---------------------------

A lot had happened in the course of about a week. Dick is home from work far earlier than usual. He's lying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. His injured arm is in a sling. That morning, Amy called himself and Gannon into her office and asked Dick to leave the force.

"You want me to leave the force!? Amy, what the hell is this about?"

"You know what it's about. Your badge, please."

It had turned out that Amy was being targeted by Deathstroke. Blockbuster had been paying him. Dick had saved her, but she figured out that he was Nightwing in the process.

"There's been some kind of mistake. I'm sure if we could just talk about this, I-"

"But we can't talk about it, can we? We'll never be able to talk about it!"

"..Amy I don't know what you're-"

"Stop it! Just stop. I know, Dick. And in addition to grasping that you've lied to me, this knowledge puts me in an enormously compromised position. You you realise what you've - never mind. Just give me your badge. Now."

Dick had hesitated for a moment. Then he took it off and handed it to her with a heavy heart. That's when Gannon interrupted.

"Listen, I don't know what's going on here, but it's insane! Grayson's the best cop we have on the street, captain! If this is about him breaking into the evidence room, then you should dismiss me too - I helped him!"

Dick took off his hat and said, "Amy please, I - I love this."

"Then you have a choice to make."

He placed his hat and gun on the table, next to his badge. Dick walked out. Gannon tried to reason with Amy.

"With all due respect captain, what is this?"

"I'm afraid you're going to be riding solo, officer Malloy. And I strongly advise that for his sake Gannon, you don't ask any more questions about your former partner."

The scene is replaying over and over again in his head. He covers his face with his hands and groans. It's only nine in the morning, meaning he can't go out as Nightwing. He never realised how reliant he is on the darkness.

Dick manages to fall asleep for a few hours and wakes up around lunchtime. His phone lights up and after a few rings he answers.

"Hey babe, you on lunch break yet?" Wally asks.

Dick sighs, "Not exactly...I'm at home, I'm not returning to the force."

"You finally quit?" There's hopefulness in Wally's voice as he says it.

"No, Amy made me hand in my badge. She found out I was Nightwing."

"Oh. That sucks."

"Yeah it does. Until tonight, I've got nothing to do."

"You could do me," Wally suggests, "Wink wink."

"Smooth, but I'm not really in the mood right now."

"That's fine. I'm kind of hungry anyway."

"As always."

"Yes. How about I come over and make some actual food? Boost your mood. I can pick up the stuff on the way," He says. Wally has started doing odd jobs here and there, so he actually has some money of his own and something to do with himself now.

"Sure, I'm kind of hungry myself."

"Excellent. Maybe I can finally teach you how to cook," Wally laughs, "I'll be over ASAP."

"Okay, see you."

Dick sits up and looks around his apartment. It isn't too messy. He should probably change, he's just wearing the clothes he always wears to and from work.

He's walking out of his bedroom wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt when Wally vibrates through the door like he's a ghost. Dick doesn't even bat an eye at that anymore. Wally is holding two bags full of groceries.

"The chef has arrived!" Wally announces with a goofy smile. Dick takes the bags from him and gives him a quick kiss.

"What's on the menu, Gordon Ramsey?" Dick asks as he takes the bags into the kitchen. Wally speeds ahead and stands behind the counter.

"Chicken curry and rice. The recipe was originally two to three chicken fillets for two people, but me being me I've taken liberties on that. We've got lots of chicken to cut, man."

They start taking the stuff out of the bags. After taking out the second packet, Dick comments, "How many chicken fillets are in here?"

"Six. I'll have four and you'll easily eat two."

"Yeah but..if it's chopped up how will we know?"

Wally pauses for a second, then says, "I really should have ignored the potential bullying and taken home economics in high school."

"We'll just play it by ear. You've made it before, right?"

"Oh yeah. I know the recipe - my version of it - my heart. Have you got a really big frying pan, like a wok or a big pot?"

"Yeah, Alfred gave me stuff when I moved out. Why is there three two apples in here?"

"Two go into the curry, grated up. The other is just a snack for me because cooking takes a while," Wally says, squatting down to open the lower cupboards that Dick had pointed to. Dick can't help smirking at the sight.

"Wash your hands before you touch the chicken. Salmonella," Wally warns as Dick begins to open the first packet.

"Oh right. Forgot," Dick puts it down and goes to wash his hands at the sink. When he's done, Wally already has all the equipment they need taken out and the hob turned on with olive oil heating in the pot. Dick opens the packet as his boyfriend washes his hands.

"Oh gross. That doesn't feel nice," Dick says, taking out the first chicken fillet.

"Nope," Wally says, "But you get used to it. Cut it up into bite size pieces."

Dick picks up the sharp knife and begins awkwardly cutting the chicken, "I understand why Jason is better at cooking than I am."

"That's pretty grim, but yeah."

Wally dices up the rest of the chicken by the time Dick finishes one fillet and they toss it into the pot.

"What now?"

Wally holds up two onions, "There's a special way of cutting these properly, but I can't do it and I always end up crying."

Dick chops up the two carrots while Wally does the onions. As fast as Wally does it, they both end up with tears in their eyes. It makes them laugh.

After a lot of chopping (which Wally did most of because Dick is too slow) everything is in the pot and simmering for twenty minutes.

"So we just..wait?"

"Well mostly, we've gotta put on the rice seven or eight minutes before the curry will be done."

"Oh right."

"There's a lot of rice. Have you got any more big pots?"

"I think so."

Almost a half an hour later, the two of them are sitting down on the couch eating the curry.

"Am I a great chef or what?" Wally says, then eats a couple more mouthfuls of curry.

"Not too bad for an American making an Asian dish," Dick replies.

"Dude, you can't cook anything that's not microwaveable. I'd nudge you if your arm wasn't hurt."

"My arm isn't that bad," Dick huffs, brushing a finger over it.

"I wouldn't call getting shot 'not that bad.' You're not going on patrol tonight, are you?"

Dick shoves some more curry into his mouth and doesn't answer.

"Diiiiiiick."

"Waaaaaaaallllly," Dick says, reminiscent of the Pixar character. That was a really old joke between them. Wally rolls his eyes.

"Wally I've gotta figure out this case! It's driving me nuts not knowing who killed Redhorn! You're not a detective, but surely you can understand. It's been over a week since my injury. I don't have your rapid healing or protection from the speed force, but I'm not delicate."

Wally sighs. He knows. He knows how tough Dick is, but he doesn't want to see him getting hurt. He thinks back to how Dick let him be active as a Titan even while Wally had a heart condition, as long as he was careful. Wally had actually written a letter (by hand) for Dick telling him he was quitting due to his health endangering the team. On his 'last mission' he freaking died, even if it was to save Dick's life.

"I know you're not delicate by any means. But I'm saying you need to realise you have limits. I was going to resign from the Titans after that mission - the one I died on - because my heart was doing weird things to my powers and I knew I was a liability."

"And I let you go on that mission anyways..." Dick puts his hand to his face, "God I'm an idiot."

"I wrote a letter explaining it to you, but afterwards it seemed kind of pointless considering my heart is back to normal."

"You wrote me a letter?"

"I'm old fashioned, I get it. Donna saw me writing and she gave out to me too, but it was something I needed to physically write."

Dick snorts. Wally raises an eyebrow.

"Wally that's really fucking gay," Dick sniggers, "How on earth did it not occur to you that you liked me?"

"Internalised homophobia pushed on me from an early age," Wally shrugs, also chuckling a little. He then asks, "Do you want to read it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'll run over to New York and get it. Be back in a Flash," Wally zips away and Dick groans at the stupid joke Wally definitely copied from his Barry. Dick steals some of Wally's curry quickly before he returns.

After only fifteen seconds or so, Wally is back, letter in hand. It's in an envelope with Dick's name on it. He hands it to his boyfriend, who opens it.

Dick finishes reading and says, "Wally you sap."

"Are you crying?" Wally asks, smiling.

"No, it's the onions," Dick wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. He knows onions don't work like that, but he can't come up with any other excuse. He's pretty sure they didn't put any live butterflies into the curry, but there's some fluttering around in his stomach anyway.

"I think it's more likely the cheese in that letter," Wally laughs, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend.

"It's so cheesy. 'If you need me, I'll always come running, no matter what.' God you dork," Dick says with a laugh. He places the empty bowls on the coffee table.

"You're a dork."

"I'm going to give myself five hours to solve the Redhorn case, okay? If I can't solve it in that time I'll give up. Promise," Dick tells Wally.

The redhead sighs, knowing that no matter how good his argument is, it's not going to win over the stubbornness of a bat, "Fine. But be careful, please."

Dick nods, "Wanna go do something to kill time? Like go see a movie or something?"

"Why go out when there's Netflix right here?" Wally says with a mischievous grin.

"I see we've both finally discovered what Netflix and chill means," Dick raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"Lilith and Garth aren't subtle. I'm not sitting on that couch in the tower ever again," He chuckles.

"I hope you realise you're not the first person I've had sex with on this couch."

Before Dick can even blink Wally is standing up several feet away from the couch. Dick laughs hysterically.

"You've cleaned it, right?"

"Ew, duh," Dick says, "Sit down for god's sake."

After brief hesitation, Wally flops back down. Dick picks up the tv remote to turn on Netflix.

"Like how many people?" Wally asks. Dick pauses and makes a thoughtful face. Wally cringes jokingly, "God, the fact you have to think about it."

"Well there's you," Dick starts, "Then second most recently Huntress-"

"I thought you were dating Shawna before me?"

"In the few months in between Helena showed up," Dick explains, "Shawna, obviously. There was a guy I met on Tinder-"

"It's weird hearing you say that for some reason. You were off having sex with guys before I even knew you were bi."

"Well yeah, I was. There was Tiger, Midnighter - more than once, Starfire..."

"Who's Midnighter?"

"Uh he's a guy I met while I was a Spiral agent."

"Oooooh, wait. You mentioned him while you were drunk. Your first guy."

"Did I?"

"You said he was rough and that you were into that," Wally sniggered. Dick puts his palm to his face, "Oh god."

"So basically you've fucked or been fucked by a lot of hot people on this couch?" Wally points to the very thing he's sitting on. Dick shrugs, "And you say you don't have a reputation?"

"Shuttup," Dick says, tossing a cushion at his face. Wally laughs.

Neither of them have any idea what the rest of the week is going to bring.

----------------------