All about Flinx

First Kiss

"Happy Birthday!" Kid Flash and Hot Spot yelled as Jinx entered the kitchen. Jinx froze.

"How did you know?" she said. She hadn't told them, so how… she spotted Kid Flash's impish grin and sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No you're not," Argent said firmly. "Kid Flash made waffles. You know how good those things are?"

"Yes," Jinx admitted.

"Come on, Jinx-y!" Kid Flash pled with his best pleading look. "It's waffles…"

She rolled her eyes, and sat at the table, where Jericho already sat. Apparently, he had been excused from the "Convince Jinx this is a Good Idea" part of their evil plan.

"Happy Birthday!" Kid Flash told her, zooming by, placing a plateful of hot waffles, strawberries, and whipped cream under her nose. She reluctantly picked up her fork and started to eat.

"After you're done eating," Kid Flash said, devouring his own humongous stack, "You and me are going into London for a day off. Don't worry about villains, the others will look after it."

"Do I have a say in this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," he admitted, "But I think you want to go. We live in one of the most historic cities on Earth. We need to do the tourist thing for a day."

She stared at him long and hard. She shrugged. "Why not?" His grin was rewarding. She smiled back. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as most birthdays.

He was waiting for her in the entrance hall, in civilian clothes. She stared. She had never, in the four months of knowing him, seen him in anything that wasn't spandex. But there he was, in jeans and a t-shirt with the name of some vaguely familiar band on it. He was wearing Converse, for crying out loud. But most of all, his mask was missing, and that was the most important to her. She had known he trusted her, but this was huge.

"Call me Wally for today," he said with a grin. "Or any time, actually. Wally West. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jenifer Rosenberg."

She laughed at the name she'd come up with months ago. She was dressed in civvies herself, black jeans and a pink tank top. Her hair and eye color was disguised by one of Cyborg's holo-rings. She appeared to be a girl with dark brown hair, and brown eyes. Argent had helped her pick out the outfit. But somehow, the idea that Kid Flash would also be going incognito hadn't occurred to her.

London was very crowded this time of year, especially when it was sunny, like it was today. Kid Flash, however, had clearly been planning this for ages. His first stop was the London Eye, that gigantic Ferris Wheel-like thing alongside the Thames, where they could see the whole city from the top. Kid Flash eagerly pointed to all the famous buildings and landmarks that they could see from there.

"Where next?" she said as they exited, his hand intertwined with hers as they pulled through the crowd.

"The London Museum, where else?" he said, grabbing her hand. They took the Underground there, and had to stand up due to the heavy crowd. He had clearly been there many times, as he knew exactly what they had to go see. Once they were done with that, he took her to a small restaurant, where he did his best to make sure that she spent the entire meal laughing, and was very close.

"Where to?" Jinx said, laughing as he paid the bill.

"I was thinking Westminster Abbey," he said with a grin. "What do you think?"

"Sounds fine," she said, although she'd never heard of the place.

After they toured the building, crowded with both people and memorials to some of Jinx's favorite authors and poets, he took her to the Tower of London, and then a park, where he left her for a few short seconds, while he went to get a picnic basket. "Are you determined to do every last cliché thing you can?" she said, sitting down on the blue checkered blanket as he set out the food.

"As many as possible," he confirmed, sitting down next to her. She couldn't help but laugh as he proceeded to stuff his face with as much gusto as he could manage.

After they were done, she sat with her head on his shoulder, in comfortable silence. His hand was intertwined with hers, and she was happier than she'd been in a long time, just sitting there.

"Today's the seventh of July," Jinx said quietly.

"Yeah, I know Jinx," he said, squeezing her hand.

"It's supposed to be the luckiest day of the year," she said, turning to look at him. "I think that's irony."

"Well, I don't know," he said, looking right back at her. "I feel pretty lucky that you're here with me today."

She smiled. "Flirt."

"Don't you know it!" he said, wrapping his arms around her. There was more laughter, the sort that only he could pull out of her.

After the picnic he took her on a Thames cruise, so they could see the city at night. She watched as London lit up, and decided that this was the best birthday ever. She told him so, and his happy, goofy grin was worth it.

They exited the barge, and he led her away. He took her to a place where no one could see them, and twisted the pinky ring he wore. His Kid Flash outfit flew out into the air, and he dashed forward, spinning around and around until he emerged, once again the fastest boy alive. She removed her own ring, and her pink horns and cat eyes were visible once more. He scooped her up, bride-style, and brought them back to their Tower.

He dropped her off outside her door.

"That… that was nice," Jinx said, slipping out of Kid Flash's arms. "You know London really well."

"Yeah, well, I've been planning this date for a while," he admitted sheepishly. "I wanted everything to be perfect."

"Well, it wasn't perfect," Jinx said, smiling as she recalled the Underground. "But it was very close."

"Happy Birthday," he whispered. He hesitated, and then kissed her. Jinx froze, shocked, and then returned it. The romantic part of her squealed in joy, bouncing up and down rapidly at how the night had just gotten even closer to perfect, while the sarcastic part remarked about how the bet throughout the Titans network would finally be settled. The rest of her just told the other bits to shut up and enjoy her first kiss.

He pulled away slowly. "Good night." He turned around and walked away slowly.

She remained there for several seconds before she recovered enough to go inside.