All about Flinx

Wally's Four Failures at proposal and one success

A couple of days after Kid Flash picks up Jinx (quite literally, too, her ridiculous amount of bags hanging off one arm and her wrapped in the other; her grip was almost nightmarishly tight around his neck before he set off running to his little apartment. She would tell him later, tweaking at her ponytails, that I understand convenience and shit, Flash, but for fuck's sake, next time we'll flag a cab or rent a car), they go to the nearby Panda Express, dressed in civilian clothes, no less, and slide into a booth to devour sesame chicken. They talk in between colossal bites. They enjoy each other's company for more than either of them feel they have the right to.

In the couple of days in which Jinx moved into Flash's apartment, Jinx learned a bit more on the mechanics of being a hero , they'd accustomed to each other's music taste and personal space, awkwardness between them melted as snow froze over Breeze City and they had promoted each other to first name- that is to say, real name- basis.

When the fortune cookies arrive, Jaya is thrilled. She dictates five minutes of her love of fortune cookies and proceeds to order several more trays of them. She's unusually enthusiastic as she cracks them open with something just off the side of flagrant disregard and reads the fortunes aloud, tacking in bed to the end of each. Wally gazes at her, eating the cookies and soon cracks out that the newfound freedom has just truly registered with her. Without her old teammates to weigh her down, she has a whole new future ahead of her – the chance to be great.

He didn't doubt she would be, somehow.

"Aren't you going to open one?" she says, leaning over the table. There is a clunk as Wally's jacket slides a bit on her frame. On the way, her shivering prompted Wally to sheath her with it. She still needs to get used to the cold; Breeze City gets a lot colder than Jump City when it edges towards this time of year. Those oddly coloured eyes of her are practically sparkling. Her wild pink hair is loose, falling freely past her shoulders and curling spectacularly around the angles of her pink-tinged face, and is a beacon of radiance.

Smirking, Wally grabs a fortune cookie at random and crushes it, eating the cookie and unfurling the strip of paper and reads it. Grin widening, he slides the paper carefully across to Jaya. She reads it out loud and, you will soon begin a new relationship. Her cheeks turn pinker but she meets his eyes carefully, and they darken somewhat against each other. A nimble finger rests on the paper and slides it back to its rightful owner.

It turns out soon is seven months, five days and two hours, a couple of months after what the guys refer to as the Titan Gang-Bang at the Brotherhood of Evil, but it's still cool. Who's counting, right? Not Jaya or Wally, that's for sure.

They're both ready to Say It about a month in. Hell, Jaya later tells him she thought she was ready to Say It about a week in but didn't because how awkward would that be.

Wally takes Jaya out to a Chinese restaurant in Jump City for her birthday. He had carefully asked around about good Chinese food, and received a recommendation from a suggestively grinning Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin (and fuck them, seriously, like this wasn't awkward enough).

Wally's fortune tells him to overcome his fears and he hates Asian rituals forever. He eats the cookie and averts his eyes, cheeks warm and feels like a girl. "I love you," he says, uncharacteristically soft but characteristically quick, raising his eyes to meet hers.

She smiles, says "And I love you," with equally soft assuredness. Then she stifles a laugh and a wide grin threatens to stretch her lips ridiculously wide even as she fights it. It's Wally's favourite Jaya smile and he can't recall why he was afraid to Say It. She smiles that smile and pushes her fortune across the table. He leans over and reads: You're ready to take the next step.

Two and a half years later, when they've been newly relocated to Breeze City as a Titans base, he goes for a walk. And, rather unusually, he actually walks. At least on the way back. He ponders to himself, running his hand through his hair and grinding his teeth. His palms are sweating, and little black specks dot them from his cradling the velvet box for too long. The sun has gone down and the sky is thick with dark clouds, a stark change from the afternoon brightness and he's still thinking slowly. He can't figure out how to do this.

Wally has a tendency to be somewhat of a massive idiot.