Kid Flash first met Speedy when he was just 12 years and 2 months old. He'd been a super hero speedster for 6 months. And the speedforce that infused his body had subtly and in some ways not so subtly reshaped it. Wally West stood five foot four inches tall, just a bit taller than average for a sixth grade boy but not outrageously so. What was outrageous was Wally West's physical condition. He'd been in excellent shape before being drenched with shelves of powerful chemicals and shot through with a skyful of electricity. Afterward, he had to hide himself. The giant, oversized pants and shirts given to him by Aunt Iris had been absolutely necessary to hide hissecret identity.

His five foot four inches of body only weighed a hundred and three pounds but even under the shirt and chinos he'd been wearing, other kids were noticing. They couldn't help but notice. Wally had a tiny 18 inch waist and a pair of well muscled, wide, for a hundred four pounder, shoulders above them. Eight stomach muscle squares would've been visible if he'd ever let anyone see him with his shirt off. His calf muscles had become tremendous for such a slender boy and his thighs, while not thick seen from the front had also added muscle front to back. The biggest change after becoming a Flash had been his rear end. Wally'd already been proud of his round little butt. Everyone said that that was what girls really liked, right? He was vaguely aware that the girls were quite impressed with him. Then he became Kid Flash. After just a week of super speed sprinting he felt like he was about to burst out of the rear seam of all his pants. Too much of a good thing. He examined himself in the mirror in his tiny room in the middle of the night. He sighed. Nobody made pants expecting a skinny boy to have a butt like that. His front side wasn't helping any, either. Maybe it was natural growth. He couldn't figure why the speedforce would do this to him. That didn't make any sense. You couldn't be faster with one like that instead of a normal size one. But, as with all his other changes, he had to accept that that was just how he was.

He sighed. He didn't mind. His modified new body felt great. It felt great 24/7. Just walking felt great. And he felt that his gait had subtly changed. His more powerful, but still slender legs and rear made a slightly different walk seem more natural. The spring in his step was amazing. It was faintly intoxicating. And when he ran! When he ran, he scorched the roads with the super speed turnover of his long strides. It was such a joy, just running. It filled him with a mild sort of euphoria to sprint across the landscape as only a Flash could. It almost disappointed him when he had to slow down for whatever reason. And when he did have to slow down, or stop and talk to people, well, squeezed into his new Kid Flash uniform, he felt intensely self-consciousin his red and yellow second skin of a uniform. Running was one thing. He was just a blur running but standing still, especially in front of girls! At first, he routinely blushed as red as the bottom half of his uniform to be standing there showing his butt like that and to have the front of his uniform showing him like that.

Embarassing.

Even if they had no idea who he really was, even if they'd never think that giant clothes and knit hat wearing Wally was the supercharged slender runner with the almost stylized shape in front of them, he felt intensely self conscious about how visible his body was.

It didn't help, either, when he found out that the odd jock that Flash had given him, with one strap instead of two was called a dance belt and was what male ballet dancers wore. Wally's didn't yank up his equipment like theirs did but he was quite embarassed just to be wearing the same thing as ballet dancers, even if his was made of scarlet Flash suit material.

Wally was also embarassed about what had happened to his appetite. It made him feel like a ridiculous freak. He was a typical slender athletic boy at age eleven and eight months when he'd become Kid Flash. He ate more than seemed likely given how slender he was. His mother treated it as almost a moral failing on his part, not thinking that the metabolism of a nearly 12 year old boy shouldn't be judged by the standards of a 36 year old woman. But the fact that he stayed rail thin, with his 18 inch waist, did his arguing for him. He was obviously not eating too much.

Then he became Kid Flash. The morning after the transformation, Wally was lost in thought about super speed and crime fighting and the fact that his own uncle, Uncle Barry was the Flash. Wally barely noticed what he was doing at the breakfast table and absentmindedly ate the whole box of Cheerios, only noticing when he turned the empty box upside down in search of another bowl's worth. What? Did I really . . ? He went to school, his mind a whirl of Flash's instructions to him to not tell anyone what had happened even though he wanted so badly to tell his pals. He didn't. And his first two classes went fast in his totally distracted state, the bell pulling him out of his swirling thoughts each time. But after that second class, his stomach started to rumble. To his astonishment, he was hungry again. He could barely keep his thoughts on anything else. By the time lunch time rolled around, he thought he might accidentally run to the cafeteria, with his new super speed, to get his famished hands on some sustenance. This after a whole box of cereal that morning! He barely controlled himself to eat at normal speed while he recounted a made up version of his day with his uncle the police scientist. Not quite CSI he told them, spinning a yarn of mundane paper work, somehow leaving out the part where every cell of his body, every chromosome of his DNA was transformed to give him supernatural abilities by a bath of dangerous chemicals and tens of thousands of volts of electricity. Oh yeah. Forgot that part. But listen to all the forms my uncle filled out!

And for a little while, his stomach stopped growling. Then, just a class later, it started again. Hunger. Pure hunger. Hunger like he'd never felt before. Famished, starving hunger. Pictures of starving Ethiopians hunger. Won't you please help, hunger. He bent over face down on his desk. How can I be so hungry again so soon, he wondered. When school ended, he ran home at a pace that he thought was at least plausible and went straight to the kitchen. No one else was home. He chugged down half a carton of orange juice and then ate a half loaf of bread at super speed. He stopped himself there, wondering, anxiously, just what the hell was going on. If he kept eating like this, he'd go from being one of the thinnest boys to the fattest in his class in no time. Ugh. He imagined himself a giant fat ass worse than Harvey Klein or even Jeremy Szott, the two fattest boys in his class. But he looked down at himself. His stomach wasn't even slightly puffed out the way it usually was if he was full. A couple hours later, he couldn't wait to dig in at supper. And then a couple hours after that he was starving again.

A week later, still unable to satisfy his hunger for long but at least satisfied that he not only hadn't become a fatass but was more toned than ever, Kid Flash asked Flash about it at a training session at an abandoned airfield.

"Uncle Barry?"

"Kid Flash!" his mentor responded with irritation. "What'd I tell you? Always address me by my appearance. When I'm in my red suit, I'm Flash. Never Uncle Barry. Never. The same'll go for you. You're Kid Flash in your red and yellow suit. I don't even know who Wally West is. You say he's some kid who lives in this area? Really?"

Kid Flash nodded. "Yes sir, Flash."

"Sorry to snap at you, kiddo. Well, go ahead, Kid Flash. What is it?"

"It's me, Flash. My-my appetite. It's . . . crazy! I counted yesterday. I had seven meals, Flash. Seven! And I've been like that every day. I-I don't understand why I haven't even gained an ounce. Please tell me this is a Flash thing. You-you get hungry like this, too, right?"

"I didn't tell you about it?"

"No, sir."

"Well, yeah, I have to eat six, sometimes seven meals every day, too."

"Oh, man, pffffeeeeewwwww! I thought maybe something was wrong with me. What a relief! But, um . . . why do we have to eat so much, to power our super speed running?"

Flash shook his head. "Not even close. I wondered the same thing when I first became this," he said gesturing with arms out to his whole red suited body. "But, when you run the numbers, even eating six or seven meals a day won't come close to supplying the calories to sprint five thousand miles or whatever we do."

"Then what's going on inside us?"

"I'm not sure. I think the energy for our running is actually provided by the speedforce I told you about. I think we need to eat a lot to somehow allow our bodies to use the speedforce. I think maintaining the interfaces between us, between our molecules and the speedforce is what requires all that energy from all that food."

"But . . Flash. My mom was upset about how much I ate before this. Now, I'm-I'm almost out of control. I go around sneaking food like some-some . . . thief," he said pronouncing the last word with disgust.

Flash sighed and then nodded. "You're going to have to adjust to that feeling of hunger we get, Kid Flash. Be aware of it. Know what's going on inside your body. You can't put it off too long or you don't have super speed. But there's just no way to always be able to get food when you want. Sometimes on Justice League missions I have to go a whole day without eating."

"I think I'd implode or something if I tried to do that."

Flash chuckled and patted his slender protege's back. "You'd be fine, Kid Flash. But I want you to pick one day of the week to eat just 3 meals and to occasionally try to even go an afternoon or morning or a whole day without. You can't let yourself become totally hostage to your new appetite."

Kid Flash nodded dutifully. "Yes sir."

"But most of the time, you've gotta get your six or seven meals," said Flash. "Here," he pulled off a glove and reached under his skin tight scarlet sleeve. He produced three 20 dollar bills and gave them to Kid Flash who put them under the wrist of his uniform.

"Take this and buy yourself some things that'll keep and hide 'em in your room and in your locker at school. I'll help you out on a regular basis."

"Gosh, thanks Flash."

Flash patted the boy's orange haired head. "You're welcome, Kid Flash. And before I forget, I want to let you know that I've got a special treat lined up for you."

"Really? What?"

"I want you to go with me to the watchtower this coming weekend and tell J'onn Jonnz what you saw at that rogues' lair. He may be able to help you recover any information you picked up."

Kid Flash remembered how excited he was. The watchtower! Oh boy! Superman and Batman and Aquaman and Green Lantern and Wonder Woman and all the others!

Oh boy!

He told his parents he was staying at his friend Willie's house that weekend, making up a name so that his whereabouts couldn't be checked, not that they would beanyway, and minutes after that stepped into the teleportation tube in front of Flash.

"Nervous, Kid Flash?"

"A bit. I mean. I don't completely understand how this thing is going to take all my molecules apart, beam 'em up to the satellite and then put me back together."

Flash patted his head and left a hand resting on his protege's shoulder. "Don't worry. I've done it a hundred times. You'll just feel a slight tingle."

It was true. That's all it was. Kid Flash stepped out of the tube up on the Watchtower satellite and grinned at Flash. It worked! He followed Flash around at his side, doing exactly as told. Nothing else was really possible. Kid Flash was in awe. He was in awe at the incredible satellite and all the technology. He wanted to ask Flash a thousand different questions, but held back a river of curiosity out of deference. He was also in awe at the incredible heroes to whom Flash introduced him.

"This is Superman, Kid Flash."

"This is Batman, Kid Flash."

"This is Green Lantern, Kid Flash."

"This is Wonder Woman, Kid Flash."

Kid Flash could barely stammer out greetings to each of them and felt positively lilliputian shaking their hands. Batman, in particular, crushed his hand. He felt more like a six year old than a twelve year old. They were so much stronger, their shoulders were incredible. And he thought he could detect a faintly dismissive reaction in some of them. Especially Batman. He felt embarassed to be wearing a tighter uniform than those hero legends, him the slender twelve year old who weighed 101 pounds. He looked at his shoulders in a reflection off a glass surface and then at Superman walking away from him.

God! He could snap me like a twig.

But he felt great that Flash introduced him to all of them with a definite air of pride that this twelve year old was his protege. And, Flash took him to have lunch in the Watchtower cafeteria before he got to dwell any longer on the disparity in size. On the way, Flash showed him some of the amazing features of the Justice League satellite and Kid Flash's feelings of humiliation were replaced by wonder at the fantastic technology all about him. On the way, Flash spoke to someone whose head, well, the top of his head, was literally on fire, who told him that J'onn Jonnz wouldn't be back to the Watchtower till the next day. Before he went away, he was introduced to Kid Flash as Firestorm. He seemed younger than most all the other heroes and seemed sympathetic to Kid Flash. They went off to the cafeteria and there, Kid Flash met red suited teen super archer Speedy for the first time. He was there with Green Arrow, his mentor and Green Arrow's wife or girlfriend, Kid Flash wasn't sure which it was, Black Canary.

She was terrific. She greeted him so warmly and patted his head and acted like a relative seeing him again at a holiday get together after not seeing him for a year. She was also extremely pretty. Twelve year old Wally West was more than a little interested in girls. Blond, gorgeous Black Canary was not a potential girlfriend but she was so attractive he had to work to keep himself from gawking.

Green Arrow was very affable. He had a distinctive appearance, with his robin hood style outfit and curled blond goatee and, in fact, had an air about him like a rollicking fun loving robin hood sort of guy. His protege, Speedy, was different, though.

He sized Kid Flash up with a smirk and a dismissive sniff. After they were introduced and shook hands, he patted the top of Kid Flash's head to emphasize the difference in their sizes. He was at least 4 inches taller and twenty or twenty five pounds heavier in his red suit with his bow and quiver. He snickered at Kid Flash eating voraciously across the table from him and cast a dismissive glance, usually followed by a slight shake of his head at the red and yellow clad speedster every few minutes as they sat there.

Flash seemed to be very good friends with Green Arrow and Black Canary. They asked about Aunt Iris, though they never said her name in front of Speedy. They kept saying "your wife" to Flash. When lunch was over, they told Speedy to take Kid Flash with him because the three of them were going to go off and take care of some confidential League business.

"Aw, come on! I've gotta babysit the squirt!"

Kid Flash threw mental daggers at him.

"You're not babysitting, Speedy!" Black Canary reproached him. "He's only a little smaller and younger than you. You two may find that you work together for years in the hero business. Why don't you just get to know each other?"

Speedy let out a theatric sigh. "You're sure I won't have to change his diapers or anything like that?" he added then chuckled at Kid Flash's angry expression. "Just kidding. Just kidding."

As they walked through the watchtower, Speedy kept talking as though he'd been there a bunch of times but Kid Flash was skeptical of some of what he said about the watchtower and his own adventures. Some of his offhand remarks about the watchtower technology contradicted what Flash had told him. He kept trying to impress Kid Flash with his stories and he also kept making cutting remarks as they walked around, like "I bet you and the Atom would get along."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because the two of you see eye to eye, squirt! Get it? Eye to eye!"

By the time they went back to their room, Kid Flash was not talking to him. He flopped down on his bed and started reading some of the instructional brochures about how the Watchtower worked.

For a few minutes, Speedy was silent. Then he started again. "Back at the cafeteria, were you trying to put the moves on my mom?" accused Speedy from across the room.

"What! No! Of course not! Black Canary's your mom? I didn't know."

"Yeah, adopted. But, what, she's not good enough to put moves on?"

"No, of . . . I mean . . . " Kid Flash wasn't sure what to say.

"I bet you've never even kissed a girl."

"Ha! You're wrong. I've kissed two different girls."

"I bet. What're their names?"

"I-I can't tell you their names."

"Because they don't exist. I bet you're the kind who's just as interested in boys."

"What!"

"Oh yeah. Trying to show everybody your little butt like that. You-"

"That's not true. I'm a-a Flash-"

"You're not showing off your butt in that suit?"

"Well, maybe I sort of am, but we-we Flashes have to wear really tight suits. I might run a thousand miles on a mission. I can't have my suit bagging or wrinkling or moving on me. I can't have friction."

"Yeah, right. The friction you're concerned about is with other boys," chuckled Speedy.

"Shut up! That's not true. You know why I can't tell you the names of the two girls. I'm not allowed to compromise my secret identity in any way. I'm not gay."

"You're sure?"

"Of course not. I mean, I'm not a-a hater. But no, I never think about guys that way."

"Uh huh," Speedy responded skeptically and looked Kid Flash from head to toe. "You got anything at all on under that second skin?"

Kid Flash sighed. Damn! Did he have to ask?

"I wear a uh mmmmf mmmf," he replied, mumbling the answer.

"A what?"

"A dance belt, alright? A dance belt."

Speedy fell onto his bed laughing. "You wear a dance belt! Like ballet dancers wear! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Kid Flash fumed quietly.

"Do some spins and leaps and stuff for me!"

"I'm not a ballet dancer!"

"Hold me closer tiny dan-cer!" Speedy mock sang.

"Cut the crap. I'm not tiny. I'm only a few inches shorter than you and I'm only twelve. And, for the last time, I'm not a ballet dancer!"

"No, you just dress like one. Uh huh. And you don't really like boys either. Oh no. Of course not. Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Kid Flash advanced on him, his red gloves clenched into fists. "If we weren't in the Watchtower and I hadn't been told by Flash to be on my best behavior . . .!"

Speedy chuckled. "What? What would you do, squirt? Honestly. You're really surprised that you get made fun of for being a ballet dancer?"

"I told you! I'm not a ballet dancer. I just . . wear a dance belt, okay? It's a Flash thing. We have to cut down on friction as much as possible. The-the straps of a jock would be rubbing against the bottom of my buns as I run every step and at mach 5 and running thousands of miles that matters."

Speedy laughed but in a completely different way. This time it was totally friendly and he patted Kid Flash's back as though he was silly to have taken offense because they were, of course, good friends. Speedy kept doing that. Over and over, he would make come cutting remark about Kid Flash's uniform or call him a scrawny little nuthin' or joke, again, that he was gay, or bisexual or a ballet dancer and then laugh in the most affable way when Kid Flash responded angrily. Finally, even after a friendly guffaw, Kid Flash just waved him off.

"No way dude. No way. Apparently, this is some kind of game you get off on, to keep making fun of me. Yeah, I'm the smallest guy in the Watchtower. And my uniform's tight. I'm self-conscious about it. All true. But, move on, for god's sake. Talk to me later tonight if you've grown up."

Speedy started to protest but Kid Flash just raised his hand in a stop gesture. He sped out of the room to the Watchtower library and breathed a sigh of relief to be away from the exasperating teen archer. Flash had told him about this new "library" and he was anxious to try it. According to Flash, it had 10 million volumes. It had 10 million different books. But there wasn't a single bookshelf with even one leather, cloth or soft bound book there, nor any paperbacks. As big as the Watchtower was, the weight of all those books and the space they would have needed was prohibitive.

The Watchtower "library" was digital. It was a single floor to ceiling station near the communications center. Inside a stainless steel casing and display was a large screen. Kid Flash arrived at the same time as Black Canary arrived from the other direction.

"Kid Flash!" she smiled a greeting to him.

"Ma'am," Kid Flash said with a nod of his head adoptinga respectful stance with his hands clasped behind his back.. She gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"What're you here for? I thought you might be doing something with Speedy."

"I'd rather read a book," he said diplomatically.

She had a calculating expression that seemed to say she understood everything he wasn't saying. She nodded slightly then rubbed his cheek. "Gosh, what a handsome boy you are. Your aunt told me but you're even more handsome than I thought you'd be."

Kid Flash looked bashfully down at his boots. "Thank you ma'am. You're very kind."

"Oh, quit with the false modesty," she said and tilted his chin back up. "And, listen to me. You and Speedy might not be getting along well right now, but you'll both be heroes for a long long time. Don't close the door on the possibility of you two being friends. Okay? Will you promise me that."

He nodded. "I promise."

She patted the pre-teen speedster's head. "Okay. What book do you want?"

Kid Flash backed away a step. "Oh no, ma'am. You can go first. I'm not sure how to work the system, anyway."

"I should let a handsome boy see what sort of things I like to read?"

Again, Kid Flash looked bashfully down at his boots. "I promise I won't tell anyone," he said softly. She chuckled. "I'm just kidding. How 'bout we do this together?" she said and quickly activated the machine which intoned in a warm female voice, "Welcome to the Watchtower Library." Black Canary expertly navigated the menus while explaining to Kid Flash, peeking over her shoulder, just what she was doing. Finally, she navigated to where the large print on the screen listed authors and books in the E's and F's. She pointed to one at the bottom of the screen.

"The Fountainhead. Do you know that one, Kid Flash?"

He shook his head.

"The hero of the book has hair just like yours," she said touching her fingertips to the orange hair spilling out the top of his uniform. "It's a very interesting book. Do you wanna try that one or do you have something else in mind."

"Um, I kinda had another one in mind, but I'll try that one at some point."

"Okay, well, me first," she said and got into the listings for George Eliot. "You ever read anything by George Eliot, Kid Flash?"

He nodded.

"Really? I wasn't really serious. I didn't think a boy your age . . . "

"Twelve and two months."

"I didn't think a boy twelve years and two months old would read something like that."

"I read Felix Holt and I thought it was pretty good."

She shook her head and smiled at him with her head cocked to one side. "What an odd choice. Why that one?"

"It was the first one I saw on the shelf at the library, and . . well, because Middlemarch looked so long. I thought I'd try a shorter one first."

Blach Canary nodded now. "Your aunt wasn't lying about you. She said you were an intellectual sort of boy. So, you recommend Felix Holt, the Radical?"

He nodded emphatically.

"Okay. This'll probably be the first time I trust the book review of a 12 year old boy since I was 12 myself. Now how 'bout you? What do you want?"

A minute later, Kid Flash was back lying on his belly on his bed in the room he was sharing with Speedy with the "book" in hand. It had a leather binding and cover just like a real book. But it was one of only two dozen physical "books" in the Watchtower's library of 10 million volumes. With the choice of a work, the library downloaded into a chip in the binding all the text of that work and the title, Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo. Opening the "book", Kid Flash saw about 20 physical pages. They felt just like paper. He took his gloves off and felt it with his fingertips. Just like paper. But it wasn't. It was a white silica, carbon sheet onto which the "book" projected a page of text from the downloaded work. Once the reader got through ten pages, the "book" in his hand essentially spun that first page around through the binding and erased the print off it. As the reader kept flipping pages, page 1 would become page 41 and have the text of that page "printed" on it. Kid Flash marveled at the device. He flipped through the pages at super speed and he tried the feature that enabled a reader to jump ahead or backward as though suddenly opening to the back of a thick book. He grinned with delight that it worked. What a terrific little device!

He heard a snicker from across the room. "God. You're a geek too, on top of being a scrawny pretty boy who wants to show off his buns."

Kid Flash glanced at him but refused to play the game. He went back to reading his book. He had no idea what Speedy did the rest of the evening. He became completely engrossed in Hugo's story of the fantastically resourceful Gilliatt. He only snapped out of the literary spell when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Flash leaning over him.

"Hey, fella. I just came to check on you. Time for some shuteye. Why don't you get out of your suit and under the covers? Black Canary's bringing Speedy back and he'll be here in a minute."

Kid Flash looked over, surprised to see that Speedy had gone without him noticing. A split second later, Kid Flash was under the covers and his uniform was back inside his ring. Flash gave him a bagel for a snack and Kid Flash ate it in a fraction of a second. Flash whispered "Good night" and gave his little nephew a good night hug about the shoulders just as Speedy returned. Speedy smirked at the sight and turned out the lights and undressed.

"You finish your book you little goody two shoes geek?" he asked from the darkness of his side of the room.

"Address me the right way or I don't speak to you."

"Okay, Kid Flashy, did you finish your exercise in geekness?"

Speedy waited. Silence.

"Hey you little Flasher! You finish your dumb book?"

Silence still.

"Alright, alright. Jeez you're hard to get along with, KID FLASH! Did you finish your book?"

"No. It's really long. I got halfway through it."

"Why would you read something like that? I mean, gimme a break. What's the point?"

"It's about a guy with a heroic spirit. I love reading stuff like that. Flash recommended it."

"God, what a suckup you must be!"

"Go to hell! I'm not a suckup. You're warped. I'm a hero and I work hard to try and be a good one."

Speedy laughed. "What a cornball. Well, don't try and suck up to Green Arrow, ya little red and yellow brown noser or you'll wake up and find yourself crazy glued into an embarassing position. Or maybe I'll shave all your hair off so that you're a bright shiny cue ball. Or maybe I'll get a spell from Zatanna to make you even skinnier than you are, if that's possible. Or maybe I'll . . ."

His voice trailed off with a yawn. Kid Flash scowled and shook his head glancing at him. Great. Now I have to worry about this guy doing something to me. Well, to hell with that. I'll strike first. He deserves it for the way he's been acting.

So, the next morning, or what seemed like morning to the body clocks of the two boys, Kid Flash was up bright and early. He got one of the extra large water glasses from their bathroom and filled it with warm water. He zipped to the side of sleeping Speedy's bed. Speedy had one hand out from under the covers and over the side of the bed. Kid Flash carefully raised the cup under Speedy's hand till it was immersed. He got ready to run. Sure enough, there was the sound.

Psssssssssssssssss.

Kid Flash dabbed Speedy's hand dry with a towel, at super speed, and ran the cup and towel back to the bathroom at super speed. By the time Speedy sat bolt upright with a wide eyed look of embarassment, Kid Flash lay on his side in his bed just as Speedy'd seen him, asleep for all anyone knew. He let Speedy's movements do just enough to wake him and made sure his initial reactions were disgusted surprise, not delight. His act was so good, Speedy never pinned it on him. He thought KF was too much of a goody two shoes type to have done anything to him. He kept blaming some Tameranian drink that he said he'd had despite being warned not to have one by Green Arrow. When Speedy started his same insult then downplay then insult, etc, routine, Kid Flash turned to him and asked if he wanted the whole League to know that he'd wet the bed. Speedy shut up.

This was the Speedy that Kid Flash had known, a hero but with a peculiar personality.