Chapter 10
It had been two weeks since Dick's visit with Wally. Since then he hadn't heard a single word from Wally. Every text or phone call was completely ignored. He was panicking. Thoughts raced through his head like: what if he regretted what they did? Did he take advantage of Wally? Who was he kidding of course he did. Wally wasn't in the right mindset; he should've said no. He shouldn't have let his own desires blind him.
Another week passed with no word from Wally. The next thing he knew Wally was coming back to school. Wally was coming back. Dick was spiraling. He was excited Wally was coming back while also being petrified.
Donna on the other hand had heard Wally was coming back to school today and she was absolutely thrilled. She hadn't seen Wally since the competition and she wasn't the only one who was thrilled. Though there was a certain someone who was being abnormally suspicious.
***
Donna and Dick were currently waiting near the school entrance for Wally. She thought Dick would be bouncing off the walls but instead he was nervously fidgeting, which, for Dick, wasn’t completely weird, but at this level it was. He wasn't even speaking, just nodding his head or humming whenever she spoke.
The weirdest thing was that Dick had been totally fine all morning, until he heard today was the day Wally was coming back. Since then it was like he was worried that someone was going to jump out and attack him.
“Dick,” Donna said with a sigh. "What's going on?” Her voice was a mix between questioning and concerned.
“Hmm?” Dick looked over at her slowly. "Nothings wrong." He mumbled turning his head back towards the entrance watching it like a hawk.
"Dick." She said sternly her voice reminding Dick of a mother scolding her child.
"It's nothing really." He tried again fighting off the aching sense of danger creeping up his spine. Was it just him or was Donna really intimidating?
"Dick don't play dumb." She wasn't backing down. Crap.
"Fine. I'm just nervous, ok? We haven't seen Wally in so long it's just nerve wracking." Not to mention he and Wally sorta slept together. Did it count as sleeping together if they never actually had sex?
Donna looked at Dick skeptically before sighing. If he didn't want to talk she wasn't going to force him. Yet.
"You guys waiting for Wally?" Roy walked over standing next to Donna looking at the entrance.
"Yep." Donna responded popping the P. She and Dick had been waiting there for a good ten minutes. What was taking so long? Had they got the day wrong? Did Wally decide he wasn't ready to come back?
The entrance doors opened revealing Barry Allen with Wally right on his heels. Dick's heart stopped. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as he watched Wally walk through those doors.
Donna and Roy began walking over to Wally the moment they saw him while he just stood there. Did Wally want to see him? He never told him he was coming back to school. Maybe he didn't want dick to know? Crap they were heading over towards him. Should he run? Wouldn't that make things worse?
"Hey man, nice to see ya!" Wally beamed.
“I… uh–” Come on, think of something. Anything.
"It's been awhile." Nice way of stating the obvious dumbass. Dick thought mentally scolding himself. Donna gave Dick a quizzical look.
The stuttering was not a normal Dick thing. He got nervous, sure but he hardly ever stuttered.
"Yeah sorry about that but y'know recovery and all." Wally scratched the back of his neck avoiding Dick's eyes. Was this Wally's way of telling him he didn't want anyone to know he saw him only three weeks ago? Did he want Dick to forget about their night together?
"Yeah, understandable. I'm just glad you're back." Dick smiled. He hoped his smile was a smile at least. He felt a sweat coming on as Donna's eyes bored into the side of his head.
***
Later that day Donna cornered Dick after watching him like a predator throughout the day. She wanted answers and she was going to get them.
"Ok spill. What's going on between you and Wally?" She looked Dick dead in the eyes.
"Nothing!" He was screwed.
Donna scoffed. Nothing? Seriously? Did he really think she was that dumb? She saw the way he seemed to be avoiding Wally like the plague. He did his utmost to not have to talk to him. He went the whole day like that.
"I'm giving you one chance to change your answer." She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. Dick's eyes darted around his surrounding area as he calculated the possible escape options. Each one ended with Donna catching him.
He sighed. "Me and Wally slept together." He made sure to say the last two words in a mutter.
"What?"
Dick huffed. "Me and Wally slept together." He said it just a little louder than the last time.
"Speak up."
"Me and Wally s l e p t together!" He spelled it out for her his voice filled with embarrassment and annoyance. Maybe the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
***
"YOU AND WALLY ACTUALLY HAD SEX!?" Donna chased after Dick as he speed walked away from her. He abruptly turned around holding a finger to his mouth.
"Shhh don't have to announce it to the whole school! And we didn't have sex!" He looked around making sure no one was in their proximity. Once he saw no one was around he tugged Donna into a closet locking the door.
"You and Wally West?"
He nodded.
"Our Wally West?"
"Donna please." He prayed for her to just shut up. He was already embarrassed enough he didn't need Donna making a bigger deal about this. His prayers went unanswered.
"You slept together but didn't 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 together?" She questioned after thinking about Dick's wording. "What does that mean? You did have sex or..?"
"No, we didn't have sex. We did…other things." Dick looked away sheepishly. Now would be an acceptable time for the world to swallow him up.
Donna smirked, quirking an eyebrow. "What other things?" Her voice was a mix between amusement and teasing.
"I've already told you enough!" He glared at her feeling his cheeks begin to warm.
"Fine." She rolled her eyes fondly.
"But you're serious right? You and him slept together?" Dick nodded again. "So what happened? Did it go badly?"
Dick looked to the ground sighing. "I didn't think so. But the next day he never responded to my texts or calls. Then the next and the next all the way up to now. I didn't know he was coming back today until you said something."
"Dick..."
"It's my fault. He wasn't in the right mindset and I took advantage of him."
"Did you start things?"
"No but-"
"Then how did you take advantage?"
"I didn't say no! I should've said no. I knew he was in a fragile state but I let my own desires outweigh reason." Donna looked at him for a few seconds processing everything Dick just said.
"How do you know he regrets it?" Dick looked up at her confusion clear on his face.
"If he didn't regret it he would have spoken to me after." He spoke like this was one of the most obvious answers in the world.
"Fair point but shouldn't you actually try talking to him first? Communication goes a long way."
"Maybe but I'm not going to risk whatever friendship me and Wally have dragging this back up. If he doesn't want to talk about it we won't." Dick opened the door to the closet walking about before Donna could respond. She sighed. Men were overly complicated.
***
It was lunch. Garth, Roy, Dick, Donna and Wally were all sitting at the table eating and catching up. Well most were eating and catching up. Dick just sat there picking at his food making sure to avoid eye contact with Wally.
He had been reluctant to even sit at the table, but after a little bit of arguing with Donna, he’d conceded.
Donna watched him sitting there looking like a kicked puppy before sighing over dramatically catching everyone's attention.
"I can't take this anymore. Dick is there something you'd like to say?" She gestured with her eyes over at Wally.
Dick shook his head. "Nope. Don't think so." He stuffed his face full of food not making eye contact with anyone.
"Dude what the hell's up with you?" Roy asked questiongly. Donna wasn't the only one who noticed Dick's weird behavior. He was acting like how Roy expected Wally to act on his first day back.
"Nothing." Dick said over another bite of food, glaring at Roy. For a split second he made eye contact with Wally feeling his heart skip a beat. Wally was staring at him even as he quickly stuffed his face making sure not to look in Wally's direction again.
"Somethings clearly up. Spill." Garth chimed in. All eyes were on Dick. Normally he would love all the attention. He grew up in the circus before Bruce adopted him. He was captain of the cheer squad. He was used to the attention. But right now he wanted to go hide.
"I just remembered I promised Jason I would help him with a school project." He stood up.
"Jason's in class right now." Roy pointed out.
"I know but I have to run home and get some uh.. supplies! Yeah supplies." He turned to make a b line towards the exit.
"Coward!" Donna called after him.
***
Wally ran, his brain plagued with random buzzing thoughts ping ponging around his skull at the same beat as his feet. He was jogging more than running not wanting to risk hurting his leg but whatever. Not important. What was important was Dick was avoiding him. That was obvious. What wasn't obvious was why. Wally was currently still trying to piece together the why.
So far Wally had one thing to go by. They slept together. That had to be the reason Dick was avoiding him. Now the question was: did Dick regret what happened? Did he do what he did out of pity? Was it just a one time thing? If he didn't regret it and it wasn't out of pity then why was he avoiding him?
These thoughts rattled through Wally's head as he began picking up pace. He wasn't sure what to do. Dick clearly didn't want to talk to him. Maybe he should talk to Donna or Roy. Maybe even Garth. They probably knew what was going on right?
"What are you doing!?" Wally looked up, seeing Dick standing near the bleachers, a panicked look on his face.
What was that about?
Wally stopped his running making his way towards Dick.
"What's wrong?" His voice full of confusion.
"You shouldn't be running so soon. What if you hurt your leg again?" Dick looked…angry? Why was he angry? No. Angry wasn't the right word. He was worried.
"I'm fine to run again. I can't do any big competitions anytime soon but I can still run." He smiled towards Dick trying to sound reassuring. Dick just glared at him.
"You should be more careful. I just got you back."
"Look I'm glad you're worried about me but I'm fine. The doctors cleared me."
"So!?" Dick slapped Wally's shoulder.
"Ow! Hey! There's no need to hit me!" He rubbed at his shoulder, glaring at Dick. This was their first big interaction all day and he was just picking a fight with him.
Dick took a deep breath. "You should take it easy."
"That's all I've been doing for the past couple of months! I'm not going to stop running just because you're scared!" He poked his finger aggressively into Dick's chest.
"Fine then! Injure your leg again! See if I care!" Dick stormed off.
***
Dick and Wally hadn't spoken a single word since their argument. Wally talked with the others but made sure never to speak with Dick. Dick did the same with Wally. No one knew what happened between them. Donna knew about them sleeping together but she didn't think that was the reason they stopped speaking. There was something else going on.
Later during the week the gang decided to head to the gym. It was the weekend and Roy and Donna wanted to work out. The others tagged along. Wally and Dick still weren't speaking.
Roy grunted using the bicep curl rep. Next to him was Wally running on a treadmill. Wally could tell Roy was watching him through the corner of his eye. Roy was doubting him too. Why couldn't everyone just believe he was ok now?
Wally lost focus, missing a step before refocusing on his treadmill. He didn't miss how Roy hesitated in his bicep curls or the quick look of panic that spread across his face.
Donna was over lifting a completely loaded barbell when she dropped it at the sight of Wally stumbling. She played it off acting like she dropped it on purpose to head over towards the power rack. Wally grumbled knowing exactly why she dropped her barbell.
Not too far from Wally, Dick was over towards an area filled with some still rings and mats. He finished adjusting the rings and then pushed off the ground springing into the air, using the momentum, balanced and did the most fluid ring muscle-up anyone probably ever seen. He hung there for a second, up with the rings held close to his thighs, arms tense. Before descending slowly until his arms were perpendicular to his body, a perfect iron cross.
On the other end of the gym Garth was sitting in a low, reclined seat with his feet pressed up against a raised platform. He was lifting about 164 pounds of weight while also pushing against gravity. He was using an incline leg press, one of Wally's favorite machines.
Garth was obsessed with training his legs for swimming competitions. Something him and Wally had in common except Wally trained his legs for track.
Wally looked around watching everyone in the gym. He looked over at Roy seeing he was still watching him. He dialed the program up, hoping to prove to Roy he was fine.
Roy stopped using his machine, watching Wally carefully. More specifically he was watching Wally's leg. Wally wanted to flip him off and tell him to stop treating him like a wounded bird but he was too busy cursing himself. He shouldn't have turned up the treadmill. He was already drowning in sweat and now if he stopped he would be proving to Roy he was still weak. His heart was pounding in his chest, his lungs felt like they were on fire. And not the good kind.
“You good Wally?” Roy asked concern radiating off his tone.
Wally nodded frantically, hoping that Roy would just leave him alone. God why did he have to be such an idiot?
“You don't look fine.”
Wally wanted to make some sort of comeback like: I'm fine or mind your own damn business, but at this stage he was mostly wheezing and an inch away from losing his breathing rhythm and falling to his knees and then the treadmill would yeet him in the stratosphere.
Roy quickly rushed over, dialing Wally's treadmill down to a stop. As much as Wally didn't want to be he was grateful. He could barely feel his legs anymore.
Roy handed Wally his water bottle which Wally eagerly accepted as he climbed down from his treadmill wiping sweat off his face. He then gulped back some of Roy's water. Scratch that he drank pretty much the whole bottle. Roy chuckled watching Wally chug down the last of his water.
"Fine huh?" Roy said smugly, snatching his now empty water bottle from Wally.
"Shut up." Wally leaned back against the wall sliding down. He could still feel his heart racing.
"Well it's nice to know you still got it." Roy turned back towards the bicep curl rep sitting down resuming his workout.
Wally wanted to respond but he was still trying to not hack out his lungs. He looked down at his leg, sighing. It didn't hurt anymore but for some reason he still expected it to.
Dick came over to talk to Roy occasionally, always making sure to ignore Wally. Wally knew Dick had been watching his little failure of a run on the treadmill earlier. He could have sworn the first few times Dick came to talk to Roy were just an excuse to get closer to him and check on him.
The rest of the day went by quickly. On their way heading to their homes they all decided to get some food. Donna watched Dick and Wally the whole time, always giving Dick a certain look Wally could never figure out the meaning to.
***
Today, Wally was deep in thoughts. Dick Grayson related thoughts. For instance he thought about how Dick is still pissed at him and it's pure torture.
So that left Wally with like a thousand problems.
Or, to be precise, he had a thousand problems and Dick Grayson was one. Physics equations were one too, but only one of the two caused him to sometimes get migraines.
Wally sighed and looked down at the pile of essays he had to make up for. Stupid physics teacher. He loved physics but between his problem with Dick and the other hundred tests and assignments he was making up for in other classes this just seemed to be torture. He needed someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't ask too many questions or nag at him. He knew the perfect person.
-The next day-
Wally headed straight to the roof where he found Roy smoking a cigarette.
Wally marched right up to him, knocking the cigarette out of his hands.
"Hey!" Roy glared at Wally.
“Roy, you gotta help me.”
Roy crossed his arms. "You owe me a cigarette."
"Fine whatever." Wally waved him off. He needed help and Roy was the perfect person. Hopefully.
Roy raised an eyebrow. “What's so important you had to march up here and ruin my smoke break?”
“I need to solve my Dick problem.”
Roy looked down, frowned, looked back up. “Like…?”
“No. The other Dick problem.”
"..."
“I do not have dick problems. Just one Dick problem, oh for fuck— okay listen—”
Roy was biting his lower lip, trying hard not to laugh in Wally’s face.
“Listen!”
“I’m listening.”
"Ok. So. Me and Dick kinda have been on rocky terms lately."
"I noticed."
"And I need your help with finding out why."
"Shouldn't you know?"
"Yes I know I should know but I don't know."
"You're confusing me now."
"Ok. Look, there was a whole fight between me and him about him wanting me to take it easy so I sorta snapped at him."
"It sounds like you already know why he's mad. So why are you here talking to me?"
Wally let out an irritated huff. "That's only one reason he's mad! I think."
"Ok what's the other reason?"
"Ok so here's the part I'm not sure on. Before we had our fight he was avoiding me. I can only think of one reason and that's because we slept together. But I-"
"Wait, go back. You slept with Dick!?" Roy cut Wally off from his rambling.
"I- uh." Shit.
"You and Dick?" Roy pointed at Wally completely dumb founded.
"I- yes we did but-"
"How the hell did that happen?"
"That's not important, what's important is that I need your help finding out if that was the reason he was mad before our argument."
"Nope." Roy turned walking towards the roof door.
"Wait!" Wally chased after him. "I need your help!"
"Ask Donna, there's no way I'm getting mixed up in this." He chuckled pausing to look at the sky. "You and Dick. I can't believe you two finally got your heads out of your asses." He shook his head fondly, beginning to walk away again.
"What? Wait what does that mean!? Roy!" Wally called after Roy's retreating form. This was a bust.
Time for his back up plan.
***
"Donna!" Wally ran up to Donna who was currently getting a taco from the food truck near the school.
"Wally!" She mimicked back grabbing her taco not even turning to look at him. "What can I do for you?" She said walking past him to sit on the curb.
"I need you help with my-" He cut himself off remembering his last conversation with Roy. "Me and Dick have been on rocky terms lately. I need your help finding out why."
Donna raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"
"I have an hypothesis but I'm not sure if it's correct."
"What's your hypothesis?"
"Well me and Dick uh… did a thing together and now I don't know if he regrets what we did." Wally said sheepishly.
"I know you two slept together." Wally stared at her dumbfoundedly.
"What? How do you-"
"Wally, do you want my help or not?" Donna took a bite of her taco waiting for Wally to respond.
"I do want your help but how did you know?"
"Dick told me."
"He did? What did he say? Does he regret what happened?" Wally waited patiently for Donna's response.
Donna stared at Wally before cautiously saying, "Wally have you talked to Dick? About any of this?"
"No I haven't, he'd been avoiding me before we got into an argument and now he's just pissed at me."
"I think you should talk to him."
"You know something don't you? Just tell me what-"
"Wally, talk to Dick." She said sternly before focusing on the rest of her taco.
"But-"
"Go!" She glared at him pointing a finger down the street towards the direction of the school. Wally grumbled following her directions.
He searched the halls looking for Dick. He only had about ten minutes before lunch ended. He turned down another hall spotting Dick talking to Garth. 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕. He thought.
He walked up without a single word dragging Dick into an empty classroom ignoring his protests and locking the door.
"Wally, what are you doing?" Dick crossed his arms narrowing his eyes at Wally.
"You're mad at me. I know half of the reason you're mad but I don't know the other half. I need you to tell me the other half."
Dick scoffed. "Like you don't know."
"I don't! I don't know why you're angry! I don't know why you were avoiding me! Do you regret what happened!?" Wally screamed frustratingly.
"Do you!?" Dick quickly shot back, matching Wally's frustration. Wally froze in place staring at Dick quizzically.
"What?" His voice was a whisper.
"Don't play dumb Wally! First you ignore all my texts and calls then you don't tell me you're coming back to school! If you regret what we did then just say so!" Dick huffed out glaring at Wally.
"Dick I don't- I didn't know- you think I regret what happened?" Wally's voice comes off hurt which makes Dicks heartache.
"What am I supposed to think?" Dick looked away staring at the floor.
"Dick look at me." Wally walked closer, placing his hand on Dick's cheek. "I don't regret what we did. I never knew you tried calling or texting because my phone has been glitching out since I uh…" Wally looked away sheepishly. "Since I threw it at my bedroom wall."
Dick blinked looking towards Wally. "You what?"
"I was still angry about my leg and my phone wouldn't stop blowing up with texts and phone calls so I just got frustrated and threw it." Dick looked at Wally seeing a slight blush begin to form on his cheeks from embarrassment. He started laughing.
"It's not funny! Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris were pissed!" Wally said, beginning to chuckle.
"I bet they were." Dick said. He stopped laughing, a frown settling on his face. "But that doesn't explain why you never told me you were coming back."
"I didn't want to tell anyone I was coming back. I don't even know how you guys found out."
"Why didn't you want to tell anyone?"
"I was scared about how everyone would react after I ignored them for months." Wally sighed out. "I was also a little worried about how you would react." Dick's frown turned into a small smile. He placed his hand on top of Wally's who was still cupping the side of his cheek nuzzling into Wally's touch.
"Wally, I would have been happy to hear you were coming back. Maybe a little pissed because you ignored me for so long but now I know it was just because you broke your phone." Wally chuckled, smiling back at Dick. They stared at each other just enjoying one another's presence before the bell rang, breaking their little bubble.
***
Things between Dick and Wally went back to normal. They never spoke more about their time shared in Wally's bedroom or what happened in the closet. Not for a while at least. They both knew the other didn't regret what happened. They just never really got up the courage to ask the other what exactly that meant. Dick was content with just being Wally's friend not wanting to risk losing him for a third time. Wally on the other hand was having an internal crisis. He wanted to properly confess his feelings to Dick but he didn't know how. He also didn't know if Dick wanted to take things further. He knew Dick didn't regret what they did but that doesn't necessarily mean he wanted to date him. What if he asked and…Dick said no?
What if Dick mocked him or something? No, Dick wouldn’t do that. He just needs to suck it up and ask Dick out on a proper date. And well at least, if he got… not dumped, but gently let down, at least he would have peace of mind right?
The whole way to Dick's giant ass Manor he thought of a million ways he could confess. And as he walked up the porch steps and knocked on the door his mind raced. Maybe he would get a sign from god that he should turn around. Like Dick not being the one to answer. Yeah that's what he'd do. If Dick doesnt answer then he would forget all about this.
The door opened and he braced himself. He had the power of god and a huge amount of ice cream to drown his sorrows in on his side. His mind went blank as he saw Dick on the other side. Crap. God was not on his side.
“Dick I- uhh” Oh man, words, where are his fucking words when he needed them?
Dick tilted his head, looking at him quizzically with a fond smile. "Wally? What are you doing here?"
"Uhhh I would have called but my phone is still being a piece of shit so I just came over. I hope it's ok." He rubbed the back of his neck. This was a bad idea.
"Dude, you're welcome here anytime. Want to come in?" Dick stepped aside gesturing to the inside of his manor. Did Wally forget to mention he was asking out a billionaire's son?
"I- no I have something I need to ask you and I'd rather do it out here if that's ok?"
"Oh yeah sure." Dick joined Wally on the porch, closing the door behind him. "What's up?"
“Okay okay, so.” Wally took a deep breath. If there was ever a single moment he needed god on his side it was right now. “Man, I don’t know if you knew, but you’re hot as fuck.” Where the fuck is god when you need him? Dick blinked, but Wally pushed through, going with whatever flow his brain was set on. “Uh, look. Every time you text me, I smile like an idiot and everytime I'm going through something you're always there for me. Everytime I think about you my heart just short circuits and my mind races. Did you know I had a dream about you once? It was hot. Anyway what I'm trying to say is I just want to kiss you and love you for the rest of my life so do you wanna get coffee or lunch with me? Honestly I'd settle for just sharing a small bagel."
Dick just blinked. He looked like he was about to pass out. Wally's heart felt like it was about to explode. This was such a bad idea. I mean he not only just had the worst confession known to history spill out of his mouth but he also just broke his best friend. Why did he ever think he could do this?
"I-uh-you know what? How about you just forget what I said? Actually maybe it would be better if you forgot I existed at all."
"Wally." Dick started smiling. "I would love to get a bagel with you sometime."
"You- really?" Wally couldn't stop the big smile from forming on his face.
"Yeah really. Although I think taking you out for dinner or lunch would be much more fun." Dick chuckled softly, taking Wally’s hand in his.
“Wally, would you do me the honor of becoming my boyfriend?”
"That's supposed to be my line." Wally laughed.
"Is that a yes?"
Wally nodded. “Fuck yeah its a yes.” Dick's smile grew even bigger.
"Can I kiss you know?" Wally asked, leaning in, looking intently at Dick's lips.
"I'm surprised you're still waiting." With that said Wally moved in kissing Dick. And holy shit did it feel like fucking heaven. It was a thousand times more special than their last kiss. This time he hadn't been crying. This time he was going to be able to say Dick fucking Grayson is his boyfriend.
Holy shit.