Author's Note: Jeeze, I'm so sorry this took so long guys… I just had a really horrible writers block on it. Couldn't get any motivation. Sorry if this chapter isn't up to standards… I tried ;w;

However, I just wanted to give you all a huge big thanks for the lovely response on the first chapter! 28 reviews? You guys rock so much *hugs all around*

There'll be some Supermartian in this chapter too, sorry if you don't like that. It won't be the focus of the fic though, obviously.

Your Lap Is So Very Comfortable – Part II: "Erif Nrub, Nordlauc Elbbub!"

~x~

{Mount Justice,

January 18, 22:08 EDT}

While Dick was trying to make himself comfortable on the cold surface of the barstool alongside Connor, Wally was shooting around the room in a frenzy because the sweet scent of apple pie made it impossible to keep still. Artemis, huddled on the couch, followed his path with narrowed eyes, but he didn't take any notice of her. M'gann held a kitchen knife in her hand, eyeing the pie. She calculated how big she should cut each slice so that everyone would have an equal amount… well, maybe she'd make Connor's portion slightly larger…

A moment later, Wally flailed wildly in the air and then landed with a heavy thump on the floor because Artemis had stuck a leg out in his path as he passed by, tripping him inelegantly. Grunting in frustration, he rounded on her. No, this was not acceptable. Twice… twice he had fallen on his face in front of everyone, all within a few hours! No way was he ever going to live this down. Robin's snickering from behind him made his fists clench. Oh, Artemis was so going to get it this time.

However, before he could so much as open his mouth, a clinking sound alerted Wally and the rest of them to the team's guardian as this latter entered the room.

"Oh, hello Red Tornado!" M'gann exclaimed, looking up from her pie dish. She seemed about to invite him to the table but remembered in time that he was a robot, and therefore couldn't eat human food. Red Tornado stood quietly in the doorway to the kitchen, seeming to contemplate them. Actually, it was kind of hard to guess what he was thinking, Wally mused. Robots tended to have pretty permanently stoic expressions.

"I thought I might share a piece of advice with you," he started. The team all looked up expectantly, (although Wally found it rather hard to tear his eyes from the plate of steaming pie in M'gann's hand.) "If my knowledge of human activities does not fail me, it seems to be a common occurrence to start a fire on such winter days as today, in order to keep warm," Red Tornado continued. Robin tilted his head curiously to the side in an action similar to his namesake.

"A… fire?" Kaldur repeated, rather bewildered.

"But we don't have a fireplace…" Connor pointed out, swiveling in his chair to face Red Tornado. Instead of answering, the robot turned to the control panel on the wall that regulated the fan, room lighting and the holographic displays. Too bad it didn't have heating on there too, Wally observed bitterly. He tapped a few buttons, and a panel of the wall in the living room slid open silently to reveal a stone fireplace behind it. If Red Tornado had a mouth, Wally was sure he would be smiling at the team's surprised expressions.

"I'll be upstairs in my chamber, should you need me," he said in a monotone voice, turning on his heel and leaving in the direction that he came. The team shifted to look at each other. Wally, for one, jumped out of his seat with sparkling eyes, his uncut slice of pie momentarily forgotten.

"Guys! This is like, the best thing ever! Just what we need! Let's get this thing staaarted," he exclaimed, the over-enthusiasm not faked in the least. He started searching around for some wood, or matches, or whatever you did to start a fire... How do you start a fire, actually? He soon realized to his joy that the fireplace was already fully stocked; logs sitting in the grate, old starter newspapers lying in a basket beside it along with that iron poker thing that he didn't know the name of. Hey, like with the cooking utensils earlier, he'd never touched a fireplace before, and shouldn't be expected to know the jargon.

"Is this wise?" Kaldur interrupted his thoughts, looking pointedly at Miss Martian. Both he and the green-skinned girl had vulnerabilities to fire; he was probably hesitant to put his team into any kind of danger.

"I'm sure we can handle a little fire," Robin said absentmindedly, standing up and walking over to the control panel on the wall. "Besides, if Red suggested it, then there can't be any harm to it..."

"Exactly!" Wally cut in, before Kaldur could reply. "And I'll make sure nothing happens to you, beautiful," he added, winking at M'gann. "Now can someone get over here and help me?" he continued, waving the box of matches around. Zatanna laughed lightly when no one made any move to do so, but then left M'gann's elbow to stare into the empty fireplace.

"I'll take care of it…" she murmured, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as she held her palms out in front of her. "Erif nrub, nordlauc elbbub!" [1] A dark yellow and orange flame burst out of thin air, rapidly catching on to the dry logs. Wally stepped back from the searing heat, muttering something about 'stupid magic tricks'. Then again, he couldn't suppress the sigh of contentment that left his lips at the sudden warmth surrounding him.

"You're welcome," Zatanna said, smirking, as she flounced back over to help M'gann sprinkle powdered sugar on top of their slices.

Meanwhile, Robin had been examining the control panel by the door with a frown on his face. How had he not known that there was a fireplace in the Mountain? He was Robin. Not knowing something major like that hurt his ego. Fingers tapped lightly over the keys as he searched for a database of all the codes one could enter. Soon however, reckless curiosity overrode common sense, and so he randomly typed in a combination. The jarring sound of metal sliding over metal as something moved under the floor made the light conversation in the room abruptly come to a stop.

"Rob? What the hell was—whoa!" The speedster sprang backwards and the archer leapt off the couch as the floor in the middle of the room shifted, sliding smoothly away to reveal a sleek, black, cylindrical object, pointed towards the ceiling. Artemis had her collapsible crossbow fitted and aimed at the foreign object, and the rest of the team was in various stages of a fighting stance. Robin only cackled.

"Seriously guys, chillax. It's just a… a telescope," he realized with a touch of surprise. M'gann floated over to the eyepiece, suspicious yet curious, and peeled back the cover. This must have triggered something, because the domed ceiling of the living room opened outward, giving them a clear view of the indigo sky dotted with sparkling stars. Winter always made the night sky look sharper.

"Mount Justice is an observatory?" Artemis asked herself, pocketing her crossbow with a huff and stepping attentively forward. Wally on the other hand was not impressed. It was the middle of January in probably the coldest day in the year and Robin just had to make the whole ceiling disappear? He shivered violently as the cold night air slowly cascaded downwards, dispelling the ridiculously small amount of heat that had gathered over the last few hours. Okay, maybe he was being overly dramatic, but it really was starting to get colder. And seeing as it was cold before, it was really starting to get freezing now.

"Connor look! I can see Mars from here!" the green-skinned girl exclaimed brightly all of a sudden, all her attention focused on the sky visible through the lens of the telescope.

"Perhaps… we could leave this for a warmer night…?" suggested Kaldur, glancing in particular at Artemis and Zatanna who were visibly shivering, and Robin who was not, but who was probably equally as cold. The other metas in the team didn't seem to be as affected by the temperature (except for Kid Flash, but he always exaggerated everything, thought Kaldur in slight amusement).

"O-oh, yeah, sorry!" M'gann stepped away quickly, though her eyes lingered on the tapestry of stars above their head as Robin hacked the control panel again and hid them out of sight. Wally sighed in relief, scooting closer to the fire to warm himself up again, and watching without really seeing as the telescope was returned to its hidden place under the floor, silent except for a low whirring noise. He didn't have anything against stargazing… in fact, the inner romantic in him quite took to the idea, but just not in this weather. He wanted pie, and fire, and eating pie in front of the fire. With this thought in mind, he opened his mouth to remind M'gann about the pastry that was long-overdue for its rendezvous with his stomach, but someone else spoke before he could.

"Do you miss it?" Connor asked suddenly. "Mars, I mean. Do you want to go back?" Wally turned his back on the fire, curious to hear M'gann's reply. Especially since he'd wondered that himself several times. The Martian hesitated a moment, then ducked her head down trying to formulate her thoughts.

"In a way… there are things on Mars that I miss, but… going back? I don't think I want to go back, at least not yet. I'm… I feel like 'Megan Morse' defines me more right now than 'M'gann M'orzz' does…" She trailed off, glancing up to meet Connor's blue eyes. He shrugged nonchalantly, tossing the next words over his shoulder as he sat down heavily in the armchair in front of the blank TV: "I'm glad you're not leaving then."

M'gann blushed, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear. Wally rolled his eyes, sighing in defeat. Ever since his sixteenth birthday he knew M'gann and Connor had a thing for each other, and he wished they would just get over the 'blushing schoolgirl' phase and get together for real. If they were officially a couple, then maybe he'd be inclined to stop flirting with her at all possible moments. Not that he ever even meant a thing that he said…

"Oh! The pie; it's getting cold!" M'gann cried, mirroring Wally's own thoughts. She zoomed off into the kitchen at such a fast pace that even the speedster of the team was surprised. Thankfully, it seemed that since she had left the dish next to the still-warm oven, the pie hadn't cooled down all that much despite their recent distractions. Her movements hasty to make up for being neglectful, M'gann floated six plates over to each member of the team, taking the last slice for herself.

Wally caught the plate out of the air before the telekinetic could drop it, and then brought it lovingly to his nose so he could inhale the sweet scent of cinnamon apple pie. "Mmm…"

"KF, stop making out with your pie and get over here," someone's laughing voice brought him out of his reverie and he blinked, looking up to see Robin flopping down on the sofa and patting the seat next to him. Wally was at his side in an instant, carefully keeping his plate parallel to the ground.

"Who ever said I'd want to sit next to you?" he retorted with a grin, contradicting his words a second later when he collapsed onto the cushion next to his friend. The rest of the team joined them then; Artemis and Zatanna sitting cross-legged on the carpet in front of the fire, Connor in the armchair with M'gann curled by his feet so she wouldn't be too close to the hot blaze, Kaldur in the rocking chair opposite them, and Wally and Robin on the sofa of course.

"Bon appetit," said Zatanna, signaling them to dig in.

Wally grabbed a fork and made to shovel the slice into his mouth. However, he hadn't even closed his lips around the first mouthful when some slender fingers grabbed his wrist, holding him back. He looked up at Robin in undisguised irritation.

"What now!?" the redhead snapped. First Robin had humiliated Wally in front of everyone as he face-planted on his way to greet him, then he'd made Wally's butt freeze off when he went running around buying him new sunglasses, then he'd been caught calling Dick's eyes pretty (he still wasn't over that), then he'd delayed Wally's pie eating; first by bringing out the telescope, and now grabbing onto his hand… He was kind of annoyed with Robin today, to say the least.

The younger boy jerked back quickly at his tone, dropping Wally's wrist abruptly and leaving it feeling oddly cold as a result. Funny, his hand had felt perfectly fine before Dick had touched it. The speedster immediately regretted his words at the look on Robin's face; inwardly cursing his idiotic metabolism that made him grumpy and irritable when he hadn't eaten in a while.

"Jeeze man, I just wanted to stop you from inhaling the whole thing in one bite. You realize M'gann only cut you one slice, so... savor it." Robin huffed sulkily, turning his head away to glare into the fire. Wally watched him for a moment, noticing how the firelight caught in the strands of unkempt ebony hair on the top of his head, and reflected off his dark glasses like they were twin mirrors. He sighed, then picked up his fork for the second time, and cut off a small piece of his pie. Taking Robin's advice, he forced himself to chew each morsel, to really taste it, and only then swallow. Despite his best efforts, he still finished first out of all of them. But, somehow, he felt as if he were more satisfied than he would have been had he just 'inhaled the whole thing in one bite'.

Wally watched out of the corner of his eye as Robin picked at his plate, not really eating much. What was his problem now? The pie was positively delicious, one of the girls' best results so far, and anyone would be a fool not to think so.

"Mmm, it's lovely, girls," murmured Wally, setting his empty plate down on the coffee table. "Not as lovely as you, but close enough." Robin groaned at his lame flirting, and Wally flashed him a smirk.

"You gonna eat that pie?" he asked the Boy Wonder, feigning nonchalance.

"I told you to savor your piece. And yes, I am." Robin slapped Wally's hand away, (when had his hand even moved?), and held the plate out of reach.

"I did!" replied Wally indignantly. And it was true; he had relished it a lot more than usual. Maybe not as much as a normal human could have done, but for him, it was impressive. "You're not going to eat it, I can tell."

"Yes… I am."

"No you're not. You're just pushing it around on your plate. Give it to me, it'll get cold otherwise," Wally stretched out a hand tentatively; waiting to see how far he could go before Robin reacted. He smirked this time when his hand was slapped, a few inches from the rim of the Boy Wonder's plate. Robin was so much fun to provoke sometimes.

"Even if I don't eat it, you're still not getting it. And I totally am going to eat it, just saying," Robin continued their banter, holding the plate above his head.

"Ouch, that's cold even for you bro. And you're gonna to hurt Meg's, Artie's, and Zee's feelings if you don't let someone eat it." As he spoke, he poked Robin's stomach in an attempt to make him flinch and drop the plate so Wally could grab it. No such luck though; Robin seemed to be immune to tickles and pokes.

"I am going to eat it, once you stop bugging me." Robin was fighting back a grin, Wally could tell from the mischievous glint in his dark glasses.

"No, you're not-"

"Oh my God will you two shut up! What are you, like, five?" cut in Artemis, tugging in exasperation at her thick blond pony-tail. The two boys gave in to laughter, and exchanged a brofist. Robin did end up eating most of his pie in the ensuing hush, though he slipped a part of it surreptitiously onto Wally's plate when the speedster wasn't looking.

Wally had turned towards Kaldur, expectantly. Even though they weren't in costume, and this wasn't a mission, all tasks of leadership generally fell onto the Atlantean's shoulders, whether he wanted it or not. But he didn't complain; he'd been chosen as leader and the others gravitated towards him naturally. He was just glad that he and Robin had set aside their disagreements about who leads, at least for the time being. It made for a team that ran much smoother.

"Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do now?" Kaldur asked in response to Wally's silent plea, looking around the room. (It was then that the speedster discovered the half-a-pie slice on his previously empty plate, and shot his best friend a million-watt grin.)

"Oh, I know! We could tell each other stories, I've seen Earth people doing that around campfires…" M'gann proposed, floating everyone's empty plates to the kitchen into a half-hazard pile on the counter. She'd deal with cleaning up later. They all agreed unanimously to her idea. Telling stories on a cold winter night in front of the fire with their bellies full of cinnamon apple pie… it sounded perfect.

Zatanna started. The team discovered that the magician was a very good story-teller; she spun webs of prose almost as well as she did spells. Wally honestly couldn't say he was paying much attention though. He closed his eyes, leaning back against the couch. He focused on Zatanna's expressive voice rather than her actual words, letting the warmth of the fire seep into him and relax his muscles.

Artemis was chosen to go next. She hesitated a moment, her head bowed as strands of blonde hair fell across her face. She began her tale, her voice starting out blank and expressionless, but gradually turning more passionate. It didn't take him long to realize it was an abridged version of the well-known fantasy story Alice in Wonderland. Wally wanted to ask her why she chose that particular one, but something in the way she told it stopped him from making some kind of snide remark about the children's book.

When it was Connor's turn, it came to no surprise when he simply 'passed'. Wally didn't know the extent of what the genomes had taught him, or if it included fairytales and the art of story-telling, but even if they had it was against the clone's nature to hold a monologue.

The speedster had started to doze off during M'gann's story, not because it was bad, but because the atmosphere in the room was just so warm and comfortable it was hard to stay awake. He slumped against the small warm body of his best friend who occupied the seat next to him. Kaldur may have put his two cents in about an Atlantean fairytale too, but Wally hadn't listened to that either.

He did, however, snap back awake when Robin started on his story. The Boy Wonder sprang up confidently, apparently having planned this out from the beginning. Wally smirked when he realized it was going to be a ghost story, but that grin slowly turned into a tight smile of uneasiness as Robin continued. The sleepy feeling in the room was quickly dispelled as everyone's eyes grew wide. Trust Robin to be the one to come up with a freaky ghost story that made everyone, even Wally, shiver.

Robin was as good a story teller as Zatanna, if not better. He had left the sofa and stood silhouetted in front of the fire, the gestures of his hands painting shadows of flickering firelight on the walls that only added to the creepy mood. His eyes behind the glasses flickered from one to the other, somehow making eye-contact with each of them despite his disguise. He told his tale at a perfect pace, not rushing through it like M'gann, but not dragging out every little detail either. The team was on the edge of their seats the entire time, and when Robin came to the dramatic ending (smoke bomb thrown into the middle of the room, and him ninjaing away included), they all jumped about a foot in the air. Wally wondered if Dick had learned how to manipulate an audience like this from his time at the circus… weren't gypsies known for their story-telling skills too? Besides, being a performer from the moment he was born, this was probably only natural for him. Whatever, Wally couldn't help but think that Robin's had been by far the best out of all of them.

Not wanting to ruin the good mood Robin had created, Wally refrained from telling his own probably pathetic story. No one pressed him either; they were all pretty wiped out. The fire popped, and the team fell into a comfortable silence. In the meantime, Robin had returned to the couch next to Wally, and was leaning against him lightly. Before he knew what he was doing, the redhead had wrapped an arm around Dick's smaller shoulders to pull him closer.

Robin took that as invitation to flop down on top of him, snuggling his face into Wally's yellow shirt as he slid further down till he was practically lying in his lap. He yawned, then kicked off his shoes and pulled his feet up onto the cushions, curling into a ball with his head pillowed on Wally's thighs. He wrapped his arms around Wally's waist, his nose buried in the loose folds of the speedster's clothing.

Wally frowned at him, not quite knowing how he should react.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly, noticing how Robin's lips quirked up into a small smile.

"Mya? You're just so nice and warm…" mumbled Dick, voice softly clouded and sleep-laced. He tightened his hold around Wally's middle as he spoke. Wally scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, his ears turning pink. Robin was kind of cute when he was half-asleep like this and not aware of what he was saying, but it was also kind of…. Wait, cute? Had he just called Robin cute? Well, it was the truth anyway, even if he'd never admit it out loud. If he didn't know any better, he'd almost think they were cuddling.

The boy in his lap shifted slightly, his hoodie riding up and exposing what should have been his smooth pale side, but which was now covered in slightly blood-stained bandages. Wally's eyes bugged. His movements slow and careful so as not to disrupt the half-asleep boy, he lifted the hem of Robin's shirt and ran his fingers lightly over the tight bandages covering Robin's ribs. How had he forgotten? Dick had told him earlier that evening that he was injured… what had he said again? Bruised ribs? Something like that. Wally felt guilt twist in his stomach as he dropped the edge of the boy's green hoodie, hiding the red-stained white dressings. He felt horrible for completely forgetting… all because of his damn insatiable stomach.

"Rob?" he asked, looking down into the younger boy's face. He couldn't tell if he was awake or not though because of his shades, but he assumed the latter when Robin didn't answer. Wally sighed, pulling him more comfortably into his lap yet careful not to jostle him. Who cared if their current position was kind of awkward; he owed it to Dick. Besides, it didn't even feel wrong having him lying there, wrapped up close. Both of them were used to close body contact anyway; Wally was always a touchy-feely kind of guy, and he knew that Robin liked it each time they brohugged or patted each other on the shoulder. This wasn't all that different… right?

Wally glanced drowsily around the room. Artemis and Zatanna were talking in low voices in front of the fire, their faces close together so they wouldn't disturb anyone. As he watched, Zatanna yawned and Artemis pulled her close so that her head rested on the blonde's shoulders. M'gann had fallen asleep by Connor's feet, and the clone was gently running his fingers through her hair in a steady rhythm. Wally hadn't thought the Boy of Steel's movements could be so gentle, but obviously he was proven wrong. Kaldur was staring thoughtfully into the fire, a faraway expression on his face. His mind was probably off in Atlantis with Tula and Garth, Wally mused.

The fire popped loudly into the contented silence they were swathed in. Robin's glasses had slipped down his nose when he had snuggled into Wally's shirt, leaving his closed eyes visible for Wally to see, and the speedster was once again struck by how long Dick's lashes were, splayed out dark against his pale cheek. His light weight felt so comfortable and right on Wally's lap, his body radiating out warmth. Wally slipped his own hands around the younger boy, his eyes fighting to stay open.

Robin smiled through his sleep-induced haze, sighing out through his nose. The ache in his bones from his latest mission with Batman had all but gone, replaced with a warm fuzzy feeling from the warmth of the fire and the feeling of Wally's strong arms holding him.

Man, how he loved times like these, thought Wally to himself. Relishing the moments the team could share together; comfortable, companionable. Where there was nothing to stress out about either; no missions or schoolwork or family problems or heavy secrets. Just… hanging out like normal teenagers. Don't get him wrong, he loved the exhilaration of the whole hero gig, but sometimes it was nice to forget who they all were, and just be friends instead of only colleagues.

His last thought before he drifted off into the land of dreams was how soft Dick's hair was, sliding through his fingers.

~x~

[1]: "Fire burn, cauldron bubble!" Just in case Zatanna's spells give you headaches like they do to me XD That's an actual spell that she uses in the show, though, so I didn't come up with it ^^ It's the title of this chapter too, in case that's not obvious xD

By the way, I drew a picture to go along with this chapter, it can be found on my deviantart page (link on my profile).

Review and tell me what you think… Please, feedback is appreciated. Don't hesitate to point out things that you liked or felt need to be worked on too, I'll never get better if you don't.

And don't forget to check out the poll on my profile too if you haven't already! Thank you all ;)