Licker's Keepers

Filled for a prompt in Part 8 of the YJ Anon Meme. (Extremely late, I know, aha)

Wally and Robin had this thing.

It wasn't a thing, per say… more of a ritual, in all honesty.

Or a rule. A common rule probably shared by thousands of kids across the world.

The 'I licked it so it's mine' rule.

It started when they were 7 and 9, and the two were in the park, arguing over who would get to eat the last doughnut. And then, well, Wally licked it.

He licked the last doughnut, and thus claimed its ownership.

Dick was slightly miffed, slightly appalled, and a little impressed the older boy had the gall to do that.

It continued when they turned 10 and 12, but this time over a souvenir left over by a group of thugs they'd taken down.

It was their first solo mission as a pair, and it had happened completely by accident, so of course they wanted something to remember it by.

That something had been the empty .45mm calibre shell of a handgun, left by the only thug who had a somewhat dangerous weapon. Knives were pretty easy to dodge and disarm, after all.

The two boys had bickered about who got to keep it, with Wally claiming that since he saved the woman, he should get it. The fact that Dick took down most of the men –including the guy with the gun- was irrelevant.

So Dick did the only thing natural in this sort of situation: He pinched it out of Wally's fingers, licked it, grinned, and then pocketed it.

Easy.

When they hit 13 and 15, and had met the team and began spending more and more bonding time with them, the rule continued still.

It was Friday's annual Pizza-Film-Sleepover, and, well, there was only one slice of pizza left.

And Wally, really, really wanted it.

But he also really, really needed the bathroom.

It was a damn shame powers were banned at these events.

He couldn't do both – he needed to go more than he needed to eat, and by the time he had gone and come back somebody would have eate- liiiiiiiiiiiiiick.

"Wally," Artemis began slowly, mirroring everybody's (sans Robin) look of confusion. "why'd you lick the pizza slice?"

"BecauseIreallyneedthebathroom!" He got out in one breath, before running, at a normal, incredibly slow human speed, towards the toilets.

Everyone turned to look at Robin, hoping for some kind of explanation, only to find him glaring at the last pizza slice, his lips set in a firm line.

By the time they hit the ages 17 and 19, Dick was pretty sure they had grown out of this habit. It hadn't happened in so long, after all.

But Dick was wrong; completely, utterly wrong.

And that realisation, the one where he was wrong, came on a wet, drizzly evening when the pair were cooped up in Wally's apartment, just being guys and having an (exceedingly rare) night off.

The night was going great. They had (unevenly distributed) food, comfy clothes, assembled quilts (not in a fort shape, thank you very much, Uncle Barry. Nobody asked you to drop by.) and an extensive amount of games to play.

But then the great night was put to a halt by the feel of something moist and warm sliding, in a rapid speed, down Dick's cheek.

Dick raised his hand to his cheek, his fingers ghosting over the wet streak. "Did… did you just lick my face?!" Dick's mouth was open in a sort of frown, his brow furrowed and blue eyes staring intently at Wally's non-plussed face.

"Yep." Wally turned his attention back to the TV, at the bad guys he was currently shooting.

"But… why?" Dick put his controller down, still staring at Wally.

Wally's eyes flicked back to his face before returning to the game. There was a silence, one that deliberately said: isn't it obvious?

No. No it isn't.

"I licked it," Wally drawled out slowly, taking a handful of crisps and shoving them in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and said with so much simplicity it was painstakingly obvious he thought Dick was having an extremely bad day; "So it's mine."

It took Dick approximately 3.79 seconds to figure out what unspoken (since the ages of 7 and 9) rule he was referring to, and when he did, well, Wally's tongue wasn't the only one claiming ownership.

So yeah, aha! Leave a review if you want!