Young Justice, Batbrothers and general D.C one-shots

Swimming Mishaps (Bluepulse)

It was your typical boiling hot summer day, and the younger members of the Young Justice team were hanging around the mountain bored out of their minds, and practically melting. "Ugh, it's soooooo hot." Cassie drawled out fanning herself with her hand. "I know, this is like the hottest day I've ever had to live through." Tim groaned. All of the older members were either with family for the day or just out living life, meaning no missions and Cassie, Bart, Tim, Garfield, and Jaime had no plans for the day.

Suddenly Garfeild got a great idea. "Hey, we could go swimming!" he yelled jumping up from his place on the floor. This was met with positive cheers from everyone, except Bart. Everyone rushed off to their rooms to change, while Bart slowly trudged off to his.

After changing into his swimsuit Bart stared at his reflection in the mirror. His chest, stomach and sides were covered in badly sewn and jagged scars, his back was even worse, with one large scar going from his left shoulder blade to his right hip as well as many smaller ones scattered about similar to his front. He worried about what the others would think when they saw this, Would they think he was weak? Would they not want to be his friends? What would Jaime, his best friend and crush, say knowing it was a version of his future self who did this to him? Bart is pulled from his thoughts when someone bangs on his door. "Bart! C'mon hermano, everybody's waiting on us." Jaime called. "Coming." Bart yelled back as he grabbed his T-shirt and yanked it over his head as he ran to the door. "Alright let's go!" he cheered walking out of his room. "Um Bart?" Jaime questions. "Yeah?" Bart turns to look at him. "Why are you still wearing your shirt, you do realize it'll be better without it?" "O-Oh um, I'm really not that hot, so I'm just going to watch." Bart said quickly, much to Jaimes confusion. "So c'mon let's go, the others are waiting right?" he said as he dashed off, Jaime walking after him. "How is he not hot, it's like 100 degrees?" Jaime asked himself. 'The Impulse is lying to you Jaime Reyes, something is not right I sensed distress.' the scarab told him. "Yea, but what would he be lying about?" Jaime mumbled.

"Finally you're here I thought you guys had melted, you were taking so long." Cassie cried when Bart and Jaime made it outside and to the beach. "Nope, we're right here." Bart said with a laugh. "Well come on in, it feels so good with the heat." Tim said waving from the water. "I-I'm good, I'll just sit and watch you guys." Bart said, sitting on a rock overlooking the water while Jaime dove right in.

"Do you know what's up with Bart? It's not like him to sit things out." Cassie asked, worry in her voice. "No, but the scarab told me he was lying when he told me he wasn't hot." Jaime said with a shrug. "Maybe he just needs a push in the right direction." Garfield suggested. "I have an idea." Jaime said as the team looked over to Bart, who was staring at the ground hugging himself.

Bart was sitting on the rock, his feet dangling over the edge. He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice Tim, who had a bucket of water, and Cassie sneaking up behind him. Until, Tim dumped the water over his head and Cassie pushed him off of the rock and into the water, but by then it was too late. "Guys! So not crash!" Bart yells at them. "You looked like you needed to cool off a bit." Tim yelled. "Yea, so we thought we'd give you a shove in the right direction." Cassie said. "You got my shirt wet." Bart pouted. "Well now that you're in the water, why not take it off and join us." Jaime suggested. "No way!" Bart yelled. "Too bad." Jaime said, picking him up from behind in one swift movement and spinning in a circle. "Jaime! Put me down!" Bart yelled, his face red, as he squirmed around trying to get out of Jaimes grip. "Ok." Jaime said, dropping Bart into the water with a splash. "So not what I meant, super not crash." Bart said when he resurfaced, facing away from the team. Jaime just smiled cheekily at him, while the others just laughed, before noticing that through the fabric of Bart's now soaked shirt, they could see multiple bad scars. "Um Bart, what's on your back?" Jaime asked tentatively. Bart tensed and turned around to face his team who had now gathered close by to see what Jaime was talking about. "I-It's nothing I swear." Bart said. "Dude, you're a terrible liar." Garfield said. "Yea, what happened to you?" Tim asked. "It's nothing, and especially not any of your business." Bart snapped, hugging himself, tears welling in his eyes, before speeding off back to the mountain.

"Someone should go after him." Cassie said, staring towards where Bart had sped off from. "Jaime should do it, him and Bart are the closest." Tim said, Garfield and Cassie nodded. Jaime sighed and walked up towards the mountain.

"Bart." Jaime called through the mountain, hoping he was just in the living room, but not seeing him, Jaime walked towards his room, grabbing a spare shirt for himself on the way. He paused outside Bart's door, hearing sniffling. "Bart." Jaime called through the door, receiving a muffled 'go away' in response. "Please, open the door, I just want to make sure you're ok." Jaime said, and he was pleasantly surprised when the door opened at his touch, meaning Bart had forgotten to lock it. Jaime stepped into the room and saw Bart facing away curled into a ball, and felt his heart shatter. He crept up behind Bart, kneeling down beside him and wrapping his arms around him, pulling him into a hug, while Bart weakly tried to push him away through his tears. Eventually Bart gave up trying to push Jaime away and just curled his fists into Jaimes shirt and cried, while Jaime sat there with his arms wrapped tightly around Bart's body. "Why did you run away from us earlier?" Jaime asked when Bart's cries had reduced to hiccups and sniffles. "I didn't want any of you to find out." Bart mumbled. "Bart we all have scars, you know this, there's no reason to be scared or embarrassed." Jaime said, running a hand through Bart's red hair. 'The scars were caused by the blade of our sword, which is potentially the reason the Impulse didn't want to tell anyone.' the scarab spoke. "I did this to you in the future didn't I?" Jaime asked, receiving a nod from the small speedster. "Oh Bart I'm sorry." Jaime says, hugging him tighter. "It's not your fault." Bart mumbled. "Well it kinda is." Jaime said.

"Come on, let's go back before the others start to wonder if we got abducted." Jaime said, as Bart moved away from him. "Yea, and maybe this time I'll actually swim with you guys, cause the heat was killing me." Bart said with a laugh as the pair began to walk down to the beach, but not before Bart gave Jaime a quick kiss on the cheek and a thank you as he passed him in the halls. Jaime just smiled and watched Bart speed off before running after him.