Young Justice-
"So you want me to call you Red Arrow?," Wally asked, with his right eyebrow cocked.
Roy crossed his arms defensively, "Yes, I think I've earned the right to call myself whatever I want, I'm not a sidekick anymore!," as he yelled, he poked Wally's chest with each exclamation.
"So you think you're better than everyone else now?," Wally questioned the older boy.
Roy's face scrunched up, "Yeah, I do!" Wally guessed he was just saying that because he's upset.
He slowly put his hands on Roy's chest to try and calm his down, only to have them knocked away. Roy's fists clenched up, and he grabbed Wally by the shoulders hard, shaking him, as Wally tried to back away from him.
"Roy, stop!," Wally yelled, "please stop, you're hurting me," the smaller boy pleaded.
Roy just clenched his fists even tighter, and stopped shaking him, and looked into Wally's eyes.
Rage was all Wally could see on Roy's face, and he raised his voice higher, "you'll call me whatever I tell you!," Roy screamed in his face, as Wally's feet slowly left the ground, begging Roy to calm down.
Suddenly, Wally was on his back, and he had a brand new black circle to match the other one.
"What doesn't he understand, why can't he listen, why does he keeps making me do this to get him to listen?," Roy thought.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't...I didn't mean to...please forgive me," Roy spilled out, running his mouth without thinking, rambling.
Wally did what he did best, and started running. He didn't know where he was running, just that he knew he needed to run. His legs figured out where he was running faster than his brain did. Back to "Mount Justice" to find somewhere, anywhere where he could hide from "Red Arrow."
He knew that he would follow him. It's not like a regular break up, not only is he willing to hit me, he was a former protege of a Justice League member. Wally questioned himself, maybe he should just go back, before Roy gets too mad, before someone else gets hurt.
"Wally didn't care what happened to himself, he wasn't worth anything, but what about everyone else back at Mount Justice?," he pondered silently.
Wally just couldn't do it anymore though, he's forgiven Roy over and over, and he probably would've again had he stuck around longer. Luckily it was night time, so no one else could see that he had a matching black eye from the new one Roy graced him with tonight.
Wally slowly snuck into Mount Justice, it seemed like the volume on the security system is turned down at night. He believed everyone else was here tonight, they had all been staying together quite a bit since it was summertime, and he had seen everyone watching a movie together, before he snuck off to see Roy.
He slipped into the hallway with all their rooms, and thankfully Artemis' light was still seeping out from under her door.
He knocked quietly, "come in" said the soothing voice in quiet, dulcet tones, belonging to Artemis.
Wally slipped into the room smoothly, shutting the door as quietly and quickly as it had opened.
"Wally? I'm surprised to see you here, I thought you were off with Roy. Again," said Artemis in a frustrated voice, knowing what Roy does to him, irritated Wally wouldn't leave him, and almost as bad, wouldn't let her break her foot off in his ass.
"I just can't see him anymore, I love him, I've tried to change him, I just...I just can't do it...it's just not working," Wally sobbed, as Artemis moved from her desk, and took Wally to sit next to her on her bed, he moved to lay his head in her lap, starting at the posters blurred by his tears, while she gently ran her hands through his hair, knowing by now what calms him down in this situation sadly.
"Wally, don't fall asleep, we have to cover up those bruises on your face, unless you're finally ready to tell everyone what's been going on," Artemis whispered.
"I'm not able t-t-to tell an-anybody just yet," stammered Wally.
"Alright then, come here, let's dry those tears, and we'll work on your eyes last, "she said, handing Wally some tissues, and starting work on his chin, getting some concealer on a makeup sponge, and getting started.
"Alright, I fixed some of the smudges from when you started crying again, you should be fine, as long as you sleep on your back, got it, Wallace?"
Wally nodded, she was the only person he didn't mind calling him Wallace, because she always did it in such a motherly fashion, making him feel loved. The two hugged, Artemis being careful not to hurt any bruises she couldn't see, and Wally snuck out of her room and into his own silently. He got undressed, down to his tightey whities (hey, when you can run the speed of sound you need support, and Wally refused to wear a jockstrap) and lifted the covers, wrapping himself in them snugly when he got comfortable on his back. He didn't have to set an alarm, thankful again that it was summer, he drifted off into a deep sleep.
Wally's eyes popped open, he knew he had a nightmare, but couldn't remember what happened. Everything was blurry from all the crying he did last night, and he had to be careful not to rub off the concealer when he rubbed his eyes.
He heard everyone moving around, and the sun was shining bright through his window, he turned to look at his clock, "eleven a. m., that's not too late, I thought it'd be one or two o'clock," Wally said to himself.
As he was slowly becoming completely awake, he did a quick smell test, as he did every morning. Simply put, Wally stunk, from all the stress and running from last night. He went to turn on the shower, and waited for the water to heat up as he brushed his teeth, and got clean clothes together to replace the ones he's wearing now. He grabbed a towel and ran it through the towel rack next to him.
As Wally undressed slowly, his mind on autopilot as he was daydreaming about how nice today would be. He hopped into the shower and cleaned himself off as fast as he could, shampoo and soap smelling vaguely of some kind of fruit running down his hair and down his body. He felt so much better, and smelled a lot better too, his mind still off somewhere else, especially now that he feels so much more comfortable. He dried off quickly, and wrapped the towel around his waist, sitting down next to his clean clothes on his bed, about to get dressed.
He heard a knock at the door, and curiously asked, "who is it?," and a reply came back through the door, "it's me, Conner."
Wally figured since they were both guys, it was fine for him to see him in just a towel, "come in," Wally called back.
Conner opened the door slowly, and poked his head in, "I can come back," Conner said, not quite knowing how to react.
"It's fine," Wally said, prompting Conner to come all the way in.
Seeing Wally covered in bruises, he closed the door behind him.
"Do we need to tell someone in the League, or did you take care of it yourself?," Conner wondered, assuming this was the work of some villain.
"What are you talking about?," Wally said, turning around and cocking his head to the right, confused about what Conner was talking about.
"Wally, you look like a raccoon, but one of those black eyes is old, and we haven't had anyone attack us in months," Conner said bluntly.
"Oh, God!," Wally blurted out, he totally forgot about the concealer, he must've washed it all off, and he can't lie about fighting a villain last night, because of the old bruises.
Conner walked up to Wally, still mystified about how he got beat up, if there were no villains.
"Wally, can I sit next to you, I really wanna talk about...," Conner trailed off, not knowing quite what he'd be talking about.
"One second," Wally said as he put on his underwear under the towel, he asked, "is it okay if I'm just in my underwear?
' "That's fine," Conner replied," most of us end up walking around in our boxers at night."
"Whatever you say, just know these aren't quite boxers," Wally warned him.
"Alright, whenever you're ready.," Wally said, his chest feeling tight from apprehension.
Conner walked over to his side of the bed, moving so he was sitting between Wally and the wall, so the fidgety boy wouldn't feel like he's trapped. Wally sat up slightly and took the towel off, and threw a shirt on, he'd get dressed completely later.
Conner looked Wally up and down, "Oh, you weren't kidding about the boxers thing," both boys blushed, "I mean it's not a big deal, and that's not important right now, I'm really concerned about all those bruises. Do you want to tell me what happened?," Conner asked in a calm voice.
Wally really liked how Conner talked to him, not demanding answers like others would.
"I guess so," Wally said rubbing his neck, with his head down, he continued, "you know who Roy is right? Went by Speedy when he was with Green Arrow? I know you guys haven't met much, since he doesn't come around here often."
"Yeah, I remember who he is, kind of a dick, sort of tall guy, right?" Conner answered.
Wally chuckled, "Yeah, that's definitely him," he got nervous as he realized how he'd have to come out to Conner too, as if he needed more to be anxious about.
"Well, he and I...we, uh...me and him were...dating," Wally couldn't stop stumbling over his words, but now that it was out, the silence was deafening, and it felt like hours had passed.
"Oh, I didn't realize," Conner seemed surprised, "but what about you flirting with Megan?," he asked. "I just do that without thinking about it, to seem normal, and she likes the compliments either way" Wally said.
"Well, if it makes you feel more comfortable, Megan knows that I like other guys too, and she doesn't care, which is why you don't ever see us kiss or anything anymore. I hated lying to her, and kind of did what you just did, but with her, so she pretends like we're dating, until I'm ready to tell the team. I guess this is a start," Conner admitted all at once.
"She found out by me saying something similar to what you just did, except I never got around to actually dating someone, I just told her that I have a crush on a boy," Conner elaborated.
"Do you mind if I ask who it is, just to take some tension off?," Wally asked, hoping it'd help him calm down some.
Conner looked away and sighed, "well, it just so happens that it's you, but you're already dating Roy, huh?," Conner replied, looking dejected.
"We're not dating anymore, remember I said he and I were dating, not we're dating, what happened too that super hearing," Wally stuck his tongue out as he finished his sentence, feeling playful for the first time in a long time.
Wally didn't mind the idea of being with Conner at all. He was good looking, judging by right now, he's even more caring than I thought, and he had always had a crush on him too, but then he got caught up with Roy. He felt something totally different for both boys, one he practically lived with, but had never done anything more than platonic bonding, the other, he had been with for a very long time, but only in a mess of codependency and violence. He saw Conner smile meekly, it was a nice smile.
"But wait, why did you mention Roy if you're no longer dating?," Conner wondered confused, bring Wally crashing back down to Earth.
"Oh, right...," Wally said suddenly downtrodden, his emotions apparently all over the place today.
"There's actually a really simple answer, I hate it, and I'm worried about how you'll react, but here's the truth though: he's the reason I look like a raccoon."
Conner felt something strange, a fire deep in the pit of his stomach, not like the anger he felt getting hit by some jerk with a freeze ray, this was pure, condensed hatred.
Conner stood up, quickly, but Wally was expecting that and stood in front of him, "I know what you're thinking of doing, but you're better than him, you're stronger than him, and I don't just mean physically," Wally was saying between grunts, using all his strength pushing on Conner's just to hold him back.
"Here, use my phone, he'll answer thinking it's me, you can work some of this out of your system, and hopefully all he'll need is a warning," Wally said, grabbing his phone off his nightstand next to Conner by bending over him, forgetting he was only still in a shirt and underwear.
Conner saw more than he was expecting today, with Wally arched over his knees moving to sit back down. The temporary distraction over, he opened the badly battered phone that clumsy Wally dropped once a day, he found Roy's name in the list of contacts and dialed.
The phone rang only twice before he heard Roy's voice, "Wally, please come back home, I'm sorry about what happened last night, you know I have a bad temper."
"This isn't Wally, this is Conner, Wally is sitting next to me now with bruises all over his body, and you blame it on a bad temper? I'm only going to say this once, you're going to walk away, you're going to forget about this whole thing ever happening, and neither I nor Wally will ever see your face again, and if you ever even lay a finger on him again, I will put you, in your fucking, grave!" as Conner hung up, chills ran down Wally's spine, as he realized that Conner was a hundred times more dangerous than Roy could ever dream of being.
Wally was just glad he was on his good side.