Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Jinx POV. October 28th.
"I saw it, no, don't you dare!" I spat out furiously while staring at the screen.
"Oh come on! Please! " Vi begged, I just groaned loudly.
"Caitlyn! Control your idiot wife!" I snapped, glaring at Caitlyn, who was sitting stupidly behind Vi with a grin. Caitlyn smiled sheepishly.
"Well... I mean..." Caitlyn began timidly, and I looked at her in horror.
"Oh come on! Not you too!" I moaned loudly as I massaged the bridge of my nose.
"It'll be fun!" Vi said with a goofy grin. I groaned loudly.
"It will be torture!!" I blurted out, completely furious and a little flushed.
"Well, you probably can't do anything anyway. We already booked the days off and bought the plane tickets; we can't cancel," Vi said matter-of-factly. I looked at her incredulously.
"As if that matters! Cupcake's the damn boss and rich enough that the damn tickets were barely a tip!" I said incredulously. Vi just shrugged. I groaned loudly. "Mom! Say something to Vi." I complained to Mom, who was on the same video call; she just hummed softly.
"She's a grown woman capable of making her own decisions, Jinx, and besides, she hates me, she won't listen to me." Mom said uselessly, and I groaned loudly. "Besides, I'll be going to Japan too, I can't argue with her," she said, shrugging. I froze and stared at Mom in horror. I saw how stupidly petulant she seemed, for someone who claimed to hate Mom.
"No," I said firmly. Mom opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow.
"I wasn't asking for your permission," Mom mocked. I groaned loudly and slammed my face against the table.
"Cassan-" "I'm going too." Cassandra said easily, interrupting me, and I shuddered strongly.
"Oh, come on! Not you too! " I complained childishly. "Vandra?!" I practically begged the last person to join the video call. Vi's mother just gave me a crooked smile.
"Well..." Vandra said shyly.
"I hate all of you." I groaned loudly.
"Don't be childish, Jinx, we're just going to the UA festival to see your live performance, there's no need to exaggerate anything," Mom said, rolling her eyes.
"And that's exactly why I'm complaining!" I snapped furiously, glaring at everyone. No one seemed genuinely affected by my glare. I clicked my tongue. "At least don't bring Ekko, for the love of—" I groaned loudly in defeat. Luckily, they either flinched or grimaced, especially Vi. I mocked them.
"Yes, nothing about Ekko, especially not at the university where your boyfriend is," Vi said quickly before smiling mischievously. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I grumbled in annoyance while sighing.
"Be grateful we're only here for the festival and not to celebrate your birthday," Vi mocked, and I shuddered at the thought. Today was my birthday, and it was the reason for the family video call with everyone at the same time that I'd been dragged into. But putting that aside, there was still a whole week until the festival. Yes, a week in Japan with all of them sounded awful.
"Grr, fine! Just don't embarrass me! " I snapped, looking at everyone. Vi smiled triumphantly, I sighed, already regretting telling them I'd be playing guitar at the festival.
"We won't," Cassandra promised easily. "Besides, this way we can bring you our gifts," she added. My ears twitched slightly, and I looked at Cassandra.
"Gifts?! You're my favorite, Cass! " I said quickly with a silly grin.
"The only thing missing was bribes?" Vi asked dryly. I did the most mature thing and stuck my tongue out at her, something she did in return.
"Vi." "Jinx." We didn't pout when we were reprimanded, no matter what anyone said.
"Jinx!" I jumped when Izumi entered my room, forcefully opening the door.
"Damn it, Izumi!" I blurted out, startled. Izumi just smiled broadly.
"It's an emergency! I need your help! " Izumi said with a crazed smile as he took long strides and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Help? Emergency? I'm sure this is some stupid thing to do. The last time you called the whole dorm for help was because someone ate your chocolate stash." I scoffed, and Izumi looked offended.
"Excuse me? That was a genuine emergency. We could have an infiltrator, a real villain among us who eats people's chocolate. It warranted the emergency declaration." Izumi said indignantly, and I snorted.
"Aizawa punished you for 3 weeks for the fake emergency." I said playfully. Izumi sneered.
"You're all idiots," Izumi said petulantly. I rolled my eyes amusedly.
"So? Let's hear about your new emergency." I said playfully. Izumi's eyes shone so brightly and he brought his face closer to mine.
"Today is your birthday," Izumi said forcefully. I huffed and tried not to blush at how close Izumi's face was.
"Yes, that's how birthdays work. I have one, once a year, usually on the same date," I said jokingly.
"Ruby's birthday is in three days. October 31st," Izumi said quickly. I stopped and looked at him curiously.
"Wow, that's news. On Halloween? Cool." I said playfully. Izumi smiled broadly.
"I'm glad you like it," Izumi said, nodding. "We're having a party," he added, his smile so wide it seemed almost unnatural. I froze, staring at him, confused and incredulous.
"A... party?" I asked stupidly, not understanding. Izumi nodded firmly.
"Yes, a party!" Izumi exclaimed happily. "I wanted to do something special for you and Ruby, but unfortunately, Ruby's birthday falls on a Tuesday, and Aizawa would definitely punish me for having a party on that day. I can't push it to the following weekend since it's the festival, and I can't move it up to Sunday, which is tomorrow, because I wanted to throw you a party today, today, since it's Saturday! "
"And it's a perfect day for a double party! No, a super party!" Izumi said proudly, puffing out her chest. I blinked a few times.
"A party... you want to have... a party for Ruby and me?" I asked incredulously. Izumi smiled even more widely.
"Not just any party, a party plus ultra," Izumi said with a smile. I looked at him incredulously.
"How the hell do you plan to do that?" I asked incredulously. "Do you even have permission? Are we going somewhere else? Aizawa will ground you from here until graduation if you throw a party without permission. Though I wholeheartedly support you," I said quickly with a smile. Izumi smirked smugly before holding up a piece of paper. I skimmed it before my eyes widened. "Principal Nezu gave you permission to throw a freaking party?! Here, at UA?! A week before the festival?! " I asked in complete shock. Izumi looked petulant.
"It took me three weeks of begging and bribing him with a couple dozen wheels of cheese enriched with my quirk," Izumi said proudly. I opened and closed my mouth in disbelief.
"You're a fucking genius." I said, completely honest and still in shock. "A party?" I asked again incredulously. Izumi nodded quickly.
"A costume party specifically, we can use Ground Beta for the party." Izumi said, her eyes sparkling.
"Ground Beta!? You managed to get me to let you have the party at Ground Beta!? Why the hell do you want that damn fake city as a party place?! " I asked incredulously. Izumi had a crazed look on her face.
"Jinx, Jinx, Jinx, my dear Jinx. I told you, it's a PARTY PLUS ULTRA, as UA commands, I just sent the invitation to every year at UA and every department." Izumi said with a crazed look. I stared at him completely in shock.
"Are you crazy?!" I asked incredulously. Izumi burst into manic laughter.
"Yes! Sanity is overrated! Madness is the way! I have seen the truth! And the truth is, we need a massive party! " Izumi said with a wide smile. I looked at him in shock before my smile widened.
"Hell yeah! I'm in!" I exclaimed, raising my fist high. "Wait, did you say costume party? The party's today! Where on earth do people get so many costumes?! " I asked incredulously as I began to think; Izumi seemed petulant.
"Don't worry, Yaoyorozu is taking care of it, and we already have plenty of costumes in stock. With that, and her creating hundreds of costumes right now, people just have to come and choose one," Izumi said confidently. I looked at him incredulously.
"You convinced Yaomomo, possibly the most reserved person among our classmates, to help you prepare a party?" I asked incredulously. Izumi laughed.
"First, Sitri is more reserved, and second, Yaomomo was easy to convince; in fact, she was really excited about attending her first college party," Izumi said playfully. I stopped myself from snorting.
"Yeah, she sounds like her," I said dryly. Izumi nodded. "So, a college party? Will there be alcohol? " I asked, almost hopefully. Izumi snorted.
"Yeah, no, keep dreaming. I can work miracles, but even that's too much for me. I could discreetly slip you a drink or two, but giving alcohol to every student at UA is impossible. And Aizawa would literally kill me this time." Izumi snorted, and I pouted.
"Fine, that'll do." I grunted, Izumi just smiled. "So, everyone else is aware?" I asked excitedly, Izumi nodded.
"You're one of the last ones. I even recruited 1-B to help prepare everything. Everyone is already bringing and setting everything up at Ground Beta. Ashido is in charge of decorating and preparing the dance floor and the other decorations, Kyoka is taking care of the sound system; we had to order some speakers and loudspeakers so the music can play throughout the place."
"As you know, Ground Beta doesn't have electricity, so we're building some woodsy bonfire setup and putting up some lights. Taylor is looking everywhere for fireflies to add even more light, but it won't be enough."
"I also hired Lunch Rush to cater the party. Lunch Rush was actually quite nice; I had to insist on paying her because she didn't want to accept it, but she was the only person capable of preparing food for hundreds of people in just a few hours."
"Everyone else is preparing everything else," Izumi said easily. My eyes shone brightly.
"You really prepared." I said, sounding impressed. He smiled petulantly.
"Of course I will. I've been wanting to throw a party for a while now," Izumi said playfully. I laughed and looked at him expectantly.
"So? What do I have to do? " I asked excitedly. Izumi smiled broadly.
"Well, normally this would have been a surprise party and all that, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to organize it in detail. Nezu just gave me permission an hour ago; I'm sure he did it so I wouldn't have time to organize anything too outrageous."
"But ha! The joke's on him, I've been stockpiling party stuff in my shadows for weeks! I left everything I had accumulated at Ground Beta, the others are using it to decorate and prepare everything. I got the costumes from there too."
"Almost everything is ready, but I need you to do something, to decorate Ground Beta." Izumi said, staring at me intently. I glanced at him quickly.
"Decorate Ground Beta?" I repeated incredulously. "You want me to hang balloons and all that?" I asked almost in horror. To my surprise, Izumi laughed huskily.
"Oh no, of course not, my dear Jinx, I would never give you such a mundane job." Izumi said with a charming smile before it widened. "It turns out that Ground Beta is rather boring, you know, gray, brown, and white buildings and equally monotonous streets. This is a party, Jinx! It has to look like one! I want you to paint Ground Beta!" Izumi said with a crazed grin. "I just left a huge amount of fluorescent paint along with several ultraviolet light reflectors. I want you to paint the buildings with that." Izumi said, his eyes glowing brightly.
"Are you serious?" I asked as excitement began to course through my body, almost making it vibrate.
"Of course I am. You have free rein to paint whatever you want. The theme is Halloween, it's a costume party after all, and you have... about 10-12 hours to finish! If you can." Izumi said, challenging me. I looked at him incredulously.
"If I can? If I can?! " I asked, genuinely offended. "Oh, I'll finish way faster, no matter how many buildings I have to paint," I said confidently. Izumi laughed amusedly.
"It doesn't have to be anything too detailed, remember, you need to paint several walls in a few hours. I'm sure some of the others will lend a hand, but I thought you'd like to paint and design everything yourself," Izumi said, puffing out his chest confidently.
"You thought right, damn it!" I said excitedly. My fingers were already itching and ideas were racing through my head; I knew exactly what to paint. My eyes scanned my tools around the party. "Come on! I have to start painting now," I said frantically. Izumi smiled broadly.
"Ahem!" A cough caught our attention and stopped us in our tracks. I turned and looked at Mom and everyone else still on the video call.
"Oh, hi!" Izumi said, finally looking at the screen. He greeted everyone, then looked at me playfully, came closer, and quickly kissed me on the lips. "And bye! Go get everything ready, Jinx! " Izumi said, quickly escaping. That damn son of a— I blushed broadly and looked back at the screen. I ignored Vi's shitty grin.
"I have to go," I said quickly and urgently.
"Won't they get into trouble?" Cassandra asked, frowning. I snorted.
"Don't worry! Izumi is too important to UA, unless he commits murder, they overlook a lot of things, at most he'll end up in detention for the rest of the year." I said with a wide smile.
"That doesn't sound good," Caitlyn said worriedly. I just shrugged.
"Be careful," Mom said simply as she nodded. I nodded too.
"Yes, I'll have it! Now I have to go! Time is running out! Goodbye, see you in a week! I'll send you photos of the party! Thanks for the call and all!" I said quickly before hanging up. Then I started grabbing several things in my room, and after holding it in my arms, I started running out of the room. I ran down the stairs and out of the bedroom before continuing to run until I reached Ground Beta; the run took 15 minutes.
There was a huge banner at the entrance to Ground Beta, 'Happy Birthday Ruby and Jinx'. In big letters. A warm feeling spread through my body before I smiled foolishly. Then I shook myself off and came back to myself. I had things to paint.
The door to Ground Beta was wide open, huge arrows pointing in a specific direction. I ran in that direction and found everyone moving quickly, just as Izumi had said. Our entire class, and to my surprise, everyone from 1-B as well, were here preparing everything, moving back and forth.
The place was situated at a really wide intersection, so the center, where I could see Azula building a bonfire with the others, seemed to be the focal point of the party. A good spot. That left all the nearby buildings free to paint. My eyes scanned them all before landing on several paint barrels. My eyes lit up and I smiled broadly before walking over and starting to check them.
"Hello, friend Jinx! Do you need help? " Penny asked, suddenly approaching. I was about to refuse, but then I looked at all the buildings and thought better of it.
"You know what? Yes!" I said with a wide grin. I grabbed the hoverboard I'd made and quickly put it on; I'd need it to paint all the buildings as high up as possible. "I need you to grab these buckets and throw them at the walls," I told Penny with a wide grin. Penny blinked and tilted her head, confused. I burst out laughing, easily grabbed the first bucket, and mounted the hoverboard.
I grabbed the bucket before throwing all the paint against a wall. The fluorescent blue paint splattered against the building and stained the uneven wall as it began to drip. Paint splattered all over me, but I didn't care; I just smiled broadly before grabbing a huge paintbrush and starting to make long strokes all over the place.
The best birthday present ever.