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Dick is twelve and he’s watching Wally’s hands, the way they grasp at air as if it's something sacred, and the way he tilts his head and the swoop, not sweep, of his jaw.
Words that he’s not sure yet fit on his tongue threaten to tumble from his lips, but he holds them close still. He remembers his mother’s face, her eyes intent on his own, her voice spinning a warm tale of love and its importance. How, if he does choose to give and give, so freely, so easily, he must also be prepared for heartache. And she had nodded something solemn and reaffirmed, “This does not make you weak, my darling robin.”
He’s watching Wally and Wally is watching him and yet, he doesn’t speak. Wally winces as he jolts his own arm and Dick stifles a laugh in his hand at the disgruntled expression Wally gives when the Flash rushes over in a whirlwind of movement, fretting and fretting .
He thinks, ‘ I can wait.’ And doesn’t realize quite how long he will.
So, it’s when Dick is well into his twenties and he wants to shriek. He wants to scream at the top of his lungs, throw a fit like he’s five years old again and his parents denied him sweets for breakfast. Instead, he licks his lips and rushes out, words pouring off his tongue with all the fervor of over a decade of biting them back, “I’m in love with you.”
He is captivated, staring at Wally. Wally, with his wide green eyes and pale, sharp features, sprinkled with freckles like stars in the sky. Wally, mouth agape, hands frozen on Dick’s tie.
Dick continues, mouth suddenly running dry, “I’m in love with you, and I know you’re not in love with me.”
Wally’s hands spasm and, abruptly, he’s yanking them back like he’s been burned.
Dick charges on, “But, I have to tell you, Wally. Because, if there’s even a sliver of a chance that you could ever think of loving me back I have to chase it. I can’t help but chase it. Wally,” he presses his hands tight to his chest, desperately trying to stop his heart beating out his chest, “I’m in love with you.”
Wally stutters, tongue gliding across his teeth, his cheek. His breath is rotting in his lungs, tastes acrid in his mouth. He hesitates. Tries opening his mouth, but his jaw clacks shut with a sharp snap of teeth.
Dick bites his tongue, shifts forward, nearly falling into Wally but instead hovering a hand over the other man’s heart. “Wally,” he starts, “I’m- this isn’t a joke, or a prank, it’s- I’m in love with you and your stupid jokes and the way you light up like the sun when you’re talking about something you love and the way you short out the electricity every so often with your Speed. The way you’re always there for me, always . Wally,” here his vehemence falters and Wally’s name wavers on his tongue, tumbling forth, again and again, “Wally, Wally, Wally. Wally, it’s like this: the sky is blue, grass is green, and Dick Grayson loves Wally West.”
Strangely, Wally shivers, shivers at the cool rush Dick’s words provide. The breadth of the thought is clogging his lungs. The feel of it overwhelms. He fights for an inhale, and an exhale and stares at Dick like he’s just raised an island with his bare hands.
Dick’s eyes are wild, chest heaving and Wally swears he can see his heart beating.
To Dick, Wally— Wally— is breath in his lungs, blood coursing through his veins, staining his skin. Wally is a helluva lot of everything .
Wally’s expression is curiously blank, the corners of his mouth twitching upward the only indication of emotion. Dick waits in apprehension, eerily aware of his blood rushing through his veins.
“Say something,” Dick murmurs, air heavy on his lips, “you can curse me out, scream at me. Just- Say something.”
Wally’s mouth moves, forming words that don’t break the silence. He pauses, tries again. “We’re going,” his tongue works at the roof of his mouth, “we’re going to be late.” Stumbling, Wally steps back, away and away again and he pushes the door open with a twist and rushes out into the hallway.
He hesitates, hands grappling at the wall for purchase even as his feet stay firm on the floor.
Dick seems to swirl out of the room, nervous energy nearly pulsing under his skin. He doesn’t get a single word out before Wally is suddenly clutching at his wrist with one hand and tugging at the lapels of his suit with the other to bring him close.
“Dick,” Wally breathes and then seems to find some joke and huffs, “ dick. ”
There are a million thoughts running through Wally’s head, and the only thing he can focus on is the echo of Dick’s voice, his fervent voice intoning, “I’m in love with you.”
So, Wally gives up trying to sort through his thoughts and it is so simple to just say, “I’m in love with you too.”
It’s Dick’s turn to gape, it would be comical if not for the way his surprise at the words makes Wally’s heart clench uncomfortably. Suddenly, he knows, he would do anything to make sure Dick never doubted his love again.
“Can I kiss you?” rushes out before he can curb the words against his cheek, but by the time regret has ghosted through his mind Dick is already tugging him forward by the tie.
Their teeth slam into each other at first and their noses bump uncomfortably and there’s the faint awkward sensation of skin sliding across skin but it is no less firework inducing and Wally melts .
Dear god, he loves this man.
He’s murmuring it against Dick’s lips. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” again and again and again, breath long abandoned in favor of the love of his life.
And Dick is sinking just as rapid-sharp, love and love, hand in hand.