#collapsed structure

The fact that Wally needed instructions from Thomas was something everyone knew- only because the mechanic made it so blatantly apparent. He would yell at and mock Wally to the point that the other man would simply walk away instead of listening any more, which would only cause Thomas to sneer at him more the next time he would inevitably come back to learn from him. The thing was, Wally was in no means dumb. He would annoy Thomas by playing stupid, because that was what the mechanic expected, and even though Wally long knew all of the codes, regulations, and routes, he still bothered the man for his patronization. 

“No, no, no!” Thomas rebuked him once more. Wally sighed and took in the tirade with a half lidded gaze and slight smile that betrayed the satisfaction he got from making the mechanic frustrated. “You’re an idiot if you think that you can use that socket on that pipe, you need a three eighths, not a quarter inch!”

“Three eighths was too small on the bolt,” Wally calmly replied with a shrug, demonstrating it to the gent professional. Thomas’ mouth shut with distaste at the sight, and Wally rolled a shoulder. “See? Meanwhile, your pipe, the one you were workin’ on, pal, it’s rattling. Uh, a little too hard, really.”

“What?” Thomas asked, turning to see the shaking pipe. His forehead became lined as he took in the strain that the pipe was going through. His tan face paled and he turned on his heel, shoving Wally forwards as he tried to run. “Get out, it’s gonna bur-”

His words were quite literally drowned out by the massive rupture that tore through the floor and the pipe. Wally felt something metal hit his head, and the shock of  it only slightly mitigated the pain he was in when they hit the floor. Thomas swore and bounced off a stud, his cry cutting off with a guttural sharpness. 

Odd groans filled Wally’s ears, accompanied by the steady sound of water filling up the room. No, not water. Ink. Ink everywhere. Wally tasted it, pushing himself off the unstable ground. He fell immediately again, vision spinning and shaky on his feet. Laying on his side and breathing heavily, he noticed with a detached air the way Thomas had landed. He was trussed up in dead electrical wiring, his head inches off the floor and body suspended. An innate alarm filled the janitor as he realized that Thomas could not breathe, the wires wrapped tightly around his throat, and his increasingly desperate, hoarse, and wordless cries spurred him into action. He grabbed a bit of the torn metal, swiftly took the cords on Thomas’ neck into his grasp, and cut as hard as he could. 

Gasps now replaced the breathless cries. 

“You alright, Tom?” Wally asked as calmly as he could muster, which was shockingly so. He was nearly certain that he was concussed. Thomas only continued to gasp, shaking in the swaying binds of the black cables. “You’re fine, man. Just keep breathing.”

“I can’t feel my arms,” Thomas whimpered, though he quickly attempted to save face and put himself up as the leader of the situation. “Franks. Cut me down.” 

“Nope,” Wally found himself answering without a single thought otherwise. “You’re stayin’ right there.”

Thomas said nothing. Wally observed the pit they were in, looking to see the easiest way out. He noticed it quickly, many planks forming a kind of ladder. He tied a bit of the cable to his belt as quietly as he could, hoping it was long enough to get out without Thomas feeling any tugs. He swore as some of the wood fell from his grasp as he attempted to climb, gaining the mechanic’s attention. 

“Franks?” Thomas said again, though this time, his voice was tinged with fear. “Wally, where the hell are you going? Cut me down, now!”

“Nope,” Wally repeated, feeling satisfied at the heavier breathing the stuck up know it all began to display, though almost felt a bit bad for him as well. Almost. A smile crossed Wally’s face as he chuckled to himself, about a quarter way up the incline. “I don’t have much of a reason to, you see?” 

“You son of a bitch!” Thomas yelled, but there was now definite fear. Wally smiled to himself, reaching the halfway point as Thomas continued to rant. “Don’t you fucking dare leave me here! Wally! Wally, get back here!” 

“Man, Tommy, ain’t you a pillow princess,” Wally tusked, shaking his head, feeling how crusted his curls were with ink. Well, he wanted to dye them a while ago, now he got it for free. Thomas was sputtering a defense, not that Wally particularly wanted to hear his reasons for being so demanding. “You better give me a good reason to help you out.”

“Because this is fucking scary!” Thomas shouted, feeling the tips of his hair beginning to be lapped at by ink. He squirmed in the wires, only succeeding in dropping himself about an inch lower, and even tightening the bonds. Panic was flooding him at this point, just like the ink was flooding the ditch in the studio that he would drown in if he could not escape. “Fuck fuck fuck- Wally, please!”

“That’s a good start,” Wally tried to laugh, but he was out of breath from scaling the wall. “How about a, ‘Wally, you’re actually smart and know what you’re talking about and doing’, eh?”

“Yes, yes, you are, please, help me out, okay!?” Thomas obviously lied as he pleaded. Wally hummed in a skeptical manner, and Thomas swore, knowing that Wally was aware of the fraudulent attempt. “Goddamnit, Franks! I’m hard on you because I don’t like that you’re smart! You are smart, and it bothers me! You do know what you’re talking about, a lot of the time more than me, and it’s frustrating that I went to college and you still know better than me! Fuck! Wally, please, I’m sorry I treat you so badly. I just really like you and I’m scared of that and of showing you respect.”

“Could you repeat that final bit for me?” Wally asked with a huff of air, pulling himself up onto the ledge of solid ground at last. “Couldn’t quite hear it.”

“I am scared of showing you respect,” Thomas firmly repeated. He felt a tug on the center of his back, and cried out with a bit of alarm, then relief, as he realized he was being pulled away from the rising ink. “Oh, fuck, thank you, thank you.” 

“Sorry for teasin’ ya,” Wally remarked as he lassoed Thomas in. “Couldn’t help but revel in the power switch. Also, Tommy, that’s not what I wanted to hear.” He reached out and took the man’s shoulder, holding him so he was eye to eye with himself. “What did you say before the respect thing?” 

Thomas licked his lips, red faced from all the blood having been in his head, from the shahe felt, to the mortification of having to repeat his statement. Wally waited patiently, fingering the sharp metal in his hold. 

“I like you,” Thomas whispered, and Wally gave a brilliant smile, slashing through the cables still holding him. Thomas collapsed over the softer man, scrambling up over to solid land, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry that I’m such a bastard about it.”

“It’s fine,” Wally laughed. “Just don’t do it again.”