Red and Pink
Authors note: I still don't own. Probably never will. I also don't own Rent, I just adore it.
Nicole was sitting on the couch watching Rent when Wally came back into the apartment wearing his Kid Flash uniform. He had been out going on patrol and she said she didn't feel like going so she stayed watching her favorite musical with a bowl full of popcorn. He walked over to kiss her forehead before going to go change out of his uniform and into something comfortable to wear around the house. He first went to the bathroom to relieve himself and to hide his stash. He needed it. He may have detoxed it out for now, but he missed it. He missed the thrill, he missed being able to forget about how his childhood had been, how he felt now. He loved Nicole but all the pressure of being good and being seen as perfect just got to him sometimes so tonight, a week after having his last dose, he went to his dealer to get the next fix. He'd save it for when she was asleep, she didn't need to know. He could tell by the Tampon wrappers that he wasn't going to have a shot at getting any tonight. He'd let her be and just cuddle with her, he really didn't mind.
He walked back out in a pair of basketball shorts and a wife beater. He sat down next to her on the couch to watch the rest of the movie.
"I got something for you while I was on patrol." Wally pulled a chocolate bar from the pockets of his shorts and handed it to her.
"Thank you." She kissed him to show her thanks. They just sat there smiling at each other, completely happy in this moment.
After the movie, they went to sleep. Well, after staying up until 1 in the morning talking about their lives. He learned her secrets and figured out why she's guarded. I told her we'd never be like her parents, fighting all the time and getting a divorce and making her suffer even more then she had with school and the whole community. She found out that he didn't discover his powers until he was 11 and playing soccer. He found out she's had her powers since she was born; apparently it was almost a family like thing, but not as amplified. Usually bad luck followed the family but she took it a step forward, she could create it. She found out that he hates his stepmoms. His dad has gone through four of them, each younger than the rest. His dad had always said, "no one can compare to your mother." Then she kissed him and rolled over to fall asleep. When he heard her light snores he knew that he was safe to sneak away. He carefully sat himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up and walked into the bathroom.
When in there, he got his stash out. He set it all down on the sink in front of him after locking the door. When the drugs were in the syringe he held it to arm and stuck it under his skin. He pressed the needle under his skin and pushed down the top of the syringe to release the drugs into his blood stream. Once done, he put the syringe back in the hiding spot and looked in the mirror. He hated what he saw. He saw a scrawny, red-headed bitch looking back at him. He saw a stupid boy who couldn't keep his promise to the girl he adored. He saw an idiot who convinced a girl to leave her life of crime and to come to him. He knew that she didn't fully trust him, he knew there was more to her story then she would let on. He knew that she was trying to be good, for him, but he couldn't be good for her. He couldn't quit for her. He hated the reflection. Without thinking, he swung his arm up and into the mirror. He looked again at the cracked glass; it had his blood dripping down. He wasn't sure why, but this grossed him out so bad that he fell to the ground as the world turned black.
***The next morning***In Jinx's (Nicole's) POV***
I woke up alone. It was so cold without Wally lying down next to me. I got up and went into the living room thinking that maybe he was just watching TV or playing around on the computer, he wasn't there. I looked in the kitchen to see if maybe he had started breakfast or something. He wasn't there either. I didn't see a note from him telling me he went out, so I figured that he was just in the bathroom and would be out soon so I made myself some coffee.
After ten minutes of waiting for him, I got worried. I got up and hesitantly walked up to the bathroom door. I knocked and waited a second before trying again.
"Wally, are you in there?" I got no answer, this was freaky.
I grabbed his communicator off the table in the hallway and called Robin. "Jinx to Robin, pick up Robin."
"Jinx, how did you get this frequency?" Robin asked when he picked up.
"I'm living with Kid Flash, I'm not sure where he is and he left his communicator behind so I thought I'd call you to see if you know where he is."
"No, I don't. I haven't spoken to him in a couple days. Give me a call when you find him, if you don't call in two hours I'll send people out to find him."
I nodded and said okay before hanging up. Something felt wrong. I felt like he was in the apartment. I knocked again on the bathroom door and still no answer. I tried a few more times but to no avail. I knew the door was locked since while I was banging on the door I was trying to turn the handle but just failed. I hexed the door open.
I looked down and I saw him lying in a small pool of blood on the cold tile. I noticed there was glass splayed around, I looked up and I saw the cracked mirror with dried blood on it. He punched it, I concluded.
"Wally, wake up. Wake up." I yelled at him while slapping his cheeks a little trying to wake him up. Tears rolled down my cheeks and my words came out like sobs. I quickly picked up the communicator again and used it to dial 911 to ask for an ambulance. The dispatcher said she'd send someone right away. When I hung up, I called Robin. "Robin, its Jinx again, pick up." When he picked up he saw the tears on my face. "I found him, I called an ambulance, it's on its way and it'll take us to Jump City Community Hospital. Meet me there."
While I waited for the ambulance I got a bag of stuff ready for me to take with me. I dug into his hiding spot and pulled out a syringe to give to the EMTs, maybe it could help. I packed clothes also. I got out his digital camera and took pictures of the scene to show to Robin.
After waiting for five minutes and taking 20 pictures, the ambulance got here and loaded up Wally and asked me basic information about him. I told them all I could and told them about the drugs. Soon we were on the way to the hospital.
When I walked in, the doctors raced him to an operating room and asked me to fill out some forms to the best of my abilities. Robin soon walked in through the door and came to me.
"Jinx, what happened?"
I showed him the pictures and told him about the drug abuse. I told him I needed help with the forms and somehow he understood me through the tears. He took over the paper work and talked to some of the cops for me so I could calm down a bit before talking to them. Soon enough the cops made their way over to me. "Excuse me miss, but you were the one who found him?" he continued after I nodded. "Could you explain to me what happened?"
"I'm not sure. He probably did this while I was sleeping early this morning. I fell asleep at about 1 or so. I think he was still awake. This morning I woke up and when I could find him I figured he was just in the bathroom so I made myself some coffee and after awhile I started to get worried so I knocked on the door. After getting no answer I called a couple of his friends to see if they knew where he was, they said that they didn't and I had a really bad feeling. I tried the door again but it was locked and he wouldn't answer me so I picked the lock and I found him lying on the floor. In his blood. He looked so terrible. There was glass and blood everywhere… so I called 911 and then his friends I called earlier to tell them to meet me here… while I waited… I took pictures of what it looked like… he has a history of heroin use, I grabbed his syringe." I handed it to them.
"Could we see these pictures please?"
I pulled out my camera and gave it to them to look at the pictures I had on there.
"Thank you very much miss, this will help a lot, and you saved us the trouble of going to your apartment to get these pictures. Is there a parent or family member around that we could speak to?"
"No, just me."
"How long as it been since he started doing drugs?"
"I'm not sure. He quit last week and I'm not even sure if he relapsed I just guessed. He quit because of me and I thought that it would work."
"The doctors gave me a toxicology report and it should heroin or some other strong drug in his system. I'll let the doctor tell you the rest, he'll be right here."
I nodded and sat down on the chair behind me. I sat there feeling completely numb for a good five minutes. Then I felt angry when the doctor walked up to me.
"Hello, are you with Mr. West?" he asked me and waited for a confirmation. "I'm Doctor James Stewert, please call me James."
"Nicole Diaz."
"Well as the police may have already told you, we found a strong drug in his system which judging by his history is most likely heroin. We had to remove all the glass from his hand, the pictures the police showed me lead me to believe he punched the mirror but we don't know why or even if that's true. He is awake now and refuses to answer any questions until he gets to speak with you. So if you'll follow me, I'll bring you to him." He gestures to me to follow him down the long hallway.
We got to room 131 and I walked in to see my red-head staring at me as I entered. I was pissed and he knew it.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Wally said nervously.
"Have I ever told you how stupid you are?" I countered. "What the fuck did you do?"
"I used again." He looked down.
"No shit, the doctor told me that much."
"I looked in the mirror and started hating myself and I just got an urge to punch it, so I did, then I blacked out."
"You fucking idiot! You scared the shit out of me! I called Robin to see if he knew where you were and now he's here too. He's almost as mad as I am. I told him about the drugs. You have a choice Wallace West; you could go to rehab, quit heroin or have me or you can lose me, the Titans and your friends, but you'd have the drugs. What is your choice?"
"The first one. What if I can't do it, Nicole?"
"Then I leave, for good. But while you're in rehab, we won't be together. I won't visit you. You get clean, and then come back to me. Robin said that the Titans will get you through Rehab. I don't want to be around for that. You broke my heart. I thought you quit for me, then a week later you do this. Wally maybe you don't understand this but I really like you, I may have loved you but now, I'm not so sure. I let you in, you started to get to know me. You started to get to know everything about me. You saw through that tough, bad girl exterior and you saw me. But you lost me." I almost walked out then. The way he looked almost broke me down and made me stay. "I got to go."
"I know, I'll see you after I get out of rehab." I walked over and he kissed me. "I love you Nicole."
I didn't reply I left. I walked right out of the hospital. I went back to the apartment alone. I got in and locked the door behind me. I looked around and saw how empty it was. I slouched down against the door and I cried my eyes out. I stayed there all day, until Terra knocked on the door and moved me to the couch and she cuddled against me and hugged me close until I cried myself to sleep.