runningstart | MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

I thought I saw him on the ship. I figure if I managed to see him, then you definitely did and since you didn't text me with GUESS WHAT or something else excited, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume it's because you talking to him wasn't a good thing.

It wasn't... the worst thing.

That's not saying much. [You've kind of experienced a lot of 'worst things.']

He was... nice. I mean, it can't have been easy for him, either, and he could have just turned me away, but he didn't, so...

You're allowed to be upset, Dick.

...

It's not fair. He was so nice. But it's not fair.

I'm sorry, dude. [Wally knows if either of his own parents -or Barry, or Iris- showed up and didn't remember who he was, he'd- well. It'd be rough.]

I don't know what to do. I should be happy to see him. I am, I guess, but I just —

I don't know.

Yeah.

...what'd he say to you?

[ Some of it's too personal to talk about. Some of it, he's still not sure what to think. ]

... A lot of things. He wants to get to know me again. But he also... he wants to test me. Us. To see if we can actually work together.

Okay. I guess that's...fair. [tryin real hard not to be biased here, for your sake dude] But at least he wants to get to know you again, so he's probably chill with the idea of having a sidekick. [If not a son.]

Yeah.

[ He bites the inside of his cheek, quiet for a long moment. ]

... Maybe I should just lay low for a while, you know? Go somewhere. Give him time to adjust.

Uh no. No need to go somewhere. If you wanna like...give him space or something, sure, whatever, but you don't need to go anywhere. [please do not go anywhere]

Not, like, forever, just... for a while.

[ But where would he even go? Wherever "home" is, it doesn't exist here. ]

Okay. Wellll...then I'll go with you. We'll roadtrip or something.

Hah. Right. With our no car, and our sweet minimun wage job money...?

[ Like Dick has a plan. But — in his head, anyway — he'd last longer on his own than Wally would. ]

I get over minimum wage, thank you. [barely] Besides, we're two superhero teenagers, I bet we could find a way to make it work. I could run us everywhere, so as long as we stock up on like, protein bars and energy drinks I'm good to go. [it would be horrible] We could go down to that circus town you like so much. Or wherever you wanna go.

Wherever I wanna go, huh? [ A quiet, halfhearted chuckle. ] Jeez, KF, you make it sound so glamorous.

[ And then Dick shuts up for a moment, just so Wally can't hear the soft little tremor threatening to make its way into his voice. His throat aches again. There ought to be some way to shut down the part of him that feels things this deeply, because it's so inefficient. ]

[...click]

[Wally throws open Dick's bedroom door a few minutes later. He'd been out of the house for the call, but he'd raced back and shoved a few things into the backpack slung over one shoulder.

He grabs Robin's jacket from the back of his desk chair and tosses it in his direction.]

We're going for a run, c'mon.

[ Dick's in the middle of packing an emergency escape kit — not because he's going to use it, but because he might need to, and being prepared helps calm him down (or at least that's what he's telling himself).

He catches the jacket on instinct, but looks wide-eyed at Wally. His face is a little puffy around the edges, but if neither of them says anything, it didn't happen, right? ]

... okay.

[ He doesn't even ask where to. ]

[Wally slips on the other strap of his backpack as Dick puts on his jacket and the second it's zipped up Wally's scooping Robin into his arms. Robin usually rides piggy-back, has told Wally numerous times that he hates being carried like this but Wally's got his backpack on and he's in a hurry.

They're out the door and down the street in a matter of seconds.

The world blurs by and Wally's brain speeds up accordingly, and the unfortunate side-effect of that is that he also thinks about things faster so he goes through the fight he'd had with Artemis, remembers Superboy's overturned bedroom, running on water, Dick's evasion on the ship, spotting Bruce Wayne and meeting Alfred Pennyworth, Shade's interest in him, Power Girl coming back, the past month and a half being away from home and the look on his Aunt Iris's face when he was in the hospital years ago-

Dick's bloodshot eyes behind his sunglasses as he shoves a toothbrush still in its packaging in a little duffel bag.

It's only been twenty minutes but they're already in Georgia. Wally slows down as the road curves up into the mountains. Way too fast with a passenger.]

Sorry. Hey, are you okay? [Meaning he didn't give Robin severe motion sickness or anything.]

[ Dick thinks about protesting when Wally scoops him up, but of all the things to rail against, the indignity of being carried like a damsel in distress doesn't even make his list today. He wonders where Wally's taking him, or if it even matters. Whether Wally's just worried about him, or if maybe he needs to pretend he's running away for a while, too.

The wind whips through his hair and chills his skin, and his ears are too cold and the whole world's streaking by too fast and everything's too much, and he's just — he's overwhelmed, and that's him admitting it, at least to himself, for the first time. So he shuts his eyes tight and turns his cheek against Wally's shoulder and counts his ridiculous hummingbird pulse until Bruce and the circus and his broken team and everything else on his mind fades into a distant background hum.

He's either half-dozing or just meditative when Wally's words jolt him out of it, and he feels them slow down. He opens his eyes to hills he doesn't recognize, and then a little bit of the nausea hits him. He turns his face up to Wally's. ]

... Where are we?

Just passed through Ashburn, Georgia. [Wally keeps his pace around sixty miles per hour. They're in hilly country, just a few more miles north and they'll hit mountains which would be a nice change from the sticky hot humidity of central Florida or the salt of the beaches.]

[ Sixty is manageable. Eyes on the horizon, Dick takes a few deep breaths, motion sickness fading. ]

Georgia. Okay.

... You were serious about that run.

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

voice

action

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject