Work Text:
POP!
Lux tries to focus on the lecture, she tries to ignore the rattling coming from the stool next to her. Tries being the keyword here. She doesn’t get it. Why, of all people, did she have to get assigned this crazy blue-haired punk of a girl as a lab partner?
POP!
Lux finches and groans under her breath, sending a venomous glare to her partner, who’s carelessly chewing gum while the teacher explains their assignment. The other girl glances at her, then quirks an eyebrow when she realizes Lux is watching her with a narrowed gaze.
‘Stop that’ Lux mouths and Jinx blinks at her furrowing her brows before Lux rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to–
POP!
“Stop that!” Lux slams her hand on the table before her and freezes. Oh, dear. Oh no.
Everyone is looking at her and Jinx is cackling, holding her stomach.
“Is something bothering you, Luxanna?” The teacher asks, raising his eyes from his notes and pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose with a questioning look.
“No, I–”
“Can we get back to the assignment, then?”
“Yes. I’m sorry!” Lux squeaks, and quickly sits back down on her stool.
Jinx is still snickering under her breath. The little minx! This is all her fault. Lux sulks for the rest of the lecture and sends angry glares at Jinx as she keeps popping her stupid pink bubblegum.
“So obnoxious,” Lux mutters to herself as they are finally dismissed, collecting her notebook and colorful pens. She takes a deep breath and turns to Jinx just as the other girl walks past her towards the door. Where is she–ugh.
“Wait!” Lux rushes behind her, reaching out to grab her arm when she doesn’t acknowledge Lux’s voice.
Jinx jumps a little at the contact, staring at Lux’s hand on her forearm with a raised eyebrow as she slowly chews her gum, and blows out another bubble, raising her eyes as the pink bubble fills up. Sucking it into her mouth she pops it and Lux flinches. She’s seriously developing PTSD from that sound.
“We’re lab partners.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Um, I was thinking we could get together after class–”
“Listen, Sparkles, I don’t do after-class activities. I got stuff going on so… can I get my arm back?”
“Oh, uh yeah, sorry. But we need to work on the project sometime, I’m not gonna fail just because I got stuck with…” Lux trails off realizing too late that she’d voiced her inner thoughts to the blue-haired girl.
“With what?” Jinx asks flatly, her eyes turning dark as her expression becomes venomous.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”
“Save it. I’m not interested in acing this class so you’re on your own.”
Jinx turns on her heel and Lux stares as her long braids fly around with the movement. Her mouth opens and closes a few times but she doesn’t find the words to try and stop her.
A whole week goes by, filled with pranks on Lux’s locker. Her stationery gets stolen just to be returned completely covered in blue and pink graffiti, and all of her notebooks now have monkeys scribbled at the front and a barely readable signature on the last page. She endures it with dignity and even though her friends keep saying she should report the vandal, Lux doesn’t want more bad blood between them. Besides, those are all juvenile pleas for attention.
The worst of it, though, is the time Lux gets paint bombed by one of Jinx’s little grenades in her own home when she’s set out to do her maths. Lux is a shaking, exasperated mess, trying to salvage a stained book when Garen finds her.
“Lux? Is everything–” He stops short upon finding the crime scene, fumes fill the air with a strangely familiar bubblegum smell and Lux is in the middle of a glistening puddle of blue paint.
“Lux?” He calls out again and Lux snaps out of it, with a mad chuckle.
“This is how she wants it to be, huh?”
“She? Who did this? What happened?”
And because she can’t keep it together any longer, she babbles, she has to tell someone.
“Sounds like you made that girl really upset didn’t you,” Garren points out with a hum.
“You think?” Lux grumbles, staring down at the dried paint on her skirt. Taking those stains out is going to suck, she may as well just throw the whole outfit out.
“This seems like a great opportunity for you to practice your interpersonal skills, though. You know what dad always says about diplomacy?”
“It’s the art of letting someone else have your way,” Lux whispers, furrowing her brows.
“You don’t have to like her, but getting to understand others and getting them to side with you is a skill you’ll need more than knowing how to mix substances and explode things.”
Jinx has got the latter handled, it seems. “Fine,” Lux sighs.
“Also you should probably shower before dinner.”
Lux rolls her eyes but smiles fondly at her brother. “Yeah, yeah, get out of my room then, silly.”
“I’ll have you know I’m the epitome of wisdom,” he says, patting the spot of her head that isn’t covered in paint. She chuckles faintly.
By the time they are back in the lab, Lux endures the same unbearable and constant ‘POP, POP, POP,’ throughout the lesson quietly. Not gonna fall for the bait, not gonna make a scene again. She needs to stay calm until she gets her alone.
The blue-haired girl remains on her stool after the class is dismissed. Come to think of it, she didn’t vibrate as much as she normally does today.
“Jinx…”
Like all the other times that she’s tried approaching her, Jinx just ignores her like she isn’t even there. She’s staring out the window. Lux sighs.
“I know you’re upset, but I can’t apologize if you ignore me.”
“I told you to save your apologies, didn’t I?” Jinx still doesn’t bother facing her.
“Come on, I’m trying, can you put in some effort too?”
“What d’ya think all the graffiti and paint bombs are? It’s not my fault you don’t get the hint, Sparkles.” Jinx all but snarls, twisting her upper body to land a glare on Lux.
“Oh, yeah, that was a lovely present you sent home with me yesterday, thanks for that by the way.”
Jinx rolls her eyes. “I know what you think, what everyone thinks about me, okay? And I’m fine with it, I’ve made amends, so don’t think you hit a nerve or whatever with what you said the other day.”
“It was still mean and I shouldn’t have said that, okay?”
“Whatever Blondie, I’m still not gonna partner with you.”
“I don’t care about the class.”
Jinx’s expression shifts to confusion and she searches Lux’s face. Lux stands and steps closer, tilting her head to actually look at Jinx’s face. She’s actually not as scary as people think. Her eyes are a clear cyan shade. They darken as the girl shifts, looking away from Lux. There are also dark bags under her eyes, covered up by her messy makeup. Her face is starkly pale and covered with freckles. And her mouth is…
“Could’ya quit staring?” Jinx mumbles, and only then Lux does realize she’s leaned on the counter, tilting forward, invading the other girl’s space.
“Oh gods, sorry, I-” Lux steps back immediately, standing up straight as an arrow. She takes a deep breath, willing herself to relax. “I just really wanted to apologize… I hope you aren’t too mad at me anymore.”
“Never said I was mad.”
“Well, you have every right to be.”
Jinx hums, giving Lux a once-over. “Fine, I’ll stop vandalizing your stuff, happy?”
“Thank you. And, if you change your mind about the project, I’ll be working on it during lunch today. I could use your help, y’know.”
Jinx frowns and rolls her eyes, facing the window again.
Jinx doesn’t know why she decides to go to the lab during lunch break, curiosity, perhaps? She doesn’t buy Lux’s apology at all, but if she can mess with her one last time to prove her point, she won’t miss that chance.
Jinx loiters by the entryway and takes the time to observe her.
Lux is in their usual spot, already working with beakers and test tubes, and has an insane amount of measuring cups, and notes scattered around. She also put her hair up in a ponytail which is kinda cute, as if having her hair up will make her smarter. She looks the part though, Jinx must admit, with her lab coat and safety goggles.
It takes Lux a whole minute to realize she's there. “Jinx! You came.” Lux perks up and her face lights up, and for some reason that puts a smile on Jinx’s face. She stands from her stool, her hair bobbing with the movement.
Jinx chews the inside of her cheek which doesn’t help in reducing her smirk as she walks up to Lux’s work table, inspecting her notes.
“I can see you really need my help, Sparkles. No wonder you were begging for it.” Jinx grins, turning to watch the blonde’s reaction.
“Excuse me?” Lux arches an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest. Jinx’s grin widens and she picks up one of the vandalized pencils that now has Jinx’s name written in bold graffiti.
“You made a crucial mistake, see?” Jinx starts erasing Lux’s calculations, she watches her go red from the corner of her eye. She changes a few of the numbers, adjusts the quantities, and adds a few more ingredients to the mix. “There.”
“This isn’t the formula the teacher taught us.”
“So? Ya wanna stick with doing the same experiments over and over? It’s not an experiment anymore if you already know the outcome.”
Lux purses her lips, frowning at the adjusted notes. “You sure about this?”
“Trust me Blondie, it’ll blow your mind.”
“This won’t blow up though, will it?”
“One way to find out.” Jinx starts pulling out substances from the cabinets, rushing through the lab.
“Wait!”
Jinx glances at Lux with an annoyed expression and sees her holding a lab coat and goggles.
“Fine,” Jinx concedes, leaving the items she’s gathered on the corner of their work table, and when Lux holds the coat up she stares for a second or two before letting her help her into it. Her cheeks feel warm and she avoids Lux’s eyes as she yanks the goggles from her hand.
“There. Safety first and all,” Jinx grumbles.
“Perfect.” Lux beams. Jinx snorts. She’s actually pretty cute, too bad Jinx is about to blow her brows off. No backpedaling now though.
“Alright, I’mma mix these, and you can adjust the measurements of the other ingredients.”
Jinx instructs and Lux nods, setting to work. Lux keeps giving her sideways glances as she eyes the notes over and over. She frowns pursing her lips when Jinx walks up with her part of the experiment.
“What is it Blondie? Getting cold feet?”
“No…”
“No?”
“Why did you change your mind?”
“I didn’t,” Jinx says simply and looks at the blonde dead in the eye as she hands her the tongs holding the test tube containing a clear liquid. Jinx then takes the ingredients Lux measured, and mixes them up using a glass rod, before turning on the burner.
“Then why did you come?”
Jinx shrugs.
Heating up the mixture in the erlenmeyer flask, Jinx starts to bounce, chewing her lip.
“Are you gonna mix it all in?”
Jinx nods. “Wanna do the honors?”
Time slows as Lux takes a glance at the test tube with a raised eyebrow. Jinx takes a step back putting her hands together over her wide rictus grin, eyes twinkling devilishly as she watches Lux pour the whole content of the test tube into the flask.
What happens next is glorious: sparks ignite, Lux’s lips part in awe as she gasps, eyes lighting up with the gleaming chemical reaction before her. The awe is quickly replaced by concern when the sparks reduce and give way to a purple foam that overflows the flask. Jinx knows she’s gotta act fast now. She grabs Lux’s arm making a run for it, a few steps away, she turns and catches the explosion. An uncontrollable laugh rips out of her as Lux collides with her, both of them falling to the floor as the greyish purple fume fills the space.
Jinx’s cackle doesn’t stop, and tears form in her eyes as Lux watches her with a scowl, hovering above her, panting heavily. Her face is flushed and she looks like she’s about to explode. Jinx loves it. And because by some miracle she hasn’t swallowed her gum she blows a bubble. Lux glares at her…
POP!
That seems to do it for Lux.
“What is wrong with you!?” She yells, sitting up on Jinx’s hips.
Jinx continues to chew, grasping the other girl’s hips and propping herself up, bringing their noses less than an inch from one another. “If I remember correctly, Sparkles, you’re the one who invited me.”
Lux leans back, her throat swelling with a heavy gulp.
“I was keeping my distance, wasn’t I? T’was you who wanted to experiment together.”
“Why are you like this?” Lux whispers, but she doesn’t pull back, she grabs Jinx’s shoulders, breathing heavily.
“How’s that, Blondie?”
“You’re so reckless… irresponsible! That could’ve hurt us!”
“But it didn’t.”
Lux lets out a shaky breath, her shoulders slumping. “It didn’t,” she agrees.
Lux relaxes as she keeps watching Jinx’s eyes, but her cheeks are still reddened. Jinx doesn’t know if it has to do with the adrenaline, but her heart is pounding and before she can stop herself she speaks up.
“Luxie?”
“Yeah?”
“I kinda wanna kiss you right now…”
“Wh–what?”
“Crazy, right?”
“Um,” she stutters.
“T’is okay, if you don’t wanna–” Jinx can’t finish her thought because Lux’s lips are pressed to hers. She hums and smiles, closing her eyes as her arms wrap around Lux’s middle and Lux’s arms are around her shoulders.
When they part Lux makes a squeaking noise, crinkling her nose as she takes Jinx’s gum out of her mouth. She watches in horror as Jinx takes it and pops it back into her mouth, laughing as the blonde shudders with a grimace.
Having a lab partner isn’t so bad after all.