A few exchanges of words were heard behind the door of the couple's room before it opened, and Starfire exited behind Jason, brushing her neon pink hair with a comb she most definitely stole, and wore nothing but a thin nightgown.
"Jaime." she said, her green eyes softening. She slipped the comb into an oversized pocket in the front of her gown. She then held out her hand, her long, slender fingers extending out. "We have battled each other like warriors. I believe there was a reason that neither of us have died from our sparring- we were not meant to fight, but rather, combine our strength, and use our forces together. With that, I do welcome you."
Jaime shook her hand and smiled. "I agree." was all he said.
"Great!" Jason piped in, "So, when do you want to guys want to go ahead and fuck up the town? I'm ready. We could go right now."
Jaime and Bart looked at each other, wondering what the hell to do.
"Jason," Starfire scolded, "they have just arrived. You must allow them the time to adjust. Windland is not going anywhere. Besides," she cupped his face, getting in very close. She spoke seductively. "You did promise to have a relaxed lunch atop of a mountain today." she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh? Oh yeah, I did." Jason chuckled quietly. He and Starfire looked at each other for a few moments before sharing a kiss. And then another kiss. And then one after that. Soon, the kisses began to get longer and more intense with each one.
Jaime and Bart just looked at each other with looks of perplexment as the sounds of making out went on in the background.
"Hey guys," Jason murmured between kisses. "We'll keep discussing things soon, just-" another lip smack. "-just give Starfire and I a minute." They stumbled into their bedroom and closed the door. The sounds of more intense kissing and the removal of clothing could be heard.
"Well, that escalated quickly." Bart said.
Jaime scoffed. "All because she wanted lunch on a mountain."
Bart shook his head. "I don't understand couples."
"Me neither." Jaime agreed.
The sounds in the bedroom started to get more loud.
"You wanna head on outside?" Jaime suggested, gesturing to the vault on the ceiling. Bart nodded, and Jaime opened it, and they exited out, the blazing late-July sun blinding them for a second. They sat on the grass in silence, and a soft breeze came by. Jaime pulled his armor back.
Bart broke the silence. "I want to thank you."
"For?" Jaime looked at him in confusion.
"For almost killing me. Give me a chance to explain- basically, I know a lot of what was happening between us, fight-wise, was just a bunch of testosterone-fueled miscommunication." he chuckled a bit, "But, you didn't hesitate to try and kill me. You would do anything to protect your tribe and you wouldn't even think a second thought about it. I respect that, Jaime. How much you love those people and want to make sure they're safe. You really are their God of protection."
"Oh." Jaime said, looking down. "I… I mean, I really don't know what to say. I feel like I would've regretted it once it finally sunk in." he said, "I would constantly be thinking about how I could've had a rational conversation with you instead to try and bring you back to our side, but it would be too late, because you'd be dead."
"Why was I brought back from the death I brought upon myself?" Bart asked.
Jaime bit his lip. "I'm not sure. I just begged Zatanna to bring you back, and she finally did. I feel like the same thing would've happened had I killed you. Would you have preferred to stay dead?"
Bart was silent for a minute. "Yeah." he admitted.
"I'm sorry." Jaime apologized. "I should've let you rest."
"It's okay. I'm not mad at you." Bart insisted, "Regardless of what I want, I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be here to help you and Zatanna fix the problem that's going on. I can't just take the coward's way out. And by the way," Jaime looked up at him. "I told you I saw the future. Well, the images are becoming more distinct now."
"Yeah? What are they?" Jaime asked curiously.
"I saw my best friend, Dick Grayson, steering his flying machine through the sky with some suitcase in the passenger's seat. I saw a very, very angry man who was being struck by lightning. And then I saw a black haired baby, sleeping in a crib."
Jaime raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I don't get it, either." Bart said. "Should we head back down?"
"Yeah, I hope they're done." Jaime said as they stood up and began to walk back down, shutting the vault as they returned to the base.
Jason and Starfire weren't in the main room, but the bedroom was quiet, indicating they had finished. A few chuckles and whispers were heard before the sounds of getting up, and Jason walked out of the room, his hair messy. "Sorry," he said as he opened the door, "got a little busy. But you guys should get it- can't pass up your lady when she's in the mood." He looked confused for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, haha! You're actually a man!"
For what felt like the millionth time that morning, Bart and Jaime looked at each other, confused.
"Jaime, I mean. He's a man. I've never seen him without his... whatever, I never thought he was a human." Jason explained.
"Yeah, you're not the only one." Jaime rolled his eyes. "It's armor. It retracts when I tell it to, and goes on when I tell it to. Yes, I know I'm not the boss of you, sh- yes, I know you can also-"
"Huh?" Jason cocked an eyebrow, and Starfire walked out of the bedroom.
"He has a little bug on his back, called the scarab. Khaji Da." Bart explained as Jaime bickered with Khaji, "The scarab is basically what allows him to have his armor and weapons. Khaji Da isn't a living being, he's artificial, so I don't even know why we call him 'he', but whatever. But yeah, he's the provider of all the stuff Jaime gets, and he also talks to Jaime, and Jaime says he's very whiny and bossy. According to Jaime, if Khaji feels the need to, he can take control of Jaime's body and armor, but he's usually pretty good at letting Jaime do what he wants to do."
"Huh." Jason said, "Can I see him?"
"Jaime," Bart turned to Jaime, who was still arguing with Khaji Da, "Jason wants to see Khaji Da."
Jaime mumbled something to the bug as began to pull up his shirt, and Bart got that dumb heated feeling again. Jaime showed his back to Jason.
"Well, isn't that just neat?" Jason said, and Starfire looked at it in interest. "May I touch it?"
"Yeah, he says it's okay." Jaime nodded. Jason walked up and placed his hand on top of the bug. Suddenly, a neon blue pulse raced up and down Jaime's spine.
"Woah!" Bart said.
"Woah what?"
"It reacted to being touched." Jason explained. "Blue light in your backbone. Also, your bug is cold metal. Not surprised. It kind of vibrates a bit, though."
"He doesn't appreciate being referred to as an object." Jaime told him as he pulled his shirt back down.
Jason rolled his eyes and grumbled, "He kind of vibrates, though." he corrected. Starfire giggled. Jason pulled a watch out of one of his pocket. "We still have some time before it's time for lunch. So I guess we can talk for a bit. So, Jaime, tell me about yourself. You interest me."
"Oh." Jaime seemed surprised. "I guess I should tell you how I got the scarab."
"That sounds like it would be a very interesting story." Starfire commented.
And so Jaime told it. As Bart leaned against the wall, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for Jaime, as he'd been put in that spot too many times these past few months. He thought about crazy life was, how he thought two months ago that the world was just so simple. It wasn't. He'd been exposed to so many things since his parent's deaths, and he wondered how many things in the world actually weren't from the world itself.
They decided to head out for lunch soon after, grabbed a few stolen cans of beans, chip bags, and bottles of alcohol before running and flying up to a mountain, looking at the world below. Windland could be seen, small in the vast space of open land.
They set out a blanket, and the lunch mostly consisted of Starfire and Jason drunkenly flirting and kissing. Bart and Jaime sat in silence underneath a tree some distance away, Bart drinking a bitter tasting beer as they watched birds fly across the sky.
"They really can't get enough of each other, can't they?" Jaime laughed a little as he turned his head and saw Starfire and Jason French kissing on the blanket.
"I guess not." Bart shrugged. "You lookin' forward to that one day?"
"No." Jaime shook his head, "It's kind of obnoxious, honestly. And besides, finding a girl who won't be freaked out by Khaji Da is like finding a needle in a haystack."
"Zatanna." Bart suggested.
Jaime blushed and laughed a little. "Alright, I'll admit that I did have a tiny crush on her for a few months. But it was just that- tiny. Don't tell her that, by the way." Jaime looked at Bart sternly. "Don't."
"I won't." Bart promised.
Jaime went back to talking. "But it just kind of naturally went away after a while. Figured it was just some odd infatuation or something."
Bart was about to sip his beer when he stopped.
"You okay?" Jaime asked.
"I…" Bart slowly set his beer on the ground. "I'm okay. Yeah. I'm just… got a sudden migraine, that's all. Probably the stuff in the beer."
Jaime looked at Bart for a few moments before whispering, "He's a what-what?"
"What was that?" Bart asked.
"Nothing. Scarab is just scanning your body chemistry." Jaime was silent for a few more moments. And then his face fell flat.
"What'd he tell you?"
"Nothing. He just got something wrong." Jaime insisted.
"What?"
Jaime then got into an argument with the scarab, constantly cutting himself off. He sighed, and looked back towards Bart. "It's nothing. Scarab just being… irrational."
"Are you guys ready to go?" Starfire walked up and asked.
"Yeah." Bart said, and stood up, leaving his beer there. Jaime still didn't seem like he was in too good of a mood, but he said he was ready to go, too.
They returned to the base, and Jason said, "So… Windland. Soon?"
"You know," Bart piped in really quickly, "How about you two like… show us around the west a bit more? Like, seeing the towns you've already destroyed. To uh, 'get us into the idea' of this kind of lifestyle before actually doing it."
"I like that idea." Starfire nodded, "A tour! Doesn't that sound nice, Jason?"
Jason shrugged, "I guess. I mean, if that's what you guys wanna do."
"Jaime? You wanna do that?" Bart asked. Jaime looked like he was spacing out.
"Oh? Uh. Yeah. Sure." he responded blandly.
"Alright, I suppose we'll just head out now, then." Jason said, and he climbed back out the vault.
They showed them around the first few towns, Jaime seemingly dead on the inside no matter where they went. Same reactions, same one-word responses, and it felt like whatever friendship he'd gained with Bart had suddenly been sucked away. Jason and Starfire noticed his strange behavior, but they both didn't say anything.
"You know, we should honestly stop at Jesterson to stock up a bit more." Jason told Starfire. It wasn't until he said that did Jaime's eyes widen and he was shocked out of his dead state.
"What do we do?" Bart whispered.
"I don't know." Jaime responded, and they both looked over to Jason, who turned to them.
"Next town is Jesterson. We're gonna be stocking up on some supplies there."
They followed them, and by the time they got there, Jason looked at what was once his arsenal. "What the fuck?!" he screamed as he saw nothing but ashes and rubble. "Who the fuck did this?!"
Jaime and Bart stood uncomfortably.
"Is it possible it may have burned down on its own?" Starfire suggested.
"Fuck, maybe." Jason sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Let's check Old York City."
And off they went again. Once Jason had found out that Old York City's stock had been destroyed as well, all he did was scream. He screamed into the air, not saying a word. Just screaming. He pulled off his helmet and slammed it onto the ground. "This isn't a fucking coincidence!" he exclaimed, "Whoever did this, they'll pay!"
"Jason, please calm down." Starfire begged, holding a strong grip on her boyfriend's shoulder, "Who could've known about the bases' locations besides me, you and Roy?"
"Roy." Jason snarled, "He probably told Wally West. Fuck!" he yelled, "Wally West is probably selling information, that motherfucker!" he screamed. He turned to Jaime. "Jaime!"
Jaime jumped.
"Does that thing have a tracking device?"
"Yeah."
"Track down Wally West and take him out. Now."
Jason turned back to Starfire, and rubbed his temples. "Star," he said, "Take me back to the base, won't you?" She nodded, picking him up with her strong arms. "Are you gonna come with us or with Jaime, Bart?"
"I'll stay with Jaime."
"Alright then. See you two at home." he said, and Starfire took off.
Jaime sighed, "What're we gonna do?"
"I have an idea." Bart said.
"What is it?"
"We'll go to Wally's house, tell him what's happening, and get him and his wife train tickets to get out and head towards New York City. They can live with my grandfather."
"I guess that works. But what if Starfire and Jason want to see Wally's body?" Jaime inquired.
"We can always burn his house down. Say it's an act of revenge for the burning down the arsenals. Say his body burned with it." Bart explained.
"Alright." Jaime said, "I guess we should get going now."
They ran and flew off together in the direction of Northwood.
x
A sober Wally West opened his front door in casual clothing. His face brightened up. "My amigos!" he cheered.
"Wally. We need to talk. It's extremely urgent." Bart ushered.
Wally looked at him for a moment before nodding and letting them inside. Artemis was placing flowers in a vase and she looked confused at their entrance. "Bring your wife with to talk, too." Jaime commanded.
"Arty, come here." Wally waved his wife over. The blonde woman stuttered over.
"Hello, my name is Artemis. You must be Wally's friends." she extended her hand. Both Bart and Jaime shook it.
"They're my cousin and his friend, remember I told you about them?" Wally asked.
"Oh!" Artemis exclaimed, a look of concern going over her face. "Bart and Jaime. What's wrong?"
"Come on, let's sit." Wally urged, and they sat on two sofas that faced each other.
"So, Roy is dead. Bart killed him." Jaime explained.
Both Wally and Artemis's eyes widened, and they shot a look at Bart. Bart shifted uncomfortably.
"Except this made Jason happy, because he hated Roy. And he invited Bart to be his replacement. So what we did was pretend to join the group, because it'll be easier to take them out that way, being so close. Remember when you gave us the map, Wally?" Jaime asked.
Wally nodded, wrapping his hand around his wife's.
"Well, me, Bart, and our friend Zatanna went to the locations on the map. We ended up destroying the arsenals that they had. And today, Jason and Starfire decided they wanted to give us a tour of their locations, upon which they discovered their destroyed arsenals. They know you're the only one who knew the locations other than them and Roy, because Roy had always talked about you and tried to invite you in their group. They believed you were selling information to people, and sent us to assassinate you. But of course, we're not going to do that." Jaime finished up.
"You need to leave now for the sake of all of our lives." Bart explained, "You need to get on the next train as soon as possible, and head off to New York City." he sped off and then returned with a napkin that had been written on. "You can live with your aunt Iris, Wally. If you arrive in the afternoon, go to this address." he pointed to the address of STAR Labs. "If you arrive in the evening or the early morning, go to this address." he pointed to the Allen mansion address. "And if you arrive at night, just get a hotel and go to that address in the morning. Can you two do that for me? You'll like it in New York City, I promise."
They both nodded, squeezing each other's hands. Wally let out a nervous laugh. "I guess we should pack our things." He stood up with his wife, "We'll be back shortly." and then they headed up the stairs.
Once again, Jaime and Bart were left in silence.
"Are you okay?" Bart finally asked, "You've seemed apathetic all day since whatever happened at lunch."
Jaime let out a sigh, and took a while to speak. "Are you okay?"
Bart didn't know why, but the question embarrassed him. "I'm fine. Why?"
"You didn't seem okay back there at lunch, too. You were the one to freak out." Jaime pointed.
"I-" Bart cut himself off. "It's just I got a little spooked. It just happens. Besides, this isn't about me. This is about you."
"It's definitely about you." Jaime growled, and Bart's heart started to race.
"So the reason you've been acting all pissy all day was because of me?" he said, feeling threatened.
"Well, I don't wanna say that-"
"So it was because of me." Bart folded his arms and scowled. "I'm bothering you somehow."
"Guys?" Artemis and Wally showed up at the bottom of the stairs with their suitcases in hand. "We're ready to go and head off now."
"Good luck." Bart said and stood up, his legs brushing up against Jaime's knees as he walked towards his cousin and his wife, causing Jaime to scowl and pull his legs up to the couch.
Bart stuck out his hand. "Tell Barry and Iris I said hello, okay?"
Wally shook it, "Of course, Bart. Thank you for finally putting an end to The Outlaws antics." he said, and he and his wife headed out the door, shutting it behind them.
Bart turned to Jaime, whose legs were still on the sofa. "What about me is bothering you?" he folded his arms and looked condescendingly towards him.
"The same thing that's bothering you." Jaime's feet hit the floor.
Bart's hard look softened, and he looked down at the floor. They didn't speak. Bart then laughed, throwing his hands up, and he walked over to a wall, hitting his head against it, and he continued to laugh. Jaime just looked.
"No, Jaime, I get it. Really." he continued to laugh painfully. "It's still sinking in for me. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. There were signs. I've been in denial about it for a really long time. Let me guess, the scarab told you I was a queer?" he cringed at the word coming out of his mouth.
"He did. He detected a panicked response when I said something. He said it reminded you of something. He scanned you a bit more and figured it out." Jaime said. There was more silence. Bart turned around and sat down, his back against the wall.
"Can we still be friends?"
Jaime was silent for a few moments and then he spoke. "I'm not sure, Bart." he admitted. "It's not right. It doesn't work like that, y'know. It's against God's word."
"Yeah, I know it's not right." Bart admitted, "I'm going to Hell." he laughed, "Hell by default. I'm guess it's good you and Zatanna revived me, you made it so I wouldn't have to endure eternal torture for a few more years."
They were silent.
"I can get if you don't want to be friends, Jaime." Bart continued to speak, "I wouldn't want to be friends with a queer, either. But," he looked up at Jaime, "can we at least work together to get this problem with The Outlaws solved? I can take right off after that and be out of your, Zatanna's, and the Longshadows' skin."
"I can do that." Jaime agreed. "Regardless of what you are, we have a job to do."
"Right." Bart agreed, and both of them stood up and exited the house. Jaime faced it, pulling his plasma cannon out, and blasted it. Debris went flying, and Bart watched, standing still, his hair flying back.
"Don't you think it's funny how we didn't tell them we were gonna blow up their house?" Bart asked.
Jaime laughed. "Yeah."
x
"What took you two so long?" Jason demanded once they returned to the base.
"Scarab was having some trouble finding where Wally was." Jaime lied, "But everything's all finished now. Wally, along with his house, is nothing but ash and dust now."
"Very well. Well, we should be heading off to bed. Have you guys figured out who's gonna get it yet?" Jason asked.
"No." Jaime said.
He laughed. "Jeez, you guys sure like to take your time, don't you? Well, I'm gonna let you two figure that out. Goodnight." he said as he went to enter his room.
"Goodnight." Bart and Jaime said in unison.
"I'll let you have the bed." Jaime said as they entered the room, "The suit makes it comfortable to sleep on the floor."
"Yeah, I've seen it. You sleep like a dog." Bart laughed as he sat on the bed, slipped off his shoes and threw his head back onto the pillow.
"I do not!" Jaime countered, still standing at the foot of Bart's bed.
"Do, too." Bart insisted, staring up at the ceiling. He yawned.
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-huh."
"See. Look at this. This isn't sleeping like a dog." Jaime insisted as he lay down on the floor.
Bart sat up on his bed and looked at Jaime. He didn't say anything, he took his pillow and threw it at him.
Jaime sat up and then looked at the pillow, then back at Bart. He threw it at Bart with incredible force, knocking him backwards. "Ha!"
Bart sat up, and threw it back. This exchange happened two more times before the pillow hit Jaime again, and Khaji Da had enough. "NO!" Jaime screamed as a plasma cannon suddenly appeared from his arm and sent a blast right at Bart. Bart dashed away right in time, running into the wall as the blast hit the bed frame and exploded, making the door fly off of its hinges and into the main room, damaging the walls of the room as well.
"Holy shit!" Jason yelled as he entered the room, seeing black smoke pour out of it. He coughed. Jaime was in the corner wincing, and Bart seemed like he was dazed, his hand was on his forehead. "If you guys were gonna have this much of an issue determining who gets to sleep in the bed, Star and I could've just given ours up for one of you! God damn!"
"Lo siento." Jaime apologized. "It was an accident."
"Well, now there's no bed. You two will both have to sleep on the floor. Also all that fucking smoke, Jesus." Jason walked away and opened the vault to let the smoke out, the light from the moon outside pouring in. He walked back into his bedroom, where Starfire could be seen, laughing the world away.
"I'm sorry, Bart." Jaime said once Bart's ears finally stopped ringing. "That was Khaji, not me, I swear."
"I believe you." Bart winced as he felt his head throb. He noticed his clothes had burns in them.
"Are you okay with sleeping on the floor? Because that's all we have." Jaime admitted.
"Yeah. It's fine." Bart curled into a ball and lay sideways on the floor. "G'night, Jaime."
"Goodnight, Bart."
x
Bart kept waking up in the middle of the night due to shivering.
By the time the morning light poured through the open vault, Bart was no longer shivering, but instead, found himself being spooned by Jaime with one of his arms draped over him, the arm having a soft, glowing pulse. He touched it. It wasn't cold metal, but instead, very warm. No wonder why he wasn't shivering anymore.
"Thank you, Khaji Da." he whispered.
He heard stirring in Starfire and Jason's room, and he knew it was time to get up, even though he didn't want to.
Smiling, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
