A/N: I fell asleep writing this last night. I don't know how, but I did 'cause I woke up with my KF/RA playlist running and my glasses on. Not to mention my iTouch was nearly dead x.x So yeah.

But I have to ask: where'd you guys all go? One review on the last chapter compared to the six or seven for all the others? :\ Did I do something wrong? 'cause that means I need constructive criticism, not flat-out no reviews…

Disclaimer: Nope.
Warning: RATED T.

Toxic

"You smell like smoke." Dick was used to the scent in the city and on patrol, but not in the Batcave. He was fixing his dark hoodie when Wally had scampered his way on in, hiding from Barry for... It took the raven-haired boy a second to realize that he didn't even know what Wally was doing here. He almost asked but thought better of it.

"I do?" His voice got high-pitched, and he winced at the sound. All he remembered what smoking with Roy before they curled up in front of the tv for a scary movie, which was turned off halfway through because Roy got bored with it. And then Roy had fallen asleep, and Wally had wormed his way out of there. He cleared his throat and made a mental note to keep from letting his voice do that again. "I didn't even notice."

"And it's not even bonfire smoke. That stuff smells ridiculously good for being smoke." Dick was honestly amazed with how he knew this. Of course, fires weren't exactly uncommon in Gotham. Alfred had just fixed his cape last week from a scorch-mark that a burning building had delivered; that burning building had been courtesy of the Penguin. "No, you're like tobacco smoke, dude."

Wally was uncomfortably silent, weighing his options. Run now, hope Dick wouldn't mention it, and get back to Roy before he woke up with a hangover. Or he could confess, get the guilt off his chest, be innocent again, less sneaking around, more being Wally. Then there was his third choice: keep the bird quiet about it.

There was never a moment, in Dick's memory, at least, where Kid Flash had ever been so completely, deafeningly silent. It was almost painful to hear the quiet that was emanating off of him, the way he wasn't moving, wasn't speaking, only breathing-

Dick spun on his heels, sunglasses going a little crooked on their perch. "Wally, I swear-"

"You don't have to do anything for me. I just came because..." Why had he come again? The reason had slipped his mind. Loneliness? Guilt? Shame? Comfort? He needed something, he just wasn't sure what. Maybe his best friend could help him out of the corner he'd gotten himself into. In some part of his mind, he knew he'd dug himself a hole and now needed someone to throw down a ladder to get him out of it. "I... don't see you enough."

They weren't best friends for nothing. It was the way Wally's hand was curled into a fist. It was the way he was putting all his weight on one foot. It was the way his chin was down instead of up and confident. It was his breathing, slightly hitched. It was his eyes, dark and red where they should've been white. Dick knew. He was no fool. His azure gaze narrowed darkly, disapprovingly. "You've been smoking."

"Listen-"

"No, you listen." He hated how rough his voice sounded, how rude the words came out, fierce and attacking. "I'm supposed to be meeting with Zatanna in, like, five minutes. I don't have time to deal with you, for one. For two, I won't deal with you if you're doing that sort of stuff." Dick's glare was getting angrier. "We're heroes, Wally. It's part of who we are. We don't do drugs. Better than that, we don't smoke or drink underage." Something of a sneer was rising on his features. "I won't tell anyone because I'm your friend, but clean it up and clean it up fast or else you'll get caught and I won't cover for you."

His head tilted up slightly, jade orbs finally catching the brutal glare Dick was throwing his way, vicious and harsh, unrelenting. "Rob-"

"Clean it up, Wally." He snagged his phone and snatched his utility belt, rolling up his sleeve and wrapping the belt around his arm before securing it. "The League won't put up with it. You know that."

"And you'll let me get in trouble?" So this was what friendship was coming down to. League against a bond broken only this once by a little smoke clinging to his freckled skin.

"Only if you get caught. Otherwise-" He rubbed his hands together as if brushing off the problem. "-you were never here, you never said anything, and I know nothing." His gaze met Wally's for a brief moment of sadness, longing, back to when his innocent mind knew nothing but a speedster who would eat the last cookie and belch at the most inappropriate moment. "I'm going to meet Zee, you're going to stop whatever's going on." Dick turned and headed on his way, the zeta announcing his departure followed by a flash of bluish white light that filled the Batcave.

There was a moment of silence, Wally alone in the Batcave. Surely Alfred was hanging around upstairs and Wally could snag some cookies, but if Dick noticed the smoke, who knew if Alfred would notice. The butler was very perceptive about some things. Wally wasn't about to dig this hole any deeper; he'd already lost the one person he thought he could count on.

There was a buzzing noise coming from his back pocket followed up closely with some rap song that Barry had set as a ringtone for no apparent reason other than to be annoying. Wally looked around the dark space before pacing towards the zeta, knowing he had to get back to Star City before-

"Where the HELL are you?" Roy's words were loud, and Wally had to pull the phone away from his ear, Roy's rant becoming just a buzzing in his ear as he swallowed hard and sucked up the verbal beating he knew he was about to take. He continued to move towards the zeta while picking up strings of words like "not supposed to" and "can't believe you" and "stay here next time" that were yelled loud enough to not just be a murmuring buzz that Wally could faintly hear.

When Roy finally shut up and Wally pressed the phone back to his ear, he heard, "Wally? Shit, are you there?" There was a rustling sound in the background. "I swear, if you're in trouble-"

"I'm just over in Gotham." The zeta overhead began to call out his name and number. "I'll be there in a sec, okay? Don't flip."

Voice dark and tinged with anger, Roy said, "Then don't leave me again." And then the line was cut dead just as the white flash of the teleporter was ready for Wally to step through. The speedster quietly stuck his phone in his pocket, sighed heavily, and stepped through. He knew he was in for some trouble.

The day ended with two more cigarettes and a half a bottle of whiskey drained, Wally passed out on Roy's couch while the archer watched some movie about cowboys.

A/N: Review?

~Sky