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Ekko’s fingers coil into cobalt locks, the soft rise of Jinx’s chest against his own as she breathed—her body surrendered on top of his.
A moment such as this is so unreal to Ekko; it all eerily resembles a time when the two had slept curled next to each other as children, their families conversing in the last drop above.
“You’re daydreaming again, wonder boy…” Jinx muttered, her voice seemingly softer, snapping Ekko out of his state of disbelief.
A hushed laugh escaped his lips as his fingers continued their path through her long strands.
“Just admiring the moment, I guess.”
“Actin’ like this will be the last time, ha?” The woman scoffed, nudging him a little, her skin pressed against his once more. His digits shifted, bee-lining over the freckles that graced her smooth shoulders, tracing patterns. Just four more seconds.
If only he could be stuck here forever.
“Do you ever… regret not coming with me? When I came to find you, after Silco took you in?” Ekko hated having to utter that man's name. However, he bit back whatever hatred he had. Well, it was more like the firelight had come to accept that Jinx saw Silco as her father figure before the monster that he was. After all, she was seen as a monster to many too, her true, buried nature often overlooked or even disregarded due to the severity of her violence.
“Everyone left me, Ekko. Who was to say you wouldn’t give up on me too?” Her response was cutthroat. Her body tensed, shifting to shield the view of her face.
The tracing stopped. Her head was probably loud.
“I’m sorry, I gave up on you.” There was no lie in that response; he regretted every moment that he spent thinking that she was no longer there. That she was any less now than when she was Powder.
That powder was lost.
“We were kids, Ekko. Plus, if I stayed with you, who's to say I wouldn't end up hurting you too?” Powder was right here, in the vulnerability that Jinx shed when she was left with nothing but her own thoughts. They were never different; just one was a shell of pain used to mask the child looking not to be abandoned behind it.
“We hurt each other more now than we would ever…” A soft grasp on her chin turned her focus back on him. “We hurt each other now, being the way we are… I hurt you, but I'm not accepting that this isn't you. That you are still the kid I knew back when we used to flip off enforcers and make silly trinkets.” A curl of her lips, it was working.
“I can’t promise that you will never hurt me, Jinx, just like I can't promise that I won't ever hurt you. But I can promise that I won’t ever give up on you again. I’m done running.”
Done running from the past that he can’t change, from the version of that girl he loved, but he didn’t know. He knew she was never coming back.
“Smooth lines you got there, Mister.” A shake in her voice, the grip she held on his side tightening. Refusing to let go.
Ekko brushed away strands that blocked her face, regarding her with a fondness that couldn’t be expressed to anyone else.
“Just don’t hide from me anymore, Jinx.” His words were a haze in his mind, like there were aspects of the conversation he was missing or lacked memory of.
This didn’t feel right.
It’s like she was searching for a flicker of doubt in his words. Like she was waiting for the catch, one that she wouldn’t find.
“Right, well. I guess you can’t really get rid of me now, Mr. You’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not. Well, I guess it’s because I’ve got nowhere else to go, you know, crazy sister-in-law, blowing up buildings… killing’ important people. The usual activities—” Her tangent was cut short by the soft press of Ekko’s lips against hers. Jinx composes herself once more, savouring the moment.
Ekko’s thumb passed over her cheekbone, parting from the kiss with a smile. For once, she returned one, a glimmer in her eyes as she returned her head to its previous position. Perched under his chin, gently resting on his chest. Ekko’s hand continues its soft map over her body, tension releasing as they both let sleep take them.
It was heaven, until Ekko woke with a missing heaviness on top of him, and there was no sign of Jinx to be seen. The air lacked the smell of gunpowder and lavender, as if she were a ghost.
That’s when it dawned on Ekko, the emptiness of the sheets beside him confirming everything he needed to fix the puzzle back into place.
It had all been a dream. A sickening, painful dream.
