A/N: luluguineapig requested a fic where "Bart comes out of the closet to Wally."

After jotting down about a half a page of notes, Wally's hand stilled, and he placed his pencil in between the crease of his textbook. He felt a muscle in his cheek jump as he eyed Bart wearily out of the corner of his eye. The younger speedster was continuously shooting sideways glances towards him, and his nerves were already stretched thin. "Did you need something?" he asked finally.

"Weeeeell," Bart began in a languorous drawl.

"Spit it out."

"Right. So, uh, I was just wondering, y'know, out of curiosity, if the rumour about you and Nightwing was true?"

Shifting the Chemistry textbook off his lap, Wally turned to fully face Bart. He was wringing his hands, though on him, it didn't exactly come across as a nervous gesture, more like something to keep his hands occupied. Constant motion. Was it too much to ask that the kid sit still for more than five minutes? Pinching the bridge of his nose, Wally asked tiredly, "and which rumour would that be?"

"You know, were you and Dick ever," his voice dropped several octaves, "youandDick?"

Wally made a choked noise in the back of his throat, and began to flail his arms about almost comically. "Wha-? Who told you... Why are you even asking?"

"Oh, I dunno," Bart scratched the back of his neck, a neutral expression settling on his face. "I was just wondering how those kinds of relationships were perceived in the past? Well, present to you, but, uh, yeah."

"Those kind of..." Wally echoed slowly, before realization dawned on his face. "Ah. How exactly are they 'perceived' in the future?"

Surprisingly, Bart's expression became closed off, his mouth a terse line. It was such a dramatic shift from his usual carefree and enthusiastic persona that Wally couldn't help but stare.

"Sorry. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it."

Bart gave a wobbly, tentative smile in response, that somehow how seemed so much more genuine than his usual broad grins or smirks. "Nah, it's okay. In the future, the human race is enslaved by the Reach and everything, and the more family members you have, the easier the work load becomes. And there's really no evolutionary benefit to homosexuals, so it wasn't really encouraged, but love was so uncommon, so rare, that if you found it, you were lucky," sucking in a lungful of breath, Bart continued, "and you know what's kind of ironic? This is the era that everyone dreamed about. Freedom of speech, the right to vote; this is the time where heroes exist, where everything's supposed to be good and perfect, and yet there are still homophobes and in some ways, things are worse now than they were-would've been-under the Reach's reign."

"You're right, kid," Wally murmured softly. "There are still a lot of problems, but society's come along way in terms of equality. Don't feel bad about liking who you like, because you can't exactly help it. And I'm sure Jaime would agree with me."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up, cuz. I never said I was talking about... I never said I liked Jaime."

"Please. I was at Jay and Joan's the other day, and apparently you talk in your sleep. Like, a lot."

Bart's face paled, but when he managed to find his voice, it was almost perfectly level. "Fine. I'll ask Jaime out, if you ask out Dick. Heh, Dick."

"But I never said I-"

"Gotta go. Later Wall-man."

"But... you... urgh." Seriously. How was this Wally's life?