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Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dick realized that this wasn’t really the most comfortable position he’d ever been in.
Sitting on a very well-loved couch with four other adults wasn’t exactly ideal, especially when said adults had made it their goal to be as close as physically possible. The couch felt so much smaller, now, too. It used to be the perfect size for five barely-teenagers to curl up together and bask in each other’s warmth. A decade ago, Dick might’ve even complained that it was too big, but now, as Dick batted Wally’s hand away from his face, he thought otherwise.
Wally, who had been dead asleep for the past half-hour, nearly whacked Dick across the temple again as he let out an exaggerated, sleepy groan, stretching his arms over his head.
“Is it just me, or is the couch way smaller?” Wally asked, glancing around somewhat blearily with a small, dissatisfied frown on his face. “I barely fit.” And it was true: Wally was sprawled out on the couch, with his head resting in Donna’s lap and long limbs lying on top of Dick and Roy in a rather haphazard manner. Roy, who was currently lounging against Garth, had the unfortunate pleasure of being close enough to Wally’s feet to be in constant danger of a solid kick to the head.
“Well, you’re not fifteen anymore.” Donna said with a smile in her voice as her fingers, which had been steadily running through Dick’s hair, stilled as she spoke.
Wally just made a face in return, his nose wrinkled up as if he had smelled something bad.
“Dude, your foot is, like, dangerously close to my face.” Roy did not sound pleased at his current predicament, and Wally just sat up minutely to confirm Roy’s claims.
“No, it’s not.” Wally protested, before—rather intentionally—rubbing a socked foot against Roy’s cheek. With a shriek that sounded like it belonged to a prepubescent boy, Roy snatched Wally’s foot and tugged, desperately trying to stop the speedster from assaulting his face with an offending foot.
“Oi! Quit it!”
“Quit what?”
“You little shit, you know exactly what!”
As Wally and Roy began to wrestle, Dick suddenly felt a sharp elbow dig into his side. “Ow!” Dick cried out, offended, as he tried to get out of the way of the thrashing limbs. It was rather difficult, given the fact that he was stuck on the couch between two annoyingly impervious, non-human bodies. Garth’s arms were currently wrapped tightly against Dick’s torso, his face pressed into the back of the couch as he snoozed away and remained blissfully unaware to the rest of the world, making it impossible for Dick to move.
Poor Garth, who hadn’t done anything wrong to deserve such a rude awakening, was kneed awake as Wally thrashed about like some sort of long, disfigured fish out of water. The Atlantean let out a small squeak, uncurling from his position against Dick’s side as his wide-eyed gaze darted around. When he realized what was going on, Garth let out a long, ever-suffering sigh, meeting Dick’s eyes with a bemused look that seemed to say: “can you believe these fools?”
“Watch it, Twinkletoes!” Roy shouted as he lunged for Wally’s legs, trying to hold him down. Which proved to be a rather fruitless effort, and Dick watched somewhat helplessly as Wally continued to try and—was he trying to stick his foot in Roy’s mouth? In a last-ditch attempt, Roy tugged one of the many blankets free and lunged, trying to throw it over Wally’s face. As if smothering Wally would do any good.
“Boys!” Donna interjected, her voice sharp and authoritative. “By Hera, be careful.” Her bright blue eyes flashed, but there was a hint of an amused smile on her face, softening her stern features.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Garth groaned, rubbing the back of his head, throwing a look in Wally’s direction as he sat up properly. “I don’t need my head, anyway.”
Wally at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. “Sorry, Garth,” he said with a grin that didn’t look too terribly sorry. “You should be fine, though. Not much to rattle about up in there.”
With a huff, Garth kicked his leg out, causing Wally to yelp as he was almost knocked off the couch.
“Hey!”
Dick chuckled, grabbing a blanket that had nearly been kicked away in the tussle as he tucked himself back up against Donna. He looked back and forth between Wally and Roy as they played honest-to-God footsies with each other in lieu of wrestling, unable to stop himself from laughing loudly at the sight.
Donna was, as always, a warm and steady presence next to Dick, which was more comforting than he’d realized. She even smelled the same, and Dick found himself smiling gently at the thought. He vividly remembered going shopping with Donna, maybe eight or nine years ago, when she’d been all worked up over a date, and she’d wanted to buy some perfume to celebrate the occasion. She’d been so excited, and Dick had found her excitement to be remarkably contagious. Years later, Donna still wore the same perfume.
That, at least, hadn’t changed.
Roy let out an unimpressed grunt as he crawled around and moved to lay down, head resting in Garth’s lap as he let his legs drape over Donna and Dick, his feet barely hanging off the edge of the couch. He tucked a blanket up to his chin, glaring at Wally, who stuck out his tongue and threatened to snatch up the blanket for himself. After a few moments of a hushed scuffle, Wally had wormed his way under the blanket too, wrapping his arms around Roy’s torso as he buried his face against Roy’s shoulder.
“If you kick, Twinkletoes, you’re out.” Roy grumbled under his breath.
“I won’t kick,” Wally whined, tightening his grip around Roy. “Promise.” He was holding onto Roy like an overgrown teddy bear, and Dick internally commended Roy’s patience.
If anyone said that Dick was clingier than Wally, they were a liar. Wally was worse and he knew it. Those who said otherwise were spreading lies and slander against Dick’s good name.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Garth mumbled sleepily, peering over at Wally with one eye open.
Donna laughed softly as she reached out to rest a hand on Wally’s leg, a fond smile brightening her expression. “Oh, c’mon, maybe he’ll finally surprise us and not kick the living daylights out of poor, darling Roy.”
Wally peered up at Donna, shooting a rather harmless glare in her direction. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doll-face.” He let out a huff of air as he scooted even closer to Roy, wrapping his legs around Roy in what must’ve been a vice-like grip.
Dick and Garth both snickered as Roy tried to pry Wally off, but he gave up rather quickly, half-hearted as his efforts were. When Wally got a hold of you, it was best to just accept your fate.
Garth swiftly slipped a leg over Dick’s, the back of his calf warm against Dick’s shin. He must have been trying to make it a little more comfortable for Roy and Wally, who both hummed in appreciation. It probably wasn’t all that comfortable for those two either, all stretched out across three pairs of legs, but they didn’t seem to mind.
A comfortable silence settled over the five of them, and Dick burrowed deeper into the pile of blankets closest to him. It was almost too warm, all wrapped up in thick fabric and surrounded by the body heat of four other people, but Dick didn’t dare move. Plus, Garth ran on the cooler side anyway, so it wasn’t all that bad.
Seconds stretched into minutes, and, while no one was talking, no one had fallen asleep again either. Dick knew the breathing patterns of each of his friends well enough to confirm that everyone was still awake. Relaxed, certainly, but not asleep.
Dick honestly couldn’t remember the last time they’d hung out like this. How long—no—how many years had it been since the five of them had taken the time to simply exist with one another?
It just wasn’t easy, not anymore. Not like it used to be.
“I’ve missed this.” Dick mumbled into a blanket, breaking the silence tentatively. His voice, already hushed, was barely audible through the soft, plush fabric tickling his face. He felt Garth shift next to him, the steady warmth and weight of his leg moving just a bit. Dick ignored the familiar prickle of pins and needles in his calf as the blood rushed back to his extremities, Garth’s leg no longer lying on top of his. For a moment, Dick mourned the loss of contact until he felt Garth slip his leg under Dick’s knee, the blankets moving around as Garth got comfortable in his new position on the couch. Without a word, Garth curled up close to Dick and rested a heavy head on his shoulder, a long, soft sigh falling from his lips as he relaxed against Dick’s side.
Roy let out a sound of displeasure at the movement, watching Garth move with narrowed, sleepy eyes. When he seemed to be satisfied that Garth wasn’t going to move anymore, he settled back into the couch, resting his head against Garth’s curled-up legs. He was practically in Dick’s lap at this point, and Dick resisted the urge to run his hand through his friend’s red hair. Roy, Dick noticed, looked impossibly young like this, with a blanket tucked up under his chin and his expression smooth and relaxed as his breathing evened out once more.
An awful pang nostalgia hit Dick right in the gut as he watched his friend, who looked more like the teenager he’d once been instead of a father.
Garth’s voice, soft and gentle yet unmistakably teasing, was somewhat hushed as he spoke. “You’re too busy, Boy Wonder.” The old nickname made Dick’s chest feel impossibly warm, paired with an ache of something sad that would’ve threatened to choke him, had he been alone. “Always bobbin’ around, doing everything all the time.”
There was a truth to Garth’s words; a truth that left a heavy weight in Dick’s gut. Garth must’ve noticed, because he gently poked Dick right beneath the ribs, practically giggling as Dick jumped a bit in his seat.
A hand carded through Dick’s hair—Donna’s, again—and, for a moment, Dick was 14 years old. “I think we’ve all spent so long thinking about… well, everything else, that we’ve forgotten each other.” Donna’s voice was low and a little sad, reflecting the sadness that had spent so long silently weeping in Dick’s heart.
Dick just hummed, letting his eyes close. “I suppose.” He whispered, still not quite wanting to fall asleep just yet. It was tempting, sure, as the atmosphere was practically tranquil, but a part of Dick didn’t want to miss a second of this. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dick wondered if they all felt the same.
“It’s so different.” Roy suddenly mumbled from where he lay, his expression far away as he played absentmindedly with Wally’s fingers, which had been resting on his chest. He looked weary, Dick thought to himself, watching as his dear friend let out a sigh. “All of this used to be so easy.”
“Yeah.” Dick met Roy’s gaze, smiling sadly as the lingering tension weighing down Roy’s shoulders seemed to bleed away. Roy reached out, keeping one hand close to his chest while the other took a hold of Dick’s wrist. His fingers rested gently over the pulse fluttering under Dick’s delicate skin- an action that Dick had long become accustomed to. A reminder that they were still here.
“It’s different, but…“ Wally’s voice, sleepy and mellow, trailed off, a thoughtful look on his face as he spoke. “A good different, don’t you think?” He propped himself up on one elbow as he sat up, resting his chin against Roy’s shoulder as his eyes shifted from Donna, Dick, and Garth, meeting their gazes with a little smile. “We still have each other, don’t we?”
Dick felt the familiar tightness of welling tears threatening to choke him, and he let out a strangled sort of sigh as he hung his head, nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, yeah. We do.”
Donna’s hand fell away from Dick’s hair as she turned to wrap an arm around Dick’s shoulders, drawing him close. “Oh, Dick,” she whispered softly, her warm forehead pressing against his temple as she leaned in. She didn’t say anything more; she didn’t need to. Dick knew. He leaned into the touch, blinking away the offending tears as he let himself relax. He didn’t need to worry, not right now.
There was some shuffling around, and Dick heard Roy grunt as Wally mumbled an apology. Another familiar touch rested feather-light on his knee, and Dick opened his eyes to see Wally lying on top of Roy, a little smile on his face, as he patted Dick’s knee. There was something shiny in Wally’s eyes, which Dick immediately recognized as the beginning of tears.
Dick shot Wally an apologetic smile, the words “I’m sorry” dancing on the tip of his tongue, but Wally just shook his head wordlessly, squeezing Dick’s knee.
“Nah, Bird Boy, it’s cool. Just don’t actually cry, because I will. Then our little sea flea over there will start crying, which-”
“I would not!” Garth protested, but there wasn’t any conviction behind his words at all. In fact, his voice sounded wobbly already, and Dick let out a small laugh as Garth wrapped his arms around one of Dick’s, holding him close. Donna’s laugh was bright and warm and wonderful as she pressed a soft kiss to Dick’s temple. She was smiling as she drew back, placing a hand on the side of Dick’s head as he rested his head on her shoulder.
“Okay, Wally, off,” Roy released Dick’s wrist as he grabbed hold of Wally’s arm, tugging him back down as Wally made a loud sound of protest. However, now that Wally seemed satisfied after he’d made Dick laugh, he let himself be dragged back onto lying next to Roy, despite complaining the entire time.
The afternoon sun was a bright as it entered the room, falling across the floor in soft waves of melted gold, smoothing everything it touched. It was warm on Dick’s face as a gentle breeze blew through the open windows, the cool, salty smell of the Bay wafting in. Not the worst place for a nap, that was for sure.
As Dick let his eyes close once more, he let himself go.
His body, aching and sore and battered, didn’t hurt as much right now. In a few hours, he’d have to leave this warmth behind in exchange for the cold, unforgiving steel of Blüdhaven. He’d go on patrol and get a few more bruises to match the ones already blossoming in hues of blue and purple and green and yellow across his skin.
But, that was a problem for later. For now, Dick closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to come.