That had been bad.

Wally didn't quickly live down being seen by all the others wearing Jinx's wedding dress and veil. And he had to endure the story being retold to each new arrival at Titans Tower in the days leading up to his wedding day. Everyone got a huge kick out of the story, imagining Wally, not in his skin tight red and yellow suit but in a long bridal gown, the curves of which did not match those of the teen speedster. Most laughed heartily. Speedy smirked and muttered, "My dream come true and I'm not here to see it!" Aqualad seemed to think Kid Flash had been degraded by the experience. "Oh, Wallace! Women's clothing!"

But Wally just rode it out. He'd been hazed by seniors when he was a 14 year old in a regular school and had had to let them catch him and paddle him and get away with humiliating him so that he didn't compromise his secret identity. This was no big deal compared to that. He was 18 now. Besides which, he didn't focus so much on what had been done to him but by whom. He prodded and cajoled and eventually got Jinx to admit in bed that the whole thing had been her and Argent's plan. She laughed at him falling for it but was impressed at how easily he shrugged it off and fell asleep contentedly on his chest not thinking less but more of him.

The Tower really started filling up on the day before the wedding as Hot Spot arrived from a mission in the far east and Arrowette, Wonder Girl and Mary Marvel all dropped in.

Titans East minus Mas and Menos, who were back in Guatemala but expected on the day of the wedding, had arrived the day before. Most every room at Titans Tower was now taken. Ironically for the run up to the joining in marriage of a young man and young woman, all the young men and women divided into two separate groups. The boys, Kid Flash, Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Speedy, Aqualad and Hot Spot, were all up in the great room. The girls, Jinx, Argent, Raven, Starfire, Bumblebee, Arrowette and Mary Marvel were all down in Wally and Jinx's room.

As usual, Robin wasn't joining in the fun and games with the other guys but was diligently checking police communications and interpol channels to see if there were any hints of pending super villain activity. Gar caught Wally's eye and nodded over toward the communications center just off the great room. Robin could just barely be seen past a column, staring at the keyboard typing searches for various terms. Taktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktak

Ding!

XINOTHIUM-no cross references with interpol communiques during the specified search period

Gar rolled his eyes at the search result on the oversized screen. Seeing if anyone in law enforcement anywhere has used the word "xinothium" in the last 2 days? God. Wally sighed then nodded to Gar. I'll take care of this.

He sped up to a spot beside Robin in a thousandth of a second.

"Whatcha doin' oh great leader?"

Taktaktaktak- Robin kept typing. But then Wally reached over, taktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktak and typed a bunch of nonsense letters in the middle of Robin's search term before -taktaktak he hit -enter-.

Ding!

SLADEQZXCWPYRBVQXYTMZBOT-no cross references with interpol communiques during the specified search period, said the computer.

"Wally!"

"You . . didn't want to make sure nobody was reporting the activities of potential Slaydquizshuhcowhipyrobivqu-"

"Wally!"

"Dick, you really need to calm down. Do I have to throw you in the pool again? You know I can do it. In between blinks I'll have you up there and in the deep end with pink water wings and a little mermaid life preserver."

"Do . . not . . do . . that, speedster. I'm helping."

"Helping what? Did Jump City pass some law that prohibits you from having fun? Back off, batalito."

"I'm-I'm just trying to make sure that things will be quiet tomorrow . . . for you . . and for Jinx." Robin nearly whispered the last parts. Kid Flash was touched. He pulled Robin up off the chair in front of the communications console and gave him a hug.

"That's very nice of you, oh great leader," he said with a pat of his nearly granite hard spikes of gelled hair as they separated. "But I've already taken care of it."

Wally thought Robin's expression fit his having rolled his eyes but he couldn't tell with his friend's omnipresent mask on. "You're letting a couple of them come to the frigging ceremony! How is that taking care of it? You really think you can rely on them to behave, Wally?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Because they like her and they're afraid of her. They know she'd kill the one who ruined her wedding day. Besides, we get something else out of it."

"What?"

"The use of the grapevine, little Bat."

"Huh?"

"Think big picture, Dick. Elliot's not a crook anymore anyway. And See-More'll hold off on his plans but he's hardly the only bad guy in Jump. So, I told See-More to spread the word around that, in addition to every young hero, all of us plus Superboy and Captain Marvel Junior and Supergirl, there'll be more than 20 League members in Jump that day, including all the heavy hitters, Big Blue, Bats, Diana, Flash and two Lanterns. Anyone so much as jaywalks this weekend and they'll have five Justice Leaguers tackling them to the pavement."

Robin smiled and nodded and gave Wally a pat on the back. "Nice, speedster. Nice."

"Care to join the rest of us, then, streetlight?" said Kid Flash, gesturing to the other teens laughing at something on the giant plasma screen.

Robin smiled. "Sure."

And, for a couple hours, as afternoon headed into evening, the seven teen hero boys laughed and joked back and forth and told outrageous stories about themselves and each other like any other group of teen friends might have. Garrulous Roy was the loudest voice in the group and highbrow Garth the quietest but no one was left out. But, aside from the flow of stories and laughs, one by one the others each had a few quiet moments alone with their friend, Wally.

"You . . do know what you're doing, tomorrow, right?" asked Hot Spot.

"Dude. You're sure of this, right? You know . . Jinx and everything?"

"You and Jinx are meant to be, aren't you, Wallace?"

"I saw her before you but I see the way you two look at each other. You know it's right, don't you?"

"I know I doubted at first. I mean, she was a villain, after all. But you'll be happy together, won't you? I-I know sometimes people think I don't care about anyone being happy. But I do want you to be happy, Wally. You and her will be happy, won't you?"

And then there was Speedy.

"Are you sure of this," asked Roy when he was alone in the kitchen with Wally. He gave a pat to Wally's hip. "You could still do so many, I mean, so much, Wally."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Roy."

"Before you sign that long term contract with that team, tomorrow, Wally consider how you could do as a free agent. Hmm? The other team wants you. Believe me, Wally. They want you. They have scouts everywhere looking for players like you. You are just what they're looking for. Six one, good looking, zero fat, ridiculously athletic. You could get a no-trade contract if you want, Wally. Special benefits! Everyone on that team would give you . . benefits, Wally. Believe me. I understand both teams. I'll be your agent. I just want 5 percent."

Wally rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the offer, Roy, but the sex with Jinx is fantastic. I'm not looking to change teams."

Roy sighed. "Had to try, Wally."

Kid Flash zoomed back to the great room and was talking to Robin until he heard a shout from Speedy.

"Alright! Let's kick things into gear!" shouted the archer over the voices of the others and threw a beer in Wally's direction. Wally caught it out of mid air and inspected the bottle.

"Beer? You do know I'm only 18?"

"Uh . . yeah, speedster. But, come on. It's the night before the big day. You need to have a bachelor party. We'll take you out and do it up right. Wine. Women. Song. The works."

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Hot Spot clapped and cheered. "Yeah! Party, speedster party! Speed-ster Par-ty! Speed-ster Par-ty!"

More beers were tossed from the kitchen.

"You're not old enough to drink and you can't legally get into any clubs, Wally." Robin interjected.

"Uh . . . yeah, that's right, Captain Goodtimes," said Speedy. "And how many teenagers does that actually stop? Judges?" he spun and pointed toward Beast Boy, Cyborg and Hot Spot.

"None!" they laughed in unison.

Then a tug came from a third direction, not Robin or Speedy. "Wallace," began Aqualad trying to sound calm and authoritative. "You're not some frat boy like Roy and those three. I know you appreciate fine culture." He turned to the others. "He and Jinx went to the opera with me to Marriage of Figaro and Tannhauser and to that Ibsen play and those two wonderful ballets, " Garth told the group with a nod. Yes, it's true. "And now I have tickets for Le Corsaire, Wallace," Garth held them up for all to see. "Fourth row center. It'll be a wonderful exhibition of the artistic athleticism that young men are-"

"Don't listen to Masterfish Theater over there, Wally!" interrupted Speedy with a gesture toward Aqualad. "This is your bachelor party! Your . . bachelor . . party. You can pay for some dried up , dead art experience any time you want. This is your bachelor party. But, did you really go to those things with him?

"Yes," Wally declared. But Speedy seemed to pick up on something about his tone.

"And . . did you like it, Wally?" the archer questioned.

Wally let out a long sigh.

"Tell him Wallace!"

Another, longer sigh. "Garth."

Speedy led Beast Boy, Cyborg and Hot Spot in chuckles.

"But you and Jinx both said you loved our little cultural outings! You said you loved Tannhauser-"

"I loved the overture, Garth. The rest of it . . ehh, not so much. I liked the play, at least."

"And Marriage of Figaro?"

Kid Flash made a face of mild displeasure.

"Coppelia?"

Greater displeasure.

"Swan Lake?"

Greater still.

Aqualad got up from the couch where he sat and approached Kid Flash. "But why lie to me, Wallace?"

"Jinx liked that Coppelia, ballet, Garth. But the rest . . . ? We-we like being around you and it meant so much to you, we just didn't have the heart to say that we didn't like it. The minute we left our seats each time you were going on about how great this dancer or that singer had been. It felt like we'd be hurting you if we said otherwise. We just didn't have the heart."

Aqualad looked crestfallen. Kid Flash zipped to his side and put an arm over his shoulder. "Garth. I apologize. We should have told the truth, somehow. We just didn't want to alienate you. We both like you a lot."

Garth sighed and seemed to gather his strength. "Apology accepted, Wallace. But how about tonight's ballet? Le Corsaire is very accessible to all sorts of audiences. It's one of the most athletic ballets. You . . "

Garth could see Wally shaking his head.

"No?"

"No. Sorry, Garth. But let me tell you why. It's something that's been bugging me for a little while. See, I caught a group of thieves the last week. These guys would rob a bank or grocery store or knock over an armored car and use a team of guys on high speed motorcycles to get away. They really coordinated things well, always dropping loot at an underpass where another bike would be ready to speed off just as fast in the other direction. I read about it, then made a point of patroling, quietly, till I was out there while they were pulling a job and yanked both their guys off their motorcycles. I asked 'em how the hell they ever thought they'd get away with it, with a Flash working in Jump City. They said that they thought I was just screwing Jinx in the Tower and that I only came out for super villains, that I wasn't really part of the picture in Jump City."

"Uh, Wally, dude? That's pretty much true."

"Well, maybe it was, Gar. But I don't want it to be. I don't want to be a total freak. I want to know what real peoples' lives are like. I want to live at least a little bit of a real life, to know what the rhythms of a real life are like."

Speedy stepped forward, sensing his opportunity. "And what's more real and norman and un-freakish than a blowout night of partying with your pals the night before your wedding."

The great room filled with whoops and cheers. When it quieted, Speedy opened up a compartment in his utility belt.

"I knew you'd come around, Wally. That's why I had these made," he said and flipped small laminated cards around the room to each of the other six teens. After catching it, each inspected his card. They were ID's. Fake ID's.

"You know, this is illegal, Roy!" Robin half gasped.

"Oh come on, bat mitzvah! What could happen? We take our buddy Wally out for some high powered fun his last night as a free man. We see some scantily clad women throw back some mildly mind numbing beverages and just generally have a lot of fun. What could happen?"

"I don't know, Roy . . . I don't think it's a good idea."

"Oh, sure, it's not as much fun as sitting in your room typing out case files, squirt-" Speedy knew his applause lines well and paused while Beast Boy, Cyborg and Kid Flash all snickered. "But other people might think so."

"Enough with the height cracks, Roy. I told you. S.T.A.R. Labs says I'll end up six foot one."

"Right. And just because you're five seven-"

"Five eight!"

"-Five seven and change while the rest of us, even Gar, are six one or more, why would you be the butt of short jokes?"

Robin fumed as his comrades chuckled some more. God! Shorter than Gar! Five inches shorter than Gar now, for god's sake!

He only slowly relaxed with the help of Kid Flash patting his shoulder. "Come on, Dick. He's just kidding. It doesn't matter." Robin calmed down and eventually gave a slight nod of assent that he'd go along with everything. He even agreed to be the designated driver of the T-Car.

But he fumed again when he, and the others looked at their fake ID's. He gritted his teeth and advanced across the great room at Speedy.

"Alan Retentive?! That's my bachelor party ID name? Alan Retentive?!"

"Sure. I just reversed two letters from what everybody already calls you. It was a natural."

"Roy!"

But Robin had competition as Aqualad was also advancing angrily on Speedy who looked nonplussed as he casually took a long swig from a bottle of beer.

"Garth Flounder?! My bachelor party name is Flounder?"

Speedy finished off his beer then let out a tremendous belch before starting toward the roof and the T-car. "Why not!?"