Chapter Text
Lux signed as she lifted yet another pot from the sink. This one was full to the brim with water and had a suspicious brown film floating along the bottom.
"How can anyone live like this?" She wondered aloud.
Lux had set her sights on clearing out the kitchen before lunch, but it was almost 2:00, and she had barely put a dent in the mountain of dishwater and utensils crammed into the sink. Looking around, the trash bins were similarly overflowing, the stovetop was coated in grime, and the pantry was in complete disarray. Clearly, this room had been abused and neglected for as long as it had been in use.
"One step at a time" She kept reminding herself, although any hope of having lunch (Or dinner for that matter) seemed increasingly unlikely.
Had Lux known about the state of her girlfriend's house beforehand, she likely would've insisted on finding another apartment closer to her work and avoided the herculean-task of making the old 2-story Zaunite building fit for human inhabitants.
The rest of the house was in a similar, but thankfully less disgusting state of chaos. The dining room was devoid of any furniture and was covered in an even coat of dust from having not been entered in so long, the bedrooms were chock-a-block full of seemingly hundreds of pillows and blankets that transformed the spaces into unruly nests. And the Basement.
Lux shuddered. The basement had been transformed into her girlfriend's self-proclaimed workstation/lair/pit of despair. To Lux, it served as nothing more than an inevitable fire hazard that with one spark, could send the entire house up into an inferno. The amount of heavy machinery and chemicals down there left almost no room for maneuverability, and Lux couldn't even begin to estimate how long it would take to clear out-
BANG!
Flinching hard, it took everything Lux had not to scream as the door rocketed open without warning.
"Hiya Blondie!" Jinx bowed ironically and strode through the doorway.
"You would not believe how my day is goin- Ack!" Lux held Jinx at arm's length, blocking the incoming hug from reaching her.
"Whata y-"
"You truly are mad if you think you are coming near me and my white shirt like that," Lux said sternly.
Jinx looked down at her front, apparently unaware of the splattering of multi-color paints and smudges of soot she was covered in.
"Ohhhh... yeah sorry," Jinx said sheepishly, "I thought that they would've washed off as I escaped through the sewers."
Lux shot back into the lip of the sink.
"Ha! Kidding! I actually escaped through the canals" she announced proudly, "You wouldn't believe the look on Tophat's face when I willingly went overboard an-"
Lux leaned forward gingerly and interrupted her retelling with a tentative kiss, being careful to avoid touching Jinx anywhere besides her lips. To Jinx's dismay, the kiss was cut short as the blonde quickly leaned back again, regarding her critically.
"You can tell me everything over lunch but-" Lux paused meaningfully, "-you must go upstairs first and change your clothes, and take a shower."
Jinx recovered from Lux's affections quickly upon registering her request.
"But it's like noon!" She complained, "I always take a shower after dinner, and besides the clothes, I actually washed off in the canals!"
"You forget that I have experienced firsthand the smell that comes off those canals," Lux said with a raised eyebrow.
Jinx had no retort.
"Go upstairs and I'll order your favorite." Lux tempted.
"Jericho's?"
Lux nodded sagely, knowing the consequences of this transaction would include jinx bouncing off the walls for several hours, hopped up on sugar and hot sauce. A necessary sacrifice.
"Deal!" Jinx turned on her heels and dashed up the stairs at an inhuman speed, tracking muddy footprints along the floor as she went.
"And make sure you put your dirty clothes in the hamper!" Lux hollered after her. The returning hysterical cackle made no promises.
Lux couldn't keep the smile from her face as she shook her head and turned back to the sink. The likelihood that she could bring their house up to scratch with her whirlwind of a partner within the next year was becoming less and less feasible by the day.
Yet Lux found that she was fine with that.