A/N: Okay, I have an explanation for this. Seriously. It was supposed to be about how making new friends was... well, scary. 'Cause I don't know about you, but I find that scary. It's awkward and hard and... complicated. Anyways, it went kind of screwy as soon as I finished the first paragraph. It's in Bruce's POV (which, really, should have been the warning sign from the beginning), has absolutely no dialouge (which makes it a bitch to read, sorry), and has almost nothing to do with new friendships, except, like, that one sentence in that once paragraph. So yeah, really sorry if you were expecting something better. I was too. In fact, I had planned to write something about involving drugs- Barry finds pack of cigarettes in Wally's pocket, freaks out about it silently for a week until the JL makes him come clean, and then forces Batman and GA to come with him and spy on Wally after school where they find out that Wally has been giving people addicting Chinese candy in exchange for their drugs. But... that didn't work out and this kind of happened. I think I'm high on brownies. Normal brownies. But, yeah, I kind of like it and yes, I realize that Bruce is a little... OOC, but I think that Bats is kind of a softy in his thoughts. He doesn't have to show it, but thinking it is enough. A huge thanks to Concerned Citizen who doesn't actually have an account on fanfiction. But just in case they read this, I'd like to say: yay! I'm glad you loved it! And I completely agree- when my sister took the SATs, they were (and still are) hugely scary for her, so really, they should be considered something scary for just about everyone. And yeah, I don't really know a lot about SAT scores, so I kind of guessed a bit. But I'm glad you brought that up and someday I will change it to be more... reasonable. Of course Robin loves trolling Batman lol. :) I think that the JL cares about every one of the 'sidekicks' by priciple, and I also think that they are gossipy eavesdroppers. I'm (someday) going to write SATs part II in which Wally gets a letter from MIT... :)

Anyways, enough of my babbling, on with the story!

Loyalty

Bruce had learned long ago that Barry liked cute things. It was odd. The grown man, with his geeky, science-centered mind, had this odd fascination with all things fluffy, shiny, and cute, something that Bruce always thought was entirely too… childish for a hero with as much reputation to have. But, Barry was quite relentlessly pulled to any of these three things. Which was why, Bruce thought, Barry adored his nephew so much.

Bruce, or Batman, as he had been at the time, had first seen Wally when Barry had just come back from the first family reunion his new wife Iris had taken him to. The entirety of the Justice League was proud of Barry for managing to get married to a normal, sweet woman who had no idea of his secret identity until he told her. And what a day that had been. The red-haired woman had taken it all in stride and demanded to meet the rest of the Justice League, just so that she knew Barry's co-workers well. They had taken to her kindly, as she had brought them some home-baked pastries. And Oreos. J'onn, after all, adored Oreos. Anyways, Barry had gone to this reunion and come to work the next day with a dreamy, yet contemplative expression adorning his face. If the Flash had been scatter-brained before, it was nothing compared to his attention span now. Clark had given up on trying to get his attention during the meeting and outright asked what was bothering the red-clad man, effectively startling the speedster out of his thoughts.

Barry immediately denied that something was wrong, but eventually Diana and Dinah had managed to bully him into revealing the real reason: Wally West.

As soon as Barry mentioned his nephew, he went off on one of his babbles- babbles that Bruce usually blocked out. But this time was different, and Bruce paid attention in order to see if he could help his friend out. Yes, Barry was his friend, and while Bruce would never, ever admit it to the man's face, he did care. Barry was one of those loyal idiots who had nothing but good intentions and a geeky brain. It was hard not to like him.

Barry took out a picture of Wally- who was fluffy, shiny, and cute, all things that Bruce found Barry had an unnatural adoration towards. Wally was scrawny and tiny, short for his age of eight. He had this fluffy, almost windswept and bright red hair that floated around his little face in the picture. The young boy was smiling shyly, revealing a single dimple on his freckly cheek (the dimple, Bruce thought, was what made Dinah, Diana, and Shayera coo), and had the biggest, shiniest green eyes any of them had ever seen. He was adorable, Bruce supposed, and that was why Barry had felt an automatic pull towards him. Not to mention, he was actually kind of pathetic, what in his too-big clothes and thin arms and general tininess. Not that Bruce would ever say that out loud, especially now that the adorable Wally West had turned into a hyper-active, still generally cute, but loud, obnoxious, and occasionally, surprising teenager.

Anyways, Barry took out this picture and babbled on about how Rudolph West, Wally's father, was a terrible, aggressive man, and that Wally himself was shy- too shy, although now that Wally was a teenager, Bruce couldn't see any of it- and it was all because of that horrible man. Iris, herself, didn't like him, despite the fact that she was his sister. Mary, on the other hand, seemed reasonable, but… frail. And so Bruce saw the problem.

Barry wanted to help Wally, like the loyal, ridiculously nice, idiot he was. Barry probably wanted to keep Wally, shower him with gifts and love, and have Iris make him some food that would actually put some meat on the redhead's bones.

The Justice League had looked at each other, then at Barry's shiny bright blue eyes, and been unable to do anything but comfort the man. Barry was… like a puppy, Bruce decided. However, this hadn't stopped Barry from doing something about it.

In a turn of events that the Flash never discussed, with Clark, Diana, Oliver, or even Bruce himself, Wally, at age twelve ended up living with him. The boy had, in another turn of events that was never really discussed, become Kid Flash. The first time Bruce met him, Kid Flash, or Wally West, was the same, shy little eight year old, even though he was twelve and rigged up with the volatile mind of a speedster (Bruce was being extremely nice when he said volatile, of course).

Wally had accidentally gotten mixed up with League business when they went to help with an earthquake that suddenly hit Central and ended up being this weird super villain who called himself 'The Quake' and had, as Black Canary so kindly and tactfully put it, the man-boobs to match. Anyways, Kid Flash had been there, helping out, and the group had met him the way he was- hero-worshipping, shy, and jumpy. But he was still cute, Bruce supposed.

Wally had pretty much hidden behind his mentor the whole time, only stepping out when Barry had pushed him a little, and stuttering out a "Hi" before running off again, claiming to need food. Bruce could tell that in a few years' time, given some hormones and a little more confidence, that he would be a lot like Barry. And Bruce- no, Batman- was always right.

What Bruce- or Batman for that matter- wasn't expecting was Robin and Kid Flash to hit it off so well. Of course, when Barry had first suggested that they put their two young sidekicks together to see if they would get along, Bruce knew it was a bad idea. Because all of Barry's ideas were bad, as Batman had told himself many, many times before. This little fact gave no explanation to why he kept going along with Barry's stupidity, although it might have had something to do with Dick's excitement at the thought of a new friend (an only friend) and Barry's stupid shiny eyes. Really, you'd think that Bruce would be prepared to have some kind of weapon of defense when faced with the puppy-dog look, but when he was hit twice in the same day, once from a grown man and once from a very tiny eleven-year-old, he gave in. It was bad. But it happened.

Wally West, at thirteen, still had not gotten the dreaded hormones, but he was a bit more confident than the year before, and Bruce could appreciate that, he really could. But the redhead still looked a bit nervous in the face of the infamous Bat who shoved an even shyer Robin at Kid Flash and forced his ward to introduce himself. Wally- Kid Flash- had broken into a one-dimpled smiled and introduced himself back, ignoring the fact that Dick was two years younger, and therefore two year tinier (and boy was Dick tiny), and started talking to him. Bruce (Batman, at the time) had almost, almost snorted when he realized that Wally West was just, if not even more, as geeky as Barry Allen was. And with good reason, if the prideful, adoring gleam in Barry's eyes was anything to go by. After that, Bruce had relented a bit and allowed Kid Flash to become a friend to Dick. Robin, naturally, was the accepted identity in front of Wally West, but that had (oddly) never seemed to bother Kid Flash, who took it all in stride. When Wally was sixteen (hormone-ified and confident, but a loyal idiot), Bruce had allowed Dick to tell Wally his secret identity. Taking a bullet for someone was, after all, one of the best signs that they are trustworthy and loyal to the boot. But Bruce and Batman had already known that because, Wally and Kid Flash (what was the difference, really, Wally just barely had a secret identity) had been raised by Barry Allen, the Flash, after all.

Yes, sixteen had been a good year for Wally West, who then got to visit the mansion and see the Batcave and meet Alfred, who he constantly tried to get to call him Wally (the farthest he ever got was Master Wally). He also ate all of their ice cream, made Bruce buy him popsicles so that he could suck on them when he dropped by without a call, teased Jason and Tim to no end, and just generally got him, Dick, and Roy into loads of trouble.

Roy was a whole other story, and one that Bruce felt he didn't want to explain, what with the painful memories that often accompanied the sometimes troubled man. Ollie was good friend of Bruce's, although the two argued incessantly, and Bruce felt he rather hated Ollie often, but Ollie was also an idiot, and not in the way Barry was. Nevertheless, Dick liked Roy and Wally liked Roy, and when two pairs of shiny eyes were staring up at him like that, Bruce couldn't help but give in. Well, as much as Batman ever gave in, which was very little, although Dick usually managed to get a couple extra feet from that inch.

All in all, Bruce was actually quite fond of Wally West, despite the fact that the boy flirted with just about everyone (and without shame!), had the attention span of a two-year-old on cotton-candy high (which was so much worse than normal sugar high, as Bruce learned when he took Dick to that carnival for his birthday), was a very typical example of a teenage male, and took after Barry with his idiotic-idea-ness. Wally had pissed him off more times than he could count and made him spend inordinate amounts of money on blueberry-flavored popsicles of all things, but Wally had also been Dick's first friend and the person who got Dick to talk to him whenever they were angry with each other. Plus, Wally had that goddamned loyalty that Barry so cheerfully possessed, and sped through life making people happier, just like Barry did. So yes, Bruce was fond of him. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Batman, after all, wasn't really supposed to be fond of people.

A/N: Just so you know:

J'onn - J'onn J'onzz, or Martian Manhunter. And yes, he really does love Oreos, or at least he did in JLU.

Clark - Clark Kent, or Superman. I really think you all knew that, but just in case...

Diana - Princess Diana, or Wonder Woman. I hate her, but I also hate showing it. So, I hope that didn't come through...

Dinah - Dinah Lance, or Black Canary.

Shayera - Shayera Hol, or Hawkgirl. I don't know, she was an original seven member in JLU, and I like her... so...

Oliver - Oliver Queen, or Green Arrow.

And Wally's parents, were, in fact, sucky in the comics. I just like to play off of that, I hope it's not annoying because I know that a whole lot of Wally stories really like to play off of that, but angst just... makes me happy. :) Thanks, please review! I'll try to update sooner next time, too...