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! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well. [Wally rubs a hand over his own face.] I didn't exactly make it easy on you either. So.

Honestly? There's no way it was going to be easy on me. And I don't know what I would've done in your position. Maybe the same thing.

[ He wishes it had been him. Wally wants a future. College. Kids. Robin's never let himself want any of those things. If throwing himself fully into this life means that other people get their happy endings, that's enough.

Maybe he's too much like Bruce after all. ]

... Look, Wally. If you just need to— to be upset? Without worrying about me or anyone else, or trying to think about other people first? You can do that. I mean, if it were me, I'd be messed up. Probably punch things until my knuckles were bruised and try not to cry.

I know we're gonna fix it, but I'm still pretty shaken up about this happening in any reality. It's okay if you are too.

[There's something different about the way Robin tries to pull something out of Wally. Something different in how Jaime does it, how his parents or Barry used to do it. Not that he's more sincere about his intentions or anything like that, but-

Maybe it's more because Wally knows it's hard for him to do this. Robin talks about relating to his feelings because he's opening himself up to criticism first. And while Wally doesn't make it a habit to criticize Robin for opening up, he knows Bruce makes it hard for Robin to do so. It's more work for himself to get Wally to talk than it is for him not to.

There's still a problem though.]

Dude, if I let myself freak out now- [Wally takes a deep breath, leaning his chair back onto two legs and keeping his hands over his face,] If I do it now I'll probably never stop freaking out. And I gotta concentrate. There's too much riding on it. [He'll freak out when it's over. He won't let himself consider failure either, because that's how Wally has to deal with his problems; charging headfirst at them like he's trying to smash down a wall. Losing that momentum just to let himself be afraid- no, that's the scariest thing he can imagine. That's the worst. If he lets himself stop, he might not be able to start again.]

[ Dick wants to reach out, take Wally by the wrists and pull his hands away from his face, look him in the eyes and tell him it's okay if you're scared, I'm scared too, it's okay to be scared if we're scared together. His fingers tense and twitch, and he worries at his lip with his teeth.

This isn't supposed to happen. He isn't supposed to be grieving for a friend who's right in front of him. How can anyone possibly know how to handle this?

He wants to be strong for Wally. He wants permission to not be okay. He can't have both. ]

Okay.

[ He steps forward, reaches out, sets his hand lightly on Wally's shoulder. ]

Just... please don't try to do this alone.

I get it, [Wally says with a tinge of annoyance, but even though his shoulder bunches beneath Robin's hand he doesn't pull away.] I get it now, dude. I'm not gonna. Let's not drag this out. [It's uncharitable, he knows, but this entire talk has treaded all over his emotional boundaries and, while not as rigid as Robin's, Wally usually avoids approaching them with a lot more success. It helps that he's mastered the joke deflection technique, but...can't really joke about this. Not yet, anyway.]

[ Robin nods. He gets it. ]

Okay. Subject dropped.

[ He squeezes Wally's shoulder once before backing off. But... ]

... I'm gonna get some ice cream from the fridge and finish my homework. Mind if I bring it in here? I could use another pair of eyes on my AP chem.