#Jimmy Nuetronx Cindy Vortex

[ficauthor]

You can erase memories but not love.

Jimmy neutron fanfiction? in 2020? on my blog? more likely than you think.

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206202

Pairing: Jimmy/ Cindy

Warnings: none

Jimmy Neutron 2005

Simplicity was the best form of action in this sort of situation. He just needed to not overthink it. That was all, just pop in and out. A quick bullet point to strike off his to-do list. He just needed to… he just needed to check. That was all. Just to be sure. Double check that there weren’t any stray mistakes. Just to be certain that he’d actually truly fixed the timeline. It’d been awhile, far too long if he thought about it logically, since Libby’s party. Should have checked as soon as it happened. 

Really he should have jumped over to his lab fifteen whole years in the future the second everything had blown over. As soon as Libby and Ci- as soon as Libby stopped berating him. Instead he let it fester, the worry, scientific curiosity overtaking more processing power than strictly necessary. After all, he reasoned day after day, week after week, Robocop had disappeared with his failed gift. That was the truest proof anyone needed to see that the alternate future had been broken. Unfortunately that wasn’t what he was worried about. Well that wasn’t strictly true, there was some small concern, even without the serum turning Libby evil there was always the risk of adverse effects. Regardless, that wasn’t what he wanted to check. Not truly. No the true source of his worry was more personal in nature. Yet…

Every time he went down to his lab, fully intending to turn forward time on the arch, his stomach churned. The thought alone of what may lay on the other side setting everything within him off. The future was much more delicate than he’d assumed. All Hypotheses he’d banked on had predicted that time was a constant, something only partially malleable by him or anyone else. Everything that had happened would happen and had always happened. Jumps to the past, even when it came with a change to his present never felt real in the same way. There was a tangibility in them that felt more like a series of options, like they were diverging paths he could always retread. They were paths that he had retread. After the first mistake of time it was as simple as reversing what he’d done. But now? 

He didn’t know where those paths went, and couldn't see their ends. Couldn’t predict where they would lead. Hypothesis was hypothesis for a reason, there was always room for interpretation or mistake. Time wasn't exactly something they could cement into a full theory. Though he liked to think of all the scientists he was possibly the closest to understanding it. Maybe that was ego, he’d seen how fast his own future had dwindled.  It’d smacked him in the face, how in so little time, in just fifteen years he could be so stupid. Lose what he found so valuable to himself.  Crammed even further in his head was that angry bitter marriage. Washing Cindy’s mother’s feet and getting yelled at by her.

Set in the in between He worked about making a much smaller version of his Chrono arch. Heart clambering up his throat beating faster should be physically possible. He ran the final batch of tests on the mini arch. If he knew not better, He’d think his heart had grown arms and was clawing its way out. 

But it was time. 

After a month of putting it off it was finally time. No longer could he go on without knowing. Without checking, his future self would remain in his mind in that constant state of being. Stupid to the point of farse, and genius to Nobel prize level, both consistent and remaining at the same time. Regardless of impossibility. Married and miserable and unmarried and successful. A schrodinger's problem of his own twisted making, both back to normal in the exact state of being that he wanted, and also in a fate he didn’t want. Was it better or worse that it was a marriage to Vortex of all people? That his fate was tied to hers in specific? A state of flux where they were either miserable together or happy apart. All of this would be simpler, so much simpler, if he just understood where they stood. That blasted Island had done nothing but muddy the lines further. He wasn’t going to become a victim of time. Unlike all of the greats he had a time machine, he had succeeded where all the others had failed and had made himself able to predict and escape his folly.

He fiddled with his watch as the arch thrummed to life... his modifications to make it more stable seemed to help. It'd really taken some damage when the cop bot went through even, the mini double seemed stubborn from the damages caused by that. He supposed it was the paradoxical nature of it, it was changing the timeline by going back thus scrambling things. Though he could not be certain.  Time wasn’t exactly the constant that He’d hoped it was. 

All his calculations seemed to point towards the portal remaining stable if he went through and back with no major deviation. Especially since he wasn’t going to change anything if he didn’t need to. Quick pop in at the lab, check Vox’s records, and then head home. This time the hole was going to be much much smaller even to mitigate the damage. Just large enough to carry him. It was even collapsible stored with just enough energy to transport one person there and back, hopefully. He’d run the numbers at least twenty times to be sure, time was after all not what he thought it to be. Roughly though the smaller the hole the better. At least he hoped. Last thing he needed was to rip an irreparable wound in time.

Goddard barked, circling around him no doubt eager to join him on an adventure. He’d have to go over Goddard's code and systems. Just to make sure, he didn't like the way the other Goddard’s shining plating had rusted and corroded, his processors no longer sparking or glowing with as much vigor. That however was a problem for him when he returned from his trip.

"No boy!" Jimmy called him down while Goddard wasn’t exactly living flesh he didn't know how much energy transporting him to would exert in the arch. If he was lucky Goddard would just be counted as inanimate, if he wasn't? Well it was just easier to go on his own.

Goddard whimpered looking down.

"Awh I'm sorry boy," he kneeled down scratching his chin the gesture soothed his dog," but it's better this way. Fewer variables. You understand... don't cha Goddard?"

He let out an excited yip wagging his tail before rushing over to his lab bed and curling up on it. Jimmy turned back to the Chrono-arch with any luck his adult counterpart shouldn't even know he's there.  He’d set the arch to send him there at roughly mid-day, a time where most people were at work or school.

Easy in, easy out.

  James Neutron 2020

"Aw, our little boy is moving out!" His mom cried out her voice filled with emotion. She’d gotten a little clingier in the weeks leading up to this. Her green eyes crinkled at the edges in the evenings as she pushed for him to stay longer with them. Tea and cookies always set out as she tried to squeeze in as much bonding as possible. 

He usually acquiesced. After all who was he to refuse her baking?

They were in their fifties now. Weren’t getting any younger, their streaking grey making that clear. Dad’s solid blocks that grew from the temple's hair still roughly the same as always.  Made sense there really wasn't much for him to change, His dad liked his haircut and wasn’t going to change it. His mothers own greys took root from the center of her hairline. Swirling down long and loosely curled, his mother always managed to look elegant even in the most bizarre of situations. She’d long since ditched the bangs that had framed her face in his youth and now went for a much more modern layered look. Both not quite elderly Neutrons were in surprisingly good shape for their ages. Mom ran a cycling club and Dad a dancing troupe in their retirement. Though, James supposed that a little over a decade of running from his experiments and nemesis will keep one in shape. Nothing quite got the blood pumping like running for your life! His dad often joked. He wasn’t wrong, most of the town was able to run a recent marathon better than expected for a reason. Still even with their firmly grasped remnants of youth he wasn’t about  to squander what was left. Dad’s recent accident had made the dwindling time clear as glass.

"Mom," James whined out," I moved out four years ago!” he reminded her with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a smothering hug,” I'm just finalizing my lab movement."

They were smiling but there was something off about it. If he hadn’t grown up watching them try to hide their fear or sadness because of experiments he wouldn’t have been able to read it. Underlying his theory there was a twinge of uncertainty. While his Autism Diagnosis a few years ago had largely altered nothing in his life he found himself less and less certain about his abilities to read people because of it. He’d always been an awkward kid but he’d assumed for the longest time that it was just the disparity between intelligence's. Yet those little handbooks and pamphlets he’d been handed made him uncertain. It’d helped in some ways to know concretely where his differences lay, yet naming it alone added a veneer of difference. He was not like others.

Especially those diagrams of facial expressions. You couldn’t really quantify human emotion like that, and believe him he’d tried, he’d done his best to figure out the exact chemical balances that correlated to happiness, sadness, anger, all of them, but time and time again the results were meddling at best. Even his old invention designed to scan and read expressions had truly backfired.

"And I'm not a kid anymore,” he pouted at his mother,  he was a grown man thank you very much! He didn't see Teen or child him going out and paying taxes or arranging their own therapy sessions now did he? ” I'm 27 and-"

His father put an arm around his shoulder effectively silencing him," we know Jimbo but you'll always be our little boy!"

James smiled leaning ever so slightly into his father's embrace. Embarrassing as he was, he wasn’t exactly about to turn down a patented Hugh Neutron hug, even a half sideways one. Something about the warmth and softness of his sweater vests and the steadiness of his arms was comforting in a way so few things were.

"Well I'm not gonna be far,” he reassured the last thing any of them needed was for one of them to cry, because then they’d all be crying. As soon as Dad’s big eyes spilled it was over for all of them,” our new apartment is only 40 minutes out and the new lab 45 I'll text you the location I swear."

Mother smiled a weak trembling thing held with emotions he could hardly read, half translated and murky with multiple meanings," I know honey and we're both very happy for you both, it's a big deal that you're both living together now but it just won't be the same." She brushed a strand of hair from his eyes, he’d forgone the gel today, even with most of the work done his hair usually fell out of it by the end of it. “We won’t be able to check up on you to make sure you’re sleeping and eating right anymore.”

“You also won’t have anymore explosions shaking the foundation of the house,” he offered in a half joke,” just think of how much better the insurance will be without needing to worry about it cracking?”

She laughed,” I’d be fine with the price sweetheart.”

"And of course, we'll miss Goddard!" His father exclaimed, bending down and petting the aforementioned dog. He had some slight rust in his joints, James was due to replace them soon, and his code was a little messy having originally written it when he was still in elementary school but he still glowed bright and jumped as eager as ever. There was nary of creak in his body.

A smile cracked on James' face at the mention," I actually got you guys something!" He rummaged through his satchel

"Awh Jimmy!" his mom’s voice cracked.

"Now, son,” the raw sound was in his fathers tone as well,” housewarming gifts normally go the other way around."

"I know,” His friends made sure to remind him of that fact when he’d made them but it wasn’t like that. “Think of this as a 'thanks for putting up with me putting you guys in mortal peril for so long' gift."

He pulled out a space compressor box, the newest and most stable. Man the explosion from the first one had really been a wake up call, he’d since made sure to tighten the math and double check for dangerous variables. He fiddled with the buttons until the gifts popped out. Gasps came from his parents.

"They have some of Goddard's tamer features,” he started looking away from the pair scratching the side of his face,” None of the really experimental ones, so they won’t burn the carpet or anything,” he reassured eyes catching a particularly bad mark near the stairs,” but if either of you ever gets in trouble they can defend you in a pinch."

"Oh, Jimmy!" His mother exclaimed tears welling up in her eyes. She picked up the one that was clearly hers, a small compact Cat bot. In the years since designing Goddard he’d ironed out how to curve metal more consistently. Goddard, like most old dogs, was resistant to change. Further than that, resistant to an entire overhaul of his design, but the test pieces couldn’t just go to waste. So the usable ones, the ones not weakened by too much soldering, went towards this project. 

Dad’s bot was of course a Duck, though he did have a few extra, secret features that were a surprise.

"I haven't named them," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as their gazes pierced him again. God how had he ever thought he was neurotypical? He kind of laughed at the idea now, it was lucky that he ,Carl, and Sheen had found each other at such young ages. Their connection at being outcasts made more and more sense the more they learned with age. "I thought you'd both want to do that-" He inhaled sharply as they collected him in a hug. The warmth of the cat's servos pressed into his gut. It was kind of nice. 

“Thank you son,” His father murmured as his mother collected herself.

When they finally separated from their embrace he didn't comment on the wetness in either of their eyes, and they returned the same courtesy.

His father was quick to speak,a hand offered in assistance as always," Need any help with your equipment."

Flashes of his father trying to help him but inevitably causing some sort of mess played before his eyes. Not to mention the older man’s knee was still in repair. His glowing brace made that clear, not that the man would heed it any attention. There was a reason James had made certain that his brace wasn't going to leave until the projected date it was healed. Well meaning as the man was he wasn’t going to forget the way his father had crashed the Hover car anytime soon.

"Thanks, dad but Sheen and Carl already helped me with the really heavy stuff a few weeks ago. Goddard and I should be able to handle this on our own. It's mostly collecting the last remnants of Vox's hard drive and a few odd projects.” Specifically some of his oldest ones that had been pushed the furthest into corners of his lab,” Besides Cindy should be here soon, she gets off work in a bit."

His mother placed a kiss on his forehead she had to lean up and James crouched down to help but the sentiment was there regardless. 

"Just call us if you need anything."

"I will mom!" He shouted back as he headed to the old lab.

The house hadn't changed much since his youth.

The pictures of the family were updated and the wallpaper replaced (it desperately needed it after that chemical accident), but most of the original furniture was still there. It was honestly jarring for James. The change was good, he knew that, his parents knew that, hell even his therapist knew that but it was still hard to deal with. Something in his brain was just hardwired to detest change. Kind of like Goddard if he thought about it. Even the best of coders put a bit of themselves into their projects.

He sighed," you ready to get the last of it all Goddard?" He asked, hair hesitantly held just out of range of the scanner.

The canine barked his tail wiring as he wiggled excitedly. Even ran in a little circle, his high energy even now infectious. James smiled at it, if there was at least one thing consistent in his life it was Goddard.

"Then let's take a trip down memory lane," he said, scanning his hair for the last time.

  Jimmy Neutron 2020 

Stepping through the pink and purple light was once again a jarring swirling mess. His vision swam and stars flew past his eyes but after a vigorous head shake it was cleared. If he ever wanted to travel through time again he’d have to find a better way.

Best to get started as soon as possible

"Alright, Vo- He stumbled looking around in shock.

 The Lab was very empty.

Exceedingly so, it looked like back when it was just a basement, well bigger than before but just as barren. The lack of projects in the room made his voice echo around bouncing on the concrete. Had he been robbed? There was nothing there, nothing! Just a few boxes pushed far in the corner with a mess of wires spilling out. His remnants of the Chrono-arch were gone, the cloning machine... well that one was probably good.  His hover car, rocket, alien space car. Everything. All of those memories were gone! Burn marks from inventions and stains from spills were covered by other less familiar scorches and discolourations. There was nothing left of what was once his lab.

His giant costume fit computer screen for Vox was missing! Everything was gone! All that was really left were a few... well he was pretty sure they were computers but they looked nothing like the bulky ones he retrofitted at home. Computers back at home were much thicker, the monitors taking up large swaths of space and the clunky towers that housed everything important were so big head to get help to move them. Instead the one he was looking at was nothing like that. It was sleeker, thinner, with nicer screens and a cleaner color palette. Not to mention he couldn't see where the hardware as a whole was being stored; there was no tower for it.

Huh, he might have to consider making his own computers thin like these.The keys on the keyboard were much sleeker too. Each of them shallower than the mismatched ones on his custom keyboard, each of them rounded into a smooth flat shape. Carefully he picked it up. To his surprise, the screen came up with a keyboard. Once it was lifted he could hear the hum of the electronics and the gentle whir of his fan. All of the hardware was internal, and much more compact than he thought feasible. Genius it really allowed for a more compact and portable design. 

"Vox?" He asked the device. Perhaps his future self had set her code into this form. It would be more convenient to have a more portable Vox. Maybe when he returned it be good to set on a cleaner smoother design like this.

Something whirred to life behind him. There were some bigger monitors that he’d missed somehow. When off they blended cleanly with the wall, now one he could see that they had no discernible edges. Still they were smaller than the one at home. Furthermore they looked much more temporary, like they were set to be removed.

"Analyzing voice pattern. Please state name and age."

"Jimmy Neutron age 12 and a half."

More noise went off as the system compared notes.

"Partial match to James Issac Newton Age 12 from the year 2005. Confirm please?"

Jimmy wasn't too sure what to say to that," uh?"

"Analysing," Vox's smooth voice reverbed," analyzation inconclusive. Intruder, Intruder, Intruder." 

The entire lab was screaming with Vox's synthesized voice.

"AUgh ah!" Jimmy cowered, covering his ears," No no no no, Vox it's me! it's Jimmy!"

He motioned his hands up and down trying to get it to register that it was too loud. He’d programmed her to understand his body language, it could read certain gestures but it wasn’t working instead she continued on. Its voice echoing in the near-empty lab.

  James Neutron 2020 

He was halfway down the stairs to his lab, when Vox started to go off. Loud and screaming, maybe his next alert system should be a bit less shrill.

"That can't be good!" he exclaimed, glancing at Goddard before hurrying down the stairs. It wasn’t like Vox to go off at nothing, which meant something was really wrong. Vox only went off for really bad cases. After some really bad break ins he had to change the protocols. Still he could hope it was just one of his friends messing around in the lab accidentally setting off something they shouldn't 

Something told him that wasn't the case.

"Goddard warm-up your stun ray, we don't know who's in there." 

At the foot of the stairs was his hand scanner still clearly dormant. It shouldn’t be dormant like that. Especially if it was Just Carl or Sheen goofing off in there. Shoulders tense and raised he put his hand on the scanner causing it to light up. His scanner would stay on for an hour after use. And after that the Light above the door would glow until whoever entered left. Neither were alight right then. He usually used it to alert either him or Cindy to the other being in there. Meaning that someone had gotten in either long ago and stayed past someone else leaving, or without having to go through his precautions. 

Unsheathing his own stun gun from his pants he opened the door to the lab and crept in. 

His eyes bounced around frantically searching for the intruder. His mind instantly went to all his different foes from when he was younger. He'd defeated them. They all had. But there was still that lingering thread of fear. Even with all of his moves for redemption he was still wary of his clone. It’d have been an awfully long time for him to have waited to turn but it wouldn't be the first time that his doppelganger had tried to trick him. Or the second, or the third, or the fourth.

Okay so he might be a little gullible.

Then there were the others. If his clone could escape his own dark matter dimension hell then the others could escape the prison. Maybe he should have let them all stay in the past but that wasn't safe. It was never going to be stable to allow them to linger in the cretaceous period and the BTSO had promised that their containment was the most secure in the country. If even one of them had gotten out again... The threats alone some of them made, some of the actions they’d followed through on. It made him jumpy sometimes, gave him nightmares. His therapist said it was trauma. Lingering on the past wasn’t going to get him anywhere, he allowed his blaster to make a threatening high pitched whine as he moved it side to side. The sound didn't do anything but people found it more threatening when a malfunction had led to it so he wasn’t going to disable it.

Finally, his gaze lowered a bit and he was met with-

"You! You're!" the high pitched stunned voice of his own past self stammered. The boy looked shell shocked and nervous to be anything but the real deal. Even little Eddie with his intelligence hadn’t quite hammered down cloning. No his specialty was still firmly in the realm of weapons. Though his therapy was helping him unpack some of his anger. Seemed tempers ran in the family a bit.

"Intruder, intruder, intruder! engaging Attack mode in 5. 4-"

"Vox disengage."

"Affirmative James Neutron. Attack mode Disengaged.

“Goddard you too boy,” he added on at the remaining weapons all clicked back into place and powered down.

With a whir and bark, he powered down his stun gun before turning to Jimmy cocking his head to the side. His younger self looked up at him, his hand rubbing the back of his neck," Uh hi..." he waved, lifting his free hand up slowly.

“Vox confirm voice sample as Jimmy Neutron circa 2004 to 2006.”

“Affirmative,” her voice echoed. The room filled with a recording dated from moments before, “Jimmy Neutron,” his own younger voice repeated from the speakers. “Conclusive, voice belongs to Jimmy Neutron from 2005. This is improbable, Prime weapons sir?”

"No, continue to disengage. Thank you Vox."

"You're welcome sir."

Well that settled it, it was in fact him and not some trick, even his clones had different voices that Vox didn't really quite read the same. James examined him looking for injuries or some sort of explanation on his person for his arrival. He was still wearing the big baggy t-shirts James saw. He also hadn't reached his growth spurt yet either. Hair was still styled to be half his height. He looked like he was about ten or eleven. Which made sense, that was about when he had developed the Chrono-Arch. He didn't remember this visit as a kid though, despite even his best attempts. He desperately racked his brain but it was foggy and indistinct almost as if something was keeping the memory from him. There had to be some reason for his past self’s visit. He must have just forgotten it in the mess of everything that had happened since then. He could hardly be blamed if he did forget, there was a lot that happened to him during his school career.

"What's this?" the younger him asked, pointing to the table.

James looked," That? oh, that's my laptop. I guess those weren't really common when I was young huh..."

He racked his brain for the technology that was available as a kid. Much of it was deeply disappointing, part of why he went into invention so young.

Recognition flitted on Jimmy's face," A laptop? but the ones commercially available are so bulky! Not to mention expensive!"

"Yeah, well," James said," innovation does that."

Jimmy nodded in understanding. He was accepting this all fairly well," where is everything?"

"Well, I'm moving out."

"Why?"

"It's just time."

Jimmy nodded, seeming to take that information in as he reexamined the now empty lab in a new light. What he’d give to remember this, it’d be nice to have insight into what was rattling in the boy's head. 

“What about all of that?” Jimmy asked, pointing to a pile of his oldest intentions, at the top was one of his later models of the hypo-ray.

“Less refined inventions,” he supplied,” I didn’t need it right away so I was storing it here till now.”

“Oh.”

A beat of silence filled the room as neither James nor Jimmy spoke up. 

"So, Jimmy," he said, eventually chewing out the syllables. "What brings you to my time? Any disaster that you need advice on or something?" He didn't know what to do with his hands. He never did but there was something about seeing himself, as a kid at his most insecure that made him doubly unsure. Little him was still hardly taller than his elbows.God had he really been so small? He remembered hitting his growth spurt late and being the shortest of the group but this was extreme. 

"No, I'm just here to, uh, double-check the timeline, I have to ensure that it wasn't ruined by the tampering." he smiled, but there was something off about it. He must be rattled from the time travel if he remembered correctly traveling to the bad timeline had been jarring to the senses.  The portal wasn't really designed for comfort like some of his other inventions. It was strictly utilitarian,a lot of his inventions back then were. 

"Well," he said, racking his brain to remember all of the important beats," Libby is not in power enslaving Retroville to do her bidding and listen to all her music. So that’s good. In fact, people listen to her music willing. She's a pretty good singer. Somewhat popular in niche communities.”

"Really?" Jimmy asked,”She'll be glad to know that, she's still a little mad at Carl, Sheen, and me for the whole party thing."

Probably for the best if he didn't mention the fact that she’d be upset about that for a while. Looking back on it he really couldn't blame her for her reaction. Almost all of her gifts had been destroyed.

James chuckled," yeah she still brings up time to time when we all get together."

Just last week at their semi-regular game night she’d used it to make Sheen give her the upper hand in game. A dirty tactic but she was right, all was fair in love and war and unfortunately for Sheen and everyone else she was going to use Sheen’s big heart against them to win.

"Oh, we're still friends with her?" Jimmy asked, seeming genuinely caught off guard.

"Well yeah," James said," why wouldn't we?"

As mad as Libby had gotten about the gift thing it wasn’t like the group of them hadn’t gone through worse together. Even if she would’ve stopped talking to them for awhile she would have come back for whatever the next adventure was. They were all just to invested in that back then.

Jimmy shuffled his feet," Libby and Cindy just always seem so annoyed with me, I just kind of assumed they stuck around because Libby was seeing Sheen."

James nodded, memories of those feelings were starting to filter back in. Time however had softened their edges and left it blurred like looking through fogged glass," No we're all still friends, Me, Carl, Sheen, Libby, and Cindy. In fact Ci-"

"Are Carl and Sheen still doing what they're supposed to?" Jimmy interrupted, almost too eagerly.

James looked at him. It was weird of him to cut James off. Sure He used to be really bad about letting people finish a sentence but Jimmy had cut him off like there was something he didn't want to hear yet," uh I guess, it's been a while so I don't remember the predictions fully but Carl is breeding Llamas, and Sheen is a successful male model. He also stars in Libby's music videos sometimes. Reasonably she refuses to let him sing."

Jimmy nodded," Makes sense, his singing is so bad that the school chorus rejected someone for the first time in fifty years."

"Well he hasn't improved with time I'll tell you that." James smiled as he remembered the last time Sheen had tried," He just croaks out the most out of tune lyrics and we all have to put in earplugs till he tires out."

Jimmy chucked. The smile didn't stay long, however," and me- you?"

That might be it. Why the other him was so nervous? Now that he thought about it the alternate future for him was simply to be a normal dude. "Well I'm moving to the city, just received a couple of Nobel prizes with my team," Jimmy's smile returned in full. He was proud of himself too, he and his experiment partners had worked really hard on that. Having the group push him to accept the award was really warming. Though they all should've gotten to go up there too.

"I knew it!" Jimmy exclaimed jumping up excitedly," my genius was finally recognized by the scientific community, now she'll have to recognize I'm smarter, because that contract didn't mean anything to her! She sti-"

"Wow," James laughed, he’d forgotten that he used to be like this," Cind was right, I really did have a pride issue." He’d have to apologize to her later for doubting her claims. Chalk his disbelief up to pride if you will.

"Cind? Do you mean Cindy? Vortex?" the bashful look returned to his face as he looked down and shuffled his feet," You and her aren't, she and I? I mean you aren't?"

James furrowed his brow examining his younger self. "Aren't?" It’d be so much easier if the younger boy would just spit it out. He couldn’t understand what he was getting at.

"Well you know," he ducked his head," mar-"

The sliding door opened," James," a voice called out softly, speak of the devil," you almost done? we have to get home- is that?"

"Cindy?!" Jimmy called out, looking panicked.

Cindy gave James an exasperated look," what did you do Neutron?" she asked almost fondly," did you test another time machine? After what happened last time?"

James sputtered," me? I didn't do anything. It was him! And in my defense it was partially Eddie’s fault!" Really his cousin's penchant for violence and fondness for weapons wasn’t his fault.

Cindy gave him a look," I thought you were supposed to be a genius?

“Hey!” Both of the Neutron’s present and past called out, though James' younger version sounded much more indignant.

“ He is you!"

James quickly quipped back in return. “Well sorry for the inconvenience madam I guess you were right and the density of my enormous skull has finally caved in.” This was their element of comfortable bickering back and forth. Trading light insults and criticisms in one breath and then calm and soft words in the next.

She snorted at him,” I’m always right, you nerd.”

“Well of cour-”

"How did you get in here!" Jimmy called out, interrupting their banter," I erased your memory of how to get into my lab!"

Cindy gave him an incredulous look. " you mean to tell me that you wouldn't tell your girlfriend how to get into your lab?"

Jimmy gagged," Girlfriend?" 

Cindy turned to James," thanks I'm really feeling the love."

"I'm not the one saying anything," he gestured wildly. 

Cindy pinched the bridge of her nose," need I repeat myself again. He is you."

"I don't even remember this happening?”

Cindy stepped forward and moved his head around. She ignored his younger self's protests to their interactions, moving right past the little Neutron to James,“What are you doing?” James finally asked with a laugh as she held open one of his eyes and peered into it. Not that he’d complain her eyes were a pretty shade of green, but his own were now drying in the crisp lab air.

“Checking for brain damage obviously,” she returned,” clearly if you can't remember you spent one to many nights down here soldering without proper ventilation.”

“That was one time!” She gave him a look,” okay but it only happened for a month!”

‘Stop!” Jimmy squeaked out,” this is weird.”

“Newsflash kid this whole situation is weird,” Cindy said, James noted, however, as she said that she stepped back. “You sure this isn’t one of their shenanigans?”

He nodded,” I don’t remember this but Vox ran an analysis and confirmed. I think it didn't work the first time though because the weapons were engaged.”

Cindy looked up at their storage seems and said,” Yeah I can see that Number three is stuck again,” she pointed up to the one crammed blaster that was half shut in the mechanism. He swore under his breath that it would be so finicky to repair later. He reached up and pushed it into the ceiling hole. The metal squeaked shut.

“You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” she pushed with a laugh.

“Eh,” he gestured vaguely his own smile cracking through.

Cindy laughed,” shut up.”

“This is bad,” his younger counterpart muttered, drawing them back to him.

“Huh?”

“This is really bad,” the boy repeated,” really really bad I didn’t fix the timeline at all!”

“Fix the-?” Cindy gave him a look.”What did you do?”

“I think this is still about the evil Libby timeline.”

“Oh that would make sense,” She nodded. “But then why would you not remember anything?”

James tapped his chin with his knuckle as he thought muttering under his breath, “I don’t know.”

“Personally I’m still voting on brain damage,” Cindy offered with a smile,” But knowing you it’s probably also an experiment gone wrong.”

Hypno-ray still tucked in the corner caught his eye," That’s it! Of course. You're a genius Cind!" 

“What?” his younger self asked.

“It is?” Cindy pressed.”

He hit his own head," that's why I don't remember, older me, or me now erased my memory of this event happening!"

Cindy nodded a mildly impressed look in her eye,” Gotta Say Neutron that smoothly removes worries of ruined timelines.”

“It does doesn’t it,” he preened feeling distinctly proud of himself.

"No!" Jimmy exclaimed panicked," I have to fix the timeline!"

“Fix?” He and Cindy both asked.

“This!” Jimmy gestured to the two of them,”Whatever is going one between you two!”

He tilted his head, really taking in his younger panicked self. "There's nothing to fix, I'm happy."

The responding scoff surprised James," well I'm not! I don't even like Cindy!"

Cindy rolled her eyes,"Sure, tell me one thing though,” Jimmy looked up at her defensively,” has the island incident happened yet?"

His blush told them all they needed to know.

"See you do like her," James smiled gently gazing at Cindy.

"N-no,” his younger self floundered eyes darting around desperately for an answer he wasn’t going to find,” I don't- I- that's just a residual effect of love potion 976/J!" he was clenching his fists now as if he were going to fight them. Wouldn’t be the first time he'd gone for the violence route. Maybe he should also Hypno-ray himself into therapy.

Cindy turned to James with a shrug," I'm not dealing with the exhaustion that comes from dealing with an eleven-year-old you, I'll just take some stuff to the hovercar and meet me when you're done."

“I’m twelve and a half!” Jimmy exclaimed indignantly.

James nodded. "We'll talk later I promise," gently grabbed her hand. She smiled nodding, and with a kiss on the cheek, she left the lab.

  Jimmy Neutron 2020 

This future was not what he’d expected. It was not what he had wanted. Adult him was tall and weird. His hair was long enough to reach past his shoulders and was pooled into a low ponytail save a few stray strands. He held himself with more confidence than the bad timeline, that future possibility of him was hunched, his shoulders turned as inward as possible. But he wasn’t the same as before either. There was something less rigid in his shoulders, he just appeared to be expressed in a different tone than before. Even clothes were also more casual. Then there was Cindy. She looked physically similar to the adult Cindy of the bad timeline but now her hair was in a messy bun and her clothes were much more casual. Her face was even devoid of the blue eye shadow and glittery lip gloss that his, that current Cindy wore. Not that he actively payed attention to that sort of thing, their relationship was strictly professional after all. Sometimes the glitter just caught the lights of the lab. As soon as Cindy left he fell into an awkward seating position on the concrete. It was cold down there. Older him, James, was stupid after all.

"So here's the thing,” James sat next to him on the cold concrete. The Hypnosis-ray was held in his hand but powered off. His voice was soft, much softer than Jimmy had ever managed to get it. He sounded like mom did when she comforted him after something went wrong,” the love potion didn't really work like how we thought."

"What?" There wasn’t anyway, he’d run all of the tests, he had perfectly emulated the pheromones and chemicals related to love. He knew what he was doing gosh dang-it!

James chuckled," you can't make people fall in love. It was, an infatuation potion. All it did was mimic a lot of the physiological responses that come with attraction, eventually, it wears off," there was something in his tone, like how Jimmy sounded when his experiments went wrong. The disappointment at another failure.

His brain twisted at the words. He’d been so certain. The math alone had shown it, had he really been so wrong? "But Carl still likes mom!" he grasped onto finally, if anything didn’t prove the potion then maybe that would. He couldn't be wrong. Not again. What kind of genius was wrong as often as he was right?

James winced," yeah that one was embarrassing,” that was putting it lightly,” he eventually got over it though. He's even seeing someone now."

"Really Carl got a girlfriend?" Not a lot of girls in the class really liked Carl that way. At least that he was aware of. 

James shook his head,” Nah you’ll forget this anyways but he’s got a boyfriend now, after high school, he realized he was bisexual."

"Oh..." he paused, unsure what to do with this information.

They were quiet again for a while, the both of them looking around the lab examining what was left, and the stains left on the floor from what was taken. It was empty and hollow in the glorified basement. He didn’t think he could ever leave his Lab.

"Er, how long..." He finally spoke up.

His older self jolted, "What?"

"Till the love potion wears off?"

"A week, if that.” he shrugged,” it was hard to tell really since each of us already had feelings for each person the potion worked on. The potion just made it harder to ignore.”

So he couldn’t even master chemical reactions in the human body. That was deeply disappointing, then maybe his disaster with the perfect candy should have clued him into that fact.

“W-when did you-” he took in a breath,” we start liking her?”

There was a pause as James thought,” Do you remember the first Yolkian attack?"

Jimmy nodded slowly, apprehensively. He remembered that event in perfect clarity. Everyone was so disappointed in him when they learned about his hand in it. All of it was his fault.

"Well, that was the start of it. If I'm honest,” a gentle smile crossed his face. It seemed to soften the features of his face into something rounder than before,” when she came to comfort me and over time that grew."

Despite himself he was thinking of that moment. Dark and cold in that prison, the metal and alien concrete much much colder than that of home. His tears rolling down his face while all his friends, classmates, everyone blamed him. Yelled at him for effectively signing their parents death warrants. Regardless of their feud though it was Cindy who came to him. Who comforted him. Propped him back up. As soon it was all over though they went back to normal. She hated him again. It didn't make sense.

"But I hate her!" Jimmy insisted but he knew didn't sound as sure as he had before. Cindy was mean, she made fun of him all the time, and she didn’t take his experiments as seriously. She was the one person that was the hardest to impress, no matter how hard he worked she always found some flaw. Some details that he could improve on. Regrettably she was always right. It was always something that made the invention better (when she wasn’t suggesting he paint it pink or put her name on it that is).

Worst of all he trusted her judgement, she was always right when she pointed out a danger, or flaw. She’d never really steered him wrong since they’d become friends.

James shrugged," it sometimes felt like that, but that's just cause I'm bad at handling my emotions. Trust me this stuff gets a lot clearer with a therapist and when you're no longer constantly in denial about hating your own body."

"I-I don-"

"I'm gonna stop you there little-me.” There was a sigh as his older self sunk into himself. Bizarrely he found himself recognizing it at the way he sighed when he had to admit something he didn’t want to. ”Okay, so, we were jealous of Cindy.”

“That’s ridiculous! I-I’m not jealous of Cindy of all people! She’s- she’s a girl,” he stressed the unspoken clear, he wasn’t. He wasn’t a girl. 

James winced muttering something indistinct below his breath,” Not because she was a girl but because she found comfort in it like we couldn't. It-” he faltered, almost pained like the words were hurting him to admit,” It’s wrong but I was jealous that she could have had what we wanted but made the choice to honor that wasn’t her. It felt like a slap in the face even though we were just doing the best we could do. Both me and her. But eventually, I stopped being jealous of her for that. I grew up, because they were my emotions to deal with not hers. My hurt. And there were other things I didn't like, sure. The fact that she always told me I was wrong. Even though I definitely needed the ego check. And she constantly made fun of me for my height and head. But once she learned how uncomfortable it made me and why she stopped. Not to mention, we were just as bad you have to admit. We gave as good as we got."

"Cindy wouldn't- she's mean and bullies me all the time! That wouldn't be the line for her!"

A deep pained sigh racked through James' body," of course she stopped. You know why she wouldn't cross that line.”

"So you never erased it from her mind?"

James shook his head," I thought about it even ages after the body swapping thing, I always feared she'd bring it back up. But she didn't. And eventually I told Carl and Sheen. The whole class ended up learning eventually," he winced at something," but everyone was fine with it. Even Butch knew not to touch that with a ten-foot pole…” he snickered,” Cindy and Nikki would have murdered him."

"Okay," he said eventually, slowly he didn't believe the words James was saying. How could he? none of this made sense. It felt like these were things that happened to someone else. Not to mention he had no clue who the hell this Nikki was.

"How did you stop being jealous?'

James blinked, something about that question was clearly tripping him up," I don't really know I can't exactly remember. I just woke up one day and it was easier, eventually I did the rest an- oh."

"Oh?"

A wry chuckle echoed in the lab, "I'm pretty sure I just Hypno-rayed some of my jealousy away when I-you- augh whichever. When I was Hypno-rayed to forget this I think I also did a two for one and got rid of the biggest parts of my jealousy."

Jimmy looked down," so I really don't get a say in this? I don't get a chance to change it?"

James sighed," do you really want to? Wouldn't this information affect how you act around her? Your friendship? Do you want to lose that?"

  Jimmy Neutron 2005

"Hey, Jimmy!" Carl was at the entrance of the lab waving at the camera," they just got a new baby llama at the petting zoo!"

Jimmy blinked, clearing his eyes, he was hunched over a project in the corner. Was it really that late already? He asked himself, looking at the clock. He didn't really remember a good chunk of the day. "I guess time flies when you're inventing," he muttered. There was some dried spit on the side of his mouth, he whipped it and tilted his head to his computer, "Vox let Carl in."

Carl screamed as he fell down to the chute into the lab," Jeez Jimmy can't you have an elevator, I feel like my scapula is gonna pop!"

"You were saying about the llamas?" he asked dully his brain still struggling to focus on the missing hours of the day.

"Oh!" Carl was smiling wide now," yeah they got a new one, it's small and spotted-"

Jimmy had already turned to his worktable the words of his friend being tuned out. His brain was just so unfocused, and he’d heard this llama rant before.

"That's nice Carl," he said in the spot he did last time they had this conversation. It'd been a long week since the Zoo had welcomed their newest llama

"And Sheen is going with Libby and Libby is dragging Cindy over-"

"Uh-huh - wait Cindy's going to be there?" Jimmy asked, trying to sound like he wasn't interested.

"Yeah," Carl dismissively waved his hand," and the baby llama has a Cat friend that was abandoned in the llama pin. And the llama mother took the kitten in to now they're friends," Carl's voice was pitched high and soft like it always did when he talked about llamas. 

But Jimmy wasn't thinking about the llamas.

"Well I guess, I do need a break from inventing..." he slowly admitted.

"Yay!" Carl did a tiny hop," Come on let's go everyone is meeting up at the Candy Bar!"

"Okay," he said with a smile as he removed his goggles and gloves.

   James Neutron 2020

"Did it all work out okay?" Cindy asked her boyfriend. A smirk on her face

"Yeah," James said with a returned smile,”you enjoyed that all entirely too much.”

“I was just teasing him,” she grinned,” you used to be so uptight.”

He rolled his eyes, putting down the heavy box holding the last of his things from the lab in the back of the hover-car. He gently kissed her on her cheek. "Sorry about all of that."

Cindy giggled," so I take it since the world isn't warping around us that you erased his memory?"

"You already know the answer to that Vortex."

She smiled," Yeah but what was it he was saying? That he doesn't like young me?" She batted her eyes dramatically. “How ever will I recover from this.”

James crawled into the seat next to her," Oh can it, you know I was a mess then, besides you weren't any better!"

She blushed," that's not the point Nerdtron."

"Oh it's not?" he asked with a smirk playing on his lips as he leaned forward his lips a breath away from her ear," cause I remember a certain someone wanting to abandon her life and live on a deserted island with me forever? Someone blonde and very pretty?"

"You promised to never bring that up again!" she squeaked out her ears lighting up just as red.

James laughed punching in the codes to his hover-car," you're the one that brought it up first."

"Did not!" She shrieked back with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Did too in the lab!"

As Cindy sputtered and argued back with fire in her eyes and a broad smile on her face James felt content. It took them a long time to get where they were. Yet in the end, it was worth it. he leaned in and kissed her gently effectively shutting her up while he started take off.

"What was that for?" she asked as they started home.

"Nothing," he shrugged," I just love you."