Today, it stormed. The clouds tore across the sky and I was outside with Bailey, Gage and their cousins Ian and Tyler. All of a sudden, it rained. Tyler and Gage bolted inside the garage, but me, Bailey and Ian danced in the rain like bosses. Our clothes got soaked, but I got to wear Bailey's SpongeBob shirt! And it inspired this. So, as I promised, this story is dedicated to my bestest idiot friend, Bailey Ellen Albright.
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Robin or Wally or the completely out of character Mrs. and Mr. West.
"Why don't we just go over to Skyler's house?" Richard hopefully asked, "We don't need your four-wheeler, do we?"
Wally's lips stayed downward in a frown, his eyes distantly watching the sky over the railing, so he could still watch his best friend from the corner of his eyes.
"Jackson, you know, the black guy with the awesome hair? Yeah, well, him and Aiden, the guy with the old man ass, were driving the four-wheeler down the road and started doing donuts near that mute kid's house… uh… I think his name is Chandler… and they spiraled out of control and crashed into his garage and it practically exploded on them. So, Skyler's four-wheeler is totaled, Aiden and Jackson don't have four-wheelers, Ozzy and Jance live a couple states away and left their four-wheelers at home and Matt and his little brother Aaron have no way to bring their four-wheelers over. And since mom has a hair up her ass, we can't even push the four-wheeler across the street."
Richard's eyebrows furrowed and he wished he could do something to comfort his freckle-faced friend, but he couldn't think of anything to do that wouldn't further upset him. He half-heartedly slung an arm around Wally, bringing his best friend a bit closer to him on the oak swing.
"If it means that much, I could always ask Alfred to bring over my four-wheeler…" he offered, forcing a soft and comforting smile.
To his surprise, Wally shook his head, his eyes never straying from the sky.
"Look at the clouds dude. It's going to storm pretty hard soon," he mumbled.
Richard sighed, removing his arm from the fifteen year old's shoulders and wrapping it around his stomach, slumping down on the swing before glancing out at the sky. It was different to say the least. The bottom layer was the darkest of blacks and still, but the upper layers, all three of them, were light shades of gray that continued overlapping each other as they raced across the sky, fighting to get to the other end of the storm before the other shades. They were going pretty fast too. His blue eyes widened innocently and a smile stretched over his lips.
"Think this means it's going to rain?" the blue eyed babe asked, a trace of prayer lining his voice.
That finally earned him a glance from warm jade eyes, but it was just a glance.
"What's up with you and rain?" Wally asked curiously, studying the storm again.
Richard shrugged. "I like rain. What can I say?"
"What's to like? Rain's so… boring…" Wally argued.
Richard shook his head. "Dude, you're crazy! I like being in the rain… 'cause it reminds me of swimming when I was growing up. I love getting wet."
Wally smirked at that and laughed quietly to himself. Richard rose an eyebrow, nudging him.
"Hey, what's that for?" his eyes narrowed playfully.
Wally's smirk widened to a near grin.
"Oh… nothing," he said, clearly amused.
"Tell me or I'll slit your throat with my batarang," he threatened.
That earned him Wally's teasing gaze that brought color to his pale cheeks.
"So, you like getting wet huh?" Wally taunted, unable to hold off his laughter.
A heavy blush flew to Robin's alter ego as he realized what he said.
"I-I-I… n-no! I didn't mean it like that!" he was quick to cry.
That only made Wally laugh harder. The ebony bit his lip and got up from the swing, swiftly walking off the porch of his best friend's house.
"W-Wait," Wally yelled after him in-between the closest thing he could manage to giggles, "I'm sorry! Come back!"
The ginger sprang to his feet, running after him, ignoring the swing as it swung up to meet the level of the white porch railing, knocking over a flower pot and sending a helpless and carelessly placed sunflower collapsed to the grass beneath it, the shattered pot's fragments slowly beginning to mesh with the ground that harbored the carcass of the flower. No one noticed though. The only two souls on the West property within hearing distance's attention were on each other.
"Rob- er, Dick! Please, come back! I'm sorry!" Wally insisted, resisting the urge to speed glomp his younger friend until he was forgiven.
He ran as fast as he imagined any human could, but somehow he couldn't keep up with the shrinking figure of his best friend. With a sigh, Wally resorted to 'cheating' as the Boy Wonder had always called it after punching him lightly out of faked anger. His tan shorts became a blur with his red plaid shirt until he caught up with the dashing form. He couldn't help but notice the teasing smile that played on the pink lips that he couldn't tear his eyes from. When he finally managed to look away, he realized how close they were and was unable to stop and ended up tackling Richard to the ground.
They both lay there for a moment, both with their faces practically eating the 'brittle' grass as Mrs. West had called it. Wally had an arm over the ebony's back. When they could see past the swirling stars and the chirping birds, Wally moved his arm and forced himself up, praying he wasn't blushing as bad as it felt.
"R-R-… I'm…" he stopped when he saw a grin break over the surprised little face that had glanced at him from a couple feet away.
Confused, the redhead rose to his feet and held out his hand, helping his friend to his feet. His head cocked to the side and his eyebrows furrowed. A smile unconsciously broke over his lips at the cute little happy giggle Richard gave off as he looked at the sky. The smile widened to a grin as he felt a drop of rain hit his forehead. It slowly rid down the bridge of his nose before going off course to his eyes where it fell, making it look as if he was crying. He gave off a little laugh before looking around. They were now in his backyard, nearing the set of trees that barred the yard from the highway, forcing people to walk an extra fifty yards just to get to the road. The house was about 100 yards ahead. They had run pretty fast.
"Should we get some umbrellas or something?" Wally offered.
When sparkling blue eyes met his, not only did his stomach do a couple back flips, but a happy feeling ran through him like a bolt of lightning and he dropped the idea. His jade eyes studied the curious individual before him, amused at the big deal the usually hidden boy was making over a bit of water. The rain for the moment was light and simple, so it wasn't much of a big deal.
"Umbrellas are for weenies," Richard teased, his face turned upwards towards the sky, playfully capturing the water in its folds and features.
"Oh, so I'm a weenie?" Wally taunted, pretending to sound offended, "Oh, okay. I see how it is."
He turned around and started to walk away. It only took a few seconds before two arms looped around his left arm.
"Come on, you know you're a weenie. It's why I love ya," Richard grinned widely.
His blue eyes picked up the darker tint of pink that took over Wally's cheeks, but he made no comment to it. Instead, he released the muscled arm and felt all warm inside as another giggle bubbled up over his lips. He couldn't help but notice that the rain seemed to be falling just a bit harder.
"Hey, do you think if I climb one of those trees," he gestured to an oak tree that was near the inflatable pool that wasn't too far from their position, "that I could get closer to the rain?"
Wally shrugged. "I guess…"
Before he could ask why, Richard was dashing across the yard towards the tree. Wally smiled and face-palmed, calmly walking after him. His first thought as he watched Richard scale the tree was that of a monkey… and ice cream. He had a sudden craving for pure vanilla ice-cream sundae with blueberries set in while it had been melting before it had been refrozen in the carton with chocolate and hot fudge drizzled over the top and an odd assortment of sprinkles and variously colored gummibears over the top. Just thought made him drool. [1]
Richard scaled the tree with ease, each hand seeming to know just where it needed to be. Before Wally could blink, he lost his white-shirted friend amidst the leaves. He didn't really bother to look though. He knew little Dicky-boy could handle himself. Well, he thought that until he heard a crack and a disoriented cry. Before Wally could even think to ask what was wrong he staggered, a hand flying to his face in pain.
"KF? You okay?" he heard Richard ask, concern lining the faint voice.
Wally stood up straight, running a finger over a cut he now harbored in his forehead.
"You just tomahawked me! With a freakin' stick!" he cried, deciding not to check if it was bleeding for his own sake.
And besides, the rain had picked up speed, so any blood would be washed away.
"Sorry," the small voice piped up before another crack sounded.
Unconsciously, Wally winced and brought his arms up to protect his face. Instead, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He jumped again, earning a giggle from his best friend's lips. The giggle stopped when thunder echoed around the two. That drew a surprised cry from maskless Robin's lips and the boy tensed up.
"C-Can we go inside now? I think I've had enough rain," Richard said quietly, his eyes cautiously scanning the sky.
Wally's fear faded to discomfort. He didn't like seeing his best friend like this. Every time there was a storm, this happened. He hated it probably as much as Richard did. He wanted to keep the ebony happy though, so he dug down deep into his inner bitch settings.
"Don't be such a pussy. It's just a storm," he tried to sound rude, but it sounded pretty fake even to him.
"Shut up dude," the blue eyes were full of fear. "You know how I feel about storms!"
Wally sighed, running a hand over his hair. "I know… I uh… yeah, let's head inside."
They hadn't made it a foot before the rain was thick and heavy. That part Richard was fine with. It was just the thunder that he was afraid about. He didn't notice, but Wally couldn't ignore how close his best friend was to him. Just the simple contact of Richard's water drenched arm on his sent little electrical shocks through his body. Glancing down at the 5'4'' figure beside him didn't ease the feeling either. Richard's black hair was plastered to the sides of his head, hanging down in his scared blue eyes. His white t-shirt was already starting to become see-through; the lines of his muscles were starting to peek through the white cloth. Simply put, Richard John Grayson looked sexy.
Biting down hard on his lower lip, Wally tore his eyes from his best friend and brushed some red bangs out of his eyes and started thinking terrible thoughts to distract himself.
Damnit! He's your best friend! Agh, cute little adorable kittens with barbed wire around their neck! The blood is gushing everywhere, dying the river pink because of all the blood. And an earthquake goes off and the head falls off! The brains fall out and one of the eyes gets punctured by a barb. It's all loose and limp and…
"H-Hey, y-you okay?" his favorite voice snapped him from his thoughts.
He jumped. "Huh- oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just… thinking."
A crack of thunder sounded again and a faint whimper sounded, but the soaking fabrics of his shirt managed to muffle Richard's discomfort as the boy hid his face in the redhead's plaid shirt.
"About what?" Wally was surprised at how stable his friend managed to keep his voice.
"Uh…" his eyes went to the house which was still a good 75 feet away to forget about the light blush. "I was… thinking about… uh… how we would totally kick ass at a wet t-shirt contest."
Richard seemed to mull it over before nodding. "I'd totally kick your ass though."
Wally laughed, relieved Richard bought the lie.
"I doubt it; you know I'm way sexier than you!" he teased.
One argumentive glance from teasing blue eyes through the wet stringy bangs convinced him otherwise, but he forced a cocky smile, and somehow, his jade eyes managed to glint mischievously. He couldn't help but notice Richard give off a shy little smile before ducking his head back down at the crack of thunder.
XxXxX
Richard ravagely brushed the maroon towel over his hair, scrunching his eyes up tight as he did so.
"Hey, I need to borrow some clothes," he told Wally casually.
Wally shrugged. "Alright. I'm sure I've got something that will fit you. Come on."
Richard dropped the towel so it was just dangling around his neck. His hair was stringy and ruffled from the attack it had received seconds ago. He followed Wally down the hall to his room, which was, simply put, very Wally-like. It was messy, untidy and very stereotypical from the flat screen on the wall and the unmade bed to the laptop on the floor and the Xbox360 on a desk below the TV with two controllers resting side by side. He had seen the room before though, so he really didn't mind. Wally disappeared within the closet, leaving the door cracked.
"Anything specific you want?" the muffle came.
"A shirt… pants would be nice too," Richard teased.
He could practically feel the glare through the white wood of the closet door.
"Just be lucky I still don't have Cathy's dress in here. If I hadn't outgrown it, you'd be rocking a sparkly rainbow swimsuit cover-up dress."
A laugh escaped Richard's lips, "'If you hadn't outgrown it'?"
There was silence from the closet for the longest time until cloth smacked him in the face, causing him to stumble backwards and fall onto the bed with a grunt.
"Dude!" he cried, sitting up weakly.
Wally came out of the closet, a smirk on his lips. The two stared at each other for a while.
"Hey… um… all my clothes kinda got soaked you know…" Richard started, setting a hand to his neck.
"Ah huh…" Wally gestured for him to continue.
"Can I borrow some boxers?"
Wally's face went bright red. "Wha- dude! Guys don't share boxers! That's just gross!"
"This coming from the guy who eats raw spaghetti noodles out of the package and walks around the house wearing lingerie!" the mention only made the redhead's face burn harder.
Wally avoided the beautiful blue eyes that he would gaze into all day if he had the option to.
"Just go commando or something," he suggested.
It was Richard's turn to blush. He mumbled something under his breath, unfolding the shirt to see what it was.
"What?"
Richard cleared his throat.
"I-I uh… I don't like the… the feeling of…" the rest was lost in a sea of mumbles.
Wally understood though. "Gah, fine, but this is still pretty freakin' disgusting."
Richard managed a smile beneath the fire that burnt on his cheeks. "Thanks."
Wally nodded, crossing the crap filled room to the dresser next to the window.
"Just don't tell anybody about that lingerie thing," he begged, peeking a glance back at Richard, a pink outline to the freckles splashed over his cheeks.
A dry laugh escaped Richard's lips at the thought as he slipped his water-logged shirt over his head, flashing his abs to the world. Wally made the mistake of glancing back at his friend. His eyes widened and he forced his head back to the dresser, trying to burn the image from his brain. A shirtless, sexy and maskless Robin was the last thing he wanted in his head.
"Oh shush, you know you looked sexy in zebra stripes," Richard teased, slipping the blue fabric over his head this time.
The shirt was just a Royals shirt, plain and simple, at least 2 times too big, but it felt just right.
"Hey, dude, do you mind what kind ya get?" Wally asked curiously, glancing into his underwear drawer.
"Do you have red checkered?" he asked curiously.
Wally nodded. "Yeah, actually I do. They're a new pair. Hope you don't mind."
"Long as I'm out of mine. We probably should've gotten umbrellas," the ebony admitted sheepishly.
"You said it yourself, 'umbrellas are for weenies', and we are not weenies," Wally tossed a pair of boxers his friend's way, wincing in disgust.
He slid his drawer closed, looking in the mirror above the dresser. His hair looked like crap. It was perfect.
"Seriously; thanks dude," Richard said again.
Wally shook his head. "No, thank you. Now I have something to hold over you."
A smirk folded over his lips and he turned around, only to wince and let out a cry of surprise, shielding his eyes.
"Dude!" he half-screamed in a panic.
He'd never be able to unsee his best friend practically naked. It was burnt into his brain. He heard a scolding 'tsk'.
"Don't get your panties in a twist KF; I had the boxers on. This shirt is just really big," he tried to convince him.
He failed epically. Wally's eyes stayed averted and he kept his mind on the creepy inbreeded zombie hillbilly cannibalistic creatures that devoured innocent humans, dangled them by their ankles, slit their stomachs open and devour the small intestines like ramen noodles, storing the excess blood in barrels in the basement. That was how bad of images he had to picture to keep calm and unsuspicious. Richard raised an eyebrow at the face Wally made, but he shook his head slowly and slid on the shorts.
"Only Wally," he mumbled to himself.
He walked to the front of the bed and picked up the laptop, setting it on the bed. He eased it open, knowing that when Wally was done thinking, he'd join him on the bed. He turned the power on, and in a few seconds, the log-in screen popped up. Richard typed in the all too familiar password that he knew was just a bit too long for comfort and kind of creepy to match: Yaoi isn't just for the fan girls, minus the spaces. He knew the laptop originally belonged to Wally's cousin Jaelie so he assumed the password was hers.
"What are you doing?" Wally probed, finally snapping from his thoughts.
"Going to YouTube," Richard replied simply, laying down on his stomach and opening up the internet.
"Mm," Wally grunted, sitting Indian style beside him.
He glanced down at Richard out of habit. The boy still wore the towel around his neck, but he had been right when he said that the shirt was too big. He looked so little, so innocent.
"Do you think the grass will still be brittle after it's done raining?" Richard asked curiously, cracking his neck uncomfortably.
"I doubt it. I say when the storm stops, we can go play four-wheeler tag," Wally decided, watching his friend type.
A smile folded over his lips as he saw what Richard typed into the search bar: Kelly shoes full version. He chuckled to himself.
"You actually listen to him?" he asked in surprise.
"Him?" Richard repeated, an eyebrow raised.
Wally blinked. "Uh, yeah, Kelly's a guy."
Richard smirked. "That explains a lot. Now I feel stupid."
He rested his head on Wally's thigh, his eyes on the screen as he clicked the first suggestion. Wally tensed up as if a million bees had settled over his junk. His stomach turned at the touch and the before butterflies were now more like owls or hawks, viciously attacking his stomach.
"R-R-Rob!" he stuttered, his face burning. "What-?"
"I'm using your leg as a pillow. My neck hurts," Richard said calmly, weakly glancing up at his friend.
"Th-then sit up!"
Richard felt so powerful when he heard Wally stutter like that. It was actually quite adorable.
"But your leg is soft," he argued.
"I'm big boned, not my fault," Wally mumbled.
Richard shrugged. "It's okay. My mum used to be big boned too and she was… well, you've heard the story…"
A pale hand tousled his ebony locks playfully.
"Sorry about that… but please… pretty please with sugar and sprinkles and whatever the hell it is that you like get your head off me!" Wally pleaded, attempting to push the tingles and jolts away along with the soft haired head.
Richard rose his head and saw the pain in his redheaded friend's expression and only smirked at that. He settled his head back down on Wally's thigh, just as the video finished buffering. He was only half-heartedly watching it though. He was more focused on Wally's growing 'problem'. He didn't mean to notice it, but how could he not? It was right next to his face! Of course he was going to notice. Richard's face went red and Wally noticed. A sudden urge to carve out his eyes with a spoon came over him, but he focused on the embarrassing problem at hand.
"Rob… I-I can… explain…"
Richard just smirked.
"I'm flattered, but I don't want that thing poking out my eye, so uh… start thinking dead puppies."
"Already tried," Wally mumbled, a cold wave running through him.
Part of him wished he could pass out right then and there, but he didn't.
"Alright, let's go into detail so I don't have to start wearing an eye patch. There's Kane back when he wore that mask and his mask is off. Remember when it looked like he was a burn victim? Yeah, it's his head on Mermaid Man from SpongeBob's body, with his whole front side split down the middle. His heart, liver, spleen and intestines are all hanging out, all fleshy and stringy and oozy… Did that help?" Richard's voice had gotten lower and lower and creepier and creepier until that last part when it returned to normal.
"It won't help if you don't lift your head," Wally reminded him.
"Well then you're going to have to suffer."
Wally's eyes narrowed.
"If I have to suffer, then you should too," he complained.
Richard chuckled.
"Good luck with that. I'm not as easily excitable," he challenged.
Wally frowned, thinking hard. What would make his dearest bestie more uncomfortable than seeing that his best friend was all stiff because of him? Then, it came to him. It was a stupid idea, but he knew it'd make Richard really uncomfortable. He didn't think it'd be worth it though. His idea was to kiss the cute little ebony on his leg. If he did though, Richard would probably never come over ever again and Batman would remove him from the team and besides, Richard was straight. It'd be nice while it lasted, but it wouldn't be worth losing his closest friend.
"Any ideas yet?" Richard taunted scooting closer obviously just to bother him.
It did the exact opposite though.
"One in particular," he admitted, "but it… it's a stupid idea."
"Is that another way to say you have no idea yet?"
"I do have an idea!" he insisted.
Richard smirked. "Yeah right."
"I do, damnit!" Wally pushed on his friend's head.
Richard rolled his eyes. "Then do it. You won't do nothing to me. I know it won't work."
Wally's face burned madly.
"It wouldn't… turn you own… but you'd suffer," he mumbled.
The ebony snorted. "Yeah, I'd suffer. Totally. There's nothing you can do to me that'd make me 'suffer'."
Wally bit his lips, the owls in his stomach turning into vicious dragons with barbed wire for skin.
"I-I-I… I shouldn't… I don't want…"
Curious eyes blinked up at him. "Don't want what?"
To lose you he thought to himself.
"Trust me, you'd be suffering," he said instead.
Richard sat up and paused the video, looking into the scared jade eyes.
"Come on KF, you're overreacting. You couldn't make me suffer if you slowly tried to chop me apart limb by limb."
Wally seemed to consider the idea but he quickly shook his head.
"I'm not risking it," he decided.
"Pussy," Richard fake coughed dramatically behind his hands.
Wally's stomach lurched and he slightly glared at his best friend. His hands clenched into fists for a second.
"Promise me you won't hate me for making you suffer?" he pleaded, closing his eyes tight, trying to convince himself to get the man-balls.
"I could never hate you," Richard said, confusion in his voice. "If it's such a big deal, I'll just sit up and forget we said anything about this."
"No!" Wally cried a bit too quick, his jade eyes widening.
Upon the look he received the red in his cheeks darkened.
"I-I… you've challenged me. I won't let you be able to say that I backed out of a challenge."
He looked over at Richard and his heart seemed like it just stopped beating entirely. The boy's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and his eyes just seemed to glint in the light. He had to look away for a moment, ever so lightly trembling.
"Wally… Are you o- mmfgn!"
Wally lunged forward, setting a hand to the back of the orphan's neck to anchor him in place before pressing his lips to his best friend's. Richard's blue eyes practically tripled in size and he gasped in surprise, every available corner of his face turning the darkest shade of scarlet. He tried to say something, but it just came out in a muffled mess. In a panic, he attempted to push Wally back off of him. Wally screwed up his eyes tight, fighting back at the hands that tried to push him back. He was going to enjoy this while he could. Or so he thought. Somehow, Richard managed to pry himself from Wally's grasp. His scared eyes met with Wally's intermixed jade ones and somehow, his blush deepened.
"W-Wally!" he attempted to cry, but he was breathless and it came out in a soft whisper.
Tears burned through the now hurt jade eyes and Richard noticed. He set a hand to his neck.
"Oh my God…" he whispered to himself, setting a hand to his lips.
Half of Wally expected to see a blurry Richard scrubbed the taste of redhead from his lips, but he never saw that. Instead, he saw a shy smile.
"D-does that mean I-I failed in making you suffer?" Wally asked shyly.
Richard didn't answer. He closed his eyes tight for a moment and he tensed, thinking hard. When he opened his eyes, they had a new look in them.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Wally's eyebrows furrowed.
"Why the Hell are you sorry? I'm the one who kissed you!" Wally reminded him.
"I pushed you away… I knew you… I shouldn't have…" Richard looked from the left to the right as he continued to mumble, as if he was arguing with himself.
"Can we forget this?" Wally pleaded, his face going way darker than his hair.
"That? Yes. This? Not so much."
Wally opened his mouth to say how it was unfair to speak in riddles when soft and shy lips gently touched his. His eyes widened just enough to recognize who's pretty eyelashes brushed against his cheek before he let his eyes fall closed and kissed back, leading the lost 13 year old, seeing that he seemed to be clueless and awkward in his motions. Time just seemed to slow down between them and in what felt like hours of teaching, Richard's lips finally knew what to do. And for the longest time he proved that he paid attention in class. Up until they needed more air that is. When their lips separated, they looked at each other shyly.
"Yeah, I failed pretty bad, huh?" Wally smiled, staring into the depths of Richard's pretty blue eyes.
These few seconds felt like forever, and he knew if he wanted, he could stay right there his whole life.
"Just a little," Richard said sheepishly, laughing softly.
Slowly, their faces got further apart.
"Well… that was…" Richard laughed shyly again, a hand flying to his neck. "Not as bad as homophobes make it sound…"
Wally's smile softened and he glanced out the window. A grin came to his lips.
"Hey… Rob… Look outside…" he said slowly.
Richard did. It was just a normal day.
"What's so special about it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The storm's over. We could go play four-wheeler tag! I-If you wanted to… that is," Wally made sure to add.
Richard nodded. "Yeah, come on."
He started at a normal pace towards the door.
"Race ya!" Wally challenged, a cocky tone back to his voice.
Richard smirked and tore down the staircase, having a good five feet between him and the ginger he had come to love. They were almost to the door to the basement when they were stopped.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mary West snapped.
Wally sighed. "Apparently, back upstairs."
But the second his back was turned, he smiled softly and winked at Richard before the two raced each other back to Wally's room.
[1] Sorry, I'm hungry and that sounds so good right now… that and a new episode of Young Justice…
"You pompous son of a whore!" Teenage Dream by Glee… I hate Glee with every ounce of my being, but they have a kickass version of teenage dream that would be perfect for KF/Rob. Boyce Avenue's version apparently. Anyway, I can't write endings. It's 6 AM, I'm tired.
-FrankandJoe3