Alright, a long way coming with the Hairspray soundtrack but we're finally here. The final chapter of Jacin's arc and season two.

Ad-Jacin-t to You: Part Ten

Wolf isn't sure how long he fell back asleep because the moment he fell on his bed, he was instantly asleep. It felt like an hour but, for all he knew, it could be the middle of the night. He'd check the time but he doesn't know where he left his phone and it was probably somewhere in the living room. He'll figure it out later.

He showered and changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, still hearing Scarlet and his mother chatting. Stars, those women could talk for hours on end about drying paint. And Scarlet thought his mom didn't like her. Please. If his mom didn't like someone, she would pretend not to know English.

He isn't surprised to come back to the kitchen and only have cold coffee for himself.

"Didn't even offer for your girlfriend to freshen up," Maha says just to spite him. "Aces, Scarlet, how do you put up with him?"

Scarlet shrugs to spite him as well. "Sometimes I remember that he has to put up with me."

"Well, it's not like he could ever do better."

Wolf doesn't argue as he sips his cold coffee and wraps his arm around Scarlet to pull her close to him. "Ma, I told you she's been nagging to get me to go with her."

"What do you have to complain about?" Maha asks rhetorically. Scarlet nudges him in agreement. "You're lucky she wanted to dance with you."

Wolf doesn't know why he continues to try when he knows he will never win. Although he can't argue with that last point, that's for sure.

-o-

Winter and Jacin were stuffed with waffles and ice cream. Combined with however much they ate last night combined with fried food from The Rampion, they're not sure how much time they have left but it was a good run. They were together and danced the night away, even having the best and unimaginable last meal one could've ever created. Now they were leaning against each other, now sitting on the couch in the living, with their plates of melted ice cream residue and empty cartons where they left them at the kitchen island. If they make it, they'll clean it up later.

At least Winter posted the best photos before some untimely death.

"So did you have fun last night?" Winter asks, looking up at him while her head was still rested against his chest.

"I wasn't thinking about it," Jacin responds.

Winter raises a brow. "Oh, really?"

Jacin glances down at her. "Why? Were you?"

"No." A smile teases her lips and she tries to bite down to hide them but it's making her laugh. She takes a quick breath to compose herself. "I didn't enjoy it."

He scoffs. "Please, Trouble."

Winter grins as she reaches up and kisses his cheek. Winter shifts her position so she's kneeling on the couch next to him and she continues to kiss him repeatedly.

"What are you doing?" Jacin asks.

"Showing affection."

Jacin shrugs. "At least do it right."

When Winter tries to pounce and kiss him again, Jacin catches her by the shoulders and kisses her. Winter eases up in his embrace as he cups her face and doesn't let go. They're so entranced in each other that they don't even notice Cinder walking in, jumpsuit from the dance with unkempt hair left down, and Kai's Star King Crown on her head. Truthfully, Cinder didn't even notice them at first. She saw the empty ice cream cartons and frozen waffle boxes and felt more left out than weirded out by seeing Jacin and Winter kissing on the couch. Right from the start, Winter and Cinder were a team: the Blackburn girls. And, of course, Jacin came along. He and Winter were inseparable from the very start and she got demoted to third wheel. She was only offended that it was to Jacin. Eventually, Winter experienced the same feelings when Cinder started dating Kai.

"Take that upstairs," Cinder states as she looks in the cupboards for anything to eat. "This is a public place."

Jacin parts from Winter to look at her. "Take your walk of shame somewhere else. This is a public place."

"Cinder!" Winter exclaims.

When the cousins lock eyes, Winter raises her brows as she stands up and starts approaching her. Cinder closes the cupboards and erupts into a giddy smile and cheer as Winter shrieks excitedly, nearly making Jacin go deaf.

"Oh, aces, I'm not staying here for this," Jacin says as he excuses himself. He caught onto where their wordless conversation was heading and he didn't want to hear it.

-o-

After Kai dropped off Cinder, he headed back to Torin's house. It's Saturday morning so all the cars are in the driveway. He parks Nainsi on the curb because he knows Torin or Mallory will be running errands or dropping the twins off somewhere later so it'll save time since he won't have to move his car. When he walks inside, at least he's changed into some clothes he had at his old place at least to try and spare him the looks but that doesn't stop them.

The twins are eating cereal at the table, smiling excitedly to see him because they want to hear all about the dance. Spades, Cinder still has his Star King crown. He'll have to get that back since they'll want to see and try it on. Torin and Mallory are exchanging looks, trying to have a conversation without drawing attention but it's all Kai notices. He gets it. They're wondering if they should ask or talk to him, especially since they're not exactly his parents. They didn't bombard his phone with calls or texts and they knew he was with Cinder so the spades were lining up. If only his father left an addendum in his will with a list of all the things he spoke to Kai about before passing. Kai feels second-hand embarrassment as he walks into the kitchen to get himself some cereal.

The walk of shame he didn't expect.

"So," Mallory starts, "how was the dance?"

"Great," Kai responds. Stars, this was so awkward. "I know what you two want to ask."

"Ask what?" Skylar asks, looking back and forth between her parents and Kai.

"You'd better have been safe, that's all," Torin says with no further comment. Mallory nudges him for even bringing it up and Kai wants to do the same. "I'm not dealing with Levana for whatever could follow."

Kai's face burns. "Aces, I'm not having this conversation now."

"What conversation?" Quinn wonders, also looking at her parents and Kai. "What could follow?"

Skylar tugs on Kai's sleeve. "What do you mean safe? Kai, were you and Cinder wearing helmets?"

Kai pauses, looking at Torin and Mallory who have put everything down and had to lean on each other to simmer into a laugh that wants to explode. The twins' continued and innocent blank stares needing answers was Kai's breaking point.

"Yes," Kai states, hoping Torin gets the message if he wasn't busy dying at his kid's question, "Cinder and I wore bike helmets."

The Jacinter part came to me in a dream but not with them.

Okay so when I was first planning this story, I didn't think I'd have a season three but it's coming. To quote myself in my own plan: "I'm like 99.9% sure there will be a season three based on uni stuff." Well, it's now 100%.

As I'm writing this chapter, it's the end of March 2020 and I have a rough outline for most of the arcs. This story has 90 chapters left plus the short (-ish) spin-off which is uncanny for me to think, but given how slow I am with this story, we got a few years.

The next arc (and season three) will start next week!