Chapter Text
It’d been a rather dreary day with depressing weather sinking from the sky in heavy rain. Wally had barely avoided getting absolutely drenched when he’d traveled from Central City to San Francisco. He’d taken care of some things with his mentor, Barry Allen, involving a rather common appearance of the elusive Mirror Master. Needless to say, Mirror Master was in jail now, and Wally finally had the time to visit the tower to check up on his teammates.
That is why he is disappointed to find out that no one was at the tower. Wally had been quick to find out that Starfire was hanging out with another group they called the Outlaws, Cyborg was off at the Justice League’s watchtower, Wally had absolutely no idea where Raven was, and Nightwing was probably taking care of his life in Bludhaven. Wally was entirely alone. This was not a thrilling revelation. Wally had cleared up his entire schedule just to hang out with his teammates. It was rather disappointing that not a single one of them were there. He really should have called beforehand. Planned it out, even.
Wally had decided after an hour of moping - in a state of self-misery and woe - that he’d feel better if he distracted himself. He settled for using their high-tech equipment for debriefing the team about missions to watch a movie.
(“That’s not what it’s for,” he could imagine Nightwing saying with an amused smile. Great. He was having auditory hallucinations.)
He’s thirty minutes into Cars, because why not, before he hears the familiar sound of a zeta beam. Wally turns to glance over his shoulder to spot their visitor.
Speak of the devil.
He finds an instant smile when he spots Nightwing in his spandex glory, and opens his mouth to say something. He stops short when he spots the child propped up on Nightwing’s hip. The child looked young. He had a head of black hair, green eyes, and cheeks filled with baby-fat. Wally guessed that he had to be a toddler.
“Did you kidnap someone’s kid?” Wally finally manages to ask after a moment of observation. He takes note of Dick’s haggard appearance. His hair was a mess. The mask couldn’t hide the exhaustion in his face or in his slumped posture.
“Are you the only one here?” Nightwing returns. Wally suspected he was purposefully not answering the question. That’s okay. Wally was used to Dick not revealing information until they were in the middle of a crisis.
Wally glances back at the toddler who scowls at him.
“That’d be correct,” Wally sighs. He makes the effort to look as dejected as he felt because it’d been a real bummer to find out that no one else was in the tower. “Everyone else is out of town.”
‘Kachow,’ Lightning McQueen says on the screen, reminding Wally that he’d been in the middle of watching a movie, and that Dick had appeared in the middle of said movie.
To Nightwing’s credit, he doesn’t bat an eyelash at Wally's choice of entertainment. He doesn’t even comment, really, which gave Wally the impression that something was... off. Dick hadn’t even started the conversation with the usual friendly banter. That was the norm for their relationship. They never took themselves seriously around each other unless they were out in the field.
“Wally,” Dick starts, setting warning bells off in Wally’s mind. Dick never called Wally his name when they were in costume. Extra emphasis on the never. The only time he’d called Wally his name was when they’d reunited after he emerged from the speed force. “I have a huge favor I need to ask of you.”
Wally straightens himself up on the couch.
“What is it?” Wally asks, eager to know, eager to learn. Dick didn’t just ask anyone for favors. Wally had helped Dick a couple of times before, as was the nature of friends, but he’d never had Dick come to him outright asking for help. Usually the help that they both extended to each other was unspoken. They simply sensed that the other needed assistance and acted accordingly. It was this nonverbal communication that did wonders for them out in the field. They shared a bond that Wally didn’t share with many people. The only other people he could think about at the top of his head were Barry and Linda.
“I need someone to watch Damian,” Dick explains. Wally notices the stress in his voice.
“You want me to baby-sit? Can’t you hire… I don’t know… a professional for that? Not that I’m against it. I just… why?”
“Damian’s babysitter didn’t show up - I need to help Batman with a case - no one in my family is available,” Dick starts, bursting into hysterics, “I even tried Catwoman, Wally. Catwoman.”
“His name is Damian?” Wally questions.
“Yeah, isn’t he cute? Don’t worry. He won’t cause you any trouble. He won't bite you. He’s stopped growling at people. Please.”
Wally stands up from the couch. “Nightwing. Chill. I’ll watch over the little tyke. Also, did you just tell me he growls at people?”
The relief in Nightwing’s posture is immediate. Nightwing adjusts the child on his hip, Damian, and then gives Wally a wobbly smile. He looked like a ball of emotion about to burst. Wally felt the concern for his friend’s state inch upward.
Nightwing completely ignores his question. “Thanks, Wally, I owe you one.”
“Yeah, well I owe you more,” Wally returns. He couldn’t even begin to count how many times Dick had saved him from getting into trouble. The least he could do was… baby-sit his… uh… child?
“Hold on-” Wally starts, connecting the dots. Did Dick Grayson, his childhood friend who’d just started running around as his own hero a couple of years ago, have a child?
That was wrong.
That was wrong.
Holy- they were just- they were like... nineteen! Wally had never imagined his best friend getting a girl- oh hell. He didn’t want to think about it.
“Damian. I need you to be on your extra-best-behavior. Okay?” Dick tells the boy as he sets him down on the floor. Dick might have released the boy from his arms, but Damian was not eager for the separation. He’d grabbed at Dick’s leg in a silent plea. Dick’s response to this was to smooth over the little boy’s hair with a gloved hand. “Daddy’s just going to be away for a couple of hours. I’ll be back soon.”
He’s a dad!? Wally mentally screams.
“I love you.” Dick crouches down to press a kiss against his toddler’s head. He then shoots Wally an appreciative glance. “I’ll be back soon. You know how to reach me if something happens.”
“Uh- right-” Wally says because he has no words.
Dick presses two fingers up to the comm in his ear. Wally isn’t surprised to see Nightwing fade out of existence in filtered light. Damian’s twisted expression suggested he had the opposite reaction. Wally feels dread wash down his spine when Damian looks at him with wide, glassy, eyes. He’d had enough experience with kids to know what was going to come next.
Damian’s bottom lip trembles. Wally watches him open his mouth, and then prepares himself for what would come.
Damian erupts into loud sobs.
“Daddy,” he wails.
Wally panics. He disappears from the couch in a yellow blur, reappearing right next to Damian, but that only seemed to turn up the volume on the kid’s distressed sobbing. Wally had figured it had something to do with the fact that he might not appreciate Wally’s presence, but then he remembers that most normal people don’t watch a person literally run across the room in two seconds. He basically teleported.
Nice going, Wally, scare the kid, why don’t you?
“Um, hey!” Wally tries. His hands hovered in the air as if to touch Damian, but there was just something about touching other people’s children without permission that made Wally feel a little uncomfortable. He’s not sure Dick would appreciate it if he picked Damian up - not sure if there were any unspoken rules - and it didn’t help that he didn’t know Damian. He didn’t want to make the kid feel more upset because Wally, a complete stranger, decided to pick him up off of the ground. It didn’t matter that he was Dick’s kid. Wally still felt iffy about it.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” Wally asks. “I love Cars. I’m watching it right now. Would you like to watch it, too?”
Damian’s little chubby face turns red with his sobs.
What did I agree to?
“Do you like pancakes? I like pancakes. Want some pancakes? I can make about a hundred of them. You can have two. I’ll eat the rest.”
Wally is helpless as Damian continues in his sorrow. He feels something twinge in his heart, like the prick of a needle, because he could see where Damian was coming from. His dad had just dropped him off with somebody who he didn’t know, and then he’d just disappeared into thin air. That wasn’t exactly a comforting thing to see when you were… what… two?
He might not even understand half of what I’m saying, Wally considers inwardly. There weren’t a lot of two year olds that could carry a conversation. Not unless they were Conner.
Wally withdraws himself from his thoughts when he hears the zeta beam again. He looks up from Damian to watch another one of his friends materialize into existence. Starfire couldn’t have better timing. Wally really needed help.
“Star,” Wally gasps, sounding a tad desperate, “are you good with children?”
Star fixes her green eyes on Wally. She blinks curiously for a moment before smiling widely. She picks herself up in the air, hovering a few inches over the ground, and floats to his side. Her long red hair follows the curve of her back like the waves of the sea, glowing as the embers of a campfire, making her just as alien as she claimed to be. Nevertheless, alien or no, Starfire would always be Wally’s friend.
“Kid Flash,” Starfire greets warmly. “I do not associate often with the children of men. What is it that I might do to assist?”
“I don’t know-” Wally stresses, “I don’t know how to make him stop crying.”
“Hm. Perhaps he might relent to the tactics I applied to my younger brother, Ryand’r, when mother was away.”
“You have a younger brother?” Wally asks. Why hadn’t he known this?
“Yes. I would like to introduce him to you one day. I have not seen him for a long time,” Starfire hums. She gently lands on the ground, tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear, and considers the crying toddler with something akin to fascination. “What is his name?”
“Damian,” Wally answers.
"Damian,” Starfire repeats. She gathers the little boy in her arms. He struggles against her. He slams his tiny fists into her chest while making angry, upset, noises. He turns his crying fit more into a tantrum than what it had started out as. “Allow me to tell you about my people. My brother often enjoyed listening to our stories. Perhaps you would find them entertaining, as well.”
He’s two, Wally thinks.
Starfire starts to rock. She shifts her weight from one heel to the other. Wally was impressed that she didn’t seem to mind Damian’s violent resistance.
“In fact, there is a lullaby I know, one that recounts the suffering of my people.”
Damian screams. Wally winces.
That does not deter Starfire. She introduces her song with a hum. She rubs circles on Damian’s back as she picks the song up in words, but Wally could not make out what she was saying. It was all in her native language. She kept going even as Damian continued to resist against her hold. Wally even thought about suggesting that Starfire just let him go because obviously holding him didn’t seem to be making anything better.
But Wally, as impatient as he was, waits it out.
He can’t help it. Damian’s cries are loud, but Starfire’s singing is entrancing. There was something about the way she sang… Wally really couldn’t put his finger on it… but he didn’t want it to stop.
Damian must have caught on to it, too, because Wally finally observes the fight slowly leave him. Damians ends up pressing his face against Starfire’s bare shoulder. The sobs die down leaving only hiccups behind. Damian’s small body jolts with each one.
I’m so glad Starfire is here.
Wally feels the relief relax his shoulders.
Starfire sings for a few more minutes before reverting back to a hum. She begins to walk back and forth. She had most likely gotten tired of standing in the same place.
“He is a delightful listener,” she comments after Damian calms down. He leans all of his weight against her.
“I’m not sure I’d call that listening,” Wally says.
“Nonsense. He is great at listening.”
“I can’t believe that worked.” Wally throws a hand through his hair.
“He just needed some love,” Starfire puts out warmly. “Why is he here, anyway? Could you not find more adequate housing for him?”
“Nightwing dropped him off,” Wally answers. “Said he wanted me to watch over him for a couple of hours. He looked pretty stressed out about the whole thing.”
“Nightwing…? That is… peculiar.”
“Yeah. Peculiar, alright,” Wally agrees. He wouldn’t mention that Nightwing was Damian’s dad. He wasn’t sure Dick would appreciate him spreading that information around. He wasn’t even sure Dick had been coherent enough to even understand that he’d just called himself Damian’s ‘daddy’ when he dropped him off.
“Now that the child has calmed down, Kid Flash, what else do you need assistance with?”
“Good question. I don’t know. Entertaining him?”
“How would you propose we do such a thing?”
“We could get him something to eat. I said I’d make him pancakes, anyway.”
“Oh! I do love pancakes! Please make them!” Starfire cheers.
“Yeah! Sure! Let me just-”
Wally makes the effort not to run across the room in a yellow blur. He wasn’t sure Damian would appreciate that. He instead heads for their open kitchen, and reaches for the apron they’d hung on a nail for him.
“Gotta get the batter ready first,” Wally informs Starfire. He glances at her briefly, long enough to watch her pick herself up in the air again, and float herself and Damian to a stool at the breakfast counter. She sits Damian in her lap. Wally got a good enough look to see that his face was still all red, but at least he wasn’t crying anymore.
Starfire babbles as Wally starts cooking up brunch. He listens to her talk about her time with the Outlaws, interjects a comment or two, and finds amusement when she tries to engage Damian in conversation. She must’ve known that he couldn’t really reply to her, but she still talked to him anyway like he was included. It was a nice gesture.
Wally ends up getting a plastic knife for Starfire to spread her own amount of butter on her pancakes (if she wanted to) and sets it aside on her plate. He stacks a couple of blueberry pancakes for her, making sure to generously pour on the syrup, and slides it on the counter in front of her. He doesn’t stick around long enough to see her reaction. He still had about seventy more pancakes to go, and Damian’s own serving to cook up.
When he does finally get Damian’s serving ready, he turns once more to place it in front of him, but he stops when he sees the plastic knife in Damian’s hand.
“Uh-”
Starfire beams as she guides Damian’s hand in spreading the butter across the pancakes. Damian watched intensely as she did so. His eyes would not move away from the knife.
“Starfire. I don’t know about where you come from, but we don’t give children knives on earth.”
“It is plastic, Kid Flash,” Starfire informs him. “It is hardly dangerous.”
“It is for a baby,” Wally tells her, plopping Damian’s plate next to hers.
“Well. Damian enjoys the knife,” Starfire defends. “He would not give it back when I tried to take it from him.”
“Why’d you let him pick it up in the first place?” Wally asks, genuinely confused.
“He seemed interested in it,” Starfire replies.
“That’s not a good enough reason, Star, he’s just a baby. Babies don’t know anything about what’s good for them.”
“You would ruin his fun? I do not understand humans sometimes.”
Starfire releases Damian’s wrist. He withdraws his hand back to himself and keeps the knife tight in his grip.
“Here, let me just-” Wally says, reaching over the counter to get the knife out of Damian’s hand, but then the boy shoots him the nastiest glare he’d ever seen from a toddler.
“I need it,” Wally attempts to convince. “It’s for the butter.”
Wally manages to get his hand around the knife, but it wasn’t in a comfortable position. Damian had his hand blocking most of the handle. Wally was forced to try to grab the edge.
Starfire slaps his hand.
“Stop that,” she scolds.
Wally withdraws his hand with wide eyes.
“Wha-”
“It is his possession,” Starfire defends. “Do not offer lies to retrieve it. He is too smart for it.”
Wally didn’t know if he should be defensive or confused. He had a hard time keeping the two from mixing together.
Starfire is running fingers through Damian’s hair when Nightwing reappears in the tower. It was pitch black outside which made Wally a little more appreciative over the fact he’d cleared his schedule for the day. Damian was sleeping next to Starfire. He was curled up on top of the couch’s cushions, belly full of pancakes, with the knife still in his hand. Wally hadn’t been able to pry it away from him the entire day.
Damian: 1 Wally: 0
It didn’t help that Starfire believed Damian somehow deserved the plastic knife.
He was just glad that Damian hadn’t hurt himself.
They’d spent most of the day figuring out how to entertain Damian. Wally had felt the hours stretch out upon awaiting Dick’s return, but he was glad for Starfire’s presence. He’d taken the day off to spend time with his team after all, and it didn’t matter if there was a toddler added in the mix. It also didn't matter if the day seemed unbearably long.
Wally had sprawled himself on the ground in front of the couch when he’d heard the zeta beam. He shot up with hope in his heart when he’d heard the transporter’s familiar noise, and felt relieved of an unseen burden when he spotted Dick.
Dick looked more exhausted than he’d been when Wally first saw him. He seemed paler than before. The way he held himself implied that he could just collapse at any moment.
“You look like you’re a walking corpse,” Wally says, bluntly.
Dick smiles, returning sarcastically, “Thanks.”
“It’s true. What hit you? Was it your top-secret mission with Batman?”
Dick approaches the couch. “Yeah. We had to bust a couple of escapees from Arkham. It was absolute hell.”
“Oof,” Wally winces. He thought about commenting on how Dick should have asked him for help, but then he remembered that Batman had a strict ‘no-meta’ rule in Gotham. Batman wouldn’t have liked it for Wally to show up on his turf. He’d probably ban Wally altogether for getting involved in ‘his’ problems.
Which was stupid. Honestly.
“Star,” Dick greets when he lays eyes on her.
“Nightwing,” she returns warmly. “You will be glad to know that we have adequately protected your young one from all danger while you were away.”
“I can see that,” Dick says. His eyes shift from Starfire to Damian’s sleeping form. His expression softens. There was vague amusement there, too, and it probably had to do with the fact that Starfire had clippeed Damian’s hair back to keep his bangs from obstructing his vision. Or it could be the knife. Wally wasn't sure.
“So? Are you going to tell us why you freaked out earlier?” Wally questions.
Dick goes around the couch. He carefully lowers himself. He then slowly gathers Damian up in his arms, and rests Damian against his chest. Damian stirs enough to snuggle his face in Dick’s shirt, but then he settles down once more in his deep-sleep.
“It’s just been stressful,” Dick mumbles. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a combination of things. It’s hard to keep up with my career, stay in contact with my family, go out nightly for patrol, and take care of Damian.”
“He is yours?” Starfire asks.
“Yeah. He’s mine,” Dick affirms.
"Is the mother in the picture?” Wally asks. He tries to do it as reverently as possible as to not give off the impression that he was trying to be rude. He’d never do such a thing.
“Kind of. Not really. She visits sometimes.”
“Who is she?” Starfire questions.
Dick shifts uncomfortably. “You don’t want to know.”
“Oh,” Starfire sounds. That didn’t deter her, though. She simply asks, “Have you had him for long?”
“Well - no - only a couple of months, really. I just got him recently.”
“Well, could have fooled me,” Wally grumbles. “He was screaming for you when you left. We had a hard time stopping him from crying.”
That catches Dick’s attention. He sounds hopeful when he says, “He was crying about me?”
“Yep. Turned himself red over it.”
Dick makes a happy noise. Wally didn’t know how else to describe it. He just seemed incredibly pleased at the knowledge.
“That’s… that’s… great,” Dick words out, emotionally, “I thought he hated me.”
“I had the opposite impression,” Wally says.
“We had a rocky start,” Dick explains. “His mom dropped him off without much of a warning.”
“That’s a douche move,” Wally says with a raised brow.
“Yeah. Well. She said she didn’t really have any other options. I didn’t understand until later. Damian’s got a lot of people trying to get him. It’s hard to find someone who’s not only willing to baby-sit him, but also protect him.”
Wally widens his eyes in revelation. “That’s why you were having a hard time, earlier.”
“Right. I couldn’t just call anyone. It had to be someone I knew.”
“Well,” Wally gives Dick a small smile, “we kept him safe.”
“And I’m glad for it,” Dick tells him. He rubs Damian’s back up and down. He also fought to keep a yawn back, but Wally saw a little bit of it slip through his expression anyway.
“He was a delightful child,” Starfire informs Dick. “We had much fun in the way of playing.”
“That’s great, Kor’i,” Dick’s voice sinks. He didn’t sound as awake as he had been.
“You should have seen him. Kor’i brought out a bunch of old Tamaranian relics from her childhood so that Damian could play with them. There was this one object that projected the animals of her planet, and Damian couldn’t get enough of it.”
Wally laughs, mostly to himself.
But then Starfire hushes him.
“What?”
“He is sleeping,” she scolds.
Wally finds out quickly that Starfire was correct. Dick had fallen asleep in the middle of their conversation. He was now dozing off, his arms slipping away from Damian’s form, and Wally didn’t really see the safety in their position.
“Help me out, Star.”
Starfire gently pries Damian out of Dick’s arms. The man stirs when he notices Damian’s lacking presence, but Wally soothes him by whispering reassurances.
“Don’t worry, buddy, you’ll have Damian in a minute.”
Wally helps Dick lay across the couch. He grabs one of the couch’s pillows to cushion Dick’s head.
Starfire wordlessly settles Damian on Dick’s chest. Dick reaches a hand to rest on Damian’s small back, as if to make sure he was actually there, and hums tiredly when he finds proof that Damian’s weight wasn’t fake.
“Sleep tight, bud.”
Dick makes an appreciative noise.
Starfire and Wally both stand there for a second of observation. They glance at each other with small smiles. Without a word, they communicate with their eyes alone that they should leave the room to talk as to disrupt Dick’s sleep, and so they start the journey to the elevator.
When the doors close in front of them, Wally says, “Well. That was freaking adorable.”
“Yes,” Starfire agrees.
Wally glances at her. “You don’t feel strange about Dick having a son?”
She responds, “Why would I feel strange?”
“Well. I know that you two… kind of have a thing.”
“We’ve never really been in a relationship,” Starfire informs him. “He is not bound to me. I am not bound to him.”
“Would you like to be?”
“Yes,” Starfire answers honestly, “but only when he is ready.”
“Cool.”
Silence falls over them as the elevator makes a few dings to alert them to which floors they were passing.
Finally, Starfire asks, “Do you have children, as well?”
And Wally almost chokes on his spit.
“No.”
Man. He really needed to check in with Linda.
Also, maybe he should have taken the plastic knife away from Damian, because that couldn't be safe to sleep with.
(He'd do it later, running at super-human speeds, and the sleeping duo wouldn't suspect a thing.)