Thirty Days (A Birdflash Fanfiction)

Day 18: Doing Something Together (Mature)

Wally had had a nice, romantic afternoon planned in Central City's quietest park. Just him, Dick and a picnic basket full of goodies they'd spent the morning making. The only problem was:

Ants had gotten into the picnic basket. Dick and Wally stared at the wriggling, black mass inside that covered nearly every inch of their lunch. Wally had to fight down a wave of panic as all his plans for the day went up in smoke.

"I blame you," Dick said.

"Yeah." Wally tilted his head, watching an ant make off with a crumb roughly the size of its own body. "I blame me, too. What do we do?"

"Do I look like the Ant Whisperer?"

"Just stick your hand in there and show them who's boss."

"You first."

"I don't want to get bitten."

"And you're okay with me risking it?"

"I am, actually."

Dick shoved his boyfriend away. "Fine. I'll deal with it. You figure out where we should eat instead."

Wally watched Dick gingerly pick up the basket. "Somewhere outside? It's still a nice day, ants notwithstanding."

"Knock yourself out." Dick turned the basket upside-own and shook everything onto the grass. "No, really. Just punch yourself right in the face."

"I'm... gonna look around for a bit. Until you chill out." Wally checked for people, found nobody, and sped off, leaving Dick to handle the picnic basket nightmare.

"I hate you so much," Dick muttered, using tongs to pick up some foil-covered potatoes and throw them into the nearest bin.

A few ant bites and a lot of swearing later, Dick managed to throw out all the food and get the containers back in the basket, now ant-free. He threw the blanket inside just as Wally came back.

"Convenient how you show up just as I finish, huh?"

"I swear it was a coincidence. If I get you a milkshake, will you stop being mad at me for leaving the picnic basket to the mercy of the ants?"

"A milkshake and a burger, and I'll consider it."

"Done and done." Wally linked his arm inside Dick's and dragged him out of the park. "Did you get bitten?"

"A little bit."

"I'll let you bite me later if it makes you feel better," Wally whispered, pushing as much sex into his voice as he could physically manage.

"If my milkshake and burger are damn good, I'll even let you pick the time and place," Dick whispered right back, somehow managing to make a logistical concession sound hot. Wally had half a mind to skip lunch and head right to dessert instead. But he was kinda hungry.

They ended up eating under an awning at a nice little bistro on a street corner. Dick was happy with his chocolate milkshake and a burger he had to dismantle and eat with a knife and fork because it was taller than his face. Wally ordered the same, plus three serves of fries, two plates of garlic bread and a Hawaiian pizza that Dick took offence to immediately.

"Who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick pineapple on a pizza?"

"People who knew what they were doing," Wally replied through a mouthful of said pizza. "Come on, try a bit." He waved a slice in front of Dick's face.

"Get that crap away from me." Dick ate an extra-large forkful of burger and pushed Wally's hand away.

"Don't get mad at me because you hate happiness, dude."

Dick managed to slurp his milkshake in a grumpy manner. "I have nothing against happiness. I have everything against putting non-tomato fruit on a pizza."

Wally put his pizza down and fixed Dick with a solemn gaze. "This is the last straw, Dick. I just cannot be with a person who doesn't like pineapple on pizza." He tilted his head back, resting a hand on his forehead. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I cannot marry you."

Dick took his sweet time taking a bite of his burger, chewing and swallowing before replying. "We're not even engaged, genius."

"Oh, we're not?" Perfect opening. Wally dug into his pocket and dropped a ring box on the table. "I guess I better remedy that."

Dick dropped his fork. "If you're joking..."

"I'm not. Honest." Wally pushed the box over to Dick's side of the table. "I was going to hide it in the picnic basket and let you find it yourself, but, well, obviously that isn't going to happen today. Go on, open it."

Dick was still eyeing him suspiciously, but he lifted the box and opened it instead. He raised an eyebrow at the pair of rings inside. "I take it Bruce footed the bill?"

"Ouch, dude. I just asked you to marry me and that's the first thing you think about?"

"Just trying to get a handle on the situation. And you're definitely not making enough money at the lab to pay for rings of this quality."

"You've been hanging out with Tim too much."

"Tim's a good kid. Pragmatism keeps people alive in my family." Dick lifted one of the rings and put it on his finger. "Since you're so desperate for an answer, then yes. I'll marry you." He passed the box back to Wally, who put on the other ring.

"Bruce did pay for the rings," Wally finally admitted. "He said 'Took you long enough' when I asked and then he dragged me down to the shop himself. It was weird."

"That means he likes you." Dick watched his engagement ring twinkle in the sunlight, and a little smile slid across his face. "So who's taking whose name?"

"Well, I did pop the question. You should take mine."

Dick snorted, and Wally tried very hard to not be offended. "Richard West? Dick West? I'd sound like I belong in an old western. And we're both only children." He hummed thoughtfully, wiggling his left hand and making the ring twinkle some more. "We'll hyphenate. How does Grayson-West sound?"

"Why not West-Grayson?"

"Because it sounds weird."

"Okay, good point. Grayson-West it is."

Dick ate the last few bites of his burger before setting the knife and fork down on the plate with an air of finality. "Hurry up and finish eating. We're going back to your place because it's closer, and then we're not leaving until tomorrow morning. Got me?"

"Gotcha." Wally ate the rest of his meal so fast he nearly choked on it all. Dick settled the bill inside, and the pair walked back to Wally's apartment hand-in-hand, the failed picnic basket swinging loosely in Dick's grip.

It fell to the floor, forgotten, the instant they got inside. Dick's hands were otherwise occupied, grasping at Wally's hair, pulling off clothes, gripping his shoulders, digging blunt nails into freckled skin.

They didn't make it to the bedroom. They didn't even make it to the couch.

Wally took him against the wall, his face buried against Dick's chest. Panting, gasping, sighing. Forming half-completed sentences that fell back into air the instant the other moved. Their rings caught the sunlight and shimmered and Wally pressed harder and harder until Dick shuddered in ecstasy and scratched down Wally's back and screamed his name.

They collapsed against each other and folded onto the floor, pressing kisses against each other's hair, foreheads, ears, eyelids, noses, cheeks, lips.

Wally settled into the cocoon of Dick's still-heaving body and told him he loved him. Dick squeezed him into his arms, and told him the same.