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With his hands shoved into the front pocket of his black hoodie and the hood drawn over his head Dick stepped into the main gathering room of the Titans tower. He kept his head hung, allowing his hair to fall into his face and obscure his swollen left cheek. “Hey uh… do you guys know if KF is here?”
“Hey man! Yeah he’s–” Garfield glanced away from the two player combat game he was currently playing against Victor as they both sat on the couch. “Are you alright?”
At his question Cyborg looked away from the television screen as well and a frown set onto his face upon taking in Dick’s appearance. “Yeah dude, you okay?”
“I’m uh, I’m fine.” He lifted his head up just enough to flash them a smile, but not too much to reveal the darkened patch of skin on his face. “I just need to talk to KF, that’s all.”
“He’s in his room.” Raven didn’t even look up from her book as she spoke, instead just turned the page as she continued to levitate next to the couch.
“Thanks guys.” Dick took one hand out of his pocket and offered them a small wave as he left the room, heading down the hallway towards the row of bedrooms they each had in the tower. As he walked away, however, he could hear Raven reprimanding Beast Boy and Cyborg for so openly staring at him and he couldn’t help but to chuckle to himself.
It was less than a second after he reached Kid Flash’s door and knocked on it that it opened up to reveal Wally West standing on the other side dressed in socks, blue jeans and a red Flash hoodie. “Hey Rob– what’s wrong?” Immediately he stepped aside, ushering in the Boy Wonder and closed the door behind him once they were both inside the room. “Dick?"
With a sigh Dick pulled back his hood and lifted his head up the rest of the way, though he avoided eye contact as he did so. “I uh… I got into an argument with Bruce, again.”
“An argument?” Wally raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. “An argument that just so happened to result in you having a swollen cheek?”
“Okay, so we fought.” Dick rolled his eyes as he removed his other hand from his pocket and crossed his own arms. “There, that better?”
“Dick, he hit you. That’s not…” Wally frowned as he stepped forward. Slowly he unfolded his arms and reached up with one hand, gently touching Dick’s cheek. He nearly pulled his hand back when Dick winced but kept it there as he leaned into his touch, finally making eye contact.
In his eyes there was so much pain, and not just the physical kind, that he would’ve kept hidden if it were anyone else. There was sadness swirled into his beautiful blue, traces of red still left behind in the white as his eye bags were puffy, having cried not too long ago. With a shaky breath he took a step forward and unfolded his own arms, instead enclosing them around Wally as he rested his chin on his shoulder. “Usually he doesn’t… I don’t understand what I did wrong.”
Wally’s hand slipped around to the back of his head and intertwined with his black curls as the scarlet speedster held him close, his other arm wrapped around his back. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. There’s nothing in the world that could’ve made it okay for him to hit you.”
A small, sad, smile tugged at Dick’s lips as he blinked away the excess moisture from his eyes. “Thanks, Wals.”
“I mean it,” Wally pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes as his emerald green searched the depths of Dick’s sapphire blue. “There is absolutely nothing that could make it okay for him to hurt you.”
While he wanted to respond, Dick found himself left speechless by the eyes looking into his. They were the same green eyes that had saved him time and time again, both on the battlefield and during times like this. They shone with hope, a hope he himself wished to someday have as strongly as Wally did, and guided him through the dark depths of his mind back to the present day. It was oddly charming how even just his presence could have a grounding effect on him, even when no words were said at all.
“I promise,” Wally sighed as he pressed a kiss to Dick’s forehead, then rested his head against his.
That simple action, however, caused Dick’s entire brain to short circuit before it ultimately rebooted as he processed what exactly had happened. It wasn’t like it was out of the ordinary for Wally to do such a thing, they were both tactile people after all, but it still caught him off guard whenever he did. Bouts of butterflies danced within his ribs, playing alongside his racing heart as his cheeks burned with the blush that deepened them. Though he was successful, he still struggled to keep a smile off his face as he stared down at his shoes and wished away the jitters inside of him.
“God, you’re adorable,” Wally chuckled as he captured Dick’s lips in a brief kiss, causing the younger teen to finally give an authentic smile for the first time that day. “I’d do anything to protect you, including fighting Batman if he ever lays another hand on you.”
“Wally!” Dick’s eyes widened, though he did laugh as he appreciated the sentiment. “I can protect myself, and besides, you’d never win against Bruce.”
“Oh, wow, I’m glad you have so much faith in your boyfriend.” Wally scoffed in mock offense as he rolled his eyes, yet he couldn’t help but to laugh as well as he pressed a kiss to Dick’s unharmed cheek. “Picking Batman over me? Harsh, dude.”
“You’ll live,” Dick hummed. “As long as you don’t fight him, of course.”
“And he goes for the double whammy!” Wally exclaimed as he removed his hand from Dick’s curls and instead picked him up by the waist as he playfully body slammed him on top of the bed. “But can he escape the clutches of the Teen Titan, Kid Flash?” There was a grin on Wally’s face as got onto the bed as well, straddling him.
“Hey, no fair!” Laughter filled Dick’s voice as Wally began to tickle his sides through the fabric of his hoodie. “Foul! I call foul!”
Wally ceased his attack as he instead brough one hand up to his mouth as if he were speaking into an invisible microphone. “Does this mean that you, Robin, The Boy Wonder, admit defeat?” He held his hand out to Dick so he could speak into the imaginary mic as well, though neither of them could stop giggling as he did so.
“I do.” Though his cheeks hurt from how big his own grin was he couldn’t help but to keep smiling as Wally placed his hand next to his head. He leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his boyfriend’s lips before rolling off of him and laying down next to him. Both their chests rose and fell rapidly as they caught their breath after having laughed so hard. They had matching Cheshire grins as they turned to look at eachother, only for them to both to end up giggling all over again as Dick rolled onto his side and inevitably his stomach as he draped his arm across Wally’s chest, his face buried in his shoulder. “God, that was… that was so stupid!”
“I know,” Wally chuckled as he wrapped his arm around him and pulled Dick closer. He lifted his head up off the mattress for a moment so he could press a kiss to the top of his head then allowed his own to fall back onto the sheets with a sigh. “But at least I got you to laugh. And smile.”
“Yeah, yeah you did.” Dick turned his head so his ear was pressed against Wally’s chest as he listened to the speedster’s faster-that-the-average-human heartbeat. “And thank you for that.”
“Any time.” Wally hummed softly as he brought his other hand up, placing it on Dick’s back between his shoulder blades as he stared up at the glow in the dark stars scattered across his bedroom ceiling. A peaceful silence settled over the room as the two lovers stayed like that, and for a moment Wally even began to think that Dick had started to drift off until the younger teen began to speak again.
“We were supposed to go on patrol tonight.” A heavy sigh left Dick’s chest as his gaze fell downwards and between the tips of his fingers he absentmindedly fidgeted with one of the drawstrings on Wally’s hoodie. “But I uh… I hadn’t gotten all of my homework done. It’s still not finished, actually.” A small huff of air left his nostrils as he tried to find some humor in his plight, yet there was none to be found. “Anyways, we got into an argument over that and apparently ‘it’s not due until next week’ was the wrong answer.”
Wally’s brow pinched together as his eyes widened and with one hand he drew gentle, soothing, circles on Dick’s back while he pulled him even closer using the other. “That’s… god, he definitely shouldn’t have hit you because of that. Or any other reason.”
“It’ll heal.” Dick shrugged, only to frown at his own words. “I… I would never have said that about your dad why…”
“It’s easier to brush things off when they happen to us than it is when they happen to someone else.” Wally lifted his head back up as he pressed another kiss to the top of Dick’s head, causing his gaze to shift upwards towards him. “But that doesn’t make it okay. There shouldn’t be anything to heal in the first place because you never should have been hurt."
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He watched as Wally laid his head back down then turned his eyes towards the string between his fingertips. “But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
“I know,” Wally sighed. “But I’ll be here for you no matter what, okay? I promise.”
“I know, Wals, I know.” Another silence settled over them for a brief moment, just to be broken again by Dick. “Would… would it be okay if I spent the night with you?”
“Hm?” Wally raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at him and a soft smile spread across his lips. “Of course.”
“Good, ‘cause uh…” Dick trailed off as he failed to suppress a yawn before speaking again. “Cause I’m tired.”