Chapter Text
Soulmates are bullshit. At least that’s what Jinx started to think as she got older. It’s rare for people to actually get any confirmation, but she was one of the (un)lucky few. There were some studies with some insanely small number like 0.2% of people being gifted with a mark. A small symbol was all you got to recognize your soulmate with. Starting off completely black, they supposedly glowed the closer you were to meeting your soulmate. Jinx got hers when she was pretty young, about ten-- a small four pointed star on her wrist. Her older brother Mylo was always on her ass about faking the mark with a permanent marker so that she could feel special. It didn’t take her very long to start hiding the star with long sleeves or bracelets. Vi did her best to encourage the girl to embrace it, as it was a lucky thing. It didn’t feel very lucky when she was accused of lying about it. Who needed a soulmate anyway? Certainly not her. Time went on and she stopped telling people about it, going on with her life as normal. She went to school, got a job at a repair shop, had a friend or two. That was really all she needed.
Jinx was sitting in her apartment, upside down on the couch with her long braids strewn across the floor. She was bored out of her goddamn mind, staring blankly at the moving colors on the TV, but not really processing what was taking place on the screen. When the door opened to announce her roommate’s return, she shot up straight, now seated backwards on the couch.
“Ekko--” She whined, dragging out his name as she rested her elbows on the back of the couch with her head in her hands, “I’m so bored.”
The boy laughed a bit as he made his way into the room, kicking off his shoes. “Well I might have a solution to that. My friend is having a party tonight and he said that I--”
“Which friend?” Jinx narrowed her eyes as she spoke, looking at him suspiciously.
“Okay, okay, I know you don’t like Ez that much, but--”
“EZREAL?” She cut him off before he could finish yet again. She then groaned and flopped to be laying down. “Ekko, you’re killing me! Why should I go? It’s not like I like anybody there…”
Ekko sighed softly and pushed her legs over so that he could sit beside her. She defiantly placed her legs back in his lap.
“It’ll be good for you to get out a little bit. Worst case scenario, you get bored and you go home, yeah?” He bargained, hoping to get her to budge. Jinx had never had many friends aside from him, ever since they were kids, and it was safe to say that Ekko was a little nervous about that.
Jinx still didn’t seem convinced as she sat up to look at him closely, squinting and tilting her head to the side. “...Fine. BUT!”
“Here it comes,” Ekko mocked.
“But,” Jinx continued, “You’re driving and the minute I wanna leave you have to take me home!”
“...Deal,” He agreed, holding out his hand for her to shake. The blue haired woman accepted his hand, shaking it with a wild grin.
“Pleasure doing business with ya!”
Lux on the other hand, was always praised for being lucky enough to have a soulmate. She wore the small symbol on her wrist with pride, even though she wasn’t quite sure what it was supposed to look like. She ended up deciding it was supposed to be the sun at some point or another, though she wouldn’t have confirmation until she finally met the one. Of course, that wasn’t all that mattered to her. Just because Lux had a soulmate mark, didn’t mean she left everything up to fate alone. She still wanted to make her family proud and make a name for herself. She had recently moved to be closer to an old pen pal of hers, as they were going to the same university. Even though they had very different paths in life, she valued his company… Even when he was a little too eccentric.
While she had only been in town for just over two weeks, her friend Ezreal was already planning what he assured her would be a small party. Lux was a little nervous, seeing as she barely knew anybody in town yet, but tried to be optimistic about it. It would be hard to meet new people if she never opened up to an opportunity to find them, no?
Here she stood, looking in the mirror and turning a little to get a look at her outfit. Was this too much? What if it was too little? She could practically hear her friend’s voice ringing in her ear, telling her that she looked like a huge nerd in her white button up and pink sweater combo. Lux made a small face and went over to her jewelry, trying to decide if she could dress it up a little. She held up two separate dangling earrings, one beside each ear, trying to decide on one to wear. She elected to go with the simpler one, slipping on a pair of small heels before stepping out the door.
It was a little cloudy out, and the sun was set to fall behind the horizon within an hour or so. The way from her large apartment to Ezreal’s wasn’t too far, so she ended up walking there. The cool breeze tousled her hair a bit, but she didn’t mind too much. Once she arrived in the building, she took the elevator up to his floor, smoothing out her hair as it ascended. She’d made the trip here numerous times in the past two weeks, so she had no trouble finding his room.
She knocked on the door and waited for a response, folding her hands in front of her as she stood. She could hear shuffling on the other side of the door as her friend came to answer, opening the door and leaning against the doorframe as he brushed his hand through his hair.
“Heya, Lux,” he greeted, “Didn’t expect anyone to get here so early. I was just finishing setting up.”
“Oh-- do you need any help?” Lux offered as he stepped away to let her inside, closing the door behind them.
“Pfft-- nah, got it all handled! You just sit tight while we wait for everyone to get here,” Ezreal chuckled.
Within the next hour or so, more and more guests arrived. More than Lux had expected, and by quite a lot. She found herself sticking to Ezreal like glue, more than happy to be a wallflower for now. She was polite and would wave and introduce herself to new people who spoke to them, but it never got much further than small talk.
By the time Ekko finally dragged Jinx out the door and to the party, it was quite crowded. Jinx was pretty unimpressed, to say the least. Her messily lined eyes scanned the room with her arms crossed over her slim frame. Her wrist felt a little warm, but she chose to mostly ignore that for now, scratching at it through the elastic wristband of her mesh shirt.
Ekko started to drag her over to look for the host, Jinx dragging her feet the whole way.
“Yo, Ezreal!” Ekko shouted, grabbing the boy’s attention from his conversation. The (annoying!!) blonde smiled and walked over, followed by a taller woman that Jinx had never seen before. She furrowed her brow and scratched at her wrist some more as the weird warm feeling continued. The other woman raised her hand to give a small wave, and that was when something shimmery caught Jinx’s eye. She didn’t originally think much of it, assuming it to be a bracelet or something, until she realized it was part of her skin. A small mark in the shape of a cartoony explosion.
Oh hell no, she thought. This couldn’t be happening, especially not with one of Ezreal’s dumb friends. She almost didn’t notice the girl talking to her.
“..Lux, it’s nice to meet you! What’s your name?” was all that she caught. Jinx cleared her throat and stood up a little straighter, trying to make herself seem taller despite the several inch height difference.
“Jinx.” she answered, slipping her hands into her pockets. She really hoped that nobody noticed Lux’s glowing wrist, but she wouldn’t be so lucky. The pale glow also seemed to catch Ezreal’s eye as he pointed it out to her.
“Hey, your soulmate is here!” he exclaimed, pointing down at her mark, which by now was beginning to fade back to black. Lux gasped quietly and inspected her wrist before looking around to try and figure out if anybody else had a similar reaction. Ekko was about to say something until Jinx elbowed him hard in the ribs and began to pull him away. “Well, good luck finding them blondie!” she said as she made a B-line to the refreshments. She got herself a drink, Ekko crossing his arms and looking down at her.
“Seriously? You just met y--” he began, soon being shushed by Jinx.
“Not so loud! I don’t need any of this, did you even see her? She’s probably all… sunshine and rainbows, blah blah nerd shit,” she explained, motioning with her free hand as she spoke. Jinx hopped up onto the counter, swinging her legs back and forth in her seat.
“...Can we just go home?” she asked, giving Ekko the very best of her patented puppy eyes. He sighed, running a hand over his face as he grabbed a drink for himself.
“We just got here, Jinx. Give it a chance?”
“...Fine. But we’re staying away from blondie one and two, got it?” Jinx pointed her finger at him, narrowing her eyes until he raised his hands in surrender and agreed.
Meanwhile, Ezreal was eagerly chattering away at Lux while she seemed quite distracted, still looking for her soulmate. She’d never find them at this rate!
“Ezreal? Do any of your other friends have marks?” She asked, still not looking at him.
“I don’t think so… but I did tell people they could bring friends so…”
“...Right. I think I’m going to go around and look, then. Thank you.” Lux sighed softly and turned to wander off into the crowd. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t get very far with anybody. The occasional person would try to chat or flirt with her until she brought up her soulmate, upon which they’d shrug and wish her luck. By the time the night was over, she was exhausted and her endeavors proved fruitless.
She came over to Ezreal as the last of the guests left, preparing to help him clean up. He chuckled a bit and draped an arm over her shoulders.
“What’s up? I expected you to have gone off with your soulmate by now,” he teased. Lux did not look amused.
“I couldn’t find them…” she sighed softly, looking down at her wrist with tired eyes. “I just don’t get it. Why would someone not try to meet their soulmate if given the chance? Surely he noticed it, right?” she turned her attention back to Ezreal who only shrugged in response before going to pick up empty cups. He was absolutely no help at all.
The cleanup went by uneventfully, the two having small conversations about school and work. By the time Lux stepped out of the apartment it was quite dark. Ezreal was kind enough to offer to wal her home. The clouds overhead blocked out the few stars and satellites you could actually see from the city, leaving it even gloomier.
They were only halfway home when it began to rain, causing the two to pick up the pace. The cold breeze from before left them both shivering as they arrived back at her apartment.
“Hm... I don’t think you should walk home in case it gets worse. Would you want to stay the night?” Lux offered, not wanting her friend to catch a cold. Ezreal accepted without hesitation, and the two settled in for the night. Ezreal fell asleep pretty quickly, sprawled out on the couch, but Lux wasn’t quite so lucky. Her mind kept wandering back to the party and all the people there. There were just so many people it could have been!
Lux pulled her wrist up to her face, squinting at the symbol in the dark. This just wasn’t fair. The rain pattered against her window, keeping her awake for some time before eventually lulling her to sleep. She dreamt in flashes of blue and pink, unable to make anything out clearly.
Jinx had always loved the rain. Normally it put her to sleep quickly, but she couldn’t get over the awful churning feeling in her stomach. It was all that damn girl’s fault. What was her name? Leah? Lucy? Lux. That’s it. It was all Lux’s fault. Her stupid soulmate with her stupid blonde hair and stupid blue eyes.
She just seemed so… boring. Nothing like what Jinx would be into. Even if she didn’t like soulmates, she would have expected someone better suited to her tastes. Instead she was left with some preppy blonde chick, who she wouldn’t even have expected to like girls in the first place. Surely the universe got this one wrong. There was no other plausible explanation, as there was no way in hell her and Lux were soulmates.
Even with knowing that, Jinx couldn’t get thoughts of the girl out of her head. She groaned and shoved her face into her pillow. There had to be some way to stop thinking about her. She just needed to prove to herself without a shadow of a doubt that she and Lux had nothing in common, and then she could forget she even existed! Jinx shot up into a sitting position in bed and reached for her phone.
She scrolled through her phone until she found Ezreal’s contact, which was labeled with several mocking emojis. How would she even bring this up? She couldn’t say that she was Lux’s soulmate, but she wasn’t close enough with him to do much of anything else. Maybe she could go through Ekko? He already knew the situation and had a less rocky relationship with Ezreal.
That could work, but he was already asleep in the next room. Why was scheming about forgetting your soulmate ever existed turning out to be so hard? She sighed and decided to give up for the night so she could continue in the morning. She tossed her phone to the side and curled up in bed, pulling the covers over herself again. Sleep eventually found her, though not without some trouble. Jinx kept tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable for the longest time. By the time the sun rose again in the morning, she’d only gotten a few hours of sleep. Classes were probably going to end up feeling more hellish than normal.