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» 07: To Love

Dick blinked at Wally, feeling so much love pouring into his frame that he couldn't help but stare into Wally's subtly nervous eyes.

Love...

They hadn't talked about love yet.

Dick took a shallow breath, feeling Wally's forehead against his own and the gingers fingers twitch against his cheek. Dick moved to connect their lips again but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Dick and Wally stumbled back, colour flying to their cheeks and panicked eyes searching for the source.

Alfred stood, a single eyebrow raised and unimpressed. Dick swallowed thickly and stumbled over a greeting before he was interrupted by Roy stepping into the hall, a teasing sentence on his tongue before he locked eyes with Alfred and turned back into the hospital room faster than Dick had ever seen him leave a room.

Wally managed to lock eyes with Dick, his worry showing clearly on his expression. Dick gave him a comforting look and remained stationary as Wally disappeared into the hospital room.

"Please Alfred," Dick said as soon as Wally was out of earshot.

Alfred's hands folded behind his back, "please what, sire?" He asked, "because certainly, you are not asking me to deprive the information of that... scene from your father."

Dick's shoulders slumped, panic racing through his mind at thoughts of what Bruce would do if he found out, what he would do to Wally...

"I'll do anything," Dick said, lowering his voice as a nurse walked by without giving them a second glance.

Alfred hummed, unfolding his arms so he could check the time on his watch. "Very well. I shall not inform your father of your relationship with Mr. Wallence, trusted that you keep your... activities out of the public eye," Dick nodded quickly, he'd never felt so grateful towards the old man.

Dick rushed back into the hospital room, hearing Alfred enter behind him, and at Wally's wide prying gaze he gave a subtle nod and sat at the gingers side.

Soon after Alfred disappeared back to the walls of the manor to prepare dinner and left the three teens with Jason once again. The entire day seemed to pass by Dick in quick flashes, nothing like the agonizingly slow drive to the hospital, and Jason was changing and grabbing his backpack before Dick even realized they were leaving. He scrambled to grab his own things, only then realizing that he had left the school without his own backpack.

He stood up from the uncomfortable hospital chair he had dragged to the side of the bed and looked around the room to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, and seeing that they hadn't he finally left the room, allowing Wally, Roy, and Jason to follow after him.

"Can I ride on Roy's motorcycle?" Jason asked before he'd even taken the first of the steps leading to the parking lot. Dick paused on the second step, turning around to lock eyes with Jason as he gave an indisputable "no."

Jason groaned, dragging himself down the steps and eventually to Wally's car, attempting to take the front seat before Dick forced him into the back.

Wally drove slowly through the parking lot, the telltale revving of an engine in the air as Roy's and his motorcycle left the parking lot in the direction of his apartment, and Wally followed a moment later, turning in the opposite direction to head towards Wayne Manor.

The drive was filled with Jason leaning forwards to change the radio no matter how many times his hand was slapped away, and Wally giving Dick silent sideways glances. By the time they got passed the evenings dose of traffic and onto the regal street surrounding Wayne Manor, the sun had begun to set and the nights cold chill had started to fill the streets.

Wally stopped at the gates, allowing and Jason to get out. He would have preferred to drive them to the door, but Alfred had already caught Dick breaking one rule, and Bruce was religious about privacy, so he doubting entering the grounds would be a good idea.

"Be careful," he said, despite knowing the front door was only a few meters away once you turned the bend up ahead. It was still night in Gotham, and he had a right to be worried.

"We will," Dick said, fidgeting outside of the car as Jason talked to the gates and voice recognition activated, the large metal gates creaking open. Dick turned to walk away, but Wally's had reached out from the open window and caught his wrist. The angle was off and his elbow was pressed against the car door painfully, but he ignored it in exchange for pulling Dick down to his height so he could place the last kiss on his lips.

"I mean it," he muttered when they parted, and Dick gave him a silent nod, turning away with flushed cheeks. Wally could faintly hear Jason teasing him as he rounded the bend on the other side, and it brought a smile to his lips.

Despite the darkening sky, Wally remained outside the gates with the engine on until they had fully closed and locked shut. He shifted as he prepared to drive through the city, but just as he reached for the gear changer, a voice crackled over the gates intercom, a very distinct British accent with it.

"I recommend you be careful as well, Mr. West," a muffled and distant door opening and yelling followed, and he knew that Dick and Jason had entered the house. Then, before he could reply, the red blinking light disappeared, and the intercom clicked off.

Wally smiled despite himself, pulling the gear back into reverse and backing away from the gates to take to the streets and hopefully get home before the effect of the night kicked in and the streets became littered with criminals.

He drove slowly, checking the mirrors more often then he would have usually, and eventually pulled into the underground parking lot of an apartment building. He sat back in for a moment, feeling the cold leather of the seat against his skin, but didn't linger, knowing he wouldn't be able to breathe properly until he was back in the apartment.

He passed a motorcycle as he walked from the car to the staircase, and was on his floor in only a few minutes, fishing for his key in his pocket and coming to a stop outside his door before realizing his key was in his backpack- which he had abandoned at school.

He sighed, raising a fist to knock on the door and listening to the crashes and grumbles from the other side for a moment before the door opened.

"Took you long enough," Roy grumbled, stepping to the side when he saw it was Wally.

Wally snickered as he entered their apartment.