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Bart thinks that the first time they hold hands shouldn’t have made his pulse speed, shouldn’t have seemed as amazing and memorable as it had felt at the time. In fact it couldn’t really be considered holding hands, especially because the nagging little feelings that had begun to crop up were completely one-sided. Or, at least, they were unless he’d completely lost his ability to read people which was entirely possible given that it was Jaime. However he liked to think that he hadn’t completely lost said ability and, even then, if it was his sudden… Infatuation, wouldn’t he have been thinking the opposite? Mentally Bart sighed; crushes were hard.
They’d been playfully sparring in an uninhabited area, their attacks anything but serious. In fact Bart hadn’t even really broken a sweat, but he’d dodged one of Blue Beetle’s attacks, laughing back over his shoulder and had, in a moment of idiocy, tripped and fallen hard. He’d tumbled, head over heels, landing flat on his back and staring up at the sky, temporarily bewildered. However soon his field of vision was filled with the blue of the other teen’s armor, Jaime’s eyes wide as he stared down at him.
“Oi, you alright?” Jaime questioned, looking concerned.
“Totally feeling the mode.” Bart groaned before grinning, moving to sit up. “I’ll be okay. Just need to watch where I’m going!”
Then the other teen’s hand reached out, palm up in offering, causing the speedster to blink, perplexed before offering his… Friend a small smile, accepting the help up. There’s no jolt of pleasure, no marveling over the warmth of skin, especially since he’s not touching bare skin, but the strength, the support, the way Jaime’s other hand reaches out to stabilize him makes his eyes hood a little. There’s nothing physical about his reaction, about the heat that’s trying to climb into his cheeks, nothing to do with hormones or chemical imbalances or anything like that.
Mentally he shook himself before grinning broadly and playfully shoving the other teen, hoping to hide his temporary lapse in common sense. “Let’s go again!”
Jaime says something but he doesn’t hear as he speeds off, mentally scolding himself for being an idiot, only to slow a little when he didn’t hear any shots being fired or shouting. Frowning he skid to a halt and spun, scanning the skyline for any sign of his friend, only to see him hovering a few feet from where he’d fallen. Concerned he sped back, planting his hands on his hips, playful mask carefully back in place as he grinned at Jaime, mentally suppressing his worry.
“Whatcha doing, ‘Hermano?’” he questioned, grin still firmly in place. “It’s more fun if you, you know, participate.”
“Is everything okay?” Jaime asks finally, looking worried as he settles on the ground, briefly looking introspective before focusing on the speedster again. “I mean, you just seem kind of… Weird.”
“Weirder than normal?” Bart teased immediately, laughing softly.
“Just… Different weird, you know?”
For a moment the speedster falters before shrugging and smiling again. “I feel fine. I mean, nothing’s wrong.”
“Well… Okay. If something’s wrong… You’ll tell me, right?”
Bart hesitates for a heartbeat, taken by surprise by the fact that someone could care that much, before speaking. “If something’s bothering me… You’ll be the first to know.”
Jaime smiles at him and it draws one from Bart as well, one that feels honest and natural in the first time since he first met Barry. It’s infectious and makes him feel warm, makes him feel like he’s important, as if he was the highlight of someone’s day for once, and it’s a great feeling. In that moment he thinks that maybe if he can just keep the confusing whirlwind of emotions in his head a secret, maybe, just maybe, he can be happy. Then again, Bart had never been all that great at keeping secrets.