Dedication: Hmm... I guess this is dedicated to those of us who eat comfort food when we're upset! You know who you are.
The Holy Trinity
A One Shot
Scoop. Smear. Toss. Scoop. Smear. Toss.
This was Jinx's holy trinity. Scoop the peanut butter straight out of the jar. Smear it straight onto a jumbo marshmallow. Toss into your mouth when complete. Rinse and repeat as many times as necessary.
Jinx was currently in the large pantry (they had several, due to Kid Flash's eating habits) doing just that. She could hear Kid Flash running past the pantry, probably trying to find her, but she didn't say or do anything that would bring his attention to the pantry or to her. She just continued scooping and smearing and tossing to her heart's content, ignoring everything else, just for the time being.
Comfort food was always going to work at comforting you, and right now Jinx needed to be comforted.
Her mother had been the one to show her the holy trinity right before she had died and Jinx had gone to the HIVE. She had just broken up with her first boyfriend (she had been thirteen at the time) and her mother had found her crying in her bedroom.
Her mother looked at her for a short time before turning to leave and returning with a bag of jumbo marshmallows, a jar of peanut butter, and large spoon. "This will solve all of your problems, at least right now," her mother had told her, and Jinx had to admit that Mom was right. There were no problems that this couldn't solve early on. It was only when you stopped to think about it that things went bad.
She had always done this whenever she failed a test at the HIVE and she had gotten yelled at for it. Jinx ate it whenever she was with the HIVE Five and they didn't listen to her and they had failed spectacularly. And she had eaten a lot of marshmallows covered in peanut butter when that red haired boy in yellow spandex had showed up.
Now here she was doing it again.
This time, though, the peanut butter covered marshmallows just weren't working. She was probably going to have to eat a whole lot more of them just to get the weight from out of her stomach (because Lord knows that isn't from the marshmallows) and the lump in her throat (Jinx was also pretty sure that this wasn't from the peanut butter either, but it could have been).
That stupid reporter with her stupid perfect blonde hair and laser whitened smile that made her look like a shark coming in for the kill. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Why did I ever think that I could do this?
Uh oh, there were tears coming up and she was not going to cry because of that stupid Marsha Norman woman. She was not! Jinx wiped the moisture at her eyes away roughly and scooped up another glob of peanut butter, smeared it on the marshmallow, and put it into her mouth and chewed quickly, thinking that maybe if she ate the marshmallow monstrosity quick enough that she could ignore everything else.
Jinx was right. That did distract her because she had put too much peanut butter and had begun chewing too quickly. When she swallowed she had begun choking on the peanut butter and had to cough it up, loudly. She had already spit it out into a napkin and threw it into the trashcan but the damage had been done. Kid Flash had heard her.
He opened the door to the pantry slowly and Jinx squinted at the harsh light that came flooding in. She had been sitting in the dark while feeling sorry for herself.
Silently Kid Flash closed the door and went to go sit on the other side of her, not saying anything, and that was a good thing for right now. Jinx handed him the jar of peanut butter and the bag of marshmallows silently, along with the spoon.
"What's this?" he asked, looking confused and holding up the marshmallows.
Jinx shrugged. "A pick me up, you could call it."
"Well, it's better than narcotics, I guess."
Jinx couldn't help it. She smiled. He had always been able to do that, to make her smile when she didn't want to that is. She didn't really know what it was about him, but that had been the real cincher for her when she fell in love with him. "Yeah, probably."
They sat in the silence and in the dark for a while before he asked, "Is this about that reporter Marsha Norman?" he asked her.
"No. Yes. I don't know. Maybe?" she said. Kid Flash just looked at her with an eyebrow raised. Jinx sighed. "Yes, sort of."
Marsha Norman was the devil, as far as Jinx was concerned.
Today, after she and Kid Flash had just stopped another bank robbery attempt. It had been done by the HIVE Five, and it clearly wasn't an accident that they had chosen the biggest bank in Keystone City to try and initiate their newest member, who clearly was a dud. The new member didn't even try to look like he knew anything at all about what he was doing, and that was the worst part of all. How many times had she told them to at least act confident and to know what the heck they were doing?
If Jinx remembered correctly, thirty seven, not that anyone was counting.
While she had been watching the police load them into their carrying car (a futile task really, since even though the HIVE Five could be stupid they could break out of a jail, especially one as out of date as Keystone's) Gizmo had spat at her. "You and your snot brained boyfriend think you're so good, but you're not!" It was obvious that he was bitter, and also that he was now the leader of the group as well, which Jinx had to admit she was a bit surprised about. She had thought that See-More would have gotten the job, but that wasn't the case.
Kid Flash had been talking to the reporters while all of this was going on. He was always the one that handled the press. He loved that stuff, the fangirls, the fame, and the adoration of the reporters and the news. He breathed it in like oxygen. Jinx would occasionally talk to a reporter or two, but usually left that stuff to Kid Flash. It wasn't that Jinx couldn't do it, it was just that she wasn't entirely comfortable. A small part of her was still used to being stuffed into the police cars eve though it had been almost a year since the Brotherhood of Evil.
There had been one reporter with a photographer standing off to the side laying in wait, not that Jinx noticed that at the time.
"Ah! Jinx, just the person I wanted to see!" The reporter grabbed Jinx's arm and pulled her over to the photographer and he snapped a picture of them together before she pulled her pen out from behind her ear. The woman had on a grey suit and white shirt that was unbuttoned in such a way that it exposed her rather large cleavage. Her hair was blonde and let down around the shoulders and she had large wide set brown eyes. Her teeth were rather sharp looking and her lips were colored in red and a bit of the lipstick was off the corner of her lip and it looked a bit like blood.
She looked like a great white shark.
"Um, I think Kid Flash is still giving interviews," Jinx said awkwardly. She really didn't like this woman touching her.
"Oh no, sweetheart," the woman said, dabbing at her lipstick with a paper napkin she had fished out of her pocket and ended up smearing her make-up even more. "I'm Marsha Norman, honey. I don't get the boring story like those other reporters, another great Flash saves Keystone blah blah blah, we can listen to that all day long. But you dear, are news."
"How? I've been Kid Flash's partner for at least six months now and-"
"Darve, she doesn't even realize how special she is to be getting interviewed by me, does she?" Marsha laughed and her photographer, Darve, smiled in a very fake was and mumbled something about 'sure if you like magazine articles that you use in the outhouse.' "Honey, Jinxy, can I call you Jinxy?"
"No," Jinx replied shortly, then winced at her tone. How many times had Kid Flash told her to be nicer to reporters than she would be to her own mother.
"Okay, Jinxy then. Jinxy, I am Marsha Norman, I write for the Keystone Gazette Weekly! Surely you've heard of that." She exaggerated her name, making her lips round, as if there were no other important name in the universe than Marsha Norman.
Jinx had in fact. It was one of those magazines that scare children in the check out line because it said things about 'Alien Abductions Around Keystone City!' and 'The Wolfman Spotted!'. Either that or it had trashy articles about celebrities, none of which had any truth to them at all. Jinx had often bought a few just to giggle about what the 'trash rag' had said about the other Titans before throwing it away.
"I've heard of it," she said tentatively. Jinx still wasn't sure where this was going.
"Good, good. Now, I want to interview you! It's an honor, dear, don't look so upset about it."
"Okay, that sounds fine."
"So, Jinxy, what do you think of Keystone?"
Jinx relaxed. These were the sort of questions that she could answer. "It's great. Keystone truly is a beautiful city, and the inhabitants are all wonderful." Marsha scribbled down her answer.
"How do you like being a superhero?"
"It's nice. It's a change certainly," Jinx chuckled, trying to hide her panic. She wasn't supposed to say anything about her past, no one really knew about it yet, although there had been rumors on the internet about her circling around.
"A change? Hmm... We'll get more into that later. Anyway, how are things with Kid Flash? Are you two an item?"
"Yes, we are. He's great too. We have a very good relationship and we're at a good place right now."
Jinx thought for sure that Marsha Norman had said something like "Not for long," but she wasn't quite sure that was what she heard. "So, what's it like seeing your old teammates going to jail, and knowing that you put them there?"
Jinx felt her blood run cold. "Wh-what do you mean?" She laughed nervously and looked around. Darve just rolled his eyes.
"Why dear, you didn't think that no one would find out, did you. You don't even have to dig that deep before you find your criminal record, dear." Marsha Norman's voice had turned sickly sweet now. She smiled tightly at Jinx. "Now, now, we need an answer. Our readers need to know."
"You mean you actually have readers? Your magazine is trash." Darve looked up from his camera, surprised. Jinx was daring to talk like that to Marsha Norman? That just didn't happen. Marsha Norman could write an article about you so scandalous that it could almost seem obscene, but she could also make sure that it followed the first amendment to a T. She was fantastic at that, not that Jinx knew this at the time.
"What an ugly thing to say, Jinxy poo. What an ugly thing to say. Now, let's not let our feelings get in the way of the interview. Another question then, dearie. What is the best part of being a turncoat? A traitor?"
This shocked Jinx, it truly did. She didn't think of what she did as betraying anybody she hadn't even allowed herself to think the words because it would hurt to much, and Kid Flash never used them either. The one time she had brought it up he had refused to talk about it.
"It wasn't like-"
But now Marsha had seen weakness and was going in for the kill. She smiled, her canines glinting. "Do you think that you could ever do it again? I mean, once you do something once, you've done it a million times. Should we warn Kid Flash about what he's getting himself into? Wouldn't want Keystone's Pride and Joy getting led astray would we? We wouldn't want you seduce him to the side of evil." When Jinx looked like she was about to protest Marsha smiled again. "Honey, it's been done before. Although, that would make one hell of a story." Marsha clicked her pen on her teeth, looking off into the distance lost in thought.
"No matter, though. Hmm? Jinxy, we need answers here. The public is just dying to know. Believe you me, this story won't be on the shelves for long." By now Jinx was at a loss for words, something rare for her.
How was she supposed to answer these questions truthfully? She didn't know the answers herself! This was making her feel horrible, and her tears were beginning to itch and her throat was swelling shut, a sure hint that crying would soon be coming.
Out of nowhere Kid Flash appeared. It was like he had some sort of radar that told him when Jinx was upset. He put a hand on Jinx's shoulder. "Everything all right?" he murmured in her ear.
Jinx nodded, but Marsha Norman saw both of them and smiled even wider. "Kid Flash, just the person that I wanted to see." Did she say this to everyone? She must. "You have to tell us, what was it like, falling in love with a villainess."
Kid Flash's jaw tightened. "She is not a villainess. And you, ma'am, are upsetting my girlfriend. Please leave."
For the first time Marsha Norman was a bit put out. Here was a person who knew how to handle the press. Kid Flash looked too fierce to argue with, though, so she decided to just leave. Besides, she had enough to finish the story she wanted to write anyway. "Okay. Thank you for the interview, Jinxy. It's been lovely." In a completely different voice she told her photographer, "C'mon Darve, let's go." They both left.
Jinx quickly burst into tears, and then stopped herself, covering her face with her hands. "Hey, hey," he patted her back and pulled her in for a hug. "What did she do?" Jinx wasn't one to be comforted, but she needed this, so she told him everything starting with "Jinx, just the person that I wanted to see!"
He narrowed his eyes. "I'll go speak with her bosses. Meet me at the aparatment, okay?" Jinx had just nodded and walked off.
Now they were both in the big pantry with Jinx's holy trinity in tow. Kid Flash's next words pulled her out of her memories of Marsha Norman, though. "I got her fired, if that makes you feel any better."
Jinx paused, the marshmallow en route to her mouth in mid air. She smiled again. "It does, I guess."
"And, I know this isn't very hero-like, but we could always find some of her high school yearbook pictures and post them on the internet. Because you and I both know that the bazookas on her chest aren't real."
Jinx smirked. "Bazookas, eh? So you noticed."
Kid Flash shrugged. "You can't not notice them. They're just so... there!"
"No, I don't really think that's necessary, although it's tempting. But we do need to talk about what she was saying. Because it was true. I am a traitor."
"No, you weren't. You had quit the team before I came and found you and you were handling all the petty crime in Jump City that the Titan's wouldn't have handled."
"But I fought against my team." Jinx stressed the last word. "You saw it, I froze them!"
"Jinx, we're never going to agree on that but, look I love you and..." Jinx found herself wanting to hear his next words, the ones that were going to help her out, make her feel better. "I really want to try one of those. May I?"
Jinx couldn't help this reaction either. She busted out laughing.
A/N: I couldn't really think of an ending, but I hope you enjoyed and didn't think they were unbearably OOC