Spectrum was inspired by a prompt I saw on Tumblr.


SPECTRUM

(Bart Allen x Jaime Reyes)

Jaime Reyes, like the rest of the youth, was told that colors were the most beautiful thing in the world. The people who saw them told him they came in different arrays, spectrums, and were more diverse than anything anyone could ever imagine. He was told it was nothing you would ever understand until you saw them for yourself.

Like him, most people his age saw things in black and white. They expressed their obvious distaste for it, actively looking at nearly everybody in hopes that they were their soulmate. Because, for some reason on this Earth, you couldn't see a single color until you locked eyes with your true love for the first time. Teenagers didn't care so much about the soulmate part, they just wanted to get some color in their life. It wasn't uncommon for them to attempt to make eye contact with everyone they came across, regardless of who they were. It was a societal norm to be intently stared at on the subway, or in the waiting room. How could it not be? The older generations, who already found their soulmates, made colors seem so amazing, so magical.

Despite this, Jaime never really cared about seeing colors. He figured he'd eventually see them one day, and he wasn't going to waste his time making people uncomfortable just because of a silly desire. The one thing that eventually bugged him, however, was being Blue Beetle, and not even knowing what the color blue looked like. Desperate to know, he then began to follow the trend most people his age did- intently stare at people.

Yes, he resorted to that, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't fair! After about six months since the scarab latched itself to his spine, he gave up, knowing it was a lost cause. He began to fantasize about his soulmate instead. He imagined her as being not too short but not too tall, around the same age as him, with long and flowing hair, muscular yet curvy, and when he saw her, she'd be full of colors. She'd be smart, beautiful, and just perfect.

So, you could definitely imagine Jaime's surprise on that morning in early March when Bart came into his life instead.

He was sitting at the counter in the cave's living room/kitchen, talking to Lagoon Boy and Wonder Girl about a mission they recently completed. In mid-conversation, he felt a sudden breeze push his hair back, and a teenage boy was standing on the other side of the table, too hyper for his own good.

"What's up guys? I'm your new teammate! My name's Impulse, by the way. But I already know your names. You're Lagoon Boy, you're Wonder Girl, and you're Blue-"

It took roughly a millisecond for color to swarm over Jaime's vision.

"B-Blue Beetle." Bart finished, looking at Jaime, and Jaime couldn't help but stare back.

Colors.

Jaime was seeing colors!

"Er, uh, just call me Jaime."

"Bart Allen."

"Right." Jaime acknowledged and nodded, still surprised. It took him a bit to comprehend that he just met his soulmate. He always had this image of a girl in his head, and his soulmate, he just discovered, was another guy. It's not like it upset him or anything, but most people had soulmates of the opposite gender, so he had expected a girl. No big deal.

Bart sped off, and Jaime wondered why back then. He came to realize about a month later that it was because he pretty much ruined the future for everybody and turned them into Reach slaves, but at the time, of course he was clueless. And Bart, being from that future, was terrified that he was soulmates with the guy who took over the Earth.

Jaime began to walk through life seeing everything color. It was kind of overwhelming at first, because there were so many of them. It took him about two weeks to get used to it, however, and he sure enjoyed learning about what each color was called. Blue was his favorite color. It looked good on him.

As the weeks passed, Bart began to warm up to him as well, and Jaime thought everything would be okay. He had to admit it, Bart looked very good in color.

They went out to the desert in El Paso, blowing up rocks and overall just hanging around. He looked Bart in the eyes for longer than usual on that night, and he wanted nothing more than to just kiss him. He knew Bart would be uncomfortable with that, so he didn't, but god, Bart was just so beautiful.

And on that same night, only a mere few hours before being kidnapped by the Light, Jaime realized that blue wasn't his favorite color. No, it was green- the color of Bart's eyes.

A few months passed, and the whole event with the Reach happened. To make a long story short, Wally was dead, the Reach were gone, and Bart had a new hero name along with a new uniform.

Yellow and red looked good on Bart. Hell, pretty much every color looked good on Bart. On July fourth, after knowing his soulmate for four months, he finally received his first kiss from him. It was unlike anything he ever experienced before, and damn, he just loved Bart.

As the years passed, Jaime learned something. The older generation didn't like colors because you could see the world in a whole new way. No, they liked colors because they could see their soulmate in the utmost detail, all of the tints, highlights, and shades that they gave off.

Jaime knew that as long was Bart with him, feeling the speedster's rapid heartbeat next to him as they slept, seeing his yellow and red streak as they worked together on missions, pointing out rainbows in the sky when they walked, that they'd be okay. That the world would continue to engulf them in its beautiful colors, and they'd continue to be madly in love.

It was a Thursday afternoon, Jaime and Bart were on a mission with the rest of the Justice League. They were taking out Bizarro, who currently was putting the world in a panic. The dude was super powerful, and wanted nothing more than to kill Superman and then destroy the Earth.

The entire League was attacking Bizarro, and Bart and Barry circling around him, to provide a distraction. Annoyed, Bizarro let out a breath of fire; enough fire to light up a whole city.

Jaime was hovering above ground, so he got a good view of what was going on. In a panic to save them, he dove down, knowing his armor would protect him from the flames, though his suit did get uncomfortably hot. Khaji Da assisted him in finding the two speedsters. Bart was on top of Barry, most likely from an attempt to shield him. And, compared to Barry's, Bart's burns were bad. The only thing that Jaime had time to observe was that his costume was seared off, and his skin was most likely seared off, too- his flesh was bright red, and his hair was gone. Quickly Jaime grabbed them, flying out of the fire, looking for the Bioship so they could receive medical attention.

He was getting close. The doors were about to open. They'd be okay.

Just then, right as he flew into the Bioship, the world went back to black and white.