Note: this story takes place before anyone learns about Bart's apocalyptic future. translations at the end. ADM is like the spanish OMG (ay dios mío). Also this chapter has a homophobic slur (it's in spanish, translation is at the end).


Friday 2:35 PM

10 more minutes. Only ten more minutes, and then Jaime could go and be anxious somewhere else. He couldn't stop thinking about the dance. He didn't know if Bart being at the dance- no, being his 'date' to the dance- made him feel better about going or just more nervous. On one hand, Bart was his best friend, and he did have a talent for helping Jaime let loose when he was anxious. Things were undeniably much more fun when Bart was around. But on the other hand, something about the idea of being in a relationship with Bart, even if it was fake, made Jaime feel… actually, he didn't really know how he felt about it. His stomach tied itself in knots and blood rushed to his cheeks just thinking about it.

As if on cue, Jaime's phone buzzed with multiple messages from Bart.

Bart: super moded right now

Bart: help please!

Bart: it's an emergency

Jaime was about ready to get up and run out of class early, no questions asked. He would be there for Bart in a heartbeat if he needed to be. Then he got another text.

Bart: a fashion emergency

Jaime rubbed his hand down his face and had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Bart: what are you even supposed to wear to these kinds of things anyways?

Jaime: ADM Bart you scared me!

Bart: you should be scared! This is serious stuff

Jaime: Nothing too fancy, like a button up and jeans maybe? Don't sweat it

Bart: I need help can I come over?

Jaime: sure. Just don't pull another surprise hug on me. You know Khaji Da doesn't mess around

And finally, the bell rang. Jaime swung his backpack lazily over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom to his locker. He put his things away and turned on his heel, then, as if by a strange force of deja vu, he almost ran right into someone and dropped his books again, just like he had the other day.

The Impulse is no match for us! Eliminate him!

Jaime did his best to ignore his scarab. Bart stood in front of him with a wide grin and his arms outstretched in front of him. He opened and closed his hands, like he was silently asking for a hug.

Jaime rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna have to say this still counts as a surprise hug."

"But I didn't even touch you!" Bart pouted, he looked like he was dangerously close to pulling out his puppy face, so Jaime caved and pulled him in for a quick hug. Then the two of them walked to Jaime's house to solve Bart's so called emergency.

"So, did you bring any clothes to wear? Or did you want to go shopping really quick?" Jaime asked as Bart paced his bedroom at an impossible speed.

"Shit! IknewIforgotsomethingandIdon'thaveanymoneyto-"

"Bart! Despacito. You're talking too fast."

Bart just continued pacing the room, even faster now.

"Are you nervous or something? Hey, you really don't have to come if you don't want to. I could just tell Blanca we… broke up, or something." For some reason, the words clung to the back of Jaime's throat as he said them.

"No, it's crash! I want to come. I've just never been to something like this before. We didn't have anything like this in my era. I don't even really get what it is to be honest."

"It's just a bunch of high school kids in an auditorium. Loud music and there's supposed to be lots of dancing, but that's really only if they play good music. Then dinner, after. I didn't want to go, either, honestly. So I get it if you want to bail." Jaime held his breath while he waited for Bart to answer.

"Were you listening? I said I've never been to one of these, I want to go! That sounds so crash!"

Jaime let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, ese. I owe you. I might have an old button up you can try on, so you don't have to go buy a shirt for just one dance. You can wear the jeans you have on now." Jaime rummaged through his closet for a minute, before pulling out a long sleeved dark blue button up.

"Here, try this on. It's too small for me now, so if it fits, you can have it."

"Crash!" The next instant, the shirt and Bart had both disappeared, presumably to the bathroom. He was gone for much longer than a speedster would need to change. The bathroom was attached to both Jaime's, and his sister, Milagro's rooms, so Jaime just called out to Bart through the other side of the door.

"You okay in there?"

"Uh, yeah. Totally fine. Just one second."

Bart wasn't kidding, after one second, he reappeared in Jaime's room wearing the blue shirt.

He wasn't kidding about being 'totally fine' either, apparently.

The shirt was a nice fit on Bart. lt hung over his chest and torso just tightly enough to accentuate his slim build. The sleeves weren't too long, and Jaime had to admit that Bart looked great in blue (and no, it wasn't just because blue was Jaime's favorite color). Still, Bart couldn't stop fidgeting and tugging at the sleeves. He looked at Jaime for approval, and Jaime couldn't help but stare, because let's face it- Bart looked really cute in Jaime's shirt. He looked his friend up and down for a second before realizing what he was doing.

"Jaime? Oh, god. Is it that bad?" Jaime must have taken a bit too long to answer.

"No, Bart, you look.. really good." They both blushed. "I mean- the shirt. The shirt looks really good, like, on you. Not that you don't look... I mean...lo que quiero decir es que…" Jaime rubbed the back of his neck and tried to recover without making it weird.

"Um, I think the shirt looks nice on you." Jaime mentally facepalmed, but Bart's cheesy smile made him feel a little better. At least Bart wasn't weirded out. Jaime turned to his closet to pick out his own shirt.

After a moment of searching, Jaime pulled another shirt out of the closet. He took off the shirt he had been wearing to change into the nicer one. Bart immediately looked down to avoid involuntarily checking out his friend. By the time he looked back up, Jaime was wearing a white button up with red cuffs.

Bart silently wondered if it was an intentional or subconscious decision that Jaime had them wearing each other's colors.

"So, do you think we should set some kind of ground rules for the night? I don't want to piss off Khaji Da, or, like, make you feel weird or anything." Bart was sitting on Jaime's bed now.

Jaime sat down next to Bart and thought about it.

"Órale pues, yeah, that's a good idea. We should act like we're, you know, together. But it'd be good to set some boundaries."

"What are some together things couples do here?" Bart looked curious, like he really didn't know.

"You know, like holding hands, hugging, kissing, just being all around more touchy than they are with other people. But you might not have to act any different with how touchy you always are."

"Oh, sorry. I thought that was just something people did here? I like touching. People never really touch each other where I'm from. I mean, not like that, at least." Jaime looked concerned at that last remark, so Bart continued before he could comment on it.

"Anyways. All of that sounds crash, so I'm cool with any of it. What about you?"

Something fluttered in Jaime's stomach as he thought about it. He was already used to the hugging, and Bart being overly touchy was just a part of life now, not that Jaime didn't secretly love it. Holding hands, he could get used to. But Bart had just said he was cool with kissing, didn't he? Jaime looked at Bart, who was patiently waiting for an answer like it was no big deal. His eyes flickered back and forth from Bart's lips to his eyes.

"I guess that's… crash?"

Bart smiled, but cocked his head to the side. "It sounds funny when you say it, ed-man-oh."

Jaime pushed Bart off his bed, causing him to faceplant on the ground. "If you get to butcher the Spanish language, I get to use your weird future lingo however I want." Jaime smirked.

Bart rolled himself over and sat up on the floor, smiling. "Fine. Lo mío es tuyo."

His accent could still use some work, but Jaime was impressed. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What? I've been studying!"

"Ya están listos?" Jaime's mom called out as soon as she got home from work.

Jaime was in the bathroom, so Bart ran out to the living room to greet her. At least, he ran as fast as he could without giving away that he was a speedster.

"Hi, Mrs. Reyes!" Bart said as he hugged her tightly.

"Que amable!" She laughed and called out to her son. "Jaime, why don't you ever hug me like this?"

Jaime's voice was slightly muffled behind the closed door. "Because I don't want to crush you. Literally no one hugs like that except Bart."

She smiled at Bart, "Well, I like it. Apurate, Jaime! You'll miss the whole dance!"

Jaime came out to the living room, and his mom quickly pulled out her camera and snapped a few candid photos.

"Ay, que lindo mi niño!"

Jaime shielded his eyes from the camera flash. "Mamá, it's just Sadie Hawkins, it's not like we're going to prom or anything."

"I just think you look too handsome for this not to be documented. You'll thank me when you're older. Now let's get one with Bart!"

"Catch me, Jaime!" Bart threw an arm over Jaime's shoulder and swung his legs up in the air for Jaime to catch. Not wanting to let Bart fall, Jaime let himself get suckered into catching his friend. He was really light though, and not at all hard to carry.

Jaime's mom just laughed and continued snapping pictures.

Just then, the door to the garage opened, and Jaime's dad walked inside.

"Hi, Mr. Re- oof!" Without warning, Jaime dropped Bart on the floor.

"We- we were just joking around." Jaime stuttered.

His dad just stared at the two of them with an unreadable expression, then muttered something under his breath that only Jaime's mom heard clearly. Jaime thought he heard his dad mutter the word 'maricón' somewhere in there, but he couldn't be sure.

"Alberto!" Jaime's mom scolded and gave his dad a death glare. Then his dad grunted and threw up his hands in defeat, as if to say 'whatever, I don't care,' then went off to his room.

"Sorry, Bart." Jaime stretched out his hand for Bart, who was still on the floor. Bart took it and hopped up.

"It's crash. I hope I didn't get you in trouble." Both boys wore more somber expressions now.

Then Jaime's mom stepped forward and squeezed Jaime's shoulder.

"Don't worry about him. He's probably just grumpy from work. I'll talk to him, okay mijo? Let's get you boys to that dance."

...

"Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Reyes!"

"Bye, mom, te quiero mucho!"

She blew them both kisses. After she drove away, Jaime and Bart stood in the parking lot for a minute. Jaime noticed that Bart was lost in thought.

"You okay, Bart?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know. What happened with your dad? I didn't get you in trouble or anything, did I?"

Jaime tensed a little, but only for a moment. "No. My dad is… kind of homophobic. But he won't get like, outwardly mad about it. He just kind of acts weird like that and avoids talking about it."

Bart stared at Jaime with a pensive expression, and Jaime could tell Bart didn't understand at all, so he continued, "You know, like he thinks that boys should only date girls? Is that not a thing in the future?"

Bart shrugged. "I guess not. I honestly didn't even know 'dating' was a thing until I came here."

Jaime raised an eyebrow. "So you've never dated anyone?"

"Just you, papi chulo." Then Bart winked and shot finger guns at Jaime.

Jaime snorted. "Okay, the finger guns? Not crash."

"Whatever you say, mi novio." Jaime was impressed, yet again. However bad his accent, Bart really had been working on his Spanish. Then Bart put his finger guns away in a pretend holster on either side of his hips.

"Okay, let's do this!" Bart was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Jaime took a deep breath and grabbed Bart by the hand before leading him inside.

This wasn't so bad at all. He could do this.

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Translations-

Despacito- slowly

lo que quiero decir es que- what I mean to say is

Órale pues- has lots of diff meanings but in this context it's kind of like 'alright then'

Lo mío es tuyo- what's mine is yours (in reference to Bart's future lingo)

Ya están listos?- are you both ready?

Que amable- how nice

Apurate- hurry up

Ay, que lindo mi niño- wow, how cute my boy!

maricón- fag

Mijo- son

Te quiero mucho- I love you a lot

Papi chulo- kinda like calling someone 'hot stuff'

Mi novio- my boyfriend


Okay, so this chapter was supposed to just start at the dance, but it just kind of wrote itself, so here it is. Review if you want to make me happy :)

You'll get the dance next chapter!