In my head, I imagined that in the future where Bart comes from, there's too much war and destruction for them to actually celebrate Christmas so coming back in the winter times allows him to have his first Christmas. He wouldn't understand any of the customs, why it's celebrated… and I needed a Bluepulse fic for my account to show my approval for it during this hiatus.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show, and it will be OOC.

The heroes were regularly respective of race and religion when it came to the holidays, but upon lack of complaint from the younger members, the ex-sidekicks returned to the cave to find it decked out in the highest holiday-spirited garb; from the forty foot decorated Christmas tree and stockings hung about the wall to the pieces of mistletoe hung on ever doorway with a certain sparkle to the sapphire berries snug deep within their leaves.

The snow on the outside of the windows wasn't artificial, pure and crisp ashes from the clouds assembled along the thin sills and built up along the glass's pane, but the smell of holiday treats like chestnuts and pumpkin pie and ham wafted throughout the whole building, thanks to a civvie-clothed ebony chef with a particular giggle to his lips as he worked in the spirit of his merry birth month, the counters lined with his cookbook-worthy creations.

Even the ZETA com was in season, gently playing Christmas music that played as a light background noise to the humdrum the little heroes made as they scurried in excitement about the decorated building, trying to find their stocking and fishing the candy canes out of them to sword fight with until M'Gann would float by and chide them not to so they'd have both eyes intact for the dinner arriving soon.

That's how it was when Jaime walked in, gloved hands shoved into the pockets of his coat for warmth, Bart quickly following up on his tail, lips moving at a hundred and then some miles an hour. To Jaime's relief, he was silenced quickly at the appearance of the cave, his gold eyes widening in a panic of sorts at the uncalled for change, swiftly stepping beside the ebony in case this was some kind of intervention or sabotage he was brought to in such outdated clothing. Were they sending him back?

Jaime turned around to see why it was that the auburn had silenced himself, stopping in confusion as he noted the terror in the future boy's face, raising an eyebrow at it.

" What's wrong, ese?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and stiffening a bit as the shorter boy wrapped his arms tight around him in a quick speed hug before tearing away in a literal flash, a buzzing sound hovering just a second before he was back.

Bart bent over, hands on his knees, still cautiously glancing about the cave.

"I don't see any alien tech or weapons, and no one seems to be afraid, but we can't be sure," he straightened and reached for the Hispanic teen's arm, "Let's get out of here, go alert the Batman and the Superman that someone sabotaged MJ."

Jaime blinked slowly. "S... sabotaged? They decorated it, Bart."

His face seemed torn for a second before it scrunched up in anger and he looked to the lower left with a slanted frown, obviously a little upset with what he heard that no one else could. It could've just been the strange song involving a forest creature made entirely up of rain who went by the name 'Rudolf', but it was a little too catchy in the speedster's opinion.

"Yeah, well it's not my fault you're a Scrooge. I love Christmas," Jaime seemed to say to himself, muttering under his breath afterwards in frantic aggravated Spanish.

Bart's eyebrows furrowed as he slowly straightened, looking down at himself with a hard swallow, as if checking to make sure he was still intact and human in appearance. When he saw nothing but the jeans Jaime insisted looked good and the green jacket he was assured went with his hair, he looked up at the Hispanic and touched a faltering hand to the ebony's arm, interrupting the conversation he seemed to be having with himself and gaining him the gentle darkened gaze.

"Who's Christmas?" he asked quietly for once, no speed to his voice, just pure hurt.

Jaime's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, repeating the question to himself before he got what the future teen was trying to say, his frown breaking out into a grin as he laughed to himself. Bart didn't see what was so funny though.

"What?" he sounded offended, the joke being his direction and him not catching even the slightest hint at the punch line, "Who is she?"

That only made Jaime laugh harder, to the point his cheeks were a scarlet tint before he straightened and coughed it off to ease the pain from his friend's expression.

"Christmas isn't a person, muchacho. It's a holiday. You haven't heard of it?" he was a little incredulous on that, not sure if he believed the innocence in that face.

Bart held it strong though, still a little confused, shaking his head gently.

"Christmas. Chris… miss… I-is… Does it honor a tranny or something?" he asked shyly, scratching at his neck as he looked up through his eyelashes.

Jaime laughed again, wiping at his eyes on that one as he shook his head, an arm around his stomach as he led the youngest Flash addition to the bar, shrugging off his coat, glad to see the auburn following suit as they hung them on the chair backs. They both greeted Nightwing with a raise of their hands before the ebony gestured the shorter boy to follow him.

"I'll explain it the best I can," he decided, looking up at the ceiling for a second as if reading the right words from the support beams.

Bart followed his gaze as he craned his neck upwards, eventually gaining Dick's eyes too as he jogged over, apron lazily tied over his white shirt and tight jeans.

"Want me to explain it?" he popped in on them, making them both jump, Jaime's hand turning back into a makeshift stun gun until he managed to control it with a sheepish apologetic smile. "Sorry for eavesdropping. Christmas isn't the same without Wally I guess. Nothing else to do."

The Hispanic bobbed his head, murmuring under his breath, seeming to be talking to himself as the teens beside him watched him do so before they shook their heads and met eyes, gold on uncovered blue.

"Alright, Grayson," Bart grinned excitedly, fidgeting in place. "What's Christmas? And why does it smell so good?"

His nose tilted up happily, eyelids fluttering. Dick stopped tensing from the use of his name, not particularly fond of it being heard in this setting before he laughed at the compliment, eyes going distant for a second.

"You're definitely Wally's cousin… you both have that nose for food…" he looked at the stocking in the distance marked 'Kid Flash', his heart stinging at it before he remembered what he was doing, "Oh yeah, Christmas. Basically, it's this big celebration, supposed to be to celebrate the Christian God or something, but I was raised just to enjoy getting free presents from the guardians at the time. It's the one day a year kids get whatever their parents can afford them if they pretend to give a care about religion."

Bart blinked blindly, confused beyond wit but nodding slowly.

"What do you mean by… guardian…?" he phrased carefully, obviously not wanting to come out stupid and blatantly say that none of that made any sense to him.

Dick paused, looking up at the ceiling and finding the same answers Jaime had been looking for.

"Well, you seem to know my bio, right?" he waited for the curt nod before continuing on, "My guardian is the person I live with. It's the person who has ownership over you until you're seventeen or eighteen, depending on the state. It could, in your case from what Wally told me, be your parents… or siblings even… aunts, uncles… a random guy with enough heart to adopt you from the wreckage…"

Bart noticed a touch of pain in the last option, but chose not to comment on it, only knowing that there was no solid mention of Nightwing's blood parents in the file. Just that he lived with Bruce, Tim, Damian and Jason when he was alive. Where was Damian, anyway? Was he alive yet? Conceived? He had to be… The age gap between Tim and him would be appropriate about now…

"Alright, I don't get it. At all," Bart gave up, throwing up his hands and supporting his head in the air with a sheepish laugh.

Dick sighed with a small smile, patting the auburn haired teen's shoulder.

"He's all yours, Blue," he gave a secretive grin to the Hispanic who had just looked up, a little surprised to have been snapped from his trance, looking down at his new apparent 'possession'.

The ebony wasn't as bothered, leading the red haired boy to the Christmas tree first, determined to make it make sense. He waited until the teen had finished obsessing over the brilliant light display and glossy ornaments glinting up from between the pine needles magnificently before turning to look at him.

"This is a Christmas tree. Families decorate it and hide presents under for the niños to unwrap in the morning. That's all you need to know. Pretty trees have presents, and you can only open the ones with your name on it," he simply stated, leading the speedster on to the next item.

The red stockings were a long, seemingly never endless line until the two stumbled upon a golden stitched Impulse and Blue Beetle in two side-by-side sock-like objects, the trim white and puffy like no other, the edge grabbed by Jaime's slightly darker hand.

"These are stockings. Smaller gifts like candy and dulces are hidden inside to be opened and eaten in the morning. Simple. Red socks have candy for you," Bart grinned like it was the best thing he had heard in a while, eager about it and grabbing at his own before he was pulled along, the two heading for the thick fireplace in another room.

The auburn grabbed the ebony's arm as something caught his eye though, flinging himself in front and ducking his head down, waiting to be electrocuted or something by the object hovering over the archway in the door. When it didn't kill him, he opened an eye in a half-squint, looking closer at the object.

"W… what's this? Who would staple salad to a door?" Bart criticized, folding his arms over his chest in a huff, rolling his eyes, "Chicken would be a lot better. Smells better."

When his eyes were level, he gave a squeak as he noticed the closed eyelids barely inches from his, the protruding nose resting beside his nose before lips pressed against his own. Jaime was kissing him. The teen who eventually turns into the evil monster that breaks down the will and spirit of every pure heart in the future was kissing him. The teen he was trying his hardest to protect from that future was kissing him.

His cheeks dyed to match his cheeks and he stumbled over remembering what the people in the movies did, feeling clumsier than ever as his arms did an awkward little flail before he set a hand to the back of the ebony's head, doing his best to kiss back and praying his hardest he wasn't awful at it. When Jaime pulled away, his eyes painstakingly wide, his hands flew up in a little surrender.

"B-Bart, I-I'… Jesús, yo lo siento por eso. No sé qué me ha pasado!" he stuttered out in quick Spanish, a blush lining his cheeks heavily, raising his hands to run them anxiously through his hair in fear. "Fue el muérdago. Por favor, no me odies!"

Bart's eyes widened for a different reason, holding his hands up as well, only a lot more calm and blushing a little less.

"Woah there, muchacho," he remembered Jaime using the word earlier, wanting to sound like he understood if even a word, now understanding how everyone else felt when he speed-spoke. "English please! What's wrong?"

The golden gaze moved desperately to Dick who was shrugging the apron now with a small smirk.

"Enchanted mistletoe, Zatanna's specialty. If two people step under it, they automatically kiss for three seconds, longer if it detects chemistry between them," he explained, loving the hopeful grin that spread over Bart's face.

The auburn paused a second, though, as something seemed to occur to him, thinking coming off as a bit of new territory.

"B… I didn't feel a magical force asking me to kiss him… I just noticed he was kissing me, so I returned the favor," he furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look up at Jaime with a small smile.

It was definitely longer than three seconds. It had to be. His heart stopped happily in his chest and he hopped up on tiptoe, the ebony still speaking frantic Spanish in a panic before Bart moved close, afraid to just kiss him in case he did it wrong. He didn't have much a choice though, shyly pressing their lips together, loving how the Hispanic hissed out his nose in surprise, hopefully, down onto him until the attempts to continue on in Spanish were halted. Then Bart pulled away, that same smile now three times as bad.

"Any other enchanted things in here, Dickie?" he asked hopefully, taking advantage of stunned Jaime to hug him lightly.

The ebony gestured to the buffet of food he had set out enthusiastically as he slipped his com link into his ear, going to a specific channel before turning his eyes to the auburn.

"Set the table and you get first dibs," he promised, chuckling warmly as the food disappeared in a second, as did Jaime with a staggered blurred cry.

A confirmation peak through the corner showed him sitting at the table, laughing with a blush to his cheeks as he started filling his plate, rubbing his neck carefully.

"Oh hey, Wally? Yeah, Christmas dinner up here at the Cave if you're hungry," Dick grinned ear-to-ear as his best friend picked up, resisting the urge to scale the counter and do a dance Michael Jackson would've been proud to claim as the ginger agreed to head over.

With a small smirk, Dick poised himself underneath the arch of a doorway with a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the top, scaling up and tucking it from sight before dropping back down and waiting with a secretive little smile.

That Spanish was all Google Translate so if it's wrong, I am so sorry! And in the end, it was initially so Wally would walk in and kiss Dick… because of reasons… how'd I do?

-F.J. III