Work Text:
Wally West sighed as his eyes drifted aimlessly about the text on the pages before him. The blocks of letters explained the technicalities of various engineering equations. Wally studied engineering as a student at Central City University. Having worked as a mechanic back in high school and boasting excellent mathematical prowess, becoming an engineering major seemed like the clear choice. Plus, the chance to get out of his hometown of Blue Valley was quite appealing. Still, he found the coursework excessively boring. He often wondered whether college was even worth his time. These thoughts filtered through Wally’s head as he scratched at his red hair in frustration.
“Still studying?” asked Iris, approaching Wally and placing a hand on his chair.
“Not really studying,” he replied, “so much as trudging through-”
“Nerd!”
“Yeow!” yelped Wally over the sound of stitching popping.
Iris had reached into the back of his jeans, grabbed the red waistband of his yellow boxer briefs, and hoisted them up to his shoulder blades. Wally barely had time to reach back and push Iris away before she ran off. By the time Wally had gotten up and shoved the fabric back into his pants, she was long gone. Wally groaned in frustration as he shoved his hands down his pants to fix the wedgie.
Iris West was Wally’s aunt, though due to their proximity in age she was more like a cousin to him. Growing up she had always been the cooler older cousin, but that never stopped her from teasing Wally mercilessly. She had kept this habit alive and well in adulthood, something that would have been tolerable if they didn’t have to be roommates.
Wally’s scholarship to Central City University covered his tuition, but not housing. Wally had gotten his parents to agree to him going by crashing with Iris in her apartment. Wally was of course grateful for the hospitality, but living with her certainly came with certain drawbacks.
One such drawback came not thirty minutes later, when Wally was eating a sandwich he had made in the kitchen. Iris strolled in casually and went to get herself a glass of water. Wally listened to her fill up the glass with water and then activate the ice machine on the fridge.
Wait a minute, thought Wally, Wouldn’t she get the ice before pouring the-
“Yipe!” squealed Wally, a freezing sensation shooting down his back before settling in the seat of his pants.
Iris ran off cackling. Wally pulled the ice out of his pants and got up to chase after her, but she was long gone. She was always faster than him. She always got to him before he realized it and got away before he could retaliate. He wanted to get her back badly, but he was never fast enough.
Wally decided to sleep off his lunch by taking a nap on the couch. Iris didn’t take kindly to him taking up the whole couch for his snooze, so she decided to rectify the situation. She wet her index finger in her mouth for some time before slowly sliding it into Wally’s ear as deep as she could.
Wally’s eyes opened in confusion, at first unsure as to why he was awake. Then the realization hit him as the sound of squishing assaulted his inner ear and he felt the unnerving ticking of saliva dripping farther down his ear canal.
“Hey!” yelled Wally, leaping up to a sitting position.
He made a grab at Iris, but she swiftly dodged it and ran out of the room. Wally sighed as he tried to wipe as much spit out of his ear as he could. He sighed and looked around for the remote. He figured now that he was awake he might as well watch TV. He quickly noticed that the remote was gone.
“Iris!” he shouted in frustration.
The day continued much like that until the evening, when Wally brushed his teeth and changed into his yellow and red pajamas for bed. He had class relatively early the next day, so he wanted to get a good night’s sleep.
Iris had set up a cot for Wally in her home office, the only other room in the apartment besides her bedroom and the main area. Wally certainly would have preferred his own space, but he knew bunking with his aunt meant some drawbacks. He quickly settled in, grabbed a hold of a pillow, and drifted off to sleep.
When Wally got up he could hear noises in the main room. Iris was speaking with someone. That could only be one person: Barry Allan.
Wally changed into jeans and a T-shirt and wandered into the kitchen, where he found his suspicion to be true. Iris and Barry were both enjoying coffee at the main dining table. They were discussing the weather of all things. For a couple, their conversation topics seemed awfully mundane. Barry came across as excessively boring, which just seemed like a bad match for Iris.
“Morning Wally,” said Barry, raising his mug.
Wally gave a half wave as he made his way to the coffee machine to get himself a cup before leaving for class. He was halfway through pouring his cup when he heard Barry and Iris snickering. Wally tried to ignore it, figuring Iris was just teasing him again. Eventually, as always, Wally’s impatience got the best of him.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, trying to sound casual and not accusatory.
“Just this pic I took,” said Iris, looking at her phone, “I thought maybe I’d submit it at work.”
Wally leaned over and Iris smugly showed him her phone. On the screen was a photo of Wally asleep in the cot, clutching a pillow in one arm and his other arm’s thumb gently resting in his mouth. Wally’s face turned red as he reached for the phone, but Iris leapt away in the nick of time.
“Delete that!” insisted Wally, turning even redder.
“I don’t know,” she smiled, “I feel like Picture News could publish it in our humor section.”
“I mean it!”
Wally ran after Iris, but she bolted away. Wally chased her through the apartment until they made their way back into the kitchen. They rushed past Barry, who was still sitting at the table with his mug of coffee. The sudden brush with the chase caused Barry to spill his coffee all over the table. Both Iris and Wally huffed in frustration at the sight.
“Don’t worry,” assured Barry, getting up, “I’ve got this.”
Wally often wondered what Iris saw in her boyfriend. He seemed like such a stuffy nobody. He never said or did anything interesting, was constantly late, and proved to be something of a doofus when it came to balance and grace.
“Shouldn’t you be getting to class?” Iris asked Wally.
“Shoot!” said Wally, checking his watch, “I do!”
“We still good for lunch?” asked Iris as Wally hurriedly stuffed his supplies into his bookbag.
“Sure,” he said on his way out the door, “And delete that photo!”
“I won’t post it anywhere,” smiled Iris, “Promise.”
“Delete it!” called Wally back as he rushed out the door.
“You’re not going to post it anywhere,” clarified Barry, “Right?”
“Oh I already deleted it,” said Iris, returning to her coffee, “It’s just fun to watch him squirm.”
***
“Where is he?” asked Wally impatiently.
“He’s coming,” assured Iris, “Don’t worry.”
“Can we at least order before he gets here?”
“That’s fair.”
Wally and Iris were seated outside a restaurant in a little outdoor seating area. The weather was warm and calm, so there were quite a few people eating outside. They had been waiting almost a half hour for Barry to arrive and Wally was starting to get worried he’d miss his next class.
“I’m so sorry,” said Barry, jogging up to the table out of breath, “I got caught up at work.”
“No worries, hon,” said Iris, rubbing his shoulder.
“We were just about to order,” said Wally, “Keep an eye out for the waiter.”
“I have to say,” smiled Barry, “We picked a good day for this. The weather’s amazing!”
As if on cue, there was a loud crack of thunder as clouds enveloped the sky. The sun was gone and soon winds started blowing at incredible speeds. Napkins, silverware, and bits of food flew all around the eating area as patrons covered their face.
Wally looked up into the sky and saw a green and yellow figure floating high above them, some sort of rod in his hand.”
“Weather Wizard…” realized Wally.
Central City may not have been Gotham, but it was not without its share of rogues. Weather Wizard was one of the oldest, facing off against Flash since his early days of vigilantism six years ago. Like most figures related to the Flash, Wally knew everything there was to know about Weather Wizard. He fought not with supernatural powers, but with an advanced rod that allowed him control over the weather.
A bolt of lighting crashed down on the street next to them, sending patrons running screaming. Wally acted on instinct and flipped their table over before ducking behind it and pulling Iris down with them. The table shielded them from the intense winds.
“What are you doing?!” cried Iris.
“Running away will just expose ourselves to danger,” explained Wally, “Our best bet is to stay hidden until the Flash arrives. Wait a minute. Where’s Barry?”
“Um…”
Iris looked around nervously. Barry was nowhere to be found.
“Shoot!” cried Wally, “He must have made a run for it. I’ll go get him!”
“Wally, wait!” called Iris.
Wally had already run from under cover to see where he could find Barry. The winds were painfully intense now, circling up over their heads and forming a cyclone with Weather Wizard at the center, lightning emitting from the rod in his hand.
“Come on out Flash!” beckoned Weather Wizard, “Otherwise these precious civilians of yours are going to start experiencing the most extreme kind of inclimate weather!”
Wally looked around, but so no sign of Barry. Everyone else had made it to cover by now. Wally was standing alone in the open amid the chaos of the storm. This caught Weather Wizard’s attention. The villain’s maniacal laughter was the last thing Wally heard before everything changed.
Wally saw the lightning fire from out of the rod and head toward him. It was moving slowly enough that Wally could see it clearly. It was like he was watching the lightning in slow motion. Every part of him tried to move, but no matter how hard Wally fought he stayed completely still. There was nothing he could do but watch the white bolt of lightning come closer and closer.
Wally had no idea how he was able to tell all of this was happening. He knew how fast lightning moved. He should have been dead before he even knew what was happening. Instead he was helplessly watching it happen in slow motion.
Then there was another flash of lightning. This one wasn’t white like natural lightning, it was a bold yellow. It was approaching Wally too at an even faster speed than the white lightning. As the yellow lightning drew closer Wally could see a scarlet clad figure traveling with it.
It’s the Flash! realized Wally, It’s really him!
Wally had lived in Central City for a few months, but never had the pleasure of ever seeing the Flash in person. It was something he secretly hoped to see since the day he applied to CCU. The Flash was Wally’s hero. Now he was finally seeing him. Wally only wished it were under different circumstances.
Flash was moving faster than Weather Wizard’s lightning, but the lightning had a head start on him. Wally watched as they both raced toward him in slow motion. Flash gained more and more ground until he was neck and neck with the lightning. He reached out for Wally. His hand made contact with Wally’s sleeve.
Suddenly, a burst of yellow lightning flew from the Flash at the white lightning. The two bolts collided as a bright yellow light seemed to engulf everything. The next thing Wally knew, he was sitting against a building, gasping for breath and managing his racing heart as Flash knelt beside him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” nodded Wally weakly, “Now go… Go take care of him…”
The Flash nodded and disappeared in a burst of yellow lightning. Weather Wizard’s cackling was cut short as a red and yellow blur raced up the side of a building and launched off to collide with the supervillain. An instant later Weather Wizard was in cuffs next to two halves of his weather rod, sputtering and sparking as the weather started to clear again.
“Yeah!” cheered Wally, leaping to his feet, “Go Flash!”
He had no idea where that burst of energy came from. Moments ago he was exhausted. Now his heart rate was steady, his breath was even, and his muscles felt like they were positively raring to go. It was a great feeling.
Flash had already run off as Central City Police arrived to officially incarcerate Weather Wizard. Wally made his way back to the restaurant, where he found himself nearly tackled by Iris.
“Wally, oh my God!” she exclaimed, “You’re alive! Oh my God!”
“It’s alright,” insisted Wally, pulling away from Iris, “I’m fine. I couldn’t find Barry though.”
“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” said Iris, looking around.
“How are you so sure about that?” asked Wally.
“Hi guys.”
Wally and Iris turned to see Barry nervously walking up to them, looking around and adjusting his clothes.
“Sorry to disappear like that,” he apologized, “I guess the fear got to me. I ran inside and hid without even thinking about it.”
And left Iris here? thought Wally, Some boyfriend.
“Thank God the Flash showed up,” said Iris.
“He always does,” said Wally, thinking of how Flash had saved his life.
Wally thought about telling Barry and Iris about the experience but he realized something. Barry had been so late that with all the craziness of Weather Wizard, Wally was now liable to be late for his next class.
“I have to get to class,” said Wally, grabbing his backpack from behind the overturned table, “Catch you guys later?”
“Wait,” said Barry, “You were just through a lot, Wally. You don’t have to-”
“See ya!” bid Wally, jogging off toward the bus stop.
Wally left the hearing range of his aunt and her boyfriend moments later. He made it to his bus stop in question. This bus would take him to campus, but with all the stops along the way he’d only barely make it. If the bus didn’t arrive soon…
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” sighed Wally.
He had noticed that down the street his bus was driving away, having just left the stop. Now it would be ages before the next one showed up. Wally would be late for sure.
I could always walk it, thought Wally, It might be faster than waiting for another bus…
Wally pictured his route to campus and began to run. Then everything changed. It was like the moment lightning almost struck him again. Everything was completely still. Nothing seemed to be moving at all, except for Wally himself. He found himself running along the route, practically flying across the pavement as he raced there past all the motionless pedestrians. Sparks of yellow lightning danced off him as he did.
Holy thought Wally.
He couldn’t even finish that thought before he found himself at the edge of CCU’s campus, leaves and a stray sheet of paper blowing up around him as multiple students shielded themselves from the wind. Wally looked around in amazement.
“Where did you come from?” asked one of the students.
“Me?” said Wally uncertainly, “Um, I was already here. Like, the whole time.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
This is crazy!! thought Wally, I just ran halfway across the city in an instant, just like the Flash! Do I have all of his speed now? Can I really go as fast as him?
Wally grinned. There was only one way to find out.
***
“Woohoo!” cheered Wally, racing past hundreds of still pedestrians.
He wasn’t concerned with anyone hearing him. He was moving faster than the speed of sound and speaking at comparable speed. The only thing anyone would hear is a fast forwarded version of his voice seconds after he was long gone.
This was amazing. However this superspeed worked, using it was completely intuitive for Wally. He immediately began testing out techniques he had seen the Flash pull off. He raced to Granite Peak National Park and bolted across the surface of a pond there, stepping on the water so quickly that he was across the whole body of it by the time his first step even broke the surface.
Next he went to the tallest skyscraper in the city and ran directly into it, stepping up onto the side and sprinting upward. Soon he was running vertically up the side of the building. He made it to the peak and looked out on the city, taking in the view.
Yellow lightning crackled off Wally’s body. He seemed to emit it whenever he ran. He surmised that it was what allowed his clothes and body to remain undamaged by such high speed motion.
As Wally was taking in the sight of the entire city, a thought came to mind. Running up the side of the building was intuitive, he just changed the direction of his running. Getting down would be trickier. He couldn’t just run down the side, doing so would cause him to impact against the ground even harder than if he fell.
Wally looked around anxiously and sighed with relief when he saw that the building had an access door to the roof, allowing him a safe way down. As Wally rode the elevator to the ground floor, he contemplated what else to do with his newfound powers.
I could get away with anything, he thought, I can do whatever I want.
The moment the elevator doors opened to the lobby Wally zipped out at full speed. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He went straight for CCPD Headquarters, where he sped into the utility closet in the lab, placing his ear against the door and listening closely.
“No problem,” said Barry, “I’ll have it to you by tomorrow afternoon.”
Wally silently pumped his fist. He arrived at the perfect time. Barry worked at CCPD as a forensic scientist and as a distant door closed it seemed as though he was the only one in the lab. It was the perfect time to teach him a lesson for abandoning Wally and Iris earlier.
The first thing Wally did was race out of the closet and circumvent the room to get a look at everything as Barry stood frozen in slow motion. He was wearing a button down and khakis under his white lab coat, getting ready to look through a microscope. A bottle of water sat at the table beside him.
Wally knew just what to do. In the blink of an eye he grabbed the water bottle, raced off to the bathroom, mixed soap into it, found an inkjet printer, took the ink cartridge from inside. Then he returned to the lab where he placed the water exactly where he had taken it from. Then he broke open the cartridge and smeared it across the eyepiece of the ocular lens. Then Wally shut himself back into the closet as if he had never left.
Wally waited patiently in the closet until he heard the sound of Barry retching and spitting out his water. Wally raced out to see everything in slow motion again. Barry was halfway through spitting the soapy water out. There was a thick, black ring around his left eye.
Wally was delighted with himself, but he wasn’t done. Still moving at top speed, Wally rushed up behind Barry, threw his lab coat over his head, unbuckled his belt, and pulled his khakis down to his ankles to reveal his white boxers. Wally then backed up to get a better look as he took out his phone.
“Perfect,” he whispered to himself.
Wally used his phone’s camera to take the picture of the black-eyed, pantsless Barry in his underwear spitting out his water while tangled up in his lab coat. To Wally’s pleasant surprise, his phone took the picture at high speed as well, allowing him to get the picture without slowing down.
Wally raced off, satisfied with his work.
***
There was just one more thing Wally wanted to do with his newfound powers. All his life Iris had gotten the better of him because she was too quick for him to get back at her for her pranks. Now, for once in his life, Wally was faster. He planned to make the most of it.
Wally lay impatiently on his cot awaiting Iris’s return home from work. This wasn’t going to be like the tricks he pulled on Barry. He wanted Iris to know he was the one getting the better of her. That was the whole point.
Wally sat up in excitement as he heard the door open. Forcing himself to move at normal speed, he walked into the main room to greet Iris. Iris smiled at him as she put her purse aside and hung her jacket up on the hook.
“You look like you’re in a good mood,” she said, “Care to share?”
Wally pulled out his phone and pulled up the most recent photo. He smugly showed the image of the humiliated Barry to Iris, who gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth.
“Wally! What?! How!?”
“I figure Picture News could publish it in their humor section,” said Wally, “Don’t you think?”
“I deleted that picture of you,” said Iris, face still contorted as she tried to make sense of what Wally was showing her.
“Good,” smiled Wally, pocketing his phone, “Then we’re almost even.”
“Even for wha-”
Wally sped up to hyperspeed before Iris could finish her sentence. Wally started by coming up behind her, wetting his index fingers, and sticking one in either of her ears. He made sure to move both around a lot, knowing that the high speed squishing would make the experience all the more disgusting for his aunt.
Next Wally raced to the fridge and came back with a handful of ice cubes. Wally looked at Iris’s outfit. She was wearing a white blouse with pinstripe slacks, held up by a thin red belt. Wally pulled away the belt, grabbed the back of her slacks and pulled back to reveal her blue bikini briefs. Wally swiftly grabbed the waistband of those as well, dumped the ice into it, and gave it several yanks upward, knowing Iris would feel the multiple wedgies in quick succession.
Satisfied with his setup, Wally returned to where he was standing and slowed back down to normal speed.
“whaaaaAAAAAAAT!!!!” shrieked Iris.
In the span of less than a second, Iris felt saliva shoved into her ear and swished around over and over. The effect also caused the yellow lighting around her to jump directly into her wet ears, shocking her and leaving her hair standing on end. Next she felt her underwear cram a fistful of ice up into her butt half a dozen times, rubbing and pulling painfully against her as it did.
Iris made a series of distorted grunts as she pulled the ice out of her pants, fixed her wedgie, and tried in vain to get the spit out of her ears. Wally practically fell over, letting out a long and hard belly laugh. Revenge felt good.
“Oh my God,” realized Iris, “You’re… You’re…”
“Faster than you,” sneered Wally.
“How?” asked Iris, now too caught up in this revelation to pay attention to her damp underpants or tingling ears, “Was it when Weather Wizard attacked?”
“I think so,” said Wally, “Flash saved me, you know. I never got the chance to tell you. I guess his powers somehow transferred to me.”
“That’s-” stammered Iris, “and you still- Wait a minute.”
Wally crossed his arms and tapped his foot as he waited for her to piece it together. She seemed to be more overwhelmed by this than he was.
“Have you talked to Barry?” she asked.
“No,” said Wally, “Why?”
There was a knock at the door. Iris motioned for Wally to stay as she checked the peephole. Sighing with relief, she opened the door to let Barry in. He did not look happy.
He couldn’t possibly know it was me, thought Wally, Could he?
“We have to tell him,” said Iris.
“Oh we have to tell him alright,” said Barry angrily.
“Tell me what?” asked Wally, not having expected to be the confused one in this scenario.
Barry disappeared for a moment as he became a red blur surrounded by yellow lightning. When the blur cleared the Flash was standing right where Barry had been. It only took one look at Flash’s face after just having seen Barry’s for Wally to put together what was going on.
“Oh,” he realized, before adding, “Oh! Oh no.”
“Oh no is right, kid,” said the Flash, “You sure found a funny way to use your new gift, huh?”
“I didn’t know you were the Flash!” blurted out Wally, “Otherwise I wouldn’t have-”
“Risked both of our secrets by harassing me at work?” said the Flash.
“...sorry,” admitted Wally weakly, “...so you saw me do all that?”
“Of course I did,” said the Flash, “I just know that keeping my powers a secret is more important than some petty- What’s up with you?”
The Flash turned to Iris, noticing her shifting around uncomfortably.
“You weren’t the only one Wally used his speed against,” she sighed.
“Oh really?” said the Flash, “So you messed with Iris too?”
“I was just getting back at her!” pled Wally.
“Tell you what,” said the Flash, suddenly changing his tone, “I’ll teach you the ropes of being a speedster. How to use it, how to stay safe with it, and even how to save people with it.”
“You mean,” smiled Wally, “like you do?”
“Yup,” nodded the Flash, “If you’re willing to learn, of course.”
“I am!” declared Wally, “I’m so ready!”
“Alright then,” grinned the Flash, “First lesson: action and reaction.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you’re a speedster it’s imperative that you understand...” said the Flash.
Suddenly there was a burst of yellow lightning. Wally jumped up to hyperspeed to keep up with the Flash. To his shock, though he could see the Flash moving around, he didn’t have nearly the speed to keep up with him. He could only watch as the Flash raced up behind him, grabbed his boxer briefs, and hoisted him into the air.
Experiencing a wedgie in slow motion was odd. Wally could feel the waistband slide higher as the cotton slowly made its way into his butt. The worst part was that just when it seemed the wedgie was as far in him as it could go, the pressure only kept increasing. The pain got worse and worse as the pressure on Wally’s crotch intensified. The pain let up for a moment before worsening as the Flash jerked him up again.
Wally could only let out a weak moan as he was dragged through the air past Iris’s stationary body to the coat hook at the front of the apartment, where the Flash hooked Wally’s waistband before they both returned to normal speed. Wally regretted this as he plummeted into the full gravitational force of the wedgie, crushing his balls as the fabric went up even further.
“...that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” finished the Flash, resting his hands on his hips.
“Oh my God!” laughed Iris, “Barry!”
“What?” he shrugged, “I’ve got to look after my Iris.”
Iris smiled as the Flash brought her in close for a kiss. Wally awkwardly looked away as they moaned into each other. Then it continued as the two began to feel each other up.
“Um, guys?” said Wally, “Hello?”
“We’ll get you later, Wally,” assured Iris as she unbuttoned her blouse and pulled away from the Flash, “I promise.”
“Come here, you!” smiled the Flash, rushing them both into the bedroom in a burst of lightning.
“Come on!” whined Wally, kicking his legs, “Guys!”