smiling in thanks, dick munches away at a couple more fries, still watching wally curiously. they’ve known each other for a long time, and dick can tell when things are a little… off, so to speak. clearly there’s something on wally’s mind. “i’m doing okay, wal. no headaches, no blackouts. still - taking things slow, but it all looks.. it looks good.” it’s the question about the titans that takes him by surprise, and dick can’t help but tilt his head to the side just a touch. “titans business, huh? i guess - i’m the wrong person to ask, not quite full time on the team just yet.” dick pauses, raising an eyebrow. “you - coming back? to the titans?”
wally sighs, shrugging his shoulder. honestly, he doesn’t know. he loves the titans -- they’re family in a lot of ways. and if shit hits the fan, yeah...he’s going to be there with the titans, but. but everything else is a little more complicated now. “ i dunno, dick. maybe ?? ” he slurps loudly from his soda and contemplates. “ i like the justice league. but you know. barry’s fine now, and that sorta means...we’ve got a flash too many. ” he clears his throat. “ but i’m not...i don’t know. i don’t think i could do full time either. you know, like -- i’ve got friends there, too. who’s gonna make fun of kyle ?? connor doesn’t have the heart. ”
in the few seconds apart, connor slips some of his fries onto the twins’ plates, straightening up when wally returns with a blank face. it’s not much, but it’s usually at least enough to get him a laugh or two from the kids. “ wait, are you serious? ” connor’s mind is pretty blown by that, for someone that used to pile up the other green arrow’s figurines in a shoebox when he was a kid. he wipes his hands clean, and holds one out to take a look. “ can’t believe I finally made the big time… what do you think, are my eyebrows really that glamorous? scream education? ”
wally passes the folder over without a fight. at the question about the eyebrows, wally squeezes in beside connor and rests his forearm on connor’s should her as he squints at the folder. he leans back like he’s trying to get a good look at connor’s face next. “ you know what ?? i think your eyebrows really are that glamorous. ” he uses the proximity to steal a fry from connor, and then poke his cheek. “ they missed your little dimple, though. can you believe that ?? easily your third most memorable quality. ”
“This? Oh, it’s my gauntlet.” Piper comments excitedly because she loves talking about her tech and her suit is her baby right now, the project she’s extremely proud of for how well the new adjustments are coming along. “This part I’m working on,” She says gesturing to some of the mechanisms laid out. “is going to be regulating the input and output of power from the arc reactor in my chest plate so my repulsers emit the power I need to blast or hover without hurting me or knocking me around while flying.”
wally doesn’t touch any of the mechanisms, but he gets close enough to give them a thorough inspection. this sort of thing is sort of way beyond his understanding; he’s a pretty basic sort of mechanic. “ that’s super cool, really. ” the young girl is right to be proud. “ honestly, you’re basically talking wizard magic to me. you could tell me that thing ran on tiny leprechauns and i’d have to believe you. when’d you get into this sorta thing? ”
“yes, you. c’mon, we’ve known each other since you were still gangly and awkward, i know something’s going on.” he points out, nudging the speedster with his foot. he knows wally’s deflecting, delaying - what he can’t understand is why. “you know what, i’d pay to see you take one of my classes and not lose it. without super speed.” dick points out, raising an eyebrow as he reaches over to snatch up a couple of fries. apparently teaching makes him hungry. “first, your ‘fragile heart’ will do just fine, wal. and second - you’re always worth my time, even if you’re a pain.” his smile fades a little, expression softening. “seriously though, what’s going on?”
wally sighs and rests his ankle against the knee of the other leg. his leg bounces with idle energy, trying to decide where to start. he passes the rest of the fries over to dick. “ so, really i guess i just wanted to check in on how you’re doing. check in...with titans business. make sure i haven’t missed anything important. ”
“ never seen something quite like that, ” wally remarks, sidling a bit closer to get an eye on the tech. anything with that many circuits has never quite been wally’s strong suit, but it piques his interest regardless. “ what’s it for ?? ”
“ hey, you wanna see something cool ?? ” wally shoves a couple fries in his mouth, pats irey on the head so she’ll stay put, and then disappears for a couple seconds. when he’s back, it’s with a couple of the twins’ school folders. “ jai found a green arrow folder, and guess which beardless arrow-slinger was on the cover ?? ” it’s a medicore depiction of connor at best, but hey !! fun find. “ the twins fought tooth and nail for it. ”
“what a day..” nate mutters to himself under his breath. most of the tie he does his best not to complain when it comes to his rounds on security, but somehow today was just a disaster. even supersoldiers need a break, and double-shifts are not the way to do that. he’s just about to slump into his chair and contemplate whether or not he can get away with leaving his writeup for later when he sees movement at the door, immediately stepping over to pull it open instead and absolutely not stumbling in the process, no sir. “y’know, sneaking around super-hearing doesn’t work so well.”
“ who needs to sneak ?? ” wally asks, blase as anything. “ i grew up around superhumans and super-detectives and a nosy-ass dad. i gave up on sneaky a while ago. ” he looks around the room before his eyes light on a thin stack of papers, coffee-stained and a little creased in places. “ i let my little girl hold onto the papers, and then was surprised when they didn’t end up back in the shop. ” he picks up the forms and double checks that none of them have been presumably-scattered through the academy. “ if i didn’t want you to see me, you wouldn’t have !! but that felt rude. you alright ?? looking a little woozy. ”
“you’ve got that look in your eye, wal.” dick points out, tilting his head to the side a little. he and wally have known each other for - well, for a long time. the speedster is one of his closest friends, he knows dick better than nearly anyone does. and if he’s got that look in his eye, the kind of look that tells dick he’s here for something, like he’s on a mission or something, dick’s sure he’s about to hear about it.
so long as it’s the good kind of mission. “alright, spit it out. what’s eating you? and please keep in mind i’m ditching lesson plans for you so it better be good.”
“ who ?? me ?? nothing’s eating me !! if something was eating me, i’d eat it first. ” he shrugs his shoulders and lounges back in his seat comfortably. “ sorry, not to sound rude, but isn’t lesson planning for you, do a flip, do a bigger flip, do a smaller flip ?? thanks for your heroic sacrifice on my behalf. ” he slips towards intentional melodrama now. “ as your best friend, i didn’t realize i had to perform well to be worth your time, dick. ” he puts his hand against his heart and gives an entreating, pathetic look. “ you’ll send my already fragile heart down the tubes like that, man. ”
Look, it’s WALLY WEST from earth-2327! I hear they go by THE FLASH and they’re currently A MECHANIC AT THE ACADEMY (sometimes). I noticed they’re BRAVE & LOVING, but also kinda STUBBORN & VINDICTIVE. I can’t wait to see what they do next!
so i’m going to try and keep this very short & sweet because wally’s a character with a lot of very confusing history. i’ll hit the highlights, talk about where wally is in his life right now, and then if anyone wants to flesh out a connection, we can explore his history a little further.
- he’s the fastest man alive ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) hello, ladies. when he was a kid he had an accident similar to the one that barry had and was struck by lightning. hello speed force. he has a particular connection to the speed force because he later spent a lot of time stuck in it but back to that in a second.
- he grew up w/ abusive/neglective parents but loved spending as much time as possible with his aunt iris and uncle barry! they were such a huge and kind influence on him at a young age.
- shortly after developing powers and hanging out w/ barry for a while, wally joined the teen titans as kid flash. the og teen titans / titans were his first team and sort of the team he feels most at home with! the team went thru some drama and death, and when barry died, wally left to take his place on the justice league.
- in his early twenties, wally met, married, and had a set of twins with linda park -- the first great love of his life. without retelling all the thousands of comics that encompassed the thing, eventually wally had to choose between losing his family or going into the speed force w/ them. linda chose to come with wally. together they left this particular reality and lived a life together elsewhere.
- after some multiversal collapse issues, wally got stuck in the speed force. about five or six years ago, wally ended up back in THIS reality but without his family. so as he began to remember them and understand what happened, he formulated an idea to go back in and get them. so when he did, he was gone for about 8 more months in real-time, but they are back! that was about two years ago. his twins, irey and jai, are about eight years old now!
- multiple stints WITHIN the speed force for extended periods of time have strengthened wally’s connection w/ the speed force significantly. he has a deep understanding of it, and is able to channel it more effectively than most other speedsters.
- he’s sort of transitioning back to working with the titans, but he’s still pretty attached to his JL friends, so he’s splitting his time. wally isn’t super comfortable teaching, so he works with anyone at the academy who needs cars and whatnot repaired. he spent a while as a mechanic of the police department in keystone, so he’s happy to lend a hand where needed.
- his kids, irey and jai, are about eight years old, though age is a bit tricky w/ how much time they spent not around.
- since we’re in a crossover marvel / dc universe please do not be at all nervous about approaching me for pre-established connections. i love friends, mentor/mentee dynamics, exes, rivals, enemies, literally everything!!!
