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If Jett could count the number of times Omega Earth decided it was a good idea to try and invade their Earth for their Radianite and think they could get away with it, she could probably retire comfortably and open up a bingsu restaurant, like her aunt back in South Korea always used to encourage her to.
That being said, if Jett could count the number of times Omega Earth decided it was a good idea to focus Phoenix first if he decided running into VALORANT Legion recklessly was the flavour of the day, she'd still have enough to at least do a pop-up kitchen. Omega's Cypher was making that look more likely by the second.
Only when she found herself staring that enemy Cypher down long near B Site at the Morocco location, realizing she was out of bullets, did she remember Phoenix actually was able to perform when a fireball came whizzing out of hookah, before detonating and causing her to squeeze her eyes shut as light filled her vision.
The sound of bullets fired, as well as a body hitting the ground with a grunt.
It wasn't Phoenix's voice that grunted. She let herself relax as her vision returned back to her, watching Phoenix climb out of the window nearby with a scowl, holding a semi-automatic rifle.
"Fucking cunt, this one," Phoenix growls, nudging the Cypher's body on the ground roughly with his foot.
Jett gives an exaggerated mock-gasp.
"Yo, Phoenix, what was that?"
He blinks, and Phoenix turns back to her, looking away from the body.
"Oh, not you, Jett - the Cypher, fam!" he says back, thinking she's serious for a bit. He glares back at the body near his foot. "This man's been hard-focusing me this whole time. I almost died like twice to this prick today, like Sage had to bring me back five minutes ago!"
Jett can't help but laugh before she gives Phoenix an exaggerated pout, stained pink lips pursed together while she bats her eyelashes.
"Phoenix, you that mad, bro? Watch your fucking language!"
Realizing Jett wasn't being serious, Phoenix relaxes. He lets out an exaggerated scoff, lowering his hands to his side.
"Mate, 'cunt' is a compliment in Australia. 'Cunt' is a fine word in this situation, bruv. You don't get it, you don't understand what I've been through!"
"Oh, so you are that mad, bro." Jett smirks. "Do you kiss your mum with that dirty mouth of yours, Pretty Boy?"
Phoenix walks up to her, and they're quite close to each other now. He cranes his head down at her, eyelids half-closed, and gives a smirk right back.
"I'll kiss you with this dirty mouth of mine if you don't shut up," he responds in a low voice.
At this, Jett's eyebrows raise slyly.
Instead of backing down, she squares up; she matches Phoenix's gaze, tilting her head forward and placing a hand on her hip.
"Ha, that's funny, Phoenix. Real funny. I would love to see you try."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah; bring it." She drops her voice lower too. "What you gonna do?"
Phoenix just chuckles, shaking his head.
"Bet you'd like kissing this mouth, Jett, hm?"
Jett scoffs, rolling her eyes.
No chance she's backing down from him if they're gonna do this. They do this all the time, anyway; this is what they have been doing for the past two years.
It started with her calling him Pretty Boy, or saying he had a pretty face. Two years later, and now it's escalated into Jett and Phoenix flirting shamelessly right in each other's faces.
"Oh, please." Jett chuckles. "Yeah? Is that what you think, Phoenix?"
"Yeah, you've got it written all over your face. You think about it often, Wind Girl?"
Alright, this seems like a good time to stop the shameless flirting.
You know, that they did for shits and giggles. Because it was funny and harmless, it was their thing they did because it was them, right?
Jett steps back and holds up her own semi-automatic, deliberately twisting her face to look less than enthused about the suggestion he's given.
"Ugh, you wish, Pretty Boy. Keep dreaming. C'mon, let's rotate A."
"Yo, Jett?"
She pauses, and Phoenix is up close to her again, mischief still twinkling in those brown eyes of his.
"Gimme a kiss before we do," he says.
Before she can say another word, Phoenix bats his eyelashes too, before he purses those lips of his, sticking them out towards her face and humming.
"Mmm - "
Her hand immediately smushes into his face, prompting Phoenix to laugh. Jett groans again and begins to walk away, trying not to smile too hard.
"Ew, no, no, keep dreaming. Seriously! Now let's go; their Jett has my name on her head."
If Jett could count the number of times Omega Earth decided it was a good idea to try and invade their Earth for their Radianite and think they could get away with it, she could probably retire comfortably and take a vacation to somewhere like Europe, maybe hit up Amsterdam with Phoenix like he's always been raving about.
That being said, if Jett could count the number of times she's been missing her shots today while they were out here in this Caribbean beach fort, she'd still have enough to at least take Phoenix to the club. Luckily, she and Phoenix were playing close together, and not only was he radiating literal heat during a colder, stormier day, but this time he was actually landing his shots if she couldn't deliver on them.
"Yo, Jett. If I get this ace…you should give me a kiss."
Jett felt herself go stiff. She reminds herself to keep walking next to him, through the corridors of shop, prepared to enter and hit A Site, where they can hear the Spike beeping away.
He's deliberately looking away from her. He's absolutely trying to keep cool about what he's just said, and it's kind of adorable. She raises her eyebrows in amusement, unable to hide a smile.
"Sorry, huh?"
Phoenix just shrugs, eyes still focused ahead of him and rifle raised.
"O-only if you want, though."
She knows that Phoenix knows his voice just cracked right there. What a backfire. She intentionally walks closer to him, just enough that she can lower her voice to a playful tone, just to see if it makes him get any more flustered.
"Okay, and why would I want that?" Jett murmurs.
"Well, I mean, your aim's been trash this entire time, so - "
The recovery is better than she thought he'd be capable of, she'll give him that.
"Um, excuse me?"
"Just saying!" He's looking back at her now as they walk forward, looking so damn smug. "If you've got me on your mind that badly, maybe if you let out all that stress in the form of, dunno, making out with a homie - "
He doesn't even realize the enemy Fade has walked through doors before they could leave the shop corridor, scoped in with an operator. Phoenix immediately reacts, eyebrows furrowing and voice cutting off as he holds up his rifle.
Jett reacts faster, landing the headshot first. The enemy Fade collapses, and she sighs as she begins jogging forward, deliberately ignoring the way Phoenix gawks at her with full offense.
"Gottem, Pretty Boy."
"My ace!"
"You really thought. How about you kiss my ass instead of me kissing you?"
He doesn't follow her right out; she hears him jogging over to the Fade before she hears the operator being picked up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa?!"
"What?" She's standing next to the Spike now, and Jett turns to face him jogging up to her, reloading the stolen sniper rifle. "They don't use that phrase in jolly good Britain?"
"Nah, we use it." The Spike beeps faster, and Phoenix's eyebrows practically waggle as he reaches into his pocket, pointing the Spike defuser at her instead of the Spike. "Just thought you meant you actually wanted me to, you know."
Jett feels her face heat up again.
"How do you come to that conclusion?"
"Dunno, you tell me, I'm standing here like 'wow, I just thought this girl wanted me to kiss her lips, not her ass'! Damn, Jett, I didn't realize you liked that kinda thing, cor!"
She snatches the defuser out of his hand, ignoring the sensation she felt just now when her fingers touched against his fingers.
"Not literally, you pervert."
"Ah, fam; you're cute when you get flustered, anyone ever tell you that? Sage, Neon? No; just me?"
She crouches down and holds down the defuser's trigger to the Spike.
"Oh, my God, you're down tremendous, dude. Shut up."
"Yo, you sure it's me that's down tremendous and not you, Jett?"
The Spike beeps and spins faster. The air becomes filled with an unpleasant energy as the crates and objects nearby them begin to lift off the ground. Jett just scoffs back, unbothered.
"Well, at this point, I know what kinda person you are, Pretty Boy," she shoots back.
Phoenix just leans against one of the pyramids casually, and his tone has dipped to tease her again in full force, expression lively and shameless.
"You sure about that? Maybe we should…get to know each other a bit more after this. Know what I mean?!"
The crates are hovering a good few feet above the ground now, pulsing from a familiar teal to flickering slightly orange as dust and debris swirl around them. The Spike rotates so fast it's a blur now, practically screeching. Their voices have raised to accommodate for the noise.
"Know each other?!" Jett shouts across from the noises of the Spike.
"Yeah; know each other! You feel me, fam?!"
The Spike suddenly stops spinning, the screeching halts, and the crates and dust collapse onto the ground at just the wrong time.
"You want me to feel you, Pretty Boy?!" Jett shouts back.
He almost slips off the pyramid he's leaning on, eyes going wide, and Jett claps a hand over her mouth.
"Mate, h-huh?" He forces a playful smile. "Seriously, Jett, what's going on here, girl?"
She can't help but laugh into her hand; it's out of realizing he's heard her more than joking along, though. She has to salvage this. She cannot lose to him like this.
Immediately, Jett's back on her feet, and suddenly, Phoenix is pressed up against the side of the pyramid again, pushed back against it.
Jett stands on the tip of her toes, looking right at him. Her hand lifts off his chest before she wraps her fingers around the operator rifle. It trails down the gun's body until she's resting her hand at the mag.
Despite the indifference painted on Phoenix's face, she sees the way his neck bobs up and back down as he swallows. She really likes that, actually. She hates how much she really likes that, actually.
"You know what's going on here, Pretty Boy? I'll tell you."
With her other hand, Jett pushes the defuser back into his fingers and pulls the sniper rifle away.
"I defused the Spike just now," Jett murmurs. She lets herself step back with her new rifle, looking smug and hoping that's all she looks like and not that her face has gone red or anything like that. "Yep. All on my own, even though you were supposed to defuse it! All because you're down tremendous."
The surprise on Phoenix's face fades as his shoulders relax, and he stands up straight on his own feet, trying to look casual again. He nods towards the defused Spike lying uselessly near her feet.
"Wow, good job. You, erm, you want something for your efforts?"
Jett holds up the rifle, raising an eyebrow. He's smirking again, walking to her.
"Nah, I meant like that kiss you need? Mmm - "
Oh no. Phoenix is puckering his lips out again, leaning forward to her face.
Jett just sighs, turning around and walking back the way they came in through A Site.
"Actually down tremendous. Holy shit, dude."
"Come on! Don't be shy, you earned it! These lips are right here, baby! Mmmm - "
Jett simply pressed a button on her earpiece to communicate with the rest of the team again, trying not to think too hard about how hard she was smiling.
At this point of the week, it's almost like Omega Earth really wanted Jett to get paid in money that she should be having right now every time they were coming to Alpha Earth to ruin her day. This is how she found herself knocking on Phoenix's door right before flying out to Tibet, holding a small charm in her hand that she found in the VLT/R's ship before takeoff.
The metal doors slide open, and Phoenix stands there, wearing an eyemask half-removed as well as a black hair wrap with a small embroidered yellow crown. He scratches at his stomach, covered by an orange tee-shirt, with his other hand pocketed in loose black shorts.
Jett couldn't help but giggle at the sight.
"Good morning, sleepyhead."
Phoenix couldn't help but smile back, removing his eyemask fully before rubbing his eyes.
"Morning, baby."
His voice sounds way deeper and huskier when he wakes up. Jett ignores how she feels about that fact as she opts to huff instead.
"You're beyond help, Phoenix." She holds out the charm dangling from one of her fingers: it's a silver dragon's claw, gripping onto an orange and gold dragon eye. "You forgot this last night on the ship. Thought it fell off your pistol since I know you have an Elderflame set."
He stops rubbing his eyes, which go wide as his arms drop to the side.
"Oh, shit, that's where it was," he mumbles. "Yo, I thought I lost it back in the Caribbean. Thanks, Jett."
Phoenix reaches out to take it; his fingertips brush along hers, and she wonders why her heart feels like it jumped just now.
"You heading back right now for Tibet? Or are you back on the Caribbean later?"
"Yeah, I got the shift for today. Gotta, y'know, make sure we win. We take off for Tibet in thirty; need to check our tanks or something since we've been using more than we should. They didn't assign you today at all?"
"Nah, not today, or you know I would've hopped right back to the Caribbean to find this stupid gun buddy. And buy some roti, maybe; shit bangs."
"That explains why you're still asleep. Wow; they must've really wanted us to win today, huh?"
It's Phoenix's turn to scoff, pocketing the charm into his shorts pockets and looking more awake.
"Alright, relax, relax, Jett. They think Neon's better for this one, so no sweat, not offended! Man's just gonna chill and take it easy today, yeah."
Jett rolls her eyes.
"Cope harder, Phoenix. You're bad, get good, then they'll bring you out here with me."
"Nah, I'll take the day off if they want me to. Why you so pressed about it, huh?" With both hands his pockets, Phoenix leans forward. "You that lonely without me by your side?"
There it is again. His eyes are doing that thing where they look mischievous and like he's up to no good, and Jett is trying not to admit she really likes it.
Not that she'd ever admit she really likes it to anyone, especially Phoenix, or even herself.
"Oh, cope harder. Seriously, the copium's off the charts here."
His voice somehow becomes lower than it already was.
"If you miss me that much - we can do stuff later if you want, though?"
This is what they do; they flirt shamelessly right in each other's faces. And Jett doesn't intend to chicken out.
She simply leans on one leg, folding her arms and looking right back at him.
"Hmm, what kind of stuff, Pretty Boy?" She arches her eyebrows, looking away coyly before connecting their gazes back together again. "Like, later kind of stuff or…?"
Phoenix's eyebrows raise back the exact same way.
"Fam. And you're out here saying I'm the one who's down bad, huh? What's this about, then?"
"You know what this is about? What if I am down? You know what I mean?"
She's taken a step inside his room. Their bodies - their faces - are merely inches apart.
It's incredible, actually, how long they've managed to play this game for so long, being this close and only this close.
"Oh, Jett. You - hmm. Hmm?" He chuckles, and she felt his breath against her skin with how close she was. "Wow, down that bad, huh, Jett?"
Alright, this seems like a good time to stop the shameless flirting.
She steps back to create distance, giving a short laugh and a roll of her eyes again to break off the eye contact.
"No, I'm just down, Phoenix," Jett says, tone returning back to normal. She shrugs. "Y'know, down to do stuff tonight with you? You're reading way too much into this for somebody who says he's not down bad, y'know?"
Phoenix chuckles again.
"You think so? Why: does it make you feel nice thinking that I'm down bad for you?"
"Alright, let's pull it back a bit here before you pop a stiffy in front of me or something."
Shameless flirting. You know, that they did for shits and giggles. Because it was their thing.
That they should stop doing literally right now.
"Sure, sure, if that's how easy you think it is to get me riled up."
"Oh, I know it is. You're kinda easy like that."
"Do you actually think that?"
The distance was closed again.
Phoenix had stepped out of his room, just a mere two steps forward - and now they were standing in the corridor, faces super close to each other once again.
"How you know, though? How you know what I like, Jett?"
And now is the time where she chose to tiptoe back up, hand on the edge of his doorframe to balance herself.
Her face was right there, right up to Phoenix's to the point where if they were the same height, they could touch foreheads. She's not one to back down from a fight. She never has been, and neither has he.
"Try me, Pretty Boy. C'mon." Jett's voice was quiet but daring - how daring she actually intended it to be, she wasn't quite sure anymore. "Tell me what you actually want. What was I gonna do tonight?"
She didn't like the way his breath hitched, even if he tried to hide it. She didn't like how much she liked that it hitched.
"You're gonna come over tonight to my room, and I'm gonna dominate you…in that 2XKO rematch you owe me, yeah?"
Phoenix's voice rises up higher at the end, his small smile becoming a wide, cocky grin, and Jett took this opportunity to land back on her heels.
"Oh, uh-uh, Phoenix. You don't want any of this smoke. You're just gonna end up on the bottom again. You're just that bad. You're gonna lose."
"Nah nah nah, girl. That sounds like talk, no walk. My room after your mission then; I'mma show you that I'm in charge tonight."
Jett just laughs.
"Oh, you wish you were taking charge of me, dude."
"I don't wish, I know I'm gonna be on top of you this time, innit? You got nothing against my Ekko, fam; been practicing."
"Too bad all that practice is gonna go to waste! If you're ready to get your dick stomped by my Akali, sure, I'll play with you! Kiss those dreams of being on top goodbye, because I'm always gonna be on top!"
At this, Phoenix puckers his lips again towards her and hums.
Jett didn't even push him away. She pushes a thought away from her mind instead.
"You're hopeless, my guy."
"What? You just said, kiss my dreams goodbye! Is this not a dream?"
Jett just shakes her head with her lips pressed together in a wry smile, and Phoenix grins again.
"Aw, shit; guess this ain't a dream, innit? Only one way to find out." He pushed out his lips again, closing his eyes this time, like a fucking schoolboy. "Mmm…"
Jett just rolls her eyes, trying to shake the thought of wondering how he would react if she kissed him and his stupidly outstretched lips back right now.
She leaves Phoenix humming with his eyes closed and his lips pointed at nothing, standing in his bedroom door while she started walking the other way.
"Bye, Phoenix."
"Nah, come on, gimme a kiss, dream girl? Mmm - "
"Bye, Phoenix!"
She hears him laugh from back in his room, and the thought intrudes her mind again.
"Knock 'em down, Jett!"
"Boom! That's how the boss man does it! Get clapped, Wind Girl."
"You're cheating."
"Get clapped."
It's evening now, almost close to sundown, and Jett has just lost to Phoenix somehow in 2XKO despite all known forms of aviation, all laws of nature, and all things that were still good in this world.
She drops her controller onto the rug on his bedroom floor, scowling at the gleeful man sitting next to her as she folds her arms. She's worn a blue crop hoodie over a shirt and black sweatpants to his room.
"This controller's battery is low. This isn't fair. No, you're cheating somehow. They need to check him PC and game."
Phoenix holds up the controller she just dropped with an obnoxious smirk. He's changed into a black tee and some cargo tapered trousers, opting out of the hair wrap from earlier with his brown and orange locs on full display.
"Fully charged, baby. Now, where's my reward for winning, hmm?"
"Ugh, what do you want from me, other than my pride and dignity after losing to you?"
His face is dripping smugness. She wants to do something to get it right off his dumb, pretty face.
"Got a few things in mind," Phoenix murmurs.
What if she kissed the smugness off his face right now?
"Ew. Lemme guess: me kissing you on those lovely lips of yours?"
"Sorry? My what?"
He sounds so smug. Not like she wants to actually kiss Phoenix. That's always been a joke, right? Like, the only reason she'd do it is to see how surprised he'd act and how off-guard he'd been taken.
So how come the idea of it is enough for her to keep going with this bit?
Jett's voice is teasing again, lifting her shoulders close to her face as she smirks right back.
"You heard me. You get a little compliment as a treat."
Phoenix hums, placing the controller back on the ground and leaning towards her. She can't help but notice his arms and his clavicles; they're easier to notice when he isn't wearing one of his twelve jackets.
"I like a little compliment as a treat. Can I get more?"
Jett scoffs, leaning back just a bit.
"No, you've already been given one compliment too many."
"Nah, come on, Jett! Bet you'd enjoy these lovely lips on your lovely lips. I mean - wait, hold on - "
Well, that went from 10 to 100.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?!" Jett gasps, placing a hand over her chest as her jaw drops and she gawks incredulously at him. "Which lovely lips?! Jamie!"
"Well, nah, I don't think your lips are actually that lovel…"
Phoenix goes stiff.
Wait. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe it was more like 10 to 15. Shit.
He turns to her now with the same wide eyes she has. The lightbulb above his head has just lit up.
Uh oh. Maybe this was the wrong direction to flirt. Don't admit defeat, Jett. Stand your ground, Jett.
"Wait, what you mean, which lovely lips, Jett?! Huh? H-huh?!"
"Wait, huh?!"
"What you mean, 'huh', Jett?!"
"You tell me, Phoenix; you were the one that said what you said!"
At this, Phoenix bursts out laughing, and Jett can't help but bury her face in her hands.
"Whoa, whoa, pull back a bit, fam! You sure we're not moving too fast? We've not even kissed yet!"
"Oh, my God, shut up! Can you blame me after these past few days of you being this way?"
He's still laughing. She feels a bit more secure about pouncing on the innuendo the way she did, but there's a part of her wondering just how okay it is venturing into this territory of shits and giggles.
"Yeah, I can! Like, yo, Jett - kinda sus there, you know? I was just complimenting your lips! O-on your face, innit?!"
Jett looks up, and she doesn't even care how embarrassed she looks as she shakes her head at him with her mouth clenched into a smirk.
"Oh, so I'm the one who's sus? I'm the one who's sus?! No, Phoenix, cope harder; you're the one being sus!"
"Nah, nah, nah. You really out here saying I'm the one who's sus, but when you deep it, you're the one who suggested kissing me on these lovely lips in the first place. Something you wanna tell me, Jett?"
"You know what, Pretty Boy? You know what I do wanna tell you?"
He's still laughing when she grabs his arms and tries to wrestle him down.
Eventually, it's as she said before when she first went to his room that morning; Jett was on top of Phoenix, looking down at him face-to-face, pinning him down to his bedroom floor, and he's underneath her.
They're far too close to each other again than most people would be comfortable with.
He blinks slowly, and then, he bites his lower lip before speaking to her again.
"What, Jett? What, Wind Girl? Come on, baby; tell me what."
Oh, she hated that lip bite. It was so cheesy and stupid. She hated that she liked it. She hated what it did to her, what it made her think; what it made her heart start to do.
She hated how small this gap was between her and Phoenix's lips. She hated how if Phoenix wanted to, he could close that gap with her right now.
She hated how she wanted him to close that gap.
Jett sits up, folding her arms with a huff and turning away from him with a pout.
"I take it back, actually; they're not that lovely."
She hears him shuffle as he sits back up.
"Right. Nah. Rematch then."
"No!"
"Nah, nah, nah: let's have a rematch. You win, I don't give you a kiss. I win, you consider giving me a kiss."
She laughs back, turning to look at him incredulously.
"Oh, you're gonna let me think about it?"
"Yeah, I only want you to do it if you're okay with it, know what I mean? Of course, I know you've been thinking about it all day and all night."
God, if only he really knew. Not that she'd ever tell him, of course.
"Fine, I'm just not gonna kiss you then!"
"You sure? You're missing out, girl. Mmm - "
This time, her hand smushes against his face and his outstretched lips. She ignores how her hand brushed against his lips and how wet they felt.
She ignores how she wants to feel those wet lips against hers.
"No, you're dumb, Phoenix. You're down horrendous, and you're dumb." Jett's on her feet now, brushing off her hoodie and pants. "I need to go cook dinner anyway; it's my shift. Bulgogi fusion tacos. But we could play later tonight though if you're that desperate."
He stands up too, and she's never thought about how much she likes looking up at him until now.
"Wind Girl, I'd love to play with you."
Jett maintains her playfulness. She must maintain it being playfulness. She has to.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But I can't, I got the shift tomorrow."
"The one in Tibet again? I'm on that one."
"Nah, the one in Omega Portugal."
Okay, finally, a regular conversation. She can work with this; they can both work with this without the flirting growing out of control. Jett blinks.
"Oh, wow, Phoenix. They're bringing you underwater?"
Phoenix shrugs.
"Yeah, fam. Not great but, you know, they need somebody to bring the fire to the enemy, they got the right man, you feel me?"
"Alright, cool. You eating dinner then later?"
"Oh, one hundred, is that even a question you gotta ask? Not gonna miss out on your cooking, am I? Bulgogi tacos sounds top."
Jett rolls her eyes.
"Oh, Phoenix. You sure know how to flatter a girl."
"Only you, Wind Girl. Only because your cooking bangs."
Jett chuckles.
This is sweet, this is soft. It's not even sus. It's just genuine, and she hates how much she absorbs his sweetness like it's her sustenance.
"Is that all I am to you, Phoenix? Someone cute who can cook?"
He shrugs overly nonchalantly.
"Nah, not at all! You're also someone cute who has lovely lips."
Now it's getting into sus territory again. She has to steer it away. She has to.
"Okay there, Jamie, calm down." She presses a few buttons on the number pad near the door; it slides open, and she steps outside. "Right, good games, you got lucky. You're bad, get good."
"Alright, alright, relax. I'll see you in the kitchen then, mmm - "
He puckers his lips and hums.
She puckers her lips and hums back.
"Mmm - w-wait, ew, no!"
She mock-gags immediately, staggering backwards with great exaggeration out his door, and Phoenix bursts out laughing, just like the bastard he is.
"Wow, Jett! Wow!"
"Yeah, r-right?! Like I almost went brain dead for a second there, whew!"
"Losing really messed you up, yeah?"
"Yeah, almost got me there, wow! Yo, imagine kissing you after I lost! Gross, ugh."
He rolls his eyes, and Jett can't help but flush.
"Alright, alright, relax now. Whatever you say, Jett. Whatever copium you gotta huff tonight, I'm cool with it."
"Oh, keep dreaming. See ya around, Phoenix."
She kind of wishes he went back in for another goodbye kiss when she finally starts walking away from his room.
It's Phoenix who's outside of her room this time the next day.
The doors had slid open, and Jett walks out, whistling and readjusting her bag - only to see Phoenix walking towards her, twirling a charm in his finger while whistling too.
Her shoulders relax as she sighs in relief.
"Oh, hell yeah, so it was in your room! Thank God, I thought I actually lost it."
He stops in front of her, and the charm dangles from his finger: it's a small thing of Boba Buddy-branded strawberry bubble tea, in tiny trinket form.
"Mate, it's a fucking miracle I found this after you literally texted me like a minute ago for it. Why's this on your phone and not your gun?"
She takes it from him with one hand, pulling out her phone from her pocket at her pants with the other.
"I like it on my phone," she whines, and Phoenix just huffs with a smile.
"That's cute. You owe me for this. Pretty sure I'm running late, fam."
She remembers to let go of his hand, taking the charm and unclipping the clasp.
"Aww, I appreciate you being late just for me then, Phoenix."
"I appreciate you, Jett."
She finishes pinning the charm back to her phone, ignoring the way his voice sounded when he said that.
"Aww, that's so sweet. You're gonna give me cavities, Pretty Boy."
"I'll give you more than that if you want me to."
She's not able to ignore it anymore.
Her eyes meet his, and they look at each other like that for a bit. The air around them feels heavier for some reason.
Then, Phoenix clears his throat, breaking eye contact first.
"Right, anyway. They're waiting for me at the Range. Gonna give me shit being late for your ass."
Jett winces, placing the phone back in her pants pocket.
"Oof, that's far from here, dude. Well, sounds like a 'you' problem. Thank God I'm Loading Bay A, huh?"
Phoenix frowns.
"Jett, you're not Loading Bay A."
Jett mirrors his frown.
"What? Yeah, we are. Isn't Team A on Loading Bay A this morning?"
"No, they're not; that's later in the afternoon for the Siberia mission. Team A for Tibet this morning is Loading Bay B."
At this revelation, Jett's face falls.
"Oh, shit. It's B?! Fuck, it is B, isn't it. The VLT/R's at B this morning?! Goddamn it, that's so far from here - "
"Yeah nah, like, fam, you gotta get going."
"Fuck, ugh! Alright, whatever; knock 'em dead, Phoenix!"
"Bet. See you around, baby! Mmm - "
Phoenix purses his lips forward again playfully.
Jett leans forward to peck his lips in a quick kiss.
"Mwah! See ya!"
They smile and turn around, walking in their respective directi -
Jett immediately stops in her footsteps.
She whips back around, and her and Phoenix's eyes connect with each other - wide, bewildered, their cheeks becoming more flushed by the second. Their mouths, mouths that have just touched each other in a kiss without a second thought, fall open and become slack.
A good five seconds after, Phoenix and Jett begin stammering, words pouring out at the same time at rapid pace, tripping over themselves and overlapping each other.
"W-wait, h-huh?!"
"Yo, erm, I, huh, I, I-uh - "
"Ho-hold on, Ja-Phoenix, wait, yo, hold on a, wait, I - "
"Oh, erm, yeah, like, nah, I-I mean, you wanna, erm, I guess - erm, Jett? You wanna talk about - "
"NopeLoadingBayB!" Jett practically shrieks, her voice cracking. She nods furiously, face completely red and hot. "I'm late, r-right?! So I-I need to go!"
"Right, y-yeah, yeah!" Phoenix nods back just as urgently with the same expression; the same level of shock, the same amount of fluster. "You're late, I'm late, yeah! See you baby - Jett, fuck, it's Jett! Jett, go!"
"I'm going, Pretty Lips! Fuck, P-Pretty Boy, I meant - alright, I'm going! I'm gone!"
They're out of each other's sights within seconds, briskly and hastily walking away from each other from her room.
Jett tries so hard not to think about it too much; it all happened so fast.
She tries so hard not to think about what it would have been like to kiss Phoenix for longer.
If Jett could count the number of times Omega Earth decided it was a good idea to try and invade their Earth for their Radianite and think they could get away with it, she could probably retire comfortably.
That's it. At this point, if they kept hitting her Earth up like this, she was gonna have to start charging them for it. Why they were getting so aggressive was probably worth looking into, but that wasn't Jett's job. No, Jett's job was to go in, shoot some idiots invading from another universe even if those idiots had her face and her voice, and then go back to the Protocol building to relax and wind down.
Hopefully, now that the dimensional gate was damaged according to Team B, there would be a short break to breathe from all of this. Killjoy, Raze, Neon, and Viper would definitely be working hard to get it back up and running as fast as they could since it was a two-way street from Alpha Earth to Omega Earth, and there was probably intel they could use that Team B brought back for now.
That was what Jett was planning to talk about to Phoenix anyway. Definitely not anything about that thing that happened earlier that was definitely not a real kiss, nope. Just an automatic reaction to a homie asking for a kiss.
Yep, that's definitely what it was. Fake news, fake kiss. The game was still on.
What she wasn't expecting to find when she walked out of the washroom located near Loading Bay B, was Phoenix sitting near the vending machine with several bullet holes in his jacket and an eyepatch over an eye.
Jett frowns.
"Yo, Phoenix?" she asks, and Jett's already rushing over to take the empty chair next to him. "Why are you wearing an eyepatch?"
He avoids looking at her, and she's hoping it's more out of embarrassment of what happened that caused this injury rather than out of what happened earlier between them specifically.
"I…erm."
Despite her reservations, Jett can't help but snicker.
"Aww, Phoenix. Did you peek them and lose?"
This seems to have done the trick. Phoenix turns his whole body to glare at her.
"Nah, what? What you saying, girl? Nah, nah, nah. Nah! I never lose when I peek, fam. I don't lose!"
The look on his face is as insincere as his voice. She simply raises an eyebrow at him.
He finally turns away with a scowl.
"Man, shut up, they was cheating or something. It'll come back; I ain't got energy to deal with this, but once I do, my eye's coming back, don't you worry."
Jett was cooing now, unable to stop herself from taunting him mercilessly.
"Aww, you want a kiss to make it better?"
She freezes.
Or, you know, unable to stop herself from saying something stupid.
Phoenix's eyebrows raise, before they lower again smugly. The moment she saw the corners of his lips turn up, Jett immediately began to stutter.
"I-I mean, wait, w-wait, no, Jamie, don't - "
His lips never got a chance to smile; upon seeing Jett's reactions, Phoenix blinks and waves his hands quickly; no, dismissively.
"Oh, my bad, I'm not gonna - that's fine, Jett, no worries, allow it! Erm, so, uh…" He clears his throat. "What about you guys, y-yeah? Erm, everything go alright with your mission?"
Jett nods hastily; no, dismissively.
"Yeah, it-it was a lot, but y'know, that's how it is! We walked out of it with nobody dying. A-and you?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we're fine. We got what we needed, we got out, nobody got too hurt. I mean, got shot through the head but I - "
"What?! Wait, oh my God, that's actually why your eye's fucked? I didn't know it went clean through your entire brain! Phoenix, are you okay?!"
He hands fall to his thighs, and he just looks at her in disbelief. He points back to himself.
"Nah, fam, I'm actually dead. This man right here? You're not actually talking to Phoenix right now, this is a dream man."
Jett just snorts to retort.
"Oh, you'd have two eyes in my dreams," she fires back, and Phoenix can't help but smirk again.
"And these lovely lips you wanna kiss?"
At this, a long sigh escapes from Jett's lips. The smirk falters from Phoenix's face.
"Sorry, if you don't wanna - "
She slumps in her chair.
"You're not gonna let that go, are you?" Jett murmurs.
Now Phoenix seems like the one who's embarrassed. As a matter of fact, he looks ashamed.
"I mean…do you want me to let that go?" He shifts his eyes away. "Seriously, Jett. You want me to let it go, I'll let it go. Could be anything, right? Don't have to mean nothing if you don't want it to."
Hold on: what?
Jett sits up, and she can't help but frown. Doesn't have to mean anything? Why was he saying all of these things all of a sudden?
"Wait, what are you talking about, Phoenix?"
"Like, it don't have to mean anything, you feel me? We banter all the time like this, y-yeah?" He's rubbing the back of his neck, avoiding looking at her. "And honestly, a kiss don't have to be that deep, i-it can just be banter too! Like, I'm the type to kiss my homies! I-I could see that! I'll kiss all my homies and they'll still be my homies, know what I mean?"
At this, Jett can't help but feel angry and confused.
But why? Why does she feel angry and confused? This is a reasonable response from Phoenix about the kiss from earlier - so why does this conversation feel bad?
He's still talking. He's still talking about this. Why? Why is Phoenix still talking about this in a way that makes her feel bad?
"Don't be shy, be honest with me; what do you want from me here? Whatever you ask me to do or feel about it, Sunwoo, I swear, I'll respect what you want if you don't like me the same way I like you; it's fine. What do you want me to do?"
He's finally done talking. She inhales sharply.
"Kiss me," Jett says.
Phoenix freezes.
Enough of this. She knows, she knows how red her face has gotten with how startled he looks, how much his face also seems to be dipping into a burgundy around his cheeks. But now she's gotten serious, and she hopes her face expresses it despite how absolutely flustered she is right now.
"What?" Phoenix says, his voice cracking.
Jett takes a deep breath in again, before she speaks.
"Kiss me."
He just stares at her.
She groans again; she's trembling in front of him out of nervousness, she knows that, but fuck going backwards from this point on. Her hands are balled into fists on her thighs.
"Did they shoot your ears off too, Pretty Boy? I said - ugh, damn it, you heard what I said, twice! I said kiss me, Jamie, you heard it right! What, you gonna back out now after all the times your down horrendous ass kept begging me for a kiss, after just saying you liked me?! O-or are you gonna man up and just - "
Phoenix silences her right then and there with his lips over hers.
It's soft, it's sweet. It makes her heart beat as if it's a drum, it makes her stomach flutter as if there's butterflies. It's exactly what Jett tried not to think about earlier, and yet, it finishes almost too quickly as Phoenix pull backs, foreheads touching and looking into each other's eyes hazily.
"Wow," Phoenix finally murmurs, and Jett can't help but flush.
"Y-yeah, um. Wow."
Then, she leans back fully, clearing her throat, and now she's the one rubbing the back of her neck shyly like some fucking schoolgirl.
"See, Pretty Boy? W-way better than that first kiss, right?"
He can only blink momentarily.
It's gone within seconds though as that cockiness from before returns back on Phoenix's expression.
"Oh, I mean, yeah, but I'm not letting it go then."
At this, Jett splutters, leaning forward.
"Oh, no, no, fuck off, Phoenix! That one didn't count, okay?!"
"What?!" He almost looks offended as he scoffs out loud. "What you mean, it didn't count?"
"No!" Now, she's grasping the lapels of his jacket, whining in a taunting voice. "Oh my God, now we have a proper first kiss for you to remember, okay?! Forget about that first one, Phoenix, it was embarrassing!"
He's laughing now, holding her hands gripping his jacket.
"Nah, nah, Sunwoo, I do think this is a proper kiss - like, damn. Still feels like I'm flying, know what I mean? But the one we had in front of your room? That was mad cute, no?"
"I'm gonna scream, dude."
"Go ahead! You think I'm not embarrassed too?! Shit, but for real, that kiss in front of your room was serious though. Was it not? Like, look at you; you're cute right now! You're all flustered!"
"Jamie!"
He's still doing it, he's still teasing her shamelessly with a wide grin on his face, his single visible eye twinkling with mischief - and God, Phoenix was so smug and cocky when he got like this.
There was really only one way to knock his ego down a peg at this point.
"Aww, damn, Sunwoo. I'm blushing too just thinking about that cute kiss right now, you not realizing you've wanted to kiss me back all this time. Makes me blush - "
Jett shuts him up this time with her lips over his.
It lasts longer this time. There's a bit more of a dance to it, actually, as their lips begin to move against each other. Her hands reach out to cup Phoenix's face, and in response, his hands find her shoulders to pull her closer to him. It's wonderful, and Phoenix is right: it does make Jett feel like she's soaring high above the clouds.
It's Jett that breaks it off, but only for a moment, just briefly pulling back to look up at Phoenix coyly through her eyelashes.
"I'll give you something else to blush about tonight, Jamie," she murmurs.
Instantly, Phoenix's eyebrows arch suggestively.
"Oh, Sunwoo. I mean, girl, damn!" That teasing tone and grin has returned to his form. "If that's what you want, baby, if you're down that tremendous; oh, I'd be more than willing to let you make me blush tonight, know what I - ?"
She cuts him off again with one more kiss.
"Shut up," Jett mutters against his lips.
Instead of firing back, Phoenix sighs - and it's such a great sound, such a wonderful sensation that Jett can't help but respond back in kind, sighing with him as their kiss deepens again.
After all that shameless flirting for shits and giggles, it's escalated to this after two years. And quite frankly, despite all complications this might bring that she and Phoenix definitely know it's gonna bring - fuck it, she's happy it's finally culminated to this point and managed to break through; to be be honest rather than dodge the subject and play around it forever.
The fact he's kissing her back is proof he feels the same way too - and to her, that's the best part about how this has gone down.
It was their thing they did because it was them.