AW11041 they asked for this in September so why not release it like 4 months later :D

"You're just making them mad," Flash announced once Batman asked if there were any questions. He'd been obsessed with making Dick and Wally's criminal activity Justice League issues when it simply wasn't that important. Ever since the pair left the vigilante life and did a 180 turn into becoming villains, Batman had come into meetings once every week to pitch them a mission that was very obviously built on his bitterness and Flash was getting sick of everyone indulging him. It was difficult enough to have to accept that his nephew had changed without his fellow hero constantly bringing them up. They were happy and it sucked that they weren't happy being on the good side of the law but what was the point in treating them like bigger-level threats than they actually were? All it did was sweep actual threats under the rug.

"We don't let criminals get away with things because it makes them mad," Batman snapped. "If they've decided to be criminals then they have to face the consequences."

"Fine I'll give you that but it's not of League interest to run around after them," the speedster argued. The other heroes in the room sank back into their chairs and prayed to leave the room but getting up would risk getting sucked into the fight. If they were, they'd have to deal with Batman's passive-aggressive nature for the next week because they had to agree with Flash. Sure, the duo needed to be brought to justice but it wasn't their job to do that. It was Batman's and Flash's since the crimes happened within their cities but it wasn't affecting much else. They were contained within small areas and didn't pose a threat to the entire world as they knew it.  "I get you're upset but you can't keep doing this," Flash insisted.

"Our proteges turning towards injustice gives us a bad name. We need to show we don't tolerate this behaviour."

"We have shown that! I haven't seen my nephew outside of the news in months. We used to talk every single day but you wouldn't know anything about how that could affect someone, would you? You hardly talked to Dick outside of work in the first place and here you are just punishing them for punishment's sake because Dick went against you and you can't handle that after trying to mould that poor boy into a version of yourself. You did it with Jason and you're doing it with him." Batman narrowed his gaze but he held his own against it. 

"I did no such thing."

"You had such a bad relationship with your son that you find it so easy to throw him into the very institution you yourself know tortures their prisoners but I don't! I love those damn kids so I find it very hard to think about placing them in the hands of people who don't care if they live or die and I'm sorry to find out that a pair of those hands belong to you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," the Dark Knight responded. He stood up, unable to stay in this meeting if it meant hearing more from the man.

"I know plenty because that boy cried enough in my own home and Wally called me enough times worried sick about him," he said as he pushed his chair in. "But you wouldn't know about that because your head is so far up your ass that you're on, what? Your fifth child? And you still make the same mistakes. If you were my father, it would be incredibly easy to think a life of crime is better than a world that praises you as a hero." He left the room swiftly after and they fell into silence with other heroes deciding that it was best to leave than get caught up in the business any further. Batman watched them drain out of the room before taking a seat himself and staring at the screen, resting his chin on his knuckles before rubbing his lips nervously. The silence hung over him but he took solace in it, assuring himself he was in the right. 

Barry was pissed at first as he stormed all the way home but as he tried to take his mind off things, all he could feel was the sadness of not being able to simply call up Wally and catch up. He loved Wally like his own son and he may as well have been. They spent so much time together that now all he could see were the gaping holes left by having to cut Wally off. 

"Who says you have to cut him off?" Iris asked him after hearing of the meeting blow up.  She'd seen him moping about the home, trying to comfort himself with waffles and whipped cream, and couldn't sit back as he grieved for something that wasn't dead. It was just no longer there but that didn't mean it would never be there and she didn't want to pretend like it was impossible to bring back. 

"What do you mean? I had to cut him off. If people found out I was talking with them, it would look bad on both Flash and Barry," he answered glumly. She put an arm around him and pressed a kiss against his temple but her features were serious and stubborn. This wasn't something he could sway her on and he honestly didn't want to because he liked the idea. He wanted her idea to work even if there was a part of his brain saying that it never could because they were on opposite sides. 

"Barry, those two are the smartest people we know. I'm pretty sure they could cause a war with how good they are at faking evidence. We both know they killed that mob boss but the evidence says they were in Germany on vacation," she assured him. Barry sighed and took another bite of his wallowing waffles. It wasn't as easy as calling them up and setting up a location to meet up. There was baggage that came with the decision to reach out. 

"Bruce will hate it. He'll find out and make my life hell as a result." The man could be incredibly passive-aggressive when he wanted to be and that included barring him from the fun big League missions. 

"Really? Bruce is what you're worried about? He's not exactly the figure of outstanding morals and isn't he already making your life hell by bringing them up in every meeting? You don't have to appease him because he can't move on," she pointed out. He hummed and took another bite to contemplate.

"You're right. Do you think they'll even want to see me? I didn't exactly stand by their decision. I've never yelled at Wally that hard before." Iris gave him a soft smile and another comforting kiss.

"They'll understand. I'm sure they'd both love to hear from you. Especially Wally." He hoped she was right.

A knock on the door made Wally raise an eyebrow. He and Dick were staying in a safe house on the coast and didn't bring along any of their henchmen with them which made it weird that there was anyone knocking on the door. Nobody knew where they were or at least, nobody should know where they were. Considering Dick was currently half asleep by his side, sick with a fever from a rough chest infection, he knew that it wasn't one of the two people who knew of this location. Given that he was the only other person, he was certain whoever they were, they weren't supposed to be there. If they were someone who wanted to hurt them then they were doing a bad job of killing them by knocking so politely. He narrowed his eyes as there was another round of knocking. Clearly whoever was there wasn't going away without them answering. He huffed and got out of bed to reach for his gun. 

"Nooo," Dick whined when he felt him pull away. His voice was hoarse from coughing half a lung every five minutes.

"Shh babe, I'll be right back," Wally promised, swiping the acrobat's hair back to tuck it behind his ear. Whilst he did, he pressed a hand against the other's forehead and frowned when he still found it hot. This fever was harder to get rid of than their daddy issues. The tender touch soothed any attempt Dick was going to make at getting up. There was a rough cough that confirmed he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"M'kay Mr Cuddles." The ginger smiled at his fever-addled response and tucked him in before approaching the door. 

"Wally? You in there?" a voice called through the door. His eyes went wide as he realised who it belonged to. Barry. He put the gun down and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, there was Barry. Wally let out a sigh and put his hand on the doorknob but didn't make any moves to unlock anything yet. Was this really the best time for their reunion? He glanced back to Dick who looked pretty spaced out in the next room and frowned when he heard that crackly cough again. 

"Are you alone?" he asked the older through the door.

"Yes," Barry replied sternly. There was a brief moment of silence and he tightened his grip on the door. It wasn't every day that your uncle who was previously cut off from you landed on your doorstep and he could always do with some help when he was handling his sick boyfriend but he had to open himself up to it. It was a prime material to put him in a tailspin. Taking a chance could hurt him or it could make him feel better. He did miss him. They were incredibly close before the whole turning into a criminal thing began and it would be nice for them to reconnect not just for himself but for Dick too. "I'm-I'm not here to bring you to justice or anything," the older added as though he could sense the hesitance from behind the door.

"Then why are you here?" 

"I'm not Batman. I can't cut you off like nothing ever happened." Fuck. He couldn't keep the door closed. He opened it but kept a tight grip on the doorknob so the other could push past him to get inside or see what was going on. 

"You or anyone you're staying with sick?"

"Uh, no," Barry replied, confused by the question. He nodded and opened the door the rest of the way, nodding his head to the side to silently invite him inside. The blonde smiled nervously and slipped inside but didn't stray any further without a prompt to do so. It was appreciated. A cough from the next room caught his attention and he made a concerned frown at the noise. 

"Dick's sick. Bacterial pneumonia. No idea how he got it. It's weird that it was a natural progression thing and not because he decided to run around with a cough."

"I suppose he can get the time off now," Barry said.

"Yeah, criminals aren't needed every five minutes. It's actually a good time to test how self-sufficient- actually, let's not talk about work. Might give him ideas."

They stood in silence for a moment before Barry spoke up. 

"I still love you, Wally. You're still my nephew and you can't just not be the boy I helped raise. I don't know how to change that and I don't know if I want to," he stated. Wally shoved his hands in his pockets to stop himself from nervously running his hand through his hair or cracking his knuckles to somehow punctuate the quiet. 

"What caused the change of heart? From my perspective, you found it quite simple to cut me off and I get it but...you promised to always be there. I know you can't help me rob a bank or plant a bomb but I guess I didn't know there were conditions," he responded. He'd expected backlash of course. He didn't think everything would go as it usually did but he didn't expect radio silence. Not even a call to say there would be radio silence from now on. Even that would've made him feel better about it all than he did now. There would've been a conclusion to their saga as uncle and nephew, the duo they'd always been. All he was left with was nothing as though their relationship meant so little it could be thrown away like nothing. It'd been months and Dick had helped him find some kind of peace in it but they both knew it would take time yet now here was his uncle talking to him about keeping their relationship. Where was he?

"Bruce changed it. He's been obsessed with catching you two and I couldn't take it anymore. I know you're not a hero anymore but you're not a League-level threat. You keep out of the worst of the trouble and even-even if you're no longer a hero I know damn well if I needed you, I could count on you because we're family." Barry was being honest and that was the hard part. A genuine response meant there had to be a genuine reaction and, as much as the little voice in the back of his mind told him it was wrong, he couldn't help but want to forgive him. For things to go back to some state of normalcy because he missed it dearly. He didn't miss being a hero but he missed the family that came with it. He loved Dick and Dick loved him but they understood each other's need for family. The need to be surrounded by loved ones. It was probably what made them take so long to transition to where they were now. 

"I care about you a lot, Barry, and losing you was one of the hardest things I've gone through so you have to promise me right here and right now that you won't ditch me. Unless we do something like blow up the Earth or anything on the whole genocide-disturbing criminality spectrum, can I trust that you'll be there?" he asked, his expression serious. 

"I promise that I'll be there," Barry answered. The speedsters smiled at one another, both knowing that this wouldn't be easy but neither of them cared about that part. They pulled one another into a hug, one they'd both missed more than anything. They were hopeful. As they parted, Barry cupped his nephew's face with a soft smile. He couldn't help but notice the plumper cheeks and fading dark circles. "It's nice seeing you. You look healthy."

"Dick makes sure of it since we have the time now. I uh I better get back to him actually. You fancy sticking around?"

"I better not. He doesn't sound too great and I think he could do with not hearing us talk about emotions with his relationship with Bruce being the way it is," he explained. "But we could exchange numbers? Meet somewhere without prying eyes?" Wally laughed to himself at the other's apprehensiveness but complied. He got out his phone and handed it over so Barry could put in his number. 

"We've got a few locations Dick meets his brothers in so we can use them. The line will be secured as soon as you call us." The blonde returned his phone with a smile and pulled him in for another hug. "I'm sorry I didn't reach out."

"I'm sorry for making you feel like you couldn't." He moved away and gave him one last once over, almost disbelieving that Wally was looking so well. Iris would be pleased to hear it though. She was always sending them home with various Tupperware of soup and casseroles. "I hope Dick feels better soon."

"Thanks. I'll keep you updated?" he asked as though to test the water.

"I'd love to hear from you."

"Who was that?" Dick asked croakily when Wally finally returned to bed. He barely got time to sit down before the acrobat latched onto him like a koala. It got a soft laugh from his boyfriend and he hummed at the feeling of a cold hand being pressed against his warm forehead. 

"Barry. Wanted to reconnect." Dick glanced up at him with a confused expression.

"Happy with that?" he asked after another harsh cough racked his frame. 

"Yeah...yeah, I'm really happy with it."

"S'good. You deserve it."