Chapter 2

Wally knocked on Roy's door and waited for an answer, the usual goofy grin on his face. Tonight was their movie night, every Friday night. It was something of a tradition that he, Dick and Roy just sort of randomly started years ago that just stuck. When the door opened, Roy was standing in the doorway with the usual neutral expression, but unlike usual, instead of being dressed in civilian clothes, he was in his Red Arrow gear.

"Wally?" Roy asked, quirking an eyebrow. Did Roy forget? Wally tried not to look too disappointed, because after all, how could Roy forget movie night, after all these years? And why was he upset about a single, forgotten night? Well shit...

"Uh, you didn't forget movie night, did you?" he asked with a smirk. Roy stood there in silence for a few moments, then face palmed.

"Shit. Sorry Wally," Roy murmured, standing aside and gesturing for Wally to come in. Wally smirked a little and made his way inside.

"If you wanna go out on patrol tonight, that's fine. Maybe I'll go bother Dick instead. Speaking of, where is he?" Wally asked casually, waving his hand dismissively. Roy closed the door and peeled off his mask.

"It's fine. I guess I've just been a little scattered lately. Make yourself at home," Roy said smoothly, watching Wally from behind...eyes wandering like he knew they shouldn't. This was his best friend after all.

"Uh...I'm not sure. Dick hasn't shown up yet. Haven't even heard from him," Roy replied. Wally flopped down on the couch, glancing over at Roy. He found himself unable to speak as he locked eyes with Roy. Roy's eyes...were really pretty. Like Dick's, they were a nice shade of blue, but unlike Dick's they didn't hold that...joie de vivre, that love of life that always sparkled and danced in the acrobat's eyes. Roy's eyes were...serious, determined, strong, bold, so many different words, so different from Dick's, but still beautiful in their own way.

"Wally?" Roy's voice came again. Wally was snapped out of his reverie and turned his head toward the TV, snapping up the remote and turning it on, trying to hide the blush that had crept onto his face.

"Sorry, caught up in thought," Wally replied casually, waving his hand dismissively. Both their phones went off, and the two of them flicked them open to find a text message from Dick;

Not going 2 make it 2nite. Joker. Sry.

Wally was a little miffed that Dick wasn't going to make it tonight, but it was understandable. It wasn't often that he canceled, but where the Joker was concerned, it was definitely understandable. Wally loved spending time with both of his friends, and Friday nights were the one of the few times when all three of them were together. Though perhaps it was for the best; considering that Wally had just been staring at Roy's eyes, thinking about how beautiful they were...

Roy flopped down beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts again. While he was off in his own little world, admiring Roy, the elder had started a movie on Netflix and was getting off the phone from ordering pizza, as per the norm. He was still in his Red Arrow gear, but his bow and quiver were tucked in the corner of the room. It was kinda nice that Roy was dropping patrol tonight to keep up with their little tradition.

"What're we watching tonight?" Wally asked with a little smirk. Roy glanced over at him, a small smirk tugging at his own lips. But he didn't answer. Wally huffed when he didn't get an answer, but leaned back into the couch, making himself comfortable regardless. And when the movie began to play, he glared at Roy, though it didn't hold any real anger.

"A chick flick? You ass," Wally teased, poking the other redhead in the side with his elbow. Roy grinned and playfully shoved back and Wally smiled; he felt lucky, being one of the few people to see this side of Roy, the side he kept hidden from all but his closest friends. On the outside, he was brash and serious, intolerant of immaturity, and very short-tempered, but on the inside, if you somehow managed to get close to him, he was just like everyone else. Roy was a teddy bear on the inside, protective of his friends, like a big brother.

It was true, he didn't get a lot of Wally's jokes, and didn't smile often, try as the speedster might, but when he had something to say, had a question about almost anything, Roy treated him seriously instead of cracking a joke or laughing him off like the rest of his friends did. Dick was more or less somewhere in between Roy and the rest of their friends. He'd tease him, make some jokes, even laugh at him, but that was just how Dick was with everyone. But with Wally, Dick treated him seriously, it was just veiled behind humor and tease.

Roy was special, like Dick was special. And that's why he fell so impossibly hard for both of his male friends. But right now, with Roy, the movie was only half on his mind as he stared at the red head with a small smile, careful to make sure the man didn't notice he was staring. Eventually he sighed and turned his attention back on to the movie...because there was just no way Roy could ever have feelings for him...which kind of hurt.

Another knock came at the door, at which point Roy answered. Pizza was here, he paid, and returned to the couch, clipping back down and placing the box on the coffee table. He grabbed up a paper plate and slapped a piece down and handed it to Wally. Wally happily grabbed the plate and began munching down, speaking while he ate "mmm, thanks dude!" Roy smiled slightly at the sight; that was Wally, always talking while jamming food into his mouth. Most people found it disgusting, but he somehow...found it cute.

As the movie progressed, and the pizza vanished (most of it down into Wally's stomach) Wally had snuggled up against Roy's side. Wally could get away with it; he loved to cuddle and everyone knew it. Artemis knew it, Zatanna knew it, M'gann, Connor, Kaldur, everyone knew it. With Artemis, it was sort of limited to slightly leaning against her, stretching out and leaning his head against her side. Zatanna was a bit more lenient, allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist and cuddle a bit against her side, because they both knew it was purely platonic, despite the flirty comments he made. Zatanna never hit him, but Artemis did it for her.

He didn't dare touch M'gann, for fear of Connor throttling him through a wall, and he didn't go anywhere near Kaldur or Connor. But nobody knew more than Dick and Roy, how much Wally liked to cuddle.

Roy and Dick let him snuggle against them, lay across their laps, wrap his arms around them, pretty much everything within reason. They had a silent understanding about what was okay and what was not, but it had never been an issue before. As close friends, neither Roy nor Dick had ever raised any objections or concerns with Wally's cuddling, with any contact he made, but Wally was respectful enough to keep it from being uncomfortable. He could feel when they didn't like something by the way they moved, subtle twitches and movements and so on.

But tonight...Wally was pushing it a little...because...well, maybe if he could get just the right reaction from Roy, or maybe a lack of one...any indication that just maybe...maybe Roy might feel something more than platonic friendship? Deep down, he felt a little bad for going about it this way instead of just talking to him, but...he could never ask him. Not that. Because he was so afraid of breaking their friendship...

Roy glanced down at Wally,carefully, as the speedster snuggled a little closer, one of his arms having wrapped itself around his waist. Roy was blushing but it didn't seem Wally noticed, before the hand attached to the arm wrapped around his waist was...it was laying on his thigh...really close to his crotch. But Roy didn't say anything, as it didn't seem Wally was aware of just how close that hand was. It was uncomfortable, not because of just where that hand was, but because...I love you, Wally...

But he couldn't say that...he could never say that. Because if he did, and if Wally rejected him, or worse, he broke their friendship, that would hurt more than anything. So he allowed the contact to continue, turned his attention to the movie and pretended he was okay with it, which wasn't too hard, because a part of him really was. But his eyes were inevitably drawn back to the speedster; his fiery red hair, those beautiful green eyes, the fading freckles on his face. He liked those freckles, but it seemed he was slowly growing out of them. But even without them, his face was...Wally was beautiful.

Roy felt his face heating up again and he quickly turned his attention back to the movie when he saw the slightest movement of Wally's head, afraid the speedster might catch him staring. The worst of it was that he was no longer paying attention to the movie. Oh no, he was wondering what Wally's lips would feel like against his own, what his skin would feel like under his touch...what his body looked like beneath all that clothing...and it suddenly became that much harder to be around him. Roy swallowed hard and cleared his throat, reluctantly pulling away from Wally.

"Sorry. Bathroom," he lied, retreating to the bathroom.

Wally glanced up at Roy when the older male parted from him, barely holding back a disappointed sound. The loss of Roy against him was slightly disappointing, because he'd gotten so comfrotable, so warm...Roy's body felt really nice, pressed against him and...he found his mind thinking other things...like Roy's arms wrapped around him, cuddling back against him, holding him close...fuck. He had it bad...but when Roy retreated, he sat upright and flashed a smile, watching him go.

He turned his attention back to the movie and he felt his heart drop a little, because he was just in time for a love scene; the girl was confessing her feelings to the man she loved, and Wally briefly felt a twinge of jealousy; jealousy that he didn't have her courage. If only he did, but even if he did, there was still one problem; he liked both Roy and Dick...how could he possibly choose between them...?

Roy stood in the bathroom, staring into the mirror and splashing his face with water. His eyes were a little puffy and swollen, having been unable to hold back the tears that had spilled over his eyes. He didn't want Wally to see him upset like this, but the question was, why was he so upset? It was a stupid question, because he already knew the answer; he loved Wally, more than a friend, but he also loved Dick that way too. And Wally was right there, cuddling up against him, and he didn't have the balls to say anything.

He was too afraid. He, Roy fucking Harper, the man who had faced down murderous thugs, metahumans and monsters, was too afraid to confess his feelings. He'd held it in for so long, those feelings building up in him along with everything else, that it was becoming harder and harder not to just...let it out. To just...cry. And now he was afraid to go back out there. Afraid he wouldn't be able to hold it together until the movie was over.

Heaving a sigh, Roy dried his face with the towel and made his way back out into the living room and flopping back down onto the couch. He glanced over at Wally when the teen didn't immediately latch himself back onto his side. Maybe he'd sent the wrong message? That he had been uncomfortable with the contact? And then suddenly, he felt like a deer in the headlights when Wally looked right at him...

Okay...you can do this Wally...the speedster looked at Roy and flashed a sheepish grin.

"So Roy..you must've...dated a lot, right?" he asked, careful to avoid mentioning gender. Roy was silent for a few seconds, staring back at him. He cleared his throat a bit and said "I wouldn't say that. I've dated a few girls, but I've never had a relationship that lasted more than a few months."

"Except Cheshire," Wally pointed out with a smirk. Roy blushed a little and turned back to the movie, waving his hand dismissively.

"Cheshire and I broke up," Roy said evenly. Wally's smile faded and he bowed his head a little.

"Ah, sorry to hear that," Wally offered. Roy shook his head, glancing back over at Wally.

"It's fine. We both realized that I-" he paused, wondering if he should reveal the next bit of information. Well, it was harmless, because there was no way Wally could figure it out.

"I had feelings for someone else." Wally's eyes seemed to widen a bit, and then that goofy grin came right back.

"Oh yeah? Who is it?" Roy noted that, once again, Wally didn't specify a gender. He didn't say she. That would seem like a small thing, but it really wasn't. At least, not to Roy. But then, maybe it was his own paranoia, making something out of nothing. Roy frowned a bit, turning back to the movie.

"No one," he said, but that wasn't true. Wally isn't 'no one'.

"It doesn't matter-" Roy glanced over at Wally and decided to take a risk. A small risk, but still a risk, and continued "-because he probably doesn't feel the same way about me." There it was again; Wally's eyes widened a bit. Roy held his breath for a few seconds, waiting for Wally to speak. To react.

"He? Well, how do you know? Have you asked him?" Wally asked carefully, fighting not to blush. Because deep down, he was hoping beyond hope, that 'he' was himself. And Wally waited, forcing his expression to go neutral, afraid to betray his own feelings. And Roy leaned a little closer; his breath catching in his throat.

Roy watched Wally's expression carefully, hoping to read any signs, anything that would indicate that Wally maybe felt something for him, something beyond platonic friendship. It seemed foolish to jump to such a ridiculous conclusion, just because of the lack of a few pronouns...but...Roy closed his eyes and leaned forward...he pressed his lips against Wally's...

Dick sat in his bedroom, heaving a sigh. Tonight was their movie night, his Roy, and Wally's, and they always spent it at Roy's house. It was sort of a tradition they'd had going for a number of years now and Dick rarely missed one. But tonight, he didn't feel like going. It would be too hard to be around both of his crushes. Especially when one of them loved to cuddle.

So he lied and sent a text message blaming the Joker. It wasn't like Bruce couldn't handle the Joker with Jason, as Robin, by his side. Dick had made the transition from 'Robin, Boy Wonder' to Nightwing some time ago. Robin was Bruce's sidekick, not his partner. Robin would always be a sidekick, and Dick felt like he was too old to be a sidekick anymore. The new identity gave him a sense of independence. Much like when Roy transitioned from Speedy to Red Arrow. True, his friend had also moved out out Ollie's place, but he was also 18, too. Dick was only 15.

Jason was now Robin, but it had taken a whole year of training, which Dick had helped with, before Bruce agreed to make him Robin. Jason had been living on the streets for a while; drugged up mother, career criminal father, and when Bruce found him, as Batman, the kid had been trying to steal the tires off of the batmobile. With his father in jail and his mother dead, the kid was doing whatever he had to to survive, which quickly changed when Bruce adopted him, saving him from a life of crime.

His thoughts were interrupted when he got a text, from Wally. His heart clenched a little because despite the lack of emotion in a simple text, he could still feel the disappointment behind the text message. A simple 'oh. Ok.' Honestly, Dick felt bad about lying, but he couldn't be near either of them right now, let alone both of them, in the same room, with one of them snuggling against him.

Tonight, and perhaps a few days afterward, he needed to work shit out. He needed to work out how he really felt. Not that that would help, because he was certain that he liked both of them almost the same. How do you choose between two people you really liked? Like, like liked. He was a genius, a mathlete, master detective, computer genius, codebreaker, hacker, all of that...and yet he couldn't puzzle out his own fucking feelings. He was confused about his own emotions. Fuck.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Bruce had ambushed him earlier, and they had a little chat...about his sexuality. He remembered cursing under his breath that the man as such a good detective. Of course, Alfred finding that...uh...dirty magazine underneath his bed kind of helped too. So Bruce knew he was gay and they had a little chat, because he'd noticed that Dick had been a little mopey lately and instead of waiting for his son to come to him, he decided to intervene instead.

That had been embarrassing, but also relieving. It was nice to finally get that out in the open, but also, the fact that Bruce had accepted his sexuality so easily, felt really good and had taken a huge weight off of his shoulders. Honestly, he should have gone to the man ages ago.

Still, Bruce thought he only had a crush on Wally. He wasn't going to tell the man that he had a crush on Roy. That wasn't a conversation he wanted to have any time soon, because he already knew how that would go; 'he's too old for you' and 'it's just a phase' and all that other crap.

So yeah, Dick was confused about the fact that he had a crush on his two best friends, because he couldn't be with two people at once, but what he was absolutely not confused about, was how he felt about Roy. It wasn't just a phase. Because he'd felt this way for a while now...

The contact only lasted a few seconds before Roy pulled away...only to see the shocked look on Wally's face. He regretted it immediately and looked away.

"Why did you kiss me?" Wally asked quietly. And there it was again; Roy could feel the tears threatening his eyes, because he knew he fucked up. Instead of just telling him the truth, that he, Roy Harper, had a crush on him, Wally West, he had to kiss him and blow everything. Roy struggled to find the right words, because somehow, 'I'm sorry' didn't seem good enough. Because frankly, they weren't. And then he felt a hand on his back.

"Roy...why did you kiss me?" Wally asked again. Roy glanced over at Wally; his tone wasn't accusing or angry and neither was the look on his face. It was...curious. Roy swallowed hard, then took a deep breath.

"Because, Wally...the person that I have feelings for is...is you," Roy managed, glancing again at Wally. Ah shit. Did he just break Wally? The boy was staring at him, stone-faced, unmoving. Was that good or bad? Did he break Wally's brain? He wanted to laugh, but this was serious.

Wally's brain was broken. He tried to think of a reaction, a response, but his brain was broken. He had this crush on Roy for a long, long time, but he'd always feared that Roy could never feel anything beyond platonic friendship for him, and now that the object of his desire (or...one of them anyway) had confessed feelings for him...his brain was broken.

Finally, Wally blinked and then blushed crimson. And then he smiled and he could see Roy visibly relax. Wally leaned forward and pressed his lips against Roy's, licking at his bottom lip, looking to deepen the kiss. And Roy allowed it, parting his lips for the speedster, allowing him to explore his mouth. He moaned slightly, feeling Roy's tongue against his own, and though the kiss lasted for a short time, when they parted, he was smiling...and still blushing like a tomato.

"I'm...glad you told me, 'cuz I like you too...but I uh...guess that was kind of obvious after that kiss and all, huh?" Wally rambled a bit, goofy grin spreading across his face again. Roy was smiling too, a genuine smile, something rare and, to Wally, very valuable. Because Roy had an amazing smile and he didn't get to see it very often. So when Roy smiled, he treasured the moment.

"I...I'm not really good at this...sentimental stuff, but...I love you Wally. Would you-"

"Be your boyfriend? I think I'd like that," Wally said easily. He chuckled nervously before he leaned in for another kiss, this one quick and chaste.

"Guess I'm not as straight as I thought I was." And Roy laughed.