Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dick remembers when his soulmark first appeared. He was five, and still traveling with the circus. His wrist burned while it manifested fading from nothing, the initials WW now permanently on his skin. He knew what it was, his parents had each other's initials on their own wrist, and almost every coming of age television show Dick had seen centered around the very premise of ‘ Finding your soulmate’. His mother was thrilled when the mark appeared, squealing in excitement. Her voice was high-pitched with excitement and she spoke in sped up Romani: “ My baby is growing up so fast!” His father was also equally as thrilled but didn’t show it as much as his mother had, simply smiling softly at his son.

Dick also remembers when he was told he couldn’t show his soulmark anymore. He had been so proud of the initials on his skin, but Bruce - or should he say Batman? - said that he needed to conceal it while he was Robin. It made sense, but also caused Dick to feel upset. As Dick Grayson he proudly wore his soul mark, but as Robin he must remain secretive in order to protect his identity.

He was ten when he met Wally West, Wally was thirteen. Upon meeting the ginger speedster Dick knew that they were going to be quick friends. They were so different yet so similar. Dick’s actions were based on logic while Wally’s was based on feelings. Wally did what he felt was best, and it was his best quality. Both were quite outgoing, making banter with villains and talking to complete strangers like they were old friends. 

They had met because Bruce had to help in Central City, home of the flash, with some sort of league mission. Dick had begged nonstop to come along after hearing rumors of a Kid Flash, a superhero vigilante his age! Bruce allowed Dick to come along with him, after much convincing, and was held on a tight leash. Batman introduced Dick to The Flash, who then introduced Dick to Kid Flash.

“Hey! I’m Kid Flash!” Kid Flash’s speech was quick, probably due to his speedster abilities, and excited.

‘I’m Robin,” Dick said, reaching a hand out to the other boy for a handshake, which he enthusiastically took, “It’s nice knowing someone in the hero business around my age.”

Kid Flash beamed at the statement, “Iknowright! It’s sooooo boring not having anyone to talk to who is my age AND understands secret identities!”

Sometimes Dick wonders if Bruce ever regrets introducing the two, and others he wonders if Bruce somehow knew that the WW on his wrist meant Kid Flash was his soulmate, and knew that they’d meet eventually anyways. Whatever the case it doesn’t really matter because Dick thinks meeting Wally was one of the best moments of his life. 

The two were close, but Batman’s rules made it hard for the two to get really close. Wally didn’t know Dick’s real name, but Dick knew his. Wally also didn’t know what two letters were written on Dick’s wrist, but Dick knew what was written on Wally’s. 

When the soulmate topic came up, the two were together in the batcave. They were watching a movie on the batcomputer when the two main characters found out they were soulmates. 

“D’ya have a soul mark?” Wally asked, turning to Dick, his bright green eyes glowing in the dim lighting. 

“I can’t say, Batman’s rules.”

Wally frowned, “Bat’s so paranoid sometimes.”

Dick just shrugged in response, “It’s to protect my secret identity.”

“I know, it’s just..” Wally was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, “Do you want me to show you mine?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, but won’t Barry be upset?”

“He doesn’t care,” Wally pulled the sleeve of his shirt up showing off the initials RGW, “I don’t know why there are three letters.. I thought it was just first and last name initials.”

Dick’s eyes widened in shock, thankfully the sunglasses blocked his expression. He grabbed Wally’s wrist and examined the letters carefully. R for Richard, G for Grayson, and W for Wayne. RGW was his initials, Richard Grayson-Wayne.

“Oh,” Dick muttered under his breath.

Wally looked at Dick, his eyebrows raised, “What did you say?”

Dick looked up from Wally’s wrist, finally letting go of it, “Cool! I said cool.”

Dick already knew that his wrist conveniently sported Wally initials, he’d known since he went snooping through Bruce’s files, but he didn’t even consider they were actually his initials, it seemed almost infeasible for his soulmate to be Wally. After seeing Wally’s soul mark, however, he was almost forced to consider the possibility. Sure, Dick wouldn’t be completely opposed to having Wally as a soulmate. They were already best friends, and much more tactile than most ‘best friends’, but that’s just how they were. Not to mention Bruce would never let Dick tell Wally until the two were both over the age of eighteen due to the age difference, and the whole secret identity thing. So, Dick decided to keep this to himself.

Once they formed “The team”, as they called it, Wally and Dick had even more of an excuse to hang out more often. They often spent their time at the mountain together. They would work out with each other, cook together, watch movies together, etc. 

One day Artemis had walked in on them cuddled together watching twilight together. “Are you two together?” she asked, staring quizzically.

Dick was frozen, unable to speak, thankfully Wally spoke up, “No?” He said, raising an eyebrow.

“Hmm.. Okay.. It’s just you guys are always together. You’re also always touching, sorry I must’ve read it the wrong way..” Artemis said, a suspicious tone lacing her voice.

Wally shrugged, “Nope, just bros!”

Dick smiled up at the boy, but internally he felt a bit of heartbreak. It hadn’t affected him before, but for some reason hearing Artemis suggest that they were dating made him happy. He wanted to be able to say ‘ Yes!’ but he couldn’t.

After that Dick found that everytime Wally even so much as grazed his shoulder, his stomach would flutter uncomfortably and his hands would get sweaty. It was distracting him from missions, thus prompting Bruce to confront Dick.

“What's going on?” 

Dick smiled innocently, feigning obliviousness, “What do you mean?”

Bruce glared at Dick and sighed, “You've been distracted, Dick. If something is going on it's better to tell me.” Bruce paused for a moment and stared at Dick, “It's about Wallace, no?”

Dick released a sigh and his shoulders slumped, “I think he's my soulmate. He showed me his mark and it was my initials. I mean we could be platonic soulmates, those exist, but he makes me so.. happy? It's just I want to spend all my time with him, and everytime he gets injured on a mission I get worried. It’s like I can't even think about being without him, and I think I.. love him?”

Bruce just took everything in. Staring at the child right in front of him, the boy he'd taken in and thought of as his son. It kind of hurt seeing the boy grow up, seeing him fall in love at the ripe age of fourteen. It seems like just yesterday he was a scared child who’s world just ended. Wally was two years older, sixteen. That also scared him, Dick was still new to puberty while Wally wasn't. He weighed his options: he could deny Dick from telling Wally his identity, but he could hurt Dick by doing that, or he could allow Dick to tell his identity to Wally and risk a compromise of security. 

“You can tell Wallace,” Bruce said, he saw Dick’s face light up, “But, you must tell me if you two start dating, and if you do there will be rules. He is two years older than you and ahead in maturity, and he is required to come to dinner at least once a month.”

“That last one was random,” Dick giggled.

“If he is your soulmate, and if you are dating, then he must come to family dinner since at that point he is practically family.” Bruce said, his stern face unwavering, “Also, Alfred will enjoy cooking for a speedster.”

Chapter Text

To say Dick was shocked Bruce approved confessing to Wally was an understatement. Normally Bruce’s top priority was maintaining the secret identity, not telling his best friend his name and that he was, in fact, his soulmate.

Dick was nervous about telling Wally, though. They had been friends for years and something like being soulmates could ruin what they had. On the other hand, Dick had been actively pushing himself away from Wally upon realizing his feelings, thus putting a strain on their bond. 

It was snowy in Gotham. Sludgy ice mixed with mud coated the sidewalks, it wasn’t very pretty, but when was Gotham ever “pretty”? Dick decided to spend the winter day at the cave, opting for the still slightly warm weather of Happy Harbor instead of the frigid conditions in Gotham. 

The cave was oddly empty, but it was also nearing christmas. Most of the team may have other plans. M’gann and Conner were currently somewhere else in the cave, doing who knows what, leaving Dick alone with none other than Kid Flash. Kid Flash was currently laying on the couch eating cheetos and watching tv. Some Christmas special was on, but Dick didn’t bother to see what movie was playing. Instead he was too worried about how he was going to explain his sudden avoidance of his ginger friend, and reveal the fact that Wally was, in fact, Dick’s soulmate, and Dick was really the adopted son of the famous Gothamite billionaire, Bruce Wayne. 

During the time that Dick was thinking about how to go about this, he failed to notice Wally had looked away from the tv and noticed his presence.

“Hey,” Wally said coldly. Well that’s great, he noticed Dick’s avoidance and now he is upset.

“Hello!” Dick replied enthusiastically, desperate to lighten his friend's mood, but it had the opposite effect as Wally had deepened his scowl in response. Dick just sighed, sitting down on the couch adjacent to his friend, “Look, Walls, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you like that.”

“Well what did you mean to do, Rob? Because it sure as hell seems like you’re mad at me for something and I don’t know what I did.”

Mad? “Wally, no I am not mad.” 

Wally narrowed his eyes, “You’ve been avoiding me, what am I supposed to think?” Wally’s green eyes pierced his own through his sunglasses. The ginger’s face was a mix of anger, confusion, and hurt. Dick felt guilty, he’d hurt his friend. 

Dick wordlessly pulled off the sunglasses he wore to maintain his secret ID, revealing icy blue eyes red-rimmed with tears that have yet to fall. He brought his eyes up to Wally’s and watched as his friend's face softened. “I’ve been avoiding you because there was a secret I just couldn’t hide from you. I had to get B’s permission. My name is Richard Grayson-Wayne, Dick for short - don’t laugh, I can see you holding back a smile”

Wally giggled for a moment before his face changed expressions from one of humor to one of understanding, “Richard Grayson-Wayne.. RGW.”

Dick nodded as a response, and lifted the sleeve of his shirt revealing the WW wrote on his wrist.

“Oh my god.” Wally gaped, grabbing his friend's wrist tightly, “You’re my soulmate? And that’s why you were avoiding me?”

“I had my suspicions since I first found out your name, but I couldn’t be sure. Then when you revealed that my initials were on your wrist my theories were confirmed, but I couldn’t tell you because of the whole “Secret Identities” thing, so I hid it. But then I started to feel weird around you, and I just couldn’t be around you without doing something stupid. That’s why I avoided you, but then B gave me the okay to tell you, so here we are!”

Wally looked between their wrists for a moment, as if he was still processing. Suddenly he looked up meeting eyes with Dick for a moment before surging forward, colliding his own lips with Dick’s. Dick’s eyes widened in response before he eased into the kiss, their lips moving in unison. Wally’s hands made their way into Dick’s hair and Dick’s grabbed Wally’s waist. 

Breathlessly they pulled away from one another, Wally pressed his forehead against Dick’s, his breath warm against his kiss swollen lips. A small smile wiggled it’s way onto both of their lips as they just basked in the moment.

“Dick, do you want to be my boyfriend?” Wally asked quietly.

“I do, Wally. Or should I say boyfriend?” Dick giggled against Wally’s mouth as they moved in for another kiss, small and chaste.