It felt like he was surfacing from a pool of fuzzy darkness
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Fool Me Once...
Chapter 4
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It felt like he was surfacing from a pool of fuzzy darkness.
Kid Flash gradually woke, cognizant of nothing but the fact that he must have
been dreaming about that horrible pain. It was obviously gone. While he
couldn't remember the particulars of the dream, he was just happy his
subconscious had ceased torturing him. A faint, grateful smile slipped over his
face and he nuzzled into his pillow, which was oddly shaped and rather
hard…just like a car door, come to think of it…
And then everything crashed back into his mind.
Jinx.
The
containment field.
Madame Rouge
Jinx.
Pain.
Slipping
into unconsciousness.
Kid Flash froze. The
last thing I remember is hitting the floor in that containment field. What
happened? Where am I? He could feel vibrations—that meant he was in a car
headed…somewhere. Am I paralyzed or
something? he thought, working through a wave of panic. He wiggled one
booted foot. No, not paralyzed.
Cautiously, he opened one eye. For a few seconds, what he
saw didn't register. When it did, both his blue eyes were wide with shock and
astonishment. He was in a car being driven by Jinx, of all people, and she was sitting there getting ready to eat
a cupcake like driving an unconscious superhero around in the dark was
something she did every day.
It took a conscious effort to keep his mouth from falling
open. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. If this was an elaborate ruse, it did
seem a little peculiar that Madame Rouge would be the cupcake type, but…he'd
seen stranger things. What he didn't understand was why, if this was Madame
Rouge again, he wasn't in a containment field. I should be dead.
"Jinx?"
Her reaction was funny. It would have been funnier if he’d
had the energy to laugh, but he was still far too drained.
Startled, Jinx dropped the cupcake into her lap. Kid Flash
reached for it, but he was too tired to move at his usual speed and he missed. I’m so tired. And, he realized with an
internal groan, awfully hungry.
Jinx ignored the cupcake for the time being, choosing
instead to fix him with a glare. "About time you woke up."
He smiled at her. "What can I say? We superheroes need our
beauty sleep."
She rolled her eyes and retrieved the cupcake. Kid Flash's
stomach growled loudly and he blushed. Through his embarrassment, he could have
sworn he saw one corner of her mouth twitch.
She motioned with the cupcake to the back seat. "There's
a bunch of stuff back there. And don't worry—I paid for it." She cast him
a mock-serious look. "I expect full reimbursement, of course."
Kid Flash stared at her a moment, debating whether or not he
should trust her. Madame Rouge had burned him badly, and while he couldn't see
any reason for her to have released him and then stayed with him, knowing he
was probably going to be suspicious, it wouldn't hurt to be suspicious. He
opened his mouth to say something, but Jinx beat him to it.
"You're probably wondering if I'm Madame Rouge, aren't
you?"
He tilted his head to one side. "Can't say the thought
didn't cross my mind."
Jinx tossed him her cupcake, which she hadn't yet bitten
into and he caught it reflexively. One eyebrow rose as he looked from her to the
cupcake. "Is the fact that you gave up chocolate supposed to convince me
of anything? Because I can see Ma—"
Jinx's eyes flashed and the cupcake exploded in his face,
showering him with crumbs and cream filling. He gave her a wry glance as he
wiped his face. "You really like doing that, don't you?"
She smirked. "Convinced?"
Kid Flash cracked the window and dumped out the cupcake
remains. "Mostly." He flicked crumbs off his shoulder. "Madame
Rouge could have rigged a cupcake to blow, but there's no way she could
duplicate the way your eyes light up." He paused, then asked,
"Why—"
Jinx cut him off. "Eat," she commanded. "You
look like you're going to pass out again and I can't wait another four hours
for you to wake up." She gave him a pointed glare before turning her
attention back to the road.
Kid Flash's muscles all felt like they'd turned to mush but
he smiled anyway and reached for the grocery bags behind his seat.
"And before you ask," Jinx said irritably,
reaching for another cupcake. "Yes, there's mustard."
He laughed then and Jinx didn't need light to know that his
bright blue eyes were twinkling at her. Her grip on the steering wheel
tightened. If he says one word… she
thought mutinously.
Fortunately, Kid Flash's rumbling stomach took precedence
over any witty—or half-witty, as far as Jinx was concerned—comebacks he might
otherwise have made. It took him less than five minutes to demolish a good
portion of what she'd bought and she suspected it would have been gone faster
if he hadn't been so exhausted.
Finally, he leaned back in his seat with a small sight.
"Thanks."
Jinx was silent, debating whether or not it was ethical to
accept a thank you from him, even though he'd obviously meant it for the food.
Kid Flash smirked. "Awfully quiet today, aren't you?"
"…"
"Why'd you bust me out?" His voice was quiet, but
a hint of smugness crept through. "Got a crush on me? It's ok if you
do," he held a hand up to forestall argument, "Because—"
Jinx growled and the back of his seat dropped down to the
floor. His head impacted it with a thud.
"You know," his voice drifted up from the floor,
unperturbed, "acts of violence like this could be taken as extreme
flirting."
Knuckles white, Jinx swerved to the far right side of the
road and pulled over. "I should have just left you there!" she
snapped.
Kid Flash raised his seat up again and when he spoke, there
was no trace of humor in his voice. "Why didn't you then?" She stared
at him and he continued, "I mean, it's not like anybody knows what happened to me." He
swallowed. "I'd probably be dead if you hadn't saved me, Jinx, and what
I—what I'd really like to know is why?"
Jinx's eyes were narrowed at him, but the fire gradually
leaked out of her. "Madame Rouge caught you by pretending to be me."
One white hand clenched into a fist. "I couldn't let her get away with
it." She didn't realize he was now munching on one of her cupcakes until
he tossed her one. "Hey!"
He quickly changed the subject. "How did you find—I
mean," he shook his head. "How did you even learn she'd gotten
me?" A few cars whizzed by and he admired the slim curves and planes of
Jinx's face as the headlights' illumination slid past them.
Jinx shrugged. "I go to that coffee shop when I can't
stand to be around—" she stopped and glared at him. "I go there sometimes—I
used to anyway." Her glare deepened. "Now I have to find another
restaurant."
"Why? Because of Madame Rouge?"
"And you."
He shook his head. "Aww, you don't mean that."
She snorted. "You have no idea. I don't need you to start
up with the roses again. And I don’t want that creepy feeling of being watched
I had all the time either.”
"Is that why you disappeared? Because you didn't like
the roses?" His voice was overly casual. "You could have just said
something."
"…"
"What?"
Jinx folded her arms across her chest. "Like you'd get
the point?"
"Hey, I thought you liked them!" He looked
adorably confused.
"I do!" she shouted, before smacking her forehead
as she realized he'd tricked her into revealing more than she had intended yet
again. "Ugh, why do I even bother?"
"So, you went to this coffee shop," he prodded,
changing the subject before she decided to hex him again.
"…and the waitress mentioned you and that I'd already
been there. Madame Rouge is the only person who could impersonate me. And
you!" She twisted in her seat and jabbed a finger at him. "You are the only person who'd actually
fall for that!"
Hours earlier, he'd been thinking the same thing, but now
Kid Flash allowed his eyebrows to disappear into his hairline. "What, like
the Hive Five would know the difference either?"
"Of course they wouldn’t—" Jinx stopped short.
"Good point," she admitted grudgingly. She scowled. "That
doesn't change the fact that you let your guard down way too often."
He shrugged, watching her.
"I'm a villainess, for crying out loud! Did you think I
wasn't capable of dealing with you on my own? Did you just dismiss me—Madame
Rouge as me, I mean—as harmless?"
Kid Flash eyed her with mounting alarm. One minute she was
criticizing him for letting his guard down and the next all but accusing him of
being chauvinistic. "Wait a minute-" he started, waving his hands to
get her attention. "It was stupid of me to be so trusting, but I didn’t
think you’d try to hurt me," he blurted out.
Jinx stared at him, her cat-like eyes reflecting the
headlights of the cars zooming past them. "What," she said finally, a
scornful tone in her voice, "gave you that idea? Is it because you think I
can do better?"
"Yes."
She laughed derisively. "Were you always this delusional
or did that containment field screw you up further?"
Kid Flash leaned towards her. "Jinx, like it or not,
the fact that you drove all the way out to wherever I was, tracked me down, and
rescued me says a lot about you." There was a decidedly amused tone in his
voice now that Jinx wasn't altogether convinced she liked. "You could have
just let it go. You could have let me
go."
Jinx saw the opening in his argument and pounced on it.
"And let Madame Rouge win? I don't think so!" She started the engine
and merged into traffic.
Kid Flash watched her for a few minutes, a smile playing
around the corners of his lips. Just keep
telling yourself that, Jinx.
Once they reached the outskirts of Jump City,
Jinx pulled over again. "You can let yourself out here," she said
stiffly, her eyes fixed straight ahead.
He didn't move.
"Or," she continued idly, "I can hex you
out."
"My heroine," he teased, unbuckling his seatbelt,
which he belatedly realized she must have put on him when she wrestled him into
the car. Jinx scowled at him and he tripped climbing out of the car. "Ow.
Thanks a lot, Jinx."
She sniffed and prepared to drive away, but before she could
pull out, her car door was standing wide open and Kid Flash was there, dangling
a rose in front of her face. She opened her mouth to tell him off, but the
completely serious look on his face silenced her.
"I mean it, Jinx. Thank you. I don't know if I'd still
be alive if it hadn't been for you."
Jinx took the rose grudgingly, uncomfortable with the
intense look in his eyes. "Maybe you'll leave me alone now," she shot
back. "After all, if you can't be sure I'm really me…"
Kid Flash actually have the nerve
to smirk at her. "Oh, I think I'll be able to tell." Before she could
so much as blink, his lips were on hers in a gentle kiss.
Jinx's eyes went wide with surprise, and then threatened to
slip closed. Can't have that.
The next instant, Kid Flash was sprawled incongruously on
the pavement, his red hair askew. Jinx held both hands in front of her, eyes
still flashing pink.
Kid Flash picked himself up with a chuckle. "See, told
ya. Madame Rouge'll never be able to pull that one off."
Jinx closed her eyes and counted to five. When she opened
them, he was still standing there, watching her, and she pinched the bridge of
her nose. "Just, go away now, will you? Go do superhero things—or whatever
it is you do."
Kid Flash sketched a bow. "As you wish, Milady."
He grinned at her and was gone.
With a shake of her head, Jinx started up the car. She
glanced over at the rose and was not surprised in the least to see two twenties
lying beside it with a note that read:
Thanks, Jinx. See you around.
Unable to resist a tiny smile, she drove home.
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That's all, folks! ^_^ Hope you enjoyed.
