No One's Invincible

I'm just a dandelion

Wally lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood and let himself heal. He felt the numerous gashes melt away as if they were never there. They might as well have been for all anyone knew. He felt bruises turn from black to yellow to back to the deathly pale hue of his normal skin colour​.

He was lucky. Just before he had left mount justice, Megan had fed him a meal because she heard his stomach rumble loudly after a mission. At the time, he had been quite embarrassed, but now he was ever so grateful for the Martians never failing generosity and kindness, even if the sandwich had green fur sticking to its underside.

It was times like this that he wished that m'gann had asked why he was so hungry after only a short mission. He didn't really know the reason. He guessed he would just want to know whether she'd care.

Then again, he would have just shrugged and let the explanation be limited to 'I have a serious matabolism' like he always did. And then he would have said something suggestive and flirty that the Martian probably wouldn't understand and then he would have sped off.

Same old KF.

But the real reason was stupid and had nothing to do with the team so there was no point in telling her anyway.
The real reason why his stomach rumbled, why he had felt a little light headed all evening and why Robin looked at him curiously and asked if he was eating enough,
was in fact because of the lack of food he had consumed that day.

The day before he had gotten his test results from school and had been dismayed to find a bright, bold, red C staring at him from the page mockingly.
A fucking C.

"A FUCKING C!! THAT'S ALL YOU GOT? A FUCKING C?!!!"
Apparently his dad had the same reaction.

"WE RAISE YOU AND WE FEED YOU FOR FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS AND ALL YOU GIVE AS THANKS IS A FUCKING C!"

"But d-dad I..."

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO FEED YOU, YOU FREAK?! TOO FUCKING MUCH! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING FREAK LIKE YOUR GODDAMNED FUCKING UNCLE !!"

And wally knew how much it cost to feed him, he knew how disgusting it was for him to eat like he did, he knew he was just a fucking freak and a waste of money. He really did. How could he not when his dad reminded him everyday. (His dad reminded him of it because he cared. Because he was worried that he wouldn't be able to feed him, right?)

His dad had never hit him. He had only reminded wally to do better even if he didn't have a very nice way of saying it. (Wally's dad cared right? Of course he did.)

And so he made a conscious decision to not eat as much as he usually did; to eat like a regular human-
To be normal, just in his eating habits and so he didn't have to cause pain and strife in his family anymore.

So that's what he did.

He ate a normal amount of breakfast; one bowl of cereal instead of his usual three and a half.
He ate a normal lunch; one tray of free benefit cafeteria food instead of going back for extras from the wide eyed dinner ladies.
He ate one serving of his Mom's home made stew and his Dad actually smiled a little at the leftovers before finishing his meal.

He was happy. He was normal for once just like his parents wanted.

That is, mostly normal.

A few minutes later his comm sounded.
A mission from batman.
Just the perfect thing to shatter his momentary normalcy.

"Hey KF meet up at the cave. Bats has got a small mission for the team. I'm officially whelmed. He's babying us again." Came the unimpressed voice of Robin.