A request from tumblr of Bluepulse. Requested by fauxamber on Tumblr.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jaime Reyes or Bart Allen. Basically, it all belongs to Greg and Brandon.
It was a gradual thing, falling in love with him that is. It was a slow development that only the Scarab realized at first. The chemical changes in Jaime's hormones that the Scarab was very well aware of. He'd felt it when Jaime had first met Cassie, and made his host aware of it as well, but this time he was a little quieter.
It took awhile for Jaime to become attached to Bart in any way besides friends. But when it happened, it hit him hard. His heart sped up when he was near Bart, yet he never acknowledged it. Jaime thought to was due to the training both of them had endured during the day, and only when everything settled did he realize it was because Bart was so close to him.
The Scarab gave much unneeded comments when Jaime came aware of his heart rate, ones like, "The Impulse causes a great increase in your heart rate."
Though the Scarab spoke as if he was the human, which he wasn't. Jaime would always whisper back quickly, directing his face to the side to say, "Shut up, ese!"
Jaime would then turn back to the team, who would give him side glances. Everyone, that is, except for Conner and Bart. One who he had told his secret, the other from the future.
The latter would rock on his toes, a single finger vibrating to the beat of something in his mind, and a smile would form across his face. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
The mission or whatever they were doing would continue as planned. With Bart standing a little too closely, or being a bit too protective, like Jaime's mother. Jaime would attempt to edge away, but something held him next to the speedster.
The gradual falling in love with Bart became more than gradual as Bart told Jaime why he came to the past.
To save Jaime from becoming the terrible thing the Reach wanted him to be.
Everything was rolling like a snowball down a steep hill now. Jaime no longer tried to edge away from the redhead. He no longer listened to the Scarab's bickering about the effect Bart was having on his body.
Jaime came to the conclusion he never thought he would one night after dinner. The teenager stared at his ceiling, his hands behind his head and his mind in the clouds. He finished his biology homework but minutes before and let the cool air rush in through his open window.
Jaime's mind was no longer in the clouds when the Scarab's voice came through his mind. "Jaime Reyes, the Impulse causes great change in your bodily chemicals. Do not trust him."
"We've been through this. Many times. I do not like Bart that way," Jaime replied.
"Your heart rate states differently, Jaime Reyes."
"I. Am. Straight," he tells the Scarab, Jaime's voice coming out quickly and to the point. The Scarab doesn't reply, lapsing the conversation into silence.
Yet Jaime's mind would not let the subject die down. He could not sleep with those thoughts jumping around in his mind. Though he's never actually been in love before, Jaime knows what it feels like to have a crush on someone. The same feeling he usually felt when he saw someone famous that he liked course through his veins when he was with Bart. The flutter in the pit of his stomach that he passed off on hunger was actually butterflies.
Jaime Reyes was falling in love with Bart.
And he was accepting it.