saga/title/fandom: You and I Got Something

author: Dimitri Aidan

rating/genre: (PG-13 (for now))- Drama/Romance

warnings: slash, adult situations, adult language

summary: (Flash/GL, Batman/Wonder Woman, Superman/Lois Lane. A little Nightwing/OMC and Hawkgirl/GL) As they get ready for Bruce and Diana's wedding, Flash thinks. Getting together isn't easy in their line of work, but somehow he and John managed it; evil robots, best friends, and Yellow Lanterns be damned.

comments/disclaimers: The lack of GL and Flash interaction in JL:U spawned this story. Actually the lack of Flash in general was upsetting. In the comic Raven is an empath. I’m not sure if that applies to ‘Teen Titans’ on Cartoon Network but it doesn’t matter much. She, at some point, used her power to convince Wally that he was in love with her. She had good intentions but…you know that’s a shitty thing to do. And in this story Wally is decidedly fucked up because of it. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Chapter 8

Out of the Doubt that Fills my Mind

Wally fell onto his bed and tried to quiet his heart, which was thudding in his chest so loudly it was just about the only thing he could hear. He sat down, pulling open the bag of Neon Worms he’d grabbed from the couch.

If he’d been a few years younger and a bit less optimistic he supposed this would be the part where he listened to angst-ridden rock music and cut himself while writing terribly heart twisting and disturbing poetry that would make people realize just how depressed and deep he really was. (1)

He wrinkled his nose at the thought.

Teenagers were so weird these days. He couldn’t believe he’d actually thought that (he wasn’t getting that old was he?) but it was true. Whatever happened to simple self-pity while eating things ridiculously high in sugar?

Honestly.

Unconsciously proving his point he popped a worm into his mouth and chewed the slightly sour treat slowly. Yep, he was feeling better already.

Why was Wally, constantly cheerful even when he was in a foul mood because being angry only made him more bright and bouncy than normal (it was being confused that got him) wallowing in self-pity this time you wonder?

Well it was simple.

He was confused. See? Confusion. Did him in every time.

And, in a reoccurring theme from the past few weeks, it was John’s fault. Because his life just wasn’t complete otherwise.

Yes, that was sarcasm. He’d crossed that line.

“…fair enough.” Wally had to admit he had a point. Then he smiled mischievously. “Is that why you agreed to watch that horror movie marathon with me?”

“Yes.”

Wally frowned at the wall of his bedroom while fingering the bandage on his temple. Once again he’d managed to get injured and, once again, it was John’s fault. All these blows to the head couldn’t be good for him. People got brain damage from less.

Then again being what he was probably made him less prone to silly things like blunt force trauma and skull cracking and internal bleeding! Hah, he laughed in the face of such trivial things. Or else he would have been in trouble long before now.

Another worm eased the self-deprecating edge his thoughts had taken on.

Wally blinked, wondering if it was possible to go pale and blush at the same time. Had John just said ‘yes’? Yes, as if it was the simplest thing in the world and he hadn’t just succeeded in throwing Wally’s off its axis? Had he even heard the question right? Had Wally fallen into another alternate universe? Or was he just finally feeling the effects of being smacked with shrapnel all the time? Though, really, that hadn’t happened for a very long time.

“Kid?” A hand waved in front of his face. “Did I break you? Do I need to call J’onn to take a look in that head of yours? Because I don’t think I have anything on hand to bribe him with…”

Wally jumped back, realizing that John had suddenly gotten a lot closer to him. Unfortunately jumping around in a rolling chair was a bad idea. The chair moved and he went down, managing to smack his head on the control panel along the way.

And then his head hit the floor with a dull crack and he winced slightly. That undoubtedly could have gone a little more gracefully. Damn.

“Ow.” He was flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Fantastic! More head trauma that wouldn’t really amount to trauma because he was ‘special’.

Too bad that wouldn’t stop the headache that he felt coming on.

Yep. He’d manage to end on his ass once again, bleeding from a cut on his head, in front of John. That was the second time this month, a new record for him. He’d settled on being embarrassed right about then, as opposed to panicked and mortified. John had said ‘yes’ and all of Wally’s higher brain function had taken a vacation.

He’d been in fight or flight mode and since he was pretty sure John could kick his ass one on one he’d tried to get away. Obviously it hadn’t worked so well. Not that he could have really gone anywhere anyway.

Panic made people do stupid things.

And why had he been panicked in the first place? After all the time he spent watching John, wondering why his life sucked so much that he’d fallen for one of the few people he truly considered a friend, the getting wasted and bothering all the rest of his friends, the figuring out that he was less than straight and maybe had some issues to work out…

Then the moment John shows a tiny glimmer of something resembling interest he tired to run away and ended up smacking his head off of the control panel. He was just lucky he hadn’t accidentally set off the laser and blown something up.

He’d blown up his VCR once that way. True, the Watch Tower was a bit more complex then your standard VCR, but with electronics one could never be sure.

“You’re an idiot.” John said after a long moment of silence. The other man was on his feet and hovering over him, before reaching down and hauling him up. Gee, wasn’t this more than a little familiar, some traitorous and snarky voice that kind of sounded like Dick muttered in the back of his mind.

He shook his head. Had he hit himself that hard?

The thought drifted away when John prodded his temple carefully before rolling his eyes. “I’m impressed Wally, you’ve somehow managed to land in the same place as the last time. Hopefully you’ve managed to avoid the concussion this time.”

“’M not an idiot.” Wally muttered sullenly.

“Right.” John’s tone was amused. Once again Wally was stricken by how very green his eyes were and he couldn’t help but swallow nervously. Only this time John’s eyebrow arched in a way that let him know that it had been noticed. He pulled away and looked at his feet.

“I…um…I…”

“Need to sit down so I can put something on that?” John said with a mild smirk. “I was thinking the same exact thing, I’m glad we’re in agreement. Things go so much smoother when I don’t have to make you do them under the threat of pain. Sit down and don’t move.” His voice lost all traces of amusement and went into ‘do what I say because I can kill you with my bare hands’ mode.

More than a little intimidating.

He should have run. He could have been in the transport room, on the pad, and on his way home before John even blinked. He had that ability.

Hell, that was his specialty.

He sat.

Gee, wasn’t this more than a little familiar,Why had he done it? Because he was an idiot. Because he was curious. Because he was kind of dizzy.

Mostly dizzy.

Besides, it wasn’t like John could possibly be serious. He was…John. John.

He was dark and mysterious and confident and always right and smug and mocking and so damn cool and a million other things that meant he couldn’t possibly be interested in Wally, because Wally wasn’t any of those things no matter how many times he said he was.

And it wasn’t like he was totally over compensating by being loud and boastful, he was just trying to keep everyone from realizing that beyond being fast and incredibly witty he didn’t really have any actual talents. He wasn’t smart, he just had a super fast brain; he wasn’t strong, he was just fast enough to compensate for it, he had no cool gadgets or bulletproof wrist things or power ring or magical mace…

He was just…Wally.

And he’d never felt more like ‘Just Wally’ then when he was convincing himself that he wasn’t worth John’s time and that he was insane for thinking that was interest he saw simmering in John’s eyes. Because he was just Wally.

A few moments later found John’s hand on his chain, angling his head to the side so he could clean out the cut and put a bandage on it. This was even worse than the thing on the ship because it was taking a lot longer, that dumb disinfectant stuff burned (Oh, they could build a laser that could destroy a major city but damn if they would get something that didn’t hurt to clean out the scrapes they frequently had.) and every time he moved or blinked or breathed there was just…

Just John.

Only John was never just John.

…He had ceased to make any sort of sense.

He was even dizzier then before but he doubted it had anything to do with the little tumble he’d taken and more to do with this slow and terrible torture.

Who had he pissed off in a past life to deserve this?

“Done.” John’s voice cut through the fog that had descended upon his mind. He blinked at the older man owlishly, drawing a perplexed look from the other. “Are you okay? Your pupils are kind of…”

He trailed off while leaning into him a bit closer.

It was funny how Wally quite literally felt his mind snap. He wondered, idly, if all people felt themselves lose their minds when they…lost their minds.

He’d have to remember to ask Dick about that later, since he was the only insane person Wally knew who’d be willing to answer such a question. Though he’d probably roll his eyes and tell Wally what a moron he was while doing it.

That was part of Dick’s charm. Kind but annoying.

He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. Idiot. He, Wally West, was an idiot. He would never ever deny it again, because he was in fact an idiot.

He wasn’t sure what he expected when grabbed the hem of John’s t-shirt and tugged him down to kiss him. John made a noise that may have been a laugh and his hand slide down his neck to rest on his shoulder.

…yes. He kissed him. It was bound to happen. He had a fragile grasp on sanity as it was, how could no one have seen this coming? He should have seen it coming.

He should have seen it coming and he should have smacked his head against the panel a few more times in hopes of knocking himself out. Or…maybe not.

Because John kissed him back.

It wasn’t exactly cheesy trash novel quality but Wally found that he could live with that. John’s lips had been a little dry and his stubble (Which was now officially stupid again, no matter how sexy it looked from time to time) had scratched over his skin and his hand had been large and warm and there on his shoulder the entire time. And it wasn’t like he’d never kissed anyone before but it still had that awkward first kiss quality and…yeah.

He could live with that too.

It had been a little weird though. For about half a second he’d be considering that whole gay thing. Maybe he’d been mistaken?

He broke off with a small gasp. Wow, when had he stopped breathing? John was blinking at him, eyes brighter than before and now he was pretty damn sure he had something resembling x-ray vision because damn wasn’t that gaze the most intense one he’d ever been on the receiving end of.

He couldn’t help but squirm under it again and look at a point over John’s shoulder with some amazing intensity of his own.

“You aren’t really good at the subtle thing once I stopped to notice.” John’s voice had a distinctly husky note to it and Wally swallowed again. His throat was very dry all of a sudden. So was his mouth though.

“I have to admit this clears up why everyone keeps saying you’re gay.”

Wally’s gaze snapped over to John. “Who says that?” Not that it wasn’t true but Wally didn’t like the idea of people talking about him. Didn’t they have better things to do with their time?

John chuckled and the hand on his shoulder squeezed lightly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not important.”

“Easy for you to say. People don’t talk about you.”

“Because I’m scarier than you are.” He was smirking again. “Don’t worry. They’ll stop talking soon.”

“Why’s that?”

“Weren’t you listening? I’m scary.” Wally started to ask what the hell that had to do with anything when those lips were on his again and it was a little less weird than the first one. Which was good. He could stop reconsidering his sexuality yet again.

That was getting to be a pain in the ass really.

Wally chuckled softly to himself while biting one of the worms in half. It kind of figured that during what should have been a complete awkward moment John had simply bypassed it and filled it with his usual affectionate insults.

Something familiar that stopped Wally’s hyperactive mind from running off with his common sense and how John had known to distract him from freaking out at that moment was beyond him. Maybe he just knew him that well.

There was a shiver worthy thought.

Wally’s mind was falling back into that pleasant fuzzy haze when he heard the door slide open. He pulled back and turned, looking with wide eyes at J’onn who kept his face as impassive as ever. John straightened up, hand sliding away and Wally just caught the dirty look he shot the alien from the corner of his eyes.

To his credit J’onn seemed to ignore it. “While I am loath to interrupt you two I wanted to let you know I was going to earth. It seems Superman requires my aid.”

“A note would have been fine.” John deadpanned. Then shrugged and sat back in his chair. “That’s fine. We’ve got everything under control.”

Wally considered that for a whole second. Under control?

Nope. He was so not feeling this ‘control’ that John was speaking about. In fact he was feeling a bit…out of control.

“I think I remember where I left my English book.”

And then he’d left, running like the hounds of hell were behind him. Sometimes Wally was a huge coward.

Bag of worms now empty Wally would like to think he was thinking clearly now and could analyze the situation with the seriousness that it deserved.

He had, in a moment of John induced insanity, kissed the object causing his increasing madness and or obsession. And then John had kissed him, after being his usual asshole self. And then he’d run away like a total wuss.

Hmm…there was clearly something wrong with this-

He blinked as his phone rang. Someone was calling? To speak to him? On the phone?

Huh.

He stood up and, focusing on the ring, pounced on a pile of clothes and began throwing them aside in an attempt to reach the phone. He found it and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Wally, it’s Dick.”

“Yes it is.” Wally flopped down onto the floor. “What can I do for you?”

“Nothing. I was just calling to check up on you.

He smiled wryly. “So you really do love me!”

“…no. But good guess.” He could almost hear Dick’s half smile. “Seriously though, everything okay? I mean, with you showing up and then not bothering to so much as give me a follow up ‘by the way I haven’t killed myself’ call? That’s just rude.”

“I assumed you were busy with your guy. Cute by the way.”

“I thought so. So?”

“Well I could use a second opinion.”

“Shoot.”

Wally quickly recounted the day, from the beginning (minus running into the door because just admitting to falling on his ass was bad enough.) When he was done Dick had gone very quiet. Finally the silence got to him.

“Well!”

“Gimmie a minute Wal, my attention is torn between ‘my guy’ just out of the shower and your raging idiocy.” Wally heard a quiet laugh that wasn’t Dick because it sounded entirely too nice to be his friend. “Okay, I’m focused again. So. You’re an idiot. Go back to the Tower, explain to Lantern that you are an idiot, apologize for being an idiot, and then work on being less of an idiot.”

Wally cursed his earlier promise to not argue being an idiot anymore because he was really tired of that word already. Sadly Dick wasn’t quite done.

“I know your self-esteem is dangerously low but how exactly did you get the urge to run away and hide in your apartment from someone actually being crazy enough to like you?”

“It’s not dangerously low.”

Dick snorted. “Sure.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“’Bout time.”

Wally ran away at his normal speed, as in before anyone could blink, and so missed the death glare John laid on the Martian. “Your timing could use work.”

“You deserved it.”

“I deserved it?” It was funny how he’d never though J’onn was the type to get vindictive over a few stray thoughts. “I didn’t tell you to read my mind you know. And you know it’s only going to get worse. There is something seriously wrong with him. He thinks too much. Just imagine the headache that’s going to result from this.”

And wasn’t that ironic? Wally over thinking…yet he seemed to be doing it a lot of the time. If he’d just said something (or someone had been kind enough to point out how bad Wally was at hiding his feelings…) a lot of this could have been avoided.

For the life of him he couldn’t understand why Wally would choose this to keep quiet about. Did John come off as harsh or the type of person you couldn’t talk to? Sure, some of the younger and newer League members cowered in front of him like he was Bruce or something, but Wally should have known better after all this time.

Worse come to worse he wouldn’t have felt the same and he would have told Wally that outright. Then, true to form, he could have taunted the younger man and tried to set him up with someone else.

It wasn’t like John wasn’t pretty damn open minded.

He’d been married to a non-human after all and then there was Shayera. Who had wings. Another male, even one as strange and unpredictable as Wally tended to be at the best of times, kind of paled in comparison to all of that. Wally’s stupidity was, quite frankly, outstanding when it came to matters like this.

John would be sure to tell him so later.

“You seem to say that a lot.” J’onn observed. “I can’t seem to understand why, if you think Wally is so much trouble and brings so many problems, you would take the time to pursue him.”

John blinked slowly as a half dozen responses drifted through his mind, ranging from the cryptic (I have no idea) to the honest (I’m not exactly all there either) to slightly perverse (His dirty mind intrigues me). Finally he just shrugged and sat back in his chair.

“Maybe it‘s because of all of that. Never really thought about it.” And he wasn’t going to start now. It just wasn’t his kind of thing. He didn’t like to overanalyze the few simple things he was allowed to have in his life. (He could see Wally scowling at being referred to as simple) He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair slowly. “So when he ran out of here-”

“He is very confused, though he isn’t sure why he’s confused. A bit of disbelief.” John nodded while rolling his eyes. Of course. Idiot. “Next time I will leave a note.”

“Have you ever considered the fact that you may be passive-aggressive?”

“Yes.” With that J’onn swept out of the room, leaving John to smile at the doorway ruefully. Then, something blinking in the corner of one of the screens caught his eye.

A distress signal from around the asteroid belt. …fuck. He’d been hoping he couldn’t have to do anything except deal with Wally’s crazy ass today. Both of the Javelins were out and he wasn’t even going to screw around with Diana’s invisible jet. He didn’t trust something he couldn’t see while flying in space.

It just didn’t sit well with him and he didn’t want to risk his insides suddenly becoming is outsides when he exploded or whatever it was that happened to humans when they were in space without air. (He felt as if he should know what happened with all the time he spent in space.)

He was going to have to do this the hard way.

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