AN: Just telling you right now that this isn't as well edited as my other fics. I kept getting caught up in the moment as I read through it which made it hard to focus on spelling and grammar mistakes. If you find anything yourself I will be more than happy to go back and fix it then.
Enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: Wally and Dick still belong to D.C. comics.
DISCLAIMER #2: The title of this story is a quote from the amazing Mr. John Green. Because there's no way I could think that shit up by myself.
Another explosion echoes down the corridor to their left. Somewhere over their heads a shrill alarm begins to sound, accompanied by an obnoxious flashing red light.
Someone screams.
The countdown flashing on Robin's wrist-monitor hits five minutes. There was no more communication from the league, and their psychic link with M'gann had been cut off long ago.
It was just them now.
"Do you think they would have cared?" Wally's hand tightened around Dick's and he knew that despite all the promises they had made to each other in the last thirty minutes, they were both terrified. "Barry and Batma- I mean Bruce. Would they have cared about 'us'?"
Dick squeezed back, trying his best to be reassuring, even now. "Dunno. Would it have changed anything?"
"No." Wally murmured against his skin as they kissed again. They were probably up into the triple digits now, trying desperately to fit a lifetime of touches and affection into their last few moments together. Until Dick broke away with a sob, burying his face into Wally's chest. Trying to ignore the smell of blood and burnt fabric he found there as he breathed in the older boy's scent.
"We wasted so much time."
"Don't say that."
"It's true Wally. All those nights you spent with Artemis. all those dates I had with Zee, with Rocket. All the years we spent apart just because we were too fucking scared to ever admit how we really felt...it just seemed like there was so much to lose. I wish -
"Dick, please..."
"No Wally! We could have been happy. We could have been in love."
"I am in love with you."
"We could have spent our lives together."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"We could have had time." Another kiss. This time to shut him up. Dick was sure of it.
"You're wrong. You're so wrong. We're both too stubborn for it to have happened any other way. We would have spent the rest of our days pining for each other and doing nothing about it. We would have resented our teammates and our mentors for their happiness. And I know I would have resented Artemis for not being you. How is that any better Dick?"
Robin opened his mouth to protest that surely it would have come out at some point. There was no way to keep a secret that big, or a longing that powerful, hidden forever.
"Or maybe you're right. Maybe we could have gone to college, gotten married, grown old together. But my point is that we didn't. And it doesn't even matter anymore, because right now, right here, is all we are ever going to get."
Wally paused to take a shaky breath and Dick could hear the pounding of his heart against his chest, fast even for a speedster.
"WARNING: OXYGEN LEVELS IN SECTOR 7 HAVE REACHED CRITICAL LEVELS. PLEASE PROCEED TO YOUR NEAREST EVACUATION POINT IMMEDIATELY."
There was another loud boom and a section of the ceiling caved slightly. Wally's muscles tensed as he prepared to move them to safety if any part of the structure were to collapse. The computer's recording began to repeat but quickly became garbled and off-tune, before sharply cutting off.
"I just don't want to spend our last moments together mourning what could have been. Not when I finally have you. I can't waste this."
The clock on Robin's arm clicked down to 04:00.
"I wish I could bring you into the Speed Force with me. I could make four minutes into a lifetime for us there - well, a few hours anyways. It would be better..."
This time their kiss was slow. The type of kiss that can go on for hours but never really lead to anything more. And for the next 40 seconds they were taken away from that time and place, from the swiftly closing hand of death.
For the next 40 seconds they were curled up on the couch in their shared apartment. It had been ages since they moved out of Gotham, out of Central. Years had passed. There was snow outside the window and twin mugs of hot cocoa sat forgotten on their living room table. While off in the corner a huge monster of a mutt lay curled up on it's plush doggy bed. Pictures of the two of them hung on the walls, always smiling, hugging and kissing. There they were: in Paris, at the beach, climbing a mountain, eating at some fancy restaurant, celebrating their anniversary. It had been years. Years full of milestones, full of firsts, full of happiness and heartbreak, of wall shaking arguments and bed shaking apologies.
"I love you." Wally whispered against Dick's lips when they finally pulled apart.
03:15
The speedster could remember hearing once - probably from Uncle Barry - that the more you said those three special words the less they meant. But he'd lost track of how many times they'd confessed to each other now and it still didn't seem even close to enough. There were just too many feelings that couldn't be made into words, not by teenagers, and definitely not in three minutes anyways.
A surreal silence stretched between them and Dick let out a sad laugh at the things his brain chose to care about. It just seemed so wrong to worry about such trivial bullshit at a moment like this...and yet.
"You know, I've been shot at, thrown off 20 story buildings, traveled the globe, had dozens of bones broken - dammit, I've done more at sexteen than most people manage in their entire life - but I've never had sex. Not even close."
Then he blushed, and the acrobat was amazed that even at the end of the world he could find time to act like a shy little boy.
"I know I probably shouldn't care about this right now - maybe even ever - but...um...Did you and Artemis ever..."
Awkward silence.
"Are you a virgin?"
Wally stiffened immediately and Dick could feel him struggling to figure out how he was supposed to respond.
"Nevermind, forget it, I don't care."
Dick buried his face deeper into Wally's shoulder. Thoroughly embarrassed that he had even brought it up. This wasn't how he wanted to spend their last moments together.
"Well, I do. But I shouldn't. After all, I can't really afford to be mad at you right now, can I?"
He felt Wally's fingers run soothingly through his hair. Dick's eyes flickered nervously to the clock.
02:57
They needed a distraction.
"I kissed you once. Before tonight, I mean."
Wally felt himself shiver not entirely from emotion. The temperature regulator in their sector much have malfunctioned, and if he was cold with his speedster metabolism, that must mean Rob was freezing. Wally pulled the young boy closer to his chest, trying to wrap him in as much meta-human body heat as he could. "Remember that time you were in the hospital? When Ivy nearly killed you?"
"Fucking poison spores." Rob mumbled against his shoulder while thin, frozen fingers began to play with the soft, curly hairs at the base of his neck.
"I-well, when they brought you out of the I.C.U. I was just so..relieved." He pressed a kiss to Dick's forehead and blinked away the fresh wave of tears filling his eyes. He needed to be strong right now, for Dick, he couldn't just sit here sniffling like a child. "Kaldur and M'gann were right there. Bruce too. I guess I always just figured one of them would say something, that they'd tell you...eventually anyways; and then maybe we could-"
His words were cut off by a harsh sob. The sorrow that had been building for hours now refused to be held back for another moment, and Wally buried his face deep into the brunette's hair, trying to muffle the awful sound.
"We were such cowards. Weren't we?"
Dick felt Wally's responding nod and felt guilty. The speedster kept trying to make this moment matter, and Dick just kept finding ways to ruin it.
02:11
02:07
Think, Dick, think.
02:03
Got it. "Wally, where did you take me on our first date?"
Dick relaxed when he felt the speedster smile in response.
"Hey, why do I have to be the guy in this relationship? Nah, I'm not the one with the trust fund. You took me." Wally caught on to Dick's game right away, but then again, the speedster always had been good at reading his mind. They just knew each other so well...
"It was on New Years. First time you'd seen me in a tux. We danced. Kissed at midnight. There were fireworks. It was perfect, stuff of fairy-tales really."
Wally chuckled and Dick tried impossibly to hold him even closer. "Of course the press threw a fit about it the next day. Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's ward, teenage heart throb: Gay? It was a downright scandal..." Wally's fingers lifted Dick's chin gently and looked into his puffy, red eyes and thought that they were still the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen. "..but it was so worth it."
01:50
"And I r-remember the night you proposed..that fight was so nasty, and I stormed out. When you showed up at my door later I thought that was it for sure. That I'd finally gone t-too far, scared you off."
There was the sound of a loud electric shock and the accompanying smell of burnt metal. A computer somewhere powered down with a sinking-groan-noise.
"Oh god, Wally. This can't be happening i-it just can't. Maybe it's just like last time, remember? Maybe it's all in our heads." Robin's hands gripped the back of his uniform so tightly that Wally felt the fabric rip. The speedster held the bird's flushed cheeks firmly, forcing eye contact and stopping the Dick's eyes from seeing the extent of the new damage in their surroundings.
"Stay with me Rob. Cummon, look at me. What happens next? Tell me what happens next!"
"I -" hic " -it was on the news. You turned the T.V. on as soon as you came in. Didn't even say anything. And there it was-"
Part of the wall they had been leaning against collapsed and Wally barely had time to speed them out of the way to avoid being crushed. Protecting Dick with his arms Wally rolled them to a spot next to the crushed remains of some sort of alien tech. Wasting no time in pulling Robin back onto his lap, mimicking their previous position almost exactly - as if nothing had changed.
"And then..." Wally prompted, urging Dick not to dwell on the present. He wanted so badly to be back in those moments that would never come.
But it seemed Dick had other ideas.
"Do you think it meant anything Walls? Every battle we fought, every friend and family member we sacrificed? Was it worth it at all if it's just going to end like this? You know, I always thought I'd be brave when the time came...but..we've suffered so much. I've suffered so much, and in one minute from now none of it is gonna make one iota of a difference"
"Dick, you're the bravest person I've ever met-"
The countdown clock on Dick's wrist beeped as it hit the one minute mark.
00:59
00:58
00:57
Wally blocked Dick's view with a hand on his wrist and planted a soft kiss on his lips, his jaw, his ear, his neck...and despite himself Dick moaned.
"Wally, there isn't time."
"Oh yea?" the speedster mumbled softly against the chilled, pale skin, "What would you rather be doing then?"
00:42
00:41
00:40
00:39
"S-so you turned on the T.V. a-nd - mmn - and there it was. On international television:"
"Richard John Grayson. Will you marry me?"
Dick chuckled weakly.
"My full name Wally? Really? You're gonna out my secret identity on a live broadcast?"
"Robin then...Kid Flash and Robin."
"Try 'The Flash' and Nightwing."
"Nightwing?"
"Didn't think I'd be boy wonder forever, did you?"
Wally raised his head and they shared one more brief kiss.
"I like it. Suits you."
00:30
Wally knew that Dick was squeezing him hard enough to leave some dark bruises, but it didn't really matter anymore. Did it?
"I'm not ready. I need more time. We didn't have enough time."
He squeezed the boy back just as hard.
"It never would have been enough time Dick. How would this be any better a year from now? Two years from now?"
00:21
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you Wally."
"Like I'd even wanna live without you dude."
"Dude?"
"Babe. Bird. Spitfire. Whatever - "a rose by any other name" right?"
"You're such a cheese ball."
00:10
"Dick, say you love me."
00:09
"I love you Wally West. I love you so much."
00:08
"And I love you Richard Grayson. Forever."
00:07
"Even when we fight?"
00:06
"Even when we fight."
00:05
"Even if I -"
Wally cut him off.
"Even then."
00:04
"We'll never get to grow old together."
00:03
"Yea, well," Wally's body shook with a heart wrenching sob, the temptation to curl into a ball and just whimper was pressing, but he refused to lose even a second of staring into Dick's eyes. He wiped one of the boys tears away with his thumb and braced himself as best he could. "look at it this way -"
00:02
"- at least we got to spend the rest of our lives together."
00:01
"Goodbye Wally."
"Goodbye babe."
00:00
;_;