AN: Set before Jaime knows Khaji Da's name.

A is for Approval

"Despiértate, Jaime! Get up, get up, get up! You promised!"

Jaime groaned and pulled his bed sheets over his head. This was going to be a long day. He needed coffee if he was going to survive. The protection from the blankets didn't do much to keep him relaxed, as his sister Milagro was bouncing on the bed and shouting. Jaime still didn't budge, so she threw her weight on top of him.

[We are under attack, Jaime Reyes! Eliminate the threat!]

"No! I'm up, I'm up, okay?" The Scarab's threat to 'eliminate' Jaime's little sister did more to wake him up than any cup of coffee would have.

"Yay!" Milagro grinned and adjusted herself so that she was sitting on Jaime's chest.

Jaime couldn't help but smile. He had promised to spend the day with his annoying little sister, and as much as she got on his nerves, he really was happy to spend time with her.

"Alright, the day is yours, hermanita. Just let me get ready, ok?"

Just then, Jaime's phone went off. Milagro rolled off of him so he could answer it. He reached for his phone on the night stand and picked it up without bothering to see who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hair-man-oh! What are you doing right now? I happen to be in the neighborhood, thought we could hang."

"You just happen to be over here … in El Paso?" Jaime said sarcastically.

"Yup." Apparently, Bart wasn't even going to try to come up with an excuse.

"Jaime, who's that? Is that your boyfriend?" Milagro reached for the phone, and Jaime jumped out of the way, blushing. Bart was saying something, but it was hard for Jaime to focus with Milagro singing in his ear.

"Jaime and Bart, sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-" Jaime covered his sister's mouth frantically and she let out a muffled giggle and then licked his hand. Then she continued humming the tune, loud enough so Bart could hear.

"S- sorry, Bart. Uh, I can't hang out today. I- ow!- I promised Milagro I'd- MILAGROOO!" Jaime dropped his phone when his sister bit his hand, hard. As soon as the phone dropped, she leapt out for it and cheerfully started up a conversation with Bart as she ran away with Jaime's phone.

Jaime let his head hit the wall behind him and slumped back into the bed. Sometimes, he thought Milagro's sole mission in life was to embarrass him. He figured it was no use chasing her, so he took his time getting out of bed. He put on some jeans and a hoodie, and as soon as he was dressed, Milagro came skipping back into the room.

"Can we go to the fair?"

Jaime frowned, "Sorry, Mili, I don't have enough money for all that. How about the mall?"

"Okay! Oh, and Bart's coming with us." She said with a grin, then tossed Jaime's phone back to him.

"You invited Bart?" Jaime was surprised, but he couldn't say he was disappointed.

"Yeah! I like him. He's funny." Milagro let out an exaggerated laugh, and Jaime couldn't help but imagine his sister and best friend swapping embarrassing stories about him.

…

Jaime's mom dropped the three of them off at a discount mall. It was almost empty, even on a saturday. It was probably going to go out of business soon, but they went ahead and took advantage of the discounts, since none of them were rich.

They made their way to a Build-a-Bear workshop. Jaime and Bart meandered around the store while Milagro searched for the bear she wanted.

Bart looked around in wonder. He picked up a minion 'bear' labeled 'Stuart'. "This is so crash! You're not gonna get one?"

Jaime laughed. "Sorry, ese, not a huge fan of minions. You getting that for yourself?"

"I don't know. These are crash, but if I buy one, I won't have enough money to eat, and, uh, I'd rather eat."

At that point, Milagro came running back over to them, looking disappointed.

"They don't have the Darth Vader bear I wanted." Her bottom lip puffed out and she looked up at Jaime with big puppy eyes. She knew Jaime couldn't resist a good puppy face, but this wasn't a problem he could solve.

Jaime grabbed her hand, "It's okay, Mili. I'm sure there's something else here even better. Is there another one you like?"

She shook her head, "Let's just go somewhere else."

Jaime and Milagro turned, and realized Bart was gone! Milagro looked a little worried, but Jaime was just annoyed.

"Ay ay ay. Don't worry, he runs off like that sometimes. Where else do you want to go?"

…

The Disney store was on the other side of the mall, so it was a bit of a walk. Milagro held onto Jaime's hand most of the way.

"So you don't know where Bart went?" She looked down. Jaime knew she really liked Bart, and she was probably feeling a bit abandoned right now.

"I don't, sorry. I'm sure he'll be back. He never disappears for long." It was true, but Jaime still felt a frustration welling up in his chest at the fact that Bart would just leave without at least warning Milagro.

Before he could get too worked up about it, he heard a voice call out from behind him.

"Catch me, Jaime!" It was Bart.

Jaime whipped around in time to see Bart running quickly, but at a human speed, towards him.

[The Bart Allen is attempting an attack. Destroy him!]

Jaime was fighting his scarab's efforts to suit up, so when Bart tried to leap into his arms, they both went tumbling to the floor, leaving Milagro pointing at them and cracking up.

"He wasn't trying to attack, he was just - uh, you know what? Yo no se!" He threw his arms up and gave Bart a dirty look.

Bart stood and brushed himself off, grinning wide. Jaime's anger vanished when he noticed that Bart was carrying a build-a-bear bag, which, at a closer look, was really more of a toy house than a bag.

Bart crouched down and turned to Milagro, then handed her the bag. "I, uh, found one of those vader bears you wanted."

Milagro jumped up and down and opened the bag to see the vader bear. Jaime smiled, who knows how far Bart had to run to find a store with those in stock.

Milagro squealed. "He's perfect! Thank you, Bart!" She threw her arms around Bart in a hug, and Bart hugged her right back. Milagro then grabbed Bart's hand and led him over to the Disney store. Jaime trailed behind a bit so he could scold the scarab without drawing too much attention.

"You know Bart is not a threat! Do you really have to freak out every single time he does that? You should be used to it by now." Jaime scoffed. Bart had a really self-destructive habit of trying to catch Jaime off guard.

[Given the circumstance, it was logical to conclude that the Bart Allen was attempting to attack, Jaime Reyes.]

"Ay dios mío! Bart is the reason we got off mode, you know that! Bart is the only person on the team who consistently checked up on me after we got saved, no recuerdas? He's the one who made sure I was okay after everything. He's saved our ass more than once on missions, too! It would be logical to conclude that the Bart Allen is not a freaking threat!"

[...]

"You know I'm right." Jaime made his way into the store to meet up with Milagro and Bart when he finally got a response.

[Perhaps the Bart Allen does offer some tactical value.]

It wasn't much, but it was the closest the scarab ever got to admitting that someone was to be trusted, and Jaime couldn't help but beam at the idea of how much progress that was for him.

…

After a couple of hours of shopping, Jaime could actually hear Bart's stomach growling, and Milagro looked like she was about to fall asleep.

Jaime handed Bart some cash for food. "You want to run ahead? We'll meet you at the food court."

"Sounds crash."

Jaime distracted Milagro for a moment so she wouldn't see Bart run off at super speed. The mall was empty enough that there was no one else close enough to notice him run off.

When Jaime and Milagro made their way to the food court, Jaime felt an almost frantic buzz coming from the scarab.

[You have one second to catch the Bart Allen.]

But by the time Scarab finished saying the sentence, Bart was already in the air, and Jaime couldn't move fast enough to catch him. So, once again, they both fell to the floor, and Milagro fell to the floor with them in laughter.

[Your reflexes are exceedingly slow, Jaime Reyes.]

"Sorry, I'm working on that."

Bart chuckled. "Good. Maybe you'll actually catch me one of these days."

...

By the time Jaime's parents came to pick them up, they had gone to see a movie, and spent some time at the mall's the Play Place. Then Jaime's parents met them for ice cream. His parents already knew Bart pretty well, since he was over almost constantly, and they were really happy to see how well he got along with Milagro.

Once they finished their ice cream, they made their way to the parking lot. Jaime hadn't even noticed Bart disappear this time before he heard the infamous, "Catch me, Jaime!"

Once again, Jaime didn't have enough time to turn around and catch Bart before the impact, but something different happened this time. Jaime felt a warmth emanating from Scarab, and he knew right away that Scarab was asking for control. Jaime allowed Scarab to take over without suiting up, and he easily turned and caught the Bart Allen in his arms.

"Crash." Bart smiled.

Scarab looked at Bart with expressionless gold eyes, and put him down. "Incorrect. This was the first time that a crash was properly avoided."

Jaime was immediately given back control, and they both burst out laughing. Who knew Scarab had jokes?

"You did it, Jaime!" Milagro clapped her hands and jumped cheerfully.

Jaime's mom laughed. "Bart, do you need a ride home, mijo?"

"No thanks, Mrs. Reyes." They still didn't know Bart lived in another state, or that he could run there faster than the Reyes's would get home.

"Alright, good night, then!"

Bart said goodnight to Jaime's family as they all got in the car to drive off.

Once Jaime closed the door, the vibe completely changed.

"Jaime …" Jaime's dad awkwardly cleared his throat, "anything you want to tell us?"

"What? Uhm, not really. No?"

"What your father means, is … te queremos muchisimo … and we support you no matter what, okay mijo?"

Jaime scratched his head. "I love you too? Is something wrong?"

His dad rubbed a hand down his face. "Ay, Jaime. I'm just going to say it. Bart is a good kid. You seem happier now, and that's all we want for you."

His mom nodded in agreement. "We approve, you have our blessing, niño."

"What? Bart and I aren't …"

"I approve, too! I like Bart!" Milagro chimed in.

At that, Jaime turned into a sputtering mess. "We - we're just friends! We're not -"

[I approve of the Bart Allen as well, Jaime Reyes.]

…

Bart woke up with a start the next morning at the sound of his bedroom window closing. He shot out of bed and scanned the room for any signs of an intruder.

The only thing out of place was a build-a-bear box sitting on his night stand with a note. Bart opened the box to see "Stuart" inside. He laughed and read the note.

Bart,

Thanks for getting Mili the bear she wanted. It's only fair I returned the favor.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Translations:

Despiértate- wake up

Hermanita- little sister

Ay dios mío- oh my god

Yo no se- i don't know

no recuerdas?- don't you remember?

te queremos muchisimo- we love you very much

AN: I have a lot of the chapters planned out, but I am taking requests for the other chapters if you have them :)

reviews are my life blood, and they help me to write faster!