So let's do another one, shall we. I think I can manage one, maybe two more chapters before this story comes to its conclusion. I've marked this one as a WIP because of that. Thanks again to my beta and to everyone who reads this!

"Master Bruce I demand you return immediately."

Batman tensed behind the wheel and glanced at the cockpit of the Batmobile, already calculating which turn would get him back to base the fastest.

"Are we under attack?"

"Master Dick has graced us with his presence."

It took Bruce a moment to let go of the tension and glare at the video feed of Alfred. He was just about to ask why he should return for that but Alfred was quicker.

"I have found an empty paint can, Master Bruce." Alfred's voice was heavy and serious and Bruce knew to take it at face value.

Dread settled in his stomach.

"What color?"

"Baby blue."

Inhale. Exhale. Baby blue. It could be worse.

"Well, at least we know it's not the Batmobile." Seeing how he was currently hurrying to get home with it.

"No, it is not. But I have not found the repainted gadget either. A glance through the Batcave has revealed nothing."

Well, that wasn't good. Knowing them, it probably was some gadget he would need on the fly and only then discover that it had been repainted.

Maybe Wally wasn't so tired after all.

Bruce met up with Alfred in the Batcave. During their speculation he got rid of his suit and put on some comfortable clothes before they went up.

There was no point to speculating, they would need to ask straight ahead.

Dick greeted him on his way to the kitchen, a stack of empty plates in his hands.

"Hey Bruce," Dick greeted with a sly grin and continued on.

Bruce followed.

"You didn't call ahead."

"I guess I didn't. I thought Wally might want some other company besides you're grumpy self and Alfred's amazing cooking." Both reached the kitchen and Dick gently placed the stack besides the sink.

"He's asleep now," Dick added as an afterthought and frowned slightly, finally looking at Bruce.

Bruce's face remained neutral, even if the provided information didn't sit right with him. Wally had just woken up when he had left as Batman. Granted that was a few hours ago but Wally should be able to stay awake a little while longer than that.

"He's tired, of course he's sleeping."

"No, but…," Dick hesitated before pushing on. "But we just played a game and he fell asleep during that. As in, he said he's tired and fell asleep." Dick's concern was obvious and natural for someone this close to Wally.

It was the same Bruce felt at the admission.

"But he's getting better too," Dick smiled slightly but it didn't look right. As if he tried to convince himself of that.

"What makes you say that?"

"Wally said that the pain finally stopped."

Bruce's back went rigid. Wally had been in pain this whole time? Why hadn't he said anything?! "The pain?" Bruce echoed tentatively.

With a nod, Dick leaned against the counter to explain. "Yeah like...he's always hungry , right? And he said that ever since the...incident, the hunger was actually painful. As in, you're so hungry it hurts. But like I said, it seems to have stopped."

Dread and guilt churned in Bruce's stomach. Why would Wally keep this to himself? Surely he knew that he could eat all he wanted in this mansion. They had even told him multiple times that he should just say something.

He needed to talk to Wally.

"Anyway...I gotta get going. There's something big going down in Blüdhaven tonight. Tell Wally I'll be back on the weekend. Though I told him already," Dick chuckled and pushed himself away from the counter. "I just wish I could listen in to one of those calls you get from Wally's com."

Bruce looked at Dick before turning and walking with him out of the kitchen. "You just have to join the League." Simple as that.

Though both knew that Dick didn't want that.

Dick shook his head and turned around before waving. "Bye Bruce!"

Bruce watched Dick walk away before he turned into a different direction to search Wally out.

It didn't take too long, seeing how they had occupied their usual room. Some things just never change it seemed.

Upon entering he saw Wally buried in pillows and a blanket in the middle of the floor. The controller still besides him.

At least Dick had turned off the TV.

With a sigh he stepped closer and put the controller to the TV. After that he got to his knees besides Wally and gently touched the other's shoulder. "Wally? Wake up, there's something we need to talk about." It couldn't wait. Not when Bruce might be out of the mansion again and completely miss Wally being awake.

Wally stirred and pushed himself more into the pillows. Dick had really gone out of his way to find that many.

Shaking Wally's shoulder again, Bruce watched as Wally tiredly opened his eyes.

"Bruce?" Wally mumbled and the other nodded. Confused he sat up and blinked the sleep out of his eyes while Bruce took a good look at him.

The speedster's hair was tousled and his eyes were tired. But not more than last time. At least he didn't look one shade too pale anymore.

Wally stretched his arms over his head and wanted nothing more than to fall back into his be-...pile of pillows? Well, that was strange. Amused he looked around and figured he must've fallen asleep.

Until he remembered.

He fell asleep.

With a groan he slapped his own face and shook his head."I fell asleep! Dick's already gone?"

"Dick doesn't mind. He said he would be back during the weekend," Bruce explained and actually sat down on the floor. He pulled one leg closer and placed an arm on his knee.

Bruce let Wally fret over that for another minute or so until the redhead finally turned all of his attention to him and blinked several times.

He cut straight to the point. "Why didn't you tell me you were in pain?"

Wally looked confused at Bruce.

"You told Dick that the pain stopped," Bruce elaborated at the face Wall made.

"Oh.."

"Yeah, 'Oh'. Wally, you need to tell us these things."

"It's not a big deal," Wally shook his head but sat up straighter when he saw Bruce's face. Bruce didn't seem to agree too much with that assessment. "Look, it's just something...I'm always hungry Bruce. And sometimes I'm hungry enough that it hurts. But it's a pain I've come to ignore over time. Sure the last few weeks had been...uhm..harsh but other than that bearable. It's really not a big deal."

A grunt came from Bruce. "Haven't Alfred and I told you over the past few days over and over again to say something? When you're hungry, when you're tired, when something's just different. We can't help you if you don't talk. Look," Bruce sighed moved his legs a bit to sit more comfortable on the ground.

"I don't care how hungry or insatiable you are. You're hungry. And if you're hungry enough that it's painful then you need to tell me. If the need arises I'll order a whole party buffet just for you. We'll come up with a reasonable excuse why I need one without throwing a party."

Wally grinned somewhat. "Because you're rich."

Bruce looked at Wally for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Because I'm rich. Though reporters nowadays like something with a bit more story to it."

But both knew that Bruce would resort to this flimsy excuse if it came down to it. When nothing else came to mind.

"Are you still tired?"

Wally shook his head and moved a hand through his hair. "Not that much. I feel pretty awake right now. Why?"

"I need you to do something for me," Bruce said with a serious voice. The light banter between the two of them suddenly gone.

"Oh yeah, sure, what is it? I just gotta-," Wally meant to stand up but Bruce took a hold of his wrist and pulled him softly down, so that Wally came to sit again. Confused, he looked at Bruce's face. "What?"

Bruce let go of Wally's wrist and his lips thinned. "See, this is exactly what caused all of this. You can't just say yes to someone who's asking you to do something. You need to listen to them first, hear them out and then decide."

"It's not the same?" Wally replied back slightly amused. Having Bruce this concerned about him was...nice. He blushed somewhat. "You're...you."

"Elaborate?"

"I mean, you're Bats. Whatever you're going to ask of me is gonna be reasonable. No?"

Taken aback, Bruce stared at Wally, the other's face slightly red. Shaking his head, Bruce let go of whatever feeling that stirred in his chest. "That's not the point. Even I could make unreasonable demands. Maybe I'll ask something of you that you don't want to do."

"Then I would say no afterwards. I didn't really promise you my soul or anything?" Wally snickered and shook his head for good measure.

Bruce however just lifted his head and turned to the side. "Because it worked so well over these past few weeks?"

Wally didn't know how to respond to that. Bruce was right, of course he was. But somehow this felt like he was the guilty party here. Sure, he hadn't been able to say no to people but that's just because he hadn't expected for everything to blow up as it did. He had asked for help in the end, hadn't he?

Put off by this, Wally looked at his hands in his lap and frowned, the blush still there. He didn't want to disappoint Bruce but at the same time he meant what he had said. He would do what Bruce would ask of him. Batman wasn't someone to ask him to bake a cake.

Sighing, Wally let his shoulders drop.

Until a bigger hand covered his. Looking up, Wally looked at Bruce who leaned more towards him. He blinked at that and the redness on his face became more pronounced.

Wally really wanted to look somewhere else. He always had problems to hold the other's gaze. Either blue eyes looked straight through everything he said or pupil-less lenses stared at him and Wally didn't know what the other thought.

Not that he ever knew that but without the cowl he felt he had a slightly better chance than usual.

But Wally didn't look away, couldn't.

Maybe it was his imagination but he felt like Bruce leaned in ever so slightly. The other's hand was warm on his own, almost burning. Ironic, seeing how he was the one with the higher body temperature.

"You should eat something."

Blinking, Wally needed a moment to gather himself. What?

"What?"

"I said maybe you should eat something. Just because your hunger got better doesn't mean you should wait until it gets worse again," Bruce said and suddenly stood up, taking Wally's hand with him, making him stand up with him as well.

"Oh….yeah...sure. Why not. You're gonna eat too?" Wally asked back. Feeling somewhat thrown off, he simply followed Bruce. Just a few moments ago he was sure enough to feel Bruce's breath against his face. They must've been quiet closer than he had thought they were.

Was he reading too much into this? Probably. Maybe he still needed more sleep to get his shit together.

Bruce glanced back at Wally. They still held hands on the way to the kitchen. Seeing how neither protested.

Wally found himself standing in the kitchen, with Bruce taking out things from the fridge.

Panic immediately settled in and he moved over to take the things Bruce had just taken out. "What are you doing?!"

Both stared at each other, Wally holding the food close to his chest while Bruce stood there with empty hands, frozen in position.

"Making some food?"

"Alfred said you aren't allowed to do that," Wally said defensively and put everything on the counter. "I can do that. Or you could get Alfred."

Bruce's eyes narrowed and he simply went to take out some more ingredients, only for Wally to take them away again. "I am quite capable of making a few things. I'm not useless in the kitchen." He didn't reply to the option to go and get Alfred.

"No," countered Wally. "I have heard one story and that one was quite enough to know why you aren't allowed to cook. Sure, the story was funny as hell but we don't want a repeat do we?"

Now it was only a matter of pride. Puffing up his chest, Bruce would make sure to proof that he could handle being in the kitchen doing more than just consuming food.

Bruce was sure he would've gotten his way if the com-unit in his ear hadn't gone off. And Wally had been about to cave in too, damn. Now it looked like he caved and judging by the look Wally gave him, they both knew it.

Groaning, Bruce excused himself and walked out of the kitchen, accepting the call. "Batman"

"..."

"Either talk or leave," Bruce bit out, quite aware that this was another call for Wally.

Whoever was on the other end apparently got discouraged enough to actually end the call. Which was fine with him anyway.

Wally watched Bruce walk out and immediately got to work to make some mashed potatoes with grilled meat from the pan.

The other wouldn't be able to say or do anything if he had already started. It would be only a waste of food for Bruce to be petty enough to demand he would cook something.

Chuckling to himself, Wally put the things they didn't need away again and tried not to hear what the other was talking outside of the kitchen.

Of course it would be quite interesting to hear how some of those calls to his communicator went but at the end of the day Wally was quite content. He trusted Bruce and knew the other would handle it business-like as well.

Shaking his head, Wally looked up when Bruce came back into the kitchen, looking just a tiny bit more sour than a moment ago.

"Everything alright?" Wally asked while seeing to it that the meat wouldn't get burned on one side.

Bruce just shook his head and came closer again, leaning slightly against Wally's back to look over his shoulder to see what the redhead was cooking. "I told you I can cook."

"Too bad you were busy then," Wally scoffed while he stared at the sizzling meat, trying to hide his blush. It was perfectly normal to be so close when one cooked and the other got curious.

Right?

Clearing his throat, Wally pushed slightly back and motioned for the table. "Make yourself useful then and get out plates n' stuff."

"Plates 'n stuff," Bruce echoed amused and turned away to do just that.

Wally listened to the sounds of ceramic on marble, followed by the metallic clang of the cutlery.

He blinked several times to get out of his daze and concentrated on the food, getting it away from the heat and stirring when it was needed.

Once done, Wally quickly searched the fridge again. Vegetables found, he added them too.

Confident that everything would be enjoyable enough, Wally meant to tell Bruce so.

Only to discover that Bruce was quite close again, watching Wally work and cook.

Wally tried not to read too much into it while he moved the pan and pot to the table. Ready to serve.

Bruce sat down and watched Wally put their meal together on the plates and place them back to where he got them.

"I could've done all of this too."

"Sure," replied Wally with a tight voice, the amusement showing in his eyes.

Bruce could clearly see the effort the other put into trying not to laugh at him. "I could've." Insisting probably didn't help his case at all. "Should have. I am the host after all."

"Next time then," said Wally while he sat down and grinned at Bruce, his face slightly flushed. "For now just enjoy the first meal I have cooked around here." Without saying anything more Wally started to eat from his overloaded plate.

"First," echoed Bruce once again. "You make it sound as if you're ever going to cook in this mansion again."

Bruce too started to eat and had to give it to Wally. For something on such a short notice, without even knowing what was in the fridge in the first place, this was quite good. When Bruce had taken out the ingredients he hadn't even known where to start.

"Why not? I can cook," chuckled Wally with a mouthful of food. He even managed to shrug. Though the raised eyebrow from Bruce told a different story.

Bruce merely shrugged when he turned his attention back to his own meal. "Either I cook the next time or Alfred does...and when Alfred gets to hear about you cooking in his household it's over anyway. The kitchen won't be left unattended as long as you're here from then on."

The following silence told Bruce he had won that argument. Smiling faintly to himself, he didn't speak up again until he was finished. And Wally remained surprisingly silent too.

Both remained when they were done, while Wally put their plates together.

Bruce leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, placing his chin on his hands. "Did you bring your phone?"

Confused by the random question, Wally just blinked at Bruce before he snorted. "You took it away when I came here. Remember?" Something about getting the rest he needed and not getting distracted by games.

Not that this was even that possible. Most games on the phone were too slow and because of that boring anyway.

"Of course I do," replied Bruce.

Which made his question even weirder. If he didn't suffer from a sudden bout of amnesia why even ask this?

"I'll give it back, it's just in a different room."

"Yeah? Cool. I promise I won't stay up all night texting people," Wally joked, winking at Bruce as well. "What are we going to do now?"

Because now that Wally was awake he was quickly growing bored. Sure he could eat some more but then his buddy time with Bruce would be even shorter, since Bruce would probably just excuse himself and leave.

"You're going to rest. It is late after all and you fell asleep earlier." The resulting pout had Bruce the corner of his mouth twitching. "And maybe..you could tell me what you and Dick graced with a new paint job."

Upon the mention of the paint, Wally's back stiffened and he stared at the table. They had been found out this quickly? Bruce hadn't even been back that long! There was only one way to go about it. "Uh...I'm not really sure w-"

"If you tell me right now what you and Dick repainted, in baby blue of all colors, then I won't be forced to go after you."

Wally remained silent for a little while longer and scratched his chin. But both knew that Bruce wasn't going to buy it anyway.

"It could've been way worse. Baby Blue isn't a bad color," Wally argued and looked up at Bruce, smiling somewhat.

"Wally, what was it?"

"And leave Dick to the big, bad wolf? Nah. I'll let you find it." A slightly mischievous tilt entered Wally's smile, despite being actually nervous about defying Bruce like that.

But Bruce just nodded and simply stood up. "In that case I'll get your phone now and then you're going to bed."

Wally remained sitting and simply watched Bruce go, weirded out by the fact that the other hadn't gotten too angry. Actually, there had been no anger? Just mild frustration, if Wally had to label it. Weird.

God he was going to jump at every sound now, expecting Batman to chew him out. With a groan he placed his head on the table.

Bruce simply walked to his bedroom, quite the distance to go, to retrieve Wally's phone. Sure, he really wanted to know what had been repainted by them but Bruce also appreciated Wally's loyalty to Dick.

He had given the speedster an easy way out and he chose the difficult one. If Bruce didn't knew himself better he would almost feel proud of Wally.

Taking the phone out from his bedside table, he turned it around once before making his way back to the kitchen.

What greeted him was Wally with his head on the table, looking like someone who knew what his choice of loyalty meant for the future.

Amused, Bruce placed Wally's phone beside his head and touched his shoulder to move him into an upright position again.

Wally just glared at Bruce before he stood up and took his phone. "You're doing this on purpose."

Bruce just lifted an eyebrow in question.

"You know exactly what I mean! Good night," Wally huffed out and walked out of the kitchen. For a moment he stopped and seemed to contemplate something but in the end he just shook his head and continued his way.

"Night," Bruce said after Wally left the kitchen and looked at the table and the dirty plates.

It had been...nice. Just being with Wally while the other cooked. Eating with him. Sure, Wally ate a lot but it was part of his charm. Wasn't it?

Amused at himself, Bruce turned the lights off and made his way back to his bedroom. He hadn't intended to be back so early in the night but he might as well make the most of it. Seeing how the Batsignal wasn't visibly anywhere.

Two days later Wally had managed to lose Alfred and actually sneak into the kitchen to clean all the dishes left there. He had watched long enough and remained on the sidelines. Death wouldn't claim him just because he cleaned up after himself and helped Alfred along the way.

For the first time, since he had gotten his phone back, did the notification sound pipe up. Which was quite feat. Really no one had actually written him all this time?

There had been no new messages when Bruce gave it back.

Drying his hands, Wally took the phone from the counter and unlocked it to look at the message.

From [Dick] - hey, could you do something for me?

Weird. Wally was pretty sure he hadn't put Dick under his actual name as a contact.

To [Dick] - sure, what is it?

Nothing followed and Wally got slightly worried. Was Dick in danger? Should he speed over and check up on him?

Just when he was about to make a decision chimed his phone again.

From [Dick] - uh oh

From [Dick] - brace yourself

Confused he stared at the screen but before he could even get close to typing his confusion out came a new text.

From [No Codenames] - did you not listen when I told you not to say yes immediately

Well...he certainly needed to talk to Dick about throwing him to the wolf. He conveyed his displeasure in a form of way too many emojis before replying to Bruce.

To [No Codenames] - holy shit Bruce! did you change my contact names?

To [No Codenames] - that's so funny, thought mine had been better

From [No Codenames] - did you not look through your phone when I gave it back?

To [No Codenames] - there weren't any notifications so I didn't bother

To [No Codenames] - you had the chance to prank me with this but you chose the boring route

To [No Codenames] - oh well

From [No Codenames] - are you ignoring the issue at hand on purpose or do you forget so easily?

Sighing to himself, Wally shook his head. There really was no way around it, was there?

To [No Codenames] - look

To [No Codenames] - you can't expect me to say no to Dick

To [No Codenames] - he's my best friend, of course I'll say yes

To [No Codenames] - in fact not to you, or Dick or Alfred or the other founders, you guys are my friends

Wherever Bruce was right now, he certainly had the time to reply immediately. The messages coming in rapid succession.

Given the time of the day he probably was somewhere in Gotham being Bruce Wayne.

From [No Codenames] - don't mention it over the phone

From [No Codenames] - you consider the whole League your friends

What the….Wally squinted at his phone. Why the hell did Bruce bother to reprimand him only to mention the League himself?

He probably had already put some kinda encryption program on their phones.

To [No Codenames] - there are different levels of friendship

To [No Codenames] - I can and will say no to every non founder

To [No Codenames] - and ask before I say yes

To [No Codenames] - promise?

From [No Codenames] - you don't sound very convincing

To [No Codenames] - that's because it's over text

His last message must've been more convincing because nothing followed for a few minutes.

Five minutes in, Wally gave up waiting for another reply and turned back to cleaning. He was almost done and Alfred could show up any second now.

He took the second plate to clean when his phone chimed again, twice. Wally groaned and almost slapped his forehead with his wet hand. Luckily he stopped right before it was too late.

"Bruce, please," he whined to no one but himself and quickly dried his hands again.

From [No Codenames] - how do you define different levels of friendship?

From [No Codenames] - are there sub levels between the founders as well?

Damn Bruce and his need to analyze everything. Did he really want to have that kinda conversation over the phone? Really?

To [No Codenames] - that's not really fair of you to ask, is it?

To [No Codenames] - that's like asking who I like the most of you all

Hah. That would get Bruce thinking about Wally's dilemma. As if Wally would reveal his favorite people just like that.

From [No Codenames] - how so?

From [No Codenames] - I'm just asking how you define those sub levels of friendship

From [No Codenames] - no one likes everyone the same amount

Which was true but not exactly what Wally was getting at. This felt more like Bruce asking him to make a list from one to some other number and fill it in with names.

Not exactly something he wanted Bruce to know, seeing how Bruce would be quite high on it.

And wouldn't that be a wonderful reason to ask even more weird questions?

So yeah, no. Just like that.

To [No Codenames] - I'm not going to answer that

To [No Codenames] - and stop frowning

To [No Codenames] - I'm not going to tell you how I like everyone else compared to each other

From [No Codenames] - reasonable

From [No Codenames] - but you would answer a question regarding me?

Well...that sucked. Bruce had him there. Of course he could just write no or stop replying but that wouldn't be nice either. And Bruce had accepted his reasons as to why he wouldn't reply to his questions.

Wally had to treat carefully now.

To [No Codenames] - yeah?

Bruce was probably going to exploit his tendency to say yes now. Wally could almost feel the satisfied expression the other probably had right in that moment.

But no message came.

If he had taken a seat somewhere, he would've been sitting on said edge. But as it was, he was standing and holding his breath.

God, Bruce could be so mean. Was he doing that on purpose?

From [No Codenames] - how much of a friend do you consider me?

And wasn't that the weirdest question ever?

Instead of stuttering his way through a sentence Wally simply typed and deleted his message again. Unclear how to reply to that honestly. How would he define Bruce as a friend? How could he put it into words?

From [No Codenames] - Wally

Was he taking too long? Bruce had let him wait too, that wasn't fair.

From [No Codenames] - Do you like me?

"What?!" Wally shouted at his phone, not believing his eyes.

"Master Wallace, what are you doing here?!"

Alfred scared the heck out of Wally, making him jerk in surprise and almost throw his phone into the filled sink.

Wally catched the phone, after it had slipped a few times, and pulled it close to his chest, staring at Alfred while his face lit up.

"Master Wallace-"

"Sorry Alfred, gotta go fast!" With that Wally was gone, leaving behind a bewildered Alfred and hiding away in his room.

There he took the time to read over all the messages again. Just to make sure he wasn't misinterpreting anything.

This time Wally was really desperate for the right words. To reply to this without replying to it. That was possible. Right?

Resuming the typing and deleting again, Wally worked out a message that felt like it had taken ages to type out. And it still sounded dumb.

Taking a nervous breath his thumb hovered over the send button.

He could still back out. Or take whatever came after he send it.

Before Wally could get physically sick he hit send.

Only for his phone to vibrate at the same time. They both had send a new message.

Staring at the screen, Wally's breath speed up. Was this really happening? Of course it was. It was his life after all.

Frustrated he threw himself on the bed and pulled the blanket over his face.

To [No Codenames] - that really depends on how you define like. Because if you mean I like you then I would tell you so. But if you mean LIKE, then I wouldn't tell you over the phone. Because I would want to know if you LIKE me back and it's easier face to face.

From [No Codenames] - I need to go to a meeting now. I'll talk to you later