asterous

chapter five

chapter five - schooled

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MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 3rd — 13:06 EDT

"bet you ten bucks that i can win at air hockey," wally said.

dick raised his eyebrow at the guy sitting on the opposite side of the couch he was laying on. dick marked the page of the book he was reading, setting it down beside him. "oh yeah?"

"i've been practicing."

dick let out a laugh, sitting up into a crosslegged position. "you've been practicing so that you could spring this on me?"

"it's the element of surprise, babe," wally said, standing up and outstretching his hand.

dick took it, letting wally pull him up. "you're lucky you're so cute, iubit. maybe i'll go easy on you."

~

turns out that wally was really fucking good at air hockey. dick blamed the fact that he didn't even know they had an air hockey table at the cave, let alone use it, but in actuality? wally was talented.

so talented, in fact, that m'gann and kaldur had come to watch him utterly decimate his boyfriend. training was at 1:30 and they were all waiting for black canary anyway.

"i believe that's nine to three?" wally hummed, holding up his puck-hitter thing (dick didn't know the name of it) with a grin. "first to ten wins, huh."

"i'm jealous, walls, i really am," dick pouted, placing the puck in the centre of the table. "you're making me look bad."

wally hit the puck, laughing at how dick barely managed to deflect it. "think i should go pro?"

"oh, yeah. wallace west: the professional air hockey player." dick blocked the puck again. "has a nice ring to it."

wally hit the puck, watching as it bounced off of the walls a few times before sinking straight into dick's goal. "kachow!"

"congratulations, wally!" m'gann piped up, clapping.

"thank you, thank you!" wally bowed dramatically. "i accept my payment in both cash and kisses."

"ha ha." dick pulled a ten from his utility belt, handing it to wally.

recognized: superboy-b04

"hi, superboy! how was metropolis?" m'gann asked, frowning when superboy just walked away silently.

"ready for training, everyone?" black canary walked in from one of the hallways, martian manhunter in tow.

"uncle j'onn!" m'gann exclaimed, running over and hugging him. "what are you doing here?"

"i was in the neighbourhood; i thought i'd drop in to see how you are adjusting."

dick almost visibly cringed at the display of familial love. was it a ptsd thing? it might be a ptsd thing.

m'gann smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears. "a few bumps, but i'm learning a lot! it's been a lot of fun!"

"stick around!" black canary yelled at the slowly departing figure of superboy. "it's 1:30. training has started."

she walked to the centre of the room, the floor lighting up beneath her. dick leaned over to wally, lowering his voice. "it's the exact same training simulator as at the batcave. this whole place is just b's garage."

wally giggled into his hand, forcing black canary to grab their attention again. "ahem. i consider it an honour to be your teacher. i'll throw a lot at you—everything i've learned—and i expect for you to pay attention, learn from your mistakes, and grow smarter, faster, and stronger."