Wally huffed as he looked under the bed again. He had completely underestimated his little brother's hiding skills. The little red head pushed himself upright again and scanned the room for any signs of movement.

The floorboard behind Wally creaked, and before he could properly think it through, the twelve-year old threw himself at the source of the sound, expecting to tackle his younger brother to the floor. However, he crashed into something much larger than a five-year-old and was thrown backwards with an "oof!"

When he opened his eyes, a laughing man was standing over him with an extended hand. Wally mumbled an embarrassed apology under his breath as he took the hand and lifted himself up.

"Jesus kid. Were you practicing your sumo wrestling?" his uncle smiled.

Wally sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as gave a nervous smile, "Sorry Uncle Daniel, I was looking for Wallace. We're playing hide and seek and I when I heard you come in I thought..uh..nevermind. I don't even think he's in this room" he replied with a small frown.

His uncle grinned amusedly as his eyes silently scan the room. "the little one's hiding eh? What do you say we go find him together?" he whispered to his nephew

The idea of Wally cheating by recruiting an extra pair of eyes made him smirk mischievously. Wallace stood no chance if Uncle Daniel was helping him. Before either of them could search any further, a squealing Wallace came scampering into the room and didn't slow down until he pounced on his uncle.

"ukle danil! ukle danil!" he kept shouting as he clung onto the man like a koala. Wally frowned as he was completely forgotten about while the other two were hugging and laughing. While their attention was on each other, Wally took the time to remember why he didn't like Daniel all that much. He looked too much like his father - same brown eyes, same nose, same jawline. It didn't matter though; Uncle Barry was way cooler.

"Boys! Lunch is ready!" Iris called from downstairs

Wally wasted no time in ditching the room and running as fast as he could (without the use of his superspeed) down to the kitchen, where Aunt Iris was busy setting the table.

Wally woke up in a cold sweat abruptly. When he realized where he was, he rubbed his eyes and fell back on the bed again. These memory dreams really drained him. After lying in bed for a bit, he came to terms with the fact he wasn't going to be able to get back sleep, so he dragged himself to the bathroom.

As he was rinsing the sweat off his skin in the shower, he began to evaluate the dream he had, just like he did with every other one he had. So that was Uncle Daniel. He tried to think about the face he had scene to see if it would trigger any kind of recognition, and got nothing.

He really didn't like these dreams, because he knew what they really were – what they really meant.

The timeline was realigning. Because of him.

The thought made him shudder as he was toweling himself off. He had too many thoughts going through his head, and nothing to distract him from them. He needed to talk to someone.

Once he pulled on some sweatpants and a loose star labs shirt, he grabbed his phone and called the only person he could talk to about this situation.

"Wally?" a tired voice asked.

"Hey Kyle" he sighed as he flopped on the couch that faced his balcony.

He heard rustling on Kyle's end before he answered, sounding a lot more awake "Couldn't sleep?"

"I told him" he said, skipping straight to the point.

"Wait what? Everything?"

Wally sighed in exhaustion, "no not everything, just the lightning rod part"

Kyle was quiet for a moment before responding "I thought you weren't going to tell him"

"I wasn't, but stuff happened and he was staring at me with those eyes and we were alone on the roof and before I knew it, I blabbed about how much lightning rods mean to us and he asked me who mine was and in that moment it felt so perfect and i…told him"

He could practically see Kyle facepalming in his house in LA. "So…he's still your lightning rod? You haven't been able to change it?"

Wally raked his hand through his hair in exasperation

"Kyle, I've tried everything. I tried Barry, Iris, Wallace, Bart, I even tried you! I tried you so many times, but it didn't work….I don't think it's ever going to work, because I don't think this is something that can be changed"

They were both quiet for a minute, and Wally stared harder at the city lights that were illuminating his living room. He never grew tired of this view, and it never failed to relax him.

"Wally…why don't you just except it? Maybe you and him-"

"No Kyle! No! I've already told you why I can't just except it! It can't be him, he didn'-

Wally almost dropped the phone when a dark silhouette landed on his balcony with a soft thump.

Before the red head could get into a defensive stance, he recognized who the white streak and blue-green eyes belonged to. He raised the phone to his ear again as he walked towards the glass door. "Hey Kyle, I've got a visitor. I'll call you back later"

He hung up and unlocked the sliding door, to come face to face with one grinning Jason Todd. He wasn't in his red hood get up, just cargo pants, plain white shirt, and a leather jacket

"Hey West. You're up early"

Wally returned the grin with a semi confused smile as he replied, "Couldn't sleep. Listen, I have no idea why you're here, but I'm glad you are. The loneliness was killing me" he grabbed Jason by the wrist and practically dragged him inside.

Jason stared up at him with wide startled eyes as Wally pushed him back to sit on the couch, before walking back to the door to close it again.

"You always this welcoming?" Jason chuckled as Wally plopped next to him.

"Not exactly, but I wasn't really in the mood to be alone. So, what's up?"

Jason averted his gaze for a second before he slid a small black velvet box out of his pocket and passed it wordlessly to the red head beside him. "Consider it my thank you gift"

Jason watched with a small smile as the speedster slowly opened the box and gasped softly

"Jason…where did you get this?"

"It's cute huh? Almost as pretty as your eyes"

As if to prove his point, Wally glanced up at him through his lashes and smiled shyly.

"Well, now you're just putting that emerald to shame" Jason murmured, leaning forwards to brush a red strand out of the way to get a better view of his gorgeous green orbs.

Wally looked down again and tentatively ran the pad of his finger along the bright green gemstone, savoring the smooth feeling of it.

"Don't get me wrong, I love it, but you didn't have to get me this"

The second robin softened his predatory gaze into something Wally couldn't quite decipher,

"You saved me"

Wally cocked his head to the side slightly and smiled again, "yeah because-"

Jason grabbed his wrist gently and looked him dead in the eye, "you saved me life, you stopped me from becoming some brainless monster, you got there in time"

Wally's eyes went wide as he realized what Jason was implying. He had done something Bruce had failed to do all those years ago. He stopped history from repeating itself. To Jason, that must've mean so much more than what Wally saw it as.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Wally placed the box the coffee table and gave Jason an understanding smile. "Want a drink?"

He led the way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. As he was frowning at his beverage choices, Jason noticed something on the fridge door. "Is this of you? You're so small there."

W ally took out a bottle of juice and looked at what Jason was talking about.

"Oh that. Yeah, Kyle drew it for my birthday. He knows how much I love Pokémon" he replied while pouring two glasses

Jason smiled at the drawing, "If you had to be any of them, you really are a Pikachu – small, powerful, adorable-"

"Pfft what do you mean 'small'. I'm hardly two inches shorter than you" Wally sniggered as he handed Jason a glass, ignoring his questioning gaze at the drink.

"Alcohol's gross and I can't even get drunk. Juice on the other hand is refreshing and I have a sweet tooth. Sue me."

Jason raised a brow in amusement and joined Wally as they both sipped their apple and mango fruit drink.

"Hey, I've actually been meaning to ask you something" Jason said after a few minutes, "ever since you 'saved' me, I've been feeling a little…off"

Wally's demeanor immediately stiffened as he placed his empty glass on the kitchen bench.

"What do you mean?"

Jason brushed his bangs out of his eyes and sighed. "It's nothing bad. I think. Actually, it's the opposite"

He paused for a moment and Wally silently encouraged him to continue.

"I would say I feel different, but I think the correct phrasing is that I feel like my old self. You know, before the whole Lazarus pit"

"…how can you tell?"

Jason leaned back against the fridge as he thought of how he was going to explain this in a way that made sense.

"Well, usually I'm bitter and guarded. I don't like getting close to people and I don't like people getting close to me. I am extremely irritable, and I have an urge to kill certain people, mostly murderers and rapists. But ever since you kissed me, I don't have that inclination to close myself off from the world. I don't instantly yell at people who piss me off and I've barley felt any kind of satisfaction in thinking about shooting black mask in his pathetic excuse of a face"

He pushed off the fridge and took a step closer to Wally. "what do you think's happening to me?"

Wally took a deep breath and contemplated his response.

"Supposedly, the Anti-Life Equation mathematically proves that hope, love, and freedom are all meaningless and effectively destroys a person's free will. That's what happened to you when you were infected. Then when I kissed you, I overwhelmed you with my positive speed force energy. To negate to equation, I made you feel happiness, hope, pleasure, and love. The only explanation I can think of is that the effects of my kiss didn't just nullify the equation, it affected who you are as a person"

Wally leaned back into the bench for support as he began to panic. He had just potentially messed up Jason because he used his power on him, and he didn't have the slightest clue how to fix it.

When Jason sensed the speedster's sudden distress, he walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention again. "Hey, I'm not mad or anything, I was just wondering"

Wally looked up at him, his gaze tentative and unsure.

Jason smiled softly as he slowly slid his hand up from the redhead's shoulder to gently cup his cheek.

"If anything," he whispered as he leaned closer, eyes flickering down to Wally's lips, "Whatever you did, was a good thing"

Wally stood frozen as Jason gently pushed him further against the kitchen bench and didn't make any attempt to stop him from sliding his other hand around his waist, or from leaning in even closer until their lips were almost touching.

Before Jason could actually kiss him, they were both snapped out of their trances when they heard a confused "What the heck?" from the kitchen door.

Wally felt his heart try to jump out of his chest when he saw who was standing a few feet away with a bewildered expression.

"…Dick?"

Notes:

I'm sure you've noticed Jason and Wally are really gaining chemistry and a lot of people are routing for them now, so let me know if you're team birdflash or team hoodflash 😊

picture credits: . /pin/799951952550890125/?nic_v2=1a30rUsWm

Hope you liked this chapter, if you have any questions then let me know!

if you haven't noticed already, the reviews have been a huge guide to where this story goes.

so far I've gotten Jason flirting with Wally, Dick as a lightning rod and Wally being pretty.

Thanks to everyone who's left a comment so far, they really make my day :)

I haven't been that motivated to continue this at the moment so I'm not sure when my next update is going to be, but hopefully i'll get back into it soon :)