performance | IC CONTACT - MASK OR MENACE

Please don't. You being here — it's been awesome. [ a hopefully-reassuring smile] Unbelievably awesome. If you wanna find another place, that's fine, but— but if you're going, I'm going.

[Dick's reaction is extreme and by the look on his face, he knows it. Wally doesn't often see Dick's composure crack -though it happens more often when he's not actively wearing his 'Robin' persona- and he knows, after a second, what brought it on. It's not about Wally moving out, or not entirely.]

I'm not going anywhere, Dick. [It's an unfair promise to make because apparently he did go somewhere, and something happened to him and he forgot, but he makes it anyway. That's kind of what Flashes do.]

Don't move out.

[ Dick repeats it like it's final, like it's his decision, drawing his shoulders back and trying to recompose himself. He knows it's not a promise Wally can make, but he wants so badly to believe it. ]

I won't. [It's immediate, not because Robin ordered it but because Wally didn't want to anyway. He watches Dick pull his shoulders back and smiles to himself, reaching over to mess up his hair and shove him a little.] Geez. Make a guy feel like a captive, why don't you?

[ He ducks his head away from Wally's hand and laughs, his carefully combed-back hair going astray, and he shoves back gently. ]

So the Stockholm Syndrome hasn't kicked in yet?

[lookin' a little robin-y there, dick]

I've had that for years. It just lies dormant and then flares back up whenever somebody kidnaps me, like arthritis.

Pretty soon you won't even wanna go home.

[ He tries to comb his hair back into place, but a few pesky strands keep falling into his eyes. ]

[Wally knows how Dick meant it, but it makes him think something else and he'd rather just not...yeah. Not right now.

But hey, a distraction.] Aww. Let me get that for you. [Wally spits into his hand and reaches for Robin's head.]

Eew, dude, gross, no!

[ He dodges most of it, anyway, and squirms away, starting off down the sidewalk at a jog. ]

Hey, come back! I'm just trying to help you out! [SPITS INTO HAND AGAIN AND CHASES]

[ cue yakety sax ]

Were you bitten by a radioactive grandma or something?

This is how my mom always did it! I'm nesting. [Wally gets bored of it soon enough and wipes his hand on his tank. The gas station is right there, and inside of it are his Skittles so that's enough tomfoolery for now.] Okay get your camera ready.

I'm soooo not your baby bird.

[ He follows, fiddling with camera settings while Wally buys inadvisable amounts of candy. ]

[Wally scoffs as he heads inside, and scoffs again when he comes back out five minutes later, just for good measure. He's got a bag full of Skittles.] C'mon, we should get a good backdrop for this. What do you think, a park? A police station?

I still don't even know what "this" is, dude, but my vote goes to the beach, because it's so close I can practically smell it, and we so don't have that in Gotham. Whatever you do is gonna look better on the beach. I promise.

You know, you say that but it's not true. Nobody looks good running on the beach. Baywatch is a lie.

Aww, and here I thought it was a documentary. That said, I wanna see your best fake slow motion beach run.

With that one song playing over it, right? [Wally mimes running in slo-mo.] Chh-chh-chh-chh haa-haa-haa-haa. Dunnn dun dun da dunnn dunnnn, dun dun dun da dunnnnn!

Haha! Perfect. Okay, dude, we definitely need to film that on our beach trip.

We gotta think of something else to do with it though! It needs a twist.

[pause]

Are we gonna have to take a bus?

[ Dick's shoulders slump, his face falling. ]

Oh. I... didn't think about that.

[EXTREMELY SLOW PUBLIC TRANSPORT......the bane of wally's existence]

Well, I guess we were gonna have to learn the bus system sooner or later. Let's get this over with. [Wally vanishes back inside the gas station to see if there's a brochure available for the nearby bus routes.]

[ Dick is wondering if there's any way he can go back on his SECRETS ARE IMPORTANT talk with Wally. Why'd he have to have it now... He's rich, he's not used to buses. ]

[Wally comes back with an unfolded route map, squinting and turning it onto it's side.] I think I can read this. What street are we on?

Maple. Which is...

[ He squints, running his index finger over the map. He's the Boy Wonder. He was trained by Batman. Why do bus route maps look like arcane demon-summoning runes or something? ]

Here?