-chapter 15-
Consciousness takes me in gentle hands as my eyes ease open. My first thought is that I had just had the best night's sleep of my life, even if it was on the edge of my incredibly thin bed pad.
On the edge of my bed pad...
I drape my arm to the right, expecting to feel the soft skin of Jinx's torso beneath me- instead, there's only empty air as my hand meets the blanket. I shoot straight up, eyes darting around the room to the sight of absolutely no one. Sevika's bed being empty makes perfect sense, of course- she always does morning runs at the asscrack of dawn. But where is Jinx?
I stand up abruptly, not bothering to pull on real clothes as I rub my eyes. Right as I reach for the door knob, a loud bang rumbles through the shack. The sound of metal colliding with the floor snags my attention and wipes any clouding from my vision as I throw the door open.
"Ji-" My words are cut short at the sight of our small kitchen area.
First of all, there's Jinx- I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Only then do I realize the state of the room, and my eyes widen exponentially.
What looks like broken eggs and some sort of batter litter the countertops and floors. I look up, and- I shit you not- a half cooked pancake sticks halfway to the ceiling, as if Jinx had attempted to flip it in midair and underestimated her strength a bit. Jinx herself is absolutely covered in flour, and pans burnt with some sort of mystery food sit discarded beside the stove. A smell something like burnt eggs wafts through the air, and I almost scrunch my nose at the aroma until my eyes land on her once more.
Jinx stands in the middle of the chaos, her newest burnt pan still in hand and smoking something horrible. I see she's luckily cracked open the small window above the sink, and the dark smoke is drawn to it and wafts out of it. Her hair is still unbraided, but messy and unbrushed, sitting in a comically large bun at the top of her head. Only a few pieces fall out, covered in what looks like more of the batter on the counter as if they had fallen in what she was making. Her face is a picture of awkwardness, yet eagerness, her mouth halfway upturned in a nervous smile with eyes large. Jinx bats her eyelashes at me innocently.
"Good morning! Uhm..." She glances around the wrecked kitchen one more before looking back to me, wincing and quite obviously terrified of my next words. "Are you hungry?"
I cover my mouth and look down at my feet, shaking my head and trying with everything in me not to laugh.
"W-what's wrong?" Jinx asks, her voice crestfallen. My lips curl up behind my hand, and I can't stop myself from giggling at this point. "Hey..." Her lips quirk up just slightly at my amusement.
I can't help myself- My hands fall to my knees as I keel over, laughing the hardest laugh I had in a while. "Were- were you trying to make- breakfast?" I choke out between fits.
Jinx looks down, her face growing redder by the moment. "Yeah..."
I only laugh harder, nearly falling onto the floor to join the mess of batter and raw eggs. It takes me a minute to recompose myself before I finally straighten, stray giggles coming from my lips. Jinx's mouth upturns in the ghost of a smirk, hardly noticeable- but after a while of studying that face, I know when it's there. The same girl that I brought home the night before, and who had brutally murdered someone on my behalf, now stands in front of me covered in batter rather than blood and looking like an entire idiot. She's adorable.
"As much as this looks great-"
"Shut up." Jinx snaps playfully, interrupting my sarcasm. I only smile back and continue.
"Would you like some help?"
After a moment she huffs, throwing her still burning pan into the pile of previously discarded ones. "I guess..." She whines.
Her confirmation spurs me into action and I move forward, grabbing her hips gently and maneuvering her to the side so that I have access to the pan stack behind her. She crosses her arms in annoyance and her blush returns, but she obliges, and I move the towering pans to the sink. Throwing her a spare dishtowel, we begin to scrub away at the mess- counters and tiles and cabinets get their fair share of a wipe down, Jinx finding fun in every place she can. At one point I find myself on the floor and scrubbing at a particularly stubborn bit of egg that had seeped into a crack in the tile grout. Hearing a sound I can't quite recognize, I look up. The sight of Jinx dancing around to her own little rhythm, both feet on one towel and shimmying through the muck on the floor is what greets me, and fits of laughter rack through my body again. When she sees my amusement, she grabs my hands and pulls me to my feet, and the only thing I can do is mimic her moves.
Forty-five minutes later, with every surface thoroughly cleaned and every pan washed, we start over- I grab one of the pans and the (now almost empty) carton of eggs, showing Jinx how to cook them properly. Her eyes are wide as they follow my hands around, nodding at all the right times and seeming incredibly intrigued in my cooking. When she, of course, seemingly gets bored, she comes around the backside of me. I feel her arms snake around my waist, and she seems content in leaving them to hang on my hips and jut her chin over my shoulder. I can already tell without looking that she's straining onto her tip toes, and it brings another smile to my face.
When the eggs are done, I put them on a plate in the oven to stay warm and pull out a large bowl. I begin to call out the ingredients for pancakes one by one, pointing mishappenly to where they reside, and Jinx follows each command with diligence. As I'm mixing up the batter, I catch Jinx doing something out of the corner of my eye- glancing over, I see she's grabbed a huge bowl of sugar and is creeping towards my own.
"Hey."
She freezes midstep, eyes wide.
"... Yyyyesss?"
"What do you think you're doing?"
Jinx glances down at the sugar, and then back to me. She shrugs. "I dunno."
"Is that for the pancakes?"
"Maybe."
I sigh, my smile only growing wider. "Jinx, that is enough sugar to kill a horse."
Her eyes go wide for a moment. "Is it?"
I cover my mouth as a giggle emits from my throat, and then motion for her to set it down. "It's only a bit of sugar. I actually need you to grab me the salt."
"Salt?" Jinx sticks her tongue out in disgust. "Gross! In pancakes?"
"Yes, Jinx, in pancakes." I laugh. "It's only, like, a quarter of a teaspoon."
Jinx does not look convinced. Her eyebrows furrow even deeper, lines creasing her forehead.
"You trust me, yes?" I chime, and she sighs in annoyance.
"Y/N, that's not fair!" She whines.
"Ah, but you know you do! So grab me that salt." I point to the cabinet above the sink and to the left before turning back to my batter bowl. I hear her sigh again behind me before stomping in the direction of the cabinet, and returning to my side with the salt.
Adding in the necessary amount, I motion for one more ingredient.
"What is it?"
I smile silently. "You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it."
I hear Jinx open the cabinet, and a gasp tumbles from her mouth. "Chocolate chips?!" She squeals, snatching the bag from the shelf and sliding across the tiles towards me. Her hip bumps mine, nearly knocking me over.
"Yup." I smirk, finally looking over. Her eyes are nearly starstruck. Chocolate is not a cheap thing in the Undercity, but for that look in her eyes I'd do just about anything. Sevika's gonna kill me for using all of this expensive shit.
Grabbing a ladle, I begin to pour the mixture onto the griddle. After a few of them have finished cooking and I flip them onto a plate, Jinx's hands come creeping into my vision- understanding her request, I hand her the spoon.
"Jinx, don't make them too big, or so help me-" I begin, but it's far too late. I swear, she's dumped nearly half of the batter left in the bowl into one huge circle, the pancake taking up the majority of the griddle. She looks up at me with a grin, and grabs the chocolate chips with her free hand.
"Oh come on, Y/N, don't be such a hard ass." Jinx snaps, and dives her hand into the bag. When she retracts her hand once more, she has a huge handful of the chips, and begins placing them carefully into the cooking batter. After a moment, she's crafted a small smiley face (quickly becoming distorted as the chocolate melts) and big letters beside it.
"Sweet cheeks." I read, and then look over to her. Her blush is incredibly prominent, and I can only imagine mine is the same. Glancing back, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her flush to my side- laying her head delicately against me, we look at it for a moment. The chocolate runs together, only cementing the words in place in the batter.
We finish up the pancakes mostly in content silence, sneaking glances at each other as we continue. I know that none of my pancakes can top her absolute masterpiece, but we make little figures as we continue- Jinx makes a little monkey, then I make a butterfly, then Jinx makes what she claims to be a portrait of me but looks more like if someone took Silco's face and morphed it with a donkey. I point this out to her and she laughs, shoving me.
Finally done, we dish out the food- Jinx takes the majority of the pancakes, and I take the majority of the eggs. That's fine though. She hops onto the counter beside me, content to sit criss cross in the small space, and I lean on my elbow beside her as we dig in.
After a few minutes of only the sounds of eating between us, a seemingly satiated Jinx dumps her food onto my plate unceremoniously before picking it up. She places it on her lap and scoots to the place it had been previously, right in front of me. We consider each other's faces for a moment, smiling unconsciously.
"I thought you'd left again this morning." I say under my breath. "I'm really glad you're still here."
Jinx's smile grows wider. "Me too, toots."
This feels unreal, as if it's a dream. It's too good to be true. Another thought flits across my mind: I should kiss her. Then another follows close behind it: No. No, that's too soon. I study her face, rememorizing every smile line and every beautiful blemish that graces her skin. Is it too selfish to think that I could get used to this?
"So what the hell is this?"
I shoot up, fear coursing through my body. Sevika's tall frame stands in the doorway, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as they dart between me and Jinx.
"Sevika! Good morning! Me and Jinx made breakfast!" I force out, the chime in my voice almost making it sound as if I've inhaled helium.
"I see that." She says, her voice as solid as stone. "Last I recall, you two couldn't stand each other, and now you're being all..." She pauses, her face contorting slightly as she motions loosely to us. "This. And in my house?"
My heart sinks faster than it ever has, stirring up anxiety in the bottom of my stomach. I feel Jinx hop off the counter beside me, her socked feet hitting the tile with a hollow thump. "And what does it matter to you? Shouldn't you be relieved?" Jinx snaps. I feel Sevika's tension from across the room. "If I don't hate her, then there's no problems between us, and there's nothing for you to take the blame for, so you're practically off the hook Se-"
"Jinx!" I say harshly, and her jaw immediately clacks shut. She shrinks away, but before she can distance herself I grab her hand and pull her back to me. Sevika looks confused and annoyed all wrapped up in one glance.
"I- What? How? Actually-" Sevika cuts herself off, throwing her hands up as if in defense. "I don't wanna know how. Are you guys, like- together now? Or something?"
Both me and Jinx's mouths fall open at the same time.
"Well, actually-"
"I mean-"
We stop, glancing at each other. After a moment, I continue slowly. "We're just friends." I look back to the taller woman. "Really, Sevika, it's not a big deal."
Sevika glances from me, to Jinx, and then to my half eaten plate of food. With one last confused and almost disapproving glance, she stalks towards the plate and snatches it harshly from the table. Keeping her eyes on Jinx and I, she backs towards the other room and closes the door behind her.
After a moment of silence, I let out a shaky breath, and let go of her hand as I realized I had been holding it in a death grip. "Shit, I'm sorry."
When I look back to Jinx, she's averted her eyes.
"Jinx? Whats wrong, did I say something?"
Jinx makes eye contact, offering a half assed smile, though I can see the hurt in her eyes. "It's fine sweet cheeks, Sevika hates my guts. It makes sense she wouldn't like us together." She shrugs. "As friends, even."
My heart sinks once more as I realize my mistake. "I mean, yeah- no, I-"
"Well, it's been a fun morning, but I think it's time for me to bounce. Been gone awhile and pops might be upset. Got a big shipment tomorrow and lots of lecturing to sit through about who I can and can't shoot, blah blah blah." Jinx's words tumble after one another, tone rushed.
My eyebrows furrow. "Shipment?"
Jinx nods. "Sevika didn't tell you? We have a shipment going out, and I overheard her talking to Silco about taking you along. As far as I know, he's approved."
With confusion still covering my face, I nod slowly. " Oh, uh... No, Sevika hadn't mentioned it yet." Shit, I have to actually do work for Silco. I forgot about that.
"Oh. Well, you might want to chit chat about it with her then. I'll leave you to it." Turning around, she strides to the bathroom, and retrieves her discarded clothes from the floor beside the tub. "See you later Y/N."
"Wait, Jinx-"
Jinx pauses on her route to the door. I look around quickly, desperately searching for anything to stall her with. I'm starting to hate it when she leaves. My eyes land on the leftovers we'd not chosen for our plates, and I select the remaining pancake. It's the one that was Jinx's self proclaimed "Y/N portrait". I walk swiftly to her, grabbing her hand and placing the pancake in it.
"Eat this on the way home? You ate practically nothing." After a moment, I motion to the pancake again. "A great portrait, by the way. Looks just like me."
The hurt in her face disperses for a moment as we laugh together, both of our giggles genuine. When Jinx's fades out, though, her smile isn't in her eyes again. I grab her other hand and squeeze it gently- it's stiff in mine.
"Don't think I don't care about you again. Please, Jinx. I don't want you to disappear again. This morning was... perfect." I whisper desperately. I look up seeing her pink face gazing back at me, seemingly thinking of what to say.
Before Jinx can answer, I throw my arms around her, digging my face into her neck in the same way she had to me last night. She squeezes me back tightly for a few seconds before pulling me back by the shoulders and smashing her lips into mine. It's a quick but powerful kiss that leaves my knees slightly weak and my heart very confused.
"We'll talk more tomorrow, toots, alright?" Jinx says. Her voice trembles the way it does when she talks to herself.
"Jinx, wait-"
She silences me once more and places her hand over my mouth, leaning onto her toes to kiss my forehead before turning back to the door. I watch her every step as she walks swiftly down the path and around a corner, out of sight once more.