Title: Chronic Migraines

Rating: Uh, K+ because minors are lying to adults! Tsk tsk.

Summery: Wally was only twelve when he recreated the accident that gave him his powers, but what if he didn't recreate his Uncle's experiment perfectly? What if he came out with medical problems? Inspired by a prompt on YJ anon meme.

Pairing: Wally/Artemis

Prompted by this post on the YJ Anon Meme:
Everyone knows that Wally's Kid Flash because he idolized the Flash and replicated the experiment that turned him into a speedster to become one himself. Considering that he mostly tricked the formula out of Barry and no matter how smart he is, Wally was like 12 years old when he did it, what if he got parts of the chemical compound wrong? What if he is super fast, but it comes at a cost, healthwise? Because bad things can happen when you mess around with your body chemistry like Wally did, without knowing all the consequences. Things like chronic pain, migraines, memory loss, acute sensitivity, seizures, hallucinations, and the like.
What is the cost for getting what you wish for?

It always started with the throbbing behind his right eye. That was the first sign of one of his crippling migraines, and it was a very bad sign when he was in the middle of a battle.

Crap, crap, crap, I can't deal with this right now, Wally thought feeling the answering throb behind his other eye as he swung one of the bad guys around, causing him to spin off into a wonderfully placed patch of poison ivy.

It only happened when he had pushed himself too far, and he should have known better. He had been training with Uncle Barry when there was a call, and right after locking up the rogues terrorizing the city, he was called for a mission with the team. And the added stress of running for close to seven hours was taking it's toll.

But letting the team know, or god forbid, Barry was completely impossible. It would mean letting them know that he messed up, and that they might know he didn't recreate Barry's experiment perfectly, and completely screwed up.

He glanced around and took stock of the situation. The battle was slowing down, and his friends were handling it. So he ran, as fast as he could, but his body was already slowing, preparing to shut down into the tiny little hole where his migraines took hold. He stumbled in through the cave and ended up collapsing on he floor of his room, vaguely hearing the door slide close behind him as he curled up into ball and let the pain take hold.

The door hissing open made him moan.

"Wally, what the hell? You just totally ran off on us- Wally?" He was aware of a small, warm hand touching his shoulder and deftly rolling him over and on to his back. He opened his eyes only to shut them against the bright light.

"Wally?" the hand slapped the side of his face, once and then twice. He grimaced a he realized who had found him. Artemis. Great.

"Stay right here, I am going to go grab Red Tornado an-" Wally grabbed her wrist before she could stand up.

"No." He squinted at her. "Turn off the light, please." She pulled her hand away from his slowly before he heard the click of the light switch and opened his eye again. Artemis sat down so her back was resting against the door and she was facing him.

Wally looked around, noting that it wasn't his room, but Artemis's he had crashed in. His head was throbbing and it felt like his brain was too big for his skull. And it was going to squeeze out of his skull and pop all over the place. He squeezed his eyes closed again and groaned. But instead of the arguments or threats or he had expected from Artemis, there was only a hand stroking his head softly and he allowed himself to return to the half doze of pain he had been doing before.

By the time the pain finally subsided, and he was able to open his eyes again, he could tell time had passed again, and instead of the hard floor his head was resting on a soft but firm surface. When his eyes opened, he could see the dark outline of what appeared to be a knee? He rolled over to look up and met Artemis' eyes.

"Hey." she said quietly, "You feeling any better?"

Wally looked at her silently for moment before answering, "I guess." His voice was just as quiet.

"Migraine?" He noticed that her hand was still stroking the top of his head and he didn't know what to do. This wasn't what he expected from Artemis. He expected arguments and slightly crazy conversations, not the gentle comfort she was offering. He sat up slowly, and moved so he could lean against the side of the bed, their knees bumping. They sat in silence for a few moments before he broke it.

"I get them when I push myself too hard, no one knows and I don't want them too, okay?"

"Flash doesn't know?"

"No," He grabbed her arm, "and he can't know, okay?"

"What?" She looked surprised, "But isn't he your Uncle? I mean, it's not like he's going to get mad, it's medical and mayb-"

"No, Artemis. Okay, I – just. No." Wally released her arm and rubbed his temples. The pain wasn't as bad, but his brain still wasn't working right. He couldn't think of the words to make this go away – make Artemis not say anything. "Please, just please don't tell anyone, okay?" He met her eyes and he saw compassion there.

"Look, I'll make you the promise if you promise me you'll tell me when they start, alright?" She said after a moment of thought.

"Why?"

"Because my mom's get pretty bad, too." Artemis looked away, so he couldn't see his face. "from the – the injury, that put her in the wheelchair."

He nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him right now and they sat in one of the first comfortable silences they had ever shared.

Hey, this is just a little bit of mental spit-up from the last push of NANOWRIMO. I felt like I needed a little Spitfire in my life. Anyway, PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!