closed | awkward teenage bonding time GO!

[moded]

WHO: Bart Allen moded and Jaime Reyes khajidont
WHERE: Heropa and thereabouts!
WHEN: Practically midnight, 8/23
WHAT: Oh you know, the usual. Two teenagers fighting crime, an almost compromised secret identity, violence towards inanimate objects... oh and Bart attempting to bond with an alternate universe version of his best amigo.
WARNINGS: Teenage crime fighting and cringe-worthy abuse of the Spanish language

[Bart's bored.

Bored, bored, B-O-R-E-D. Because sure, he could be sleeping. It is almost midnight. But Bart's a thirteen-year-old superhero with no parental supervision so why on earth would he be asleep? It's more than just that, though. He's gotten used to being on call, to being sent out more and more as the Reach grew more and more active. He's used to fighting and going undercover on missions that had him fighting for his life more often than not. So Heropa, as nice as it is to get a bit of a break from the apocalypse, is making him restless.

Normally, he'd catch a zeta to Taos and kill time with the run to El Paso when he just needed to go out and do something. But here, well. Here he's been trying not to do that. This Jaime didn't know him, and as much as Bart wanted to just dive on in and build a friendship out of nothing... its been oddly exhausting to think about. At first Bart just thought it was what they'd been through back home, a backlash of seeing Blue completely on mode for so long, but now he's not so sure. It's weird, having friends. But it's even weirder missing them. And eventually, something has to give.

So yeah, he's bored, he misses his friends, and Jaime's one of the two people here that know what Bart's world is really like. Which is what's brought Bart to Jaime's place, what has him ringing the doorbell muuuuuultiple times at what might as well have been midnight, and what has him forgetting once again that he.... really shouldn't be making house calls in full superhero get-up.

Oops.]

Comments

[khajidont]

[By midnight, Jaime's not quite asleep but he may as well be, curled in bed in his pajamas - okay, boxer shorts, because who really wears pajamas in this weather? - and flipping idly through one of the few fiction books he had gotten at the library.

(Sci-fi still hadn't lost its shine after getting stuck in space. Who would have thought?)

The doorbell ringing once at this hour is a curiosity, but hearing it ring multiple times is cause for alarm. He ends up charging down the stairs two at a time, Scarab-generated clothes wrapping swiftly around him as he does so, and his eyes are wide as he flings open the door... and his eyes are drawn downwards.]

It is Bart Allen, [the Scarab helpfully informs him.]

I'm tired, not blind, [he hisses back at it, gently closing the door behind him.] Check the news.

[Emergency or not, having other capes show up at his doorstep in full uniform is just unacceptable. He grabs Bart by the crook of his arm, and gently beckons him over round to the side of the house, away from the darkened windows.

His voice is all business when he quietly demands,] What is it? What's going on?

Swaggy-Swag McSwag is holding a benefits concert for sick children on Friday. The local junior soccer team's summer cup has come to a close. One child is missing a tooth. Gary McKenna has reported that his smile is 'charming'. There is reported controversy over a bridge referendum.

[Now the Scarab's just getting downright cheeky. It's a slow news day, he gets it (and the Scarab's none too happy about being used as a smartphone) - but that doesn't explain why Bart's here.]

[moded]

[It's practical agony waiting all that time for Jaime - or someone else, but Bart honestly hasn't even thought that far ahead - to come and answer the door. Which is probably why Bart's filled with jittery energy by the time Jaime opens the door, immediately grinning wide enough he can feel his cheeks ache.

And, well, Jaime will have barely brought his attention down to Bart's level by the time the kid's babbling away.]

Hey! Look, so I was thinking. I'm bored, its a Saturday night and you're still here so you're probably bored and dude, whole mess of criminals just waiting for two super awesome super heroes to bring them down. Well, I mean. Not actually waiting, since I'm pretty sure they don't want to be caught, so- [He cuts himself off at Jaime's hissing, blinking and then letting himself get tugged around to a less obvious side of the house.]

Never said you were blind, her-man-o. Just meant look as a general thing. Figured we could go into the city, fight some crime, hang out, do some chillangin' that doesn't have to do with alien future stuff.

[At midnight. With no warning. You know, completely normal!]

[khajidont]

Oh my god.

[Jaime pinches the bridge of his nose, choosing to ignore the fact that half of what Bart just said simply glided right on past him, or else he would have taken a moment to explain the Scarab at some future point. As it is, he just stares at Bart in complete disbelief, trying to figure out if this is really happening, and more importantly, if this is really happening to him. He lowers his hand, looks back down at Bart, and seems to decide that the first time wasn't enough as he pinches the bridge of his nose again. He had heard about his universe's Impulse before, but it's an entirely different thing getting to experience him.]

No. This -- no. [Unfortunately for him, he's on a time limit. Kaidan's not deaf, and it's only a matter of time before he pops out to see what's going on. He points at Bart as if he's talking to a small, mischievous puppy, and sternly says,] Bar -- Impulse. I need you to stay right here while I go deal with this.

[He doesn't wait for Bart's reply before stomping back around to the front and swings the door open again. None of his irritation is feigned when, put on the spot, he explains to Kaidan that a friend of his from school showed up on their doorstop dead drunk, and now he's going to make sure he gets home without killing himself.

It's honestly the only thing he could come up with. Hurriedly, he goes back around to the side of his house to where he hopes Bart's still waiting.] Come on, let's talk about this somewhere that's not literally outside of my house.

[moded]

[Bart's being good. He's being really good and patient and is just waiting for Jaime to finish up with whatever mental turmoil he's in. Because man it looks like a doozy, what with how he keeps pinching the bridge of his nose and looking like he's developed a migraine in five seconds flat. Which, now that he thinks about it, a lot of people seem to do around him.

Huh. Must be the weather.

Still, Bart can only stand and grin and keep himself occupied by his own rambling thoughts for so long before he needs to jump back into conversation, needs to resume his original train of thought. His "master plan" so to speak. So far, Phase One: Get Blue Out of the House has worked flawlessly. But Phase Two: Get Jaime Into BB Mode is still up in the air. After all, it's always possible that Jaime's going to just tell him to go home and go to bed.]

Yeah, sure, can do sounds crash. [He zips over to the side of the house with a whoosh of air and the telltale sound of superspeed, leaning against the wall with as much nonchalance as he can muster. It... isn't a lot.

And it probably doesn't help Jaime's stress levels that Bart's cupping a hand around his mouth to call after him:] I'll be right here. Not moving, but dude, torture ugh. Didn't come to get you only to stand still.

[Somehow, though, Bart's mostly in the same place as he was when Jaime left. He might have dashed back home for a second to pull a Wally and shove a candy bar into the hidden compartment at his wrist, but he's there and waiting and drumming his fingers against his arm at superspeed in clear and obvious impatience.]

Finally. [He's at Jaime's side with a blur and a slight gust of wind.] Lead and I'll follow, amigo. Oh! Or I can run and you can catch up. Ha, nothin' like a race to start off a good night, right? And dude, we keep to alleys and something'll turn up. [Bart pauses, and directs his gaze pointedly at a spot just over Jaime's shoulder, back where the scarab's usually visible when the armor's up and running.] Although you might wanna wing up first, Blue. Can't do passengers and sooo not walking tonight.

[khajidont]

[Bart really doesn't stop talking, does he? Jaime feels the sudden impulse to introduce him to Araceley one day; between the two of them, there wouldn't be even a glimmer of silence on the horizon. It's just unfortunate that Bart seems so excited about everything. He wants to yell at him - and rest assured, he'll get to it - but this just means that he's going to feel really bad about it.]

Okay, [he says, speaking a little slowly by any normal person's standard, which means that compared to Bart, he may as well be talking through a mouth full of molasses.] We're gonna go out further into the city, and then we're gonna be talking some ground rules.

[The kid does have a point, though - he doesn't want Jaime Reyes walking around outside with Impulse in the middle of the night. Normally he likes to avoid suiting up in front of other people, or at least he wants to give them due warning considering how gross it can be, but he figures it's nothing Bart hasn't seen before. The suit rises directly from underneath his skin, puddling over him in a viscous liquid before it finally hardens into his more familiar exoskeleton, steam just faintly rising from its surface. It occurs to him that the Blue Beetle flying directly away from his house isn't the most subtle thing in the world, but nobody's ever accused him of being good at the whole secret ID business.

He's just better at it than Bart. And possibly Wally.]

All right. [He springs off the ground with the ball of his foot, wings spreading out behind him as he hovers just above Bart, though he'll be getting some more height soon enough.] Let's go.

[moded]

[That's the most aggravating thing with Bart Allen. The kid's just so earnest about everything it's hard to tell him no. Although that also changes once someone has the guts to tell him no and figures out that nine times out of ten Bart'll be fine with it and sprint off to the next thing. But still.

He's definitely picking up on the way Jaime's speaking, though, and it makes him wrinkle his nose a bit out of annoyance. He's gotten that tone before, he knows it well. It's that same disapproving tone people get with him after he's done something stupid or "wrong". It's a way of getting him to slow down through sheer speedster torture. After all, normal speech already feels irritatingly slow, so that? It does its purpose, alright. Get's Bart stopping and standing still and paying attention to whatever's said next. It works, but from the way he's making a face and tapping his foot it's obvious he doesn't appreciate being brought to a halt.]

Crash, knew you'd be up to a little mano a mano bad guy beatdowns what ground rules? [Bart blinks, frowns, and then his eyes widen and the moment secret identity pops into his head is practically visible, what with how his shoulders are slumping and he's making a frustrated noise and turning in a quick, agitated circle and he would have said something more about it - gone into his rant about how un-crash secret ids were - but Jaime's starting to suit up and...

Well, it's not anything like what the Jaime he knows does.

In Bart's world, in his experience, the beetle suit came from the scarab completely. It was plating that slid out from where the tech was attached to his friend's spine and coated his body. It covered him head to toe, it took away Jaime Reyes inch by inch and replaced him with the Blue Beetle. It was armor, as much as the scarab was fused to his body, it was still armor. It wasn't integrated into his system so much that it rose from his skin.

For a moment, Bart tastes ash in his mouth and feels metal around his neck. But he blinks, it's gone, and he can still feel that his smile is still in place, that it hadn't faded even in the slightest. So, he lets it grow. He forces himself to jog backwards a bit as Jaime lifts off. Forces himself to speak over the thundering of his heart and reminds himself again and again that this is a different Jaime, a different universe, a different Blue, a different outcome.]

There's a water tower on top of an apartment building near fifth street. Super high, super deserted, hand picked bat kid meeting place so dude. Totally good for secret rule talks. [Bart can practically feel his body buzzing, knows his words are starting to pick up speed, that the grin on his face is practically devilish as he loses himself to the prospect of being able to run] Sssoooooo last one there's arottenegg!

[And just like that, Bart's going from zero to a hundred in the blink of an eye, taking off with a gust of wind and becoming a blur of red and cream cutting through the night.]

[khajidont]

[The nice thing about flying is that it always gives Jaime a little extra space to breathe. There's a lot that's great about the beetlesuit, but the best thing of all - beyond helping people, of course, a tiny, responsible voice in his head says - is flying. He's the very opposite of Bart most of the time, taking pleasure in drifting slowly through the air, taking his time, seeing the sights.

He doesn't bother doing that this time around, but he doesn't take the bait for a race either. Instead, he takes advantage of this opportunity to exchange a few words with the Scarab.]

Bart Allen: Threat to the maintenance of [secret identity].

Yeah. I know.

Option: cut off ties?

Nah, we'll work it out. He seems like a good kid, he's just kinda... buzzy. Besides, he's on our side.

[There is a moment of silence from the Scarab, longer than what Jaime is used to, but the thing about being connected like this is that he can feel what the Scarab feels, and vice versa. He knows that Bart's news of the future had made its impression on the Scarab, same as it had made its impression on him.]

Yes, [it says, finally, tinny voice as genuine as it ever gets.] He is.

Give him a chance?

Yes.

[He and the Scarab don't always agree, and when they don't, it's Jaime whose orders they eventually follow, but that doesn't mean that Jaime wouldn't prefer that they work in tandem anyway. Satisfied, he alights on the building Bart had pointed out, and indeed, the building that Bart is waiting for him on; there's no way he had won that little race.]

Okay, [he says, clapping his hands out in front of him.] Let's talk.

[moded]

[Sometimes, with the wind stinging at his cheeks and the pavement pounding underfoot, Bart finds it hard to believe that being able to run free like this is a new thing for him. Maybe its the fact that during a run, time can seem stretched to its limits, it can seem like it takes both years and seconds for him to get from point A to point B (and in a way it does because the relative speed of his mind as it thinks and comprehends the sensory input around him is at least 10.89x faster than the speed at which he's moving) or maybe its just because it feels so natural, so right, it really does feel like he's been doing it all his life.

He turns, sliding past a car and watching as the air ripples around him, as the shock-wave causes it to tilt just slightly to the side seconds after he passes it, he weaves through people and buildings and cars and signs and eventually even that gets boring so he climbs. He hits the side of a building and his stomach lurches as his speed carries him up the side, racing gravity and friction with an ease that makes him whoop and laugh into the evening air.

By the time he stops on the rooftop, hands on his knees to catch his breath, all the tension he'd started to feel just a few minutes ago is gone. And he's left with the giddiness of going out and running and hanging out with a friend - and that's a new concept too still, friends. He didn't have any of those in 2056. Well, none except Nathaniel - and the pleasant buzz of his speed radiating through his body as he paces and waits and zips back and forth over the roof squinting at the sky as he looks for the blue speck that'll hopefully be joining him before Bart keels over and dies of boredom.

Eventually, he spots Jaime just cruising in at his own pace, and while it's a little disappointing that he didn't get the race he wanted - will probably never get the race he wants and that's fine he's used to it - it has given him time to think and reflect and remember.

And be ready to start outright babbling the instant Jaime claps his hands and invites him to do so.]

Yeah, okay, talking. Can definitely do talking and explaining because secret IDs, secret hero life, I know. I mean, totally uncrash. Five kinds of uncrash of me but I know- hey, different world different time different rules stupid rules. [BREATHES] But it's, y'know, haven't hung out with an off-mode Jaime in like two months and its the weekend and dude. Heropa is boring.

[khajidont]

[And once again, Jaime can't even start before Bart's words wash over him in a torrent. If he tried to interrupt, he doubts he would actually be able to do so, so it's just as well that he's the sort that very rarely, if ever, interrupts people. He likes to move at his own pace.

And so, it seems, does Bart, who has a penchant for saying just the right thing to give his gut a little twist. He doesn't say it in such clear terms, but all Jaime can hear is that his friend back home - who wasn't him, maybe wasn't at all like him, how would he ever know? - had been brainwashed for months, and he missed hanging out with him. Jaime can't fault the result, but he can certainly fault the method.]

Okay, [he says, blinking a couple times.] So just so we're clear - no ringing my doorbell a million times in costume, and preferably not at all in the middle of the night, because my roommates actually like to sleep. Just text me. I'll probably say yes, and I've always got my phone because it's kind of... [He reaches behind him and taps on the base of his skull.] Built-in. The whole secret ID thing sucks, but it's important. We clear?

[moded]

[There's a small part of this seemingly happy-go-lucky thirteen year old that is a born and bred manipulator. Call it a part of how he grew up, where he grew up, or just a part of him that always would have been there regardless, but Bart knows how to say what he needs to in order to work a situation in his favor.

He knew what to say to get Barry to ignore Neutron's sudden power down, to get an in on his world's Jaime, to give Robin what he wanted in hopes of avoiding answering questions, to solidify a sense of family with the Wally here that would give his lies the protection they needed.

Knows how to appeal to Jaime's sympathies, even if they're with low and uncomfortable blows.]

Crystal clear, hermano. Text first, no doorbells, no costume near the house. [And now that he's calmed down, his little start thanks to how Jaime armored up an issue of the distant past, Bart's moving with a blur of color and a rush of wind and sound behind Jaime, knowing better than to just reach out and touch the scarab but still hovering curiously around it.]

Huh. Looks the same. [Another blur, and he's at Jaime's side, rubbing his chin in his best dramatic thinker pose] You suit up differently than the Blue I know. [Yeah sorry Jaime, he tried to resist but now you're getting your arms poked and prodded at.]

Feels the same, too. But Blue's armor slides out from the scarab yours looked- [IS HE GOING TO BE SCIENTIFIC AND TACTFUL?] -gross. [nope]

[khajidont]

What -- oh, are we doing the poking thing now? Okay, I guess we are.

[Jaime can't help but lift one arm up as Bart gets up in his personal space, though it's a mystery as to whether he's trying to get Bart away, or if he's just letting the kid have better access to treat him like a science project. Honestly, it's probably a little bit of both. He's had plenty of people want to examine the armour, which is all well and good because as far as any human eye can see, it's nothing but armour. Only Jaime and those in the know know its true potential... and even they are one hundred percent positive. He knows he's heard in the Scarab's mumblings that he's carrying the equivalent of a nuclear bomb inside him, but he's explicitly chosen not to find out any more about that.

Some things, he's okay with not knowing.]

Yes, [he says, voice patient, even, the complete opposite of the Scarab's voice in his mind, quietly complaining about its discomfort with Bart's proximity.] It's super gross. Usually I tell people to look away when I suit up, but I kinda figured you'd be used to it. So... what, his armour comes out already in plates? Something like that?

Inefficient, [the Scarab sniffs, and Jaime glances skywards in quiet exasperation, because the Scarab appears to be becoming jealous of an alternate version of itself.

He needs new friends.]

[moded]

[He keeps poking and prodding because it's weird and he doesn't understand it. It had looked like liquid just coming out of Jaime's skin and turning into the same feeling of something alien and strong and still with that feeling that made his skin crawl and screamed Reach even though it made no sense.

Eventually, though, he has to give up. Has to write it off to an area of science and knowledge that he just doesn't understand. Chemistry, maybe, or nanotech. Nothing like the botch and butchered math and engineering he'd delved into. So, he steps back with a slight frown, still wracking his brain and still halfway caught between being annoyed that he can't figure it out on his own and being too impatient to be actively annoyed.]

Think so, never really sat down to figure it out. Far as he lets us see it just sort of- [He makes a motion that's supposed to embody Blue's armor sliding out and over but really looks more like he's trying to give a giant invisible mutant bear a hug] -folds over everything dude why are we talking about this again?

[Bart you brought it up not that the thought is keeping him from doing that annoying sling his arm over Jaime's shoulder and invade personal space thing again.]

Night is young! Probably someone somewhere trying to snag a purse or rob a bank can you do that crash stare off into the distance and hear police radios thing? Or, I mean, could blow off some steam sonic some rocks stretch the wings 'cause dunno about your world but mine's a constant source of action and there's nothing to do here.

[It's a case of Bart's bored so therefore everyone else must also be bored.

[khajidont]

[In one respect, Bart's right. The night is young, it's a Saturday night, and many of his friends from school are off wandering the streets, albeit in a very, very different way. Then again, he had been pretty content up until the point at which Bart barged into his evening and decided to force him into hanging out, which would be a lot more annoying if Bart didn't seem like he actually wanted to hang out with him, which is always a nice feeling.

In the end, Bart's fast paced eagerness wins out. It's not as if Jaime would ever actually say no, after all, even if he's not returning that arm slung around the shoulder in the slightest. Instead, he does what he always does when he's mildly uncomfortable, which is to lean slightly away from Bart and do literally nothing else to mitigate the sudden invasion of his personal space.

It's not very effective.

Once again, he doesn't quite catch everything Bart's saying - or more accurately, when he does catch it, he's not entirely certain what he's referring to - so he just rolls with the gist of it.] There's not a lot to do in Heropa, [he corrects, which is just a way of saying that yes, he'll hang out with him.] There hasn't been a bank robbery here since I've been here. Which is, technically, a good thing. So if you actually wanna stretch your legs, it's not gonna be here.