Guy talk--about first times

(easy enough to change to first person if we want to!)

Wally--Fran???

"Anyway. Well, it's pretty easy to guess yours--Kory, right? 
Man, I thought you were gonna die when she kissed you 
that first time…."

"It wasn't Kory."

"Huh? But...wow. I coulda sworn...." Wally frowned. "I 
know it wasn't Donna. You made it pretty clear you two 
were never anything but friends."

Dick smiled faintly. "And Roy would've shot me."

"Yeah, right. So...." Wally's eyes got wide. "Oh, don't *tell* 
me. Everybody knew you had a crush on Batgirl, but we 
never thought--"

"No, it wasn't Barbara." Dick grinned with a wry 
expression. "I was *way* underage. Bruce would have 
skinned her alive!"

"Then...let's see. I know you never touched Bette, either." 
He chuckled a little. "Despite her best efforts. But I can't 
think of anyone else. Who was it?"

Dick hesitated, then took a deep breath. "...Garth."

He couldn't have heard that right.

"C'mon, that's not funny. Really, who was it."

"No joke." His eyes were steady on Wally, waiting for his 
reaction.

If Dick had suddenly revealed that he was really the 
illegitimate son of Starro the Conqueror, Wally would have 
been less shocked. He stared at Dick, unable even to speak, 
while his thoughts whirled. Garth...but Dick wasn't...no one 
had ever even hinted that he might be...*Garth?!*

"Close your mouth, Wally, you're drawing flies." Dick 
sighed. "All right, go ahead. Ask."

Wally stammered, "But...you...what...how...." and then shut 
up again. He'd been through this once with Piper; Dick was 
his oldest and best friend, and he'd be damned if he 
screwed this up like the way he'd done with Hartley. 
"Maybe you should just tell me."

"Okay." Dick was silent a moment, gathering his thoughts. 
"You remember what he was like, right? Always quiet. 
That was more than just shyness or not understanding 
surface culture; it was the way he thought he was supposed 
to be, because...well, because of Aquaman. *You* know 
what the guy's like; he's worse than Bruce for demanding 
obedience, especially on his own turf. Garth didn't dare 
disagree with anything he said, because then Arthur might 
have turned him out."

Wally started. "The guy's a hard-ass, but I can't believe he'd 
do that!"

Dick nodded. "No, probably not. But remember that Garth 
raised himself because his people left him to die. Arthur 
was the first one to find him and accept him despite his 
'cursed' purple eyes...." He snorted. "Anyway, he learned 
not to disagree with Arthur, the whole 'be seen and not 
heard' thing, and that carried over to us. And no, I didn't 
know that at the time. It took a long time before he told me 
about all of it--wasn't until he became Tempest, in fact. We 
finally sat down and had a long talk." Dick glanced up at 
Wally. "You should too, you know. He's changed so much, 
he sometimes feels he doesn't know us as well as he 
should."

"I've been meaning to. I look at him now and think, jeez, 
*that's* not Aqualad. I mean, obviously, but it's more than 
his codename...."

"Yeah. So there was all that on top of generally not fitting 
in, and he was pretty lonely." Dick sighed. "He was just too 
good at hiding it. Meanwhile, I was starting to have some 
problems with Bruce, you know, that whole 'rebelling 
against the Bat' thing. Garth always was a good listener, so 
I ended up unloading a lot on him. I kept going on and on, 
and he kept nodding, and maybe if I'd stopped to let him 
talk he might've told me some of what was wrong. But I 
kept talking, and he got more and more upset hearing how 
upset *I* was, and he reached out to hug me--least, at the 
time I thought it was for a friendly kinda hug--and he 
kissed me instead.

"I didn't know what to do. I was pretty shocked, you can 
imagine, and Garth didn't realize he'd done anything 
strange until he saw my face. He *ran,* Wally--he said 
later that he got so scared he thought I hated him, that I'd 
tell everyone and kick him off the team. I went after him 
and caught him just as he was about to jump into the sea, 
and I told him I wasn't upset, just surprised because I never 
thought he'd do anything like that.

"He didn't understand. Not at all. And I felt like an idiot 
trying to explain why I was so surprised. I was *also* 
trying to figure out how to get him to kiss me again, 
because it felt damn good." Dick paused and grinned. "You 
know, it kinda hit me halfway through. There I was trying 
to explain to him all these prejudices he didn't have any 
idea about, and I suddenly realized I didn't share either. So 
I told him that I didn't mind at all...and kissed him back." 
He smiled slightly, eyes going soft with memory. After a 
moment he glanced up at Wally again. "I'll spare you the 
rest of the, uh, details. But it was really good for both of us, 
while it lasted."

Wally cleared his throat. "So, uh... why did it end?"

"Well, it was only occasionally, not any kind of tremendous 
affair, and then he got serious with Tula." 

"I just can't believe...you and he, and I never knew. Did 
Donna or Roy?"

Dick shook his head slowly. "Roy, definitely not. You 
would've heard him shrieking from the rooftops. Donna...I 
think maybe she had an idea, but she never said anything."

"So you never talked about it? With anyone?" Wally 
hesitated. "Why'd you tell me now?"

Dick looked at him candidly. "I wasn't going to lie to you, 
Wally."

"...Okay. Thanks. But..." He was still wrestling with the 
details. "What about now? Or--I mean, was it only then, 
before Kory showed up? And were there...have there been 
any other...."

Suddenly Dick was laughing. "Oh, you should just *see* 
your face! You look like you're about to pop."

It was infectious. Wally grinned and sat back. "You gotta 
admit it's a hell of a shock to my system. I can't help being 
curious. Thought I knew everything about you, man. I just 
can't believe you're...."

Dick shrugged. "I don't like labels. He's my friend, we 
shared something, that's really all there is to it. Don't 
*worry* about it, I'm not gonna jump you." He paused. 
"Unless you want me to."

Impossible to tell if that was a joke. Robbie was just too 
good at deadpan; he'd learned that from the Bat. 
"Uh...Dick? You're kidding, right?"

"Don't worry about it, Wally." And Dick got up, stretching, 
and rummaged around in his backpack for the food they'd 
brought. "Ham and cheese or pastrami?"




"Um...Dick, I... I was wondering--"

Forget it. If he thought about it he'd never *do* it, and 
somehow he at least wanted to try--

Wally leaned forward, catching Dick's shoulder, and kissed 
him.

Clumsy. God. You'd think he'd never done this before (you 
*haven't,* his brain shrieked), it was just awkward, it 
wasn't working and he should just *stop* before the 
embarrassment killed him.

Before he could pull away completely Dick caught him and 
returned the kiss, firmly, mouth fitting against his easily. It 
felt...friendly. Not demanding, just...nice. Comfortable. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a little voice was 
screaming that he was kissing a *guy.* Wally told the 
voice to shut up.

He leaned into it, wanting to figure out the differences...and 
it was abruptly overwhelming, the taste and heat and brush 
of Dick's tongue against his own. Instinct took over, his 
arms going around Dick's shoulders, pulling him closer, 
hearing himself moan--

...And then suddenly *realized* the entirety of what he was 
doing, standing here in a tent, in the woods, kissing his best 
friend. He pulled back suddenly, scrambling for an 
explanation, an apology, something--

"It's okay, Wally." Dick stepped back and smiled, taking it 
in stride, like this happened every day. God, how could he 
be that calm?




(Later bit)


No. Yes. He wasn't--but maybe he wanted--


Puts his arms around Dick from behind.

Dick spoke without turning around, which was good, 
because Wally didn't think he could look his friend in the 
eye right now. "Are you sure?" And thank *God* for the 
kind of intuition between old friends that meant Wally 
didn't have to explain.

"Yeah. Well, no, but yeah. Um." He blushed. "I 
mean...unless you don't want to. I didn't mean to 
assume…."

Dick chuckled and his hand came up to lace his fingers 
with Wally's. "Hey. I didn't say *that.* I just don't want you 
to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"No, I--ah, hell, Dick, I never *thought* about it before! 
But right now I--"

Dick turned, still holding his hand, and kissed him lightly. 
"Right now is okay."

"Okay." His heart was racing like he'd been cruising at the 
speed of sound and he made himself take a deep breath. 
"So. Um."

Laughing, Dick pushed him over to the bedrolls. "Very 
smooth, West. Nice technique."

"Hey, gimme a break, wouldya? This is new to me."

"Yeah." Dick moved around to look Wally in the eye. "You 
say 'Stop,' we stop. All right? Trust me."

"I do. You know that, Robbie. I always have." 

That made Dick smile and lean in to wrap his arms around 
Wally's waist to draw him closer. "...there. Now. I'm gonna 
tell you why I think this could be a lot of fun, and there's no 
obligation here, remember that, all right?"

Wally nodded hesitantly. "Okay...."

"You're my best friend. That's one. I know we say that a lot 
without really thinking about it, but that means I trust you, 
and I love you." Dick grinned. "I'm not proposing, West, 
stop looking panicked! But that means there isn't anything 
we could do--or *not* do--that would make me stop being 
your friend. No matter what."

Wally gulped. "Dick, I--"

"Did I say you could talk yet?" Dick frowned, mock-
sternly. "Always in a hurry, Fleet-feet. You'll get your turn 
in a minute. Let's see... oh, yeah. We've *been* friends 
though some pretty godawful stuff. We grew up together. 
There isn't anyone who knows me better, unless it's Donna 
or Babs. I love them both but there're things I can't talk 
about with them. You care enough to smack me when I go 
off the deep end, and I need that sometimes.

"Plus, I think you're amazingly sexy. I always have had a 
thing for redheads." Dick went on before Wally had even 
started blushing over that. "We're friends. I trust you. There 
isn't a better starting point as far as I'm concerned, even if 
this is something you just want to try once and decide you 
don't want to do it again. I mean that, Wally." He pulled 
back a little so he could see Wally's eyes. "Okay. Your 
turn."

...It would have been really easy to say everything that'd 
come to mind while Dick had been talking, but *this* was 
even easier. "Grayson, you talk too much," Wally said, 
grinning, and leaned in to kiss him again.