Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.

Send Me On My Way

Chapter Five: Comfortable

As he listened to the sounds of babies screaming, couples yelling, and the almost constant sound of police sirens in the distance, Wally couldn't help but think how happy his friend Dick Grayson must be to live in Bludhaven. He had only been to Gotham City a few times, but from what he'd seen of it, he knew it was infinitely preferable by the general public to live there than in Bludhaven. Hell, the only reason he felt safe in Nightwing's city was because he was the Flash.

Having an easily ticked off Thanagarian woman with a huge mace didn't hurt, either.

They reached Dick's apartment, and Wally rapped the door at super speed with his knuckles, feeling nervous though he didn't know entirely why.

"Feeling a little anxious, are we?" Shayera asked, a red eyebrow cocked.

"No…" Wally replied. "Okay, yes."

"You do knowyou can run faster than the speed of sound, right?

"Yeah, but… this city is crazy. You saw how that transvestite hooker was staring at my Converse All Stars," Wally said, displaying his red baseball trainers to her with a certain element of pride.

Shayera sighed and shook her head. "Wally, just because you think those shoes are the best thing in the world, doesn't mean everyone else does."

A look of genuine shock crossed Wally's features. "Are you mocking the Converse All Stars?"

"They're shoes, Wally. That's all."

The speedster's mouth hung open, Shayera's flippant statement leaving him speechless. He scowled and crossed his arms, turning away from Shayera.

"I'm seriously not even talking to you now."

The Thanagarian just stared at the back of his head, and was about to relent and say something nice about the Converse All Stars when the door opened, revealing Dick Grayson, otherwise known as the costumed crime fighter Nightwing. He was looking at someone else inside the apartment as he opened the door.

A bad move on his part.

Wally grinned and opened his arms.

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

He charged forward, tackling his friend to the ground before he could even do anything.

"GAH!"

Dick groaned from beneath Wally.

"Ow."

Shayera sighed and shook her head.

Wally heard a noise come from his left, and looked over to see a slightly confused Barbara Gordon stood before him.

"Oh. Uh, hi, Babs," Wally said, managing a few nervous laughs before levering himself off of Dick. "How, uh… how're you doing?"

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Well… I just tackled Dick to the ground. That was fun."

She smiled. "I bet." Her eyes moved over to Dick. "I'll see you later."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Later," he replied, scratching his dark hair with a slight hint of nervousness.

"Nice seeing you, Wally."

The speedster nodded. "You too. See you around."

Barbara nodded and headed through the door. As she and Shayera passed each other, there was a stand off of sorts as one silently assessed the other. Coming to the conclusion that neither posed a threat, they settled for a terse nod before heading in separate directions. Shayera came into the apartment, and Dick gently shut the door behind her.

"So, Shayera," he quickly began, "how-"

In a blur of movement, Wally was suddenly behind Dick. "Dick? A quick word. Shayera, would you excuse us?"

She shrugged. "By all-"

Suddenly they were gone, the door to the kitchen left swinging.

"-means."

Shayera sighed and looked around the living room. She slowly and slothfully made her way over to the TV, switched it on, and fell back onto the sofa.

Maybe she could find something interesting for a change.

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"What?"

"Just one question, Dick; what the hell are you doing?"

He sighed. "Look, it's-"

"What about Kori? I thought you and her were-"

"We are, but recently, things have been getting weird, and I just needed someone to talk to. Barbara knows me. It was just-"

"No, no, no. I'm someone you talk to you. Barbara is an ex-girlfriend. An ex-girlfriend you almost asked to marry you, remember?"

"No, I'd forgotten that," he replied dryly. Dick paused, and, seeing the unrelenting pissed-off-ness of Wally's demeanour, he decided a different approach. "Look, Barbara and I are just good friends now, and-"

Wally put up his hand. "Stop, stop. Just… no. It's just… bad idea, Dick. Bad… bad idea."

"How is it different than you talking to Raven while you're going out with Linda?"

"Because Raven's moved on. Barbara hasn't."

Dick was silent as he crossed his arms, refusing to return Wally's gaze.

"Wait… she has moved on?"

No reply.

"Who? I mean, I haven't heard about her hanging around with any guys that much except for Bats-" he stopped in his tracks. "Whoa…" His face scrunched up. "Seriously? That's kinda… bleh, isn't it?"

"It's not confirmed or anything. It's just… vibes I'm getting."

A sigh of relief escaped Wally's lips. "Whew. Had me going there. But seriously. Meeting up with Babs just because things are weird with Kori… bad-"

"-idea, I get it, I get it."

"And weird how? Last time we talked about it, you said things were getting… serious."

"Things were. They are. I don't know."

Wally smiled. "Oh. I get it. You're afraid of the seriousness."

"What? No I'm not."

"Dude, you so are. It's written all over your angst-y face."

"I do not have an 'angst-y' face."

"Yes you do."

"Not."

"Do."

"Not."

"Do."

"Not."

"Ahem."

The two grown men looked over at Shayera, who was stood in the doorway with her eyes half closed and a 'what the hell are you doing?' expression on her face.

"Excuse me, Wally. But I the only reason I came here without complaint – no offence, Dick – was because you told me we would be going to a bar and drinking beer. I need beer." She turned to Dick. "Do you know what it's like to spend over three days in a row with him?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but Shayera had jumped in before he could even get out the first syllable.

"I want beer. We are going to go out now and get beer. We will drink. I will be happy. And most importantly, you two will stop arguing like girls. Okay?"

The two nodded. "Okay," they said simultaneously.

She sighed happily and nodded. And with that, she was gone.

The pair stood in silence. Dick slowly looked over at Wally.

"Is she single?"

Wally's face screwed up in disgust. "W- ah, dude, no! I- bleh, that's just- dah! What the hell! That's… just wrong!"

"What? I just-"

"No, that's like… practically incest or something! Just stop, stop!"

Dick put up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right."

There was another silence.

"…Wally?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Incest?"

He shrugged, scratching the back of his neck as he looked at anything but his friend. "Yeah, well… Shayera's like my… and you're… y'know… like… so… yeah."

Dick nodded, at a loss for words. "Uh… thanks."

Wally cleared his throat, pitching his voice down as far as it would go. "Uh, so uh… how them Seahawks doing? Pretty good! You see the game?"

Dick quickly followed suit. "Uh, yeah, yeah, it was good! Yeah! Lots of… fighting and stuff!"

"Yeah! It was… yeah!"

The kitchen door swung open again, nearly being knocked off its hinges as it collided with the wall. Shayera stood before them, fists clenched and one eyebrow twitching slightly.

"Shayera. Beer. Need. NOW."

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Shayera took a grateful gulp of her beer, quickly drinking the whole glass with a loud glugging noise. She followed it up with a resounding belch.

Wally and Dick daintily sipped at their beers.

"Nice," Wally said.

"Very nice," Dick added.

Shayera looked first at her two companions, and then at the bar they were sat in. Music played lightly in the background; not loud enough that someone could be bothered by it, but not so quiet that it couldn't be heard.

The only other noise was the sound of pool ball clinking against pool ball, and the occasional murmuring. Her gaze once again settled on the two superheroes sat next to her, their beers barely even touched.

"This is the life, isn't it?" Wally asked, grinning. "Just three buds sitting around and relaxing over a nice cold beer."

Dick clinked his glass with Wally's. "I'll drink to that."

They both took another dainty sip.

"Oh, please," Shayera mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Both Wally and Dick swung their heads around dramatically to look at her.

"Say what?"

"You two are such girls," Shayera said, turning on her bar stool to face them.

Wally brought his head up to look down on her. "I'll have you know both GL and GA like bars like this."

Shayera shrugged. "Of course they do. They're girls too, at least when it comes to entertainment. Put on some movie or go to some quiet bar, and they're happy to sit for hours on end."

"And I take it you don't agree with this?" Dick asked, his curiosity piqued.

Their female companion shook her head. "It doesn't quite do it for me."

The pair of heroes exchanged a quick glance before returning their collective gaze to Shayera proper.

"And what does?" Wally asked, the caution in his voice evident.

A Cheshire grin spread across the Thanagarian's face. "You wouldn't like it," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "John didn't like the kind of place I'm taking about, so why would you?"

Dick leant forward. "Try us."

Shayera's grin became a smirk. "Okay. You asked for it."

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Wally's brain was about to explode. He was pretty sure that was what was supposed to happen when one's brain was attacked again and again by loud noises. He glanced over at Dick (or at least who he thought was Dick through the flashing lights), and hoped he wasn't the only one about to die in this nasty, nasty way.

"Isn't this great?" Shayera yelled, the look of joy on her face reminding Wally of those kids in toy ads.

The speedster managed to ram a thumb up into the air at his friend before someone knocked into him from behind. He was just mentally picking a random expletive when he saw just how big said person was. He smiled nervously.

"Uh… my bad."

The large man grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt's collar. "What did you say about my momma?"

"Nothing!" he replied instantly.

After a tense moment of consideration, the large man decided to put him back down. With a warning glare at both Wally and Dick for some reason, he made his way past them and to the dance floor.

"What was that about?" Dick yelled over the din.

Wally just shrugged. "Where's Shayera?"

Dark blue eyes scanned the room before finding their quarry. "At the bar," he said, pointing across the room.

Slowly, steadily, and painfully, the two made their way through the crowd to reach Shayera. She turned to face them, two glass mugs of what they both hoped was beer clutched in each hand.

"Now this is more like it!"

Wally let out a small laugh. "Yeah!"

Dick and Wally sipped at their drinks, and promptly spat them back into their glasses. Shayera, seemingly oblivious to their disgust, leant over to speak to Wally.

"What happened over there?"

"Oh – just some big guy thinking I insulted his mom. No big deal."

"Which guy?"

"Uh…" He quickly scanned the room. "That one," he said, keeping his gesture very fleeting, lest the large man see him pointing and take it as another insult to his lineage.

"I see."

Shayera finished her drink and wiped her mouth before belching loudly. Looking around the crowded club, she held the glass down below her body, and snapped off the handle. She handed it over to a very confused looking Wally, who could only watch in horror as Shayera took aim, leant back, and threw the mug part of the glass across the room and into the aforementioned large man's back.

He roared in pain, and turned around, only to see Wally holding the handle part of the mug, standing dumbly in awe and shock at what his Thanagarian colleague had just done. The large man began to make his way through the crowd, knocking them aside and over his huge shoulders as he went.

Finally, he arrived in front of Wally and Shayera, his face red with rage and his whole body heaving in anger. The speedster glanced over at Shayera, who merely smiled at the giant as sweetly as humanly possible before shrugging and pointing at Wally.

The human tank turned his attention to Wally.

"Oh no."

Dick, meanwhile, had been completely oblivious to any of these goings on, distracting himself from the unpleasant smell of the club by trying to listen as hard as he could to the music.

Wally barrelled headlong into his back, knocking the both of them over a table and onto the floor, sending drinks, cigarettes and people flying in every direction.

One barfly looked first at the commotion being caused, than at another barfly sat next to him. With a pleasant smile, he tossed his drink in his companion's face, quickly followed by a fist.

The rest of the club happily followed suit. Even the bar staff got in on the action.

Using honed skills, both Dick and Wally effortlessly ducked and blocked blows from all around them.

"What the hell did you do, Wally?"

"I didn't do anything! It was Shayera!"

"Oh, yeah, like I'm supposed to believe th-"

An incensed battle cry interrupted Dick, and five drunken fighters suddenly went flying over their heads, landing painfully in a pile on the floor.

"Told you!" Wally said, turning to face Dick with a smug look on his face.

He was grabbed by the leg and tossed across the room for his gloating. Dick couldn't help but smile at the high pitched yelp Wally let out as he flew across the room.

Suddenly, Dick heard something he never thought he would hear in the middle of a bar fight.

Laughter. Pure, unrestrained laughter. Dick and Wally looked up from their respective places on the dance floor to see Shayera stood on the balcony above them, grinning like a kid on a sugar high. With a loud cry, Shayera tossed herself from the balcony and landed smack dab in the middle of a group of fighting drunkards. They all fell to the ground instantly, and all Wally could hear was a mix of grunts, yells and crunches.

Dick and Wally caught each other's eyes over the fighting, a steady smirk spreading across both of their faces. They both got to work.

As much it pained him to admit it, Wally was enjoying himself.

He heard the loudest battle cry yet, followed by an equally loud cry of pain.

Wally had never seen Shayera happier.

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Wally West, the superhero otherwise known as the Flash, collapsed onto the sofa before anyone else could even think about it. He felt a hand grasp him by the back of his shirt and pull him off. He decided to comply. It wasn't as if he could have offered much resistance anyway; someone could have rolled him off and he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. His back ended up on the floor while his legs remained up on the head of the sofa, neatly tucked next to the armrest.

He looked up from his spot on the floor to see Shayera slumped on the sofa, face down in his legs, which she had obviously decided were comfortable enough to sleep on. He let his head thunk back to the floor, leaving him staring up at the ceiling. It was the most boring shade of grey he had ever seen. Wally had seen shades of grey before, but damn; that ceiling was just butt ugly and boring. He'd have to mention it to Dick in the morning, if he remembered.

"Hey. You guys need anything?" a groggy voice enquired. Using the process of elimination, Wally determined it was Dick.

Shayera grunted a negative. Wally followed suit.

"Okay. See you guys tomorrow."

Shayera grunted a positive. Wally followed suit.

He heard the door to Dick's room click shut, and Wally slowly let his eyes close shut. He lightly felt a cushion being placed on his legs, and smiled.

I guess my legs aren't as comfortable as I thought.

A small part of his brain brought up the point that he was going to sleep in an awkward tilted U shape, but he quickly dismissed it. He would feel the pain tomorrow. As it was, he was just too tired.

His eyes slowly began to shut…

"Wally?"

The eyes sprang open at the muffled voice coming from somewhere near his feet.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. That was fun."

"No problem."

"Can we do it again tomorrow?"

He grinned slothfully. "Go to sleep."

"Is that a yes?"

"Can't hear you. Sleeping."

Shayera was silent for a moment. Wally felt a cushion hit him in the face, which he promptly put under his head.

"Night, Wally."

"Night, Shayera." He smiled. "Goodnight, Dick!"

No response.

"I said, 'goodnight, Dick'!"

"Goodnight, Wally!" came the very agitated response.

There was silence for a moment, then Wally heard what he could have sworn was a sigh coming from Dick's room.

"Goodnight, Shayera!" he said, causing Wally to break out in a grin.

"Goodnight, Dick!" she replied, though her yell was muffled by the cushion/Wally leg mix she was resting her face on.

"Happy now, Wally?"

No response.

"Wally?"

A loud snore erupted from Wally, though the huge grin on his face indicated he was anything but asleep.

"I swear to God, you're an asshole sometimes!"

Wally just kept on snoring.

Though no-one would ever know, Shayera was grinning ear to ear while she was resting on that sofa.

Because it had been a long time since she had felt this damn good.

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(A/N: Pretty fast this time, huh? I wasn't lying when I told some of you guys this update wouldn't take long.

Thanks to Mist for the 'No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!' thing – it just seemed like such a Wally thing to do, I couldn't resist.

Nothing much to add here, except that I realise the bar fight here was a complete rip of the bar fight in 'Comfort and Joy' – it was deliberately similar, so hush with the copyright talk.

As always, reviews loved and appreciated!

Next: Wally and Shayera decide to head to a certain T shaped tower, and Dick decides to go with them to see his old team-mates. But before they get there, they have to stop off and see someone else – Wally's estranged mother, Mary…)