Two: Simon Says Follow the Leader
Kaldur is the leader and as the leader it is his job to ensure the well-being of the team. Kaldur never lets an injury go untreated or an illness be ignored. He never allows bickering between teammates to fester as it could compromise a mission. It is Kaldur's job to make sure everyone is always physically and mentally content with themselves and each other.
Kaldur must learn what are the certain issues that each of his friends are predisposed to. Furthermore, Kaldur must understand the reasons for their issues so that he can manage them.
Robin lies about the extent of his injuries constantly, but only because he doesn't want anyone to worry. He laughs where it's inappropriate, but only to make light of a bad situation.
Artemis keeps secrets because she's afraid to share. She takes finds pleasure in teasing Wally because she likes to see him flustered.
Conner is prone to sudden outbursts of anger because no one has taught him a better outlet for his frustration. He will draw into himself if you let him because he doesn't like to be pitied when he explains himself.
Megan likes to smile past the pain because she'd rather help others than have to be helped herself. She plays mediator on the team because it makes her less lonely for her many sisters back on Mars and their sibling rivalries.
Wally West, on the other hand, can be impulsive and reckless because he knows he's the one with hyper-accelerated healing. Wally West is extraordinarily cheerful because he wants to make other people smile too.
In Kaldur's experience, Wally is the teammate who requires the least amount of input to ensure that he doesn't stretch himself too thin. Nevertheless, a leader cannot become stagnant. Kaldur must be aware of any and all changes in his teammates.
For instance, if Wally seems to be even more jovial and hyperactive than normal, then Kaldur must find the reason why. Kaldur has every right as a leader to ask KF what has changed his demeanor in case it could effect the team. Therefore, Kaldur, by searching for the answer to Wally's new mood, is not being... nosy. Kaldur is not a nosy person.
Kaldur finishes rationalizing that he needs instead of just wants to know about the cause behind Wally's change. With these thoughts in mind, Kaldur feels less embarrassed as he approaches Wally and poses his question.
"Wally? May I have a word with you?" the leader asks his teammate.
Wally pulls out the detachable head of the shower and ducks underneath the flowing water without caring that he creates a growing puddle on the tile floor. The sweat and grim of the training session rolls off into the refreshing current. He looks up to his friend; Kaldur's face is blurry and indecipherable through the stream. He reluctantly turns of the water.
"Okay, Kal. You've got to make it snappy. I've gotta get a real shower in," Wally gestures to the dirty pool of water he's standing in, "Plan A isn't working so well."
Kaldur agrees silently and begins collecting rags to help clean up Wally's mess. As they dry the floor, Kaldur explains his worry.
"Wally, I cannot help but notice some sort of change in your attitude," Kaldur says slowly.
Wally balls up a wet towel and tosses it at the sink.
"My attitude?" Wally repeats. He spins around and stares Kaldur down with only a twitch of a smile. "You've got a problem with my attitude?" he jokes.
Kaldur ignores him. "You seem to be visibly...overzealous about everything, Wally."
"So," Wally frowns and eases out his words slowly, "you're worried that I'm too happy?"
Wally's head shakes as he laughs and small droplets fly off the tips of his wet hair. A few drops splash onto Kaldur's face.
Wally's ever present smile drops as he grabs for a towel to dry his less than pleased friend off. Kaldur grimaces as he realizes Wally is using one of the dirty rags to clean his face. He grabs the towel from Wally and gives the redhead a pointed look.
Wally mouths an apology. Kaldur expels his breathe because the room is humid and not because Wally is getting on his nerves. Kaldur takes pride in his nerves of steel. Kaldur sighs again since he's not even fooling himself anymore.
"Wally," Kaldur says as politely as he can manage, "I think that, as the leader, I need to understand your behavior better..."
"Sure," Wally replies, "I guess that makes sense. Got to make sure my heart doesn't burst from joy or something?" Wally shrugs off his uncertainty.
"I want to be sure that this isn't a game," Kaldur explains evenly.
"A game?" Wally tilts his head. His eyes bulge. "I'm not like secretly dead inside and masking the pain if that's what you mean," he hastily dismisses Kaldur's concerns.
"Then what is the cause?"
Wally bites down on his tongue. "Why is it any of your business as long as I'm okay?"
"Wally, what if your circumstances change? Every high has its lows. I need to be able to handle all possible outcomes. I only want to help."
Kaldur places a firm hand on Wally's shoulder.
"You are a really great friend, Kal." Wally smiles. "What would I do with out you?"
"You'd report to me, that's what," Robin says having just entered the locker room at the tail end of their conversation.
Kaldur watches silently as Wally grins even brighter at Robin's appearance.
"Hey, Rob! Want to play a hypothetical with me?" the speedster says in a stream of words as he bolts over to the younger teen's side.
One black eyebrow creeps above Robin's shaded glasses.
"I don't know, Walls," Dick looks from his own dirty workout clothes to Wally's matching filth, "I've got to get changed..."
"Rob," Wally whines in a high pitched voice, "come on! You're being mean. It's just a game..."
Dick sighs dramatically, not caring if Kaldur thinks this means he has nerves of marshmallows.
"Fine, Wally. Just make it quick," Dick relents as he reaches for the door to his locker.
"Okay, so hypothetically, when Kal's busy that makes you leader, right?"
Dick nods as he pulls off his shoes. "Uhm," he mumbles. "That's the," he hops on one foot as he pulls of a boot, "chain of command..."
Wally steadies him by his shoulders and Dick thanks him by spinning around and throwing his left shoe at the other boy's head. Wally ducks behind the large laundry basket to right and the shoe misses him by a hair. He pops back up from his hiding spot and laughs.
Dick motions down to his still booted right foot; he still has ammo. Wally speeds away and hides behind Kaldur as he speaks.
"So, chain of," Wally pulls Kal down as a shoe catapults towards them, "command." Wally looks down morosely to his own pruned and bare toes and then elbows Kaldur in the side. "Why can't you ever wear shoes, man? You're the leader! You should be prepared for any-" Wally is shut up by the large plop of a sandal hitting him in the head.
Kaldur picks up his sandal from the floor. Although he wishes Robin would be more gentle with other people's property, he still respects that it only took Robin five seconds to break open his locker and retrieve his infrequently worn shoes.
Wally tries to scare Robin with a glower but is unsuccessful as his face looks less intimidating and more ridiculous thanks to the red mark left from Kaldur's shoe.
The speedster speeds over to his attacker and grabs him in a hold.
"If Kaldur's busy and you're busy does that make me leader?" Wally asks as he squeezes Robin tightly.
"No," Dick says through the pain of the choking hold.
"But it did that one time!" Wally shouts, indignant.
"That was a mistake," Dick growls.
Kaldur nods his head in agreement as he steals his other sandal back from where Robin left it.
Wally hugs Robin closer. "Then how many people exactly have to be out of commission for me to be the Boss?"
Robin wriggles out of Wally's grasp and motions to his pile of clothes. Wally glances to the change of clothing and then to the blinking clock on the far side of the wall. He nods with reluctant agreement.
Kaldur is thankful that they proceed to change in silence.
The three boys exit the lockers and enter the hall where their other teammates lounge. Megan sits in Conner's lap and lets him play with her hair. Artemis, supremely bored with watching the happy couple, flings coins at Red Tornado's back as he types on a large control panel.
Wally, luckily, doesn't notice the remains of his piggy bank cracked and resting beside Artemis on the sofa. She smirks as a golden dollar makes a loud cling when it ricochets across the android nanny's leg.
Kaldur quietly hides the remains of Wally's bank underneath a blanket as he sits next to the blonde girl.
Wally brings his argument back up the moment Robin take his seat.
"So who's in charge after Kal and you, Rob?"
Dick lays his head back lazily against the arm of the sofa. "If I'm out and Kaldur's out then Megan is in charge," Robin claims.
"Really?" Megan jumps up from Superboy's arms at this news. Conner frowns. "Thank you, Robin," she exclaims and wraps into a quick hug.
Conner's frown turns into a grimace. "Yes, thank you, Robin," he smarts.
Megan rolls her eyes good naturedly and returns to sitting in Conner's lap. He stops glaring at Robin as soon as he is able to play with Megan's hair again.
"Yeah, great for her," Wally gestures to M'gann, "but what if Megan's gone?" Wally turns to the aforementioned girl and gives her an apologetic smile. "Sorry Meg."
Megan shrugs noncommittally and leans into Conner's shoulder.
"In that case, then Artemis is in charge," Robin proclaims.
Artemis perks up from her coin slinging to smirk at Wally's stupefied expression.
"Artemis? She's like..." Wally trails off as he watches her eyes squint dangerously.
"She has good tactical strategies," Robin rationalizes.
"And I don't?" Wally outbursts.
Kaldur smothers Artemis' laughter with his blanket while Robin pretends not to notice his boyfriend's upheaval as he makes himself comfortable in his overstuffed chair.
"If she's unavailable then Roy's the leader," Robin continues breezily.
"Roy isn't even on the team, Rob!"
Artemis agrees with Wally's concerns for once.
"And if Roy's not around then Superboy..."
Conner nods appreciatively and gives Robin a thumbs up.
Wally argues. "But Conner has the fuse of a-"
Conner gives Wally a different finger which Megan quickly bats away with an apology for her boyfriend's rude behavior.
Robin keeps chugging along.
"And then if Superboy isn't around then Ace is the boss."
"Ace? Who the shit is Ace," Wally says with clear exasperation.
"Ace is my doberman. Sometimes, he takes rides in the Batmobile with me."
"Batman lets him bring a dog in the Batmobile?" Conner voices the thought everyone's thinking.
Wally glares at Conner's comment. "Thanks not the problem! The problem is how," Wally pokes Robin in the chest, "your dog makes a better leader than me!"
The dark haired boy pushes his friend away from him. "And if Ace is busy..."
"What, your goldfish Spades is top authority?" Wally throws his hands into the air.
"He would have a longer attention span than you," Artemis mutters before Kaldur returns to gagging her with his blanket.
"No, don't be silly, Wally," Dick pats his friend on the arm condescendingly, "if Ace isn't around then you're in charge."
"That is like," Wally counts on his fingers as he thinks, "seven people who have to be knocked out before I'm the leader!"
"Really, it's six people and one dog," Conner states the obvious since Artemis is still gagged from commenting.
"Why do you hate me?" the redhead bemoans.
"I don't hate you," Robin says. "You know that."
Wally grins brightly. "Yeah, I guess I do." Wally throws his arm over Dick's shoulders and pulls him close. He leans into the smaller boy.
"If you don't hate me," Wally asks, "then why can't I be leader?"
Dick shoves the arm off him and shrugs halfheartedly. "I have my reasons," he drawls after a long silence.
Wally furrows his brow and dips his head around to stare at Dick's face, sunglasses and all.
"Wally," Dick huffs.
"Yup?"
"The last time you were leader you gave all orders as if you were playing Simon Says," Robin grinds out.
Wally runs his finger through his hair. He may have forgotten this incident or maybe he forcefully ejected it from his memory; frankly, he doesn't remember which it was.
"So? It's was fun," Wally says at last. "Rob, I don't see where you're going with this."
"And that's the problem," Artemis chips in having finally tossed Kaldur's blanket away from her mouth.
The blanket flutters to a standstill as it drops onto Red Tornado's head.
Kaldur wonders what is proper to buy a robot as an apology with in lieu of fruit baskets. He sighs again. This room is suddenly humid too.
Kaldur watches Wally closely as his smile fades. Wally's green eyes glow dimmer. He seems to debate what to do next as he shuffles his feet and reaches out to Robin again. His hand pulls the younger teen toward the more private corner of the room with a short glance at his other friends to leave them be.
Artemis snorts and stares at them anyways. Megan just snuggles closer into the boy holding her while Conner motions to his ears, implying that he's either going to tune out Rob and KF or listen in anyways; it really isn't clear.
Kaldur decides to start making peace with Red Tornado on Artemis' behalf. It's his duty as team leader after all. Still, it is also his responsibility as leader to keep his ears open to Wally's conversation with Robin; there is a high probability of learning the cause of Wally's worrisome sugar high happiness.
Kaldur motions for Artemis to come help him pick up the coin collection around Red Tornado's legs.
"...Is this about playing favorites?" Wally whispers as he leans in close to Robin's ear.
"I have no idea what you mean, Wally," Robin sidesteps the question, "you must be imagining things."
"It is, isn't it?" Wally baulks. "You won't put me higher in the chain of command because you're worried everyone else will think I've got special privileges because we're dating."
The reactions of the other teens make Wally aware that he really isn't speaking all too quietly.
Artemis drops her handful of nickles and dimes which scatter across the floor. A few coins bounce against Red Tornado's shiny feet. Red Tornado stops typing for a millisecond perhaps, but this may be just in Wally's imagination; Red never really seems to be startled by any thing.
Megan gasps but quickly covers Conner's mouth with one green hand as if to pin the impolite exclamation on him. He doesn't mind her skin across his lips.
Kaldur is the only one who reacts anything other than surprised. The corners of his lips curl slightly. He's pleased since he's finally deduced why Wally's always so blissful these last few days.
Robin doesn't respond to Wally's declaration. The raven haired boy groans and rubs his eyes beneath his glasses. The tension in the room stews until it bubbles.
"Oh my god, Dick! I'm completely right," Wally shouts.
"Shut up," Dick returns as he pulls his hand from uselessly soothing away his headache.
"You need to shut up and admit the truth that," Wally's eyes beam, "I'm right!" He laughs. "I am one hundred percent right."
"No," Dick makes the word multiple syllables, "you're wrong and should just shut up."
Kaldur debates whether to break the long silence that follows.
As the leader, he does have a responsibility to make sure all teammates are cordial with one another. His eyes flicker to Conner and Megan. Kal remembers the last time he interrupted an argument between the couple. He subconsciously rubs the small incision between the webbing of his index and middle fingers; Kaldur decides that his role as leader doesn't extend to the arena of lovers' quarrels.
Wally and Robin continue to stubbornly stare each other down, each waiting for the other boy to give in.
Red Tornado is somehow effected by the humidity of the room as well because he suddenly ignores his literal steel nerves and sighs deeply. His mechanical voice is dull as he speaks.
"I would appreciate it if I was placed higher on this chain of command," he stomps over the assortment of coins and heads towards the exit, "at very least, place me before the dog."
The perfect glowers of Dick and Wally crumble into twitching disorder until finally they both give in and break into a fit of laughter. The use each other to prop themselves up.
"I don't get what's so funny," Conner whispers sullenly to M'gann. She reapplies her hand over his mouth.
"Shh, Conner," she hushes him. "They're going to make up now."
Conner nods slowly. "Muhcaye," he mumbles.
Dick removes his glasses, much to the rest the teams surprise, and rubs at his eyes which are wet from laughing himself silly.
Wally throws his arm over Dick's shoulders and pulls him close. He leans into the smaller boy. "Are we still on for the concert?"
"Yes. Duh," he gives Wally a quick peck, "As long as you learn to shut up."
"If you insist," Wally says cheekily. He gazes into Dick's clear, blue eyes. "You do realize they all now know your secret identity, Dick?"
Dick faces his friends. "Hello, my name is Dick Grayson and I'm a superhero?"
"Great," Artemis points a finger at Dick as she readies her accusation, "so now I know why you sit behind me and snicker for all of French class, you troll."
"Well, you ruined my life, Arty. Consider us even."
Artemis stares at him quizzically until she follows Wally's gaze from the coins splattered over the floor to the broken piggy bank resting among the sofa cushions, the blanket hiding it having been long since tossed aside.
Wally immediately starts apologizing at super speed. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry, Dick. I didn't mean to break it! I swear I had no idea anyone could find it; I even hid it under my-"
"Bed," Artemis finishes. She eyes the broken remains regretfully. "I thought it was Wally's, Dick. I wouldn't have broken it if I knew it was yours," she ignores Wally's immediate complaints, "I'm sorry I broke your piggy bank and scuffed up your nickles."
Dick turns a stern eye on Wally. He cowers under the smaller boy's dirty look.
"It was," Dick says softly, "Wally's job was to take care of it. It's not really your fault, Artemis."
Wally bites down hard on his back molars and tries to think what to say. Artemis speaks up before Wally finishes considering his next words.
"Why is this," Artemis picks up one of the coins, "so important?"
Wally covers his eyes in mortification as Dick explains. "The coins are not really mine either." He runs his finger through his hair. "It is, like, my dad's."
Wally groans and collapses into Dick's shoulder. "I'm so dead."
Artemis flips the coin over in her hand. At first, she mistakes it as a golden dollar. "Dick? What is this?"
Dick shrugs despite how it jostles the redhead leaning against him. "That would be a very expensive coin that not only is made of real gold and is over a hundred years old, but has unmeasurable intrinsic value."
Artemis holds Dick's gaze, not daring to look away.
"My...dad...got the whole coin collection from his dad," Dick says.
"Oh?" Artemis asks figuring there's more to the story since Wally whimpers some more.
Dick continues. "Bruce got it for his eighth birthday right before his parents, you know, were murdered and all," he says as calmly as possible.
Wally slides down the side of Dick's body and lands in a puddle of despair on the floor.
"You let Wally borrow something like that?" Artemis wonders aloud.
"He...likes shiny things," Dick offers meekly. "I like making him happy."
Wally rolls over when Kaldur pokes him in the back with a webbed toe.
"Just let me die. Batman is going to roast me over a pit," Wally bemoans. "It was bad enough that I'm dating, Dick!"
Megan gasps again, but, since her hand is still covering Conner's mouth, finds she has nobody to blame it on.
"I...didn't realize your father was Batman," she whispers in explanation. "I'm so sorry, Wally."
Megan elbows Conner in the gut. He grunts and then turns to Wally.
"Yeah, I'm sorry Batman's going to kill you, Wally," Conner says. Megan glares daggers at him. "Uh...I'll try to wear a different shirt at your funeral?" he adds at his girlfriend's prodding.
M'gann doesn't seem all too pleased with Conner's wording of his condolences but smiles courteously anyways.
Wally opens his eyes.
"That's so sweet, Conner," Wally blubbers. He stands up and gives the couple a hug at the same time. "I'm going to miss you when I'm gone."
Dick rolls his eyes at his friend's melodramatics and glances at the clock. "We're late, Wally."
Wally blinks. "Dick, does this mean you forgive me?"
Dick taps his chin with his index finger as he thinks. "Well, this all wouldn't have happened if you weren't always borrowing people's things and breaking them." He turns to Artemis and smiles. "I'm sure Arty would have been... more careful..with your piggy bank if you hadn't destroyed that compound bow of hers last week."
Wally lets go of Conner and Megan. "I know, Dick. I'm so sorry."
"I'm really sorry too," Artemis repeats awkwardly.
Dick stands talk and throws his arms flat against his sides. "I've made a decision."
"And?" Wally and Artemis ask as one.
"I will forgive you guys if take full responsibility."
"What does that mean?" Artemis asks sensing a catch.
Dick collects a few coins and places them in his two apologetic friends' palms.
"It means that you two," he smirks, "took the piggy bank from my room because I would never let anyone borrow it. And then you two and not me broke it all to pieces. Therefore, you two and not me are going to see Bruce and ask very nicely for your punishment that will in no way include me."
Dick smiles brighter. "I'm going to finish getting ready, Wally." He waves as he leaves the room.
Artemis blinks. "The next time I'm bored I'm going to... watch paint dry, for god's sake, instead of thinking up a creative game."
Wally doesn't respond immediately. Artemis waves a hand in front of his far off expression.
"Wally? Are you alright?"
Wally grins. "Isn't he adorable when he's bossy?"
Artemis leaves abruptly to go make her casket. Wally doesn't seem like he'll be all too helpful with diverting Batman's fury; after all, Wally can obviously plead insanity.
"'Isn't he adorable', my ass," she mumbles as she hides under her covers and hopes she will not be plagued by nightmares of a big, bad bat.