( ic contact ) - ( sorry, guys, i got a little held up. you had to be there. )

[tardily]

 

Barry Allen
Hey! You've reached Barry Allen. I'm not available to take your call right now because of— a reason. Leave a message or just text me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. BEEP.


The Flash
This is The Flash. Not Kid Flash or Impulse. The Flash. I can't text and run. I'll get back to you ASAP and you know that's pretty fast coming from me. BEEP.

Comments

action. who said i ever wanted one tho

[tardily]

[ No, Bart, no he has has not but look at him just checking things off his bucket list. Jesus Christ, is that something he can do too? Okay, no that's something to ponder at a later date when Barry isn't trying to catch his mug so it doesn't drop and actually listen to what Bart's saying.

Superspeed or not, it's more than a little hard to understand Bart when he sort slid nearly every word together and Barry ends up holding up a hand to give himself a second to see if he can parse through everything that he thinks he heard. Most of which is just Wally and Blue being gone and not just out for a stroll gone, actual gone gone. ]

Bart! Breathe, okay? Don't say anything else until you actually breathe. [ Excuse him while he just ends up putting his hands on your shoulder and is one hundred percent using his height advantage to make sure you stay still, Bart. ] Wally and Blue are gone, right? That's what you just said, and not something else that I really couldn't hear because I'm not used to someone talking that fast. [ A pause. ] And you've been looking for both of them and you can't find them.

[ He needs to be a grandpa right now. Act like one even if he doesn't look like one. Oh god. ]

action. okay this is very true

[moded]

[Vibrating through things is the single best part of superspeed, if you asked Bart, but that's neither here nor there and even if Barry asked Bart would probably just completely ignore it in favor of freaking out about more important things.

Like missing relatives and friends.

And the fact that there's this heavy feeling starting to settle down on his shoulders, this weight of despair and responsibility, of mourning he's been ignoring and putting on the backburner. Of two weeks of trying to come to terms with the fact that his cousin was dead and that he was now running around in his costume with his codename, becoming him in the eyes of the people in the world, people who wouldn't ever really know of the sacrifice Wally had made to save them. Because that's not how they worked, that's not how the League did things. They swept deaths under the rug, they put up memorials in space and underground caves, and refused to publicly acknowledge that the heroes of the world were just as mortal as anyone else.

He blinks, mind snapping back to the present as Barry's hands rest on his shoulders, and he does as the older speedster says, breathing and making sure he's doing it in real time, not superspeed. Breathing to the slow count of five and then releasing it. Of course, that doesn't really do anything to help the way he's practically vibrating in place.]

Sorry. [He takes another breath just making sure that his words are going to come out even remotely normally and not, you know, garbled in superspeed.] Yeah I- Wally wasn't in the cave yesterday and I tried his comm and it just kept bouncing back so I went looking 'cause you know that can't mean anything but I can't find him in any of the cities and I mean I looked everywhere and [He hasn't talked to Robin about it yet, he's kind of... been avoiding talking to Robin about it before he has no choice but to accept what Wally being gone might mean] so I went to tell Jaime and he was here I mean I texted him earlier and it went through but then when I went to his place he wasn't there and-

[He pauses, for a second, lower jaw trembling just for a moment before he catches himself and clicks his teeth together, swallowing hard.]

It- ... This usually means they're ported out.

[And he has the notifications - from a program made by Robin himself - on his comm to prove that.]

action. i take that back i don't want these feelings i refuse

[tardily]

[ Why do you think he's not asking about it now, Bart? He's pretty sure if this was happening to him, you could be a random stranger telling him that you know he's the Flash and it still wouldn't compare to the far more important thing at hand.

For a brief moment ( brief for someone with superspeed at least ) Barry finds himself feeling like he's been punched in the gut and like he's eleven and twelve all over again just wanting to see his dad and wanting to bring his mom back to life. Bart's been looking for them— for family and friend and they're not there. They're just gone from the universe and&mash; it just makes Barry sort of let out this shaky exhale. He doesn't mean to but it just happens because this is not something he's entirely sure he knows how to deal with even if maybe he's felt something similar.

But Bart's breathing and even if he's vibrating, it's better than nothing. As long as he doesn't end up going through the floor somehow. That'd make things weird. ]

So Jaime just now disappeared. And Wally's been— since yesterday. Okay. [ It feels like that's the wrong thing to say. Like he shouldn't be parroting what Bart's saying right back at him, but it's the only thing that comes to mind right at that second. ] Because you can't find them. You'd be able to find them and the— text would go through if they were actually here.

[ He's about to say more before he notices that Bart's jaw trembled just a bit and— Barry remembers just how young Bart is. He still isn't sure how to properly process this or help. But he doesn't even waste a minute before moving his hands down enough to pull Bart into a tight hug while he speaks. ]

That doesn't mean they're gone for good. [ He has to bite back the word right that's on the tip of his tongue. ] People get ported out and back in all the time. They wouldn't leave you like this. It'd be way too moded.

action. nope too late no give-backs

[moded]

[The thing with Bart's vibrating is that it's more of a nervous tick than anything else. It's a matter of frustration. It's moving and fidgeting so fast that it can't come across as anything more than a slight tremor that never seems to stop. It's not concentrated enough to send him through the floor, to have anything more than a buzzing feeling going into anyone who touches him. It's a matter of his mental state working hand in hand with his powers, a thing born of feeling like he can't do anything with the situation he's faced with.

It's an inherent need to run and move and do something only there's no where to run and nothing to do. It's forcing a speedster to stop and stay still because the situation is completely and totally and undeniably out of his hands.

He can build a time machine out of nothing in the middle of an apocalyptic world, but he can't just march up to the Porter and make it bring back his cou- no. No. His brother.

So it's a good thing that Barry pulls him into a hug, that he takes the initiative and traps him, forces him to keep staying still, to just reach his arms out and around and cling, latch on, anchor himself down because otherwise Bart would have had to start moving again, he would have had to run laps around the room, talking endlessly at a pitch and speed that only Barry would have the hope of understanding. He would have been caught up in the frantic denial still washing through him, the frustration and the-- well. The anger that's pulsing through him in waves.

But instead, he clings and closes his eyes and just sort of buries his face in Barry's shirt and maybe, maybe grins for a fleeting second at the use of his own slang from someone else. But it's short lived and inappropriate because there are two words rattling around in his head, two words he's been running away from for the last twenty-four hours. Two words that he can't keep denying now that he's stopped, now that he's slowed down enough for them to catch back up and settle down on his shoulders again.

And it occurs to him, then, that Barry doesn't know. He doesn't know how well his not-grandpa knows Wally here, if they'd talked or hung out at all since Bart dragged them all on that run a few months back, but even if they had there's still-- he doesn't think Wally would have told him. It's just not something... you tell very easily. And there's no way-- there's no way that Barry would be saying what he is right now if he knew. If he really, honestly knew what Wally West not being in this weird, other world meant.]

Sometimes they are. [Those two words, still heavy on his shoulders, repeating over and over again, right there in front of him, behind him, beating in his heart and buzzing through his body.] CK-- she was a friend I lived with last year. She left, and she hasn't come back. She's from a totally different world so I won't see her again. S'happened with a lot of people.

[Two words, two simple words that mean everything and ruin everything. Two words that are so hard to say and have bled into so much over the past few months. Two words that have come to mean so many things he almost can't remember what they were, originally. He's gone-- Kid Flash-- Family legacy-- two words, two words, two words but they all boil down to: ]

Wally's dead. [His grip on Barry's shirt tightens, and his voice is muffled and quiet, now. Because this is never something he can even try to take lightly.] Back home. For me, I mean. He still-- I guess he still has five years he's younger than when I got to the past but he's-- if he's not here then...

[Then he really will be dead. And Bart will have to come to terms with that all over again.]

action. i don't care i will make you take the give back

[tardily]

[ This is when Barry wishes he knew more. This is when Barry wishes more than anything that he was ported here after he's had years under his belt. Experience that could tell him what to do. Give him some sort of clue on how to deal with this. To deal with Bart like this, he doesn't— understand why Bart keeps vibrating. He knows why he sometimes can, but it's always an accident. Then again, maybe that's the point, that the vibration like this isn't something controllable. It's what happens when people like them ( speedsters— no, just Flash family members ) can't control a situation. Can't fix a situation.

Kind of like this one, because just like Barry couldn't ever break his dad out of prison or prove to everyone that his mom was killed by the Reverse Flash, Bart can't make the Porter give Wally and Jaime back. God, even he can't do that and it's like a flashback to being beaten by the Reverse Flash all over again. He's got superspeed and he's useless when it comes to fix this. He's the closest thing— the closest thing to his grandfather that Bart has and he can't fix this. Isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do? Fix things that make their grandchildren act like this?

He listens while Bart clings, because that's the point of the hug. It's trying to make sure Bart stays put and speaks slowly because he has to otherwise Barry wouldn't understand him. It's to make Bart settle down and calm down because this is what Joe would do to him when he'd run off to go see his dad. It's what he needs to do. ]

But there's always a chance they'll come back. We're kind of proof the impossible can be made really possible. [ Coming from anyone else, it might sound hollow, but Barry believes it. Believes that at least holding onto that hope is better than just letting it go and just settling into the idea that it won't happen. ] I don't think they're the type of people who'd have it happen like that.

[ Like they have control over this. Ha. If they had control over this it wouldn't have happened in the first place. But Barry doesn't mention that, doesn't even really think about it all that much because it's not the point.

It's not the point and— oh. There's the point. The point that Wally's dead where Bart comes from and Barry can't help the sharp inhale at that. That sentence is what feels like the ultimate punch. The thing is Barry doesn't have a Wally at home, and he's given Wally his space here because— he's not the Barry Wally knows and it's like Hal. He doesn't want to step on that even if he thinks that he'd love to be in their lives and that the other Barry ( or Barrys ) are lucky to have them. That lack of Wally nearly makes Barry say I don't even have one before he stops himself.

What he does instead is rub circles on Bart's back. He might not be crying, but he knows that when he gets that muffled and that quiet and when he talks about anyone in his family dying, that comforting touch is what he needs. He's silent for a minute or two but when he speaks it's full of a surprising amount of conviction. Like he believes he can will it to be a fact just by saying it this strongly. ]

He's going to be back. [ He stops there and almost doesn't want to say the rest. ] And even if he doesn't. He's still got five years, Bart. Five years he'll probably enjoy. And family he'll get to spend time with. You'll get to spend time with him. It won't be enough but— it never is even if you have whole lifetimes. And you'll be here and it's not like you're going to forget him while you're here.

[ It feels hokey saying that, it feels like he's trying to put a small bandage over some huge wound, but— it feels right. He heard it when his mom died and it's true. She's dead but she's not about to be forgotten. ] But he'll come back. I promise.

action. god you basically did with how much i sadfaced while typing this

[moded]

[It takes a minute, a full minute of Bart being silent and just letting Barry's words roll around in his head, of thinking and breathing and clinging to this alternate, younger version of his grandfather (the only family he has here, now) but the agitated fidgeting of his body dies down, the little tremors and vibrations slow and turn into nothing more than slightly twitching fingers and a little, occasional, tremble in his shoulders. He's not crying, though he does have to scrunch his eyes shut and ignore the stinging in his nose a few times, but he is sad.

He's sad, because he hadn't been prepared for it. Because he'd forgotten, for a moment, that Wally was dead back home. That if one of them left that would be it, that'd be the last time he'd ever see his cousin and-- there was still... there was a lot of stuff he wanted to do with Wally. Wanted to say. Wanted to prove to him. He'd gotten so used to Wally being here that he'd put all of that on hold, he'd gotten distracted with setting up his delivery business, with hanging out with Blue and just relaxing and having fun with his powers that he'd forgotten everything he'd been so excited to have the chance for when he came back to this world in December.

And now, it's like having Wally die all over again. It's like he'd seen his cousin fade into nothing again, like he's putting on the Kid Flash uniform and feeling like he just isn't enough for it because while Wally had given it to him, in a way, in one quick comment, he still hadn't proven anything to him. And now-- now he's gone. Again. And it's almost an exact mirror of what had happened back home and nothing's changed even though Bart had told himself, back then, back when he showed up and cried to his best friend and had more time with a cousin who had become more like a brother than anything else--

He lets out a breath, lets his grip on Barry ease up enough that he can step back and out of the hug. He doesn't need to wipe his eyes, really, but he does anyway just in case in one jerky, superspeed fast move.]

Yeah, I-- it was pretty crash. [He smiles, just slightly, thinking back on 2016. Thinking about how, while Wally always seemed annoyed with him more often than not, he still took him out for fast food, still shoved junk food at him and got him hooked on Chicken Whizees and while they weren't out fighting crime together, while they didn't run together in 2016 like they do here-- it was still nice. They were still family.] Thanks Gramps I mean people do come and go I've done that before it's pretty moded but he might.

[There's another moment, then, where Bart hesitates, where his smile falters and ultimately falls away, where he just kind of shuts down for a moment before pressing his lips together and shoving his hands in his pockets - because, well, he'd been going to Jaime's place. And going to Jaime's meant going in plainclothes. Since Jaime somehow still had a secret ID in place.]

You don't think-- I mean I think Jaime's crash back in his world he has family and a Team [Though they can't be friends in Jaime's world since in that world Bart's the one that's dead.] and I know the math I know what the probability of one of them coming back is even though it's happened but do you think both...

[He trails off, the numbers flashing through his head and he knows they're not good. Knows there's less than a one percent chance that they both would be chosen to come back, knows that the Porter has been bringing in more and more people every month and that most of the people who have been sent back aren't showing back up again but...

He knows the math. But for some silly reason having Barry reassuring him just makes the math not matter at all.]

action. i'm not sorry for inflicting such pain on you because really you started it first.

[tardily]

[ At first the silence concerned Barry, made him think however briefly that he said the wrong thing or that it's not want Bart needed to hear. He realizes he's wrong once Bart's fidgeting dies down ( well lessens at least ) and Barry can see that he's just sad but not completely losing like he had been. As strange as it is, seeing Bart calm down when he helped makes him feel warm inside, makes him feel like he's doing something right with all of this. Yeah, he can't get Wally back and he can't guarantee that he'll be back at all, but he can at least help Bart deal with this right now.

It actually makes him feel like a grandpa and despite there being so many things different with their two worlds, it makes him fully able to think of him as family. Barry's used to makeshift families, ever since his mom died and his dad got sent to prison. Joe and Iris became his family and even though he's been in love with Iris for so many years, it doesn't change that. It just makes him think that Joe and him might have a leg up in son-in-law and dad-in-law relationships. This isn't much different, because Barry isn't Bart's Barry and isn't Wally's Barry, but he can at least try and fill a small void there. Let his his feet fill those shoes for now.

Barry almost doesn't want to let Bart go, but he does and after he sees that jerky move he pulls down his shirt sleeve to wipe his nose. It's pretty clear he's being cheeky by doing it, but there's also a part of him that remembers his mom doing it and he couldn't resist. ]

Don't say might. He will, okay. You have to hope and that includes not just using the word might when it comes to coming back. I wish I could have seen it. I mean I will, I guess but— I'm just gonna stop.

[ Because time travel will always be confusing no matter what he does. Or arguably the more he talks about it. Barry watches Bart's smile fall away and he makes a bit of a face before he can stop himself. He doesn't want to see Bart without a smile especially when he had just had one on his face. But then he hears the question and he can't help the way he shrugs just slightly. ]

I think the probability is a pretty impossible number. But last I checked, a lot of impossible things can everyday and I don't know, I think the two of them qualify as pretty impossible people. I mean, I don't know about Jaime because we've only talked once, but Wally's got superspeed just like us. If there were two people I'd think could beat the impossible probability, it might be them. [ He takes a breath. ] I think both of them are going to show up again really soon. After all, who wouldn't make a Porter pick them back up when they've got you here. Who knows what you'd do without their supervision.

[ Welcome to Barry Allen joking about his own ability to properly adult good and his ability to make jokes about how Bart needs to be watched over. Bad time or best time to try and make the joke? ]