So this is my first ever Jimmy Neutron fanfic. I've watched the show for years, and I made a couple of music videos, but I never wrote a fanfic piece. Needless to say, I'm new at this (not writing, but Jimmy Neutron fanfiction), so forgive me if it's not up to par with other fics. I did my best to keep everyone in character, and tried to use the proper colloquialisms, but, you know, I'm no expert, and like I said…I'm new. I have a lot to learn.
Needless to say, this is a J/C one-shot. A little bit of humor, a little bit of romance…you know the drill. Hopefully not too fluffy.
Please enjoy and, if you have the time, review!
Cindy Vortex walked down the children-filled street, muttering angrily to herself. "Who do those kids think they are, meddling in my personal life?" She kicked a rock, which flew several feet away. A young boy's scream of pain followed. While Cindy tended to be a rather irritated girl, her recent adventure in babysitting had proven her more livid than usual. The twin five-year-old girls she had looked after, who went by the names of Jenny and Janie ("Smart move on the parents part," Cindy had sarcastically told her best friend), had taken it upon themselves to ask Cindy if she had ever been "in love."
"No," Cindy answered promptly, scowling as she normally did when anyone breached the topic of him. Her defenses were well practiced, and by now it had become routine.
"Well Brittany, our last babysitter," announced the precocious Janie (or was it Jenny?), "told me that you're in love with the je—the geen…" She frowned, unable to pronounce such a word. "The really smart boy, Jimmy!" she finished.
Cindy felt her cheeks flush and her fingers curl into a fist. "Brittany was gossiping with you about my love life?" she demanded, outraged.
The twins nodded. "She likes to talk about lots of stuff, but you and Jimmy are her favorite. Mostly 'cause she says it's so peccy-lar."
"Peculiar," Cindy corrected immediately.
"Peh-cuuuee-lar," Jenny repeated, crinkling her nose. "Funny word." She shook her head, as if to wipe away this previous thought, and continued. "Anyway, she says it's peh-cue-lar, 'cause you and Jimmy are so diff'rent."
"Yeah, well, opposites attract," mumbled Cindy as she made a mental note to pound Brittany until her head wasn't the width of a football field.
Jenny and Janie exchanged excited glances. "So you do love him!"
"I do not!" shouted Cindy, whipping her head around to glare at the two girls she now deemed monsters.
"Jimmy and Cindy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…"
Needless to say, the parents couldn't have arrived soon enough. They were, of course, half an hour late, and by the time Cindy had left, she was in an incredibly foul mood, as the poor child who was mysteriously hit in the head by a flying rock could testify (had he been conscious).
"At least that's over with," Cindy sighed, tilting her head back so her blonde ponytail reached the middle of her back. She sighed. "I just want to go home, read a nice book, and do anything but think about— "
"Hey! Vortex!" came a voice a few feet away.
Cindy closed her eyes. "—Neutron," she finished. She brought her head back from space and saw Jimmy Neutron, working on something that she couldn't quite make out.
"Neutron," Cindy replied with a slight nod. She was shocked when Jimmy waved her over. Blinking, Cindy looked to her left and right, almost certain that he had to be speaking to someone else. While they had known each other for years and they had developed a rather…odd…friendship, she and Jimmy were more prone to mock each other than welcome one another into their front yards. When she realized that she was the only one on her side of the street, she shrugged and walked over.
"What is it, Neutron?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. "I've just come from the most exhausting babysitting experience, and I'm not in the mood to play test subject today."
"I finally did it!" Jimmy exclaimed, ignoring Cindy's speech.
"Did what, exactly?" Cindy asked, staring at the machine in Jimmy's hand.
"Well, by separating an object's atoms and realigning them so they— "
"The short version, please," Cindy interrupted.
"I've found a way to turn everyday objects, and humans, invisible!" Jimmy said, clearly excited. "I present to you…the Neutron Nonevidensizer!"
Cindy laughed. "See you're losing your creativity, Nerdtron. Had to resort to using Latin to name your little toys?"
"You know Latin?" Jimmy asked, looking at Cindy with a great amount of respect.
"Clearly."
"Since when?"
Cindy rolled her eyes. "What does it matter? Anyway, why'd you call me all the way over here? Because if it was just to show off another one of your stupid inventions, I'm going to—"
"I wanted you to be the first human to try it out!" Jimmy told her, his eyes lighting up.
"No way!" Cindy exclaimed, taking a step back and holding her hands in front of her. "There's no way you're using that…that…thing on me." She glared at his invention. "When I said 'not in the mood to play test subject,' I meant it, bird brain. Figures you'd only invite me over in order to make me disappear." She muttered the last sentence to herself, and though she would rather die than admit it, it was this, more than anything, that bothered her. "Anyway," she continued, "this is a new outfit, and I won't have you disintegrating it when your little contraption goes awry."
Jimmy blinked. "It looks like the same outfit you always wear."
Cindy immediately became incensed. "How dare you!" she cried. "I just bought this shirt."
"I don't see the difference," Jimmy shrugged.
"You wouldn't," Cindy spat at him. "Seeing as you have the sight of a rhinoceros. The other shirt was a halter with three green stripes, all of a different shade. This is a tank top, with alternating stripes of dark and light green."
"Now I see what's different!" Jimmy said, and it was apparent that he hadn't listened to a word she had just said. "Your pants!"
"No, not my jeans, my shirt, dipstick. No halter. No three colors of green. See?"
"Yes!" Jimmy continued, still ignoring her. "You always wear those ridiculous things that aren't quite shorts, but never reach your ankles."
"You mean capris, genius?"
"Well, whatever the case, I'm glad to see that you finally came to your senses and decided to wear actual pants."
"I am going to kill you one of these days, Neutron," Cindy said through gritted teeth. "I'll tear you to pieces."
"Before you do that, try out my Nonevidensizer?" Jimmy was attempting a joke, but clearly he hadn't delivered it well. Cindy gave him a look that, had he not received it for the past six years, would've made him beg for mercy.
"Get a life, Nerdtron," she shot at him, and turned around.
Jimmy blinked in confusion as he watched Cindy walk away. "What'd I do wrong this time?" he wondered.
"How could he?" Cindy asked herself, her fingers balling into fists. "How could you? Right, like he had invited you over there because he wanted you there, Cindy. What are the chances of that ever happening?" She was so preoccupied that she failed to notice where she was walking, and moments later crashed into her best friend.
"Libs!" Cindy exclaimed, holding out a hand to help the girl who had just fallen to the ground. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Libby said, brushing off dirt. "My jeans, however…" She looked sadly at the tiny rip in the hem of her pants, and Cindy could only offer a guilty smile and another apology. "'S not a problem," Libby shrugged. "From the look of it, you got somethin' huge on your mind, girlfriend. So what's up?"
"What? Nothing! Nothing's up. Well, I mean, a lot of stuff is up," Cindy began to babble. "Like that plane over there, and the clouds, and the birds. But not with me! Nothing's up with me!"
Libby raised her eyebrow. "What the heck did Jimmy do to you this time?"
"Why do you think this has anything to do with Neutron?" Cindy demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.
"'Cause you only act like a blabberin' idiot when you're either a. 'round him or b. thinkin' 'bout him!"
"That's ridiculous," Cindy grumbled.
"Really?" Libby leaned against a tree. "Then what's buggin' you?"
"I already told you. Nothing."
"So it's normal for you to walk 'round Retroville, mutterin' to yourself like a crazy person?"
Cindy quickly looked away and shrugged.
"Now, like I said, what'd Jimmy do?"
"Go ask him," Cindy said, her anger flaring up once more. "I have work to do." And with that, Cindy raced away.
"Work?" Libby repeated. "But we're on summer vacation!" she called after her best friend, who by now was far, far away. "Y'know, one of these days I'm gonna lock those two into a closet until they admit that they're in love with each other."
As Libby made her way down the street, she was lucky enough to crash into another helpless idiot, who seemed to be yelling, "Cindy, wait up!"
"I'm gonna have such a migraine after this," Libby moaned as she rubbed her head. She looked up to see who she had knocked into, and found herself staring at the one boy she had wanted to see. "Jimmy!"
"Hi, Libby," Jimmy replied, looking distracted but at the same time determined. "Look, I loved to talk, but I have to go find Cindy…"
"No you ain't," Libby laughed at him, blocking his way. "Cindy's mad as heck. Believe me, you wanna leave her alone. 'Least for a bit."
Jimmy groaned. "I just want to know what I did wrong!" He looked hopefully at Libby. "She didn't happen to mention anything to you, did she?"
"Nuthin'. She told me to ask you. So what exactly didja do?"
"I asked her to try out my newest invention! She's always going on and on about how I never include her, so when I saw her across the street, I asked her to test out my Nonevidensizer."
"Say what?"
"The Neutron Nonevidensizer." Libby's eyes remained blank, and Jimmy heaved an annoyed sigh. "It turns things invisible. Simple enough for you? Anyway, I asked her to try it out, and she threw a fit and stalked off!"
"Well of course she got mad," Libby said, finally seeing the light. "You basically asked her, 'May I make you disappear, please?' Not the best way to get on someone's good side, y'know? No wonder my girl was ravin' mad."
"Well don't you think she was a bit histrionic?"
"Say what?"
Jimmy eyes rolled up to the heavens as he muttered, "Albert Einstein, help me." At least he could hold an intelligent conversation with Cindy. "I asked if you didn't think she was being a bit melodramatic."
Libby stared at him, disgusted. "You're a moron."
"No I'm not, I'm—"
"A bona fide genius, yeah, I know. You're still a moron."
"You're just saying that because—"
"I'm her best friend?" she finished. "Well, that definitely has something to with it, but no. You're just a moron who can't see the obvious."
"Meaning what, exactly?" He was starting to look annoyed.
She blinked at him. "You got no clue why she got so upset on you?"
"No!"
"You really are a moron," she muttered, shaking her head.
"Would you stop saying that?"
"No, because you're a moron! You told this girl, who is so obviously in love with you it's sickening, that you wanted her to disappear, and you wonder if she overreacted?"
"I didn't want her to disappear!" Jimmy cried. "I just wanted to include her! I wanted… Wait, what?" Jimmy did a double take. "What did you just say?"
"That you wanted her to disappear?"
"No, not that."
"How you're a moron for wondering why she was overreacting?"
"No," Jimmy growled. "The first part. About Cindy and how she…she…you know."
"You mean how she's totally into you?" Libby asked. "What? Like you didn't know?"
"No, I didn't know!" Jimmy yelled. "How could I?"
"She only does the stupidest things to get your attention. How could you not know?"
"I…she…I mean…" Jimmy searched for words. "Your brain cells clearly are lacking oxygen," he finally replied.
Libby laughed. "Yeah, I'm the one not getting enough air to my brain."
"Cindy doesn't like me like that," Jimmy insisted. "She hates me."
"Oh, please. Cindy likes you as much as you like her. Maybe even more."
"I do not…" Jimmy began to protest, but stopped when Libby raised an eyebrow at him. "How did you know?"
"Jimmy," Libby said, giving him a look. "Do you really hafta ask? You're almost as obvious 'bout it as Cindy!"
"I am not!" Jimmy insisted, but he was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. "And I don't like her," he said under his breath.
"Sure, that's why you were racin' after her like your life depended on it," Libby said sarcastically. "God. Between the two of you, I'm gonna lose my mind!"
Jimmy frowned, not paying attention to a word Libby said. "You think she went back to her house?"
"I dunno," Libby shrugged. "By now she could've make it 'round the block, I guess. But then again she— "
Jimmy didn't bother to listen to the rest of Libby' sentence. "Thanks, Libby!" he called, and jetted off.
Libby grumbled as she watched him run back the way he came. "They ain't getting nuthin' from me when they get engaged."
"Stupid…Neutron…" Cindy huffed, punching at her Jimmy punching bag. "I can't believe I…ARGH!" She punched the bag so hard that it hit the ground and didn't come back up. With a cry of frustration, she fell back on her bed, breathing heavily. A moment later she heard the doorbell ring.
"Great," she muttered, turning to her side as she grabbed a pillow and held it to herself. In the recent months, her mother had taken to using her influence to invite over college deans so that Cindy could do what her mother called "schmoozing." Never mind that she wasn't going to college for another three years. Nonetheless, she was in no mood to entertain some stuck-up dean. She turned to her other side as she repeated, "Stupid Neutron."
Downstairs, Sasha Vortex was eyeing the boy from across the street wearily. "You wish to speak to Cynthia?" she reiterated, her snobby tone causing Jimmy to almost flinch. "Whatever for? I can't see her being very receptive to your invasion of our home."
Jimmy's lips set into a straight line, but he managed to prevent himself from an outburst. "I just need to talk to her about a, er, project we're doing in school."
"A project?" Mrs. Vortex droned.
"Yes," Jimmy answered firmly. "In history. A history project. For history! About, um, the impact of mummification on the various uses of…uh…lip balm."
Mrs. Vortex raised her eyebrow, but, sighing, stepped aside and let Jimmy in, a task that appeared incredibly draining for her.
"Cynthia!" she called as Jimmy approached the stairs. "That odd-haired boy from across the street is here to heckle you about some history project you're working on."
"What history— " came Cindy's surprised voice, but Jimmy jumped in and exclaimed, "Thanks, Mrs. Vortex!" and ran upstairs.
Cindy sat up as she heard a knocking on her door. Jimmy was here? At her house? About to come into her room? She couldn't remember the last time he had been there. Sure, he had used his hover car to float outside her window when he picked her up, along with the rest of the gang, for a late night excursion, but in her room? And given their last conversation, why was he even bothering with her?
"Uh, Vortex?" Jimmy asked through the wood. "In normal circumstances, when one knocks on the door, one normally receives some sort of reply. Assuming," Jimmy went on, "that someone is in the room. Perhaps you're not in there?" Jimmy scratched his head. "But then again your mother assumed you were. And I just heard your voice… I suppose she could have simply forgotten, and I simply imagined your voice, or maybe you heard me and climbed out your window, but the chance of either of those events occurring is one in 6,835,987. Though the latter would be more likely than the former, so I guess that would make the last scenario one in 5,430,885 chance, but still— "
Cindy quickly grew tired of Jimmy's statistics. Jumping up, she flung the door opened and pulled Jimmy into her room. "Just shut up, Neutron!" she exclaimed, slamming the door.
"Well you didn't answer!" Jimmy protested.
"That doesn't mean you need to give me a report on my possible whereabouts!"
"If you just answered when I knocked— "
"Ever consider that I didn't want you to know I was in here? That maybe I wanted you to leave me alone because you annoy me to no end! Sheesh." Cindy got up and walked over to her window so that her back faced Jimmy.
Jimmy felt his temper rising. "What is your problem, Vortex?" he demanded. "What exactly did I do to you?"
"What did you do to me?" Cindy repeated in disbelief, spinning around so she faced Jimmy. "Oh, nothing, but ask if you could turn me invisible!"
"I was just trying to include you in my experiment! Is that such a crime?"
"You tried to turn me invisible!" Cindy repeated, her voice nearing a screech. "I get that you hate me, Neutron, but you don't need to make me disappear to prove your point!"
"Why do you think I hate you?" Jimmy was beginning to feel exasperated. Why did girls always seem to take things the wrong way?
Cindy gave Jimmy a disgusted look. "How much of a moron are you, Neutron?"
"Would people please stop calling me a moron?" Jimmy huffed. He took a few deep breaths and then continued. "Look, all I did was try to include you in my experiment, seeing as you tend to get angry with me whenever I invent something and you're the last to know about it."
"But you tried to— "
"I know!" Jimmy was really getting frustrated now. "I tried to test it on you. I don't see what the big deal is. Weren't you the one going on and on months ago about how cool it'd be to turn invisible? I thought you'd like trying it out! I wasn't trying to make you disappear. It's not as if I didn't make sure it was perfectly safe before asking."
Cindy rolled her eyes. "Your standards of safety aren't exactly up to par." She looked away, crossing her arms angrily across her chest. When Jimmy didn't make any move to speak again, she looked back at him, rather timidly. "You really were only trying to include me in your invention process?"
"Yes!" Finally the girl comprehended something!
"But why?"
Jimmy blinked. "Because you're always getting on my case for not letting you into my lab or letting you help me when we're supposed to be friends."
"Yeah, I know, but it's not as if you've ever listened to me before. Why?"
Jimmy felt his hands clam up, and he fought to keep control of his voice. "Well…you know…I mean…"
Cindy stared at him, tapping her foot impatiently.
"It's just…I…"
"C'mon, Neutron, I don't have all day here," Cindy growled.
"Because you matter, Vortex!" Jimmy shouted out suddenly. "What you say and what you think matters to me!" A second later a look of extreme panic appeared on his face, as if he had just realized what he had said. "I mean…well…." He looked down. "You're important, and you …and I just…yeah." The teen genius looked horribly confused, and he did everything in his power to avoid eye contact with Cindy.
Cindy, on the other hand, felt as if she was in a dream. Jimmy was actually saying that she mattered to him? "I'm important to you?" came Cindy's awed voice.
"Yes! Of course you are. Leaping leptons, you're impossible sometimes!" Jimmy threw up his hands.
Cindy unconsciously bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to say next. Luckily, Jimmy beat her to the punch.
"I just wanted to know what you thought of it," he mumbled. With a sigh he turned around, heading out the door.
"Jimmy, wait!" Cindy called out instinctually. Jimmy stopped and swiveled on the spot. His eyes bore into hers, and she knew he was waiting for her to say something, anything, that would make his semi-confession worthwhile.
"I…I…" Cindy seemed at a loss. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out, and anyone who knew Cindy Vortex knew how rare an occasion it was for her to apologize.
Jimmy's eyes widened. "Really?"
Cindy nodded. "I just…well…when you said you wanted me to try your invention, I thought that you really wanted me to disappear, and I…" She fingered the hem of her shirt. "I overreacted. I'm sorry."
Jimmy gazed at her. How could he respond to something like that? If it were anyone else, he would've said a simple, "Thanks. I'm sorry, too." But this was Cindy. Cindy didn't apologize. Well, clearly she apologized, but when she did you didn't just say, "Thank you."
"Cindy," Jimmy said slowly, and Cindy gave a small gasp at the use of her real name. "Would you…um…would you like to go see a movie with me…some time…"
Cindy's jaw dropped.
Good work, Neutron, Jimmy mentally pat himself on the back. That was about as rare as an apology from Cindy. Wait a second. Did he just ask Cindy out? Oh no. Jimmy felt his temperature rising. Damage control! Damage control! Before he could do such a thing, however, Cindy stuttered, "You mean like a…a…"
Jimmy felt his cheeks turn red. "Um, yeah." Well, there was no going back now.
Cindy stared a little bit more, and then frowned. "You're a jerk, you know that?"
"What?" Jimmy couldn't believe this! He really needed to figure out how the female mind worked, because apparently, "I want to go out," meant, "Please let me kill you," in girl talk. Maybe his next invention would be a translator…
"You come in here, yelling at me, and then you ask me out! What the heck goes on in that big head of yours?"
"I could ask you the same thing! First of all, I came here to find out what in the name of Albert Einstein happened back at my house, and you were the one yelling at me like we were back in the fifth grade! I was trying to be nice!"
"So you asked me out just to be nice?" Cindy glared.
"Argh!" Jimmy was contemplating pulling his hair out. "No. I asked you out because I…well…because I wanted to, and because Libby's about ready to kill us both with our…this…thing…whatever it is."
"Love-hate relationship?" Cindy offered.
"Yeah, that."
Cindy pursed her lips, and then addressed Jimmy in a business like tone. "Eight o'clock. I get to choose the movie, I get to choose the snacks, I get the armrest, and if you so much as even think of standing me up, I will kick your butt so far across the universe that not even you will be able to come up with some idiotic way to get back. Got it?"
In a mere matter of seconds Jimmy went from aggravated to euphoric. "Yeah, got it."
"Good!" Cindy exclaimed. "Because…" her voice became gentler. "You matter to me, too."
Jimmy could only grin as he turned around and almost skipped out of Cindy's room. As she listened to Jimmy's feet against the stairs, Cindy smiled and fingered a golden, hinged, hollow sphere hanging around her neck. Suddenly, on an impulse, she ran to the window, watching Jimmy make his way across the street.
"Hey, Neutron!" she called out.
"Yeah?" he turned around.
"Just because I said yes doesn't mean I've forgiven you for trying to turn me invisible!"
Jimmy gave her an exasperated look. "I figured as much."
"What's that supposed to me?"
"It's not supposed to mean anything!"
"Yes it is!"
"Argh! Vortex, you're possibly more annoying than a currawong!"
"Ugh," Cindy shot back at him. "At least I'm not an arrogant bighead!"
Jimmy looked ready to kill her. "I'm not going to stand here and take your petty insults! I have an invention to perfect."
"Neutron!" Cindy yelled before he could escape.
"What?" Jimmy looked furious.
"Don't be late! Eight o'clock, remember?"
Jimmy's face softened slightly, although his tone remained the same. "Like I'd forget, Vortex."
"Well it wouldn't be the first time your brain let you down."
"That's it! I have better ways to spend my time!" Jimmy looked like he was about to walk off, but a second later he turned around and yelled, "I'll see you at eight!" Then he continued his short trek to his house, muttering, "Women."
"Don't be late!" Cindy repeated, and then turned around. She slid down until she sat beneath her window, and gave a little giggle. She had a date with Jimmy Neutron.
And about time, Libby's voice rang in her head.
So, what'd you think? I know some of you might think it's odd that Jimmy and Cindy are still fighting after they've made up and agreed to go on a date, but to me that feels like something they would do, you know? I don't think they'd be them if they didn't fight. Fighting's in their veins. That's not to say that they don't mature, but no matter what I think they'll always be having arguments. It's what balances them out. Jimmy has his ego decreased a bit, and Cindy mellows out. Even in season three they were at each other's throats, though a lot less than usual. True, by Lady Sings the News they got along rather harmoniously, but I figure being a teenager, peer pressure, and hormones regressed them a bit. Anyway, both Jimmy and Cindy are incredibly stubborn, and I can see them holding a grudge into a date (even though I'm sure they'd enjoy the night).
Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave me a review if you have the time!