Chapter Text
Gotham City
June, 2000
It’s the first day of summer, well—the ending of the first day of summer. Richard Grayson does hand stands on one Wally West’s front lawn, trying to coax the redhead into trying to mimic him.
“Not doing it.” Wally says with an air of finality. His small fingers tread through unruly red hair and winces when he comes into a contact with the knot on his head, gained from the last time he tried to follow Dick’s lead. He just can’t keep up with an acrobat. Spending nearly your whole life in the circus is something Wally didn’t have. So he now knows better.
“C’mon Wally, it’s super easy!” The brunet grins at his friend, shirt falling haphazardly showing off his toned stomach, which was impressive for a nine year old. Wally didn’t even have the Adonis lines …or abs…
“Liar! I almost broke my head last time.” His cheeks puffed as he pouts. It was childish but he doesn’t care. He was with his friend who would never judge him for not acting his age; he preferred not to remind himself he was two years older than Dick. Sometimes he felt jealous of Dick, his friend was “gifted” and skipped two grades.
“Yeah, I know. Totally my fault. You were too heavy for that branch. You’re not as small as me.” He rolled from his hand stand onto his back, letting out an ‘oof’ as he lands. Wally stares at him from his sitting position before joining him on his back, on the grass staring at the orange-y red sky. Night would be upon them soon and he knew that Alfred would be over soon to get Richard. Wally isn’t sure when the next time they were going to see each other would be.
“You should come visit me next time.” Richard says, not taking his eyes off the sky.
“Can I? Would you dad let me?” The redhead turns to look at his friend.
“Would your dad let you?” Blue eyes look into Wally’s green. He has a point. Wally’s dad never did like Richard, or the Wayne family for that matter. Wally doesn’t know why.
A honk interrupts their conversation. They both look to the black sleek car that pulls up to Wally’s suburban home. They both get up and brush the grass from their clothes. Richard quickly wraps his arms around Wally’s middle and lets go before the redhead can react.
“Good-bye Wally. Bye Mrs. West! Bye Mr. West.” Richard waves enthusiastically.
“It was a pleasure to have you!” Wally’s mom calls from the porch. Rudolph grunts in response.
“Bye Richard.” Wally mumbles as Alfred lets the boy into the car. The door closes, and Alfred gets back into the car after waving to the West Family.
“Wally.” The red haired boy flinches at the tone his father uses. “Get up to your room and clean up all that shit you boys left out.”
“Yes sir.” Wally’s shoulders sag as he heads back in. As he walks slowly up the stairs he hears—
“Glad that little fairy’s gone. I don’t understand why you encourage our boy to hang out with that little—”
“Rudy.” She uses that voice that Wally recognizes as her “not now” tone.
“That little charity case is going to…influence our boy if we don’t do something.”
Wally isn’t sure what his dad means; he goes up to his room before he can hear the rest of the conversation.
Gotham City
May, 2001
“Wally, I need to talk to you.” Wally wordlessly heads toward his father, who sat on his favorite reclining chain in the living room. His father had just caught him going down the stairs toward the kitchen.
“Yes, sir?” He says quietly as he sat down on their couch.
“I think it’s about time we had the talk.” Wally’s blood runs cold but his face heats up slightly. “You’re around that age now so I need you to know what’s going on with your body before you go off and do something stupid. Now, I know your body is changing and you’re starting to notice girls more.” He pauses and looks at Wally suspiciously. Wally chanced a look over to his father, flinched when he saw his father’s hard gaze on him, nods to his father, agreeing about noticing girls even though he knows it’s a lie.
“Good. I don’t want you to end up like that little fairy friend of yours.” He grunts.
“Who? Richard?”
“Yeah, Dick.” He says with disgust.
“Whats wrong with—”
“He’s disgusting!” The older man’s face flares red with anger. “He’s a little faggot and he’s going to hell.” Wally’s stomach twists in knots.
“Hell? But why? I don’t understand.” He looks to his father wide eyed and confused.
“You see, Wally. Men were put on this earth to be with women, get them pregnant and have a family. It’s the natural order—normal. Fags are men who want to be with other men. They can’t have children and what they do is unnatural. The bible says they’re going to hell for their disgusting sinning ways.” Wally’s toes curl in his shoes.
“I…I don’t want Dick to go to hell…”
“There’s no savin’ ‘em Wally.” He says flippantly. “He chose to be that way so that’s what he gets.”
His father goes on and on about what’s right, what’s expected of Wally and what his future should look like. It should look like his father’s: a house, a wife and a kid. Wally wants to say something, like ‘Mom’s not here anymore.’ But he didn’t. He keeps quiet and makes a resolution to himself.
He has to get a girlfriend. He has to be normal. He has…he has to stop hanging around Richard…he doesn’t want to be “corrupted”.
Gotham
March, 2003
Dick came out to all of his friends. He, being the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, made headlines. News moves quickly when you're rich and powerful. Bruce took it in stride, holding press conferences, stating he’s going to become a major player in the LGBT community for his son. Wally wishes his father would support him like that.
Wally would bring home straight A’s and Rudy would shrug at him.
He would bring home science trophies; Rudy would frown and make some comment about him being a nerd.
He would bring home a trophy for coming in first for track, his father would mutter ‘It isn’t baseball’ and would continue to ignore him.
Wally would bring home a girl…that one seemed to pique his interest slightly. A girl on his arm.
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:::
Rudy wasn’t all that surprised when Richard came out publicly. ‘Little fag,’ he say while reading the paper. “Aren’t you glad you stopped hangin’ around that fairy?”
“Yes sir.”
:::
:::
He had started hanging out with the Jocks of Gotham High. Leaving behind Dick, Megan, Babs and Conner in middle school.
Instead he hangs out with Roy, Artemis, Jade, and Mal. They make fun of Dick, bully him. Wally joined in more times than he’d like to admit. He’s dumped Dick into a dumpster before. He didn’t stick around long enough to see how hurt the brunet had been…or how furious his friends had been. But he laughed it off with Roy.
“Fags’ gotta learn their place right?” Roy would say.
“Right.” Wally would say back.
:::
:::
“Why don’t you just fight back?” Conner asks angrily. He’s been angry a lot lately, probably have something to do with his dad. “Hell, I could hurt them for you!” He nearly snarls.
“It wouldn’t solve anything. Just escalation…and I don’t want to hurt Wally.” Richard brushs the trash and gunk off his clothes. He’s going to stink the rest of the day.
“Oh Dick…you don’t still like him do you?” Babs asks him.
“No! Well…not this him…”
“I don’t understand…” Megan triesto calm Conner down, looking at Dick over the older, broader brunet.
“I still like the way he used to be…not what he’s become.”
“Dick, sweetie, that Wally’s gone. He’s been gone for a long time. I think you should move on.”
Gotham
September-December, 2005
The gap between Dick and Wally grows even larger. Dick joins the drama club with Megan and Babs. Wally goes for the football team with Roy and Mal, leaving the track team.
Dick had started dating Joseph over the summer. Wally recognizes him as Rose’s little bother. He knows Rose is scary good at fencing.
Wally begins dating Artemis after Roy talks him into it—since he’s already dating Jade.
“It’s like we’re brothers!” Roy said, grinning like an idiot.
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“Wally…is there something wrong?” Artemis looked at him. She’s kissing down Wally’s neck. Wally’s hands are up her shirt, caressing soft skin, cupping her bust. His mind is elsewhere and she knows it.
“Huh? Oh…it’s…I’m still just…thinking. About that kid.”
“Joseph?” It had only been three months since Dick and Joseph started dating but then…
“Yeah…I mean I know I didn’t really…know him but…what happened to him.”
“Yeah…” She pulls away from Wally; the redhead removes his hand from her shirt. “I know me and my dad don’t get along but…I would never even imagine him trying to kill me…”
Wally sighs and leans back into Artemis’ bed. They sit in silence until Wally has to leave.
:::
:::
He’s still crying. He doesn’t think he can stop. Not anytime soon. It’s been a week and he hasn’t stopped. His boyfriend is dead and it’s his fault. He’s been told over a hundred times that he couldn’t have known Joseph’s dad was a homophobe. That he couldn’t have known that when he and Joey finally decided to get to second base his father would come home from a business trip.
Mr. Wilson was furious. Joey asked Dick to leave. He didn’t want to, he wanted to stay…but he did what he was asked. He left. Joseph died. Mr. Wilson went to jail.
No one messed with him in school…for a while anyway.
Gotham
September-December, 2006
It had been a year since Dick lost his boyfriend and he was…smiling. It made Wally angry. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why it angered him so much. To see Dick happy with his friends. Maybe it was because his friendships weren’t steady at the moment. Roy was spending all his time with Jade—avoiding him for some unknown reason, Mal is with Karen all the time now. He and Artemis broke up.
‘You just don’t seem to be into this.’ She said
She’s right, he wasn’t. They said they would remain friends but…she was angry and hurt…kept her distance. So Wally finds himself alone during lunch one day late in the semester.
He’s surrounded by people, people from the team, track and football but they’re faceless to him.
He concentrates on Dick and the rest who are off to the side, away from everyone—under a tree practicing lines for the play coming up. It looks like Megan messed up a line, Dick laughs. Wally’s frown deepens. He can’t understand why.
The bell rings, signaling lunch is over.
Wally looks down at his tray of untouched food and sighs. He throws it away and heads toward his next class. He sees Dick heading toward him, his class the opposite direction of Wally’s. Dick isn’t even looking at him. He focused on the script in his hand. The redhead sees that they are on a collision course…but he lets it happen.
“Oof—” Richard slammed into Wally’s chest. Wally himself doesn’t budge, so Dick falls on his ass.
“Watch where you’re going fag.” Wally sneers and steps over the brunet.
“Fuck you, closet case.” He hears from behind him. Wally freezes. He turns around and sees Dick getting up from the floor, script strewn across the ground and a defiant look in his blue eyes.
“What did you just call me?” Wally grinds out, talking between his teeth.
“I called you a closet case.” Richard said plainly, like it’s obvious.
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, you disgusting little faggot!?” Wally hears his dad’s words coming from his mouth.
“I’m talking to the guy that’s been staring at me for the past year. I’m talking to the guy that thinks no one notices the way you way look at Roy’s ass in the locker room. I’m talking to the guy who gets a hard on when he gets pinned down during practice!” Dick shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. A crowd is gathering.
Dick doesn’t know these things because he was there personally to see them happen, he’s been told these things by Conner, Babs, and Rose. Conner is the one who figured out that Wally gets hard during practice, when he’s tackled to the ground. It was Babs that pointed out the Wally’s been staring at him. He knows about the locker room incident because of Rose: Rose talks to Jade, who finds out these things from Roy.
Wally grabs him by the front of his shirt and lifts him so his feet are barely touching the ground. Dick still looks defiant.
“Listen hear you little cock sucking—” He is cut off by a pair of, admittedly, soft lips. He freezes. Dick is kissing him. In front of everyone. Something…something cold and dark snaps in Wally. He can hear it snap, like a dam has been busted. Everything becomes hazy.
When he comes out of his stupor, he’s being restrained by teachers. There’s blood on him, on his shorts and his clothes and Dick…Dick isn’t moving. He’s on the ground, bloodied and bruised. School faculty are keeping the students at bay, giving him room.
:::
:::
Dick is hospitalized for a few months. A concussion, broken ribs, broken collarbone and his jaw needed to be wired shut. Wally has to learn this from the news.
He’s kicked out of school. He’s painted as a bully…a monster by the media.
He almost killed Dick…he almost…
Rudy and Wally move away from Gotham to a more “wholesome” part of America, as his father puts it. Keystone; where Rudy grew up.
Wally has to wait to join the school…so now he doesn't get to graduate with his class. He doesn't care though. He still sees Dicks motionless body on the ground…He remembers Artemis’ pale face in the crowd—shock evident. Jade covers her mouth in horror and Roy hold her. Babs is screaming, tears in her eyes. They aren't sad…they’re furious—at him. He deserves her hate. He hates himself. He should be in jail.
Bruce Wayne doesn't press charges. He can’t fathom why…