Ok fine, he grew on me. But I still prefer Wally. Always have and always will! For creepy-wolf and baou21 who wanted a Wally/ Bart chapter. But there's added spitfire for some reason. I swear, my hands just type these things out without me even knowing.
This is a continuation to chapter 8- Off Days so make sure to read that one first!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Young Justice.
Mirrors
Wally West turned the key in the lock and opened the door to his apartment. Everything was more or less where he had left it before he had left to meet with his uncle. His bed sheets were still in disarray, his favourite mug was still very much broken and his dog Bolt was still curled next to the young time-travelling speedster on the couch. Yup, just as he left it.
Wally entered the apartment and closed the door softly behind him, careful not to wake his guest. After all the trouble his cousin once removed had given him a few hours before, it was safe to say that Wally would try to keep him asleep for as long as he possibly could.
He walked quietly and carefully through his apartment, careful not to let his keys clink when he set them on the kitchen counter, and careful to hang his coat up without making a sound. Being so used to moving quickly and without restraint in his apartment made it difficult to keep up the momentum. He opened the refrigerator and fumbled around for something to calm his raging stomach, half his head inside the appliance.
"Can I get something too?" a shrill voice suddenly said behind him.
Wally, not expecting it, shot up with surprise, his head bumping into the top of the refrigerator. He swore under his breath and rubbed at the aching spot on his head, before retreating out of the cold refrigerator. He looked behind him at the source of the trouble, and just as he thought, Bart Allen was grinning up at him, arms behind his back in the very image of innocence.
'I'm doing this for Jay and Joan,' Wally had to keep reminding himself in his head. He had to admit that Bart had a special talent for getting on his nerves, even if he didn't mean to. But that wasn't all that irked him about the futuristic speedster. It was a look the boy had worn occasionally that day, a look that hinted to Wally that the boy wasn't all he seemed. He had looked serious on occasion, his look far suppressing something that a young boy such as him should wear on his face. He had reminded Wally of himself. Covering up who he really was with a cheeky smile…a fake persona.
'No point trying to kid a kidder,' Wally joked in his mind as he frowned down at the brown haired boy.
"Sure," he eventually said, his tone casual, before tossing him a bag of cookies from one of the cupboards.
"Crash!" Bart replied as he opened the packet, flinging two into his mouth haphazardly before zipping back to sit on the couch with Bolt.
'What the heck does crash mean?' Wally found himself wondering, still rubbing absently at the growing bump at the top of his head.
"Uh, you're welcome?" he answered in the end, still unsure of what the word meant where the future was concerned.
He watched Bart for a few seconds as he munched enthusiastically on the cookies, stroking Bolt between biscuits. But then the kid, deciding that 35 seconds of sitting still and quiet was far more than enough, whizzed around once more. Wally sighed with defeat, aware that the long night would only be made longer during the brunette's stay.
He watched Bart from the corner of his eye, far more content with watching the boy moving about than having to actually talk to him. Talking to him had proved unnecessarily exhausting.
He saw Bart come to a stand still at a side table in the hallway and pick something up admiringly, his eyes wide saucers.
"Whoa, she is pre~tty! Totally crash!" Bart said in an impressed voice, whistling with admiration at the picture.
Wally, walking over rather than running, grabbed the picture of him and Artemis from the boy's hands and placed it back on the side table gently, wiping the boy's smudgy imprints off the glass.
"Hands off kid. She's way out of your league," he said teasingly, a small smirk of triumph highlighting his features. He had, of course, managed to score said chick, and lived with her contently.
"You said the exact same thing when I tried to pick up Lind…oh spoilers!" Bart said hurriedly, placing a hand over his mouth before he finished his sentence.
Wally, eyebrow raised in confusion, chose not to put much stock into what the speedster had, or had at least started, to say and turned back towards the kitchen. He didn't get far when he heard a door handle turn. He turned to look at the front door and was just in time to see his girlfriend walk into their apartment, long blonde hair billowing down her back. Her hands were laden with books, and a grocery bag hung over her arm.
"Hey, I got you a snack," Artemis said to her boyfriend as he walked up to relieved her of some of her books.
"Have I mentioned how much I love you lately? How's your paper going?" Wally asked her, before placing an affectionate kiss on her lips.
"Not nearly enough," Artemis teased with a warm smile on her lips, "As for the paper, not bad. I just have to make a few…uh, who's the kid?"
Artemis, having finally seen the pink elephant in the room, turned her accusatory eyes at her boyfriend, who grimaced apologetically at her in return. Wally gripped the brown-haired child on the shoulder's and pushed him towards her.
"Uh. Artemis this is Bart Allen, Uncle Barry's grandson from the future. Uncle Barry's grandson from the future, Artemis," Wally said as an introduction, gesturing to each of them when he presented them to the other.
Artemis looked at the boy with an expression that was half-confused and half-suspicious before slowly extending a hand, which the boy was more than happy to grab onto.
"Enchante," Bart purred, holding Artemis' hand in his own, far longer than necessary.
"Wow. He really is related to you," Artemis said to her boyfriend with a wry smile, prying the younger speedster's fingers off her hand.
Wally pouted at her and crossed his arms over his chest, wearing an expression of mock sadness on his face, that only made Artemis want to laugh.
"Wally. Bedroom now. We need to talk," she said simply, holding back the smile that he was so quick at bringing out on her face.
Artemis turned on her heel, deposited the items in her hands on the kitchen counter and strode towards the bedroom, Wally following after her dejectedly. Bart looked after them, his face radiating amusement but his eyes hiding something far more poignant. After all, he was from the future. He knew.
~oOo~
"He's just like you were a few years back," Artemis said with an amused chuckle, turning to face the frowning red-head once they had entered the bedroom.
Wally crossed his arms and gave her a classic pout.
"Funny, I don't remember being that annoying," he said with a thoughtful tone.
Artemis smirked at her boyfriend, hands on her hips.
"Well, it's a given that you'd remember yourself differently than the rest of us do," she teased him, loving his expression as it turned from a frown to a mischievous grin.
"Hey! Remember that you ended up dating that guy you're insulting!" he replied, gesturing at himself to make a point.
Artemis sighed dramatically and let her hands fall to her sides in a show of depression.
"How could I forget. Every day is like a day at pre-school," she said with weariness, smile tugging at her lips as she saw the red-head's expression change once more.
He stood in front of her with a glint in his green eyes, a look on his face that she knew so well.
"Oh yeah. Well I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure they don't do things like this in pre-school," Wally said with a mischievous growl as he pulled Artemis into a tight embrace, leaning forward to touch his lips to hers.
But, his lips were only a centimetre away from hers when he heard a disgusted sound from the doorway, someone imitating a puking noise. Loudly.
"Bleurgh! Get a room," Bart Allen moaned as he leaned against the door's wooden frame. Wally groaned in frustration at the uncalled for interruption while Artemis rolled her eyes. Wally grabbed a pillow from their bed and flung it at the nosy brunette. Had it been a weapon, Wally would have aimed to kill.
Or at least injure badly.
Particularly around the voice box.
"I do," he growled, as he saw the speedster easily evade the pillow, "You're standing in it. Now buzz off and let the adults talk."
Bart made no attempt to move, even after hearing the strict manner in which Wally had spoken. Instead he appeared to fidget on the spot.
"Aww, but I wanted to talk to you! It's not every day you get to hang out with your cousin in the past! Come on! Please, please, please?" he enthused eventually, his voice an incessant whine. In less than a second he was at Wally's side, tugging at his sleeve in compulsion.
"Look kid…" Wally started with a sigh.
Artemis interrupted him coolly, pushing his shoulder forward.
"Go on stud. I'll still be here when you're finished talking. I'll just work on my paper for now," she told him neutrally, not letting it show that she had been just as annoyed by the younger speedster's interruption as he had.
Wally sighed his compliance and walked out the bedroom door after his hyperactive cousin retreating blur, already missing the feel of her arms around his body.
"Ok ok. What's up?" he asked after he caught up to the brunette, who was now casually leaning back on the couch, hands behind his head. Bart looked at the red-haired young man with a wicked grin on his face and patted the seat beside him. Wally trudged forward and sat down without a word.
He was surprised when Bart flung an arm around him, just as affectionately as when he had hugged him earlier that day. It still felt weird to Wally, and he peeled the young boy off of him slowly.
"Look, I appreciate the love and all. But can you just tell me what you need so I can get back to my smoking' hot girlfriend. I mean, would you want to stick around talking to another dude while 'that' waited for you?" Wally said with a grin, already forgetting the animosity he had felt towards the boy seconds before.
Bart replied with his own mischievous grin mirroring Wally's. Before he even knew what he was doing, Wally had started to ruffle the boy's hair affectionately, his hands combing through Bart's thick brown locks. Realising suddenly what he was doing he retracted his hand as if he had been burned, his expression embarrassed.
'Uncle Barry rubbed off on me,' Wally thought to himself with a frown. He had to admit though, he had gotten so used to being the one whose hair was being ruffled that it was a tad strange to be the one doing the ruffling.
He looked apologetically at the boy next to him, ready to say sorry if need be. After all, even though Wally was partial to having his hair ruffled, it may not have been the case for Bart. But he needn't have bothered. Bart looked perfectly content at having his hair ruffled. Used to it even. In fact, he practically leaned closer just to prompt Wally to continue, which he eventually did.
"You okay kid?" Wally asked him worriedly as the brunette huddled into his warmth, the usual hyperactive kid gone.
"Yup, just recharging," Bart replied vaguely.
Wally looked at the boy with concern, still raking a hand through his hair. He thought on what he had said: recharging, as though Wally was some kind of energy source. Wally chose not to question the kid, knew that some things needed to be kept to oneself. But someday maybe Bart would tell him, would explain to him why he hid his true self under a mirage of cheerfulness.
'Been there done that', Wally thought to himself.
~oOo~
Bart leaned into his cousin's familiar touch. He always had been a hair-ruffler, even in the future, and it was nice to find some familiar ground at last. He knew that Wally had questions, that he already had doubts about Bart's persona. But, that spoiler Bart would have to keep to himself for now. He couldn't keep putting his foot in it, no matter how deliberate. Couldn't keep showing off his powers to Wally, well aware that it would cause some major rethinking on the red-haired speedster's part. Bart knew that his cousin, as he was now, had limitations, limitations that frustrated him to no end. What best way to get him out of a rut than to have a kid outrun him. Wally wouldn't dwell on it for long, hadn't seemed to dwell on it ever since he got back from Grandpa Barry's. He was already on the right path, the path that would lead him to be the man that Bart knew he could be.
The Flash.
That red blur that he had always been following behind.
Bart leaned his head back slightly to look at the older speedster, who gave him a small smile.
"So, you're the man who I'll be trying to catch up to some day. And you never did make it easy…"
END
Bart is hard to get right! I don't think I quite got his character hyper enough here, but oh well, maybe next time! I knew that I wanted to include a bit about him being serious (I actually prefer serious Bart) and a bit with Wally unconsciously being affectionate towards him~ because all speedsters are pro-physical contact like that. I personally think that a few parallel can be drawn between Wally and Bart. They both tend to put on the tough guy, nonchalant act to hide their real feelings.
Also, I gave Bart a reason for being so stuck-up in 'Bloodlines'. Made It seem as though he was trying to get Wally to wake up and smell the roses, to realize that Wally had some work to do if he wanted to be the best that he could. I mean its obvious that Bart knows what Wally can do, he did train Bart to control his erratic powers after all.
Anyhoo, let me know what you think.
Next chapter will be one for Spitfire fans (WallyxArtemis)!
