Hello lovely readers! Sorry for the delay in chapter updates - I've had a ton of stuff going on! Just so you know, I've been offered a job in teaching English in Thailand and I leave in a week! These past few weeks I've been crazy busy getting ready, and I don't know how often I'll be able to update when I get there, but I'll keep typing away when I can.
Disclaimers: I don't own anything to do with these characters. They belong to JK Rowling, and DC Comics. Just so you know.
Warnings: This will eventually contain slash, so gtfo if you don't like that. This chapter contains Wally crushing on Harry, mild profanity, and the The Bat Glare (TM). Also, references to imagined nudity. No nudity described in and of itself, so its your own fault if you perverts imagine naked superheroes. I'm not telling you to. It's all on you! Trolololdemort!
Please enjoy this slightly longer chapter! I was gonna cut it off and switch to Harry's POV for the next chapter, but then I thought you guys had been pretty patient, so I just kept writing. How much do you love me? Haha.
Wally made his way back to the labs in a state of subdued shock. He had actually lost track of time. Usually, events went so slowly that he was almost bored to tears. He had to pace himself against clocks and other people to make sure he didn't go too fast. That lunch break with Harry, however, had made him feel almost normal. The kid was hilarious, and Wally enjoyed their conversation – or whatever you wanted to call it – so much that the time literally flew by.
Wally snickered to himself as he remembered Harry's expression. Those crazy-green eyes covered by the flyaway black hair popped open in shock, the pale cheeks flushed with embarrassed indignation ... it was too cute. Wally had almost wanted to coo over the teen, but in retrospect he was glad he hadn't. Harry would have thought him even more of a pervert.
At that thought, Wally was almost incapacitated yet again as he made his way to his workstation. His coworkers were looking at him with amused indulgence as he chortled under his breath. He could just imagine the League's reaction to someone thinking they were a bunch of streakers! Supes would blush and stammer, Diana would get all worked up about her outfit, and Bats would scowl disapprovingly. Wally's eyes widened at the thought of Superman – or even worse, Batman! - engaging in the activities Harry had probably pictured.
Wally worked with a huge grin on his face for the rest of the afternoon, and thinking about Harry seemed to make the time go more quickly. The usual agonizing waits for machines to run and evidence to scan were filled up with a soft British accent and an incredulous gaze. As he was nearing the end of his shift, Wally realized just how much he had been thinking about Harry, and grimaced. Thinking faster than light had its ups and downs, but the amount of time that he had spent thinking about the British boy was verging on obsession. He felt vaguely ashamed – not because he was thinking about a guy (he was affably bisexual), but because Harry was so young! Maybe he really was a pervert!
Wally sighed, and saw the clock's minute hand flick to the twelve. Consciously moving slowly, he took off his lab coat and strolled to the exit, saying goodbye to his coworkers. Just before he left, he slipped into a supply closet and quietly shut the door. He lightly tapped the communicator in his ear and drawled out,
"Beam me up, uh – Bats? J'onn? Red -"
His guesswork was interrupted as his form shifted and an energized beam connected with him. Most of the Leaguers didn't know exactly how the teleportation system worked; they just trusted that it did and used it to commute to the Watchtower. Wally, however, had the dubious benefit of knowing how to shift his individual molecules at the speed of light. This meant he felt exactly what was going on with the teleportation, and having his entire being shifted like that always baffled his mind and made him a bit loopy for a while. Most Leaguers assumed Wally was naturally a goofball due to all the pranks he played on the Tower, and how hyper he always was. The truth was, the teleportation was what got him so jittery and energized. It was an incredible rush!
Once all of his particles were in order – and yes, Wally had to wait until they reassembled, otherwise he'd be running around with missing molecules – he made a quick dash for the kitchen. Batman always made acerbic (nice word, Wally!) comments about eating the Justice League into bankruptcy, and J'onn would quietly mourn all of the Oreos that Wally found (and, of course, ate immediately). Wally would just reply that if they wanted the Scarlet Speedster to keep speeding, he needed his fuel. And his super-secret identity couldn't always afford fuel. Then he would attempt puppy eyes from behind his mask, and Superman would cave, followed by the rest of the original team. Long story short, Wally got free meals. Score!
A few more seconds passed very slowly and Wally made his way to the observation room. J'onn and Bats were there, staring at various screens. Wally flitted across the floor to peer over their shoulders, and saw that Wonder Woman was in the process of tying up some robbers with that golden lasso of hers, and GL was doing some green-glowy outer-space thingy. Hawk Girl was smashing up people in somewhere that looked vaguely tropical, and there were many other League members taking care of any problem the world was having. Which meant that there was really nothing for the Flash to do. Boring!
As Wally thought about things the Flash could be doing, he again thought about the conversation that he and Harry had had. And he looked around the watchtower, and imagined all of the Superheroes doing what Harry had originally thought they did. There was Green Arrow (hot damn!) and Black Canary (here Wally mentally wolf whistled), as well as Hawkman (his outfit didn't really leave anything to the imagination, but Wally still wouldn't mind the ripped Thanagarian streaking). He started to snicker, and saw Batman shooting a glare out of the corner of his... mask? Eye-holes? It was a very good glare, regardless. J'onn didn't turn, but instead Wally felt a questioning brush against his mind. Quickly (as if he did things any other way!) Wally pushed his encounter with Harry to the forefront of his mind. Just to spice things up, he also added images of Question, GL, and Supes, for J'onn's telepathic viewing pleasure. He didn't dare imagine Bats. Bats would find out. And Bats would hurt him. Wally shivered, just as J'onn let out a choking noise and coughed subtly.
This had Batman fully turning his head to look at the Martian, and somehow he managed to raise a questioning eyebrow through the cowl. J'onn was only able to mutter, "Wally had an interesting encounter this afternoon," before turning to stare determinedly at the screens.
Wally let out a full blown cackle (if Wally were so inclined, he bet that the Legion of Doom would let him in based solely on the evilness of that cackle), that stopped quite suddenly when he felt Batman's gaze on him. Gulping, he hastened to explain.
"So, I met this British guy on my lunch break," he began, but was cut off by Superman, who had just entered the room.
"Flash, if this is another story about your love life, I'm not sure that this is the appropriate place..." he trailed off as Wally shook his head rapidly (which resulted in Wally's head practically disappearing in a red blur).
"No, Supes! Although, the guy was amazingly adorable..." Batman cleared his throat, "that's not what I was getting at! He was wearing a Flash t-shirt – because that's the best one – and I asked him if he liked the Flash. Just being polite, scoping out my fans, you know. Well, Bats, you don't, but..." there was another heated glare, and he continued, the words tripping out of his mouth in an effort to appease the Bat Glare (tm). "Uhh... where was I? Oh yeah! So the guy starts freaking out, and acting scandalized, and when he finds out that there's a lot of people like the Flash, and that they've formed an organization, he was so red he could have replaced me!" Superman snorted and sat down at a monitor.
"Sure, Flash. Was there a point to all this? So the guy has a problem with the Justice League..." again Flash cut in before Superman could finish his statement.
"That's totally not it, Big Guy! The guys had no clue about the League at all, or about Superheroes! He thought we were an organization of streakers!"
Superman started choking, while J'onn kept on staring intently at a screen (on which nothing was happening). Batman's eyes narrowed (again, under the cowl!) and his mouth twitched an infinitesimal amount. Most wouldn't catch it, but Wally lived so fast he noticed things like that. Turns out the Bat did have a few ticks. Then he heard quiet laughter and murmuring from behind him. The four original members turned, and saw that a lot of the Leaguers were blatantly eavesdropping. And laughing. And, in some cases, turning red or eying each other speculatively.
Wally tended to forget that many heroes held the Original Seven in awe, and would try to listen in when two or more were gathered in the same place. Four at once, and one of them being Superman, was almost irresistible.
Batman unleashed his trademarked glare upon them (Wally almost felt sorry, but reminded himself that everyone gets their fair share of the Bat Glare), and they scattered, trying to look busy.
Finally, Superman recovered himself, and looked at Wally, a light blush lingering on his cheeks.
"I hope you set him straight?" he inquired.
"Well, I'd hope he'd be at the very least bisexual..." here Superman started spluttering again, and Batman unleashed the glare once more. Didn't he get tired of constantly glaring? Wally sighed, and said, "Yes, I told him all about Superheroes, and the Justice League, and how the Flash is the best one ever. I even pointed out the direction of the Flash museum. So, I've educated someone today. Good deed – done-zo!"
"I hope you have another one to spare," J'onn murmured. Batman, Superman, and Wally turned to look at him, and the screen he was staring at. "There is a disturbance in Central City. The Museum. I assume you would like to take care of it?"
Flash stared in horror as Captain Boomerang made his move on the Flash Museum. OhmyGodIsentHarrythereisheOK ?Ohnocrapcrapcrap – he started moving to the door before J'onn had finished speaking, and was able to yell out "I'm on it! Start up the transporter!" before he had moved out of the range of everyone but Superman's hearing.
The seconds it took for the teleporter to activate were agony for Wally – all the while he was thinking about the damage Captain Boomerang could be causing. He knew the guy was almost harmless compared to some of the other villains out there, but he felt guilty about sending Harry into possible danger.
Finally, the teleporter arranged for him to be re-arranged just outside the museum. Wally waited tensely as the last few molecules drifted into place – there! He was off, into the gaping hole left by Captain Boomerang.
He looked around frantically. There was a museum guide, ushering people to safety. They were fine. There was an older couple, trying to get over the rubble. As fast as he could (well, not really but faster than normal people could) he darted over and carried them both outside, setting them down carefully. He went back in, searching for Captain Boomerang. He careened down a hallway, past models of his exploits and victories, until he heard a loud Australian voice shouting something threatening. He wasn't sure on the wording, he was just focused on getting there. What was the point of being the fasted man alive if you couldn't get where you want to go when you want to be there!
Wally rounded a corner and saw something that almost stopped his heart. A boomerang had missed its target and come back around towards its thrower. The problem was, in between the boomerang and its Captain was a little girl, cowering behind a display. At the same time, another boomerang was about to set off what Wally almost instantly recognized as a sequence bomb. This would set off a bunch of bombs planted city-wide almost instantaneously – Wally didn't think he could get all of them at once. He was torn with what to do, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red and black blur that resolved itself into a familiar red t-shirt and messy black hair. It was Harry! He was speeding (and Wally meant this literally – the kid was fast! Normal, non-meta-human fast, but still!) towards the little girl, and would knock her out of the way in time. This left Wally free to snap the sound barrier and defuse the bomb. Which he did. Very quickly.
He turned away from the bomb and saw Harry taking cover, hugging the little girl to his chest. Wally sighed in relief, and turned to Captain Boomerang.
"That wasn't the smartest thing to do there, Cap. You could have hurt someone," he said severely.
"Ah, Flash," Captain Boomerang sneered, completely disregarding what Wally had said. Jerk. "Fancy meeting you here. I see you've disrupted my little bombing scenario, but you're just in time for the second round!"
Wally groaned. What horrible puns. And that accent was so grating! Wally had been to Australia, and almost no one spoke with such an obnoxious accent! Captain Boomerang must cultivate it, or something. Then he picked up on what the villain was implying.
"What are you talking about? Blowing up the city isn't enough for you?" he asked incredulously.
"Well, on the off chance I couldn't destroy your precious city, I figured I'd just destroy this awful shrine they've built for you. When you diffused the sequence bomb, you activated the ones I set up in here. Sorry to say, mate, this little museum of yours is going down ... unda!" the villain started cackling madly, and Wally started looking around frantically for possible escape routes and trapped civilians. He thought he saw a red light out of the corner of his eye, and turned just as Captain Boomerang's laughter cut short and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Wally blinked, then jumped as he heard an explosion from deep within the building. Another sequence then – the bombs would go off centrally and work their way out, destroying the building. He had to get the people out, before everything collapsed. He glanced at Harry and the little girl, and Harry hoisted her into his arms and yelled out,
"Get everyone out of here, I've got her." Wally watched as Harry darted away towards the exit, moving as fast as a human could go, the girl cradled protectively in his arms. This sight steeled Wally for what was to come – he unleashed the speed force and tore through the museum, enhancing his strength in order to pick up as many people as he could and deposit them safely outside. He lost track of how many times he re-entered the building, but he heard the dull roars of the bombs every time they went off. Finally, he thought he had everyone, and not a moment too soon. The museum was starting to collapse, and he scanned the building anxiously, hoping he hadn't missed anything.
Suddenly, there was a shifting in the dust at the entrance, and he saw a slight form stagger out. It was Harry, and he was dragging the unconscious Captain Boomerang behind him. Wally thought several things at once, as was his custom: Harry's there? I thought he got outside! He's got Captain Boomerang? I can't believe I forgot Captain Boomerang! That entrance is gonna go – right on top of Harry!
These thoughts spinning in his head caused Wally to do something he rarely ever did – he froze. He watched in horror as the entrance toppled toward the small British boy and the Australian villain, and his shocked eyed somehow met Harry's green ones. Those eyes darted upwards, and widened, before the boy's shoulders bunched up and he flung the Captain as far as he could with all his might. Unfortunately, this caused Harry to fall back slightly, even more under the collapsing stonework.
This jerked Wally into action. Running so hard he thought his heart would burst, he made his way towards Harry. There was a huge rock over Harry's head. It was falling. Wally tried to run faster. The rubble was ten inches from crushing Harry's skull. Wally's world was a blur, his focus entirely on Harry. Five inches and those green, green eyes would be smashed in. No, don't think about that, just run. Breathe. Run. Three inches. Reach. Grab. Stop. He thought he saw the rock graze Harry's temple, and he snatched the boy to his chest. Turn. Run. Run. Run!
"FLASH!"
Wally had entered a kind of daze, and the abrupt yell through his communicator managed to snap him out of it.
"Y-yeah? Bats? That you?" He asked shakily.
"Yes. Are you alright? Do you need backup?" Batman asked, sounding impatient. Wally smiled. He knew that Batman's snapping at him meant he was worried.
"I think it's alright. Just need a cleanup crew, and maybe some paramedics for shock -" he cut off as he saw a trickle of red creep its way out from under Harry's messy hair.
"Crap!" he exclaimed.
"Flash? What's the matter?" great, now Bats actually sounded concerned.
"Uh, I gotta take care of something, could you arrange cleanup? ThanksBats," Wally said in a rush, anxious to see what was wrong with Harry. He was unconscious, but hopefully it wasn't a big deal. He brought the boy over to a grassy area, and set him down. In the periphery of his vision, he saw Captain Boomerang being tended to by paramedics, with the police trying to wake him. Wally turned his attention back to Harry.
He brushed his hair back from his face in order to look at the wound. It was bleeding fairly steadily, as most head injuries do, so Wally told himself not to panic. He glanced at the paramedics. Intellectually he knew he could get to them and back faster than blinking, but he didn't want to leave Harry's side. Not when he was injured like this.
Taking a deep breath, he sped over to the paramedics, grabbed some things that looked good for patching people up, blurbed out "I'mborrowingthesethanksbye!" and raced back to Harry.
He carefully dabbed away the blood, and lightly disinfected the cut. As he cleared away the red, his heart almost stopped at the sight of a jagged red line on Harry's head. Was it his fault Harry's face was disfigured? Never mind that it was a cool-looking scar – Wally would never forgive himself for not moving fast enough. But no, on closer inspection, he saw that the scar was an old one, just very red. He wondered what had left it, and smiled, thinking of how similar it was to his own lightning insignia. That must have been why Harry bought the shirt in the first place, if he didn't know about superheroes and the Flash.
Smiling, he bandaged up Harry's head, sure that no serious damage had occurred, and breathed a sigh of relief when Harry started to stir. Green eyes blinked up at him and he grinned. Harry was OK!
"All right there?" he asked the still-dazed British boy.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry muttered thickly.
Wally grinned. He was so jazzed that Harry was well, it was coming out as hyper over-happiness. "Well," he said, "that was the reason we need Superheroes. That there, was a villain, and it's my job to try and stop their nefarious doings. I didn't quite succeed, but I don't think anyone got hurt. Besides you," he added, looking guiltily at Harry's bandaged head.
Following his gaze, Harry reached up and prodded the bandages. He snorted. "I've had worse," he claimed in a dry voice, and Wally frowned. Judging by the scar, he guessed it was true, but he wished Harry hadn't said it with such acceptant nonchalance. He shook his head.
"Well, I guess that's one way to introduce you to Central City, tourist. Meeting the resident hero, and one of his villains all in one day. Nice shirt, by the way," Wally said, winking at the suddenly flushing teen.
"Ah, you're the – the Flash, then?" Harry asked, still blushing furiously. Wally snickered to himself. Harry was probably remembering their earlier misunderstanding. "Ah, cool. Great. Wait, how did you know I'm a tourist?" he asked, his head tilting in an adorable manner.
Wally coughed to clear his throat, and said, "well, your accent. British, right? It's cool."
Harry blinked, and Wally cursed internally. He was probably having some major deja vu – they had discussed his accent at lunch! And Wally never really bothered to change his voice much... crap. But Harry seemed to have shrugged it off.
"Yeah," he said, "I'm actually staying in..." Harry trailed off, looking over Wally's shoulder. His face rearranged itself into a horrified expression. Wally turned, tensed and ready to fight, but saw nothing worse than a rather spectacular sunset. He turned back to Harry.
"What's the matter?" He asked curiously.
"I'm – I'm staying with my relatives in Metropolis, and my Aunt wanted me back by evening," Harry stammered. "I'll be in a load of trouble, oh, I am so late!" he wailed.
Wally laughed, and Harry looked at him with hurt in his eyes.
"Don't worry about it, England!" Wally sang. "You're with the Fastest Man Alive! I'll get you there before the sun is fully down." Grinning, he scooped Harry up into his arms. Man, the teen was light! Was his enhanced strength still on? What the heck!
Harry had that cute blush thing going again, and was spluttering and waving his arms.
"You really don't need to – I don't want to be a bother!" he yelled out.
Wally laughed again, and said, "England, this is the kind of things heroes do! We save people! Now, let me rescue you from the terrible and dreaded curfew!"
Harry settled down in his arms, and muttered something about 'waste of time'. Wally rolled his eyes and thought, if he only knew just how much time I had to kill.
Wally raced across the ground, taking care not to go too fast – he didn't want to scare Harry. Looking down at his passenger's face, he was shocked by a huge grin.
"Can you go faster?" Harry yelled out.
Wally snorted. "Kid," he said, "you haven't seen fast." And he upped the speed, racing the sun towards Metropolis. As they reached Harry's hotel, the sky was a brilliant orange, and Flash zoomed into the side-entrance when he saw Harry tense at the curious stares they were getting. He set down the teen, who smiled shyly at him.
"Thanks," he breathed out. "That was amazing. You must love to run – it was so exhilarating!" Wally's breath caught – Harry's green eyes sparkled, and his face was still flushed with excitement.
"You're welcome," he said gruffly. "And yeah, running is awesome. You run pretty fast yourself, by the way. Saw you with the little girl. Thanks for that. And for getting the Captain out of there – he may be a villain, but I don't want him dead or anything..." Wally, you're rambling. Wrap it up! "Stop by Central any time – hopefully there isn't some heist going on – hope you have a good vacation!" He wanted to add in something personal, something that would let him see Harry sooner, but he couldn't. He was a hero, he had to keep it professional. And Harry was still a kid, for God's sake! Wally, let it go. Get out of there!
He coughed, and said, "Well, try to stay out of trouble, England," and grinned his charming 'hero grin' before speeding off, away from the green-eyed teen.
Wow, Wally, could you get any more Boy Scout? 'Stay out of trouble'? You are SO LAME! Don't ever speak again.
Wally did a few laps around the state before he calmed down enough to go home, get out of uniform, and log the museum incident with the Watchtower. If he had known joining the League would require paperwork, he may just have chosen to be a vigilante. He hated paperwork.
AN: Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I hope that went ok. It's difficult writing from Wally's perspective - I'm of the opinion that he comes across as childish due to a perceived ADD kind of thing. Wally lives so much faster than other people, that if he didn't flit his attention around and fill the seconds with random things, he'd go insane. So he comes across as silly, and he hates how slow some things can be. I tried to convey that, so let me know it if worked, or if I should just stick to Harry's POV. I realize that Harry was a bit OOC, but he just met his first, extremely fit, spandex-wearing superhero, so I think it can be forgiven. Also, Harry is a speed junkie, so Flash gets bonus points, in the hypothetical 'book' I am imagining for Harry.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate any and all reviews!