Lost My Heart in Gotham City part 2
January 18th, 2011 Gotham
Richard was sweating. It was rolling off his body as he gripped the bar, twisting and turning, using the slender metal rod to propel himself to another bar higher off the ground. He paused, concentrating and willing his body to stay perfectly still, to keep his body stiff and perpendicular to the beam. He let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding, the precious oxygen his body screamed for. Drops of sweat left his brow and plummeted back to the mat-covered ground below him. Relaxing his tense muscles, he resumed swinging, launching himself back to the lower bar and then from there to the floor. Perfect landing.
He walked over to where his towel lay and quickly wiped the sweat from his exposed skin before leaving the training room. Outside the door he meets Alfred who, by the looks of it, was coming to give him a bottle of water. Richard gladly accepted it.
"Good work out sir?" The elderly British man inquired, taking the towel from the young man.
"Pretty good Alfred, thanks." He said slightly out of breath before he twisted the cap off the bottle and finished it in one go. "Where's Bruce?" Alfred took the empty bottle from him.
"Where he always is, Master Richard." The older of the two started down the hall toward the laundry room to deposit the towel.
"In the cave brooding?" The brunette quirked an eyebrow.
"Indeed sir." Richard headed of in the opposite direction of Alfred to find his adoptive father. He quickly found himself in the dank and dark cave, still in his gymnast attire, as he approached Bruce who was staring intently at the large screen of the super computer. The man was in his Batman uniform, hands clasped in front of him with his cowl off and a deep frown settled on his usually stoic features.
"How'd it go last night? Did you find Freeze?" Richard padded over.
"No." Bruce said simply.
"Are you sure you don't want me out there with you? I can help." Bruce looked away from the screen to look at his ward.
"No, Richard. I've been pushing you too hard and your grades have begun to suffer for it. School comes first. The Flash is enough help and if we need more we have Kid Flash on standby." He said with an air of finality looked back at the screen. Richard frowned as the yellow-and-red clad side-kick came to mind.
"He wasn't there last night?"
"No, Flash asked him to stay behind but to be ready in case he is needed."
"Alright. I'm going out then. I'll be back later-and before you say anything I've already studied for two hours, I've done my homework and I've trained today." Bruce paused, looking over his shoulder at his ward.
"Fine," he consented. Richard turned to leave. "But-" The older of the brunettes said causing the younger one to pause mid step. "-I want you back here before ten. I don't want a repeat of last night." Richard tensed.
"Alfred told you?" He asked incredulously, letting his foot fall, turning around to face his mentor.
"No." He said simply, his fingers starting to type, ghosting over the keys quickly.
"Then how-?"
"I'm Batman."
"Of course."
Richard made his way back to his room, threw off his training clothes and took a quick but thorough shower before getting dressed in a back hoodie to hide his simpler version of the utility belt and a pair dark blue jeans. He slicked his hair back with copious amounts of gel and bolted from the mansion. Alfred was already waiting for him in the garage.
"Anywhere in particular?" The older butler asked.
"Just drop me off in the inner city."
Out and about in the city of Gotham, Richard wandered down the streets. He looked at his phone; the time read 5:00 PM which meant he had a good three hours of sunlight left. He contemplated calling Babs, he could use the friendly ear to talk to after his break up and even more so his new acquaintance he had met last night. Then again, he could just call the red headed boy instead. Would it be right to call him? This soon? Should he wait to be called first? After all Wally did have his number. He chuckled to himself and wondered if Wally was having the same dilemma making so that they both didn't call each other. He sighed to himself and didn't opt for either. He had been whining to Babs about his collapsing relationship for a month now and the girl already had so much on her plate. He also didn't want to seem too desperate to Wally especially since he did just get out of a relationship. He huffed realizing he needed more friends. His thoughts then drifted to the Team. They weren't really friends though…more like colleague. Not someone you complain to about your shitty love life.
After a bit more wandering and wasting precious day light he found himself in a book store that doubled as a coffee shop. He ordered a far too complicated coffee drink from the barista behind the counter and wandered into the book store, going over to the literature section and going over titles. He frowned when he realized he had read most of them already and owned more than half of the collection. He continued on through the book store looking for anything to eat up time and walked past the comic book section. He paused for a few seconds before walking backwards till the isle was, once again, in sight. His breath caught a bit when he saw a very familiar looking red head lost in his own world sitting on the floor reading a comic that Richard couldn't discern from this distance. The brunet put his training to good use when he stalked over to the red head and crouched down. Looking over his broad shoulders he could see that Wally was reading the latest Flash Comic. He laughed, a little louder then he should have, causing the red head to jump. His head snapped toward the source of the amused laughter. He looked as though he was about to give Richard a piece of his mind but his voice died in his throat when he realized that he was, well, Richard. Then his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and made Richard laugh even more. The brunette took a seat next to him and took a swig of his beverage.
"Are you…stalking me?" Wally asked tentatively giving Richard a suspicious look.
"Nope, completely coincidence I swear." He smiled holding up his hands to show he means no harm. Wally sighed in relief.
"Good, I do not need another stalker." He grinned.
"Another one eh? You're that popular?" Richard asked with a raised eyebrow. Wally blushed.
"It was uh…stupid. Never mind-forget I said anything." He said hurriedly. This is what amused Richard the most about Wally. The older boy never seemed to know when to stop talking. Even right now he was going on about something while Richard listened tentatively and nodded, smiled or laughed when necessary. Richard assumed the boy didn't like silence very much and used this as a way to fill in gaps in awkward moments. The brunette stopped himself from profiling his new friend. Bruce's teaching never leaving his mind where ever he was or whatever he was doing; it got problematic at times. "So…" Wally slowed down and allowed his thoughts to focus again. "What are you doing here?" Richard leaned against the book case, took another gulp of his cooling coffee before his blue eyes stared into curious green ones and then he shrugged.
"Killing time. Still trying, uh, not to think about things." "Things" being his ex-. He also really wanted to say he was frustrated and desperately wanted to don his uniform and patrol the city with his mentor.
"I know what you mean. My uncle is still taking care of business and I've been bored out of my mind! My hotel doesn't even have cable dude."
Richard grinned at how animatedly Wally speaks and conveys his emotion. "My place has cable." Dick said before he knows what it is he is saying. He didn't regret saying it though. He did want to hang out with the red head, although bringing home a stranger would not make Bruce happy.
"As much as I'd like to I'm not supposed to venture to far from the hotel." He said nervously, scratching the back of his neck while offering a smile.
"It's cool." Richard gave the red head a smile of his own.
"There is an arcade a block of two down. Interested?"
"Hm…" The brunet tapped his chin in contemplation. "Kick your ass at video games? Sounds like a plan." He grinned.
"Oh, those are definitely fighting words!" Wally said half-shouting, forgetting that they were in a book store.
"Shall we?" Richard got up, finished with his coffee. Wally put back his comic book and they exited the store. As they exited, Richard tossed the empty cup over his shoulder, bouncing it off the closing door and ricocheting off the wall and into the waste basket.
A few hours later, about twenty bucks worth of quarters and some few curse words later, Wally stared at the large screen that boldly displayed the words "YOU LOSE" in bright flashing lettering.
"You…have got to be cheating." The red head said a little above a whisper. "There's no way…" He said a little louder. "That you could beat me at every single video game here. I mean…I'm not a sore loser-" He, in fact, was. "But just the probability of it is just…" His confused green eyes looked over to the younger boy who stared up innocently at him. He offered a small smile.
"I own most of these games at home." He offered as an explanation. It was true; he did own most if not all of the games offered here at his home. He wouldn't tell Wally, however, that most of the machines here had been "upgraded" and now when Richard enters a certain code or sequence of buttons he could access a mode of the game where he couldn't lose or gave his character immense power ups. Richard did this because, he too, was a sore loser. "C'mon, I'm starving!" He made his way out of the arcade to the pizzeria that was next door.
They sat in a booth in the back and had ordered two extra-large peperoni pizzas. Richard had been adamant about picking up the bill this time around and Wally reluctantly agreed. As Wally made his way through his fifth slice of pizza while Richard was still working on his first he paused in his chewing and asked "So, are you like rich or something? I mean from the looks of the limo and the butler and all that." He swallowed when he finished speaking. Richard looked up from his pizza, which he was cutting with a knife and a fork, at Wally who was giving him an amused look as he opted to eat the pizza with his hands—folded over like a taco.
"Yeah, uh, something like that." Richard stammered slightly. He hoped Wally wouldn't be like those around him that only wanted to know him for his status and his fame.
"That's pretty cool. Must be nice…" He gave Richard an easy smile. "I mean I like the way my life is right now, no money no problems and all that but…I mean…Uh, forget it." The ginger shook his head.
"I understand." The brunette spoke up. "I wasn't always rich. I was adopted into my family. It gets…tiring something. Being the adopted son of a billionaire puts a lot of pressure on me. Have to have perfect grades in school, I have to socialize with the right people when certain people are looking and I always have to look and act neat and tidy…" He lamented about his rueful time as a rich kid but was actually going over his cover. It got him a sympathetic look from Wally. He didn't know why but liked the attention he got from the red head.
It may have been because the red head didn't have any idea who he was. It was refreshing. When Wally had finished decimating the final pizza slices, even after warning Wally if he continued to eat like that he would definitely get fat. The red head gave him a cool smile and said simply "never happen" in a cocky voice. Richard rolled his eyes and they both exited the pizzeria. Richard took out his phone and looked at the time. He was surprised that it was nearing ten o' clock. He had to be home in less than an hour or answer to Bruce.
"I have to go." He said with a tinge of sadness.
"Already? Alright then. It was nice hanging out with you again Richard." Richard let a small smile grace his face as he called Alfred for a pick up.
"You sure you don't want a ride home this time?" The brunette quirked an eyebrow questioningly at the red head.
"Absolutely sure. I need to walk home anyway and work off this pizza." He winked. Richard rolled his eyes and grinned.
"Wouldn't want all that pizza to go to your hips." Wally snorted.
"This is where I take my leave then. I'll see you later Richy Rich." Wally teased and headed toward Gotham City Park. Richard watched him go until he rounded the corner. He didn't realize he was smiling goofily until Alfred had so eloquently pointed it out when he arrived. In the back of the limo and on the way back to Wayne Manor Richard fished his phone from his pocket, unlocked the screen and looked up a certain red head. He fingers glided over the touch screen entering the simple message "Hey." He dropped the phone into his lap and felt his heart start to beat slightly faster for reasons that escaped him at the moment. He stiffened when his lit up and buzzed. It read "New text from Wally West". The same goofy smile found its way back to his face as he picked up the small rectangular device and began to reply to the message. Alfred caught the smile on his charges face through the rear view mirror and he couldn't help but smirk as well.
Hello again people! I just want to thank you for all the great reviews I received and I hope to get more or else I'll never know if Im doing this right!