Chapter Text
Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Let’s Get it!!!!!!!
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Wally
Growing up Wally had one hell of a time.
When Iris had found out she was pregnant 16 years ago she was overjoyed.
The future was bright, she was young, married to a lovely guy, and was ready to start her perfect little family.
The pregnancy was easy, their baby was soft and gentle and the months before their arrival were full with exciting tension with dreams of their perfect baby.
When her and Rudy found out they were having a boy they were on cloud nine. Rudy was so excited and proud to have a son of his very own.
When he was born tears fell down her cheeks and pooled in Rudy’s eyes as they looked at their perfect little boy - a ginger - Wally.
If you had told her then what her life would become she would think you’re out of your mind.
The first few months with a newborn were rough, but their little family came together perfectly.
Rudy was soft with their baby and was very forward in taking care of as much as he could while balancing his job so that Iris could have a break.
Those first few years were wonderful.
—
When Wally was around 6 years old he started acting off.
Rudy worked long hours, so he wasn’t home much, but Iris spent most of her day with the boy and was starting to get worried.
He drank through what felt like gallons of water a day, never appeased, and it felt like he lived in the bathroom.
She loved the boy to death, and he truly was the sweetest, but some days he would be snippy and so out of character and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Other days Wally would be out of it in a different sense, he would be far off, slow, and weighted down.
Seeing her sweet boy live on such a rollercoaster of feeling was confusing, but when she broached the subject with Rudy he always pressed that their son was fine. This was all normal for a growing boy.
—
The summer of his 7th birthday his symptoms seemed to worsen until that fateful day that marked a permanent change and an end to their seemingly perfect little family.
She had been home with Wally as per usual, but he hasn’t come downstairs all morning, and he was oddly quiet.
This was unusual. Wally was a loud and lively child, always running around and speaking a mile a minute.
When she climbed up the stairs to his room her heart started to pound in her ears, something felt wrong.
When she opened his door she saw her son, her sweet sweet Wally lying on the floor of his room staring at the ceiling.
He was conscious, but clearly out of it.
She rushed over to his side and started to brush the fiery hair off his forehead and pet at his head, which was damp with sweat. As she rested her hand she could feel his tremors, but couldn’t decipher if that was the shake of her own hands, or the illness of her son.
“Wally?! Wally? Hey, Hey, love are you feeling alright? Can you tell Mommy what’s wrong?”
“I-“ his eyes shifted over to look at her and a tear started to form “Idk Mommy I don’t feel too good” he sighed
This was so unlike her son and Iris was filled with fear.
Her and Rudy didn’t have the money for an ambulance so she scooped him up, still in his space PJs and ran him down to the car.
Once he was buckled in she sped out of the neighborhood and headed to the hospital.
She sent Rudy a quick text to let him know a brief glimpse at the situation before returning back to her mission of saving her son.
—
The emergency room was a blur. They spent the rest of the day, and that evening when Rudy got off of work he joined them up at the hospital.
The two parents sat at his bedside.
Wally had returned to normal a little while earlier. When he got there they did some tests and hooked up an IV and it didn’t take very long for them to reach their diagnosis.
Wally had Type 1 diabetes.
When Iris had brought him in earlier that day he was severely hypoglycemic.
Now he slept peacefully in his children’s themed hospital room, glow in the dark stars emitting a soft glow to accompany his snores.
Iris sat on the couch, pulled up to the bed so that she could softly stroke at Wally’s hand while he slept.
Rudy sat next to her and let her lean on him. He held her close and pet her arm comfortingly as she cried.
He whispered sweet nothings and words of support. He gave her a false hope that everything was going to be okay.
—
The family had been sent home the next day with a whole new life.
Glucose tabs, insulin, test strips, kits, snacks, ketone tests, pamphlets on diabetes, meds, GMS, insulin pumps, schedules, carb calculations, and so much more.
Of course Iris didn’t expect Rudy to handle it, he worked all day and she was the one who would be home with Wally all day.
This is when it all started.
Getting Wally stable was hard, and adding these new routines into their life added stress.
Wally felt guilty, and as any 7 year old would feel he was tired and hated the amount of needles and attention he suddenly had to endure.
He had picked up an attitude. Between that and the new routines and worries Iris was exhausted.
Her and Rudy no longer went out for dates, most nights Rudy didn’t have dinner to come home to, there was no more sex, and it felt like a wall had been built between them.
For Rudy, the solution to this was alcohol.
He quickly started to spend more time at the bar then he did at home and their life took a sharp sharp turn, and the rest turned into a painful blur.
—
The drinking led to Rudy losing his job, so they no longer had a steady flow of income. This meant rationing, because no matter what, Wally’s meds came first.
Before luxuries, clothes, trips, dates, and even food.
Not only did money become a problem, but Rudy quickly began to resent his own son and become abusive to not only his son, but his wife.
This led to the last almost decade of Wally’s life to be a blur of pain, and shame.
He had grown up to be ashamed and guilty of his illness. It was something he should make as hidden as possible.
He was a burden.
—
Wally has taken on duties as Kid Flash during his time with Rudy and Iris and Rudy hated it.
If anything it worsened the abuse, but none the less, it was the only thing that Wally felt gave him a break from the shit-show that was his home life.
Wally was out running around rural Kansas trying to put out a massive fire that had spread through the dry fields of Kansas and practically taken over the entire city.
The night was long and in the end he had spent over a day in uniform, no breaks, trying his hardest to save the city and as many people as he could.
He watched childhood landmarks burn, people burn, and history burn.
By the time he finally made it back home, the city was black, but color returned from the burn of red that seemed to imprint itself on the back of his eyelids.
As he got closer and closer to home the streets were ashen and dark.
The house was empty.
Bruce Wayne sat in his kitchen, hands folded in his lap, and his telltale frown.
But for once, he had a glimpse of softness in his eyes.
Wally stopped in his tracks.
Something was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.
Where was Iris? Where was his mom? Where was Rudy?
Bruce pulled out a seat next to him and signaled for Wally to sit.
“Hey chump, can I have a word?” He asked in his trademark gruff voice.
The nickname, the gentleness…Something was wrong.
Wally started to back up slowly “no. No. No. No” he started to mumble.
Bruce didn’t wait for the speedster to jump to conclusions or bolt. He stood up and wrapped Wally in his arms.
“I’m so sorry Wally. They’re gone”
They’re gone. They’re gone. They’re gone they’re gone they’regonethey’regonethey’regone.
Wally broke and collapsed into Batman in tears.
Looking back it made sense, maybe they just sent the head of the league to get him, or maybe they sent the orphan to sympathize with the new orphan that Wally had become.
“It’s alright chump I’ll take care of it. I’ll make sure it will all work out”
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Hal and Barry POV
Barry hadn’t spoken to his brother in forever. He hand’s seen his nephew since he was a little kid. Their family had completely cut them off.
He had a feeling that Rudy was behind the separation, but with the league, and Hal he didn’t have energy to think much about it.
—
He was cuddled up on the couch with Hal when he got the call.
They had heard about the fire breaking out in the small town that Rudy, Iris, and Wally lived, and even though Barry would definelty tell you he was watching the news as part of his duty as the flash.
The real reason he was watching was he was worried about his family, no matter the separation.
He watched the blur of light that he knew belonged to his nephew, blur across the screen, leaving charred fields behind it.
Wally, the only other speedster he knew, but he didn’t really know him at all.
Barry felt an overwhelming sense of pride as he watched his nephew work to save the day.
—
His phone rang as he cuddled into Hal’s side.
His eyes were heavy and threatening to shut, but snapped open as the phone rang.
He flipped it over and revealed the caller ID “Bruce”
This couldn’t be good.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and picked up the phone.
-
“Hey Bruce?”
“Barry”
“Yes?”
“Iris and Rudolph are dead”
-
Barry froze.
His whole body tensed up, and even though Hal couldn’t hear the conversation he knew that something was wrong.
Hal looked down at Barry with concern and slowly pulled the phone down away from Barry’s ear and put it on speaker.
Hal announced his prescence to Bruce and Bruce informed him off the news as well.
Hal tightened his grip around Barry and moved his hand to stroke his hair.
He started to speak to Batman when Barry cut him off
-
“Where’s Wally”
Bruce sighed from the other line “He’s staying the night with me in Gotham”
A small chuckle slipped from Bruce’s lips “Him and Dick have buddied up quite quick”
-
Barry swallowed again and tried his best to push back the tears.
-
“What’s going to happen to Wally?” Barry asked, Hal noting the fear that riddled his tone.
“I need to find a home for him, obviously he’s a special kid, he can’t really go through the regular system being Kid Flash and all-“
Barry cut him off “We’ll take him”
-
Hal didn’t act surprised.
He was a family man at heart and Barry was his whole entire world.
Wally meant the world to Barry.
Barry had lost enough tonight, and Hal wasn’t about ready to let him lose anything else.
-
Bruce sighed “I figured you’d say that”
…”I’ll have someone at WE send over a lawyer and some adoption paper work”
“Ok” Barry mumbled into the phone clearly deep in thought and sorrow
“I’ll also send over Leslie to talk to you sometime this week - you’ll need to learn how to raise a diabetic”
-
Right.
Wally was diabetic
Hal and Barry made eye contact.
This was going to be a lot. But they were so ready to take it on.
For Wally.
—
Bruce had given them a week of time before he could ensure that the adoption would be finalized and before Wally would move in with the couple.
Hal and Barry worked well as a team, and for this, they knew they needed to divide the work.
Barry had remembered Wally loving everything space as a kid, and as a scientist himself, Barry was all for setting up his new room with a space theme.
Hal, the handyman of the two, was tasked with transforming their guest bedroom into something habitable for a 16 year old.
Barry, in the meantime, was set up with becoming as prepared as possible to take on a diabetic team.
He had spoken to Leslie, the Waynes’s/League’s doctor and she had given him a lot of information, resources, and ordered every supply the family might need to their house.
—
A few days after the original call Hal had come home from a call in Coast to see the entire kitchen table covered in pamphlets and medical supplies.
Barry sat at the head of all of it looking truly pensive.
Hal stifled a loving sigh and annouced his presence by knocking on the kitchen doorway.
Barry looked up startled
“Oh! Sorry Babe let me put this all away…Sorry for the mess”
Hal walked over to the table shaking his head “no no no”
“The kids coming in a few days and I’m going to need to know how to support him just as much as you do”
Barry smiled softly and immediately started breaking down everything he had learned and every supply he had gathered.
He went through the symptoms to look for with highs and lows
He explained every medical piece he knew Wally currently used, which was quite minimal, a blood sugar meter, test strips, insulin pens, and glucose tabs.
He showed off the new tech he had gotten to give Wally options: a CMG and an insulin pump.
And he showed Hal the insane amount of snacks he had bought to treat lows, including at least one hundred small juice boxes.
He taught Hal the normal ranges to look for in readings, and how to calculate blousing for meals.
The whole conversation took about an hour, and by the time he was done Barry was out of breath and exhausted.
Hal reached an arm around him and pulled the other close, giving him a soft kiss
“Wally is so lucky to have you” he murmured.
Barry laughed and leaned into the touch “It still feels like I’m not doing enough”
Hal shushed him softly “Barry you are going above and beyond for this kid before you’ve even met him.”
Barry sighed “Yeah. I’m worried. I know the kind of shit that kid grew up with. And I’ve been talking with Bruce and Leslie has had to fight him on everything. The poor kid hides his illness like it’s the worst secret out there.”
Hal stroked the blonde’s hair softly while he voiced his concerns.
“Well” Hal hummed “lucky for him I’ve got a ton of experience taking care of medically stubborn speedsters”
Barry shot him a glare
“Speaking of, you look tense, and I know that your hip is killing you from sitting here all day so how about we go get you a bath started”
Barry started to brush it off but Hal cut him off and steeped him up into his arms as he headed upstairs
“Nope! See I told you I’m good with stubborn speedsters”
Barry Chuckled and let Hal take care of him. Maybe just for tonight, he could relax.
—
While Barry had been stressing over everything medical, Hal had found solace in decorating the room for their new son…nephew? He didn’t really know how this worked yet.
He had painted the room a dark navy blue and brought in some average furniture.
A dresser, despite the kid already having a walk in closet, a desk, and a nice big bed.
He tried to give it some personality, and added a rug, some space themed pictures on the wall - which he spent over fifteen minutes explaining to Barry that the pictures were mature space pictures, and not for little kids.
He even slid in an electric guitar into the corner of the room.
Hal loved to be a menace, but this came from a genuine intention.
Hal hadn’t had the best childhood and music was always his way to let out what he felt.
And besides if you’re going to be a cool, angsty tennager, an electric guitar is a must have.
The room came together quite well and soon enough it was ready to be filled and lived in by their new guest.
—
They were a day out from Wally coming and Barry was nervous out of his mind.
“Barry, my love, you’re shaking the whole house” Hal called from where he was making breakfast in the kitchen.
Him and Barry didn’t have the best diets, and were prone to ordering out, but with their new medically compromised kid, Barry had made it clear they would learn to cook homemade, healthy food.
So as Hal tried out a new a pancake recipe, and practiced calculating the carbs and hypothetical insulin that would be needed, Barry was upstairs double checking everything.
The room was good.
He had put a meter in Wally’s bathroom drawers, along with a ton of other medical supplies and basic toiletries.
He even had Hal set up a mini fridge in Wally’s room so he could keep some of the juice boxes and snacks he had ordered in reach.
Everything seemed to be in order.
—
The pancakes were delicious.
Hal was calm and supportive.
Every drawer was stocked, and room prepared.
All that was left was to wait.
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