Years And Years (Birdflash)

Bright Lights and Snowflakes

Why, hello there.
So my dumb ass forgot that I was supposed to update the fic on Wattpad as well as Ao3. It's been up there since December 25th. Whoops? Anyway, happy new year! I hope you enjoy this long, long overdue chapter. Start 2021 off right with some birdflash.
I'm a little bit older now (ya girl can drink now!), and so are Dick and Wally, so I'm hoping to reflect that in this story. Might up the rating a little, if you know what I mean.
There's some of my art in this chapter too. I think I've improved since I drew the original cover for this story :)
Tw: mention of porn, catcalling, date rape drugs (but nothing happens).
Edit: I updated the cover!
Word count: 7,111

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It's a Sunday evening. The sun has gone down and Wally's red desk lamp is the only source of light in the room. He's sitting at his desk, staring at his barely-legible notes, and nothing is really going in. It's as if his eyes have clouded over. He's supposed to be studying for a test on Wednesday, but he can't stop thinking about Dick. More specifically, the question he asked him a while back. 

When did he realise he was gay? It's hard to pin it down, especially when he spent so long repressing it. Maybe he had always known, but never had the vocabulary to describe it? He thinks he didn't really know what the word gay meant until that day he and Darren kissed, and he was immediately told it was wrong. 

Since September, he's slowly been getting used to the label. Before, he tended to shy away from it, rarely saying the word out loud. He's accepted now that he can't change who he is, and now he's working to accept who he is. 

He had told Iris back in September what had happened with Darren and Dick, and while she was worried about Darren, she seemed very excited about Wally and Dick's relationship possibly progressing. He told her not to tell anyone, because it was still a pretty new development. Plus, they haven't put a label on it yet. Which is Wally's fault. 

He hasn't told Barry about anything yet, because he's not quite sure how to bring it up. Sure, Barry is very supportive. He knows Wally's gay, and that he likes Dick. But it's still all very awkward. Barry tries to casually ask him if he's met any guys yet whenever he's back in Central City, and Wally always just blushes and says no. 

Wally has been back and forth to Gotham a lot lately, almost more often than he goes back to Central. Darren is making a good recovery and is back to attending lectures at Gotham U. Wally has been helping him catch up with his classes and assignments. They're also catching up with each other after so many years. Darren's parents are much more accepting of him than Wally's, but his dad is still a bit weird about it, and his mom is always worrying about him, so he doesn't talk about guys very often. Darren told them that he was in hospital because of a typical Gotham mugging gone wrong, and not because of a hate crime. He said they didn't need to know. 

Although he hasn't really said anything, Darren definitely seems suspicious of how Wally, a college student, is able to travel halfway across the country so often and so quickly. Wally hasn't got any plans to tell him that he has super speed, but Darren will probably figure things out eventually, like Frances did. He's no idiot.  

Wally's also been visiting Dick at any available opportunity, usually right after leaving Darren at the library, or sometimes Dick joins them when he hasn't got gymnastics training after school. Heather met with them once because of a cancelled cheer practice. She gave the boys the lowdown on the Greenwich Village in New York, which she had visited with her girlfriend, Jane. It's where the Stonewall Riots that kicked off the gay liberation movement occurred. Wally had never even heard about the riots - they definitely weren't covered in his high school history classes.