"Bart? What's all that noise?"

"Nothing!" Bart cried, intercepting Jay as he opened the door. "I sat on the tv remote, and it turned the volume way up, I think."

Jay looked suspicious, but seemed too tired to press it. "I think it's a little late for you to be watching television anyway. Why don't you try to get some sleep, son."

"I will, Jay!" he chirped in his best "I'm behaving, honest!" voice. Max had never bought it. Jay did. The door clicked shut behind Jay. Bart sighed in relief before spinning around. "I told you guys – you gotta shut up!"

"Sure thing, boss!" chirped the scout that was hidden behind the door. The other stood silent, still with the lampshade over its head.

"Take that off, he's gone," Bart snapped, "and don't call me 'boss!'"

"Yikes. He sure is moody."

"You got that right." The lampshade landed on the floor with a dull thud.

"Both of you – shut up!" Bart rubbed his brow. He wasn't moody – he was exhausted. He'd been at this for almost a month. It was better than the first couple weeks, when he'd been doing it by himself. But he'd barely been able to drag himself out of bed in the morning, and Jay had started to suspect something. He'd told Bart not to tamper with the Speed Force – it was more powerful than any of them knew. Wally had the closest, strongest connection, and he even admitted he knew next to nothing about it. The only person who'd had a good, strong knowledge of it had been… Jay's voice had trailed off, but Bart argued that was exactly the point. They needed to find out more about it to get Max back. In the end, though, Jay stressed how dangerous it was and made Bart promise that he wouldn't play with the Speed Force anymore.

….He wasn't really playing with it, though. It was his scouts, not him. And he wasn't going to think about what could happen to them. Because they needed to get Max back. Then, if they ever had a question about the Speed Force, Max would be there to answer it. If the ever needed someone to stop Wally from making all his stupid mistakes, Max would be there. If they ever needed to someone to…just be there. He would. And that's why Bart needed to do whatever he could to help, and not think about what could happen to his scouts.

He'd actually pushed them to the back of his mind so far he hadn't even thought of using the scouts until a couple days after Jay had spoken to him. It had taken a few more days to muster up the courage to let them out. Over a week had passed before he started sending them towards the Speed Force. But now he was sending them out every night.

The problem was….he didn't even know what he was looking for. He remembered what Max looked like when he was probing the Speed Force, but Bart wasn't sure *how* he'd been doing it. He'd tried meditating, like Max had done, but that had been less than useless. So he'd been trying in his own way, running as close as he could, and seeing if anything felt different… but he wasn't sure what a difference would feel like. Now, having his scouts do the running for him was even tougher. He could sort of feel what they were feeling, but it mainly had to rely on their reports. Which were always….

"Nothing new, boss!"

His third scout zipped into the room, stopping in a salute. Bart threw himself back onto his bed, sighing. "Don't call me 'boss'," he muttered, mostly to himself.

"Ooooh, is he in one of his moods?"

"You know it."

"An awful one."

"Shut up! All of you. Arg! Why isn't this working?! It *has* to work! Try it again. One more time. Just one more time today. Then we'll give it a rest until tomorrow."

The scouts were gone before he'd finished saying "again," but he'd continued anyway. Max had always said he got distracted too quickly. He was trying to work on that. He was trying to do this, to make it work, to see it through. He laid an arm across his eyes, drifting off. It was almost worse using his scouts – he could feel his energy leaving to power all three as they pressed closer and closer to the Speed Force, and when they re-entered his body after each of these nightly sessions, it felt like a ton of bricks hit him. Jay was still suspicious, but he could honestly say he hadn't tried to get into the Speed Force again.

His grades, after a brief ascension, had begun to decline again, due to apathy. He'd worry about them again later. At least his teachers weren't accusing him of cheating anymore. Like it would ever have been a problem for him to cheat before. Of course, now Jay's gonna get on his case about his grades… He let out a groan of frustration. If he could get Max back, everything could go back to the way it was before. If he could get Max back…

"Is he dead?" Poke.

"Stupid! If he was dead, we wouldn't still be here!" Poke.

"I knew that, duh. Grife, I was kidding." Poke.

"Hey, boss, you dead?" Poke. Poke. Poke. Po-

"Quit poking me!" Bart slapped the hands away. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Three-fourteen. Told you he wasn't dead."

"Mmm," one scout peered over the other's shoulder at Bart's face. "He still looks like it."

The third scout squeezed between the other two and Bart. "I don't know, he just looks a little tired. You tired?"

"Of course I'm tired, with you three babbling at me all the time, and I'm all you talk about, but you talk like I'm not even here!" Bart lay down again and rolled onto his stomach. He wasn't crying. He really wasn't. He covered his ears to muffle the noise coming from his scouts.

"Oooh, you upset him."

"I didn't do anything! …I think he misses Max."

"Boy, you're a genius, aren't you? Of *course* he misses Max."

"You know who *I* miss?"

"Carol?"

"Oooh, her too. I was thinking of Cissie, though."

"Mmm. She was nice to us."

"Her hair smelled pretty."

"Goof! You *smelled* her hair?"

"Oh, like you di-"

"Gaah!" Bart turned and sat up. "That's it! Get back in!"

"No! Just five more min-"

"-utes, we'll be good! We pr-"

"-omise!"

Bart fell back, sighing. "*I* miss having alone time. Oof-!" Bart blinked up at the scout now lying on his chest. "Wha-?"

"Don't lie, boss. You miss them, too. I bet I only miss Cissie because you do. And mom. And Helen. And Kon."

"What are you talking about? We- *I*- see Kon every weekend."

"It's not the same, you know?" the scout gently stroked his hair. "He's not the same as before. He's…moved on or something. I don't know. It just feels weird. Now he's hanging out with Cassie, and Tim, and it's like we don't matter to him anymore. It's like he's left us, like everyone else."

"S'okay..." Bart covered his eyes with his arm again. Not crying. Not. Crying. "...I'm used to it."

"Liar. If you were okay with it, we would be, too. And we're not." Bart didn't reply. "I miss them. I feel so alone when I'm inside you. Why don't you think we want to go back in? It's cause it's lonely."

"Hey, he's not speaking for all of us," one of the other scouts piped up. "I don't want to go back in cause you don't have any video games in there."

"And I just like Joan's cooking."

The first scout fixed the other two with a level stare in turn before turning back to Bart. It pried Bart's arm away from his face and stared down with a frown. Gently wiping away Bart's tears with its thumb, its face softened. Bart stared up at his own face, worried and hurt and concerned about *him*, and burst into more tears.

"Hey-"

"-don't upset-"

"-him!"

The first scout paid no attention to the other two tugging at him. Instead, it pulled Bart up, arms wrapping around him tightly. Bart hesitated for a second, but the scout was so...warm. And *there*. Bart clutched desperately at the scout's back and buried his face against its chest. The scout stroked Bart's hair lightly and murmured, "it's okay. We're gonna get Max back, right?" Shaking, Bart tried to muffle his cries with his scout's body. "We'll work as hard as we can for you, so you won't be lonely anymore." Bart sniffled as his scout pushed him away to look him in the face. "Until then, you have us." Bart blinked. His scout grinned. It pressed its forehead against Bart's conspiratorially, saying, "If you can't depend on yourself, who can you depend on?"

Bart managed a shaky grin. The scout leaned forward slowly, extending its tongue and running it up Bart's cheek, licking away his tears. "Whoa, hey-!"

"He-"

"-ey!" the other two scouts echoed, moving forward.

Ignoring the protests, the scout caught Bart's mouth with its own. "Mmmph! Mmph, mph!" Bart shoved his fists against the scout, unable to breathe. The scout pulled away abruptly with a gasp. Bart leaned back, panting, touching his fingers to his lips. One scout had pulled the first back by the elbow, and the third was just sort of staring, half-kneeling on the bed. "..What?!"

The first scout's eyes were pleading. "Come on... You need this, we need this..."

"...Gyah! No! No, I don't, and you don't either! Hey, aren't you me? If I don't want it, you shouldn't either!"

"But I do." The scout grinned. "Doesn't that tell you something?" It lurched forward, closing its eyes.

"Hey," said the one holding him, "I don't think we should... I mean, if the boss doesn't want it-"

"-and I don't!"

"-then I don't know about this..." It trailed off, eyes fixed on Bart's.

"I think you're right," said the scout to the side.

"...Er. Who's right?" Bart asked before the first scout was let go and pounced. Bart squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head while...nothing happened? Opening one eye, he turned his head slightly, and was met by a light kiss on his cheek.

"Attention..." The first scout ran its fingers through his hair lightly, soothingly. "You need attention and you need someone to stay with you and tell you you're...important. You mean everything to us, you know. You need to relax..." The first scout pressed its lips to his gently, running its fingers along Bart's jaw. They traced the curve up to behind his ears, stroking lightly, almost tickling him, before running down his neck to his collarbone. His eyes slipped closed at the light pressure across his chest and neck, and he let out a low murmur. It felt nice. Soothing. Like he was being taken care of. Not being babied, being cared about. He moved his arm so his hand was resting on one of theirs. Whichever's it was maneuvered it so their fingers were twined.

Hands slipped up his t-shirt - he didn't know which one's they were - until fingers brushed against his nipples, making him bite his lip. "N...nnh!" He arched his back as the first scout kissed him again, slowly, parting his lips and lightly teasing his tongue. He felt hot all over. Was it the scout? Their energy probably gave off a lot of heat, that could be it. His mouth felt moist and wet and what was inside his scouts anyway? Did they make saliva? Was all that him? He hadn't felt that way with any other kisses, this felt like something different. Something he needed. A soft whimper rose in his throat as the kiss deepened, the scout sucking and biting at his tongue.

"Boss, boss, you okay?" asked a voice near his ear.

Bart groaned in response and broke off the kiss, gasping for air. A hand slipped down his pants as the kissing resumed. Bart tensed as a scout ran its thumb over his head, spreading precome along his frenulum, over and over again. Deft fingers slid over the shaft and then back up, stroking in small circles, thumbing his slit. His scout moaned into his mouth and vibrated, causing Bart to echo him and shudder. He heard something soft drop on the floor, and the cool breeze on his legs told him they'd vibrated his pants off.

He wants to protest, but suddenly there were mouths all over him. Mouths making him squirm and whimper, and his scouts must have something, because he was in something warm, and wet, so wet, with tongue and one's licking at his fingers, and the first one, the one that started all this is running its tongue along his ear. "Oh man, oh man, oh, AH!" The first scout clapped a hand over his mouth just in time.

"Quiet, you'll wake up Jay." It slipped two of its fingers into Bart's mouth and murmured, "bite", as the slick finger inside him moved deeper. Bart groaned and did as he was told, bringing up his hand to clutch at the first one's hair, tugging. "Ah, I always knew we were a sadist, deep down. Feels good, boss?"

"Are you sure that's not masochism?" said the one on the right.

"Hmm. Good quest-ow!" Bart gave another tug and bit harder as the finger curled, then extended, moving rhythmically inside him.

It took a few seconds, but soon the mouth sucking him was moving in time with the finger...oh man, fucking him. He was being fucked. By his scouts. He couldn't do this. Bart balled his fists and moved to push his scouts off. He almost hit the first one, but his hand was stopped by the scout's. The scout just smiled and laid his hand flat along its shoulder. His fingers flexed convulsively as the other scouts started moving faster. The headboard of the bed rattled against the wall, jarringly loud, but only once before his pillow was stuffed between the two. Soft moans were escaping with every breath, increasing in volume. Another hand was brought over his mouth, covering the one with the fingers inside his mouth.

He was going to come soon. He whimpered and tried to reach down, to pull the scout off before he came, but hands caught his own and pulled them above his head. The fist scout leaned down slowly and licked a long, single stripe along his neck. Bart gasped, eyes rolling, bucking against the weight of the scout's on him. The mouth pulled off quickly, but the finger remained curled inside him until he stopped shuddering and regained his vision. He shuddered again as the finger withdrew, then just stared at the ceiling, panting for breath. He was utterly exhausted, and the sweat on his sheets and body was cooling, making him shiver.

He blinked again and focused. His scouts were staring at him with unreadable expressions. Bart's cheeks heated and he tugged his t-shirt down to cover himself the best he could. Bart glared at the three of them and said, "Back in. Now."

The three exchanged unsure glances with each other, but didn't argue. They disappeared as Bart felt them return to his body and -

Bart quickly clamped both his hands over his own mouth as he absorbed his scouts' experience. He could feel himself in his mouth, was fingering his own neck. He tried to close his eyes against the image of himself, glistening with sweat, lips parted, and looking up at him with half-open yellow eyes. Between his own lips, flushed with blood, he could see his tongue, pink and small and felt the need to lick and bite at it. He could feel his own tightness and the tensing as his wriggled his finger, and the moans that had seemed so loud to his own ears were tantalizingly soft and pained. He arched up, bare heels slipping on his sheets, as the second orgasm shot through his body. He fell back, hands still over his mouth.

Bart still his breathing, listening very intently. He could hear light snoring from down the hall, and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't woken anyone up.

He moved around a bit so that his sheet was covering him, being too lazy to retrieve his pants from the floor. He realized he had no pillow, but didn't have the energy to reach up and grab it. He signed and turned on his side, his confused mind still trying to work out how to get Max back. Once he got Max back, then he could work on getting Carol. And Kon. And Cissie, and his mom, and Jenni. He rolled to his other side. Once he'd gotten everyone he cared about back in his life, he wouldn't have to worry about his scout's thinking he was lonely and trying to help. He wouldn't have to be comforted by what was basically himself. He switched his sides again. What the hell had those scouts been thinking, anyway? He didn't need them to comfort him. And where had they learned all that, anyway? He rolled onto his back. He hadn't been thinking it. He couldn't have been. But they said he had been. He massaged his temples in frustration and confusion. He was doing that way too much lately. That was a Max move. Max was supposed to worry about things, not Bart.

Bart stared up at the ceiling, worn-out but unable to get to sleep. He closed his eyes and opened them when he could sense the light against his eyelids. His scout stared at him expressionless.

"Which one are you?"

The scout shrugged. "I don't really think we're separate inside you, so I'm all of us, I guess."

"Oh." Bart frowned and rolled back onto his side. "I can't sleep."

"...Prolly cause you don't have your pillow, boss." Bart lifted his head as his scout slid his pillow under it. Bart closed his eyes as the scout slipped under the covers, wrapping its arms around him tightly. As he relaxed, Bart knew eventually he'd get everyone he loved back, and they would love him too, and everything would work out. Until that time, he'd have to make due with what he had, himself.