Metal Has No Heartbeat (A Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes [Young Justice] Fanfiction)

Five: That Bad

"It might be a lie..." Lenore encourages.

"Yeah," I nod enthusiastically, downing another juice box. "A lie. I'm sure. I just need to hear Blue Beetle talk. Then I'll know. I know his voice."

I chug down a second box, stressing over 'Blade's' words. Surely if Jaime was a superhero he would have told me, right?

If I was a hero when we were dating he'd be the first to know. It's just what we did; we'd tell each other everything. At least, that's what I thought.

We sit in the living room in our costumes, waiting for the others to finish their tests.

"How did you guys do?" I ask.

No one answers. Different eyes dart around the room, looking anywhere but at me.

"That bad, huh? I'm sorry," I mumble. Awkward.

"The first drop got most of us. Made us looks terrible," Ben groans. I nod slowly. Normally I'd have a reply for him; something worth saying. But my mind is elsewhere.

Lenore shakes her head, "Not me. Mine was the canons. Got me right in the leg and knocked me off."

I nearly tell her that she'll probably still be picked, but that implies that the others failed. Instead I pat her on the shoulder as I head to my room. On the way I peel my mask off, still not used to the feeling of spirit glue.

When I shut the door behind me I toss it on the bed before reaching for the back of my neck and flicking the clasp off. It unlocks and the armoured plates click like something out of a steampunk fantasy.

After that removing the suit is easy. I take my time placing it back on the mannequin in the corner of the room. I know it is meant to withstand something as violent as a rocket launcher, but I can not help treating it so delicately.

It is important and I keep important things safe.

Thinking of such instances, I lay down on the carpet and reach under my bed, pulling out a small blue box decorated with purple butterflies. I sit on my mattress with it in my lap. This is where I put all of the stuff relating to my El Paso life. I gingerly lift the lid.

On the top of the contents is the little bag the leather bracelet he gave me came in. The bracelet has a pretty silver piece on the top. Smiling, I slide it off of my wrist and slip it back into the bag.

Next is a photo of us at the skate park. Harper, a friend from our old group took it. I was in my high-waist denim shorts and a white singlet. I also had on Jaime's red soccer jumper.

My eyes dart to my wardrobe. I still have it.

I put the picture and the bracelet to the side and reach for the next thing. A small, empty diamond-shaped perfume bottle. It fits in my palm, glistening a pretty blue.

Of all the perfumes I ever wore, this was his favourite. It's called Wish Chopard and I remember it smells amazing, even though it was nothing fancy. Next was a tiny book with a black cover. I smile the moment I open it. The pages are scrawled with little notes and lyrics.

Whenever I had a thought about anything or anyone, including and mostly Jaime, I'd write it down in here for later inspiration. It contributed to a lot of my songs angsty age-fifteen songs.

I open it and read some.

He has the cutest laugh.

His Spanish is better than mine =(

Harper and Tye do not under any circumstances hate each other

He climbed through my window today. My room's on the second floor.