Author's Note: This is for Birdflash week.
1. The first time they pulled a prank on the Justice League together
"Rob… Are you sure this is a good idea?" A twelve year-old Kid Flash whispered nervously, peering over Robin's shoulder as the boy's fingers whirred over the screen of his holographic computer screen. Which, by the way, was completely awesome and Wally wished The Flash would invest in these kind of high-tech stuff.
"It's a brilliant idea, Walls, trust me." Robin pressed a button, waiting with fingers poised as the screen turned from an angry red to pleasant green. "Hah. He used the same type of security that he used in the Batcave; lame! This is too easy."
Wally chewed on a chocolate bar. "You're in?"
"Just a minute… wait for it…" The screen suddenly went blank, and then returned with a pixelated view from the Watchtower's main security camera, as well as full control over the holographic screen at the head of the room. They could hear Batman's monotonous tone over the speakers as the League deliberated over some business their sidekicks were not privy to. The two boys had been abandoned back here in the Batcave earlier because Bats had some 'important matters to discuss'. Seriously, what did he think they were going to do? Sit around and watch a movie or something? Puh-lease. That was boring.
"Positions!" hissed Robin, adjusting the small camera that was pointed right at them. He jabbed at another button, and suddenly a very familiar music started blaring out of the Hi-fi stereos of the Watchtower, as the central screen flickered and was replaced by the fuzzy image of the two grinning boys.
"Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down!~" Dick and Wally mouthed together as they'd practiced earlier that evening, jumping into the choreography of the song with far too much enthusiasm for it to look polished, as they bounced in and out of the screen trying to reign in their laughter. "Never gonna run around, and desert you!"
Dick caught sight of Superman's open-mouthed surprise, and Wonder Woman's face etched in something between horror and shock, and then Green Arrow breaking down into hysterics, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. He tripped over a lone cable and lost his balance, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Wally, of course, failed to catch him, and the two collapsed into a messy heap on the ground, limbs flailing out of the camera's line of sight. They clutched at their sides and wheezed. Wally heard the distinctive click as the connection was severed, and he flopped onto his back, wiping away tears.
"Oh my god did you see their faces, Rob, I—oh my –"
"I know, I know." Robin slid to the ground beside him.
"Dude, that was brilliant. I can't believe it—I'm so sorry for doubting you," he grinned up at his best friend.
Dick panted for breath, fanning his face with one gloved hand. "I told you to trust me. Bats is gonna have our heads for this but—"
"—it was totally worth it." Wally was willing to face even the wrath of The Batman because the expressions on the League members' faces had been priceless. "You recorded that, right?"
Robin smirked dangerously. "What do you think?"
Point taken.
They lay on their backs, gloating for another few minutes. "We need to do that again sometime, bro."
"Yeah," Robin agreed, eyes twinkling behind the mask as he reached his knuckles forward for a brofist. "We definitely do."
2. The first time they died together (and the first time they bared their souls)
"Hey… Dude? You alright?"
Robin was sitting slouched on his bed in Mount Justice, his shoulders a defeated looking line and his glasses propped up low on his nose. He didn't look up as Wally entered his room.
"Well, yeah. Fine as I'll ever be, after leading all six of my teammates to their deaths." His voice was carefully monotonous, but the speedster wasn't that much of a fool. He crossed the room in a few long strides and sprawled across the covers next to his best friend.
"C'mon man, you can't seriously be blaming yourself. It was a simulation! It was set to fail no matter what; there was nothing you could have done to change that!"
Robin shrugged, swiping off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes tiredly. Wally kept his own eyes fixed firmly on the ceiling. "Yeah, I know that. Doesn't change the fact that it felt real. And… I…" He paused, lying down beside Wally with his back to him so they could still talk without Robin having to put on his glasses again.
"You what?"
"Never mind."
Wally blinked at him. "Dude, seriously, spill. What's bothering you now?"
"I'm sorry," Robin murmured, a small voice nearly lost in the thick covers of the bed.
Wally watched the hard line of his back for a moment, but when it became clear Robin wasn't going to elaborate, Wally frowned. "I'm not following…?"
"For deceiving you," he snapped with sudden irritation. "For giving you false hope when I knew it was pointless. For being selfish and wanting to die with you by my side even if… ah… Forget it. Just—"
Wally punched him lightly in the shoulder. "It's okay. I'm not blaming you for any of that. Dude, that was a totally unprecedented situation and like, you're twelve or something, no one is supposed to have to deal with that kind of responsibility and shit at your age."
"Fourteen," Robin retorted bitterly. "Stop talking to me like I'm a little kid, I'm only two years younger than you."
Wally chewed his lip. Oops… wrong move. "Yeah yeah, okay. But please stop beating yourself up about this, Rob. It was just an illusion. It's not really gonna happen, you've got to remember that."
Robin's hands fisted the covers of his bed. "It might."
"Rob—"
"It's Richard actually," he interrupted, turning onto his other side to fix Wally with the bluest eyes the speedster had ever seen on anybody's face. "But my closest friends call me Dick. And no, that was not an excuse for you to insult me, or I will stab you."
"… Oh." Wally couldn't think of anything more intelligent to say other than that because his mind had stopped working for a good few seconds as he processed this new turn of events. "Dick," he repeated inanely, because the boy was looking up at him with something he would have called nervousness if he didn't know any better. Something clicked then. "As in Dick… Grayson?"
Dick smirked, said "The one and only," with a bat of his eyelashes, and that was suddenly so completely Robin that Wally felt something give inside of him. He felt a half-relieved, half-shocked grin bloom over his face.
"Wow. I can't even… wow, man." His thoughts oscillated somewhere between Dick has fucking gorgeous eyes and my best friend is a celebrity, holy shit. He loved how expressive Dick's eyes were, crinkling at the corners with a smile even though his lips barely twitched.
"Why all of a sudden though? Why tell me now?"
Dick's smile slipped into something graver, but he met Wally's gaze evenly. "Because it's only fair. I know pretty much everything about you; the least I could do is share my own name. And well, after the mission…" He trailed off, swallowing, but Wally knew what he'd been about to say. After the mission today, he'd realized there really was no time for keeping secrets. Anything could happen. Better to have no regrets.
"I think this calls for a bro-hug," Wally stated matter-of-factly when the silence dragged on for a beat too long, lunging across the gap between them before Dick could escape. He wrapped his arms and legs around the slighter boy in an octopus hold.
"Ah Wally, stop! Get off, you're heavy!" He shoved at Wally's shoulders half-heartedly, but the speedster held on determinedly. "Oh my god, what are you doing," Dick whined, a subtle blush crawling across his cheeks. Okay, so maybe leeching onto his best friend while they were both lying on Dick's bed was not the most well-thought-out move, but Wally couldn't care less in this moment.
"You smell like cinnamon."
Dick scrunched up his nose. "What the hell Wally, that's so gay. Get off! You smell like you haven't showered in three days."
Wally laughed good-naturedly, rolling of his best friend's body and smiling at the ceiling. "Hey Dick?" He almost snickered as the name rolled off his tongue, but he managed to keep it in.
"Hm?"
"If I had to die with anyone, I'm glad it was with you."
Dick rolled his eyes and told him to shut up, but that didn't make his statement any less true.
3. The first time they popped a boner for each other
"Shit. Fucking hell, man. This is not good, really not good. Rob, what are we gonna do? Oh-my-god I'm starting to chaff, this is really not good, no one's going to find us in time, who knows what they'll do to us—"
"If you don't shut the fuck up right now, I will punch you in the face."
"How are you so calm?!" hissed Wally, panicked eyes flickering to every side.
Dick tugged experimentally at the bonds which encircled his wrists, and smirked. "They don't call me 'Boy Hostage' for nothing, Walls. Shut up and let me work my magic, we'll be out of here in no time."
The two were strapped together, back to back, with their wrists and ankles separately tied, left alone in what looked like some dusty basement. There was one grimy window near the roof at ground level, and Dick could tell that it was nearly midnight now. They'd been unconscious for about an hour? Hm. The room was otherwise empty, except for a rickety old bookshelf in the corner.
"I'm going to need you to turn around, first of all, so that you're facing my back. The natural curve of your body will make future steps easier. Can you try?"
Wally groaned, but then wriggled around a bit. The rope around his middle cut into his skin. "It's so fucking tight," he whined.
Dick muffled a snicker. "Kid, our lives are on the line, stop thinking about sex." He could almost feel the heat from Wally's blush on the back of his neck at that.
"Shut it, pervert." The speedster tucked his knees up to his chest, sucked the air in and twisted around as much as he could. Dick winced as the ropes tightened painfully around his middle, but he didn't make a sound. As soon as Wally's hobbled ankles were within range of his fingers, he began working on the knot. His gauntlets, cape, and utility belt had been removed, so he couldn't access any of his knives. Luckily this knot was possible to be undone by hand.
It fell away after a few tense minutes and they gave a simultaneous relieved sigh. "Ow. Okay, now slip your legs on either side of me like… Yeah."
Wally leant against his back, so they were effectively spooning, but the slight give in the rope made them both breathe in deeply.
"I'm gonna try to slip out of this main one now. You just say put, alright?"
Wally nodded against him, straightening up with a slightly more confident expression. Dick measured the slack in the rope. Their new position made it a little bit looser, but it was still going to be a challenge to wriggle out of there without the help of his hands. Never mind; he'd dealt with worse before. Dick slipped his bound wrists up above his head, ignoring the strain on his shoulders, but they would only get in his way otherwise. He pushed off slowly from the ground then, pressing against Wally's warm chest as he tried to inch upwards against the rope. Wally's breath hitched against Dick's ear, but the Boy Wonder ignored that.
The rope refused to slide away from his body and Dick growled, twisting his body from side to side in an attempt to dislodge it from the material of his chest.
"Fuck, Rob, stop wriggling so much!" Wally hissed, voice breaking half-way through.
"How else do you expect me to do this then?" retorted Dick. Wally just groaned, dropping his forehead onto the other boy's shoulder. Dick struggled against the bonds again. His shoulders were the widest part of his body; once he got those free the rest would be easier… But he was lacking so much leverage, the ropes were so tight… He accidentally ground his ass into Wally's lap as he tried to loosen his muscles and –
Oh.
"Are you fucking serious right now?" Dick bit out, craning his head back to stare at Wally's furiously blushing face.
"I'm sorry!" he squeaked. "I can't, I just… God." He muffled a moan into the fabric of Dick's uniform.
Dick bit his lip and focused on his ropes again, thanking Batman for his years of thorough mental training. Who knew it would help him in a situation like this one day. And God bless Alfred for designing the Robin costume with a built in jock-strap.
He decided to change tactics, because maybe it'd be easier to slip out of the rope from the bottom and not the top. Jesus, he didn't quite know how to do this while he was attached to another person. The rope inched up incrementally as Dick forced his body into strange shapes, the muscles of his shoulders and back crying out with the strain of his entire weight. He couldn't make an extra effort for Wally's predicament at this moment, there was just too little room to spare. Ah… almost there… Dammit, this was painful…
Wally gasped abruptly. "Fuck, Dick stop, stop, I'm gonna—" Wally tensed suddenly and shuddered behind him, his hips rocking once against the small of Dick's back, and then slumped against him bonelessly.
"Did you just—Wally!"
"… I'm so sorry." He sounded absolutely mortified, and Dick had to pity him. "I'm a speedster! I can't help it…"
"It must be a nightmare to date you," Dick snarked. "You finish far too fast to get anything worthwhile done." He grinned, resuming his tedious struggled with the ropes.
"It's not usually this fast!" Wally snapped angrily, his breath hot against Dick's ear. Then he stilled, as if realizing what he had just said.
Dick couldn't help but laugh. "Oh ho, I see! So is it me, then? Or is it the ropes?" He relished in the pained noise that escaped Wally's mouth. "Ah… who would have guessed… Kid Flash's darkest secret revealed: he's actually a kinky motherfucker."
"Oh my god shut up, you are the absolute worst best friend I've ever met, I swear." Wally had never been this embarrassed in his entire life.
"Does it turn you on, Wally?" Dick decided a little more teasing couldn't do any harm. "The thought of being tied down, fastened so you can't move, so someone can have their way with you? Being at someone else's mercy? Forced to take it?"
Wally kicked him sharply in the side with his free leg.
"Yep, definitely the ropes," Dick snickered. Fuck. Now he had mental images that were really not appropriate for the current situation.
Dick sucked in another breath, and with a valiant effort of will managed to slide the rest of the way out of the ropes, till he lay flat on his back on the grimy floor, looking up at Wally as the ropes fell away around him. Jeez, his shoulders were going to kill him for a while. He brought his bound wrists to his face and tore the restraints off with his teeth, watching with amusement as Wally stumbled ungainly to his feet, shrugging off the rest of the ropes and making a disgusted face as he tried to surreptitiously adjust his costume. Then he held his bound hands out almost shyly for Dick to undo, not quite meeting his eye.
They managed to make it out of the basement without further ado, climbing the broken bookshelf in the corner and sliding out through the window, only minutes before Batman arrived with a scowl on his face that spelt instant-death for the unlucky suckers who had thought they could get away with holding Robin and Kid Flash hostage.
Wally, for his part, didn't speak to Dick again for the rest of the weekend, but then his resolve cracked and they were back to normal before Dick could actually start to feel guilty. (This whole thing was perfect blackmail material though, and he wasn't going to let Wally forget that anytime soon.)
And Dick, for the record, had to suffer through far too many cold showers in the following weeks because goddammit, Wally.
4. The first time they got wasted
"Wally."
There was a long pause before the other boy managed to turn his head and blink at his friend. "Mm?"
"I just had a brilliant idea." Dick stretched his hands up above his head and pointed lazily to the ceiling. The late summer evening sun slanted in through the venetian blinds of Wally's living room window, throwing strange shadows over his face.
"I don't want to hear it."
"We should get matching tramp stamps."
Barry and Iris were out on a weekend long… date? Late honeymoon? Who cared. It meant Wally had the house to himself for three days, so naturally he'd invited Dick over for a double-sleepover. And now, suddenly, they were in this state. Wally felt too nice and warm to care or ever move from this spot ever again, and there were pretty flower patterns on the wallpaper that he definitely liked to look at.
"Nuh-uh. That costs money. We ain't got that."
On second thought, Dick's pretty eyes were just as nice to look at as the wallpaper.
"I'm pretty sure I do."
Wally groaned, throwing a melodramatic hand over his eyes. "That's 'cause you're a rich bitch. Pass me that thing."
"That thing?"
"Yes, that thing." He motioned towards the half-empty beer bottle next to Dick's fingers.
Dick complied, a bit absentmindedly, but then sat straight up a moment afterwards filled with some inexplicable energy. "Tramp stamps, Walls!" He fished in his utility belt for something. Wally didn't understand why Dick couldn't just lie back down so he could look at his pretty eyes again. And seriously, this was coming from the Team speedster. He never lazed around for anything.
"Turn over," Dick ordered, looking slightly wild around the edges. Wally gave him his best glare. No thank you, rich bitch. Of course, then Dick resorted to his patented puppy dog eyes, and Wally's resolve crumbled faster than Wall Maria did when the Titans attacked. "Please?"
Wally opened another beer with a defeated sigh.
The next morning they woke up sore and tangled in the same bed, and had a mutual panic attack because they couldn't remember what the hell had happened last night. After coming to the conclusion that no, nothing egregious had occurred between them and the bed in the throes of the night, they collapsed to the floor in relief.
That is, until they noticed the lopsided inked Robin and Kid Flash symbols adorning their lower backs, and promptly screamed like all Hell had broken loose.
5. The first time they got to first base
"You know, we should just kiss."
Dick blinked. "Um. What?"
Wally let out an exaggerated sigh, slumping against the side of the New York apartment building from which they were supposed to be holding a stakeout.
"This is the first New Years in nearly my entire life that I'm single and don't have anyone to kiss when the ball drops. Dude, I even had a girlfriend in kindergarten; it was adorable. We held hands and she kissed me on the cheek."
Dick rolled his eyes behind his mask, looking out across the crowd in Times Square and flexing his shoulders absentmindedly. "We're on a mission, Kid Romantic. Celebrate your New Year's Angst later when I don't have to deal with it."
"But you're single too," Wally whined. "How could you possibly turn down free kisses from the Wall-man?"
Dick simply shot him a skeptical look that spoke volumes. Wally scowled and crossed his arms.
"You're going to regret this."
"Mhm. Poor me. Look at these tears."
"Rooobin~"
Dick ignored him, flicking open his holographic computer screen and checking the time. Not that he needed to, because it was plastered on all the nearby walls, counting down the minutes.
"I want ice cream," Wally stated morosely. "I need ice cream after this. This is so depressing. Here I am, poor old speedster, all by his lonesome self on a rooftop on New Year's. In Times Square. And there, there stands a perfectly single and pathetic excuse of a best friend who won't dignify this poor speedster with a single kiss on this iconic holiday. Yep, definitely craving that ice cream."
"Wally, please shut up," Dick groaned.
"Or what, you'll make me?" Wally grinned, wriggling his eyebrows and sidling closer.
"By kicking you in the face, possibly."
Wally laughed. "Wow, violent much? Why, I'd think you were just as disconcerted by your current single status as I am, and I'm just the poor victim of your frustrations."
"No, you just have the wildest imagination. We're on a mission, KF."
Just then, the crowd down below surged as one, and started chanting down the seconds. The ball high above their heads shone blue and red and yellow in time with the crowd's cries.
Ten!
Nine!
Wally sighed like a lost soul.
Eight!
Dick narrowed his eyes at the crowd and ignored him.
Seven!
The speedster inched closer, feeling a small thrill of victory that Dick hadn't moved away yet.
Six!
Dick bit his lip in apparent concentration, though his attention wasn't really on the mass below them anymore.
Five!
Wally scowled at Dick when it became apparent he really was just going to stand there and watch.
Four!
Time seemed suspended between them.
Three!
Maybe if he wished really really really hard, Dick might turn around.
Two!
A collective hush as everyone held their breaths worldwide.
One!
The ball dropped, smoothly and without a hitch, just like it did every year. No explosions, as they'd feared. The crowd erupted into crazed cheers, whoops and applause assaulting their ears in a wave of sound.
Wally hesitated a moment longer, holding on to a last string of hope, but Dick was still eyeing the ball warily without a shred of attention for his friend, apparently. The redhead groaned desolately and started to pull away, except Robin turned at that moment with a familiar lopsided grin.
"Hey now, where are you going? The mission's officially over as of this moment. I'm technically off-duty."
Wally blinked at him in confusion, and he still didn't get it, not until Dick grabbed him by the front of his jacket and yanked him closer to that their mouths met clumsily in the cold air between them. Dick cupped Wally's face with both gloved hands and sucked on his lip, smiling when Wally gasped into the kiss, his hands coming to rest on Dick's shoulders and then sliding down to hold his waist.
Dick pulled away a fraction of a breath, opening his eyes to look at Wally through the white lenses of his mask.
"Happy New Year, Kidiot."
Wally stared at him, running his tongue over his lips as if he couldn't quite believe it, even now. His eyes lit up when he caught Dick following the movement.
"Holy shit."
He leaned forward and sealed their lips again, pushing Dick back with more vigor in his movements until the acrobat's back hit the edge of the balustrade. He only then became aware of the fireworks painting the sky above them, whistling through the air and exploding with loud cracks of thunder over their heads, lighting up the midnight tapestry in a brilliant flood of color.
Wally pressed Dick against the railing and slipped his tongue into the other's mouth, both boys too lost within each other to even pull apart to watch the show.
Dick was most likely recording the whole thing anyway.
Note: Most fics are being posted on my AO3 account so go find me there from now on, sorry to all my followers here…