between seconds

[ TEXT — WALLY ] hey!!! [ TEXT — WALLY ] okay cool!! i’ll be there in 15

Dick was a little out of breath when he got out of the elevator. He’d overestimated the amount of time it would take him to get across town even though he’d taken his bike. When he saw Wally at his door he grinned, lifting his hand not holding his motorcycle helmet in a small salute. “Hi!” 

During his time on the Titans, it’d been necessary for him to detach to some degree - with Wally, that never felt easy or even possible. It wasn’t something he even had to worry about now, so he didn’t hesitate to pull him into a one-armed hug. “I missed you, dude.” Despite the rumors, his mood was much lighter than what Wally might have expected. “Sorry for the wait.

Wally felt a big grin spread across his features as he saw Dick from down the hallway, hugging him back forcefully and giving him a few pats on the back. “I missed you, too. There’s nothing in Nebraska except for, like, corn. And cows. Lots of cows.” He had been back in Nebraska visiting his parents—a useless excursion, for his parents didn’t really care about Wally the way that parents should. Wally still cared for them, however. 

Wally had been in a slump ever since he heard about what happened to Evan. It was horrifying to think about him shattering on the spot, like a mirror that would cause a thousand years of bad luck. Wally had been trying not to think about it. It was times like these that he wished he could get drunk, but his metabolism burned right through it—so he had to sit and live with the feelings of inadequacy, of helplessness and grief. 

That was why, when he really couldn’t take it anymore, he went to see Kara, who always managed to know the right thing to say. He plastered a smile on his face when she opened the door. “Hey, Kara. Sorry for just dropping by, but, uh—” He huffed out a humorless laugh. “I don’t know. I just wanted to see a friend.”

Wally grinned as he caught sight of Joey down the street, jogging up to catch up with him—and trying his best not to use his speed, though it was difficult for him to keep it in check. “Hey, Joe!” he called out. “Joey, man, how are you?” Wally clapped Joey on the shoulder with a small laugh. It had been surprising to him at first to see how many of his old friends and teammates had made their way to Star City, but by now, he expected it. 

“Long time no see. What have you been up to? When did you get to the city?” He shoved his hands in his pockets, walking alongside Joey and bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. He was full of nervous energy all the time, and it was clear by the way he carried himself. He was just excited to see that his old friends were all here.

“Indeed you do.” Once it had accomplished its purpose, Erik waved the makeshift door away and disassembled it. Within moments, it had settled back into the ground again as the storm drain it had originally been. He didn’t miss the look on the young man’s face. It was one that he often saw when people realized who they were speaking to. Once in awhile, it earned a chuckle. Right then, he merely stared back at him. 

“I’m familiar with your type. My son has similar abilities. I wonder if yours are accompanied by the same attitude.” He was in no mood for it that day, if so, but he’d give him a chance to prove otherwise. 

Wally stammered when he spoke next. “Familiar with-with my type? Now what does that mean?” He paused, looking around. “Right. Speedsters. Right. Right. Right.” He spoke quickly, almost too quickly to be understood, as he tended to do when he got anxious or worked up. He pressed his lips together for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts enough that he could at least be coherent, which was probably about the best he could do in the presence of an imposing figure like Erik. 

-

Evan was seeing the images the mirror was reflecting but wasn’t even aware they were being shown to Wally. He grit his teeth and shook his head from side to side like a dog with fleas attempting to alleviate an itch. Georgie, his mam, his dad, them and more spiralled in his mind and the mirrors were only making it worse, he couldn’t focus on anything else to distract him, he needed to get out, he needed to get out-

Evan’s upper half burst from the mirror and he bent over the other’s sink, white as death he heaved once, twice but barely kept his lunch down and panted over the basin, curling down into it. “F-Flasher,” he girt out, “Don’ touch me… don’ touch me…” he couldn’t handle, couldn’t process that while everything was still swirling and- he heaved again and emptied the contents of his stomach into the basin, coughing into it, his hands shaking as they gripped the edges.  

///

Wally jumped back when Evan popped out of the mirror, trying to find out how he could help. He racked his brain for any information he had on panic attacks, and he stumbled back against the shower behind him. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before leaning forward. “Evan—” 

Then Evan was violently sick into the sink, and Wally was snapped into attention. “Evan, listen to me. Count with me. 1, 2, 3...” He counted up to ten. “Name five things that are right here in this room. Can you do that? Name some things here. I’ll do it with you.” Wally started pointing to different objects. “Toilet. Soap. Lotion.” He could feel his own panic rising with Evan’s. Whatever he had seen in the mirror, it was affecting Evan more than Wally ever could have foreseen. 

Barry sighed softly. “I don’t know… I don’t think he was clean though. When I first ran into him, he made a remark about being able to go back to his old ways - and seemed adamant against staying on the straight and narrow.” Barry explained. His brow furrowed however. “Wally, this wasn’t your fault at all… Dr. Inglo had a, history; one that was triggering to Evan. He was going to go after him regardless of what we did.” He stated. 

@aviewfromthewest

It was not the first time that Erik had seen the streak of color moving through the District. It was, however, the first time that it had passed close enough for him to feel the air shift in its way. His hair moved with it, and Erik raised one hand long enough for one of the metal storm grates situated in the ground to free itself and quickly stretch and warp into what was effectively a door of bars. He planted it where he guessed that streak would be moving next, and it embedded itself right in front of him. He’d had Pietro for a son for a long, long time, and whether he liked it or not, he’d learned a few things from it.

“Enough,” he said loudly enough for the word to carry, though he moved no closer to the ‘door’. Either that would give the person pause or his voice would. “Other people exist in this space.”

Usually, Wally was much more careful about giving people a wide berth when he was running. He didn’t have the time today to go to a longer road, a more cleared out stretch of land where he could run to his heart’s content, so he had contented himself with making his way through the winding streets of District X, where he could use his speed without judgment. He needed to run it off, the guilt he felt about Evan, the ways he could have helped still swirling around in his head. If he had simply noticed that Evan was in trouble, noticed the drugs or noticed that he was planning something as Mirror Master again, maybe he could have stopped it. He could have saved Evan. 

Wally’s words stung as if he had drawn a blade across his skin. He had been asking himself that same question each and every day since the accident had happened. How could he let this happen? How could he have been so careless to make such a costly mistake? “Wally…” The name sounded foreign to himself. “I knew I should have tried to stop him with my other arm - the arm he hadn’t managed to injure. I knew it, deep down, but I was trying to put an end to the conflict before he hurt the doctor…” He explained. “It didn’t matter in the end… I lost them both…”

+

“that isn’t what i was going for, wally. … at all, really.” … forget it. “…i suppose, from an objective standpoint, you are nice. that’s all i’m giving you today. you’ll have to work for more compliments.” although a bit pointed, the statement is accentuated with a small laugh.

the smile from the other man is nice, sure, but all it really accomplishes is getting ed to look away, eyes glued to the floor as he walks slowly, feet shuffling close to the floor. “i don’t have work today,” ed mentions offhandedly. “…i took a vacation day. isn’t that good? i’m… getting vacation days,” he sighs. “how… fun.”

///

"no, i think i know what you were going for, and i’m choosing to ignore it,” wally said with a huff of laughter. “i’ll take nice. i’m a nice guy, and i know it.” wally grinned, glad that he was able to get some more lighthearted banter out of edward. that was always wally’s goal—to remind people that there was more to find interesting and fun in life than just villainy. 

-

Evan was breathing sharply through his nose and out his clenched teeth, his shoulders were up high and every inch of his body screamed tension. Considering he was usually the quietest of the Central City Rouges, relaxed and calm, this was a big change. “P-physics is good.” he bit out, leaning forwards and putting his head in his hands, the surface of the mirror seeming to ripple a little as his suit fluctuated it.    

“Ugh”- he moaned a little, abruptly sniffing, “S-S’good ye- Oh God they’re too loud! Flasher! Make’em be quiet… please.” His voice broke a little and his head seemed to bend forward, like Evan was curling around himself, the pain in his mind affecting his body while the surface of the mirror continued to ripple, whatever was in Evan’s mind trying to play out since that was how a large part of the technology worked: it ran of intentions. When they were strong enough the tech didn’t care whether Evan wanted it or not. One weakness to Scudder’s original design he hadn’t been able to wire-out yet.  

Wally put his hands up to the mirror as it started to ripple in front of him. “Evan? Evan! Can you hear me?” He wished he could burst through, directly into the mirror world, but that wouldn’t be possible without the technology Evan held. “Evan!” Wally banged on the glass once, and as soon as he did, images started to flash before him. He stepped back, his eyes wide in disbelief. 

The images didn’t make much sense, but from what he could tell, they were Evan’s memories, all disjointed and with large holes in them. He saw an older boy leading a young Evan outside, his mother’s body, the drugs that he used to drown out all the pain. Wally felt his heart rate pick up, anxiety clenching in his chest as he watched the images flit past. “Evan,” he said weakly. “Please, say that you can hear me.” 

Barry put on the faintest of smiles and shook his head as Wally apologized for being late. “You never had to apologize about tardiness with me - of all people - you know that.” He stated, but his heart just wasn’t in the joking tone he tried to put on. When Wally’s smile faded, Barry’s own did too. “I messed up, Wally.” The words came suddenly and were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Evan’s… he’s gone. I confronted him to stop him from killing a doctor because of some unsavory rumors… but, he injured my arm. I should have used the other arm to try to grab him.” Barry shook his head slowly.

“The doctor was working on some technology with mirrors and reflection and when I was trying to stop Evan, he slipped out of my grip and crashed into the doctor’s machine…” Barry explained, struggling to keep his composure. “It… turned him into some sort of living mirror… and he shattered; turned to dust right in front of me…” 

Wally felt like he had been punched in the chest when Barry said he messed up. For people like them, it was often a question of life or death, and when they made mistakes, people got hurt. He pressed his lips together, his brow furrowing as he waited for Barry to continue. Then, everything seemed to get muted as he said that Evan was gone. He staggered backwards a step, unable to fully process what Barry was saying. “He’s...gone,” he said, as if he didn’t quite believe it, as if it was some strange dream he was in. 

\

Fortunately, Garth is a patient person. He doesn’t mind waiting for what his friend made for him. He didn’t expect such a gift in the first place which leaves him feeling excited about whatever it could be. He didn’t know that there was so many different places to hide your belongings in these apartments. Maybe there was still so much left to discover about the surface after all these years. He had his best friends to thank for teaching him what he does know. He couldn’t rely on his father to show him everything after all.

“Waterproof toys?” It could be any number of things really but it makes more sense when the gadgets are tossed his way. He catches them with ease, looking at them with interest. They seem pretty easy to understand but would ask questions anyway. “I do like the distress beacon. I don’t know why that isn’t something we thought up sooner but this would give me a way to let you guys know if anything goes wrong.” What Garth also needs is a waterproof cell phone that would work somehow from the deep depths. Not likely since you can’t build one of those towers at the bottom of the ocean. “How does the shock device work? It won’t shock me and the other life around let us say … a bad guy I’m in a conflict with?” He knows how electricity works with water so he just wanted to ask before actually using it. “Thank you, Wally. I’ll get good use out of them.”

///

Wally grinned, nodding. “I thought you might like that one,” he replied. “It’s always a mess when we can’t communicate with you when you’re under the ocean. Now, comms aren’t going to work down there, otherwise I’d make you a waterproof comms set, but at least if you’re in trouble, you can let one of us know so we can come diving in after you.” He paused, rummaging around for a moment before taking out a radio. “And this radio is constantly tuned to the same frequency, so you know at least I’ll hear you,” he added.

He shook his head. “That’s the beauty of it. It’s directional, so you just need to point in the direction you want, and it’ll be like an underwater lightning strike, carried through the water to your target. Pretty nifty, right?” Wally always enjoyed making little gadgets for his friends. It kept him occupied and it helped him make sure that his friends were staying safe while they continued on with their hero work. 

\

There would always be appreciation for the treatment the Flashes and their associates extend to his teammates. They might be bad people but some of them needed to be treated with more care instead of being hit repeatedly. A few punches is usually all it took to knock them out or distract them enough to talk them down from whatever they were attempting to do. Although this can be more difficult when the Rogues were all together since their personalities bounce off of each other and makes for a chaotic situation. Maybe they were all battling their own inner demons, Snart definitely does but never talks about it. The way his father treated him is haunting and maybe if he got some therapy at a young age he would have avoided becoming a thief. This lifestyle had been his way out of an abusive household.

“I’m just honored you picked me out of all the Rogues to spend time with today. I can’t picture you sitting down with Captain Boomerang for a casual chat.” Leonard usually finds Digger to be annoying but he was part of the family so it makes sense, really. He smirks though at that comment. “We are quite interesting. You have the whole package when it comes to us. Mark can give you any weather pattern and I can turn any street into an ice rink. What more could you want?” He teases as he looks over at the speedster. “Nope, I just got out. I’m not going back. Two years in Iron Heights was enough for me.”

///

Wally was never the kind of hero who enjoyed fighting with rogues. Sure, he found using his powers thrilling, but he didn’t like using them to hurt people. He especially didn’t like using them when he knew that the people he was hurting would do much better just being talked down—like when Evan was back on drugs or when Axel was off his meds. It was so much easier and more humane to treat their rogues this way, so at every turn, Wally made sure that violence was the absolute last resort. 

“Well, that’s because, between you and me, Digger is kind of a jerk,” he replied, wrinkling his nose. “And he’s always smelly. Has he ever heard of showers? Do they have showers in the outback?” Wally grinned. “I hope you start turning some of the streets around here into ice rinks. I’m so tired of having no snow for Christmas. What’s Christmas without snow and ice skating?” Wally wasn’t particularly good at ice skating, but he sure did love the aesthetic. Wally frowned. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. 

It felt good being surrounded by people who understood where you were coming from. He didn’t always have that since there weren’t many speedsters aside from his uncle. Who didn’t seem keen on mentoring him so meeting the Flash felt all sorts of right. He didn’t feel alone in viewing the world at a standstill. Sometimes it looked like someone took a giant remote and pressed pause on everyone except him. Other times it just felt like everyone was just painfully slow. However, being around Barry made him realize that he doesn’t have to be alone while going through those feelings. If Wally is anything like his mentor than he would feel twice as lucky to have another speedster around.

Wally seems happy to be talking to him. Why do people enjoy being around him? Tommy doesn’t understand what he keeps doing to make this happen but won’t question it. He manages to smile too. “You are? Does this mean we can race? I think we should race to somewhere fun.” He might be getting ahead of himself here with his reckless ideas. It makes everything make more sense at least, both of them being here. “Barry took me under his wing to teach me more about my powers. All I’ve been able to figure out what to do with them on my own is blowing stuff up by accelerating the molecules in matter. I don’t know the specifics since I’m no scientist.” He tilts his head while looking at the older speedster. “Maybe you can show me how to do something cool too.” Tommy places the device down, a little fascinated by what it can do. “Sounds like it could be useful. Do your enemies use a lot of technology?” He would love to get a chance to punch one of them next time they’re stirring up trouble.

Wally knew that if he had become a speedster and had been left completely on his own, he would have been a mess. Having to figure all of this out without the help of Barry would have been a nightmare, and he wouldn’t wish that nightmare on anyone else. So, he was glad that Barry had taken another speedster under his wing, never wanting anyone who was like him to feel like they were left to their own devices when it came to figuring out their powers. Hell, during those five years that Barry was gone, Wally still felt like he needed guidance, and without that guidance, he was like a boat without a rudder, a balloon without a tether, floating away. 

ed shoved his hands in his pants pockets, shoulders tensed. “it’s… nice to see you.. as well,” he noted, mouth drawn into a thin line. “forgive me, won’t you? i’m sure you understand,” ed whispered, “i… thought you had intended to laugh at me. i need to get used to this, i suppose.” saying it out loud, it feels so much sillier than he had originally thought.

“i’m supposed to be watching out for ulterior motives, you know. …then again, it’s not like someone like you would even think to have one.”

///

“i’m not going to laugh at you, ed. promise.” wally crossed his heart with his index finger, giving the other man a warm smile. wally was a big believer in killing people with kindness, and ed certainly seemed like he could use all the kindness he could get. wally didn’t know too much about edward’s past beyond his time as the riddler, and wally didn’t want to pry, but there was clearly something there that had made him so jumpy and paranoid. he just hoped he would be able to cut through that.