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Dick pulled the window open and glared at Wally, standing on the ground with a handful of gravel most likely from the driveway.
“What?” he asked in a yelled whisper. “Wally it’s one in the morning, what do you want?”
Wally threw another tiny rock that missed Dick’s face by several inches.
“Come on!” Wally whispered back. “I’m kidnapping you!”
Dick blinked down at Wally. Bruce would freak if he found a meta in Gotham. He would freak if he found out it was Wally West and inevitably blame it on Dick. He would freak if said meta kidnapped Dick from the Manor.
Dick braced his elbows on the windowsill and leaned out. “And where are you kidnapping me to, if I may ask?”
Dick saw the dark shape with red hair that was his boyfriend shift and interpreted it as a shrug.
“I have a car, my suitcase, and only one summer to enjoy with my lovely boyfriend before we go our separate ways.”
Dick smirked and rolled his eyes. “You make it sound like I’m moving halfway across the world. And you have super speed, idiot.”
“So no road trip?”
Dick heaved a deep breath and knew he was going to get murdered by Bruce for this. He could write his will in the car. It was a shame, really-- Dick had hoped to adopt a cat before he died.
“I’ll be down in five minutes,” he said.
He heard Wally whisper cheer as he walked to his closet and searched through the pile of clothes and various bags ranging from old school bags to those shitty drawstring bags provided by the PE teachers every year. He found a large duffel bag with frogs on it that Roy had bought him for his birthday last year and started shoving clothes in it.
He went over to his desk and selected a few books and unplugged both his phone and computer chargers before stuffing them in the bag alongside his wallet. His computer followed, as well as all the junk food banned by Alfred from his hidden stash shoved deep in one of the drawers of his desk behind piles of schoolwork from years past that he forgot to throw out. He shoved his toothbrush and toothpaste in the bag and zipped his bag shut.
He took the time to slide on a thin jacket and his sneakers, not bothering to change out of his sleep shirt and sweatpants.
He switched off his light before going back to the window.
“Seven minutes and twenty-six seconds,” Wally called.
“Shut up,” Dick shot back, setting his duffel bag precariously on the tiles before swinging one leg over the sill.
He climbed out and knelt on the roof while he pulled the window down as quietly as he could. Being trained as an acrobat for the first nine years of his life before training to be a vigilante had made sneaking out as a teenager much easier and that much more fun.
He carefully looped the strap of the bag over his shoulder and quietly made his way down to the eaves of the roof. He jumped and landed silently on the grass a few feet from Wally.
“Took you long enough,” Wally said, offering Dick his hand.
Dick took it and rolled his eyes.
“Where’s the car?”
“Outside the gates.” Wally started making his way across the grass towards the front gates of the Manor. “Way outside the gates. Wasn’t stupid enough to assume Batman doesn’t have security cameras, and I do not want to wake him up.”
Dick readjusted the duffel bag before reaching out to grab Wally’s hand. “He’s probably not asleep.”
Wally huffed and ducked under a tree branch. He kept tugging Dick to urge him to walk faster. “God, his sleep schedule is worse than yours was when you were studying for your APUSH exams.”
Dick grimaced. He was glad that was over.
“He’s Bruce Wayne, what do you expect?” Dick retaliated.
They cleared a copse of trees and the gate surrounding the Manor came into view. Wally let Dick’s hand go and saluted him.
“See you on the other side pardner.” He clicked his tongue and winked at Dick before running towards the gate and vaulting over it.
Dick repositioned the duffel bag so that it would get in the way before he expertly climbed over the wrought iron fence and landed gracefully on the other side.
“Come on,” Wally whispered, tugging Dick forward, as if Bruce or Alfred could still hear them. “Summer road trips are the best.”
Wally’s old white and red car came into view. Wally pulled out his keys as Dick made his way to the passenger side.
“I’m glad you’ll finally get to live out your teen romance movie dream,” Dick said.
Wally unlocked the car and opened the driver’s door. “Our teen romance movie dream,” he corrected Dick.
Dick slid into his seat and set his duffel bag down in the backseat. There was already a pile of blankets, a couple of pillows, and several white plastic bags there. It seemed that Wally had come prepared.
Wally started the car before looking at Dick. “You know what, I’ll let you choose where we go. North, south, or the Midwest?”
“How thoughtful.” Dick clicked his seatbelt in place. “Let’s go south. I’m sure we can make it to Florida before Bruce or Barry finally catch up.”
Wally snorted. “Team up?”
Dick actually laughed at that. “Hell, probably. We are signing our death warrants.”
Wally scrunched his nose. “We’ll be fine.”
He pulled away from the curb and started driving down the road leading back towards Gotham. The headlights swept over the dark road. Dick let his arm hang out of the open window and breathed in the warm summer night air. He could see the stars clearly all the way out in Bristol, without all the light pollution in Gotham.
Bruce was going to be so mad.
Bruce started trying to call Dick at six in the morning the next day.
Dick and Wally had driven most of the night and stopped to rest just outside of a gas station at around four in the morning. They were already halfway through Pennsylvania and they’d both decided to pass through Baltimore.
Dick ignored the missed calls and numerous texts when he woke up.
He ignored them when he and Wally went inside the gas station to buy water bottles and change clothes in the bathroom. He ignored them right up until he waited for Wally to pay for gas inside the store.
Dick leaned against the hood of the car as he typed out a text for Bruce. He was avoiding calls, because he didn’t want Bruce yelling at him, telling him to come home, and ruining his and Wally’s summer. Bruce was going to have to be satisfied with texted apologies and explanations.
An impromptu road trip to an undecided final destination with his boyfriend as a sort of ‘end of senior year celebration’ apparently didn’t satisfy Bruce.
Whatever.
Dick saw Wally walk back towards the car and tucked his phone in his pocket.
“The Bat give you any trouble?” he asked.
“Always. I want waffles and coffee for breakfast.”
The early morning air wasn’t too hot, and though Dick would have enjoyed a bit more breeze, he didn’t mind. It was June and the weather would only get hotter.
“We’ll find a Waffle House on the way,” Wally replied, leaning forward to press a kiss to Dick’s lips.
Dick melted into it. Wally’s lips tasted like his strawberry lip gloss.
“Does this mean my kidnapper’s buying me breakfast?” he asked against Wally’s lips.
Wally quickly pulled away from the kiss and flicked Dick’s forehead.
“You’re the billionaire here. I am absolutely not buying breakfast.”
Dick pouted. “Come on. You kidnapped me. That’s basic etiquette.”
Wally twisted the keys in the ignition and shot Dick an amused look. “Give me your credit card and I’ll consider it.”
Dick pressed his hand against his chest and gave Wally his best look of betrayal while Wally pulled out of the gas station and back onto the road in search of a waffle place.
Baltimore was so much nicer than Gotham. It was a seaside city, too, so it wasn’t like Gotham was only comparable to Baltimore, but Dick didn’t often visit cities on the East coast for fun. Usually it was for vigilante business, which didn’t leave much room for sightseeing. Though he’d never been to Baltimore before, and he was thoroughly regretting it on account of how nice the city was. Especially in the summer, despite all the tourists. That was one of the many things Baltimore had that Gotham did not.
Eventually, Dick had force Wally back into the car well past ten at night in order to actually get a hotel room for the night.
Dick had to remind Wally more than once that they weren’t in that much of a rush and that sightseeing could wait until the next day. Really, Dick was just tired after driving most of today and yesterday and just wanted to cuddle with Wally on one of the beds.
Which is how he found himself stretched out on his stomach near the foot of the bed with Wally’s legs propped up on his back. Wally was playing a game on his phone and Dick set his own down to rest his chin in his open palms and stare at Wally.
“Babe?” he asked.
Wally looked up, distracted. “Yeah?”
“College sounds terrifying.”
Wally actually looked up again at Dick’s words.
“Oh, for sure. I keep getting asked where I see myself in five years. I can barely see myself surviving college.”
Dick huffed a laugh. “I’ll have to get a job after college,” he said. “That’s fucking absurd. Last month I was still asking for permission to go to the bathroom.”
Wally sighed deeply and banged his head against the headboard. “We’re “adults” now. We have to act like it.”
Dick raised an eyebrow and Wally threw a pillow at him. Dick ducked but the pillow still hit him square in the head.
“Shut up!” he laughed.
“I have said nothing,” Dick replied back, slamming the pillow against Wally’s chest. “This is aggravated assault.”
“Do not act innocent,” Wally accused. “You’re judging me as if your hypocrite ass was any more mature than me.”
Dick rolled his eyes. “Neither of us are mature. We’re still eighteen, I don’t see how we’re magically supposed to be mature now.” Dick pillowed his head in his crossed arms. “Though I certainly will be more mature than Bruce. I still haven’t felt the urge to dress up as a bat to beat people up, yet. There’s hope for me yet.”
Wally whistled. “Damn, don’t let him hear that.”
Dick gasped and twisted to the side. “You would dare betray me like that? After I paid for that pizza?”
He shook his head. Wally rolled over and rested his cheek on Dick’s shoulder.
“No, you love me. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
Wally stayed in that position as Dick’s phone started vibrating again. He picked it up and ignored Bruce’s call, instead texting him that he was perfectly fine and enjoying his time with Wally.
Dick dropped his phone again and twisted around so that he was lying on his back with Wally’s head on his chest. He started absently threading his fingers through Wally’s hair, occasionally twisting a strand around his finger.
“I love you,” he mumbled sleepily.
Wally mumbled something incomprehensible. Probably an ‘I love you’ back. Dick smiled and relaxed back into the bed.
“I still can’t believe you have a playlist called ‘greatest hits of the 2000’s’,” Dick yelled over the wind blowing through the open windows.
Wally laughed and turned up the music to hear it over the wind.
“These songs are so good, you just have no taste,” Wally called back.
Dick had kicked off his shoes and peeled his socks off and was sitting cross-legged on his seat with large star-shaped sunglasses to protect his eyes from the afternoon sun. he’d seen them at the last gas station and simply couldn’t not buy them. Or but the obnoxious yellow sunglasses with flamingoes on them for Wally.
“Oh, wait I love this one,” Dick called, reaching over to turn up the music yet again. “Bad Romance is such a catchy song.”
Wally grinned in amusement at Dick as he glanced at him, watching him wiggle around his seat to the beat of the song.
“I see that.” Wally pulled down the visor to block out the sun s Dick practically screamed out the lyrics.
“No, listen, I promise it tastes good!”
Dick’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “That’s plain gross, Wally.”
Wally shot Dick an unimpressed look. “You’ve seen me dip sour strips in barbecue sauce before.”
“And I found that gross too. This is also gross. On a different level.”
Wally leaned forward on the picnic table. “I promise it’s actually good.”
“That’s what you said about the sour strips, Walls.”
Dick remembered that. He couldn’t believe he’d let Wally actually convince him to try it. It tasted just as bad as it sounded and Dick had almost immediately spat it out. Barbecue sauce did not belong on sour strips just as much as cupcake frosting did not belong on pepperoni pizza. This had to be a federal crime.
“You keep your abomination to yourself. I don’t need to give myself food poisoning.”
Wally shrugged. “You don’t know what you’re missing, babe.”
Dick watched Wally eat his pizza smeared with chocolate cupcake frosting in disgust.
“No, I think I prefer not knowing what I’m missing.”
“Bruce-- Bruce I promise you that I am perfectly fine. I’m with Wally. I’m fine.”
Dick leaned against the brick wall, hoping to sink into it and disappear. Dick was going off to college in Blüdhaven, Bruce really had to stop worrying like this all the time.
Then again, he’d left without even leaving him and Alfred a note.
Too late to regret it now.
“Dick,” Bruce sighed heavily. “At least tell me when you get back.”
“Uhhh--” Dick glanced up at the setting sun, painting the sky a vibrant pink and purple dusted with golden clouds. “I don’t know. Before July? Maybe? If you agree to that JLA Fourth of July barbecue I’ve been asking for, maybe we’ll come home in time for that.”
“Dick, I really don’t--”
There was a crashing sound beside Dick and he jumped. In Gotham, it almost always meant a rogue or hired muscle about to attack. In the sleepy town of Greenfield North Carolina, it probably meant a raccoon.
“Bye Bruce!” Dick called cheerfully. “I’ll let you think about the barbecue thing.”
Dick cut off Bruce’s protests by hanging up and tucking his phone in his back pocket. The alley behind their hotel wasn’t shrouded in darkness and was empty-- Dick had made sure of that before calling Bruce back-- save for trash cans and soggy cardboard boxes.
He stared at the trash can where the crash had come from until a small shape scurried from the shadows of the trash can and stopped to stare at Dick with wide green eyes.
Dick crouched in front of the tiny calico cat.
“Hello there,” he cooed, holding his hand out carefully so as to not scare away the kitten.
To his surprise, the kitten actually came forward to sniff out Dick’s hands.
It took a few minutes for the cat to let Dick actually stroke her and several more before it allowed Dick to pick it up.
“Let’s get you inside, okay?” Dick asked softly, gently tugging the cat under his jacket to avoid getting questioned in the lobby.
Wally would have enough questions as it was without adding hotel staff to the mix.
With the cat tucked safely in his hands and hidden from sight by his jacket, Dick made his way out of the alley and towards the hotel.
“Dick, the cat is eating your sock,” Wally said calmly.
Dick glanced in the rearview mirror but didn’t see anything. “Yeah, she does that a lot. I think she finds it calming.”
Wally snorted but didn’t make a comment.
“I think Sock would be a wonderful name for her,” Wally said after a few moments of silence. “I will admit. She’s growing on me.”
“We’ve had her one day.”
Wally shrugged. “I like cats, okay? My dad wouldn’t let me get a cat.”
Dick’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly at the mention of Wally’s parents. He didn’t think he’d ever stop tensing up whenever they came up. Not when they’d kicked Wally out when he came out when he was sixteen. Not when Rudolph had a history of hitting Wally since before that.
He shrugged stiffly. “You don’t live with them anymore, so you can officially adopt all the cats you want.”
Wally snorted. “At least, yeah.”
Sock meowed loudly enough that it startled Dick out of his dark spiral of thoughts.
Wally twisted around to scoop her up and set her on his lap. “I think we might need to buy cat food.”
Dick reached over to pet the cat who was purring contentedly at all the affection. One last stop and Charleston and Dick and Wally would head back towards Gotham. With a new friend in tow.
Dick laced his hand with Wally’s gently.
“I love you, babe,” Wally said, his free hand still stroking the tiny cat.
“I love you, too,” Dick said, pressing a quick kiss to Wally’s cheek. “My lovely idiot.”
Dick found himself wishing this moment could last forever, just him, Wally, and a tiny calico kitten against the world.