Summary: He wanted to tell her that he wants to talk to her because she won't get better if she holds everything in. But he dug his blunt fingernails into his fist and counted to thirty. And then he walked away. Post Misplaced.
Rating: T for minor swearing
Characters/Pairing: Wally West, Zatanna Zatara, the Team (mostly Dick and M'gann), minor Flashspell (Wally/Zatanna)
Author's Note: Just giving this pairing (which I absolutey adore!) a little bit more love. I don't think there's enough fics or art for these two. ALSO HOW DO END GOOD AJSR;JFKNF
Wally paced back and forth on the carpet. Tracks were starting to form along the floor. The speedster didn't exactly know what drove him here, but he was here and beginning to doubt himself more and more with each passing second. His parents were safe and sound asleep at home, and he allowed himself a small smile at the thought. Those few hours earlier today without them had been disconcerting to say the least.
He was surprised he had stayed calm as he did when all the adults went missing, but at least he got his parents back. Every kid did, with the exception of one. And he was pacing in front of her door right now. There was no noise coming from her room, so the speedster assumed she was already asleep. Or, he was half-hoping she was asleep so maybe he wouldn't have to talk to her— even if it was his own feet that brought him here.
Wally turned around again and was face to space-above-the-head with Dick. The boy wonder was in his civvies.
"Dude, what're you doing here?" the raven haired boy whispered.
"I could ask the same to you; it's midnight."
"Yeah, but I asked first."
Wally let out a small sigh. "I forgot my cellphone here; it's nothing important." Dick raised an eyebrow.
"Your room's all the way down the hall, Wally. This is Zee's room." Wally opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, his cellphone's muffled beep sounded in his pocket, signaling the need to be recharged. The red head's face fell into a scowl as his friend smirked.
"Ler's try this again," the younger boy said smugly. "What're you doing here? It's midnight."
Wally was silent for a moment before responding. "I wanted to talk to Zatanna," he replied quietly. "She looked so sad when we got back, but— I dunno... I guess I couldn't bring myself to talk to her."
"So you thought 12 in the morning was a good time to do it?"
"I don't know!" the red head hissed a bit too loudly. He lowered his voice. "I honestly don't know why I'm here." The raven haired boy stayed silent.
"Well, good luck, Wally. You better figure something out before you do something you might regret."
"So encouraging, man," Wally deadpanned.
Dick smirked. "What's a best pal for?" And with that, he walked past the speedster and zeta-ed away. Wally's leg was twitching, ready to start pacing again. He clinched his fist, took a deep breath and steeled his nerve, walking up to the steel door and knocking lightly— three times.
He waited for a few moments and nothing. Sighing, either in disappointment, relief, or a mixture of both, the speedster turned around as the door slid open. Wally whirled around.
Zatanna was standing in the doorway, arms crossed and eyes slightly red and squinting from the bright light in the hallway. Her hair was still mussed from earlier that day but she didn't look like she had been sleeping at all. She just looked eerily calm as her cerulean doe eyes blinked, waiting for Wally to explain himself.
When he didn't say anything, she spoke.
"What are you doing here, Wally?" she whispered, voice hoarse.
"I— you, um... I just wanted to know how you were doing," he answered sheepishly.
"I'm fine," she replied tersely, moving to close the door. Wally reached out an arm to stop her.
"Zatanna," he said firmly, "I know how you feel, and if you ever want someone to ta—"
"I said I'm fine, is that not enough for you?" Her eerie calm was fading away, revealing the storm underneath.
Wally stared her right in the eye. She met his gaze and although she tried to hide it, he could see just how hard she was trying to hold another outburst in. His shoulders slumped in resignation as he removed his arm and let her close the door. Wally held back the violent urge to knock on her door her again and tell her that, no, it actually wasn't enough for him. He wanted to tell her that he wants to talk to her because she won't get better if she holds everything in.
But he dug his blunt fingernails into his fist and counted to thirty.
And then he walked away.
It's been two days since the incident. M'gann forced Zatanna to eat after she fainted from starvation during tonight's mission. The magician sat at the kitchen counter, tiredly poking at her half-eaten food. M'gann was sitting in the main living room with headphones and her tablet, watching some show. Her eyes occasionally darted over to Zatanna, and she frowned when she saw that the magician wasn't eating, but said nothing.
Wally walked over and wordlessly sat himself down by the raven haired girl. Her eyes flickered toward him and then back to her food and she stayed silent.
"You should eat; it's good for you."
He didn't get a response.
"We wouldn't want a repeat of tonight. You're lucky I was there to catch you or that would've ended badly, huh?" he said, trying to laugh and sound light. She gripped her fork tightly, her knuckles almost turning white, and closed her eyes tiredly, but didn't turn to face the speedster.
"Look, Wally, I'm fine," she told him slowly, as if he was having a hard time understanding, which maybe he was. "What more do you want?"
Wally was about to reply with a simple, nothing, but his mouth moved faster than his brain and he ended up saying, "I just want to talk." His eyes widened minutely in surprise at himself, but that quickly wore off. "Yeah, just to talk. That's all."
Zatanna sighed and opened her eyes. She looked at Wally and he tried searching for some of that old light in her eyes. Then she shook her head and left.
He couldn't find her light anyway.
He had just gotten his cast off yesterday and he and Dick had deigned to meet in the Cave before going out to so some dangerously stupid things later today. Dick wasn't there yet, so the red head walked toward Zatanna's open door, ignoring the warnings to leave her be echoing throughout his head.
She had just started unpacking, although she'd been living in the cave for a while.
"Need any help? I got both of my arms now," he offered, a small smile gracing his face. Zatanna stared at him for a few moments and then shrugged. Wally took that as a yes and walked in, preceding to rip open a random box.
"Not that one!" Zatanna exclaimed, rushing over to try and close it back up. Wally had already taken the topmost item out, though. He looked at it and his eyes widened. It was a picture of Zatanna and her dad sitting together on the floor, working on a puzzle. It was in black and white, and Zatanna looked to be barely nine years old.
"I—I'm sorry," he stuttered, placing the picture back into the box and backing up a few steps.
He watched silently, almost entranced, as she gingerly picked up the photo and examined it, carefully running her fingers along the carved wooden frame. The spell was broken when she choked out a sigh and roughly shoved the photo back into the cardboard box, slamming it closed. She stood there with her arms crossed, back facing Wally and shoulders shaking with stifled sobs.
He edged forward and placed a tenative hand on Zatanna's shoulders. She didn't flinch, but she didn't stop crying either.
"Look," he whisperd softly, "I'm sure Fate will let your Father go eventually. I don't think he can be that evil."
"Well, you're wrong," she hissed icily, back facing him.
"I've hosted him before and he let me go! Maybe if I talk to him—" She whirled around, effectively cutting the red head off.
"No, Fate's a right bastard and that's the end."
Before he could say anything else potentially damaging, Wally forced himself to turn his back to Zatanna and march out of the room. He heard the door close and his shoulders dropped. When Dick arrived, Wally was wearing his best fake smile and Zatanna was silent behind her closed door.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Her feet dragged lifelessly across the ground as she walked. She had left her room to shower, and the door had yet to automatically close, so Wally decided to stroll past and see if she was done unpacking yet.
Peering around the corner of the door, he saw just as many boxes as there were the day he had tried to help her, four days ago. She hadn't unpacked a thing. He was about to turn away when something caught his eye. It was the black and white photo of Zatanna and her dad, and Wally could have sworn he saw a crack running along the frame's otherwise perfect glass cover, but the door closed before he could get a closer look.
Then his phone beeped, a text from his mom asking for some more window cleaner and eggs. As he walked past the toys aisle in the large store, an idea started for form in the back of his mind.
They had just returned to the Cave after a late-night mission. One by one, everyone changed out and trudged wearily to the zetas or their rooms. The magician hadn't even bothered to change, going straight to her room.
After everyone had gone to their respective rooms or homes, Wally was still in the Cave, standing in front of Zatanna's door. With one hand holding something behind his back, he knocked on the steel lightly. She answered too quickly to have been previously sleeping. When her cerulean eyes landed on him, they instantly hardened and she moved to shut the door. Wally thrust an arm out to stop her, and showed her what he had been hiding.
It was a puzzle box.
Her eyes widened and her mouth was slightly agape as she stared at the box; she looked like a deer in headlights. Worry flashed in Wally's green eyes as he watched Zatanna purse her lips and think intensely, but any of his doubt was gone as she stepped aside and let the speedster in.
The room was dimly lit with one lamp in the corner. Wally made himself at home on the floor, inviting Zatanna to sit across from him, leaning against the side of her bed.
He observed her watching him as he dumped out the puzzle box's contents and started to turn all the cardboard pieces right side up.
Neither of them said a word.
Once Wally had finished organizing the puzzle pieces, he started to assemble the puzzle. Zatanna sat watching him with her hands wrapped around her knees.
Wally grabbed a random piece of the puzzle and put it down on the small portion he had already formed, and then stopped, looking at the girl expectantly. She blinked a few times, but then slowly unwrapped herself and picked up a random puzzle piece. Staring intensely at the puzzle, she slowly placed it down, connecting it to the piece the speedster had just placed himself.
This continued silently; Wally would complete a small portion of the puzzle and then Zatanna would somehow pick the exact piece that would fit onto the last one Wally placed down. And then they stopped when Zatanna placed another piece down and the pile was empty. An empty spot in the center of the puzzle begged to differ, though. Green and blue eyes flickered across the room and quickly landed on the small cardboard chip.
Two hands reached for the piece simultaneously and their eyes met. Wally offered her a small smile and let her have the piece. She picked it up carefully and gently laid it in its correct spot. She looked at the puzzle in its completed entirety and a tiny ghost of a smile twitched at the corner of her lips.
She had seen the small image on the front of the puzzle box, but this was different. It was bigger and glossy and the lines between the puzzle pieces made it look textured and more intricate. In the trees hid fairies and forest animals and in the center was was a small pure-white lily— one of Zatanna's favourites.
"It looks nice, huh?" the speedster whispered, breaking the silence. "You should hang it on your wall."
"No thanks," she replied quietly, letting out a small yawn.
Wally frowned, eyebrows knitting together.
"You sure?"
"I'm fine, Wally." Rubbing her eys, she stood up, back facing him. "Good night."
He didn't say anything, but reluctantly dumped the puzzle back into its box. When she looked over her shoulder a few minutes later, there wasn't a single trace of any red headed visitors in the middle of the night.
When the magician walked into her room a few nights later, raven hair still cold and damp from her recent shower, she saw the puzzle— reassembled and framed— leaning against her bed. Eyes wide and mouth hanging open in incredulity, she gingerly picked it up, as if it could disappear at any given second. A note was attached to the corner.
"Like two pieces of a puzzle, I will always be there for you whether you want me or not. I may get lost along the way there, but once I got you, Zatanna, I won't let you go. The Team is always here too, and they miss this puzzle piece. We're not exactly feeling completely right without you, you know?"
She stumbled backwards onto her bed, eyes never leaving the puzzle's glossy surface. They traced over all the little details that she hadn't noticed before— the stars twinkling brightly above the trees and the butterflies in the leaves. Suddenly, she spotted something odd. Right where the white lily should have been, there was only empty space. A piece was missing.
Her grip on the frame tensed as she tore her eyes from the puzzle and placed the frame on the ground, angled so she could not see its contents.
Wally was right. Without that one piece, it felt wrong.
When Zatanna sheepishly asked M'gann if she wanted any help baking the next day, the Martian squealed so loudly, Artemis had rushed in with baseball bat, asking how big the spider was.
When the blonde noticed Zatanna watching the scene play out with the smallest hint of a smile, her grey eyes widened comically and she dropped the bat, immediately enveloping the magician in a bone-crushing hug.
Wally watched the girls out of the corner of his eyes as he sat beside Conner before the static-filled television. Cerulean eyes briefly darted over to meet green ones and a smile crept its way up onto the speedster's face.
When the dark haired boy asked Wally what he was smiling at, he just shook his head. Conner shrugged in reply.
An old light had reignited behind cerulean eyes and even when Wally blinked, it was still all he could see.