If I wake in the morning, I only need two more miracles to be a saint. Let's just say I'm on my knees and actually praying that the end of the world is this year. Pretty depressing, maybe, but it's how I feel so STFU. :p
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Blue eyes roughly met their emerald equals, playful rivalry gleaming playfully across the beach. Green, ice blue, amber and silver eyes all watched on curiously, waiting to see whether it be a fight or a laugh that came out of the eye deadlock that the youngest eyes among them held.
Six teens occupied the beach in this early afternoon hour, all unmasked and stripped down to their swimsuits seeing that it was the most appropriate thing to wear in such warm of temperatures. The only two girls on the beach, Megan and Artemis, were both clothed in skimpy bikinis; the Martian wore yellow and the blonde wore light green. The four boys on the beach, Kaldur, Conner, Dick and Wally, were all clothed in knee-length trunks; the ginger in yellow, the youngest ebony in blue, the oldest ebony and the blonde in red.
In the youngest's hands rested a football, darkened from years of constant abuse. The worn brown skin that rested inside the small pale hands only seemed to taunt Wally, only because he knew it wasn't his and he wanted it. He gently raised his freckled hands and set them on the football, getting a firm hold on it without taking it out of his friend's hands. All the while, he made sure to never listen the strong gaze he had locked with the exposed dark blue eyes that he loved.
"Get yourself a good team, Grayson," Wally challenged in a whisper, "because I'm bringing you down tonight."
Dick smirked bravely, tightening his hold on the football. He pulled it close so the rough material brushed his bare chest in an attempt to get it away from Wally's hold. The ginger simply tightened his fists, not seeming to notice that his knuckles were just barely grazing his friend's chest. Dick noticed to say the least.
"Not a chance, West," he returned in the same tone, "Not even your super speed can save you now."
Dick and Wally held their challenging glances for a moment longer before Wally released his hold on the football and took a few cautious steps back through the sand. He wiggled his toes in the sand for a moment, half-wishing he could run in his sandals.
"Why don't you pick the teams, Boy Wonderful? Show me what you've got," Wally folded his arms over his chest, eager to see what kind of show he was in store for.
Dick rolled his eyes at the nickname, looking up at the other four teammates he had to pick from. He had to think hard, mostly because he knew that he didn't have much a chance against someone with powers like Wally.
"Um… Well, KF… you need to have Artemis on your team so you can't spend the whole game trying to kill her. To make it even, I'll take Megan…" his eyes darted from Conner to Kaldur, trying to decide how to set things up so Conner would actually play instead of sticking as close as he could to Megan.
Wally seemed to read his mind, gesturing to Kaldur discreetly. Dick nodded in the slightest.
"Kaldur, you be with us. Conner, head over with KF," Dick finally settled, smiling as Megan and Kaldur walked calmly through the sand in his direction.
When there were two teams of three, the smile became a confident smirk. It was then that the games began.
XxXxX
Dick and Wally found themselves glaring playfully at each other again as the two teams found themselves staring eye-to-eye. Wally held the football tight in his hand, Conner behind him and Artemis edged forward to his right.
"One Gotham City, two Gotham City [1]," he started, mostly just to piss his little ebony off.
It worked, earning him a discreet eye roll.
"Hike the damn ball," Dick grinned, keeping an eye glued to the ball.
He shifted his feet impatiently through the sand, practically dancing with anxiety. The score was 28-35, his team only 2 technical points from tying. He wasn't a sore loser, but Wally was the worst of all sore winners and he didn't think he could last through the taunting without punching the ginger like last time. When Wally copied Dick's trademark smirk, the ebony tensed, ready to move.
"Hike!" the ball was in Conner's hand in a second.
Kaldur quickly became the eldest ebony's shadow, running as fast as his feet could go through the sand. Artemis darted across the sand, running equal to him, but staying a good ten feet away. Ice blue eyes noticed her and before a dark body tackled him roughly to the sand, he chucked the ball to her. The blonde bolted fast ahead to catch the football, stumbling over her own feet. She had been so focused on catching up that she hadn't noticed Megan until it was too late.
A girlish giggle sounded before she was knocked to the ground. She tossed the ball away from her, knowing that one of the other guys would surely get it. Wally managed to snatch it, barely a foot from the ground, and ran towards the line they had drawn for the touch down point. Dick struggled to catch up, unable to keep a proper balance on the uneven ground. He wasn't going to lose though, not yet.
Barely five feet from the line, Dick lunged through the air and grabbed the only part of his friend he could: his neck. He wrapped both arms around the ginger's neck and pulled Wally to the ground with him, the football harmlessly bouncing away from them, stopping an inch before the line in the beach. They started to laugh, but then they opened their eyes. Their eyes widened, their faces turning the darkest of scarlets.
With the tackle, the boys had found themselves in quite an awkward position. Dick was in the sand, Wally on top of him with one hand on either side of his bare chest that kept his own chest barely an inch or so above his friend's. Their lips were even closer, barely a centimeter apart if even that. Dick's arms were still wrapped around Wally's neck, accidentally weighing Wally down and keeping their lips close.
No one on the beach moved for the longest time, everyone afraid to do anything and curious to see what was going to happen. Even the four that weren't on the ground almost kissing were red in the face and standing like a statue, afraid that even the slightest movement would cause the situation to get more awkward. The two that actually were on the ground didn't move mostly because they both kind of liked the placement they had fallen into.
Whether it was the butterflies that came from the hot breath of the other or just the fact of how close they were, both had to pray the other couldn't hear their heartbeat. They wanted to move, but not away from each other. All they could do was look at each other, trying to hide the happiness in their eyes. Not even Dick, one of the greatest actors of his time when it came to lies, could hide it though. Artemis was the first to break the silence.
"Either kiss or get off each other. This is getting boring," she folded her arms over her chest, tossing her hair back.
Wally glanced down at Dick for a moment longer before he scrambled to his feet, easily breaking through Dick's hopefully locked arms that had tried to keep him down. The ginger brushed the sand off his skin, trying to brush the heavy blush off with it. The little ebony didn't get off the ground; he didn't have enough of a heart to do that. He just laid there, his fragile broken heart carefully reflecting out over his dainty features like the sunlight as it hits the ocean in its final hours, giving a dark look to even the prettiest of scenes.
Everyone pretended not to notice how upset their youngest team member was, looking amongst each other to try to decide what they could notice. No one wanted to comment on the accidentally awkward tackle, mostly for poor little Dick's sake. From the look on his face, he probably would've started inching his way towards the ocean until he joined the seashells in decorating its grand floor.
"I'm uh… I think I'm done with football," Megan said softly, her cheeks burning, "I'm going to head back."
Conner nodded in agreement, turning on his heels and walking after her in the sand.
"Same here," Kaldur nodded a goodbye, soon followed by Artemis and they started to head back.
"I'm going to get the ball. Be with you guys in a sec," Wally called, not moving an inch.
Dick watched him curiously, an upset frown still clearly printed over his lips. His face still burnt a dark color, but this time, disappointment-caused misty eyes joined it. When Wally still didn't move, he became suspicious.
"Well? Go on…" he weakly turned his ankles in the sand, digging his heels deeper into the sand out of embarrassment.
Wally was still watching the others, saying nothing. Now Dick was very suspicious. The ball hadn't moved, he hadn't moved and Wally hadn't moved. Had someone just hit Wally with the universal remote? No, he was blinking. Unless they hit pause then fast-forward which triggers the slow-motion play, but- no, he was drumming his fingers on his thigh. He just wasn't moving.
"KF?" Dick rummaged among the shards in his chest and held tight to the biggest part, propping himself up on his elbows.
Wally held up a single finger, silently telling Dick to wait just a moment longer before everything would be explained. The ebony darkly sighed, dropping the pointy shard of his heart, wiping the blood off on his trunks and collapsing back down in the sand. He half expected Wally to pick him up, run halfway across the ocean and put him out of his misery by dropping him in.
Before Dick could finish the thoughts of why Wally was waiting, suddenly there was someone on top of him and lips eagerly pressing up against his. Tear-filled eyes tripled in surprise, trying to recognize whose eyelashes were grazing his cheeks. At the first freckle he saw, Dick closed his eyes and kissed back, the corners of his lips turning up in a smile. His arms rose up from the sand, returning to their rightful place around the ginger's neck.
He felt Wally chuckle lightly at the quick reaction before arms rested at his side, taking the place of where his own hands had been moments ago. No part of it felt wrong. It was sweet, gentle and careful, everything it should've been. Even the sand didn't bother them as it stuck to their skin and hair, matting in all of the available bits of skin that touched to the soft substance.
Only when Dick had finally finished mending his heart, sweeping the minor inrepairable shards off to the side and under the rug where they surely wouldn't be noticed, did the lips he had wanted leave his. He questionably opened his eyes, thinking he had done something wrong. Wally was standing behind the line draw in the sand, the football playfully resting in his hands. He set it down with a smirk, walking back to Dick's side and carefully pulling him to his feet.
"Touchdown."
[1] This is a reference to that one Teen Titans episode that Cyborg's battery pack died or whatever. In the beginning, Robin, Beastboy and everyone else are all playing Football and Beastboy starts by saying, "One Gotham City, two Gotham City…" If you don't believe me, look it up (:
I was gonna end it with a word play involving nerds, football and 'homo genius'/homogeneous, but the second I typed it, I face-palmed so no. Oleander, Foxglove and Hemlock are all so beautiful… but they're poisonous! Why is everything good end up being bad for you? Sorry if this was bad. My cousin dared me to write a football thing… and I don't know football… so… um… yeah, had to make it lovey-dovey. Sorry that it's kinda bad… Review anyway?
-F.J.