Dick and Wally left the fast food restaurant and walked down the sidewalk. It was a weekday afternoon and there were a lot of people in downtown Central City. Dick's bangs were still down, but his sunglasses were up on his forehead.

"Man, you really were hungry, weren't you?" Wally said. "I've never seen anyone else eat as much as I do... Kinda freaked me out..."

"It was just so good!" Dick replied with a big smile. "Well, not 'good' good. It was greasy, and way too much salt. It's probably gonna make me sick later, but I couldn't stop myself. It's like, it's so bad it's good!"

Wally laughed. "You talk like you've never had fast food before."

"I haven't," he shrugged.

"Really? Never?"

"Not that I remember."

"Where have you been living, outer space?" Wally asked.

Dick rolled his eyes. "Why do they all ask that?"

Wally snickered again. Dick looked at him with a faint smile.

After being stared at for a few moments, Wally raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Dick grinned wider in amusement. "Do you really not recognize my face, Wally?"

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember meeting someone like you," he replied. "Besides, you're the one who was ranting about, 'It's our first meeting! Let's commemorate!'"

"I guess I thought my reputation would precede me. It usually does."

Wally smiled. "Okay, Mister Dick Grayson, who exactly are you?"

One revelation at a time, Dick thought. "I'm Bruce Wayne's ward."

He blinked. "Okay, first question. What's a ward?"

"It means he's my legal guardian."

Wally looked at him with a little sympathy. "You mean like a foster parent?"

He hesitated for a short second, and then Dick said, "My real parents are dead," with calmness that surprised even himself.

"Oh," was all Wally replied with.

Dick waited. Then he looked at Wally with a little surprise. "Aren't you going to tell me how sorry you are? That's what everyone else says."

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Does it really need to be said?"

Dick thought about this. "No, not really."

Wally didn't bother with the copy-and-paste responses like "I'm so sorry" or "that sucks" or "how are you doing?" It was like he understood there was no point in repeating that. Dick liked that about him.

Instead Wally asked, "How did they die? - No, don't answer that. It's none of my business..."

But he answered anyway. "They were murdered."

Wally was silent for several seconds. "Did they ever catch the guy?" he asked gently.

Dick nodded. "Yeah."

"That's not much, but it's something at least."

Dick nodded again.

Wally spoke up. "Okay, next question. Who's Bruce Wayne?"

Dick's eyes widened. "Seriously?!"

Wally looked uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah?"

He really wasn't in Gotham City anymore. "Bruce's famous. He's the head of Wayne Enterprises. You've heard of that, right?"

Wally thought to himself. "Wayne... Oh!" He pointed at Dick. "The rich guy in Gotham City."

Dick smiled and nodded. "Yeah!"

He lowered his hand, suddenly calmer. "And he's your foster dad?"

He nodded again. "Yes."

"...So you're like a millionaire from another state?"

"Uh, yes." Dick still considered it Bruce's money and not his, but close enough.

Wally paused. Finally he asked, "Are you putting me on?"

A few years ago, Dick wouldn't have understood what that meant. But he knew slang now. "No, it's true. Bruce saw what happened to my family. He took me in."

"Uh-huh," Wally said, obviously skeptical. "Okay, if you live in Gotham, what are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"I... took sort of a special way," Dick answered hesitantly.

"Oh, a 'special way'." Wally rolled his eyes. "Oh, well, that makes perfect sense."

This had never happened to Dick before. Bruce tried to keep Dick out of the media - give him some privacy and a normal life - but there were still a few articles about him. He was especially famous back when the wealthy man-about-town first took him in. Apparently the news never reached Central City.

Wally's disbelief offended him a little. "All right, I'll prove it," Dick said. He took the pieces of his smartphone out of his pockets and started to reassemble them. He fumbled a tiny bit with the SIM card. It wasn't that easy to rush through taking it apart and together over and over. They stood on the sidewalk and Wally watched him with interest.

Once the phone was working Dick searched online. He found and old article and showed it to Wally. The redheaded boy looked closely at the screen. "Bruce Wayne... Witness tragedy... Legal guardian... Dick Grayson..." It had a photo showing Bruce standing next to the nine-year-old child. Dick pushed his bangs up and looked at Wally wide-eyed and expectant. Wally glanced back and forth to the boy in the photo and the preteen in front of him. "Hey, that is you."

Dick took his phone back. "I see you're not completely face-blind," he muttered with annoyance.

"Sorry I didn't believe you." He sounded sincere. "But... Well... It was kind of a wild story. I never met an actual rich person before. You really came all the way from Gotham?"

"That's right, I live in Gotham City." He gave Wally a meaningful look. "Same place Batman and Robin live."

"Yeah, I know where Gotham City is. I'm not stupid."

Dick wasn't a hundred percent convinced. He disassembled the phone again and put it back in his pockets. "Why do you keep taking your phone apart?" Wally asked.

"Cell phones can be tracked," he answered simply. "I don't want anyone to find me right now."

Wally was quiet for a few moments. "Hey, Dick... When you said you were running away... How serious were you?"

Dick thought about it. He shrugged. "I dunno."

"Did something happen between you and Mr. Wayne?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Bruce is great," he said. "I guess I'll go back tonight. I guess I'll have to go back. I just... I just wanted to get away for a little while. I wanted to come here."

"Why here?" Wally asked.

To see you.

But that might sound a little creepy, so instead Dick said, "It's not my first time in Central City, you know. The last time I was here, I met Kid Flash." Dick covered his eyes with his sunglasses and stared directly into Wally's face. "I guess I wanted to see him again."

Wally blinked. "You met Kid Flash?"

Dick nodded, and waited for Wally to recognize him. It was forbidden for Dick to tell Wally that he was Robin. But if Wally happened to figure it out on his own, that would be different.

"Huh. I've lived here since before Kid Flash showed up and I've never seen him," he said casually. "I have met the Flash though. A few times, in fact. He's much cooler," he added with a grin.

"Don't say that," Dick frowned. "Kid Flash is really cool too. Although he did seem sort of... down on himself." He leaned towards Wally and spoke with extra emphasis.

"I have both their autographs," Wally mentioned proudly.

Dick stared. "...What?"

"I never met Kid Flash but a friend from school did," he explained. "He got an extra autograph for me."

He kept staring. "You heard me say that I met Kid Flash, right? I'm a boy from Gotham City who spoke to Kid Flash."

"It's not a competition," he said defensively.

Dick. Couldn't. Believe it.

He turned and walked away. "Follow me."

Wally raised his eyebrow, but did as he was told. Dick led him down an alleyway. The two boys walked under a fire escape, away from anyone who could overhear them. "Are you mad?" Wally asked.

Dick turned back to face him. "Okay, it was funny at first, but now I'm sick of it. Joke's over."

"What joke?"

"Look at me!"

"What? What did I say?!"

Dick took off his sunglasses. He looked Wally in the eyes and decided to stop dropping hints. He just came right out and said it. "I'm Robin."

Wally still looked confused. "Is that some sort of nickname?"

Dick's eyes bugged out. "SERIOUSLY?!"

"Wha-"

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Oh, for crying out loud! What do I have to do?! Do I have to shine the freaking Bat-Signal in your face before you figure it out?!"

"What are you talking-"

"Stop playing dumb!" Dick pleaded. "If this is about hiding your identity, don't bother! I know you're Kid Flash!"

Finally, a reaction. Wally suddenly looked worried instead of confused - the worry that his secret was out.

But it was only for a brief moment. After that Wally had a very genuine look of surprise and he cried out, "Are you high?!"

"What?!"

Wally put his hands on his head. "Oh my God, you are, aren't you? That's why you keep following me around," he said in realization. He held out his hands in a stay-back motion. "Dude, whatever you're offering, I don't want any!"

"I am not high! I'm Robin the Boy Wonder! You know? Batman's sidekick?!"

He shook his head. "I really don't want that hard stuff."

"Oh, for the love of... We've met before! Lots of times!" Dick said desperately. "In Gotham City, Batman and I were fighting False Face, and he shot at me, and then you raced by and caught the bullet. And the next time we met, we went to Central City. We met on a rooftop and I shook your hand. And you told me you can't vibrate through walls 'cause then you get a nosebleed. We fought the Royal Flush Gang. And there was another adventure with Green Arrow and Speedy and all of us together. We fought - y'know, that guy who could make copies of himself. Ugh, what was his name?"

"Multiplex," Wally blurted out.

Dick pointed a finger at him. "See! You do remember!"

Wally stared. "You're really Robin? That Robin?"

"DUH!" he shouted. "How can you not realize what it means when a black-haired Caucasian boy from Gotham who met Kid Flash walks up to you and tells you he's Robin?! 'Is that some sort of nickname?' How many Robins do you think there are in Gotham City?!"

"I dunno about Gotham, but there are at least two people in my school actually named Robin," he replied casually.

He blinked in surprise. "Really?"

Wally shrugged one shoulder. "Well, they're both girls. But still."

They stared at each other for another moment. And then they both started snickering at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

"Y-You know, I totally knew it was you the whole time," Wally said. "I was just playing dumb."

"Oh, yeah, right! I was tearing my hair out waiting for you to figure it out," Dick shot back. "'Fastest Boy Alive,' my butt!"

"Okay, fine! I'm dense! Sue me," he threw his hands up. "We can't all be detectives. And what're you doing telling me your identity anyway? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Eh," he waved it off. "Stopped caring. Ran away. Long story."

Wally's eyes suddenly widened and he took a sharp breath. "Oh, wait a minute." He spun his head around the alley, double-checking that they were alone. "Oh my gosh." He leaned close to Dick and hissed quietly with excitement. "If you're Robin, that means your foster dad is Batman! Batman is Bruce Wayne!"

Dick shook his head. "Actually, no. He's not."

Wally looked confused again. "Really?"

"We just want people to think he is. Batman is actually our butler, Alfred."

"Your butler?"

Dick kept a perfectly straight face as he explained. "Yeah, see, we set it up like that. This way if someone finds out who I am, they'll just assume Bruce is Batman, but he's not. Bruce is in on it, though. He provides the funding for our gadgets and helps us out whenever he can, but he's just technical support. Batman plays the role of our butler so he can stay out of the public eye and do the superhero stuff completely unnoticed."

Wally stared at him. "So Bruce Wayne is just a decoy, and the real Batman pretends to be his butler as part of his cover?" His eyes bugged out. "That's brilliant!"

Dick laughed loudly. He gripped his sides and fell to the ground.

"What?" Wally asked, confused again.

The boy continued laughing, but held it in just long enough to say, "Good for you, Alfred! Someone actually fell for it! HAHAHAHA!"

He kept like that for a while, literally ROTF. It's a wonder people didn't come into the alley to investigate. Wally looked down at him, unamused.

"It wasn't that funny."

"Yes, it was!"

.

A little bit later, they stood on the roof of a tall building. Wally spoke into his cell phone.

"Sorry I didn't call, mom. I didn't think of it... Just 'cause I don't come straight home after school, that's no reason to worry... No, I'm not doing that... Well, call Uncle Barry if you don't believe me... I made a new friend. We're hanging out downtown... You know, just hanging out. He wanted to see the sights..." He lowered his voice. "Of course I brought them with me." He spoke normally again. "Yeah - Yeah, okay - Okay, I will. Bye."

He hung up and turned back to Dick. "Sorry 'bout the interruption. Back on topic... You were born in a circus? Like a real, actual, circus?"

Dick nodded. "Uh-huh. Haly's International Traveling Circus. My family were the Flying Graysons. That's how I learned all my moves." He did a somersault to demonstrate. "Batman taught me the fighting. But the acrobatic stuff - that was all my parents."

Wally looked up with a big smile. "Okay, let me wrap my head around this." He gestured towards the other boy. "Billionaire heir... AND superhero... AND circus performer! Any one of those by themselves would be insanely cool, but all three at once? That just - That just blows my mind!"

Dick shook his head, still smiling, but perhaps a little sadly. "It's not all at once. I left the circus, remember?"

"What's amazing is that you were there at all."

"You have super speed," Dick mentioned. "That's pretty amazing."

"You're right," Wally was brimming with pride. "It is."

"Your parents know you're Kid Flash, right?" Dick asked.

"Yeah," Wally nodded. "Speaking of which - and I probably should have asked this right away - how did you know I'm Kid Flash? It was my hair, wasn't it?"

"Actually, it was your uncle. I already figured out the Flash's secret identity, so when Kid Flash appeared, I figured it was probably someone close to him. Looked online. Found out he had a nephew."

"So you already knew my secret identity the first time we met," he realized.

"Yes," Dick admitted.

A pause. Wally seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Is that okay?" Dick asked.

"Y-Yeah," he said quickly. "Yeah, that's fine."

Dick smiled. "Meanwhile, I actually told you I was Robin, and you still couldn't figure it out."

"Are you ever gonna let that go?" Wally shot back. "Look at it from my point of view. A weird kid pops out of nowhere and says he's Batman's sidekick and I'm supposed to just take his word for it? Just 'cause he looks a little bit similar?"

"Okay," Dick nodded. "But still."

"Let's move on." Wally quickly changed the subject. "Why are you here again? You never really explained that."

"I wanted to see you," Dick answered bluntly.

"Okay... Why?"

"To talk."

"About what?"

"Anything!" Dick sat down cross-legged and looked at his hands. "I can't tell the kids at school I'm Robin. I can't tell the other sidekicks I'm Dick Grayson. I can't be completely honest with anyone. And I'm always worried I'll let something slip, so lately I just don't talk at all. And I'm sick of bottling everything up."

Wally walked over and sat down next to him. "Things like what?"

"Like... I'm worried about who the real me is."

Wally looked at him blankly. "I don't know what that means."

"Sure you do," Dick replied. "All superheroes with secret identities do. When you're at school, you're Wally West. And when you're on patrol, you're Kid Flash. You take turns playing two different roles. Haven't you ever worried about which one is the real you?"

"They're both the real me," Wally answered. "I just enjoy being Kid Flash more." He turned his head away. "I don't really like myself when I'm Wally West... but he's still me."

"Well, with me it's the complete opposite," Dick said. "I'm Bruce Wayne's ward and I'm Robin, and I feel like neither of them is the real me. The real me disappeared when my family died."

As the two boys sat side by side, Dick Grayson talked about himself, and Wally West listened with interest. He talked about his life in the circus. And he talked about the night Tony Zucco murdered his family.

"My whole life changed that night. That's all it took. Just one night, and my..." His voice cracked and trailed off.

Wally gently spoke up. "You don't have to say this if it's hard-"

"No, I want to say this!" Dick replied quickly. "I need to say it! It's what I came here for... My family's gone, Wally. That night, my mom and dad died. My aunt and cousin died. And my uncle... he..."

He died.

"...He survived, but..."

He died.

"...He was paralyzed. He couldn't move..."

Maybe there wasn't much difference.

"...And sometimes, I feel like I'm dead too. This is just a little piece of me that was left behind... I don't know how to stop feeling like that."

Wally and Dick stared at the cityscape. It was late November, and it was already starting to get dark. The wind blew through their hair.

"Okay then. That's a lot to take in..." Wally said. He turned his head to look at Dick. "But why are you telling me this? What exactly made you come see me?"

Dick didn't reply right away. He stood up, walked to the edge of the roof, and looked over at the ground below.

"It's a long story."

He looked back at Wally. "Do you have time to listen?"

"Absolutely," Wally answered.

.

Author's Notes: (4/7/2017) The part where Dick convinces Wally that Alfred's Batman - "Good for you Alfred, someone actually fell for it!" - This is a reference to the cartoon "Static Shock" on an episode that crossed over with Batman.

Static (Wakes up in Batcave; Alfred is tending to his wounds): "Who are you?!"
Alfred (Deadpan): "Batman."
Static (Skeptical): "...I don't think so."
Alfred (Smiling): "Just once, I'd like someone to believe that."

The story will be wrapping up soon. Now that I've explained how Dick and Wally got here, we're heading for the big climax.