Characters: Wally West, Oliver Queen

Pairings: None

Genres: Friendship

Notes: Takes place in the normal universe, not the one Barry altered.

I don't own The Flash or any other affiliated Arrowverse characters.

There had been reports coming in to the Central City Police Department for the last month; another speedster was running around the city, too fast for anyone to get more than a quick glimpse of.

Upon first reports, the STAR Labs group had been concerned it was another villain. But as more and more sightings came in and told of the new speedster doing things like saving children or putting out fires, they relaxed.

They were all curious, of course; Barry couldn't track the person down (because they didn't even know if they were male or female), and Cisco hadn't been able to get any kind of vibe on them, though not for lack of trying. But the speedster wasn't doing anything evil, so they were comfortable turning their attention to more important cases.

Wally was happy to leave it that way; he admired Barry and everything he did, but Wally was honestly too unsure of himself to tell his family that he was the new speedster zooming around.

It had been unexpected, that was for sure; one morning he had been fine and the next he had sped across the room in less than a second when a picture blew over from the wind outside. But because he had access to everything the Flash did, plus the same level of smarts that Cisco did, he really didn't need to tell anyone or ask for help.

He didn't want to steal Barry's spotlight, but he also wanted to use his powers for something, so he began picking up on the small crimes that Barry couldn't always get to; minor robberies, cats in trees, that kind of thing.

The only problem he had run into was the friction proof material he needed to keep his clothing from spontaneously catching on fire, but with a quick lie about a college entry project involving friction, he had some given to him by Cisco with no hesitation and he had created a functional suit.

Wally didn't like lying to his whole family about everything, but he also didn't feel comfortable telling them. So he kept quiet, helped out where he could, and figured out his powers on his own.

The first time Wally met Green Arrow was in the cortex when he was supposed to be picking Iris up to take her to work. Oliver Queen was standing alongside Barry in full uniform, minus the mask, discussing a series of high tech robberies that had transferred from Star City to Central City.

Though at first wary about Wally's presence, the team managed to convince Oliver that Wally would keep quiet about his secret identity.

The second time Wally saw Oliver, they ran into each other grabbing coffee. Wally had been visiting a school in Star City and had just finished up an interview, and Oliver was grabbing coffee for himself and Diggle while they worked on a case.

They spoke politely for a few minutes, Oliver asking about his college interview and Wally inquiring after Team Arrow and their wellbeing.

When they parted ways on somewhat more amicable terms than they had started on, Wally couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He stayed in Star City that night, because it was too late for him to get back to Central City without making his father question how he had gotten back before the train lines shut down for the night. The hotel he had picked was the cheapest he could get without full on sleeping in the streets, and he knew he would be sleeping with one eye open the whole night.

Around 2 am there was a commotion outside, one that escalated from shouts and arguments into the sound of gunfire, and it had Wally on his feet and out the door in a second. He slipped his costume on as he ran, surrounding the gunmen quickly and freeing them of their firearms in the blink of an eye.

The machines clattered to the pavement, broken and bent, and he was running again, circling the men until they were forced into a small cluster.

He slowed just enough to search for a rope but before anything could be spotted, a whistling sound pierced the air and an arrow sprouted a net over the trio of men, sending them to the ground and holding them down with weights planted on the ends of the net.

Wally twisted just enough to see Oliver stalking over, his eyes locked onto Wally's blurred form, and then he was gone, a breeze in the wind.

The third time Wally met Oliver Queen was when he showed up to ask for Cisco's help in fixing a couple of his higher tech arrows. He had been hanging out with Cisco in the cortex while Wells and Caitlin were out, and he nearly fell out of his chair when the vigilante snuck up on them.

Cisco was more than happy to fix a few of the malfunctions in the arrows and he left to go do so, leaving Wally and Oliver alone in the room.

"How's it going?" Wally asked after a moment, twisting in his chair to face Oliver.

Oliver gazed at him curiously before spinning Cisco's empty chair around and sinking into it, crossing an ankle over his knee. "Good. Good. Mind if I run something past you, Wally?"

Wally flinched almost imperceptibly and cracked his knuckles, nodding slowly. "Shoot."

Oliver pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, eyes darting to the door Cisco had left out of before speaking again. "Let's say, hypothetically, you were exposed to the same matter Barry was. And that, hypothetically, you got the same powers. Can you tell me why, hypothetically of course, you wouldn't tell anyone?"

Wally swallowed and rubbed a hand up and down his arm as Oliver quirked an eyebrow at him. "Hypothetically…" he mumbled, staring at the floor. "I wouldn't tell anyone because I would be too embarrassed that I hadn't figured out how to properly work everything first. And…hypothetically…I wouldn't want to steal Barry's spotlight."

Oliver hummed in the back of his throat and leaned forwards on his knees, clasping his hands together and lowering his voice. "I'm not dumb, Wally."

Wally gave him a small smile. "Never implied that you were."

Oliver smirked at that and shook his head, glancing back towards the door. "Look, I won't tell Barry or Cisco or Iris or anyone. But you should know that you would be a lot more help to them if they knew."

Wally shrugged and glanced away. "That's debatable."

Oliver raised a curious eyebrow but left the comment alone. "Regardless, if you need anything, call me, okay? You shouldn't be out there alone."

Wally gave him a look and Oliver cracked a grin. "Yeah, I know. But still. And from what I saw? You've got them pretty damn well figured out."

Oliver fell silent as Cisco came back into the room, four shining arrows in his hands, and Wally fought back the smile of gratitude that was rising on his cheeks while they talked.

Oliver bid them a good day and then left the lab, leaving the two in a comfortable silence.

"Hey Cisco?" Wally asked after a moment, his eyebrows furrowed.

Cisco glanced up, fingers hovering over his keyboard. "Yeah?"

"When you found out about your powers…why didn't you tell Barry and them?"

Though a little startled by the question, Cisco sat back in his seat and scuffed his foot against the floor thoughtfully. "I was scared," he finally admitted. "Why?"

Wally bit his lip and looked up at the other meta human, giving him a sheepish smile. "Remember that uh…that other speedster?"

He had never heard so many swear words come out of someone's mouth at one time.

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