Now there were a lot of things to be scared of when it came to dealing with the Batman. Wally knew this even before he had ever met the Gotham vigilante or knew his secret.
To start with there was his very dark and very unnerving presence that caused the ginger hairs on the back of his neck to stand up and sent shivers down the young speedster's spine.
That was accompanied by the knowledge that this man could destroy you in a second without breaking a sweat or leaving a trace that you had even existed.
Then there was of course the legendary 'Batglare'. The single look that could make villains pee themselves and could sometimes even make other leaguers feel uneasy.
All of these things, along with many others. were absolutely terrifying, but none of them even compared to the pure terror that was induced by what Wally called 'The Daddy Batglare'/ Now this glare was much like the original batglare, but it was amplified because of the fact that it was being used out of concern for the Dark Knight's sidekick, Robin.
Wally knew first hand how terrifying this glare was because he had been on the receiving end of it for probably the past hour straight, and considering his speedster nature, that 60 minutes was beginning to feel like an eternity.
This all started when Wally had found out that his mentor/uncle was going to Gotham to discuss some league business with the Dark Knight himself. Seeing an opportunity presenting itself the ginger boy had literally begged his uncle to let him come with him so that Wally could meet Robin, the original sidekick. The kid was a legend, he trained beside Batman and became the first ever sidekick when he was only nine. He had paved the way for Wally to become Kid Flash. So now the redhead was dying to meet him so that he could befriend him. Not only to be able to know he was friends with Robin the Boy Wonder, but also so he had a friend that knew about this part of his life. Someone who he could really be himself with.
So after an entire day of pleading and his uncle getting permission from Batman, Wally was stepping into a Zetatube on his way to Gotham. His Uncle Barry had told him that they would need to Zeta directly into the Batcave so that Wally did not learn the location of it, saying that it would give away the identities (which the Flash already knew) of the two Gotham heroes.
By the time the two speedsters stepped into the infamous Batcave (which was true to its name considering the bats Wally could hear flapping around that only weirded him out slightly) the redhead was literally vibrating with excitement.
The freckled teen was also nervous, he fidgeted with the goggles perched on his head and adjusted his cowl as he contemplated on whether or not the Boy Wonder would like him. After all, this kid had been fighting crime for over a year, Wally had only been doing it for about a month.
As Kid Flash emerged into that secret lair his eyes were immediately drawn to the famous Dynamic Duo, who were standing in front of the Zeta platform, having been expecting the two Central City speedsters.
Batman was standing closest to the platform intimidatingly, the original batglare plastered on his face, extremely effective even with the dark cowl that hid his face. His protege stood only a few inches behind and next to him, in a much similar stance and with a glare that, though it looked somewhat strange coming from such a small face, was still extremely effective. The boy was shorter than Wally by about six inches, as was to be expected from someone who was two years younger. He wore dark, form-fitting pants and a tight red and black long sleeved top that had a yellow R on the left breast. The black sleeves of his shirt disappeared into black gloves with compartments on the wrists. He had a cape that was yellow on the inside and black on the outside as well as black shoes and a yellow utility belt wrapped around his small waist. The boy was tiny overall, but had very clearly defined muscles on his legs and arms. He had messy, pitch black hair and a domino mask that covered the top half of his face with white lenses to hide his eyes.
As Wally observed the younger sidekick, the dark haired boy was doing the same. Seemingly deciding whether or not he was going to attack the redhead or ask him to play with him. Clearly it was the latter as the boy suddenly smiled before jumping and disappearing into the cave.
The speedsters both looked around as a small cackle echoed through the the cave, Wally jumped when the Boy Wonder suddenly appeared behind him. Robin poked the redhead in the face before disappearing again.
This time, the cackle that echoed within the cave were accompanied by three words.
"Tag, you're it." Barry burst out laughing and Wally could practically feel the exasperated sigh and eyeroll from the Dark Knight.
A huge grin erupted across the runner's face as he gave chase after the stealthy boy.
"You're on! Challenging a speedster to a game of tag? You must be crazy Boy Blunder!" The Dark Knight stepped forward to end the nonsense until he was stopped by a red-gloved hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Let them be kids for a while Bruce." The speeding leaguer said quietly. Batman sighed and looked at the boy he had come to love as a son run around and laugh with the smaller speedster. He supposed that Robin would need a friend in this difficult hero life.
"I suppose you're right Allen."
And just like that, a friendship was born.
The two sidekicks looked a bit silly running and jumping around the batcave as Flash and Batman discussed important league business, though the scarlet speedster did it with barely contained laughter as the brooding leaguer's glare followed the yellow-clad speedster and his young partner run around his cave.
The boys continued their game for about an hour with intermittent conversations held between rounds. Robin had just dropped down from one of the higher levels of the cave, tagging the ginger boy in the shoulder before calling a timeout.
"Well, that's 13 for me and 10 for you KF." the dark haired boy laughed.
The older boy almost didn't even think about it before he pulled the goggles and cowl off of his head and replied,
"Wally. My name is Wally, well it's actually Wallace but that's kinda lame, so you can call me Wally. Wally West. It's cool if you can't tell me your name because of bat rules and stuff, but I just wanted to tell you because I feel like we're gonna be best friends." The words came out in a rush of words that should have been impossible for anyone but a speedster to be able to understand. But the Boy Wonder just smiled before taking off his right gauntlet glove and extended his hand to the freckled boy.
"My father always told me that there should never be anything between honest handshakes….. So, best friends?" the Gotham hero questioned. Wally nodded before removing his own right glove and reaching out to shake Robin's hand.
"Best frie-" but before he could even finish the word, Robin froze. His entire body stiffened and Wally could tell that his eyes had widened beneath his domino mask. Then a soft smile broke over the smaller boys face.
"You're it."
Robin's voice was calm, like he was stating a simple fact. The most obvious thing in the world.
The redhead raised an eyebrow.
"I'm it? Well yeah, I kinda figured that when you tagged me in the shoulder a minute ago…" but the ebony haired boy just continued to stare at Wally.
"You're it." The smile on his face grew wider into a full toothy grin as he continued excitedly,
"You're it!" He released the redhead's hand and pulled him into a tight embrace. wrapping arms around the older boy and nuzzling his face into his chest, continuing his chant of "You're it, you're it, you're it!"
Eventually he released the redhead from his grip and stepped back, reaching up to his own face, removing the domino mask. He looked up at the ginger speedster with the brightest blue eyes that Wally had ever seen and a smile that made the entire room seem dull.
Wally's own green eyes widened in shock as he realized what had just happened….
"I'm Richard. Richard Grayson, but my friends call me Dick. And we are definitely going to be best friends."