runningstart | MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

WALLY WEST
"You've reached the personal voice mail of the Wall-man. The honor is yours! Leave your deets, I'll holla back atcha."
[ BEEP. ]

KID FLASH
"This is the contact for Kid Flash. If it's an emergency, call Robin; he'll know where I am. Otherwise, leave your info and I'll get you back ASAP."
[ BEEP. ]

[ voice | text | email | action ]

( Please specify in tag subject line if the contact is for Wally West or Kid Flash! )

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Wally West, you stop reminding Bart about how distanced he is from your death back home compared to how he is here. You stop that this instant.]

i know u dont like alternate uses but if that ever does happen can u get to know me again?
i mean it wont happen probably ppl whove been here as long as we have tend to not go home as much right?

but in case it does i really

i like the family we have here id never wanna lose it

dude when u say it like that it makes me sound like a jerk

i dont hate alternates or anything [he sorta does]

look just do what you gotta and then meet me back home i wanna smack you around for making me worry [which everyone knows is tough guy code for "hug you forever but plus also smack you around"]

Edited 2015-07-14 18:27 (UTC)

look

dont freak out about it ok
ppl who have been here longer have more staying power like even if they do go for a little while they tend to come back

Okay.

You'll let me know if they come back, right?
Impulse and your friend.
Just so I know you're okay?

I kind of wish I went into universal theory instead of industrial design.
It'd be really useful now.

i dunno if theres enough theory in the universe to explain this mess

ill let you know if they come back

Thanks

[And a minute or two later:]

And Kid?
It's an open invitation. Not just for now, but whenever
If you need someone to sit and listen
Or someone to just run with if you'd rather have quiet for awhile
even if it's in the middle of the night

yknow ur pretty mushy when u wanna be

that soft gooey center isnt so far down after all
or am i just special

well you are kinda a jerk

[And his brother. And his hero.]

ill text u on my way back but it all depends on how long gramps takes

[Barry can kind of be a hug monster, after all.]

WHAT THE HELL

IM PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE TO BARRY??!?!

NO

ILL PLAY SECOND FIDDLE TO UR MENTAL HEALTH BUT NOT BARRY
GET OVER HERE

dude its only cause he put off seeing anyone for like a day when he came back i didnt wanna do that to him too

[Someone has to break the Allen sulking curse.]

uggghhhhh its not easy to run that many states yknow

[But he's already pulling up a map on his phone just to point himself in the right direction. He... really shouldn't give in and see Wally now. But maybe if it's quick... If it's just a fast hug before he bolts to El Paso for a while and gets his head on straight--

Maybe then Wally won't be able to see just how bitter Bart is about the Porter deciding to mess with their lives again.]

I regret everything

I take it back, Beta Flash.
You're on your own now.

aww cmon

ok ok im sorry u arent mushy you are just the right consistency

fine ill go to you are you in jackson still

[ Two weeks. He'd been gone for two weeks. Only about half that time, back home, and so much had happened — and it's disorienting, being back, remembering all the things he'd completely forgotten back home. A year of his life, just... missing, just like that. It's enough to drive a guy crazy. But slightly more pressing than that, and definitely more pressing than all the things he'd known about but only just now gotten to live through, is the thought that he has a lot of "sorry I disappeared" calls to make. And Wally's probably been pretty lonely.

Dick really hopes he didn't do anything stupid. They're both over that now, right? ... Please?

Well, he supposes he's going to find out one way or another, because when Wally arrives the cave after his day at work, Robin, always one to appreciate the value of a good entrance, drops down from his perch on an overhead support beam and lands in front of Wally with a grin. ]

Hey. [ He spreads his arms wide in a gesture that either means "ta-daaaa" or "hug me." Or possibly both. ] Miss me?

[Today has been a shitty day.

Well, the past month has been shitty. The daily checks at the state lines have been wrecking his nerves and pressuring him to do probably exactly what they want him to do, which is register. Bart disappeared. He has had fight after draining emotional fight with Jaime that Wally only knew to fix by suggesting they do something he really doesn't like doing. Robin disappeared. Tadashi knows he's gonna die. M'gann is clearly lonely without her Superboy and neither of them know how to run a team that really isn't even here.

Bart came back, the first bit of good news in weeks, but he's tired and angry and Wally doesn't know if he should leave him alone or pressure him. Wally's hit a wall with the thermal gel development and Mr. Stark will be expecting an update by the end of the week. He needs to figure out if he can test into senior year or if he'll have to be the oldest smart kid in class, AGAIN, because it looks like he might want to stay here and that means a whole bunch of new responsibilities dumped onto him.

And despite the surprising number of people who want to make sure he's okay and happy, Wally still feels like he's very, very much alone. Robin's desk is so empty. His half of the room is still untouched. It's been two weeks.

He might not be coming back.

That thought is weighing particularly heavily on Wally's mind when he gets in and slides his backpack off a shoulder. It's still in his head when someone drops from the rafters in front of him suddenly enough to make him shriek and wrench up his backpack like he's gonna club the intruder with it. That thought stubbornly refuses to leave even when he hears that voice and it takes a few seconds to convince himself otherwise, which is an embarrassing amount of time for a SPEEDSTER to take to think of anything.

And then.

Y'know that speedster tackle thing Bart does when he wants to hug, Robin? Yeah, you're getting that from a ginger almost three inches taller and twenty-five pounds heavier than when you last saw him. Brace yourself.]

damn straight

if it gets around that I was mushy I'd never be taken seriously
I've got an image to maintain

[ If Wally were a supervillain (JUST IMAGINE!), Robin would have dodged that, no problem. There are at least ten easy ways to totally avoid a tackle like that, and with a sassy quip, besides. But it's just Wally, and Robin's so overwhelmingly happy to see him even if he just saw him back home, because that's the way they are.

So when Wally speedster-tacklehugs him, Dick yelps, and laughs, and wraps his arms around Wally in the biggest, most ridiculous hug he can possibly manage. He's all off-balance, stumbling back a little with the surprising weight of his best friend, and for a second he's not sure if they're both gonna go down and hit the floor and he'll be crushed under a clingy speedster. Whatever. He'll live. ]

Dude! I know, I know, I'm sorry!

[ And he honestly is, even if he's laughing. ]

Then stop laughing dude-! [Wally tries to throw that out like a joke and he mostly succeeds, but he's done trying to hide how hurt he's been. Enough already.

He wraps his arms around his somewhat-larger-but-still-a-midget best friend and just picks him right up so his feet are dangling a few inches off the ground, clutching him tight. It's kind of weird; he feels like...like when someone is looking at something so big they can't comprehend the whole picture. That's how he feels.

He gets it now. Why Robin had clung to him when HE got back from being gone two weeks. God and he'd just joked about it but he was so stupid. Robin hadn't been overreacting at all. Wally's not going to let go for DAYS.]

i know right could u imagine ppl might start assuming u have FEELINGS

ugh, feelings. I'm allergic to those you know
my street cred would be ruined

'msorry, [ Robin says, and it comes out muffled because Wally's squeezing him tight and his mouth is pressed against his shoulder and his cheek's a little squished. He wiggles his toes in midair, but he's not in any hurry to be put down. It's okay. He can cling right back. He gets it. And even if he didn't, he'd— he'd probably still be okay with it. ]

Why are you still so much taller than me?

Because you, tragically, are a short stack and you're gonna be that way all your life. [You'd better, anyway. So he can carry you. 'Cause you're here now and he's gonna live and heck maybe Robin will stick around here while Wally lives out his sixty years (if he figures that out) before they go back and save the world one last time.

Or Robin continues saving the world. Wally just...quits. Hell, maybe the reason why he quits the team is he vaguely remembers that putting on the uniform gets him dead.

SHIT. Okay. Hurry up and cheer up Wallace, your best friend is back and you're gonna freak him out. Wally finally puts Robin down so he can push his cowl back and free his sweaty hair.] Dude. [He sniffs and scrubs his hands through his hair to try and give himself something to do, distract from that rapid downward spiral of "shit now he might find out" and "I'd rather he be here" and "will he stay if I ask him" and whatever else.] Did you just show up? How long were you back home?

[ It's obvious (to Dick, at least) that Wally isn't totally okay. There's a shadow in his eyes when he pushes back his cowl, even if he's trying not to let it show, and Dick wonders if there's more to it than just him. He'd scanned the news reports when he'd gotten back, to see if he'd missed anything big, another Bulgaria, but... nothing.

That doesn't mean Wally didn't have his own stuff to deal with, though. ]

About a week? I see what you meant about New Years, by the way. Wow.

[ Which could, and does, mean so many things. He'll just... let that lie, maybe. ]

And yeah. Just got here. Wanted to bug you first.

[ Because you're special, okay? ]

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