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“Well?” Jaime asked, looking for Bart’s reaction.
“Yawn. Really, that’s the best you can do?” Bart asked.
Under the Blue Beetle armor, Jaime’s squinted and said defensively, “No.”
He aimed a more powerful plasma cannon at an even bigger rock. It rumbled and exploded into tiny bits of gravel.
Jaime blew on the wrist cannon just for show. “Top that, hermano .”
Bart leaned in, surveying the scene. “Ooh. Not bad, not bad. Boulder’s definitely feeling the mode, but one thing I learned from the future amigo is that it’s easier to destroy…”
The speedster zoomed off, zig-zagged across the plains, and returned to Jaime’s side before the latter could blink.
“Than to create!” He stretched his arms out. “Ta-da!”
“The Impulse has created nothing, and its premise is faulty,” Khaji Da hissed. “Tactical destruction is more effective than creation.” That only made Jaime roll his eyes at the scarab.
“Uh, ta-da what exactly?” he asked.
“Curb the attitude, get a little altitude, her-man-o.”
Jaime extended the beetle wings, hovering about twenty feet in the air, looking down at the ground. The stones lined up breathtakingly in a giant mirror image of the speedster.
“Woah…”
“Impulse, by Impulse,” Bart stated proudly. “Is that crash or what?”
“Crash. Totally crash,” he agreed.
Of course, their moment was interrupted by Kaldur’s team. The fight was nothing out of the ordinary, other than discovering one of their most valuable teammates betrayed them. (But that was a story for another day.) If there was any tension among them, that was purely Aqualad’s fault.
***
Everything returned to normal fairly quickly—superhero normal, that was. Jaime went to get snacks from the kitchen because somebody stole from his locker again. Bart was there, digging through the refrigerator, stealing any leftovers that didn’t have anyone’s names on them (and some that did). Arms balancing a tower of tupperwares, he would’ve toppled into Jaime if Khaji Da didn’t extend a tendril to help balance the containers.
“The Impulse is careless and poses a threat to your physical well-being. Recommended tactic: immediate annihilation,” said the scarab.
“We’re not killing anyone,” Jaime said over his shoulder.
“I sure hope not,” Bart said, placing the colorful boxes on the counter. “I’ve been looking forward to Tim’s butler’s cooking all day.”
“Jeez, how much can a guy eat? You already cleared out my locker,” Jaime said.
Bart threw an arm around Jaime’s shoulders. “Food makes the world go round, her-ma-no. It brings people together. Seriously, have you tried Robin’s leftovers? They are to die for.”
A voice spoke from the doorway. “What’s this about my leftovers?”
Bart quickly hid the evidence by shoving the whole thing—a pastrami and tomato sandwich—into his mouth. “Nothing,” he said, though it came out sounding like “Nuf’ng”.
Robin—Tim—raised an eyebrow and looked at Jaime.
“Sorry, ese , you’re on your own,” Jaime said.
Bart quickly swallowed the sandwich—a disgusting yet impressive feat—and grabbed Jaime’s arm in the most melodramatic fashion. “I can’t believe it! Betrayed by the one person I thought I could trust. How could you, Jaime? I thought we had something.”
Jaime rolled his eyes, a tiny smile on his lips. “ Lo siento, conejito , but I’m not about to fight one of the bats for you.”
“Butbutbut I love youuu,” Bart said.
Jaime remained unmoved. “Nope. Not happening.”
“Oh my god, just get a room already!” a female voice exclaimed. “Leave Tim and his poor leftovers alone.”
“Oh thank god,” Tim sighed in relief. “Cassie, you deal with this. Tell me when they’ve stopped pining for each other or whatever so we can get on with our lives.”
“Any idea what they’re talking about?” Bart asked Jaime.
“Not a clue.”
***
“Will you two quit flirting over the comms?” Superboy demanded. “You’re distracting everyone else.”
“We’re not flirting,” Blue Beetle insisted. “We’re just talking about follow-up procedures for after the mission.”
“You guys are talking about seeing a movie.”
“So?” Impulse asked. “That’s important team-building.”
“Wait, we’re seeing a movie?” Beast Boy interjected, causing Superboy to groan audibly. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“They didn’t ask us, Beast Boy,” Wonder Girl said.
“So...team building, but without the team?”
“They’re going on a date,” said the blonde. “That’s why we weren’t invited.”
It was a good thing the warehouse was dark and Impulse and Blue Beetle were stationed on opposite ends, and both were by themselves, as their faces heated up at Cassie’s words. Granted, Impulse could run a hundred miles a minute and Blue Beetle probably got sweaty under the armor. There was no other reason why their faces were redder than the Flash’s suit, right? The boys sputtered over the comms at the same time.
“We’re not–”
“This isn’t–”
“Impulse and I aren’t–”
“Blue’s my friend–”
“Stop saying we’re a thing–”
“It’s not a date–”
Robin quickly cut them off. “You guys have been flirting for the past two months. You two are going on that date so we can all be put out of our misery. Now everyone shut up, I see the vans approaching.”
***
Bart approached Jaime later in the locker rooms. He averted his eyes as Jaime wasn’t wearing a shirt. Granted, the latter didn’t wear a shirt at least a third of the time, but that didn’t change the fact that each time it felt like a single, lone bug was buzzing in Bart’s stomach.
“I hope what the team said didn’t get you too moded,” Bart said, fidgeting with a loose thread on the end of his sleeve. “‘Cause...I’m still up for that movie if you are.”
Jaime shifted, and for a moment Bart was ready to vibrate through the walls and run all the way back to Central City.
But then the older boy replied, “Yeah. Yeah, a movie sounds good.”
“Crash.” Bart flashed a pair of awkward finger guns that he immediately regretted.
“Yeah, crash,” Jaime agreed.
Silence hung in the air like Bart’s shirt sleeve thread, waiting for someone to break it and get it done with.
“So...it’s a date then?” Bart asked. “I mean, if you wanna–”
Jaime cut him off with a laugh. “Yeah, it’s a date.”
Tim spoke up suddenly from behind the towel rack. “It’s about time!”