"I'm just saying, I think labels are stupid," Josh said. "I don't even get half of them."

                "Just because you don't get them, it doesn't mean they're stupid," I said. "You call yourself gay. Maybe someone thinks that's stupid."

                "But I feel like people just make stuff up. Demisexual sounds more like a choice than a sexuality to me," Josh said.

                "Hi, I'm Josh and I like to invalidate people," I said.

                We were sitting in my room, Josh's head on my lap. I leaned against the wall and tossed a chip into my mouth as Josh scowled, preparing to bitch even more.

                "But I don't want to have sex with someone unless we have a strong emotional bond," he said, gesturing to me. "That's not a sexuality, that's a choice."

                "Josh." I placed my hand over his mouth. "How people identify literally has no impact on your life whatsoever. Let people live. Mind your own business. Stop bitching."

                He shoved my hand away. "Whatever. Give me a chip."

                I picked up a chip and placed it in his mouth. I ran my fingers through his hair, trying not to think about how different this felt.

                We'd agreed to hang out afterschool. I knew at some point, we'd need to talk about how to fix things. But for the moment, we were just seeing if we could spend a few hours together without fighting. So far, so good. But it hadn't been very long.

                "Hey, Rob, remember back when we first started dating and you were too nervous to sleep over my house?" Josh said.

                I blushed and hit him in the forehead. "Shut up. I sleep with my mouth open. It's embarrassing."

                "Yea, you're a pretty ugly sleeper." He was grinning up at me.

                I hit him in the forehead again. "What about you? On our first date, you were so nervous that you knocked your drink on me."

                It was his turn to blush now. "Shut up."

                I rested my hand on his chest. Josh pressed his hand over it, and I could feel his heart beating steadily against my hand.

                Why had this fallen apart? Josh and I used to have good times together. We'd tease each other and cuddle and go on dates and just enjoy being together. When had I started spending less time around him? When did he stop smiling around me?

                I couldn't remember. It was glaring me in the face now, but I couldn't remember seeing it run at me.

                "Josh," I said quietly.

                He sat up and pushed himself against the wall next to me. He put his arm around me, drawing me closer to himself. He kissed me, lips I had dreamt of kissing for months before it finally happened on our third date.

                But what did it matter now? I could've been kissing anyone. It wasn't special anymore.

                "Robin," Josh mumbled against my lips, pressing his forehead against mine. "We can fix things."

                "I know." Was I answering his words or my thoughts?

                I heard a vibrating noise and watched as Josh pulled out his phone, his mom's name flashing on the screen. He slid his finger on the screen and held the phone up to his ear.

                "Hey, mom. I'm at Robin's house." He paused as she talked, and his expression twisted into the one he got when he was preparing a bitch session. "I'm with Robin! I don't want to go out to eat with you and dad. I want to..." He glared but shut up, because his mom was the only person who could bitch even more than Josh could when you got her going. "Fine, I'll head home."

                He hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket, standing up. I copied him and he glared at the ground.

                "My parents are making me go out to eat with them. I'm sorry, Robin. I'm really sorry. I don't want to go, but my mom said if I don't, I'm grounded," he grumbled.

                "Go," I said.

                He hugged me and kissed me before leaving my room. I went over and sat on my bed, pulling out my phone. I dialed Wally's number and held the phone up to my ear as it rang.

                "Hi Robin," Wally answered.

                "Hey. You doing anything?" I asked.

                "No. Is everything okay?"

                "Yea, everything is fine. Mind if I come over? Josh had to leave early."

                "Sure, Robin!"

                "Thanks." I hung up and sighed.

                Getting off my bed, I went downstairs and left the house. I got in my car and drove myself to Wally's house.

                He was sitting out on the front porch with a comic book in his lap. He smiled at me as I came up the driveway.

                "Hawkeye?" I guessed, nodding towards the comic.

                He shook his head and held it up so I could see it. "My dad bought me Gotham Academy. He said he thought I might like it."

                He tucked the comic under his arm and led me into the house. We went up to his bedroom and he set the comic on his comic book shelf.

                I laid on his bed. "Hey, Wally, have you and Five kissed each other?"

                His face heated right up. "Um, well, yea, o-of course."

                "Don't get so nervous," I said, laughing a little. "I'm not going to judge you. I'm not exactly innocent."

                I rolled over onto my back, folding my hands behind my head. I guess that meant Five was Wally's first kiss.

                Wally sat next to me on his bed. "I have another good day with my comic today. It's almost done. I'll finish it and then touch it up," he said.

                "And then I can see it?" I said.

                He nodded. "Yea. But you can't laugh at me! It's my first real attempt at a comic!"

                "You used to draw all those things when we were kids," I reminded.

                "I know, I know. But they weren't real comics. They were just things a kid drew," he said, hugging his knees to his chest. "This is me really trying."

                I smiled at him and reached out, lightly punching his leg. "Wally, I'm sure it'll be great. You're an amazing story teller, and you've spent the past couple of years practicing the way you draw anatomy and action scenes."

                "I'm still struggling with drawing hands," he said moodily.

                "When I try to draw a hand, it looks like a deformed potato. I can promise I won't be judging the hands you draw," I said.

                Wally laughed. "Well, drawing isn't your thing. It's not for everyone."

                I remembered my conversation with Rhys and shrugged. "I don't have a thing. I'm good at being clumsy, and that's about it."

                Wally shook his head, hair bouncing around like it always did. "That's not true!" He thought for a moment before pointing over at his comic book shelf. "You're Robin! Dick Grayson didn't have any superpowers, but he was still a hero."

                "He was also raised as an acrobat and then trained by Batman," I said. "I was raised as a kid with no athletic or acrobatic ability and trained by a father who's an office worker."

                "Tim Drake wasn't the best fighter, but he was really smart," Wally said. "You're smart, Robin. Stop putting yourself down all the time. I hate when you do that."

                I sat up and looked at Wally. He understood me better than anyone ever could.

                "Wally," I said quietly. "Josh and I are just hanging on, aren't we?"

                "I can't tell you what you're feeling. I can only tell you what I see," he mumbled. "It looks like you're both just trying to make it work so that you don't have to say goodbye."

                Wally rested his chin on his knees. He ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier.

                "You know what I think, Robin?" he said. "I think you're afraid of change and you have low self-esteem. And I think those things feed into each other. You don't want to let go of Josh because you're afraid of change, but you also feel like you don't deserve a relationship. The worse things between the two of you get, the more you take it out on yourself. And I hate watching it. So do Five and Piers."

                "Truth hurts to hear," I said bitterly.

                "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. But I can't stay quiet forever when you're hurting yourself like this," he said.

                "I know. Thank you," I said.

                I reached out and messed up his hair even more. He gave me a weak smile and bumped my shoulder with his.

                Things were changing between us. I could feel it, even if I couldn't figure out why. But Wally was still Wally and I was still Robin. Even if things changed, we would adapt.

                "So, what's up with you and Rhys? Five keeps grumbling about how she doesn't trust him," Wally said.

                I shrugged. "I talked to him earlier about that whole Strike thing. I think he's a good guy who had a bad moment. I told him I have no right to judge him, and I wasn't lying." I nudged Wally, grinning a little. "Besides, he has a cute dog."

                Wally's eyes widened. "He has a cute dog?!"

                "It looked like a German shepherd husky mix," I said.

                His eyes were so wide I was afraid they'd pop right out of his head. "Those are so cute! I'm so jealous! What's it's name?"

                "Hyde," I said.

                "That is so cute," Wally said, looking excited.

                "I'll snap you a picture of it next time I see it," I said, laughing.

                Willy threw his fist in the air triumphantly. "Yes! I love dogs!"

                I furrowed my brow and took my phone out, pulling up Rhys' contact. Had Rhys, athletic, jock-looking Rhys, really done what I thought?

                To: Rhys

                Did you name your dog Hyde after the Jekyll and Hyde musical?

                My phone buzzed with a reply almost instantly. I opened it to see a selfie of Rhys with Hyde.

                From: Rhys

                You know my musical loving ass so well already :')

                I turned my phone so Wally could see the picture. He smiled wide, looking like an excited child, dimples and all.

                "That's such a cute dog!" he said.

                I texted Rhys back and set my phone down. Okay, listen, a selfie of a cute guy and a guy dog would brighten anyone's day, and I was now feeling significantly better.

                "Hey, Robbie, what do you think of Rhys?" Wally asked, blushing a little. "You know..."

                I raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, slow down buddy. I think the guy is cute, I think his body deserves an award, and I think his dog is the most adorable thing I've seen in my entire life. But we're also just friends. I'm not interested in Rhys like that, Wally."

                "I was just asking," he said, lifting his shoulder in a shrug.

                I fell back on his bed again, my heads cushioning my head. "I still can't believe you and Five are dating. If you guys get married, you can have a hero themed wedding. We can all show up in cosplay."

                "We can name our kids after superheroes," Wally said. "Obviously I'll have to have a son named Bart."

                "Please don't ever name your child Bart," I said. "I wish someone had told my father not to name his son Dick. So I'll do for you what no ever did for my father, and I'll give you strong advice about child naming."

                "I don't think your name is that bad," Wally said. He laid down next to me, and we both rolled onto our stomachs to face each other.

                "Yea, yea. I'm bored. Do you want to skateboard?" I asked.

                Wally nodded and we got off his bed. We went outside and Wally let me borrow one of his skateboards.

                Neither of us were exactly talented at skateboarding, but we were both decent. Wally used to skate all the time when he was a kid, and he'd patiently taught me when we were 8 years old. It was just something we liked to do for fun, attempting tricks and teasing each other when we fucked them up.

                Wally and I raced each other to the end of the driveway and back, nearly losing our balance as we tried to suddenly change direction. We both laughed and I cut Wally off to get ahead of him.

                "Cheater!" he called, slamming his foot on the ground to stop himself before he could crash into me.

                I threw my hands in the air. "Winner!"

                "You're not getting away with cheating!" Wally said, skating at me.

                I grinned and skated at him. The two of us collided and toppled over, rolling off the driveway and into the grass. We laughed despite the cuts and bruises I knew we'd have from the impact.

                Our boards had flipped over, and we laid tangled in the grass. Wally's elbow was bleeding from landing on it, but he turned his face towards the sky and laughed so hard that it made my body shake with the force of it.

                I grinned and threw my arm around his shoulders, drawing him closer so I could mess up his hair playfully. He swatted my hands away and elbowed me lightly in the ribs.

                We laid on our backs, trying to catch our breaths once the laughter had subsided. We were still tangled up, limbs thrown over each other and half of me pinned under half of Wally.

                "I think I still got away with cheating," I said.

                Wally turned his head to face me, all smile and freckles, his eyes lit up with joy. "No, but next time maybe you'll hesitate enough for me to cut you off instead."

                I reached out and plucked some grass and leaves from his hair. "You're a goddamn mess, Wally Jayden."

                "I'm your goddamn mess, Dick Gray," he said, flicking a leaf off my shirt.

                We untangled ourselves and sat up. I knocked my shoulder against Wally's and he grinned and did it back to me.

                We sat in comfortable silence together, both of us painfully aware that the second we got up was the second this happy moment ended. That was the thing about best friends; they could pull you into moments that seemed like endless joy, moments you remembered fondly but couldn't pinpoint where or why they ended.

                Someday I'd forget what we said to each other during this moment. I'd forget the way the light hit Wally's face and made his brown hair look so light it could've been mistaken for blond. I'd forget the color of the leaves I'd pulled from his hair. Maybe I'd even forget what we had been doing.

                But I'd remember this feeling. I'd remember this breathless joy of having a good time with my best friend.

                "Thank you," I said to him, and hoped he understood.

                He smiled at me, a silent acknowledgement. He always knew how to see beyond my words.

                I hoped someday I could pull myself into a man who could help Wally the way Wally helped me. I hoped someday I could do more than just hear his words. He loved me for who I was, even though he knew I could be a much better man if I'd only stop being a coward. Someday I'd make him proud of me.

                When the words and the light and the color of the leaves faded from my mind, and only this joyous feeling remained, I'd make myself a person Wally would be proud to have as his friend.