Chapter Text
Caitlyn arrives at home, aching and rain-drenched, with Vi’s words still ringing in her ears. Oil and water. Forget about me.
Every time she blinks, she sees Vi walking away from her. Cailyn knows Vi was just upset, lashing out, isolating herself, but it still hurts. There had been something between them, something full of potential and hope, and now they might never have the chance to explore it because Vi decided she doesn’t want to. And then there’s the whole undercity and Silco and Jinx mess, and Caitlyn’s complete powerlessness. Eight officers dead, the people of the undercity held hostage, and the council wants to play nice.
Caitlyn is in a haze as she walks into her bathroom, ready to shower and go to bed, but she snaps out of it when she realizes there’s someone inside waiting for her. Her stomach plummets. “Jinx!?”
The blue-haired girl in Caitlyn’s bathtub raises a hand from bubbly water to wave. “Hi, Cupcake.”
Caitlyn takes a step back, quickly assessing the situation. Jinx had made her dislike of Caitlyn crystal clear and now she’s broken into her house, irises shining shimmer pink. She’s also submerged in a bubble bath with a plastic crown resting atop her head, braids hanging over the side of the tub. Her clothes are in a pile on the floor with her gun and bomb.
Jinx is a serious threat, but Caitlyn isn’t helpless. She just needs to reach the weapons first. She takes a step closer. “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” Jinx drawls, sinking deeper into the tub, knobby knees popping out of the bubbles. “I thought I’d take you to a family dinner, but then I saw the size of this place. Princess Cupcake is so stupid rich she lives in a palace!”
Caitlyn inches closer. She’s as close to the weapons as Jinx now, but Jinx has shimmer in her system. She’ll be faster, stronger. Caitlyn’s best hope lies in keeping her distracted. “I see you found my toy crown from childhood. I wasn’t aware I still had it.”
“Oh, yeah, I got bored so I went through your stuff.” Jinx giggles and adjusts the crown on her hair with wet hands, bubbles dripping along her face and forearms. If Caitlyn hadn’t seen her blow up enforcers, Jinx might’ve looked harmless.
“And you decided to take a bath?”
“I hate how rich and snooty ya Pilties are, always turning up your noses at us, but you and Vi are all lovey-dovey, right?”
Even if Caitlyn knew how to label her relationship with Vi, she doesn’t think Jinx would care for the specifics. She lunges forward, wrapping one hand around Jinx’s pistol, the other around her bomb.
Caitlyn’s back hits the sink as she jumps away and raises the gun, preparing for Jinx to fly at her in a rage.
Jinx blinks, slow and considering like a cat before submerging her head beneath the bath water. When she comes back up, there’s a thick layer of bubbles nestled within the plastic crown. “Gonna shoot me for dirtying your fancy bathtub?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” She’s never actually shot a person before.
“Scaredy cat. Are you scared my blood would ruin your bathroom or are you scared Vi would be mad?”
The hint of uncertainty in Jinx’s tone and the flash of fear in her eyes makes Caitlyn pretty sure this is all an act. If it is, Jinx is a wonderful actress. Except, Caitlyn can’t figure out why Jinx would bother with putting on an act. She could’ve easily ambushed her after breaking in. Why allow Caitlyn to take her weapons? Why strip down and make herself vulnerable?
“I care about Vi, and she cares about you,” Caitlyn says slowly.
“I decided I’m okay with you dating my sister.”
Caitlyn wasn’t aware that had ever been an issue. Was that why Jinx had fired at them on the bridge? Some sort of misguided effort to protect Vi’s virtue? Some desperate attempt to keep Vi all to herself? “You are?”
“Sure,” Jinx says before her entire demeanor hardens. “Unless you try to take her away from me. Vi was my sister first, and I’m not giving her up just because some rich topsider cop has a crush, got that?”
“Yes?”
Jinx nods and readjust her crown. “I’ve never been friends with an enforcer before. Can I play with your gun?”
Even if Caitlyn hadn’t pawned her rifle in the undercity, there’s no way she’d surrender it to Jinx. “You want to be friends?”
“We can even be besties,” Jinx says, scooping up a handful of bubbles and blowing them off her palm. Her eyes are wide and amazed like a child’s. “Besties who share crowns and bubbly baths.”
“That’s why you’re okay with me now?”
“Mhm,” Jinx says, more focussed on the bubbles than Caitlyn. “These are fun. I can be nice to you if it means Vi and I get to play rich Piltie make-believe for a while.”
Caitlyn slowly lowers the pistol. She needs to find Vi.