Title: Diffidence
Prompt/Theme: "This is a special way of being afraid."
Characters/Pairing: Jaime Reyes, Bart Allen, BlueFlash
A/N: The worst part about getting back into the writing groove is going, "I can do better than this. I know I can. I just don't remember how."
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Link freezes on the screen, not even bothering to defend himself from Sonic's onslaught. Pausing the game, Bart turns to face Jaime with a frown.
"Again?" He stares at his friend, at his head hanging low and his back hunched over. The controller hangs limply in his hands and a soft snoring sound is barely audible over the background music. "We're never going to play a decent game—with the phone calls and the signals and your annoying sister who doesn't even own an Impulse toy. You could have bought her one."
There's no response from the other boy, and Bart's frown deepens as he stares at his back. There is a second possible reason for these naps. Looking around, he can spot no one else in Barry's basement, not even Iris coming down the stairs, trying to join in.
"You could have bought her two, hermano." There's still no answer, and Bart sets his controller on the ground beside him. "At least a dozen."
Without another thought, he gets up and flashes to Jaime's side. Still nothing. He must be dead asleep then. Pulling away the neck of his friend's t-shirt, Bart can barely see the outline of the scarab on his back, the dark blue against tan skin.
It's like a virus. A cancer. Terms that mean almost nothing in the future but everything here. Has it changed at all? If he were to run and run and run, past the barriers of time and into the decade that is his home, would he find different world?
The scarab doesn't react to his intrusion, no sonic guns pointed at him in warning. Deceptively docile, it just sits there, unmoving. Passive, tame, nothing like the monster of his childhood.
"I'm watching you," he promises, before letting go. Sitting down beside Jaime, he leans against him and closes his eyes.
This is one future he will save.