of you like that?" Her other self shouted, Jinx flinched back, she knew just how she'd feel.
"See? Look, I know how hard this is for you. He's your knight in shining armour, because of him you could never steal again. He's changed you completely as a person, don't deny it." The girl said as Jinx opened her mouth to protest.
"And I know you want so bad for this to be a fairytale ending where you run off into the sunset together but it just can't be that way, you love him but he's in no position to love you. He'll be completely different the second this spell wears off and he's almost certainly going to want nothing to do with you, at best. And if you let him know how you feel he'll hate you more for it, and you'll be humiliated. This isn't some storybook ending here, you need to use your head and not your heart here." Her other self said holding her hands gently.
"I don't…" Jinx mumbled looking down.
"Just… remember what I said." Her other self said earnestly.
Jinx jerked slightly as she awoke, it was still dark, probably the middle of the night. She felt the bare arm that her head rested on and felt it curled around her back, her hand was on the lithe bare midriff of Kid Flash, his head was turned towards her, his lips just touching her forehead with warm breath ghosting across her skin. Jinx remembered the dream and felt the lump build in her throat, she did love him… so, so much…
But she was right, she knew deep down that none of this could ever come to be and this would be all she'd ever get, probably more than she should have, stolen moments at midnight, curled in his arms with sleep running through his veins. A heavy tear rolled down her cheek and made his arm wet, she fought the sob building in her chest and she carefully slid out of his arms and sat up on the edge of the bed. She pulled her knees to her chest as the strangled sob escaped, she clutched a hand to her mouth to silence it in time to hear the sad sound escape from Kid Flash's lips. His face creased with a frown as he shifted in the bed his arm moving unconsciously to seek her out and pull her back to him. Jinx shuddered and turned away as another silent sob wracked her body.
"Jinx?" his sleepy voice called her, his hand brushed the small of her back and she felt him sit up.
"What's wrong?" He whispered moving closer to her, Jinx shook her head unable to answer.
"Oh hey… don't cry…" He said pulling her into a hug, Jinx's cheek pressed against his bare chest making the tears run faster.
"What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?" He asked rubbing her back soothingly, Jinx took this explanation readily and nodded shakily.
"Oh Jinx… don't worry, it's not real. It'll all be gone by the morning I promise." He said earnestly, Jinx's brain pointedly reminded her of the other meaning those words could hold, he was right. It wasn't real and one morning, maybe even this coming morning, the spell would break and he'd be gone before she'd even be able to say anything. She forced herself backwards out of his arms and rubbed her eyes until they felt red and raw.
"I'm gon' go wash my face." Jinx mumbled making to stand up.
"Hey." Kid Flash said grabbing her wrist as she was half stood up, he knelt up to her so his face was level to hers. He pulled her in close and kissed her temple.
"To chase the bad dreams away." He said quietly, he let her wrist go and sat back down on the bed. Jinx nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat, she turned mechanically and headed to the bathroom.
She closed the bathroom door behind her and slid down the wooden surface until she was sitting on the cold tiled floor, she pulled her knees to her chest and curled up on the cold floor having never felt more small and alone in her life.erHEr