Wally woke up, again, staring at the back of Jinx's neck. He inhaled deeply. And squeezed her lightly in his arms. Ahhhhh.
Life is good.
He knew that some guys would've found her pale gray skin offputting. He loved it, the uniformity of it, how exotic it was.
And he loved the irony. In a way it almost made her seem delicate. Her? Ha! He stifled a laugh as another thought occurred to him. He backed off and let her roll onto her back. As she started to stretch and yawn, he zipped to crouch over her. He kissed her good morning, reveling in the smile it elicited from her.
"I was thinking about this yesterday. You know what you are?"
She smiled and shook her head no.
"A butterfly," he grinned.
"An insect!"
She got her eyes to momentarily glow pink.
"No, wait! Don't hex my buns or anything. Let me explain! I stopped at the park on the other side of the bay before running across this morning and saw all these butterfies crossing the meadow on the other side of the street. They were so pretty," he said leaning forward and rubbing his nose on hers.
"Uh huh. And how does this reflect well on me?" She asked looking up and grabbing a handful of tangled orange hair and squeezing lightly.
Wally chuckled. "They're just like you. Colorful and beautiful," he said looking at her pink hair then directly down into her pink feline eyes. "So lovely," he whispered, "that you start to think that this is a creature made simply to add beauty to the world, to remind you about the beauty of the world. But they migrate hundreds, sometimes even thousands of miles. They make epic journeys those delicate looking things because they're actually fantastically strong, not delicate but resilient beyond belief."
She smiled up at him then grabbed his neck with both hands and pulled him down into another kiss.
When their lips finally separated he sighed.
"I've gotta go to class, Virginia. I'm running late. Robin'll kill me if I'm not ready again. And after class I'm going to my dad's house in Keystone City. He wants to help me study for my finals on Wednesday."
She smirked at his delighted smile. He loved attention from his adopted father even being grilled in preparation for exams. She shook her head at how ridiculous it was.
He knew what she was thinking. He gave a shrug and a smile and pulled on his shorts, socks and chinos beside the bed. He had to stop with his button down shirt untucked. He could feel her rubbing him.
"Um, it's easier for me to finish dressing if your hand's not back there," said Wally nodding over his shoulder.
"I like having my hand back there."
"But, you see, I have a hard enough time fitting into pants back there. I'm really sure the tailor didn't alter these enough to accomodate your hand."
"Terrible lack of foresight," said Jinx. "Any pants sold to a boy like you should assume the presence of a girl's hand back there. I mean, duh!" she laughed. He couldn't help but laugh too before composing himself.
"I think these're the old fashioned kind of pants where it's assumed the girl will pat your butt from outside the pants and just kinda wait till you take 'em off."
Jinx removed her hand and smiled at him as he finished dressing. "More misogyny." she mumbled and then her expression bloomed into another smile toward which he bent down and kissed her before he was gone out the door into the hallway.
He was surprised that Robin wasn't there waiting for him. He usually was, tapping at his watch, and making Wally feel irresponsible while looking a bit nerdy with his black hair combed into a neatly parted style very different from the spiky way he wore it as Robin. Wally looked left down the hall. No Robin. He looked right. No Robin.
Hmmph.
He walked around the hall to Robin's room on the other side of the building.
Whump! Whump! Whump!
Whump! Whump! Whump!
The wall trembled slightly. Wally thought he could almost hear what he guessed to be Starfire's voice urgently calling out something unintelligible. He smirked.
Whump! Whump! Wh
He knocked twice on the door. The rhythmic impacts against the wall stopped. The room seemed to become quiet. He thought he could almost hear Robin's voice.
"Dick!" he half shouted. "It's Wally! It's almost time to go."
The door opened just a crack. Dick Grayson's face showed but nothing else in the dark interior of the room.
"Sorry, Wally. Just, uh-"
Slap!
Dick was interrupted and winced in pain as Wally heard a tremendous spank over his pal's shoulder.
"Ow! Jeez Kory!"
"You are a bad boy to keep friend Wally waiting . . . Dick," Wally heard an unseen Starfire say in a tone so clear that he could easily imagine her mischievous grin. And then he heard Starfire's signature giggle.
"-just meet me at the T-Car," Dick grunted quickly.
Wally smirked and nodded. The door closed cutting off the sounds of Starfire giggling and Robin's deeper laugh in response. Wally took the elevator up to the roof and sauntered slowly over to the T-Car in its garage enclosure. He opened the door and waited there for Robin.
Robin surprised him by emerging from the elevators just over a minute later, looking every inch the prep schoolboy he and Wally pretended to be in their two classes at Jump City Academy.
Wally knew Dick, the ultra fastidious leader was waiting for some kind of remark. He knew Dick wanted to get it over and done with. So he waited. He didn't say anything to Dick on the whole ride to the Academy. He buried his face in one of his textbooks instead.
Dick Grayson looked over as he piloted the T-car across the bay in aerial mode to the garage where they always landed and then switched to ground mode with camouflaging fenders and body surfaces whirring into place to make it look like just another mid priced three year old sedan.
He looked over again at his orange haired pal, feeling impatient now. Well? Come on. Hit me with it! Get it over with! But Wally just turned the page of his calculus book.
"That last one was really tough. Did you have trouble with that one, too?" asked Wally, not looking up from his book.
Dick sighed impatiently. "Uh, yeah, that was tricky," he muttered.
What-what the hell's going on? He's not gonna say anything? What? I call him Porn Flash and Rabbit Flash and he . . . ?
He frowned and stared at Wally. Nothing. No sign of anything. With a sigh, Dick Grayson put the T-car in gear and started driving to Jump City Academy. As he drove, expertly navigating traffic, as usual, another thought occurred to him. Is this what he expects of me? He-he thinks that me being late for doing it with Kory is par for the course? Is that what they all think of me, that I'm . . .
He stared at Wally again as they got out of the car but his best friend's expression was almost blank, just a little frown of concentration and a quick check of his calculus book again. Dick shook his head.
Wally didn't look at him once more as they went to calculus class or as they listened to the lecture and took notes. For Dick Grayson it was like an itch that he couldn't reach to scratch. Someone else had to do it for him but he wouldn't. So deeply ingrained was his particular superhero sense of justice that it only felt right to him to be reproached on even the most minor of failings. Spilling Raven's tea, dropping Cyborg's new circuit on the floor, accidentally throwing out Beast Boy's tofu because it looked rancid. How could Gar tell when it wasn't? Yeccchhh! Robin was all about justice, complete and immediate justice. An appropriate measure of praise or punishment for everything. That's what his life was. Wasn't it just a slippery slope from accepting small injustices to accepting larger ones.
Dick Grayson looked across the aisle to Wally Allen at the next desk over. Wally was totally immersed in the lecture. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl on the other side of Wally staring at his orange haired pal. Janet or Janice or something like that, right? Great. Another one he has to fend off without giving any clue who we really are. Sigh.
But Wally didn't seem to even know he was there any more than he didn't know that girl was ogling him.He glared at Wally. This tiny failing unacknowledged was driving him nuts. Like the princess who could detect a pea under multiple mattresses, superhero Robin couldn't stand his tiny wrong to be officially unaccounted for. He reached across the aisle and tapped on Wally's shoulder.
"Look, Wally, the-"
"Mister Grayson!" the teacher interrupted him with his deep throated voice and a glare. Dick pulled his arm back to his desk as the whole class turned to look at him.
"You and your friend, Mr. Allen, can socialize after class, Mr. Grayson. Until then you'll just have to concern yourself with calculus. Agreed, Mr. Grayson?"
"Yes sir," grumbled Dick.
"Don't get me in trouble, you dope!" Wally whispered over his shoulder and turned back to the teacher. Dick shook his head and ground his teeth together. The irony. Getting in trouble trying to socialize with my pal, mister social. Sigh. Slowly Dick turned his focus to the lecture. But all the while in the back of his mind was that itch needing to be scratched. Is that really what's expected of me now? Because I'm not going to be late for things. I'm not. No matter how great things are with Kory, I've got my responsibilities. And I was almost late this time and it was wrong. But I admit it. Why's firehair not acknowledging it?
Finally, the bell rang and they left the classroom and made their way to their usual high backed church pew style benchoverlooking the Jump City Academy quadrangle. It was warm enough that they sat just a little apart, not compelled to sit hip to hip for warmth as they had in cold weather. Wally immediately opened his biochemistry book. Dick stared at him angrily.
"Well? Come on. Let me have it."
"What?" asked Wally glancing his way innocent as could be but unable to control the slightest upturn of his lips.
Dick grinned. "Ha! You know what!"
"What can I say? You're a bad boy, Grayson," said Wally and he have a little slap to the side of Dick Grayson's rear. Dick Grayson just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Wally laughed and gave his pal a shove.
"Our leader the loooooooove machine!" he laughed under his breath then started singing in falsetto imitation of a song he'd heard on the oldies station playing in Cyborg's room.
"He's just a love machine.
And he only works for Kory it's true
Oooo-"
"Shutup," Dick grinned and gave Wally a punch in the shoulder
"What'd you call me before?" lauged Wally, "Porn Flash. How 'bout Robin . . . the Porn Wonder?" asked Wally and he gave Dick a shove then fell into convulsions of laughter.
Dick pushed back and they ended up in a typically Dick-Wally shoving match, that ended, as most all of them did, in a draw with both of them laughing. When Dick finally sat down he turned to his pal.
"I swear to you. She told me it was a half hour earlier than it actually was. She tricked me into more lovin'!"
Wally nodded skeptically. "Yeah. Right. I bet she has to use deceit after deceit to get your engine revving. I'll have to remember that one. Oh, Jinx lied about what time it was . . . . At least Jinx doesn't spank me."
Dick fairly leapt at him now as Wally fell over on his own, laughing.
"She doesn't freaking . . . ," Dick looked around to make sure no one heard that word. ". . spank me. She doesn't! I think she did that because you were there outside the door. She doesn't . . . do that, but . . . . ," he looked around again before continuing in a half whisper. "Damn, she's obsessed with-with . . . " Dick nodded over his shoulder.
"With bat boy booty?" smiled Wally as if just trying to be helpful. Dick pushed him around some more, meeting almost no resistance as Wally was laughing too hard to fight. Finally he let him up and they sat side by side. He didn't look at Wally.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Is that normal? I mean, she's always . . . . I mean, sometimes I wonder if I'm gonna look . . . "
"Dick. I've known exactly one girl in my life for more than a date or two and a few minutes kissing."
"Well?"
"Dick! My girl's from this planet. Are you sure a comparison's worthwhile?"
"Wally! Just answer the question. I-I wanna know. Is Jinx the same way about your . . "
Wally rolled his eyes. Oh alright.
"Completely."
Dick let out a happy chuckle. "Really?"
Wally sighed. "Yeah. She never misses an opportunity to put her hand . . there."
Dick let out another happy laugh and the feeling of relief in it was obvious to Wally. He looked at his smiling pal. Sometimes he forgot what a socially sheltered life Robin had led being with Batman and then as the relentless leader of the Titans. Circus to Batman to Titans. Did he ever experience normal social relations? What'd he ever heard about girls and sex? Did Robin ever go to makeout parties in junior high school or have even a few semi-normal dates like he'd had?
"And-and what do you do about it?" asked Dick in a feverish whisper.
"What do you mean what do I do about it?" Wally was genuinely perplexed.
He looked at Dick. Dick was completely serious.
"I don't do anything about it. We-we please each other. If she gets a kick out of how I look or even part of me, well, I mean . . . . great. It's not like I don't fixate on her just the same. And she's got just as much . . desire as I do. Why shouldn't she?"
Dick nodded earnestly.
"There's so much misinformation out there for a guy. The-the biggest misconception I got from other boys when they talked about-about . . . sex when I was a kid was that it's all about . . . scoring points, something you did and the girl just, I don't know, accepted, as you built your score almost, I don't know, to impress the other guys, to tell them. But," he momentarily frowned. "It would be such low grade sex without the feeling. Now that I'm with Jinx, I'd-I'd do anything for her and I see that it's not like that at all. I mean, I get mypleasure, hell, more than I ever knew I could, more than I can . . . ," he shook his head in wonder. "But what I really want is to make love to her and drive her around the bend, to make her feel more than she can stand, to make it so good that both of us are just in awe of what we feel for each other on, like, every level."
Dick nodded, his expression completely serious. "That's-that's how it is with-with me and Kory," he whispered.
"I think that's how it's supposed to be."
Dick nodded agreement. The two teen heroes shared a smile and sat back on the bench overlooking the quadrangle. Friendship cemented even further. They tended to their own thoughts for the remainder of the hour before their next class. When biochemistry was over, Wally went back to the T-car with Dick but, once he got in, slapped his own forehead.
"Oh, jeez. I've gotta get going. I'm gonna go to my dad's in Keystone City."
Before Dick could even speak, Wally changed from prep school blazer and chinos etc into his red and yellow second skin. He now had his books wrapped neatly insidehis clothes.
"See ya at the Tower in two days Allen," said Dick with a pat of his shoulder and a smile.
"Don't be too bad of a boy, Grayson," chuckled Wally with a pat in returnand he was off, a red and yellow blur.