I know you hate me… I'm not even sure why, but… I want you as my friend again. You said it yourself. You're unique and the second I saw you, you were a target friend in my mind! You're just so different, so perfect and you piss me off so easily because now I know I mean nothing to you... I'm losing Bri, I can't lose you too. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you by my side… but first, I have to get you back on it… All of this… it just reminds me that the sun even sets in paradise…
…If 'happy ever after' did exist, I would still be holding you like this… All those faerietales are full of shit… One more [stupid] love song and I'll be sick…
Disclaimer: I got the idea from House, so I own nothing.
Think back to the days of coloring pages and cap-less markers, the days when the only drama was that some bully broke your crayons or that your brother blamed you for breaking that pretty vase down the hall that mom specifically told him not to play football inside for because she knew he'd break it but when he did, he hid the evidence in your room and 'tattled' like the baby he was back then… Try to remember what it was like to run away from the little girls and boys who had cooties because you didn't want to get infected and those days sat on the edge of the building, sucking honeysuckle with your friends.
Keep your mind open and go to grandma's house, the smell of cookies and chicken hard in the air as you sit with her at the table. She's listening to you ramble on and on, a big grin on her lips just because of how adorable you are, her hair curly and her glasses thick. It's a Sunday afternoon and you've just come back from church, still wearing that outfit that makes it look like someone kidnapped you from the '80s because you love your grandma too much to take it off. Besides, she has your lunch in her hand! If you disobeyed, she might take it away and your chubby belly needs food to retain its cuteness!
On the plate is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the crusts cut off and the bread white and extremely unhealthy. The peanut butter is two layers thick and creamy, the way she knows you prefer it, overlapping the crust-less edges. The jelly is strawberry, the magnificent glow of the red in the light above the kitchen table making it look radioactive and just that much more delicious. It too is two huge layers thick, dripping down the sides because of your addiction to the jelly and its taste.
Your lunch back then perfectly describes the relationship between Dick and Wally now, down to even the simplest detail.
They were the two pieces of bread, the hostility between them making their togetherness unhealthy, the cutaway crust resembling what had once been the greatest friendship to ever exist. The thick peanut butter and jelly was the air between them, the substance so awkward and heavy that it was near impossible to move through, let alone breathe past the tension, anger and sorrow. So many emotions and feelings were mixed in, eliminating the sweet and delicious taste, but a sandwich is a sandwich no matter how awkward.
The two kept staggered breath, moving cautiously through the air that surrounded them like dark clouds, their eyes averted and the happiness of the day numbed from their eyes. The cloudless sky was dark and gray with storm clouds from corner to corner, lightning striking every innocent piece of scenery. The warm air and the cool breeze were of pure ice, thunder cracking hard in their ears and their eyes, keeping extra water beneath the dim green and blue eyes that refused to meet.
Their Converse carefully crunched through the gravel of the path as they walked down towards the beach, a bag over each of their shoulders. Dick held a small plastic lidded cup of coffee in his left hand, casually sipping it, trying to walk faster than Wally to avoid conversation. Wally's hands were free, his eyebrows knitted with the worst kind of depression, desperately trying to think of the right words to try to rebuild their friendship. He knew he had messed up, but he couldn't change anything he had done, no matter how bad he wanted to.
The ginger jogged to catch up, finally breaking under the rumbling of the thunder in his ears, wanting to enjoy the beautiful day instead of torturing himself like he was. His hand darted out, a trembling hand touching hesitantly to Dick's bare shoulder, pulling away and jumping back as the ebony spun around. The look on his face was icy, but the depressed tone to the edge melted the harshest part away, revealing a side of vulnerability that he had never before seen the severity of.
"Rob-…" Wally muttered, his voice broken, touching his trembling hand to the back of his neck as he often did when he grew nervous.
The ebony ducked his head away, blinking hard. He studied the rocks beneath his shoes, their chalky texture much more interesting at the moment than the conversation he sensed coming. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to talk to Wally… not after what he had done.
"KF…" he returned coldly.
The ginger's eyes grew hard, still shaking. It was just the two of them, a situation he usually would welcome with wide open arms but now feared. They were in their swimming trunks, Dick in blue and Wally in red, a white towel draped around both of their shoulders. Thin paned sunglasses rested on the bridges of their nose, the pain in their eyes piercing the black glass so the other could easily see it.
"I just… I know you must hate me…" Wally began, struggling to keep his eyes on the thirteen year old.
He longed to simply turn around and run back to Mount Justice, drowning out the dread in his stomach in buckets of ice cream or mouthfuls of pizza. He wanted to grab the unhealthiest object in the cold container, collapsing onto the couch and hiding from the world until the day his metabolism cut down and turned him into a stereotypical American with a DVR full of the Dr. Phil show.
"Hardly," Dick cut in, never raising his eyes, a frown hard on his lips.
The taller among them tensed, his eyes growing wide, lips hesitantly falling open, but he never had a chance to question the averted gaze, the frown or the purposeful avoidance that had gone on for a few weeks too long. The ebony hunched over in pain before he ever had the chance, desperately gasping for air without a warning. Wally acted fast, lunging over and setting a hand between the pale shoulder blades, waiting for the gasping to stop before he would officially react. Dick flashed a hand up at the touch, one finger raised to tell Wally to wait a moment, the gasping growing harder and more painful in sound.
He leaned up just barely, putting his coffee cup to his lips, trying to swallow some with the deluded thought that it might help flood air back to his lungs to explain himself. Instead, it only made him gag, dropping the coffee cup to the ground where it exploded. The black lid blasted off, the blackberry color spilling over the rocks like a tidal wave on the shores off in the distance, minus the mystifying noise. Wally ignored the cup, fear clear in his eyes as he moved to his first priority.
"Rob! Robin! Hey!" when the bird kept gasping, his breaths becoming bubbly, the fear escalated. "HELP! SOMEONE!"
The ginger's voice rang out through the air, collapsing the ebony to his chest, the sharp edge to his sunglasses stabbing the pale flesh lightly. Wally was numb to the pain as the fear cut deeper, distracting him from such a simple pain. Dick set his hands up beside his face to lift himself up, only to gag again, spitting a dark scarlet all over the flesh in front of his lips. His blue eyes widened at the sight, giving a weak squeak before the gasping started again, weakening his thin legs. He crumbled, right into the arms that fiercely clung to him, emerald eyes tripling in size.
"R-Robin…" Wally whimpered, activating his com. link and quickly making a desperate call for help out to anyone who could hear him.
He cut it short by simply asking for help, one wordedly, and naming his location before he turned to the problem he held in his arms. The blood on his chest was the least of the worries, the most being the blood that stained his friend's lips scarlet. Wally laid the ebony down on the gravel, blushing light as he straddled the thirteen year old, scooting down so he was sitting on the pale thighs instead of the dirtier area. His hands over-lapped, gently sitting right above Dick's bellybutton, trying to focus on the bare chest under his hands instead of the pink tint on the cheeks above him and the gasping.
"J-Just… hold on… please, just a minute longer," Wally gritted his teeth, fearfully meeting Dick's eyes.
The look in the dark blue was beyond the deepest part of terror, dropping the ginger's heart to the ground with such a velocity that it shattered unlike any way an organ had ever known to do. It froze him in place, stopping him from saving the flailing boy's life, especially when a shaking hand touched to the back of his neck and pulled him down. Wally wasn't kissed though, much like he thought he would've been with such a classic move. No, Dick instead put his lips beside his friend's ear, gasping out the last words he could muster before his muscles went limp and he collapsed.
Wally couldn't move after the hand dropped from his neck, his eyes wide and his lips agape. He still had one leg on either side of his best friend, his overlapping hands hovering in the air where they continued to tremble. Dick lay crumpled on the ground, his head lolled to the side, one arm dramatically bent out from where it had dropped. A thin trail of scarlet rolled down to the rocks below his face, his eyes closed to the point where it wasn't too tight or light, just the perfect amount of lines on the lids: none.
"What happened?" a voice cut the air, breaking through Wally's trance.
"Why's Robin on the ground?"
"I-Is that blood?"
"What… did he say?"
Wally could only register the last question, the liquid on his chest rolling down and leaving a trail on his pale flesh, just like the one tear that had jumped the reputedly well-protected border.
"It… s-sounded like… 'Do you like… cranberry… juice?'…" Wally's face contorted in anger, reaching a hand up to wipe away a tear as a grin broke out over Dick's lips.
The thirteen year old's laughter jumped an octave the second it spilled out, his giggle ringing through the air, his cheeks still pink seeing that Wally still heated his thighs.
"Damnit Robin! You scared me!" the ginger cried, lightly striking the ebony's chest as he stood to his feet.
He ducked his head, angrily scrubbing the juice off his chest. The ghost of a smile haunted his lips behind the anger, peeking out teasingly, but Wally did his best to conceal it until Dick was completely on his feet again. The back of a pale hand swiped against his lips, removing the cranberry juice, revealing a smirk. The smirk was wiped off in a quick paced heartbeat though as two strong arms wrapped around him tight, the fear evident from the pressure from the hug.
"That had to be revenge! Does this mean you forgive me now? Can we be friends again? Look, I never meant to hurt you! It was an accident and I didn't know and-," the speedster began to ramble, being cut off by an amused giggle that repeated itself from the blue eyed babe's lips.
Dick nodded, grinning ear-to-ear as he pried himself from the ginger's grip. "I just wanted to show you what it was like… and now we're even."
Wally pumped his fist into the air, grinning just as hard, doing a little happy dance completely appropriate for such a situation in his mind. The Boy Wonder joined him, his laughter holding out strong, earning a face-palm from the entire worried team that had ran up to make sure no one had died like the tone of Wally's voice had implied. Artemis and Megan specifically exchanged glances with small smiles.
"Boys…" they scoffed, giggling as Kaldur and Conner glared at them.
And just like that, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was delicious again.
I know, I've been getting weaker and weaker… I actually went over this one to add stuff so it wouldn't suck so bad. This was a technical sequel, the only official one I ever plan to make. It was inspired by House, like I said, and was BRILLIANT. It was from that episode with the cat that was believed to predict death? I wanted to try it. Too bad I'm losing my touch on this kind of stuff… Review?
-F.J.