Archive of Our Own

When Barry comes home from his date night with Iris, he is shocked to see Wally and Dick in his living room. He swears they are always in his living room. Though, Barry is completely fine with this, don’t get him wrong. Some teenagers are out there doing drugs and vandalizing buildings. And these two teenagers are heroes, but still they could fall into the wrong crowd at school. 

But with the zeta tubes, different technology, and Wally’s speed, the two young boyfriends were never far apart from each other. Them snuggling on the couch is a constant for Barry. He always assumes that if they aren’t on his couch, they’re on one of Bruce’s numerous couches. 

However, tonight is unlike their normal lovey dovey movie night. Tonight when Barry and Iris walk in the door, keys jingling, Barry freezes in the doorway. He bumps forward as Iris walks into him, looking up from her purses she had been digging through. 

“Barry?” Iris questions, peering up onto her tiptoes to look over his shoulder. Looking over Barry’s shoulder, she sees Wally clutching onto Dick, shushing him. Quietly, Iris ushers Barry further into the house and clicks the door closed behind her. She toes off her shoes and follows Barry closer to the living room.

Standing at the living room entryway, Barry raises an eyebrow at Wally who just looked up from having his face pressed into Dick’s hair. Wally minutely shakes his head, before resting his cheek on top of Dick’s head. 

‘Later,’ Wally mouths to Barry, as he starts to rub one hand up and down Dick’s spine, the other hand petting down Dick’s hair. Wally stares at his aunt and uncle for a moment in the doorway with sad eyes. 

Iris clasps her hand on her husband's wrist. Barry looks over at Iris who nods her head down the hallway. The pair make their way down the hallway and move into the kitchen. Barry walks over to the fridge and starts to pull out leftovers from Iris’ lunch. 

Iris rolls her eyes watching as Barry starts to eat her leftovers cold. Iris pulls a bottle of water out of the fridge and sits down at the bar stool at the island. 

“What do you think happened?” Barry asked, bringing up the fork to his mouth.

Iris shrugs, but says, “Whatever it was those two will go to someone when they need to. They both have a strong head on their shoulders.”

Barry shakes his fork at his wife. “They did have great mentors.”

“I was going to say despite their mentors,” Iris laughs. She takes a drink of water. She stands up and closes the cap of her water. She walks around the island and comes up behind Barry, wrapping her arms around his waist. She rests her head on his shoulder. “We can talk to them in the morning. It’s getting late though, and I have an early morning.”

Iris pushes herself up and presses a kiss to Barry’s cheek. “I’m going to head to bed.” 

Dropping her hands from Barry’s waist, Iris walks towards the door. She freezes as she hears Wally yell from the other room. 

“What do you mean you were shot?” Wally yells. 

Iris’ eyes widen. She looks at the counter where a fork bounces on the counter next to the spot Barry had been standing a moment before. Hurrying to catch up, Iris sprints down the hallway and back into the hallway. 

Making her way into the living room, Iris scans the boys. Barry is squatting down in front of Dick on the couch, trying to turn Dick to get a better look at his side. Wally has pushed himself up onto his knees next to Dick and is trying to pull Dick’s shirt off. Wally’s own shirt sporting a nice splotch of blood. And Dick is just sitting hunched on the couch. As Iris walks over to the couch, it doesn’t look like Dick is trying to fight against Wally or Barry, but he definitely isn’t trying to help.

Iris situates herself on the edge of the coffee table beside Barry. She looks over Dick’s torso, which was finally exposed after Wally and Barry gently extracted Dick from his shirt. Looking up at Dick’s shoulder, Iris stares at an exposed bullet wound. Under the bullet wound is a half peeled off layers of gauze, looking like it had been applied hastily and with little care. 

Reaching her hand out, Iris gently caresses Dick’s face, pushing back a layer of sweat covered hair. Dick looks up at Iris with glassy, red rimmed eyes. His face is blotchy from crying. 

Keeping her hand on Dick’s face, Iris murmurs, “Hey, Walls, go get the first aid kit from the upstairs bathroom, please.”

Wally’s eyes dart back and forth between Dick and Iris before he disappears for a moment and reappears next to Iris, plopping the first aid kit next to Barry and Iris on the table. Immediately, Barry starts to pull out different supplies. 

“Did the bullet go through?” Barry asks, throwing a glance up from the box up at Dick. Barry waits a moment and when Dick doesn’t answer, Barry looks at Wally. Wally leans back on the couch and looks at Dick’s back. He nods at his uncle. 

Barry nods quickly, “Good. That’s good. Since it is in your shoulder that means that you didn’t hit any organs, which is good.” Barry chuckles, nervously, bringing his gloved hands up and prodding along Dick’s shoulder and collar bone. “None of your bones feel out of place or look broken. So we are just going to clean this and properly bandage it.”

Setting to work, Barry takes a wet cloth and wipes off around the wound. He wipes away all of the fresh blood and specks of dried blood. He pulls out disinfect, carefully cleaning the wound. He mumbles to Dick an apology for the sting, but Dick doesn’t give any acknowledgement. Barry puts a numbing agent around the wound and waits a minute for it to set in before carefully suturing the wound. 

Finally, Barry sticks a bandage against the wound and then wraps his shoulder. He pulls out a sling and gives it to Wally. 

“I don’t think he’ll use it right now, but if he’s going to be moving around, he should wear that to keep his shoulder from being messed up further.” Barry tells Wally. Wally takes the sling, bunching it up in his hands. Wally looks at his boyfriend, scooting a little bit closer, placing his hand on Dick’s thigh and squeezing reassuringly. 

Barry starts to slowly clean up the mess that he made. As he cleans he mumbles, “I can’t believe that Bruce didn’t fix up that shoulder for you. He’s such a helicopter parent.”

“He fired me.” 

Barry freezes, his hands hovering over the first aid kit. He slowly tilts his head towards Dick. Dick is still looking down at his hands, his fists clenching and unclenching. 

“What?” Barry breathes. He turns his full body and attention towards Dick. Iris scoots to the very edge of the table. Her hand reaching out and gently holding Dick’s wrist. 

Dick takes a shaky breath in before whispering, “He fired me.” Dick sharply inhales. A teardrop falls onto his jeans. 

“He fired me.” Dick breathes out, his shoulders shaking, “He kicked me out.” 

Wally moves closer to Dick, wrapping his arms around the younger man's waist. He rests his head on Dick’s uninjured shoulder. Wally presses a kiss onto Dick’s shoulder. 

Dick sits up and bends his head, laying it on top of Wally’s. Dick looks at Barry. The younger man’s normally vibrate blue eyes are cloudy and unfocused. 

“I’m not his kid anymore.” Barry feels his own eyes burn as he looks at the young man he has watched grow over the last 6 years. He looks at the young man who is so young and who has lived through so much. He watches as the young man in front of him seems to shatter, any resolve he had left, crumbling. Watching as Dick slumps forward, Barry knows that Dick would have fallen if not for Wally holding onto him. Dick’s shoulders shake and his body wreaks as he starts to sob. “I’m not Robin anymore. I lost my dad.”

Wally turns Dick so that he can lay his full weight against him. Wally holds Dick as he falls apart. Looking up from Dick, Wally stares at his uncle, his eyes questioning about how to fix this. What can they do?

And Barry doesn’t have the whole story, but he’s heard enough, and he’s pissed off. Barry stands up and looks down at Iris. He bends down and presses a kiss to the crown of her head. 

“I’ll be back in a little bit,” Barry mutters against Iris. Iris reaches up and squeezes Barry’s bicep. “I have a bat to punch.”

—

“04.” The voice for the zeta tube designation number rang out through the watchtower. Superman is sitting in the watchtower meeting room with Batman, Green Lantern, and Vixen after getting back from a mission. Assuming that the Flash is next for monitor duty, Superman ignores the announcement, continuing to discuss the flaws in the teamwork between the four of them. Batman seems more brooding than normal, which says something. Hal has picked up on this fact and is using it to annoy Batman even further, and Vixen is new to the team, still finding her footing here. 

“I’m just saying, Spooky, I could have easily taken down all of those magically enhanced people on my own.” Hal states. He puts his arms crossed on the table and scotches forward, looking at Batman like he’s trying to challenge him. 

Internally, Superman groans. 

The door opens with a hiss and Superman looks up, honestly thankful for the distraction from the other two men. Looking at the door, Superman watches in a frame by frame jump shot of Flash shooting across the room. By the time that Superman turns his head from the door Flash just  came through and towards the direction he is going, Superman misses what happens. The aftermath is Batman sprawled out on the meeting room floor, clutching his jaw. 

Superman’s eyes widen looking down at Batman and then back up at Flash who is vibrating at an intense rate. Superman hurriedly moves up out of his chair and in between the two men. 

“What was that, Flash?” Superman demands. He puts his hands on his hips and stares down at the Flash. 

Slowing himself, Flash points down at Batman who is pulling himself up. “That bastard knows what he did.”

Watching as the Flash's muscles tense, Superman lurches forwards and wraps his arms around the Flash. He knows that if the Flash vibrates his molecules fast enough that he’ll be out, but Superman is hoping to buy a few moments. 

“Lantern,” Superman orders sternly, “Get a sedative from the medbay, I think Flash was whammied.”

Green Lantern stands up, his chair falling to the floor. His eyes bounce from Flash to Batman back to Superman. He nods and starts to float away. 

“Not necessary.” Flash huffs in Superman’s arms. “I wasn’t whammied. I punched him because Batman’s a bastard.”

Superman feels as the Flash tenses his muscles. 

“Honestly,” Flash practically growls, “If you let go of me, I’ll hit him again, but I’ll restrain myself for now.”

“Are you sure about that?” Vixen asks, moving in front of Flash. “I know I’m new up here, but I’ve known you for a while now, Flash. And, I haven’t even seen you take out your rogues that fast.”

Flash shrugs, “My rogues don’t usually make me as mad as Batman made me.”

Putting a hand on Vixen’s shoulder, Batman moves her out of his way. He stands in front of Flash, giving him the signature bat glare. 

“And why,” Batman growls, “did you hit me? I swear Flash if this is some immature prank between you and Lantern-”

“It’s not a fucking prank.” Flash barks at Batman, cutting him off. “It’s because you deserve to be hit. Genuinely, I believe that. I don’t believe that you think that punch is unfounded though.”

“Holy shit, Spooky.” Hal mutters, his eyes wide to their side. “What the fuck did you do to make Flash curse?”

Ignoring Lantern, Batman continues to stare down Flash. “If I knew why you punched me, I wouldn’t have asked. I don’t waste my time asking unnecessary questions.” Batman steps closer to Flash. “What is wrong with you that would expunge you from being mind controlled?”

Flash’s eyes grow from lightning as Batman steps closer. 

“Um, Batman, I don’t think you should-” Superman starts, but freezes as he realizes his arms are now empty. There is a thud against the wall and Flash stands there with Batman pinned to the wall with an arm on his neck. 

“You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that right?” Flash growls. “You failed to get your kid proper medical treatment, fired him, and then kicked him out.”

“Kid!” Hal screeches from behind Flash. He continues to be ignored. 

“What are you talking about?” Batman growls, seemingly unbothered by the position Flash is holding him in. “Robin is blowing off steam. He left the cave in a huff.”

Flash’s lip curls. “Are you actually that dumb? What did you say before he left in that huff?”

“I told him Robin was done. He was shot god damn it!” Batman pushes Barry’s arm off of him, and takes a step away from the other man. Batman swings his arm. “He’s not going out again. I’m not losing my son.” 

Barry laughs, “Oh, you are dumb. You are so dumb.”

“Flash,” Batman growls.

“You are so emotionally incompetent that you don’t even see that that boy assumes the only reason he is with you is to be your partner. No Robin means no kid. Which means he pulled himself onto his bike, actively bleeding, driving hours to get to Central and then broke down.” Barry steps back into Batman’s space again, tapping his finger into his chest. “You are the only one driving that kid away.”

Batman grabs the Flash’s finger and pulls it away from his chest. “D- Robin wouldn’t think that. He knows I think of him as a son.”

“Does he?” Flash yells, ripping his hand out of Batman’s hand. He turns around in a huff, taking a few aggravated steps. Spinning back around, Flash throws his hands in the air. “Because he has been on my couch, sobbing, because the man that he saw as a father fired him and kicked him out.” Flash slashes his arm through the air in emphasis. “His words, not mine. You have ingrained in him to such an intense degree that he is the Robin to your Batman that he doesn’t think he is anything else to you.”

“You’ve been his father for eight, almost nine, years now and you’ve never adopted him! What’s he supposed to think?” Flash clenches his fist by his side. “I have watched that boy grow up. I have seen how he looks at you with awe and you broke him. You did that. Not some rogue, not the Joker. You.”

Batman stands there frozen. 

Flash laughs incredulously. “What? The big man has nothing to say when the house you broke down is shoved back in your face?”

“I- I didn’t know he felt that way. I never meant- He wasn’t supposed to think that retiring Robin meant I was retiring him.” Batman pulls a chair out from the table and slumps down. “He is my son. Paper or not.”

Walking to the table, Flash presses his palms into the table and leans forward. “Then why didn’t you go after him?”

Batman rubs his chin. “I always give him space after we fight. I was going to talk to him in a few days.” Batman clears his throat. “I got called for a League mission. He needed his space.”

“Did he or did you?” Flash sits down next to Batman and turns his chair. “You always sweep arguments under the rug and you don’t talk about shit.” Barry leans forward. “And you know why I know that? Because my nephew is picking up the pieces way too often.”

Barry stands and shoves his chair into the table. “If you want to have Di- ugh, Robin in your life, then I suggest you figure your shit out, because I am not above having that kid move in with me and you never see him again.” Barry stares down at Batman, letting his words sink in. After a few intense moments, Barry walks out of the room. The zeta tubes announce his departure. 

Leaving Batman at the table, he drops his head into his hands.

“What in the fuck was that?” Hal asks, breaking the silence. He looks back and forth between Vixen and Superman. Vixen frowns and shrugs her shoulders.

“Not my business,” Vixen mouths. Picking up her reports from the table, Vixen quickly departs from the room. 

Hal turns to Superman. 

Superman puts up his finger and opens his mouth, taking in a deep breath. Then he closes it and flaps it open a few more times. 

Finally Superman hangs his head. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Um, Bats?” Hal questions. Batman’s head shoots up at him. Batman glares at Hal for a few intense moments before he finally stands and walks out of the room without a word. 

“No seriously, what was that?” Hal asks.

Superman shrugs again. Then he leans over towards Hal and whispers, “Do you think this means that Flash and Batman know each other's identities?”

“Holy shit.”