Chapter Text
Wally wakes up first, going to make something to eat so they wouldn’t tire out in mission. He had just made a few sandwiches and fed Tort when the man steps into the room. Bruce may be graceful and charismatic, but not when he wakes up. He stumbles out of bed and sips coffee for a solid 30 minutes, usually without saying a word. Wally’s only ever seen him move quickly after waking up if it was an emergency. This was similar. He thuds into the kitchen, grabbing a mug from Wally’s cabinet and pouring coffee, not bothering to sweeten it any. He leans against the counter, downing the first cup like it wasn’t steaming hot, immediately pouring a second one.
“Morning Sunshine.” Wally smirks. Ignoring the Bat Glare that gets sent his way.
Bruce doesn’t respond, resting his eyes as he continues to nurse the mug. The two fall into a silent rhythm, Wally putting food on a plate for them to eat and Bruce refilling their coffees each time they empty. It’s quiet, similar to the silence Wally feels when waking up alone, but comforting. It is, however, very different from the usual bustling noise of the manor in the morning, as whatever batkid comes through to take Damian to school, allowing Bruce to sleep in, though he never can. The moment the noise starts, he’s awake, letting his morning grumps pass while he listens to whatever arguments (civilized discussions) are taking place a floor below him. Alfred always brings in a pot of coffee and mugs, letting them drink their fill alone. He looks the same on both types of mornings (evenings?) but Wally thinks he likes them both for different reasons.
The grumps start to fade after coffee number 4, allowing the man to open up and start eating.
“So, is your genius plan really to dress up like burglars and pretend to rob a store.”
“It is.” Bruce hums when he puts down his now empty plate. “This kid is probably following police radio. You’re not finding him when any rogue is trying to be overdramatic and it would end up on the news. It’s always when an alarm is triggered. You both may hear it at the same time, but you have to work around your life. He’s right there. We just need to give him something to bite.”
“Right, but what if he doesn’t come? I can’t risk using my speed to get us out.” Wally rinses his dishes and sets them in the sink. “And I don’t want to run from the police.”
“Calm down. It’ll be fine. I spent a lot of my early days running from the police.” He steps up to wash them fully, ignoring Wally’s raised eyebrow.
“You really were raised by a butler…” Wally rolls his eyes, going to dry the dishes as they’re washed. “And why the Hell were you running from the police?”
“Heroes weren’t a normal thing back then. Gotham’s police force was run by the mob. I was a wrinkle they didn’t want, so I was shot at.” He smirks to Wally as he passes the last clean dish over. “And Alfred knows the value in a clean kitchen.”
Wally rolls his eyes at that, putting the dishes away at slightly faster than normal speed before looking back to the older man.
“Right. So did you happen to bring any criminal outfits? Or do I have to go do some speed shopping?”
Wally was half joking when he said that, not expecting a credit card to be placed in his hand just after.
“The latter. You know my sizes, and I need to shower.”
“I… I can’t just go buy different clothes with Bruce Wayne’s card.” It has his name on it. The card and it has his name on it. “What the actual fuck Bruce?”
“Calm down. It doesn’t link to my main accounts. Just a side one.” Bruce leans against the wall, taking up a defensive stance. He’s not taking the card back. “It’s for emergencies.”
“This isn’t normal Bruce.”
“Yet you’re not the first person to have one.” Bruce firms his gaze. “I’m not arguing here. You may never use it and that’s fine, but you’re keeping it just in case.”
“Fine.” Wally sighs, pulling on his flash boots. “I’ll be right back then.”
He rushes out of the apartment through the window, racing his way through different sports stores on different ends of the city so no one gets suspicious. He just barely finishes telling the cashier at the third shop about this ski trip he’s taking with his sister when he remembers that Bruce is showering in his apartment. Oh God. He nearly breaks the sound barrier getting to the last place when he takes a moment, breathing deeply. It’s fine. Bruce is fine in his apartment… in his shower. He doesn’t need to worry about him seeing the kind of mess his shower is… or his flintstones toothbrush. The man slept on Star Wars sheets. Wally needs to breathe. Calm down. Bruce isn’t embarrassed by him… He thinks.
********************
Wally’s shower is far from the smallest Bruce has ever used. Yes, the ones in the cave and in his own bathroom are massive, but the cave shower used to be nothing but a curtain and a showerhead that only had a cold setting. His years on the run gave him even fewer options, sometimes having had to resort to bathing in a river. Showers were one of those luxuries that Bruce demanded. He was fairly simplistic with most of his other desires, but if he was going to shower, he liked to do it in style.
Still, a large part of him enjoyed this small shower/tub combo that Wally had. It was like the rest of the apartment: in need of a little cleaning, smaller than it probably should be, and just a little broken in places. However, this place was all Wally West. From the dip in the couch cushions where he normally eats his meals in front of the tv to the silly things like his sheets and his toothbrush. This apartment is entirely Wally West, and has nothing of Bruce Wayne. Perfection didn’t exist in the world of Wally West. If something came out that way, it was an act of fate. Bruce craves that sometimes, though it’s a more recent addiction. Side effect of dating the speedster, though he’s not complaining.
He steps out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist when he hears the rustle of the curtains, slight static crackling in the air. As if on cue, Wally steps into the bathroom with a few bags.
“Got our criminal outfits. This better not be a regular date option.” Bruce catches Wally’s pause when he spots his bare chest. Fresh marks. Not what he wanted. “Where’d those come from?”
“Riot on east side a few nights ago. Nothing big.” He takes the bags. “I’m alright Wally. Be out in a second.”
The speedster leaves reluctantly, allowing Bruce to dress in silence. He almost finds it amusing that this ‘criminal outfit’ as Wally put it, is just as dark as his armor. If it wasn’t so recognizable at this point, he’d have stuck with his armor. Making the bat so well known is both a positive and negative of the league. On the plus side, more criminals who may have heard of him before know he’s real and are more fearful of him from reputation, see Harkness from last night. However, the illusion and secrecy is gone. The Batman is real. He exists, which can make his job harder sometimes. He’s expected to play by league rules. Bruce honestly isn’t sure if he’s willing to go back.
He steps out of the bathroom to find Wally in his own all black attire.
“Have I said that this is a bad idea? Because it is.” Bruce smirks at that, taking a ski mask from the redhead.
“Do you want to catch your speedster or not?”
“I mean, yeah. But how do you even know how to trick the right alarm?” Bruce can’t always predict what response face he’ll make to the speedster, though the automatic amusement makes sense here. “If you’re actually a criminal, as your boyfriend, I demand you tell me.”
“Let’s go Wally. While the night is young.” It’s not the nicest thing, but it is really fun messing with Wally. Bruce steps out onto the fire escape and climbs up to the roof, letting Wally roll his eyes before speeding to beat him to the top.
There is a long silence when they both are up on the rooftop. Both remember last night. There’s fear radiating from Wally again. Regret. Bruce doesn’t like that. He needs the speedster to understand that there is trust between them. A trust well earned. He silently lifts his arm, enough room for the younger man to slip under and grip him. Wally pauses. Hesitation.
“It’s alright Wally.” Bruce keeps his arm up, giving the speedster time to slowly step over.
“The place on Fourth we talked about?”
Bruce nods, squeezing his arm around the more slender shoulders and kissing his hair. Wally waits another moment before taking them. They’re on the roof of the little jewelry shop in less than a second. When Bruce opens his eyes, his brain isn’t attempting to shut down. Peaceful.
“All good?”
“Perfect.” He offers a small smile before putting on the mask. “Now let’s rob a jewelry store.
“I swear.” Wally follows suit, keeping close to him as they sneak into the store, Bruce easily able to pick the lock to the bars over the window. Once inside, it’s a puzzle. There are two activated motion detectors on the floor, though they are near the register. There are multiple other unactivated ones. Most likely they’re regularly tripped by the owner. Police would call them on the way, probably not alert anyone else on the scanner until they knew it was different. Not enough time with the kid. Cases it is. Detectors on the locks. Need to be deactivated by owner’s special key. Picking the lock will alert the police and immediately get them talking through their radios. Kid will show up long before anyone else. He immediately steps to the cases, triggering the silent alarm, a small thunk under the register giving it away.
“Alright, he’s on his way.”
“We’ve been in here like a second. How did you figure out what to do already?” Wally stares in disbelief, bringing another smirk to Bruce.
“Too fast for you?”
“I swear, you actually are a criminal.”
There’s a sudden crackle of lightning and Bruce is sent flying to the back wall. He twists in the air, able to land on his feet, though he’ll have a nasty bruise on his abdomen. The kid is fast, but Wally is faster, able to zip in front of the kid and get him into a headlock.
“You alright?”
“Fine.” He stands up fully, looking over at the struggling speedsters. The kid has red hair too, wearing his own red and white costume.
“Let me go! I… I’ll get the Flash. He’s a personal friend.”
“Dude, I don’t know you.” The kid stills at that. No longer vibrating, Bruce can see the shock on his face. He knows he’s been had.
********************
The police surrounded the building just after they left, finding nothing but a note saying “sorry <3” signed with Flash’s signature lightning bolt. He kept hold of the kid, now a couple rooftops over, though he’s not struggling as much.
“There’s no way you’re Flash. He would never work with criminals.”
“Who said I’m working with criminals?”
“You did! Dumbass…”
Wally can practically feel Bruce smirking from the other end of the rooftop.
“It’s called a joke. And I’m not letting you go until you tell me who you are and what you want with Flash.”
“I’m not telling you anything!” Wally clamps his hand over the kid’s mouth to silence the shouting, at a loss for what to do.
Bruce pulls the ski mask off, slipping it into his pocket before he approaches the speedsters, both with similar surprised looks.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re high up enough. No one will spot us up here.” He kneels in front of the kid, reaching up and pushing Wally’s hand away from his mouth. “We got off on the wrong foot. I’m Bruce. That’s Wally. We don’t want to hurt you. You’re strong and doing good work, but we want to make sure you’re safe while you do it. Going alone can be hard for people who have more experience.”
Wally’s grip goes lax in even more shock. He can’t just do that. This kid is being unreasonable. He’s not gonna… He’s listening to him…
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” The kid doesn’t move when Wally relaxes his grip, watching the older man skeptically, though genuinely listening.
“See that big building over there?” He nods to the Wayne Enterprises in the distance. “I own that. You go down to any magazine stand and you’ll see my face.” The boy relaxes more.
“Okay… I’m Impulse…” He bites his bottom lip. “Where’s the Flash?”
“I am…” The two turn to Wally as he takes off his mask, the kid almost looking like he forgot the other man was there. “I’m the Flash.”
“No. Not you. Barry Allen…” He starts to quiet at that, holding his own hand. “I… I need to find Barry Allen. It’s important.”
Wally wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“I… I’m sorry kid… Barry… he died. A few years ago.” Wally can see the hope leave the kid’s face.
“So I didn’t go back far enough…” He sinks to sit on the rooftop, mumbling to himself. “I thought I had it right… The newspaper said there was a Flash and a Kid Flash… That means Barry Allen and…” He pauses, looking over to the redhead. “Wally West… That’s you?”
“I…” He almost couldn’t speak. “You… You went back in time? From when?”
“Thirty-first century… It’s where mom landed when she was sent forward.”
Now he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe.
“What’s your name?” Bruce’s voice is almost like a lighthouse. Safety is there. Sanity is there. “You’re real name.”
“Bart… Bart Allen.” He finally takes off his own mask. Iris’ hair, almond shaped eyes, freckles across the bridge of his nose. Just like Wally. Barry’s blue eyes, hooked nose, oval face.
“Oh my God…”
“Look. I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see me. Only Barry.” He stands up. “I need to go back further.”
Wally is frozen for another long moment, staring at the boy. Iris had lived. In another century, but she lived. She had their baby… Their son…
“You… you want to stop him from making the jump…” Wally’s hand starts to shake. “Then… he… He didn’t make it?”
“No…” He looks down, all anger melting from his face to reveal… a kid. A lonely kid.. “Mom barely did… made her sick… She died when I was three.”
The three sat in silence for another long moment. Wally can feel Bruce staring at him, waiting before he makes another move. Wally can only think of telling him the truth… no matter how much it’ll hurt.
“You can’t stop him…”
“What? No… If I tell him what happens then he…”
“He’ll see that his wife lived a little longer. He’ll see that his son was born and no one died except him.” He sighs. “He made the jump because, if he didn’t, hundreds more would die… If you tell him it worked, he’s only gonna make sure it happens that way.”
Bart glares up at Wally weakly before sinking back down, looking exhausted.
“Your dad was a hero… The best man I’ve ever known.” Wally kneels beside him. “He’d be proud of everything you’ve been doing here… Stopping bad guys.”
“By myself? He’d be okay with that?”
“I covered myself in unstable chemicals and got myself struck by lightning and he made me pancakes.” Wally smirks, happy to see a smile forming on Bart’s face. “In his eyes, as long as you were trying, you did a good job.”
“You were rewarded for that?”
Wally pauses, looking over at Bruce’s incredulous face.
“I mean, by Barry. Aunt Iris screamed at me until she lost her voice and purposely cooked things I hated for months, but I had to eat them because my metabolism was even worse then.”
Bart smiles more at that, looking down at his feet. Bruce stands up, looking around the area, starting to get nervous about being unmasked out in the open. Wally knew he’d never feel safe without one, but he knew Bart needed honesty. There’s nothing more honest than losing a mask.
“Look… Bart. Let’s take this back to my place… Get us both something to eat before we figure out what to do.”
“I’m not going back.” He looks back up, meeting Wally’s eyes with a firm gaze. “There’s no one there for me. I was just an orphan.”
“I’m not gonna make you go back Bart… Just… We need to get you somewhere like a family. I can be part of it, but you’ll be able to see from my apartment that I can barely keep myself alive.” He smiles weakly to the boy, pretending not to notice the tears welling in his eyes. “But I want to be a part of it. And maybe the Titans. They’re a team I used to be a part of, full of people your age who are fighting to be heroes. They’d love to have you there. So when you’re not with me… you could be with them.”
Wally is nearly thrown backwards from the force of Bart tackling him in a hug. Wally knows the real weight of taking care of a kid hasn’t hit him yet. He’s just lucky he has Bruce to ask for advice. He didn’t really care at the moment. He remembers hearing this kid’s heartbeat. He can see Barry and Iris in him. Nothing in the world could stop him from taking care of Bart Allen.
********************
Bruce watched from the narrow hallway as Wally put another blanket on Bart, the boy already asleep in the pull out sofa. The kitchen was clean after the three had sandwiches, the speedsters nearly going through two loaves bread themselves. The kid was chatty once he relaxed, must be something from the family itself at this point.
Wally and Bart are about the same age apart that he and Dick are. Bruce knows that Wally is feeling a lot right now, but even more so, Dick made him a better person. Bart will do something similar for Wally. He doesn’t need to be a better person. Bart and Wally will walk their own path.
Bruce is pulled from his thoughts when the redhead takes his hand, quietly pulling him back into the bedroom. Bruce closes the door behind them, smiling as his lover starts to vibrate excitedly.
“She made it Bruce. Barry got her out.” Wally leans forward to rest his head on Bruce’s chest. “I can’t believe he time jumped…”
“Barry or the kid?”
“Both?” Wally shrugs. “Barry was able to. He’d done it before and knew how dangerous it was… Always told me to be careful with the speed force until I knew how it worked. What Bart did was really dangerous. He might have permanently altered history.”
“Not necessarily.” He rubs Wally’s back, resting his chin on top of his head. “He said he read a paper… a Flash and a Kid Flash. Maybe he was meant to come back.”
“Maybe…” Wally’s hand grips the soft grey cotton of Bruce’s t-shirt. “You don’t think he’ll try to jump to Barry do you?”
“Not right now. But he’s almost a teenager. Eventually he will want to know for himself.”
“I was telling the truth before… I knew Barry. If he knew he was the only death, he’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“I believe you.” He kisses the top of his head, gently leading him to the bed.
“You’d have liked him.” Wally lays down first, gently tugging the older man to lay beside him. “He was a lot like Clark, all noble and good, but he could find a way to smile in anything.”
“You don’t know Clark that well.” Bruce smirks lightly. “Lois and I have made an artform out of making him lose his cool.”
“You call me childish.”
Bruce smirks more, leaning in to kiss his head. “I just flew halfway across the country, missed 3 pretty important meetings, and left a drugs bust to Tim and Stephanie to take care of, all just so I could see your apartment. I’m extremely childish.”
“You did it because I asked.” Wally rolls his eyes. “You’re a big softie Bruce Wayne.”
Bruce doesn’t respond to that, listening as the speedster’s breathing starts to even out. The man’s grip on his shirt goes lax, though stays firm enough to keep the cloth bunched up in his hands. Their legs are tangled together.
“Are they some of the others who have a card? Lois and Clark?” Bruce knew Wally wouldn’t let that go easily.
“They are. Though Lois is using it for Wedding planning right now.”
“We’re gonna have a group discussion about this once you get back on the watchtower.”
Bruce doesn’t respond to that. How can he? He might not ever join back with the League again. Wally notices Bruce’s silence, looking up at him.
“You are coming back right?”
“Not sure.” Bruce sighs, running his fingers through the red hair. “I don’t think I should. Not just for my own health, but… If the League goes dark, I need to have some distance.”
“You don’t really think we will…” His voice is hesitant.
“I’d be a fool to discount the possibility.”
They stop talking after that. Wally leans up to press soft, slow kisses along Bruce’s lips and jaw. The air is tense, though reasonably so. Wally doesn’t want to entertain the idea that the people he loves, his friends, could go rogue. Bruce, on the other hand, needs to think about it. He always has. He’s been planning for the worst from the moment he met Superman. It would break him, but he would do what needs to be done. However, he can’t trust himself to do that if he’s so close. He looks down as the redhead drifts off. Close. He’s not sure which would be worse anymore. Clark is his oldest friend besides Alfred. He trusts the man with his family. His home. He has plans to protect the Kents and Lois if the worst happens. However, looking down at the redhead snoring quietly on his chest, his stomach ties in knots at the thought. There is a part of him that doesn’t want to believe that Wally could go dark. But he can’t discount it. No matter what. Bruce doesn’t sleep that night.