Pitch and Pink
(A:N) Normally I'm all about plot and action and drama/romance later. Then I wrote a Teen Titans fic. This is a character driven story I guess... It is also a Yuri fic, which means a couple-like relationship will develop between two females. Don't like? Don't waste your time reading it then. Flames get you-know-where fast with me. Criticism is welcome! Don't hold back.
Chapter Three
'Jinx. Jinx. Jinx.' Raven fretted. Everybody was just wild about Jinx. Even Robin, the calm reason of the team and usually the only one to possess views similar to her own, was in the bag; an ugly pink and black bag. How could her teammates be so short sighted? This Jinx was not what she seemed! It just didn't make sense for any full-fledged criminal to jump ship. To add to this, Jinx didn't even do a very convincing job of it from Raven's perspective. She had no passion or interest or anything for the people they were supposed to protect.
'Concentrate,' Raven urged herself. The lithe girl's form hovered over the rooftop of the Titan's tower as she chanted. She was having trouble keeping her mind clear. That tended to happen when you worried someone living with you might be attempting to slit the throats of your closest friends in their sleep.
'He means well, but he's making a mistake.' Raven's mind drifted again as she remember well the day Robin allowed Jinx to join. And she never formally protested because she knew exactly what he'd say:
"Everyone deserves a second chance."
It was hard to argue with that, but not impossible. He had said the same thing about Tera and look how that turned out. She had betrayed them.
"I won't let that happen again," Raven vowed, her temper bristling. A near by volleyball was enveloped by black magic and instantly destroyed. Damn.
'I must focus,' Raven said, inhaling deeply. Things like that happened when she lost control. Near by objects were crushed or disfigured. 'Focus,' she told herself when her pink haired adversary threatened to pop into her mind again.
"I'll mimc everything you are to me. The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you breathe." the man sang.
"That's stupid," Jinx snorted.
"Obsessions...Obsessing. Obsessing, Obsessions!"
"I am NOT!" she shouted, voice muffled by the pillow resting on her head.
"I don't wanna be everything this god has planned for me!"
The girl's body, between a cover and her mattress, went still.
"I want..." deep and thoughtfully she started, "for ever song on the damn radio to stop making me think about myself, Raven or both of us! Jeeze!" She shouted throwing a pillow at her stereo. The defenseless device fell to the floor and landed on its power button. She rested contently for a moment but was startled by a thought and then rushed for her stereo. That had been a one of her CD's playing on repeat.
"Yo!" Cyborg called from the kitchen, conjuring the attention of all his teammates, "Whose turn is it to make lunch?"
"I would love to prepare us all something, but I do not believe it is my turn," Starfire announced, hovering near the kitchen.
"I could go again!" Beast Boy suggested.
"Whoah, no!" Cyborg disagreed. "I want something to eat, not something to consider using as fuel for the T-Car."
"Wha? Dude! Then try eating it, instead of analyzing it!" Beast Boy called back. The two began to bicker. Robin contemplated. They had actually missed lunch and for the past couple days due to disturbances in the city by unsavory characters. This was likely why the other Titan's didn't recall whose turn it was. It had been a while since nothing was happening in the city to keep them out around noon. As Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to go at it, Starfire and Robin turned to the other teens that had not yet entered the debate.
"I was going to tell you to not even think about it, but you obviously already have so just say forget it," Raven headed them off without even looking over her book. This left Jinx who was staring back at them blankly, knowing there was a silent conversation going on between the vets but having trouble reading it.
"Oh!" the pink haired girl caught on. "Ok. But I'm warning you guys, I only know how to cook one thing."
For the next ten minutes, the kitchen was inaccessible to the other Titans while Jinx slaved over her chosen dish. She chased the well-meaning Starfire out two times. Even Raven, who innocently strolled in to get a glass of milk was not an exception. Jinx only grinned when the dismal dame glared at her. When it was over, it was served in bowls with no silver ware. One bowl per super-powered teenager.
"Hmm..." Robin murmured examining the contents of his meal.
"Not exactly high in the meat factor," Cyborg commented, looking at his with something akin to apprehension.
"It's Trail Mix!" Jinx hollered cheerfully. Her left hand, full of assorted nuts and crackers and crisps, was then shoved into her mouth.
"This is a most wonderful food!" Starfire said tipping her bowl at an angle high above the table to practically inhale the snack. "These are the pea-nuts yes?" she asked after munching on a mouthful for a moment. "I do prefer to eat them with the shells on."
"Thanks Star." Jinx's face lit up like a streetlight. "I'll remember that next time,"
"There won't be a next time," Raven said, scooting her seat back and standing, "We're all going to die from malnourishment."
"Heh heh." Jinx giggled. "I thought she was going to say I probably poisoned it or something."
"It is poison," Raven said, her back to the group as she headed for her room.
"Well... more for us," Jinx shrugged. Robin ate about half of his to be polite before leaving. Cyborg, although he wanted protein of the meat variety had no trouble scarfing the whole thing down. Beast Boy commended Jinx on her vegetarian dish and took his bowl to eat while watching TV.
Boom!
With a shock wave propelling her, Jinx's small form was sent hurtling through a jewelry store window.
"Hahahaha! How do you like Johnny Rancid's new baby. The Super Nova Boom Stick!" a maniac on a bike boasted loudly.
"It's nice. We'll take it!" Cyborg said, blasting the loony biker off his motorcycle.
Jinx was having trouble remembering where she was after her fall. She could hear explosions, but they sounded a world away. She shook her head and began the difficult task of getting to her feet. She must have been dizzy; she was covered in stars or something.
"Oh $#!!" Jinx snapped to attention, looking herself over. She was covered in jewels. "Oh! Shiny!" She forgot where she was and wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever. Her outside a perfect match for her inside. She didn't have a mirror but she was sure she must look beautiful right now.
'I wonder if Raven has any jewelry,' Jinx thought while admiring handfuls of rings that she freed from her wild pink hair. 'There is that thing on her head-' like a shot from a Super Nova Boom Stick; realization hit Jinx hard. She was a Titan now. She couldn't steal. She couldn't have the jewelry.
"Ow...man," Jinx hissed, looking longingly at her goods. It was almost painful to start removing the gems, rings, necklaces and bracelets of cooper, gold, and silver. She was breaking every rule she once held dear to her heart. And why?
"I thought as much," a low monotone voice cut deep into the silence Jinx had become use to for the past minute or so. Jinx was startled senseless. She turned around slowly and found none other than Raven staring back at her. She dropped a hand full of rings and her mouth worked to say something but nothing came out.
"This is not what it looks like..." Jinx finally made out, backing into a wall full of damaged safes. Johnny Rancids unintentional handy work.
"Of course it's not. I never was. It looked to my friends like you were a reformer, but this has been you true nature all along!" Raven accused with strong conviction.
That struck a cord somewhere with in Jinx. She was a hard person to tick off as of late but Raven seemed to be doing well enough. Jinx gained control at the last moment when a better idea took hold of her.
"Fine!" she close to roared at Raven. "I'm going to continue doing what I was doing before you showed up and-and you can do what ever you want," and then Jinx did the most frightening thing she could think of. She turned her back on Raven. She was scared to her core, but when no black energy covered her and hurled her straight into a jail cell, she began removing the jewelry and shoving it all back into a safe. Their seemed to had been some kind of order to where they all went, a safe for rings and maybe one for bracelets, but several were ripped apart by Johnny's Super Nova Boom Stick and she wasn't about to impersonate Martha Stewart. Raven had enough reasons to kill her already.
"There," Jinx said, dusting her hands off and turning to face Raven, "No harm done."
Raven's expression hadn't changed in the slightest and Jinx began to wonder if it was really a mask. A clay mask that covered all of her face, except the lifeless blue eyes.
"You can't keep this up forever. I don't know what your aim is but once I have reason enough, I will bring you down," Raven swore.
Jinx made a helpless facial expression then planned her retaliation. First, she grinned.
"Then you'll be watching me until were both old and lose our vision," Jinx let loose. "I'll admit, I did think about taking them for a minute, but I didn't, so..." she trailed off and began to look at the ceiling.
"So...what?" Raven waited for her to finish.
"I forget were I was going with this..." Jinx confessed, her pale cheeks coloring slightly. A split second afterward, another blast that could only come from a Super Nova Boom Stick shattered what was left of the windows and flung Jinx into a nearby wall. She hit it with her skull facing the ground and feet skyward. She slid down to the ground and came to rest as an inanimate heap. Raven checked on her because, enemy or not, she couldn't very well let anyone die if she was able to intervene. Jinx was unconscious.
"Great," Raven sounded. "Well that's one way to end a discussion." She moved Jinx's form into what she hoped was a more comfortable position and then turned her attention back to the battlefield.
"Azerath...Metrion...Zinthos!"
When Jinx next awoke she found the faces of her new teammates peering down at her with interest and concern. All but Raven and Cyborg.
"What happened?"
"You got bamboozled!" Beast Boy said, slamming one fist onto an open palm for effect.
"This is not a joyous occurrence," Starfire stressed.
"Oh, right. But she's ok, right?" Beast Boy sent his question to Robin.
"She will be. Nothing serious. Just a lump," Robin said, looking at Jinx. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was hit by a Super Nova Bushwacker something or other," Jinx said reaching for the back of her head. She now clearly remembered it smashing into a wall. A hard wall.
"It's a Super Nova Boom Stick!" Beast Boy hollered in correction as if a great crime had been committed. Starfire and Robin each sent him a crossed look. "Just wanted to make sure we all stay authentic..." he said and laughed nervously.
"Did you guys bag that jerk?" Jinx asked them, rubbing her temple.
"Sure did," Robin confirmed.
"You are feeling better, yes?" Starfire asked leaning over Jinx.
"I guess I will be. Can I go to my room, doc?" Jinx asked Robin.
"If you'd feel better there. Sure."
"I will assist you," Starfire said, reaching for Jinx.
"I got it Star," Jinx said swinging her legs to the side of the gurney and removing the white sheet that had been covering her. Standing proved to be a little harder than she anticipated. Starfire quickly caught her arm.
"Do not protest. Let me help you," Starfire ordered with Jinx's best interest in mind. Jinx felt strange being fussed over, and by another teen no less!- but realized she had better give in.
"If you insist," Jinx feigned a scoff.
"I do," Starfire giggled and helped her out of the room and towards the pink haired girls own. Jinx wondered just what Raven's reaction to all this was. This was the first time she had black out during a fight. Did she leave her to the mercy of that loon on the bike? Did she protect her with her own life? Was she worrying herself sick over her well being right at this moment? The latter thoughts seemed improbable. But something had to have happened. What was Raven's reaction and how could she find out what it was?
"So, who picked up my pieces?" Jinx asked, feigning half interest.
"Oh. I believe Beast Boy was first to discover you with Raven. Then I saw you lying near the wall inside the jewelry store. I thought you were...gone to us," Starfire confessed.
"Oh..." Jinx said, finding very little use in that information and wondering how she might learn what she wanted without attracting suspicion. Time was almost up. They neared Jinx's room.
"So it was Raven who got him?" Jinx asked on a whim.
"Yes. She left you to the safety of Beast boy and myself. She said you were in the most comfortable position she could think of,"
Jinx's insides warmed slightly.
"Really?"
"Yes," Starfire said, helping Jinx into her bed; the bottom, though why she wanted a bunk bed she couldn't say. "Good night." Starfire eased the girl into the bed.
"Thanks Star," Jinx found her voice filled with a sincerity she was not use to.
"Think nothing of it," Starfire said, smiling. She turned and left then.
'She's nice...' Jinx thought as she covered herself and pulled her pillow over her head. 'Why didn't I fall for her? Maybe it's cause I'm not really nice.' her thoughts continued to wrestle as she fell asleep.
Don't own the song Obsessions. Nope. That belongs to Soil.
