AN: Part two time! Thanks for all the support in Home, and this time I really think that we could get more reviews! They help me a lot, and motivate my writing. Especially with school starting, I need the extra boost. Can we try for at least 20 reviews? Also, it'd be fun to get to know some of my readers. Suggest stories! Share experiences! We're all writers and readers here!
Wonky Tiles and Secret Cameras
I slowly come back to the land of the living, trying to blink the crust out of my eyes. I become more aware, realizing that I'm lying on my bed. It's not my bed in the Cave, or at Uncle Barry's house. It's just my bed, in my room, at my parent's house. I register that I'm still alive, and I let out a little sigh.
I turn over to get up, before wincing in pain and falling back. That's right, mind the ribs, mind the ribs. This time when I try to get up, I get up much more slowly. It doesn't hurt as much, but it still burns. Nothing new, really.
I stretch slightly as I get out of bed, then move over to my closet. I choose a green striped collared shirt and khakis for today. No reason, I just felt like it. I walk out of my room, careful to shut the door quietly behind me.
I walk down the stairs, making my way to the kitchen. Last night as I returned from Uncle B's house I didn't bother to look into the kitchen. As usual, all the blood and mess is gone, leaving the kitchen spotless. As it should be. It wouldn't do to have blood stains in the kitchen.
I take out a pan from in a cabinet and turn on the stove. I fetch eggs and cheese from the fridge, then frozen sausages from the freezer. As I wait for the stove to heat, I stir the eggs together and microwave the sausages a little to defrost them. I add salt and pepper to the eggs, seasoning them just how my parents like it.
I deem the stove sufficiently headed, and I add the sausages. I cook them for about ten minutes before I add eggs to another pan. I stir the eggs until they're almost ready before adding the cheese. My mother likes her eggs slightly gooey, so I scoop her portion onto a plate before setting it on the table. My father likes his eggs well done, so I wait a little before filling his plate.
The sausages look ready, so I put a good helping of them on both my parent's plates. I set my father's plate across from my mother's, and put toast that I had toasted while the sausages were cooking in the middle of the table. I brought the salt, pepper, and butter over and arranged them on the table.
I then grabbed an apple from the kitchen, my backpack from it's place next to the stairs, and booked it out the front door. Hopefully the breakfast would be okay for today. There wasn't really much to work with, but it would have to do. At least my parents won't have to worry about it after all the trouble I caused.
I walk down the sidewalk and out of the neighborhood, on my way to my high school. Today was just a regular monday, nothing special going on. Training after school at the Cave, and then maybe a mission if we're lucky. I'd planned to play video games with Dick after training, and then do our homework together.
I'd help him with science, and he'll lend a hand in math. We do this almost every time we have to be at the Cave after school, just because we're best friends. And he's way more advanced than me in math, and I'm a chemistry whiz. We balance each other out, I guess. And it's just cool to have free homework help.
After about 15 minutes, my bustling high school comes into view. I walk up to the door, nodding to some people hanging around by the entrance. This year I'm a junior, I'm fifteen, but I skipped a year. I'm a year younger than everyone in my grade. I walk inside, and am immediately greeted with a teammate on the track team.
"Hey, Captain! We don't have training today, do we?" He asks. This is Josh Whitherman, one of my distance runners. He's one of the best runners on the team.
"Nope, not today. But on wednesday, yes. Be prepared, we're doing suicides," I say. Josh groans before walking away, presumably to another friend. I laugh to myself. Everyone on the team hates suicide drills, and for good reason. They suck. Sometimes I make them do it just because they hate it. Extra if they complain.
I'm the team captain of my school's track team, and for good reason. I'm supposedly the fastest kid in school, which I don't doubt. Not everyone can make a sonic boom in their sneakers. The pros about being captain is that I can schedule practice whenever I want, that way it doesn't get in the way of training at the Cave or with the Flash. I probably shouldn't be Cap until I'm a senior, but everyone on the team voted that I should be captain.
I walk over to the chemistry lab to meet up with some of the kids in the chem club. I'm also the captain of that club. Most of the members are also in the Science Olympiad, along with me. That is quite a bit of activities, but I can manage. My track team is one of the best in the state, and everybody in the chem club goes to Science Olympiad nationals for something.
School is pretty fun in that manner. Homework is a breeze because I can literally finish it in two minutes. That way I have time for a lot of extracurriculars.
"It's the Wall-man!" Sherman announces. "He's decided to grace the humble chem lab with his presence!" The room bursts into scattered laughter and applause as Sherman takes a bow. I walk over to him and lightly punch his arm.
"Shermie, you know it!" I laugh. Sherman punches me back, also laughing. I horse around with them until the bell rings, then making my way to my first class.
I walk into the math classroom, and take my seat. The teacher takes attendance, then begins droning on about something or another. I doodle in my notebook and take occasional notes the rest of the period. The rest of the day goes like that, except in various classes until the end of the day. Then it's AP chemistry.
Science classes are my favorite classes. I look forward to them every day. This year I'm taking AP Chem and Physics. Today the last class of my day is Chem. Today I walk into the chem lab, waving to some of my friends who are also in the class, and greeting my teacher. The class passes by so quickly, I'm almost sad when it's over. Oh well. Not it's time to go to the Cave and train. See Dick. Bug Artemis. Run from Artemis's arrows. All that good stuff.
I run out of the school, as quickly as I can while still at a normal human pace. I run to an alley, and as soon as I'm sure I'm alone, I superspeed into my Kid Flash uniform. I then take of down the street, on my way to the Keystone zeta tube. I run into the tube and let it recognise me and teleport me to the Cave.
RECOGNISED: KID FLASH B-0-3
I look around the main room to see everyone except Dick standing and waiting for training. Black Canary isn't here yet, I don't expect her to be for another ten minutes, maybe. Plenty of time for Dick to get here.
"Kid, you're late," Kaldur said in an indifferent tone.
"Actually, I'm not. I'm here, Canary isn't yet. And it's only 2:55. Training starts at three. So therefore I am, in fact, not late," Kaldur sighs at my foolproof logic. Anyway, I hate being late. Uncle B is always late, and I hate it. I try to never be late. If all of us speedsters are late, it'll be the only thing remembered about us. Other than the speed of course.
Really, I don't know how Uncle Barry does it. It takes literally two seconds to get ready, and yet he's constantly late. Hours seem like days to us, and yet he always loses track of time. It's insane.
Just then, Dick comes racing in with his cape half on and his gloves clutched in his hands.
"What's the rush, Shortpants?" I immediately ask, not one to waste an opportunity to make fun of his height.
"Just talking to a friend about something," Dick says mysteriously. I feel a little tinge of hurt somewhere in my chest. I quickly banish it. Of course he has other friends then me.
"I wasn't me?" I gasp in mock-hurt. Robin rolls his eyes. I've known him for so long, I can tell that he was doing it behind the mask.
"Not everything revolves around you, Kid Idiot. Get used it it," He snarks
"That's it!" I shout, running at him. Not the best move seeing as I immediately get judo flipped. I groan as the fall jostles my ribs. Robin looks at me worriedly for a second, but looks back to everyone else, mainly Artemis, who are laughing.
I let my head fall back onto the ground, groaning dramatically.
"I'm dead. You killed me, Rob," I say, trying hard not to crack up "What a best friend you are,"
"Oh noooo!" Dick cries dramatically. "My best friend is dead! I must die also!" He then punches himself in the face, falling to the ground. He lays there twitching for a second before going still. I can't hold it back anymore, and let the laughs out. Dick starts shaking silently from his position face-down on the floor, and I know he's laughing too.
"What's this?" A voice asks. Dick immediately looks up, and I jump to my feet.
"Nothin'," I say, looking around the room and whistling. BC rolls her eyes and calls everyone over to start training.
Training goes by fast. My injuries hurt, but I'm able to put that aside. Robin deflecting Artemis's arrow into her hair definitely helped. Artemis shooting at me because I laughed did not.
A few hours later, Dick and I are walking down the streets of Happy Harbor in our civvies. Dick actually ditched the sunglasses in favor of a baseball cap, letting his beatifu- cool blue eyes shine. We're walking to our favorite bakery/cafe, Nana's Bakery, that has the best scones ever. Absolutely no competition, they're the best in the world.
"Hi, Nana!" I shout as I walk through the cute purple door. The old lady waves back from her place behind the counter. Her cat hisses at the loud noise, and shoots away to the depths of the bakery.
Dick and I take out usual spot at the table next to the window by the door, next to the displays. We sit there so we can watch the people as they walk by, and it's just the best spot. Dick orders one of the magical scones and an espresso. I also order the scones, chocolate cake, and a water.
"So… How's life?" I ask. What? A perfectly viable question. He snorts at the question, for which I have no idea why.
"Okay. Bruce is riding my ass again, but that's nothing new. You?" I pause. How am I supposed to answer that question? I'm good, my father beats me at home and nobody knows, I might have depression, I lie to my friends and family every day, I might have a crush on my best friend.
All I say is that I'm fine.
0o0
I go home after Dick gets a text from Bruce to come home. Glares at his phone, muttering curses under his breath. I have a feeling that Bruce is going to get a serious verbal lashing. Dick and I head for the zeta tubes, him heading for Gotham and me to Keystone.
I come back to a quiet house. My mother and father are vacant, and there's a note on the fridge.
Gone out. Is all it says. I have no idea when they're coming back, but right now it's about four in the afternoon, so I'd say in about six or seven hours. I decide not to take any chances, and head right over to the fridge. It's pretty full, seeing as the last time my mother went shopping was last tuesday, almost a week ago. I grab some fruit out of the fridge, and a freezer meal to eat.
I put my meal in the oven, and walk around to the table. I suddenly find myself on the floor, and a hot, searing, pain shoots through my nose. I feel warm trickling something trailing down my nose, and I groan, coughing wetly. Just great.
I look on the floor to see the source of my trip, and see a kitchen tile sticking out of the ground. Huh. Wonder why I didn't notice that. I mean, it's sticking up, practically detached from the floor. Totally standing out in the pristine house. Kind of like me. A wonky broken tile sticking out from all the perfectly straight square ones. Finally something has gotten past my mother's perfection, an anomaly in this house, one that doesn't belong. That will never belong. That will be gone almost the second my mother spots it. I wonder how long I'll last when the time comes, when my parents spot my broken edges, the ones that won't be fixed in an instant.
The oven beeps, shaking me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized that I had been sitting on the floor, letting my nose bleed all over me, staring at the tile. There are drips of blood on the floor. My nose hurts a lot. I better fix it before it heals wrong.
I get to fixing it, letting the oven beep for a little. It doesn't take long, and once it's done, I grab oven mitts and take my food out. I set it down to cool. Once it cools I take it to the table and start eating. Ten minutes later I'm done, and I throw out my trash. I clean up the mess I made, and take a seat on the couch. Now it's about five o'clock, and I theoretically have about five or six hours until my parents get back.
I yawn, stretching my jaw wide. My eyes gain weight, and start to fall closed from the sheer burden of sleep. The world goes black. A nothingness kind of black, like thick ink. Nothing's getting through here anytime soon.
0o0
Dick watches as the cameras show Wally falling asleep on his couch. Dick noticed that Wally seems peaceful as he sleeps, so sign of strain on his face at all. That worries Dick. He knows Wally suffers from nightmares, he just doesn't know exactly what they're about. He has a few guesses, but he's not completely sure about them.
Wally's broken nose worries Dick, and it scared him when Wally fell. He hadn't seen the broken tile until it was too late. What was also worrisome, Wally hadn't made a sound when he fell. No surprise, no pain, nothing. That wasn't normal. The speedster was very expressive, and Dick would have thought he would jump around cursing, not stare blankly at the kitchen tiles.
A hand lands on Dick shoulder, and he jumps about three feet in the air. A soothing voice sounds from behind him, and Dick calms a little.
"Calm down, my friend. It is just me," Kaldur says behind him. Dick mentally smacks himself. He must be getting rusty if he allowed Kaldur's wet footsteps to sneak up on him. Bruce would be so disappointed. Not that Dick cares.
"Oh, hey Kaldur," Dick grees. Kaldur nods at him before turning to the screens before Dick.
"What is this?" Kaldur asks.
"Oh, nothing," Dick says nonchalantly. Kaldur raises and eyebrow.
"If it was nothing, you would not be watching Kid through cameras," Kaldur says back. Dick finds that he can't argue with the sensible Atlantean, as usual. Dick debates telling Kaldur what's going on, and decides that he can trust the sea-dweller.
"Something's up with Wally. But I don't know what it is. It's worrying me," Dick explains, dragging a hand over his face. Kaldur has a thoughtful look on his face.
"Is it because you are the best of friends, or because of your attraction to Kid?" Kaldur asks. Dick immediately feels a bush come to his face. Kaldur is the only person who knows of his crush on Wally. Bruce might know, but it's more likely he doesn't. As observant as he is, matters of the heart just aren't his thing.
"Maybe. I don't know, really. I do think something is seriously wrong," Dick tells Kaldur. "I see him with unexplainable bruises and weird welts. He limps around the mountain, and sometimes the Manor, and I don't know why. He gets secretive when I ask him, or he tries to deflect the question. Sometimes I don't even realize he's doing it until he's gone,"
"Odd. I do not see Wally being a good secret keeper, or very good at lying," Kaldur says.
"I know," Dick agrees. "But you believe it when you ask a question, and get a perfectly believable answer. You only realize he's lying when some stories don't add up a few days later. Like he told me he was out and fell of his skateboard, which is why he got a cut. But then I found out that day he was with the Flash, and doesn't have a skateboard there,"
"He could have brought over his skateboard," Kaldur says.
"He could have. But I know the Flash's wife hates skateboards, and Wally loves her. He'll do anything to make sure she stays happy, like leaving his skateboard at his parent's house. But that's also something. Wally seems to hate going back to his parents. The Flash and his wife are practically his only family. He seems to dread seeing his parents. But I've met them. They seem like a perfectly normal couple. Nothing I've seen seems out of ordinary. But Wally still seems skittish whenever he's around them," Dick explains, telling Kaldur what he knows. "It's like they'll hurt him or something,"
"Have you thought that might be a possibility?" Kaldur wonders.
"No. I mean, they would never. Right?" Dick almost banished the thought away. But a little voice in the back of his head kept going,
It could be possible.
No. Dick thought. They wouldn't.
But you don't know that. You don't know them. They could have been doing it for years, right under your nose.
But how would that be possible? Wally's my best friend. I would know.
You know what depression feels like. You never told anyone. Why would Wally? Why would he tell anyone? Why would he tell you?
Because…
The voice in Dick's head laughs cruelly before going silent.
"... He might not tell anyone," Kaldur's saying as Dick tunes back into the conversation.
"Sorry, what?" Dick asks.
"I said, Wally might not tell anyone if his parents hurt him or if he is depressed," Kaldur repeats what Dick didn't hear.
Dick stays silent thinking over what he might say. Would Wally really tell him? Dick though he was Wally's best friend. And best friends tell each other everything. Wally knows Dick's secret identity, and Dick knows… Well, Wally didn't have any super duper secret secrets. Or did he? And he just didn't tell Dick.
"I don't know, Kaldur. I just don't know," Is all Dick says. He's not sure what else to say.
Kaldur gives Dick a look that he can't exactly decipher, before turning and leaving the room. Dick turns back to the screen, to see that Wally's nose has started to bleed again.
AN: Annnnnd end! Hope you guys like this next part. Unfortunately Dick doesn't actually know yet, but he has an idea. Watch out for the next part! Please review! Let's get twenty reviews, and I'll do the next part as soon as possible! Byeeee