Chapter Text
Hayden woke up later than Jinx the next day, but one thing she noticed immediately was her girlfriend’s somberness.
The girl was quietly sitting at her desk, fiddling with her toys, but without any actual interest. Her eyes followed her own movements more out of habit than passion, and Hayden bit her lip because she immediately knew that Jinx wasn't feeling okay.
They were walking through the Undercity again, but this time with a very specific destination in mind. Most of the morning was spent quietly beforehand, Jinx lacking much energy and seemingly wrapped up in her head again. The blue-haired girl tried to tinker for a bit, but Hayden could see she wasn’t actually interested in doing so; she lacked any enthusiasm in whatever she was making and was simply going through motions.
So she suggested they go for a walk, and Jinx quietly asked if they could visit The Last Drop.
As if Hayden would ever deny her a request like that. She would've felt offended if Jinx didn’t look like she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go there or what she was even expecting.
That broke Hayden's heart, and so she encouraged the girl and hoped Jinx would find whatever she wanted when they got there.
The bar was basically abandoned, but neither of them expected any less. This was probably the third time they had visited since the tea party, but that fact hadn't changed.
Hayden followed behind Jinx quietly as the girl ambled her way up the stairs, moving slowly, as if memories were catching her at every step. She wished she could help her with whatever she was thinking, but Jinx knew she was here and if she wanted comfort, she was more than used to getting it when she wanted by now.
Once they reached the top, Jinx stood at the door for a few seconds. Hayden held her breath and waited until the girl finally pushed open the door softly.
“Oh.” It was a quiet remark made as she walked into the room and there actually was something different. Right on the table was a huge prosthetic arm… a familiar prosthetic arm at that.
Hayden watched Jinx closely to try and figure out what her reaction to the news of Sevika coming here would be… But Jinx just stared at it for several moments before letting out a loud scoff and kicking the chair closest to her with a scowl.
“Jinx?” She called her name softly, maybe hoping to gauge where her head was currently. Jinx's head snapped to her, eyes sharp, aware, and even slightly glowing, but Hayden kept her gaze soft.
Jinx blinked a few times, her hands raising from her sides, almost reaching for her head, but then she dropped them and let out a deep sigh. “Silco wasn't only important to me, I guess.” She murmured it out, but it was still clear to Hayden in the empty room. She offered her hand, and Jinx didn’t hesitate to grab it and step closer to her again, just holding it close for however long they both stood there grounding Jinx. She wasn’t alone, and that's what mattered.
“Do you think she'll come back anytime soon?” Hayden asked softly once Jinx looked more stable and wasn’t holding her hand as if she was holding on for her own life.
“I doubt she would go without her arm for too long. She'll be back.” Hayden looked at Jinx carefully. The other girl seemed okay again, so she risked pulling away, and she let her.
“And us?”
“We can wait.”
“Okay.”
[-]
This was the third time they came here since the incident, and each time Jinx had very different reactions based on what she was feeling. So when Sevika came into the office all slow and clearly irritated, Hayden kinda anticipated it. Even when the older woman started talking to Silco's chair, it wasn’t like she hadn't watched Jinx do the same barely some days ago.
Jinx teasing Sevika instantly, though… she didn’t expect that. Especially knowing the mood the girl was in earlier, but maybe Jinx also was aware that Sevika and herself were just the ones left behind at this point.
“Jeez, lady, you crazy?” Jinx laid on the beam lazily as Sevika instantly threw the screw at her and nailed her braid. “Talking to dead people.”
Hayden let out a gasp from her spot next to the girl, which made the older woman glance between the two of them with a scowl.
“You brought your pet enforcer with you to help finish me off?”
Jinx gave a noncommittal hum as she pulled the screwdriver from both her braid and the wooden beam. Her head lightly bumped against Hayden's leg, a small show of affection, before she started slowly sliding herself down from her position. “Haven’t I done you enough favors?”
She fully dropped down and landed on the table in a curled-up position. She wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the empty chair in front of her.
Hayden felt her chest tighten as she watched the woman Jinx continuously described as an ogre stare the other girl down with clear hate in her eyes. She didn’t even feel comfortable looking at her girlfriend anymore as she gave her full attention to the woman picking up a glass bottle behind her.
She swallowed thinly, but placed her hand on her gun. She wasn’t sure what Jinx wanted from this woman or why they waited for her… but she refused to let her get hurt, especially not when she was in such a vulnerable state. Whoever this woman was, she was way too focused on Jinx to even remember there was another girl there as well.
Too bad for her.
“Same time every day. Big baby couldn’t do it himself.”
Hayden didn’t even realize how intensely she had wound herself up until the older woman slowly dropped her glass and let out a sigh. Her hand didn't move from its place on her pistol, but her shoulders did drop, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds to take some breaths.
Jinx was okay. She didn’t need to shoot this lady, and by the sounds of it, she probably wouldn't have to anytime soon.
“Couldn’t do much himself.” Jinx gave another hum just as Hayden felt ready to continue observing the scene below. “About now, he’d have me all over the Lanes running his collections.”
“Building his weapons.”
“Making his deals.”
“Exploding his enemies.”
Listening to the two women below speak about Silco in such sad and yet clearly nostalgic tones was depressing for her as well. Hayden let out her own soft breath before leaning all the way back so she was just staring at the wooden roof and continued to listen.
“He dips out, the whole world flips over.” There was a small growl she let out, right before Hayden heard a shift, and she quickly sat back up to see Sevika throwing a chair with a frustrated shout. She stared at the sudden wreckage before looking back at the older woman again. She even noticed Jinx was watching her too as the woman breathed out heavily.
“All his plans. Everything we built.” She took a few wandering steps forward, “The hell we supposed to do now?” She turned back to face Jinx sitting on the table.
Jinx had grabbed her broken prosthetic arm and swung it around. Close enough to startle the woman, but in such a lax and uninterested fashion that the woman didn't feel the need to retaliate.
Hayden stared down at her girlfriend. As far as she knew, they'd both been pretty aimless the past few weeks. All she wanted was to stay with Jinx, to be there for the one person she felt like could understand her… but Jinx herself hasn't cared about much else since the tea party. The girl has shown a lot of care in also staying with Hayden, but even after only being with her girlfriend for such a short amount of time, she knew Jinx thrived when she had a purpose. Even more so when that purpose was for someone or something else.
Hayden knew she couldn’t give Jinx a purpose because all she wanted was to be with her. As long as they were together she was fine. So if Jinx suddenly made up her mind on what she wanted, then she wanted to show she would be there with her. She jumped down behind Sevika, a stable and secure landing on her two feet, and she watched as Jinx's eyes shifted from their lazy indifference while looking at nothing to making direct eye contact with her.
Her heart hammered as those pink eyes stayed locked on her own, and Jinx finally gave her answer.
“Watch it all burn.”
Her eyes went wide and she let out a small, “Oh,” but they both held the contact for much longer than necessary.
Sevika gave out a scoff. “Is that okay with your little pet enforcer over here?”
Both of their eyes dragged back over to the woman, but it didn't last long as Jinx quickly looked back at her silently, before raising a single brow in a question.
Hayden took a moment to realize she really needed to answer, but once she did, she still didn’t know how to untangle the many conflicting thoughts she had. But in the end, she had two main concerns.
She was an enforcer; she had a duty to protect the people, and Jinx's idea would absolutely hurt too many.
But she was also Jinx's girlfriend, and she had to support her. ( And she wanted to do so as well.)
It was getting close to a minute of silence, and she shook her head to get rid of her fighting thoughts before stomping her foot and then walking over to the table where Jinx was. She opened her mouth to finally answer, but her eyebrows furrowed, and then she glared at the girl, only a few inches from her face.
Jinx went from questioning to confused pretty fast; she even spared a glance at Sevika in her nervousness before immediately looking back at Hayden in front of her.
“Who am I?”
“What?”
“Who am I, Jinx?”
“Hayden?”
She leaned closer and shook her head. Jinx's eyes quickly dropped to her lips before jumping back up to her eyes.
The ex-enforcer sucked her teeth before pulling back to a reasonable distance.
Jinx was still quiet but staring at her in shock.
“Would you just let anyone get in your face like that? Any old enforcer would be acceptable? An enforcer pet who just does your bidding?”
As she spoke, she watched Jinx's mouth drop, but she could see that the girl was finally starting to understand.
“You're my girlfriend.”
“Yes, yes, I am. I chose you, Jinx, and I'll keep choosing you. Alright?”
The other girl nodded slowly, the same second Sevika gave a low whistle.
“Never thought I'd see the day you would be put in your place like that.”
Jinx scowled and rolled her eyes, “Don’t get used to it.”
Hayden, whose heart rate had finally started to calm down, and she felt the weird adrenaline rush she had given herself giving way to realizing how bold she just was, gave a breathless and awed giggle.
She never spoke up to someone like that before… Especially not someone she cared about. She would always just go along with anything, but when she was just going to tell Jinx she would stick with her, she couldn’t help but think back to Sevika's words and found herself a bit irritated.
She felt frustrated many times before, but she never thought the people around her would actually care or do anything, so she didn’t bother bringing up her problems… but Jinx was helping her open up, it was just unfortunate that the first time she had to speak up for herself was for something like this, though.
But she felt a bit happy and in awe of herself. It felt good to make her point and actually force her girlfriend to understand.
“You good there, sweetheart? You're looking a little flushed?”
Hayden focused again around herself, only to realize they were alone and Jinx was right in front of her. She smiled before quickly leaning in and finally kissing her girlfriend. Her arms quickly grabbed her sides as Jinx gasped into the sudden kiss, but returned it just as fiercely.
Neither cared much for breathing during the kiss, so when they inevitably broke apart, they were both panting to catch their breath.
“What's gotten into you today?” Jinx barely got the words out, but Hayden just chuckled lowly before resting her head against Jinx's shoulder.
“This is just me showing you how much I appreciate you. Don't think about it too hard.”
Hayden watched as Jinx mulled over the words and still stared at her a bit confused, but she soon let out a sigh and took her hand. “I think that's enough excitement for one day, though. Let's head back.”
“Okay.”