Been a while since I've done one of these for a fandom but Nerve is one of my favorite movies and coming up with a timebomb AU for it was super easy so... here we are.
If anyone feels inspired and wants to fic/art this feel free! Just please let me know cuz I'd love to see what you came up with.
So this would be set in a Modern AU of Runeterra.
I'm a lil bit murky on the backstory but Jinx and Vi have been living together for a year or so after Vi got out of prison. During this time, Jinx has been grieving the death of her adoptive dad, Silco, who Vi seriously resents due to complications between him and Vander when they were all young. Vander, Mylo and Claggor died in an accident which Jinx blames herself for and Felicia and Connol died years before that as well due to Enforcer violence in the mines.
Having Vi back at least, Jinx has been putting on a facade of being the sister Vi remembers from before. Jinx knows even her grief/change is a reminder to Vi of who took Jinx in when Vi was locked up. She thinks she can at least make things easier for her by pretending to still be Powder.
Vi is dating Caitlyn, who Jinx detests because she's an enforcer but also because she's afraid Caitlyn will take the last person Jinx has left.
Jinx and Vi would argue because Vi reveals she's planning on moving in together with Caitlyn. Vi keeps encouraging Jinx to take a place in Piltover's Academy. They can’t afford it but Vi says that the Caitlyn is willing to help pay for what a scholarship wont cover. This is something Jinx hates even more. She also doesn't want to go to the Academy at all because she also feels it would be betraying Silco's memory and everything he fought for. Vi doesn't accept this for obvious reasons, saying Jinx is wasting her potential and throwing away a good opportunity and the Kirraman’s generosity. She lashes out, wondering “Powder why can’t you just be normal again!”
That's when Jinx breaks. She decides "Fuck it" because if her effort to be the sister Vi wants isn't working then why try? She finds the perfect way to crash-out as well.
Insert Jinx signing up for Nerve,
a game that's suddenly blown up all over the P&Z region. It's perfect for Jinx who is craving the adrenaline rush to cope with it all. She also thinks that if she happens to die in the process of playing it, that wouldn't be a big deal. Haunted by her past and feeling indirectly responsible for Vander, Mylo and Claggor’s deaths too she thinks: "I put everyone else in danger but me. Maybe it’s time to let others put me in danger and see if someone else succeeds in eliminating the jinx. It’ll be one less problem for Vi to worry about."
As she starts, she does enjoy the validation from the Watchers even though it’s not a primary motivator for why she keeps playing.
Enter Ekko, who is also playing Nerve:
Timebomb get off on the wrong foot (because we're keeping the enemies-to-lovers tension even if momentarily). They have a dare in the same place and Ekko sees that Jinx is someone who is hurting, someone who should NOT be playing Nerve with such reckless abandon, but she is and it concerns him. She feels judged when he tells her off for it. But he's ALSO playing Nerve so Jinx is offended because she doesn't think he has room to talk.
The Watchers see their spat and think the perfect dare for them both is to make them team up.
Now if you've seen Nerve, you know
Ekko would have a vital backstory of his own which is:
He's played Nerve before. His parents worked hard while he was growing up, hoping to one day get him out of Zaun and eventually he went to the Academy in Piltover. As a Zaunite student, he faced harassment and when Nerve was first launched in Piltover the year before, some Piltie bullies forced him to sign up.
Being Zaunite, he passed the dares relatively easily because of his rough and tumble childhood but the moment things went south, he was put to blame for the danger some wealthier students found themselves in. He was suspended from the Academy and became a prisoner of the game because of the enforcer crack down on it. While Ekko didn't feel bad about the suspension, sick of the bullying, he did feel guilty of being a disappointment to his parents and also scared because the Firelight center he set up in Zaun was being used against him now. The only way to get out of it is for him to win the game.
As timebomb complete dares together, they realize they actually really like each other and are both equally smart. Ekko finds out Jinx has a place in the Academy but how her relationship is strained with her sister and Caitlyn. Jinx finds out that Ekko was an Academy student but he got suspended because of the rich brats there. They bond over the pressure/guilt they've faced and how unfair things are for kids like them.
For those who have seen Nerve, some dares would be the same:
The tattoo dare would be Jinx designing Ekko a tattoo. She'd choose to give him a firelight but she draws it herself in her graffiti art style and he loves it when he sees it.
The motorcycle dare would stay the same as in the movie because Jinx would be terrified of having Ekko's life in her hands even if she doesn't mind going down herself in a crash. Afterwards they kiss kiss fall in love. (This dare is also the point where Vi and Cait tune in/realize Jinx is playing).
One dare would be Ekko cutting Jinx's hair as an inverse to the tattoo dare. At first Jinx doesn't want to cut it and almost quits playing but then she realizes it’s a representation of the loss she's holding on to so she lets him/trusts him.
Before the hair cut is when Jinx would tell Ekko about how much she resents having to baby Vi by being the old version of her that Vi remembers from before prison. She says, "Vi thinks she's protecting me. But really, I'm the one protecting her all the time from who I really am. It makes her feel special to think I still need her. But when I actually do, she's never there because she hated my adoptive dad and would rather pretend he didn't exist and neither does the version I became with him."
Jinx tells Ekko that "Silco, my dad, was friends with my real mom and dad too. He said my mom used to wear her hair in a braid when they were little so he used to do it for me." Ekko tells Jinx "You know you can still braid your hair if its shorter, but you can also let go of the pain." He not only cuts it for her (into a medium bob) but braids it for her as well and it makes her so happy because she gets to keep the memory of her mom and Silco but she can also let go of the grief in a healthy way.
As the dares get more dangerous, (Jinx has to face her fear of her past by having to actually set off an explosion which triggers a major episode), Ekko gets worried, because Jinx still doesn't seem to care for her life at all. Ekko's playing to win, but he doesn't want Jinx to get hurt. What he doesn’t realize is he sort of gives her a new reason to live by letting her be as grief stricken as she needs to process her loss. Meanwhile Jinx gives Ekko the opportunity to not feel responsible for everyone and everything because she tells him it’s not his fault he got suspended and that his parents understand that even if he’s too blinded by his guilt and embarrassment to see it. BUT: Jinx doesn't know Ekko’s played Nerve before so doesn't know the pressure he's under about the Firelights sanctuary. It’s still something he needs to hear from someone who understands the burden of wanting to make everyone happy though so they both do heal each other.
Jinx would eventually find out about Ekko playing Nerve and feel betrayed.
Caitlyn finds out what Jinx is doing because of her job because, surprise surprise, the enforcers in Piltover DID know that Nerve was played the year before.
The lore origins for Nerve in this AU
is that while the game was played in Piltover, it was relatively safe but then someone got hurt or died and so they closed it/got enforcer pressure to shut it down. But the year after, its played in the Zaun AND Piltover region because the first go around made the creators of the game realize that 1) Zaunite kids are the more devil may care due to their upbringing and able to survive more dangerous challenges, 2) they’re willing to do a lot for money to make a better life for themselves unlike Piltie kids 3) in the Zaun area there's less enforcer care to contend with to keep the game from being busted unlike the previous year where it was banned and hushed up cuz a rich kid died. Because the rich Pilties didn't want their entertainment taken away or to be held accountable for someone dying while playing it, the creators found a loophole by expanding to Zaun.
When Caitlyn and Vi try and stop Jinx from playing (because they can't stop the game), Jinx fights them on it saying they have nothing to do with her life and choices anymore. Caitlyn recognizes Ekko as an ex-academy student from when she used to visit Jayce and remembers hearing he was suspended for playing Nerve and endangering a student. She tells Jinx this who doesn't believe her at first but then feels betrayed that Ekko kept such a big thing from her. He obviously has to go after her somehow to get her back and promise that the rest of what he told her was all the truth.
Timebomb are smart enough to take the game down once they make up though. They'd go to Heimerdinger who knew the truth but couldn't help Ekko on his own back then. With another person smart enough to hack technology, it becomes easier especially since he Viktor and Sky also choose to help.
Once the game is down for good, both Jinx and Ekko would end up leaving Zaun to explore Runeterra together for a little bit. Ekko would make his parents proud by making a name for herself and getting out of Zaun like they wanted for him. The Firelight's Center would be in Scar's capable care, ready for Ekko to return once he's finally breathed with the responsibility for it off his shoulders. Meanwhile, Jinx would get the space she needs to discover who she is outside of grief and being who her sister wanted her to be post-prison while Vi gets time to orient herself and accept that Jinx was always going to grow up and gets used to the idea of loving someone who is no longer just her kid sister.
So yeah, that's the Nerve AU. If you like it and have ideas, definitely feel free to let me know in the replies/tags/reblogs too!
