Fandom: Young Justice

Characters: Dick Grayson, Wally West, Artemis Crock

Pairings: Mention of Spitfire

AU in which Endgames doesn't rip our hearts out. Set after Season two.


It is not unusual at the West-Crock/Co-habitat of the elusive Artemis Crock and her mate Wally West/The Gate to Hell on Earth Cleverly Disguised as a Normal Home/etc to turn the lights on at 3 AM to find Dick Grayson raiding their cabinets for food.

The first time it happens, Artemis has her bow cocked and Wally holding a bat at the ready before they flip the lights on to find their mutual best friend lying face first on their couch fast asleep.

They've only been living together for three days and goddammit Dick this is why we can't have nice things.

(Artemis throws a blanket over his sleeping form anyway before she and Wally pass out back in their bed.

And in the morning the little prick was gone leaving nothing but a sticky note with a smiley face on it and Babe, why are we friends with him again?)

But forwarding to present day.

Wally blinks for the third time in as many seconds, and Artemis is squinting at the scene before her even though everyone in that room knows she has near flawless vision.

Dick is knitting on their couch.

He's clad in uniform too, which has Wally automatically glance at the windows to make sure the curtains are closed, but of course his brother from another mother is two steps ahead of him.

"'Sup?" Dick says, completely casually as he threads the green string around the needle in his hands and he makes another knot. Flawless, of course, because Dick is literally God's gift to Earth, and he knows it, too.

Artemis throws her hands up in the airs as she rolls her eyes in a way that Wally knows that his Spitfire is completely done with the universe, before she stomps back into their bedroom and slams the door. Loudly.

Wally is under no doubt that she will blame him for her friendship with the mutual asshole on their couch. And Wally is no prophet, but he has a feeling said couch will be his bed tonight.

Well, if Dick doesn't sleep there first, but in the past five plus years they've known each other, Wally is still partially convinced Dick doesn't even sleep.

("Of course I don't sleep." 14-year-old Dick says, completely amused the one time Wally brought the topic up. "I wait."

Wally doesn't sleep that night either.)

So he does the logical thing and speeds into the kitchen, grabs a bowl of his favorite snack food, and plops down next to his friend in under a second. "Dude, mind telling me what you're doing?" Wally asks shoving a mouthful of food in his mouth.

"Knitting."

No shit. Wally almost rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I kind of noticed, but the why is something that I'm lacking."

Even with the mask on, Wally can tell that his bro is squinting in concentration at the task in his hands. They know each other that well. It's pretty sweet.

"It's a training exercise." Is all Dick says, and now Wally really does roll his eyes, because yeah, that's total bullshit, and as his role of best friend it is his duty to inform his probably crazy bro this. Which he does.

"No, really." Dick insists, setting the knitting needles down on the coffee table along with his gloves before he starts eating Wally's snack. The red-head makes a half-hearted attempt at protecting his food, but he knows that the active hero could easily take the entire bowl from him, and Dick knows he knows this fact, and that whole earlier comment about knowing each other so well that it's awesome? Total bull.

"Alfred's making me do this," Dick explains perfectly clearly, even with a mouthful of food as he peels off his mask. Stupid Bats and their stupid perfect abilities and tendency to master everything. "He says I have to work on my concentration." There's a moment of silence with Dick pondering the mask in his hand before he continues. "There was a drug bust yesterday. Major thing, mob connections and links to some dirty cops and everything. And it was all fine, and we were all doing out roles while we waited for the drugs to show, but the problem was that this was all a set-up. And Timmy got shot," Here Wally winces, because Timmy's a good kid, if a little shy, and getting shot is never fun. "And I just sort of… lost it. He was bleeding from his shoulder, and I saw the blood, and all I could see was-"

"Jason." Wally finishes for him, and the room seems to grow colder by a few degrees when Dick nods a couple times like a broken bobble head before letting his chin drop so he can stare at the mask in his hands. Wally lets Dick wallow in the memory of his dead little brother for what he deems an appropriate amount of time before changing the subject, because a depressed Dick Grayson means a depressed universe. Fact.

"So," The retired (Though not so much these days, if the reports of superheroes Kid Flash and Artemis teaming up in Keystone City are anything to go by) hero nudges his friend in the midsection, effectively gaining his attention. "Your secret ninja butler is making you knit in an effort to get you to focus on only one thing at a time?"

"Ehh… pretty much." Dick raises his shoulders and lets them fall, the perfect picture of resigned acceptance. Alfred's word is law.

"So what are you making?"

"Baby booties."

"Well that's cool- wait." And goddamn does his heart actually stop, or at least skip a beat for a second. "Did you- are you- ohmygodohmygodohmygod- Dick you dog!" He's kind of maybe thrown the bowl of popcorn in the air, but Dick catches it so it's all cool, and Wally madly paces around the room with his hands fisted in his fiery red hair. "Who did you- was it Zatanna -I bet it was Zatanna- you dog I swear- Babs is gonna kill you, no wait, Batman is going to kill you," Wally whirls around to his poker-faced best friend a jabs a finger in his direction. "I swear to Christ I better be the godfather or we will have words Dick if I find out I lost that position to Roy of all people and-"

Dick is pretty much lying on the ground laughing, which is the big clue to Wally that he just got punk'd or something. So if Dick is pranking him then the world must be just fine. Which means that Dick did most definitely not knock up one of his many, many girlfriends.

"Holy hell, dude." The speedster crashes back on to the couch, staring straight ahead and willing his racing heart to calm down to normal speeds. "I think you just aged me by like, five years oh my god."

Dick is still laughing, the prick. "Walls, they're for you." And goddamn he's about to have a second heart attack when the bastard he calls his best friend quickly clarifies by saying, "I mean, your future children." And, well, oh.

In the bedroom down the hall Wally hears Artemis giving a distant shout of "Not pregnant!" but he's just pretty much shell-shocked for a second there.

Then he recovers, because he is Wally West gosh diddly darnit, and he looks closer and can actually kind of see the general shape of a baby bootie in the mess of string that Dick has on his knitting needles at the moment. He also registers the forest green shade of the string, a perfect match to the color of Artemis' old/new uniform.

But before he can entertain the thought of red-headed children with gray eyes, Dick pulls out the match to the green bootie from on of his infinite compartments on his utility belt. And then if that weren't enough, a second pair of booties follow, this time yellow and red, the colors of his Kid Flash uniform. "Why two pairs?"

And Dick just smirks, and this is one of the many, many times Wally genuinely believes that Bats can see into the future. "Oh, you know, best to be prepared and stuff." Dick says with an air of feigned nonchalance.

Wally rolls his eyes at his best friend, decides he's had enough trolling for one day, and then turns on the TV to catch the last few minutes of his Aunt Iris' segment on the news.

Twins, he mentally snorts. What are the odds of that happening?


THREE YEARS LATER

KEYSTONE CITY GENERAL HOSPITAL


Wally West and Dick Grayson stand in front of the window separating them from the newborn babies in the maternity ward. Wally has what he knows must be the dorkiest grin on his face (Artemis told him as much after both babies were born) as he keeps his eyes trained on his new baby girl and boy, palms on the window and face pressed so close his nose is partially flattened against the glass.

Dick finally tears his eyes away from his godchildren to clap his best friends shoulder. "Congrats, dude." The black-haired man says softly, before he reaches into his coat pocket. "I've got a present for you, by the way."

"Yeah?" Wally says, only partly paying attention, and Dick pulls both pairs of baby booties out of his pocket and smirks.


Wally why do you even question Dick anymore, really.