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Bart Allen always wanted to build the tree house.
The plans started with Preston on a sultry Summer evening between bites of watermelon. Preston always had some sort of idea for what to do when things got boring like they did on that evening. Bart and him bounced back ideas for how their tree house would look, it was definitely bigger than anything they could realistically build, but it was still fun to brainstorm and take turns doodling. Of course, it would have electricity somehow.
As soon as Wade, Rolly and Mike found out about the plan, they were eager to put in their own ideas. It had to be painted, none of that boring regular tree house nonsense, and the ladder up had to be made of rope so they could prevent any unwanted visitors from dropping in on them. What started as just some silly planning and a way to pass the time quickly turned into a serious Summer activity. All five boys intended to have a fully functioning tree house by the end of Summer.
They even figured out a perfect plan for how to get enough money to buy the materials! Every weekend would be filled with lemonade stands, mowing lawns, picking up dog poop, and doing tedious stupid manual labor adults hated doing but five teenage boys with endless energy could hammer out in record time.
Carol was the only one who was suspicious about the tree house, but gave her own stamp of approval when Bart enthusiastically explained the plan and that they had thought of everything. Bart had also checked out several books from the library dedicated to tree house construction so it was hard for her to tell him the plan was silly or impulsive.
They even found the perfect tree according to Bart's book. The unicorn of trees for tree houses! The tree was born to have a house built in its sturdy thick branches, and there would never be a more perfect one in all of Manchester for another hundred years!
The tree lived in Mike's backyard, and they only needed his father (who was a carpenter and also part of the plan but he didn't know it yet) to give them the permission to go for it. Why wouldn't he say yes? A tree house was an American right (so said Wade) and part of the joys of youth! They were each fifteen and rapidly growing up too! In only three short years they would be adults and would never have a need for a tree house! It was now or never! Matt had to say yes! He had to!
… he said no.
Not only did he say no, but he forbade all of them from even trying to make a tree house simply because in Manchester they were illegal.
Who the fuck ever heard of tree houses being illegal?
Bart guessed people who never smiled and hated fun, like Jesse on her bad days, would make tree houses illegal. But Matt was right, and not being one to make something up, he pulled out Manchester's zoning rules and brought up the very law concerning outdoor structures that prohibited tree houses. Then he went on a very long exposition about the fines that they would be responsible for if they were caught building a tree house.
Bart remembered Preston musing then that he had never seen a tree house in Manchester before.
Deflated and disappointed, they all abandoned the idea entirely and faced the rest of the Summer with new plans for mischief they would remember for a lifetime. Everyone forgot about the tree house entirely.
Everyone except for Bart. A little part of him never forgot the plan, and when Summer finally folded over and Autumn moved in with colors of gold his heart yearned for that silly tree house.
The new rebooted world moved relentlessly ahead, and Bart still found himself sometimes pining for that tree house even though he was now pushing twenty and certainly much too old for one. But Jai and Irey were (for now) only twelve, and like him had already missed out on so much of their childhood.
Including tree houses.
Wally's backyard had a unicorn tree, Bart discovered when he was teaching Jai and Irey hacky sack. Through their giggles and teasing, Bart didn't get enough time to double check that the tree really was a once-in-a-century tree born to support a tree house.
Bart couldn't get the time to truly look at it until after dinner. While everyone was having a hard time deciding between Exploding Kittens and What Do You Meme?, he stole himself to their backyard to stare at the tree. Sipping hot cocoa slowly in the fading light cast in gray, Bart's thoughts went back to Manchester when he was as new as blue raspberry Gushers and Pokemon.
Wally noticed him from the kitchen and quietly slipped out the back door to join him. "You look like an old man standing like that, you know!" he joked as he approached him barefoot in the damp grass.
"Oh," Bart breathed. "I sometimes feel like one," Bart revealed and took another long sip of his thick cocoa.
Wally smiled a little. "I felt like that too when I turned twenty. Like the last seven years were more like fifteen!"
"Or a thousand," Bart remarked as he remembered his time in the speed force while the world churned on and morphed into something else after he died.
"So old man," Wally teased. "What are you doing out here?"
Bart looked at Wally and he considered how to respond; truthfully or evasively. Bart was never a particularly good liar and he chose honesty. "I'm thinking about something I didn't get to do, y'know, back when I was a kid."
"Ah," Wally began and his eyes reflected an understanding and something else; regret. "You didn't have a normal childhood at all, and I wasn't very understanding of that so-"
"Hold it," Bart stopped him. "I'm not out here feelin' bad about all the ways everyone were jerks to me, or how they could have done a whole lot better than they did."
"Ow."
"I was just," Bart paused, grasping at words that were just barely clinging to the tip of his tongue before he finally pushed them out. "I was thinkin' about a tree house."
Wally's eyebrows rose. "A tree house?"
"Yeah," Bart admitted. "In Manchester my best friends and I all planned on buildin' a tree house, but the stupid city banned them, so it never got done, and it was the only time in our lives it could have happened. It was… unfair. Like, a lotta my life was unfair, but that was unfair in a new way. A stupid way."
"I see. And I suppose you feel like you missed out on it and it's never coming back?" Wally probed.
"Yeah," Bart sighed then he started rambling as his words tumbled out of his mouth rapidly. "But then I started thinkin' about Jai and Irey, and how they also lost a lot of their childhood, like I did, and how nothing is really certain, and l noticed your tree here is perfect for a tree house and maybe they might like to have one because they're like the perfect age to enjoy a tree house and ah grife I know it's not my yard and it's ultimately up to you and Linda but I think a tree house isn't a bad idea and-"
"Which tree are we talking about?" Wally interrupted and Bart snapped his running mouth shut as he looked at his cousin.
Bart honestly expected a different reaction entirely. Biting the shock back, Bart gestured at the tree with his mug of cocoa. "That one. With the thick branches."
"The ash tree?" Wally observed the tree and he stroked his chin in thought as he imagined a tree house in it.
"It's structurally perfect for a tree house," Bart added then he took a sip of his now not-so-hot cocoa. "I think Jai and Irey could really make some cool normal memories in it. Have sleep overs up there, a place away from adults that's just theirs."
Wally was quiet for a long time then he huffed a little laugh before he looked at Bart, eyes a little wet. "You've changed." Bart stared at Wally, the wind gently ruffling his hair as he stood next to him just a couple inches shorter than him. "You've changed so damn much, y'know that? I guess I didn't see that until now."
"It's not like you're the same either, you know," Bart pointed out.
"Yeah," Wally agreed. "I think we both just grew up side-by-side, but we didn't know it."
Bart didn't say anything back to him, he didn't know what could be said because all that could be said would be things they both already knew. So he let the wind fill their silence, and he let the ash tree sigh as the air pushed between its leaves.
Finally, Wally gently clapped Bart's shoulder and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "You're a great uncle, Jai and Irey are gonna love your idea."
Bart's yellow eyes brightened. "You mean, you're gonna do it?"
"Well, I gotta run it by Linda first, but I'm sure she'll love the idea too."
Bart smiled. "Thanks, Wally."
Wally patted his shoulder one more time. "Don't mention it. You're building that tree house though."
Bart knew it was meant to be a playful jab, but little did Wally know he wouldn't have it any other way. "Cool. I got some ideas and everything."