A/N: So here's some info for this one-shot! This supposedly takes place during Season 2 Episode 4, around the time that Jinx dyes Isha's hair. Everything should be canon, except for the actual meeting of Isha and Ekko. They honestly should have meant before she died... Anyway, I also think the song Detached by Lyn Lapid mirrors Jinx's and Ekko's relationship. Anyways, enjoy!

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Ekko's POV

Ekko flipped the coin with his thumb in the air, catching it in his hands. His calloused fingers rubbed over the coin's side, his head heavy with thoughts. He had left the Firelight Base to go to the Last Drop, or at least linger around its outer building. The Firelights were getting restless—yes, Silco had died, but his operatives were still at large. Especially Sevika and Powder. Not Powder, it's Jinx now.

Likewise, Jinx hadn't been seen in months, though her "followers" remained strong. Through his hood, Ekko could still see the Jinx posters hung up around Zaun. Yet, the enforcers hadn't realized that these wanted posters did nothing but fuel the rebellion. They had caused riots all over the undercity, the enforcers couldn't stop them.

Jinx, with her blue-haired braids and bright pink eyes, had become a symbol.

Still, was Jinx back? Ekko hoped not for the Firelights, but he secretly wished she was. After their fight on the bridge, perhaps Vi was right and there was still a bit of Powder left in Jinx. If he could just find her, he could reach Powder.

Two sides of the same coin.

Suddenly, Ekko heard a rattle from the alleyway. He pulled his hood higher to mask his face—Gods forbid if Silco's scummy loyalists found him—and peeked over the wall of the Last Drop. His eyes widened as he spotted a sliver of short blue hair. "Powder?" Her name fell out of his mouth so abruptly that it startled the little girl, whose back was facing Ekko. The blue-haired girl took off running through the alley, spooked. "Wait, no, I didn't mean—Powder!"

Ekko took off running through the dark and dank alleyway, chasing after the girl. It might be Powder, it could be. The fear and trauma fuelled him, logic and sense forgotten as adrenaline pumped through his veins. It has to be Powder.

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Jinx's POV

"What the fuck," Jinx muttered, fiddling with a screwdriver and the latest invention of hers. It was supposed to blow up, but also leave behind a permanent trail of glitter. It wasn't working like it was supposed to, she had already tested it in Sevika's bedroom. It didn't go very well—the glitter worked, but it only stained Sevika's bed and nothing else. Sevika wasn't happy to say the least. The radius was wrong, it had to be.

Suddenly, Jinx heard the door slam behind her in the workshop. She spun around in her spinny-wheely chair, pushing up her goggles. "Hey, Isha, found more bugs for a rematch?" The little girl came running towards her, a startled expression on her face. She grabbed Jinx's hand, pointing towards the unlocked door and making low mutters. Jinx narrowed her eyes, pushing Isha behind her. "Get my gun."

Jinx untied the pouch of gunpowder around her belt as Isha ran to the chest that contained an assortment of her guns. Footsteps. They were getting louder, and whoever was tailing Isha, was about to get a hellfire of a surprise. Jinx poured the gunpowder, pulling a staggering Isha back. "Don't do anything stupid," she told Isha. "Stay behind me, bugger."

Isha pointed towards the door, crossing her arms. Jinx rolled her eyes as the footsteps got louder. "No, you can't fight my battles, kid." The door opened, and Jinx aimed for the foot. She pulled the trigger, a deafening click going off. BANG-BANG!

The bullet bounced off the metal door—an anomaly that Jinx had forgotten, the door was bullet-proof—and revealed the figure behind. Jinx's eyes widened as she realized who it was, staggering back. Ekko. Why in the world would Ekko follow Isha? Ekko coughed, emerging from the cloud of pink dust. "Powder? Are you here, Powde—" He stopped mid-sentence.

Jinx glared. "Need your ass handed to you again, Boy Saviour?" Isha was tugging on Jinx's wrist, her eyes pleading. "Go to the back, find Sevika if you need to. Go, Isha." Jinx didn't want Isha to see her settle her old debts. Isha stomped her foot, growing frustrated. Jinx kept one eye on Isha, the other on Ekko's bewildered face, and her gun. Wait, no, Jinx didn't have three eyes.

"Isha. Not Powder," Ekko muttered to himself. Jinx's head snapped back to him, training her gun at his neck. That asshole Firefly seriously still believed she was Powder? Better yet, he followed Isha because he believed she was Powder? Ha, and Jinx was supposed to be the delusional one! "Put down the gun... Jinx." She heard the hesitation when saying Jinx.

"That didn't seem to stop you back on the bridge, Little Man," she replied boredly, jerking the gun to his head. Ekko hadn't changed, he still had the same hourglass design on his face—a rather cheap face paint job though—and white dreadlocks. "I can't forget that you tried to choke with that goddamn clock-hand mace of yours. It's so ridiculously dumb-looking too!"

Ekko's hand tightened around the mace. "Not around the kid. That's what's stopping me." Was the kid he was referring to Isha or Powder? Jinx had news for him; Powder was dead.

Jinx scoffed. "Please, she's seen more bloodshed than you've probably had." But Ekko was right, she wasn't going to let Isha get hurt. Damnnit, why didn't Isha leave to find Sevika like Jinx asked her to? Isha clung to Jinx's leg, like a clingy cat. Jinx tried to shake her off, exasperated. "No, Isha, don't do this now, I'm trying to kick that Firefly's ass! C'mon now!"

From the corner of her pink eye, Jinx saw Ekko's confusement turn into amusement. "Ah shit, now you've made me lose my badass bitch moment." She dropped the gun, a bullet went off down below to the workshop's depths. Gusts of purple exploded once the bullet reached the bottom. "Alright, you want a fighter, Little Man? I don't need a gun to beat your ass and wipe that smirk off your face."

Ekko's smirk lessened. "I had a crush until you started talking to the gun."

"Jealous of a gun, really? Classic Ekko," Jinx retorted back, finally getting Isha to detach off her leg. "You know, I had a crush on you until you started the Firelight bullshit," she mimicked his voice mockingly.

His face contorted. "Wait, what—"

Isha threw a piece of metal at Ekko's chest. It bounced off like a rubber ball, rolling on the floor. There was a moment of awkward silence for Isha's failed comeback. Jinx got bored of the silence. "Okay, okay, stop all the shit and get ready for a fight! Isha, get the scoreboard!" Jinx bolted forward, her fist meeting his jaw. Ekko fought back, sweeping Jinx off her feet with a swift kick. Bang, bang, Jinx heard the voices swirling back in her mind.

"You're still an ass at fighting, Ekko! Point Jinx!" she shouted to Isha, who was tallying points in her scoreboard. She whacked the left side of his face, causing him to cough. He tugged on her blue braids, making Jinx fall back. "Asshole!" She kicked at his arms as Ekko grabbed his mace. She pointed at him, glancing at Isha. "He's using a weapon! Cheater! Deduce points!"

"You're the one who talked big game without your guns," Ekko insulted.

"Oh, right." Jinx punched his shoulder hard, knocking Ekko off balance, and overtook him. She slammed him against the wall, effectively thwarting his advances. "Tape!" Isha came running over giddily with a roll of tape as Jinx held Ekko back. "Go crazy, bugger."

"What the hell? This tape is as strong as Vi," Ekko mustered.

"That's an insult to my work," Jinx snapped.

Isha taped Ekko's wrists, giggling as Jinx mimicked a pew-pew at his head. "What? Didn't you say 'not around the kid?' Well, sure thing." Jinx and Isha stepped back to view their masterpiece. Duct Tape kept Ekko glued to the wall, sort of like a decoration. "Oh Gods, I have to find a camera to take a photo of this."

"Go to hell," Ekko deadpanned.

"You forgot to Duct Tape his mouth," Jinx told Isha, ripping off a strip of tape. She grinned like a madman as she approached. "Now you can't go running off your mouth about me to the Firelights," she said matter-of-matterly, placing the tape over his dual-toned lips. "I always get the last laugh."

Ekko said something muffled while Isha grabbed Jinx's hand. "Oh, right, I forgot about the bug match!" She ruffled Isha's freshly dyed blue hair, jerking a thumb towards the door. "How about you go find some more while I have a talk with Little Man? Don't be gone for too long." She stood up as Isha dashed off, her face full of glee.

Once Ekko was the only one left in Jinx's workshop, she tore the tape off his mouth. "Ow, that burns, you know," Ekko said as Jinx rolled her eyes. His personality hadn't changed either. Jinx debated what she should do with him, but started ripping off the pieces of tape. "You're letting me go?"

"Hell no," she said, almost insulted. "I want to fight you for real."

"For real?"

"Yeah, I was going easy on you before for Isha."

Once Ekko's hands were free, he rubbed his tender pink wrists. He narrowed his eyes at her, scoffing. "I think you just wanted to win." That boy was insane; Jinx clearly won their fight. Back on the bridge and in the present. Jinx placed his hands on her hips, glaring. He glanced at the door before meeting her gaze again. "Did you kidnap her?"

Jinx stuck out her tongue. "More like she kidnapped me if anything. I love how you jumped to that conclusion." She walked back towards her workshop, running her fingers through her blue hair. She knocked all the blue dye products off her desk, jumping onto her chair. Ekko followed, looking around her workshop. "Oh? So you're staying here? I thought you would have peed your pants and run back to your Firelights."

Ekko rolled his eyes, picking up one of Jinx's failed bombs, inspecting it. "If you intended to kill me, you would have done it back there, regardless of the child. You wouldn't have thrown your gun away, regardless of your pettiness and pride. You wouldn't have sent Isha away, regardless of your overprotection of the kid." He dropped the object, and it rolled off her desk, and Ekko stared at Jinx long and hard. "You're not...." He struggled to find the right word. "Threatening."

Jinx crossed her arms, offended. "I am too threatening! Are you saying I've gone soft?!"

"For Isha? Then yes."

Jinx jabbed her finger at Ekko's chest. "You're the one who followed her back home like some sort of perv," she retorted, ignoring the befuddled expression Ekko had. "If I wanted to, I could have blown you up to pieces, Firefly."

"But you didn't," he said pointedly, "and I only followed her because I found... I mean, blue hair and all..."

"Please, half of Zaun has that blue hair craze right now." Then it clicked. "Wait... you thought she was me, but not me. You came for her because you thought she was Powder!" Jinx slapped Ekko, more mockingly than hurtful. She shook her head, gritting her teeth. "Don't bother Isha about your insane beliefs. Powder is dead as can be."

Ekko remained silent, sighing. "Maybe you're right."

"Good. Now, piss off." Jinx stuck up the middle finger, but she realized that Vi had sliced it off. She huffed, putting her hand away as Ekko couldn't help but laugh. Jinx didn't even have time to get angry at him, she had remembered his laughter. Something buried deep in her memories reawakened, reminding her of the times she spent in Benzo's shop with Ekko as a child.

As Powder, Jinx told herself. She wasn't Powder anymore. But that didn't mean parts of Powder didn't survive in the Jinx. She should have kicked Ekko out of the workshop before Isha came back—or worse, Sevika—but she instead picked up a screwdriver.

"Remember the time that we were riding in one of those wheel carts around the undercity? You flipped off two enforcers, and Benzo was the one who had to convince them not to arrest an eleven-year-old." She tossed the screwdriver in the air and caught it. "Then Deckard and his bitches beat you up for it afterwards."

Ekko rubbed his neck. "Still remember that."

"I could have stopped them or fought back, but I didn't." It just occurred to Jinx how weak-willed she was when she was younger. She didn't even stand up for Ekko then, how weak was Powder? Jinx let the screwdriver fall to the ground on the third toss. "Now I've changed, I'm different. I can fight back." And she'd wish that Powder would have killed Deckard's ass back then.

"You were always a good fighter," Ekko replied, leaning against her desk. They had forgotten the prior fight, making small talk to each other. Like they hadn't tried to kill each other in the previous years. "Remember the days we'd train in the basement after watching Vi?"

Jinx crackled. "And then you fell on your butt."

Ekko scowled. "That was once."

"More like twice." She doubled over and laughed wildly until it felt like she couldn't breathe. She wiped a single tear from her eye, trying to contain her giggles. Ekko chuckled too, unable to hide his smile. "When we're not busy killing each other, we're pretty goddamn fun together."

Suddenly, the door creaked and Isha came running back with a jar of bugs. "Ah, and there's our best girl!" Jinx ruffled Isha's hair again as the girl plunked on the floor, trying to open the jar. Isha struggled, eventually tossing it to Jinx. "I got this," Jinx said, trying to unscrew it. "Ugh, why isn't it opening?"

"Let me do it," Ekko said.

"No, I'd rather die," Jinx said, grabbing a mini hammer and shattering the glass jar open. Its shards exploded on the desk and bugs crawled to the floor where Isha was waiting. She bumped hips with Ekko, letting out a manic laugh. "See? I've got my big girl pants on."

"More like clown pants."

"Don't insult the pants!"

Ekko crouched down to Isha, holding out his palm like a peace offering. "Hey, mini Jinx, I'm Ekko. You can call me Little Man." They fist-bumped and Isha giggled quietly at mini Jinx.

Jinx smacked the back of Ekko's head. "She doesn't talk, and her name is Isha." She sat cross-legged, picking up a beetle and doodling on its shell with bright markers. She handed one to Ekko and Isha, sticking out her tongue as she drew. A bit of blue over there, and a smudge of yellow on the head.

"You look like a dog on Shimmer," Ekko said bluntly. "Your tongue's out."

"You look like a street rat who relies on four seconds each time."

Isha clapped her hands as the bugs entered the ring. Jinx cleared her voice before yelling out, "In the center we have my trustworthy beetle, the Cross-eyed with a face that only a mother could love!" Jinx picked up Isha and spun her around.

She continued, "On the left side, we have Isha's beloved cockroach, the Deadly Flyer! With eyes so beady it'll crack an egg!" Then she paused, glancing at Ekko. "Oh, then we have Ekko's slow caterpillar, Bob."

Ekko's jaw dropped. "I get Bob?"

"You're a bug-ist?"

"You got all the cool names!" Ekko sighed as Bob the Caterpillar slowly wandered out of the ring. "You go, Bob." He stood up, dusting his knees. "It's late, I should go." Damn, Ekko really did know the clock like the back of his hand. He hesitated, but he ruffled Isha's blue locks, smiling softly. Yet, he didn't see her as Powder nor a mini Jinx, just as Isha.

Jinx narrowed his eyes. "You aren't going to tell the Firelights about my secret workshop?" Her hands rested atop of Isha's head of hair protectively. Perhaps Ekko was right about Jinx going soft. "Because I'll hunt you down, Firefly."

"I'm their leader, they'll listen to me. You're not my biggest threat right now, the enforcers are. Ever since Piltover followed Ambessa's lead, the enforcers have been more aggressive to Firelights and your Jinx followers." Ekko shrugged, picking up his mace and slinging it over his shoulder. "You're a symbol of rebellion now, Jinx. Give it some thought." He walked away from the workshop, heading out the door.

You're a symbol of rebellion now, Jinx. Give it some thought.

Ugh, he sounded like Sevika now.

Isha nudged Jinx, prodding her thigh with the screwdriver gently. "No, I'm not going after him, you tiny bugger," she said, caressing Isha's hair. Powder blue, Jinx remembered reading off the label. "It's better to just forget about things in the past. Today was just an anomaly, a hexed jinx."

Isha went in front of Jinx, making signs with her hands. It was hard to always know what she was saying, but she was very clear. What about the future? Isha had signed. Jinx let out a heavy sigh, hands on her hips. "Fine, I'll catch him before he heads out, don't you dare try to listen in on our conversation."

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Ekko's POV

Ekko fiddled with the coin in the pocket of his jacket, his footsteps feeling more heavy than the last as he walked away from Jinx's workshop. After meeting Isha, and seeing how she had softened Jinx, he wondered if she had truly changed. Maybe she wasn't Powder anymore, but she wasn't quite of a jinx either. Stop thinking about it, he told himself. About her.

"Hey, Boy Saviour!"

His head snapped around as he turned around. Jinx ran up the stairs, out of breath comically as she slumped against the wall. "Damn, you must have been waiting for me, huh?" She caught her breath, clearing her throat. "Give me a minute."

"I'll give you four."

Jinx scowled, smacking his hand. "I'm not a greasy street rat, Ekko." She straightened up, meeting Ekko squarely in the eye. She crossed her arms, raising her eyebrow slightly. "You weren't wrong when you suggested I went soft, you weren't right when you said I'm not a threat anymore." She tilted her chin up ever so slightly as Ekko's heart raced. Don't let it all get to your head, he thought. "But for Isha, I'm willing to compromise. She likes you for some stupid reason, and she'd probably want more bug battles with Bob. And you can come if you want. But only because Isha wants to," she added quickly, scoffing. Like she didn't care.

Ekko knew that Jinx cared.

"Thanks, Jinx."

"Finally got the name right." She loosened her shoulders, like she finally realized Ekko wasn't the enemy anymore. Maybe he was her enemy, but they were on the same footing now. "I wasn't wrong about the crush either, you know." She said so casually that Ekko nearly missed it. "And to be fair, the gun-talking was there from the start. Even when I was Powder."

Ekko's eyes softened. "I know."

"So wha... Oh." Jinx blinked blankly, realizing what he meant. It looked like fireworks went off in Jinx's eyes, but she merely cleared her throat and patted Ekko on the shoulder. Her touch was electrifying to his dark skin. "The door to my workshop is always open... Good night, or whatever."

Ekko flipped the coin in the air and Jinx caught it this time. "Keep it," he told her, his fingertips brushing against hers. Behind her, Ekko saw Isha hiding in the stairwell in the distance. She's a sly one, he thought to himself. "I'll see you on the other side, Jinx."