TW: character death
Dick came home from work and fell onto the couch in his and Wally's apartment. He squeezed his eyes closed and grit his teeth, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his abdomen.
The pain had started the day before, right next to his bellybutton.
The stabbing pains resulting from every movement had caused Dick to be cranky, which led to a horrible fight with Wally.
Wally had slept the night on the couch, oblivious, while Dick was curled up on their bed in pain.
In the morning Dick had felt even worse. He had a slight fever and vomited up the food he ate for breakfast. Wally would usually have been the one to force him to stay home, but the ginger had been ignoring his husband as much as he could after their argument, and had gone to work early that morning.
Dick drank a cup of water before getting ready to leave for work, despite feeling like he was going to fall over with the slightest gust of wind.
After a few minutes of walking around and getting ready, Dick actually began to feel a bit better, so he chalked everything up to a strange case of the flu and simply grabbed a face mask before heading out the door.
Soon after he got to work, Dick began feeling worse. The pain he had been feeling before returned, but this time it was spread through his entire abdomen.
Dick thought about going home early, but decided against it. He only had to come in for a few hours that day, and he figured he could last until it was time for him to check out.
The hours ticked by slowly, and Dick's condition rapidly worsened...
Dick was barely able to make it back to his apartment before he collapsed directly onto the couch.
Wally wouldn't be home for a few hours, so Dick let his eyes slide closed, and the pain fade away as he drifted off into sleep.
—
Wally walked into the apartment and immediately noticed Dick asleep on the couch. His husband's face was flushed and Wally walked over and gently laid the back of his hand on his forehead.
Dick definitely had a bit of a fever. Wally's first instinct was to kneel down next to his significant other and nurse him back to health, but then he remembered their fight from the day before. His expression hardened as he stepped away, roughly removing his hand.
Dick's eyes slid open and he groaned. "Wa...lly," he said in something close to a whisper.
Wally glanced back at Dick.
"It h-hurts Wally. Something's wrong with me," Dick said, face screwed up in pain.
"You probably just have the flu or something. It's worse for some people than it is for others," Wally said dismissively, turning and walking away.
Dick whimpered as he laid his head back and closed his eyes.
—
Wally's gaze flickered to the couch. He felt really bad about how he had treated Dick earlier, and their last argument echoed in his head. 'I need to do something to make this up to him,' he thought, pondering things he could do to apologize to the acrobat. "Got it," he whispered, moving towards the kitchen with a smile on his face.
About an hour later Wally had a tray loaded with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and slices of fresh bread. He walked over to Dick and shook him awake.
Dick gasped at the wave of pain that came rippling through his body when Wally shook him.
"Babe, I'm sorry about our fight yesterday. I made you some soup to help you feel better," Wally said, smiling down at Dick.
Dick's appetite was absolutely gone. The thought of food made his stomach roil. "I don't want it," he snapped quickly, his voice pained.
Wally mistook the pain in Dick's voice for anger. And his smile faded to a scowl. "Fine then!" he shouted walking over to dump the food in the trash. "You know Dick, sometime I wonder why we even got married," he spat vehemently as he walked back to their room.
Tears rolled down Dick's cheeks. He hoarsely cried out Wally's name, but the ginger had already shut himself away in their room.
Wally came out a few hours later dressed in his flash outfit. He grabbed a snack from the cupboard before turning and starting back to the bedroom where he and Dick usually left for patrol from. He stopped when he heard a soft voice.
Dick was feeling even worse as he lay on the couch, drenched in his own sweat. "Wally," he called over and over, hoping his husband would hear him and somehow be able to take away his pain.
"What now Dick?" Wally asked, clearly annoyed.
Dick's breath caught when he saw Wally walk back into the room. Wally would save him... he always had before... "Wally... I-I think I need to go to the hospital," he said, using up the last of his energy.
Wally scoffed. "Come on Dick. It's just the flu. I don't have the time or patience to deal with you being dramatic right now. Get over yourself and just deal with it," he said before speeding out of the house and onto the streets of Blüdhaven.
—
Wally climbed into the apartment and flopped onto the bed. His adrenaline was fading and he was tired to the bone. Taking care of the nightly crime without Dick was tiring.
Wally's mind turned to Dick and some of the things he'd said to his husband earlier that day. He felt really bad, and something in him was telling him to go check on his raven-haired lover. Wally walked to the door and rested his hand on the doorknob of the bedroom he shared with Dick. He wanted to go check on his husband, apologize to him and try to help him feel better, but he stopped himself. He was still angry with Dick, and the argument they had the night before was still fresh on his mind.
With a sigh, Wally walked back to the bed and flopped back down. He'd apologize to Dick tomorrow.
—
Wally woke up to his alarm blaring. He sleepily slapped at his phone until he managed to hit the off button. Once the alarm was finally stopped he groaned loudly, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.
"I need some coffee," he muttered to himself.
Wally dragged himself out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen. He opened their front door to help air out the apartment like Dick always did in the morning before he would leave for work.
Wally stepped over to the counter and began making his daily coffee. He was halfway done when he noticed something from the corner of his eye.
Dick was lying on the couch.
"Dick," Wally called. "Aren't you supposed to be at work already?"
There was no answer.
"Dick?" Wally called again, voice filled with uncertainty.
Wally started walking over to the couch. A pit grew in his stomach as he took in the paleness of Dick's skin.
There was a blueish tint to Dick's lips, and Wally halted in his place when he noticed that his husband wasn't moving at all, not even to breathe.
"Dick?" Wally called again, terror filling his heart.
No answer.
Wally rushed to Dick's side and desperately felt for a pulse, a breath... anything.
Dick's skin was cold, all vital signs absent.
Wally sped to the phone dialing 911 and trying to hold back sobs as he spoke with the woman on the other end of the line.
When the call ended Wally sank to the floor and sat there numbly. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he watched the paramedics and policemen bagging up Dick's body and carrying it away.
A woman walked up to Wally. She expressed her condolences and asked if Wally would like Dick's body to be autopsied so they could find the cause of death. Wally nodded mutely and sat there as everyone filed out of his house, leaving him alone. Completely alone.
Wally was still sitting in the same spot, phone clutched in his hand, when he got a phone call from the hospital.
"Hello, is this Wallace West?" The man on the other end of the phone call asked.
"Yes," Wally spoke weakly into the phone.
"I am so sorry for your loss," the man said, notes of sympathy in his voice. "The doctor found the cause of death for your husband. Would you like to know what it was?"
"Yes," Wally repeated softly into the receiver.
"His appendix had burst, causing peritonitis," the man said gravely.
Wally sucked in a breath. It was his fault. If he'd only taken Dick to the hospital... if only he'd been a better husband and actually looked out for Dick like he should have... Dick would've still been alive. He barely heard the man on the other end of the phone talking about sending the body to the morgue, saying he'd get a call later about what to do with the body.
When Wally zoned back in he realized the man had already hung up the phone. 'It's all my fault.' Played through Wally's mind on loop.
"What have I done," he whispered to himself, hugging his knees to his chest and letting out a new wave of tears.
—
Wally awoke with a start from his nightmare. He was still on the floor. Laying down where he'd been when he last saw Dick. His nightmare had been the sound of Dick's soft, pain-filled voice repeating his plea to be taken to the hospital, while Wally himself taunted him, telling him to deal with it.
A sob echoed through the lonely apartment.
Wally stood shakily. He needed to get out of there, clear his head. He needed to run.
—
Wally ran as fast as he could, pushing himself faster and faster. Tears streamed out of his eyes, whisked off of his face by the wind he was creating. He ran around the city time after time, circling faster and faster and faster and... suddenly he was stopped. His shoes had holes burned through them and his feet were raw, but that didn't matter, because Wally saw his husband.
Dick was walking down the street, clutching at his stomach.
Wally sped forward, scooping Dick up in his arms and planting frenzied kisses all over his face.
Dick gave a pained chuckle. "What was that for?" he asked, leaning heavily against Wally.
"I love you so so much," Wally said, planting a kiss directly on Dick's lips. "Let's get you to the hospital." With these words Wally scooped Dick into his arms and raced to the hospital.
—
Wally watched as Dick was carried away on a stretcher, straight to emergency surgery. Wally paced the waiting room, having to avoid bursting into super speed. His mind went over everything that had happened recently.
'I must've ran back in time...' he thought to himself. 'I didn't think I was fast enough for that...'
Hours later, Wally was still pondering the possibility of him having gone back in time when a nurse came up to him. She told him Dick was recovering in room 47, and that he was free to go visit him.
Wally nearly ran to the room his husband was in and rushed to his side, wrapping his arms around Dick and hugging him fiercely.
"Wally," Dick whimpered, pushing at him. "You're pushing on my incisions."
Reluctantly, Wally let go and stepped back. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Mmm... better. They have me on so many drugs that I can hardly tell what I feel though," Dick said.
Wally gently laid a hand on Dick's stomach. "Is the pain you were feeling before gone?" he asked quietly.
Dick set his own hand over Wally's. "Yes..." There was a moment of silence before Dick continued. "I'm sorry about our fight yesterday. I was in so much pain, and I just snapped at you."
"No," Wally said definitively. "It doesn't matter what you did, I had no reason to react the way I did... I... I could've lost you, because of my own stubbornness and pride."
"Wally, we all make mistakes," Dick tried to reason.
"Simple mistakes don't cost the lives of our loved ones," Wally said, hands clenched into fists.
"I'm right here Wally, I'm fine," Dick said. "I didn't die because of you, nobody did."
"Stop!" Wally nearly shouted. "You did die Dick... because of me. I let you die, and now... I don't know how, but I have a second chance. I'm not going to loose you again," Wally said, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on Dick's forehead.
"I love you Wally," Dick mumbled as sleep tugged on his eyelids.
"I love you too Dickie," Wally said, settling next to his husband and gripping his hand like a lifeline.
As long as he lived, he wasn't going to let anything take Dick from him again.