Haha, spoilers for the Lion King.
And originally this was just going to be a one shot. But then I expanded on the idea… so it'll probably end up being about five chapters.
One of the downsides of being a hero was that society could call on you at any time. At about midnight, Kid Flash was called away to stop a team of criminals who had decided to try and rob seven banks at the same time. They had probably thought that the police wouldn't have enough men to cover all the robberies. Ha. They probably hadn't counted on the fastest boy alive being awake, either.
It was nearly two when he unlocked the door to his apartment, feeling rather buzzed because of the pocketful of sugary candy he had consumed. Hey, it had been the only thing available at the time. He had to eat every so often; otherwise things wouldn't be pretty. So the pocketful of warm, sticky candy had gone down the hatch and into his stomach. He could have eaten when he got home, but he didn't want to wake up his… roommate? Yeah, he guessed that was what she was. He had a feeling the only reason she was staying with him was because she had no money and couldn't go back to the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E since she had attacked them. Most of them were frozen, anyway, thanks to Mas y Menos and the freeze ray. Still, Wally liked to pretend that she was staying with him because she liked him, rather than the fact that he was pretty much her only option.
Apparently the fact that it was two in the morning didn't make a difference to his pink-haired roommate. Jinx was sitting on his couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Technically, he guessed, it wasn't a blanket. It was the white comforter that he had given her to use while she crashed on his sofa.
Her skin looked strange in the glow of his television. No, strange wasn't the right word. It looked… ethereal. Her pale skin reacted differently to the glow of the television screen than his did. Maybe it was because of her skin tone. Maybe it was because of her. He didn't know.
"Hey," he said, rubbing the back of his head as he approached the couch. "What're you watching?"
Her eyes stayed glued to the screen. "A movie." She snapped, clearly miffed about him interrupting her movie time.
"I meant what movie?" he clarified. He was used to it. At some times he had to pry things out of her, yet at others she'd just babble on about something with just a nod from him every few minutes.
His blue eyes rose from her to instead look at the screen of the television. Oh. He knew that movie. "Whoa." He almost started laughing. It was so comical that she had chosen that movie out of the five other ones that were stocked beneath his television.
"What?" Jinx demanded, tearing her eyes away from the screen to look at him. Wally shrugged, hovering at the front of the couch for a second. He had been waiting for her to scoot over so he could sit down, too (since she was sitting in the exact middle of the couch) but she was still stationary.
"Nothing. I just can't believe you're watching this." He explained, sitting down anyway. His hips were wedged between the armrest and her hips. She seemed to be a little freaked out by the closeness, so in a few seconds she moved to her half of the sofa.
"Your movie taste sucks. This is the only one that sounded remotely good." She told him, her eyes going back to the television screen. "Now shut it."
He propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of them, leaning back into the plush couch. "My movie taste sucks? I've seen your DVDs… all psycho maniac thriller crap. And – wait." He stopped suddenly. "Did you say that this one sounded good? You've never seen this before?"
She shrugged his shock off. "So what?"
"Every kid in America has seen this movie! How can you have never watched this? It's… it's un-American." He was staring at her now, not worried about missing the opening of the movie. He had seen it way too many times.
"I'm watching it now, aren't I? At least, I would be if you'd just close your mouth."
"Jinx. Seriously. You've never seen this?"
"Never. Now, do you want me to hex you into tomorrow? Or are you going to shut your face so I can watch this movie so I won't be un-American anymore?" Jinx asked impatiently, intent on getting back into the movie.
Wally stared at her for a few more moments, before he turned his attention back to the television. Well, not all of his attention. Most of the movie he spent watching the girl sitting next to him and her reaction to the jokes.
She never laughed. Not once. He could see her set her mouth after a punch line had just been delivered, as if she was afraid to laugh. But she never made a sound. He laughed a little, even though he had seen the movie a million times before.
It wasn't that she never laughed, either. She never showed any emotion as she watched the movie. No concern for the little lion cub who had just lost his father.
"You didn't cry when Mufasa died," It wasn't a question that came out of the redheaded boy's lips. It was an accusation. It was like he had just accused her of stealing money or some horrible crime.
She scowled, turning off the DVD player and the television with a click of the remote. They were sitting in darkness for a few seconds, before she turned on the lamp on the table next to her. "You don't miss a thing," she said flatly.
"Why?"
"Why what? Why didn't I cry when the little 2-D fake lion cub lost his fictional father in the unrealistic, fake, 2-D stampede?"
He looked at her blankly. "I cried when I first saw it. But then again, I was pretty young when I first saw it."
She pictured a little Wally running around with a mess of red tangles for hair and already faster than the other kids. Quickly she shook it, not quite sure what it was doing in her head in the first place. Wally wasn't hers. She didn't even have the right to call him Wally, really. 'Call me Wally,' he had insisted after she had moved in. Truthfully, she was thankful for it. She didn't want to call him Kid Flash all the time. It was a long name. Besides, he was hardly a kid anymore. With his lean and tall body, he wasn't fooling -
"Have you?" The redhead looked at her eagerly, clearly waiting for her to answer the question that she hadn't heard. A flush crept across her cheeks slowly.
Jinx decided she had a fifty-fifty chance of answering it correctly. "Yes," she said after a moment.
"Really?" this seemed to brighten him. Oh, God, please tell me I did not say I had been thinking about dating him… or agreeing to Naked Fridays…
"Mmm-hmm," she lied, still having no clue what he had asked. She stood from the couch, motioning for him to get up so she could rearrange her comforter as she prepared to sleep.
"Jinx?"
"Yeah?" she asked, punching her pillow a few times to get it nice and soft. Her pillow in her old room hadn't been soft. It had been firm and unforgiving. A no-nonsense pillow that did not promote oversleeping or tardiness. Her, though, it was different. She had overslept God knew how many times already…
He was grinning now as he helped her situate her blankets. "You don't know what I asked you, do you?"
Her cheeks weren't cooperating; their rosy hue gave her away. "Um. What makes you say that?"
"Well, for one you're being way too nice. Which means you must be feeling guilty about something. And two – you would never admit if you cried during a movie. Which you just admitted to."
Relief washed through her. "Oh. Okay, so that's what I confessed to? Thank God. I thought I said yes to something horrible, like I'd been thinking about dating you or something… Make sure I'm paying attention when you ask me a question." Jinx scolded, pulling her hair out of the bands she used to help it defy gravity. As Kid Flash watched, she produced a comb from somewhere in the depths of the black duffel bag she had brought with her.
"Don't lie." He said immediately, watching her pull the comb through her hair as it fell down by her shoulders. Her hair was longer than he would have thought it was.
Jinx fixed her attention on him, scowling. "Don't lie about what?"
"About dating me being horrible. You don't really believe that, do you?"
His voice was softer now, like the time he had talked to her when he had been in the cell at the HIVE Five's headquarters.
"I wouldn't know. I've clearly never dated you." Jinx rolled her eyes, stowing her comb back into her duffel bag. It annoyed him slightly that she hadn't unpacked her things into the white dresser he had bought for her. I'm just going to be here for a day or two, she had assured him. That was a month ago.
"You'd love dating me, though." Wally said thoughtfully.
She snorted in amusement as she pulled her boots off, followed by her long leggings. He wasn't sure how she managed to pull them off without revealing her underwear, but she did somehow. He sure as hell wasn't going to ask her… it was one of the Mysteries of Girls. "I don't think so."
"Yeah, I bet if you'd – here, let me help…" She had started to try and take her choker off, but he leaned over. In a single motion he had swept her hair over her shoulder and her choker was suddenly lying in her lap. Jinx tried not to look impressed. "Anyway, I bet if you'd just go on a couple dates with me, you'd see that you'd like dating me."
She scowled, putting her necklace into a side pouch on her bag. "Yeah, right. Whatever."
"Look. Okay. I'll make you a deal. You go on… let's say… three dates with me. Not even real dates, okay? Fake dates. If you like dating me – "
"You mean fake dating you," she clarified, deciding to humor him.
"Right. If you like fake dating me, then I'll ask you on our first official date. That way you can make sure you'll like dating me before you actually start… dating me." Whoa. Even I'm getting confused. Get to the point, Wally, he scolded himself mentally. "Okay?"
"What if I don't like dating you? What do I get out of this?"
"I'll stop teasing you about going out with me. For good." But that doesn't mean I don't get to flirt, he added in his head.
"No flirting, either." Shit.
He sighed. "Alright. So what do you say? You're getting a huge deal here."
She made a face, pursing her lips for a moment. It seemed like a good deal… but she could tell he was planning something. There was a spark in his eye that could only be described as mischievous. Rather reluctantly, she nodded. "Fine. No tricks."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he told her with a grin, heading towards his bedroom. "But I've really got to head to bed. I've got a date tomorrow."
I can't decide if I'm on crack or not because I'm using this plot.