Women are such a fickle thing. All heart drops and gummy bears on moment and just one comment, a slip of the tongue later they are the mighty Smaug chasing you from your castle and you're not entirely sure when you're permitted back inside. So this is why the red head Wally West finds himself in a blues club on the lower east side enjoying a tall glass of beer and the wafting melodies of small, ebony haired boy who couldn't be much younger than Wally making love to the brass tip of his saxophone. The high and sharp notes bounce off the walls and reverberate throughout Wally's soul in a profound way. He studied the boy as he played a song, a song Wally doesn't know but warms his heart like an old friend.

Wally puts down his glass after he's finished what's sure to be his third glass of the night and the boy glances up at him, right at him with his striking blue eyes and somber face. He holds his gaze for what seems like an eternity, just them, locked in an intense conversation as their souls conversed and Wally's heart pounded so loudly he's sure that the saxophone player can hear from across the room.

Ba-bump!

It pounds with force behind his ribcage.

Ba-bump!

It keeps time with the melody, echoing off the walls to meet the high and sharp notes of the brass saxophone.

Ba-bump!

Like a jackhammer in his chest his heart pounds until they break eye contact and Wally has to ask himself if he imagined it. If that out of body experience was real of had someone spiked his drink. He regains himself and squares his shoulders, turning back around in his stool to face the bar and order a glass of water. It comes to him a second later with a slice of lemon in it.

His ears pick up an odd elongated not from the brass and then nothing. He glances back up at the stage as the boy exits and there is only silence. Wally doubts the entirety of the audience is struck dumb for the sheer brilliance of the performance, even though they should.

The red head frowns as he watches the ebony haired saxophone player exit the stage with no applause, but can he really be angry at them when he, himself, did not applaud? He sighs deeply and takes a rather big gulp of his water.

He calls the bartender over and pays for his beers. She smiles that smile that Wally's used to since he's a regular here.

"Hey, Barbara…" He starts catching her attention as she turns to leave.

"Yeah, Red?" Red's his nick name the staff use, he doesn't mind it. Especially not from Barbara who is also a red head.

"Who was that, on the stage just now?" She looks at him like he's gone and grown a second head.

"You don't recognize him?" He tilts his head and gives her a look. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, a knowing smirk on her face; the smirk that says 'Why Wally, you should be ashamed.' And right now he's wondering if he, in fact, should be.

"That was Dick…Richard Grayson…he went to our high school…Followed you around like a puppy most of your junior and senior year?" Her hands are on her hips, head cocked to the side and sly smile on her face when realization his Wally like a ton of bricks.

It couldn't be that Richard…the one with the big blue eyes, the nerdy kid that he always spotted out of the corner of his eye, on the outskirts—the fringe…never belonging. But then, right then, it all makes sense, the song he played from his soul.

An ode to loneliness

One that Wally could relate to—especially in the last few months. The last few months when he was losing friends…losing love. Stuck in a stagnant pool of hopelessness and for one solid second his soul was in tune with another just like him and he let the ebony haired saxophone player slip away.

"If you want to meet him—." Barbara cut into his thoughts. "He's in the back alley, waiting for his ride. You should go talk to him. I think you could both use…something." She knew what that something was, but she wasn't going to say. It's just not who she is. Wally nods and hurries out the entrance and around to the ally where he spots him—Richard, huddled against a wall, breathing into his hands to fight off the cold.

Wally stands there for a moment, struck dumb. Not knowing what to say. What do you say to someone who tried hard to be your friend years ago but brushed him off completely in favor of fair-weather friends and an on again off again girlfriend he wasn't sure he loved anymore?

"You were amazing up there." It slips from the recesses of his mind and past his tongue before he can blink. Richard flinches and looks up at him. Those blue eyes which used to hold so much hope now held such a loneliness to them, it made Wally recoil.

"Uh…thanks." His voice is still small, like Wally remembers. His face has matured; check bones high and lips full. He's also grown into his ears which used to be a tad big on him in high school. They stare at each other for a second before Wally makes the first move; one he should have done all those years ago. He stands next to the boy and lets his back make contact with the cold brick wall and breathes out, letting the cold make his breath visible.

"How've you been?" Wally asks, not meeting his gaze.

"I've been…" He pauses and thinks which is never good when answering such a simple question. Wally frowns when it takes him a few seconds longer to answer. "I've been better." He says curtly, honestly.

"I should apologize to you." Wally breathes out a sigh.

"What for?" Richard ask, truly curious.

"High School. All of it, every single bit of it." Richard chuckles.

"Like I'm going to hold something over you that you did years ago…when you were a dumb jock. You aren't anymore."

"Nope…I have a desk job and everything. I stopped talking to those guys…well really they stopped talking to me right after high school. I guess I just wanted to grow up and they didn't." Richard shivers slightly.

"That's good. You shouldn't let anyone hold you back…" Just then his phone start's buzzing in his pocket. He fishes it out and sees it's a message from Artemis. He stares at if for a full minute, reading it. He briskly replies to the message and stuffs it back in his pocket. "Are you still with…Um…?" He stammers as he tries to recall her name, but Wally knows it's an act. He couldn't forget that girl.

"Artemis." Wally finishes the question for him. "We…just broke up." He shrugs.

"That's good…she was kind of a bitch." At this Wally laughs, he honestly laughs for the first time in weeks he feels it bubble out of him.

"Yeah…" He breathes and calms himself. "She kind of is…" It feels good to say it, he should feel bad about it…but he doesn't. The red head glances at the brunet and again they have a silent conversation that Wally has no idea is taking place.

"You know I used to have a huge crush on you back then." Richard says, breaking the silence.

"I…had in inkling." They chuckle.

"It's why I started playing." He gestures to the case his saxophone is in. "In Mr. Jonez's class he played a video about how blues came about, where it started. The look on your face when you heard the music…you were happy. I decided I wanted to try and make you that happy all the time. So I picked it up. I didn't get any good at it till school was over…but I didn't stop playing."

Wally could honestly say he was embarrassed, his cheeks were tinted pink and his ears burned as Richard looked at him with honesty in those blue eyes. "Richard I…" He was at a loss for words.

"You don't have to say anything…really. I was a dumb kid trying to get your attention and in that I found something that I love doing. My dad still wants me to go to business school though. Take over the family business and all that." He shrugged and smiled at Wally.

"I was…stupid. Back then. Not to look your way." His fingers fumbled with the hem of his shirt as his eyes darted, not wanting to meet the saxophone players gaze but inevitably did.

"You're looking now." A sudden flash of light causes them both to jump slightly. A sleek black car pulls up. "That's my ride. We should…get in touch…" He offers.

"Sure!" Wally accepts a bit too eagerly which makes Richard smile. "I, uh…Don't have your number." He stammers as the brunet packs his case into the car and climbs in himself.

"Do you still have your same phone…from high school?"

"Uh…yeah. Why?"

"In the contacts…there's a name there; Dickie. Barbara put it there during graduation." He said and closed the door to the car which immediately took off after. Wally stood there dumfounded, then, fished his phone from his pocket again—noticing a few new messages from Artemis, which he ignored, and searched through his contacts.

And there it was.

Among a myriad of other names, tons of names he no longer knew was "Dickie" a name he had never noticed. Would probably never had noticed.

"I put it in there for when you finally realized the mistake you had made and wanted to say sorry." He looked up, Barbara was standing there at the mouth of the alley. "Didn't work out so well." Her hands were stuffed deep in the pockets of her thick winter coat.

"I think…it worked out pretty well…if you ask me." She smirked at him.

"You should get going, we're closing up shop and it's getting colder. Plus, you've got a dragon to slay back at your castle." She winked at him before going back into the club.

Wally sighs heavily, watching his breath dance in the wind before pocketing his phone and heading home, mind plagued with those blue eyes and that sweet lonely tune that reverberated in his soul.

So, here's a one shot…and me procrastinating from my other fics. I just felt that I had to hammer something out before I can fully get back into the swing of things.

I hope you guys enjoyed this, and yes it is a one shot. I wasn't really sure how to end it so I might come back and either add to it or change the ending entirely…but for now I think this is fine.

Review please, it keeps me going!