Work Text:
“Stand-by duty suuuuucks”, Wally West groans loudly, hitting his forehead against the key board of the large computer in the centre of the Mission Room of Mount Justice. It’s Friday night, and the Young Justice team is out and about on a rare free night, granted by Batman himself in response to their great recent work and the current lack of missions. The only caveat that comes with these precious free nights is that one team member has to stay behind and watch the computer, in case of any urgent emergencies. The first time this had happened, the team had rioted, arguing that it goes team spirit and any notion of solidarity and suggesting that one of the adults themselves perform stand-by duties for once, but said adults read: Batman had remained firm and insisted that the youngsters learn to take responsibility that way.
So every free night out since, the team gathered the day before and drew lots for the unlucky person to stay behind while their team mates are having fun, and this time, because the universe definitely has an evil vendetta against him, Wally pulled the short straw.
Still, it was not supposed to be all bad. Robin had agreed to join him for the night in his stand-by assignment so that Wally wouldn’t be all alone, but it was almost 9 pm and the Boy Wonder still hadn’t shown up. Sure, Robin had warned him in advance that he would be busy with civilian stuff for most of the day and might run a few minutes late, but this is getting way beyond his usual punctuality.
With a frustrated huff, Wally sits up, grabs his phone, and starts texting his best friend.
From: TheFastestBoyAlive
To: Pretty Bird
Dude where r uuuuuu? Im BORED
(08.57 pm)
Seeing the name under which Wally had saved Robin’s number, he could not help but smile. It’s an inside joke that goes back to an infamous night of Truth or Dare a couple of years ago. Choosing truth, Robin told a story of how him and Batman had once been called to investigate a break-in at the family of one of Gotham’s wealthiest bankers. As it turned, the break-in had been faked, organized by the banker’s teenage daughter in a desperate attempt to finally meet the famous Boy Wonder. When confronted by her parents and the Dynamic Duo, she had thrown a fit, crying “But I just wanted to meet the pretty bird!”
The team had cried tears of laughter at the story, while Robin’s face had gone as red as his suit. Being the naturally born troll that he was, Wally had of course wasted no chance to call Robin “pretty bird” afterwards, and so changing Robin’s name on his phone had been step one in that agenda.
Over the last year, however, the name had gained a different meaning too. It had taken Wally some time to notice it, but after a few months there was no denying anymore. Robin was getting … handsome. Not just handsome, though. HOT. It was a strange realization that caused a weirdly twisting feeling in Wally’s stomach. After all, Robin is his best bro, and you don’t usually walk around all day, thinking about whether your best bro is hot, right? Especiailly if you're straight, which Wally definitely is. But recently, Robin’s facial features had arguably grown manlier and less childlike. Plus, he’d recently hit a growth spurt and appeared to have intensified his training regimen too, judging from how his muscles had been bulking up. Taking all things together, Robin was now much closer to the Kryptonian hunkiness of Superboy than to the scrawny little kid he had been when Wally first met him years ago.
At first, Wally thought he was imagining Robin’s gradual transformation. But then after one mission, he noticed the way that the eyes Artemis and M’gann stared after Robin as he walked away and how they immediately turned to each other in excited giggling once he’d bent the corner. Nope, Wally was definitely not imagining things, then. If Artemis and Miss Martian turned into nervous school girls over their youngest teammate, then Robin was absolutely growing into quite the looker.
Of course, the title of Wally’s number one secret crush was already taken and always would be, as Wally had to remind himself in those moment, by none other than Dick Grayson. The circus prodigy of the century had famously been adopted by billionaire Bruce Wayne after he had watched his parents fall to their deaths in a trapeze “accident” caused by mob boss Tony Zucco at age nine. The Gotham Globe cover image of the small traumatized boy, still dressed in his circus leotard, clutching the arms of Bruce Wayne like a lifeline and staring tearfully into the camera had broken millions of hearts around the world and became one of the most famous newspaper covers ever.
Since then, Grayson has grown up to be America’s sweet heart, with millions of adoring followers on social media who follow his every step of life, Wally himself always being first in line. The young acrobat is not very active online and only attends the most exclusive societal events that his highly protective father deems deserving of his son’s presence, but when he does show up somewhere, he’s always the main event and sends the internet into a frenzy. His supermodel looks at 16 years of age, his cheerful nature, and his tragic backstory all give him a magnetic charm that is impossible to resist. A dark-haired pretty boy with a humble heart of gold.
Wally could write a novel about that charm. Even though he’s never met Grayson in person, he likes and comments every one of his Instagram posts religiously. He knows that he should feel weird for obsessing so much about another boy who’s not even his age, but there’s something about Dick Grayson that fascinates Wally and connects him with the younger boy in a way that he just can’t explain. In short, Dick Grayson is the one male that could make even Wally West, the straightest of all straight dudes, swerve from the path of heterosexuality.
Daydreaming about Dick Grayson, how soft and fluffy his dark bangs must be, how smooth his skin, how defined his chest, Wally startles when his phone buzzes with a new message. The sender makes Wally smile, though.
From: Pretty Bird
To: TheFastestBoyAlive
Sorry dude, real life stuff, almost done tho, will be there asap
(09.03 pm)
Sometimes Wally wishes that he knew more about Robin’s non-hero life, so that he could understand and support his friend better. Of course, Robin’s secrecy was not his own decision. It had been Batman’s sine non qua condition of Robin joining the team back in the day. Robin was only allowed to become a member of the team only if his identity was to remain a secret, even to his own team mates. In a way, Wally got it. As a superhero, the more people know about your secret identity, the more you not only put yourself in danger, but also the people in the know. It’s all leverage that could be used against you one day. But your own team mates? Robin had even fought with Batman to at least let Wally know, who was well aware of how bad Robin felt about the whole situation. Being best friends, but not being able, or rather allowed, to reciprocate your bestie’s trust had to eat you up on the inside. After all, they had worked together way before Young Justice, and Kid Flash had revealed his identity as Wallace West to Robin as soon as Barry had agreed to it. But Batman had left no room for debate, as usual. And honestly? Having Robin in his life without knowing his secret identity was still much better as far as Wally was concerned than not having Robin in his life at all.
Letting his eyes wander across the key board to find something to do in the meantime, Wally spots the magazine on the edge of the table that Artemis had left for him, half to taunt him, half out of genuine compassion for her team mate. Looking at the cover, Wally finds that it’s the most recent copy of Spotlight, a tabloid paper about celebrity gossip. Browsing through the contents page, Wally is surprised that magazines like this haven’t gone out of print yet and been replaced by social media and TMZ altogether. Wally skips ahead to the centre piece of the issue, a multi-page feature on Gotham’s Next Generation Ball, an event dedicated to the upcoming elite of the city and arguably the country. Wally’s not very knowledgeable on contemporary VIPs, but he figures that with people closer to his age his chances of actually recognizing a familiar face might be slightly better.
The first two pages are filled with faces he may have seen on his Instagram explore page once, but Wally can’t remember any of their names. On the third page, however, his face instantly lights up in excitement. A full-body image of none other than Dick Grayson covers almost the entire page!! The 16-year-old looks positively glowing, combining a simple white t-shirt that hugs his torso tightly and some dark skinny jeans with a pair of Chelsea boots and a smooth, unadorned leather jacket that makes Wally almost salivate. His gorgeous face displays his disarming trademark smile, but Wally’s eyes still drift back to his jacket. When did Grayson start wearing freaking leather?! For Wally, leather jackets are far too expensive to ever consider owning one himself – at least till he lands a well-paid job – but he’s always had a thing for them. To him, it’s the ultimate fashion statement, the one item which more than any other exudes masculinity and turns any semi-handsome guy into a swoon-worthy hunk. Not that he'd ever swoon over a hunk, because #straight, remember? In the case of Dick Grayson, who was already a swoon-worthy hunk without the jacket, the addition of leather is just spectacular. A black-haired teenage Adonis who has stepped down to Earth right from Mount Olympus. No wonder they dedicated an entire page to him, looking like that! Strange that they didn’t put him on the cover, but then again, you don’t want to play your strongest card right away.
Running his hands over the chest of the photographic Grayson again, Wally suddenly remembers that he has seen that outfit before: Grayson had posted a pic of himself wearing the exact same attire on Instagram the other day!
Instantly, Wally grabs his phone and opens Grayson’s IG page, and yep, there it is: Grayson in the same outfit, popping the collar of his leather jacket, a darkly panelled gallery in the back ground (probably the legendary Wayne Manor, Wally presumes), and a caption saying: “Looking like a #Boss for #GothamNextGen”. Sure enough, Wally had already liked the photo , commented it with a bunch of flame emojis and added it to his collection, but clicking on the photo tags confirmes that Grayson was in fact wearing a leather jacket from Hugo Boss. A boss outfit for a boss boy, Wally admires silently and pointedly ignores the slight twitch in the crotch of his jeans - the same twitch, as he now remembers - he had already felt upon seeing the post for the first time.
When he’s able to tear his gaze back from his phone to the larger print image, Wally notices the little text at the bottom of the page:
Circus prodigy all grown up: Dick Grayson (16) rocks the red carpet in a Hugo Boss leather jacket. The son of philanthropist Bruce Wayne was the talk of the town and arrived without a partner, instantly sparking questions about his love life. Though still single, Grayson admitted: “Yes, I do have feelings for someone, but they don’t know it yet, and I want to wait until I’m fully ready for them.” Whoever the person is, they will be very lucky indeed.
“Wow”, Wally sighs aloud. Dick Grayson not only looks like a supermodel, he’s also a romantic! Wally wishes he could be the girl who has unknowingly conquered his heart.
But wait a minute! He dissects the phrasing of the little text again.
“Yes, I do have feelings for someone, but they don’t know it yet, and I want to wait until I’m fully ready for them.” Whoever the person is, they will be very lucky indeed.
Someone.
They.
Them.
Person.
Could it possibly be that Dick Grayson is … not straight? If he was straight, why make it such a point to use gender-neutral language? Unless of course the person he is crushing on happens to be non-binary. Still, just the mere idea that Dick Grayson might be in love with a guy is enough to make Wally’s heart flutter and the twitch in his jeans become a bit more uncomfortable.
Looking down at his slightly swollen bulge, Wally reaches for his crotch, hoping to calm himself down before his best bro arrives. But once his fingers touch the raised denim of his trousers, instinct takes over and Wally closes his eyes. Unable to supress a low moan, Wally begins massaging his member through his clothes, imagining his body being embraced by the leather-clad arms of Dick Grayson. After a couple of minutes of continuous edging, his manhood has become fully erect and his moans have grown so loud that Wally doesn’t even notice the nearby Zeta tube activate and the computerized voice of the Mount Justice system announce: “Recognized: Robin – B 01.”
A few seconds later, though, Wally hears the familiar sing-song-y voice of his best friend call out, “Sorry dude, civilian duties took longer than expected, but now I’m all yours. Hey, Wally, you hear me?”. A bolt of panic flashes through the cloud of Wally’s arousal, and his head instantly perks up. FUCK!, he shouts silently, looking down at his raging boner. He can’t just speed back to his room without raising Robin’s suspicion, but he also can’t stand up like this without basically shoving his erection right into the Boy Wonder’s face.
Frantically searching for a last-minute rescue, Wally decides to improvise. Slowly, he turns his swivel chair around and places the Spotlight copy very strategically over his crotch, hoping against hope that sweet little Robin is too innocent to deduce anything suspicious from Wally’s pose.
“Oh hey, sorry, dude, I was so – eh – lost in thoughts I almost didn’t notice you arrive”, Wally tries to excuse himself nervously.
The one thing that Wally does notice at that very moment, howeve,r is Robin’s outfit. The red henley is nothing out of the ordinary for the Boy Wonder. The black leather jacket that he is wearing over the henley, however, very much is. Fuck, Wally, groans internally. The jacket looks good on Robin… The leather shines smoothly, hugging his arms and shoulders firmly and accentuating nicely how toned Robin’s body has become over the past few months. In fact, Robin’s entire outfit strikes Wally as eerily familiar.
A good-looking teenage boy with a dark hair and a black leather jacket…
Replace the red henley with a white tee, get rid of the sun glasses, and Robin could be the spitting image of Dick Grayson.
But it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. There’s NO way.
… or is there?
According to Wally’s surging crotch, there definitely could be a way. Wally wants to scream! He’s already embarrassed enough by his crush on Dick Grayson as it is, and now he drags his best friend into the whole mess – just because he also wears a fucking leather jacket – and pops a boner for him? He may the fastest boy alive, but right now he’s also the dumbest.
“Yeah, well, I’m here now, so what you been up to? Any plans without the others?”, Robin’s voice brings Wally’s mind back in to the here and now, and then adds, “Oh wow, don’t tell me you’ve started reading Spotlight too? Did Artemis leave that with you? What bullshit are they writing this week?”
Before Wally can prevent it, Robin grabs the magazine from Wally’s lap, and instantly the ginger’s hands fly towards his crotch to cover up what’s getting more glaringly obvious there by the second.
However, the universe clearly does have a vendetta against Wally, he decides, because the magazine is still opened at the Gotham Next Generation feature, on the Dick Grayson page to be exact.
A curious, unreadable expression fills Robin’s face upon seeing the image. On the other side, Wally, whose face has grown the colour of his hair, just wants to crawl into the deepest hole the planet has to offer and die.
“Oh”, Robin starts, his voice strangely neutral. “You been reading about the Grayson kid, huh?”
Wally’s eyes all of a sudden take an extreme interest in the floor of the Mission Room.
“Well, yeah, kinda…”, Wally mumbles, pointedly looking neither at his crotch nor at Robin.
“And what do you think about him?”
That he’s the most gorgeous human being that Wally has ever laid his speedster eyes on? That he’d give every last one of his beloved freckles for a date with him? That he’s probably WAY too far out of Wally’s league to even deign to look at him?
“Well, I dunno, he’s kind of … cute?”
THE CHEEK, THE NERVE, THE GALL, THE AUDACITY, AND THE GUMPTION of Wally’s godforsaken traitor of a mouth! Wally wants to cut out his tongue, bury it in the ground, and then have Superman obliterate that piece of earth with his heat vision. Because why the fuck did he have to say ‘cute’ of all good and godly things? Artemis will never stop calling him Kid Mouth again after tonight if she hears about this.
Of course, Robin, being just as much of a troll as his best friend, picks up on that last word too and goes to town with it.
“Oh really, you think so? What do you find cute about him?”, Robin asks, the smug tone in his voice perfectly audible without even seeing the smirk on his face.
Where’s a supervillain to rip Kid Flash apart when you need it?!, Wally screams silently
“I mean, granted, he does have style, not gonna lie”, Robin continues to dig Wally’s grave. “Especially that jacket. Pretty cool, don’t you think? I kinda like the hair too.”
Where’s a supervillain to rip Robin apart when you need it?!
Frustration bubbling up inside him, Wally finally jumps up and rips the magazine out of Robin’s hands and turns away. “For fuck’s sake, I’m allowed to have a celebrity crush, am I not? Besides, he’d never talk to me anyways, being all rich and famous and handsome.” In a quieter voice, Wally adds, “I just… like him, okay?”
When Wally doesn’t hear an answer from his famously talkative best friend, he turns back around and is met with yet another unfamiliar sight: a subtle blush colouring Robin’s face. This is weird, Wally thinks immediately. The Boy Wonder is never embarrassed or shaken by anything. Usually, he is the one that makes other people blush.
“I’m sorry, Wally, I, ehm, didn’t mean to upset you like that”, he apologizes softly.
First Robin’s blushing, and then he’s stumbling over his own words? Now Wally’s alarm bells are definitely ringing.
After a moment of silence that isn’t awkward at all, Robin finally finds his voice again, although still imperfectly.
“Well, ehm, I’m gonna hit the shower and change, and then maybe we can, I dunno, play Mario Kart or something?” Wally does not fail to miss the small note of hope in the way that Robin’s voice rises at the end of his question.
“Sounds cool”, Wally answers equally softly, a gentle smile on his face.
“Cool, I’ll be right back”, Robin reciprocates Wally’s smile and turns in the direction of the bed rooms. As he walks away, the shine of the overhead lights reflects in the smooth leather covering Robin’s not-so-slim shoulders, and once again Wally is reminded of the similarly impressive leather-clad shoulders of Dick Grayson.
Keep it together, Wallster, a firm voice in his head admonishes him sternly, don’t be silly, you’re tired and horny and your mind is playing malicious tricks on you. This is nothing but wishful thinking…
But what if it’s not?, another voice offers, softly but unmistakably. What if it’s more than wishful thinking? Hadn’t Robin sounded unusually interested to hear Wally’s thoughts about Dick Grayson? And had he not acted extremely weird – or perhaps weirder than usual for a teenager naming himself after a bird and fighting criminals at night – when Wally confessed his crush on the acrobat?
Well, Kid Flash is not the prodigy of the World’s Greatest Detective like Robin, but even he can see that there’s only one way to solve this mystery hanging between them. He has to examine Robin’s leather jacket and check if it’s Hugo Boss. If it is, Wally will have no choice but to confront Robin about it. The jacket would be the final straw, the one final detail that would be push this whole mess past the realm of random coincidence.
Staying behind for a couple of minutes, Wally waits in the silence of the room, until he can hear the faintest echo of a shower in the distance. Grabbing his phone, Wally hooks up the device digitally with the computer so that he gets a remote alert in case of any emergencies. He then speeds over to Robin’s room, which happens to be right next door to his own and finds the door unlocked, as expected. Kid Flash and Robin rarely lock their doors, especially if they’re the only ones in the base at the moment, because more often than not the two boys will hang out together in either of their rooms anyway. Carefully opening the door to Robin’s room an inch, he indeed hears the loud rush of the shower in the adjoining en-suite bath room. Wally is about to step into Robin’s room when a voice in his head starts reprimanding him.
Is this what an alleged best friend should be doing? Sneaking into your bestie’s room behind his back? Against his firmly expressed wishes?
Robin (or rather Batman via Robin) had made it abundantly clear that Robin’s secret identity was off limits to anyone, including Kid Flash. If Robin had wanted to let Wally know all the same, would he not have done so a long time ago? The only reason Robin’s door is not locked right now is because he trusts Wally – a trust that Wally will be trampling all over if steps forth into his best friend’s room.
But then, through the crack of the door, Wally sees Robin’s black leather jacket hanging over the back a chair. The leather jacket that looks exactly like the one that Dick Grayson wore the other day, Dick Grayson who also happens to be an exceptionally handsome 16-year-old boy with black hair. Just like Robin.
The tension is tearing Wally apart inside. If there is even a sliver of a chance that Dick Grayson, the boy that Wally is having the most irrepressible crush on, is the boy behind the Robin mask, then Wally simply has to know. If Robin is not Dick Grayson, their friendship will hopefully be strong enough to recover even from this breach of trust. Surely, Robin will understand Wally’s motivation behind sneaking into his room in this situation, wouldn’t he?
And if his best friend Robin is actually Dick Grayson…
Well, Wally will cross that bridge when he gets to it.
Taking a deep breath, Wally opens the door a little bit further, careful not to make any noise that could alert Robin in the shower and walks over to the chair. He picks up the leather jacket, which feels as soft and supple like butter underneath Wally’s fingertips, raises it to his eye level and ---
Oh my god.
There it is. The label on the inside of the collar of the jacket. Two words in finely embroidered white letters that make Wally’s stomach plunge into the darkest pit of the Earth.
Hugo Boss.
It IS the same jacket.
Wally’s brain ceases to function. If it was still functioning, his brain would tell him to put the jacket right where he found it, silently move to his own room next door, lock the door and never step outside again for the rest of his miserable life.
Unfortunately, his brain is not functioning anymore, so instead Wally presses the collar of Robin’s leather jacket to his nose and deeply inhales the masculine scent. Instantly, Wally groans aloud and his manhood sparks up in excitement again. He has no idea whether this is the perfume that Robin’s wearing or the natural fragrance of his teenage body – or if simply every leather jacket smells like this. But regardless of where the scent comes from, it smells INCREDIBLE. Deep, warm, and manly.
He also does not notice that the rushing of the shower next door has stopped.
Overcome by lust, Wally closes eyes, lays Robin’s leather jacket onto his shoulders and crosses its sleeves over his chest, as if he was being spooned by the admittedly smaller boy. But Wally does not care. The only thing he cares about anymore is Dick Grayson.
“I love you, Dick”, he breathes heavily into the very silent room.
…
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Suddenly, Wally is ripped out of his romantic dream and back into the cold harsh reality. A reality in which standing opposite him is his team mate Robin, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair and muscular chest still slightly wet. His team mate Robin whose face right now is covered by neither mask nor sun glasses, but instead by the deep blue eyes of Richard Grayson giving Wally a death stare that would make the infamous Bat Glare go cry in the corner.
All of a sudden, the fastest boy alive finds himself pretty immovable and rooted to the spot.
Robin remains silent, his eyes drilling deeper and deeper into the fractured remains of Wally’s souls.
After the initial shock, Wally switches from one of his default modes in cases of emergency, namely stunned silence, to the other default mode in times of crisis: overly anxious speed-forced rambling.
“OH MY GOD I’M SO SORRY DICK, I MEAN ROBIN, SORRY, I MEAN DICK, URGH WHATEVER. PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!! I NEVER WANTED TO BETRAY YOU LIKE THIS! YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND I’LL NEVER TELL ANYONE ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY, I’LL SWEAR ON EVERYTHING I HOLD DEAR, ON MY AUNT AND UNCLE AND ON CHEETOS AND ON MARIO KART! I REALLY DIDN’T TO WANT TO BETRAY YOUR TRUST LIKE THAT, I PROMISE! BUT I JUST HAVE THIS CRUSH ON DICK GRAYSON! WHO HAPPENS TO BE YOU I GUESS, RIGHT? AND I’D SEEN THOSE PHOTOS OF DICK IN THAT LEATHER JACKET, I’M SORRY I MEAN OF YOU IN THAT JACKET AND THEN I READ IN THAT MAGAZINE THAT YOU HAVE FEELINGS FOR THIS PERSON WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE A GUY AND THEN YOU WALKED INTO THE MISSION ROOM IN THAT JACKET LOOKING JUST LIKE DICK GRAYSON, I MEAN LIKE YOURSELF, GEEZ WALLS! AND SO I JUST HAD TO KNOW, AND NOW I DO KNOW THAT MY BEST FRIEND IS ALSO MY SECRET CRUSH BUT HE’LL NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN AFTER I BETRAYED HIM LIKE THAT AND YOU’LL PROBABLY TELL BATMAN ABOUT THIS AND HE’LL HAVE ME ASSASSINATED OR LOCK ME UP IN THE BATCAVE OR --- “
Wally is far too wrapped up in giving what he hopes to be his life-saving defence speech to notice how the death glare gradually disappears from Robin’s face and how the shirtless boy walks over to the red head and cuts his rambling short by gently placing his right index finger on Wally’s lips.
“Relaaaaaax, Wally”, Robin – or rather Dick – calms him down, the neutral expression of his face turning slowly into the barest hint of a smile. “It’s alright. I’m not gonna kill you.”
Oh, Wally thinks surprised, catching his breath, as Robin lets his hand fall to his side.
“And I’m not gonna tell Batman, either.”
“You’re … not?”, Wally finds his voice again, albeit at a normal speed and volume this time.
“At least not intentionally”, Dick chuckles. “You know how he is, and how difficult it is to keep anything secret from him.”
Wally gulps again, the possibility of Batman finding out about his fuck-up back on the table.
As if reading his mind, though, Dick steps closer, gripping his shoulders encouragingly and reassuring him, “Don’t worry. Even if he does find out, I’ll make sure he won’t assassinate you or lock you up in the Cave. I promise.”
Now even Wally is brave enough to smile a little and answers softly, “Thanks.”
After a silent moment in which the two boys simply stare into each other’s eyes, Robin suddenly looks down along his torso and comments, “As much as I’m comfortable in my own body, would you mind turning around? I’d rather have some clothes on for this conversation than being shirtless.”
Wally does as he is told, trying not to imagine a stark-naked Dick Grayson standing just a few feet away from him. To the surprise of absolutely no one, though, Wally can’t stop himself from joking, “Pity though, I didn’t actually mind the whole shirtless look on you”, which promptly earns him a slap from Dick’s towel against his butt. “Oww!”, Wally yelps in response, jumping around to see Dick dressed in black sweat pants and a grey hoodie.
The dark-haired boy walks over to his bed, sits down at the head end of it and gestures towards Wally to take a seat next to him. Wally follows suit, Dick’s leather jacket still clutched in his hand.
When they are both comfortably seated on the bed, Dick turns slightly around to face Wally, offers his right hand and says, “Hi, my name is Richard John Grayson, but most people just call me Dick. Nice to meet you.” His face is smiling, his blue eyes sparkling brightly like the water in Happy Harbour bay in the afternoon sun. It’s the most beautiful shade of blue that Wally has ever seen.
Wally takes Dick’s hand and shakes it, warmth flooding every corner of his body, and answers, “Nice to meet you, Dick. I’m Wallace Rudolph West, but I usually go by Wally.”
“Hi Wally”, Dick grins. Neither boy appears particularly inclined to let go of the other’s hand, so they just keep their fingers interlocked.
A few seconds of silence follow, before Wally speaks up, “Rob – I’m sorry – Dick, I meant what I said just now. I’m so so sorry. I have no idea what came over me. Or rather, I do know what came over me, and it’s just too embarrassing to admit. But I never wanted to betray your trust like that. You have to believe me.”
Dick squeezes Wally’s hand and answers calmly, “And I meant what I said, too. It’s alright. I probably deserved it anyway. I mean, what should I expect? You not to do anything? After all that teasing about Dick Grayson? Honestly, I’m kind of glad that the cat’s out of the bag now, or should I say the bird?”
Both boys laugh at that.
“Though I admit I didn’t expect the moment when I reveal my identity to you to go quite like this”, Dick goes on. “But I’m still glad it happened. I felt awful keeping all those secrets from you for so long.”
This time it’s Wally squeezing Dick’s hand back, who takes a deep breath before continuing.
“Especially because now you could help me dealing with another secret, too.”
Wally sits up at that, concern for his best fiend suddenly all over his face.
“What, how?! What’s wrong, Dick? What’s the matter? What I can help you with?”
“There’s one thing…”, Dick mumbles, his eyes drifting to their still interlocked hands. “Walls, do you remember that quote from me in Spotlight? About how I have feelings for someone but haven’t told them yet ‘cause I didn’t feel ready?”
Wally can feel his heart beating up into his very throat, and is barely able to utter a weak “Yeah?” in response, too nervous about what his friend will say next.
Then, Dick looks up again, right into Wally’s eyes, and says, “Well, I’m ready to tell them now.” Leaning forward, Dick cups the back of Wally’s head and tenderly presses his lips against Wally’s.
Time stands still in Wally’s head, the universe frozen momentarily in the feathery softness of Dick’s mouth on his. But then the reality of the situation hits Wally like a truck.
Dick Grayson is kissing me.
Instantly, Wally lets got of Dick’s leather jacket, grabs the back of Dick’s head with his free hand and starts kissing him back as if his life depends on it. As if both their lives depend on it. As if the only way to save each other's lives is to exchange the air trapped in their lungs and release it right into the other’s mouth.
A couple of minutes of ceaseless kissing later, both boys pull back and laugh breathlessly at what just happened.
“Wow”, Dick starts incredulously, “that was ---”
“--- amazing”, Wally finishes for him. Dick does not disagree.
Looking down, Wally notices that both his jeans and Dick’s sweat pants are visibly swollen in the crotch area. “Oops”, he snickers.
It takes Dick a second to understand what Wally is referring too, but then he follows the red head’s gaze and just goes “Oh.” A slight blush spreads across his face. “I’m sorry.”
This time the role of the reassuring friend goes to Wally. “Don’t’ be”, he says lightly, squeezing Dick’s hand for added comfort, “it’s completely natural. Besides, if a magazine photo of you in leather can get me hard, then the real deal most definitely can.”
They both laugh. Then Dick picks up the leather jacket, puts it on over his hoodie and muses with a crocked smile on his face, “Maybe we should send a little ‘thank you’ card to Hugo Boss, huh? ‘Thank you for bringing two young love birds together. May your leather jackets never run out of stock!’”
Laughing out loud, Wally collapses against the head of the bed and after recomposing himself pokes Dick into his ribs and says, “You say that like it’s an easy thing to not lose your cool when Robin / Dick Grayson walks into the room wearing his fancy leather jacket. My eyes almost fell out; that’s how hot you look in that thing. You gotta give people a fair warning to brace themselves.”
“Hmm”, Dick ponders loudly, laying his head down on Wally’s chest and peaking up towards him through luscious eye lashes. If Dick wants to help Wally staying soft, it’s not working. At all.
“I bet you’d look pretty hot in leather too. Black leather and red hair? Endlessly stylish. Or perhaps brown? Maybe we should go shopping together”, Dick suggests, excitement in his eyes.
“Hate to break it to you, Dick”, Wally answers, disheartened, “but I’m a broke Physics major at Stanford who definitely can’t afford a real leather jacket. And I refuse to wear pleather next to your Hugo Boss one.”
“Hate to break it to you, too, Walls”, Dick strikes back without even blinking, “but do you remember who my dad is?”
A few second pass by, but then the sudden paleness on Wally’s freckled face signals his epiphany.
“Not to sound like the worst, most spoiled asshole kid in the whole world, but when you go shopping with the son of a billionaire, you don’t have to worry about being able to afford a real leather jacket or not. AND before you even say anything in protest: YES, I will absolutely buy you a jacket. NO, there’s nothing you can do about it, except wear it and look hot in it. Boyfriend privilege.”
Once again, Wally feels the air being knocked out of his lungs.
“What?”, Dick asks nervously, after a pause. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh no, all good. It’s just that I never ever dreamt of hearing Dick Grayson call himself my boyfriend. Feels pretty surreal.”
“Too soon? We don’t have to label this if you don’t want to”, Dick reels back, still clearly concerned he may have overstepped the line.
“No, don’t worry, I definitely want this”, Wally reassures him with an unshakable smile. “We’ve been best friends for so long that ‘boyfriends’ only feels like the next logical step. Also, being able to brag that the most eligible young man on the planet is my boyfriend must be pretty sweet.”
Dick snickers, leans forward to plant another kiss on Wally’s cheek and then lets his head rest of Wally’s chest again. Instantly, the speedster circles his arms around the Boy Wonder’s leather-clad back and sighs happily. Although both boys can sense each other’s hard-ons poking one another, neither feels any urgent need to act on it, simply enjoying the other’s closeness instead.
The two boys lie peacefully like that for several minutes, their bodies silently tangled up in another, when Wally’s eyes fly wide open and his anxious voice exclaims, “Wait a sec: if Dick Grayson is Robin, does that mean that Bruce Wayne is Batman?!”
“Not if you want to get assassinated or locked up in the Batcave, Kid Genius”, Dick smirks like a smart ass, earning an elbow to his ribs which he rubs in fake outrage.
“Don’t I have any boyfriend privileges too?”, Wally pouts at him? “It’s unfair if you get to have all the fun and I don’t!”
“Trust me, we’ll have plenty of fun together”, Dick insinuates, wriggling his eye brows suggestively for further emphasis. “Also, as the boyfriend of Bruce Wayne’s son, your privilege basically boils down to staying alive after meeting my dad, if you’re lucky.”
“Goodness… And if I’m not? Any dead bodies in the attic I should be aware of?”
“None yet, but there’s a first time for everything, right?”
Another elbow to Dick’s rib cage.
“Honestly, though”, Wally’s tone loses some of its light-heartedness, “if we want to be serious about this, what’s the next step? Who are we gonna tell? I know we have to be professional on missions, but the team will eventually find out either way, and I don’t want to hide us from the rest of the world. It’s all so messy. Not to mention that I’m not out yet.”
Dick starts running his right hand through Wally’s hair, which should not feel as relaxing as it does, and says quietly, “Don’t worry, we’ll take it one step at a time, and we’ll decide at which pace. I’m not out yet, either, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Alfred has a hunch, he just knows everything somehow.”
“Who’s Alfred?”
“My butler.”
“You have a freaking butler?!”
“Who happens to make the best cookies you’ll ever be fortunate enough to taste, so you better be nice to him, Kid Mouth.”
“Alright, alright”, Wally concedes, “I just feel so completely out of your league right now, and it seems like it’ll only get worse the more I get to know you, Dick.”
Wally is not lying. With every minute in Dick’s presence, he realizes more and more that his impression of the 16-year-old boy from the media is not even a fraction of the real person that's playing with his hair right now, and that Dick comes from a world that Wally would never be able to access by himself.
“Stop worrying, Walls, okay? The only league you need to be in is yourself. That’s more than enough.”
Wally stays silent for a moment, then says, “How did I waste years of my life pining over a boy who was right there in front of me this whole time? Like I was on romance stand-by.”
“Well”, Dick chuckles, “if it’s any comfort to you, I didn’t fare much better, did I? But hey, better late than never, okay? And honestly, right now, stand-by duty is not so bad.”
“Couldn’t agree more”, Wally smiles and leans downward to kiss Dick Grayson. His boyfriend.
***
From The Gotham Globe:
Dick Grayson comes out at Gotham Pride Ball
Dick Grayson, acclaimed acrobat and son of entrepreneur and philanthropist Bruce Wayne, has publicly announced that he is gay at this year’s Gotham Pride Ball. Grayson attended last night’s event together with Wallace West whom he also revealed to be his boyfriend. Two years his senior, West majors in Physics at Stanford University and could be seen holding Grayson’s hand as they walked the red carped in matching Hugo Boss leather jackets. Before stepping off the carpet, Grayson and West shared a brief but intimate kiss, setting off an unparalleled shower of flashlights from the assembled press. Later that night, the couple told reporters: “We’ve been dating for several months, but now we’re very happy to celebrate our relationship in public during Pride.” Grayson’s coming-out will arguably send an important signal in the current political climate; with millions of followers on social media, the 16-year-old is destined to become a role model for the LGBTQIA+ community.