Chapter 20: Bestfriends don´t need reasons

Just to make things a little fresh I will write this chapter half from Wally´s perspective and the other half from Dick´s. Hope you like it.

The speed racer walked down the stairs pretty slow. He was rubbing his eyes tired while in his mind was cursing the person who was knocking at his door at 4 o´clock of the morning. Outside was pouring and the lightning had kept Wally awake until 2 am. He got the front door and messed his hair with his hand, still not totally aware he had someone waiting outside for him to open the door.

"Wally?" the young hero immediately recognized the shattered voice that spoke to him from the other side. Losing all his sleepiness, he opened the door with a quick movement and stared at the boy who was completely wet from head to toes. It wasn´t weird, outside the storm had gone from bad to worse since the time he fell asleep.

"Dick." the red head started but Dick didn´t let him finish.

"Please, can I stay here tonight?" Wally, knowing his best friend, could hear he was moments from bursting out in tears.

"Come in."

The boy entered to the house but didn´t moved from the entrance, ashamed and worried he would ruin something with his wet clothes. "Let´s go to my room so you can dry yourself and put some clothes." Dick just nodded and followed him in a complete silence and that scared Wally. Something was off with Dick and he couldn´t precisely guess what it was.

"Did something happen?" he asked but Dick didn´t answered. He just entered to the room and waited until Wally gave him some spare clothes.

Wally being, superfast did that and immediately ran towards the bathroom in order to see if there was any hot water left. He knew it was late and it didn´t surprised him to find his uncle Barry outside the bathroom waiting for an explanation. They stared at each other in silence, Wally pleading with his eyes for his uncle to let the issue go till morning. The water kept running inside the tub and Dick was still soaking wet trembling inside Wally´s room.

"I will explain soon, as soon as I know."

"Who is inside your room?" Wally bit his lip and looked down. "It is not Artemis, right?" Wally shook his head but didn´t raised his gaze. "Is it a female?" again a shook of his head. Barry nodded and took a couple of steps back. "I will tell Mary to make Dick´s favorite breakfast."

Wally wanted to add something but suddenly he was speechless. So instead he rushed inside his bedroom to find Dick standing in the same spot he had left him. Without adding anything, he took the boy´s shoulders and guided him towards the bathroom. He put some dry towels on the sink and then left him alone as he went down the basement to grab the air futon.

"Are you asleep?" Dick asked him from the floor where Wally had made him a provisional bed. Wally moved closer to the edge so he could peek over Dick. His friend was laying on his stomach, his one had under the pillow and the other one holding the cover over his shoulder. Slowly, he lifted to see the clock on his nightstand, 3:30 am.

"No dude, you know I can´t stand storms."

They stood in silence for a couple of minutes before Wally decided to speak. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Dick moved from his stomach to his side facing away from Wally. "Nothing you have to worry about."

"You just arrived to my house at the middle of the night on the edge of crying and you dare to tell me it´s not my problem?!" said Wally as he jumped and turned on his lamp illuminating the room. Dick sat up and rested his back on the wall while the covers fell on his legs. Under the yellow light and with his eyes so drown out of light and security he looked just like his age. Not like Batman protégée or the smartass he always was with the team, now he looked just like…Dick, or at least that was what Wally sensed as he stepped out of his bed and sat next to his friends.

"You know you can tell me anything?"

Dick frowned and stared at Wally. "You wouldn´t understand, plus it is stupid."

"Dear God! Did I just hear Batman´s sidekick say he is stupid?" said in an overdramatic way as he put the hands up in the air. Dick chuckled and then hit his friend´s arm playfully.

"I said the situation is stupid, not me, dump-head."

Wally laughed and decided it was a good reaction; at least Dick didn´t looked as depressed as he had looked when he arrived but then… why Dick, from all persons, would be looking for somewhere to sleep?

"So…" he started. "Can you tell me?"

Dick´s smile disappeared and then made something that made Wally´s gut twist. He pulled his knees close to his chest and then hugged them as he recovered that grim expression and looked away.

"Is it about the cuts? Did Bruce find out?"

"Wally I really don´t want to talk about it."

Wally wanted to add something like Dude, just spit it out. We are best friends or It can´t be that bad. But he decided to let the topic go and returned to his bed but not before offering Dick to go ahead to sleep on it too. He recalled some sleepovers when Dick would always end up crawling on his bed after a bad dream or whenever they passed out around midnight with still their games between their hands. For a second he thought Dick would reject the offer like he had started doing since his relationship with Artemis became official, but he couldn´t help to smile when he saw the boy take his pillow and lay beside him. The bed was sort of small now for both of them but they managed to fit inside it. Wally pulled the covers over them and then turned off the light.

"Night Robin." he would never admit it out loud but he found Dick´s alias a little bit cooler than his name. It was like if the word gave his best-friend the powers he lacked off and plus added him the strong and ferocity of the Bat-clan.

"Good night Wally." Dick moved under the covers and then whispered. "And thank you."

Dick woke up around 8 pm feeling numb from the waist down. He moved slowly but the only thing he gained was pain in exchange of the numbness. Wally wasn´t there anymore and the sun was already up. He cursed between teeth and then tried to sit down on the edge of the bed. What was he thinking? Why Wally? From all the persons in the country he had to go to Wally´s house and have a break down inside his bathroom when he noticed the little drops of blood inside his underwear. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Are you finally awake?" a voice called him from the corridor. Dick turned around to see Wally, already full dressed, leaning on the doorframe. "Long night; wasn´t it?"

Dick nodded and gave Wally a sad smile. Too fucking long.

"My aunt already made breakfast. Waffles and fresh fruits for you…"

"…and the rest of the fridge for you and your uncle." he interrupted.

"I love how you know my family so well." Dick saw him turn around and then wave him to follow him. "You better hurry. You know how Uncle Barry love´s Mary´s waffles."

Dick took a deep breath and tried to regain some concentration in order to block the ache. He was aware something like that would happen but it had hit him a little bit unprepared. After a couple of seconds he managed to turn the pain to only an uncomfortable feeling and then he was ready to go down to get something to eat. The beeping of his cell phone made him turn around towards his jacket, maybe it was Bruce or Mark… only two options and neither of them seemed likable. He went to grab the device when a different idea hit him. He didn´t had to deal with any of that. He was in Star City, miles away from both of them. He didn´t have to answer, not yet…

Maybe later… he left the room with that sentence lingering inside his mind... Later…later…later…

What do you think; bad, good, regular?