honorary titan fan week 2020 day 7: party/get together.

Accept

The wary looks are enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Jinx cups her soda can and swigs down a mouthful, her cheeks bulging like a squirrel's filled with nuts. She sighs and keeps her back facing them, her squared shoulders tensing as the whispers reach her ears.

"Yeah, that's Jinx," Bumblebee says to her teammates as they crowd around her near the couch. "She was at the H.I.V.E. last time I saw her. One of Blood's best students, too."

"Can't be too sure with that one, right?" Speedy questions, Mas and Menos dashing away to play with Thunder and Lightning when the twins wave them over. "Who's to say she's not a spy? Undercover for a new H.I.V.E. sting?"

"Well, the Brotherhood is gone, and Kid Flash said he picked her up to help us in the fight. Maybe she turned over a new leaf?" Aqualad offers, the scoffs from Bumblebee and Speedy telling her to go.

Jinx crushes her can and slips it in the trash. She squeezes past Wildebeest and Pantha by the counter, the two of them locked in a fierce arm wrestling contest with Red Star supervising. Her footsteps are light and airy as she evades the others, weaving her way through the many Honorary Titans amassed on the steps, and she flees through the sliding doors, exhaling a held breath when they shudder and close behind her.

She fiddles with her choker and glances at the hallway. It's as bland as she remembers. Metal walls painted in dark hues with the same material underneath her platform heels, it's the same boring decor. Her footsteps echo as she scales the hallway, her eyes flitting around to each locked door, recalling the storage closets and laundry room as she passes them.

She has no real destination in mind. She also knows that she should be with the others. Unlike them, however, she isn't an Honorary Titan (yet) and has no real purpose for staying. She had come because she had nowhere else to go after the Brotherhood of Evil's destruction, trusting Kid Flash's judgment over her own self-doubt and self-inflicted isolation.

Sighing, Jinx presses her back to the cool wall and drags her hand down her face. A tickle rises in her throat and a chill trickles down her spine. She has a sneaking suspicion that if she opens her eyes, then Kid Flash will be next to her with a smirk and plate filled with greasy food. He can vibrate his molecules fast enough to suddenly appear, so she assumes that odd anxiety bouncing in her gut is about him.

Instead, she yelps when she glances over and spots Raven staring at her. Her arms shoot forward, hexes scattering off her fingers in a panicked flurry, but they fizzle out in mid-air before they can destroy anything. She gasps like a fish out of water and tries regaining control over her voice, her face darkening as Raven quirks an eyebrow.

"No one is allowed to leave the party unless it's to use the bathroom," she flatly remarks, her body concealed by her cloak. "Do you have to use the bathroom?"

Jinx clears her throat and fans herself, ignoring the sweat beading on her brow. "N-no, no. I wasn't going anywhere. I just needed space. What, do I need your permission to breathe now?"

Raven's cloak shifts, parting slightly to reveal her lower half. Jinx watches her cross her arms over her chest, her neutral mask cracking with annoyance. She takes some pride in that subtle change when Raven narrows her eyes, choosing to sneer at the girl whom she considers one of her greatest rivals.

"Is this permanent?" Raven asks.

She clicks her tongue. "What do you mean by that?"

"You changed sides and helped us turn the tide against the Brotherhood of Evil." Raven tilts her chin upwards. "Why? How would that benefit you when you're still a wanted criminal?" Her arms tense, the muscles within them twitching. "You know we froze your friends, right? All of them except for that cyclops who got away."

"His name is See-More. Sheesh, you've been fighting us for so long, and you can't even give a little dignity to him by remembering his name?" Jinx retorts, a nerve pinched. She had pretended not to notice See-More running for his life through an escape door as their friends were frozen. She had destroyed that door with a swift hex the second it slammed shut, covering it with rubble, making it look like part of the collapsed wall. If she had deserved a second chance, then so did he with whatever path he chose for himself, especially since he was the only one who knew of her betrayal beforehand and protected that secret.

Raven bristles but nods. "You're right. Do you know where he went?"

"No idea." She shrugs. "It's not like I keep in touch with my new enemies since I'm now a Titan."

"You're not one." She narrows her violet eyes into slits. "You haven't proven yourself trustworthy."

"Please, blasting Madame Rouge into Hot Spot and Wildebeest so they can deal the final blow isn't enough? Letting you freeze my former team into ice sculptures isn't enough? Changing my tune isn't enough?" Jinx growls, her sharp fingernails gouging into her palms when she clenches her fists. She stomps forward and fills the space between them with her lithe body. "What else do I have to give for it to be enough?"

Raven shakes her head, the wispy strands of deep purple hair brushing against her cheeks. "You don't get it at all, do you?"

Jinx does her best not to swallow or show any fear as she hisses, "What are you talking about?"

Raven glances at the wall and lets her eyelids droop. She tenses, seemingly remembering something. Jinx doesn't let her reminiscence and snaps her fingers by her right ear. Raven flinches and grunts, her nose wrinkling and lips curling in disdain as Jinx smirks at her.

"Trust is earned. Just because you helped us once does not mean I have to trust you when you gleefully attacked us on too many occasions," she says, lowering her voice and leering up at Jinx. "Kid Flash might trust you, but if you want my trust, then you're going to have to work hard for it just like she did."

Jinx gnashes down on her teeth only for her mouth to part. She leans back, murmuring, "'She?'"

"There used to be another Titan who entered our lives and enriched them, and she proved herself." Raven closes her eyes. "Then, I'm sure you know what happened."

Jinx feels like she's having a pop quiz. She had been away from Jump City back at H.I.V.E. Academy when another Titan joined their group. She was a geomancer and had only been with the Titans for a couple of months, but in that time, Jinx remembers reading newspaper articles about her heroism and powers saving the day from common crooks and supervillains.

But then, that girl had betrayed them. She had crushed them into a fine dust and blew them away for the wind to carry. Jump City belonged to the madman she had once been hired to work for during her first H.I.V.E. mission with Gizmo and Mammoth, and the city had been transformed into a ghost town filled with rubble and robots.

Jinx quickly realizes the implication behind Raven's words. "That was-that was Slade's other apprentice?" she breathes out, her fingers touching her chin.

"Terra. Her name was Terra," Raven corrects, Jinx lowering her hand to her hip. She looks off to the side, a hint of venom in her words. "She snuck into our ranks and earned our trust only to help Slade take us down. I almost drowned." Shuddering, she sighs and tilts her head. "In the end, she saved us. She saved everyone at the cost of her own life."

"She's-she's-?" Jinx sputters out and awkwardly flaps her hand.

"Entombed in her own powers," Raven gravely finishes. She leans forward and grips Jinx' shoulder, applying light pressure, but it's enough to make her grimace. "I don't want history to repeat itself. We couldn't help Terra, and she couldn't trust us, but you-" She curls her fingers through the flowing pink cloth around Jinx' shoulders and pulls her forward. "-you're much, much different from Terra. You can come and go as you please while she struggled, and I couldn't help her."

"I-I just-I just-"

"Jinx," Raven firmly interjects, "trust is earned. If you want to be a Titan, then you'll need to work a lot harder than she did."

With that, she lets Jinx go. Her heels click on the metal floor as she heads back to the double doors. She pauses and lets her hand hover by the sensor. Glancing over her shoulder, she gazes at Jinx, watching her nibble on her lower lip and furrowing her brow, her thoughts clear as day on her face.

"But if you truly try like she did," Raven says, "then I'll accept you like I befriended her."

She presses her palm on the sensor, and the doors hiss before pulling a part. She tiptoes inside, Jinx marching behind her. Jinx' breath hits her ear as she passes her, leaving Raven to smirk as Jinx gets the final word.

"Bad luck isn't the only option for me. I know that now," she whispers, and she joins Kid Flash in the kitchen when he smiles and waves at her.