Chapter Text
Wally West was losing time.
Now, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before – losing time came with the territory of constantly travelling it at the speed of light. And Wally was sure – especially after that whole speed force thing where he’d practically vibrated out of existence – it was likely some kind of side effect.
So, naturally, he didn’t tell anyone.
After all, why worry anyone for no reason?
“Flash, come in.”
Wally was startled out of his reverie at the sound of Batman’s voice crackling in through his comm.
He blinked and looked around, registering his surroundings and taking in the fact that he was standing in his kitchen.
He wasn’t sure for exactly how long, he’d been standing here, or really, even how he got here. The day had been hazy overall, and all Wally really remembered was telling Frank at the station that he was sorry for being late, and that it wouldn’t happen again.
A glance at the darkening sky through the windows left Wally wondering what had happened in the time since then, because he seemed to have lost at least eight hours.
“Flash, come in .” Batman said again, voice tighter than it had been at the first time and Wally blinked a couple times before tapping his comm to respond.
“Hey Bats, what’s up?” Wally asked, keeping his voice light despite the apprehension that was flooding his veins. What had happened? He’d never lost more than an hour before, and what had even happened in that time?
“You were supposed to be up here for monitor duty an hour ago.” Batman sounded cold, annoyed, and Wally winced a bit, realizing it was even later than he’d imagined.
“On my way, Bats. Sorry.” Wally ran a hand over his face, trying to gather himself a little.
Batman didn’t respond, and Wally wasn’t really expecting one anyway.
Batman didn’t even look up when Wally walked in. The older man got to his feet and closed his laptop and Wally wondered if it was even worth apologizing again.
Wally let himself get lost in his thoughts for a moment, staring determinedly at the back of Batman’s head, only to make eye contact when the other man turned around. The icy blue gaze through the cowl met his own and Wally swallowed the apology he was trying to muster up.
They stared at each other for a moment, Batman’s expression unreadable while Wally’s own remained sheepish.
“Uh,” Wally started, uncertainly.
“Are you okay?”
A pause, and Batman’s gravelly words hung in the air. Wally wondered if he’d heard the other man correctly. Wally blinked and then nodded, diverting his gaze to his left, at an empty desk.
“Is it just me tonight?”
“Yes.”
Wally nodded, and shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be monitoring from Gotham, so if you need anything give me a shout. John is also available, and Clark is on call as well, so you can reach out to any of us if something comes up.”
Wally nodded again, not entirely sure why he felt a little unsettled at the prospect of having to spend the next six hours on his own.
“Got it,” Wally said, looking back at Batman who was still staring at him.
They stared at each other for a moment and Wally blinked again, feeling as though he was being cross-examined.
“Uh-”
“Why were you late?”
The question felt rather abrupt, though Wally recognized it was warranted.
He figured he may as well be honest, especially while Batman was staring him down the way he was.
“I kinda lost track of time.”
Batman said nothing, and this time Wally’s words hung in the air, sounding sillier than he’d intended.
The older man stared at him and then grunted, looking back down at the desk and grabbing his laptop case.
Without another word, Batman left the room while Wally continued to stand there, feeling like an idiot.
Well, nothing new there anyway.
“You doin’ okay there, Flash?”
Wally blinked, finding himself in the kitchen of the watchtower, staring at an open fridge that was beeping at him. Huh, something told Wally that the door had been open for some time – probably the way the sound of the beeping felt lost in his mind somehow.
Closing the door, and trying not to frown, Wally turned to John standing at the entrance of the kitchen. The other man had his arms crossed over his chest and the look Wally was receiving gave him the idea that maybe John had called out to him a couple times before Wally had heard him.
“Uh, sorry, got distracted,” Wally offered, lamely, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Batman told me to check on you.” John said, and Wally did frown this time, trying not to feel annoyed.
“I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to have a break,” Wally said, not liking how petulant his voice sounded. What, he walked away for a couple minutes and Batman immediately alerted the rest of the squad? Sounded like Batman had it out for him.
“I told Batman you were fine,” John said, walking into the kitchen and Wally moved over to lean against the counter as John grabbed a glass and filled it up with water before turning to Wally and holding it out for him. “He said you hadn’t been at the desk in three hours so I suppose he wanted to check to see if you’d slipped and fell or something.”
Wally stilled with the glass halfway to his lips.
Three hours?
Certainly he hadn’t been staring at the fridge for three hours?
Wally lowered the glass, setting it on the counter and turned to look at the digital clock on the wall over the doorway and -
There it was. He’d lost three hours? Wally tried to quell the churning at the pit of his stomach. Which was likely also due to hunger considering he remembered feeling hungry when he’d gotten up from the desk earlier.
Three hours ago .
No wonder Batman had sent someone to come search for him.
“Sorry, I must’ve...” Wally trailed off, not really sure how to respond, or even really what to say. John didn’t seem to notice Wally’s response, simply shrugging and turning around.
“Not my business – looks like you didn’t really miss anything anyway.” John waved a hand dismissively, not bothering to look back at Wally before leaving the kitchen.
It was only once he was alone did Wally realize how dry his lips were. Wally shook the feeling that something was wrong, and going wrong fast, and instead picked the glass of water back up to down it.
Whatever it was, it was fine.
“Flash!” It was Superman in his ear that startled Wally back into movement just in time to dodge one of the giant boulders that had been flung in his direction. Wally had a vague recollection of beginning the mission, but didn’t know exactly how the fight they were in had started. Which, yeah, definitely vaguely concerning, but Wally made no indication of it.
“Green Lantern, your turn!” Superman barked through the communicator and Wally watched as John raised a giant green fist to smash down at the enemies and Wally zipped towards where he spotted Shayera, her wings faltering as she touched back down on the ground.
“Close one, huh?” Wally forced a laugh, trying to make his voice sound light, and Shayera gave him a look of concern.
“What happened? It looked like you froze,” She looked from Wally back to where John was smashing down with his ring and Wally had no real answer.
“I guess I did,” Wally said after a moment, figuring that he couldn’t really come up with any other kind of excuse.
Shayera eyed him worriedly. “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”
Wally felt his ears burn slightly at the way she peered at him, and quickly made a movement with his hands, attempting to wave off whatever it was Shayera was getting at.
“No, no, it’s all good! Uh, I’m going to go see if John needs anymore help!” Wally said and quickly sped off in the direction of the action before Shayera could respond, ignoring the nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach.
“Flash, I need to talk to you.” Batman said when the debrief was over. The mission had ended with little to no complications and Wally had assumed that everyone had forgotten about his little mishap. Or at least, he’d hoped.
Wally used his foot to scratch the back of his calf as the room emptied out, trying not to take notice of the way Superman and Batman exchanged a glance, but catching Superman’s gaze.
Superman patted Wally on the shoulder, giving him another meaningful look before exiting the room with the rest of the team and the door closed, leaving the speedster alone in the room with the cowled vigilante.
“Uh, so what’s up?” Wally asked, walking over towards where Batman stood at the center of the room.
Batman stared at him, and Wally tried to think of anything else he’d done wrong that day.
“What’s going on, Flash?” Batman asked, voice gruff and dry. Monotone as possible – no concern, just business.
And yet, Wally felt a burning at the back of his neck that spread to his ears.
“Nothin’ really, what about you?” Wally quipped back, keeping his voice light.
Batman’s eyes narrowed.
“Stop lying.”
There was a moment of silence in which Wally could only really hear the sound of himself shakily inhaling a breath.
Batman didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t look anywhere else but at Flash, at Wally, as though Wally would disappear if Batman took his gaze away. Pinning Wally to the spot.
“I’m, uh, um, not-”
“Do not lie to me.”
Wally felt himself deflate a little, as if somehow getting smaller, at the sharp tone in Batman’s voice. Like he’d done something wrong. Which, well, maybe he had. But had he? What exactly was Batman talking about – just him zoning out during the mission? Was it because he’d been late by an hour the other day for monitor duty? Surely these were just careless things that could be brushed off.
“Then can you tell me what you’re talking about?” Wally asked, strengthening his resolve a bit and trying not to feel like a child being lectured. He hadn’t actually done anything wrong, and no one had gotten hurt.
Batman simply stared at Wally, and Wally shifted his weight, trying to quell his nerves.
“Something is wrong, and it is impacting your output.”
Right. His output.
“I haven’t been sleeping very well,” Wally lied, still not sure how to say or even describe what had been happening lately. That he lost hours? That during these hours he would forget to eat, or drink? That he would sometimes open his eyes in the middle of a fight and have no idea how he got there?
That sometimes all he had to do was blink and time would pass and he would either be at the same spot, or somewhere far else?
Yeah, no, all of that sounded like liability concerns. And he was not a liability. And he would not give Batman reason to think he was.
Batman’s eyes had narrowed even more, barely slits of white at this point and Wally desperately wanted to leave the room.
“What is interrupting your sleep?”
Wally felt himself relax at the question – cool, Batman believed him.
“Uh, I don’t really know,” Wally offered just as his stomach rumbled quite loudly. Right, food. He was starving .
Batman said nothing for a moment, and then nodded.
“Go eat something.” Batman turned around, and Wally felt dismissed.
And was grateful for it.
“Bye, Bats!” Wally sped away before Batman said anything else, or had time to change his mind.