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Wally couldn’t exactly say that they hadn’t been looking for trouble. It was, after all, sort of in the job description. They looked for trouble, they found it, they made it - less troubling. They untroubled. Something along those lines. In any case, since getting back into the game, he’d been running missions between the Team and the League, patrolling Keystone and Central with Barry, and occasionally tagging along with Dick in Bludhaven. He had his fingers in a whole lotta pies at the moment. Wouldn’t have it any other way, obviously. Getting back into the game had been an uphill battle and he was just glad to be back out. To be honest, though, he could do without the gigantic lizards.
He and Dick had been out, looking for trouble. They just found more than they had bargained for.
Surging forward across the city street, Wally tackled Dick out of the way as Killer Croc’s tail came smashing down. The concrete broke apart and shattered into the air where Dick had been standing seconds before. Skidding to a stop fifty feet back, still holding onto Dick, he looked down at his partner with a raised brow beneath his mask. “Cutting it a little close there, huh?”
Dick, still shaking off the disorientation that came with being grabbed at the speed of sound, could only shrug before he found his voice. “I had it under control.”
“Yeah,” Wally grunted as he finally let go of Dick. He gestured to the destroyed pavement. “Sure looked like it.”
Dick’s eyes narrowed beneath his mask. He brought up his hand, pointedly showing Wally the small, cylindrical device, before pressing his thumb against the button on the top. Up the block, wrecked with dust and rubble from his rampage, Croc had begun advancing on the vigilantes. The moment Dick pressed the button, Croc howled in agony, as a series of small gadgets lit up across his body and began emitting electric currents. Brought to his knees with the pain, Croc, for a moment, looked like he was about to finally go down. However, there was no time for celebrating. With an echoing screech, Killer Croc frantically ripped each device off his armored skin, shaking them free to clatter to the pavement. When he lifted his head, his glare toward the two heroes could have burned a whole through solid steel.
Wally pursed his lips for a moment before slowly looking back at his partner. “Under control?”
“Shut up.”
Croc reached for a car - a BMW, because of fucking course - and lifted it over the head with a roar. Dick and Wally both jumped out of the way, Wally racing up the street while Dick jumped up onto the bar of a streetlight and shot his grappling hook onto a higher roof. Wally skidded to a stop at the corner, catching the red and blue lights of the police barricade trying to keep things contained. “Pretty sure it just made him angrier!” he called to Dick.
Dick landed on the opposite side of the street, on the edge of a fire escape. “It slowed him down!” he replied. “Just keep running distractions.”
“I’m always the distraction!”
“Flash!”
Wally’d thought that it was more of a shout of annoyance than warning until he saw the shadow falling over him. He managed to dodge out of the way just before another car was thrown straight at him, rolling across the street and slamming into the wall of a nearby Bodega. Well, distraction it was. Wally took off running. The man, creature, or whatever he was closest to at this point, was too strong and heavily armoured to take much damage from Wally just throwing himself at him. The best he’d done all night is knock him off his feet. So, Wally opted to keep him from turning his anger toward a group of fleeing pedestrians. As Killer Croc raised a clawed hand to swipe at the civilians, Wally grabbed onto his tail and ran to the left, knocking him off his feet. Crock responded by flicking his tail into the air, sending the speedster catapulting toward the adjacent building. Dick soared in a wide arch on his line, grabbing onto Wally’s arm before he could go through the brick.
They landed on the street again, not far from where they’d been only minutes before. Killer Croc had only escaped Arkham an hour ago, swimming up the river and into the bay between Bludhaven and Gotham. Either he’d taken a wrong turn toward his usual prowling grounds, or he’d decided that time was of the escence and he couldn’t wait an extra twenty minutes before terrorizing indiscriminate streets and getting his fill at whatever drugstore he first came into contact with. The ruins of that unfortunate pharmacy were still engulfed in flames just down a block. Though the damage to the city was relatively contained, it was nothing to scoff at.
“We need to end this,” Wally said. “Preferably now.”
“No kidding,” Dick nodded. They watched, somewhat more at ease, as Croc lumbered toward them. “He has slowed down a bit... I’ve got an idea.”
Wally grinned, catching on before Dick needed to say anything. “Belle River?” he jerked his thumb toward the water.
They weren’t always on the same page, but when they were, they really were - if that made sense. In any case, Wally knew he’d hit the mark when Dick just grinned in return and nodded. Tapping their fists together, they slipped into their respective roles with practiced ease. Dick shot his line up into the air, vanishing into the rooftops, while Wally went running straight at their Crocadilian Foe. He launched himself forward, twisting midair and planting his feet on Croc’s chest. Kicking off, he managed to knock the brute back a few steps - at least he got his attention. Croc swiped at him, and just at the last possible nanosecond, Wally seemed to vanish and reappear just two feet away. Another wild swipe, and again, Wally darted out of the way just in time. With Croc sufficiently annoyed and attentive, Wally began a game a cat and mouse.
He led him out of the city. It took some time, or more time than it would have taken Wally if he hadn’t been goding on a lumbering beast, but he eventually got Croc out of Bludhaven and into the Industrial parks. Just up the banks was the Belle River Power Plant, the power supply center for the Greater Gotham Area. If the voltage Dick had sent at Croc had been enough to slow him down, hopefully the plant would have enough juice to coax him into a nice long nap. All the while, as Wally taunted Croc into following him, a dark shadow followed behind between rooftops and vantage points, before finally going ahead. With Dick in place, Wally herded Croc into the plant.
The Power Plant was blessedly empty at this hour. The plant floor was dark, with only bare strips of moonlight filtering through the high windows. Wally threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way as Croc took a swing at him with his tail, feeling the spikes just barely graze an inch above his back before he was clear. Wally paused only a moment to look for Dick, knowing fully well he likely wouldn’t find him in the shadows - he never did. Thankfully, though, he didn’t need to. From somewhere high above in the rafters, Dick’s voice called out in an echo. “Blinder!”
Without hesitation, Wally closed his eyes and shielded his face with his arm. Even the cover wasn’t entirely enough to block out the brilliant light that flooded the room. Croc howled, unprotected from the blinding light and left, ironically, completely in the dark in its aftermath. As soon as the light had faded, Wally opened his eyes to find Croc stumbling around the plant floor, smashing into equipment. Dick dropped down from the rafters, landing at Wally’s side. “If we can get him close enough to the generator, maybe we can electrocute him,” he said.
“Just need to get him to touch it,” Wally nodded, keeping a careful eye on Killer Croc as he spoke. “If we can create a current between him and the generator, it should be enough to put him out.”
Finally managing to find them through the sound of their voices, Croc raised his fists above his head and smashed his hands into the ground. The floor split and cracked beneath them. Dick and Wally parted ways again, taking opposite flanks. Wally dashed over to the generator, opening the protective gate surrounding it. He just needed to find some way to get the power to Croc, a cable, a pole, anything - a deafening bang shot through the air and shook the ground. Wally turned, watching as Dick back flipped out of the way Croc punching straight through a concrete pillar. Planting his feet on the nearby wall, Dick pushed off, eskrima sticks ready to strike. Croc lashed out, grabbing Dick by the throat before he could land a hit. With a feral snarl, Croc threw Dick across the room. Wally watched, heart dropping into the acidic pit of his stomach, as Dick hit another concrete pillar, sliding to the ground in a heap and not moving again.
“Nightwing!” he called out, feeling that acid burn straight through his gut when he received no answer. “Nightwing!” Wally ran full speed toward his fallen partner, only to be cut off by Croc’s tail smashing to the ground between them. Skidding to a stop, Wally’s gaze shifted from horror at the sight of Dick sprawled out unmoving on the ground, and Croc laughing in his face. The creature grinned wickedly down at him, vile teeth crooked, yellowed, and sharp with his glee. Wally snarled. Sparks of blue lightning crackled around his body as Croc continued to laugh, obviously quite pleased with both taking down Nightwing, and the new Flash’s reaction to it.
Wally snapped.
With an absolute roar of fury, Wally shot forward, grabbing Croc by the bare remnants of his tattered Arkham uniform. He ran, and he didn’t stop, pushing with a strength he didn’t know he possessed as lightning bolted around him. Wally pushed Croc backwards straight into the generator. The moment the reptilian man’s body slammed into it, the generator exploded with thousands of volts of electricity. The plant floor burst into a fury of electric light, the intense crackling of it only drowned out by Croc’s screaming. Wally, for all of the power he was unleashing, didn’t feel a thing. He held Croc there, seething with rage, until finally, with an explosion that sent him flying back and skidding across the ground, the room went dark.
Wally winced as he finally rolled to a stop. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he pushed himself up on his forearms. Across the room, Croc lay in the toasted remains of the power generator, unconscious and certainly not looking like he would be getting up any time soon. Wally grunted, slowly picking himself up. His ears were ringing. The plant floor was too quiet and too dark, and it took him a moment to adjust. When he did, his gaze locked onto the form of his partner, still lying face down on the ground.
Wally raced over to him, skidding to his knees just as Dick began to stir. “Nightwing?” he said, laying his hand on the vigilantes back. Dick groaned, but didn’t move. Prodding him gingerly, Wally rolled Dick onto his back and checked him over. He leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice as he gently tapped Dick’s cheek. “Dick? C’mon, babe, open your eyes for me,” he breathed.
It took a slow minute, but Dick managed it, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before blinking them open. Wally grinned, deflating in relief as Dick grunted and pushed himself upright. He kept his hand on his partner’s back, coaxing him up with careful support. Dick looked around the room until his eyes landed on Croc, still down for the count in the remains of the generator. “What happened?”
Wally followed his gaze, smiling bashfully as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I... may have over done it a bit.”
Dick whistled lowly, but didn’t comment. Didn’t have much of a chance to. The sound of approaching sirens crescendoed in the quiet night. Dick looked over his shoulder toward the opening leading out toward the parking lot. Red and blue lights were already illuminating the distant road. “Well, guess that means our job here’s done. Let’s get out of here.” Pushing himself to his feet a little too quickly, Dick swayed.
Wally caught Dick in an instant, pulling his arm over his shoulder. “Careful,” he admonished lightly. Together the two made their way toward the exit.
They took one step outside and were met with darkness. Not a “late night in the city” darkness, either. No, this was more of a “total black out across the entire city” kind of darkness. Not a single light, from Bludhaven to Gotham, was lit, leaving the city a black silhouette against a starry evening sky. Dick and Wally both stopped, surveying the collateral damage.
In the end, Dick could only sigh, dropping his head. “Nice going, Sparky.”
Wally opened his mouth to protest, but the words fell silent. “...That nickname is so not catching on.”
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Dick flicked the light switch when they walked in. It was out of habit alone, but the moment he did it, he was met with darkness and a dim reminder. “Oh,” he said, standing in the door way of the apartment. “Right.”
Wally slipped in through the door beside him, kicking off his shoes on the mat. They’d changed out of their uniforms at a safe house at the edge of the city, a little maintenance shed tucked away in an alley with one of the zeta caches. Walking back to the apartment in the complete darkness had been trying. Virtually the only lights on the streets were cops cars, flashing blue and red against the city walls as they patrolled to ensure no one was taking advantage of this period of darkness. Dick, thankfully, wasn’t on call that night. As they walked toward home, the windows above them glowed with flashlight beamed and candles, as everyone hunkered down to wait out the black out.
With his shoes kicked off at the door, Wally padded into the kitchen. Dick, meanwhile, made a beeline for the bedroom. Wally could could barely see through the sliver of the door as he changed into sweatpants and a soft shirt. Turning back to the task at hand, rummaged through their designated junk drawer for a battery-powered radio. Once he found it, he carried it over to the window, using the faint moonlight to find the On switch and tune it to the news station. As he turned the volume up, the low tones of the newscaster, static popping in the background, filled the room.
“...back-up generators providing power to 100.4 WNIX Radio. Tonight’s Power Outage reports continue to trickle in, detailing loss of power across the Greater Gotham Area. Chief Technicians at the Belle River Power Plant suspect that power will be restored by early tomorrow morning. Following up on that story, Killer Croc has been captured and returned to Arkham Asylum with doubled security measures, all thanks to the efforts of Nightwing and the Flash. And now, for our music hour, sponsored by Vietti Whole Foods...”
Wally turned the volume down to a quiet background noise as a soft tune began to play. He set the radio down on the window ledge, turning to his partner. “I think I detected a hint of sarcasm in that ‘Thank You’,” he commented.
Dick shrugged, dropping himself onto the couch with a groan. “Well then, next time Croc escapes, he’s more than welcome to deal with him in our place.”
Chuckling under his breath, Wally crossed the room and sat on the edge of the couch. Dick was laying face down on the cushions, legs dangling haphazardly over the armrest and his arm dropping over the side. Wally rubbed his hand over Dick’s back. “Sore?” he asked.
Dick melted under the simple touch. “Me? Nah, I feel like I just came back from the Spa. Relaxed, refreshed-,” Dick cut off in a wince as Wally’s hand passed over a bruise forming along his left shoulder blade.
Wally raised his brow. “You were saying?” Dick turned his head just enough to glare up at him with half his face still pressed into the cushion. Wally, smooth as ever (or so he liked to think), took the opportunity to lean down and brush a kiss to the corner of Dick’s mouth. “Candles?”
“Emergency kit under the bed,” Dick replied as he pushed himself upright. He rolled his shoulder back, cracking a crick in his neck. “There’s matches and flashlights in there, too. There’s also the vanilla scented candle in the bathroom if we wanna grab it, too.”
Within several minutes, the apartment was washed in a flickering amber glow, casting dancing shadows on the walls. The few flashlights they had were set up on bookshelves, the top of the fridge, and the dresser in the bedroom just to keep the spare light spread out. Small, long-lasting candles were set on pretty much every surface left. By the time they were finished, a few points of light in the city outside had returned - mainly the hospital, from what Wally could see out the window, and a few lucky saps in the suburbs with back up generators. Wally had been about to comment about feeling just a little guilty about causing this blackout when his stomach’s growling proclaimed itself the most important victim with a loud, borderline obnoxious, gurgling. From halfway across the apartment, as he blew out the last match, Dick looked at Wally with a raised brow.
Wally laughed it off, scratching the back of his neck in habit. “Think there’s any chance there’ll be a take-out place with power?”
“No chance at all,” Dick replied. “ And if any restaurant does have power, I’m pretty positive there’ll be a line up down two blocks to get anything.” As he spoke, he headed into the kitchen, opening a cupboard and rooting around in the dim light until he found a box of Wally’s nutrient bars. Dick tossed him one from over the counter, and Wally caught it with ease, ripping the wrapping off and taking a bite. Dick leaned against the counter top as he watched his partner devour it. “Why didn’t you say you were that low before?”
Wally shrugged, already finishing the last few bites. He swallowed. “It crept up on me,” he replied. “Didn’t really notice until now. I guess I used up a lot of juice at the Power Plant.”
A pensive frown crossed Dick’s face. He pushed off the counter and walked toward him. Wally caught the flitting glance down at his chest as Dick approached him. “Speaking of,” Dick murmured as he stepped up against Wally, laying his hand over his heart. “How’re you feeling?”
Wally laid his hand over Dick’s. “Fine, honestly,” he replied. “I would’ve expected... something after all that, but I didn’t feel any surges.”
“You sure?” Dick eyed him critically.
Wally leaned in, kissing Dick soundly in reply. Dick held off for a moment, and Wally could practically feel him trying to hold back a smile before giving in. Wally had just wound his arms around Dick’s waist when, with perfect fucking timing, his stomach gurgled again. Dick broke off, stiffing a laugh against Wally’s shoulder, before stepping back and taking his hand.
“Come on,” Dick said as he opened the fridge. “There’s gotta be something we can make in here.”
They settled on sandwiches, considering their options were limited. There was plenty of food in there they’d have to eat before the temperature rose in the fridge. Thankfully, Wally was more than happy to help solve that particular problem. With their meal prepared for the evening, they sat at the dinning table, over the soft glow of the flames. Wally grinned at Dick, gesturing to their current set up.
“Candlelight dinner. Romantic or what?”
Dick kicked Wally lightly beneath the table. “Shut up.”
“It was my secret plan all along.”
“You’re the worst.”
Soon enough, dinner was cleared away, Wally’s appetite satisfied for the time being, and the two of them ended up on the couch. The apartment was quiet, save for the low voice of the radio on the window sill, and the sounds of the city outside. Dick sighed as he leaned back against Wally, and for a long while, the two of them just sat there together in the dark. In the end, as usual, Wally was the one who couldn’t take the silence for much longer.
“Well,” he said as he shifted, one arm draped over Dick’s shoulders. “Now what?”
Dick, clearly, had been thinking the same thing. He sagged against Wally, looking around the dark living room in despair. “No clue,” he replied. “A movie’s obviously out of the cards, can’t play any video games either. I don’t know about yours, but my laptop’s dead.”
“Forgot my charger at the lab,” Wally nodded.
“So, that leaves...” Dick trailed off. Sitting upright, he turned to face Wally. “Shit, is that really all we do?”
“What?” Wally frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean sure, obviously we do more than just watch movies and play video games, but think about it. What’s a typical night for us, when we’re both home? We eat and we sit on the couch. We’re either watching TV or on our laptops. I know we joke about this all the time, but think about it. Take all that away, and what’s left?”
With a sly grin, Wally slipped his arm around Dick’s shoulders again, leaning forward enough to kiss his neck. “Don’t know about that,” he replied as he mouthed his way up to the hollow behind Dick’s ear. “I can think of something.”
Dick hesitated, his tirade put to the back of his mind for the moment. He tilted his head to the side, a trembling exhale shuddering from his mouth. “Sex doesn’t count.”
“How hard did you hit your head?”
“Wally.”
Finally nudged off his partner, Wally laughed, pressed his forehead against Dick’s neck for a moment, and sat upright. “Babe, come on, you’re overthinking it,” he tried to reassure him. “Our home life is more than that.”
Dick raised a brow in challenge. “Name something else we do together, then.”
Wally was more than happy to provide abundant examples, and he opened his mouth to do so - only to fall short. He paused, thought, and the more he thought the more he realized that, in a way, Dick was right. Wally’s eyes widened a bit, staring back at his boyfriend. “Oh, shit. Yeah, you’ve got a point,” he said. “When did we get so bad at this?”
Dick glanced over at the clock on the wall. “About five minutes ago.”
Wally really wasn’t sure if he should laugh, but the entire situation was so ridiculous and at the same time so daunting that he really didn’t know how else to react. “Wow. Are we having a relationship crisis?”
“I think we might be,” Dick shrugged, the picture of nonchalance over what should have been a daunting topic. “So... you want to.... I don’t know, take a pottery class together?”
Wally snorted. “Yeah, maybe when we’re 60.”
“Well, I don’t know!” Dick threw his hands up, struggling once again to hold back his own amusement as he shoved at Wally. “And quit laughing, it’s not funny.”
Wally shook his head. “It really is, though.”
Dick leaned back against the armrest, crossing his arms over his chest as he stuck his leg out and nudged Wally with his socked foot. “What’s your bright idea then?”
Cards. The only thing they could settle on, and Wally’s grand idea, was a game of cards. In reality, not so bad. They ended up sitting cross legged across from each other on the floor, building a small circle of candles around them. They ate melting Neapolitan ice cream straight out of the tub, and slapped cards down in a game of War, and threatened break-ups every time either of them one a round. Not bad for a relationship crisis. Dick had just finished cussing Wally out for winning the hand when his phone began to ring on the coffee table. The battery was getting low at this point in the night, teetering at 16% with hours left to go before the power would be restored. He would have ignored the call if it hadn’t been from Bruce. With a resigned sigh, he answered, putting it on speaker on setting it down on the floor between him and Wally (if he had to get chewed out over the Power Plant incident, so did Wally).
“Hey, Bruce,” he answered.
Bruce didn’t waste a moment, the disapproval and annoyance in his tone audible through the phone. “Belle River?”
“Minimal damage, all things considered,” Dick retorted. “Croc was back in his cell within two hours.”
“I wouldn’t call cutting off power from the entire city ‘Minimal Damage’, Dick.”
Dick rolled his eyes. “If you’re going to give me a lecture on how we should have handled this, save it. It was handled. No one got hurt.”
Wally could practically feel the tension radiating off the phone. It was a minute of silence before Bruce sighed. He could almost picture the man pinching the bridge of his nose. “In any case,” Bruce relented, “we have power at the Cave. You and Wally are welcome to wait it out here for the night.”
Before Dick could answer, Wally scooped the phone off the floor. “No can do,” he grinned at Dick, who was currently holding his palm over his mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. “We’ll have to decline on account of reviving the foundations of our relationship. We’re in the middle of a very important card game.”
“Right...” Bruce paused, clearing his throat. Evidently, he decided that it wasn’t worth it to ask what that meant. “Well, if you change your minds, the offer stands.”
By the time Wally hung up, Dick couldn’t hold back anymore. He let out a burst of laughter, shaking his head as he tried to wrestle his phone back from Wally. The candles made it a little difficult, but eventually, he managed to swipe the device back, staring at the screen in his hand as the battery went from 1% to zero, and it went completely dark. With a mocking glare at Wally, Dick put the phone back on the coffee table. “Alright,” he said as he shifted back onto the floor. He rolled his shoulder back, wincing as he tried to work out a knot. “Rematch. Loser has to clean the kitchen.”
As much fun as he was having, Wally couldn’t exactly focus on the game when Dick was so obviously uncomfortable. He set his cards down at his side. “Shoulder still bugging you, babe?”
“A little,” Dick finally admitted. He waved off Wally’s concern with his other hand. “It’ll be fine by morning.”
Whether that was true or not, Wally couldn’t sit well with the idea of carrying on while Dick was in pain. So, the game could wait for now. Wally rose to his feet, padding over Dick and reaching down to offer his hand. Dick lifted a dark brow, but said nothing, taking Wally’s hand with a curious little smirk. Tugging Dick upright, Wally guided him over to the couch and got him to sit down. Wally sat down behind him, coaxing Dick’s shirt over his head and off. Dick shot Wally a grin from over his shoulder. “Thought I said sex doesn’t count.”
“Keep it in your pants, Boy Wonder,” Wally rolled his eyes. “Just try to relax.”
Honestly, Wally didn’t really know what he was doing. He wasn’t all that knowledgeable in massage or physical therapy, but was knowledgeable in Dick Grayson. Knew every past injury, every sore spot, every scar, and most importantly, he knew what Dick liked. So, he began to kneed along his shoulders, working out ever nook and cranny of tension that he could fine. He avoided the spots that brought Dick pain, focusing instead on just trying to help him relax and forget those aches even existed. He worked slowly, and he worked tenderly, until Dick was positively mesmerized. The soft, satisfied noises escaping him as Wally continued to massage his back were confirmation enough that it was working. Feeling Dick loosen and relax under his hand, Wally paused onto to drag Dick back against his own chest. Wally reached around, using his forefinger and thumb to tilt his head up for a slow kiss.
“Better?” Wally murmured.
Dick sighed helplessly against him. “Much,” he breathed.
The radio continued to play mellow, electric tunes with the static crackling on. They laid there, slowly falling asleep through whispered words and soft caresses, completely content to do absolutely nothing at all together. When the power came on at 3am in a flickering of analog clocks and the pilot light in the oven, neither of them noticed.