This definitely went somewhere I didn't initially intend, but whatever! Sometimes you just go with the flow, even if it's not the best thing you've ever written. I tend to do better with angst when it comes to these two anyways.

K: KEY, KITCHEN

He wasn't quite sure when he began to notice her staring from across the room, but when he did, he wanted to go over right away and give her a hard time about it. Not a really hard time, just some teasing.

But he was trapped in a tedious conversation with Britney, Betty, and a few other girls he'd always found supremely dull. True, he'd once had a crush on Betty Quinlan. That had fizzled out relatively quickly when he realized they had very little in common. Feigning interest in her vintage dress collection or her love of magic consumed more energy than one might have thought. When they were younger, he'd been the one fawning over Betty. Now, he got the faint sense that she was the one who was still into him despite their obvious incompatibility.

With Vortex, things were just different. They always had been. She kept him on his toes; ready to rise to any challenge should he choose to throw down the gauntlet. Which he did often, just to watch her mouth move a mile a minute as she tried (and sometimes succeeded at) outwitting him. She wasn't hard on the eyes either. She looked good in anything. Her blonde hair was always thrown up in that messy-but-sexy ponytail. There was a kind of cat-like grace to her movements, to the way her gaze always flitted around a room, only to find its way back to him.

"Looks like you're all too boring for Neutron." Libby joined the group, beer in hand. She shot him a playful look and he managed a smile.

"Not at all." He said politely. "Just a bit...distracted tonight."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because all of them immediately started to laugh and make suggestive noises.

He scowled. "I'm thinking about my time box."

"Sure, Jimmy." God, had Betty's voice always been so saccharine? Or was he just used to Vortex's shrill tones?

"If you'll excuse me, ladies." He ducked past them quickly. Libby sent him a glance of approval over her shoulder.

Cindy was leaning against the kitchen counter, nails lightly tapping in a rhythmic pattern on the granite.

"Why aren't you with the rest of them, Vortex? Libby's over there, you know."

She shrugged. "Sometimes I don't feel like it, that's all." After a second, she shot back. "Why aren't you basking in Miss I'm So Perfect's attention?"

"I had no idea you thought of Betty that way." He smirked.

"Oh shut up Neutron, like I haven't been watching her hanging on your every word since you walked in the door half an hour ago."

He ignored the dig and positioned himself next to her.

"So how are things?"

"Could be better."

"Your parents?"

She hesitated for a second and then nodded. "Yeah. They've always been hard on me with school, and they're going in extra hard this year because of college applications. And they'll be finalizing the divorce soon."

"Sorry to hear that, Cindy. It can't be easy."

"Thanks." She looked down at her shiny black heel boots.

They stayed there in silence for a few minutes before Jimmy finally decided to say something.

"I've missed you, you know."

"Yeah?" Her voice sounded more meek than before.

"Some days, I just really wish we could go back to when we were younger. When it was just the five of us going to god knows where, wreaking havoc and having a grand time."

"You know, I never thanked you, Neutron."

"Thanked me?"

"You brought me along everywhere. Even when it annoyed you. Like that time we went mini golfing, I kicked your butt on the back nine, and we flew straight through the Van Patten radiation belt."

He laughed. "Probably a good thing I don't have any more N-Men packets in the lab. High school is insane enough without our alter egos."

She turned to face him. "Did I ever tell you what I was trying to say that day?"

He looked at her, surprised, his mouth suddenly dry. "No, I don't think you did."

"Do you want to know?" A flash of dark emotion crossed her emerald eyes.

He hesitated for a moment, and then found himself nodding, very aware of how close her body was to his.

He straightened his back and found himself level with her, now super conscious of every little freckle on the bridge of her nose, and the way a few silky golden strands of her hair had come loose from her ponytail and were framing her face softly. The way they were standing now, he found himself thinking she was a lock and he was the key, getting her to open up to him.

"I'm really sorry, by the way. For how we mocked you."

"It's alright. I was pretty orange." Her lips turned up in a small smile.

"So...you really don't remember any of it?" She seemed to be stalling, trying to buy time. He shook his head, no. "I wish I did, but all I remember is going on a rampage, losing it in the middle of that desert, and then suddenly, everyone else was passed out and you were telling me something. And somehow we returned to normal, but in the chaos of it all, I somehow forgot to ask you what you said."

"Well..." She fiddled nervously with the thin silver chain around her neck and came a little bit closer. She had never looked lovelier than in this moment, he thought.

"We tried to fight you, but we were no match for your strength. And before Carl passed out he said I should try being nice instead. So I figured, why not? You were going to bring this giant boulder down on me in your rage...but—I was able to get to you, I guess."

He instantly felt bad. "You know I would never hurt you like that, right? I wasn't in control—" She waved his concern away. "Of course I know that." Her voice came out soft and breathy, and he had the urge to just pull her in by the waist but he didn't.

"I really admired you as a kid, you know. Even though I was always ragging on you." It sounded like it physically pained her to say it, like she was pulling something out of her that she'd carried for a long time. "And to get you to calm down, I told you that you were a great guy, and smart, and talented and that you didn't deserve to have me making fun of you all the time. You thought I was trying to trick you."

"You really think those things?" He wanted there to be more, but maybe that was it.

"I always did. My life force was being drained out of me, so it wasn't easy. But I almost...told you I loved you."

The world went blank for a minute. The kitchen faded to nothing, and all the other voices and noises became fuzzy at the edges. His heart felt like cotton candy.

"Loved me?"

She stepped forward and brought a hand to his face.

"It wasn't the only time that happened either. When the League of Villains was about to turn us into toast, I almost said it then too, but the moment passed when you thought to use the love potion on the Junkman and Beautiful Gorgeous."

How had he been so oblivious?

"Did you? Love me?"

"I did. From the very first day you walked into Mrs. Fowl's classroom with your giant head and your even more giant ego." Her self-satisfied grin did him in.

He swept her up in a passionate kiss, setting her on the counter behind them. He stood between her legs, which wrapped around him, and her hands entwined in his messy hair. He wondered why they'd never had this conversation or some variation of it before, why they'd wasted so much time dancing around their attraction. He wasn't going to make that mistake anymore.

He hiked a hand up her skirt and relished the feeling of her flush against him. Between kisses, he managed to eke out some words. "I loved you too. Even if I didn't know it just yet."

"More like you wouldn't admit it." She goaded him on, her pulse quickening against his skin.

"Maybe. I was too busy trying to impress and outdo you to make out with you."

"Consider me impressed. Let's take this upstairs." She whispered into his ear.

He obliged, leaving a spurned Betty and a gaggle of gossiping girls in their wake.