Chapter Text
Jack Spicer sits under the shade of a tree in the school playground. He’s no more than five years old, tucking his small body as tightly as he can against the tree trunk to avoid being spotted by the other kids. They pay him no mind, too focused on running around and playing with each other to care about the boy sitting alone. Even his usual bullies are too busy to care. This is the norm for the most part, the other children ignoring him until some of the older boys remember that they find it more fun to pick on the freaky kid, teasing and ridiculing him for his strange appearance. With impossibly white skin, matching hair, and brilliant blood red eyes, the young boy’s striking looks distance him from his peers. If that wasn’t reason enough, the boy is strikingly intelligent, far past his peers in all all areas of study, he’s heard his teachers talk about testing him out of several grades already. These differences cause the other children to avoid him, and he’s too afraid of the older boys to try and make any friends himself, leaving him alone most of the time.
So, Jack sits under his tree, far away from the other children and hidden from view of everyone except the teachers that watch over them from near the building. His legs are tucked neatly underneath his chin, arms wrapped around them to keep himself as small as possible. In his head, he’s thinking of the small robotic puppy his maman had just bought for him, wondering if he could fix it to make it not fall over every few steps. Maybe if he could find his daddy’s tools, but he locked them in his office after he caught Jack with them last time, and he was really mad.
He’s thinking so hard that he doesn’t realise someone has found his hiding place until they speak up, “Hello,” a soft, accented voice pipes up from in front of the boy.
Jack flinches at the sudden noise, and the girl in front of him backs up several steps in response, stumbling over a root and falling onto her butt with a small huff. It’s the new girl from England; with a sweet smile that lights up her silver eyes. Warm copper skin and a cloud of red hair, she’s the strangest and prettiest girl he’s ever seen. Why is she talking to him? Haven’t the others told her he’s a freak? Can’t she see that for herself? That doesn’t seem to matter to the girl though, she straightens from where she fell, not a single tear in sight, and smiles up at him.
“Can I sit here with you?” she asks quietly, like they’re sharing a secret. Jack finds himself nodding, too surprised to do anything else but stare as she crawls through the grass and dirt to come sit next to him, wiping her dirty hands on her dark blue skirt. She smiles at him when she settles, dimples forming on each cheek, Jack doesn’t know what to think, but he flushes and looks away with embarrassment. None of the other children have ever even spoken to him for this long, much less smiled at him before, they usually prefer to stare at his red eyes or weird hair.
“My name’s Juliet Celandine, what’s yours?” she asks, not bothered by him looking away, she settles back to lean against the tree, pulling her legs up to sit like him.
Jack glances at her out of the corner of his eye, flushing again when she sees him and smiles happily, “Jack, Jack Spicer.” he answers quietly, mumbling into his knees as he tries to hide his face.
“Jack, do you want to be my friend?” she asks, and he snaps his head up to look at her with shock.
“Why?” Jack asks, suspicious; no one ever wants to be his friend.
Juliet shrugs leaning her head so it rests on her knees as she looks at him, “Mrs. Rene一 I mean auntie said to make friends, and you looked lonely. Plus I think your eyes are pretty, they’re like rubies!” she exclaims, wiggling in place a little and grinning.
Jack stares at her in shock; she likes his weird eyes? Everyone else thinks they’re creepy. He smiles at her, just a little,“Okay.” he whispers, it would be nice to have a friend.
She beams at him, bouncing in place so hard that they knock shoulders, Jack doesn’t mind the touch as much as he would have if one of his bullies had done it. The teacher calls them back inside to continue class, and Jack frowns as he realises he won’t get to spend much time with his new friend. Juliet isn’t as worried about that as he is, grabbing his hand excitedly and pulling him up with her. She doesn’t let go even as they begin walking back inside, swing their hands between them happily and ignoring the looks the other kids give them.
“Jack, I think we’re going to be the best of friends!” Juliet says confidently, her hand is warm in his, and Jack finds himself agreeing with her as that warmth spreads through him. He feels himself grinning as they walk through the doors into the school.
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“Jack, you could do amazing things, with your abilities you could hold the world in your hands if you only tried.” Jack's seventh grade teacher urges him after class that day, holding him back as the older kids file out of the room. Jack is strangely quiet as he walks through the halls, passing the much older children without being noticed. He thanks his luck as he exits the middle school building, he’s not exactly in the right headspace to be bullied for the terrible crime of being seven in middle school. He’s still strangely contemplative when he meets Juliet outside, and continues to be that way as they climb into her uncle’s car with all of her cousins and drive back to the Cooper family’s house.
Later, when they’re tucked safely into the room Juliet shares with her older cousin Alexis, Jack spills the beans about what he’s been thinking, “I could have the whole world, Jewels! All of it!” he exclaims, hanging upside down from the top bunk and gesturing wildly with his arms.
“First, you’re gonna fall and Lexi is gonna be mad. Second, you could do just about anything once you set your mind to it, you built a talking robot last year.” Juliet tells him, effortlessly finishing her half of their math homework and sliding the paper over to his side of the desk.
Jack straightens up, flipping over and shoving his face in Juliet’s pillow, pushing several colored pencils into the crevice between the mattress and the wall. He pouts at Juliet’s back as she shuffles through their homework folder, “C’mon, Jewels, think about it! If I ruled the worldー” he cuts himself off, gasping excitedly as an idea pops into his head, he sits up on the bed, shoving his legs over the side and kicking his socked feet against the wood of the ladder excitedly, “No! If we ruled the world, think of what we could do!” Jack exclaims, gesturing grandly again.
Juliet turns to look at him, an elbow resting on the back of the chair, “We? Jack, I don’t want to rule the world, It sounds like too much work.” Juliet says, turning back to the desk and flipping open her history notebook to continue her homework.
“Oh come on, Jewels! It's not like you to be so lazy!” he half shouts, laughing when she throws a crumpled up flashcard at him, “How about this then; I’ll be the Evil Boy Genius and you’ll be my mediator slash advisor person or something!” Juliet considers this for a moment while pulling out her history textbook out of the shelf above her desk.
“Hm, works for me,” she shrugs, dropping the book to the desk with a thud when her small arms can’t hold its weight, “besides ‘Jack Spicer: Evil Boy Genius’ has a nice ring to it don’t you think?” she grins at him over her shoulder.
Jack returns her grin and jumps down from the top bunk, landing with a thud and ignoring the annoyed shouts from other parts of the house as he pounces on her in a hug, “I knew you’d see it my way!” he squeals, Juliet laughs and turns the hug into a chokehold, dragging him low and ruffing his hair mercilessly.
“Yeah, yeah, sure, Spicer.”
“Jack, what did you do?” Juliet asks, watching suspiciously as said boy runs into her room, slamming the door behind him as hard as his seven year old limbs can manage and gasping for breath, his head down and carefully covered by the jacket Juliet’s aunt had given him for Christmas that year.
“Nothing!” Jack replies quickly, trying to hide further under the heavy black jacket, he slouches against the bedroom door with the effort, but that only makes Juliet more suspicious.
“Hiding your entire face is not nothing!” She huffs, rolling her eyes and coming over to him. He squeaks when she tugs at the jacket, fighting her with all his strength to keep it covering his head. After several minutes of playing tug of war with the jacket and kicking each other in the shins to try and make the other let go, Juliet gets a good grip on the jacket and yanks it off his head, pulling it completely out of his hands in the process. She snorts when she sees what he’s done, covering her mouth with a hand to try and keep herself from laughing, “What in the world did you do to your hair?!” Juliet exclaims through her uncontrollable giggles. Jack’s previously snow white hair has changed into a lovely shade of patchy neon orange, it clashes horribly with the red flush growing on his cheeks.
“It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way!” Jack whines, covering his face with his hands as Juliet visibly tries to suppress her childish glee.
“Okay, but why is it like that?” she asks, sounding like she might burst into laughter again at any moment, her face nearly split in two with how wide she’s grinning.
“Well I, uh, I mean. No reason! there’s no reason at all!” Jack stutters, refusing to look at Juliet.
“Jack,” Juliet singsongs, “You know you wanna tell me!” she continues, poking him in the side where she knows he’s ticklish.
Predictably, he shrieks, wigging away and sticking his tongue out at her when he’s a safe distance away. He sighs, looking down at his feet and shuffling nervously, “I wanted to make it look like yours. I thought maybe people wouldn’t look at me like I’m such a freak if I had normal hair.” Juliet’s expression softens and she crosses the room to pull Jack into a gentle hug.
“Oh, Ruby, you are fine just the way you are, no matter what those idiots say.” Jack nods sullenly, soaking in the comfort of her hug. Juliet pulls away after a few moments, leaving her hands on his shoulders, “I really don’t think orange is your color, but if you really want to change your hair I bet Dean or Lexi can help you out with it.” she offers, carefully not looking at the mess he’s made of his hair.
“You’re the best, Jewels!” he grins, throwing his arms around her shoulders in an excited hug.
“I know, come on, let’s see if we can find them!” she says, pushing him away so she can grab his hand and drag him out of the room, they have some cousins to find.
“Jewels, look what grandmother sent me!” Jack yells excitedly as he runs into the den of her house.
“Just come right in then, Jackie,” Juliet’s older cousin Dean mutters as he ruffles Jack’s now ruby red hair, walking around him and throwing himself onto the couch next to Juliet. Jack pouts at the older boy, fixing his hair quickly as Juliet looks up from her sketchbook.
“What did she send you, Jack?” Jack proudly shows her the heli-pack in his hands while nearly vibrating with excitement.
“She says it’s for if I ever get into a pinch and need to get away quickly, what with my newly evil lifestyle.” Jack puffs up with pride, grinning excitedly at Juliet as she puts her sketchbook to the side, she makes grabby hands at the round backpack-like object in Jack’s hands.
“Lemme see!” she whines, ignoring Dean as he snorts beside her.
Jack nearly skips over to her, passing her the heli-pack carefully, “It’s supposed to extend out into two propellers and fly you around like a helicopter!” he explains, even Dean makes an interested sound at that.
“Cool!” Juliet grins, tilting it so Dean can see, she presses the big button in the middle of the straps, and the two propellers burst out, knocking Jack over.
“Oh shit! You okay, Jack?” Dean asks, luckily the propellers didn’t actually turn on.
“I’m good, auntie’s gonna be mad if she hears you using those words though.” Jack says, brushing himself off and standing up from the floor.
Dean scoffs, “I’m thirteen now, I’m old enough to use whatever words I want!” Dean complains.
Juliet rolls her eyes, “Nuh uh! Auntie’s gonna be mad!”
Dean glares at her, “What do you know anyway? You’re only eight!”
“I’m already in high school!” Juliet sticks her tongue out a him, squealing when he pokes her stomach in retaliation.
“What do you want not to tell mom?” Dean sighs, clearly losing that argument.
She grins, eyes flashing with mischief, “Don’t tell auntie that I’m teaching Jack to fly.”
“Deal.” Dean sighs at the same time that Jack squeals, “Really!?”
“You are the best!” Jack throws his arms around her shoulders in a tight hug, pressing her into the back of the couch with his weight.
“I know, now get off!” she complains, pushing him away and scooting off the couch, she grabs Jack's hand and drags him along behind her outside, heli-pack held close to her chest.
“Don’t get too hurt or mom’s gonna find out!” Dean calls from his place on the couch, turning on the tv once they’re out of sight.
“Jack, That’s just how it’s going to be.” his father says sternly, ignoring the distraught expression on his son’s face, leaving the recently emptied bedroom that once belonged to his shocked son without another word. Jack's father only just told him of their impending move to China as the movers carried the last pieces of furniture from their home. Jack had been at the Cooper's house with Juliet before returning home to find it empty. China was so far from here, but it wasn’t the place itself he would miss, rather the person that would no doubt stay here. Jack's thoughts spiraled downwards at the thought of losing Juliet and he couldn’t stop his tears from falling down his face, his sobs echoing loudly throughout the newly empty house.
“Jack?” he hears Juliet’s familiar voice call out to him and hiccups loudly in response, he frantically tries to stop his crying before she can see him, rubbing at his eyes roughly. A small warm hand grabs his, and when he looks up he sees the blurry outline of his friend. She pulls him down to the floor, sitting next to him and pulling him close in a hug, his head pressed into the space between her neck and shoulder, tears still sliding down his face, “Oh, Ruby, your father just told me everything.” Juliet says as she rocks them back and forth, “You left your robot blueprints at my house, so I came over to give them back and I saw the moving truck. I’m so sorry, Jack.” she soothes, hugging him close and running a hand through his hair.
“How are you so calm, Jewels?” Jack asks miserably, sniffling pitifully and wrapping his arms around her, he absently twirls a curl of her long red hair around his finger to distract himself.
“I’m not, trust me on that. But one of us needs to be calm right now or else this’ll just be worse.” Juliet says, her voice hollow. Jack risks a glance up at her, lifting his head off her shoulder and wiping the tears out of his eyes. Her normally warm silver eyes are dull and emotionless, the small smile she gives him is just as empty. Jack gulps as slight uneasiness forms in his gut, this isn’t like his friend, that dull look doesn’t belong in her eyes and he doesn’t know how to fix it.
“Jewels?” Jack calls worriedly. Just as suddenly as it had appeared that look was gone, and Juliet smiles sadly at Jack as the warmth returns to her eyes.
“Come on, Jack, no more tears,” she says, using her sleeve to wipe the moisture from his cheeks, “this isn’t the last time you’ll see me. I’m sure I can visit every now and then and we could always call.” She reassures.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna miss you though.” Jack sniffles, grabbing her hand and squeezing.
“I’ll miss you too, Jack. Don’t worry, one day we’ll be together again.” Juliet promises as she helps Jack up from the floor, “Now come on, maybe we can have one last sleepover at my house before you leave tomorrow!” Juliet says excitedly. Jack held tightly to her hand as they exited his house for the last time.
“Jewels, you’re never gonna believe it!” Jack exclaims into the phone the second he hears the quiet hello from the other end. He rolls around on his bed excitedly, keeping an ear out for Wuya just in case she decides to phase into his room.
“ How many phone calls have started in this exact same way, Jack? And how often have I been surprised? ” Juliet sounds tired, and Jack curses himself internally for not thinking about timezones.
“Well, almost none, but this is something even you don’t know!” he decides to continue anyway, too hyped up about his new discovery to do anything but rant and squeal about it.
“ Jack, I know everything. ”
“Not everything一”
“ Everything. ”
“Well anyway, I may or may not have found my way to ruling the world!”
“ Oh? Do tell, ” Juliet says, sounding more awake now and interested.
“Okay, so there are these things called the Shen Gong Wu,” Jack goes on to explain about the amazing day he just had.
“So, you know my evil idol?” Jack starts only to hear Juliet snort over the phone, he pouts at the empty air in front of him, knowing she’ll be able to tell even when she can’t see him.
“ Which one ?”
“No need to be snippy”
“ There is always a need to be snippy, Jack. ” Jack rolls his eyes; he can practically hear the smirk on her face.
“Anyway, I met Chase Young!” he exclaims, he winces when he rolls over onto a new bruise but he doesn’t let that get to him on this, the greatest day of his life.
“ Isn’t he supposed to be a myth ?” Juliet’s voice sounds off for some reason, but he’s too excited to care, it’s probably just a bad connection.
“Well, he’s not! He’s very real and very cool and a little violent, but whatever he’s evil right?”
“ Wait, what? Violent? Jack did he hurt you? ” Juliet's voice drips with sudden disdain.
“Not badly, but anyway so Chase Young,” He goes on to tell Juliet everything he knows about Chase young. Which she begrudgingly listens to.
In a grand ballroom in an even grander mansion stands Jack, exceedingly better dressed than usual and alone. He sighs into the flute of champagne he swiped from a serving tray when no one was looking, taking a long sip.
“You know, I’m pretty sure that stuff is bad for a boy your age,” an amused voice pipes up from beside him. Jack's head whips around and he grins at the sight of Juliet, dressed in a black princess ball gown, grinning giddily with a small lopsided wrapped present in her hands.
“Jewels! You made it!” Jack exclaims before pulling her into a hug, Juliet laughs joyfully, returning the hug as best she can and grabbing the glass from Jack's hand. Jack pouts at her as she moves to stand beside him and takes a sip out of the glass, “Hey that’s mine!”
“Don’t whine, Jack, I’m saving you from yourself!” Julie teases before finishing off the champagne and placing the empty flute on a passing waiter's tray.
“Didn’t you just say it's bad for someone my age?” Jack huffs but can’t hide his grin as Juliet rolls her eyes.
“Ah yes but I’m far older than you remember?” She teases back, dodging Jack’s responding playful shove and pinning his arms against the wall with her back.
“By like three months!” Jack laughs as his shove is dodged easily “Ugh, see even you can beat me easily!” Jack whines again as Juliet releases his arms.
“How’s all that magical what’s-it been going anyway?” Juliet questions as she smoothes her large skirt down.
“Not good, honestly,” Jack frowns and looks away “I haven’t won a showdown in months, it’s pretty pathetic.” he says glumly. Juliet lightly bumps shoulders with him to get his attention before smiling gently.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Look, you’re only fifteen and you’re up against what? A thousands of years old lizard man and a creepy and equally old witch? And those are just some of your other Heylin competitors! Don’t be so down on yourself” She encourages, Jack smiles weakly.
“Thanks, Jewels.”
“Anytime, Ruby. Now let's go see if we can sneak into the gardens. A boy only turns fifteen once and he shouldn’t have to spend it at some snooty family party.” Juliet says, taking Jack's hand and weaving their way through party guests, towards the back garden.
“Oh, it’s so nice to hear from you, darling!” Jack's mother gushes over the phone as Jack peeks his head out of the door to his lab to see if is safe to try and grab some pudding from the kitchen without running into one of his parents. Jack's parents had returned to the house briefly on one of their rare breaks from whatever lavish vacation or fancy work trip they were taking. Their presence was often something for Jack to be wary of since neither party was very familiar with one another, it mostly begins with awkward family dinners and slowly deviates to Jack hiding away in his lab until they leave.
“Oh, there he is now! I’ll just leave you to it then!” His mother chirps when she spots Jack, waving him over to take their wireless home phone and winking at him for some reason as she hands it over.
“Uh, hello?” Jack answers warily as he retreats back to his lab with the phone.
“ I think your mother thinks we’re in love, ” Juliet’s laughing voice answers him, and Jack relaxes immediately, breathing a big sigh as his shoulders relax.
“Oh good, it's you, Jewels. She she winked at me when she handed me the phone and I thought it was something bad.”
“ Exactly what have you been up to that you think your mother winking at you over a phone call is bad news? ” Juliet laughs at the offended squawk Jack lets out in response.
“Nothing, honestly! It’s just, you know how it gets when they’re around. High tension everywhere.” He sighs tiredly as he leans against one of his work tables. “Why didn’t you call my cell anyway? You never use the home phone.”
“ Well I did but you didn’t pick up, I figured I’d try the home one to see if you left it in your lab or something. But then your mother picked up and I think she wants us to get married. ” Juliet says plainly with amusement lacing her voice.
“Of course she does, sorry for not picking up, my music was on.” Jack groans while rubbing his temple to stave off a headache.
“ It's fine, so your music was on? You only do that when you’re deep in work, tell me about your robots. ” Juliet says, knowing it’ll cheer Jack up. Sure enough it works, and Jack is back to animatedly explaining the new design for his Jackbots a few minutes later.
“You know, I might actually be good at this if you were here.” Jack sulks on the phone while his parents have another Christmas party upstairs.
“ Oh Jack, ” Juliet says sadly. Jack laughs humorlessly.
“I know, I know, I’m fine just the way I am, but I can’t be just fine for this to work anymore. I need my Jewel here to help you know?” the line is quiet for a while until Juliet’s soft voice pipes up once more.
“ I’ll talk to my aunt; I might be able to move in with you once Dean graduates college. ”
“Thanks, Jewels.”
“ Anything for you, Ruby, just give me some time and I can be at your side again. ”
“Happy Birthday, Jewels!” Jack yells into his phone with a wicked grin.
“ Jack, It is two in the fucking morning here. What. The. Hell. ” Juliet groans tiredly as she rubs her eyes.
“I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy twentieth birthday!” He grins.
“ You just wanted to get back at me for when I did this to you last year didn’t you? ”
“Yep! Now rise and shine gorgeous, it’s time to face the day as someone one step closer to being as old as you act!” Jack says theatrically, revenge is sweet.
“ Excuse you, what do you mean by that? ” Juliet huffs but she’s already sounding more awake.
“Look, all I’m saying is you’ve acted like you’re five thousand years old since we were five and now you’re one step closer to achieving your goal of being old as hell!” Jack laughs as Juliet gasps in mock offence.
“ You call me at my home, and sass all over my way of living. Jack Spicer, how dare you? ” Juliet chastises in a high and snooty parody of her usual voice.
“You love me, I’m the best friend you’ve ever had!” Jack singsongs and grins when Juliet laughs.
“ True, but you’re still a dweeb, ” Juliet teases back before sighing, “ but I suppose I should tell you my secret now ”
“Wait, what secret!? Tell Jackie the secret!” Jack demands curiously.
“ Well Jack, I’ve been hiding something from you, I’m actually an immortal like that lizard guy you’re in love with. I’m a phoenix who for thousands of years has been dying and been reborn to follow the soul I promised to protect at its very first reincarnation. ” Juliet says completely serious.
The phone line goes silent.
Jack is frozen on the other side, mouth half open in another friendly retort as he tries to figure out if his friend is being serious, finally he laughs uneasily.
“Ha, you had me there for a second, Jewels!”
“ That’ll teach you not to call me at two in the morning. ” Jack hears the smirk in her voice and relaxes at the realization that it was just a joke.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Birdy.” he huffs as he slumps into the ratty couch in his lab.
“ Anything for you, Ruby. ” Juliet croons, voice sugary sweet, “ Now, since you’ve already woken me up, what are you doing today? ” Jack launches into an explanation over his newest plan to get more Wu and the strange joke is quickly forgotten.
“ So, I might have met someone. ” Juliet confesses to Jack over the phone as he tinkers with making his Jackbots a bit sturdier for battle.
“You what! Who is he! Or well, she. Who is she?”
“ Her name's Jasmine, she’s older than us but she’s so interesting, Jack. ” Juliet lets out a sigh of contentment, “We talked for hours, besides you I don’t think there’s ever been anyone to keep my attention so fully for that long.” She admits.
“That’s great to hear, Jewels; I’ll have to meet her sometime.”
“ Well, of course! I need my best friend’s opinion! ” Jack laughs.
“Yeah, yeah, so tell me about her,” Juliet then proceeds to explain everything she knows about Jasmine to Jack, her tone showing how absolutely delighted she is.
Jack checks his voicemail after another humiliating defeat during another Xiaolin Showdown; he has one missed call from Juliet.
“ Hey, Jack, I’m moving close to stay at a hotel nearby… I- I don’t have anything keeping me here anymore, J- Jasmine ended it. It’s bad, Ruby. Anyway, by the time you get this I’ll probably be on a plane, s- so see you soon, Jack. Bye ” from the sound of the message Juliet had been or was still crying, it worried Jack since Juliet never cried, not even when they were separated. He was caught between anger at whatever Jasmine had done to Juliet and excitement to finally see his friend again after all this time apart.
“I guess I’ll see her soon and judge it from there.” Jack mumbles to himself as he goes to fix his Jackbots and wait for Juliet’s call.