Wanna see some real speed?

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     “-I’m telling you, Mar’i. There’s no way that that guy…” Jake trailed off as he turned the corner, stumbling in his tracks as Jai came into view. He had to do a double take, not because he wouldn’t recognize his best friend anywhere, but because it had thrown him so far off guard.  “I’ll call you back” he rambled into the phone quickly, hanging up on his sister before he was bounding over to his favourite speedster, too excited to see him that Jake couldn’t even bring himself to care that he was showing it. “You weren’t even going to say hi to me?!” he gasped dramatically, stopping beside the other. “Disrespectful”

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       Jay heard Jake's voice before he saw him. The sound of it wasn't something he could mistake. Turning to face his best friend, he shrugged. "I was gonna but you found me first.” There was a teasing undertone to the words as he spoke. ”Nice to see you too I guess.” 

A faint pout touched Peter’s lips as he glanced over at Jai. “Yeah, I’m serious,” he said, his eyebrows drawing together, so that he frankly looked like a puzzled puppy. “I mean, yeah, I’m sure.” He shrugged. “The NYPD wants me to be on the promotional pamphlets with a couple other officers. What’s wrong with that?”

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        "Kinda weird that they want you on the promotional pamphlets.” Jai teased, hiding his real concerns behind the humor. Peter being in a public pamphlets wasn't on the list of no-nos as far as he could remember. Irey was better at remembering those kind of things though. "Just sounds like a bad idea, Officer Keen.”

"Wait... You're serious?" Jai asked after a moment of laughter, only stopping when he turned to look at Peter who wasn't sharing in the laughter. "I thought you were kidding." he looked away in disbelief. "Are you sure?”

Barry: Yeah, but I won't tell you where, so when I haunt you, you won't be able to do anything about it

Barry: :( I do miss Hal Jordan

Jai: Can you feel me glaring at my phone? I hope you can.

Jai: You say that but I'm def gonna be invited to your funeral soooo

Jai was always someone JJ considered a friend. He even joked about them having the same name once or twice ‘JJ and Jai’ , just like that old Ed show that used to play on the tune channel on repeat (so so many reruns). “I… get that.” Being in a place where only a handful of people knew your true identity was the definition of stressful. “I never thought I’d miss having a social security number so much.” He joked. Then he chuckled. “You sound very excited about that, you wanna meet your baby self?” Jai’s question made him pause in reflection. “Honestly? It’s going better then I thought it would.” He admitted. “Things with my family have been really good lately, part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop with it.” That is, if Tomas leaving hadn’t been the shoe. It still stung to think about, but JJ tried to reflect on the positive things. 

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        Jai laughed at JJ’s social security joke. It had caught him off guard. The last thing he had been thinking about was his social security number. “Nah,” he shook his head. “I just want to exist. I like existing. It’s cool.” Jai didn’t need to meet his younger self. Something about the idea felt very wrong. “That’s good, isn’t it?” The speedster question, a hint of curiosity in his tone. “Maybe you should stop waiting for something to happen and just enjoy the time. Have you talked to Jordan?”

Barry: Pretty good, I'm hoping to get my AARP card soon

Barry: Okay, you guess what I'm doing right now and I'll admit that I'm old

Jai: I'm not a zygote, you're just old

Jai: Nice Nice so have you paid for your final resting place yet?

     “I-” Wally held his hand up, waving it dismissively at his son’s clarification. “I knew what you meant I just wasn’t expecting to be asked so directly” he explained, shaking his head. “I think it was” he mused, the corner of his mouth lifting into a half smile. “She was beautiful…looked a lot like you and your sister, so…I gotta call her soon” the redhead nodded. He understood Jai’s impatience but he hoped that his son could understand that the kind of relationship that would lead to marriage and babies didn’t necessarily happen overnight. 

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        Jai stopped at his father’s dismissive wave. It was probably for the best seeing as he didn’t want to have to describe impregnation to his dad. It was supposed to be the other way around. “We don’t have time to beat around the bush. Unless you want me and Irey to stop existing. Which if you do, please don’t tell me because I don’t want to know. I like existing.” Jai’s voice trailed into a whisper by the end of his rambling. “Yeah, that’s definitely mom then. Irey looks just like her. You could call her now. Don’t let me stop you.” 

@speedyturtleboi

“Hey Jai,” It felt like too long since he’d had the chance to have a proper conversation with Jai. He had missed the guy in his two years away, not as much as JJ had missed Jake and Mar’i but still a lot. “How’s the past been treating you?” He’d been there for a while now, so JJ himself was adjusted but everyone saw it differently and he figured to make conversation in Jai’s experience. 

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     Jai had never shared Jake’s opinion on his brother growing up. He always thought of JJ as another brother even if he was an outsider. Things were different now though and Jake had finally come around so he could be more open with the youngest Grayson. “Hey JJ.” He greeted with a grin. “Not as good as the future. It’s actually pretty stressful. My dad met my mom though...I think, or he thinks. Hopefully, he’ll hurry up and get her pregnant so Irey and I can be born. How’s the past treating you? Anything new?”

“Whatever. I’m not lying.” Yara rolled her eyes. Of course, they both knew she was lying. She’d be damned if she would admit it though. She hated when Jai did this, toyed with her like a yoyo. He was like a damn sour patch kid. Sour. Sweet. Now she was just waiting for gone.  “I hate when you don’t pick a lane.” She told him seriously, averting her gaze away from him. Jai was just another of her situations that could have been different if she hadn’t been so hyper fixated on Jon. The more she thought about it the more upset she got again. She hated feeling this out of control of…everything. Her emotions. Her future. Nothing was in her hands anymore. She placed her hands over her face to block the light as her headache worsened. She needed to calm down. Something that was never her strong suit. “

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        “Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He replied, a smirk still stuck to his features. It faded quickly as she continued to speak though. “What?” Before all of this, Jai had picked a lane. He was all-in for her. The only thing he had ever wanted was her, but the only thing she had wanted was Jon. How cruel it was to know him. To be close to Jonathan Kent. No one wanted you when they could have Superman. Jon was a good-looking guy, that he could admit, but it didn’t make losing Yara to him any easier. The scar still ached across his heart when he thought about it. “You didn’t like when I did pick a lane either. What do you want from me?”

Barry: Why would you say that to me

Barry: side note I picture you doing this when you say that

Barry: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/WideImmaculateFish-max-1mb.gif

Jai: Because you're old

Jai: What's it like to be dying?

     Wally blinked as Jai was so suddenly in his face. Was this how all of his friends felt when he did that to them? Having so many speedsters around was awesome, but it was also an adjustment for sure. “Dad bod, got it” he shot finger guns, rolling his eyes playfully at Jai’s teasing. His kids seemed to think that he was pretty cool from what Wally was gathering from everything so far, so he wasn’t all that fussed about much else. Being a good Dad was definitely something he stressed about. “What?” he spluttered, the statement throwing him off. “I mean, I did meet a Linda” he flushed, thinking back to that night. “That’s gotta count for somethin’”

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      Jai clicked his tongue, shooting finger guns back at his dad. Wally was just as fit now as he was in the future, not gaining any of the so called ‘dad bod’ weight. It was hard to gain weight when your metabolism worked as quickly as their’s did. “Pregnant. Like you put us inside mom. You know?” He laughed at his dad’s confusion. “You met a Linda? That’s a start. What did she look like? Maybe it was mom.” With any luck it would have been the twins’ mom and they could get this show on the road.

     “The cutest Quasimodo ever” he winked playfully, snorting gently. “I was a joy to raise, how dare you” he teased, but Jake didn’t believe that to be true, anyways. Accepting and grieving his loss had been something that took a long time for Jkae and the denial phase had not been pretty. He knew how lucky he was that Jai stuck around despite it. he only hoped his best friend knew how grateful he was. He really didn’t say it enough. “Fine” Jake groaned. “Well, I mean…yeah, but-” he sighed. Of course he didn’t get it from that alone. “She kissed me and then she just left, what am I even supposed to do with that?” 

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       Jai mimicked a hair flip, beaming proudly at his best friend. “Why, thank you. That’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.” Scoffing, he rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah, sure, okay. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Jai pursed his lips, brows pulling together in confusion. “She didn’t say anything? She just kissed you for no reason and walked away? You just let her walk away after she kissed you without going after her?” If Yara had kissed him, he would have gone after her but Jake’s crush on Dory was a lot different than what he had with the demigod. “Maybe she wanted you to go after her. Have you talked to her yet? Kinda sounds like you should.”

          irey slumped down in her seat “well uh… i may or may not have nearly kissed jon, met mom, and got a fake date with jordan… just your average thursday.” she glanced over at jai for a moment before turning her focus back to the ferret “i don’t think we’re related, he’d never heard of the speed force before.” she shrugged “you know i gotta vet all these places before i bring you! they gotta meet the irey west standard.”

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       “You almost kissed Jon, met mom, and got a fake date with Jordan all in the same day?” Jai asked, clearly impressed by the feat. “You do know date twins is kinda fucked, right?” He laughed, teasing her. There wasn’t anything Irey could do that Jai wouldn’t have her back. As long as his twin was happy then he was too. “You better hope not cause,” he gestured his index finger into his mouth. “Disgusting. Ya nasty. How’s he a speedster that’s never heard of the speed force?” The confusion was written across his face. “Well now that they do, do I get to go?”

“maybe i shouldn’t have trusted the gas station spoon but you know what? this shit’s good, so if i die, at least i’m going out on a high note” // @speedyturtleboi​

“You and me both, kid.” Linda bit into the burrito she was holding, hoping and praying that she wasn’t going to get food poisoning. Being a reporter meant that she didn’t have much time to eat, especially when she was working on an important article. Which was how she’d ended up at the greasiest, shadiest looking place, grabbing lunch. “I hope whoever finds me dead in my bathroom cleans up before calling anyone. It’d be super embarrassing for a bunch of people to see my laying in my own shit and puke.”

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       Jai was starstruck, seeing his mother before she was his mom. Irey looked so much like her. It wasn’t until now that he noticed it. A smile drew across his lips and he looked down, bowing his head so his mother wouldn’t see. “I hope you don’t end up dead in your bathroom.” He told her honestly, thinking less of the possibility of his own existence never coming to fruition and more of his want for the safety of his mom. Taking another bite of his food, he let silence fall between them. “So, uh, how’s your burrito? Worth dying for?”

“No. It sucked.” Yara lied, thankful she didn’t have her lasso on her for once. Truth was Jai always felt amazing. Physically anyway. It was the emotionally and mentally they tended to bump heads on. She rolled her eyes when he ma’amed her and it took all her self control to not flip him off. She was barely a few steps from the sofa when he came back with a warm compress for her. “i said i don’t need y-” she started stopping when he told her to take it. Begrudgingly she did, placing it on her head. “i hate when you do this.” she mumbled more to herself than him, as she sat back down on the sofa. After the peter kiss fiasco she didn’t need to be alone with Jai in her room. And she had a feeling he’d follow her if she left.

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         “You’re a bad liar.” He replied, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Jai was pleased when she didn’t fight him on it, just taking the warm compress from him. “You hate when I take care of you or you just hate when anyone takes care of you?” He asked for clarification. The question wasn’t genuine, he just didn’t want the conversation toe end yet. As much as Jai hated (or rather told himself that he hated) Yara, he also loved her. The feelings he had for her lingered despite his best efforts to drive them out.