[Earth's Thermosphere
February 10, 18:20 EST
Team Year One]
"Hey, Flash, your feet aren't cold are they?"
Barry snapped out of his internal musings and hurled a glare at Hal, who was doing a terrible job at keeping the shit-eating grin off his face. His hands clenched tightly around his uniform's boots, and he contemplated chucking one right at Hal's head. It would be very satisfying, of that Barry was positive, but it would also probably rebound onto the ring construct and cancel it out. Barry didn't really want to die out in the middle of space, so he dismissed the thought.
A Green Lantern's only weakness was the color yellow. It was the color of fear, the opposite of a Green Lantern's power of will, and it had the ability to cancel out or weaken even the strongest ring construct.
Barry's Flash boots were very yellow. As a result, he had to take them off and carry them whenever Hal transported him across galaxies. Hal found this extremely hilarious.
Barry did not.
"What the hell are you laughing for?" he shot back at his closest friend. "You're the one with the lamest weakness ever."
Beside him, Wonder Woman cracked a smile and turned her head away to hide her muted giggles.
Hal snorted derisively, "Like you can talk. You're the human garbage disposal. It's not my fault that you picked yellow and red for your costume."
"Oh, I'm so sorry that I didn't create my uniform with you in mind," Barry rolled his eyes and smiled. He muttered under his breath, "Narcissist…"
Hal didn't deny it. He winked at Diana, who was still failing to control her laughter, "Well, you should have."
"I didn't even know you then," he elbowed Hal in the ribs. "But if I had, I'd have made the whole suit yellow."
"Then, you'd look like Professor Zoom," Diana said wryly.
Barry felt an involuntary shiver rip up his spine and, immediately, Professor Zoom's murderous red eyes bored into his mind. He shook off the memories of all their violent battles and forced a relaxed laugh, "True. Nevermind."
"I like you and Wally lookin' like ketchup and mustard," Hal snickered. "It suits you both."
"You look like a moldy green bean."
Hal sputtered indignantly then, making Barry burst out laughing, "These are the corps colors. How dare you!"
Diana sighed pleasantly, "Now I know why you two couldn't find anyone else to go on this 'space adventure' with you."
"It's not a 'space adventure'," Hal protested teasingly. Barry decided not to comment on the fact that those were the exact words that Hal had used when he pitched the trip to him. "This was serious corps business. Katma needed help with Sinestro."
"Shouldn't this have been a mission for John?" Diana asked curiously, referencing to Hal's backup on Earth.
"Normally, yes," Hal shrugged and then suddenly got a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "Rumor is though, that John and Katma are…you know…"
He trailed off suggestively and waggled his eyebrows like a villain. For some reason, Hal always expected everyone else in the League to be up to date with the latest Lantern gossip – as if Barry could just phone up Kilowog and ask how sector 674 was treating him.
"What are you, twelve?" Barry laughed.
"No," Hal rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the rumor is enough to keep them off missions together."
"I'm happy for him," Diana said. "You should think about settling down, Hal."
Barry let out a loud, barking laugh, "I've been telling him that for years, Di."
"I'll settle down when you do, Princess," Hal gave a long-suffering sigh. Diana made a face at the thought of herself being tied to 'some man'.
Barry grinned easily at them both, unable to understand what made them think that marriage was so terrible. He'd always been a family kind of man.
In the distance, a small dot appeared amongst the stars, and all three of them sighed in relief. The Watchtower grew larger and larger as Hal flew them closer.
"I'm ready for a hot shower," Diana groaned tiredly, rubbing her aching shoulders. Barry felt his own leaden limbs protesting all movement and had to agree. This mission had been pretty rough. Sinestro was back to his old game of 'take over my home world' again. It was exhausting.
"I'm going to book it home, eat a quick snack, and then pass out for a few hours," Barry planned out the rest of his night with a contemplative look.
Hal laughed once, "A 'snack' for you is twice your body weight. And since when do you nap? You starting to get old, buddy?"
"You're only two years younger than me," Barry zipped over and jabbed Hal in the chest. "Better be careful who you're calling old."
Diana shook her head at their antics, as she was easily much older than both of them combined, and pressed the communicator in her ear, "Wonder Woman to Watchtower. We are on approach. Please open the Javelin bay doors."
Barry couldn't hear the reply, but he watched the airlock door slowly lifting much sooner than normal. It usually took a few minutes to ready the doors. That meant someone had been watching for them. Weird.
He just hoped that there hadn't been some kind of global crisis while they were gone. In hindsight, it probably hadn't been a good idea to pull three of the League's heavy hitters off planet for two days. Barry just didn't have the energy for anything right now. He was so low on energy.
Hal guided them safely into the airlock and waited until the steel doors were sealed shut again and the room vented with oxygen before releasing them from the green orb. Barry landed easily and tugged his boots back on. The opposite doors lifted with a hiss and the pained groaning of metal gears.
Barry was just getting ready to bid Hal and Diana a good night and zip off to the zeta tubes when he spotted Superman standing about twenty feet away. He was clearly waiting for them. Great. He looked pale and sick, like he would rather be anywhere else in the universe but here.
"Clark?" Diana called worriedly. She took a few steps towards him, "Are you alright?"
Barry suddenly noticed that the hangar was completely empty of people, even the various technicians they had to hire over the years to keep the satellite running 24/7.
Clark waved away her concern and stared past her directly at Barry. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Barry stared back silently, feeling the air grow thick and the atmosphere tense.
"Flash…" he tried again, and his voice was colder than the dead.
Barry felt his body break out in a nervous hum. He felt like the room was slowly filling up with water, and he was losing his bearings on what was up and what was down.
"Barry," Clark said again, more to steady himself than to get Barry's attention. "Something's happened…"
Immediately, his wife's face flashed through his mind. Barry felt his chest grow cold and his legs go numb. No…
"What?" he croaked, throat constricting with fear. Hal was beside him before it even registered in Barry's brain that he had moved.
"It's Wally…" Clark spoke as if every word was physically painful to say.
No.
No no no no no please no.
"He was attacked at his home. Jay Garrick and Max Mercury rushed him here to Dr. Mid-Nite, but…" The profound sorrow in the Kryptonian's eyes as he shook his head helplessly was enough to break him. "They couldn't save him."
Barry felt Hal suddenly grip his arms, and he realized that his legs must've given out. Slightly in front of him, Diana was staring at Clark in wide-eyed horror, one hand clamped over her mouth and the other shaking. He remembered the first time that he introduced Wally to the Amazon. Ten-year-old Wally had gone slack-jawed and stared up at Diana in wonder, quickly declaring her the prettiest lady he'd ever seen – aside from his beloved Auntie Iris, of course. Barry had laughed and thought it adorable. Diana had just knelt down, beaming, and kissed Wally on the cheek. He'd turned red for hours and refused to look at Diana directly for the rest of the visit.
Clark moved forward and grasped Barry's shoulder, drawing back a little when he saw that he was trembling at a rapidly increasing rate, "Barry, I'm so sorry."
Barry shook his head numbly, trying and failing to focus on Clark's face. He couldn't breathe. The edges of his vision were starting to go grey and fuzzy. They couldn't save him…? Wally was dead? Barry brought a shaking hand to the top of his mask and pulled it back, exposing his face. No, that… couldn't be right. They had plans tomorrow – all weekend. He was coming to stay with him and Iris Saturday through Sunday. Wally had been so excited. Barry was going to take him around to the Pacific Islands for the first time and then swing by Florence to pick up Iris' favorite gelato. He'd been trying to take Wally on long distance trips around the world at least twice a month to get him more familiar with the planet. Pretty soon, Wally would be fast enough that he'd render zeta transport redundant for himself.
Then, they were…going to watch some movie together that Iris had guilted them into. Barry's mind spiraled, frantically trying to gather itself back together and make sense of what Clark had said. But he just couldn't. There was no way his nephew could be dead. He was too young for anything like that to happen. He'd just turned sixteen. Wally was so vibrant and energetic and alive. Nothing could stamp that out.
"What happened?!" Hal demanded wrathfully. His tone surprised Barry, and it violently yanked him back from where he was drowning. His best friend's anger contrasted so sharply with Barry's own shocked anguish that it took the speedster a few moments to figure out why. Then, it was all too clear.
Clark had said that Wally was attacked.
A burning rage filled Barry instantly. Someone had murdered his nephew. His vibrations reached a dangerous frequency, and Hal had to release his arms and back away, "Where is he?"
"Dinah brought your wife from Central as soon as they figured out what happened," Clark spoke quietly. "They're all still up in the medical bay."
Oh no. A wave of cold dismay doused the conflagration in his chest, and he sped out of the hangar without another word.
Iris…
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[The Watchtower
February 11, 08:30 EST]
Barry Allen walked down the Watchtower's long winding hallways on his way to the medical bay. He had one finger pressed to the communicator in his ear and was politely nodding to any lingering heroes that he passed in the corridors. Bruce Wayne was talking through his communicator about how Dick hadn't been at the Batcave or the manor when he'd finally gone home. Alfred apparently was saying that the little bird had never zeta'd into the Batcave. "Sorry, Bats. I don't know where he is. I walked him to the zeta tubes myself. He might've gone to Mt. Justice. Did you check with the Team?"
He continued on his way to check on the speedster sentry that he'd placed to guard his nephew. Iris had finally agreed to take a few hours of sleep at 6am and leave the constant verbal abuse and threats to her brother's well being to Hal. Barry had left his best friend and his 'suddenly unstable' ring constructs to watch over Rudy West until they figured out what to do with him. The League wanted to put him on trial for his crimes.
Barry wanted to put him in the ground. He'd come so close to it, too. If Clark hadn't chased after him and arrived seconds before he'd broken out of Diana's hold, then Barry would've vibrated through the glass of Rudy's cell and killed him.
As it was, he had to content himself with Hal's constructs 'accidentally' malfunctioning and beating his brother-in-law.
"Did you actually see him zeta out of the tower?" Bruce asked tiredly over the communicator.
"No," he admitted. "I took off right after we got to the tubes. Jay had taken Iris down to see Rudy, and I wanted to be with her for it."
On the other end, Bruce was silent. Barry could very easily imagine him sitting at the Batcave's computer staring at the massive screen pensively with his fingers locked together. "He never left the Watchtower…"
Barry rounded the corner where Max Mercury was still retaining his vigil and gave the fellow speedster a small wave, holding up the bag of breakfast items he'd brought with him. Several times throughout the early morning, Barry, Jay, and Johnny had offered to take shifts watching the door, but Max had refused to take even a small break.
"Well, I'm about to check on Wally again," he told Bruce. "I'll see if Max has seen Robin."
Before he could get the words out though, Max was nodding and tearing into the bag hungrily, "You had two little ninjas sneak their way in here last night."
Barry paused in surprise, "…Is Robin in there?"
"See for yourself," Max chuckled as he dug into his third bagel. "Came running up here five minutes after you left."
"Max says he's here," Barry relayed the info to Bruce and zipped into the ward where Wally was resting. "Hold on, I'm going to check."
He stopped right outside Wally's room and peered through the doorway stealthily.
What he saw was adorable. Wally and Dick were both fast asleep on the bed, curled up in each other's arms. Roy was sitting in a chair pulled flush against the side of the bed so that he could watch his two younger friends comfortably. He had his feet planted on the edge of the bed and was dozing lightly with his arms crossed over his chest.
Barry felt a smile spread across his face, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He centered the three young heroes in the frame and snapped a picture, "You can relax. He snuck back in to stay with Wally. I'm sending you proof right now."
"Proof?" Bruce questioned in his deep voice.
Barry selected Bruce, Hal, and Oliver from his phone's contacts and clicked send, "Yep. Check your inbox."
He waited patiently, silently watching Wally and his two best friends from his spot in the doorway. Bruce was quiet on the other end for a long minute, and then Barry heard him go 'Hmm…'
"When did our sidekicks stop obeying every command we gave them to the letter?" Bruce mused.
"Eh. They're getting older. It happens," Barry leaned against the doorframe. His tone was light, but a frown began to darken his face. Wally almost didn't get the chance to grow up. He shook the thought from his mind and scrubbed at his eyes. "Besides, none of them really have what you'd call 'submissive' personalities."
"Regardless," Bruce sounded disappointed in his ward. "Robin could have compromised Kid Flash's recovery."
"Oh, it's fine. I think he'd rather cut off his own arm before he risked hurting Wally," Barry said calmly. "I'm still waiting for the day when they come up to me and say they're getting married."
Bruce was quiet again, probably thinking about that last statement, before speaking, "That…would not surprise me…"
"Right?" Barry started laughing lightly, trying not to wake the sleeping teens. Roy shifted a little in the chair but was still again soon after.
"Do you need me to come and get him?" Bruce asked over the echo of the cave's waterfall and thousands of bats.
"Only if you want him home," Barry shrugged. "I'm okay with him keeping Wally company and keeping his mind off everything. I'm worried about how he'll deal with all this."
"J'onn is willing to go into your nephew's mind and give him a psych evaluation."
Barry made a face at the idea, "I'd rather he actually talk to someone willingly than have to force it out of him, but I'll use J'onn as a last resort if we have to. I keep thinking about all the damage his father's done to him, and I just… I don't know how to help him. Where do I even start?"
"You won't be alone in this," Bruce said reassuringly. He was being uncharacteristically comforting. "Half of the League considers that boy family. He even managed to charm John Stewart somehow."
Barry smiled. The backup Green Lantern for Earth was a tough, no nonsense type and more than a little intimidating at times. Yet, he always made a point to inquire about how Wally was whenever Barry saw him, and he'd fondly dubbed the youngest speedster 'Hotshot'.
"He'll be alright," Bruce continued grimly. "Wally is stubborn, you know that."
As he was speaking, Barry watched Roy slowly wake up and look around the room to get his bearings. The red haired archer leaned forward in the chair and checked Wally over carefully before he was satisfied.
"And the friends that he has at his side are even more stubborn. They won't let this take him down."
Roy stiffened suddenly once he sensed another presence in the room, and he twisted around in the chair to look at Barry. The defiant glare that he leveled at the speedster clearly said 'Make me leave. I dare you.'
He smiled for real then and shook his head at Roy in response, leaning into the room slightly to grasp the door's handle and pull it closed. Barry clicked the speaker on his communicator and headed back out of the ward, knowing that he was leaving his nephew in two extremely capable sets of hands, "I know."
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[The Watchtower
March 09, 04:00 EST]
"Are you sure about this?"
"I've been stuck up in the Watchtower for a month, Roy. This is the only place planet side that I'm allowed to go. Besides, I'm mostly healed."
"You were bleeding three days ago."
"Only on the inside…"
Dick smiled to himself as Wally and Roy argued behind him. He peeked around the corner and saw Dr. Mid-Nite at his desk. The League physician had his back to the door. Dick gave his friends a short wave, and the three of them darted past their first line of defense without difficulty. They rounded the corner and ducked into an observation room. Roy pulled out a small flare arrow and aimed for the opposite hall. He let fly, and the flare rocketed into the wall with a loud pop.
"Then, it's a good thing internal bleeding isn't a big deal or anything," Roy hissed sarcastically. "You should be resting."
Max zipped in from the waiting area on the other side of the double doors and immediately went to investigate the flare. The ward doors began to slowly close on hydraulics, and Dick led them through before they shut completely. Wally tried to stifle a wheeze as they cleared checkpoint number two.
"Then, why are you helping?" Dick grinned, placing a steadying hand on Wally's chest as they jogged along.
"So that he doesn't pop his stitches, because you two are clearly going to sneak out anyways," Roy slung one of Wally's arms around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around the speedster's still too thin waist to support him. "And to make sure he doesn't use any superspeed."
"It was just a little," Wally protested, pretending not to wince or favor his left side.
"No. Not at all. Not even a little," Roy growled firmly. "Not until you're one hundred percent again."
"Okay, okay…sheesh."
This seemed to incense Roy even more, so Dick intervened.
"Focus, guys." Dick whispered seriously, "If we're caught, our night's going to be reduced to Checkers and Candyland. Again."
Both redheads cringed in horror and continued the mission to sneak out of the med bay.
Strictly speaking, this was almost positively extremely not okay. Wally wasn't supposed to be leaving the med bay for another two weeks, but he was going stir crazy. Being cooped up in one room and confined to a bed was making his breakdowns occur more frequently. Dick decided that he needed to get Wally the opportunity to stretch his legs and have a little fun.
They were going to be caught, of that Dick had no doubts, and Bruce was going to ground him forever. But it would be worth it if he could get his best friend to laugh even once.
The trio crept along to the zeta tubes undetected. Roy helped Wally hobble along into the metal tunnel while Dick plugged his gauntlet computer into the control panel to hack into the security system. It took him less than two minutes, which was something he'd have to mention to Bruce after his impending punishment that evening. Dick leapt into the tube right as the beam flared to life and scanned all three in turn.
"For the record, this is still a terrible idea," Roy said unhappily.
"I haven't seen them in a month," Wally rasped, smiling. His voice was still a little scratchy. "And since they don't have Watchtower clearance, I have to go to them."
"Bad idea," Roy grumbled again.
"Dude," Dick laughed. "Do you really want to see Superboy busting his way in here if we wait any longer?"
"I do," Wally chuckled breathlessly.
"Recognize: Red Arrow – 21, Robin – B01, Kid Flash – B03"
The light blinded Dick for a moment before he heard the computer announce them again. When the light faded, Dick saw the dim briefing room of Mt. Justice. Everything was silent for a long minute. It was four in the morning after all.
Then, from deep within the cave, Dick heard loud running footsteps coming closer. He smiled back at Wally, "Get ready."
Seconds later, Conner was sprinting into the room wearing only pajama pants with his hair sticking out in all directions. He skidded to a halt, eyes wide with shock. M'gann flew in right after him, followed closely by Kaldur and Artemis.
"Wally!" M'gann shrieked, recovering from her surprise the quickest. She ran straight up to them with her arms thrown wide only to be rebuffed by Roy. He dropped Wally's arm, still keeping him pressed to his side, and shoved a flat palm out into M'gann's face. Miss Martian reeled back, confused, and looked to Dick for an explanation.
"You can hug him," Dick laughed and readjusted his sunglasses. "Red Arrow's just being overprotective."
"He's been nagging me all week," Wally rolled his eyes. Usually, this would infuriate Roy almost instantly, but he didn't seem to have heard either of them.
"He has four healing bullet wounds and one stab wound," Roy jabbed a finger at M'gann. "If you bust his stitches, I'll bust your face."
The young Martian nodded her understanding and carefully wound her arms around Wally's neck, even floating up into the air to remove her own weight from the equation, "We missed you so much!"
The rest of the team approached then. Kaldur inspected the mostly healed over scar on the side of Wally's neck. At the moment, it was the only wound visible. "How are you healing?"
"Pretty well," Wally said happily. "I went and reopened the one in my side when I tried to use superspeed a few days ago, but aside from that, everything's tip top – or it will be in a couple more weeks."
Kaldur placed a comforting hand on the speedster's shoulder and stared at him with his eerily clear eyes, "I am glad that you are alive and on the mend. I was…concerned that you would not return to us…"
Dick saw Wally's face tighten minutely before breaking out in a huge fake grin. He playfully shrugged off Kaldur's hand and pretended to look embarrassed, "Geez, Kal. Don't make such a fuss. I'll be back and running circles around you all in no time."
"Oh, whatever, Kid Mouth," Artemis rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest irritably. Dick smiled knowingly at her. She was pretending not to care too much, yet judging by her disheveled appearance and the fact that she was still breathing heavily, she'd sprinted here after Connor had undoubtedly alerted them all to the computer's announcement of visitors. "We hardly even noticed you were gone."
Wally, Roy, and Dick all looked at her with varying expressions of doubt on their faces. They each knew for a fact that Artemis had bombarded her mentor with increasingly violent and threatening text messages inquiring after Wally's health and promising punishment should no one relay the status of his condition to her.
The blonde archer regarded them all with narrowed eyes for a long moment before heaving a great sigh and slouching slightly in defeat, "Just shut up…"
She walked forward and gave Wally a kiss on the cheek once Kaldur moved aside to give her room, hugging him lightly, "Fine. You scared me. Happy?"
All of a sudden, a painful and baffling spike of jealousy stabbed viciously into Dick's chest. He rubbed at it uncomfortably and made a face. What the…?
"Sorry," Wally smiled, returning the embrace awkwardly. "I didn't make you cry, did I?"
"No!" Artemis shoved away from him then, looking pointedly to the side. "Maybe…"
Dick laughed at her openly, and Roy seemed silently pleased to see her dropping the tough girl façade for once.
Then, Conner, who had been stonily silent up until now, briskly moved forward and enveloped Wally in a careful and very deliberately gentle bear hug. Wally stiffened in surprise and patted Conner on the back as best he could with his limited reach, "Hey, Supey. I missed you too."
"You were dead." Conner said solemnly, pulling back a little to stare directly at Wally.
The redhead seemed to shrink under Conner's intense gaze, and he looked away, searching for an escape. He tried valiantly to keep his voice calm and unaffected, "Only for a few hours…"
Conner released him then and stepped back in sad confusion. The rest of the Team fell silent and watched Wally with disturbed pity. Dick readied himself to jump in to Wally's defense, but he wasn't fast enough.
Kaldur looked to Roy and Dick, clearly alarmed by Wally's answer, before moving to approach the speedster, "Wally, do you-"
"I've been talking about it for the last twenty-seven days, Kal." Wally pulled himself together and shut down his emotions faster than Dick would have believed if he hadn't been watching him do it all month, "I don't really want to do it all over again. Okay?"
Roy returned to Wally's side and glared at the other four menacingly for upsetting him.
M'gann twisted her hands together anxiously, very obviously wanting to offer her psychic abilities as help but worried that she'd upset him more if she did. Conner continued to stare in silent concern. Artemis and Kaldur exchanged a glance, both clearly not sure if it was okay to act as though nothing had happened just yet.
"Look, we're running on limited time," Dick finally stepped in to his best friend's rescue. He gave them all a huge, carefree grin and jerked a thumb back at the zeta tube behind them. "We kinda snuck out of the Watchtower, so it's only a matter of time before someone thinks to look here. And then Wally's back in the clutches of Dr. Mid-Nite."
"Where he belongs," Roy muttered, flicking Wally's ear affectionately. The other redhead elbowed him in the kidney lightning fast in retaliation, obviously using superspeed. Roy's eyes bulged out in fury, and he grabbed Wally's nose, "What did I say?! No powers!"
"Agh! Fine, fine!" Wally broke free and zipped behind Dick, peering over his shoulder and using him as a shield. He rubbed his nose irritably and held out one hand in defense when Roy stalked after him. "Last time! I promise!"
M'gann giggled suddenly, seeing Wally acting like himself and Roy's big brother-like badgering.
"Why can't you use your powers?" Conner asked worriedly. The frown on his face deepened even more.
"His body can't handle the strain with all the injuries trying to heal," Dick explained offhandedly, waving the question off like it was nothing. "Now, I did say that we have limited time, didn't I?"
M'gann clapped her hands together once, and her whole face broke into a smile, "You should try some of the cookies Artemis and I baked! Ooh! Or the brownies, or the cakes. We made a couple pies too if you like those!"
She excitedly flew out of sight, heading towards the kitchen while Wally and Dick stared openly at Artemis in disbelief.
"What?" the young girl snapped irritably, stalking off after her teammate. "I measured stuff."
Kaldur and Conner smiled knowingly after her, the latter leaning towards Dick and speaking in a mock whisper, "She hasn't known what to do with herself since we've all been benched this last month, so she took to hanging out with M'gann a lot more."
"Once it became apparent that Artemis' culinary skills were…underdeveloped, Miss Martian took it on as a project of sorts," Kaldur chuckled, hanging back to walk beside Roy as they all headed to the kitchen. "These past few weeks, it has helped them keep their minds off of their worry for Wally. They have gotten rather good."
"I'm sorry you all had to go through this," Wally said quietly then, staring down at his feet in guilt. "And I heard about you all getting suspended. I'm-"
"It was not your fault, friend," Kaldur shook his head pleasantly to wave aside the apology. "Please do not blame yourself."
Conner snorted, "Yeah, it was our fault that we screwed up that first mission without you and Robin. Black Canary said that we were all too emotionally compromised. Really, it's been sort of like a vacation, you know, just without good circumstances."
Wally seemed to feel better at the explanations, but Dick could clearly see the tight eyes and clenched jaw that said he was still agonizing over it internally. He reached out and discreetly took Wally's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Dick had intended to let go right after, but the speedster looked at him in mild surprise, then at their entwined hands, and clutched his hand right back. An odd smile stretched across Dick's face, and he felt his heart beat sporadically.
They reached the kitchen, and Dick abruptly froze in his tracks. Every surface was covered in baked items. M'gann hadn't been exaggerating; It looked like she and Artemis had made every cake, cookie, and pie you could think of. Dick glanced over at the two girls and saw that, while M'gann was beaming proudly at the look of wonder on Wally's face, Artemis looked rather embarrassed at the sheer amount of everything. They'd gone a tad overboard, evidently.
M'gann flew around the big kitchen and piled a plate high with a little of everything for Wally, shoving it into his hands with a huge smile, "Go ahead! You need a lot of energy to get better, right?"
Wally nodded dumbly, still overwhelmed, but shoved a piece of pie into his mouth to make her happy, "Yeah. Thanks…"
They all settled down around the counter to talk, mostly catching Wally and Dick up on everything that they had both missed the last month. Dick had rarely visited the cave recently. If he wasn't in Gotham for school, he was up in the Watchtower every free second he had to keep Wally company. After that, the Team wanted to know how much longer it would be before Wally could leave the Watchtower, how he was healing, and where he was going to be staying. Everyone was very careful not to mention either of his parents.
By the time the League sent someone over to collect them, it was two hours later. Half the kitchen was emptied of food, and all seven teenagers were laughing and telling stories like they'd never been separated.
"Recognize: Green Lantern – 05"
Everyone froze in place, and all conversation stopped as they waited with bated breath.
A minute later, Hal Jordan strolled into the kitchen, looking not at all as frantic as Dick had expected. He took in the spread of food with a raised eyebrow but smiled and swiped a brownie from the counter, "How's it going?"
The Team all stared at him warily. No one spoke up, and so Dick cleared his throat and decided it was up to him, "Uh…pretty good. You?"
"Oh, I'm fine," he leaned casually against the counter beside Conner. Somehow, his calm only made Dick more nervous. "Max found your note. I figured I'd come collect the fugitives before Flash blew a gasket."
Wally shrank down in his seat, "He's mad?"
"Doesn't know you're missing yet," Hal took a bite of the brownie, looking down at them all with more amusement than reproach.
"Are you mad?" Wally tilted his head curiously.
"Nah," the Green Lantern shrugged, smiling fondly at him. "I knew where you'd gone. Honestly, I thought you'd try and sneak out much sooner. I know how much you hate hospitals."
Dick, Wally, and Roy all stood up then, preparing to leave. M'gann and Conner hugged Wally again. Kaldur bid all three of them farewell and wished Wally a speedy recovery. Artemis crammed a bag full of more baked goods and slung it around Dick's neck with strict instructions to make sure 'Kid Mouth ate it all, because he was the reason they'd made it in the first place'. Then, she gave Wally another peck on the cheek, flushed bright red, and stalked out of the room without another word. Dick gripped the bag convulsively, feeling something inside crumble beneath his fingers.
Hal elbowed Wally in the ribs playfully and hooked an arm around his shoulders with a proud grin, "Dog…"
Wally rolled his eyes, and they all said their final goodbyes and promised to be back soon before heading back to the Watchtower. Hal's words proved to be true, as no one was really mad at them when they returned to the med bay. Dr. Mid-Nite was a little irritated that his medical decree had been flouted, but Max had understood the need to escape. The older speedster did, however, flick a burnt out flare arrow at Roy's shoulder with a raised eyebrow as they passed him.
Hal helped Wally maneuver back onto the hospital bed before saying goodnight and leaving with the promise that he'd keep their breakout between them. He tousled Dick's hair as he passed, and Roy followed him out a few minutes later after swearing up and down that he wasn't going to help them sneak out next time. Dick and Wally exchanged impish grins, knowing full well that they could talk Roy into any scheme.
Dick glanced at the clock near Wally's bedside and cringed – 7:00am Gotham time. He started stripping off his hoodie, shoes, and sunglasses while Wally made room for him on the bed. After that first night, this had become a routine. They didn't talk about it or mention it to anyone, even though Dick suspected they'd been caught several times. He would stay the night with Wally and wake him up if he was having a nightmare, and sometimes Wally would shake Dick awake if he was stuck in a night terror.
Dick climbed onto the bed beside his friend and stared up at the dark ceiling silently. Lately, on the nights that Bruce made him stay at the manor, Dick found it impossible to sleep. He wasn't sure if it was because he was used to another body beside him or because Wally wasn't there.
"Thank you," Wally said quietly. He managed to turn a smile towards Dick. "I really needed that. Seeing the Team…it helped a lot."
"I know," Dick nudged him playfully. "I'm always lookin' out for you."
"That's supposed to be my job. I'm the older one."
"Pfft. By two years," Dick snickered. "That hardly even counts; it's like a seventh of my total age. Besides, I should be allowed to play the big brother card every now and then."
If he was honest with himself, Dick didn't really think of Wally as a big brother anymore. They'd always been best friends, but now it seemed to be turning into something…completely different, and he didn't have any kind of precedent for how to figure it out.
"No, see, you can't use the big brother card unless you're someone's 'big brother'," Wally shook his head in response. "Roy, for example. Roy has chronic big brother syndrome. He'll tell you."
"We really arguing over a fictitious card?"
"We've argued over worse fictitious items before," Wally laughed softly, trying not to upset his lungs. He turned onto his side and knocked foreheads with Dick gently, abruptly turning serious. "I mean, I would agree with you about the whole card thing, but then we'd both be wrong."
Dick stared right back at him impassively, "You think that just because I can't hit you right now, you can get away with running your mouth. This is not correct."
Wally broke back out into a tired grin.
"I'll be adding this to your payback tab to be settled the second you're better," Dick relaxed fully against the bed, very aware of his knee pressing into Wally's thigh and the speedster's feet almost hooked over his own. He went quiet for a minute, picking at loose threads in the hospital sheets, "So…Artemis was pretty…friendly tonight, huh?"
"Uh, yeah…she was," Wally said, seeming perplexed at the memory.
"Well, that's good, right? Don't you…like her?" Dick felt his insides tense much like he was trained to when expecting a heavy blow.
Wally didn't answer for a few moments. He looked like he was thinking hard about the question, "No, not really. Not like that. Not for a few months now."
He almost looked scared when he looked at Dick, "I mean, I used to like her. I guess something just changed."
Dick didn't reply to that. He left Wally alone to figure out his thoughts and made sure to stay awake until he heard his best friend's breathing even out in sleep. Then, and only then, he allowed an impossibly huge grin to stretch across his face and an intense wave of happiness crash into him.