I love the reviews guys. A lot of you commented about loving how I developed their relationship while a few were starting to get impatient. Well, I am going to get to the romance slowly but I don't want to just throw them together. I want to show their friendship growing first and them being bromantic together. For those wanting the romance NOW, you'll have to wait. I don't even know when it's coming yet. I have a general outline for this story but mostly I just enjoy the flow and ideas that come to me.

Chapter 7:

Jaime Reyes reached at his hood and pulled it over his medium-length raven black hair. He paused a second before tugging at the hood to cover his face some more. The last thing he needed was to get into a fight with his mom too. He had walked around the block trying to think of a way into his room without alerting others but it was still light outside and climbing up that tree by his window and into his window wasn't worth the possible effects.

So by the time that dusk came he surrendered to the inevitable and hoped for the best. He came up to the door and steeled his face for what was to come meanwhile mentally mapping his route through the house and straight to his room.

Jaime reached slowly for the doorknob, and even more slowly he turned it. Not a sound was made other than the dull thud of the latch. He let out a deep sigh, tugged his hood more over his face, and opened the door cautiously.

"Jaime Reyes," his mother called with a stern voice as she heard him enter the house. Jaime's muscles tensed before he forced them to relax and closed the door normally behind him. He hadn't even gotten halfway through the door this time... "You should have called if you were going to-Jaime!" she exclaimed in shock as she stepped out into the hall and saw the purplish mark shaped like a crescent around his left eye and upper cheekbone. Even hoods were useless against her. "Dios mio! Que paso?" (My god! What happened?)

Jaime sighed deeply, not even bothering to hide his dislike of being heard and seen so easily. One day he was going to have to ask how mothers always knew.

She went quickly into protective mother mode as she grabbed his chin maybe a little too roughly and turned his face so that she could see the bruise better. His hood was jerked back somewhere between the grabbing and turning steps. She went about touching around the swollen skin delicately, gauging when and how hard her son cringed.

"Mom," Jaime sound exhausted, "I'm fine." he put emphasis on the last part.

His mother set him with a deadpan look that showed what she thought of him being "fine".

"How did this happen?" she demanded, concerned but no less stern. She held him with a flinty stare as he asked and Jaime felt his throat close.

"There was just some bullies at school picking on Bart and I got involved, it's no biggie. The teachers pulled us apart before it got too bad." he gave the explanation that he had practiced on the way over, executing it perfectly with a casualness that he was proud of.

His mother's worried eyes closed as she shook her head and sighed, "Just like your father." He couldn't tell how she felt about that. He had great memories of his father from when he was little. He had thought of him as a hero for what he did; but he never knew what his mother thought. Probably, she was mostly worried and saw his heroic personality as noble but worrisome.

When she reopened her eyes she seemed to have released some of the anxiety though. He could see that her eyes were glossier than they had been a second ago but didn't dare to point it out. He knew it was from her remembering his late father and he frowned slightly at knowing that she still hurt deeply in there from his absence.

But she was strong and her eyes were her only betrayal before she collected herself and reorganized her thoughts to the current situation.

"They were picking on Bart?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously she thought it strange that anyone would dislike the energetic and friendly auburn. She had grown fond of Jaime's new friend from the times that she had seen him and couldn't imagine why anyone would pick on him.

Jaime nodded in response.

"Is he alright?" she was no longer worried it seemed, now she was looking for the facts.

"Yeah, he's fine too." Jaime answered, "He didn't get hit. I kinda was the one fighting mostly..."

She sighed again. Jaime really was like his father, she thought with a fond shake of her head. When he was little they had thought he was like her side of the family but as Jaime grew older he showed more of his father's qualities. Her late husband had been the intelligent, brave, hero type and Jaime resembling that couldn't make her any happier, even if it made her a little worried at times.

"Mijo." she admonished, "You know that fighting is never the answer."

"Yo se, mom."

"But-" she now spoke softly with approving, gentle brown eyes, "I'm proud of you."

Jaime's brown eyes met matching gentle brown and when he recognized she had meant it he smiled shyly, "Fue nada."

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"Hello Mr. Longshadow." Jaime greeted the old tribal chief, "Is Tye still here? I thought we could go to school together."

The tribal chief nodded, "Tye has yet to leave." he informed Jaime and gestured for the youth to take a seat across from him. Jaime thanked Mr. Longshadow and took the bench seat across from him. The young Latino always noticed how similar Tye's voice was to his grandfather's when he heard the old tribal Chief speak. He vaguely wondered if that's what Tye would sound like when he was older.

Mr. Longshadow rubbed at his knees through his jeans, "These old bones are aching-it must be time for rain." he said and Jaime raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Uhh..." Jaime looked up to the sky; it was a bright clear blue day just like always. Maybe a little colder than usual but there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Jaime liked Mr. Longshadow but sometimes he wondered if the elder was beginning to go senile.

"You should grab an umbrella from the vase when you leave." Mr. Longshadow pointed to the door where a wooden basket held two umbrellas. Jaime was nonplussed and stared at the umbrellas with a strong doubt. Carrying an umbrella around on a sunny day would be unusual, to put it politely, but mostly just plain weird.

Jaime was saved from a response by Tye exiting said door then, "Hey." Tye greeted, his voice more pleasant now that he didn't wake up to Maurice being, well, Maurice.

Jaime echoed Tye's greeting as he stood.

"Let's go." Tye placed his board down, "See you later Gramps."

"It was nice talking to you Mr. Longshadow." Jaime said as he waved and followed Tye away.

Mr. Longshadow nodded his head in response.

"Dude, what happened to your face?" Mr. Longshadow heard his grandson ask incredulously as the two youths skated away. Jaime started to answer but the words were lost as the distance grew. His eyes grew pensive and he watched as both teens left without taking an umbrella.

"They must decide their own journey." he mused with a light-hearted shake of his head, "I remember when I thought my elders advice was laughable."

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By noon it was cloudy and Jaime groaned. He hated being wrong after being told the right answer. He was gonna have to tell Tye to apologize to his grandpa for him.

Jaime stepped out into the open air. It had been raining since second period that day, thick heavy sheets of water that found their way, with the help of strong winds, under every overhang and soaked every outdoor hangout. Every patch of grass was turned into the enemy, threatening students with hidden mud puddles. And every awning and overhang was useless against the winds horizontal blow.

Needless to say, the group was forced to take their lunch indoors. Luckily though Jaime's old history teacher was a trusting sort of fellow and allowed students to come in while he took his lunch break.

Jaime turned around the last corner and walked by another poster declaring that "Homecoming is Coming" with a surly expression. He'd had to circle around the outside of the school to enter the classroom where he and Tye hung out on rainy days. He yanked on the cold metal knob and instantly heat slapped his face before he even entered. Inside he found a pleasant surprise though; Bart was there. He was sitting on a desk near the middle with Tye sitting in another desk nearby.
Jaime could make out what Tye was saying through their laughter as he approached closer.

"Bart, my man, you are a riot." the future Indian chief patted the younger teen on the shoulder.

Bart's laughter echoed in response, "Haha, yeah, well I try." he said and Tye chuckled back.

Jaime still had a dark cloud hovering overhead as he entered the conversation, "Hey." his voice was dull and conveyed his disdain at the current weather. Jaime went to the corner by the teacher's desk and crouched down in front of the heater in hopes of getting his jeans dry again. He frowned at the offending articles of clothing that while protective at first now sapped him of his remaining heat.

The laughter slowed to a stop and both teens exchanged a conspiratory look, "Hey Jaime" Tye was no less damp but he didn't seem to mind.

"How's it going kid trip?" Bart cooed.

"Que?" Jaime furrowed his eyebrows together. He hadn't heard that nickname since...

"Where'd you hear that?" He asked with trepidation. He already had a good idea but...

"Tye, mi amigo, here was just telling about that one time you asked the teacher if you could go to the bathroom and on the way back upstairs fell down the stairs-twice!" Yup. Tye; that traitor.

"Tye!" Jaime whined, "Por favor hermano!"

This indignant response earned a fit of laughter from the two teens.

"That's not funny!" he continued to whine anyway, "I felt like I got hit by a train. I laid there for a good fifteen minutes before I could even get up!" Bart noticed that Jaime grew an accent when he was flustered and decided he loved a flustered Jaime. And although he loved a flustered Jaime he decided to relent since the older teen seemed to already be sour.

"Don't worry." Bart placated, "I'm sure that there are plenty of people who've done that." That caused Tye to snort. Well, I tried, Bart mused. Then he saw the darkening scowl that Jaime was now directing towards the heater and he decided it really was best for a topic change.

"I hope they don't cancel PE today." Bart remarked.

Tye groaned since he was one of the few seniors left in PE. "I hope they do. Running laps in the gym stinks." Tye said and straightened up from leaning over laughing before he leaned back into the seat, tipping it back.

Bart seemed appalled by such a comment since his eyes widened and his mouth made an 'O' shape.

"They'll probably switch it to dodge ball." Jaime informed Bart, not bothering to hide the loathing in his voice, "That's what they usually do when it rains." He was grateful that he wasn't in that class anymore. Dodge ball had been his personal enemy throughout all of PE. It was a sadistic sport and should have been canceled under the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause.

"Really?" Bart asked with trepidation. He didn't seem too pleased about this either as Jaime noticed him worrying his lower lip.

Tye's face, on the other hand, glowed contentedly "Sweet." dodge ball was a sport that he never lost at. He was going to enjoy this.
"Yeah." Jaime bit sarcastically, in response to Tye.

"Dude, stop pouting and come here." Tye commanded his friend and Bart quickly agreed, tag-teaming the Latino, "Yeah," Bart said, "How come you're so gloomy anyway?"

"He's like a cat." Tye scoffed, " He hates rain."

"Hey! I am not like a cat." Jaime defended but the image of Jaime with cat ears had already invaded Bart's mind and the image could only be described as "wrong". Bart cringed and quickly forced the wrong image out of his mind.

"Yeah," Bart agreed, "Cat does definitely not suit him."

Tye raised an eyebrow at the cringe and comment and with the mind of a hormonal teenager figured out what Bart had imagined. That made a sadistic smirk spread across his lips.

"Isn't he?" He decided to have a little sadistic fun, he continued casually, "Can't you just image him stretching out like a cat and deeply sleeping outside like a cat?"

And he did. And it was wrong. So wrong. Because Bart didn't have some weird cat fetish and Jaime really shouldn't be stretching and showing midriff and taut muscles like that before relaxing again and curling up with a yawn like Bart had seen so many cats do. And he shouldn't be sleeping so cutely on the ground just asking to be picked up and held in his arms and taken home.

Andhetotallyshouldn'tbethinkingofhisfriendliketh isrightnow.

"Dude." Jaime sounded weirded out, "What the heck?" He asked because that was totally weird and Bart looked like he'd been hit in the face and he had no clue why his friends were even having this conversation.

Tye just shrugged though and patted Bart on the back, which seemed to be what the younger teen needed because his face unfroze-only to be instantly covered in a dusty blush.

Bart turned and shot a glare at the future Indian chief; he did that on purpose. Jaime looked confused as Bart glared at Tye and Tye just smiled back sweetly.

Okaayyy, Jaime thought, my friends are getting weirder...

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Dodge ball was evil for Bart. He had hoped to have the same team as Tye so he would at least have one ally but it seemed that Miss Prince was out to torture the auburn. Okay, Bart dodged a flying red ball, maybe his amazon-like PE teacher wasn't out to get him but luck definitely was.

Tye at least hadn't thrown any dodge-balls at him so far. He watched as his new friend nailed a fellow sophomore in the gut, causing the kid to stumble a little with the sheer force of the impact. He was definitely glad he wasn't throwing them at him.

Bart wasn't aggressive enough for dodge ball; he was all defense, no offense. He was faster than all the other kids by a lot but that only got you so far in a game where the whole point is hammering people with flying objects. Soon Bart was the last kid in his side of the court and he was staring at a practically full court of teenage boys with hard rubber spheres. He recognized the predatory look in their eyes and knew no amount of running could save him.

"Oh boy" was the last thought he had before five balls came flying in turns and making their target, three hitting him square in the face and the other two hitting him in the chest and arm.

In the boys locker room Bart got laughed at for the tissues that Miss Prince had made him put up his nose to stop the bleeding. The other boys were laughing at him and with amusement they were recalling how he'd gotten hit and how his nose started bleeding-all as if he wasn't there listening. He hated PE on days like this. Bart went to his locker and tried to dress as inconspicuously as possible, mentally willing himself to turn invisible.

"Come on guys." Tye sounded irritated as he stepped into the locker room. All the laughter stopped. He scanned his eyes over the various levels of students and knew he was the alpha male in this group of juniors and below. "Stop picking on him." he commanded in that husky voice of his.

Tye turned to a particular kid that he recognized by face, "I don't want to hear any of you laughing at him, got it?" he remembered he was the kid that had opened his laptop in study hall and had sex noises ring out throughout the whole classroom because he'd had it opened on a porn video.

Tye glared around the room of frozen half-dressed/undressed teenage boys and gave the truculent ones particularly flinty stares, then again on the porno kid which he was pretty sure had been the one to start the laughter.

"Understand?" he asked and the porno kid nervously nodded. The poor kid looked like he was going to pee himself. Good, he thought, that'll keep him from doing it again.

Tye allowed a complacent little smirk.

"Good." then he released the boy from his glare and moved to stand beside Bart and started to change in silence. The conversation slowly began again on other topics and the teens all reverted their attention to their own dressing.

"Thanks." Bart whispered and Tye spared a glance.

"We're friends." he whispered back in his husky voice, the corner of his lip twitching.

Sometimes Bart hated days like this-and sometimes it wasn't quite so intolerable.

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By the time that seventh period came Jaime was back into his brooding mood since his jeans had never fully dried and they'd only gotten wet again when lunch was over and he'd had to leave the warm, dry classroom to be soaked by almost horizontal rain.

"Somebody's a mister grumpy pants today." Zatanna commented when she saw the dark scowl on the Latino's face.

Jaime just sat down and swallowed his "shut up" by instead scowling down at his soaked jeans and the mud soaked into the cuffs. He knew he was being petulant but he didn't care.

Gar stepped in the room looking like a soaked puppy, his mood had been taken down in a different way by the rain it seemed.

"Aw come on," Zatanna elbowed Jaime playfully, "Clothes do dry, you know."

Bart had entered with Gar and picked up the last line, "He just doesn't like getting wet." he offered. Jaime mumbled something in Spanish and Zatanna chuckled.

"The rain is not out to get you." she commented lightly. Jaime was so surprised by her understanding him that he momentarily forgot his earlier mood and turned to the raven-haired beauty with widened eyes, "You can understand me?-I mean Spanish?"

"I took a few classes," she smiled seductively, "Alto, moreno, y guapo."

Bart saw Jaime's eyes widen at the foreign words, "Hey, hey, hey." he got between them, he didn't like that look in her eyes. He knew what guapo meant and Jaime was it but she shouldn't be calling him that.

"I-" Jaime looked at Zatanna and for the first time registered that she was looking at him like she liked him.

"You-" he cut himself off, then began again, "Do you know what that means?"

"Sure." Zatanna smiled sweetly and he didn't doubt that she did know. It was basic Spanish. For the life of him he couldn't see why she'd called him that though, other than if she liked...his mind blanked at the idea. Girls like Zatanna just didn't like guys like him.

Zatanna couldn't help but notice the slightly perturbed look on his face. Maybe she shouldn't have called him that after all, her doubts gnawed at her.

She decided to be safe and smiled in her usual way, "Don't be such a worrier." she pushed his shoulder with her own, "I was just trying to cheer you up." she said in a teasing manner.

Coward, she scolded herself.

Bart watched as Jaime smiled back shyly, "Gracias." he bumped her shoulder back. Jaime just felt relieved that it didn't mean what he had thought it did. He didn't know what he'd do if it had.

Bart didn't like this one bit, he worried his lower lip as he watched the exchange. Not one bit.

"He-hey, mi amigo, how about we start recording that movie?" he suggested loudly to Gar. Gar took one look at Jaime and Zatanna before nodding and responding in a similar volume and tone, "Yeah, come on you two. We need to start getting together stuff for the movie." their attention snapped to him and Gar smiled at Bart; if Zatanna won too quickly it'd be no fun. Besides, he had his money bet on a certain auburn boy and if M'gann won again he'd be back a whole months allowance. That was simply not allowed.

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Bart stared at Jaime as the Latino scowled at the empty parking lot. Bart had watched the seventh period teacher tell Jaime that the principal wanted to talk to him. He'd faithfully followed as his friend went to the office confused and came out scowling.

Jaime glowered at the heavy sheets of rain that were darkening all the shades and matching his gloomy mood. He was aware that Bart had followed behind him to and from the office; while before he was too focused on quickly getting there so he could catch the bus, now he was too incensed to take much of his surroundings in, other than the rain-which only added to his annoyance. He'd gone to the office only so that Mr. Kent could spend minutes explaining that Jaime needed to get his grade up in AP Bio or he was going to be dropped then near the end another minute apologizing for Conner's behavior. During that time the buses had come and left. He had his board, yeah, but he had hoped to catch a ride to his street instead of skateboarding in the rain.

He groaned audibly and placed his forehead against the nearest wall.

"Mata me." he mumbled pathetically. (Kill me.)

Bart decided then was as good a time as any to speak up, "So what'd the principal say?"

"That I'm going to be kicked out of AP Bio." Jaime answered vacantly, his eyes focusing on no point in particular.

Jaime was unfamiliar with the feeling of not wanting to be below average, of wanting to have good grades. He had thought for a moment that he could compare to other kids. He'd had a short sprint with the academic athletes but now he was tired and he knew he would never be as fast. Who had he been kidding? He was an average duckling trying to pass as a swan. Bart was saying something about Jaime needing to try harder but he just couldn't hear it. He couldn't deal with this. He didn't belong in the same classes as Bart; Bart was smart and everything came so naturally to him. How could he compare to raw natural talent?

"Jaime." Bart grabbed Jaime by the shoulders when he realized the older teen had been spacing out. He gently turned the other teen to face him, "mi amigo," he said when Jaime's melancholy, confused eyes connected with his. "Don't you dare give up." Bart gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze to get his message across.

Jaime's gentle mocha colored eyes were swirling smokes of confusion and uncertainty, "But-" Jaime started meekly only to be cut off promptly by the smaller teen.

He stared confusedly into piercing, green, determined eyes.

"But nothing." Bart said calmly but seriously, "I can help you study. You're not dropping out of that class." You're not leaving me.

And that was final. He never again wanted to see Jaime look so despondent. Ever. He was going to prove to Jaime that he could do this, he was going to force Jaime to see how intelligent and smart and kind and amazing he was. Bart knew his intentions were good but they weren't entirely unselfish; there was no way he was losing a moment of his time with Jaime. If anything he was only going to gain more time with him.

Help me write again. Show your author love and you shall receive another chapter in return. Am I cruel to Bart? *smiles evilly* Maybe.

BTW I want feedback-did you guys like jealous Bart? (not in this chapter-in a previous one) cause I feel like torturing the poor auburn a little more.