Wally West / Kid Flash (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
runningstart) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2015-08-24 10:19 pm
runningstart) wrote in maskormenacelogs2015-08-24 10:19 pm
Entry tags:
BACKDATED - AUG 15
WHO: Robin (Dick Grayson, performance) & Kid Flash (Wally West, runningstart)
WHERE: Cave of Justice, Smokey Mountains, North Carolina
WHEN: August 16th, morning, after this revelation
WHAT: Robin confronts KF about his lie by omission. Yelling and crying. It's all very dramatic.
WARNINGS: Discussions of death, etc
One text.
with batman
Nothing after that. And KF's been hanging out in the living room next to the entrance, sitting on the edge of a chair almost all night, leg jiggling up and down nervously. Every so often he stuffs something into his mouth, habit, like refueling a car but everything tastes like sawdust. If he wasn't so hungry, he wouldn't bother.
Robin's going to want that explanation. Eventually, he's going to want it, Kid knows him. He's probably had it way in the back of his head all night, festering unseen and he's probably going to be livid by the time he shows up. If KF was smart, he'd get the hell out of here. If he had any sense at all he'd run to Jaime's or Shade's and beg them to let him stay-
Shit, if Jaime's even okay. Khaji's probably looking after him.
God. Everything's a mess. His secret IDs been compromised at least three times tonight -last night- and so many people are dead because of what's happened, because of what Crane did. Not just imPorts. People who won't ever have a chance to come back. KF remembers seeing one of them, a man curled up in the corner of the audience chamber, he'd been looking at his presentation with interest, he'd told Wally that he was smart-
KF smacks the heel of his hand against his head. Again. Stop.
There's not much he can do now. All he can do is sit and wait for Robin to come back, if he even does. Maybe he went straight to Bruce's, maybe he doesn't want to hear what KF has to say. ...Kid wouldn't blame him, but he can't- he can't run now. Not now. Not when he's at the risk of losing Robin over this.
Shit. That's what he'd been trying to avoid from the start.
performance) & Kid Flash (Wally West, runningstart)WHERE: Cave of Justice, Smokey Mountains, North Carolina
WHEN: August 16th, morning, after this revelation
WHAT: Robin confronts KF about his lie by omission. Yelling and crying. It's all very dramatic.
WARNINGS: Discussions of death, etc
One text.
with batman
Nothing after that. And KF's been hanging out in the living room next to the entrance, sitting on the edge of a chair almost all night, leg jiggling up and down nervously. Every so often he stuffs something into his mouth, habit, like refueling a car but everything tastes like sawdust. If he wasn't so hungry, he wouldn't bother.
Robin's going to want that explanation. Eventually, he's going to want it, Kid knows him. He's probably had it way in the back of his head all night, festering unseen and he's probably going to be livid by the time he shows up. If KF was smart, he'd get the hell out of here. If he had any sense at all he'd run to Jaime's or Shade's and beg them to let him stay-
Shit, if Jaime's even okay. Khaji's probably looking after him.
God. Everything's a mess. His secret IDs been compromised at least three times tonight -last night- and so many people are dead because of what's happened, because of what Crane did. Not just imPorts. People who won't ever have a chance to come back. KF remembers seeing one of them, a man curled up in the corner of the audience chamber, he'd been looking at his presentation with interest, he'd told Wally that he was smart-
KF smacks the heel of his hand against his head. Again. Stop.
There's not much he can do now. All he can do is sit and wait for Robin to come back, if he even does. Maybe he went straight to Bruce's, maybe he doesn't want to hear what KF has to say. ...Kid wouldn't blame him, but he can't- he can't run now. Not now. Not when he's at the risk of losing Robin over this.
Shit. That's what he'd been trying to avoid from the start.
no subject
For a dozen reasons, he hadn't wanted to tell Robin. Because telling someone who cares hurts him just as bad. Because Robin's already lost so much and telling him felt like taking more away. Because Wally remembers how he'd hovered and stayed up for hours when he found out that Wally quit the team, because he worries himself sick whenever Wally gets hurt or sent back home, because-
Because if he tells Robin, that's it. There's nobody else to deny it.
God damn it, he'd just wanted an answer before he told him. A solution he could follow it with, use as a bridge to cross that yawning pit of fear, five years left, five years Kid. If he could just have a fix ready, then telling Robin would be okay.
KF clenches his fists on his lap. "Look- Look. I'm already working on it. I've got some theories."
no subject
"You're working on it," Robin parrots back, finally, cold and disbelieving. "You're working on it." He tightens the fold of his arms, afraid that his hands will shake and betray him. Wally might as well have just said it: you can't help me.
Maybe it's true. Maybe he's worthless here. He doesn't know the first thing about alien tech, and his years of experience don't matter when he's half a decade away from the date. And if Robin can't crack the case, then who needs him around? What else could he be good for? He isn't that good at— people. Apparently.
"What does Blue Beetle think of your theories? Or— or his AI, or whoever that was." It isn't a real question. It's a statement that means one thing: I'm onto you.
no subject
"Only other thing is maybe working on a Porter, to...to keep people from being sent back before they're ready." Before they can find out how to fix their own deaths. "That's with Tadashi-"
no subject
No. No no no. This can't be happening. Robin's eyes go wide behind his glasses, and for a moment he feels such overwhelming vertigo that he nearly stumbles. Blue Beetle would be one thing, he's a hero, but Tadashi's— he isn't even—
"How many people have you told?" Robin asks, his voice coming out quiet and uncertain now, some of the sharp sting of anger replaced by cold betrayal. "God, Wally, am I the only person who doesn't know?"
no subject
no subject
Robin drops his hands to his sides, fists clenching like he's preparing for either a run or a fight. He's not sure which it's going to be. "Or is that a secret, too?"
no subject
"...four. Might be five, I don't know. Last night is hazy."
no subject
Robin drops his gaze to the ground, his heart pounding, a sharp, unwelcome spike of jealousy lancing white-hot through him.
"Never mind. Don't tell me."
no subject
The silence that rings after that is too open, too empty. It takes Kid a second but he's getting the vague realization that he might have just gone too far. He's been sitting on the knowledge of his death for months, yeah; he's almost gotten used to talking about it. Robin just learned of it twelve hours ago.
no subject
no no no no no not again
He staggers back like he's been struck— then takes several steps forward, grabbing Wally by the front of his uniform. He's not sure if he's going to shove him or hit him — in the end it's neither one. He yanks Wally closer, voice cracking as he shouts, "And I'm the one who'll have to live with it!"
no subject
Anger is easier. Just like with Khaji. Just like with Artemis, just like with everything.
Anger is so, so much easier.
"So then what does that mean to you?!" KF lets Robin yank him forward but he fists a gloved hand in the front of his hoodie also, tight and coiled up and ready to snap. "That you get to take control? That you're the first and only and best person to deal with this? What the hell can you do that you think I haven't already thought of?! I've been sitting on this since December, Dick, so why don't you go ahead and tell me that you could have done a much, much better job!"
no subject
That's what he thinks.
You can't do it, you can't change it, you can't help, you can't do a damn thing. And all the frustration, all the miserable failure, all the white-hot undirected rage that's been boiling inside him since the first of the gas hit comes to a head.
"So that's it?" He pulls at the material of Wally's uniform, shaking him like he can make him see sense somehow, holding on like if he lets go Wally will vanish right in front of him. "If I'm not useful, I don't need to know! Is that what you think of me?"
no subject
Even now, fighting each other, rooting down into the depths of each other's insecurities and looking to wound, they use words. Maybe because they both know that's the sharpest weapon they've both got.
Kid lets Robin yank him closer, gets right up in his face because he's taller and he's bigger even though he knows neither of those things have ever intimidated Robin, least of all coming from him. "Looks like you already made up your mind what I think of you, dude! Since everything I'm saying just goes right over your big fat head!" That's not the case, it's not and Robin fucking knows it's not. He has to, he's just being an asshole.
God, he's such an asshole sometimes.
no subject
Robin honestly doesn't know, because Wally hasn't told him one damn thing, really. Just justified and rationalized and defended his reasons for not telling him, a long list that all boils down to one simple thing: I don't need your help. It might as well be a lecture from Batman, or a mission briefing. It's like he doesn't know him at all.
"What am I missing?"
no subject
no subject
"Fine," he says, at last, sharp and dry as a twig snapping. "If that's what you want? Then this conversation never happened. Good luck with your theories."
He storms past Wally, heading for the bedroom, bumping hard and deliberately into his shoulder as he goes. The jolt to Robin's messed-up arm sends pain sizzling through his nerves. Good.
"And speaking of things we should never have told each other? It's Robin from here on out."
He feels sick just saying it, sick and awful and wrong, but it's already too late to take it back. But maybe if it hurts, Wally will remember that he's supposed to care. Maybe he'll act like Robin's expecting him to act, instead of... whatever this is.
no subject