Chapter Text
God damn it, he should have never come here.
Ekko downs his shot glass, letting the cold burn of the liquor slip down his throat and invigorate his nerves. Any minute now, a storm of a woman will step through the bar’s entrance, and he needs something, anything, to ease his anticipation of that moment. He slams his empty glass against the counter, sending a hollow thud through the rumble of partygoers behind him.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied to you.” Caitlyn says in the barstool next to him. He glances at her briefly, enough to see the black dress she wears and the mixture of guilt and resolve on her face. But Ekko can’t bear to look at her for long, instead he stares at the wall of glass shelves and liquor bottles in front him. He watches as flashing lights splash neon colors over the liquor wall to the beat of the music.
Ekko calls the bartender, raising his voice over the pounding bass and the roar of the party, and orders another shot of mezcal.
Friend or not, Caitlyn just doesn’t understand. They may share classes and mutual friends, but he was never willing to share the full details of his relationship with Jinx. Or how it ended.
Putting him and Jinx on a collision course is a mistake destined to burst in flames. And Jinx always burned blue; she always burned the hottest. Ekko used to love that about her. Maybe he still does.
He takes another sip.
“I know it’s going to be hard seeing Jinx again, but—“
“—That’s a hell of an understatement.” Ekko interjects, swirling the amber poison in his glass.
“But,” Caitlyn insists, “You two were so good together. I think you should give her another chance.”
You don’t know what I had to go through with her.
Ekko gives Caitlyn a piercing glare. “Did Vi put you up to this?”
It had to be Vi. Jinx still hates Caitlyn for having any interest in her sister because she’s so damn possessive. She would have never agreed to come to Caitlyn’s party if it wasn’t part of some plot.
A plot where Ekko himself is the target.
“Yes it was Vi, but—“
“—God damn it.“
“Jinx means well, really. She’s sober now.”
Is she? He searches for the truth in Caitlyn’s eyes and resents that he can’t believe what he finds. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because Vi told me, and she wouldn’t lie to me.”
“Of course she would. Vi will always take her side. To her, Jinx will always be her perfect little angel, but…” Ekko sighs, exasperated by a bitter truth. “Vi doesn’t know her like I do.”
Caitlyn hesitates for too long. She’s losing this argument and she knows it. “The last time I saw Jinx she was doing so well for herself.”
“And the last time I saw her she was coming down from a bender.” Ekko tries to push back the memory of Jinx on his doorstep, nauseous and vulnerable against the pavement. Or the memory of her being sickly pale on his bed moments later, heaving up the medicine he had brought her.
He raises his voice, almost shouting, “Do you know what it’s like? Hearing someone almost choke to death in their sleep, then staying up all night, terrified beside them, making sure they stay on their side so it doesn’t happen again?”
Caitlyn reels back from his outburst, then her voice softens as much as it can in the rumble of the crowd.
She says, “You clearly still love her.”
Ekko clutches his glass. He’s afraid that if he clutches any harder he might break it.
Caitlyn places a hand on his arm, soothing him as she says, “I know she’s a mess, but please just give her a chance. If not for me, then for Vi, okay? You all were best friends before the breakup, and it’s been so long since any of them have heard from you. Vi misses you. Mylo and Claggor too.”
He doesn’t say I’ve already given Jinx so many chances. He doesn’t say I miss them all so badly it hurts. Instead he stares ahead, away from his friend and classmate and manipulator, hating that breaking up with Jinx meant losing some of his closest friends in the process. Maybe he can just greet them and leave once they arrive. Hopefully Jinx’s siblings will arrive before she does.
It’s too late to deny Caitlyn anyway as the broad-armed Jayce Talis interjects, saying “Mind if I steal the birthday girl? She’s got a party to enjoy!” And of course Ekko can’t say no as Caitlyn is whisked away to the dance floor.
Maybe he should just leave now. Stand up and go catch a cab home. But his instincts to leave are battling with the urge to see Jinx again, and he’s stuck, rooted in his seat.
Even amid the loud music, he can hear the door click open and somehow knows that it’s her.
Jinx enters the bar like a lost puppy, then she scans the room and brightens as she spots him. Caitlyn approaches to welcome her, and Jinx blows her off and makes a bee line straight to Ekko.
She’s excited. Eyes wide, cheeks flushed, painted lips parted slightly just like when she was moaning on top of him and she’s still so fucking beautiful.
He chugs the rest of his drink.
The world tilts on its axis as Jinx approaches him. Three shots of mezcal will do that to you, but deep down he knows that she’s the one causing his unbalanced haze.
Her long-sleeved crop top hangs over her shoulder, exposing her neck and her belly and the black bralette she wears underneath. On full display is the pale, tattooed skin that begs to be kissed; the skin she used to beg him to touch. Ekko would leave hickies and hand-shaped bruises when he gripped her and fucked her, and they would mark that she belonged to him and she would wear them with pride. They have long since faded and he wants them back.
Her bangs sway as she walks, and he remembers how they would brush against his skin just above wherever she kissed him. And how—
“Are you already undressing me in your head?” Jinx teases before ever saying hello.
“What? No,” He stammers, lying, “Of course not.”
Her perfect lips smirk as she takes the seat beside him. “You always were a terrible liar.”
“That’s okay,” She assures him as her eyes lazily draw a line down his body. “You look really good too.”
Ekko pretends to not enjoy the attention. Staring at his empty glass is far less overwhelming than staring at her, missing her, pretending like he can’t feel his blood pounding through his entire body at the sight of her.
“Why are you here, Jinx?”
“Because I just love Caitlyn’s sunny disposition.”
That draws a chuckle from Ekko, but nothing more. He draws the courage to look up at her, demanding a better answer. Jinx must have hoped for an easier time, that maybe she could flirt her way back to what once was by pretending like everything is okay between them. But Ekko doesn’t give her that option.
She becomes serious, solemn, and he’s starting to hate himself for ever diminishing the smile in her eyes.
“I hate the way things ended between us...” She says quietly, only loud enough for his ears and his ears alone.
Inside, the need to latch on to every good moment between them battles against memories of their bickering — brutal and messy and explosive — that always ended, well, here. The two lovers unable to look at each other, but wanting, hoping, for the other to reach out and hold them and find the words that would convince them to stay.
“Me too.” He finally manages to croak out.
Jinx purses her lips and looks away, as if shuffling through what to say in her mind. Then she fiddles with her fingers and simply whispers, “I want you back…”
Ekko says nothing, and as the music comes to a close they’re left with an uncomfortable pause between songs in the otherwise noisy bar. When it becomes clear Ekko won’t respond, Jinx calls the bartender and orders herself a drink.
Whiskey Sour. Extra bourbon. With a straw please.
So much for being sober, Ekko thinks, What else was Caitlyn wrong about?
Jinx orders a Manhattan for Ekko too, on her tab. She knows that’s his favorite when he’s not trying to drown out his emotions. It seems fitting for this uptown bar.
He shouldn’t be drinking more. He shouldn’t have done a lot of things. He accepts the cocktail anyway.
When their drinks arrive, Ekko takes small sips of the spicy, caramelly bourbon, recognizing he’s already too tipsy for his own good. Beside him, Jinx easily sucks down her cocktail through a pink straw, like water in a desert. While he observes her mouth wrap around the straw, for a moment Ekko wonders if she asked for a straw to be a tease, but reminds himself that it’s not like that.
She’s just really cute , even with something as simple as drinking a drink. He’s always loved that about her.
“Easy there,” he says, “Last time you drank that fast you needed a shot of Difenidol in your ass.”
Jinx laughs mid-sip and almost snorts the cocktail up her nose, making her laugh even harder, and Ekko remembers just how much he cherishes that sound.
She wipes the spittle from her mouth unceremoniously as she remembers the hangover-curing drug that was injected into her during their vacation. Then she goes right back to teasing him. “At least the doctor who did it was cute. How else was I supposed to meet all the cute doctors in Mexico?”
A subtle needle of jealousy twists through Ekko at the thought of her being attracted to other men. Maybe she’s not the only one who can be possessive. He smiles but the possessiveness must show through, because there’s an evil little glint in the way Jinx looks back at him.
“Ekko, you know what your problem is?”
He scoffs, “Enlighten me.”
“You stop yourself from just taking what you want.” Jinx says, a low growl in the back of her throat.
It’s an invitation. He could take her to his room right now, force her against the wall and fuck her to completion. She would let him. She would relish it. This is the game they play.
The problem is that he knows how this game ends. They fight then fuck then pretend like the fight never happened. They’ll pretend like there aren’t underlying issues that plague them. Then the cycle would repeat, each time more bitter and more brutal.
Their love burned hot, uncontrollable like a wildfire, until one day he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Not everyone can be as reckless and careless as you.” He says, more bitterly than he intended, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.
Jinx frowns, the feeling of rejection weighing on her, and retaliates. “Well, fuck you too.”
He used to promise he would never hurt her. But why is it so easy to hurt the ones you love?
And why do regret and remorse come so freely, while the apologies that cure them stay locked away?
Ekko’s apology is trapped in his throat as her eyes glaze over. She can’t look at him, but he keeps looking at her as the neon lights splash color over her skin. The music that the lights are synced with are muted in his mind, drowned out by the apology he wishes he could say, and by the loud desire to kiss her and tell her everything will be okay, that they’ll be okay.
Jinx asks him, “Everything used to be so easy between us, remember?”
Of course I do. The music begins to fade back into existence. He recognizes the upbeat bass line and the pop synth melody. It’s a song that Jinx would sing and dance to in his bedroom, barefoot on the carpet in nothing but cotton panties and his t-shirt from the night before. “I remember,” he says.
“Maybe it still can be.” She gets up and offers her hand, a small smile curling her lips, a small plea brightening her eyes. “I love this song. Dance with me?”
She’s not offering to be friends, and she’s not offering to be more than friends. It’s a safe neutrality, a truce of sorts. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to hold her hand and walk with her to the dance floor.
Caitlyn spots them but doesn’t interrupt, she just claps giddily, grinning from ear to ear. Beside her, Vi catches sight of them too, smiles and winks. Looks like Vi arrived earlier but didn’t want to interrupt either.
When they’ve found an open section, Jinx faces Ekko and takes both of his hands. She turns side to side, easing them into a slow sway at half tempo. A female vocalist sings through the speakers and Jinx starts lip syncing, a bit awkwardly. But as the song crescendos, her love for the song goes on full display as she belts out the lyrics.
Her love is contagious. He starts singing along too, and by the time the chorus drops they’re both an off-tune mess, belting out with passion as their voices are drowned out by the speakers. They bounce to the beat. They head bang and riff on imaginary instruments. When the song ends and they’re left panting and laughing amongst a sea of beautiful people, all Ekko sees is her . And all he wants to do is kiss her.
So he does. She tastes like syrup and smoke. Lemon and bourbon. He drinks her in with the Whiskey Sour still fresh on her tongue, just as sharp and sweet and addictive as she is.
He gives in to his desire, and lets himself be fully intoxicated by her.
🎵 🎶
Ekko has no idea how many songs they danced to. Or how long they rolled and swayed and grinded and sang.
He just knows that he needs to get back to his apartment.
With her .
She had looked at him with eyes sparkling under the neon lights and whispered in his ear, “Take me home.”
Now a cold breeze and a gentle rain excites his skin as he exits the bar, side by side with Jinx. The street lamps and stop lights brush the black pavement with strokes of glittering color. Jinx runs ahead, through the drizzling rain, to hail a cab. When the cab stops, Ekko opens the door for her. Ladies first.
Ekko barely has time to tell the driver his address before Jinx climbs on top of him and straddles him in the back seat.
“What are-“ He tries to speak, surprised between kisses. “Jinx-“ Another kiss. “Now?”
She nods eagerly, lips open. The driver pretends that he’s not watching as he turns the wheel, but he is, and Jinx clearly doesn’t care.
She lowers her head beside his, her voice tantalizing against his ear as she whispers, “I touched myself before I went to the party.”
Another kiss, this time softly on his neck. “I thought it would stop me from trying to get back together, but then all I could think about was you.”
The whispered confession makes a low growl escape his throat. He doesn’t tell her that when he’s alone he thinks of her too, or that the months they’ve spent apart have been torture for him.
As she kisses him, she unbuttons her pants and guides his hand to her waist, but he doesn’t need any coercion to follow along. Jinx makes space between their chests, but not between their lips, to make room for Ekko’s hand as he slides down into her—
God, she’s already so wet. Or is she still wet?
He swipes his fingers over her entrance and she rewards him with a low squeak and a smile. He inserts two fingers, rubs his palm against her entrance, and makes the come here motion against the soft ridges of her inner walls. In this straddled position, he can’t work her body in the way he truly wants to, with the angle and intensity that would drive her to the edge. But that doesn’t stop Jinx from burying her face in his neck and holding back her moans.
The moans vibrate against his skin and his pants are growing far too tight. Almost instinctively, when she feels his firm excitement, she grinds against his hips in delicious circular motions, and he wonders how he could stop himself from ravaging her right there, in the back seat of the cab.
Thankfully, the drive to Ekko’s apartment is blessedly, mercifully short. They don’t have to wait long before paying the driver and rushing out of the cab.
The rain has picked up, and they have to run from the cab to the doorstep under a flurry of water. Ekko’s feet splash on the sidewalk, his shirt starts to soak through, and he fumbles for his keys when they reach the door, partly protected by the awning overhead.
“Ohh noo,” Jinx hums teasingly, with her hair lightly soaked, “I guess we have to take off all our clothes.”
“Oh how terrible,” Ekko says, with a smile in his voice, “Whatever shall we do?”
Once inside the hallway, Ekko’s apartment is the first door on the left, and Jinx giggles as he pushes her against the door and kisses her.
Jinx is held up, trapped and weightless against the cold of the hallway door and the heat of his body. She paws at his shirt, sliding under to feel every inch of rain-slick muscle. Then she pushes him away and Ekko is rewarded with the sight of her wild and eager eyes.
Click. The door opens. When did she take my keys?
Jinx bites her lower lip with a smile and swings the stolen keychain around her finger. She kicks off her shoes with flair, saunters into his apartment like she owns the place, and says, “You comin’, Savior Boy?”
That’s when he knows it’s not just the keychain, she has all of him wrapped around her finger. Ekko grins, dumbstruck and impressed and no less aroused, as he follows her inside.
After a quick kiss, Jinx gives a happy yelp when Ekko lifts her. She wraps her legs around him as he carries her to the bedroom.
He drops her to the bed and Jinx laughs from the thrill of it. Strands of electric blue are coming loose from her braids, falling to the bed sheets beneath her. Beads of rain decorate her skin like glitter. Her shirt clings to her chest. And as she laughs and smiles up at him with genuine happiness, all he can think and say is,
“You are so beautiful.”
The light in her eyes somehow grows. She adds a lovely bite of the lower lip and says, “I missed you too.”
She pulls him in by the collar of his shirt and kisses him, lighting a fire inside to keep them warm. She peels off her pants. He peels off his shirt. She peels off her top and—
“Mmmm…” Just as Jinx removes her bralette, Ekko is on his knees, his broad shoulders against the soft skin of her thighs, and his face against her panties that he’s pulled to the side. She groans as he laps up her juices.
And it tastes so fucking good. He slides the rough flat top of his tongue over her clit, over and over as she rewards him with sighs of pleasure, and he relishes the control he has over her. He slides a hand over her inner thigh, closer and closer to her entrance as her leg trembles, until he can enter her with his fingers again. He works her in the way that he wished he could in the car, draws out more of the tastes inside, and laps them up eagerly.
He can’t take this anymore. Jinx’s groans become a yelp as Ekko grips her thighs and flips her onto her stomach, tossing her around like she was weightless. Then he tugs her hips, so that her knees and face are flush against the mattress, and her hips are at the perfect height. He strokes himself as he enters her slowly, and every inch of her swollen lips welcomes him with soft ridges and sparks of electricity and a long, satisfied moan from his favorite partner.
As he picks up speed gradually, Ekko watches her painted nails clutch the bedsheets and her painted lips linger open from her moaning. He buries his face into her neck and lets his lips brush against her cheek, searching for something to ground himself while he avoids losing his sanity inside of her. He forgets himself to the song of her thick moans, until she turns her neck to kiss his open mouth, tug at his lips, and reward him with even more delicious electricity.
Then Ekko brings his face down to the bare flesh of her tattoos as he continues thrusting. He traces the tattoos with kisses, letting his breath swirl like the clouds on her skin, watching her skin prickle with goosebumps at his touch.
Jinx is still moaning, throaty and intense, growing louder and louder and louder . And he’s still losing his goddamn mind.
He pulls out with a deep grunt before he can lose all control, and she whimpers, falling like putty to the bed. “No, I was so close…” She cries weakly. But he can’t make this too easy. He wants this to last. He wants to torturously draw this out and keep her so close to the edge that when she finally comes she’ll be screaming his name. Then Jinx freezes with recognition as Ekko rummages through his nightstand.
Ekko pulls out a rod of purple silicone and comes back to her. He pauses to enjoy the sight and feel of Jinx still on her knees, her face against the bed, her dripping cunt still waiting for him. He enjoys it even more when her eyes widen with anticipation, thrilled almost to the point of fear for what he’s about to do to her.
He puckers his lips around her seam and kisses it with a pop , and Jinx is already so sensitive that she yelps, giddy from the surprise rush of nerves. Her yelp turns into sighs of pleasure as he continues licking. She tastes even better after his cock has slathered the taste of her pussy everywhere. It’s sweet, it’s musky, it’s her.
“Oh god. Fuck.” She groans as Ekko climbs onto the bed again and enters her from behind.
He slips his fingers around her throat and pulls her up, so that they’re both on their knees and she’s falling back onto his cock. He grunts as he thrusts his hips up to her and she rises and falls to meet his rhythm. Her moans become hitched, caught in the grip on her throat.
With his free hand, Ekko grabs the toy he pulled out earlier, pushes a button, and he feels and hears it buzz in his palm. At the sound, Jinx whines with anticipation, a low, throaty squeak, and it’s one of the most delicious sounds she’s made all night. He reaches around her and holds the vibrator against the most sensitive flesh between her thighs.
“Fuck!! E- Ekko…” Jinx arches her back against his chest, one arm guiding his hand and the other reaching back to clutch his skin, his hair, anywhere to release the tension rippling through her limbs.
He doesn’t stop barraging her senses with the fullness of his cock, the heat of his body, and the vibrations against her clit. Instead he feasts on her moans, and kisses the salty sweetness of her neck.
“It’s t- too much.” She whimpers between groans of pleasure.
Ekko lets his lips and breath brush against her ear, and he growls. “Is that so?”
“Nnng… mmm…” Unable to form words anymore, Jinx nods, and even her nods are built of rippling tension.
“You’re such a good girl.”
He thrusts harder, faster. Her eyes glaze over, delirious, as her legs tremble and clench around the buzzing pleasure, around him. He can feel her entrance tighten even further around his cock, driving him mad.
She is a goddess writhing against him.
And now she is screaming.
Amid the heat and skin and tightness and passion, it is the song of her screams that brings him to the edge. It unfurls his mind in blinding light, throwing him off of the precipice that they’ve climbed together. He screams with her, throat going sore as the spasms of her cunt and his cock quake through their limbs.
When her screams and spasms return to moans and sighs, Ekko turns off the vibrator and holds Jinx close. He thrusts slowly, chasing the high of their shared orgasm and pumping the last of his cum into her.
Neither of them care to separate their dripping union. Panting and slick, Jinx simply relaxes back and melts into his arms. An easy, satisfied chuckle escapes her chest. “Fucking hell… Why did we stop doing that again?”
Ekko laughs breathlessly, airing out his blissful exhaustion. Then he takes her chin and gently turns her so he can kiss her open mouth. He can feel her lips curl into a smile as he slowly grinds his hips back and forth against hers. Their bodies roll in an easy sway as they lap each other up, quietly wondering how long they can savor the last of their high.
Exhaustion wins over and the fire between them soothes into a warm, lasting smolder. He slips out of her and then they find themselves settling into the bed, cuddling on top of the sheets to let their bare skin breathe, with Jinx’s head nestled on his chest.
And just like it was when they were dancing, time loses all meaning as they hold each other.
“Hey, Ekko?” Jinx’s whisper rumbles against his chest before she lifts her face to look at him. Her eyes are cloudy, like the sky after a storm.
“Please don’t leave me again…”
Even when she’s teary, she is still the most beautiful person he’s ever known.
The truth is, he can’t promise that they’ll ever stop fighting, or that anything will get easier from here on out. In the flux of their lives, tonight’s sweet release might have been a sign of something greater, more loving, or it could be the eye of a violent storm.
His voice cracks as he whispers, “I’ve tried so hard to move on from you, and every time I fail. I don’t know how to leave you.”
What Ekko does know is that he and Jinx are like the waves and the sand. Pulled apart by the forces of nature, only to crash and bury themselves into each other all over again. With each collision, the line between where he ends and she begins would blur in a white haze. It would fuse them. It would destroy them. She would take a part of him and he would take a part of her and then they’d pull apart, longing for the moment when they could bury themselves into each other again.
On this night, she was a tsunami and he was the finest sand, and he will gladly let himself be swept away in her tides, wherever it may lead.