Author's Note: I want to thank the reviewers for their kind words. I'll try to merit such praise.
"Thanks for the rose" she said
Kid Flash stayed where he was and let her walk the half block to him, taking in the sight of her as she approached.
To each, the other seemed like a slightly different person. He thought she was more beautiful than he remembered as she walked to him. To Jinx, the slender, super athletic boy in the red and yellow uniform with his hands clasped behind his back seemed more serious, perhaps even taller than she remembered. He was even smiling differently, just a faint curl of his lips, not a cocky grin.
"You're welcome" he said as she reached him. "It was just a a token of my appreciation for you giving me my freedom. I'm sure I value it more highly than you do a rose"
She locked eyes with him. Did he change so much in two weeks?
"I'm not so sure given how recklessly you act, risking your life to chase girls around" she said.
"Not girls" he corrected, looking her right in the eyes again. "A girl. I'm not so reckless. Come on." he said holding out one red gloved hand. "Let's find a place to get a bite to eat or a drink or something in the middle of the City"
"The middle of the City? Is that good for either of us?"
"It'll be fine tonight. You'll see"
"You've thought this through?"
He nodded. "If anything, excessively"
Jinx rolled her eyes in resignation but the truth was that she didn't need any pursuading.
"I'm going to cut about 30 minutes travel time out for us now. But I've got to pick you up to do it. I won't go too fast. You'll-"
"Wait! How fast is not too fast?"
"Um, around 300 miles per hour, I guess"
"Three hundred miles an hour! Carrying someone? And you've done this before?"
He nodded with a smile. "Trust me. You'll be fine."
She acquiesced with a sigh. He was so completely confident that he could do it. And it wasn't cocky boy confidence. He was so calm and secure about it. Who wouldn't trust him?
It surprised her how easily the slender boy the same height as her in her heels picked her up, holding her as if he was carrying his new wife across the threshold of their home. And a split second later they were zooming past warehouses, buildings and stores, also other cars, all of it going by too fast for her to pick it out individually, like an editing trick in a video or movie. She sort of perceived the general outlines of the warehouse district as they started then an area of little strip malls, then lots of cars and the highway, maybe a ramp, yes, he ran down a ramp, didn't he, then the high buildings of the City center and all of a sudden, he seemed to go from 300 miles per hour to a jog in just a couple loping strides and he was putting her down gently on her feet on a pleasantly lit city sidewalk approaching a series of cafes.
"Oh my god. That was amazing! But everything blurs. How do you do that safely? Can you really see individual things . . cars and-and people that we go past?"
He gave a small nod.
"How? There's not enough time. It's all kind of just neighborhoods and districts and lights stretching horizontally"
"It's a-a super speed thing. For me there's lots of time in there. It was just a couple seconds but for me it was as slow as if it was 5 or 10 minutes"
"So you carried me for 10 minutes?"
"Nope, just for a couple seconds. But you're light anyway" he smiled.
With the approach of a series of voices, she tugged his shoulder to follow her into a nearby doorway. "Um, you're not worried that you'll get mobbed by well wishers or people wanting an autograph or something, the same people who might want to call the cops on me?"
He smiled. "Nope"
"Because?"
"It's a two ball night"
Her eyes went back and forth. He was giving her nothing, no expression, nothing in his eyes, nothing. Did he just make some off color remark? What . . ?
He burst into laughter. "Two costume balls. There are two giant costume balls, costume parties, whatever, being held tonight near here"
"Two on the same night?"
"Two different spoiled rich girls each wanted to have one to show up the other and neither wanted to change the date they chose. It's like some status climber showdown or dueling princesses or something"
"How do you know about it? You know those girls? You're rich?"
Kid Flash gave a smile that she couldn't quite decipher. "Nah. Part of the obsessive crime fighting thing that's taken over my life is that I actually try and keep track of social things like that to which I would never be invited"
He could see her sifting his words.
"Come on. Let's get a bite to eat or just a coffee" he said taking her hand in his red gloved one and leading her out into the light. She resisted.
"Are you sure?"
He looked her in the eye and nodded. It was that look again, the one that anyone would trust, the one she hadn't realized was part of him. She gave him a questioning look about it and he surprised her by understanding. He smiled faintly and proudly at her.
She stepped out into the pleasant air and street lamp light and matched his quick, smooth pace. As they walked along, Kid Flash in his red and yellow uniform and orange hair and Jinx with her pink hair and eyes, goth black lace and platform heels attracted no more attention than anyone else.
They passed a hobbit and Lara Croft going into one cafe and an apparently out of shape and down on their luck middle aged Justice League going the other way, rubenesque Wonder Woman and balding, bespectacled Aquaman leading the way. Zorro, complete with sword, bumped into Kid Flash and excused himself before complimenting Kid Flash's costume. An Aeon Flux in a doorway, waiting for Hellboy to finish pissing in an alleyway, raised an eyebrow and said "Nice Jinx! Great KF, too!". They passed a Cyclops and a Wolverine arguing over something, perhaps a Jean Grey, they couldn't tell. The sidewalks on both sides of the street were awash in would be heroes, villains and movie characters.
Jinx laughed. "This is perfect! Course it's always good to have a boy with orange hair next to you to detract attention from pink hair."
Kid Flash smiled. "How 'bout this one?" he said nodding his head toward a mostly glass fronted coffee shop that seemed inviting for the warm light it projected and golden wood surfaces inside. Jinx nodded her assent. They stepped to the doorway just as two Green Lanterns in complete uniforms, one a Kyle Rayner, one a Hal Jordan did so at the same time. The two were arguing over who had the better costume with shrieks and exclamations. Kid Flash gestured for them to go first. They both thanked him with an intense head to toe scrutiny.
"We have a weakness for yellow, you know" one muttered
Kid Flash nodded. "It's all over town. But I'm with her" he said holding up Jinx's hand in his red gloved hand. They fell back into arguing.
Inside the door all four waited to be seated. The Green Lanterns asked for the small empty table in the main window. The waiter looked at them then looked at Kid Flash and Jinx. He led the Green Lanterns to a table in the middle of the floor. He seated Kid Flash and Jinx at the table visible to all passersby on the sidewalk.
"Um, do you have a wallet or anything under there somewhere?"
"Just a uh dance belt. But I've got some money" said Kid Flash taking off one glove and showing her where some folded bills were held tight beneath the wrist of his uniform.
They ordered sandwiches and a five prefix coffee for her, the caramel cocoa for him.
"You don't drink coffee?"
"Nah. Sugar's okay. I'm ten times more hyper with coffee"
"That would be interesting to see"
He smiled.
"I'm glad you said okay to this. You look wonderful"
She was surprised to find herself actually blushing. "And you look great"
Their reactions were interrupted by a couple going by on the sidewalk who did double takes then stopped and gave thumbs up to both Kid Flash and Jinx at the table for their costumes. The woman pressed against the glass. "Those are both great. Where'd you get them?"
"Costumes R Us!" said Kid Flash carefully mouthing the words and Jinx snickered as they walked off with another thumbs up.
"You set them up for disappointment"
"I'm only playing. Just an itty bitty joke"
"I was surprised to not hear your jokes before this"
"I considered it. I really did. But I didn't want to be overbearing. I'm sure it would've come off wrong."
Their waiter came with their drinks and sandwiches. As they were just taking their first sips and bites, the short blond waiter for the next table approached with that table's check. He slowed and stared at Jinx then positively gawked at Kid Flash, mouth open and eyes wide, staring brazenly at the front of him then along his side then down his back before dropping off the check at the next table. He spun right around and stared at the side of Kid Flash's head from a foot away. Jinx smirked and nodded in the direction of the blond waiter. Kid Flash nodded. I know. He turned and looked the waiter right in the eye, trapping him in his dazzling blues. He leaned toward him, paused a couple seconds and raised his sandwich between them.
"Can I get some mustard? This looks a bit dry"
Jinx smiled at the familiar words as he stumbled off whispering furiously "It's him! It's Kid Flash!" to their waiter, who shook his head dismissively. "Oh, please"
A few minutes later, their waiter returned. "Is everything okay? Can I get you two anything else?"
"Another caramel cocoa, please, large this time"
"Another one of these for me" said Jinx holding up her cup.
As the waiter jotted it down on his pad, a couple walked past them to the exit, she a middle aged woman dressed as the cone bra version of Madonna her escort a paunchy Spiderman with his mask off.
"I love your costumes! They're absolutely perfect!" she offered patting both Kid Flash and Jinx on the shoulder.
"Nice job" he seconded. "Perfect choices for you kids"
Kid Flash noticed an odd, sour expression on their waiter's face as the couple exited.
"What?"
"Oh, you don't want to hear"
"Don't want to hear what?
"Constructive criticism"
"Shoot" said Kid Flash with a mischievous glance to Jinx.
"Wellllll. First off, your hair" he said to Kid Flash.
"My hair?"
"That shade of . . orange!" said the waiter and he chuckled. "I mean. Come on. I'm a . . a big fan of Kid Flash's. The costume place or the salon overdid it with that hair"
"But they told me this is the exact color of his hair" said Kid Flash as Jinx snickered.
"They lied. It's not nearly thaaaaat outrageous. Trust me. I've seen all the pictures in the paper and on TV. They probably just couldn't get rid of that color and you were looking for a sort of bright red so they saw their opportunity."
Kid Flash nodded. "I had my doubts"
"Mmm hmm. And the-the little wings off the side of your head" said the waiter shaking his head at Kid Flash and touching the one by Kid Flash's left ear.
"My-my wings are all wrong, too?"
"All wrong"
"But they told me-"
"They told you wrong. They're not as conspicuous as that. They look a bit . . kitschy the way they did 'em for you"
Jinx had a napkin over her mouth at this point.
"Kitschy?"
"Um, kind of flamboyant in a way that's not quite good taste"
"Hmmm. Anything else? Because I want to list it all to the costume place tomorrow when I ask for a refund"
"Oh. The gloves"
"The gloves?" said Kid Flash rotating both hands and looking at them. "I really thought the gloves were spot on"
The waiter let out a sniff. You silly boy.
"Too fem!"
"Fem?" repeated Kid Flash incredulously as Jinx burst out laughing.
"Sorry. But Kid Flash's gloves are shorter. I doooooon't think they go half way up his forearm like that and longer to one side. Too fem."
"Jeez. I-I feel like such a chump" said Kid Flash
"Oh, don't! Look it's not . . bad. I like the material" he said, touching Kid Flash's shoulder. "Nice matte finish to it and you have the right um physique to pretend to be Kid Flash, a little bit scrawny, of course, but not far off"
"A little bit scrawny?"
The waiter nodded and Jinx snorted a laugh.
"Jeez. I was gonna try and really hit the weights leading up to this but I didn't have the time"
"I mean . . he's a superhero. Duh"
Kid Flash nodded. "Well, thank you, um, Brian was it?"
The waiter nodded. "One last thing. Did I overhear that they gave you a dance belt to wear underneath that?"
"That's right. A loose dance belt they said. Feels pretty weird, like I should be in the bolshoi"
"Exactly! Not nearly butch enough. It keeps your line but it should've been compression shorts, support briefs or at worst a jock"
"Of course"
Jinx had her head on the table now, her back shaking with suppressed laughter and her fist tapping on the table top.
"Oh and just one thing about yours" said the waiter. Jinx sat up straight wiping at the corners of her eyes and breathing heavily for a few seconds before calming down.
"Mine?"
"Yeah. You're that villain girl Jinx, right?"
"Well, that's who I'm made up to be"
"You've got the hair all wrong. It's not so fifties June Cleaver as the way they did it for you"
Kid Flash covered his mouth with his hand. "I told you!"
Jinx shook her head very slowly, smiling and looking up to one side. "Thanks Brian. Caramel cocoa for him and another of these for me" she said holding up her cup.
They sipped their drinks and talked about which of the actual costumes they thought was best and then got up to go. Kid Flash saw their waiter, Brian, approaching.
"Hope my criticism didn't affect the tip" he chuckled nervously. Kid Flash shook his head. Don't worry. Brian relaxed at the sight of the bills on the table.
Kid Flash whispered in Jinx's ear and then they stopped at the door to the cafe.
"Oh, um, Brian?" Kid Flash called out.
Brian looked up from gathering their plates and cups and tip to see Kid Flash and Jinx step outside and then Kid Flash pick up Jinx and super speed away, one moment in front of the big glass window, the next a faint red and yellow blur disappearing to the right.
Crash!
Brian dropped their plates and cups on the floor attracting the attention of all the other diners who saw the waiter point out the window and sputter and stammer, no words coming out of his mouth.
Kid Flash stopped a few blocks away on a darkened side street and put her down.
"That was great" she said patting his shoulder.
"Okay" he said pointing one arm left and another right. "Which party? Fairfax or Crane?"
Jinx looked at the different lines of costumed attendees. The costumes of the ones going to the right seemed better. She pointed that way. He took her hand and started walking that way. They were soon hemmed in front, back and to one side by other costumed partygoers. Again, they were complimented on their costumes. The woman walking beside Kid Flash began to stare ever more intently.
She tugged his wrist. "Are you Kid Flash? You're really Kid Flash, aren't you?"
Kid Flash chuckled softly. "No, but it's good to see I didn't waste my money"
"You sure look like you can run really fast" she said then tried to enlist her husband, on her other side, in her cause. "Bob this boy really is that Kid Flash, isn't he?"
"Ma'am. Would I be walking along this sidewalk if I were Kid Flash? Wouldn't I run at super speed into the ball or something like that?"
"But you've got the pretty girl with you!"
"She's a villain, though" said a woman in front of them. "Kid Flash wouldn't be going out with um, what's your name?"
"Jinx" said Jinx
"Right. Jinx." continued the woman in front of them. "He's squeaky clean and she's . . well, I guess dirty would be the opposite"
"You see?" said Kid Flash
But the woman was unconvinced and just kept staring at him.
Eventually, the line of costumed party goers came to a halt at the wrought iron gates outside a huge, mansion. As they were waiting, "I Like the Way You Move" by Outkast boomed forth into the street outside the mansion property. Kid Flash couldn't help himself and began dancing in place. When he looked over, thinking that she might be about to laugh at him, he saw that she was doing likewise and both danced a little more exuberantly, taking up a few feet space around them as they did.
The song ended and another that Kid Flash didn't particularly like boomed forth. He stopped dancing and saw that she'd had the same reaction. They shared a smile and he had her hold his place in line and jogged ahead to see what was going on at the entrance. He appeared to wave to someone already inside, pointing and mouthing words. Meet you . . over there? Okay! He waved, jogged back and tugged on Jinx's hand.
"Come on Jinx. Cindy Crane'll meet us at the side entrance"
"Why'd we wait all this time in line then?"
"I didn't know it'd be this bad. Cindy didn't say there'd be so many people"
Jinx followed Kid Flash. They walked briskly away from the line and around a corner of the high stone and masonry wall that surrounded the property into an area of hedges twenty feet from the wall and hidden from view.
"What now? I thought you said you'd never be invited to a thing like this."
"I wasn't. I've never met any Cindy Crane. We weren't going to get in that way. They're being pretty strict about the guest list. I just wanted to see if they were marking the people who were in legitimately. Three black X's on the back of the left hand."
"So, how do we get in?"
"Um, another Flash trick" he said turning her so that her back was toward the high wall. "I'm going to make both of our molecules vibrate so that we pass right through that wall"
"You can make me go through it too?"
"Probably"
"What!"
"No, no" he laughed. "I'm kidding. I'm sure." he said as she slapped him. "Just be ready. I'm gonna start my molecules vibrating then I'm going to press my palm to your stomach right at the navel and transfer the vibration to you. Then I'll pick you up and carry you through"
She went over and tapped on the masonry.
"Um, that's a real wall"
"With real molecules that are almost all empty space. Come on"
"You'd better not hurt me!" she threatened.
"Never" he said, quite serious. "Now close your eyes"
A few seconds later, Jinx felt a slight tingle as his gloved hand pressed to her black lace covered stomach and seemingly with no intervening time span found found herself on the manicured lawn outside the mansion.
"It worked! Oh my god. It worked!" she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.
They went inside and each took a flute of champagne from a passing tray and drifted through the crowd as top 40 music played before stopping at table near the entrance of some sort of study. Kid Flash found a marker in a drawer and put three X's on both their left hands just like the people at the gate were getting.
"So, you'd never be invited to this something like this?"
"Nah" he said not elaborating then taking a gulp of champagne. "You?"
She laughed. "Not a chance. So, um did you ever had champagne before?" she asked.
"Nope. You?"
"Yeah, the HIVE stole it from someone. But kind of ironic that you protect them and their money, isn't it, when you say they'd never invite you to their party?"
"I try and protect everyone, including the rich"
"But you can see the irony, can't you?"
"Sure. There was a bank robbery last month where, um, have you ever seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?"
"Uh huh" she said taking a sip
"Do you remember the scene where they miscalculate how much explosive they need to open a safe and blow the top off a train car?"
Jinx giggled. "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?"
Kid Flash chuckled. "That's what this was like. These crooks got through the security system clean but didn't really know how to get the safe open and tried lots of explosives. The air was just a cloud of hundred dollar bills and pieces of bonds and jewelry and safety deposit box stuff and explosive powders. I ran through and knocked out all the thieves and there I am standing in the middle of this bank with hundred dollar bills showering down on me and as I wait for the cops to arrive the thought in the back of my mind is anger that, as I left my house I saw that my mom hadn't put 75 cents on the counter for lunch money for me and that I needed that money in order to be able to eat at school that day"
"So . . what'd you do?"
"I saw the irony. I laughed" he said and gulped down the last of his champagne.
She gave him a long calculating look and a smile. Good answer.
"I don't want to leave you with the impression that being good is hard, just that it's not always a bed of roses"
"Roses again, huh?"
He just smiled.
"Anything else you want to say about being a hero instead of a villain?" she asked.
He tried to think of what to say. Nothing seemed right. It'll feel so forced. And then the music came back on, this time as a waltz.
"Some other time" he said taking her glass and putting both of theirs aside then offering his hand.
"May I have this dance?"
"I-I've never done a waltz"
"Neither have I" he said. "Let's see . . . Your hand . . here on my shoulder. My hand . . there on your waist" He took her other hand in his gloved hand. He looked her in her gorgeous pink eyes and smiled.
"You're sure you know how to do this?"
"I think I can. I read instructions somewhere. Just mimic my steps and follow my momentum" he said and with that they went waltzing around the dance floor. Three waltzes in a row played and they were the envy of all the dancers for all three. On the last, people stepped aside and watched the young couple spinning their way around the floor. At the end, he held her in his arms, both of them grinning ear to ear. At the same time, their expressions became quite serious. They kissed. When they finally separated, neither was ready to speak.
They wandered through the mansion aimlessly, both taken aback by the kiss and found themselves in the study again. They both leaned against a table, regaining their bearings. Finally he noticed the expensive collection of leather bound books on the wall shelves that ringed the room. He walked over to the bookcase. There, at eye level were a set of black leather bound works of George Eliot and a red leather bound set of Jane Austen.
"Check these out" he said over his shoulder. "These are beautiful" he said picking a black leather bound book from the shelf.
She looked at him with his back to her. A book lover, too! Yes, beautiful.
She came over beside him. The books were beautiful too, the most expensive bindings, paper and gilt edges, the sort of collection only the richest book lover could afford. She pulled a red leather bound copy of Pride and Prejudice from the shelves and opened it. It still had that new leather smell inside. She took a deep, satisfying breath and smiled.
"You're a voracious reader, aren't you?" he asked through a grin.
"I'm always reading new books. I go to bookstores and get books on rough guess that I might want to read them. I wish I could get through all the ones I have. You're a big reader?"
He nodded.
"I wouldn't have guessed, at first" she said then worried that he'd take offense.
"I understand. I-I know I project that image. See, I think we, people like you and me with special powers, get influenced by the nature of our powers more than we realize. My power . . when I'm using it . . I-I feel so great. When I'm running, when I'm being Kid Flash, it-it opens up possibilities. It's such an expression of energy. It practically forces me to be upbeat and hopeful. I don't mean to be a wiseass or showoff but it's hard for me not to be, with the way I feel. And on the other side of it, when I'm civilian me, I've fallen almost unconsciously into the habit of being subdued and somber when I'm not in my Kid Flash uniform using my super speed. Did I plan it that way? No. Not really. It just sort of developed naturally as the way to optimize my Kid Flash patrolling but I never consciously decided to sort of power down my life in normal clothes. It just gradually developed." he let out a helpless sigh with a grin. She got the message.
"So, there's a somber you?"
"The other me"
"Can I meet him?"
"We could do that next time. I'll be civilian me and you, well, is there another you?"
She shook her head. "Not really. I'll just go a little incognito"
"You're lucky" he chuckled. "This guy" he said holding his arms out to indicate his body, to indicate Kid Flash, "is hell on the other guy"
She shook her head smiling at him. "I didn't figure you for that much of a thinker."
"Like I say. When I'm using my power, it's-it's almost euphoric."
"My power's destructive. You know that. I wreck things. How do you think that makes me feel?"
He nodded solemnly. "But it's not you. It's how the power makes you feel. I'm not a braggart. It's the influence of our powers. I-I think I got lucky in another way. I didn't become . . this" he said holding his arms out as if gesturing to his whole body "till I was 11 years old. I didn't have to go through a whole childhood of having a power that I was unable to deal with on multiple levels"
"I think I was always the way I am"
"That must've been much much harder"
"You have no idea"
A silence fell over them. They stayed for a while longer mostly fending off people who suspected that they really were Jinx and Kid Flash and the advances of drunken partygoers who didn't. When they left, he asked her where she wanted to be dropped off and super sped her to a certain street corner.
"I'll take it from here" she said. "Thanks for a wonderful time"
He looked her in the eyes and they kissed again, the feel of her lips against his completing the buzz that the champagne had started for him. They stepped apart, both sighing and blinking.
"So, um . . how 'bout Monday at 7 at the Cineplex, incognito?" he asked, just able to focus on that one new thought.
"Monday at 7"
"You're sure you're okay to get back home from here? It's nothing for me to go the rest of the way wherever it is"
She nodded. "But thanks, anyway"
They both said goodnight and he took a deep breath. Then, as if shot out of a gun, he was gone, just the faintest wisp of a red and yellow blur going away from her down one street.