chapter seven - denial

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WAYNE MANOR
AUGUST 14th — 16:07 EDT

dick coughed violently, pulling his blanket more over him. he had been horrifically sick for the past few days and it made him want to cry.

his entire body hurt. he wasn't sure it was possible for his skin to hurt like this, to hurt everywhere. he couldn't keep anything down, not even water.

yeah, try vomiting up water. absolutely disgusting.

dick just wanted to sleep it off, but it was hard to fall asleep when he kept switching temperatures every five minutes. besides, alfred had forced him to quarantine in a spare bedroom on the first floor.

not exactly the way that dick had planned to spend his and wally's six month anniversary.

16:13 | dick -> wally

dick: i. cant sleep and bruce n alfred are avoidjing me like the plague (ironic right)
dick: want to facetime???

dick sighed, letting his phone fall onto his chest. that took a lot of energy. he had taken every single other day for granted; this was fucking awful.

DING

the doorbell reverberated throughout the manor. dick closed his eyes, expecting alfred to get the door anytime now.

DING

"alfred?" dick called out, his voice hoarse. there came no reply. "cacat."

DING

dick pulled himself up, wrapping his blanket around him like a shawl. he stepped out of bed quickly, which was, in hindsight, an idiotic decision.

the entire room spun as nearly his entire vision went black. dick fell to his knees, holding his head. luckily, after half a minute of sitting, the spell had passed, and dick was able to stand up again.

he slowly—very slowly—made his way toward the front door. hopefully it wasn't some random person asking him to join their religion or else dick was about to slap a bitch. being sick shortened his temper tenfold.

dick opened the door, staring at the man on his doorstep.

"hi, dickie-"

"i'm ill," dick said, closing the door.

wally stopped it with his hand, overpowering dick's ill state in a heartbeat. the ginger barged in, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a psychotic number of boxes of pop-tarts in the other.

dick's extravagant outfit caught wally's eye immediately. he had on socks that didn't match, christmas pyjama pants, an unzipped hoodie atop an oversized t-shirt that said, "it's jason-motherfucking-vorhees" and a fuzzy blanket overtop of everything, tied like a cape.

yeah, wally was basically in love.

"wally-"

"it's our six month anniversary!" wally walked past dick, grinning. "i'm not letting the flu get in the way of love!"

dick sighed, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling. god, he loved wally. he really found a keeper, huh?

"here you are!" wally handed him the bouquet, keeping his distance as much as he could. "i also got you pop-tarts, sorry for eating your stash a couple weeks ago."

dick laughed, accepting the hoard of pop-tarts graciously. he must've looked pretty crazy: sullen eyes, dark eye-bags, greasy hair, and carrying a giant bouquet of roses and a stack of pop-tarts.

"i appreciate the gesture, walls, but i'm gonna get you sick." dick frowned. "i am currently living off of cough candies and benylin."

"i'd rather be sick than be without you."

dick's heart melted, as cheesy as that was. unfortunately, the moment was ruined by his current ailment. dick coughed, automatically throwing his arm up to cover his mouth. alas, his arm was full of pop-tarts and thus they all went flying.

by the time dick had opened his eyes again, wally was staring at him with a concerned face, holding all the boxes in his arms.

"you alright?" he asked.

"just bonzer." dick dead-panned, giving the other a thumbs-up. "still wanna hang out?"

wally scrunched up his nose as if pondering the idea, before laughing and walking over to his boyfriend, enveloping him in a hug. "speed-healing, right? i'll blaze through it."

-

19:31 | ba$$ (take me fishing)

barbara: a ragtag group of orcs named dilfmaster, demonslayer, and douchebag throw their morals out the window in order to save the world

stephanie: cant talk rn babe new campaign just dropped

jason: downvote

duke: people who hate dnd are cowards
duke: i make the rules

dick: just call him the dungeon master!!!!

duke: revere me.

stephanie: still waiting to go fishing???? who is up for it??? hello hello hello???

barbara: sitting on a boat for six hours only to come back with a 1kg carp? i'll pass
barbara: i am free tonight though. and willinv to do anything other than fishing

jason: anything ;)

barbara: i sure hope that that smirk implies smoking a joint lol
barbara: fuck. i am turning into jason todd

dick: i am fatally ill
dick: cure me and i'm down

stephanie: still??? feel better soon :(((

dick: thank u steph i will manifest it
dick: also???? wally just???? is here???
dick: mans heard that i was sick and just said "me too"

duke: [breaking news] farmboy head over heels for city aristocrat

dick: my gift to him for our six monther is the flu <3

-

dick yawned, looking up from his phone to where wally was. they were both laying on the couch, watching the rocketman musical. (again)

dick pursed his lips, reaching his arm out to see if he could reach wally's hair from where he was. surprisingly, he could. wait. why was it surprising? did he need glasses? dick frowned at the thought.

"are you petting me?" wally asked, laughing into his hand.

dick pulled his arm back on reflex, before bursting out laughing. "maybe. you're kinda like a cat, y'know?"

"go on."

"like-" dick gestured with his hands, making no sense whatsoever. "i dunno. ginger cat. you're a cat, i can't explain it."

"ginger cat?" wally laughed, crawling closer to dick and wrapping himself around the other.

dick grinned, enjoying the comforting feeling of someone laying on top of him. dick ran his fingers through wally's hair, pausing to thumb a small scar on his eyebrow.

"how're your parents?" dick asked, his expression sullen.

wally immediately sat up, staring at his boyfriend. "why?"

"i'm interested."

"they're fine."

dick crossed his arms. "wally."

"what?"

"how are they?" dick repeated, interlocking their hands together. "how have things been lately?"

wally stared at their hands, lowering his voice. "mom's having an affair and dad doesn't care. the only reason that he's still living with us is because it guarantees him free food and shelter."

dick squeezed wally's hand.

"i don't know why she hasn't just kicked him out yet, y'know? he spends every penny on alcohol and he can't even hold down a job. why does she let him stay with us?" wally sighed, making eye contact with dick again. "it's fine, i guess, i shouldn't complain-"

"dude, complain!" dick demanded. "your parents are shitty sometimes, so complain! rant about it!"

"no, i sh-"

"wally." dick grasped wally's face, pulling their heads close. "just because my parents are dead doesn't mean you can't complain about yours."

wally broke their eye contact, fidgeting with his fingers. "i feel bad."

"i feel bad when you bottle it up," dick said. "i want to hear it, walls."

"i love you a lot." wally sighed, leaning onto dick. "i miss summer. living with barry and iris was so... refreshing. now i'm back in keystone and surrounded by an adulterous smoker and an abusive drunk."

dick froze, turning so that he could meet wally's eyes. "has rudy done anything? since last time?"

wally shifted uncomfortably. "uh-"

dick swallowed hard, feeling the backs of his eyes begin to prickle. his chest tightened and his hands started to shake. this couldn't happen again. wally couldn't go through this again.

"listen, dickie, it was an accident this time, i swear," wally said. "he's still freaked out from when barry gave him the ol' thwip thwop last year."

dick just stared at wally, his heart beating a mile a minute. his whole body felt uncomfortable. "are you sure?"

"yeah! i mean, yeah, basically. yeah."

dick's eyes prickled more violently. he brought his legs in to sit cross-legged, covering his mouth with both of his hands. his voice was barely audible.  "wally?"

"dickie, i'm sure!" wally nodded, grabbing dick's hands and squeezing them. "he was wasted and thought that i was his brother. total accident. i crashed at the cave after, it was fine."

"did you tell barry and iris?"

wally stilled for a minute before answering. "no. i, uh, i didn't talk to anyone about it."

dick closed his eyes, his heart beating so fast it might explode. dick felt light-headed. it was like his ability to breathe wasn't working anymore, his inhales were so short they didn't bring even one molecule of oxygen to his lungs.

"if it... was an accident... why wouldn't you tell iris?"

wally paused, looking up at dick's ceiling. it was almost like he didn't have an answer. after a minute, he met his boyfriend's anxious eyes once more. "i didn't want to worry her over nothing."

"that's not nothing!" dick yelled, pressing his hands into his eye sockets. he'd convinced himself that if he pressed just hard enough, he could make ever semblance of the world disappear.

"dick-"

neither of them said anything for a long time. dick sat there, his hands covering his eyes. wally sat there too, their knees touching. but neither of them knew what to say.

"look, dick," wally started. "i look a lot like uncle charlie—you know they've always had bad blood—and it was an accident. i prom-"

"wally." dick pulled his hands away, looking at wally's pretty green eyes. "that bad blood is your dad being transphobic and homophobic. if he finds out that you're bi—that we're together—he's gonna hurt you. on purpose."

honestly? dick was just surprised at how calm he sounded.

wally frowned, shaking his head slighly. "no, they've hated eachother since they were kids."

dick inhaled shakily, enveloping wally in a hug. he dug his face into wally's shoulder, temporarily distracted by how wally seemed to always smell like sugary sweets.

"have you thought about moving back in with barry and iris?" dick whispered after a moment, drawing shapes on wally's back with his fingers.

"all my friends are in keystone, babe."

dick pulled back, cupping wally's face in his hands. "you're the fastest—and handsomest—guy on earth. you're telling me that you can't do the commute?"

wally laughed, kissing dick with that same lopsided smile. "i'll think about it, okay?"

dick sighed, letting his arms rest on wally's shoulders. "that's all i can hope for. you deserve better than parents that hurt you, iubit."

"i got you, what more could i want?"

dick laughed as blush crawled its way onto his cheeks. his stomach seemed to churn with pure giddy. "you're a swoon."

wally's eyes fell to his boyfriend's lips. "only for you, loverboy."

dick smiled, leaning in, until the smile turned into a gag. that stomach churn of giddy was apparently a stomach churn of the flu. horrible turn of events, really.

dick put his hand over his mouth, turning away from his boyfriend. wally raised an eyebrow, patting his back. "are you alright?"

dick shook his head, walking over to the bathroom to puke out his guts.

ah, young romance.

WAYNE MANOR
AUGUST 15th — 11:06 EDT

the smell was the first thing that caught his nose.

it was a mix of chocolate and cinnamon, the scent of baking. dick rubbed his eyes open, sitting up with a yawn.

he was still on the couch, a couple hundred blankets scattered around him. the tv had gone dark long ago, but dick could still hear the faint sound of an elton john song.

both the wonderful smell and the marvellous song were coming from the same place, dick decided. he rolled off the couch (quite literally. it hurt) before stretching and standing up.

his senses led him down the hall and straight to the kitchen, where dick stumbled onto a surprising sight.

alfred and wally were... cooking together.

that in itself was pretty shocking. 1) wally didn't cook, and 2) alfred didn't let anyone else in the kitchen when he cooked. also, they were both singing "crocodile rock" by elton john.

wally was holding a frying pan, three eggs sizzling inside. on his left, alfred was pouring pancake batter onto a griddle, making each pancake into a different shape.

so yeah, surprising.

"good morning?" dick chuckled, sitting down at the island.

wally jumped about a foot into the air, the eggs flying out of the frying pan. it was quite impressive how high up the eggs seemed to soar. luckily, wally, speedy as ever, managed to catch all three back in the frying pan before dick could even let out a cuss.

"be careful, mister wallace," alfred chided without a glance. "i'm not cleaning half-cooked eggs off the kitchen floor for a third time."

"a third time?"

"bruce was a clumsy kid," dick said, laughing. "what are you guys making?"

"pancakes," wally said with a nod. "also hashbrowns, eggies, bacon, toast, and waffles. i'm thinking about making some oatmeal too."

"that's quite the meal."

wally grinned, shovelling the eggs onto a nearby plate. "breakfast of champions. how are you feeling?"

alfred spun around on his heels, so quick and smooth that it almost looked prepared. "yes, how are you feeling, master richard? you're not bringing the influenza into my kitchen, i hope."

after the first couple of years, dick had stopped insisting alfred should drop the whole "master" thing. it still felt too pompous, too monarchial, but now he just let alfred be alfred.

"well, instead of making me nauseous, the smell of bacon and eggs brought me running." dick shrugged. "wally probably has it now."

alfred took a large step away from wally, looking offended at best and distraught at worst.

wally shook his head violently. "no! i'm a speedster, we don't get sick. too high of a metabolism."

"weren't you ill last summer?" dick raised his eyebrow, giggling at the look wally gave.

"for three hours!"

"it's fine, alfred, it cooks out anyway, right?" dick asked alfred, doing his best not to laugh.

alfred didn't make any attempt at a reaction, which was scarier than anything he could've said or done. he just stood there, staring at dick.

after a minute of the only sound being the sizzle of breakfast foods and the quiet octaves of elton john, alfred finally sighed, turning back to the griddle to flip his pancakes. "you're exactly like master bruce was..." he mumbled.

dick smirked, catching his eye on a full pot of coffee. he jumped off of the chair, walking over to pour himself a mug. "i really am feeling better, walls."

wally wrapped his arms around dick from behind, watching as his boyfriend added cream to his coffee. "i healed you."

"did you now?" dick laughed, turning around so that he could look at wally, who still had his hands clasped around the other's waist.

"mhm." wally nodded. "with the power of romance."

dick took a sip of his coffee, watching as wally resumed singing whatever elton john song was playing now. it was transfixing, really. wally was so, so handsome and pretty, he took dick's breath away with nothing but a glance.

"morning," a gruff voice came from behind them.

wally let go of dick's waist, flipping around so that he was leaning against the counter. he shot finger guns toward the man who had just walked in, a nervous smile on his face.

"heya, bruce."

"hello, wally," bruce greeted, raising his eyebrow in dick's direction. "spend the night?"

wally's face turned pink as dick laughed lightly, taking his coffee and going to sit back at the island, just beside where bruce had sat down.

"yeah." wally laughed awkwardly. "i, uhm, i cured dickie."

dick burst out laughing at that. bruce, on the other hand, just seemed tired.

"i'm sure he thanks you." bruce smiled, grabbing a piece of toast. "i'm gonna be late for my meeting with drake industries; i've gotta head out. breakfast looks great, alfred."

"goodbye, master bruce!"

"good luck!" dick waved. "you're gonna need it to deal with jack drake!"

"don't be rude!" bruce yelled as he walked out of the room.

dick smirked, leaning over to wally. "he's gonna need it."

~

dick ripped open one of the strawberry poptart wrappers, pulling them out and handing one to wally. they were sitting on dick's bed, playing cs:go while "genghis khan" by miike snow played quietly in the background.

TERRORISTS WIN

"i can't believe how much we suck at this." wally laughed, taking a bite of the poptart. "cs:go bomb scenarios are so much more difficult than in real life."

dick nodded, falling back so that he was laying down on the bed. wally soon followed suit, and they both stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the roof.

"happy six months, wally," dick said after a moment. "i can't believe it's been that long."

"feels like just yesterday i asked you out." wally laughed, turning on his side to face dick. "i was so nervous."

dick smiled at the memory. "me too."

~

it was valentine's day.

that alone made dick nervous. he wasn't a fan of holidays. he wasn't really a fan of days at all.

but today was valentine's day and wally west was coming over. he was coming over, in all his handsome, pretty, attractive, lovely glory.

yeah, dick had a bit of a crush on him.

it sucked, pining for one of his best friends. it sucked because all he wanted to do was be around wally, to hug wally, to kiss wally. and he couldn't.

the worst part was how dick's mind seemed to play tricks on him. how he seemed to catch wally blushing when they were close or how it seemed like wally checked him out everytime he was wearing his spandex suit.

but dick loved wally, more than anything in the world. wally was the best, and he wanted wally in his life. so dick pushed his feelings down and settled for them to just be friends.

"have you ever been on a date?" wally asked, hanging downside up off of dick's bed.

"like, with a girl?"

"or a guy."

dick's breath quickened at that. his mind seemed to split into a hundred different ways that this could end. did wally know that he was gay? did wally feel weird about that? did wally want that?

no. no, never.

"uhm, no," dick answered. "not that i'm against it, or anything."

shit. shit fuck cunt shit shit SHIT. what if wally interpreted that as dick coming on to him? was dick coming on to him? fuck.

wally pulled himself back onto dick's bed, fidgeting with his hands. "do you want to?"

"hmm?"

"do you wanna go on a date?" wally gave him a lopsided grin. "with, uhm, with me?"

dick's whole body seemed to shut down. his face felt hot and his hands were clammy and he couldn't move. this was everything he'd hoped for and it was terrifying.

"sorry," wally avoiding dick's eyes. "sorry if that's weird, i'll just-"

"no," dick muttered, a blush rising to his cheeks. "i'd, uh, i'd love to go on a date with you."

~

"i still can't believe i had the courage to do it." wally laughed, pecking dick's lips. "i was pining for you for months."

dick wrapped his arms around wally, smiling into his boyfriend's chest. "it was one of the best days of my life."

"just wait until i propose."

dick sat up, frowning. "oh my god, walls."

"what?" wally grinned. "you don't wanna be those people?"

"o doamne," dick muttered. "i love you, wally, but we are not becoming those people."

wally sat up, patting dick's head. "relax, relax. i'll propose at an appropriate time."

"promise?"

"promise."