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Wally shouldn’t have laughed – he knew that now, but he had seen no harm in it, considering all the cackling Dick did whenever he got the chance. It could be Wally forgetting to break in time and flailing face-first into a wall; it could have been Conner getting his butt handed to him in a sparring match with Black Canary for the millionth time – it was always good natured; everyone got that. Wally just wanted to return the favor this once.
Dick had gotten kind of awkward the last few months – puberty was doing its job and stretching him out. His arms and legs were long and lanky, still toned, but everyone could tell Dick was having a hard time adjusting after having been the smallest member of the team. Wally? He thought it was cute, which is probably why he had laughed in the first place. Of course, Dick was an acrobat – he wouldn’t go stumbling about everywhere, but there was this awkwardness in his gait. The brunet just had no clue about what to do with all the new self to himself – long arms, long legs – he tried to make sense of it and failed.
He got anxious. He got worried. He got bold.
It was any other day in the cave and Wally was just sitting around – there were no impending missions, but he had really come to prefer hanging out here than with anyone he knew from school. He could hang out with his boyfriend here. Right now, though, he was focused on chilling on the couch and watching some documentary on the big screen about black holes.
In came Dick, walking on the palms of his hands. No big feat for the acrobat in the past, but Wally looked over to see the strain in his arms, the way his legs dangled over, as if they were threatening to-
And there it happened. The brunet let out a series of small sounds as he struggled to regain his balance and then- crash. He fell into this heap on the floor, earning a small laugh from the redhead on the couch. It was only a few seconds; he covered his mouth quickly, but then it died the moment he saw those furrowed brows over those black shades, aimed right at him. Crap.
“Ro-” He reached out, but for once, he was too slow. Dick scrambled to his feet with surprising grace and dashed off, doing his ninja routine. Wally’s shock finally wore off and he scrambled after, searching for the brunet everywhere. It took him a damn good while, and either Dick had made it to a place he’d never thought to look, or it was hopeless. Well, that did leave his bedroom. Wally went to his room, slowly, thinking on how he was going to deal with this if Dick was there. All thought of that, though? It disappeared the moment the door opened and he saw that big lump huddled up under the blankets of his bed.
Okay, screw going slow. Wally sped over and slipped onto the bed, his arms snaking around the acrobat’s form as quickly as possible. There was tension, and for one second, Wally thought Dick might fight him over this, but then he just shuddered and went still. Dick was doing his best to try appearing small – all it did was make Wally more aware of how long those arms and legs had gotten, how thin they seemed – he could really feel bone underneath the muscle that hadn’t caught up yet.
“Hey…” He finally murmured it softly, resting his forehead against the back of Dick’s head. “I’m sorry about that, okay…?”
“S’fi- ” There was a squeak. Had it been said that Dick’s voice had decided to level down as well? But it was still wavering back and forth. It served as another reminder of the awkwardness from before and Dick just went silent. There was, not a whine – but it was a soft sound, and in Dick’s raspy little lilt, it was almost like a purr, but sad.
“Dick, c’mon… This’ll pass and you’ll be bouncing off the walls in no time. Just takes some getting used to-” Heck, he did. But Wally, for the most part, had reveled in the changes that had gone on and were still going on slightly with his body. He was vain – whether to a fault or no was up to other people to decide. He nuzzled the back of Dick’s head through the blanket, trying to be a comfort.
“It’s not that,” he finally said, shifting about in Wally’s grip til he could look over at him more fully, face wrapped as it was. Wally could make out the stains of a few tears running down his cheeks. “What-… What if something happens on a mission? I could get someone killed, Wally.” He was shaking again. “Even if they don’t die and just get hurt, or we fail the mission, it’d be my fau-”
There was enough off that. Wally had seen fit to silence his not-so-little bird with a press of their lips together. He kept it easy, but firm – going no further than their lips touching. Despite some of the discomfort with Dick’s elbows and knees poking at him, Wally held him tight. He didn’t stop until another one of those soft sounds told him that Dick needed up for air. The redhead pulled away and reached, ever so slowly, to lift the brunet’s sunglasses up. He had to be gentle here, knowing how much his boyfriend valued his privacy, but he wanted to make something very clear.
“I won’t let that happen, okay? Neither will the rest of the team,” he added, his green eyes finally locking on Dick’s blues. If anyone came in the room, they would have been hidden by the blanket covering the side of Dick’s face. In some way, too, Wally was glad about that – he was jealous at times, wishing he could be the only one whom Dick’s eyes landed on. It was enough, though, to have them here, this close – close enough to feel the brunet’s soft, shaky breath against his skin, close enough that his lips brushed every so often against the brunet’s as he spoke those words. “We’re a team. We work together. We make up for each other’s weaknesses. Temporary or otherwise. Got it?”
It warmed Dick to hear that. From Wally of all people, it really did. He nodded once and then leaned forward to burrow against the redhead’s body. Wally smiled softly and began rocking Dick slowly until he finally decided to fall back and tug the younger teen with him. It’d probably be better if Dick could stretch out, and to be honest? He couldn’t feel happier than when he felt the full length of Dick weighing upon him, small or not.