She closed both her eyes, she didn't complain. Or cheat.
Ekko slowly walked backwards, guiding Jinx further and further towards his surprise for her.
He couldn't believe that he needed his experience in another universe to be reminded that Powder wasn't lost. That he didn't want her to be lost.
And even though he knew Jinx wasn't going to be the same after all she went through, there was something else he believed: with time, and with love, warmth, and friendship, he might be able to see glimpses of her.
"Alright, open your eyes."
Jinx opened her eyes and she immediately gasped. Ekko stood proudly next to his artwork of Isha.
"What do you think?" he asked smugly, but the smile he had hoped to see, or even the smug giggle while acting like she wasn't impressed at all, they both didn't come.
Jinx sank through her knees and touched the wall art.
"......Isha."
Tears fell from her eyes. Shit shit shit. Ekko felt like an idiot. He foolishly staggered around before he knelt down beside her.
"Sorry - Jinx. I didn't want to make you upset or anything, I just..." Ekko fell backwards when suddenly she wrapped her arms around him in a full, heavy hug. Losing his balance, Ekko toppled back clumsily, but that didn't stop her from holding him.
"She's beautiful," Jinx whispered. "Thank you."
Jinx was still as unpredictable as ever. Startled by her emotional reaction, Ekko lowered his hand and touched her back.
"Y-you're welcome," he said awkwardly. Jinx wasn't sobbing or crying a lot. She just held him tightly. When that took a little while, Ekko wondered if she was okay.
"Are you alright?" He tried to move, but damn, her hug was quite strong.
He didn't want to push her away, that would be a bit cold. But she was almost choking him now and he wasn't sure if she was ever going to let go.
"H-hey, maybe if you let go, we can..." Jinx only tightened her hold on him. Oh. Okay, okay. She wanted that hug.
Ekko made a little gasping noise and he coughed, trying to act like she was really choking him, but she still didn't let go.
Just as he reconsidered forcefully throwing her off, a memory struck him.
In the other dimension, when he was working on the Chronobreak device with Powder, and when he spent a lot of time with her there... Something happened between them that sparked a childhood memory he had long forgotten. Powder was ticklish. Which means... Jinx should be ticklish.
"Jinx..." Ekko said, but he wondered if he should really warn her for what he was going to do. He already wanted to try it anyway. He slowly lowered his hands and hesitated just briefly before he tickled her sides.
"Aiiihh!" Jinx made a funny noise, but instead of letting go, she only tightened the embrace. Well, if Ekko was going to die anyway, heh. He started tickle her for real. A lot. And the surprised cackles that suddenly came from her, they sounded like music.
"Are you letting go now?" Ekko asked with difficulty. She finally did. Jinx released him from her killer hug and before she could retaliate, Ekko caught her arm and started to tickle her more. Bold move, but effective.
"Hehehey no! Nonono! You ahahare so- AHh!" Jinx sang hilariously. Her laughter was so funny and melodious, and although her voice was the same as Powder in the alternate universe, because this was Jinx, it felt like a completely new experience.
Ekko caught himself getting distracted by the sound of her laugh and Jinx saw her chance. With little effort she managed to flip him over and she ended up straddling him.
"You've got some nerve," she said breathlessly, but she was still smiling. "What made you think you could get away with that?"
Ekko was about to give her an honest reply, but to his surprise, Jinx already started to tickle him back.
"HOHOHO-HANG AHaha hahaang on a-aaaahhhah!" Ekko's own loud voice startled him. In the other universe Ekko had only tickled Powder, but she didn't tickle him back, so the last time he was tickled like this...... He could barely remember. It must've been when he, Powder and Vi were still kids.
"Ho ho ho, no I won't hang on. You did it first," Jinx taunted. She had a smug, wicked grin on her face, and tears were still sparkling in her eyes.
Ekko could only be relieved they were no longer enemies. Her fingers skilfully played him like a failure of an instrument, making him shriek and howl uncharmingly. This was Ekko definitely not at his best.
"AHAHA I'm sohhorry! I'm sahaharry - gaahhhhah!"
She was merciless, but in the end the tickling did come to a stop, and Ekko greedily sucked in some air. Jinx got back up and went to admire the art again. She brushed it softly with her hand, emotion still visible in her eyes as she studied it.
"Thanks, Little Man. For making me smile again."
She then walked away again, leaving Ekko to catch his breath there beside the painting.
Wow. Well there was one thing he knew for sure: she liked it. And he wasn't sure if she was referring to him making her smile by making that surprise artwork - which in fact made her cry instead, or to the fact that he dared to tickle her and make her laugh.
Jinx was still a mystery, but no longer a mystery Ekko was going to avoid. "You're welcome," he mumbled with a smile, even though she was already long gone.
Right. Since he got away with it, with only a mere scratch to his ego, Ekko was determined to tickle her more later. He wasn't just going to make her smile. He would make her laugh.
Summary: After talking Jinx down so they both didn’t get blown up, Ekko assists Jinx in getting everything ready to help in the big fight. They can’t crash the party looking all cool without some sick paint designs on their outfits though!
Author’s Notes: Thank you to this anon for the prompt requests for this fic! Despite not writing for Jinx or Ekko previously, I had a lot of fun trying to write them. :P Like everyone, I’m under the assumption they talked and maybe hung out between Ekko convincing Jinx to not hurt herself/blow them both up and the big fight. So here’s a little something I think could have happened!
Words: ~1,300 | AO3 Link
“You think this’ll work?” Ekko asked with doubt laced in his voice.
“Of course it will. You helped me build it, after all.” Jinx responded as she sat on a stool at what was originally her makeshift workbench.
The Boy Savior had managed to talk The Loose Cannon down from trying to hurt herself (both of them, really. If that explosive went off without Ekko using the Z-Drive, they’d both be dead) and convince her to fight as a major pawn in the clash between Piltover, Zaun and Noxus. With Ekko’s help, Jinx has converted her hideout into a secret weapon in the game of chess between the nations. They both needed to go and help so the whole world didn’t succumb to downfall.
The big balloon was ready to go, just not launched yet. The weapons were attached, rebuilt to be more lethal and painted brightly. Just one final thing was missing in their plan…
“Now, we just have to look the part.” Jinx turned the stool so she could look at Ekko, who tilted his head in questioning. “We can’t go face first into a fight lookin’ like this. I need… something deadlier to wear. And we need paint!”
So they got to work. Ekko’s outfit didn’t need many changes, but Jinx wanted to rework her attire. She managed to make and attach a hood out of some extra cloth she had laying around to a big jacket, wrapped her chest with bandages and tape and tailored the rest of her outfit to her liking.
Jinx even dyed a few purple streaks in her hair.
“I haven’t gotten the chance to tell you that I dig the new hair,” Ekko commented, helping Jinx so she didn’t get hair dye everywhere. “I think it suits you better this way.”
“I don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve had it this short. New trauma, new me, I guess.” She shrugged.
Ekko brought the paint cans up on the workbench, mixing a pot of it with a paintbrush so its colour would be consistent. “You really want paint all over you?” He asked as he took the brush out of the paint, holding a cupped hand under the brush so as to not make a mess if it dripped.
“Paint makes everything look cooler,” she replied. “Besides, you’re the pro at it. You painted more than me as a kid, and painted my cool hat I used to wear when we used to play…” her smile faltered to a frown as her eyes grew a little sad. “…back then…”
A sad sigh left Ekko as he pulled up his own stool, sitting down. “Once this is all over, we’ll figure this out. Okay?”
Jinx nodded and then shook off the sadness, spreading her arms out wide. “Let me be your canvas, Wonder Boy.”
He nodded as got to work. He started painting her clothes first, drawing different patterns and symbols on her outfit with a range of colours. This was very different to the murals he and his friends at the sanctuary were used to painting, but it was nice to try something different. And painting like this caused some more old memories to resurface into his mind.
“Heh, I remember when we did this as kids. You could never sit still,” he moved the paintbrush from the side of her jacket to her bare skin on her torso. Jinx shuttered at the sudden cold paint touching down on her skin with a shiver. “Whenever I painted on you before, you always squirmed because you were so ticklish.” He stated with a laugh, reminiscing.
“That w-was when I was just a kid, though. Not anymore.” Jinx replied. With Ekko’s comment, she was now hyper aware of the brush making contact with her skin.
But Ekko noticed that Jinx’s body went stiff. The exact same thing would happen when he painted her way back then.
“I dunno… Seems like that still rings true.”
“What? Me, ticklish? As if. That’s just a stupid kiddy feeling. I’m way past that now.”
Ekko swiped the brush, painting a long, colourful streak of bright green paint from her side all the way to her stomach. Jinx let out a strangled noise as her hand darted to her mouth to silence herself. Her eyes flew to look at Ekko’s face, a small smile across it.
“Ekko.” She tried to make her voice as stern as she could. Though, her vocal cords failed her in this moment. “Don’t even think about it.”
He didn’t even need to give a response as he started to drag the paintbrush around her skin with more tickly intent, from her stomach all the way to under her arm. Jinx let out a gasp as giggles started to slip through her defences, a hand swiftly latching onto Ekko’s wrist to stop him.
“Yohohou always did this when wehehe were kids, too.” She shook her head, giggling. This was so silly, but strangely she didn’t mind it. Thinking of her past self usually upset and hurt her, but with Ekko here… some parts didn’t seem as awful, at least.
“I just wanted to lighten the mood. You need all that spark and energy for the fight,” Jinx loosened her grip on Ekko’s wrist as he grabbed another paintbrush with some bright pink dyed bristles. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t tickle this time, I promise. Super serious now.”
“Pfft, fine.” Jinx gave in and leaned back in the stool, holding her arms back out with a bit of reluctance. Ekko got back to painting, the cold paint once again making Jinx’s skin crawl. She was focusing on trying to mentally block out the feeling of the paint sliding against her skin, until—
“Hahaha! Y-You’re totally doing it ohohohon purpose!!” She jumped off of her stool, surprising Ekko. His eyes grew wide as he stood up himself, waiting for a physical attack or something of the like from the other.
“No, I wasn’t! I swear!” He held his hands up in defence, the paintbrush that was in his hand clashing to the ground with a dull noise.
Jinx looked Ekko up and down in thought. And then a plan hit her. A somewhat menacing smile formed on her face, making Ekko shiver in place. She grabbed a loaded paintbrush of her own, a pretty bright blue.
“You’ve just started a tickle paint war. And I’m gonna win.”
Ekko had no time to react as Jinx launched herself in his direction, attacking him with whatever bare skin her own paintbrush could reach. He tried to run away with begs and pleads. He was ticklish himself after all, and Jinx knew that. But she didn’t relent.
Loud laughter bounced off the cave walls from both of them. Paint was flying in many directions as Ekko managed to grab another paintbrush to fight back during the brawl. They had a scuffle, seeing who could laugh the loudest. They were both entirely covered with bright, messy paint from head to toe once they called a truce.
Ekko looked at Jinx’s face, trying to catch his breath. “I think I missed a spot,” he moved back to the workbench, dipping his thumb in some purple paint. He made his way back to Jinx, holding her chin steady with one hand as he dragged his painted purple thumb across both of her cheeks, just below her eyes. “There. Think we’re ready now.”
Jinx laughed, eyeing Ekko’s body, colourful paint now all over him. “I think I did a good job, if I do say so myself.”
Jinx tried to get out of this situation. Trust me! She tried using shimmer to help, but with the boy savior to her dismay, he already knew what she was going to do, and swiftly caught her by a hair to bring her close, sitting on the ground to make Jinx an easier target.
"No! Fuck you! You boy savior wannabe-ehehahaha!" Jinx was trying to harshly protest her complaints, but Ekko wasn't the patient type this time, so he reluctantly dug in her sides lightly to get her giggling like crazy.
"You did this to yourself, Jinx. You shouldn't have messed with my stuff." He said with a small cheeky smile. It grew more hearing those rare giggles coming out of the master criminal who would always keep her personality to herself.
She grabbed at his hands to try and stop him with no actual force behind the action. She only lowered her head to hide away her smile.
"Ihihi wahahanted toho spice uhuhuhp yohohur gadget thihihings!! Lehehet me goho!" She giggled out.
It was true. It was such a bad habit since Silco would always let her get away with drawing on his things, so she thought, "oh what the heck?" and drew on his hoverboard, and masks to pizazz them a bit more. Let's say that Ekko was not too fond of the gesture.
"Yohou should've asked me before drawing on my shit, then! This is your payment for the damage." Ekko explained, acting childish now. The way she was laughing made Ekko all giddy inside, finding the situation wholesome and cute.
"Yohohou are sOHOHO childihihish!"Jinx said before drowning in her laughter. This made Ekko laugh now.
Although she was paying the consequences of her actions, they were both enjoying the interaction, expanding their almost forgotten bond.
