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Dick pulled out a flamingo pink shirt from his closet.
“Disgusting,” Donna teased from his bed, on her stomach, legs crossed together with a magazine splayed out in front of her. “Pink is totally not your color.”
“Everything is my color,” Dick countered as he slipped the shirt back in. He scanned past the uniforms and tuxedos, eyes landing on an aquamarine shirt with a row of buttons that matched his dark jeans. “What about this?”
Donna hummed, leafing through the magazine before eyeing the shirt. “Better… not your shade of blue though, is it?”
“Wally sees me in that blue all the time,” Dick argued.
“And he’s wanted to fuck you in that blue every single time,” Donna pointed out. Dick ducked his head and blushed.
“I need to show him that I’m flexible.”
“We’ve seen you fight; we know you’re flexible,” Donna replied.
Dick groaned. “I’m being serious, I need to show him I’ve matured.”
Donna let out an exaggerated sigh. “Dickie, baby, my boy, we all know you’re a big strong man and, especially Wally. You’ve been circling around each other since the Young Justice days. Your outfit isn’t going to make or break this night.”
Dick bit his lip, shoulders slumping. “I know, I know, I just, I’ve been waiting for this for years and I don’t want to like, misread things, you know?”
“You’re not,” Donna assured him. “This is a good thing, just take it. Honestly, I’m just happy I don’t have to go through both of you pining back and forth. I was debating on smashing your heads together to get some common sense.”
“How generous of you,” Dick deadpanned.
Donna rolled her eyes. “Well, I didn’t. And, hey, the bright side? Wally already loves you. All you gotta do is get your man.”
“He’s not my man,” Dick denied in reflex.
“Now that’s the attitude of a quitter! We’re the Wonder Twins and we don’t quit,” Donna scolded. “Now, repeat after me, ‘I am going to fuck— ‘”
“Donna.”
“Fine, fine! ‘I am going to date the fuck out of Wally West.’”
“I’m not repeating that.”
“Repeat it!” Donna exclaimed.
“…. I am going to date the fuck out of Wally West,” Dick begrudgingly repeated.
Donna clapped her hands and let out a whoop! “Good, now find another shirt color.”
Dick snorted. “I thought you said my outfit didn’t matter?”
“It doesn’t but do you really want your happy ending to stall because of those buttons?” Donna asked.
“I’m not sleeping with Wally!”
“Not in that shirt!”
Dick rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine, another shirt.”
Dick turned back to his closet, sifting through his options. He considered a polka-dot shirt but quickly shook his head as he passed it. Everyone knows he wouldn’t survive the burn Donna would give him for even suggesting a polka-dot shirt.
Dick found a blue that matched his Nightwing suit that had a nice white pattern across it that would match his features. He unhooked the hanger from the closet and turned back to Donna.
“What about this?”
Donna didn’t look up from the magazine, scowling at the page as if it personally offended her.
“What’s up?” Dick asked, curiosity peaked. He leaned forward to catch a glance of the page, but Donna snapped the magazine shut and plastered on a plastic smile.
“Nothing,” Donna answered quickly and tucked the magazine underneath her forearms.
“Donna,” Dick admonished.
“It’s nothing!” Donna squeaked.
“Donna.”
“Seriously! It’s absolutely nothing, just stupid gossip. You’d hate it.”
Dick gave her an unimpressed look, turning back to the closet. Donna relaxed and Dick twisted his body, lunging forward and snatching the magazine from underneath her.
“Richard John Grayson!” Donna hissed as she lurched forward to reclaim the magazine. Dick ducked as he skimmed through the pages. Donna let out a cry as she jumped on Dick’s back, an arm wrapped around his collarbone for stability and the other reaching for the magazine.
“Let me see! Let me see!” Dick protested as he tried to shake her off but stopped as his eyes met the words: “ RICHARD GRAYSON’S TOP FIVE FAILED RELATIONSHIPS! ”
His mind went blank, posture rigid, which gave Donna the opportunity to seize the magazine and throw it across the room.
Donna let go and landed on the bed, her breath ragged. Dick could feel her eyes on his back as he tried to even out his breathing. The tips of his fingers were frozen with a hot pressure building in the back of his neck and spreading across his shoulders.
Donna sighed. “You saw,” she stated.
Dick didn’t react.
“It’s a stupid piece,” Donna continued. “Full of bullshit and just a sleazebag’s way of making a quick buck because they’re a talentless hack—”
A short, strangled laugh left Dick’s lips and Dick is brought back to being fourteen and growing into his own, to websites dedicated to counting down the seconds until he turned eighteen, to Donna being there at every beat.
“It’s true,” Donna persisted. “Just, don’t focus on that, okay? You have a smokin’ date with a—don't you dare tell Wally this—an objectively smokin’ hot guy.”
Dick’s eyes snapped to the clock and terror seized his heart.
“Wait, fuck—I'm going to be so late!” Dick exclaimed as he turned towards the closet and unhooked the navy-blue shirt from the hanger. Dick shucked off his pajama shirt and put on the shirt.
“Hurry, hurry!” Donna pressed as she threw Dick’s shoes at him. Dick caught them and quickly slipped them on.
Donna tossed him his keys which Dick snatched with ease.
“Gotta go, have fun, don’t eat all of Alfred’s cookies!” Dick called out as he made his way to the front door.
“No promises!”
***
Wally wore a tangerine shirt.
Dick stopped for a moment, heart hammering against his ribs, as he absorbed Wally’s appearance, the way his hair soaked up the streetlights.
Wally looked around, eyes landing on Dick. He beamed a smile that enraptured Dick and waved Dick over.
“I don’t bite,” Wally teased.
“I’m hoping that doesn’t apply for the whole night,” Dick replied with ease and the dance began.
Wally hadn’t mentioned much about the itinerary for their date. He had only given them a location: Downtown Gotham. Dick invited the familiarity though a part of him hoped that their date didn’t end in a caped crusade. He needed this, yearned for it, just the two of them, masks melted away. Wally West and Dick Grayson as it was always meant to be.
Wally's face heated up, the blush reaching to the tip of his ears. “Who knows? The night is young.”
Dick smirked. “What is the plan for tonight?”
“Originally I planned dinner and a movie,” Wally confessed. “Then Arty chewed me out for the cliché idea.”
“As she should,” Dick joked.
Wally laughed. “What can I say? I’m more of an action kind of guy.” He shifted closer to Dick, heat radiating off him.
Dick leaned into him, just short of swooning. “So, plan B?”
“Honestly, more like plan D,” Wally muttered before turning pink again. “Because there were multiple plans, not cause of, well, you know.”
“You’re killing me with the suspense, Walls,” Dick bantered. “By the time you finish explaining, the night won’t be so young anymore.”
“Well, I better speed it up, don’t you think?” Wally chuckled and Dick groaned.
“Is it too late to back out?”
“Yup,” Wally replied cheerily. “As for tonight, well, the answer was obvious after some light research—”
“You totally did a research report for this date, didn’t you?”
“Of course, and according to those statistics, the greatest place to bring your longtime crush-slash-best friend-slash-future husband—”
Dick turned pink.
“—Is the arcade!” Wally announced, tagging on jazz hands.
Dick blinked. “Wally, you do know we’ve been banned from, like, every arcade in Gotham.”
“Almost all,” Wally corrected. “They just opened a new one on Sunrise Boulevard.”
Dick’s interest peaked. “Oh, did they?”
Wally nodded. “Yup! It’s a few blocks away and what better way to start the best first date ever than to get banned from another arcade?”
Dick snorted. “You really ready to get your ass handed to you on a first date?”
“Only if it’s you, baby.” Wally gave Dick an exaggerated wink.
That’s it , Dick declared in his head, I will love this man forever.
Dick offered his hand to Wally. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
Wally grinned, taking his hand, as he led him to the arcade.
***
Dick had won every game so far.
He wondered for a moment if Wally was letting him win until Wally began to cry about not being able to use his ability.
“This is cheating,” Wally declared.
“Me? A cheater? Never,” Dick cackled. “Just hard work and determination.”
Wally grumbled at that before looking around and beaming at the concession stand.
“Wanna grab a bite to eat?”
“I don’t know,” Dick said, looking through his lashes. “I am winning, after all.”
“But I’m hungry,” Wally whined, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.
Dick snorted, lacing his fingers through Wally’s and tugging him forward. “Come on, before you starve to death.”
They stood in line for the concession stand, idly chatting—well, really, flirting—and swinging their joined hands back and forth, when Dick heard whispers linger in the air.
He brushed it off at first but tilted his head when he heard his name. He ducked his head for a moment, hoping that whoever might’ve recognized him wrote his presence off.
“I swear it’s him!” The first voice hissed, persistent.
“Who’s he with?” A second voice rang, a touch of awe in her words.
“It looks like a date,” a third voice pointed out.
“No way,” the first voice responded.
“It does look like a date,” the second voice backed up. “I thought he was dating Barbara Gordon?”
“Yeah, like four years ago,” the second voice informed their friends.
“What a downgrade,” the first voice sighed dejectedly.
Wally stiffened next to Dick.
“Not like it’s going to last,” the first voice continued, and Dick lost his breath.
“Dude!” The third voice scolded.
“That’s not nice, Mike,” the second voice admonished. “They look cute together.”
“They always look cute together,” Mike argued.
“You’re just salty because you wanted him to be with Kori Anders,” the second voice replied.
“How do you fumble a smoke show like Kori Anders!?” Mike exclaimed.
The second and third voices shushed him.
“Whatever,” Mike grunted, “I’m right, Dick Grayson can’t keep a woman, let alone a man. He’s basically a slut.”
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Dick announced loudly, stomach-churning, letting go of Wally’s hand and wiping his palm on his jeans.
“Dick—” Wally started but it got lost in the rattling of arcade machines as Dick lowered his head and rushed to the bathroom.
“Nice going, asshole, he heard you,” the second voice snapped as Dick scurried past them.
He slammed the bathroom stall door open with his shoulder and collapsed onto the tile floor. Dick gripped the toilet seat as he emptied his stomach. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as he held his nose and gagged.
The bathroom door opened, a hand finding its way to the space between Dick’s shoulder blades.
Dick flinched and the hand disappeared.
“Let it out,” Wally’s voice soothed Dick’s nerves. Dick felt on the brink of hysteria as he spat bile into the toilet. He shifted his weight to ease his knees, sitting down and clutching his hair at the root. He hid his face between his knees.
Shame filled Dick’s mind, shame, and other familiar dark thoughts.
He was naïve, oh so naïve to think this would work out. The magazine had been a bad omen. Of course, it would blow up in his pretty face. He should’ve canceled the date and spared Wally the embarrassment of being seen with such a sl—
“Hey,” Wally gently reprimanded. “It’ll be okay, just breathe, no bad thoughts.”
“How—?” Dick’s voice got caught in his throat.
“Because I know you,” Wally said. “And they don’t.”
“They’re right,” Dick choked out. “Everyone knows it. Worst kept secret: Dick Grayson, the biggest slut in Gotham.”
“That’s not true,” Wally replied. “Dick, I’ve been with you through it all, I know you’ve dated a lot of people. Hell, I’ve dated a lot of people. That’s not a bad thing.”
“It is when your failures are plastered on magazines,” Dick argued. “‘ Top Five Failed Relationships ,’ ‘ You’ll never guess who Grayson is dating now ,’ ‘ Richard Grayson is finally eighteen! ’” Dick’s voice heightened, rising as he listed every article.
“They’re pieces of shit,” Wally pointed out. “And huge creeps. Dick, you’ve been in the spotlight since you were ten. You dated, and you still date like any normal teenager. I’d be mortified if my crushes from middle school were plastered on magazines and billboards.”
Dick peeked up, his grip on his hair loosening. “Really?”
Wally nodded. “Absolutely, and you? You're so bright and strong and beautiful and everything about you is just stunning. I am the luckiest man to be on this date with you. Honestly, I thought you’d wake up after listening to those assholes and realize how much better you can do.”
“... really?” Dick asked meekly.
Wally nodded. “Dick, I don’t care about us in ten years, or five years or even next week. I care about now and how I will do everything to prove I deserve to be by your side, minute by minute.”
Dick laughed wetly. “I really want to kiss you.”
“What’s stopping you?” Wally asked, leaning forward.
Dick playfully pushed him away. “The fact that I threw up, like, ten seconds ago.”
“Worth it.”
Dick snorted. “You’re so gross.”
“Then why not a raincheck on that kiss?” Wally persisted.
“I can pencil you in for Tuesday at 3 pm,” Dick joked.
Wally grinned. “Deal.”
Wally offered Dick his hand which Dick gratefully took. He felt too shaken to continue the date at the arcade, but Dick almost thought it was worth it when the night ended in a movie night in the Wayne Manor Theater.
And when Wally raced to Dick on Tuesday at 3 pm, just to sweep him off his feet and pull him into a kiss?
Well, maybe it was worth being called a slut for once.