Chapter Text
It's a cold day in the commune. If they were topside, there'd be snow. As it is, they just have fog that leaves frost on everything it touches. No one down here can afford heating spells, so there are firepits kept burning day and night throughout the place. Ekko wanders up to one, just inside a building, to warm his hands. He's dressed in as many layers as he could throw together and it still doesn't feel like enough. There's a quick flash of eyeshine in the shadows just past the fire; he glances up.
"Hey Scar."
The eyeshine blinks. "You got next watch?"
"Yeah. Just warming up before I go out."
"I can cover for you if you want. You shouldn't be out in the cold so much."
Ekko sighs. "Y'know, I get tired of people acting like I can't take care of myself all of a sudden."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I know what you meant. And thanks. But if I need help, I'll ask for it."
There's a pause. A breeze picks up outside, rolling some of the fog in through the door.
"We got two new arrivals today," says Ekko, still warming his hands. "Ovan's getting them settled, but I'll need your help finding essentials for them. Blankets, food, information. Especially blankets, they've got a couple little ones with them."
"Got it. Zafulla can show them around, she's always up for babysitting newcomers. I'll see if I can spare --" suddenly Scar is on his feet, looking at something past Ekko's shoulder. He draws a dagger from his belt; it glints in the firelight. Ekko turns on his heel -- and sees Jinx standing in the doorway. He can hear Scar stepping purposefully forward, and gestures for him to stand by. Jinx smiles almost apologetically.
"Hi."
"How the hell did you get in here?" says Ekko slowly, looking her up and down. She's wearing a heavy coat that looks like it was made for someone much larger, holding a box under one arm. She shrugs.
"Some guy named Rove let me in. I said I was your girlfriend. Guess I look pathetic enough that he didn't question it, but you probably oughta tighten your security." she says it matter-of-factly, shuffling her feet. Glances over Ekko's shoulder and nods to Scar. "Sorry to interrupt. Chirean, right? I like your gauges."
Scar ignores her. "Should I...?"
Ekko gestures to him again. Stand by. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, duh."
"Why?"
She rolls her eyes. "If I was gonna hurt you, don't you think I'd have done it by now?" Ekko says nothing, just looks her up and down, and she sighs. Places the box on the ground at her feet, then straightens up and opens her coat. Underneath, she's wearing a patchwork sweater and baggy pants with her usual boots. "See? Unarmed. Not even a knife, so you can tell bat-boy there to put his away." she lets the coat fall shut again and picks up the box. Ekko hesitates for a very long moment. Then, almost reluctantly, he gestures to Scar to stand down. Hears the dagger return to its scabbard, and the energy in the room relaxes a little.
"Scar," he says slowly, "I think I'm gonna take you up on that offer to cover for me." and before Scar can protest, he adds, "I think we can trust her. She's my..." he mentally flips through several words -- girlfriend, partner, friend -- but none of them sound quite right. "...I know her," he finishes lamely. "Just...go."
Jinx gives Scar a polite smile as he walks by, coldly staring her down.
"He seems nice," she says to the awkward silence, once he's out of earshot. Ekko sighs heavily.
"What do you want, Jinx?"
"You, space boy. I've said it like three times now." Ekko stares her down. She stares back. "I don't always have an ulterior motive," she says, quieter.
There's a crack in her armor. Ekko can feel his own walls lowering, in spite of himself. He shakes his head and pulls a couple of stools up to the fire. Sits down on one, gestures to the other. Jinx perches on it with one boot up on the seat. A long silence descends.
"You look good," Jinx offers, after a time.
"Gonna be eight months next week." Ekko stares into the fire.
"I know." a pause. "I got your letters." Jinx holds up the box and lightly shakes it. Ekko looks at it, then at her.
"So why didn't you answer?"
"You don't exactly make yourself easy to find. Just tracking you down here took weeks." That's kind of the point, thinks Ekko, but he doesn't say it. "I read all of 'em, though," Jinx continues, "read and re-read. I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't be here. 'm sorry I missed so much of it."
"Why couldn't you?"
Jinx seems to draw into herself. "I'm not having that fight right now."
"Who's fighting? I'm not."
She fidgets with her hair, undoing and redoing the end of a braid. "I just needed some time to think," she says at length.
"About what?"
"Whether I should be a part of this."
Ekko snorts. "I could've answered that for you. This is your kid too, of course you should be a part of it." he clasps his hands under his belly, holding it up.
Jinx presses her lips into a thin line. Takes a small glass bottle from a hidden pocket in her coat, shakes a few small, pale blue crystals into her hand and pockets it again, and idly juggles the crystals in her hand. "Ekko," she starts, hesitates, tries again. Tosses a crystal into the fire, where it pops in a burst of cherry-red sparks. "I'm nuts. Like...elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, seeing things and hearing voices, batshit. I've gotten people killed. You sure you want that around a kid?"
"Half the people in this commune have gotten someone killed. That doesn't make them monsters. Doesn't make you a monster, either." Jinx tosses another crystal into the fire. Pop. Ekko leans back on the stool, adjusts his shirt and coat over his belly."...Why are you really here? You said you don't always have an ulterior motive, but I know you didn't come all this way just to say hi."
Another crystal. Pop.
"I wanted..." she hesitates again. "Vander would've called it extending an olive branch. When you told me about the kid, I...said some shit I shouldn't have said. I freaked out. And I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't fix it," says Ekko before he can stop himself, and immediately regrets it: Jinx winces, just a little.
"I know! I know it doesn't. But it's a start." she looks up at Ekko, searching. "...right?"
"...Yeah. It's a start. What's your point?"
"I'm getting there." pop. "I wanna -- I mean. Will you let me be involved? With the kid?"
Ekko gives her a long look, then says simply, "Sure."
Jinx opens her mouth, clearly ready to defend herself, then stops dead. "What -- what do you mean, 'sure'??"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"You literally just said sorry doesn't fix it!"
"Yeah, and you said 'it's a start.' You wouldn't have risked coming all the way down here unless you knew exactly what you were after. I trust you."
She laughs, but there's no humor in it. "That's a terrible idea."
"I'm serious. If I didn't, I would have let Scar throw you out on your ass and we wouldn't be talking now. And I've trusted you enough to share a bed with you. More than once, even."
Jinx's ears turn pink. She tosses the last crystal hand to hand a few times, then into the fire. Pop. "You sure you're okay with your kid's mom being a fucking lunatic?"
"Stop with the pity party." Ekko's tone is gentle. "You're her mom, she's gonna love you no matter what." Jinx smiles to herself -- then the penny drops. She looks up, eyes wide. Ekko finds himself smiling too. "It's a girl."
"How do you know??"
"We have a Yordle living here, she told me a few days ago. Said she can hear that it's a girl. I dunno how that works, but her ears are the size of my head, so --" suddenly he's interrupted by a face full of Jinx; she flings her arms around his neck, presses a kiss to his cheek, then another for good measure. Ekko very nearly laughs. There's the Jinx he remembers. "Speaking of beds," he says when she pulls away, "I'll ask Ovan to find you one."
"Can't I bunk with you?" Jinx scoots her stool a little closer to Ekko's and sits back down.
"Probably not. There's not much space to go around, here."
"That's okay, I can scrunch up."
"No, I mean -- my bunk's barely big enough for me, even before I was pregnant."
"Mm. Can I sneak over and visit your bunk after lights-out, then?"
Now Ekko really does laugh. "You're awful."
"Thank you very much."
A few beats of silence. "I do have one condition," says Ekko quietly. "Don't...don't leave again. You and Vi are the only people I have left from back then, I don't wanna lose you again. If you're gonna stay, I need you to mean it; you can't change your mind and bail once she's here."
"I won't. I promise." for once, Jinx sounds completely serious. She sits hunched on her stool, but her eyes are clear when she looks at him.
"I'm gonna hold you to that." Ekko draws a deep breath -- or as deep as he can, these days -- and holds out a hand, palm up. Jinx gives him hers without hesitation, and he places them both on his belly. Her expression turns to something he's not sure he has a name for. "...I've missed you," he says, even quieter.
Jinx swallows hard. "I missed you too."
Outside, Scar's ears twitch. He should be on watch by now, he's gonna get his ass handed to him...but he had to make sure Ekko was okay. Sounds like he needn't have worried. He pulls his coat tighter around his shoulders, and smiles to himself as he pads away across the compound.
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