Well, I was watching Grey's Anatomy when this story popped into my head, and I thought I'd give it a shot. KF/Jinx shippers, please dont hate me if it sucks! I'm just going through this period of bad writing/characterization. Lol.
So, read it, then review to tell me what you think and how to improve future stories. Feedback much appreciated!
P.S...I know it's kinda long. Just bear with me. lol
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. Don't rub it in.
It came upon a midnight clear,
that glorious song of old
from angels bending near the Earth,
to touch their harps of gold
Peace on the Earth, good will to men
from Heaven's all-gracious King
the world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing
-It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, classic Christmas carol
Kid Flash
I'm feeling restless.
And how could you blame me? I haven't seen Jinx in a really long--Ahem. I haven't seen Jinx in a week and a half. But I miss her anyway.
It's Christmas Eve, around 9:30 at night, and the snow had stopped falling for the first time in a few days. The air is all crisp and cold, and the stars are out and shining really bright.
Perfect night for a visit.
…I think I'll just get Jinx a locator bug for Christmas. It's really annoying to just be speeding through Jump City without finding her. I'm getting more impatient every second I don't see Jinx exiting a coffee shop or turning a corner. Ok, Jinx, you can come out now!
Oh, and great, since I was running around all day today catching some desperate criminals who hadn't finished their Christmas shopping without stopping to rest, I'm getting tired. So I slow down, and stop in the town square for a minute to rest. Then, I see it. The big Christmas tree. How did I not notice that before?In my 20/20 hindsight, the tree was probably visible from miles away.
The giant of an evergreen had been erected in the very middle of the square, which was at the very middle of the town. …And the very middle of the state, the country, the world, the universe…
The near 40-foot tree is probably being forced through the ground and into the Earth's core by gravity, seeing as there're like, hundreds upon thousands of colored lightbulbs shining from the core of the tree. And that's not all-there are glass baubles of every color, plastic shimmering icicles, strings of garland and-towards the bottom of the tree-paper snowflakes that bore the requests for toys and blankets, chocolates and other holiday treats that were written by the poor children and families of the surrounding areas.
This tree looks really nice, as if my Aunt Iris decorated it herself. After looking around some, I locate the true meaning of Christmas: the presents. They came in all shapes and sizes, and each one has a tag that matches the description on one of the paper cutout snowflake ornaments at the bottom of the tree. I think that these toys were donated, and tomorrow on Christmas morning the mayor held a citywide party for the needy families, where the children would receive their gifts and the people were treated to a Christmas feast.
I keep walking. It'll only be a few more seconds until I'm rested up enough to keep looking for Jinx again. There's a small rocking horse with a bow perched on the head, a bag that has a Raggedy Ann doll poking out of the top, a badly-wrapped toy drum, and a pair of feet sticking out from under the tree, moving in rhythm to the Christmas tunes that are being played from loudspeakers around the square.
Any second now, and I'll be—
Wait. A pair of feet?
It's got my curiosity, so I attempt to crawl through the branches to find out who it is.
And…it's Jinx! What the--? I didn't see that coming.
"What's with the Wicked Witch of the East routine?" I ask her jokingly, as she turns to stare at me, looking completely surprised.
"What?" she returns, completely caught off-guard.
"Your feet were…sticking out from bottom of the tree. What are you doing down here?" I ask as I take in the sight. Jinx is lying down on her back on a blanket, hands clasped over her stomach, staring up at me. On her head is a white wool cap, and a matching scarf is wrapped about a million times around her neck. Her head is resting on a small pillow. She looks like she burrowed underneath the tree, because she is lying in a 1 ½-foot-wide clearing underneath the tree.
"I was…uh…" She's blushing. It's pretty cute, actually. I never thought I'd see Jinx's cheeks look so pink…even if she does have pink hair...and pink eyes…and pink clothes…
"Yes?" I smile, encouraging her to continue, still kind of caught between a few branches, and a few feet away from her.
"Well…promise not to laugh?" She bites her lip, looking worried. Yeah. Like I'd laugh at her.
"Of course I won't laugh. I thought you knew me!" I say, still smiling. I want to kind of chuckle at her insecurity, but I just promised not to laugh, so I won't.
"Well, yeah, I know you," she says, her voice sounding more cool and confident. "That's why I worry."
"Touché," I say, pretending to grab at my heart as if she had stabbed me. "But, seriously, what are you doing down here?"
She looks at me for a moment, sighs, and then says quite simply, "Lights."
"Think you could be a little more vague, for the purposes of my understanding?"
"You're an idiot."
"Merry Christmas to you, too," I laugh.
She looks at me again and says, "It's a...tradition of mine. I like to come here during Christmas and just look up from the bottom of the tree at the lights." Then she turns her attention back up to the branches overhead.
Then, because it seems like the cool new thing to do, I look up, too. The view is incredible. So simple, yet incredible.
"It's nice," I say in awe. But she takes my compliment badly, thinking it was a joke, and snaps at me.
"Well, if you're going to make fun, you can get los-"
I put up my hands up in defense, as if she might hit me. "No, no, I wasn't making fun! It really is…beautiful."
Jinx glares at me for a moment from her spot underneath the tree,but I just stare straight back, smiling. It looks like she understands that she overreacted, breaks the gaze, and looks back up through the branches. I swear, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't smile as perfectly and adorably as I do. The smile can win anyone over, even self-proclaimed super villains.
"What are you doing here?" she asks me suddenly.
"Honestly?"
"Did I ask you to tell me a lie?" Jinx says coldly.
I turn to face her; she looks confused, and, to my surprise, slightly annoyed.
"I—"
"Not trying to convert me again, are you? Because if you are, it won't work," she tells me stubbornly.
"That's not why I'm here," I reassure her. In my head, I'm making a list of ways to get her to stop scowling at me like that. She would look so much prettier if she would just smile every once in a while...
"Then why are you here?"
"It's the holidays. I didn't want you to be alone at Christmas," I say carefully, trying to calm her down a little.
"I'm not alone," she tells me defiantly. "I've got the rest of the Hive Five."
"Like I said, I didn't want you to be alone at Christmas," I repeat. What's with the hostility?
"What do you mean? I already told you, I'm not—"
"Jinx," I say firmly, trying to get her attention.
"What?"
"Don't ruin the moment."
It sounded kind of mean, to tell the truth, but it was all I could think of to get her to chill out for a minute.
I think I surprised Jinx with my answer. There's silence for what seems like forever. I'm still huddled up in between these branches, which haven't stretched out magically for me like they have for Jinx.I continue to watch her; she looks gorgeous, with her face illuminated by the glass light bulbs she's staring at.
But I think she's sensing that I'm still watching her, so, without turning her face away, she says to me, "…Would you like to lie down?"
Well, I didn't see that coming. I had expected her to tell me to 'stop staring, you creep,' and to 'go away before I get showered by pine needles when one of the branches snaps in half'. But asking me to stay around and keep her company? It's taken a lot of work, a lot of gradual building-up, and a lot of flirting, but it's worth it because in the end…I win!
"Thanks," I say gratefully. I was getting pretty uncomfortable having to hold myself up on all fours, with twigs poking me and pine needles getting caught in my hair every 5 seconds. So I duck beneath the rest of the branches and needles, until I finally reach Jinx's little safe haven, roll over, and lie down next to her.
…Wow. I didn't really realize how small a space this is; Jinx and I are lying right next to each other, body-to-body. I can feel the warmth she's giving off; man, it feels good. She's like a heater, or something. In a moment of stupidity, I hold up my cold hands over her waist, rubbing them together over her.
"Um…Kid Flash?" she asks me, her voice questioning.
"Yeah?" I respond, still rubbing my hands.
"What the heck are you doing?"
"Warming up," I say unwittingly. "You're, like, a radiator, or something."
She doesn't have enough leg room to kick me, because they're sticking out from under the tree and caught between presents, so she settlesfor making a Christmas bauble fall onto my head.
"Hey, what was that for?" I whine as I rub the spot on my forehead where it nailed me. Geez, who knew glass balls could hurt so much? I'll have to tell Speedy about this new discovery-knowing him, he could probably make a specialized arrow that he tips with a Christmas ornament into a non-lethal, yet highly affective, weapon. He's always looking for new ideas.
But she just smiles playfully at me. Hey...she smiled!If she looked gorgeous before, she's a supermodel now. Ha! Who called it?
This is going to be a merry Christmas, after all.
We keep staring up through the branches. We can see our distorted reflections in the bottoms of the baubles (and I look quite dashing, I must say, even in fun-house type reflections…), as well as the thousands of colored lights that are flickering and glowing all cool-like.
There's more silence, for what I'm guessing is about 5 or 10 minutes, before she moves her head around on her lumpy pillow, fluffing it awkwardly and trying to make it support her neck a little better. Without saying a word, I contort my arm enough to pull out the pillow from under her neck, and in the second before her head drops back to the ground, I substitute the pillow with my arm.
She breathes out a quick "Oh," then goes to pretending that nothing happened, in an attempt to try to conceal how comfortable she is. It's kinda pointless, though,because being the slick guy that I am, I pull her in a little closer to me and wrap the rest of my arm around her shoulders. She can't ignore that, so she looks up at me. Before she can say anything, though, I put on my most confidently charming voice and say, "Cold night."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," she replies quietly, sounding breathless.
"So, why exactly are we sitting underneath a Christmas tree?" I ask her.
She doesn't say anything for a moment. "It's my tradition from a few years back. At the Hive Academy, there was a Christmas party, and Gizmo was really annoying me, so I hid under the tree, and thought it was relaxing."
"I can see why," I respond.
"How about you?" she asks me abruptly.
"Huh?" That was a very witty response, KF.
"Why are you sitting here, with me, of all people, under a giant Christmas tree?"
"Like you said, it's relaxing."
"Oh." Silence again. "Do you have any Christmas traditions of your own?"
I think on it for a second before answering. "Not really," I respond, failing to find an example of a favorite holiday custom. "Oh, except every year my aunt knits me a sweater. They're always huge, and they're always red, and they look terrible, 'cause she's not the knitting type." Ok, well. So much for not having any traditions.
"It sounds nice."
Then it hits me. I shouldn't have said that. I just remembered: Jinx doesn't even have a family to knit her ugly Christmas sweaters. And now that I think about it, the absence of a real, solid family like mine from her life makes me realize how thankful I am for Barry and Iris. But why does she have to be so alone? She deserves so much better...
It gets quiet again, but I've had enough of that, so I speak up again.
"Listen, Jinx," I say. She turns her head to face me. The look on her face is expressionless. "I just wanted you to know…you'll always have me. Ok? You may think you're alone in this world, but you're not. I'll always be here for you. You know that, right?"
She continues to look at me, in a funny sort of way. "Thanks, Kid Flash, but I don't think I can hold you to that. I'm a villain, you're a hero. It's, like, morally incorrect."
"Yeah, but you're a person, too. And it's Christmas. I don't care if you think you're a villain, Jinx. Just that you're this good of a person…that you're being this nice to someone like me…tells me everything that I need to know about you."
Apparently, Jinx has nothing to say in return, so I stop talking. Another few minutes pass of the two of us just gazing at the twinkling lights that are just barely visible through the branches.
Then, Jinx says something that I wouldn't have expected her to say.
"You know, I don't think I ever made Santa's 'nice' list…I think maybe that's because the first time I ever saw Santa at a shopping mall, I set his beard on fire."
That makes me laugh. Who knew Jinx could be funny? This girl just amazes me more every day.
"That's why you have me. I think you've been good this year, Jinx. No more coal for you."
She giggles a little, and readjusts the positioning of her head on my shoulder.
There's silence between us from then on, except every few minutes when one of us notices and oddly-shaped branch, or something. And that's how Jinx and I spent our Christmas Eve: curled up underneath a giant tree, just watching the blinking lights, and enjoying each other's company, whether she'd admit it or not.
Hmm...I don't know, I had this really great fanfic up in my mind before I wrote this...but when it came out in print...bleh. Lol. Not exactly what I had in mind, but what can you do? So I apologize for the: possible OCness/cliches/bad writing/improbability (of this ever happening, even in the fanfic world, lol)/overlong-ness/etc. But, a review with constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, so that future oneshots arent as bad. so, please, for both yours and my sake, review! lol.
And, to wash out the badness of this ficlet, go read my other KF/Jinx fic, Those Darn DoGooders, which I have been told is pretty good (especially in comparison to this.)
And I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas! Believe it or not, youall really helped brighten up the season.Thanks again, and Happy Holidays!
Love always,
Cara (the SuperDuperHulaHooper)