Haphephobia
Everything returned as they were before the crisis pretty easily. Dick returned to work for The Team, Kaldur was back as their leader, Artemis left Tigress behind and returned to College and Wally moved once again with her to Palo Alto. However, there was one huge difference. Wally was back. Not only was he back from the dead but he was back once more with the team. He had not returned to the hero business but Dick knew it was only a matter of time. He was always on the watch tower. He could always be found playing pranks with Bart, helping Garfield with his chemistry homework, playing videogames with Superboy or eating Megan's cookies. Soon enough, every member of the team fell in love with him and pouted on the rare occasions he was not present aka when he was with Dick in Bludhaven or Gotham. That was the hugest difference. Wally was once more in the bat family. On his first visit to the Manor, the speedster had nervously pushed the doorbell and waited for Alfred to welcome him inside, instead of speeding through Dick's window or the batcave as he used to. He had been worried at being unwelcomed. He had nothing to worry about. The bat family didn't even bat an eye at his sudden appearance. Not even Tim who didn't know how often Wally had visited prior to his arrival. Alfred still gave him trays of cookies and Bruce glared when he took the last one. Everything was back to normal and Dick was dying. Because, for him, everything had changed. Zoom had opened up his eyes and destroyed the walls that had blinded him to Wally. Now, every touch and smile meant something different to him and with trepidation he noticed that Alfred, Bruce and Time realized this. Wally, of course, remained oblivious. At first, Dick tried to avoid Wally by making up excuses for why he couldn't come over. But, Dick was a masochist and dare he say it, whipped. All it took was one pout from the speedster for him to agree to play video games, watch a movie or let him join for patrol.
Wally had also returned to College but unlike Artemis' he was a speedster and a genius. Therefore, he had the ability to study, do homework and learn everything in seconds. Leaving him with a lot of spare time to visit his friends. Dick should have been ecstatic at their frequency. After all, he had his best friend back and that was all that matter. He should have been able to handle his hidden feelings and simply enjoy the speedster's company. However, Wally was making it extremely difficult. Dick had not realized how touchy their relationship was or how touch starve the speedster could be. He was a cuddle monster. If they were playing videogames, the speedster constantly shoved him, tickled him and fake fought him. When they watched a movie, he casually put his legs on Dick's lap, his head on his shoulder or leaned against his chest. Even on patrol he managed to sneak a touch by carrying him away from trouble or simply pushing him against a wall! He was driving Dick insane to the point where Dick had opted to stay a few days on the manor hoping that the speedster would be more self conscious around the rest of the bat family. He was not. Not even when Bruce was on the room did Wally stopped touching Dick. Had it always being like this? Why had Dick not noticed sooner? Things got even worse a few months after the battle with Zoom. Just as Dick was considering taking up a mission in another planet in order to clear his mind, Wally demonstrated things could get a lot worse.
It had been early in the morning and Dick had just finished his breakfast when the speedster rushed into his apartment and slumped on the couch with a scowl. Dick had tried not to blush at how adorable he looked.
"Yes Wally, please come on in." Dick had said sarcastically with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. Wally had just groaned.
"What was that?" Dick had asked at Wally's indecipherable mumble and push his feet away in order to seat beside him. The speedster had glared at him and then huffed a laugh at Dick's blank stare while promptly putting his feet on Dick's lap. He had no sense of personal space.
"So, are you telling me what your problem is or did you come here just to pout?" After another glare and a resigned sight, Wally answered. His single sentence was the catalysis to Dick's personal crisis. "I had a fight with Artemis" he had said.
Before their falling out, Wally had commonly and frequently come to complain to Dick about his relationship drama. Dick had always tried to support and help him. However, things were different now since, he felt inclined to dance the Macarena instead of helping Wally fix his troubles. Miraculously, Dick had managed to control himself and repress the survival instincts that told him to help Wally terminate his relationship instead of fixing it. After all, he would always put Wally's happiness before his own. Wally had listened to his advice and soon he had gone back to Palo Alto and fixed everything with Artemis. Sadly, the complains and need for advice became a common occurrence. Wally travelled to Bludhaven, called Dick on phone and once even contacted to him through his com what seemed like every second to complain about Artemis.
'Artemis and I fought again' 'Artemis is driving me crazy' 'Why are women so unreasonable?' 'What does she have against me joining the team?' Why do I have to be polite to Cheshire?' On and on he went for months before Dick snapped. It had been an awful day. During his shift at work, he had been stuck at desk duty because his captain was pissed that he had punched a suspect during an interrogation. Then, he had gone to Gotham to help Bruce on a case only to end up fighting with him due to Bruce's inability to listen to others. Finally, his motorcycle had broken down midroute to Bludhaven forcing him to walk the rest of the way home. Of course, rain started falling. He was tired, soaked and pissed off when he finally arrived home. The last thing he wanted was hear Wally complain about Artemis. But, there the speedster had been when he got home. He shouldn't have been surprise the words 'Artemis and I fought' were the first out of his mouth. Lately, it seemed that was all they talked about. Instead of answering, Dick simply shrugged off his bag and walked towards his bathroom. Wally followed.
"I just don't get it. Why is she being so unreasonable? If she doesn't want to come back to the team, that's her decision. She should respect mine. After all, she was the one that came back for that Covert Operation and she staid after I was stuck on the speedforce." He continued talking through the closed door as I tried to block him out. I tried concentrating on the sound of the shower and the pain of my sore muscles instead of his words. I was just managing to block him out when he said "We haven't even had sex in so freaking long!" My eyes snapped open. Unconsciously, I was out of the shower with a towel around my waist and in the hallway in a second.
"STOP!" I yelled at Wally. "If you hate being Artemis so much then, just leave her!" The second my words were out I regretted them. Wally stared at me gobsmacked. "Dude, I am sorry." I tried to apologize but Wally just shook his head.
"I can't leave her Dick." he said pitifully and Dick thought he heard an unsaid 'I want to but I can't' in his voice.
"Why?" Dick asked throwing away his inhibitions. He wanted Wally to be happy and in an effort to be supportive he had changed how he would have normally responded to Wally's complains had he not felt how he did for him. It was time to truly put his feeling aside. He couldn't let them control the way he interacted with Wally.
"She has done so much for me and my family. They adore her and I...I love her." He said and Dick didn't have to be a genius or trained by Batman to hear the doubt on his voice.
"You are right. She has done a lot for you and your family." Wally's head snapped up to Dick's and his eyes told Dick everything he needed to know. There was fear in there that he had seen before every time his parents were mentioned. It wasn't fear of being mistreated, unheard or abused. It was fear of being trapped. "However, that doesn't mean that you owe her anything or vice versa. You owe it to yourself and her to do everything you can to make each other happy and if you can't then you both owe yourselves to let each other go. I know you love her and I know she loves you but, sometimes love isn't enough. Sometimes we need more. Trying to force yourselves to make things the way they were will only cause you both unhappiness and then...then you will fall into a pit of despair you may not be able to come back from." Dick finally said feeling the weight on his shoulders lessen. He now realized that none of his words were said in an attempt to destroy Wally's relationship with Artemis for his own gain. He said them because he loved both of them and he knew they were slowly destroying each other. Silent tears made their way through Wally's cheeks. Dick resisted the urge to push them away. Now was not the time. Wally needed his best friend.
"I am afraid Dick." Wally whispered while pushing himself against Dick's chest.
"I know but you are strong. Artemis is strong. Both of you can get through this. It is better to be afraid for a little while than live full of regrets." Dick answered squeezing him. They staid like that for a while until a movement from Wally made Dick wince.
"Are you ok?" Wally asked immediately and finally noticed the cuts and bruises on his friend's body
"Nothing that I haven't endured before." Dick answered with a small smirk and eyes full of mischief making Wally smile back.
"True." The speedster acknowledged. "Do you want me to go so you can rest?" he asked with a frown. Dick knew he should have said yes like all the other times the speedster had asked. Instead, he said. "Stay." Wally nodded and helped Dick to his feet ignoring the younger's complains. Together they stumbled to the bed where they laid over the covers. Predictably, after a couple of minutes, Wally shuffled over to cuddle against him.
"You are such a hug monster." Dick said faking annoyance while, in reality, he was grateful it was so dark and his blush would go unnoticed.
"You love it." Wally answered already half asleep.
"I do." Dick answered quietly borrowing even closer to the speedster chest. He didn't know what would happen. Maybe Wally would break up with Artemis. Maybe he wouldn't. But now, Dick could rest knowing he had been Wally's best friend once more.