Another Stupid High School Romance

Chapter Six: Graffiti + Consequences

Wally gently guided him down the sidewalk towards the school with a loose grip on Dick's wrist. Dick had no clue what the hell was going on and his mind felt like it was in some sort of panic based paralysis. From Bruce's training he had to learn how to block out fear and anxiety, let yourself think clearly. Something he'd conveniently forgot how to do for most of his other "movie moments" with Wally. (Way to go Grayson. A boy hits on you and suddenly you forget how to function. A++). Wally took a turn away from the sidewalk, now wandering towards a empty park. A combination of being guided by his wrist and walking towards that park, he couldn't help but feel like a kid. Helpless like a child. His heart was in a constant battle of wanting to pound out of his chest and being brought down tremendously fast like Dick's strategic meditative breathing. He could barely see Wally's face, he was walking almost directly in front of him. But his body seemed almost tense, his pace determined. Something about him seemed more tight and nervous than his usually laid demeanour. Dick knew he could pull away from his grip at any time. And knew that being lured towards some random park by a kid he barely knew who was suddenly incredibly tense could be sketchy. But Dick's faith in humanity forced him to trust him. They reached a park bench across from a set of rusty swings and Wally sat down. Dick awkwardly followed and finally had a chance to look at Wally's face. There was almost a sadness in his eyes. Wally took a breath, held it like he was thinking through his words and looked down.

"Dick... Have you ever been in love?" 'What the hell kind of question is that. He brought me all this way to ask if I've been in love? I thought that cheesy movie stuff was over...' He silenced his annoyed commentary and thought it through. Had he ever been in love. It hurt to think back but, a few years ago, he used to be in love with Barbara. "...I have." He concluded. "Did they love you back?" "...No. She saw me as just a friend." "Bummer." He retorted in an almost troubled voice, still staring at his shoes. A silence lingered for a few seconds. "Dick have you... Did you ever begin to fall for someone but you know that it's... Like, wrong." "Wally..." Dick looked up at him with worry "Is there something you're trying to tell me?" Wally paused and anxiously ran a hand through his hair, still looking down. "Dick if I... If I tell you something can I trust you to keep it a secret." Dick swallowed hard. Even though he was a detective and all the evidence was there he didn't want to think that Wally was gonna admit that he was... No he can't be. It's too good to be true. He was too scared to get his hopes up. "I promise I won't tell a soul." He gave Wally a reassuring look. Wally glanced up at him and smiled warmly. He then turned his attention to the bench and then pointed out some faded sharpie graffiti. He pointed to a heart with the initials "RH + WW" in it. "You see this. Someone pretty important to me made this back in 7th grade. And this..." He pointed to a a cluster of words written nearby the heart. There was a collection of offensive phrases. Mainly containing homophobic slurs. Dick's heart dropped to his feet, suddenly he felt like he had been hit by a crashing wave of depression. It was all of his worst fears, his constant anxiety towards coming out, everything he had been so afraid of, and it had to happen to someone like Wally, of all people. God, it absolutely broke his heart. "Wally I..." He put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him "I'm so.... So sorry..." Wally reassuringly smiled at him and looked down again. "It's okay. It was years ago. But it still hurts sometimes. This fear of dating another boy. The fear of even falling for one. I've been sticking to girls since then. It keeps me on the safe side but..." He put his head in his hands and immediately ran his fingers through his hair in frustration once again. "I just... I think I'm falling for you Grayson." Dick felt like all of his nerve endings exploded. Like someone stuck a bunch of firecrackers in his stomach and were filling him to the brim with colour and light. A wave of emotions flooding him to the point where in that 1.5 seconds he paused, he thought he might drown. "I... I think I'm.... I'm falling for you too Wally." Their eyes locked and they immediately both started to grin as if they had just scratched a winning lottery ticket. "...Wait... But those words on the bench... I... What now..." Said Dick with a sense of hopelessness. Wally's expression dropped, only to lift back to its regular cocky smirk "...What about... Dinner and a movie." "But what if people--*" "Well pretend we're just friends. At least while we're in the public eye. If we have a good time maybe then we can do something a bit more private. I-I mean not that private but--*" Dick couldn't help but laugh at such an over confident guy awkwardly stumbling over his words. "It's okay. And I understand. Friday sound good?" "Friday sounds perfect."