Kid Flash sprinted from the park overlooking the bay and Titans Tower to the spot off the road just up the street from his house where he'd left a set of civilian clothes. He scooped them up and ran his top speed, longest stride with fastest turnover, through the city to an alley near the apartment where she was staying. He changed in a tiny fraction of a second, and then with his red and yellow uniform safely back inside his ring he shuffled over to her apartment. He knew it wasn't true, but he almost felt taller as he walked to the apartment door. The whole process that day had given him such confidence. He almost felt a positive momentum to his life.

It was just a minute past five when he knocked on the door. Jinx came toward it looking over her shoulder at the phone she expected to ring, almost seeming to warn it to hold off. Her expression blossomed into a smile when she saw through the glass that it was him. She opened the door and he stepped forward into a kiss, taking her in his arms.

"How'd it go?" she asked when theyseparated.

"It was great. It was-sigh-oh god, it was great. What a terrific life they have in there!"

"Your life now, too"

He grinned.

"So, don't just stand there. Fill me in"

He let go of her and launched into a full recounting of what was done and seen and said.

"I knew you'd get along with Cyborg better than the others" she chuckled. "I knew it"

"Why?"

"You're the same type of guy. Beast Boy's not as serious as you two and Robin takes it over a cliff into uptight canyon. Starfire's a ditz and Raven's too negative for you"

"They were all really kind to me. Even Robin was sort of neutral"

"So, where do you go from here?"

"Well, tomorrow I'll move over whatever of my stuff I'm going to move from home and the day after tomorrow's my birthday. There's going to be a joint birthday and new guy joining party. I was, um, hoping you'd attend". He took her in his arms again and rubbed the end of his nose on hers. "Please"

She nodded with a grin. "If I have to"

"So what do you want to do? It should be your choice. I got what I wanted today"

"Wellll. I was thinking. You've been to my place . . " she gestured around. "Such as it is. So I thought I should see your place before you completely leave it behind-"

"Such as it is" he chuckled. "Sure, but you have to be Jinny, not Jinx. I'm only Wally there, not Kid Flash"

"Wally's cool" she said patting his side. They kissed some more but she knew what she wanted and after a few more tastes of his lips she pulled apart from him and then fixed her hair up and put it under a hat, not a simple knit job like his but a sort of whimsical black number that hid all her pink hair from view. She added a dark jacket and started for the door, leading him out to the street.

"How do you want to get there?" he asked at the curb.

"Where do you live?"

"36 Owens. It's out in the Jump Ridge district"

"Hmm. For whatever reason, I don't feel like super speed. I want to kind of take our time and talk". And there it was, right on cue, slowness incarnate, the Jump City bus system! A bus rumbled to the curb right beside them. Jinx had her hand raised. She looked at the front of it. "This one'll take us to the edge of Jump Ridge" she said. Wally got on with her. He let out all his displeasure in one moment, leaning forward and to the side to be speaking almost into her lap.

"I'm the fastest boy alive and . . I'm . . taking . . the . . bus."

She giggled. But he uttered not a word more of complaint. They talked about all sorts of things. The bus went by some kind of odd church, neither was sure what denomination, and a huge guy in a dark monk's outfit was out front of it with a bunch of other people. Jinx remembered The Black Monk by Chekhov.

"Hey, I read some of those Chekhov stories you recommended. They were pretty good, especially that Black Monk one."

He gave a little smile of satisfaction. "So, what do you think of Kovrin? Was he nuts or did they screw him up by trying to make him normal?"

"They screwed him up, of course. I mean, you think so too, don't you?"

"Uh huh. But I guess that some people read it the other way"

"How could anybody read it that way?"

"I'm just telling you what a book at the library said, that a fair number of people read it as this nut being roped back to sensible behavior."

"But that's what he really is! That's what Kovrin is. He's a burn out fast guy and they quote save him unquote by turning him into a weaselly nobody. It'd be like making you normal speed because there's too much risk of you're getting hurt fighting crime and stuff."

"That was one of my nightmares once, that Slade and some villains take away my speed and they don't even bother to kill me because my life would be so terrible without it."

"Well, Kovrin's life is terrible after they save him. Do me a favor and don't ever save me, not that way, I mean not more than you've already done"

"Okay"

"Anyway, I really liked the story. Good call"

They went by a couple mortgage finance places and a couple banks in a row. He asked how she was set for money. He reiterated that he'd now be getting a stipend. She told him she was set for money in the short term.

"I've won $500 on frigging lottery scratch tickets three times now in the last few days. Three times!"

"Sounds like good luck" he smirked

"It freaks me out. I got one ticket because I was trying to make this stupid old woman stop hemming and hawing and pick one and I said to take a certain one. So, she does and wins and gives me a buck that she insists I use on a ticket, so I do and win five hundred bucks. Then a clerk accidentally put someone's scratch ticket in with my stuff and I won another five hundred. And then right before I got kidnapped by the effing HIVE I was in the store and this woman dropped her stupid scratch ticket and, I guess trying to be like Kid Flash, I try to catch her and give it back to her. But she's hysterical that the punk goth girl must be out to get her or something. I don't know. She practically runs me over trying to get out of the parking lot-"

"You didn't hex her tires or anything?"he smirked.

"No I didn't hex her tires, smartass. I didn't do this" she chuckled and put two fingers to his hip and applied a good dose of hex to him. "Yeow!" he jumped off the bus seat rubbing his butt with one hand as she smiled serenely. "I've been really good about that. I resent the kneejerk guess that I'd fly off the handle"

"I was just joking."

She nodded that she knew. Just so much fun to hex you, she smiled at him. "So, I go back in the store with the ticket and, again, it's a $500 winner. Money is practically dropping out of the sky into my lap without me doing anything dishonest."

"See? You're not bad luck. You're just, I don't know . . entropy, I guess"

"That's the scientific take on it" she seconded.

"I like it a lot better"

"Says the boy who travels at a rate of speed that defies logic. Do you have any idea how you work, I mean how it is that you can do the things you can do?"

"Nope. It's embarrassing to admit but I don't. And I don't know if I'm growing differently because of super speed or what effect, if any, super speed will have on my health long term. I just pull on my suit and run and take it all for granted."

"So, I'm off the hook for not knowing how I work, too. Deal?"

"Deal"

The bus drove on and they joked back and forth about whatever came up, including the cab driver style of driving that their bus driver had, aggressively cutting off other vehicles and causing some other passengers to hold on as if for dear life. Eventually they arrived at the stop nearest to his house. He looked around on the street corner getting his bearings. They were a half mile from the West house. He took her hand and led her the rest of the way. When the house was in sight, he could see that his mother's car was gone as was his father's.

"This is where you live?" asked a skeptical Jinx as they approached the front door of the smallest, crappiest house in view.

"Uh huh. I told you my family doesn't have any money"

"I know. I guess I still always think of the good guys as being rich somehow" He shook his head and led her inside.

"It's me with my girlfriend, Jinny" he half shouted. There was no answer or sound of movement or sound indicating anyone's presence at all. He looked around for any clue eventually finding one post-it, written by his mother, among a forest of them on the refrigerator telling him that she and his sister were at his aunt on his mother's side for the weekend. Jinx meandered over to a table next to the tv in the living room and looked at all the pictures atop it. There must've been around thirty. He was in one.

"This is ridiculous" she said pointing to all of them.

"Oh. Yeah. It doesn't matter."

She picked up the one picture of him. Seven or eight years old standing beside his sister, who looked nothing like him. "What a cute little guy you were!" she cooed but saw that he had no particular interest in the photos or talking about what a cute little guy he'd been and made her way over to his room where he was picking out books to take with him to Titans Tower the next day. She looked in the room from the doorway and laughed. The room was eight by ten. There was a space perhaps two feet wide between the dresser and his bed. And that was where the boy saving the rich people and all their money had been living. She shook her head with a sigh.

"I know. Not impressive" he said. "Oh, let me check on something quick". He super sped upstairs and then back down, one hand holding his pants up as he did, and reported back to Jinx that his father's suitcase was gone which meant he was gone on another sales trip.

She grasped the implications of this without him having to say a word. They had the house to themselves. Neither said a word. She pulled his hat off when he took her in his arms and kissed her and didn't stop there. Nor did he stop at a kiss. There was nothing to stop them now. When Isaac Newton wrote about momentum hundreds of years ago, about things in motion tending to stay in motion, all neat descriptions of the physical universe he left out some things. Non-physical momentum. Because his laws apply in other ways, too. Affection has momentum. Affection has to overcome inertia or have the brakes applied to it otherwise it keeps going. Wally's affection was only picking up speed and heading toward Jinx. Her love was only accelerating and heading toward him. There were no obstacles, no brakes on their desires.

Several hours and much affection, love and lust later, he indulged a short burst of super speed, just 20 feet's worth, to get past the picture window naked from the bathroom back to his room and the sight of her on his bed sighing and rolling onto her side as she squeezed the edge of the mattress. He got in to spoon with her and pulled the covers over them.

So vulnerable and yet so strong, he thought, embracing her. So beautiful and so intelligent, too. Almost a tragedy for her to be pushed into that role. Meant for each other, he sighed hazily to himself as he slid his left leg behind hers, the top of his foot below the sole of hers, front of his calf and thigh against the back of hers, knee fitting behind hers as if designed to. He sighed and pressed one palm to the fullness of her rear. So luscious for the base of such a slender hourglass. So taut. He circled his palm around the enticing flesh and then sighed again. He opened his mouth wide and pressed his teeth to her trapezius muscle at the base of her neck, a proxy for the greater flesh and gently touched his teeth to the skin. With a slow exhale, he pulled her to the rest of him, enjoying the feel of his coarse hairs against her perfect feminine skin and the way their bodies fit together so well. He reached under her neck, under the pillow with his right arm and grasped the back of her hand, intertwining their fingers. He enjoyed the gentle tug her fingers gave in her slightly conscious state and he wrapped his left arm over her, cupping his hand around a perfect, little hemisphere. He sighed his breath onto the back of her neck and she sighed in response. Contentment. They lay that way for minutes then she reached over with her left hand. He knew before it got there. He was mostly awake and could tell that she was mostly asleep but any power of direction from her mind and her hand would be there. He felt her hand gently rubbing one arc of muscle. He felt the hemisphere alive, shifting in his hand and kissed the back of her neck. Her neck was okay. The smell of her skin was like perfume to him and it was so incredibly soft, but her neck was okay. Just not the lips. Those lips and that face. Ahhhh. And that fantastic slender hourglass figure. He sighed. He was almost ready for action now. He pulled back from the small of her back. Okay, stay calm. Stay calm. He drew a long slow breath. Her neck would be okay. So soft and vulnerable yet so strong. Her neck would be okay. It was right there in front of his eyes. He kissed softly. When they touched lips, undressed, only one result was possible. He kissed her neck again as her fingers played over his surface back there. They could still just lie there so happily.

Then she woke. He knew it instantly. It roused him too even though she didn't move a muscle. He could tell. There was something more alive about her in his arms. She took his hand from her breast and pulled it to her mouth and kissed it.

"Such a large hand for that wrist" she whispered and he could hear the smile too. Her other hand pressed much harder against the arc of his left hip. He kissed the back of her neck again and he wished he could see her face. He knew she had a look of delight on it. He knew it. Had to be so. He wanted to see that face. He had to see that smile. He had to. Gently, he leaned forward, around her just as she was also turning toward him. They smiled into each other's eyes and kissed, slowly tugging at each other's lips. Anything but making love was impossible now.

Some time later, she was, again, wrapped in his full embrace from head to toe but awake unlike him. She smirked that he would hold her like this, that a 15 year old boy wanted to spoon like this. So tactile! Maybe it's the family deficit. Nobody holds him so . . Didn't he say he'd been all alone since he became Kid Flash? Only that aunt knowing and only that aunt really caring about him? Runs around saving the city and he can't get basic human affection at home. She sighed softly. The irony. But he got through it to be this, somehow. So, hey . .

She ran her little hand gently over the soft skin surface of his hip with a smile spreading across her face. What an incredible, robust shape. She nearly laughed out loud. She loved the skinny boys, slender boys, wiry, lanky boys. Those were the boys who were the outsiders more than the big and fat ones. Those were her guys. Maybe that'd been part of it with Cyborg. And if a skinny guy could have these! She sighed and recalled one instance of him walking away to the bathroom, that incredible sleek shape and that perfect smooth walk. What candy he is and then for him to be books and hero and you can do better too. Damn! And this! On top of everything, this! She thought of the second time, of him advancing, crouching over her and pushing that thick tangle of orange hair south. Uh uh . . nope, not them either . . keep going . . keep going . . yup, there! Hmmm. DidI really scream like that? He sure got the hang of it fast. But he definitely cheated. He so completely cheated. That was super speed. That . . she pulled her hand from behind him and pressed her palm to the skin below her navel recalling the feeling. That . . with his tongue, that had to be super speed. God! No normal boy could do that like that. She grinned ear to ear. My guy. She bent her head and kissed his hand inches away. And talk about cheating! What about that! She returned her hand to its normal position at his muscular hip. What about that? That was completely cheating, she chuckled to herself recalling looking down into his face, held up by his surprisingly strong arms with their fingers interlocked. What . . what was that? She remembered the warm feeling inside. Never felt that before.

She recalled the smile on his face. It seemed like he'd just realized he could do that. She'd almost wanted to zap him with a hex for that smile, that mischievous smile but, oh god. That'd been incredible. That scream had been even louder or it would have been if not for biting on his hand. He never said that he could vibrate just some of his molecules, just one part. She sighed and it was tinged with a feeling of surrender. Surrender of any sort always felt so completely wrong, so weak girly. But a bit of surrender to him . . well, he'd surrendered too, so it was okay.

He pulled her tight to him again. He seemed to do that every so often and she took the opportunity to more energetically run her fingers over his rear. Then he sighed and moved his hand so that his palm pressed hard against her hip. He relaxed and then pressed again and gently caressed the full shape of her then returned his hand to her breast and in the small of her back she could feel him getting more excited. "Who has a thing for buns?" she grinned into the pillow. But I should be excused. When a boy sprints a thousand miles in a minute or however fast he does it and has the kind of rear that says he just might be able to do something like that . . . well, that should be excused.

For some reason she recalled the woman in the line to get into the costume ball on that first date. She rememberd noticing at one pointthat she'd had an expression like asking for help. Jinx chuckled. The woman had been looking at the back of his Kid Flash uniform. She'd seen his buns. Come on! Those! Just another boy? But she was somewhere in her fifties, probably the back side, and she didn't feel like she could comment about his. Come on, somebody help me. Look at him! Come on! Jinx chuckled.

She lay there comfortably till he shifted a bit and shifted her in the process. She could feel a spring against her side. God! This is the crappiest mattress. How the hell does he sleep on this? She pondered her options and decided to try the alternative. Him. She slowly unwound his left arm and then gently rolled him to his back. There was barely room on the twin bed. Then she slid atop him, being careful for it, ready to go as always it seemed, but she found a comfortable position sort of diagonally across him. He stirred a moment then wrapped both arms around her and exhaled. She pressed her cheek harder to his chest right over his heart as she exhaled and let the breath go deeply. Contentment. This was really good. She was nearly asleep again in this satisfaction when she heard a sound. Then there was another sound as she felt something land on the bed. What the . .? Then she heard the purring, like a continuous motor inside the small, lithe, light brown cat that stepped onto Wally's chest taking up a crouched cat pose right beside Jinx's face and just off his chin. The cat turned her way. Jinx was taken aback. If her eyes hadn't already been green, the sheer animal jealousy would've colored them that way instantaneously. Jinx smirked. Oh god. She wants me off her boy. Now! Jinx smiled and moved her head a little more toward his shoulder.

That's right, he said that the neighbor's abyssinian likes to sleep on top of him. "I was here first! I saw that this was a nice warm boy long before you . . Bitch!" she imagined the cat saying. "And you idiots didn't realize he had super speed. I got it at the first sniff of him after the accident. Top of the food chain my ass!". Jinx gave the cat a pet. Purring stopped. Jinx nearly laughed out loud. Wow, pretty clear who's in favor here. The cat now spread out, lying on his chest so that her back was nearly in Jinx's face. Jinx nearly coughed as the cat began purring again and, to Jinx's surprise, deftly extended one paw to touch Wally's nose. He stirred.

"Empress!". The purring got its loudest and he petted her, looking at Jinx as well as he did. She noticed how he petted her in very specific ways, not just a big hand dragged across her. There was a fingertip to her chin and then behind her whiskers, on the forehead, at the base of each ear then down her back but not on her side followed by one last scratch again at the chin. The purring went on a little more then abruptly stopped as the cat let out a little sigh and seemed to fall instantly asleep.

He looked to Jinx. "Oh god, all the dirty jokes with the word 'pussy' floating through my head right now" hewhispered with a smile. She chuckled and gave him a slight hex jolt to his hip.

"Ow"

"You should have seen the look she gave me when she crouched down on you. He is mine she was saying."

He smiled. "I have been for a few years now. But that's over. Sorry Empress"

"Where's she gonna find another super speed boy?"

"Maybe those two hispanic kids could use a cat?"

"What could you use?"

"Me? Nothing. I have everything"

She chuckled at the notion seeing his meager room and possessions.

"I don't want to be anywhere but here, in this moment"

"I want this to be the map to the future. I don't want this to be . . did you-did you ever hear, on the oldies station, That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be? by Carly Simon, great female singer songwriter"

"Um, yeah, I think so" he said, brushing her shoulder with his hand for the pleasing scuff of skin on skin.

"Well, I, I mean, that's what I fear, the stuff she talks about, love falling apart and couples going through the motions. It's so true"

"You're so vain!" he muttered. "You probably think that song is about you. You're so-"

She laughed and slapped the side of his hip and gave a jolt of hex energy in the process.

"Yeow!"

She smiled with delight. Soooo much fun to give him little jolts. Ahhhh.

"Always with the buns!" he chuckled.

"Like you're much different?" she grinned back.

"I spread my attentions out a little more"

"I appreciate attention all over. You only react at one location" she said with a smile.

"I'm a man" he smiled. "Anyway. You can't engineer a whole a whole um . . relationship forward from one moment to guarantee that things don't go bad, can you? All you can do is be sincere. I-"

BRRRIP! BRRRIP! BRRRIP! BRRRIP! BRRRIP!

He reached out and slapped the clock radio on the nightstand by the bed. He turned to look. 8:55. He looked out the window. Sunny blue sky. Shit. It was true. He gently sat up. Rrrroooww! Empress jumped off him then to the window and out. He left Jinx in a seated position then was instantaneously clad in his red and yellow uniform in front of her.

"I'm supposed to be at the Tower at 9 a.m. for something"

"Aaarrrggghhh! What?"

"Um, martial arts lesson from Robin. Can you make your own way back and just lock the door when you leave?"

She nodded. "Another reason to hate Robin" she added.

"Don't hate. I love you" he whispered. They shared an extended kiss and he was gone, just a red and yellow blur that had headed into the wallpaper.