(no subject)
[Fanfic]
Title: One Is the Loneliest Number [3]
Characters: Roy, Wally
Necessary Warnings: N/A
Hey um not really sure what to say except I had loads of fun writing this chapter. And there is some brief Wally being out of character but it was necessary for the plot and it won't happen again, probably. Any who I worked hard on this and feedback would be wonderful.
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Roy's not sure whether to feel annoyed or relieved when Wally shows up again. He settles for being thoroughly unamused.
"I'm back," Wally says with a grin and Roy frowns because Wally actually looks thinner than before -if that was even possible.
"I noticed," Roy deadpans he tries to convey just how annoyed he is through those two words, but Wally doesn't seem to get it because he's still smiling brightly.
"Remember what you said before?" Wally asks and crap he sounds so excited Roy already knows this conversation isn't going to end well for either of them. Roy doesn't answer Wally, but that didn't matter because the kid kept talking anyway. "You said I had to train before we could work together."
"I never said we could work together." Roy says mildly but Wally just brushes the comment right off.
"You implied-"
"I didn't imply anything." Roy growls softly trying hard to sound patient.
"But I thought..." Wally trails off sounding sad and small and Roy could already feel the guilt settling in the pit of his stomach. "I trained all week and I thought," Wally sighs kicking softly at dirt, "I'm a lot stronger now." he adds trying hard for optimistic like maybe if he was happy enough Roy would change his mind.
"Why?" Roy asks after a long tense moment of silence and Wally looks lost for a moment before he gets it.
"I dunno," Wally mumbles softly with a shrug, "I've always been..." he trails off for a moment looking for a word to explain what he was, "um...'special' y'know. I've always been this fast. And it's like..." Wally sighs softly and swallows thickly like what he's about to say was really hard, which it probably was.
"A lot of people don't get it, I mean they think of being super fast and they think it's a good thing. Like it's this amazing superpower; but it's so hard to control. So hard to be around everyone and everything when it's all so slow and a second feels like a hundred years. And I have like the fastest metabolism and I have to like eat ten times the average adult and like sometimes it's just so-so-so...ugh!" Wally growls to encompass every frustration that he has to deal with everyday.
"And I kept thinking it was always going to be this way, it was always going to suck. But then, then I saved you and it was like. I was a hero or something. And I thought well maybe if I could like help people you know, save lives like Superman. Like the Justice League. And I figured maybe if I was like that then, my speed would be a good thing." Wally shrugs slightly to signal he's done talking and he doesn't look up to see whether or not Red Arrow gets the message.
Roy isn't a sure how to respond to that, except that maybe Wally had a point. Super Speed could come in hands; it already had come in handy. And having someone like Wally on their side 'fighting the good fight' could prove to be a priceless asset. And Roy figures that working with someone again having a sidekick, no partner, would be a good thing. Because if he was being perfectly honest with himself, which he rarely ever was, he could seriously use the help.
Although another part of him, a larger part -which Roy would probably refer to as logic or reality-, was telling him what a bad idea this was. Because Roy could barely afford to pay his bills to feed himself, without having the added responsibility of another mouth to feed, a mouth with a super fast metabolism. This part of him argues that Wally was probably more trouble than he was worth, and he should let the league take care of the kid.
But Roy immediately told that part of him to shut the hell up because he was seventeen years old. And he was so not going to be running to the league for help the second things got hard. He walked away from Green Arrow away from all of them because he was old enough to start taking care of himself. Old enough to deal with his own problems and that was exactly was he was going to do.
"C'mon," Roy says turning his back to Wally and walking away, he doesn't stop to see whether or not Wally was following.
"Where are we going?" Wally asks, suddenly right next to him. And Roy is really going to have to get used to that.
"Home," Roy says softly and refuses to acknowledge the grin that spreads across Wally's face.
"Hey," Wally calls when they're finally out of the alley, Roy acknowledges him with a 'hm', "Can we maybe get something to eat, I'm really hungry!"
Roy sighs irritably and glares at the sidewalk, and so it begins.
Chapter: 2