Universe: Young Justice College AU
Characters/Pairings: Roy/Wally
Rating: K+
Genre: Romance/Fluff
Summary: It's Wally and Roy's first Christmas together, but Roy has something he's not quite ready to give.
Notes: Unexpected continuation of Straight Shooter at lotsapancakes's behest. In fact, there is so much Gimmy in the plot points that I really need to give her credit as well. No one dies! This makes me happy.

For GRIM LULLABY for Xmas bby. You're so beautiful.

Welcome to the first day of xmas break, dork.

Wally's phone beeped at him as clicked past Artemis's text and opened the picture text from Dick:

Having fun at Jeni's Ice Cream. U wish u were here. ~~[heart]

It came with a snapshot of the gymnast and a certain blonde archer grinning up into camera phone over gourmet ice cream in the freezing Gotham snow.

The college junior leaned back in Roy's desk chair and snorted.

A broad hand grabbed the wooden back of his chair and titled him back farther; Wally flailed for a second before he steadied against a very well-developed bicep. Roy's breath was warm and the smell of his aftershave sweet as he leaned over his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Did he really sign that with a heart?" the archer laughed, grinning lightly against Wally's freckled cheek. "I don't have anything to worry about, do I?"

Wally snorted again, turning his lips into Roy's neck.

"… don't be an idiot," he murmured into the redhead's Adam's Apple.

"Oh?" Roy cocked an eyebrow.

The junior was flailing once more as the chair suddenly hung in mid-air.

"I guess I'm in trouble, then," the older boy continued, a wry smile winding its way across his cheeks as he twisted up a grey shirt in his hands. "Because I hear that idiocy is sexually transmitted."

Wally barked a short laugh as Roy snapped him in the side with the t-shirt, and the freckle-faced ginger finally righted himself. The taller redhead turned back to his suitcase and folded the shirt properly, with crisp movements, before placing it neatly on top of the rest of the clothes.

As he heard the zipper slide closed with finality behind him, Wally absentmindedly ran his fingers over the boarding passes for their two plane rides home.

Separate plane rides.

One to Star City, the other to Central. He frowned a little, and Roy came up behind him and tugged the paper out from under his hands.

"Your pout is pretty, but it's really not necessary," he said half-jokingly, and a placating note slipped into his voice. "I'll see you for New Year's at your parent's place, right?"

"Yeah," Wally sighed and turned around, hooking one arm over his chair to stare at his boyfriend of three months, who had returned to packing up his laptop.

"I uh …so your mom and dad really still don't know? I mean, hasn't it been a while ...?"

The words "since you came out" hung in the air unsaid.

The archer paused, standing a little stiffly over the laptop. "No, they don't know."

"That sucks," Wally scowled. "I mean, don't you have to eventua -"

Roy interrupted him with a sharp exhale. "It's a non-issue, Wally. Just … just let it lie."

Wally's stomach twisted, like it always did when Roy shut down, or Wally felt like … like he was hiding something. "I …" he protested.

Dropping his bag, Roy took Wally's free hand in his own and bent down to look him in the face. "Hey, you, be glad you could tell your parents, okay? I'm really looking forward to meeting them."

He leaned in, lips brushing the ridge of Wally's ear. "And I promise you the New Year's kiss of a lifetime."

Wally shivered and growled, "Don't … don't think you can distract me, Harper."

Roy laughed again and pulled the runner to his feet. "Yeah, well, time to go."

He tossed Wally his sloppily stuffed duffle bag and headed toward the door before spotting something he'd hidden by the coat rack.

"Oh, hey, I almost forgot." Roy rustled through the plastic bag and pulled out a small, soft package a little larger than his hands, wrapped in silver snowflake paper.

"Ohhh, yes!" Wally grinned and let his duffle slide carelessly to the floor as he leapt for the gift. "I'm sorry; your present is still at my parents' house – I was going to give it to you at New –"

"Don't worry about it."

The present squished beneath the runner's hands – no sound when he shook it by his ear. "What is it? Dude, did you get me a stuffed animal or something?"

"No, I think you're hovering somewhere around age twelve, not four."

Wally tore into the paper gleefully – to pull out a package of socks.

"…"

Roy tilted his head. "What?"

"Socks? Really?" Wally cocked an eyebrow. "Are you my grandmother?"

"They're running socks. They're really good. I researched them," Roy huffed. "Just … keep going."

Wally turned the socks over to find a tiny gift card. "Ooo," he cooed as he pulled it out of the package.

It was to McDonald's.

"See? That's the romantic part," explained Roy unhelpfully.

The younger boy's mouth fell open.

"Because …" Roy frowned. "I mean, if you don't remember how you were dressed the first time you came to class then …"

Wally bust out laughing. "I'm sorry, I just … wow, you're kind of bad at this," he snickered, but he pulled the flustered grad student into a hug. "The gift card is pretty relevant, I guess."

Roy grumpily brushed Wally away and grabbed his bags. "Yeah, well, come on. At this rate we're both missing our planes, and I am not getting stuck in this hell-hole of a city for another ten days."

The archer turned on his heel and started down the hallway. Wally jogged to catch-up: "Aw, I'm sorry. Of course I like them. Thank you. You're not mad are you?"

"… it's fine," Roy sighed, shaking his a little in amusement. "I'm not much of Christmas guy, anyway."

"Well, I mean, of course it's the thought that counts – but I'm still giving you gift-giving lessons, dude."

"Duly noted," said Roy and then added as an after-thought: "... Ronald McDonald."

That earned him the lovely gift of a punch in the arm.

~oOo~

A gust of wind blew into the West's Central City home as Wally stepped in from his morning training session, and the front door slammed behind him.

"Wally, is that you?" Mary West shouted from the living room where she perched over the family evergreen.

"Yeah, Mom."

"I made you some oatmeal in the kitchen." A small smack as a plastic Christmas ornament hit the floor beneath the tree. "Aw, darn it," cursed his mom. "And put on some sweats after your run, you'll catch a cold."

"I'm faster than a cold, Mom," Wally whined, but the redhead pulled on a set of sweat pants as he finished up cool down stretches and headed toward the cozy, bright kitchen.

"And so help me, Wallace, if you're tracking slush in onto the new rug …"

"Uh … no?" Wally gingerly walked backwards to the foyer, where he – quite belatedly – slid off his muddy running shoes. Mary tutted under her breath and gave her son the side-eye as he slunk past.

"What?" Wally feigned innocence. Mary sighed.

"Well, hurry up and enjoy your breakfast, because Coach Allen and Aunt Iris will be coming by and then we're meeting Grandpa Jay in a few hours, and I'm nowhere near done with this tree."

"Sure thing," Wally called over his shoulder, grinning as he dished out a bowl of fresh cut oats, drenched it in maple syrup and covered it in strawberries. He wolfed down the breakfast with one hand and scrolled through his text messages from last night.

Roy: home safe?

Wally: yeah. my mom wants to send your family something for xmas tho like a fruit basket

Roy: not necessary

Wally: i told her it might be weird so she was like wondering if maybe from a student to a teacher would be ok

Roy: really its not a big deal

Wally: plz? sorry my familys sort of xmas crazy

Roy: ok

Wally: I know youre not that into xmas ...

Roy: ok just go ahead

Wally: cool. what kinds of fruit does your parents like?

Wally frowned. He'd sent the last one at 8 o'clock the night before.

No reply.

"Mom, I have to go do something, I'll be right back," Wally said as his dishes clattered into the sink.

"Go take a shower while you're at it, dear."

"Yeah, geeze, I'm not eight."

Ten minutes later Wally shed his towel and pulled up to his laptop: Harry and David's Fine Baskets: Order by noon EST for delivery by December 25th.

Hmm. Nick of time.

Wally clicked on a middling gift with chocolates, caramel corn, and pears as he pulled out a credit card, but he paused on the next page.

He didn't know Roy's address.

How can I not know Roy's address?

Wally had to get this in within the next couple of hours, and there was no way Roy would be up by 9 am his time. The archer could get up at five am every weekday without batting an eye, but weekends? Noon to one if he was lucky.

Wally tried anyway:

hey roy can i get your addy

The runner pressed send and then his fingers hovered over Dick's name. He should be able to access school files without an issue.

… but I don't know Roy's address. Won't that seem weird?

Somehow, admitting to Dick that maybe everything was – maybe, maybe, maybe - not all sunshine and rainbows seemed like not the greatest of ideas.

Dammit.

Wally went back to his laptop and flicked through his email, looking for anything that may help.

Maybe he sent it, and I just missed it?

"Roy" brought up nothing about an address, but of course it returned other several hits, including one from Oliver Queen.

Wally had met the retired-business-mogul-turned-economics-professor once or twice since he returned from his sabbatical. Professor Queen treated Roy like a son, and he was really pretty cool, even though Wally usually felt out of place at the fancy lawn parties or whatever they were.

Maybe it wouldn't be weird to ask him?

Wally sucked in a breath and copied the man's email address. Desperate times.

Professor Queen,

This is Wally West, Roy's -

Friend? Boyfriend?

Wally was pretty sure that Oliver knew that Roy was gay, but he wasn't sure if Roy had explicitly said they were dating. Wally frowned. This was more complicated than he expected.

Just dodge it.

- Roy introduced us a couple of weeks ago at a faculty reception at your house. I'm writing because my family would like to send his parents a gift basket but I think I -

Wally paused again. Uh …

- lost his address. I kinda need it by noon if you can and I don't think Roy's awake over there. Do you have his address in Star City?

Happy Holidays,

Wally

The runner hit the send button and stared at his phone for a second, waiting for a magical text from Roy.

Nothing.

He sighed and clicked his way back to the gift site, mouse hovering over the shopping cart page for a minute. An uncomfortable feeling draped over the runner like a heavy, damp blanket, and he shifted a little. But he still changed the recipient address for the gift to his own house and the "from" tag to say "Roy Harper."

The redhead pushed aside a twinge of guilt. It was just that he didn't have time to remind Roy to get something for his parents, right?

And they were just super crazy about Christmas.

And he just … really wanted them to like Roy.

One mostly decorated Christmas tree later, the doorbell rang.

"Barry, Iris, so good to see you," Mary threw her arms around her husband's sister as she and Barry shed their coats at the front door.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Mary," Iris cooed. Barry stomped the snow from his boots and ruffled Wally's hair before drawing him into a bear hug.

"How's my star pupil?"

"I'm good, Coach," Wally said, smiling.

"Hard to believe you're all grown up."

Mary gave a short laugh. "Not too grown up. We're still gonna need your two extra inches, Barry, to get that star on the tree."

"Mom," Wally groaned. "I'm taller than Dad."

"And thank goodness for that," Mary teased.

Rudy shook his head as he shook his brother-in-law's hand. "Well, she's the one that married me," he grinned.

Iris drew wally in for a hug as well. "And don't worry Wally; what you lack in height you sure make up for in stride, right?"

"Sure."

Mary settled Iris and Barry's coats on the rack. "Alright everyone, into the living room you go. Rudy, come help me bring out the eggnog."

"Yeees, dear."

"Oh don't say it like that." She playfully nudged Rudy, and their voices faded away as they disappeared into the kitchen.

Iris and Wally leaned back into the West's plush flower print couch while Barry rooted around the battered ornament box painted with snow. "Let's see what we can do about that star."

"So how've you been?" Iris patted her nephew on one sweatpants clad knee. "How's school?"

"I'm good," Wally supplied. "Passed all my classes; track's good."

"Mhmmm," his aunt let her hum fade into an expectant pause. "And ...?"

"And, uh, what?" Wally felt his ears heat up.

"We hear you have a special someone in your life now?" Barry asked over his shoulder as he stepped back to admire his handiwork on the star.

Wally's eyes widened a little. "I guess mom told you?" he squeaked.

"Yes she did," Barry smiled, "and we both want to hear all about him."

Wally felt his blush grow brighter even as he let out a tiny sigh of relief.

"Well, uh, he's an archer," he began shyly -

"Drinks are here," Rudy announced flatly, carrying a tray filled with the rich Christmas drink. "Four with plenty of rum, and one without."

He and Mary passed out the glasses, and Barry turned back to Wally with a grin. "So, go on."

Rudy slouched back in the recliner in the corner and changed the subject. "Yeah, how's Dick, anyway?"

Wally glanced at Barry, who shrugged.

"Uh, he's good, I guess. He's staying in Gotham all break. I'm pretty sure that he's dating this blonde chick."

"Aww, he didn't say?" Mary asked.

Dick was still friendly as always, but he'd gotten a little cagey since Wally started dating Roy.

"She pretty?" Rudy pressed.

" - or has he just not decided himself?" Mary shifted the subject back.

"I'm not sure, and she's okay."

Wally didn't take it too personally that Dick hadn't talked much about his love life. It was too chaotic for anyone to keep track of, right? He'd been pretty distracted himself.

"Just okay? So you don't like her?"

Wally rolled his eyes. "Augh, no, she's annoying."

"So no chance that -"

"Rudy -" Mary cut her husband off sharply. "We talked about this."

Barry and Iris shifted uncomfortably.

Wally was also pretty sure that Dick wasn't being distant because Wally had "switched teams" so to speak.

Rudy examined his eggnog. "Yeah."

Even if that was bothering his best friend, Wally was sure he'd come around eventually ...

"Yeah, son. Whoever makes you happiest."

... like his dad probably would, too.

"So you were saying, dear?" Mary smiled at her boy.

"Well, his name is Roy, and ..." Wally launched into the story of how they met, and all the fun they'd had in the last three months.

"That's darling, Wally," Iris grinned over her rum as he finished up. "So what about his family?"

The runner stalled. He really didn't know enough to say. He didn't even know what Roy's parents did for a living.

"Well … uhm..." A buzz came from his pocket. Saved by the bell. "Let me - I have to get this."

"Ok, hon, I'm going to check on the beef stroganoff. Why don't you get dressed for church, too, while you're up there? We can take a family picture after lunch and send it to Roy before four o'clock service." Mary patted Wally on the head as he passed by and up toward his room.

He pushed excitedly through to his message screens, but it wasn't a text from Roy. It was just an email notice. From Oliver Queen. Which was great, because it was 11:30 am, and he could still get the present out in time.

But he just wished he'd heard it from Roy.

Wally,

Roy's address is

347 Ridge Road
Star City, CA 91024

You're sure he told you that he was in Star City at home with his parents?

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Ollie

Wally's hands shook a little as he tapped the address into the Harry and David's site. Why had Oliver asked him that?

Was that weird that he was home in Star City with his parents? Was he even with his parents? In Star City?

It hit Wally that for all the time they'd spent together, Roy had rarely talked about himself.

Did I just not notice? Did I really not ask?

The runner knit his brows and tried to remember all the little details Roy'd said, but it seemed like the archer had managed to dodge a lot of questions.

Hmm. He should probably answer Oliver's question, at least.

Professor Queen,

Thank you. I think Roy went home alone because -

Okay just be honest.

- he wasn't sure his parents would be comfortable with us. I hope that it's okay that my family sends a present. I can cancel if you think it's not.

God. This is weird. TMI? Oh well.

Sincerely,

Wally West

"Wally! Lunch!" Rudy's voice floated up the stairs. Wally threw on some khakis and a polo and bounded down the stairs. He suddenly wasn't hungry at all.

"Wally, stop playing with your food."

"Sorry." The redhead tried not to sound too sullen as he pushed his mashed potatoes through his carrots on the other side of the plate.

"Not hungry?" Barry cocked an eyebrow. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"I'm fine," Wally grumbled.

"You sure you didn't spike his eggnog, Rudy?" Iris joked. "Maybe he's an angry drunk."

"I'm not," the runner pouted.

"Oh really?" Mary raised her eyebrows. "Is that so?"

Wally shot up to attention, suddenly all smiles. "Uh, probably? I mean. That's not really me, right?"

"Oh, he'll be 21 in two and a half weeks, Mary," Barry teased. "Let it go."

Mary glowered a little, and Wally shrugged sheepishly.

"Hand me your plates, Wally," Iris interrupted, "and get out to the living room so we can take that picture."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Wally mumbled.

"Nonsense," said Mary lightly. "Don't be shy. You're not ashamed of us, are you?"

"No, of course not," Wally said softly.

"Get in here guys!" Barry called as he put the finishing touches on the automatic camera.

Mary tugged Wally in by the hand and put him in the front of their little line up. Barry wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pressed his cheek to the freckle-faced boy's. Wally could practically feel everyone's happy grins.

Fifteen minutes and eight photos later he texted the best (well, the least bad) picture to Roy.

merry xmas from my annoying family [heart]

And five hours later after church there was still no response.

At nine, he and the rest of the family were gathered around a fireplace; Grandma and Grandpa Gardner had caught up with them after service. When his phone did finally beep at him again, it was just another email from Oliver. Wally sighed and thumbed through it, ignoring the growing feeling of dread.

What weird thing will I learn now?

Wally,

I've taken the liberty of booking you a flight from Central to Star City tonight. I'm sorry about the schedule, these were the only seats I could book. Tonight is a red-eye with a four hour layover in Phoenix; you arrive in Star at about 10 am. I hope that an upgrade to first class will make up for this.

… uhm, wow.

Don't worry about his parents; just please, go visit as his friend.

Merry Holidays and all,

Ollie

… Wow.

"Hey guys?" Wally said to the rest of the family in the living room.

"Yeah?"

"I ... need to pack."