[Wizards of Waverly Place + DC Comics] The Perfect Boyfriend

[sunrises]

Title: The Perfect Boyfriend
Fandom: Wizards of Waverly Place and DC Comics (pre-reboot) crossover.
Note: No knowledge of the DCU is required to read this fic! Jaime Reyes, a Hispanic superhero in the DC Universe, is dating Alex Russo in this story; that's legitimately all you need.
Relationships: Jaime Reyes/Alex Russo, Jaime Reyes+Justin Russo (friendship)
Summary: For the first time in his life, Justin couldn't find a single reason to hate Alex's boyfriend. That irritated him the most.
Rating: PG (for romance and slight language - nothing stronger than 'crap')

For the first time in his life, Justin couldn't find anything to complain about Alex's newest boyfriend. He always showed up promptly on time, he actually dropped Alex off before curfew - and to make matters worse, he was actually Hispanic! With parents that immigrated from Mexico City! So of course, he intimately knew all the little details about their culture that even eluded Dad sometimes. Objectively, he was a vast improvement over Riley, Dean, and Mason. Subjectively? Well, Justin wasn't making any comments. Not yet.

The first time Jaime and Alex returned early from one of their dates, Justin had been waiting on the couch for them. He'd expected them to return late, so when he heard the door click open, he looked up with alarm. Why were they back early? Was their venue horrible? Did the food suck? Something had to be wrong. Casually, he flipped the page of his issue of Scientific Weekly, but it didn't quite work; he was pretty sure his magazine was currently upside down. His voice even hiccuped as he tried to suavely ask, "So how'd your disaster of a date go?"

Jaime looked almost embarrassed. "I don't think it was---"

"Oh shush." Alex casually placed her finger over Jaime's lips. Smiling reassuringly at him, she turned her head towards Justin and shot him a look that could have sliced through his heart. "Our date went very well. Seriously? You automatically thought it was a bust?"

She pouted, fuming in her own self-induced misery for a few seconds. Then, without any warning whatsoever, she leaned forward and kissed Jaime goodnight. On the lips! He lingered for a second longer than necessary (a little too long, really), before heading to the balcony.

Jaime took a deep breath and flexed his hands. Before their very eyes, his clothes morphed into a skin-tight armor, covering his entire body, and a full-face mask that resembled the Mexican wrestlers Alex was so fond of. Shooting Alex a grin, he jumped up, allowing his beetle wings to flap, and disappeared into the Manhattan skyline.

Okay, so maybe it was kind of cool that Alex was dating a legitimate superhero. It was almost as if Jaime stepped out of the pages of a comic book, what with the monsters he fought and the people he saved. For that alone, he earned more brownie points than all of the other boyfriends. But did he have to show off like that? He could've just used the door like everyone else!

Justin rolled his eyes. "Could you ask him not to do that next time?"

"You thought it was cool." Alex folded her arms as she looked over at him. "So no, no I won't."

Justin heaved a huge sigh. "Fine. Then why'd you come home early? Juliet and I never come home early!"

"Sometimes," Alex retorted, turning on her heels and seizing his magazine, "We actually finish what we're doing before we have to. Is that a problem?"

"N-no, of course not..." Justin managed to squeak, watching in horror as Alex casually tossed his magazine against the wall. She yawned, heading to the staircase.

"Good," she said, sticking her tongue out before she scampered off. "Remember that next time!" In a rare moment of solemnity for Alex, she actually walked the rest of the way up, without magic or any timesaving shortcuts or anything! It felt almost unreal.



To his surprise, every single date afterwards became a next time. Alex gets called off to save the world? She walked through the door with seconds to spare before dinner - and she wasn't supposed to be back until midnight. Jaime and Alex spend the day at miniature golf? She's reading a magazine on the couch long before Justin comes back home from classes. Even when they took that stupid cooking class together, she's back ten minutes before she says she has to be.

Even if Jaime was a superhero, how could he pull something like that off? It infuriated Justin to no end. It bothered him on his way to classes; it bothered him while he listened to lectures; and it even bothered him after he headed home and released all of his pent-up frustration on the nearest training dummy. Or Max, if Max was being particularly stupid that day ("JUSTIN! WHAT THE CRAP?")

Dad and Mom, of course, fell in love with Jaime faster than they'd fallen in love with either Juliet or Talia. Justin'd fully expected a heated battle between Dad and Jaime, but their first meeting ended so well that Justin'd half-wondered if Jaime had some kind of magic up his sleeve.

Dad had come in ranting and raving up a storm, about how Jaime was interested only in Alex's body and how Jaime wasn't going to touch her unless he wanted to die---

But Jaime had looked so mortified that he'd simply squeaked, "I didn't even know that was possible."

That'd stopped Dad promptly in his tracks. "Then what did you plan to do with Alex?"

"I don't know," Jaime had shrugged. "Hang out? Watch a movie that I've been wanting to see? Enjoy some good food? Be friends before we end up becoming a couple?"

Mom was so impressed with his answer that she'd invited Jaime for dinner the following week. Jaime had accepted, but only on the condition that he'd tell his parents first - apparently in El Paso, it was Nacho Night. And Jaime never missed Nacho Night unless it was an extreme emergency.

Was there anything Jaime did wrong?

Justin wanted to scream. Surely this guy had to goof up somehow. It wasn't possible! Without that stupid scarab, Jaime was just a normal kid. No, he was more than normal: he was every mom's perfect boy. The one they'd always dreamed about, but had given up on raising because he just wouldn't come into being.

Then came last night. The instant a tall, insanely well-built supervillain had descended from the sky, people fled Waverly Place as fast as they could... all except Justin and Jaime. It felt odd, fighting alongside someone like the Blue Beetle, but Justin somehow managed to control his feelings long enough to grab his wand and unleash a whirlwind of elemental spells at their attackers.

Once he'd properly distracted them, the Blue Beetle - Jaime - then temporarily rendered them defenseless with a laser cannon. Or he tried to.

For some reason, that didn't work on the villain. He laughed hollowly and menacingly, wiping his tears from his face, before he flew high and lunged for the Blue Beetle. Somehow, against all odds, he succeeded. The Beetle fell to the ground; pinned to the floor, the hero could only squirm as his attacker attempted to land a few hits.

Wait, what?

Justin's eyes widened as he immediately pulled out his wand. "Don't you dare---"

The villain side-eyed Justin and immediately growled. A sudden whirlwind blew in Justin's face. It was all Justin could do to keep his aim steady as he kept eye contact with the jerk from outer space. "Blue! Get out of there!"

"Trying!" Blue gave the villain a swift kick in the gut before tossing him onto the ground. "Now I'm--"

"DUCK!" Justin yelled at the top of his lungs. Blue immediately flew out of the way. With that taken care of, Justin twirled his wand and narrowed his eyes as he glared at the scumbag with all of the hatred he could muster. "What you're doing is utter fail! Go, send this poor fool back to jail!"

The villain had no time to react or even protest the decision. Justin unleashed a teleportation spell; within seconds, the winds calmed and the debris settled in as the scene resumed some sense of normalcy.

Blue Beetle shot Justin a grateful smile as he descended to the ground. "And you didn't tell me you could use teleportation spells because...?"

"Because you're the hero, silly," Justin said, rolling his eyes. "I'm merely the back-up."

A small crowd had started to form on the edge of the street. Justin immediately tucked his wand in his sleeve and turned to face the Blue Beetle. With the loudest voice Justin could manage, he said awkwardly, "Gee Blue Beetle, I'm so glad you were there! Thanks for saving us!"

Blue Beetle couldn't hold his laughter in. "It was only my proper duty, fair citizen." Giving Justin an awkward, sloppy salute, he disappeared into the sky as the people slowly started to go about their daily activities. Justin heaved a sigh of relief. Okay, so maybe Jaime wasn't entirely perfect after all. Maybe Jaime had flaws too, just like everyone else, even if it wasn't immediately obvious from how he treated Justin's kid sister. Maybe Justin should be glad Jaime didn't have any evil intentions!

"And maybe Justin should stop talking to himself out loud," Jaime remarked wryly as he walked towards the older teen.

Oops. Justin laughed nervously, "You heard all of that?"

"Dude, if I'd known..." Jaime uneasily rubbed the back of his neck as the two started to walk down the rest of the block, back to the sub shop for the evening rush. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to be a good boyfriend for Alex."

Justin couldn't help the smile on his face as he leaned over and gave Jaime a one-armed hug. "I know. I should've respected that, but I got suspicious. So I guess I should say sorry too."

"Apology accepted," Jaime said cheerfully, allowing Justin the privilege of swinging his arm around Jaime's shoulder. Stopping just before the doors to the sub station, Jaime then gestured towards the door. "I guess I should bring her back late next time?"

"Oh god yes," Justin snorted, opening the door for them both. "And try to make it as late as possible."

"But then I'd be breaking my mom's curfew..."

Was this kid for real? Justin gave Jaime a side-eyed glance.

"What?" Jaime said, folding his arms. "It's a legitimate possibility."

Whatever they were feeding their kids in Texas, it was certainly working out. Justin tried to resist the urge to ruffle Jaime's hair, he really did! But he couldn't. Pulling Jaime in for a noogie, Justin said, "Fine, fine. But you two go have fun tonight on my behalf, okay? Stay as late as you need to - even if it means you can't break your mom's curfew."

"Justin?" Alex appeared at the foot of the spiral staircase. Folding her arms, she tapped her foot impatiently as she approached him. "What were you doing to poor Jaime?"

"Not at all," Jaime said as Justin let go. "In fact," He added, latching onto Alex's arm as they turned to leave. "We were just heading out, weren't we?"

He and Alex gave each other one of those sickeningly sweet Eskimo kisses, the kind that Justin wanted to comment on but couldn't because then he'd be a hypocrite.

"Yeah," Justin said, watching them leave. "You guys were."

The door slammed shut behind them. Justin lingered there for a while, until they were completely out of sight, before he stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed back upstairs. So maybe Alex did have the perfect boyfriend. In Justin's eyes, there was absolutely, positively nothing wrong with that anymore.