I Forgot to Mention

Behind Closed Doors

"No electronics at the table, Wallace.  You know the rule."

Wally felt the smile immediately slip from his face.  Rudolph didn't look up from his plate, but Wally still tried to avoid his eyes.

"Right.  Sorry, Dad."

He ignored the notification vibration as he pocked his phone.  Wally hadn't meant to be texting Nightwing for so long.  It was just...nice? To be able to talk to someone new and not have to worry about the whole "secretly a superhero" thing.  Even if their conversation consisted of nothing more than dumb memes featuring various Justice League members. 

"Aw, let the kid have some fun, Rudy!" 

Wally's eyes went wide as his mother's voice.  The slight slur of her words caused his already fast heartbeat to pick up speed.  His gaze fell on the empty glass set in front of her.  Her third one, by his count.  Aunt Iris had apparently brought the wine over, but hadn't had the chance to drink any herself before being called into work.  Some sort of emergency situation that only she could cover, (because she was apparently the only cable news reporter employed in the entirety of Central City.  No other ones.  Only her.) came up.  And, on top of that, The Flash was the one leading the rescue efforts.  Despite all that happened with Batman earlier, Uncle Barry wasn't going to let his city suffer.

So, Wally basically rushed home just to say goodbye to his aunt, and then be forced to listen to his father gripe all night about how his uncle was once again snatching away his family from him. He also made it a point to tell Wally he didn't have permission to leave too. It stung, but Wally would rather get a lecture from Uncle Barry about neglecting his heroic responsibilities than to disobey his father again. He really didn't want to be forced to participate in another unscheduled "sleepover" at Mt. Justice. 

His mom was no help either. She didn't usually drink much, so it was confusing as to why she was so obsessed with her wine tonight.  The last time Wally remembered walking in on her while drunk was when he was twelve, and she had been laid off from her job.  Mary, it seemed, had been struggling with how she was going to tell Rudolph the bad news, and so she had turned to alcohol.  For courage or for comfort, Wally hadn't known at the time.  All he really remembered was how badly his mom had slurred her words when she later explained to him why paying electricity bills was more important than celebrating Christmas that year.

The sight of the wine glass in her hand now was enough to bring these old feelings to the forefront of Wally's mind.  Multiple scenarios and explanations quickly flooded his mind, all of which were concerning. He sometimes wondered if his powers influenced his anxiety level. Normal people probably didn't constantly cycle through a million different thoughts in only a fraction of a second.  He was never this anxious as a kid, but that was a long time ago.  Long before a lot of things happened in his life. Being fifteen has really felt more like being fifty for him at this point. Wally nearly vibrated out of his own skin when his mom suddenly put her hand on his arm.

"Listen to me, baby. Your dad is...Well, he's just being an old stick in the ass."

She let out a snort. Wally simply wished a sinkhole would suddenly appear in the floor beneath his chair. Her crude juxtaposition of two potential sayings left Wally guessing at which one she could have originally meant. Based on the unamused look on his father's face, Wally decided to entertain the slightly less offensive one.

"I think you mean 'mud', Mom—"

"Don't interrupt your mother!" Rudolph snapped.

Wally winced at his dad's volume. It seemed his attempt at juggling both his parents had ended with a serious case of egg on his face yet again. How typical for someone as uncoordinated as himself. De-escalation was never his best skill. Especially, not when his own emotions were running so high. He could barely focus on anything other than himself at the moment, much less keep track of his parents' moods. Still, he knew if he didn't at least try to get a grip on the situation soon, it wasn't going to end well.  Wally mumbled out a short apology to his mom. Mary's head dipped forward in a half nod.