( 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.

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action/text

[runningstart]

[Wally's heart sinks when he reads that. He doesn't know.

...well, of course he doesn't, it just happened. But that means- Shit- No, he can't- he's not thinking about this right now, he just-

Wally almost trips over his feet pulling on his sneakers, and he's still in his own sleep clothes, sweatpants and an old t-shirt and he's running to Barry's house, all the way down to Florida and he doesn't realize how fast he was going when he gets there quicker than he ever has. He almost knocks on Barry's door but he sends a text with shaking hands because the run didn't do anything, didn't help him clear his head, didn't help him calm down.]

outside

[His eyes are burning. Bart's gone, again. It's only been hours, maybe even minutes so he could still come back but it's getting old and everything with Robin is wrong and he can't sleep, he can't sleep and he pushes his goggles up into his sweaty hair before just tearing them off completely and throwing them onto the grass, running his hand through his hair and his breath hitches because standing here, outside Barry's house feels like something big is going to suffocate him if he doesn't just-

If he doesn't-

The door opens and Wally lunges, throws arms around Barry and shoves his face against his shoulder, shaking with sobs.]

action

[tardily]

[ It's sheer luck that keeps Barry from toppling over when Wally lunges at him as soon as the door opens. He's so caught off guard by Wally lunging that it takes a moment for him to register that not only is Wally shaking in his arms but that he's shaking because he's crying.

As soon as he realizes what this could mean, he stops breathing. If it was Robin and Bart was here, then he would go to Bart. Either Robin and Bart are gone or just Bart is but either way that still— means he's gone. He could come back like he did before and like Wally did before and like Barry himself did before but he's gone.

He's gone and Wally came to him to cry. His arms were only loosely around Wally right after he lunged, but it doesn't take him long to end up wrapping them around tighter. His own eyes are starting to burn a bit and he can feel his nose starting to stuff up just a bit like he's going to join Wally before he takes a breath. And another slow one.

Not for the first time he wishes Joe were here, or his dad or his mom. They'd be able to make it so he wasn't the one who'd have to try and not cry. But they're not here and Cisco's asleep and— A deep breath. ]

Shhhh. [ He murmurs and later on he knows he's going to kick himself for that being the first thing he says but it feels right just like putting his hands on Wally's back is and making sure one's maybe trying to rub in a circle to get him to calm down. ] Let's get you to the couch or both of us to the kitchen with chairs. I'm right here, Wally. I've got you.

action

[runningstart]

[It's not the same.

He's about as tall as the Barry from home, but not as bulky. His voice is different, even if the way he says things is similar. He doesn't know that when Wally was a kid, he always reacted better to having his hair ruffled than his back patted, but it doesn't matter.

Barry suggests moving and Wally makes fists at the back of his shirt, holding on tighter. All he wants is five minutes, just five minutes of not being someone who has to hold things together, five minutes he can't have with anybody else, not Jaime, not even Robin. What he really wants is for all of this to go away but there's no way to make that happen. Hell, even if he died here he'd just be brought right back...and it would be kind of ridiculous to expect dying to make his fear of dying go away.

This isn't the Barry from home. And this isn't the Barry who'd always yank him out of the way of trouble, the one who taught him how to run, who'd carried him to the hospital that one time he took a spike of ice to the knee. This isn't the Barry he watched on TV for hours and hours on end, and this isn't the Barry who took him to museums and desperately tried to buy his love before he figured out how to earn it because he'd just wanted Wally to like him, had just wanted some dumb ginger kid to look up to him and love him like family.

It's not the same.

But this'll do fine.

Wally doesn't let Barry pull him into the house for at least another five minutes and by then he's calmed down considerably. He sits down at the table without a fuss, eyes red and puffy and nose still running until he can blow it. He's miserable, sure, but more than anything he looks tired. He just looks so tired and he feels tired and he wants to lay his head down and sleep for weeks and not deal with anything anymore.]