#but tbh i have a very vague understanding of wally as a character and ive never written him before either

[komorybatz]

“sometimes i feel i’m being crushed under the weight of everything i’ll never be” pls omg 🤲

(Okay okay im so excited for this one!!! You didn't give me a character, so! I'm running with Dick and Wally!)

"Dude, you have to talk about your feelings at some point. You know that, right?" Realistically, yes, Dick Grayson knew that. He was stubborn and impulsive, and a little reckless from time to time, but he wasn't stupid. In fact, he was pretty damn smart.

But smarts can only get you so far, and they certainly don't make handling your emotions any easier. Especially not when you were raised by a genius in a fucking batsuit that had the ability to show the emotional spectrum of a block of stale cheese, and that was pushing it on a good day. Dick Grayson was hyper-aware of everything that crossed his mind, and because he knew it was bullshit and unreasonable to feel the way he was, he settled on the most rational way to handle it.

Ignore it.

"I'm fine, Wally. Really, I'm okay." Dick said, avoiding the stare being sent his way. He couldn't do this right now. Wally couldn't catch his eye, no matter how hard he tried. Dick knew better, it seemed, because Wally was absolutely attempting to break him via the puppy eyes.

"Are you, Dick? Cause to me it looks like you had a total meltdown in front of half the current Justice League because of... telepathy? I'll be honest, I don't even know what happened there." Wally admitted, holding out a hand to rest on Dick's shoulder. "It's like Bruce looked at you and you just... lost it. What's going on, man?"

Dick froze as he felt Wally touch his shoulder, sighing quietly as he felt some small part of him collapse in on itself. Wally wouldn't ask if he didn't care, he knew that. But something about this whole thing made his stomach turn. He hated giving voice to his feelings; he'd much rather bottle everything up until it exploded, much like it had today. But when he looked up, he found nothing but concern written across his friend's face.

"Wally... damnit, I hate that you can wear me down like that." Dick finally said, slumping in on himself as Wally lead him over to the table in the center of the room. Assigned seating be damned, Wally plopped down in the designated Lantern chair and Dick took the spot beside him in the designates Wonder Woman spot.

"Whenever you're ready, I'll be here to listen. I'm just worried, bud." Wally admitted, watching the way Dick fought some silent, unseen foe behind his eyes. It took fifteen minutes, Wally kept count, for Dick to finally speak again.

"Sometimes... sometimes it feels like I'm being crushed under the weight of everything I'll never be." Dick muttered, gaze fixated on the floor between his feet. The words burned as they came out, and Dick felt like he might get sick if he had to say it again. "Its like... no matter what I do, no matter how much good I do or how far I make it, it's always going to reflect back on this impossible standard. B, he doesn't give praise lightly. And I know that, but... shouldn't doing good mean that you at least acknowledge the accomplishments instead of focusing on the mistakes?"

Wally sat quietly, turning the words over in his mind as he considered what Dick said. Dick made good points, though he supposed he'd never understand the real problems between his friend and Bruce. Wally had only ever (and would only ever) know as much as he needed to, and he was okay with that. But Dick was obviously in pain for a greater reason than Wally realized.

"Dick, I can't pretend to understand what kind of psychological warfare goes on between you and him. That's way out of my wheelhouse, and I'm not going to bullshit you." Wally said, reaching over to rest a hand on Dick's knee. Dick lifted his head, meeting Wally's eyes as he listened. "But I do know that that guy has like... zero idea how an everyday person thinks. He acts like he's never experienced a human emotion in his life sometimes, and that's not a fair reflection of you."

"You do so much for everyone else, dude. You stretch yourself thinner than Plasticman and bend over backwards for the people you care about, and when you're spread that thin, you're bound to mess up from time to time. But I don't think for one second that there's a standard you're trying to live up to that you haven't already met in everyone else's eyes." Wally said, smiling as he sat up straight, reaching over to bump his fist gently against Dick's chest.

It pulled a laugh from somewhere deep inside Dick's chest, a light that he hadn't even realized was beginning to fizzle out. But then again, Wally always did have that spark about him. Dick figured there was a friction joke in there somewhere, but he kept it to himself when Wally spoke again.

"You're a good man, Dick. One of the best. Now let me be a good guy too, and hand some of that weight over. Nobody's getting crushed on my watch, you got that?"