Had time to kill, so I read all six parts of The Green Mile. I had to stop reading to sob four times: When Percy stepped on Mr. Jingles, Delacroix's cruel exit from the world, John's departure and then seeing Mr. Jingles in the end. It's normal to cry over books, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Disclaimer: I don't own the mentioned characters or locations.

History had another five minutes at best when Dick felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He was sly in slipping it out, waiting until the teacher turned to change slides on the PowerPoint she was using to help them fill in the guided notes before he peeked a glance at the screen. A smile immediately swelled over his lips as he saw the sender.

Gingerbread Boy: How good r u at Calculus?

Wally. As much as he hated to admit it, he actually missed the speedster. He wouldn't ever admit it of course, knowing that if he did, it would be held over him until one of them died—and maybe even a bit after that, with his luck. That kid could do anything, given the motivation.

Hey man. Pix.?

He knew that wasn't the best greeting to give someone you hadn't seen in nearly two weeks, but it was the closest he could give for the moment. Wally's greeting hadn't exactly been heartfelt either.

Just as phone buzzed again, a picture message having been received, the teacher started her slow pace back to his side of the classroom. That was something annoying about her, or at least in the ebony's eyes. Black Canary and Batman had done their fair share of the slow pace as they surveyed the team, a move probably intended to make it look like they had more power than they did, and even they managed to annoy him with it.

She taught like that though, pacing from her desk to the door and back again, making her step match as long as it would take to explain the current slide's content. Lucky for him, this slide seemed to be a bit shorter and she was turning on heel in a few seconds. He opened the picture and zoomed in, smile stretching into a smirk as he easily solved the third problem at a three second glance.

Easy. When?

Gingerbread Boy: 6th hr.

Gingerbread Boy: Delta 3?

At even the mention, Dick's lips twitched in a frown and he gave a half shake of his head. He saw where the redhead was coming from, but he didn't have the time for that. Leaving the school gates took a good ten minutes, even at his top speed, and he needed some of his lunch period to make up his biology test.

In his defense, it was Conner's fault he had been gone that day. If the clone had told them he had seen the shadows when he had, they wouldn't have been kidnapped and he wouldn't have had to take a day off to let the gash on his jaw heal up a bit.

Cnt. No ti

He started his text, stopping with a flinch as the girl in front of him leaned back in a stretch and 'accidentally' bumped his head in the process. This was one of the school-wide ways to signal that a teacher was coming and if you liked your phone, you needed to hide it. A few of the others included a quick kick to the ankle, two coughs and only two, four quick foot taps and a softly whispered, "Shh…"

"Thanks," Dick hid his phone in his lap and grinned up at her, earning him a quick wink before she relaxed back into her seat.

He quickly looked as if he was filling in his notes, really just lazily scrawling Superboy and Kid Flash's insignias into the lines, seeing that he had the slide's content nestled safely in his mind already from previous years. In a few other blanks, he had his own crest and Batman's, almost linked from how he entwined the front slant of his R with the left wing's dip on the bat. Kaldur and M'Gann had earlier mentions, and before that, he had lazy doodles of the team.

His personal favorite was the one where a monkey was attacking Conner and he was running off in a so-called Hulk Rage. The one of Wally snatching M'Gann's batch of cookies and her chucking pillows at him with a growl cut it pretty close, seeing the S written onto the cookies. She hadn't quite mastered pentagons yet, always drawing them as triangles, so he had included that with a personal smirk of his own.

Cnt. No time. Beta 8?

Wally was fast. He could easily zip past the cameras and into the throng of students, as long as Dick managed to get the gate open with his card in time. That would given them fifteen minutes, if that, to meet up and work on the homework. Like he said before: easy.

Gingerbread Boy: K. C u in 5.

A quick glance at the clock (deep breath, it's just Wally) told him he only had a few seconds before the bell would ring so he pulled his binder up and stuffed in his notes, rummaging out his card and sliding it into his pocket with his phone.

5… 4… 3… 2…

He was one of the first into the hall, throwing himself through the crowd as fast he could, ducking and weaving through the familiar faces with a smile to those who waved and an eye roll to those who dragged their feet. Most of the crowd was scurrying off to stuff their faces, but he never ate lunch if he had the option. Eating was an inconvenience. Wally always claimed it was a gift of the heavens, but the redhead had the fastest metabolism he'd ever known. The rest of the world had to worry about sluggishness and being able to fit into costumes.

Dick just about jumped the staircase to get out into the yard, but the teachers yelled at him when he did that. Apparently, twenty steps was a long drop. The ebony jumped twice twenty three feet in his sleep, let alone hyped up on this kind of adrenaline. He probably could have jumped off the roof and landed safe with his heart rushing this fast.

The stairs were taken four at a time, basically jumping short, before tearing across the grass and finding the gate after two quick sweeps of the grounds. He jogged over and ran the card over the scanner, sighing as it said it had been ran the wrong way and going again. The door parted this time.

It wasn't in the nick of time like in the movies, giving the fifteen year old a bit to find a pencil with working lead. The ebony always forgot that the pink one was just for the eraser. He had picked the color for that reason alone. The green one was the best one, seeing that it was his favorite color, alongside yellow. Sentiment does weird things to a person.

The second the green pencil was in hand, he recognized the arms around his stomach and managed out a laugh, relaxing into the touch and leaning his head back onto Wally's shoulder.

"Missed you," the redhead pulled back with a grin, catching the ebony off-guard.

Dick returned the grin with a laugh of disbelief, shaking his head, "Missed you too, dork. Hand it over."

The speedster let the grins last a moment longer, cherishing the warmth they held, before handing the slightly crumpled paper over. The two made their way over to a table in the corner, a few odd glances shot to the star athlete and mathlete for the sophomore class and his plain-clothed friend. Where was the redhead's uniform? Didn't he know the penalty for forgetting it?

The ebony worked fast, eyes scanning in a calculative manner, managing to get the sixteen questions scrawled in with his best impression of Wally's surprisingly neat print. He seemed to be so used to the speed that he had mastered it and worked it down to an art. Not even ten minutes later, the paper was handed back with a proud smirk.

"Told you—easy. Even did the bonuses," Dick boasted, earning him a half-hearted punch from the older boy. "Show a little love. You owe me now!"

Wally rolled his eyes with an undeniable grin and folded his homework into his pocket before lunging forward and pulling the fifteen year old into an intentionally uncomfortable hug that had him struggling to get his face from the redhead's chest with a few soft rabbit punches. The two made eye contact for a moment before stopping to laugh, the seventeen year old leaning forward and fixing his friend's hair.

"The usual?" he offered, sliding his wallet from his pocket in a fluid motion, "Just got my paycheck and Rusty's has this great buffet—"

The ebony pushed his wallet down with a stare that the speedster read like his favorite book.

"Come on, I owe you," Wally argued with the stare, and when it kept up, he took to patting the fifteen year old's features until he broke the stare to laugh. "You're always buying us dinner. Let me treat you for once."

Dick tried to protest, but he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Fine, but only if you're on time to pick me up from school. If you're late, I'm getting in the car with Alfred and you know how Bruce feels about you coming over," he scratched at his neck with a sheepish grin, "Needs to feel some serious aster."

The redhead got to his feet with an enthusiastic grin, a sparkle gleaming over his emerald eyes, doing a shorter version of his victory dance that earned a quick face-palm from his best friend. He set his eyes back when he was nudged.

"I'd say we need to get him whelmed… if you know what I mean," Wally winked, drawing a disgusted groan from the ebony's lips.

"Gross, dude! He's almost my dad!"

The both were back to laughter in moments, sharing a friendly hug again before the speedster nodded his goodbye.

"See you at 3," he promised, starting a lazy jog for the gate.

Dick trailed behind him, showing his card to let the teen out with a warm smile.

"You better not be late," he pretended to threaten, shooting a fake glare across the yard.

"2:59! Don't keep me waiting," the seventeen year old teased and they exchanged friendly smiles before parting ways again for another five hours.

Needless to say, Wally got an A on his homework and the pizza definitely tasted like celebration for Dick's aced Biology test.

Bromance fluff? I think yes. Sorry if it's pretty dumb, but we're still three hours from home and I'm dying. Stopped in Kentucky for some KFC. Wasn't that good, but then again, I never liked KFC. Gravy was good.

-F.J. III