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A city is a small town. Jett heard that said whenever someone unexpectedly ran in to a familiar face. He himself didn't run into people all too often. Seattle had plenty of space filled with plenty of strangers not worth Jett's recognition. While plenty of people liked him there was only a handful of people that Jett actually considered good friends.
…Plus one more, if he could manage to charm old man Hood into admitting Jett was the favorite. Plus one more, one more, if Ezra was forcing Jett to count Eugene as a friend, too.
Fucking Eugene. Powerless. Weak. He was a liability, and Jett would say that to his face. He has said that too his face — and to his profile pic — and he's taken pride in saying it with a more colorful vocabulary. But the others kept insisting that Eugene was part of their team, so Jett had to keep including him or whatever.
It was such bullshit.
Eugene was the last person that Jett wanted to spend time with. He was the last person who should be considered a Teen Titan. Just because Shaz-has-been used to be pretty powerful shouldn't mean that Jett now needed to pick up the slack from that loser's dead weight and failed jumps and general incompetence.
All he wanted was an iced bev. This coffee shop's specials menu always brought something that tasted good at a cheap enough price for Jett could justify splurging. He did not want to need to deal with his teammate (who really shouldn't even be on the team) sitting alone at a table scribbling down notes like the pathetic little nerd he was. Studying at a coffee shop, could you get any more cliche?
The good news was that Eugene didn't seem to notice him. Whatever the guy had been taking notes on seemed to have him locked the fuck in. The bad news was that Eugene didn't notice him at all. Jett didn't like feeling like he wasn't someone worth noticing, especially not by Eugene of all people. It made him twitch, unsettled.
He should step into line, place his to-go drink order, then walk away before Eugene even realized they'd been within each other's general proximity.
Or…
He walked further into the dining room. If he had to have his afternoon spoiled by remembering Eugene existed, then Eugene should have to deal with his afternoon being double spoiled when Jett reminded him how cool he wasn't. Eugene'd never be half the guy that Jett was, and Jett would take advantage of every opportunity to ensure that he was aware of that fact.
"Whatcha up to?" Jett peered suspiciously at the notes instead of giving a proper greeting.
Eugene practically leaped out of his skin. Eyes went wide as he flailed his arms to cover his papers. Then, after his inital moment of panic, he seemed to register exactly who was talking to him. Eyes narrowed into a glare, locked onto Jett who was very amused at the scene in front of him.
He's such a little chicken-shit.
"Man," Jett laughed freely at Eugene's distress, "You—"
"Shh!" Eugene made a sharp movement to grab Jett's hand and yank him into the booth.
Suddenly Jett didn't feel like laughing anymore. He barely caught himself as he fell forward. As soon as he was stable in the cheap vinyl seat he ripped his hand out of Eugene's stupidly warm grip.
"Chill, dude. What's got you freaked?" He kept his voice quiet, more so to avoid making a scene in his favorite coffee shop than to appease Eugene. Seriously, the cute barista was on the clock today and Jett did not want to have his chances with them spoiled by Eugene's weirdness.
"I'm studying," Eugene spoke through clenched teeth. He frantically began to write something down.
"Quit being so fussy," Jett huffed, "No one gives a shit about your nerdy-ass…"
He let his words trail off as Eugene slid a piece of paper across the table. There was a note written in handwriting neat enough that Jett would've guessed a girl wrote it if he hadn't watched Eugene's hand move the pen himself.
The girls behind us are talking about an Ascend rally.
Oh. That kind of studying. Eugene was… attempting to do some lame-ass version of recon by evesdropping on a gaggle of girls gossiping over favored lattes? Weirdo.
Jett turned to glance over his shoulder but before he could get a good look at the people in the booth behind him Eugene swatted him harshly on the shoulder. Jett turned back to him with eyebrows raised. Eugene was glaring again. He took his pen and held it to his lips to mine shushing before using it to point at his ear. Finally, he tipped the pen back to point to the group behind them.
As if Eugene got to be the one to order Jett to be quiet and listen. Still, he sat back further into the booth, crossing his arms to show how unhappy he was with this turn of events.
"Hey, how do you think he keeps the pink so vibrant?" A girl's quiet voice was asking.
What?
"Who?" Another voice cut in.
"The guy who just sat behind you," The first voice answered.
Eugene let his head fall forward onto the table with a soft groan. He started writing again, his handwriting slightly sloppier since he wasn't looking at the page. Still, even Jett had to admit it was almost impressive how he still managed to scribble down a mostly-legible message without lifting his head.
I cannot believe you.
Jett swatted him on the arm to get him to look up again. Once that loser's attention was back on him, he mouthed: "What did I do?"
The glare flattened into an utterly unimpressed expression. Eugene took his pen and edited the note from earlier: The girls behind us are talking about an Ascend rally.
He crossed out the word "are" and wrote down "WERE" making sure to underline it multiple times, rather dramatically.
Jett grabbed the pen to write his own defense: Not my fault!!!
Eugene huffed, clearly holding a different (wrong) opinion. Jett couldn't help it if he tended to capture the attention of strangers, that was just the luck of the draw. He spared a moment to glance at the cute barista, but they were very pointedly not looking at Jett for once. It kinda sucked, to be honest. He was used to being able to catch their eye.
Jett heard the first girl speaking again, "What are they even doing?"
"Study date?" The second girl suggested.
He felt his eyes blow wide. Date? How the fuck had they given them that impression. He leaned back, suddenly aware of how close he and Eugene had been while they leaned over the note they'd been passing back and forth.
"You think they're together?" The first girl asked. She sounded smart, like she couldn't believe the idea. It was a rather unbelievable thought. Jett and Eugene? Please, they weren't even friends. Much less… that.
"Why not?" Her friend asked.
"I dunno. Pink hair almost stood the cute one up," The first girl pointed out.
What the fuck?
Jett dropped the pen in shock at what he just heard.
That's what she couldn't believe about the idea of Jett and Eugene? She thought that Jett was too much of an asshole to be bothered to show up on time for a date? Jokes on her, if Jett ever had the misfortune of having a date scheduled with Eugene then he wouldn't have bothered showing up at all. Also, Eugene? The cute one? Was she blind?
He looked over to his not-friend, expecting a scowl matching his own. Instead Eugene looked shocked. His eyes were wide, mouth just barely hanging open. There was a light pink dusting his cheeks. God, of course Eugene was the kind of guy who'd be a blushing mess as soon as someone hinted at the idea of him being "cute." Jett couldn't see it. Well… With that blush… Okay, if he was squinting his eyes and standing a half mile away and didn't know that he was looking at Eugene, then he could almost see how someone who didn't have any taste might think that maybe Eugene was kinda cute.
"Or he just got here mad early to wait for his boyfriend," The second girl suggested. "I bet he's simp-y like that."
At that, Eugene finally dawned the scowl that Jett had been waiting for. He barely managed to bite back his snicker at the idea of Eugene simping over him. That'd be— That'd be… Funny, right? Was "funny" the right word?
"They could just be study partners," A third voice suggested. Jett hadn't realized there was a third girl at the table, this one sounding almost bored by the conversation. She kept trying to suggest more logical ideas compared to the ridiculous thought of Jett and Eugene being on a study date. "Or the black haired one's a tutor."
"Don't stereotype," The second voice scolded.
The first girl scoffed. "Oh, but the one with pink hair needs to be into guys, huh?"
Jett was just about fed up with being gossiped over by the dumb, apparently pro-Ascend girls yapping behind him. He rolled his eyes dramatically while he shifted to look over his shoulder. He barely got his mouth open to start telling them off before he felt a jolt of pain strike against his ribs. Eugene had elbowed him harshly, sliding a new note between them with the comment, "No, babe, you're using the wrong formula."
LET THEM KEEP TALKiNG! was underlined in earnest, but Jett's attention was caught on having heard one specific word.
"Babe?" He mouthed.
Eugene shrugged, pointing his pen at the table behind them as if to blame his stupid-ass decision to lean into the 'boyfriends' idea on the gossiping idiots behind them. It was so far from believable that it wasn't even funny. As if Jett would ever stoop so low as to go on a date with fucking Eugene.
Jett should've just walked in here, ordered his drink, and left before Eugene could pull him into his creepy eavesdropping sidequest. They got plenty of intel into Ascend rallies online. This was so fucking pointless for no reason.
Whatever. He was stuck in the situation now, might as well make sure Eugene was just as miserable about it as he was.
He snatched back the pen. With a glare of his own he took the note and capitalized the "I" in "TALKiNG" from earlier.
He folded his arms over his chest, feeling smug at the way Eugene rolled his eyes.
"Never mind," The third girl kept her voice quiet, but not soft enough to completely avoid Jett hearing it, "He just called the pink one babe."
The first girl spoke with a pout, "Damn, cutie's taken."
Gross.
Was she really that upset about the idea of Eugene not being single? At least Jett could take solace in the fact Eugene so clearly blew any chance he could've had with this girl. It might've been the poor guy’s only shot at ever getting a date.
…Was Eugene interested in dating? Was he disappointed that he blew his shot with this chick? Did he even want a shot with her? Why did that idea piss Jett off? Maybe… Maybe because these girls were apparently pro-Ascend, so he was easily pissed at them in general. Or maybe it was just the idea that someone could be dumb enough to look at Eugene and see someone that they’d be able to have feelings for. Jett must just be pissed at her stupidity.
The second girl snorted, "What, were you gonna try to invite him to the next rally?"
"Worth shooting my shot," The first girl said.
The third girl let out a groan. "Every time you try to use an Ascend rally as a first date it goes to shit."
Finally, they were back to talking about Ascend.
"Oh my god," The second girl laughed, "Do you remember Carl?"
Or not. They were just talking about their friend's bad dates. Which, if Eugene was her type then it was no surprise that she had some bad date stories. In Jett's not-so-humble opinion, at least.
"We are not gonna bring up Carl," The first girl protested.
"Was he the one who's mom dropped him off?"
"Oh my god, I forgot about that part!"
The girls dissolved into a fit of giggles at momma-boy Carl's expense.
Eugene let out a heavy sigh as he began to collect his notebooks and papers. He leaned close enough for Jett to feel his warm breath as he murmered, "Let's just go."
"Fine," Jett made sure to put some distance back between them, "Whatever."
He slid out of the booth first. When Eugene followed after, they ended up standing a half step too close.
"Hey!" The first girl's voice called loudly. Jett turned to see what she could've been talking about. Turns out, she was looking right at him. Or, more precisely, at them.
She had long, wavy, faded-purple hair. Her makeup was clean with just a pop of color. Overall, she was way out of Eugene's league. Eugene probably would've said yes to a date in a heartbeat if she asked. Thank god he had already fucked that chance up for himself. But for some reason Jett still felt pissed all over again that she had ever called the guy cute in the first place.
The girl smiled alongside her equally pretty friends, "We just wanted to say you guys make the cutest couple."
Oh, please no.
Jett was about to finally correct her, but Eugene seemed to have another idea. He grabbed Jett's hand, leaning briefly into his side as he batted his eyes.
"Don't we?" He looked ridiculous. Jett had no clue why Eugene was so insistent on playing into this stupid cover. At least, he didn't know until Eugene looked up at him to sweetly ask, "You got the check, right, babe?"
Oh, motherfucker.
Jett felt his mouth drop open in shock. He couldn't believe Eugene had the nerve to try and pull this stunt. Right when he was gonna stage the most dramatic, humiliating public breakup to get back at Eugene, the guy decided to make an even ballsier move.
Eugene tilted his head up, reaching up on his toes to press their mouths together in a soft kiss.
Holy shit.
Jett should've pulled away. He should've pushed Eugene off. He should've spat in disgust and wiped his mouth clean of fucking Eugene Choi. What ended up happening, though, was that his eyes closed on instinct while his lips felt utterly numb against the soft touch. He didn't even get the chance to start kissing back before Eugene was pulling away.
"See you later, right?" His not-boyfriend — his not-friend — said in that same, fake, sickly sweet voice.
He walked away, leaving Jett frozen and confused.
Fucking Eugene.
He couldn't— He shouldn't— There was no way he just— Fuck!
Fucking Eugene!
His phone lit up with a new notification, a DM from Shit-zam himself. Had to keep our cover ;p I'll pay you back by buying you a coffee next time the Teen Titans hang. If you remember to tell me everyone's meeting up, I mean.
Motherfucking Eugene Choi.
Jett reached his fingers up to trace the empty feeling on his lips.
Eventually he spurred himself into moving. After all, he apparently had a check to pick up the tab for. God, he didn't even have a receipt with him to know how much money he was about to blow on Eugene's crap.
"Hey, uh…" He started speaking at the register. It was the cute barista stationed there, because of fucking course it was. He cleared his throat awkwardly and tried to explain, "For that table back there…"
"You're paying for your boyfriend?" The cute barista assumed.
Shit.
"Uh, it's not—"
"You guys are cute," The barista cut off curtly. "It'll be 17.39, yeah?"
Motherfucking Eugene Choi. I can't fucking stand that guy.
Jett should've staged that loud, messy, fake break up when he had the chance.