"Why were you looking in my stuff?"

He had no idea what to say. Absolutely none. He just stared at Bart, who's face was paler than usual. This was such an awkward situation. He thought about joking 'scavenger rights', but some part of him thought that, if he were in a video game and that was one of the choices and he chose it, he'd be redirected to a "Game Over" screen.

Life is not a game.

The only thing he could say was the truth, so..."I just wanted to see if you had anything from the future."

Bart clenched his teeth, hands balling into small fists at his side. His whole body tensed, Jaime didn't need the scarab to tell him it, it was obvious, and he looked genuinely angry, which was something that hardly happened.

But when he spoke, his voice was quiet. Eerily quiet. "Why are you so obsessed with the future? That's all you've talked about for the past couple days. I wish I had never told you anything, Jaime." He moved towards him, eyes sparking with something that he hadn't seen before, "I may have lied to the others, but I didn't want to lie to you." His face softened a little, eyebrows slowly falling back into their natural position, Bart's hand drifting around Jaime's, which was just trembling at his side. "But I told you and ever since I did, you've treated me differently. And...I dunno, I lost my original point, but...yeah."

"I just don't want to hurt you," Jaime choked, pulling Bart into a tight hug, "I'd do anything to stop that from happening."

Bart swallowed, licking his lips nervously and slowly putting his hands on Jaime's back, trying to comfort him. "Okay, I'll tell you a little."

His heart leaped and he pulled away, sitting eagerly on his bed and throwing the bolt aside. "Thank you."

The speedster made a face, still annoyed, but apparently, Jaime would never get the idea. "The truth is...I was troublesome to you."

"W-What do you mean?"

"I always found a way to get out of the collar..." Bart smiled, but it didn't match his eyes, which were currently pretty flat and dark, staring down at Jaime's shirt blankly, "...you always had to put it back on me. I frustrated you. But..."

Jaime's chest was starting to move up and down, his heart pumping blood faster and faster. Why did he always get so anxious? He never had anxiety problems until Bart came. Until this all started. Until he learned he was destined to be a monster.

It wasn't fair. He heard his breath getting heavier, and each time he sucked in the air a little more hungrily, feeling like, despite his efforts, there was less and less filling his lungs.

"But you're not that same person."

There was a sharp hiss of breath, and then Jaime just pulled him to him so tight, clinging on to him like he'd die if he let go, his chest loosening as the scarab probably did something to help. He didn't want to stop feeling him on him, their bodies pressed together. He didn't want to stop hearing his heart beat, or his breath, or his voice, or stop feeling his small frame. He wanted him. He wanted to be one with him so badly. "So...what about the screw," he forced, trying to push his other thoughts aside. Nothing sexual. He couldn't be sexual with Bart.

"That's nothing. It's from my time machine."

"Oh."

"Yeah." He wanted to ask Jaime to stop gripping on to him so tight. But he was scared to.

It seemed like ages before he pulled away. "The scars on your neck?"

"They're from the collar. Putting on the collar. So can you please stop asking about the future now? And promise me you won't look through my stuff anymore."

"I-I didn't look through all of it, I swear!"

Only at the Impulse's under garments.

"I searched for items with traces of chronotron radiation! That's it!"

"You could have just asked me," he said, a look of disappointment on his face. Which only made Jaime feel worse.

"I'm sorry, Bart. I promise, I promise. I'll never do any of this ever again!" His pleading was almost pathetic. And the scarab made it a point to tell him so. But something told Bart that it would happen again, despite what Jaime kept saying. Because it always did. He kept touching him in places he didn't want to touch, he kept trying to take off his clothes, he kept handling him roughly, he kept asking about the future...

"Look, everything's crash. I promise, okay?" He pulled away, moving over to his bed. Getting on the floor and crawling underneath it, he popped out on the other side, holding a velvet box. "I didn't want you looking around my room because I didn't want you to find this...it's, you know. Like...uh, thank you for the necklace."

"Bart..." He took it eagerly, flipping the box open. Jaime felt his nose start to sting and tears forming in his eyes, so he quickly blinked them away, not wanting to cry. His burning hot cheeks were embarrassing enough. He picked the watch out of the box, examining it and watching it sparkle in the light. "How did you afford this?"

It was an Armani, with a black leather strap and emerald accents around the face. It suited him quite well, actually, and he quickly put it around his wrist, admiring it.

He shrugged, a blush coming across his face, too. "Jay gives me an allowance each week. I just saved up. It wasn't hard."

But Jaime knew this watch couldn't have been bought with an allowance. He must have gotten Jay or Barry to help him for it...Jaime didn't know whether to feel guilty or incredibly giddy with joy. "You didn't have to do this. Really, Bart. What I gave you was nothing, especially compared to this...I love you. I love you so much." He pulled him close, nuzzling his face into his hair, whispering, "mi carino, mi corazon, mi amor".

"Heh...thanks. I...I love you, too." His voice was so soft and cute and adorable and gentle and perfect and everything felt okay. Hearing him say that in such a way just made Jaime's life complete. Nothing could go wrong today.

"So are we gonna hang like, all day?"

"Totally. It'll be crash. I have a few things planned."

Jaime just smiled, sitting on Bart's bed as he took out his phone. "Okay, let me just call Mami. She's probably worried sick."

"I'll give you privacy," and before he could protest, the speedster was gone, door shut behind him.

He listened as the phone rang once, twice, then..."JAIME!"

"M-Milagro?"

"You're gonna be in trouble! You're gonna be in trouble!"

"Hey, stop that! Dar el teléfono a Mami."

"Fiiiiiine!"

"Jaime...dónde estás? I called Paco, Tye, Brenda...no one knew where you were!"

"I'm sorry...I'm with Bart. Um...can you call me in for school today?"

There was silence on the other side of the call, and then a tired sigh. "As long as you're okay."

"I am. I promise. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Are you sure you're-"

"Estoy bien, Mami!"

"Alright, Jaime...see you tomorrow. Be careful. Por favor."

"I will. Bye." He turned off his phone and slipped it into his back pocket, walking out into the hallway. Bart wasn't there, so he headed down the stairs. Joan greeted him, and he replied politely, turning the corner to find his novio shoving a cream cheese bagel in his mouth. He smiled, finding him absolutely adorable when he ate.

"Leph'ff go!" He swallowed and grinned at Jaime, who leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then putting his arm around his waist and leading him out the front door.

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"I dunno, just thought we could walk around a little. Stretch our legs. Get something to eat."

"Sounds good."

"In Spanish, that's...bueno, right?"

"Yes," Jaime laughed.

Central City was bright, and sunny. Lively, but not in the way El Paso was. It definitely felt smaller, and the people...less hostile, and almost too friendly. But Jaime didn't really mind the change. It was nice. And more than anything, he liked imagining Bart walking these same sidewalks every day.

"So this is the City Center. It's like, basically where everything is. Including where the bad guys usually attack."

"Every place has those parts. Maybe me and you...can you know, go on patrol together one day."

"That...would be crash," Bart said after a short silence, smiling as he held the door open to a fast food restaurant.

Jaime liked that idea so much. Crime fighting, but outside of the team...just them. No having to worry about what others thought, or change the way you work just to fit with their dynamic.

We are best on our own.

No, I like being with Bart. It makes things...fun.

Our mission is not supposed to be 'fun'.

The couple sat down at a booth, and Bart instantly started scanning over the menu. Jaime wasn't too interested...the food wasn't necessarily healthy, and he was more focused on what he said rather than what he ate. Taking out of his phone, he started googling.

Bart pretended not to watch, but he did from the corner of his eyes, wondering what Jaime was suddenly so focused on. After awhile, Jaime excused himself to the bathroom. He understood privacy. He respected it, for the most part, but that doesn't mean he wasn't paranoid about his mission. Glancing over at the bathrooms to make sure Jaime wasn't coming back out already, he grabbed his phone. He was going to just check his texts-not because he was possessive, or insecure, or anything like that-he just wanted to make sure nothing Reach-related was going on. To his surprise, there was a window pulled up on it, probably what he had just been reading. He stared, reading it with superspeed and then quickly placing it face down in its original position.

The article had been "Top 10 Dating Tips". He made a face, holding his cheek in his hand while he worried at his bottom lip. That definitely wasn't what he expected to see. Did Jaime really think he needed something like that? Bart just wanted him to be himself. But now he had to worry about whether or not he should reveal that he saw that. Well, for now, he'd keep it secret. If he could actually keep his mouth shut.

Jaime soon returned, scooting back into the booth. He glanced at his phone.

Jaime Reyes: your phone has the Impulse's fingerprints on it. 94% positive that they are recently made.

You must be calculating wrong or something, because there's no reason he'd look at my phone. Bart trusts me, okay? And stop calling him 'the Impulse'.

He put the phone in his pocket nervously. "So...have you figured out what you were ordering, yet?"

Bart, who had been carefully watching his reaction, just smiled. "Double chili cheese burger, of course! Wally told me they're super crash." Jaime made a face, holding his head. He didn't really approve of Bart's eating habits. If you could even call them habits, it was more like he just ate whatever was in sight. Bart frowned, scratching his cheek. "What's wrong?"

"Have you ever had a salad, ese?"

"A...salad?"

He sighed. "Come on. Let's go order." He put his phone in his pocket and stood up, smiling to himself as Bart sped around the booth to the cash register.

"Hello, sir. What could I get for you?"

"Two double chili cheese burgers!"

"And what would you like to drink with that, sir?"

"Uhhh..Mountain Dew?"

"Alright, is that all?"

"Oh, uh, no, my buddy Jaime's still gotta order."

The worker rolled her eyes.

Jaime put his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, leaning back on his heels as he glanced overhead at the menu. "A premium southwest salad, please."

"And what would you like to drink with that?"

"Water, please."

She gave him a look, as if asking why he was even here when he wasn't going to eat more than 200 calories, before pressing a button on the cash register and making it ring. "That'll be $12.97."

"Oh! I'm moded, I totally forgot money at home!"

Jaime smiled, pulling a twenty out of his back pocket. He had a feeling something like this would happen. Anyway, it was hilarious seeing the look on the woman's face. If Bart made such weird impressions during a three-minute conversation, he wondered what he was like at school.

"$7.03 is your change, and that'll be right up, sir." She handed him a number twenty-two and they walked back to the booth. Jaime took out his phone, glancing at it again. His eyes widened when one of them was to 'keep off your phone'. He quickly shoved it in his pocket, looking around the restaurant nervously.

"What's wrong," the ginger asked, frowning. He had an idea, but...

"Oh, uh, nada! Nada, carino. Do you come here often?"

"Me and Barry always stop by after patrol!"

"Oh really? In costume?"

"Yeah, dude!"

He smiled. "Really."

"Yeah. I just never had a chance to try the chili burger. But I have had the chili dogs, and they were crash."

"You know, the scarab basically monitors my diet. You're lucky Barry doesn't care about that sort of thing."

"In the future, there wasn't much to eat. Food was...hard to come by."

Okay. Awkward. The conversation totally just went from fun to what the heck.

"But it's okay, because now there's lots! And I want to eat all of it," Bart quickly added, sensing the arising tension.

Jaime forced another smile.

"TABLE TWENTY TWO! PLEASE COME GET YOUR ORDER!"

They returned to the Garrick's house later that evening, after a day-long tour. Bart had shown him his school, the Flash museum, the ice cream shop, the bank (only because Captain Cold seemed to rob it a lot, and he liked telling heroic stories)...Jaime had a good time and honestly felt much better about their relationship than he did last night.

"Maybe I should run to that 7/11 down the street. I need something to wear to sleep. I feel so gross. And I haven't brushed my teeth in like, twenty four hours." They climbed the stairs up to Bart's room and entered.

"I have all that stuff, hermano! I have that shirt you let me wear the other night." He threw open his closet and pulled out the red t-shirt. Jaime blushed hard.

I wonder if he washed it or if it still smells like him...

Jaime took it, discreetly holding it up to his nose. Yes, it smelled like Bart. Perfectly like Bart. He quickly put it down, not wanting to seem suspicious. The speedster was just smiling at him with a slightly baffled expression.

"And I'm pretty sure Jay has like, extra tooth brushes and stuff. Be right back..." He sped out of the room, and was back in what seemed like a second. "Okay, it's in the bath...room." He stared as Jaime looked straight into his eyes, shimmying out of his bottoms and kicking them aside, slowly pulling off his shirt.

He cleared his throat, facing the other direction, slowly closing the closet for something to do.

Mierda, why won't he look at me?

Perhaps the Impulse has too much on his mind. Or does not wish to see.

He frowned, feeling slightly angry, and annoyed. What about his body wasn't good enough for him?

Slipping on the t-shirt, he watched as Bart turned back around, shorts and a tank top in his hands. Jaime stared, hungrily waiting for Bart to change. "I, uh, I'm gonna go shower."

"Oh, alright..." Jaime put his hands on his hips, watching as he left the room, closing the door behind him. He sighed, flopping down on the bed and running a hand through his hair. "Why couldn't he have invited me in with him?"

It is a common custom for human 'friends' to shower together?

"Well, no, but with boyfriends, yeah. I think. Dios mio, why does he have to be so...so..."

I believe the word you are trying to convey is 'hesitant'.

"Totally..."

But you, Jaime Reyes, feel these same emotions.

"Yeah, sometimes. I mean, I've never had a boyfriend!"

Error: sensing hypocric-

"You know, you have just become way too sarcastic for my liking!"

The scarab was silent and he spent the rest of the alone time thinking through what Bart had told him earlier about the future. If that was really the case, that wasn't so bad, right? Sure, he put an inhibitor collar on him a bunch of times, but so what? That was his job, right? It's not like he did anything terrible, right?

Right?

When he heard the door open, he shot up, mouth falling open as he stared at a wet Bart, water still dripping off the tips of his burgundy hair, shirt clinging tight to his body, shorts a little askew on his angular hips. He lazily dropped the towel to the floor and yawned, jumping on to the bed and laying with his hands behind his head. Jaime still couldn't look away, noticing how he was spreading his legs, heels digging into the bed, and how he could see up his lightly freckled thighs, almost, almost far enough, but...

Registering metabolic arousa-

Callate!

"Let me just...go to the bathroom for a second. To brush my teeth."

"'Kay."

He rushed to the bathroom, closing the door and brushing his teeth almost furiously, as if it would help getting rid of his erection. It wouldn't, obviously. And when he was done he just stood there and stared, wondering if he should get rid of it, or just hope it went away on its own.

He went with the latter. He had no idea why. He returned to the bedroom, still frustrated as ever.

"Well? You comin'?"

"Ye-yeah!" Jaime crawled on to the bed next to him, staring up at the ceiling. He tried to be normal, tried to ignore the newly formed bulge in his boxers. "I have to go back tomorrow...my mom was mad at me for skipping school, today."

"Yeah, Jay gave me a talk," Bart laughed. "Whatever, though, right?"

"Augh, I'm gonna have so much work to catch up on..." he held his head, sort of regretting staying out that day.

Eager to please, Bart put his hand on Jaime's thigh. "I could help you, maybe. I know you're like, in high school already, and I wasn't the best at history, but I could always try with other things."

Jaime smiled, kissing his cheek and taking his hand. "I'd like that, actually. How are you liking school? You've only been in it for like, a week and you're already skipping."

"Yeah, well, it's pretty boring. I'm not sure I like it, sitting in those desks for a whole hour just listening to the teacher talk."

"You're not failing anything yet, are you?" Jaime bit his lip, smiling as he reached around Bart, tickling his side playfully.

He squirmed, and made a face. "Well, actually, when I enrolled, they were like, 'you have to take a foreign language'. I told them I didn't know any, so then they put me in Spanish one. I dunno why. And I'm not the best at it, and even after I read the Spanish dictionary, I still don't understand the sentence structures. Or remember much of it."

"Why didn't you tell me, ese! I could totally be helping you."

Bart blushed, scratching his cheek with his free hand. "I guess I forgot."

"That's it, we're setting up study sessions. I'll be your new tutor." He pressed a little on his side, coaxing him on to his lap, watching him hesitantly straddle his hips, and kissed his cheek gently, hoping Bart wouldn't notice the bulge, or if he did...

He'd ask what it is, innocently, but a grin on his face. And Jaime would say, 'Well, why don't you have a look?'.

Stop, Jaime. You're making this so much worse than it already is. Think about this later. Not now. Anytime but now.

"Okay," he laughed nervously, hands shaking slightly as he wrapped his arms around his neck.

He nuzzled his nose against his, and whispered sweet things to him, telling him how much he loved him, how happy he was today, how much he adored seeing his house for the first time. About how sexy he was, how thankful he was for the watch, how he couldn't wait to do this again. They rolled around in bed a little, never going too far, and as the sun set, Jaime got sleepier and sleepier, until eventually, his praises faded away into silence.

Bart stared at Jaime as he slept, for the first time, outlasting him. He was finally sleeping peacefully and that was what he wanted. He was sick of troubling him, sick of making him feel scared and probably really crappy, especially about himself. The worry in his eyes was always eminent, and a part of Bart knew that it was fueling his insane obsession with the future and the Reach, something that would surely cause trouble down the road.

He frowned, brow furrowing as he wrapped an arm around Jaime's strong shoulders, curling up close to him and closing his eyes. He listened to his breath, his quiet inhale, then loud exhale. Green eyes slowly opened once more, looking up at the gorgeous, tan face in front of him, lit up only by the moonlight coming through the window. It was so perfect, so pure, so unable of becoming what it was destined to become.

Lying wasn't easy. But he was good at it. And if a few lies are all it takes to let the boy he loves make peace with himself, if only for just a night, it was worth it. He shouldn't feel guilty, right? He was doing this for Jaime's good. If Jaime knew what really happened in the future, well...Bart wasn't sure what he'd do, but it probably couldn't be anything good, for either of them, or mankind. It could be the very thing that triggers him, somehow...

Anything could trigger him and that was scary, so he couldn't take his chances. And if he had to lie, he would. For him. For them.

He finally gave in to his instincts, relaxing his body and letting Jaime readjust to position his chin on top of his head, gently kissing his Adam's apple before drifting off to sleep himself.