A/N: So here's some BirdFlash for my girlfriend 'cause it was her birthday this week and I haven't gotten around to posting it yet. So here's a late present for her (:

And I've actually had this mildly scripted since mid-August because I wanted to do something good, short, and easy to get in the swing of writing again. That didn't happen, I finished up other fics, and now I get to post it for my babe. Happy birthday.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters.

On & Off

Being hot and bothered is the least of his problems. Being hot and bothered over Wally is the only problem.

Dick can't take it much longer. Really, he's running out of options. More than once, he's just said it and watched as Wally laughed it off with a knowing gleam in his eyes. Those eyes that made Dick melt, that bore holes into his soul.

The laughing made him feel dead inside. He's sick of listening to that laugh when it's one of Artemis's jokes or whenever Megan smiles. Dick hates it. Especially when Wally uses that same laugh whenever his best friend says a quiet "I love you"...

But hey, it doesn't matter: the sky's blue, Gotham's quiet for the night, and he's still got a great best friend. What more can a thirteen-year-old ask for? Dick's doing fine, just fine, and he can get over it- After all, it's just the hormones talking, right?

It's just hormones. Dick brushes it off as he lays in his room, poring over awful Trig homework, bored out of his mind as numbers don't seem to connect with each other and plus signs tilt on invisible axis. One hand goes through his hair and it's suddenly like nothing's making sense anymore. Numbers, words, letters, nothing's connecting, nothing's right.

He blames Wally. There can't be any other cause, just Wally and the damn hormones-

Buzz. Phone on vibrate. His pencil is on the textbook and all cosines are forgotten as he reaches for that phone. And sure enough, it's Wally, and his heart feels like it's on fire.

Just hormones. He's not in love with Wally. No, really, he's not. It's just a phase, he'll be fine.

What're you up to?

Dick formulates a response like he'd calculate these damn math problems if the numbers would coalesce in his head. He mentions the textbook and math and it all just feels like garbage thrown into a message, but he sends it anyways because he can't say much else.

Even though he wants to say more, he keeps his mouth shut.

He gets back: Can I ask you something?

It's almost funny how Wally hasn't reverted into his speedster speak yet when all the words blur together and there are a few forgotten letters every now and then. Dick just sends back "Yeah" and tries to get back to his work. Still, the fractions aren't adding up right and everything looks wrong; he crinkles up his nose and surrenders when another text buzzes in. He checks the sender and it's Wally, so there's no competition when it comes to which of the two things he wants to do more at that moment.

Do you meanit? When yu sayI love you?

There was the speedster talk, the way everything's slightly off-

Dick's mind puts it into perspective just before he's about to type up another dull response as if it were a simple question. But it's not. So he sends back "Yeah because you're like family and family's supposed to love each other."

Lies. God, it's a whole bunch of lies and it twists up his heart and he wants to curl up and die because really, it's eating away at him like no one else could imagine. His chest is always tight and he has to keep a censor on his words and suddenly there's a window for opportunity and he has to miss it because he can't ruin what they have, this deeply rooted friendship based on the damn superhero business. Otherwise, a science geek and a mathlete would never find each other in this big world and they wouldn't have friends and it'd be a lonely, quiet existen-

Buzz. Wally. The message: Becuse I lovv you tooo.

Dick has to mull this over. He sits there for the longest time just staring at that screen knowing that his next words can make or break everything. His fingers hover anxiously over the keys as he waits, thinks, and listens. There's this thrumming sound in his chest, the frantic flipping and fluttering of his heart. He's torn between this friendship and this promise of what could be...

"For real?" asks Dick in his next message.

And the next minutes feel like an eternity. He swears the clock on the wall has slowed down and that twenty seconds pass in the time it takes for that thin hand to tick to the next minute marker and every moment is a lifetime condensed as he stares at that screen and desperately pleads with every deity he can think of to help make sure he hasn't made the worst decision of his entire life and-

Buzz. It's Artemis. So about training tomorrow

Dick doesn't care, doesn't even bother to read the rest of the text, just kind of throws his phone off to one side and panics more. He can't tell if it's getting hotter in his bedroom or if he's just stressing too much. He pulls off his hoodie and is left in just a t-shirt but he finds it suddenly too cold and-

There's a knock at his window. Outside, a redhead is perched on the ledge, a big grin on his freckled face. There's a glint in those jade orbs that Dick loves so much. And before he can even get off his bed, he reads Wally's lips as he mouths "For real."

And they're on.

A/N: Probably a ten-or-so chapter series, first attempt at long-term BirdFlash. So here goes nothing. Leave a review.

~Sky

P.S. Happy birthday, babe (: