I own nosink!
(Gratuitous Hogan's Heroes reference, check!)

So, once again, I have changed the age-range for the Batkids slightly. I'm sorry, this should be the last time, I promise. I'm putting the new ages here so you don't have to go back to chapter one to see it.

Babs is 15
Dick is 13
Cass is 10
Jason, as of this chapter, is 10
Stephanie is 9
Tim is 8
Damian is 4

Wally eyes the colorful piece of stationary skeptically. "Dude, why would your brat brother invite me to his birthday party?"

Dick shrugs and Wally knows that he is rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. "I don't know. Maybe he was hoping you'd distract me from tormenting him the whole time."

"Or maybe," Wally lifts the invitation cautiously between his thumb and forefinger. "Agent A invited me, hoping to distract you from tormenting Jason the whole time."

"That...is actually very likely." Dick admits. "If only so that it won't be the exact same people as Stephanie's party. She just turned nine and had her party out at the manor last week."

"Okay." Wally nods. "I'll come."

Hopefully this will go better than the last time he'd visited.

No one is going to be at the party who isn't already aware of the whole superhero thing so Wally is able to run from Keystone to the manor. Aunt Iris had zetaed to Gotham and Uncle Barry is going to run her from there so they will be a few minutes late, knowing Barry.

He slides to a stop in a cloud of dust in front of the gate and taps on the intercom. Alfred buzzes him in before he's even opened his mouth. (and that is fast) Wally dashes around to the back yard where the party is, stopping a safe distance away and scanning for Dick.

"Hello Wally." The speedster jumps in surprise and turns around fast enough to make anyone watching swear he'd turned invisible for the tiniest fraction of a second. Timmy Drake is blinking up at him, wearing a t-shirt that is several sizes too big for him and seems to be trying to slip off his shoulder. Based on color (red) and design (rock band advertisement) Wally'd bet it belongs to Jason.

Tim notices what he is looking at and frowns. As small as he is, it looks a lot more like a pout that would have had M'gann squealing about cuteness. "Mrs. Mac wouldn't let me come unless I was wearing a suit." He explains. "The shorts are Cass'."

They are cargo shorts, so Wally honestly wouldn't have been able to tell. Though now that Tim mentions it, he is pretty sure there are some little pink flowers embroidered around the pockets.

"Wally!" Dick bounds over, a wide grin on his face and the Demon Toddler clinging to his back like a psychotic little monkey of some sort.

"Hey dude," They fist-bump and Wally determinedly ignores the possessive glare he is getting from the Baby Bat. He knows Damian doesn't like him. He's known that since the midget had tried to stab him the first time they'd met. (Apparently he is like that with Tim too. And just about anyone who dares to touch "his Gwayson.") "What's up?"

Dick grins and, despite the imminent threat of death from jealous tiny ninja assassin, Wally feels a surge of satisfaction at seeing his best friend so relaxed. "Nothing much. Alfred said to tell you there's a plate for you in the gazebo."

Wally is off almost before the last word is out of Dick's mouth. Running from Missouri to New Jersey is hungry work, okay!

Alfred is a god among butlers. The "plate" is actually a large platter covered in foods right out of a "how to feed your runner" guide-book, all prepared to perfection. As Wally downs the last blueberry, he eyes the second "plate" labeled "Mr. Bartholomew Allen" consideringly. Surely Alfred won't know. Just one bite...

"Alfred always knows." He remembers Dick telling him seriously the first time Wally had come to the manor. "Always." He decides not to risk it. Despite what a lot of people think, he isn't a complete idiot. And he has the AP scores to prove it. (Of course, he also has scars on his arms from where he blew himself up trying to get superpowers. It worked, but still...)

He rejoins the main party just as Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris show up. Aunt Iris makes a beeline for Jason, to wish him happy birthday and exclaim over how much he's grown since she last saw him. Uncle Barry makes a beeline for the gazebo. Wally takes a nanosecond to mourn the almond-breaded salmon.

Cassandra and Stephanie are disappearing around the side of the hedge, dragging poor Timmy with them, sneaking looks over their shoulders at Jason, who looks very uncomfortable with all the attention he is getting. Aunt Iris has stepped aside and been replaced by Catwoman, who gives him a hug and a kiss on each cheek. Lucky duck. And he's too young to appreciate it too. Wally doesn't get hugs and kisses from voluptuous supervillainesses on his birthday. (Well, there was that one time with Golden Glider...)

He finds Dick talking to Dr. Thompson under one of the trees. The doctor is under the tree at least, sitting on a fancy stone bench. Dick is perched on one of the lower branches, Damian sitting sullenly beside him. "Feel better?" Dick asks. Wally has to crane his neck at an uncomfortable angle to be able to look up at him. "You don't look like you're about to starve to death right in front of us anymore."

Wally grins and gives a thumbs-up. "I'm good to go! Alfred is the best, dude. Seriously, almost as good as Aunt Iris."

Damian gives a short that is far more sarcastic than any brat his age has any right to be able to produce and Dick claps a hand over his mouth to prevent him saying whatever insult he had been going to toss out there. Wally is grateful, he really doesn't want to have to defend his aunt's honor against a four year old, especially since there would be revenge. Wally would win the initial encounter, but it would be extremely painful in the long run. He wishes that he didn't know this from experience.

The two of them come down from the tree and Dick makes their excuses to Dr. Thompson, saying something about sending Alfred over that briefly makes thoughts cross Wally's mind that he wishes he could erase, and they head back towards the table near the topiary. Damian makes a point of walking in-between Dick and Wally. At least, he does until Alfred beckons Dick over to the side and Wally's now ex-best friend scoops the brat up and dumps him in Wally's arms. "Be right back, Walls, stay with Dami, would you." And freakin' disappears. Supey is now Wally's best friend.

Somehow he finds himself in a glaring contest with a Bat Toddler, and he knows this is a bad idea but he can't exactly look away now that it's started. Damian's glare deepens and Wally scowls back with a surge of irritation.

It isn't like he can't understand the kid. He knows just what Dick means to him and why he hates Wally so much. Wally has vivid memories of just how deeply he'd loathed Barry, back when he'd first met him and he was just this random guy that was distracting Aunt Iris. Aunt Iris, the first and (back then) only person who loved Wally and cared. And then suddenly she was dating Barry and Wally didn't get to see her as often. He remembers that soul-gripping terror that she would forget about him and leave with Barry, because then he didn't know just how awesome Barry was and Barry hadn't yet become the person who took him to science fairs and museums and let him explore his lab. For Damian, Dick is that person. The one who saved him.

And yeah, he doesn't exactly see himself having as great an impact on Damian as Uncle Barry has had on him, but he isn't exactly planning on sweeping Dick off into the sunset, never to return either. And it is something that Iris and Bary have taught him, that love isn't a finite thing and the more you give, the more you have to give.

Sadly, he's also pretty sure that every single member of the Bat Family missed that memo on some level, and what kind of friend would Wally be if he left his bro to explain that concept to a dysfunctional toddler all by himself?

The irony of this all is, is that I had Wally in a happy family situation with loving, supportive, if occasionally awkwardly unsure, parents. And then I wrote this chapter and the moment with Wally and Damian just happened.
*headdesk* I like "Happy home life" Wally! I love the idea that he isn't an alien outcast, or a genetically modified clone, or tragically orphaned, or anything. He's just a normal kid (with superpowers) who wants to do the right thing and help people. I find it such a fascinating aspect of his character. Oh well. What the plot bunnies command shall be done. And what the heck, it's an AU anyway.
Anyway, I hope you liked this story about Jason's birthday party that has no Jason in it.