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“I can’t decide between Richard and Nightwing. Am I cursed? I feel cursed.”
“I’d hardly consider being in love with two hot guys as cursed.”
Wally groaned as he rolled his eyes from his spot on Artemis’s couch. He had been intruding into Arty’s space for the better part of the day, talking about the woes surrounding his love life. Perhaps there were better people to talk about his love life than with his ex-girlfriend, but she didn’t seem to mind, even going so far as to take many playful jabs at his pining.
Long ago were the days when he, Kaldur, and Roy had busted out Conner from the Cadmus lab. Long ago were the days when he had been a member of the young Justice League team. And long ago were the days he had operated as Kid Flash living in Keystone, Kansas. Ugh, he made it sound like he was so incredibly old despite only being twenty-eight.
Regardless, Wally West was now a full-fledged adult living, working, and operating in Blüdhaven, New Jersey, but that didn’t mean he didn’t occasionally zip over to Gotham to bother Artemis. Like at that moment when he was having a crisis over his love life.
It didn’t help that the two people he was in love with and torn between were his boss and his nighttime counterpart.
Richard Wayne, the director of Blüdhaven’s branch of Wayne Technologies, personally oversaw much of the projects Wally had worked on at the company over the last two years of him working in Blüdhaven. Despite being twenty-six and quite literally having had the position handed to him due to being the eldest son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, Richard was kind, charming, and far smarter than the tabloids gave him credit for. The company-wide policies that made working under the Wayne Enterprises umbrella a worthwhile venture had little to do with Richard’s personal popularity amongst his staff. He listened readily to new ideas from the scientists, had an open-door policy for concerns, never once came across as entitled in their meetings, and even lent a hand when needed. It also helped that he had a smile that could light up even the darkest room and the prettiest eyes Wally had ever seen.
Then there was Nightwing, the first vigilante in Blüdhaven, who operated under the cover of night. Young and having arrived in Blüdhaven as its sole protector eight years prior, Nightwing was incredibly skilled in stealth, acrobatics, and quippy remarks, the last of which Wally greatly appreciated. When Wally had first arrived in Blüdhaven, he had been worried about what the vigilante might think regarding a new hero moving in, but when Wally sought him out to meet, he seemed perfectly okay with the help, especially since most of Wally’s operating hours would be in the morning before going to work, on his lunch break, and in the hours after work, leaving only a small timeframe where they operating hours overlapped. Nightwing had even given him the idea of using the name Flamebird to differentiate himself from the Flash, which helped immensely regardless of Wally noticing the flirty connection and tone.
It had been two whole years filled with pining after his kind boss and flirty counterpart. Two years of pretty smiles in the elevator and funny banter on a rooftop. Two years of, “Anything you need, Mr. West,” and, “Join me on this, Flamebird.” Two years of watching not one but two delectable asses walk away from him.
“What do you like about them?” Artemis asked, not looking away from the movie on the screen that Wally was supposed to be watching with her. “Make a list and compare.”
Wally furrowed his brows as he looked at her. “Really?”
Artemis sighed as she rolled her eyes. “Yes, really, Wallace. It might help.”
“But that’s so cheesy.”
“You’re the one who came to me,” she reminded.
“Ugh, fine.” Wally sped away to the apartment kitchen, grabbing the pen and notepad Arty used for grocery lists before he ran back into the living room and sat on the couch again. With his feet on the coffee table, he held the pen poised above the paper.
Artemis watched as he proceeded to write. . . nothing. “Do you not even know what you like about them?” she asked.
“I like a lot of things about them, but I don’t want the list to sound superficial,” Wally said.
“Write it all down,” Artemis told him. “If one of the lists is almost purely superficial while the other isn’t, then that just might be a clue.”
Good point, Wally thought. Okay.
It took only a few moments in Artemis’s time as she watched Wally’s hand speed write over the page, scribbled words filling the entire page in mere seconds. When Wally was done, he set the pen down on the coffee table and held the notepad out so Artemis could look at it.
Taking the notepad, Arty’s eyes read through the two columns underlined Richard and Nightwing. She expected to see Nightwing’s thighs listed as well as Richard’s smile, but what surprised her the most was how specific some of the points got about each of them.
Remembers my coffee order / Remembers my pizza order
Allows dogs in office and brings his own / Pets every animal he sees on patrol
D.W. calls him ‘Baba’ / Has candy in utility belt for scared kids
Called my rambling endearing / Not disgusted when I eat
Fun to brainstorm with / Patches me up despite healing factor
Speaks multiple languages / Has an accent
“Wow,” Artemis eventually said. “I’ll be honest, when you said you didn’t want the list to be superficial, I thought it would have a lot more about their looks or Wayne’s money.” Not that ‘Has the prettiest eyes’ and ‘Has soft, fluffy hair’ weren’t also listed, but Artemis expected far more than just a few shallow, physical traits listed for both of them. And she had to admit that both lists seemed roughly even in terms of Wally liking their physical, mental, and emotional attributes.
When she spent too long staring at it, Wally said, “Now do you understand my dilemma?”
Hm, and here she thought of Richard Wayne as nothing more than the trust fund kid she had gone to school with in Gotham. However she supposed a lot could change about a person since they left home. Plus, she heard Richard had joined the Blüdhaven Police Department for about two years before going into the family business. Regardless of his reasoning for that, it had to have some effect at least.
Then Artemis did notice one thing missing from both lists, a big glaring thing that she wanted to smack herself for missing.
“Aren’t you an ass man?” Artemis asked, looking up from the list at Wally. It was one of the biggest reasons Wally had realized he was bisexual while they were dating as teens when he had found himself accidentally staring at Conner’s ass during a team training session. Arty had found the situation quite funny and had teased him quite a bit about it while also being supportive of his realization.
He looked at her confused. “Uh, yeah, what about it?”
“Well, who has the better ass?” she asked, waving the list in front of them. “Neither has anything about their ass listed. Nightwing’s thighs have an honorable mention, but you and I both know that’s not the same. So, whose ass is better?”
“Yes.”
That was all Wally said. Just a simple, firm yes.
Artemis grimaced. “Both are that good, huh?”
“You have no idea, Arty,” Wally said with a sigh. “Nightwing’s suit is so form-fitting, I see everything, but I saw Richard in the company gym one time on my lunch break, and he was wearing yoga pants, and I. . .” He let out a long, pained noise. “His ass still looks good in his work suits, don’t get me wrong, but the yoga pants really put everything into perspective. Their asses can’t be compared.”
She supposed she had the same frustration when comparing whose biceps she liked better: Wonder Woman’s or Superman’s.
“What about who you interact with more?” Artemis asked. “You work with Richard, yes, but he’s the boss. He’s running the Blüdhaven branch. Do you really see him more often than Nightwing?”
“It’s about the same,” Wally answered with a shrug. “Most interactions with either one is done in passing, and comparing cases with Nightwing crops up about as often as work meetings with Richard. Same with casual conversations in the elevator or on rooftops.”
“Has either one made you more jealous than the other?” She was truly starting to grasp at straws.
“I did get jealous a few months ago when I overheard a comm call between Nightwing and someone he called Oracle,” Wally admitted. “But I also got jealous when one of the tabloids said Richard was dating a supermodel, so. . .”
Artemis made a quiet, frustrated filler noise as she thought of more questions to ask. She could really only think of one more. “Well, what about your secret identity?” she said finally. “If you had to tell one of them your secret identity right this second, who would you tell?”
“Oh, come on, Arty, that’s not fair,” Wally said. “Tell another cape my not-very secret identity that the entire Justice League and all our friends already know, or bring a civilian into this world?”
Her nose pinched up. “Yeah, that’s a good point. Sorry.” She shrugged and threw her hands up haphazardly. “I don’t know what else to say, Wally. Either you shoot for a normal, civilian relationship, albeit with your boss, who you’ll either eventually break up with or need to tell your hero secret, or you shoot for a relationship with a paranoid, nighttime vigilante who you know absolutely nothing about concretely because you don’t know his identity either and he can be someone you’re not compatible with at all in civilian-life.”
With a blank look, Wally said, “Thanks, Arty, for the uplifting words and motivation.”
“Shut up, Kid Mouth. It’s not my fault you’re cursed.”
“Aha! You admit it!”
Monday back at work, Wally walked into the building fully prepared to keep his head down and get through the day after a long night of tossing and turning and trying to turn off his brain to not be plagued with sexy dreams. He wanted nothing more than to avoid one of the people that attempted to star in said sexy dream. Well, he wanted to avoid both of them, but the second one wouldn’t need avoiding nearly as much as the first one.
But the universe must hate him because as he made a beeline for the elevators and was nearly about to press the button, he heard none other than Richard Wayne’s voice call out, “Mr. West!”
Every part of him urged him to ignore it and pretend he hadn’t heard the voice calling for him, but then his brain reminded him that while he may be incredibly attracted to Richard Wayne, he was still his boss, and he needed to respond for the security of his job. No matter how attractive Richard’s voice was, particularly when saying his name, he needed to respond as though nothing was wrong.
Wally tried not to look annoyed or startled or flushed when he turned to see Richard handing a file over to the secretary at the front desk before smiling and making his way over in a light jog with his standard charming grin. His only reprieve was how it was so early in the morning that no one aside from Wally, Richard, and the secretary were in the company foyer.
Don’t freak out, don’t freak out, don’t freak out, he repeated over and over as he watched Richard come to him.
“You’re early,” Richard said, stopping in front of Wally.
Blanching, Wally said, “Am I late that often?” Often enough for the freaking highest person on the totem pole to notice?
Richard let out a soft, sexy, well-meaning chuckle. “No, running in barely on time seems to take the cake,” he said. “This isn’t about that though, so you can stop looking panicked and like you’re in trouble because you’re not.”
I said not to freak out, Wally mentally scolded. It may have ended up being for a different reason, but of course, he still freaked out. Wally relaxed a fraction, no longer white-knuckle gripping his messenger bag.
Richard chuckled again. “You have no idea how to relax, do you?”
How could he relax when millions of thoughts constantly streamed through his head and his body stored built up energy like a battery but not like a functional battery, more like a battery about to explode with power and energy so maybe a storage capacitor would be a better term though he honestly felt more like an electrical transformer waiting to spark at the slightest inconvenience such as talking to someone he spent nearly an entire weekend agonizing about due to his brain deciding it needed to hyperfixate on his love life the moment he overheard how Richard needed to make an appearance at an upcoming Wayne gala and his brothers were teasing him for not having a date and Wally hasn’t been on a date in what seemed like a whole decade but that couldn’t have been right because it was probably only maybe three years when counting dating a girl for a few months in college before breaking up because they couldn’t see a future together which honestly seemed like the story of his freaking life. . .
“It’s not something I usually do, no,” Wally settled for, trying not to fidget with the strap of his bag. Thankfully, Richard didn’t seem to notice that he had an entire monologue in his head, but he supposed that was the plus side to superspeed.
“Well, I’m sure coffee probably isn’t the best thing to give someone who doesn’t relax, but I’m about to head over to the coffee shop if you’d like to join me,” Richard said, smiling though his eyes were tense. “I would recommend ordering something non-caffeinated, but that would make me a hypocrite, so order whatever you’d like. My treat.”
Wally’s entire mind emptied as he stood there staring into Richard’s beautiful eyes with his own eyes wide. For what felt like an eternity in a speedster’s mind was only mere moments in the real world as he impolitely blurted, “What? Like, a. . . date?”
Richard’s tanned cheeks darkened further as he shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, was that too forward? I thought, maybe coffee might be a good no-pressure ask, but Timmy said it might be a bad idea regardless. You know what, forget I asked. I-I’m sorry.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Wally said, reaching out as Richard started to turn around. “So, I didn’t overthink that? I tend to overthink things. You mean for it to be a date?”
“Ambiguous enough of an ask so if you thought of it as only a friendly request then not a big deal,” Richard said, awkwardly shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Dami said it wasn’t straightforward enough, but I suppose he was wrong. Really though, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things uncomfortable. This was stupid of me. Forget I said anything.”
And with that, Richard quickly speed walked away, leaving Wally stunned and alone near the elevators. Sure, he could’ve easily followed, but holy shit, he just had a bomb dropped on him. Richard Wayne asked him out. His boss asked him out.
And then he ran away.
Wally spent nearly the entire day agonizing over the morning interaction. A brief part of him almost expected to be called into the office of his immediate supervisor to be told he was being let go before he realized that he had not once seen any inclination of Richard being petty enough of a boss to do that. No, Richard Wayne may be young and had been handed the position of director by his father, but nothing had ever hinted at him being a cruel person.
That’s how Wally knew the coffee date request had been genuine, if a little naïve of an ask to not think much about the potential repercussions of the boss dating an employee. But maybe that’s why Richard stumbled over words, looked nervous, mentioned his brothers, and then ran? He had thought about the repercussions but had deemed them worth it until seeing Wally’s reaction and realizing it was quite real.
And of course, Wally let the beautiful man get away.
His peers seemed to notice him being stuck in his thoughts all day because the moment his standard hours ended, they practically shoved him out the door. It didn’t matter that they were salaried, meaning one less hand to help finish finalizing results, clean up the lab, and lock everything down would take longer without him. But they didn’t seem to mind much. Though that simply made him wonder if the secretary had seen and heard everything Richard said that morning and spread it around. To their credit, if his peers knew what happened, they didn’t say anything or bother him about it.
This led to Wally putting on his red and silver suit and heading out a tad earlier than usual to dole out some hero justice.
The running and saving people helped burn off his excess energy and quell most of his immediate thoughts, but they only returned in full force as the sun began to set, and Wally found himself sitting on the edge of a rooftop alone overlooking the city.
Blüdhaven was nothing like Keystone. Where Keystone settled as the night set, Blüdhaven came alive. Lights glittering in the growing darkness, people taking to the streets for the nightlife, crime lurking in the underbelly. The differences made him miss home, but at the same time, he loved it. Living and working in Keystone had a different vibe to it than in Blüdhaven.
Here it was far easier to juggle being a hero with his civilian duties. Here he didn’t have wacky villains crawling out of the woodwork to make his life hell. Here he didn’t have the shadows of his parents hanging over him.
He was still working on the friends part of living his life since long hours at Wayne Technologies and then long hours as Flamebird didn’t leave much room for social interaction, but he enjoyed talking with his peers and even occasionally went out to eat with them even if they weren’t all full friends. Honestly, the closest thing he had to a friend in Blüdhaven was—
Soft footsteps landed behind him. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Nightwing.
From the corner of Wally’s eye, he watched as Nightwing, in all his dark-suited glory, sat next to him, feet dangling off the edge of the roof without a care in the world. He never understood how Nightwing was so carefree with heights, going so far as to laugh when jumping from the highest of buildings in the city. Wally wanted to call him insane, but Nightwing’s laugh and smile were infectious. He may be very appealing to look at, but his laugh and smile were what truly drew Wally to him. And despite them having fun bantering and joking around, Wally still didn’t know jack shit about him which made his dilemma all the more frustrating.
“You okay?” Nightwing asked. “I don’t often see you up here.” Ugh, why was his accent to die for?
“Just thinking,” Wally said.
“Oh, sorry, I can leave you to it then.”
“No, it’s all right,” Wally said before Nightwing could start to stand. “I don’t mind the company. I’m not the loner you are.”
With a good-natured laugh, Nightwing said, “I may be a loner, but you’re the one sulking on a rooftop.” Nightwing nudged him with his shoulder. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Is the big, bad, scary vigilante offering to let me cry on his shoulder?” Wally asked with an exaggerated pout.
Nightwing donned a broad, face-splitting grin and said, “Maybe. I might be able to advise you. Doctor Nightwing is open for business.”
Wally snorted in amusement and shook his head as he looked back at the cityscape. “Unless Doctor Nightwing has advice about getting asked out by my boss, I don’t know how helpful you can be, but thanks.”
Letting out a low whistle, Nightwing looked at him curiously. “Asked out by your boss, huh? You sure it wasn’t a, er, proposition?”
“Nah,” Wally answered. “Doubt it. He doesn’t directly handle promotions, he already has a personal assistant, and no one in the company has ever remotely felt uncomfortable by his presence. And I know this might sound dumb to say, but I know he’s not like that. He immediately bowed out and apologized. He was very respectable about it, if a bit awkward.”
“Oh, well, that’s good at least. . .” Nightwing trailed off and grew silent for a few moments before saying, “So, what has you brooding on a rooftop then?”
Wally almost didn’t want to say it out loud. He was head over heels for Nightwing too. Did he really want Nightwing to know he was in love with his boss? What if Nightwing liked him too but never said anything about of professional courtesy, so with Wally admitting he loves his boss and wants to date him would mean Nightwing would never ask him out?
Ergh, no, Wally, you need to decide, he said to himself. Nightwing has never once shown genuine interest beyond some flirty remarks and casual touches, which he displays with others you’ve seen him interact with; meanwhile, your boss genuinely asked you out. What does that say, hmm? There’s only one logical choice here!
“I wanted to say yes,” Wally admitted.
“What?”
He didn’t know what to make of Nightwing’s tone or expression. It seemed like a mix of surprise and stoicism, and Wally had no idea how to interpret it. Was he thinking of how he missed his shot? No, no, he must be thinking Wally’s an idiot. Wally did his best to quell whatever hope tried to bubble from Nightwing’s strange reaction.
Instead, Wally continued, “I was really shocked in the moment though, so he. . . well, he kind of ran away after apologizing. And I didn’t see him at all the rest of the day. But I wanted to say yes. It’s totally dumb.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair peeking out of the half-cowl as he began to ramble. “I mean, dating my boss. . . that’d be complicated, right? Sure, he’s not my direct supervisor, but there’s still a conflict of interest. He runs the company; he’s not just up a step from me on the corporate ladder. We’d have to deal with the gossip and HR and the power imbalance and the issues between managerial positions and regular employees and that’s not even touching on the pu—” He cut himself off before he mentioned the press, paparazzi, and tabloids.
Wally sighed again as he buried his head in his hands, leaning forward on his knees. “I’m sorry for rambling,” he muttered through his hands. “That was probably way too much information, but I’ve been sitting on it all day.” Nightwing didn’t respond, remaining silent, which only made Wally’s internal conflict more. . . conflicting. “You don’t have to say anything, but it might help, so I know I haven’t completely freaked you out.”
It took Nightwing a few more moments to respond, and all he said was, “Wally?”
His head snapped up to look at Nightwing, meeting the gaze hidden behind the white lenses of the blue domino mask. “How do you know my name?” Wally asked.
Without another word, Nightwing reached up and peeled off his mask, revealing the gorgeous blue eyes Wally had grown so accustomed to seeing at work. Richard Wayne’s eyes.
“Oh, Jesus fucking Christ!” He’s not even religious, but he’s out there cursing every deity under the sun as he jumps up and away from the roof edge. Wringing his hands as he practically outright glared at the demasked Nightwing, he choked out, “Richard Wayne is Nightwing. Holy shit.” He raked a rough hand through his hair as he began to pace. “Are pigs flying? I’m dead, aren’t I? Richard fucking Wayne is Nightwing and is right in front of me and heard me say all that.”
Nightwi—Richard stood directly in Wally’s path and put both hands on his shoulders to make him stop moving.
“Wally,” Richard said with a breathy tone, the corners his lips inching upward. “I didn’t think the cute physicist I asked out would be the same person as the funny hero I’ve been flirting with.”
“And I didn’t think the vigilante I’ve been pining after would be the same person as my very attractive boss, but here we are!” Wally erratically exclaimed, brimming with nervous energy. “Nightwing is Richard Wayne.”
“I prefer Dick,” Richard said.
Wally’s expression pinched. “Excuse me?”
“My name!” Richard quickly added, dropping his hands from Wally’s shoulders. “My name. I prefer going by Dick. Dick Grayson. Not Richard Wayne. That’s more for public events and work.”
It was then that Wally’s brain realized that he was no longer using the accent that Nightwing always had, it instead faded into Richard’s regular voice. “Please don’t tell me the accent is fake,” he blurted. Then he shook his head. “That’s not important. Why did I say that?”
Richard—Dick laughed and said, “It’s not fake, but kids at a rich private school didn’t particularly like hearing it. Suppose I’m glad to know that isn’t the case here.”
“I really said all that, didn’t I?” Wally asked with a growing frown. “And you heard all that.”
“Yes, I did. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: your rambling is endearing. Plus, it means I can ask you out again, if you’d still want to say yes after learning about this.” Dick held up the domino mask.
Wally perked up again. “Yes! Yes, absolutely.” He forced himself to take a deep breath and relax, and in an even tone, he repeated, “Yes. Coffee?”
Dick smiled gently at him. “Coffee. And pizza?”
“And pizza.”