Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Richard, you’re trending on Twitter. Hashtag Everybody Loves Richard Wayne.”

Dick looked up from the book open in front of him. It wasn’t often that he found himself sitting for long periods of time reading since he preferred audiobooks due to his general restlessness, but since Jason had made a joke about the impossibility of Dick sitting and reading, Dick had decided to prove him wrong. Even if it did result in Dick doing yoga poses while reading to combat his restless spirit.

And because they wanted to torture him, Damian and Tim had decided to keep him company and make jokes, too, until Dick started ignoring them.

This led them to that moment with Damian scrolling idly on his phone, just as bored as Dick, but of course, he found something interesting.

“What’d I do this time?” Dick asked, taking the pause in reading to stretch in his splits.

The paparazzi tended to latch onto some of the most mundane things when it came to the Wayne family, so Dick genuinely had no idea what he was trending for. It could have been for something as simple as his coffee order. But he did find it amusing that that was the hashtag. Who or what was the internet breaking over loving him?

Damian scrolled further and then stopped on a tweet that had a linked article. He paused upon seeing the title in the preview of the tweet and gaped.

WAYNE HEIR HAS A SUPER AFFAIR

“What the fuck, Richard?” Damian asked abruptly, causing both Tim and Dick to snap their heads up to him due to the utterly genuine appall in his tone.

Oh, Dick was going to strangle Jason for teaching him that Vine. Ever since he was shown it, Damian liked to use it when Dick did “dumb” things like hugging him or jumping off buildings when they patrolled together. Totally “dumb” things. But never before had Damian said the reference with such visceral shock.

Tim leaned over from his spot on the opposite end of the couch to read over Damian’s shoulder, he gasped upon reading the headline.

“No!” Tim exclaimed, lips inching up into a grin. “Bruce is gonna kill you.”

Dick’s expression pinched as he slowly moved out of the splits. “What?” he asked.

Tearing his eyes away from his phone screen, Damian lowered his phone and with a scowl said, “You kissed West.”

Tim fully grinned as he added, “And it’s trending.”

It took a moment for Dick to fully realize what the internet was freaking out about. It wasn’t that he kissed Wally West. It was that he kissed Keystone’s Flash.

Dick slowly closed his eyes and ducked his head down. “Shit. Shit!” He quickly got up, ignoring the tingling feeling in his legs from sitting in the splits for too long.

“You better run, Dick,” Tim said, still grinning.

“Father’s going to find out any minute,” Damian said gravely.

“How long has it been trending?” Dick asked. “If I can make the garage, maybe—”

Dick was cut off by the loud sound of an incoherent yell coming from another part of the manor, and he along with his brothers flinched at the sound, knowing it had undoubtedly come from Bruce.

Tim adjusted his book in his lap as he smirked down at it and said, “I’m sure he already knows.”

The incoherent yelling continued, none of the three able to make out specific words, but soon after it started, Jason stuck his head into the library and asked, “The fuck is he yelling about? I know it’s not about me. I haven’t done anything today.”

They then all flinched at the sharp sound of glass shattering.

Damian watched as Dick slowly began inching his way to the window. “Richard—”

“I think I’m gonna head out,” Dick nonchalantly said, casually opening the window.

“Richard John Grayson-Wayne!” was heard loud and clear in Bruce’s deep, angry voice.

Tim gaped with a smile. “Not the full name.”

Jason looked at Dick, torn between laughing and asking every question that ran through his head. “Fuck, Goldie, what did you do?” he settled with. The last time he had heard Bruce so angry with Dick was when Jason was still Robin and they had started arguing over Jason being Robin. He couldn’t imagine what had gotten Bruce so angry this time around unless it was something like maybe getting a girl pregnant.

Rubbing the back of his head as he so clearly didn’t want to answer Jason, Dick said, “I may have kissed Wally in costume.”

Oh, that was way better than what Jason thought. “Fucking finally,” he replied, not sure why Bruce would give a shit.

“Wally was in costume,” Tim clarified. “Dick was not. And it’s trending on Twitter.”

“Oh.” Jason’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, shit.” He couldn’t fight the rippling laugh that escaped him. “Ha! You’re screwed, man.”

Dick hit his head against the window frame wondering what the hell he had done to deserve this, as if he didn’t remember exactly what had happened just the day before.

The Previous Day

Did Bruce know sending his eldest son to Keystone was going to backfire so spectacularly for him? No, no he did not. But it did.

It started the previous morning when Dick had to go to Keystone City, Kansas to settle a Wayne Enterprises deal in the city. With the latest expansions of the company and the convenient area of the city having access to the Missouri River, someone with power in the company needed to go in person to close, and well, it was partial punishment for Dick considering he had won the rogue selfie contest amongst the Batkids and Bruce had subsequently found out and found punishments for each of them.

It wasn’t all bad since Dick got to see Wally, albeit as himself and not as Nightwing. It would be suspicious if Richie Wayne was in town at the same time as Nightwing. Regardless, Wally didn’t know him as Dick, only as Nightwing which put a damper on things when Wally, as Keystone’s Flash, swooped in to save Dick from someone running a red light.

His brothers never would’ve let him live it down if he’d been hurt by something as mundane as a speeding car.

But the good news was, Dick found himself wrapped in Wally’s arms with no effort of his own, something he’d wanted for years. He got to see Wally in all his red-suited glory with his glorious red curls peeking out from the top and not have his vision be altered or filtered by the lenses of his domino mask.

Was he checking out his best friend? Yeah. Did that make him a horrible person? He wasn’t sure.

“Are you okay, Mr. Wayne?” Wally asked.

Of course, he recognized him as Richard Wayne. Dick shouldn’t have been so grumpy about it, but he couldn’t help it. He may have chosen to lean into the Richie Wayne persona like Bruce did with Brucie in order to have a better divide between himself and Nightwing, but this was Wally, someone he had been not-so-secretly in love with off and on for years as Robin and then consistently more recently as Nightwing but couldn’t tell his secret identity to.

Well, he’d better make it count. He’d likely never get the opportunity to be as honest with his Richie Wayne flirting as he would by flirting with Wally. And like Bruce could have much of a leg to stand on considering he always took the opportunity to flirt with Superman as Brucie Wayne.

Dick’s expression shifted into a cheeky grin. “I’m better now that you’re here,” he said, letting his eyes notably roam. “Thanks for the rescue, handsome.”

“O-oh, uh, you're welcome,” Wally stammered, his voice cracking at the end, so he quickly cleared his throat.

Dick had seen Wally flustered a handful of times, and he loved it every time, especially when he was the one responsible for the creeping blush that was threatening to erupt. Tomorrow, he was going to have to go back to being Nightwing making him blush, so he was going to make the most of it.

Was that the thing that made him a horrible person? Dick couldn’t really find himself caring as he stood in Wally’s arms. For some reason, Wally hadn’t pulled away yet, not that Dick was complaining.

“Has anyone ever told you your eyes are stunning?” Dick asked, honest about just how beautiful he found Wally’s green eyes.

Wally’s mouth opened and closed before he finally settled on, “No?”

Turning the grin up to a ten, Dick said, “Well, that makes me the lucky first then.” He then playfully stuck out his bottom lip. “But it’s a bummer. You should be hearing it more often.” He shrugged. “Oh, well, I suppose I can be the one to fill you in.”

Wally’s blush worsened at the emphasis Dick placed on the words ‘fill you.’

He stuttered out a partial laugh as though he wasn’t blushing as bright as his suit, trying to play off his awkwardness. “Do you flirt with every hero?” he asked.

“Only the ones I like,” Dick answered. ‘Only you’ was what he really wanted to say, and it was mostly true. He did occasionally turn up the charm for others, both as Richie Wayne and as Nightwing, but flirting with Wally was the only time he meant it as genuinely flirting. “Let’s just say I have a thing for redheads.” That was true.

Dick added a wink for good measure.

“Really?” Wally asked, eyes widening a fraction. “Richard Wayne has a thing for redheads? Wow, o-okay.”

Dick wasn’t quite sure why that was a surprise considering his relationship with Babs had been very public, as had his thing with Roy as a teen when they ‘met’ through Bruce and Oliver’s company dealings. Plus, he often sought out redheads at parties, events, and galas, as publicly noted and mentioned often in the Gotham Gazette and on Twitter.

“Specifically, redheads in tight outfits with beautiful eyes.” That would technically apply to Babs, Kori, and Roy, but Wally didn’t need to know about that at the moment.

Wally continued to blush brightly, his mouth cracking open in surprise.

Dick smiled at him being stunned and blushy, finding it deliciously adorable. “Anything I can do to thank you for the save, gorgeous?” he wondered, keeping his voice as smooth as he could.

Still blushing, Wally breathily shook his head. “Oh, that’s not necessary. It’s my pleasure—” He winced at his wording. “I mean, my job, um, yeah.”

“Hmm, you don’t want anything as a thank you? Not even a kiss?” Dick added with an innocent grin.

That seemed to get Wally’s attention. “What?”

Dick simply shrugged and looked down at how close they were standing. “Well, you do still have your arms wrapped around me,” he pointed out. “Figured that might be a safe guess.”

Wally snapped out of whatever had entranced him about Dick, quickly realizing he was still holding onto him, so he took his arms away, though he didn’t step back. “Sorry.”

Straightening his suit jacket, Dick said, “I promise, if I had a problem with being held in the arms of a very handsome superhero, I would’ve said something sooner.” That got Wally to inhale sharply with his continued blushing, and Dick warmly laughed. “Your blushing is adorable. And I was serious about the kiss if you want.”

“You want to kiss me?” Wally asked.

Dick could feel the aching in his chest, clawing at the desire for more, but he settled with the equally true statement of, “There’s nothing I want more.” Then to play up the Richie Wayne thing to not sound too sentimental, he added, “It’s not every day I get the chance to kiss a superhero, so?”

“Okay, yeah, yes,” Wally quickly said with quick nods. “Oh, my god.”

Dick couldn’t help the smirk at Wally’s awkward, bashful excitement and leaned in to kiss him, setting a hand on his cheek as he went. The moment their lips met, Wally’s hands immediately latched onto Dick’s hips, and Dick took it as an invitation to press harder against him. He lightly nibbled on Wally’s lower lip, drawing out a lovely moan, and Dick wished he could live in Wally’s embrace if only to hear that sound more often.

It was everything Dick had been wanting for ages. But alas, the kiss couldn’t last forever.

When Dick pulled out of the kiss, he noticed Wally was blushing again as he, for a brief moment, chased the kiss with his eyes still closed.

“Like I said, adorable,” Dick told him, watching as Wally slowly opened his eyes. “You’re a good kisser.”

“Wow,” was all Wally could muster.

Oh, Dick really wanted to kiss him again, but the universe had other ideas.

Dick’s phone then started to ring, and he groaned at the sound, not liking the way it made Wally remove his hands from his hips. Dick pulled the phone out of his pocket, seeing it was Tim calling him. Damn you, Tim.

“I should probably take this, and I’m sure you have more people to save,” Dick said. Then he cheekily added, “And kisses to collect.”

“Only from you.” Wally shook his head. “I’m sorry, that—”

But Dick only laughed. “Well, now I’m very flattered. You have a job to go do, Hero, but. . .” He placed a quick kiss on Wally’s lips again. “For good luck.”

Wally nodded in shock, eyes as wide as they could go, and then he turned and started to leave only to walk straight into a streetlight. He steadied himself before then quickly zipping away.

Dick, still smiling to himself, answered his phone on the last ring. “What’s up, Tim?”

But whatever Tim started talking about went in one ear and out the other since nothing could pull his thoughts away from finally kissing Wally, even if Wally didn’t know about his secret identity. Now, what would it take for Bruce to ease up on his rule of secrecy?

Chapter Text

“Ooh, look, there’s Lover Boy, finally coming to mingle with the peasants.”

Donna’s voice rang out throughout the living area of Titan’s Tower from her spot next to him on the couch. Dick’s hands stalled over the keyboard of his laptop as he glanced up and saw Wally walking over to the couches, bashful and blushing from Donna’s teasing. He wore his red and silver suit but had the half-cowl pushed back, letting it hang from the back of his suit. Dick quickly looked back at his screen, forcing himself to focus on the report he was typing up.

Wally had been helping Barry in Central City, so he narrowly missed the Titan’s mission they had just completed and were resting from. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but a few teasing remarks had been made as they worked without him. Notably about him sucking faces with his new beau.

“Alright, I’ve been dying to ask: did I miss something?” Karen asked from where she had laid on the sectional.

“Just Wally’s wondrous time trending on Twitter,” Garth answered vaguely as he stretched on the floor.

Wally rolled his eyes, though the blush was still prominent on his typically pale face. “I wasn’t the one trending.”

“No, that was Dickhead,” Roy said, glowering at the TV.

Wally leaned on the back of the couch, behind Roy’s shoulder. “Oh, really? Tell us how you really feel about him.”

At first, Roy rolled his eyes, but then he paused, tilted his head, and looked at Wally. “Fine, since you asked, you couldn’t find someone better to kiss than a trust fund airhead?”

Dick’s fingers almost stalled again as he listened, but he forced himself to continue typing and seem disinterested in the conversation. The others were focused on Roy and Wally—he didn’t need to be also, especially when none of them knew he was the subject of their conversation.

With a quiet, annoyed huff, Wally said, “That ‘trust fund airhead’ is the head of one of the most successful charities in Gotham.”

The slightest twitch of his eyebrow beneath his mask was the only slip of Dick’s façade. He hadn’t expected to hear the defense of his secret identity come from Wally. Roy’s anger and annoyance toward his secret identity, however, was completely expected, unfortunately.

“Or he’s the pretty face that gets other rich assholes to donate, and someone else is the actual brains behind it,” Roy argued. Dick hadn’t expected that jab to sting, but it did anyway.

“Okay, I seriously need to learn who they’re arguing about,” Karen said, glancing at Donna and Garth who were closest to her.

“Richie Wayne,” Garth answered, “the eldest son of billionaire Bruce Wayne.”

That got Karen to sit up, her eyes widening in surprise. “Wait, really?”

Donna held out her phone for Karen to take with one of the news articles pulled up on the screen. “That’s how his weekend went.” She looked over at Dick sitting next to her with his computer on his lap while Roy and Wally continued bickering, Garth jumping in to egg them on. He didn’t look up despite feeling her eyes boring into him. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you not saying anything, Rob.”

He shrugged, still not looking up at her. “Don’t have anything to say.”

More like Nightwing didn’t have anything to say. Dick Grayson had plenty, as did Richie Wayne, but they didn’t need to know that. Not with Bruce on his ass since the photo leak.

He didn’t need to see her expression to know she didn’t believe him. Of everyone on the Titans, Donna always had the easiest time reading him even with the mask hiding half his face and eyes.

“Really?” she asked. “You have nothing at all to say about your best friend getting the kiss of a lifetime?”

“Wow, a kiss with a Wayne. Amazing and so incredibly hard to get.”

Dick supposed sarcasm probably wasn’t the route he should’ve gone, but he couldn’t help it. Despite loving every moment of the kiss (well, both kisses if he wanted to be technical), he couldn’t help but feel bitter about it ever since discovering it had been plastered on every major news outlet in the country. Sure, as Richie Wayne, he played it up when he was cornered by a reporter when coming to New York, but as Dick Grayson? He hated seeing his feelings for his best friend be turned into a joke.

It didn’t help that he still had no idea what Wally really thought about it all.

Karen gave him an odd look from the other side of Donna. “You’re from Gotham and you don’t care about the family that’s practically royalty?” she asked curiously, handing Donna her phone back.

Dick looked up at her with a gesture toward his laptop. “Unless they can fill out my mission reports, they’re not very high on my list of priorities.”

“And? This is still huge news,” Karen pointed out. “Wally just came out to the entire world. Maybe I should get a Twitter.”

Donna shook her head. “It’s not worth it.”

Karen’s brows furrowed. “You have a Twitter.”

“Only because Rob made me get one years ago when it was still interesting. If I could go back, I never would’ve given into his pout. Save yourself the headache.”

Karen didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, so she turned back to Wally and Roy who were still arguing. With a quiet hum, she leaned closer to Donna while watching them and asked, “How long do you think that’ll last?”

“Depends on what Roy’s beef with Richard Wayne is.”

“They dated briefly as teenagers,” Dick chimed in as he typed.

Donna frowned as she said, “I know that, but—"

“I didn’t,” Karen interrupted in shock, eyes wide as she stared over at Dick. “Holy crap, what?”

Dick brushed her shock aside with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen are longstanding business rivals and good friends, depending on the day. Roy and Richie met often at events as teenagers.”

“But that was almost ten years ago,” Donna said. “Why would Roy still have feelings about their breakup?”

“He told me Richie seemed too fake.”

Her expression pinching, Donna didn’t believe that was all it could be about. “That’s it?”

Dick shrugged. “You know how Roy is about his gut feelings. Not sure what he expected from a circus performer turned paparazzi darling.”

Because that’s all Richie Wayne was. That’s all he could openly be after trying and not succeeding at the Officer Richard Grayson route four years ago. And since many believed he had been given his position by virtue of his relationship with Bruce, the only real card left to play was the Richie Wayne angle, even if he wasn’t the biggest fan of it. But at least he wasn’t the only one who hated it.

“It wasn’t just that he was fake as all hell,” Roy cut in, overhearing their side conversation.

Dick’s hands stilled over his keyboard yet again. They really didn’t want him to complete his mission report. But he focused on Roy anyway. “Oh, so I see you’ve taken a break from arguing with Wally to argue with me. Please continue,” he said, gesturing toward Roy with an open hand.

Roy didn’t seem to appreciate the sass as he half-glared at Dick, but Wally who leaned on the couch behind Roy’s seat used a hand to cover his laugh, so that helped Dick’s ego at least.

“I’m going to ignore your sass and give you a real answer,” Roy said, leaning forward on his knees as all his team members watched him with various levels of amusement. “Laying it all out there—Richie Wayne is an air-headed, self-absorbed, chronically late, perpetual flirt who will drop anything on a dime to answer the beck and call of his daddy. He is also a manipulative asshole who has a different smile for every occasion, knowing exactly which one to use in order to get his way. Wally deserves someone who puts him first, won’t flirt with the next interesting redhead that enters his vision, and won’t con him with fake smiles.”

Jaw tensing while trying his hardest not to falter or show hurt, Dick wondered just what he had done while in his relationship with Roy considering he didn’t remotely remember it being that bad. He thought they had a decent time together, but for the most part, they wanted different things in life. It also didn’t help that neither came clean about their secret hero identities nor their real-life identities when meeting as their heroes.

Regardless, a slight pain erupted in Dick’s chest as he listened to Roy vehemently oppose anything to do with him. However, he supposed that his wanting Wally to be with someone good was something to be admired since he was always so gruff and against showing care and affection.

Not knowing what else to say, Dick decided, “Wow, I had no idea you had such strong feelings about him.” Truth but with a hint of sass to keep up appearances, hoping his tone didn’t remotely show any semblance of hurt.

Roy didn’t seem to notice as he added, “And don’t even get me started on him hardly ever responding when I so much as said his name. It had to have been like half the time. He’d just be—” Roy made a flittering movement with his hand, mimicking air-headed obliviousness as he made a do-do-doo whistling noise. “—off in Richie-land until I called him a dick.”

That time, Dick couldn’t hide the frown, Roy’s words taking him by surprise while not remembering it that way at all, but the others thankfully didn’t notice the slip in his expression since they were solely focused on Roy.

“I know Wally doesn’t have the best attention span, but even he’s better than that,” Roy finished, sinking back into the couch.

Wally looked down at Roy from where he stood behind him, hands gripping the back of the couch. “So, you insulted your boyfriend to get his attention?”

Roy shrugged and said, “Well, it worked.”

A brief silence spread between the six of them as everything Roy said seemed to settle, and Karen was the first to break it, asking, “Wait, isn’t Dick short for Richard?”

Roy apparently misheard her phrasing as he began, “No, no, he was actually pretty well en—"

“Roy!” Donna interrupted, harsh scolding in her voice.

Feeling his cheeks heating up beneath his mask, Dick looked back down at his laptop, trying to will the blush away. With a glance up, he noticed Wally had a similar blush but was staring at the ceiling. Garth, sitting on the floor, snickered into his hand. Each passing word from Roy made Dick grow increasingly glad that the newest iteration of the Titans didn’t include any of his brothers because he would never be able to live any of it down.

“She meant the name,” Donna continued, looking pointedly at Roy. “You know, Dick? As in Dick Van Dyke or Dick Wolf? Their first name is Richard. They just go by Dick.”

Dick chanced a peek up at Roy, watching as Roy’s eyes drifted down to the floor and slowly widened. “Oh, shit.”

Trying not to laugh, Garth’s shoulders shook as he asked, “You didn’t know that Dick is a nickname for Richard?”

But Garth’s question wasn’t nearly as important as Karen’s. “What if he didn’t always respond to Richie because his family calls him Dick?”

“He didn’t know I was insulting him. Fuck,” Roy said, hiding his face in his fist.

All the while, Dick sat there staring unblinkingly at his computer screening thinking, That makes a lot more sense, as he looked back on what he remembered from ten years ago. He remembered being confused the first time Roy had called him Dick since he had never asked him to nor even remotely mentioned it but soon figured that maybe Roy just wanted to try out the nickname. Dick had never brought it up. Perhaps he really should have.

Wally chuckled and said, “Now who’s the dick?”

Roy folded his arms over his chest, practically pouting like an overgrown child. “Okay, the whole name thing aside, he still has a bunch of other faults.”

Donna, ever wondrous and a voice of reason, simply looked at him like he was dumb as all hell. “And how much of it can be attributed to him simply not being used to the nickname the media and the rest of the world call him? It’s not as though he had many public appearances before you two had started dating.”

“And the flirting thing—that could just be something he picked up from Bruce,” Karen pointed out. “Same with smiling differently. Could’ve been something to keep people at arm’s length.”

“High society are vultures,” Garth added with a sage nod.

Ignoring him, Donna continued, “And just because you didn’t care about preserving Oliver’s reputation doesn’t mean Richard felt the same about Bruce’s.”

While Dick appreciated Donna’s advice and defense of him, no, Dick really hadn’t felt the need to preserve Bruce’s reputation considering the only order from Bruce was to make him seem as ditzy and dumb as possible, though he did have to agree with Karen and Garth’s assessments. And he could say that while he didn’t care about Bruce’s reputation considering they were hiding a bigger secret, he had worked hard to keep said secret private.

Anyway, Roy groaned as he stretched his neck. “Damnit.” He abruptly turned to Wally who pulled his hands away from the couch in alarm. “Do you want his number?”

Wally stared wide-eyed at Roy for a few moments. “What?”

Meanwhile, Dick sat there with the same question going through his mind. Roy, what?

“Now I feel bad,” Roy said while also sounding like a child forced to apologize. “Faults aside, he wasn’t completely terrible. Do you want his number or not?”

That almost sounded like a compliment, Dick thought, tilting his head as he watched silently.

“Don’t you think he’d find that a little creepy?” Donna asked. “A superhero randomly getting his phone number? Unless you mean for him to reach out as Wally instead of the Flash which is honestly even creepier.”

Roy nodded and conceded, “Good point.” He thought for a few seconds before focusing on Wally again. “Oliver’s hosting a winter gala in a few weeks. I know the Waynes are invited. Since Ollie and Brucie are on good terms right now, I’d say there are good odds that they’ll show. I could put you on the guest list.”

A wide-eyed Wally shook his head and stuttered out, “I-I never even said I was interested.”

“You arguing vehemently in favor of him not being a terrible person clued me in,” Roy deadpanned. “No one does that.”

A bright blush sprouted over Wally’s cheeks again as he looked over at Dick who almost froze at the sudden attention. “It was just a kiss,” Wally argued weakly.

Roy waved his hand. “Fine, think about it. If you change your mind, let me know.”

Wally couldn’t seem to decide whether he wanted to say more or keep silent, his mouth opening and closing multiple times like a fish as no sound came out. Then he seemed to focus solely on Dick. Well, on Nightwing. Wally’s blush then grew darker as he zipped out of the room, a crackle of electricity left in his wake.

Dick’s brows furrowed behind his mask as he stared at the vacant space left behind, wondering just what was going through Wally’s mind.

Chapter Text

It took Dick longer than he liked to admit for him to finally finish his mission report before filing it.

After Wally’s abrupt embarrassed departure from the living room, the other Titans continued talking about everything, particularly Karen asking Roy about dating Richie Wayne, Garth ragging on Roy for not knowing about ‘Dick’ being a nickname, and Donna not-so-subtly watching Dick for any reaction to everything going on.

What he wouldn’t give to know exactly what Donna was thinking about, but she was incredibly good at masking her thoughts and emotions as well. The only thing that clued him into her thoughts was the slight twitch of her eyebrows, a sign of suspicion and disappointment. Why she was disappointed and whatever he did to garner that reaction, he had no idea.

Soon after finishing the mission report, Dick disappeared from the living room, unable to take Donna’s staring much longer. He found himself on the roof of the tower, legs dangling over the edge as he gazed out at New York City. The lights from the city that never sleeps were beautifully reflected in the dark water of the river. Leaning back on his hands as he silently watched the city lights relaxed him, easing the tension from his shoulders.

Then the rooftop access door opened behind him, and he looked to see Wally walk out. Wally was no longer wearing his Flash uniform, instead dressed in a simple red shirt, grey flannel, and sweats. Dick hardly ever wore civilian clothes while in the tower since none of them knew his real name, so whenever they donned regular clothing, it always had the side effect of making him feel guilty and overdressed.

But they never mentioned it.

“Hey, Rob,” Wally said as he sat down next to him.

Dick frowned, noting the distinct lack of mirth that was usually present in Wally’s voice. “Walls, what’s up?” he asked.

With a slight pinch of his expression as he shifted defensively, Wally answered, “Nothing.”

“Oh, really?”

Wally nodded slowly, not looking at him. “Yep, nothing. . .”

Despite being the last person who should ever lecture about talking about their feelings (aside from Bruce and Jason’s perpetually emotionally constipated asses), Dick knew he needed to prod Wally for more. Wally was the type of person who couldn’t keep things bottled up. He needed to talk about things, and he needed someone to urge it out of him.

“You know I didn’t believe that anymore the second time,” Dick said.

A beat passed before Wally sharply faced him. “You didn’t say anything about it.”

Dick tilted his head curiously. “About what?”

A slight blush began to form on Wally’s cheeks as he grew awkward. “The kiss,” he said.

Dick’s heart skipped a beat at the direct mention, and he was incredibly glad that Wally was a Flash not a Super able to hear his heartbeat. “Did you want me to say something about it?” Dick carefully asked.

“I dunno,” Wally said with a slight shrug. “I just thought you’d have an opinion or something.”

“On you breaking Twitter or you kissing a Wayne?” Did he sound bitter? He might’ve accidentally sounded bitter.

Wally pointed accusingly at him as his eyes widened. “Aha! You do have an opinion!”

With a quiet sigh, Dick looked away. “Wally. . .”

“Rob, come on.” Wally reached out, setting a hand on his forearm. “What is it? It was totally a dumb thing to do, wasn’t it?”

Dick felt that he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help but slowly turn back to face Wally, apprehension in his tone. “Is that what you think?”

He really shouldn’t be asking it, and he knew it. But he had to know. He had to know Wally’s thoughts on the matter. At first, it was a wondrous circumstance. He was able to kiss Wally and get it out of his system, but it came with so many repercussions. Bruce was angry at the publicity and how close it came to jeopardizing all their identities. Donna was suspicious of his deflection. New dumb debates arose about sexuality and superheroes. His brothers hadn’t shut up about it. It was an incredibly morally ambiguous move on his part. And now, Wally was calling it dumb?

Wally’s nervous, uncertain expression mirrored exactly how Dick felt. “No, but at the same time, maybe.”

Stop, you need to stop, he told himself, but then out loud he said, “Maybe? Why maybe?”

Wally began picking at a loose thread on his pant leg, tearing his gaze from Dick’s. “I mean. . . I didn’t think anyone saw it, for one. Probably wouldn’t have kissed him if I knew it would be spread everywhere. But also, he’s totally out of my league. Maybe not technically out of a superhero’s league but definitely not in mine.”

His voice was filled with the usually Wally-esque rambling that Dick had come to know and love. And it wasn’t at all what Dick had expected him to say. He didn’t like the publicity surrounding it either, but he didn’t say anything about not liking or wanting the kiss itself.

“Eh, I don’t know,” Dick said. “I think Wally West is way out of his league if anything.” He tried for a teasing, light-hearted tone as he nudged Wally’s shoulder with his own.

The move coaxed a smile from Wally who looked back up at him. “Can you please tell me what you really think about it?”

No, I really can’t, Dick thought.

Instead, he shook his head and said, “It doesn’t matter what I think. The only thing that matters is what you think.”

“What if I don’t know what to think?”

Fair point, but, “Well, why did you kiss him?”

Ugh, stupid, stupid. Don’t ask that! Dick silently scolded.

Wally grew silent at first, looking out at the city. Dick waited patiently, not wanting to dig a deeper hole for himself, choosing to let Wally think to himself. Then after a few moments, Wally asked, “You know those joke lists about celebrities you’d cheat with? Oh, what’re they called, hall passes or something?” He watched the city as he spoke, expression pained. “The point is that you’d choose three people who you could never get with in a million years because it’s a joke, right?”

He sighed, eyes shifting down to his hands. “Richard Wayne has always been on mine, along with Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. He was my bi-awakening as a teen, and I’ve had a celeb crush on him ever since. So, when I saved him and he was flirting with me, and then he offered to kiss me as a thank you?” Wally’s eyes landed back on Dick’s, his expression softening. “I just—I melted. I couldn’t say no. It didn’t even occur to me that maybe the last thing I should be doing is taking advantage of saving his life.”

Something clicked in Dick’s mind. Everything about Wally’s apprehension, clear indecision, and voice tension made immediate sense.

“Ahhh, so that’s your problem with it,” Dick said.

“What?” Wally asked, head tilting.

He probably shouldn’t be explaining it considering he’s the one Wally had kissed, but he couldn’t let the poor guy continue beating himself up about it either, regardless of what Dick decided to do considering his identity.

“You feel like the only reason Richie Wayne wanted to kiss you is because you saved his life,” Dick said.

“I—maybe.” Wally bit his lip before blurting out, “I looked it up; it’s called white knight syndrome.”

Dick tried to bite back the chuckle at someone thinking he could develop that, but it wasn’t successful. Thankfully, it was quick and quiet, and he then started speaking to cover it up.

“Wally, if he had white knight syndrome for you, you probably would’ve heard from or seen him since then,” Dick pointed out logically despite there being absolutely no logic involved in their situation. He wasn’t too proud to admit it. Alright, so maybe it had taken him a few days to admit his decision had been impulsive and not logical, but still.

“Remember that lady Barry had saved like six times in three weeks because she kept intentionally finding trouble for him to save her from?” Dick continued. “And Wayne’s also been saved by other heroes before. I doubt he’d develop something like that.” He shook his head. “Look, what I’m trying to say is, it might be something similar to what you thought. That he’d never see you again, so why not? You’re beating yourself up over nothing.”

“You really think so?” Wally asked carefully.

Dick nodded, expression stoic with as much confidence as he could muster. “I know so.”

Folding his hands in his lap, Wally’s eyes drifted back to the city. But the impending silence didn’t last long as he snapped his head back to Dick and asked, “And, uh, what do you think about Roy’s offer?”

Damn, not the gala offer. Dick wanted to pull his hair out, but he settled for leveling his breathing.

“It still doesn’t matter what I think, Walls,” he said. “Kissing a celebrity while dressed as your hero-self is one thing. You’re a celebrity like this, too. But as Wally West? You’re a regular person. And the moment you start hanging out with celebrities outside of a costume, you’ll lose all your anonymity and be forced into their world. So, if you really want to meet him as yourself, be careful.”

Dick’s shoulders were tense as he spoke, as Wally took in his words. He tried to be gentle with the wording, not trying to make it seem like being a ‘regular’ person was bad in the slightest.

“You’re right.” The tension in Dick’s limbs started to ebb at Wally’s words but immediately snapped back into place as Wally continued, “I’d feel really out of place there regardless of how hot he is. And there’s no way he’d be into stressed Ph.D. student me over superpowered hero me.”

“You are way too hard on yourself,” Dick scolded. “I happen to like regular dorky Wally way more. Eating habits and all.”

That got Wally to laugh and say, “Thanks.” He playfully jostled Dick’s shoulder in return. “I still miss the scaly panties.”

Dick groaned while smiling. “I was eight! And they were shorts.”

“Very short shorts and you were adorable.”

“You only saw them for like six months before I put on pants. We didn’t meet until I was twelve and you were thirteen.”

“My point still stands.”

Dick shook his head, still smiling. “I hate you.”

Wally smiled in return. “You love me.”

To himself, Dick couldn’t help the thought, I do, I do love you, from running through his head as his eyes trailed over Wally’s freckled face. Wally turned back to the city, staring at the tall buildings towering over the streets and pedestrians below. He loved Wally. So, so much. Had been in love with him for ages. Loved his freckles and his bright green eyes and curly red hair and rambling stories. He loved his best friend so much it hurt.

And he couldn’t say it out loud.

“Is it bad that I can’t stop thinking about it?” Wally wondered, intruding on Dick’s thoughts.

“The kiss?” Dick asked.

Wally rolled his eyes with a small grin. “No, the scaly panties. Yes, the kiss.”

Dick pursed his lips before asking, “Was it a good kiss?” The answer would either be ego-building or ego-breaking, and Dick wasn’t exactly sure which one he wanted to hear.

“The best.” Wally’s voice had never sounded more wistful than it did at that moment. Part of Dick was filled with a sense of pride that it had been caused by him but also a feeling of pain that it wasn’t caused by the him that Wally truly knew.

“The best because of the kiss itself or who it was with?”

Perhaps it was conceited to ask, but hey, he had already dug himself into the hole. He couldn’t exactly call himself Wally’s best friend if he couldn’t let Wally talk about it.

“Both? Twitter doesn’t know this, but there were actually two.”

Actually, Dick did happen to know it. “Wow, two whole kisses,” he teased. “More action than you’ve gotten all year.”

“You joke, but it’s sadly true.” Wally’s bottom lip stuck out in a small pout.

“Someone needs to get out more.”

Wally chuckled and shook his head. “Between my thesis and this job, that’s easier said than done. Couldn’t even imagine factoring in a relationship.”

“Just go get laid,” Dick couldn’t believe he said. “No relationship required.” He wanted to smack himself for suggesting it, but it was what a best friend who wasn’t in love with them would say, right?

Wally’s nose scrunched up briefly at the thought. “I’ve never actually tried to do a one-night stand.”

“No worries. It’s not for everyone.”

With a tentative peek over, Wally slowly said, “Have. . . have you done one-night stands?”

Dick flashed him his trademark cheeky grin, covering the raging pain in his heart. “Why, need some pointers?”

He didn’t expect what happened next.

Wally blushed. A bright red blush bloomed across his face as he quickly looked away. “No. No, I was just curious,” he said with a slight crack of his voice.

Dick prodded him with his elbow and a gentle laugh. “I’m just teasing you, Walls. One-night stands aren’t really my thing anyway.”

They were occasionally alluded to be Richie Wayne’s thing, but no, Dick hated one-night stands. He wanted a deeper connection with someone before remotely desiring them on an intimate level like that. He could flirt and charm all day and all night, but the only people in his bedroom were people he cared about.

“Oh, that’s, uh, good to know,” Wally said, his voice small. Dick wasn’t sure what to make of the tone considering Wally had continued blushing even if it wasn’t as prominent as when it sprouted. Wally also seemed to be avoiding his gaze.

He could tell Wally was uncomfortable regarding something about the subject matter but didn’t know where to pick it apart, so he decided to move on to Wally’s original question of what he should do regarding Roy’s offer.

“You can try one of Richie Wayne’s go-to nightclubs,” Dick said. “It’d probably be more equal ground than a fancy party hosted by Oliver Queen.”

Wally didn’t seem to like the change in the subject either, his expression practically deflating. He hesitated as he said, “I don’t know. Isn’t that a little skeevy? Me seeking him out like that?”

Dick shrugged, unsure of what else to say. “Or you could try and see him again as the Flash. I heard he’s in New York this week for a Wayne Enterprises thing.”

“So, you think I should meet him again?” Wally asked, eyes peeking up at him.

Oh, this is a trap, Dick realized.

Wally had the same tone that Jason had when fishing for something. When Jason asked leading questions, it usually ended in a fight and him calling Dick a martyr, which was, well, rude but fair coming from Jason. The last time had been Jason slowly getting Dick to admit that he had killed the Joker on Jason’s behalf with Bruce resuscitating him. That had been a doozy to deal with. Whatever Wally was looking for couldn’t be nearly as explosive as that had been, could it?

Also, how long had Wally been digging? Did Dick miss it or did Wally just start? Had Wally been fishing since his very first question? And what made Wally want to do it anyway when he was typically straightforward?

Dick had no idea what to say, and he got the distinct feeling that he would be in trouble for saying, “That’s. . . that’s really up to you, Wally.”

Wally let out a sharp sigh as his expression grew hard. Damn, Dick knew he’d be in trouble.

“Why can’t you say what you really think about it?” Wally asked. Dick gaped as he leaned away, about to deflect more, but Wally added, “No, just tell me, alright? Whatever it is, I can take it. Do you think it’s ridiculous? Do you think it’s funny? Something else entirely?” Wally’s expectant tone and expression were made completely obvious, but Dick had no idea what he wanted to hear.

“Wally. . .”

“Nightwing.”

Dick flinched at the name, having grown so used to being called ‘Rob’ by everyone on the Titans since they knew him when he was going by Robin. It almost felt wrong to be called by his current hero name when not on a mission, and even then they often called him ‘Wing instead.

“I know you,” Wally said harshly. “I know you have an opinion. You always have an opinion. So, tell me what it is. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Bruce’s voice echoed through his mind—the countless lectures about keeping a low profile and never revealing their identities, the unending paranoia and secrecy, the harsh scolding just a few days prior.

“I-I can’t,” Dick tried, shaking his head desperately. “Please, I—” Dick cut himself off, standing as he did.

Wally hopped up onto his feet, too, not about to let Dick put space between them. “Why not? You’ll tell me your thoughts about every person I’ve talked to in the past, but the moment—the moment I get kissed by a hot guy, it becomes a problem?”

“That is not—” Dick started, but Wally interrupted him.

“I’m not claiming you’re something as ridiculous as homophobic, you. . .” he said, not vocalizing the distinct ‘dumbass’ that he wanted to add. He sighed instead. “I know you’re not like that, and that’s not what this is about. This is about the fact that you’ll spend hours doing your best to make me flustered. You never fail to make a comment about me looking good in my uniform to make me smile. You make teasing jokes about being attracted to redheads and then shoot a wink my way but not Roy’s. You play with my hair and let me use you as a pillow during movie nights. You always check in with me first after missions.”

Dick froze as Wally snapped at him, listing everything he had done over the years they had known each other. His heart pounded heavily in his chest, panic setting in.

“And despite all that, you have no reaction?” Wally’s expression had never looked more painful as the anger shifted into despair. “Nothing about a Gotham celebrity kissing me? Nothing about Roy setting me up? Nothing despite me repeating the questions? Only advice on where to find him?” Wally shook his head. “I thought that maybe, just maybe you had feelings for me, too. But I guess I’m the actual dumbass and that isn’t the case.”

It was at that moment when Dick’s brain finally seemed to catch up to him, and he realized just what Wally had been fishing for and trying to get him to say.

“Wait, what?” Dick asked, eyes widening behind his mask.

Wally shook his head again, grimacing and taking steps backward. “You know what, I will take Roy up on that offer. At least Richard Wayne made his intentions clear.”

“Wait, Wally!”

Dick reached out to grab Wally’s arm, but it was already too late. Wally disappeared in a flash.

Chapter Text

Accompanied by a crackling of silvery lightning, Wally appeared behind Roy. The other Titans jumped at his sudden appearance, all having believed he had followed Nightwing up to the roof after Donna had told him that he and Nightwing needed to finally admit that they liked each other.

But there Wally stood with nothing but anger on his face and desperation in his eyes. It wasn’t often that they saw an angry Wally. It was honestly more common for Nightwing to get angry, and he was hard to truly piss off ever since he had started working on his temper years prior. So, an angry Wally was concerning, especially considering who he had just left, someone he never got mad at.

“Put me on the guest list,” Wally demanded, looking directly at Roy.

Roy’s eyes first widened before he glanced in shocked confusion at Donna who mimicked his expression. Both had just been joking that Wally and Nightwing were going to walk back in after finally sucking faces and getting together, but there Wally stood telling Roy to go along with the idea of meeting Richard Wayne at Oliver Queen’s gala.

“Really?” Roy asked carefully. “But weren’t you just with—”

“I don’t want to talk about Nightwing.” Wally spat out the name. “Just put me on the guest list for the gala.”

From the stairwell down the hall, they heard footsteps and a voice call, “Wally!”

But Wally ignored it, not looking away from Roy. “Text me the details. I’m gone.”

Then Wally disappeared again, running faster than their eyes could perceive. A moment later, Nightwing ran into the room, breathing heavily as he looked around, expression and body language frantic. They hardly saw Nightwing lose his composure, too. The combination of panicked Nightwing and angry Wally didn’t bode well for any of them.

“Rob, what did you do?” Donna asked.

Nightwing’s expression dropped as he ran a rough hand through his hair, tugging at it painfully. “I messed up. Holy fuck did I mess up.”

I messed up, and now, I need to fix it.

Dick repeated the sentiment in his mind over and over ever since that night in Titans Tower.

Wally avoided answering Dick’s calls and texts. He avoided showing up at the Tower. He joined the one Titans mission they had and then immediately left after filling out his mission report which took all of a few seconds. The other Titans had asked Dick a few questions since Wally was keen to avoid everything about the matter, but Dick didn’t tell them anything beyond him messing up.

Donna gave a look of understanding, undoubtedly knowing just what he had done, or not done technically. It wasn’t hard to guess.

How could Dick have been so stupid?

He thought Wally had simply been playing along with his play flirting and was oblivious to Dick’s true feelings. That they were just friends. He hadn’t given Wally enough credit that he knew exactly what Dick was doing and was going along with it because he wanted to, because he liked Dick back.

Well, Nightwing at least.

Dick wanted to tear his hair out or slam his head into the wall. But after cursing himself out in other languages and taking his anger out while training in the Batcave, he had a better plan.

Oliver Queen’s winter solstice charity gala in Star City.

Wally would be there, and it was the perfect chance for Dick to get Wally alone, albeit under false pretenses, but still. Wally was avoiding Nightwing. He wasn’t avoiding Richie Wayne. He liked Richie Wayne. Not as much as Nightwing but enough to seek him out as himself at a party.

He had spent so damn long living with Bruce’s desire to keep their identities a secret, and Dick was done. He was sick of it. He knew without asking that his brothers were in one-hundred percent agreement with him, but none of them had voiced it, waiting for him or Barbara to do it as the two oldest and with the most stake in the matter.

Plus, after a long night sharing ice cream and rosé with her, Barbara was all aboard the reveal train, saying, “Get your guy, Boy Wonder.” Though he doubted it had taken anything to convince her at all, and she just wanted to hear about his relationship drama.

Starting off his plan, Dick did his best not to seem too interested in Oliver’s gala. Bruce would be suspicious if he did show interest, so he waited patiently for Bruce to break the news that someone needed to attend the gala with him. Roy was right, after all; Bruce and Oliver were on good terms. Brucie had to attend, and he always brought at least one of his kids, and it was Richie more often than not.

Dick knew how the decision would go. All four boys would voice their complaints, none of them wanting to go, all of them wanting to stay in Gotham. The only one who wouldn’t argue is Cass because, while she didn’t enjoy galas, she did enjoy dressing up occasionally, especially when Steph would do her hair and makeup, and she enjoyed spending non-dangerous time with her brothers. After the arguing and shoving, Dick or Tim would eventually give in, as the two with the most gala experience and being the least volatile (at least at this point in their lives).

He hadn’t expected Jason, Tim, and Damian all to say they would go.

Bruce immediately turned a suspicious gaze on the three while Dick looked incredulously at them. Dick’s genuine reaction of shock seemed to work in his favor since Bruce didn’t once suspect he was a part of their scheme.

“No,” Bruce said. “Whatever you three have planned, absolutely not. Dick, you’re going.”

As if their desire to go wasn’t enough to draw suspicion, they started arguing about not being able to go. Bruce argued back at first until Alfred cut in and said they would all attend and behave. While it wasn’t Dick’s plan, well, at least the suspicion wasn’t on him and Bruce would be watching those three with a keen eye all night to make sure they didn’t do anything reckless or dangerous. Frankly, Dick had a bad feeling about why they wanted to attend.

Then the plan finally kicked into action.

In a hotel room in Star City on the winter solstice, Dick dressed in one of his best formal suits. Blue, black, and lined with silver, perfect for a winter-themed gala as well as highlighting his best feature (his eyes of course) and mimicking the coloring of his Nightwing suit. The first and only time he had worn the suit prior, he had everyone eating from the palm of his hand, and he needed all the help he could get to succeed in getting Wally alone.

As skeevy as that sounded, he had absolutely no plans to kiss Wally until everything was out in the open. He would not mess it up again.

The gala was hosted in the Grell Museum in downtown Star City. A gorgeous building with Greco-Roman influence, it was the perfect place for rich people to flaunt their wealth in obnoxious ways as well as the perfect place for business and partnerships to be discussed and solidified.

The outside of the museum entrance was buzzing with paparazzi wanting pictures of the attendees, and they seemed to light up at the arrival of the Wayne Family. Aside from a few smiles, they walked right by, allowed through by the bouncer at the door. Dick followed a half-step behind Bruce, leading his siblings as they entered the building.

Step One: Attend the Gala – Complete.

Dick did his best not to show his nerves or wipe his palms on his trousers. He hadn’t felt nervous about a gala since he was young and still fresh to the high society scene. Thankfully, Bruce didn’t bat an eye when Dick splintered off from them, focusing almost solely on Tim and Damian who had devious smiles rather than the picture-perfect ones they were supposed to be donning.

First, Dick began by looking around the spacious room, deftly brushing off a few people who tried for his attention. But then Dick was interrupted by someone heavy throwing an arm over his shoulder.

Looking up, Dick frowned at Jason. “What are you doing?” Dick asked, shrugging off Jason’s arm.

Jason wasn’t the touchiest of their siblings, so there was no reason Dick could think of that would cause him to put an arm on him. At any other time, he wouldn't question it, but at that moment, it was just suspicious when added to their behavior.

Unfazed, Jason threw his arm back across Dick’s shoulders, keeping him close, and said, “I want to know your plan.”

Narrowing his eyes, Dick asked, “Why?”

“I’m going to help you, duh.” Jason didn’t look at Dick, eyes flitting around the room while they talked and walked.

“Again, why? And what do you even know about it?”

Jason's help could either be very good or very bad, but he had to know just what Jason thought was going on.

“Timmy and I may have hacked into your comms that night you were with Babs,” Jason said in a low voice. Dick began to tense, but Jason’s arm tightened around his shoulders to make sure he couldn’t slip away. At least that explained the touchiness, making sure Dick couldn't run. “I honestly couldn’t give less of a shit about your love life, but revealing the family secret? That’s a ballsy move, and I want in.”

“What’s in it for you?” Dick asked skeptically.

They slowly came to a stop near one of the marble support columns, Jason’s arm slipping from Dick’s shoulder. Jason’s jaw clenched before he met Dick’s eyes and quietly bit out, “I have someone I want to know.”

“So? Why haven’t you spilled the beans then? You don’t usually care about Bruce’s rules.”

That made Jason look away, tapping his thigh a few times as though deciding if he wanted to tell the truth or how much of it. Then he looked at Dick again, lips pulled tight and eyes straining. “It may or may not be a situation similar to yours, okay? With a lot less media coverage and stolen kisses. I want them to know who I am before. . . any of that, but I didn’t think starting that off with everyone angry would be a good idea.”

Dick’s expression softened. “Aww, Jay.”

“Shut up,” Jason snapped at him harshly. “What’s the plan?”

“Well, first I need to find Wally,” Dick started. “I planned on some schmoozing, flirting, and dancing, and then convincing him to follow me alone.”

“Scandalous.” He wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk which Dick rolled his eyes at.

“It’s complicated already. I figured the best course of action was just to talk and lay it all out there, but he’s been avoiding me in the suit, so I need to get him alone here without being a total creep. I suppose, if he’s talking with anyone, I’ll need them distracted.”

With a nod, Jason said, “I’m good at distractions.”

“A distraction that doesn’t cause mental or physical harm.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Remember, we’re supposed to be doing this without Bruce catching on,” Dick pointed out.

Jason shrugged. “Why do you think we made sure all of us were here? Replacement and Demon Spawn have Brucie covered. Cass is making sure they don’t get out of hand.”

“You’re all ridiculous.”

“Pot meet kettle.”

Dick sighed, shaking his head. “Whatever. Let’s just find Wally.”

It didn’t take long to find an attractive curly redhead with a runner’s body. In the large central room of the museum, Wally stood by one of the food tables off to the side, looking uncomfortable and out of place and trying to hide those feelings by nervously eating. Roy stood next to him, a signature frown prominent on his face, but at least he didn’t look completely uncomfortable in a suit.

Step Two: Find Wally – Complete.

The moment Dick laid eyes on Wally his heart began to race. It pounded in his chest with worry which was joined by the desire of seeing Wally in a nice suit. He wondered where the speedster had gotten a nice three-piece dark grey suit on such short notice but figured it might be Roy’s if the looseness around the shoulders was any indication.

“You ready, Dickiebird?” Jason asked. Despite the nickname, Dick didn’t remotely hear a teasing tone from him.

Dick glanced up at Jason standing at his shoulder, seeing the way Jason hadn’t looked at him either, solely focused on Wally and Roy. Wait, no, that was wrong. Roy. He was focused on Roy, determination in his eyes and a nervous twitch on his lips.

A smile pulled at Dick’s mouth as he turned away from Jason. He wanted to tease oh so badly, but it wasn’t the time. He could tease later. Right now, he had a mission to fulfill.

Dick started forward with certainty in his steps as he donned his signature broad ‘Richie Wayne’ grin and called, “Roy!” He pretended not to notice the slight jump from both Wally and Roy as they turned to see Dick and Jason walking up to them. “Feel like I haven’t seen you in ages,” he said as they joined the two redheads. He noticed the slight amused smirk from Jason.

“Richie,” Roy said, stressing the name and forcing a smile. Dick wondered if the conversation about his name was still fresh on his mind. “It has been. . Almost a year.” He didn’t think Roy had ever tried so hard to make small talk and sound civil.

“Bruce’s New Year's party, yes.” Dick motioned to Jason. “I don’t know if you’ve met my brother Jason. I think you’ll get along.” He knew Red Hood and Red Arrow indeed got along incredibly well, he just hadn’t known how well on Jason’s behalf.

Jason side-eyed Dick, a glare peeking through as he realized that Dick had figured it out, but he tamped it down as he half-grinned at Roy. “Hi.” To anyone else, it seemed gruff and simple, but to Dick, it sounded incredibly awkward and embarrassed. He was going to spend so long teasing Jason about it later.

Dragging his sharp eyes up Jason's brick wall self in a slow, long look, Roy said, “Hey.”

“Great, now that that’s taken care of,” Dick said and turned to Wally, flashing him a smile. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met.” He held out a hand in front of Wally. “Richard Wayne, a pleasure.”

Maybe he was moving a bit fast in the conversation, but he had an agenda to complete.

Wally stared wide-eyed into Dick’s eyes, unmoving and dare-he-say unbreathing until Roy jabbed an elbow into Wally’s arm. “Right, hi, um,” he said, reaching out to shake Dick’s hand a tad too quickly. “Wally. I’m Wally. West. Wally West.”

Oh, how he had missed Wally’s verbal stumbling when nervous. “Cute,” Dick said, still smiling as they dropped their hands.

“Smooth,” Roy muttered sarcastically under his breath which Wally glared at him for, but Roy ignored it in favor of Jason’s snort of amusement. It seemed Jason simply being there was enough of a distraction for Roy. Dick wondered if Roy had been into Red Hood when they were Outlaws together when he still went by Arsenal since clearly Red Hood was into Arsenal.

Why did Dick notice these things about others but not about his relationship with Wally? Ugh, how frustrating.

Anyway, Dick focused on Wally, holding out his hand in an offer to take. “Care to dance, handsome?” he asked.

“Oh, wow, that was fast,” Wally said, his brows lifting in surprise.

“I don’t like to waste time.”

“I can see that.”

“Is it a bad thing?” Dick asked, still holding out his hand.

But Wally didn’t get the chance to answer as Roy shoved him closer to Dick, harshly ordering, “Go,” before smiling at Jason. “I need a drink. You?”

“You can drink me anytime,” Jason replied.

“Gross,” Dick muttered, but to his credit, Roy only laughed and didn’t seem to notice Dick’s budding disgust at seeing Jason flirt for the first time. The vulgar humor and flirting worked on Roy though who readily sidled up next to Jason as they began walking toward the bar together. But Dick zeroed in on Wally again who looked like he wanted to laugh. “So?”

“Oh, yes, absolutely,” Wally said, quickly grabbing Dick’s hand.

Step Three: Dance With Wally – Complete.

Chapter Text

The orchestral arrangement echoed softly around the room as Dick pulled Wally away from the food and toward the other dancing couples. He didn’t spot Bruce anywhere, so he assumed Tim, Damian, and Cass had him sufficiently distracted, meaning he could give Wally one hundred percent of his attention and charm. The plan would require everything Dick had to offer, and he was ready for it.

Dick pulled Wally close, one hand clasped with his and the other landing firmly on his hip, barely an inch of space left between them. “This okay?” Dick asked gently when he felt Wally tense.

Wally nodded and with a breathy chuckle said, “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting it,” letting the tension in his body loosen.

“Expecting what?” Dick tilted his head, smiling as he led Wally in a slow dance to the music. “Being swept off your feet?” Perhaps it was cheesy, or maybe he was laying it on a bit too thick, but he had to try. He ignored the way Wally tripped over both Dick’s feet and his own, finding it endearing.

“Something like that,” Wally said. “I’ve never been to one of these before, so. . . I hope that’s okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Shrugging awkwardly, Wally said, “Roy warned me that sometimes. . . people at these can be. . .”

“Snobby? Rude? Stuck up?” Dick listed much to Wally’s surprise. He couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m one of the last people who would care.”

“Really?” Wally’s voice was tentative though not disbelieving.

“I grew up in a circus,” Dick explained as they danced. “My first appearance at one of these, I didn’t exactly have the best manners.” Dick gave a lop-sided grin. “Let’s just say Bruce found me in a chandelier.” Wally started laughing which Dick joined in with. “You stepping on my toes won’t faze me.”

Wally’s eyes widened and he looked down at their feet, spotting the scuffed marks on Dick’s otherwise pristine shoes, before looking back at up Dick. “Sorry.”

“You’re okay,” Dick said, laughing. “I’ve had worse than some sore toes from an attractive dance partner.”

Wally began to blush and smile at the compliment. Dick had seen the expression on Wally’s face many times and hadn’t realized just how much he missed it since Wally had begun avoiding him. If he wanted to continue seeing it for many years to come, he knew he had to fix things that night. But he had to play his cards right. Hauling Wally away immediately would be counterproductive.

“So, where has the wicked stepmother been keeping you locked up with this being your first time?” Dick asked, mashing together both a joke and an innuendo and covering it with an innocent grin. Wally always seemed to appreciate his humor as Nightwing, so perhaps it would work just as well for Richie Wayne.

“It’s the final year for my Physics Ph.D., so yeah,” Wally answered easily, not distracted by the joke. Either he didn’t notice or didn’t acknowledge the innuendo part of it. “But also, this isn’t really my scene. I’m just friends with Roy.”

“Handsome and smart. You’re the whole package. Roy should bring you around more often.”

“I don’t know about that—”

“Why not?” Dick interjected with a pout. “Cute curls, pretty eyes, and earning a doctorate. Sounds like a whole package to me.”

“That’s not what—I meant the Roy bringing me part,” Wally stammered, his blush darkening again. “Do you always give a compliment every other sentence?”

Dick smiled again. “Only when I mean it. I can stop if you want.”

At that, Wally seemed uncertain, accidentally stepping on Dick’s foot again. “Sorry, I. . . It just reminds me of someone. Someone I’d rather not be reminded of when I’m trying to dance with someone else.” Nightwing. He was talking about Dick as Nightwing, Dick knew it for certain. “Not that I don’t appreciate it.”

“No worries,” Dick said softly. “No more constant compliments, but I will say I meant them all.” He didn’t give Wally long to internalize the words as he continued, “What would you like to talk about?”

“Um, I’m not sure. What do people usually talk about these things?”

After a snort, Dick answered, “Business, politics, and matchmaking. None of which are interesting, I assure you. Unless you’d really like to hear my pitch.”

Wally gave him a bemused look. “Pitch for what?”

“Anything in Wayne Enterprises, technically speaking, but specifically for you who is earning a Ph.D. in Physics, probably a position in Wayne Technologies, though that would depend on what kind of Physics you’re interested in—theoretical, applied, particle, etc. But I don’t think pitches work as well if I’m not allowed to compliment you, and I’m not sure how I’d feel about giving a pitch to someone I want to genuinely charm.”

Wally raised a brow at that phrasing. “Genuinely charm? As opposed to ingenuine charming?”

“Of course,” Dick said. “Being charming is part of my job. It closes business deals, forms partnerships, gets people to donate to charities. . . But that’s all non-genuine. Meaningless. Genuine charming though, well, that’s more difficult.”

“And you want to genuinely charm me why?” Wally asked carefully.

It wasn’t often that Dick gave earnest, sincere smiles, but he gave one to Wally and truthfully said, “I want you to like me.”

Shaking his head in confusion, Wally asked, “But why?”

“Why not? At first glance, I saw a cute redhead who looked uncomfortable with his surroundings. That makes you automatically far more interesting than anyone else here, and I’d love nothing more than to get to know you more. And you can’t say anything about that compliment since you were quite literally walking me into it.”

That drew a startled chuckle from Wally. “You got me there. I guess I’m just not used to the attention.”

Perfect.

“It takes getting used to,” Dick admitted, speaking from experience. “The main hall isn’t the only room of the museum if you’d prefer someplace less crowded. I’d love to have you all to myself.”

Wally blushed again and nodded. “Yeah, I-I’d like that.”

Not saying anything else, Dick let go of Wally’s hand and shifted the hand on Wally’s waist to his lower back, and then he led the way out of the great hall. He had found the layout of the museum online and had already pre-chosen the perfect room. An off-shoot room at the end of a hall leading away from the great hall, not too far to draw suspicion from Wally, not near the restrooms, no windows, one entrance and exit, and art pieces that weren’t very popular with museumgoers. They shouldn’t be disturbed.

He tried to get rid of his nerves and calm his erratic heartbeat, but it didn’t work well as he brought Wally to the room. The orchestra’s music could be heard on the small speakers in the room, but otherwise, it was devoid of any guests and noise, leaving Dick all alone with Wally.

Step Four: Get Wally Alone – Complete.

As Dick took in a slow breath to prepare himself for the conversation ahead, Wally circled, looking around the room before he put a hand on the back of Dick’s neck and kissed him. Dick was ashamed to say he melted into it and let it go on longer than he should’ve.

Objective: Don’t Kiss Wally Until You Come Clean – Failed.

Damn it, he thought as Dick reluctantly pulled away, putting both hands on Wally’s shoulders to force them into arm’s length space while saying, “Wait.”

Blushing deeply, Wally wrung his hands nervously. “Sorry, I thought that’s where this was going.”

“I—as much as I’d love to continue that, no,” Dick said, forcing a small smile. “That wasn’t my intention. Not that I don’t want to. You have no idea how much I want to kiss you, but uh, there are kind of more important things at the moment.” He dropped his hands from Wally’s shoulders.

“What do you mean?” Wally asked, eyebrows lifting curiously.

Dick sighed and muttered to himself, “Here goes nothing.” In a normal volume, he told Wally, “I mean that I royally screwed up, you’ve been avoiding me since, and I needed five minutes alone with you to explain.”

Wally reared his head back in alarm. “Excuse me?”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best way to start it, Dick scolded. Too late now.

Slipping a hand into his suit jacket, he grabbed his Nightwing domino mask from a hidden inner pocket and pulled it out. He held it in his hands so Wally could see the true-blue mask and white lenses. “Hey, Walls,” he said softly.

Step Five: Secret Identity Reveal – Complete.

Eyes widening as his eyebrows shoot up, Wally takes a step back as he looked at the mask. “You have got to be shitting me.”

“Just five minutes, please. I can explain.”

“You’re—” Wally roughly swallows and takes a breath. “Richard Wayne is. . . Nightwing.”

“Yes.”

His expression tight and jaw clenching, Wally demanded, “Explain. Everything.”

“Absolutely,” Dick quickly said. “This is going against every order I have from Batman, but I screwed up. I hurt you and lied to you, and you have every right to be angry with me, but I need to be honest because you’re my best friend, and I’ve been completely in love with you for the last four years straight.” He heard a sharp intake of breath from Wally.

“That day in Keystone when you saved me getting hit by that car,” Dick explained, “I thought a little flirting was harmless, and at first the kiss was mostly a joke offer, but you seemed interested, so I thought why not? It’ll never happen again, right? But then everything just blew up from there. It went viral and B was pissed. The team made a bunch of jokes even before you got to the Tower, and I’m sitting there trying not to give anything away and keep the family secret, and I was so stuck in the mask that I didn’t notice what you were hinting at and trying to say and not say, and when I finally did, it was too late.

“That’s my fault. I messed up and hurt you in the process. And you rightfully left. Since you wanted nothing to do with me but went to Roy about coming here, I thought this way I could see you again and explain. Maybe this is the worst way to do it, and if so, tell me, but you at least deserved an explanation that Richie Wayne and Nightwing are actually the same person, and this was the only way I thought to do it without cornering you at home.”

Dick inhaled after the long-winded impromptu rambling as he put his mask back in his suit pocket and looked at Wally. He didn’t know what to make of Wally’s expression. He couldn’t tell if Wally was in pain or confused or looking to run or even expecting to hear more. Wally didn’t seem to move at all beyond staring at him. Dick’s skin pricked along his fingers as he itched to hug Wally, but he kept to himself.

“Are you okay?” Dick asked quietly.

It took a few moments for Wally to respond, “I just learned my teenage celebrity crush is my best friend that I’ve been pining over for the last five years, and both were playing with my feelings. What do you think?”

“I—Yeah, that’s fair,” Dick deflated. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, not caring if he messed up the dumb styling gel. “I should’ve. . . well, I should’ve done a lot of things. I’m sorry.”

Wally crossed his arms over his chest. “Does Roy know?”

“No,” Dick answered. “Very few people are on the knowing list, unfortunately.”

“Why?”

“Batman’s orders,” Dick said weakly. It was a poor excuse, and he knew it. “We’ve all tried convincing him for years to let in at least a few people, but then he’d bring up liabilities and everything that could go wrong and whoever was the youngest at the time and thus most vulnerable.” He sighed. “I didn’t want to disrupt dynamics by breaking the rule anyway.”

“But it’s different this time,” Wally said.

Dick gestured to him awkwardly. “I hurt you.” He sighed and shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll ever quite make it up to you, but I want to at least try to make it right.”

“Nigh—” Wally cut himself off with a huff. “Rob.” Dick perked up cautiously at the nickname. “On the one hand, I can’t believe this and want to be pissed, but on the other. . . I want to kiss you and that makes me want to smack myself for being ridiculous and stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” Dick blurted without thinking. “That’s me for getting us into this mess in the first place. And you have every right to be pissed.”

“Okay, but your sad eyes aren’t helping,” Wally whined desperately. “It was hard enough to be mad at my best friend, but now, I can see your eyes, and they are very distracting.”

“I can close them if that would help.”

Wally started to laugh but then shook his head and did his best to glare while pointing at Dick. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m mad at you.” Dick nodded and closed his mouth which Wally sighed at. He looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds then back at Dick. “I can’t believe I’m going to forgive you.”

“Really?” Dick asked, surprised.

“Don’t argue with that. Aren’t you supposed to be happy that I’m forgiving you?”

Talking with his hands, Dick said, “I mean, I’m very happy, but I wasn’t expecting it at all, much less so soon.”

Wally shrugged wildly, also not quite believing it. “Maybe it’s because I walked in expecting to get laid and was jump scared into learning my two crushes are the same person. I don’t know either, but I do know that while part of me is angry, the other part doesn’t want to be and just wants to hold you and kiss you like I’ve wanted to do for years, okay? And while I’m still super confused about everything, a public setting probably isn’t the place to have too in-depth of a talk about it and cornering me at my house probably would have been a better idea in that regard even if Barry and Iris would be trying to eavesdrop.”

Silence grew between them for a few moments before Dick said, “I have a hotel room.” He only realized what he said after it came out and quickly added, “For a private conversation I mean. . . But if you still want to do the holding and kissing thing after that then, well, I won’t object.”

Wally choked out a laugh as he raised a hand to his forehead. “You are such a little shit.”

“Hopefully your little shit?” Dick said carefully.

“After the hell I went through these past few weeks, yeah. Let’s go, Boy Blunder.” As Wally began following a grinning Dick out of the room, he asked, “Wait, does this mean Bruce Wayne is Batman?”

“You can ask all those questions later. Public, remember?” Dick reminded with an amused chuckle.

Wally made a nonchalant filler noise and then said, “Also, the rich people’s finger food did nothing for me. You’re buying food on the way to the hotel, and when I get hungry again, you’re ordering more.”

“I would never expect otherwise.”

“Wait,” Wally said, and Dick stopped walking in the middle of the hall. Wally placed a quick kiss on Dick’s lips and laced their fingers together as he straightened up. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

Hours later, Dick watched as Wally finished off another slice of pizza while lying on the large bed in Dick’s hotel room. He had seen Wally eat a lot in the years he’s known him but never without the lenses from the mask filtering his view. The sight of an inhumane amount of eating would disgust the average person, but Dick had been wanting to see Wally eating in his bed for too long to remotely think that.

They had stripped off their suit jackets, vests, and formal shoes nearly the moment they had entered the room, the clothing being far too restrictive, and ever since, they had been lounging on the bed eating and talking.

“So, Red Hood really did die?” Wally asked after he swallowed a bite of pizza crust. “I thought he was making morbid jokes.”

“It’s both, technically,” Dick said.

Wally tilted his head as he mouth-shrugged. “The paperwork to reinstate his civilian identity must have been a pain.”

“He still complains about it, but it was part of his ploy to try and convince Bruce about letting people in on the family secret.”

“The family secret can die in a hole.”

Dick started laughing as he nodded and said, “Yeah, but I suppose he’s not really Batman without the unending, logic-defying paranoia.”

“But you were Batman for like a year, you said,” Wally pointed out. “Before we reformed the Titans. Why didn’t you just reveal identities then?”

Dick had thought about it during his stint as Batman when Bruce had been presumed dead. “I wanted to, but it felt like a dishonor to him. I mean, Batman for a day and then I go tearing down everything he did? And Tim wanted very little to do with me since I didn’t believe that Bruce was still alive. I didn’t want to throw more fuel on the fire. It felt wrong. Plus, I had Damian to take care of. I understood where Bruce was coming from with the protection.”

Wally stared at him for a long time before saying, “You are such an eldest daughter. I should’ve realized that sooner and just kissed you instead of trying to talk.”

“I mean, that can still be on the table,” Dick said innocently. “Just saying.”

“You’re a dork.”

“I’m your dork.”

“That you are,” Wally said with a growing smile.

He waited a beat before tossing the last of his pizza crust in the box, pushing Dick down onto his back, climbing on top of him, and kissing him full force. Dick’s hands latched onto the back of Wally’s neck and head, loving the way Wally’s lips molded perfectly against his own.

Wally pulled back, breathlessly looking down into Dick’s eyes. “We could’ve been doing this for years.”

“We can make up for lost time,” Dick said, voice hoarse and face flushed.

Wally kissed him again, their lips moving in sync as Dick tugged on Wally’s hair and Wally’s hands trailed down Dick’s torso. They could feel each other’s growing hardness beneath their pants as they continued, bodies warm against each other. Wally’s hands moved back up to Dick’s shirt collar and he began unbuttoning it, fingers fumbling over each button as they moved down and undid each one.

Then Dick’s phone started ringing.

When Wally paused, Dick mumbled against his lips, “Ignore it,” and continued the kiss.

So, Wally ignored the simple ringtone echoing from the nightstand. Instead, he focused on moving his lips away from Dick’s mouth and over his jaw and then down the line of his throat until the ringing ended. Dick let out a breathy sigh as Wally left a trail of kisses leading down, still clutching onto Wally’s hair like a lifeline.

When Wally reached Dick’s collarbone, Dick’s phone started ringing again.

Wally sat up which Dick groaned at, wanting him to ignore it again. But Wally couldn’t concentrate very well with a loud ringing, so he reached over to the nightstand, intending to turn the phone off no matter how much he wanted to smash it for interrupting what was supposed to be a fun moment. When he grabbed the phone and saw the screen, he froze.

“It’s Bruce.”

Dick mumbled a foreign curse. “He’s going to keep calling until I answer.” Wally reluctantly handed Dick the phone who answered it with a grimace. “What’s wrong?”

Wally didn’t hear Bruce’s response, his eyes gliding over Dick’s exposed torso. Tanned, toned, and tasty. Wally wanted to lick it. He had always wondered what Nightwing looked like beneath his suit, but it figures that he already knew considering he owned a copy of the centerfold photo shoot Richard Wayne had done about a year prior. He wanted to leave Dick’s chest covered in marks, to feel the muscles tense beneath his hands, to taste every inch of skin.

Glancing back up at Dick’s eyes, he saw Dick was watching him with a hooded look despite talking in a normal albeit annoyed tone with Bruce.

Did Wally imagine the slight uptick of Dick’s brow?

If he had imagined it, it was too late as Wally leaned back down and latched his lips to Dick’s collarbone. Dick’s hips bucked up while gasping in response.

“Gotta go, bye,” Dick quickly said into the phone before hanging up the call and throwing his phone across the room. Wally grinned at him while Dick glared without any heat behind it. “I hate you.”

“You love me,” Wally replied, repeating his words from before.

This time, Dick said his thoughts out loud. “I do. I do love you.”