A/N: Hello! I've been kinda crazy over soulmate AUs for the past few months. I decided I'd write things I haven't seen written down before, so there won't be anything like 'Person 1 has person 2's name written on their wrist, and person 2 has person 1's name written on their wrist'. Each story will vary in length. Some are short, some may be long. It really just depends on the AU.

Youthful Hearts was inspired by a prompt I saw on Tumblr.

YOUTHFUL HEARTS

(Dick Grayson x Wally West)

To make things simple, Wally West never looked forward to growing up. In fact, he was perfectly content with being a kid. He never took an interest in romance, yet he was destined for it anyways. Which really annoyed him. What was so special about it?

The reason as to why Wally West didn't look forward to growing up was because if he found his soulmate, he'd start aging. Soulmates aged together, at the same pace. Most people accepted this, and some even embraced it. However, there were plenty of stories of people killing their soulmate so they could be immortal, or people who didn't find their soulmate until they were a hundred years old. Wally didn't want either of those. He didn't want to have to kill his soulmate to remain young forever, and he didn't want to meet them when he was 128 years old. No, he never wanted to meet them at all. He was perfectly content going through life without an amorous trail behind him.

He liked having his friends with him instead. They lived by a strict bros before hoes policy, spending their nights as teenagers playing video games and drinking soda. His bros were Roy, Wally, and occasionally Kaldur, though he was usually too busy doing responsible stuff to join in on the fun. So he was more like a half-bro.

So, on that dreaded eighteenth birthday, the thing Wally wished for when blowing out his candles was to never meet his soulmate.

About two years passed, and Wally figured he was doing a pretty good job of avoiding his soulmate. His looks hadn't changed at all since he was eighteen. However, by this point, Dick's eighteenth birthday was going to be coming up within a few days. And, like Wally, he totally dreaded it. Wally had to give him a pep talk, to remind him it'd be okay. Dick didn't want to grow old either, but not for the same reasons as Wally. Wally didn't want to grow old because, y'know, who wants to be old? Being young was awesome! When you're old, you're slower, weaker, usually fatter, and you got all wrinkly and ugly! Being young was the opposite of that.

Dick didn't want to be old, because he was pretty much in his prime right now as a hero. He was fit, all muscle, his vision and hearing were pristine, and basically everything worked perfectly. He could defend Gotham better if he was young. He didn't care about looks or wrinkles, unlike Wally. Wally always admired his friend for having better morals than him, but that still didn't stop him from not wanting to be old because he was scared he'd be ugly. Who wasn't?

When Dick's birthday came and passed, he decided with Roy and Wally to move into an apartment together. They were all adults now, and could show their mentors they could be independent. On their move-in date, they took a picture of themselves inside the empty space, goofy expressions on their faces. It was the first picture they mounted on the wall when they finally got to putting things up.

Roy had already met his soulmate; he was eighteen when he met her. She was Artemis's sister, Jade, and now she was pregnant. You'd think that Roy would want to live with her, but Jade was everywhere at once and never lived in one place for more than a year, and Roy didn't want to break the bros before hoes policy. Roy and Jade always had this odd love-hate relationship that Dick and Wally would constantly tease him about (as well as tease him about growing old with Jade), but Roy didn't really mind.

It wasn't until his daughter was born did he decide to move out and break the policy. Yeah, bros before hoes, but not bros before babies. Him leaving was disappointing to the other two, since he'd been living in the apartment for less than a year. It'd been a fun less-than-a-year however, with plenty of memories behind it. Hell, Bruce even accused Dick of slacking from being Nightwing because of living with Wally and Roy, but he reassured Bruce that as long as he never met his soulmate and stayed eternally young, Gotham would be fine.

Dick and Wally liked this never-meet-soulmate lifestyle. Just two bros, bro-ing out, living together and being young forever. They both attended college, so sometimes life got busy. Usually, one would come home to the other passed out on the couch, or even asleep at the computer desk they both used. It wasn't unusual for them to not even talk for an entire day, trying to cram in their studies or typing an essay. They could sit next to each other on the couch with their laptops typing away for hours, yet not saying a word, except the occasional "How's your essay going?" with the response of "Good." or "I hate my life."

Often, they patrolled the city together, even though Bruce didn't approve of meta-humans doing hero-work in Gotham. Them working together definitely got some media attention, despite them trying to their best to blend in with the night and not make a scene. They were known simply as the "Super Friends". Wally always thought the name was tacky, but he never really cared too much about it.

A few more years passed. They'd experience college life together and do super hero work together, just like two friends would. Right?

Well, yeah. Wally woke up one morning, and was about to get ready for work, when he noticed something odd when he was washing his face.

Huh.

He got closer to the mirror, squinting his eyes. There was something on his chin, it almost looked like… Dorito dust. He washed his chin again, but it remained.

He realized with horror that he had stubble.

And that meant-

That meant he was aging!

He had to hold back the scream that formed and made its way up his throat. When the hell did he meet his soulmate? Did he just look at them randomly on the streets one day and suddenly start aging? He had to calm down. He had to clear his mind somehow. Quickly pulling his phone out of his pocket, he called his dad.

"Dad?" he asked.

"Hello, Wally." his father greeted.

"Yeah, uh, I need to ask you a question." Wally informed.

"What's up?"

"When- yeah, uh, when do the men in our family start getting noticeable changes- like changes from aging- after they meet their soulmate?" Wally asked.

"Hmm," his father thought about it, "I'd say around four years you'd start noticing a difference. Why?"

"I woke up this morning with stubble." Wally explained, "And I'm kind of freaking out."

His father laughed, "You act as if meeting your soulmate is a bad thing."

"And I met them four years ago and I don't know who they are!" Wally panicked, "What if I just like, saw them on street or in a store and started aging? Besides, four years ago, I was twenty, not eighteen."

"So you didn't see them when you were eighteen. Either that, or your soulmate wasn't eighteen yet when you were eighteen. Or, it could be possible you did just spot a glance at them and started aging." his dad responded.

Wally let out a groan of frustration.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Wally. I'm sure you'll figure out who it is."

Wally sighed, "Okay."

"Bye, son. Best of luck to you."

"Bye."

The call dropped.

Wally sighed, and quickly finished getting ready for work.

When he returned home, still in a bad mood, Dick noticed.

"What's up?" he asked, looking up from his laptop.

"I found my soulmate." Wally groaned.

"Oh." Dick said simply, "That sucks."

"You don't seem very sympathetic." Wally accused. Dick shrugged, continuing to work. Wally narrowed his eyes. "You don't feel bad because you don't understand what it's like. I have stubble now, Dick. Stubble that looks like Dorito dust!" he began to walk towards the kitchen.

"Wait, really?" Dick called out.

"Yes." Wally responded, obviously annoyed. He grabbed a coke out of the fridge and sat back down on a chair.

"So, do you know who it is?" Dick asked.

"No, but I met them four years ago, because stubble doesn't start appearing until four years after you meet your soulmate in my family." Wally responded.

"Oh, interesting." Dick replied, partly preoccupied with his schoolwork.

"You should feel lucky you're gonna stay young longer than I will." Wally told him. Dick bit his lip in response. "What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Yes, obviously something is up, I know that lip bite when I see it."

Dick sighed, "I'm aging, too, Wally."

Wally looked at him with wide eyes for a few moments. "What?" he asked.

"I'm slowly- but surely- starting to bald. And my chest is hairier than it used to be when I was eighteen."

"Dick, I- why haven't you ever told me?" Wally sounded betrayed. They told each other everything.

"I wanted to keep you feeling traught. Like we'd be young forever." Dick explained, "I didn't want to, y'know, kill the vibe, or whatever."

"Oh…" Wally was silent again for a few more moments, "Well, do you know who your soulmate is?"

"No." Dick shook his head, "I think it might be Barbara, but I'm not sure."

"Let's look at her Facebook photos." Wally suggested, "Compare the one's from when she was eighteen to the one's from these days."

"Okay," Dick agreed, typing in some stuff before pulling up a few photos, "This is what she looked like when she was eighteen." Wally got up from his chair to look over Dick's shoulder. "This is what she looks like now." he pulled up a photo from a few weeks ago.

"Wow! She looks… exactly the same." Wally commented. Dick sighed.

"Ha, wouldn't it be funny if like, we were soulmates?" Wally amused the thought.

Dick laughed along, then he frowned. Wally shot him a perplexed look. Dick placed his laptop to the side and went to the wall where their first photo in the apartment was taken. He grabbed the frame.

"Dick, I was just joking." Wally said quickly.

"Wally… I think you may just be right." Dick looked up at him.

"What? No way, dude, we can't be-" Dick handed him the frame, and Wally looked at it. "Yeah… we're soulmates, aren't we?"

"I think so." Dick replied. "I mean, it makes sense. You're twenty four, and you said your family doesn't get noticeable aging changes until four years after meeting your soulmate, right? Four years ago you were twenty, which means I was eighteen. So, that means we've been official soulmates for four years, and we didn't even know."

"Huh." Wally said, "Well, uh, I honestly don't know how to react to this."

"Me neither." Dick agreed, and went back to sitting on the couch, and continued to type his essay.

"Seriously, Dick? We just found out we're soulmates and you're focusing on school?" Wally teased.

"It's important!" Dick insisted, and a grin made its way across his face.

"Well, now that we're soulmates, what are we gonna do? What's a soulmate-thing to do?" Wally asked.

"You can kiss me goodnight." Dick suggested and laughed. Wally laughed as well.

"Alright, my sweet prince."

Dick laughed again.

Wally smiled. He felt a sense of peace within him, knowing that he found his soulmate. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to become an elder. He was having this journey with Dick, after all.

That night before bed, Wally took his new-found love's hand, and whispered, "I can't wait to grow old with you." Dick smiled, pulling Wally into a simple kiss before separating, a smirk on his face.

Walking off into his bedroom, Dick waved him goodnight. Despite officially growing old, Wally felt so young and free.

And suddenly, he loved romance.

Fin.

Nah, I'm lying. Of course it didn't end like that. They actually had mind-blowing sex on Dick's bed that night.

Fin #2.

If you want to send me a prompt, privately message me and I'll provide you my email so you can send it. I will accept original ideas only.