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There was a gala tonight, and for once the whole family was attending.
Even Jason.
And Dick was nervous.
It was the first time he and Wally were going to be at a gala together as a couple. They’d kept their relationship away from the media so that they weren’t intruded on during date nights. Especially since it was so hard to have regular date nights when they both had jobs and hero gigs and something usually popped up that caused them to have their date late or reschedule.
But they were finally going public with their relationship. Dick was alright with letting everyone else know that he was taken by his very good-looking boyfriend.
At least the hero community already knew their hero identities were a couple. It stopped both of them from getting hit on as much. It didn’t completely stop it, but it stopped most of it.
To his great annoyance (and the annoyance of his boyfriend), Nightwing tended to get hit on a lot.
Dick Grayson did too, to be honest.
He was fidgeting with his suit while waiting for everyone to get here so the gala could start. Jason noticed.
“You ok there, Dickie?” he asked, eyes glancing at Dick’s hands still messing with his cuffs.
“I’m fine-”
He cut himself off when he noticed Jason giving him a pointed look. He sighed.
“Ok, I’m… a little nervous about this. I know we’re not necessarily making a huge announcement at the gala or anything, but Wally and I are making a debut as a couple. I’m worried about how the press will treat us, treat him especially. And I don’t want him to have to deal with the rich assholes that’ll be around tonight. But not going public means more people openly ogling and flirting with me and speculation surrounding if I’m dating anybody I’m seen out with, especially any of the women I know.”
Jason nodded at that. Every one of the kids in the family had dealt with the same sort of issues, though Dick had dealt with them more because he was the oldest, he was seen as the ‘prettiest’ (not his own words there), he was seen as somewhat of a playboy like Bruce, and he shielded his younger siblings from the same scrutiny when he could. Only a few other relationships in the family had ever gone gala-public. They tended to keep their relationship secret from outside interference for as long as possible to make sure it would stick for a while.
Currently the only public relationships were Cass and Steph, Tim and Kon, and Bruce and Selina. Though Bruce and Selina were well-known at this point because of their on-again, off-again relationship. They’d been on for a while now though so all of them were hoping it would fully stick this time. The two of them were good for each other.
“Dickie, Wally’ll handle it just fine. This isn’t his first time at a gala, just his first time officially with you. He may end up just sticking to you the whole time, like Steph and Cass tend to do and like Kon does whenever he comes with Timmers to one of these things.”
“Speaking of, isn’t Kon coming tonight too?”
“Yeah, so Wally has someone else he can talk to who’s not used to these things. It’ll be fine.”
Jason patted Dick on the shoulder and Dick let himself lean into the contact, smiling at his brother. They’d all gotten better with showing him affection through physical touch once they found out that he gets twitchy when he hasn’t had any in a while. And it was the best way for him to know that people cared.
Though Cass and Steph never hesitated to show their affection towards him that way.
And now he had Wally practically living with him so he rarely went a day without some sort of touch.
(He was thinking of asking Wally to move in soon, too).
~~~~
Wally arrived not long before the gala started and the two of them entered arm-in-arm. Dick saw some of the attendees whispering to each other and pointedly looking at their intertwined arms. There was a blush valiantly trying to make its way onto Dick’s cheeks, but luckily it didn’t. He wanted to just ignore the judgmental socialites and just enjoy the gala with his date. Or enjoy it as much as he could, anyway, since he was still expected to socialize with some of them.
Though he made sure his first stop was Babs.
“Nice to see you and Wally finally going public with your relationship. Hopefully it’ll keep people from asking if we’re getting back together,” Babs commented, scowling a little at the fact that people were constantly asking if the two of them would ever be getting back together. Babs was the first relationship Dick had ever gone public with and it seemed most everyone in Gotham thought it was a new iteration of Bruce and Selina’s relationship.
Which was extremely annoying. Especially for Babs.
“Figured it was time,” Dick said with a shrug. “It’ll also keep the press from assuming I’m dating anybody I’m seen out with, especially any friends that happen to be women. I can’t go anywhere with Kori without some tabloid declaring we’re a couple again.”
Babs and Wally both chuckled, but knew he was right.
“I also like knowing that a number of people will back off knowing he’s with someone,” Wally added as he pressed a kiss to Dick’s cheek. He knew that blush had actually worked its way onto his face by the heat he felt there. And he knew that Babs had taken a picture and would probably send it to the groupchat by the end of the night.
And by the end of the week Alfred and Bruce would have printed and framed copies in the Manor and on Bruce’s desk at WE.
No matter what anyone said, Bruce loved having photos of his children (and pseudo-children) everywhere. In the Manor, at WE on his desk and walls, in his wallet, etc.
It’s also why none of them could accuse Bruce of not loving them.
Eventually, Dick and Wally broke away from Babs and started mingling with others since they couldn’t just stay with her all night. Wally seemed to be doing pretty well with socializing, playing off Dick perfectly and Dick’s extroverted nature always worked well when he was at a gala. So did the charisma and charm Bruce made sure he learned early on (though Alfred always said Dick had some of that naturally).
It was a bit later in the night when there was a bit of an issue.
Most of the attendees of the gala were at least a couple drinks in, champagne flutes nearly always in hand (or a glass of hard liquor for some of them, especially men), and Dick and Wally were winding down a bit in terms of socializing with Gotham’s elite. They were hoping to go and spend some time with either Babs or some of Dick’s siblings and their partners present after maybe a few more interactions with others. All of the Wayne children had to socialize with these people a certain amount and Dick tended to do more than the others in most cases.
Though Tim and Damian also had to socialize quite a bit and were sometimes better at it based on their upbringings.
Wally grabbed them each a champagne flute as they’d finished their prior ones (this was only their second each) and it was nice to have something in their hands and to sip on. The woman they were talking to looked Dick up and down in the few moments it took Wally to grab them each a drink and Dick resisted an uncomfortable shiver at the move.
He hated galas for this reason alone.
Even after Wally turned back with their flutes, she was still looking at Dick with interest and a hunger that he’d seen in attendees that tended to flirt with him.
And sure enough-
“So, Richard, do you still live in Gotham?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes as she did, which Dick ignored.
“No, I live in Blüdhaven and have for a number of years. I still visit Gotham a lot though to see my family and my siblings love to crash my apartment whenever they’re able to,” he responded. That was true, and it was usually after patrol. Cass stayed in his guest room the other night. Damian and Jason were the most common visitors.
“Hm, I’ve never been to Blüdhaven before. Perhaps you could show me around sometime~” she said, voice slipping into a sultry tone as she reached out to brush his arm. Dick could see Wally stiffen next to him. He gave a light chuckle and subtly moved his arm out of the way of her reaching hand.
“I’m quite busy and wouldn’t be able to, ma’am,” Dick said politely, giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she’d perhaps had too much to drink. A lot of people tended to drink too much at these since most of them didn’t drive themselves.
“Oh, well then maybe we could have dinner one night instead?” she asked, still speaking in that sultry voice, and not catching the hint that he wasn’t interested, nor seeming to realize that Wally was Dick’s boyfriend.
“Sorry ma’am, but I'd rather have dinner with my boyfriend. I’m still showing him the best spots in Blüdhaven,” Dick said, Wally wrapping an arm around his waist when he said ‘boyfriend’. He saw her eyes track the movement and then her cheeks redden in embarrassment, indignation, or any other myriad of possible emotions before she hurried away from them. Wally and Dick made their way to the area of the room where Tim, Kon, and Jason were currently hanging out.
They noticed the irritated look on Wally’s face immediately.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jason asked, all three men looking at Wally. Dick glanced over at him too.
“The last woman we were talking to was flirting with Dick. A lot and couldn’t take a hint until I put my arm around his waist and Dick mentioned having a boyfriend,” Wally replied, anger evident in his voice. He saw Kon’s eyebrows go up and both Tim and Jason got sympathetic looks on their faces.
“Was she the one I saw rushing off with the reddest face?” Jason asked, quirking an eyebrow up in question. Dick nodded.
“Yep. That’s her. I’m pretty sure she’s tried to flirt with me before but I don’t fully remember.”
“To be fair, a lot of people would flirt with you at galas,” Tim added, causing Dick to scowl at the reminder.
“Yeah and it always sucked,” he replied, crossing his arms.
They all talked some more after Kon was able to redirect them to a different topic that wouldn’t irritate or anger any of them like the current one was. A little later in the night, Dick and Wally were outside on the balcony, alone for the moment.
“You ok?” Dick asked, looking at Wally who still seemed a little ruffled from what happened earlier. Wally looked over a little surprised.
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Because you still looked pissed over what happened earlier.”
Wally scowled just a little, crossing his arms. “It just irritates me that you have to put up with people constantly flirting with you and invading your space. Even with me right next to you after practically being glued to you all night. That should’ve been enough of a hint for her to not flirt in the first place.”
Dick smiled at him. “It does suck, but seeing you jealous is always a little hot.”
Wally flushed at that, Dick internally preening over being able to lighten his boyfriend’s mood a bit.
“I still hate it,” he replied, though his voice and body language was lighter than before. Dick just pulled him over and wrapped his arms around him, giving him a kiss as he did so.
“I don’t mind when you get jealous and possessive over me. I actually really like it. Even if you have nothing to worry about because I’m not leaving you.”
Wally laughed a little at that. “I know. I’m not worried about these rich assholes. If I’d worry about anyone it would be the hero community, but some of them knew about us before we did.”
Dick laughed. “That’s true. I’m pretty sure Diana and Clark were the first ones to notice. Which I love reminding B about. ‘World’s Greatest Detective’ my ass.”
Wally just laughed along with Dick and they stayed outside in each other’s arms until the gala had nearly ended. Wally stayed at the Manor overnight with Dick and the next morning had agreed when Dick asked him to move into his apartment.