A/N: So this is my silly little wrap-up to my lighthearted break, inspired by the numerous robins on the property this summer. After this it's back to business, but it's been fun and definitely what I needed after Whispers. Anyways, hope you've all enjoyed!

Chasing Robins

"Unca B, what's that?" Five-year-old Wally West asked his Uncle Barry one spring afternoon, the small redhead standing on his tippy-toes to peer curiously out of his uncle's living room window. Walking out of the kitchen with a dish towel in hand, having been in the middle of cleaning up lunch, Barry Allen stood behind his nephew to see what had piqued the boy's interest.

"Those, Wally, are robins, they're a type of bird." Barry explained, chuckling as Wally's eyes grew bigger as he pressed closer to the glass.

"Why do they have red tummies though?" Wally glanced up to the older man.

"Er, to make them look pretty." Barry mentally berated his lack of creativity but Wally seemed satisfied with the explanation.

"Is that why Flash is red? To make him look pretty?" Wally asked innocently even as Barry had a mini coughing fit. Flash was decidedly not pretty, handsome sure but pretty no.

"I think Flash is red to look cool kiddo, you don't generally describe other boys as being pretty." Barry could just imagine the note home from Wally's kindergarten teacher about Wally getting punched for calling the wrong person pretty.

"Boys can be pretty." Wally pouted, stubbornly sticking to his conviction. Barry was about to rebuff his confused nephew's statement but was impatiently waved off. "I want to catch one. How do you catch a robin Unca B?" Wally turned away from the window to send Barry an expectant look. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Barry could tell that Wally was going to be nothing but trouble in the coming years.

"Why don't you try a butterfly net?" Barry muttered sarcastically, but apparently Wally had yet to learn the intricacies of sarcasm because he flashed his uncle a wide toothy grin.

"Okay!" And then he was suddenly not in the room. "Auntie Iris! Do we have a butterfly net?"

Barry let out a pained groan before heading back to the kitchen. Dishes just seemed so much safer right now.

"Hey, Uncle Barry?" Wally, now twelve years of age, was once again visiting his aunt and uncle and was currently slurping down his second helping of spaghetti.

"What's up kid?" Barry asked, glancing up from the day's issue of the Central City Times. Wally twiddled his fork between his fingers, brow scrunched as he tried to figure out how to word his question. Wally's parents usually got impatient with Wally's spur of the moment impulsiveness and then inability to immediately follow through, but Barry knew where the kid was coming from. Sometimes thoughts just needed to be voiced before they could cohesively join themselves.

"Well, you see, there's this boy I met the other day at my school's field meet. I think he was younger than me, he was definitely shorter, and he was from Gotham. Anyways, he was running the hundred-meter dash and the four hundred relay, and he was really really fast. He said he's also on the swim team in the winter." Barry listened attentively to Wally's explanation but failed to see a dilemma.

"So…?" Barry prompted, causing the young redhead to explode.

"So? He was amazing! Like, way amazing, and everyone was telling him so even though it's usually me they're saying that to." Wally pouted, green eyes glaring at his spaghetti as if it'd done him some horrible injustice.

"Ah. So you're jealous of this kid." Barry hid his grin as Wally turned his scowl upwards.

"Dick."

"Excuse me?" Barry's eyebrows shot up.

"His name. Richard Grayson according to his score records but everyone was calling him Dick." Wally explained, picking moodily at his now cold pasta. "And he's smart too. Apparently he's at the top of his class back at Gotham Academy and he's a mathlete and-"

"But why is this guy bothering you so much? If he doesn't go to your school you won't have to see him again so what's the problem?" Sometimes Barry swears it would have been easier with a niece.

"My problem is he's better than me, in sports and smarts! At least if I'm not the best student I've always been the best athlete." Wally exclaimed, flicking his fork a bit too enthusiastically and sending some of his pasta at the wall.

"So get super speed like Flash did." Barry snorted jokingly as he turned back to his paper, completely missing Wally's suddenly lit up face.

"Dude, seriously, so not cool." Kid Flash grumbled, bracing his hands on his knees as he glared at his smirking best friend who was, somehow, perfectly balanced on an electrical wire beside a dozen of his confused namesakes.

"It's not my fault that the fastest kid on Earth can't keep up with me." Robin let out a cackle before taking off again.

For an entire afternoon, the two young superheroes in training had been hanging out together at a local Gotham park, and for the past hour Kid Flash had been attempting to catch the other after the younger teen had proclaimed that he could not be caught. Annoyingly, even with his super human speed, Kid Flash seemed to always be just a foot short of catching the flighty bird he called his best friend.

"Give up yet?" Robin asked from his new perch atop a metal swing set that was slightly rusty with paint flaking off in random patches. Kid Flash had finally collapsed into one of the swings, ignoring the slight groan of the old chains as he began swinging back and forth while trying to catch his breath.

"I hate you." KF glared up at the still grinning Robin.

"No you don't." Robin replied with conviction as he easily dropped into the swing beside the speedster.

"Know it all." Kid Flash shoved at Robin's swing, which simply swung out before bumping back into his. "Can anyone catch you?" he demanded.

"Well," Robin began but was cut off by his utility belt's communicator beeping. "That would be Batman." Robin sighed as he stood up before turning to KF with a slightly apologetic expression.

"Go ahead, don't worry about me. I'll just be nursing my wounded pride all the way back to Central and see if Flash needs me." Kid Flash waved Robin off with a dramatic sigh.

"Drama queen." Robin laughed as he gave his friend's shoulder a light punch. "See you later Wally." Robin gave a mock solute before disappearing all ninja like.

Later that evening, back in Central, Flash and his kid sidekick had just shut down an arms smuggling ring and were helping to load the tied up perps into police cars on the docks. Once the last door was slammed shut, Kid Flash took the opportunity to raise his arms up for a good stretch and let out a large yawn.

"Well, I'm officially tired. I think I'm just gonna-hey!" KF's lethargic demeanor suddenly disappeared as he caught sight of a fishing net and rushed over to it. "Think anyone would mind if I borrowed this?"

"Why?" Flash asked slowly, feeling like it'd be better if he just didn't know. The devious expression on his nephew's face as he carefully inspected the net was more than enough to convince Flash to just stay out of it.

"Just look at it as a really big butterfly net." Kid Flash attempted a cackle, frowned upon realizing that he had nothing on Robin, and then disappeared in a blur of yellow.

Barry decided to ignore the fact that, a couple of days later as he was making a routine check-up of Mount Justice, he found his nephew wrapped up impossible tight in that same fishing net and scowling darkly at a very smug looking Robin.

Silence, sweet calming silence, was something that Barry did not get to enjoy too often. While the man himself was loud enough to make a certain nighttime vigilante throw him annoyed glares on a regular basis, he did like his occasional moments of peace. With a nephew like Wally who seemed to always be around, however, snatches of silence were near impossible to come by.

Which is why, after nearly an hour of nothing breaking, exploding, or getting cursed at, Barry lifted his head from his Science Weekly to take a cautious glance around. He could have sworn that Wally was there that day.

After his initial sweep of the room, Barry suddenly snapped his eyes back to the tuft of red that he'd overlooked. Wally, shockingly, had been sitting quietly on the couch with his legs crossed and fingers fidgeting with the scuffed hems of his jeans.

Wondering if someone had replaced his nephew with some kind of android when he wasn't looking, Barry stood from his recliner and made his slow way towards the couch. Even after gingerly sitting himself beside Wally, the redhead didn't visibly acknowledge the fact that he wasn't the only person in the room.

"What's up kid?" Barry broke the silence with a prodding finger.

Wally sighed, refused to cease his fiddling, and asked without looking up, "You remember telling me that boys can't be pretty? Well, you were right, because they're not. You don't use such a plain, juvenile word to describe him. You use words like beautiful or stunning or gorgeous, but not pretty, never pretty. Pretty doesn't do him justice."

Barry found himself blinking stupidly at Wally's hunched over figure, wondering how the hell he'd missed this developing.

"Then again, that's not the problem, is it?"

That he's more than pretty or that you think he's more than pretty? Barry was silently freaking out but decided that keeping his stunned silence a little longer would yield more good than not.

"He's this totally amazing, beautiful guy, and look at me. I'm…me." Wally glared down at his fingers, lips tight as he swallowed hard.

"Would you want to be anyone else?" Yes, because clichés always work in these situations.

"I'd want to be someone who could captivate him like he has me." Wally replied bluntly, eyes still having not moved from their glaring match with his fingers.

Barry's first thought was, he knows the word captivate? But decided that some sage words of unclely advice would be better received.

"Don't do flowers or chocolate, he'll probably kick your ass. I'd try something less mainstream, like a cooking class."

Wally finally looked up, but it was only to give Barry a look that clearly stated that the redhead was under the impression that Barry had finally lost it.

"Hey, it worked for your dad." Barry shrugged defensively.

Wally's mood swings tended to be quickly sparked and short lived, but when he got onto a serious high or an all time slump he could stay there for days. Unfortunately, Wally was currently in the midst of a record breaking slump, as for an entire week now he'd been agitated, moody, and downright pissy towards anything unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Being Wally's uncle and superhero mentor, Barry found himself being a prime target for Wally's mood lashes and this time was no different. By the eighth day that Wally refused to exit his room and be civil towards other human beings, Barry had had enough.

Not bothering to knock, as those attempts had failed miserably all previous times, Barry simply barged right into the room and nearly tripped over a pile of discarded clothes. The room was dark and looked like a tornado had gone through it as every available surface was covered in disorderly clutter. The bed resembled a nest of blankets all twisted and thrown together with a lump plopped in the middle that Barry assumed was his nephew.

"Wally, this really can't be healthy." Barry carefully picked his way through the minefield that was Wally's room. Finally reaching the bed, Barry felt his eyebrows rising as he noticed that Wally, dressed in a baggy tee and boxers, was curled protectively around a large stuffed robin.

Barry had to take a moment to remind himself that all superheroes had at least a few screws loose and that it was not his family's genes' fault that Wally was…Wally.

"Wally?" Barry nudged at his unresponsive nephew, who continued to stare blankly at the wall.

"Leave me alone, I'm depressed." Wally mumbled, hugging his plushie closer.

"You're moping is what you're doing." Barry corrected as he started unraveling Wally's nest. "And as your uncle and superhero idol, I demand to know why." Barry grunted as Wally's nest put up a decent fight.

"He's moving." Wally revealed, still not relinquishing his surprisingly strong hold on his blankets.

"So run a bit faster." Barry huffed, giving up on the blankets and flopping down on the bare mattress.

"He's not going to be Robin anymore, he's changing his identity, growing," Wally seemed thoroughly unconcerned with his uncle's obvious frustration. "And it scares me." Wally's voice was small, causing Barry to give another huff at the kid's thick-headedness.

"Birds were never meant to be kept, you know. They're always more beautiful flying free." Barry's words sentenced the already squished stuffed robin to a painful looking hug of death. Wally would deny his small sniffles, but Barry still reached out to smooth his bangs back. "If you let them fly free though, they will come back." Barry assured gently.

"Yeah?" Wally turned too bright to be normal green eyes towards his uncle.

"If they love you enough and you treat them right." Barry affirmed.

A couple of days later, after Wally did a whirlwind cleanup of his room and actually left it, Barry peeked into Wally's room to see his stuffed robin sitting happily on the (relatively) made bed, only now it had a companion. Sitting contentedly next to the robin was a dark blue raven like bird that had a black mask shaped marking around its eyes.

By the time Wally replayed I'm Like a Bird on his stereo for the ninth time in a row Barry was ready to bash his head through the closest wall. It wasn't that the older speedster didn't enjoy his now grown nephew's visits, but Wally had always had serious issues with expressing his feelings and so usually resorted to some outlet that drove Barry half insane.

"Okay kid, either stop moping and tell me what's wrong or I'm tossing that thing off a bridge." Barry none too gently nudged at Wally's side as he passed by, eliciting an annoyed grunt from the redhead as he finally turned off that thrice-damned stereo.

"If you don't want to use a cage, how would you keep a bird from flying away?" Wally asked, not moving from his position on his stomach sprawled on the grass in Barry's backyard.

"That's what's bugging you?" Barry asked incredulously, not faltering a step in his daily routine of watering the plants.

"Well, it's easier keeping a robin in check than a night bird!" Wally defended as he sat up in a huff.

Barry couldn't help himself as he started laughing at Wally's seriousness over such an easily solved dilemma. Turning away to hide his grin and raising the watering can to reach the porch's hanging flowers, Barry replied, "Well, the answer's obvious. Buy a ring."