Dick Grayson { Nightwing } (batbird) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2017-12-22 10:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, dick grayson / nightwing (au), wally west / the flash (au) |
Who: Dick Grayson and Wally West
When: After Wally’s 48 hours are up
Where: The Base and then Dick’s apartment in Bluebonnet
What: Collecting the BFF
Rating: Family friendly
After allowing himself time to process, Dick had decided to take the opportunity given to him by the universe and make up for lost time where it came to his best friend. It wouldn’t do to dwell on the what ifs, especially as Wal had assured him that back home -in the future- they would also be reunited. It didn’t matter if they were Rob and KF, Agents 37 and 22, Nightwing and Flash, they’d always be Dick and Wally. Their friendship would last, not even the speedforce could keep them apart forever. Collecting Wally from the Military Base on the motorcycle he’d scraped together enough money for, Dick made a note to ask Santa for his car from home. It would be much better for road trips if he was taking more than one passenger. “I know, I know, you could run faster than this,” Dick commented, handing his helmet to the speedster, “but you don’t know the way to my place, so you’ll have to sit pretty on back.” Quarantine wasn't a bad experience but by the time the compulsory forty-eight hours were up, Wally was ready to leave. Living arrangements had been made during Dick’s previous visit - he was going to be roommates with his fellow Titan. Wally didn't know if it would be a permanent arrangement but he was happy to stay as long as he was welcome. Wally let Dick lead the way out of the Military Base and over to his motorbike, quirking an eyebrow at his best friend that silently said he was faster than any bike. He didn’t have to say a word and Dick knew exactly what his expression was saying - proof that even their separation due to the speedforce hadn’t tarnished the close bond they had. “Sit pretty? Aww, man. You’re not even going to let me drive, are you?” He pretended to sound put out by it but really he was just happy to be out in the world again and not looking at his best friend through a window. “Hope it’s not a long trip into town.” Putting the helmet on his head, Wally let Dick climb on the motorbike first and then climbed on behind him. He scooted close to the acrobat’s back, wrapping an arm around his middle. It was possibly a little too close but Wally never had a problem with personal space. “Not a chance, besides, you have your bag to carry. I’m not your Valet.” He quipped right back, knowing Wally wasn't being entirely serious, “it's not that far. You’ll survive.” If Wally was sitting too close, Dick didn't notice, they’d been in each other's pockets since they were teenagers. In fact it was comforting that Wally was behaving just the same as he always did. As promised the ride home didn't take long and Dick was soon pulling into the parking spot outside his apartment. He was still splitting his time between there and the Manor, and had no plans to leave the place behind completely. Especially not now he had a roommate again. “The neighbors are friendly,” he commented, leading Wally into the building and up the stairs to their home. “If you see a tuxedo cat wandering around, his name is Batman and he belongs to Tony, in 5.” Slipping his key into the lock, he gestured for Wally to go on in, closing the door behind them. “It’s not huge but it’s not tiny either, want the tour first or should I order take out?” Dick was right, the trip wasn’t that far and Wally did indeed survive the duration of it. They couldn’t really converse while they rode to Dick’s apartment so the quick trip was only filled with the sounds of the motorbike growling along the roads. After the motorbike was stationary again, Wally pulled off the helmet and handed it back to Dick, eyes drawn to the building before him. It wasn’t a huge complex, but it wasn’t exactly tiny like some of the places he had lived over the years. Of course, size didn’t matter, Wally was pleased to have a roof over his head and good company to share it with. “Good to know,” Wally replied as he followed Dick into the building. He let out a little snort of laughter at the cat’s name, just imagining what Bruce’s reaction would be to that if he were here. “That Batman there?” Wally nodded toward the cat sitting outside in what looked to be the communal gardens for the apartments. “He’s cute.” Wally entered the apartment and immediately looked around to get his bearings. The layout appeared fairly straightforward but he wouldn’t knock back a tour. “How about we order and while we wait for it to be delivered, you give me the tour?” Spotting the black and white cat with his very distinctive face markings, Dick nodded. “So cute, just like his owner.” A slight smirk tugged at his lips, wondering what Wally would make of Tony. Attractive people always stumped the redhead at first, turning him into a terrible flirt. At least, back when they were teens that was the case. He wondered if Wally was better at flirtations nowadays. Setting the helmet on the low bookcase near the door, he dropped his keys beside it and wandered through to the lounge area, hunting for the take out menus he knew were hiding out by the couch. “There are some good places in town, as you can tell I’ve tried a few,” he held up the menus with a sheepish grin, passing them across to Wally. Jason would no doubt disapprove of his eating habits when left unattended. But with his work pattern he sometimes just could manage to get groceries and use them all while they were fresh. “Hawk’s Guac is amazing, but you have to go find him on his route. We manage to catch him when we’re out on shift quite often.” “Choose whatever you want and we’ll order it in, the tour won’t take long, so I’m sure we’ll be done by the time the food arrives. Want a beer?” Noticing the familiar slight smirk on his best friend's lips, Wally chuckled. "Looks like someone has a crush." He teased, falling straight back into the role of giving Dick a hard time over his various crushes. Of course, Dick returned the favor over the years. And rightly so, Wally was a terrible flirt in their youth. He liked to think he improved with age, but he didn't really have anyone to test that assumption out on. Wally followed Dick out to the lounge area, making himself at home by plonking on the couch. He took the menus and flicked through them, smiling at the sheepish comment. "Nothing wrong with sampling the local cuisine, Rob." Hawk's Guac did sound amazing but Wally wasn't really in the mood to go hunting down food at the moment when other places delivered to the door. "Pizza, Chinese or both?" Wally set the other menus aside. "You pick. It's your wallet we're draining." He felt bad that his best friend would have to provide for him while he was unemployed, especially given his appetite. But he would pay Dick back ten times over, if he would let him. Wally was so lucky to have a bestfriend like Dick. "Whatever's going." He shrugged. Beer didn't generally give the speedster the same buzz it did everyone else, so it didn't matter to him what he drank. "If you want a beer, I'll join you." “Somebody might. He's a little younger than us, but is seriously rad. Has this suit like Batwing.” He paused for a beat, trying to recall if that suit had even been developed before Wally went MIA. “He survived meeting Dami and Jay, so that tells you something about him.” A little huff of laughter followed Wally's comment, “we know that, but Jason is scarily like Alfred at times.” Taking the Chinese and Pizza menus back, he dialled both, ordering Wal’s favorites from memory. He’d pick at whatever, not at all fussy. “There's soda too, I think… You don't have to have beer.” Dick shrugged, roughing a hand through the back of his hair and hesitating by the entrance to the kitchen. “Oh.” Wally’s smiled faltered slightly, not sure what Dick by a Batwing suit. He tried to recall if he had heard that name before or not, wondering if there was a gap in the memories he had recovered after his time in the speedforce. Not wanting Dick to feel bad, Wally smiled again when Dick mentioned that Tony survived meeting Damian and Jason. “Your little brothers aren’t that scary. It’s your old man and Alfred he’s got to worry about.” He tried to regain the light tease in his voice, brushing aside the fact he didn’t know Batwing. Being told that Jason was like Alfred made the speedster chuckle. He could definitely see the familiar protective streak Alfred had when Jason greeted him on arrival. Wally opened his mouth to mention his favorite as Dick ordered, but it wasn’t necessary. Dick knew exactly what he wanted. “Soda’s fine.” Wally replied, eyes trained on his best friend. In the past, Wally wasn’t all that observant to other people’s mannerisms. His years in Spyral trained him to pick up more on body language and how sometimes it could give away more than what a person was saying. Watching Dick hesitate, Wally picked up easily that there was something that was going unsaid. “Dick, is there something on your mind?” The slight dimming of Wally’s smile told him that his friend didn’t know Batwing and he mentally kicked himself for not realising that David, and later Luke, had joined the Batfam after Wally had vanished. “Batwing was basically a hi-tech prototype Batsuit, Bruce let somebody else pilot it. He’s way too attached to his car.” He gave a nod, conceding the point to Wally on his family members and their varying shades of scariness. “See, I don’t know why people find Bruce so terrifying. He’s only my Dad who happens to be Batman. It really is Al they need to worry about, because he scares Bruce.” It must be strange for Wally to find a fully grown Jason in this world, not to mention a brand new Robin who happened to be Bruce’s biological kid. Not to mention Tim, though Dick wasn’t entirely sure his second youngest brother had actually spoken to Wally on the network or not. “Soda it is. I probably shouldn’t drink anyway.” The question had him hesitating again and he schooled his body language to be more relaxed, “no, I just was wondering if I had all the stuff in to make gingerbread. But that can wait, I’ll grab the drinks and then we can do the tour.” He vanished out of sight for a moment as he delved into the fridge, composure back in place when he reappeared with the cans. Wally listened to the explanation of Batwing with interest, feeling bad that Dick had to give it in the first place. It couldn't be helped, though. They had been separated for seven years so of course there were people and things in Dick's life that Wally didn't know existed. "That would be cool to see. Although, I don't imagine it to be too stealthy." In his mind, Wally was picturing a clunky looking robot suit with bat ears which didn't really fit in with the whole ninja vibe Batman had. "Maybe it's the whole 'I am the night' voice he does." Wally's voice dropped with the poor Batman interpretation. To be fair, though, no one could do the Batman voice quite like Bruce. Dick could probably come close. "Although, you're right. Alfred is way scarier." He wasn't sure if that whole thing about gingerbread was really what was on Dick's mind or not. But he wasn't going to pressure his best friend into sharing his thoughts if he didn't want to. Wally took the soda off Dick when he reappeared, opening it and taking a large gulp. "So kitchen's through there. Good to know." “Luke’s footsteps are a little heavy.” Dick smiled, in all honesty that was probably half the reason why Bruce ended up giving the suit to someone else. “But the suit isn’t too bad, I wish I could have gotten a go in it. Maybe added it to the Nightwing collection.” He laughed at the impersonation, giving Wally a thumbs up for effort, though nobody came close to getting the timbre right for the Dark Knight’s voice other than the man himself. “Did you forget,” he teased his friend, “I usually am right.” The gingerbread excuse wasn’t a complete untruth, he did want to make some, it brought back memories of his first few nights away from the Manor, after Bruce had told him not to come back. Titans Tower, although familiar, had felt completely alien. Not at all like home, until he’d baked himself some comfort food and curled up in his room with a stupid movie. “Yeah, kitchen is there, lounge is here,” he offered his free hand to Wally, pulling him up from the couch. “Then there’s a bedroom on this floor too, which was Damian’s,” he led the way over to the door and released Wally’s hand so he could push it open. The room was neat and tidy, but clearly not lived in since Dami had moved to the Manor. “Your room now, convenient for the kitchen and your midnight feasts.” “Collection? You’ve added to it, haven’t you?” Wally teased, smile back in full force. He had seen various costume changes Nightwing had over the years and wondered if Dick continued to do so in his absence. “Are you starting a Nightwing museum in your closet?” The redhead laughed, not maliciously but he felt happy about the banter between himself and Dick. It was like time hadn’t been taken away from them at all. Wally was grateful for that. There were a lot of things he missed and probably couldn’t make up for. But his friendship with Dick was special and made him feel like it didn’t matter. The here and now was what counted. Wally took his best friend’s hand, he felt a little jolt when their hands connected but that was normal - Wally retained a lot of static electricity. He thought nothing of the fact they still held hands as Dick led him through to the downstairs bedroom or when Dick let go to open the door. “Looks perfect to me.” He glanced around the room, moving in and sitting on the neatly made bed, giving it a customary bounce test. It was neat and didn’t have much in the way of decoration but Wally had slept in far worse places. Spyral wasn’t exactly all cozy quarters for its Agents. “Take it there’s a bathroom as well. Don’t need to see that. So...” He unconsciously licked his lips, before looking back up at his best friend. “Where do you sleep?” “I went through a red phase, then there’s good old Agent 37’s gear.” Dick shrugged, “I have most of my Nightwing suits here. They showed up in the apartment, just like the computer and other equipment did. No Nightbird though.” He glanced across at his friend, realising he’d need to qualify that statement, “my car.” The spark of electricity as their hands touched was familiar and a smile came to his face at the tingling in his palm at the static contact. The first time it had happened he’d cursed rather loudly, earning him a glare from Batman and a full on belly laugh from Flash. KF had just looked smug. Leaning against the doorframe, he remained where he was, letting Wally go into his room to check it out properly. Another fond smile on his face as the redhead tested the bed. Just like he had back at Titans Tower. “Yup, bathroom is upstairs next to the Nightwing room.” A head tilt followed the slight pause in Wally’s speech and blue eyes flicked to his mouth briefly as his tongue darted across his lips; interesting, KF was on the nervy side of normal. Taking another sip of his drink, he pushed himself off of the door jamb and turned toward the stairs, pointing one finger at the ceiling. “I’m on top of you.” Wally’s eyebrows rose at the mention of a red phase. Red was one of the speedster’s favourite colours but that didn’t mean anything. He had seen Agent 37’s gear. In fact, he had a similar attire in his bag of things that arrived with him. There hadn’t been much in Wally’s bag, just a few changes of clothes and some items that Spyral had confiscated when they found him that Helena gave back after the fight at the school. He had yet to sort through those things, wanting to wait till he got back to Central City. He suspected though it was his Flash costume and maybe a protein bar or two. He never owned many material objects, and those he did own stayed in his room at Titans Tower or in his room at his Aunt Iris’. He was glad Dick clarified what Nightbird was. Wally’s first guess would have been a plane. “Hence the motorbike.” He added, smiling. It sounded like his best friend had most things sorted for himself in the alternate universe they found themselves in. Hopefully, Wally would be able to do the same. “Nightwing room,” Wally parroted back with a little shrug and a teasing glint in his eyes. “Sounds like you’re losing your touch in the creative naming department, Rob.” Dick’s demeanor didn’t give much away as to what his best friend was thinking, but Wally knew he was under observation. It wasn’t an intrusive kind of observation, just the sort two people undertook to work out where they stood after a length of time apart. Wally’s eyes drifted up, following the direction Dick was pointing. He grinned, amused by the statement. “Good to know.” |