#roywallydick

[spiders-and-batboys]

Ship: Roy Harper x Dick Grayson x Wally West { roydickwally }

Rating: E

[ruensroad]

I hope you don't mind if I send you a trio as well. (If you do, just let me know. I won't mind changing my ask.) How about Dick, Roy, & Wally with 55?

((excuse me as I muck with canon all over the place. I do what I want.))

Warning for Ramadan observers, this fic contains slight language. Reader discretion is advised.

Waiting.

Dick fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, knee bouncing as he watched Roy pace restlessly down the length of the waiting room, at a loss how to calm him down.

Not that he had ever been good at that anyway. Wally had always known just what to say, to the both of them. All the years as friends, a whole decade of being thicker than thieves, and that had never changed, not once. Not through Roy’s drug problems or Dick’s relocation to Bludhaven or his own illness scare. Not through their transformations from Arsenal to Red Arrow, Robin to Nightwing, Kid Flash to Flash. Wally loved them as an extension of himself and knew, from the bottom of his heart, that they were more than a little in love with him in return.

Sitting there, watching Roy coming apart at the seams and unable to say anything, it was painfully clear to him: by loving them both, by caring as much as he did, Wally was the glue that held them together.

And, because they had (stupidly, so stupidly) wanted him to choose, he could now be lost forever.

A buzzing noise permeated the dense quiet and Roy stopped short, fumbling through his pockets. Dick watched him carefully, prepared to look away should the archer wish for privacy. Roy, however, gave no clue that he cared for an audience as he answered.

"Jaybird, hey," he breathed out all in a rush and Dick felt it like a punch to the gut, how strangled and utterly devastated he sounded. “No.. nothing yet. We’re still waiting for news.”

Roy turned to look at him then and they shared a helpless look. Dick tried for a reassuring smile and hoped it wasn’t as shattered as it felt, knowing that, above all else, Wally wouldn’t want them to be panicking. He was more than a little relieved when it earned him a shaky one in return.

"Yeah… I know, Jay," Roy’s voice dropped and he turned back towards the door, shoulders tense. Even from where he was, Dick could hear the low timbre of Jason’s voice and marveled, not for the first time, how much the estranged member of the Wayne family seemed to care about Roy, especially when it mattered most.

He was watching Roy’s daughter, Dick suddenly remembered, the memory seeming years old despite it coming from mere hours ago, a lifetime. It was odd the other thoughts that rose with it as he stared off into space, keeping his breaths deep and even. Jason was who Roy fondly deemed his ‘only friend’ though they all knew it to be false. Roy only admitted, later, to Dick and Wally that he called Jason that because the truth was something he felt he could never be worthy of, that Jason would never accept being seen as a brother to someone like him, that he deserved better in the grand scheme of things.

Roy felt that far too often, in the darkest bits of him. About himself, about who he loved. Sure, it was hard to tell; he was a serious person at heart with a carefree attitude, intelligent and witty with a sarcastic mouth and twisted tongue. He drowned in whatever was the easiest or the most dangerous to fall into. Only Wally had bridged the gaps in a way that Roy had allowed, even desperately clung to at times; only Wally…

Finding out he had not been alone in his feelings for the speedster was a shock but, at the same time, it hadn’t really surprised him. He hadn’t even minded it if he were truly honest, not really.

What he did mind, however, was how horribly it had blown up.

"Whoa there, wait. Exactly why do I have to choose between you?” Dick could still hear the incredulous laughter that had colored Wally’s words as he’d looked at them, brows raised high and amused beneath his cowl. He remembered an odd prickle of something deep inside him at hearing that and wanting to flinch at the way Roy’s determined smile had slid off his face like oil. None of them had seemed to care the building around them was on fire.

"Are we gonna figure this out? Or are you two just gonna keep dancing around?" was the last thing Wally had said to them before the roof had collapsed, too sudden for even the young Flash to dodge. He remembered wanting to scream, the panic slamming him like a sledgehammer as they struggled to unbury him from the rubble. His fingers still ached from the effort.

He’d been unconscious and bleeding, breath bubbling in the corners of his mouth. As Roy called for help, Dick had taken a desperate stock of injuries: broken ribs, possible punctured lung, massive bruising and burns. He’d been more scared to lift him out of there than he could ever remember being.

Now, with Wally tucked safely away to some corner of S.T.A.R. Labs, all they could do was wait.

"How’s Lian?" Roy’s gentle question into his phone drew his gaze back. The archer was looking at him again, guilt heavy in the lines of his face. He looked as though he’d aged ten years. Dick tried once more for reassurance and earned another little smile. At least it was better than nothing.

"No I… I don’t want her to hear me like this," Roy mumbled, ever more tense as he waited for Jason’s answer. Dick glanced away when his shoulders finally dropped in defeated relief and gave a shaky breath. "Thank you… Just. Tell her I love her, okay? …Thanks. Yeah."

The rustle of clothing made him look back. Roy had his fists buried tight in his hair as he breathed once, twice, a bid for calm now that Jason was no longer his acting life-line. Their gazes caught and held and he slowly drug his hands down his face.

"We messed up," Dick finally allowed himself to say it, unable to hold onto the words any longer. The guilt was eating him alive, he was certain, his skin was crawling with it. He wanted nothing more than to jump out the nearest window and just scream until his voice choked out and there wasn’t a part of him left that didn’t hurt.

"Understatement," Roy huffed and his smirk was unpleasant to say the least, strung far too tight across his lips. It was painful to look at and only doubled the sense of helplessness he felt the longer they stared at one another. Dick didn’t know if he could deal with Roy pacing again like a wounded, caged animal. They were both twitchy enough, balanced on a knife’s edge, and just seconds from climbing the walls.

Thankfully, the door to the waiting room opened before Roy could so much as take a step. Dick was on his feet in an instant when he realized just who was standing there. He walked quickly to stand next to where Roy had frozen in place, head bowed in guilt.

"It’s all my fault," Roy bit out before Barry Allen could say anything, surprising them both. Dick softly gripped his shoulder and sent his best apologetic look to the older Flash, hoping his unspoken words and grief were reading clear enough.

Barry didn’t move. If anything, he’d gone emotionless, staring at them, the two responsible for his nephew’s hospitalization. Of course he already knew it was their fault. He could hear Roy trying hard not to panic beside him as he apologized, the words cracked and shot through, more sincere than he’d been in years.

"You have every right to blame us," Dick hedged when Roy’s voice finally died out. Blinking hard against tears, he closed his eyes and bowed his head too. "We don’t expect your forgiveness."

There was silence, heavy and meaningful, and Dick had the uncanny feeling that they were being weighed by their worth and honesty, a terrifying thought that made his stomach drop faster than any free fall ever had.

He could feel Roy start to shake and that only made it all worse, knowing how close the archer was to falling apart in front of the man Wally considered a father. Any harsh words, no matter how deserved, would surely break him in half, and Dick had no idea how to keep it from happening.

But then Barry was chuckling, snapping them upright. He looked more tired than either of them had ever seen, but there was something soft and amused in his gaze.

"I can see why he loves you so much," he told them with a smile approaching fond. "Thankfully, my forgiveness is a given. I wasn’t here for apologies."

Ushering them out, he pulled them both, one at a time, into a warm embrace.

"He’s awake," was all he gave them, a secret tugging at his mouth as he pushed them down the hallway. "And he’s asking for you. Both of you.”

Dick had a crazy surge of panic at his words and Roy looked torn between laughing hysterically and heaving all his insides into the nearest trash can while they were jostled along. Their eyes met one final time in shared trepidation and then they were stood before the doorway, awkwardly smooshed together in the frame.

It said a lot that the first thing Dick saw wasn’t the machines beeping away, or the bed, or the bandages, but the way Wally slowly turned his head to look at them, eyes bright and shining, utterly amused and breathing and alive.

By the way Roy sort of stopped breathing too, he knew he wasn’t the only one.

"Uncle, I thought you wanted me to stop picking up strays,” he snorted, rather loudly, and yeah, that was one of Wally’s signature noises, not attractive in the least, but so beautiful to hear and see that Dick could feel his body puddling over. Roy stumbled a little as they shouldered their way in, letting him know he wasn’t alone in that either. It was a pleasant feeling and Dick couldn’t shake the idea that it felt so right like this, the both of them, reacting the same way, loving the same way, and being stared at like they were idiots by the same person.

He suddenly wished it wasn’t just wishful thinking.

"I’m out here if you need anything," Barry smiled around the door before closing it behind them and, by the sudden quiet, they seemed to realize it was jut them, just like that.

Wally blinked up at them, brow cocked and grin wide and lopsided, the way it always was. When all they could manage was uncertain smiles back, he rolled his eyes and lifted both hands, gesturing them in.

"My God, you guys look like I’m gonna take you out back and shoot ya.”

Laughter bubbled out and he couldn’t stop it, didn’t want to. Smiling with everything he had, Dick grasped Wally’s fingers, feeling if he didn’t grab hold now, he’d never get the chance again. The way the speedster brightened made him melt, but watching Roy copy his actions on the other side, grip tight and a little desperate, but just as loving as he could be, made him glow with pride.

"You’re idiots," Wally told them, holding them back just as tightly. His gaze flittered easily between them as they leaned onto the bed on either side of him, as though it was as effortless as breathing to hold them both with his attentions. Perhaps it was.

"We got that message already," Dick chuckled. Roy’s expression grew pained.

"Forgive us Wally," he whispered, smile sobering as their shared guilt hung over them, ready for the shoe to drop.

Wally just stared like their faces had fallen off.

"Wha- I’m not mad you dropped a house on my head, assholes,” he glared at them, daring them to look away. “Though that was a seriously dick move.”

Shocked, Dick gaped at him. “Why the hell not?”

"We almost killed you.”

"We’re heroes, it comes with the territory," Wally shot back, stubborn as always. "What I am mad about though is how you guys were gonna make me choose. Like I could even do that. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you two?”

They could only look at him in stunned silence. Wally looked more than a little pleased with himself for it.

"This has got to be a new record or something for sheer speechlessness from the both of you,” he laughed, unable to fully hide a wince. But his smile didn’t get any smaller, the love on his face any dimmer. He just looked at them like they were stupid, because they were, and he was waiting for them to get with the program already.

"So, you understood what we meant?" Dick ventured, hardly daring to hope. Roy was actually holding his breath.

"My brain isn’t made out of bricks," Wally snickered. Roy looked at him askance.

"So when you say you cannot choose…"

"I mean choosing is for stupid people who have no imagination whatsoever," Wally set his jaw, all determination and laughing eyes. "Which means I’m stuck with you, the both of you, because you’re both absolute losers for me and, frankly, hopeless. At like, everything." 

The Look he shot at them then was a clear What’re you gonna do about it between his brows. Dick blinked in awe, contemplative as he sat back, adjusting so that his gaze no longer just held Wally, but Roy as well. It was easier than he’d thought.

"I’m a little madly in love with you," Dick offered, giddy and stupid, because this was impossible and amazing and they had so much to work out, but Wally just snickered and Roy grinned like a wildcat, uncaring for this moment that would define them, a new beginning, a start.

"I’m a little mad for you too," he added in and Dick could see the way his own line of sight slid back to accompany them both.

Wally laughed, shaking his head, and pulled them both in for a kiss.

"And I’m a little in love with you both. And also very tired of waiting for you two to get a clue, so get the hell down here already.”

They were more than happy to oblige him.