Chapter 4
You feel Jinx freeze beside you. The silence stretches, and you turn back to face her. Her eyes dart across your face, searching for something.
"What do you mean by that?" Her voice comes out softer than usual.
Your heart pounds against your ribs nervously. "I don't know.”
Jinx reaches for her hair, a habit you've started to notice more and more. Probably because you can never stop staring at her. She stops when she finds empty air where her long locks used to be. She drops her hand to the sheets instead.
"You shouldn't." She rolls onto her back, staring at the ceiling. "I'm not... I don't do the whole feelings thing. We talked about this."
"At breakfast, yeah. But-"
"No buts." Jinx cuts you off. "Look, you're cool and all, but I'm not relationship material. Ask anyone. Hell, ask Vi."
You prop yourself up on an elbow. "I didn't say anything about relationships."
"You didn't have to." She sits up abruptly, cookie forgotten on the nightstand. "I see how you look at me in class. How you're always trying to get closer."
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"Yes!" She throws her hands up. "Because I'll mess it up. I always do. And then Vi will give me that disappointed look, and Cait will say 'I told you so,' and-" She stops herself, jaw clenching.
You sit up too, careful to maintain some distance. "You're not giving yourself enough credit."
Before she can argue further, you lean forward and press your lips against hers. Her breath catches, and for a moment she's completely still. Then her hand finds your waist, pulling you closer as she kisses you back.
She pulls away for a moment, resting her head against yours. You could smell the alcohol on her breath—no, you could taste it. "If Caitlyn walks in on us, you know I'm getting kicked out, right?"
You lean back in to kiss her again, deeper this time. Jinx's hands slide under your borrowed shirt, her cold fingers making you gasp against her lips. She uses the opportunity to bite your bottom lip, drawing a soft whimper from you.
"Shut up," she breathes against your mouth. "They'll hear."
You nod, but then she pushes you onto your back and starts trailing kisses down your neck. Your hands find her hips, pulling her closer as she settles between your legs.
"Wait-" You try to protest when she bites down on your collarbone, but she silences you with another kiss.
Her hands start working at the buttons of your shirt, and you arch into her touch. The door creaks.
"Hey Jinx, Cait wanted to know if-" Vi stops mid-sentence.
Jinx practically launches herself off you, nearly falling off the bed in the process. You scramble to fix your shirt, face burning.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Jinx snaps, but her voice cracks.
Vi stands in the doorway, mouth hanging open. She closes it, opens it again, then just shakes her head.
"I'm just gonna... yeah." She backs out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.
"Well shit." Jinx flops back onto the bed, covering her face with her hands. "That's gonna be fun to explain tomorrow."
You can hear Vi's footsteps retreating down the hall, followed by muffled voices from the living room. No doubt she's telling Caitlyn what she just walked in on.
Instead of being nervous, or feeling silly, you begin laughing. Maybe it was the alcohol, or just the comedic timing of Vi coming in, but you were laughing.
"What are you laughing at?!" Jinx asks, surprised. She definitely expected you to be as scared as her. But here you were, laughing like a idiot.
"I-I just find that so funny. You were telling me to shut up and then Vi walks in." You say between giggles, finally able to compose yourself. You look at Jinx's confused face, and she laughs a few times—a dry laugh to make you feel better.
"Are you okay?" You ask, once you realize she might be uncomfortable now.
"No, no. It's whatever. It's just Vi anyways.." Jinx says, but you're not convinced.
"Do you think this was a mistake?" You ask.
Jinx stares at you before shrugging. "I…I don't know."
"Do you still wanna..?" You mumble.
"Would I be your first woman? Is that why you care so much?"
You scoff. "Well—does that matter? I like you, Jinx."
Jinx freezes, and there's a long moment of silence before she gets up. "So you say. I'm gonna head out."
You don't say anything, just let her leave. You'd seen that chasing after her was basically useless anyways.
The next morning you check your calendar and see that the engineering competition was just a week ago, and you basically freak. You hadn't worked on your project in days—how the hell were you supposed to get first?
You want to rip your hair out. You wouldn't be surprised if Jinx did this on purpose so you could fall behind, but you don't think she cared that much in the first place.
You drag yourself to class, dreading the inevitable awkward encounter. The professor announces a surprise lab session and your stomach drops. Of course. Of course there would be a lab today.
You settle at your usual station, pulling out your notes and deliberately avoiding looking at the door. The familiar scuff of combat boots approaches, but you keep your eyes fixed on your notebook, pretending to review yesterday's material.
"Pass me the voltage meter?" Jinx's voice comes from beside you. You slide it across the table without a word, without looking up.
The silence stretches between you as you both work on calibrating the equipment. The professor walks around, explaining today's experiment - something about testing different power outputs for hextech crystals. You scribble down notes mechanically, hyper-aware of every movement Jinx makes beside you.
She bumps your elbow reaching for a tool. You shift away.
"You're connecting that wrong," she says when you start hooking up the crystals.
You ignore her and continue working. The crystal sparks dangerously.
"Seriously, you need to-"
You disconnect everything and start over, still without acknowledging her. From the corner of your eye, you see her throw up her hands in frustration.
The rest of the lab passes in tense silence. You mess up several measurements because you're too focused on not focusing on her. When she tries to point out another mistake, you just turn up the volume on the testing equipment to drown her out.
"Real mature," she mutters, but you pretend not to hear.
By the end of class, your data is garbage and you'll probably have to redo the whole experiment, but at least you made it through without having to actually talk to her. You pack up your things quickly, planning your escape.
"Hey, about last night-" Jinx starts.
You shoulder your bag and walk out before she can finish the sentence.
For some reason, being mean to Jinx made you feel..good. Like you were finally getting payback somehow. You weren't surprised when she didn't follow you down the hall to your next class, but you had bigger things to figure out anyways. Like how you were going to finish your project in such little time.
Once you're finished with classes, you gather all the things needed for the project and go to Professor Talis' room, he had more resources anyways and he was always happy to assist students with their work. You open the door, expecting a relaxing session with your experiment, to be met with Ekko and Jinx working on theirs.
"Oh, hey Y/N!" Ekko says, and you ignore him to glare at Jinx. She looks back at you, unfazed as you give a uninterested wave to Ekko and sit in the back of the classroom, taking out your things for your project.
"What's up with her?" Ekko whispered to Jinx. Jinx shrugged.
"I don't know. She's been being bitchy recently."
Ekko didn't believe that, and looks back at you and back at the blue haired woman.
"Jinx…I know you. Did you do something to her?" He asks, and Jinx doesn't reply.
"…No." She mumbles guiltily. "I warned her anyways."
Ekko wanted to ask more, but by the way Jinx was getting frustrated with the work she found simple just moments ago, it was better for him to just stay out of it.
A few minutes pass with Ekko and Jinx talking between themselves or the clinking of metals, before Ekko speaks up rather loudly.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," He says, and walks away.
"Just announce it to the whole school, why don't ya?" Jinx says, watching him leave before continuing her work.
You continue yours as well, but you were thinking more about when you were gonna stop ignoring Jinx rather than the peices you were putting together. A few days? A week? You didn't want her to completely lose interest in you..
You're pulled out of your thoughts when something falls onto the floor with a clink and rolls over to you, hitting your shoe. It was a hexcrystal, one of the ones Jinx was using for her project probably.
"Shit," Jinx mumbles, looking around on the floor near her for it. You bend down and pick up the crystal and put it in your pocket before returning to your work. You weren't going to take it forever, just for a little while to make her feel stupid before returning it.
She begins walking around the room, passing by you as she looks around for the crystal. She stops in her tracks and faces you, crossing her arms.
You keep working on your project, pretending not to notice Jinx standing there with her arms crossed. The tension builds as she continues to stare at you.
"Did you see where my crystal went?" Her voice cuts through the silence.
You shrug, not looking up from your work. "Nope."
"Really? Because I saw it roll over here." She takes a step closer to your workstation.
"Maybe you should keep better track of your materials." You continue adjusting the wires on your project, fighting to keep your face neutral.
"Cut the crap. I know you have it." Jinx's voice drops lower, more dangerous. "Hand it over."
"Or what?" You finally look up at her, meeting her glare with one of your own.
She leans forward, placing both hands on your workbench. "You really want to find out?"
"Is that a threat?" You sit back in your chair, crossing your arms to mirror her earlier stance.
"More like a promise." Her eyes narrow. "Look, I get you're mad about last night, but stealing my project materials? That's low, even for a Piltie."
The insult stings more than you expected. You reach into your pocket and slam the crystal onto the table between you.
"There. Happy now?"
She snatches up the crystal, but doesn't move away. "What's your problem?"
"My problem?" You laugh, but there's no humor in it. "My problem is you acting like nothing happened after-"
"After what? After you tried to make things weird?" She keeps her voice low, conscious of anyone who might walk in. "I told you how I am. You didn't listen."
"No, you ran away. Like you always do." You turn back to your project. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
"Gonna go back to giving me the silent treatment?" She kisses her teeth. "Whatever. Not like I cared anyways." She walks back to her table just in time for Ekko to come back. He looks dissapointed that you weren't talking again.
At least you make good progress with your project. As you walk down the hall of the mathematics building, you bump into Caitlyn holding a stack of papers.
"Oh, hey Cait.." You say nervously. She stares at you, and you pray Vi didn't tell her anything.
Caitlyn shifts the papers in her arms, her expression unreadable. "Y/N. We should talk about what happened."
Your stomach drops. Of course Vi told her - they tell each other everything.
"Listen, Cait, I can explain-"
"My room. Now." She turns and walks down the hall, leaving you no choice but to follow.
She sits down at the desk next to the teacher's, placing her stack of papers down.
"What's that?"
"Exams I have to grade. Don't worry about it." She says dismissively and you know you're in for it now. There's a long stretch of silence, and you look down at your nails and then up at Caitlyn.
"You're a smart girl, you know that? And you're a family freind. I care about you a lot, Y/N." Caitlyn says, crossing her arms. "I want to see you succeed and I don't need you getting distracted by…Jinx."
"You talk about her like she's not basically family to you." You mumble. Caitlyn sighs.
"She is like family to me. Telling Jinx not to distract you is my way of looking out for her because…we both know that you deserve better." Caitlyn hesitates, and you narrow your eyes at her.
"You told her not to distract me?" You ask.
"Well—am I wrong if I did? Look, when was the last time you worked on your experiment for the competition anyways? Or actually focused in class?"
You open your mouth to argue, but Caitlyn was right. It still felt wrong though, her 'deciding' what was best for you.
"Caitlyn..I appreciate you. But I have parents back home who can tell me what to do, and even then I'm still an adult."
"I know you're an adult. But you know that I'm right." Caitlyn says.
"Fine. I'll focus on my work. It's not like me and Jinx are on the best of terms anyways." You sigh.
You felt like you hadn't slept in days. As the deadline for the competition drew ever close, you'd been trying to balance homework and studying on top of working on your project.
You shuffled into the common room, your eyes burning from staring at screens and circuit boards all night. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, making your headache worse.
A flash of blue caught your eye—Jinx sat cross-legged on the worn couch, papers scattered around her as she scribbled in a notebook. She glanced up at your entrance.
"What are you doing up at ass o'clock?" Her pen tapped against the page.
You gestured vaguely at the coffee maker. "Project stuff. Competition's coming up."
"By yourself? Where's your partner?"
The coffee maker gurgled as you pressed start. "Caitlyn's my partner, technically. But she's always busy with teaching and her own studies, so she just..." You shrugged. "Gives me money to work on it alone. No budget limits at least."
Jinx's pen stopped tapping. "Wait, you're doing all the work yourself?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's fine. More control this way."
She watched you for a long moment, then started gathering her papers. "You know what? I'll talk to Ekko. Maybe we can throw the competition your way."
You spun around. "What? No, I don't want-"
"Relax." She stuffed everything into her backpack. "You're actually putting in the work. Most people just coast by on daddy's money or connections." She stood, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "Besides, Ekko owes me one. Several ones, actually."
"Jinx, seriously, you don't have to-"
"Too late. Already decided." She walked past you, ruffling your hair as she went. "Get some sleep, nerd. You look like shit."
You watch as she leaves and the door closes beheind her before cursing yourself for talking to her. You were supposed to be ignoring her. But she was just so easy to talk to. Besides that, you hoped that she wasn't actually going to give up the competition.
When you get back to your dorm you actually decide to listen and get some rest.
You wake up the next morning to your alarm going off loudly. When you pikc up your phone to see what time it is, you realize you missed your morning class. You curse yourself, but there's nothing you can do now but shuffle to brunch (?) and pray you didn't miss out on anything important.
You sat there and ate your bowl of cereal before your freind spotted you and rushed over.
"Y/N! You didn't come to class, are you feeling okay? Goodness..look at those eyebags!" She says with a frown.
"I'm fine, don't worry. Just working late on my project for the engineering competition." You reassure her, and she sighs beofre sitting in the chair across from you.
"Well, that's good to hear. Um, I wanna tell you something."
"What is it?" You ask, raising your eyebrows. Jinx didn't seem like the gossipy type, so it couldn't be about her, right?
"Well..today Professor Laurent was telling us about the upcoming project and you weren't there, so of course I volunteered to be your partner. But ugh, that stupid Jinx said no and even weasled her way into becoming your partner!" She explains. Your eyebrows raise.
"Was Caitlyn not there?"
"No, not today. But I'm assuming Jinx at least told you, right?" Your freind asks.
You look at your phone. No texts, calls or voicemails yet. "Nope,"
"Well, just email the professor and say you want to change. You and Caitlyn are close, you can ask her too."
You sigh tiredly, not knowing what to say. No, you weren't talking to Jinx, but would you rather her over your friend who prioritized being chatty over getting work done?
"Yeah, I'll..talk to them."
"Okay, tell me what they say. I'm gonna head out, enjoy your..food. And um, please get some rest. Those eyebags make you look like a cracked-out Zaunite."
You roll your eyes, irritation simmering under your skin at her casual prejudice. The pristine Piltover act was getting exhausting - hiding your Zaun roots behind proper speech and expensive clothes. Maybe it wasn't worth maintaining the facade anymore, especially when people like her felt so comfortable throwing around slurs about your home.
The rest of the day goes as normal, well, about as normal as it could be with you running on just 4 hours of sleep and trying to take notes. You were laying on your bed, exhausted before there was a knock at your door. Your eyes open and you stare at the door, praying whoever it is goes away. They knock again and you groan, forcing yourself to open the door.
"What is it?" You snap, not surprised to see Jinx holding some papers.
"Wow, rude," She says before handing it over. "Didn't expect you to hate me that much. Today's notes since you didn't come. "
You stare at the papers in your hands, the neat handwriting surprising you. Your eyes drift to the margins filled with little doodles of robots and explosions.
"I don't hate you." The words slip out before you can stop them.
"Could've fooled me." She rocks back on her heels, hands shoved in her pockets. "Look, about the partner thing-"
"Why'd you do it?"
"Because your friend talks more than she works. And because..." She reaches up to tug at hair that isn't there anymore, her hand dropping awkwardly. "Because I figured you'd rather work with someone who actually knows their shit."
You wave the notes. "And these?"
"What, I can't be nice?" Her jaw tightens. "Or is Caitlyn still telling you to stay away from the crazy Zaunite?"
"That's not-"
"Save it." She turns to leave, then pauses. "By the way, I meant what I said about helping with the competition. But if you want to switch partners, go ahead. I won't stop you."
You look down at the notes again, at the careful diagrams and detailed explanations. When you look up, she's already gone.
You decide to just text her.
Y: Do you think you're cool running off like that?
Y: I wasn't done talking
J: oops
J: what are you gonna do, curse me out some more?
Y: I should
Y: I was going to but it's a waste
Y: You're confusing
J: not the first time someone's saying that LMAO
Y: Thanks for the notes
You put your phone away and go back to sleep, deciding to deal with the whole thing when you actually had some sleep. You wake up the next afternoon—thank god it was the weekend and sit down at your desk where your project sat. You had to finish it today or tommorow, the competition was Tuesday and you had a class project to do. A few hours later, you finish and text Caitlyn a picutre of the finished product.
C: It looks great, Y/N! I know you worked hard. I wish I could have helped more
Y: Thanks I'm tired
C: Well, make sure to get some rest. I'm excited to see us win.
You grimace at her words, remembering what Jinx said about the competition. There was no way in hell her or Ekko was serious about that, right? You put your phone aside before remembeing you had to do that lab over again. No rest for the wicked, apparently.
You arrive at the lab to find another person there—a woman with brown skin and brown locs tied into a bun. She looks up and smiles at you. You look around for an open workstation that had the tools for the last lab, but it seemed like the mystery woman was already working at it.
You hover awkwardly near the workstation until the woman looks up again.
"Need something?" Her voice carried a hint of amusement.
"Yeah, actually. I missed the last lab and need to redo it, but..." You gesture at the occupied workspace.
"Oh, we can share. I'm Mel." She slides over, making space. "Fair warning though - I'm absolutely terrible at this."
"Y/N. And that makes two of us." You set your bag down. "How are you terrible? You're a grad student, right?"
Mel laughs, the sound warm and rich. "Remedial course. My advisor insisted I take it after I nearly blew up the research lab." She picks up a wrench, twirling it between her fingers. "Turns out money can't buy basic competency."
You work together, finding an easy rhythm. Mel might claim to be terrible, but she catches your mistakes before they become disasters and explains the concepts in ways that actually make sense.
The door slams open, making you both jump. Jinx stalks in, freezing when she spots you and Mel huddled over the workstation.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Her voice drips with sarcasm. "Didn't know you were taking on charity cases to pass your classes now, Medarda."
Mel straightens, her expression cooling. "Jinx. Always a pleasure."
"Yeah, I bet." Jinx's eyes narrow as she watches you adjust something on the device. "Having fun playing teacher's pet?"
"We're just working on the lab," you say, not looking up.
"Right. Because you definitely need help from someone who can't tell a wrench from a screwdriver."
"At least she's actually helping instead of just being an asshole."
Jinx narrows your eyes at you. She opens her mouth to respond, then snaps it shut and just decides to get started on her own make-up lab. Once you and Mel finish the lab with actually usable data, you high five.
"It was very fun working with you," You say with a smile.
"Likewise. I suppose next time I need help I'll go to you?" She hums.
"Of course. Do you wanna take my number?"
"Sure!" Mel pulls out her phone and hands it to you. You put in your number, inwardly smirking to yourself about how angry Jinx must be hearing all of this. You hand Mel back her phone and she smiles.
"Well, when you're done with your work you can send me a photo of you to set as my contact," She smirks. "So I don't forget who you are, of course."
"Oh," You say, feeling your cheeks heat up. "sure, I don't mind."
Mel puts her things away. "See you around, Y/N!" She says cheerfully before leaving the lab. You wave, and once the door closes the awkward silence resumes, Jinx working on her lab. It didn't look like she cared—but you couldn't exactly see her facial expression since her back was turned to you.
You begin packing up and ordering the workstation. You walk to the door, slowly as if it's gonna help anythign before Jinx clears her throat.