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This was supposed to be a normal night. A completely normal night for Bart and Jaime. They had to do routine patrol, because Nightwing was a bitch, and after they could return to the tower and have the night off.
But then Jaime saw a couple of rogues trying to rob a bank, and so here they were.
“Impulse, you take the smaller guys I’ll handle the big ese,” Jaime said, as he flew down to the largest in the group. He looked to be some kind of meta, his skin was glowing brightly, as Jaime swooped in to attack him with his arm blades.
“Got it,” Impulse called, as he sped around Jaime.
“Stab him in the stomach,” Scarb whispered in Jaime’s head.
“No, I’m going to take him to prison,” Jaime said, out loud. The large meta in front of him looked confused but Jaime ignored it. He was used to people looking at him weird at this point. This was just a part of his life now.
He threw another punch to the meta, pushing him back into a wall. Jaime quickly used his pincers and pinned him to the wall.
Once he stopped moving Jaime relaxed and took out the meta handcuffs he kept on him. But as he started placing the handcuffs on the meta, Jaime felt a screaming pain in his stomach.
He looked down to see that out of the glowing man’s stomach he had grown a blade, that was currently speared into Jaime.
“Carajo,” Jaime muttered as he fell back.
“Finish him,” Scarb whispered.
“I’m good,” Jaime said, holding onto his side with one hand the other still holding the cuffs.
“You’re too weak to fight him,” Scarb informed Jaime as the meta broke through his pincers, and advanced on Jaime.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t try,” Jaime muttered, staggering forward. He could feel his legs grow weaker and weaker. His head also grew light as he lost more and more blood.
“Blue!” Impulse called, and ran to his side.
He looked over dazedly at his friend, “we need to get him.”
“If you’re not going to listen to me, I’m taking control,” Scarb said, his voice commanding.
“No! Don’t do that!”
“Jaime Reyes, I’m shutting you down, so that you may heal,” Scarb said.
Jaime felt his eyes grow heavy. He slumped down, Bart barely catching him in time.
“Blue, Blue, what’s going on?” Bart asked as he cradled him. When had they gotten to the floor?
“I’m tired,” Jaime said, his eyes fluttering. He so desperately wanted to be awake. He wanted to arrest the meta that had stabbed him, then go back to the tower and fall asleep in the middle of a pile of homework as Bart slept on his shoulder. Jaime wanted his normal evening back.
“No, no, stay awake,” Bart said, shaking him. “I can’t lose you too, please stay awake.”
Jaime tried to give Bart a smile as he closed his eyes. But his last fleeting thought before he succumbed to the darkness was that it might’ve been more of a grimace, oh well.
“No, no, stay awake,” Bart called, shaking Jaime. They were in the middle of a dirty alley way and Jaime was in his arms bleeding out.
Bart had lost track of where the meta they had been fighting went. He assumed that he just fled, but a rogue that powerful shouldn’t be left on the streets.
Bart quickly pulled out his phone and called the first person he could think of. “What’s up Bart?”
“Wallypleasepleasecomehere. BlueBeetle’sinjuredandIdon’tknowwhattodo,” he said, his voice slipping into hyperspeed within his panic.
“Bart, slow down. Can you tell me where you are, or do I need to get Nightwing to track you two? Stay where you are, don’t try to move Blue. Help is on the way.”
Bart nodded weakly as Wally’s words washed over him. He bit back a sob as he pulled Jaime closer to him, one hand on his wound trying to stop the blood from flowing out. The other hand was wrapped around Jaime’s back holding onto him. Jaime’s limp head fell onto Bart’s shoulder, his suit disappearing back into his street clothes.
Bart could feel Jaime’s heartbeat through his suit. He clung onto that feeling, hoping that it would still be beating by the time the others got here. He needed it to keep beating. He needed Jaime to be alive.
After what seemed like an eternity later, a ship landed down in front of the two of them.
Wally came out first, along with Ms. Martian and later Nightwing and some other older heroes.
Wally crouched down in front of Bart, and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Hey, M’gann needs you to let go of Jaime, can you do that?”
Bart didn’t want to. He couldn’t lose him. This was Jaime, his best friend. What if they took him and told Bart that it was too late. Bart couldn’t take it.
“Hey, hey,” Wally said, reaching his hand up and wiping off something from Bart’s cheek. It was tears. When did Bart start crying? “I know this is scary, but we need to get Jaime to a doctor as soon as we can. So can you let him go?”
Bart reluctantly loosened his grip on Jaime. As soon as he had done that Jaime was floating up and onto a stretcher in the bio ship.
“You think you can walk?” Wally asked, looking Bart up and down.
Bart knew theoretically he could walk, he’d been walking since the day he was born. But tears were flooding his vision and he couldn’t stop hiccuping.
Wally nodded, taking his silence as an answer, and gently picked him up. Bart dimly became aware that Wally was wearing his civilian clothes rather than his Flash costume. And he was getting blood all over Wally’s shirt.
Jaime’s blood.
Bart sobbed harder.
“Sh, I know, I know,” Wally said, walking into the ship and setting him down onto a seat. Wally sat next to him and held him as Bart sobbed.
Before Bart knew it they were in the tower. He quietly took Bart to one of the large living rooms and sat down there with him until Bart’s sobs subsided.
They sat there for a few more minutes in silence. “Is Jaime going to be okay?” Bart finally said, his voice hoarse.
“I’m not sure,” Wally said, shaking his head. “But how about you get a shower first then we can see if we can visit him.”
“Okay,” Bart said, quietly. He silently stood up and made his way to the showers, while Wally watched him with a concerned gaze.
After he had showered and eaten something per Wally’s request, they finally walked to the medical bay. There a group of doctors surrounded Jaime, Nightwing approached the two as soon as they walked into the room.
“How’s he doing?” Bart asked, trying to look beyond the barrier of doctors.
“We have our best people watching over him, they’re preparing him for surgery.”
“What?” Bart asked, eyes wide. He hadn’t ever known anyone who had actually gone into surgery before, but in the virtual reality game he grew up in, it was never a good sign.
“The sword hit some of his major organs, they’re trying to see if they can fix it,” Nightwing said, shaking his head.
“Who’s on the case for the guy who attacked him?” Wally asked, gripping Bart’s shoulder in support.
“Wonder Girl, Robin, and Superboy,” Dick said, checking his coms. “Tim said they’ll be fine taking him on.”
“Like how Jaime is so okay right now,” Bart said, rolling his eyes.
“Impulse, they have Superboy, someone with invulnerability, they will be fine, what happened earlier was a casualty of the work we live in, you two shouldn’t have gone in alone when you see an unknown meta.”
Bart nodded, feeling bad. He should’ve known better, he should’ve done better.
“I’m sorry,” Bart mumbled.
“It’s fine,” Nightwing said, shaking his head. “Com’on let’s get to the living room, the doctors will give us news on when we can see Jaime next.”
Wally squeezed Bart’s shoulder once, and began steering them to the other room.
Once they got to the living room Bart began pacing furiously. This had been his fault. He should’ve been faster, he should’ve protected Jaime better.
It’s better like this, a small voice in Bart’s head said. You don’t have to kill him now.
Bart shivered, remembering what everyone in the future wanted Bart to do. To fix the future they wanted him to kill Jaime. Stop him from becoming the dictator that destroyed their lives.
But as Bart got to know Jaime he realized he couldn’t do it. Jaime was kind, always looking out for Bart. Inviting him to hang out with him, and not getting too mad when Bart stole his food.
Bart even began feeling things for Jaime that he didn’t know were possible for him.
And now Jaime might die.
He was Bart’s first real friend.
He was Bart’s best friend.
Bart ran out of the building, deciding to go on a long run.
Hours later, Bart eventually made it back to the tower. He had looped the Earth at least twice now. Once he entered he found Wally sitting at the table in the kitchen.
“You didn’t have to do that for me,” Bart said, eyeing the food spread out on the table.
“Who the fuck said this was for you?” Wally asked, grinning. He ruffled Bart’s hair as he walked past to grab some utensils. “Maybe it's for me, I have a speedesters appetite too Bart.”
“Don’t lie to me old man,” Bart said, jumping on Wally’s back.
“Ow don’t do that,” Wally said, dropping Bart onto a chair and then massaging his back. “And I am not old, I’m only twenty five.”
“You can buy alcohol,” Bart said, already shoving food in his face. Running at full speed for hours really took it out of him. “That’s old.”
“Why would I even be buying it?” Wally laughed, sitting beside him. “I’d just burn it off.”
Bart nodded, “Oh yeah I forgot about that.”
“Anyways, I figured you’d be hungry after all that running,” Wally said, shaking his head. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Not really,” Bart said, shrinking in on himself.
“That’s okay,” Wally said, rubbing Bart’s back. “Jaime’s out of surgery by the way. You can visit him after you get a shower.”
Bart looked down at himself, he had run out wearing sweats, and they were soaked, and probably smelly. “Okay.” He started eating faster, the sooner he could know Jaime was okay, the better.
“God, you’re just like me,” Wally laughed.
“Super fast?”
“No,” Wally said, grinning. “I just remember the first time Dick got seriously injured, I was a wreck. The only person who could settle me was Barry.”
“As I recall you’re still a complete wreck whenever you see me injured,” Dick said, walking in. He wore his usual sunglasses, Bart wasn’t entirely sure why, but didn’t question it, he knew the bats were touchy on their identities.
“Hey!” Wally said, slapping him. “For that remark, you’re sleeping on the couch.”
“You wound me,” Dick said, falling on the floor, clutching his chest.
“You guys are so gross,” Bart said, rolling his eyes. He quickly finished his food, then ran over to the showers. Once he was done he ran straight over to the med bay.
That’s when he saw him, Jaime lay on a bed, gauze covering his chest, a blanket covering his waist down.
Bart sat down in one of the chairs next to him. Jaime looked terrible, his skin pale, and his hair covered in sweat.
But Jaime did look peaceful. His eyes were closed, and he breathed evenly. Bart gently reached out and took Jaime’s hand, using the other to brush some of Jaime’s hair out of his face.
He was safe. Jaime was going to be okay.
Jaime was floating.
He felt like he had been in this place for months, yet as he slowly dragged himself out of that state he decided that it had been too little.
As Jaime came to, he felt the pain rush back to him. Oh right he had been stabbed.
There was something warm on his hand. Jaime opened his eyes to see Bart sitting beside his bed. One hand he leaned on while he drooled, and the other clutched Jaime’s hand.
It was sweet.
Jaime kinda wanted to take a picture of Bart to use as blackmail, (and maybe have as his wallpaper) so he tried to reach over to the table where his phone sat.
That was a mistake.
Pain shot up through Jaime and he let out a groan.
“Woah, woah,” Bart said, jerking his head up. “Areyouokay? Doyouneedwater? What’shurting?”
“I just wanted a picture,” Jaime said, his teeth gritting together.
“Of what?” Bart asked innocently.
“Nothing,” Jaime said, blushing. Maybe his thoughts from earlier had been a little weird. Were you supposed to look at your best friend that way?
“Don’t try to move that fast,” Bart said, shaking his head. “You’re recovering from major surgery.”
“I’m what?” Jaime asked.
“Oh yeah, you got stabbed and we had to give you surgery.”
Jaime squinted at Bart. “You performed surgery on me?”
“No!” Bart said, laughing. “That would be so the mode. Like can you see these hands doing surgery,” Bart showed his hands doing jazz hands at superspeed.
“Okay, okay I believe you,” Jaime said, laughing.
Out of nowhere, Bart jumped up from his seat and hugged him. He was careful about the bandages only holding onto his shoulders, but Jaime could feel Bart starting to shake. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
Jaime squeezed Bart, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get stabbed.”
Bart let out a wet laugh, “I just don’t know what I would do if you were gone.”
That tugged at Jaime’s heart.
Bart suddenly pulled away, but Jaime didn’t let him bolt though. He pressed his forehead to Bart’s. “I won’t.” He looked into Bart’s brown eyes. “I won’t leave you.”
Bart seemed to relax.
“Now if you would,” Jaime said, shifting with Bart still on top of him. “Could you move so I can sleep again?”
Bart started standing up, but Jaime kept his grip on him. “I never said you had to get up.”
Bart’s eyes widened, but he adjusted himself to where he lay with his head on Jaime’s chest. Jaime wrapped his arms around Bart, relishing in his warmth. He soon felt his eyes dip closed, Bart’s steady breathing bringing him back to his peaceful pain free sleep.
“They’re just like us,” Dick said, standing in the doorway of the small room Jaime and Bart slept in.
“Yeah but you couldn’t fly.”
“Like hell!” Dick said, elbowing Wally. “We’re called the flying Graysons for a reason.”
“And I have yet to see that reason,” Wally grinned. “But yeah they sure are cute. Wanna bet money on how long it takes for them to get together?”
“They’re not already together?” Dick asked, eyes wide.
“I give up,” Wally said, and he started walking out. “World’s greatest detective my ass.”
Dick moved to follow him, but before he did that he snapped a quick photo of the two. Bart and Jaime were wrapped around each other, sleeping peacefully.