runningstart | MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

[It's weird, having food with Wally. It sort of forced Bart to break his normal food pacing, forces him past a lifetime of his body readjusting itself to survive on what was available. He forgets, for a moment, about rations and stretching out a single meal to last days and days, even with his increased metabolism.

He loses himself in warmth and family, in grinning at Wally and trying all his recommendations, eating and eating and providing his body with more energy and fuel than it's ever gotten in one sitting.

By the end of it, he's full. Full for probably the first time in his life. But more than that he's relaxed, he's grinning easily, his fingers drumming against his leg at superspeed. It's like all the weight of the last few days has just melted away, and the world is back to blue skies and clean water instead of dark and ash.]

Stressed? Dude, this place is crash compared to back home there's nothing to be stressed about but yeah sure can do. [There's a moment of hesitation before Bart's up and hitting Wally in a hug. It's maybe a little tighter than the ones he normally gives, a little more heartfelt.

Just saying thanks again doesn't seem like enough.]

[When Robin mentions his uncle Wally's arms tighten a bit. He's still telling himself that it doesn't count, because Bart saved him. Barry doesn't die.]

Yeah, dude. [Wally pats him on the back, though his brow furrows and his gaze is fixed on the floor.] We're gonna be fine.

no thats just the cologne i put on to drown out the smell of your breath

Yeah, look, don't let what Red says get you down. He's kind of an uptight guy.

Edited (I FORGOT THEY TOLD HIM THIS ALREADY) 2014-09-09 06:04 (UTC)

Wally.

[ Dick pulls back by inches, though he keeps his arms around Wally, that one last thing he can't rationalize away still in the back of his head. Not active with the team. But that can't be true, either. Can it? Could this stuff get to him so much he decides it's not worth it anymore? He has a family. He has a future outside of all this. Dick knows it means the world to Wally, that he lives for this stuff, that Kid Flash is everything he wants to be, but— the game has changed. There's no denying that.

His hands slide around to grip Wally's shoulders, and Dick looks up at him in the dark. ]

I promise.

Oof, [Wally wheezes when Bart collides with his chest, though he's starting to get used to it. He barely even staggered this time.

He's also wrapping his arms around Bart instead of doing that awkward hovering thing. Wally's never been weird about hugs among friends and family; he and his parents hug (hugged) practically every day. Barry was always wrapping Wally up in headlocks and messing up his hair, Iris would always hug Wally and complain loudly about how he was getting too tall. Wally would always sling his arms over his friend's shoulders, grab their hands, jump on their backs and let them jump onto his, throw his legs over their laps as they lazed on the couch. Wally's a pretty physical person.

Maybe Bart got that from his side of the family. It's nice to think about.

So Wally squeezes Bart back as he buries his face against Wally's chest -which Wally always found odd, it's such a childish gesture but it makes so much sense now- before letting him go and ruffling his hair again. It hurts, and he's so homesick for his uncle, his aunt, his parents, but at least he's got Bart. It's about time he stopped looking for someone to take care of him, anyway. It's his turn to look after someone else.]

Show me what you're making sometime, dude. [But for now he's got work, and then patrol. Maybe he'll ask Bart on patrol some time next week, too.]

You have no idea...

[But she kind of doesn't have the heart to talk shit about Roy right now, even though she doubts he'll ever be her favorite person, clone or no clone.]

It was my dad's fault, really. He put the idea in his head.

[It's a weird mix of utter shame and relief to be able to refer to Sportsmaster as her dad.]

[Wally only manages to make it a few seconds before his eyes slide down and away from Robin's, head bowing. He nods at least. Yeah. It'll be okay. It has to be okay.]

spoilers its ur breath

KF. Look at me.

[ Dick squeezes Wally's shoulders, hands sliding down to grip his upper arms, his voice quiet but sharp. ]

god u r just such a kid

Wait, wait wait. You're telling me Red Arrow started a witch hunt because Sportsmaster suggested it to him? [Roy doesn't even really believe everything his friends tell him.]

[It takes him a few seconds, but Wally finally manages to drag his eyes up to meet Robin's.] I just don't want anything to happen to him, [he murmurs, and he's not sure why he's bothering to tell Robin that, of course he knows that. And nothing's going to happen to Barry anyway; Bart said he stopped it from happening.]

I know, hey. It's gonna be all right. He's gonna live to be a hundred years old and he'll still be making those cheesy dad jokes, dude.

[ He lets out a breath, taking Wally's hands in his, fingers curled around the sides of his palms. He'll always be an aerialist at heart, and two clasped hands will always mean safety: I've got you. ]

... You guys care about each other so much. And I know he worries about you, too. So even if nothing's gonna happen — you're allowed to not be okay. Considering the circumstances.

What circumstances? [Robin is doing that hand thing he does so Wally must look pretty wrecked over this, but he doesn't have a good excuse for it.] None of it actually happens to my Uncle B. Bart stops him from being killed, and I don't even exist in CK's world. Or I'm not a superhero there. I mean, what do I have to be freaked out about? [None of that stops Wally's voice from getting louder and more frantic as he goes.]

Wait, what about CK? [ He cocks his head, holding Wally's hands a little tighter. ] Did she say something about this, too?

[That at least snaps Wally out of his rut and he draws up a little, brow furrowing.] She- I thought you said she told you what happened to the heroes.

She told me what happens to Batman. And— the Robin who comes after me, she told me about him, but—

... I didn't ask about the others.

Oh.

[The Robin after him, huh? Funny...why didn't Wally ask about him?

He looks away from Robin again and swallows. Pulls his hands back so he can just...wring them, crack his knuckles, something. Anything to distract himself.]

She said he...was too useful. To just kill or throw in jail. So they're keeping him somewhere on the west coast and- and using him. As a power generator.

[ That just means he's sidling up to Wally as he talks, because the last thing Robin wants is to lose a point of contact. At least he knows Wally won't begrudge him a bit of clinginess right now. ]

... oh my god.

[Wally nods morosely. His hands clench into fists atop his knees and he seems to blurt out the next part, just barely allowing it to fall past his teeth.] That's not- that's not even the worst part. That it's happening, that someone's doing that to him and there's not even anything I can do about it, 'cause it's not even my world and I- I don't exist there, so there's nobody to care-

But- I- Rob the worst thing is that I can't stop thinking how. [Wally's breath shudders when he draws it in and his hands start to shake.] That's sick- that's sick, right? Completely, totally sick, that in some other dimension someone's doing that to him and I keep wondering how they're doing it, how it's possible. Are they making him run? Vibrate? Maybe they're just collecting the kinetic runoff from molecular acceleration, making him go nuclear, and I can't stop wondering how that would work and I'm just- he's being held prisoner and probably tortured and I keep thinking about that- [He shoves the heel of his palm against his gritted teeth, fingers curled over, eyes wide and fixed on a far point of the wall as his shoulders jump and shake and his expression crumples.]

Edited 2014-09-10 06:52 (UTC)

[ Dick wraps an arm around him again, resting his cheek against Wally's shoulder. God, it makes his stomach sick to see Wally like this, shaking and miserable and hurt. If someone out there wanted to torture Robin, all they'd have to do is show him this and hold him back. ]

Wally, hey. Dude, there's— there's nothing wrong with you.

[ He rubs circles on Wally's back in a way he hopes is actually comforting. He doesn't know — he doesn't do this for anyone, and no one does it for him, but it used to help, once. He wonders if this is what's getting to Wally, or if this, awful as it is, is just one thing out of a dozen, and the dam's finally burst.

This would be so much easier with something to fight. ]

It's... complicated.

[Quick, need a distraction.]

So, um... how's Virginia?

[Not too shabby, Crock. Didn't even mention ninjas once.]

no u

[For almost all of Bart's life he'd lived with absolutely zero physical contact. At least, no nice physical contact. He has memories - old and fleeting, more dreams than actual fact - of a time when his mother held him at night. Of his father picking him up and tossing him in the air. Of Aunt Dawn kissing his forehead and telling him to stay put, to stay quiet, to hide and not move, no matter what he heard or how much he wanted to.

But for so long the only physical contact he'd had was bodies huddled together in winter, desperately trying to stay warm despite the lack of shelter, supplies, meat and fat on their bodies to help insulate themselves. So when he'd come to 2016, when he'd seen his grandfather, grandmother, the Garricks, Wally... he'd hugged them. He'd run over and lost himself in the selfish feeling of safety and those fleeting memories of a time when a hand on his shoulder meant support and not the countdown of seconds between tasting ash and having to scramble out of the way of the blast of a gun.

And it has... just gotten worse since then.

It's like every time Bart slings an arm around someone, every time he hugs them, every time he takes advantage of a slung out limb and his speed, to suddenly duck under and into a one-armed hug for literally no reason- he's overwriting his past. He's replacing memories that have his stomach feeling empty and his mind screeching to a halt with things that energize, that bring life and joy and make him forget that the personality everyone knew was nothing more than a necessary act.

So, he does it a lot. And the more he hugs Wally without his cousin grabbing his shoulders and moving him back - the operative word being removed - the more it helps some tensed up part of him relax. The more it lets him feel okay about being so caught up in the Bart Allen he's always wished he could be.]

Yeah. [He pulls back, grinning so much easier than he had been just a few minutes ago.] Maybe when its done.

[And before Wally leaves, Bart says thanks again, even if it still sounds a little awkward, like he doesn't quite think its enough but that's alright.

Because he's less tired, he's full, and now he can pull his junk out of his closet and start really working on a way to say thank you beyond an arrangement of eight letters.]

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