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John had a nickname for Flash. It was simple enough and because of the obvious but not necessarily big age gap. It also had a bit to do with how he acted in general but John tended to call Flash ‘Kid’.
Now generally in battle, he’d just call him Flash, but when he got aggravated or sometimes just because it slipped out, Kid is the nickname that the speedster got. However, today especially, ‘Kid’ was slipping out a lot.
John had always known that Flash was always lighthearted and joking even when seriousness should have been the number one priority. It annoyed him sometimes, but hell, the kid just couldn’t seem to help it.
He had a joking nature and was really bubbly and happy all the time. It reminded John of a puppy and when John got too serious, it always seemed to help him relax and focus when he knew someone like Flash would always be themselves even when the world was at stake.
Don’t get John wrong, Flash could be serious and he was serious when in battle most of the time, but that didn’t mean the casual joke and lightheartedness didn’t come out eventually. Flash even seemed to get irritated when people got too serious. He could see how relaxing could help in situations, it gave them a moment to really think through things without stress.
Bigger and more dangerous battles meant a serious Flash with a few casual jokes and the battles that were smaller, less dangerous tended to have a playful cheery speedster. John admired Flash’s ability to keep his cool. Sure, he was rash and impulsive but it was never based on emotion, it was because that’s just how he was.
Right now, however, Flash’s impulsiveness and speed were making John a little angry. He’d been called in for a stolen truck of chemicals that he found the speedster chasing on a bridge. He let out an angry huff of air when it crashed over the edge of the bridge and started to fall toward the water.
John caught it, placing it back on the bridge before getting into a brief argument with Flash and taking the suspects to the police station. They went to where the chemicals had been stolen from and talked to another scientist from the facility. Flash hadn’t followed along with patience though.
Soon into the investigation, they were in the park and Flash was ordering a mountain of food. He couldn’t help that he had a hyper-accelerated metabolism, and he made sure that John knew that. That didn’t mean it didn’t annoy John that they had to stop for food.
While they were waiting for the food to finish, a group of screaming people ran their way, yelling one thing or another about a gorilla on the loose and Flash took off after it, leaving John to pay for the mountain of uneaten burgers and food.
He’d lost track of Flash not long into the chase and soon he found out why. The stupid kid had gotten himself arrested for stealing the chemicals from the car robbery earlier that morning. Obviously, something deeper was going on but John still had to post bail for the idiot.
“You actually posted bail for this lowlife?” one detective had asked.
As much as John was annoyed, he knew it wasn’t really the kid’s fault so he responded to the detective with, “If he were really guilty, do you think you could’ve held him here with a pair of handcuffs?” and Flash proved his point by spinning the handcuffs that had been on his wrists around his finger with a smile.
John eyes that smile- it looked like a mischevious little smile if John had ever seen one. Half the time Flash just looked too innocent to be a crimefighter. He still got a smack to the back of the head once they were out the front doors of the precinct and John warned him to follow his lead and not be so idiotic.
That wasn’t the right thing to say by the look on Flash’s face- it was filled with hurt but only for the briefest second before his playful and happy aura was back in full force. Flash couldn’t remember anything so they started with the last thing he did remember.
John knew it wasn’t the strangest thing and when they went back to the park they found exactly what Flash claimed they would. A gorilla named Solovar from Gorilla City was after a super-genius named Grodd that had escaped his capture in Gorilla City.
Solovar had told them that Grodd had been having an email correspondence with the exact scientist that Flash and John had talked to earlier that day. Flash claimed to have known there was something wonky with the lady and when Lantern recommended back up Flash deemed it unnecessary. Flash was determined they could handle ‘one dumb old gorilla’ and instantly ran off before Solovar could finish speaking.
“Wait! First, you must… he’s very fast,” Solovar had commented. John just mumbled “Yeah,” as a response of annoyance and asked about what Solivar was going to say, taking a special headband from Solovar and placing over his head. They were supposed to protect them from the mind control that Grodd was so fond of.
“We’d better catch the kid before he gets into any more trouble,” Lantern told Solovar before flying off toward the labs of the original robbery. By the time they caught up, Flash was on the counter unconscious and John let out a sigh.
Grodd was determined to use Flash to take them down and instantly used his mind control to make him attack. Flash was always fast but John was actually having a hard time keeping up, Solovar was on the ground from a previous attack and he couldn’t seem to keep up with the kid.
He got in one strike and went to check on Solovar who instantly warned him when Flash got up and sped his way. “I hate to do this,” John said as he turned and delivered a punch to Flash’s face as the kid sped toward him. It knocked Flash right on his ass, sending him to dreamland, though John doubted it would last long. “Sorry Kid, had no choice.”
He didn’t worry about him much, he’d be out until they could stop Grodd at least. Solovar had gone after them as soon as Flash was down but unfortunately, Grodd had an energy field that protected him as he activated a weapon that Green Lantern tried to stop.
John lost consciousness after coming into contact with the weapon but was able to put a shield around himself, Flash and, Solovar. When he woke up, Solovar was also waking up. When they looked to the groaning Flash still laying on the floor John instantly worried. “The mind control! Is he still…”
“No,” Solovar said. “This should protect him,” He took his own headband off and placed over Flash’s head, letting it rest on his forehead. Flash instantly shot up, confused as to what had just happened.
“Who? What? Where?” He blurted as he looked back and forth before his vision settled on Lantern and Solovar, their faces disapproving. His face crumpled briefly before he continued to question their situation. “Aw man, not again! What did I miss?” he whined, putting his hand to his face.
“That dumb old gorilla got away,” John told him as he helped him up.
“Go ahead, rub it in,” Flash crossed his arms as he looked away. John wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what to say to make the kid feel better. Instead, John tried to contact the Watchtower, with no success. When they walked outside, a huge shield was in the sky.
The weapon turned out to be a cloaking shield like the one that protected Gorilla City and now took Central City off the maps. John was sure the leaguers were already investigating the disappearance of Central and were doing everything they could.
John couldn’t shut down the generator so their next plan was to locate Grodd and take him down. John reminded the kid to follow his lead and this time, he looked dejected but promised he’d follow John’s lead.
They walked into the city center where Grodd was speaking and John had to tell Flash to stop heckling the supervillain more than once before it didn’t matter and Grodd sent the citizens after them, escaping to his next destination.
They all regrouped after getting away from the civilians and were once again on their way to find Grodd. They used John’s ring to follow Grodd’s bike path, leading them away from the city center and toward the outskirts.
---
When they found Grodd, he was at the missile silo at the edge of the city. The launch alarms went off and John took after the four missiles leaving the city limits through a small gap in the shielding. Flash and Solovar went after Grodd as John demanded before disappearing after the missiles.
Lantern had a missile deactivated as Flash sped into the room and announced his presence.
“Missile one deactivated,” The scientist told Grodd.
“What happened?” Grodd demanded.
“Best guess? It was my buddy with the power ring,” Flash told him as he leaned against the wall. From there another missile deactivated, causing Grodd to get angry enough to attack. He headed straight for Solovar as Solovar aimed a gun at him. Flash was still against the wall but then sped behind Grodd, pushing the helmet over his eyes and tapping on the top of the helmet using his speed.
“Guess who!” He announced happily, speeding backward out of Grodd’s reach when the gorilla reached for him.
“Where are you, human?” Grodd asked as he lifted the helmet off his head.
Flash showed up behind Grodd as the gorilla turned his head. “You want a piece of me, chuckles? C’mon!” Flash waved his hands in a manner of telling Grodd to step toward him as he placed the helmet back on his head. He stepped out of the way with a few short and fast steps when Grodd launched himself in Flash’s direction.
---
John hadn’t been able to get to the other two missiles in time, but J’onn, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl had all come flying from Gorrila City and destroyed the other two missiles before the city could be destroyed. The civilization was safe and they had all cheered their thanks to the Justice League for stopping the missiles.
---
When the final missile disappeared from the screen and Gorilla City remained, Grodd lost it. “I’ll rend you limb from limb!” He’d told Flash as he shook with anger and made a grab for the hero. Flash stepped out of the way easily.
“Gotta catch me first,” The kid taunted. He dodged each punch easily, sending Grodd’s fist into the computers.
“Stand still and fight me, you simpleton!” Grodd raged.
“We could do that,” Flash said. “Tell you what, you ditch the mind-control helmet and I’ll ditch the headband.” He told the genius, pointing to that said headband.
“Flash, don’t!” Solovar tried to warn as the kid lifted it from his head and threw it aside as he spoke. “C’mon gorilla my dreams,” He taunted. “Take off the helmet!”
Grodd watched as it landed on the ground. “Heh, you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
“Oh, yeah?” Flash yelled. “Well, you’re… naked!” He couldn’t really think of a comeback at the time so he just sent a shrug Solovar’s way.
“The world will miss your sparkling intellect,” Grodd said sarcastically. “Goodbye, Flash,” Grodd said as he lifted his hands to his helmet, activating the mind-control. Instead of it succeeding, however, the helmet his shocked Grodd, rendering him unconscious.
The woman ran over to Grodd and knelt by him, “What’ve you done to him?” She asked darkly.
“Simple,” Flash started. “When I pushed the helmet down over his eyes I also crossed some wires,” He told her with a devilishly happy smile.
“How could you? You’ve destroyed the greatest mind on earth!”
“You’ll be okay,” He assured, a hand on her shoulder. “Now that you’re free from his mind-control.”
“What are you talking about?” She asked. “He never used that on me. I loved him,”
He looked at her for a second and then to Solovar. “Internet romances, huh. Go figure,” He lifted his arms in a shrug.
---
There was a brief meeting in Gorilla City where the whole League received Solovar’s thanks on behalf of the whole population and then they were off, heading back to their respective cities and problems. John had a new one, though. He was sure that Flash was a Little. All the signs were there and he was determined to ask the kid about them.
He offered the kid a flight back to Central instead of having to run which he gratefully accepted. He made himself comfortable as soon as the spherical shield was surrounding them both, sitting down and leaning back against it.
John didn’t instantly start to question him, giving the kid a few minutes into the flight before he finally popped the question. “Kid,” He turned, kneeling down to get a better look at his face, even if it was mostly covered behind his mask. “Are you a Little?”
He could instantly see Flash tense and he refused eye contact. He didn’t say anything either, hugging his knees even tighter. John knew that was something he did for comfort, it wasn’t the first time he’s seen the kid do it when he was in significant emotional distress.
“Kid?” John asked, trying to draw his attention. “Look at me,” Still the kid refused to move or even look at John. he let out a sigh and paused their flight finally causing the speedster to look up at him. John reached a hesitant hand out toward the kid’s cowl and the only response he got was a frown and a sigh of resignation.
John slowly pulled the mask from his face, noticing how Flash ducked his head down to hide his face. Short messy ginger hair was the first thing he was able to see from Flash’s features as the kid slowly lifted his head back up. His eyes were closed but John could see his entire face.
He was so young…
Flash let out a sigh as he slowly opened his eyes. It was the first time John had made eye contact with him without the cowl in the way. Ginger hair and emerald green eyes. It seemed so fitting and John couldn’t imagine the kid looking any other way.
“What’s your name?” John asked him, looking in his eyes. He wasn’t able to stop looking now that he’d stopped. They were so bright and captivating.
“Wally,” He whispered. “Wally West.”
“Wally,” John repeated absently. Every feature seemed so fitting for the personality that John knew to be the Flash’s. Wally was a fitting name for such a free and fun spirit. “Wally, are you a Little?” John asked again. This time, with Flash’s real name, the question was twice as intimate.
As soon as John had finished asking his question, Wally broke eye contact briefly before teary eyes made their way back. Wally wasn’t able to give John a verbal answer, he was sobbing too hard before he even realized it.
John wasn’t really sure what to do, he had a sobbing Little hundreds of feet in the air, he wasn’t sure where Wally’s house was, nor if he even had anything for his Little side wherever he lived. He wasn’t sure if Wally had a caregiver, though he could assume he didn’t. He didn’t know the Little’s age range or what the kid would like and need.
Wally seemed like he didn’t care, reaching his hands out in the universal ‘pick me up’ signs. John took note that the Little was young enough to want to be held for comfort. He quickly scooped the kid up- he’d never understand how Wally could way so little with how much he ate.
“Wally do you have anything for when you’re Little?” John asked quickly. The boy gave him a nod, pointing up like he was trying to lead John to where it was. “It’s on the Watchtower?” John asked with surprise. Wally only nodded before lowering his head onto John’s shoulder as his cries started dying down.
John instantly started to head for the Watchtower, worrying about J’onn seeing how he and Wally were. He pulled Wally’s cowl back up over his face, adjusting it so it fit over his eyes properly before asking him if it was okay that J’onn knew. Wally just gave a shrug.
J’onn was constantly reading their minds and using his telepathy to find them in emergencies. With how Wally acted all the time, John was sure nobody would be truly surprised by the Flash being a Little. By now he was sure J’onn already knew that Flash was a Little- he probably knew everyone’s Classification by now. That didn’t mean he knew all their identities, however, so John decided to be on the safe side.
John was permitted access to the Watchtower instantly and flew straight inside. “Where’s your stuff, buddy?” John asked Wally. Wally wasn’t answering, as John walked into the main area of the Watchtower.
J’onn instantly flew down when he saw John carrying Flash. “His supplies are in his room,” J’onn assured. “Hidden in the back of the wardrobe in a black duffle.” J’onn, being from Mars, a planet that didn’t have Classifications, was a Neutral but he seemed to know plenty about their Classification system and had zero judgment about it.
“Thanks,” John responded before flying off for Wally’s private rooms. He didn’t realize it but J’onn was smiling after them.
---
When John entered Wally’s room, he walked straight for the wardrobe and yanked the duffle from the back. He threw it onto the bed and opened it up to look inside. There were bottles, pacifiers, a few onesies, and other clothes, diapers, and formula.
Wally was a really young Little.
John set him down on the bed and pulled his cowl back down. “Do you need help getting into your clothes?” John tried asking. From the look on Wally’s face, eyes filled with tearful confusion, Wally was in no condition to be doing anything himself.
“Alright,” John sighed. “Let’s get you changed and something to eat,”
Wally didn’t say or do anything the whole time John manipulated him into his Little clothes. He didn’t say anything as John clipped a paci to the front of his shirt, or when John walked out of the room with him on his hip, an empty bottle and the container of formula in his other hand.
It wasn’t until J’onn walked into the kitchen that Wally made the slightest noise, hiding as best as possible while still peeking one eye over John’s shoulder to look and the martian. J’onn just gave him a smile and proceeded into the room to talk with John.
“I see you’ve found all of his things,”
“Yeah, thanks for the help,” John responded as he turned around to look and J’onn. Wally’s bottle was just heating up a bit more and then he could feed the kid- he was sure Wally must have been starving by now. “I was actually surprised to find that he’d stashed some things on the Watchtower. I know it’s been months but he also didn’t tell anyone that he was a Little, either.”
“He is hardly ever in Littlespace,” J’onn told him. “The only reason I know is because I can sense when he is Big, Little, or in between his headspaces. He’s not that different when he’s Big and Little,” J’onn told him. “He slips into headspace when he’s around you, mostly, but he forces himself back up. The only real difference between his Big and Little sides are his motor skills and his ability to talk.”
John nodded along, listening intently. He wondered what made Wally drop around him if he was honest.
“He’s around one and a half, doesn’t really talk much, nor can he walk around that well but right now I sense that he’s even younger than normal,” J’onn said. “About one,”
“How do you know so much about him?” John asked.
“When he’s between headspaces his mind screams out for reassurance. Over the past couple of months, I’ve responded to his calls and taken care of him a few times but there was always someone he’d rather be with.” J’onn gave him a smile as he got up and walked to the doors. “If you need advice on how to handle him, I’ll be up by the monitors,” J’onn told him.
John just watched as J’onn walked away then turned his eyes to Wally who was chewing on his fist as he looked around. He let out a content sigh as he pulled Wally’s hand from his mouth and grabbed the heated bottle. He made sure it wasn’t too warm then offered it to Wally, who latched on instantly.
This was going to be a long couple of days but it was going to be so worth it. He would have to talk with Big Wally once he surfaced but nonetheless, John was excited to get to know Little Wally. He was also relieved to finally know why Wally was always so excitable and childish- it seemed that his personality didn’t really change from headspace to headspace.
“We got this,” John assured. “We’ve always been a good team, Kid.”