Title: No Trust, No Respect
Author: Yami no Kaiba
Series: The Flash
Rating: G
Characters: Bart Allen

Summary: Bart thinks about his relationship to Wally and how he wants it to be more.
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by DC comics.

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He’s been Kid Flash now for what seems, to him at least, to be years but is really only a few months. It’s a bit weird, and sometimes people have to stop mid-sentence to correct his name. He gets it that they need time, but it’s kind of a blow to his self-esteem when he thinks no one will ever recognize that he’s changed on a *personal* level and that the name change was more then an impulsive whim.

It’s also kind of weird how people see Kid Flash and automatically look around for *The* Flash. Like he needs to be chaperoned or something. He doesn’t really get that. Especially since Wally’s made it very *very* clear that he doesn’t want much to do with Bart’s life.

And sometimes, sometimes he wonders what it would actually be like to work with Wally. To really *work* with him instead of being used just for the occasional boost of extra speed. To have something other then the brief trade of snide comments or the usual Bitch-At-Bart-Because-What-Bart-Did-Isn’t-How-I’d-Do-It and it’s times like those that he misses Max the most because at least he and Max had gotten past that point.

Not to say Jay is a bad guardian. Jay’s actually pretty cool, for an old guy. But the man’s *supposed* to be retired. Bart thinks he’d feel really, really guilty if he ever had to ask Jay for adult back up. Not that he doesn’t think Jay would be good for it, he knows Jay would be; he’s been around long enough to have learned never to underestimate the old folks, seeing as they’re the ones with the really tricky plans based on experience. But because of all that experience they tend to, unknowingly, he’s pretty sure, look down on the younger generations. And that, being looked down at, that’s not *working together*. That’s him being the annoying little sidekick.

He never wanted to be a sidekick in the first place. That, he thinks, was the defining reason he stuck with Impulse as a name. Be his own self, his own hero, while defining his powers without the Flash legacy. He wants to be *equal* with the grownups. He wants to work *with* them instead of being in the way. He wants to be a *partner*.

He’d asked Robin about it, about how to be seen as a partner.

“I know this is going to sound a bit cheesy, but a partnership is heavily based on mutual respect and trust. If either side doesn’t respect the other, trust the other, it’ll never be an equal relationship.”

And it really sounds simple. Except Wally doesn’t have either of those two things in regards to him.

He’s always trusted Wally, even when the red-head’s putting him down. Wally is The Flash and that right there was all he needed to trust the guy. However the respect part is a little harder. How do you respect a person who shouts and criticizes you almost every time you meet up?

Sometimes he thinks it would have been easier if Grandma Iris had taken him farther back in time. From all of her stories about Grandpa Barry, he’s pretty sure that *he* would have treated him like a partner.

Then he thinks about all the stuff that would have been messed up a lot and how he’d never have connected with the all of his friends the way he did. And all the what-if’s and could-have-been’s cycle through his thoughts and he gets a major headache and just stops thinking about it all together.

So then he thinks about what would have happened if he’d been more respectful to Wally in the beginning. He quickly stops thinking about that, seeing as even if he *had* been given VR programming to deal with real life, it still wouldn’t have helped with real life in the 20th-21st century. He still would have acted like a little kid in a toy store and Wally still wouldn't respect or trust him. It never would have happened and he should stop thinking about the what-if’s and could-have-been’s and deal with the now.

Maybe Robin would come up with a plan to help him. Or Kon. Kon’s better at the emotion thing then Robin. But he only sees the two on weekends now and Friday isn't for another three days.

He thinks he might just end up having to wish for Wally to look past his first impression.

Luckily the sky's clear tonight.

--Fin.