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The Justice League. An order of heroes sworn to protect the Earth and Universe with teamwork. And super powers of course. The founding members were closer than ever now. The League was expanding, more and more heroes joining every week. But with that remained the founding members; Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and The Flash. They all knew each other's names, home cities, personalities. They were family, and to the League that meant unspoken family dynamics.
Bruce, Batman, was mom. Overbearing strict mom who cared so deeply for each and every member but never showed it. The mom who had plans for everything and was never caught unprepared. Clark, Superman, was dad. The fun dad who could be strict if needed but was better at comfort and emotional problems. Oliver, Green Arrow, was the crazy uncle who let you do what your parents never did while J’onn, Martian Manhunter, was the serious uncle who you couldn’t get away from anything with. John, Green Lantern, and Diana, Wonder Woman, were the eldest siblings aiding in each other's antics while also trading out responsibilities. Shay, Hawkgirl, was the middle child, flipping between rolls and getting showered in love while the baby of the family was Wally, The Flash. An energetic bundle of joy, happiness, impulses, and trouble.
Wally West was the glue that kept the League family in place. He was always there no matter what, bright and smiling, cracking jokes, and stuffing his face with food. The team knew he was young, 26 at most, and was smart when it came to science, but past that they all just saw him as the kid of the team. Rash and impulsive but trustworthy and could have your back. That was what he wanted them to see. They didn’t need to know his personal life. His problems. Bruce knew of course but that man knew everything. No one else needed to know what happened to him as a child, throughout his life, what struggles he had in the past. The child of the group was what he wanted to be, it was who the Flash was. They didn’t need to see Wally West as any different.
Wally didn’t expect that to change today or any time soon.
It wasn’t like he meant to fall asleep on the watchtower couch. When he sat down he had no intention of doing anything other than getting a few moments to rest his legs. For everyone else just getting back from the mission he had only been running for maybe an hour total, something he had done plenty of times in the past.
But to him? He had been going non-stop for a week. First his gallery of Rogues in Central city had decided to rob three banks at once. Then at work he had been given assignment after assignment non-stop. There had also been four Justice League missions he was assigned to, multiple issues he had to handle in both Blue Valley and Keystone, and then on top of everything he had gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep total and only been able to take his medication two days out of seven so was gooing through the equivalent of a withdrawal but for speedsters.
It was a rough week and he was exhausted. So, when he sat down with the idea to rest his eyes for no longer than a minute, his body decided enough was enough.
Wally West was out in a flash.
This was how Diana and John found him, cowl pulled off and resting behind his head, bright red curly hair on full display but stuck to his head as if he had worn his mask way too long, eyes closed and head tilted back against the couch snoring lightly with his arms folded in front of him.
“Awe look at him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be so…”
“Still.” Diana finished John’s sentence, moving to the side of the couch to get a better look at their sleeping teammate. She noticed the bags under the others eyes, dark circles clear on the pale skin.
“I think the kids been working himself a bit too hard. We should probably let him sleep.”
“We should tell Batman. He should sleep in his own bed, not a couch. That cannot be comfortable.” Diana moved out of the room to pop her head into the observation deck where Batman and Superman had still been talking while J’onn was on watch. “The Flash fell asleep in the common area.”
Superman blinked, turning his head to look at Diana while Batman pulled out a communication device.
“Did you just say that Flash fell asleep? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that man still for more than a minute, let alone still enough too be asleep,”
“If you want to look, I think John is taking pictures, however we should probably wake him up so that he can rest somewhere more comfortable.”
“Don’t wake him up.” Bruce didn’t look up from his communicator when he spoke, but the warning was clear in his voice without the added glare.
“Why?” Superman couldn’t help but be confused. Maybe Bruce knew that Flash wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep if he was woken? There was clearly some information not being shared.
“You have clearly never had to try to wake him up before. Someone is coming to get him. Just keep an eye on him for now.” The Bat moved to put away his device, finally looking up at Diana. “You said he was in the common area?”
She nodded, eyebrows pinched in curiosity as she followed Batman with her eyes. He was moving towards the common area, clearly with the intent of heading towards Flash. She, as well as Superman, trailed behind the man. When they entered the common area, John Stewart had his phone out, snapping silent photos of a sleeping and still speedster.
“Wow, he is asleep.”
Nightwing B-02 Recognized
It was only a couple moments of observation before Nightwing entered the room. Nightwing was fairly tall, dark hair longer and pulled back with a domino covering his eyes. He was still in uniform, escrima sticks strapped to his back. He entered the room with a smile, waving to the other Justice League members.
“Hey guys, heard you had a Speedster of mine?”
“Nightwing.” Batman nodded in acknowledgment to the other hero. Nightwing moved to shake hands with Superman, Clarks eyes brightening a bit.
“Hey kiddo, you been doing good?”
“Yeah, you know keeping Bludhaven safe.”
Clark hadn’t seen Nightwing in a long time, not since the man first took up the mantle after being released from the title of Robin. It had been years at least. He was so proud of the boy and how he had grown into a proper man, a hero of his own. He wasn’t expecting Nightwing to be the one collecting his teammate, however.
Before he could ask, Nightwing was moving in front of the Flash and crouching down in front of the sleeping man..The other League members observed, remembering Batman’s warning about waking the other up. But, since Batman had clearly called Nightwing for this purpose, no one interrupted.
“Flash. Hey. Time to wake up.” Nightwing spoke softly, looking up at the other hero as he gently laid a hand on the Flashes forearm. Green eyes shot awake, Wally’s breath catching as he startled back into consciousness with a near violent flinch. He looked ready for a fight, breathing nearly stopped and eyes wild, filled with fear. Nightwing’s hand had moved to tangle itself in Wally’s hand, gripping tightly.
“Wally, hey hey hey. It's me. You fell asleep at the Watchtower.” Wally nearly looked ready to swing at someone until he heard Nightwing’s voice, his breath stuttering as his eyes began to focus on the man in front of him.
“D- Nightwing? I’m- Fuck. Did I-?” Batman moved to shoo the other leaguers out of the room and give the couple some privacy, but by letting them stay around this long it made the point he was hoping. If anyone else but Nightwing had woken the Flash someone would’ve gotten hurt and that much was clear.
“It’s good. You’re good Walls, I have you. Let’s head home, okay?” Diana and John caught a glimpse of Nightwing’s hand moving to rest on the Flash’s cheek in a soothing and fairly intimate manner before they were ushered out of the room and back into the observation deck.
“Are they-” John started but never got to finish the sentence before Batman spoke up.
“If the Flash is ever asleep, or infected by fear toxin, or anything similar, you contact Nightwing. If he is not available you contact Arsenal or me. Otherwise you will end up in a bad situation. Understood?”
The team nodded, the Zeta tubes announcing the departure of the couple.
It was clear now that there was more to their Kid brother than first seemed. Then again, no one really knew him did they? You can’t be a hero without trauma.