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Arley knew it was her fault that money was tight; Wally— and Artemis, their roommate and friend —had retired and hung up his mask almost three years ago, he’d done it so that he could go to college and have a real life, one that wasn’t filled with crazed clowns or an evil, immortal Neanderthal.
She hadn’t.
At twenty Arley was still flying off to space to fight alien warlords and Czarnian hitmen which meant she couldn’t hold down a job, not like Wally and Artemis could. Sure she could tutor kids and pick up shifts at Warriors— Guy’s Manhattan restaurant —but she couldn’t work a steady job at the university lab like Wally or pull enough hours at the local gym to help out on rent like Artemis did.
And usually Arley tried not to think about it; usually she worked the hours she could, did her course work and fought villainy because Wally always assured her that while she was worrying about the fate of the world he would— could —worry about the bills, but then days like this— hers and Wally’s anniversary —would pop up and Arley would look at the money she had in the bank and her heart would clench.
Two hundred and fifty six dollars and thirteen cents; it was the money she was supposed to— was going to —use to buy the groceries and pay the electric.
That would leave her with just under thirty dollars and thirty dollars couldn’t buy Wally a good anniversary gift, they’d been together for four years— Arley had been in love with him for eight —she couldn’t get him a twenty dollar gift.
Which was why, in a sweatshirt she’d stolen from Wally months ago, and jeans that were almost warn through at the thighs Arley Gluck found herself in front of an Al Paso pawn shop with the ring that had once belonged to her mother.
The ring had a warn down and lackluster pearl at the center and it was missing the two stones that had once fit snugly into the spaces next to oceanic gemstone.
It wasn’t an engagement ring, her parents only just turned eighteen when her father had died; they’d been two dumb kids with a new baby, too poor to afford any sort of ring.
No this ring had belonged to her grandmother at one point, her mother’s mother, a woman she’d never even met. Someone Arley hadn’t ever gotten the chance to hear about, she only knew it was her grandmothers because of the inscription— to my Carmen —that was engraved on the inside of the golden band.
Part of Arley didn’t want to go inside the pawnshop, part of her wanted to figure out another way to get the money she needed for Wally’s present— a leather briefcase for his chemistry set; Wally currently had all his beakers and tools in a box that sat on the very top shelf of their closet —because once this ring was gone what else did she have to remember where she had come from?
Her father had been dead for nineteen years and her mother had been dead for nearly four— though the woman had been practically catatonic for the twelve years that lead up to her death —and neither of them had any living family left; the only reason Arley had the ring at all after all those years was because her mother had been wearing it when the Joker had attacked her and the hospital— after her mothers death —had given her the ring.
But she didn’t have time; after two and a half weeks in space her and Wally’s anniversary was tomorrow. Unless she robbed a liquor store for the change in the till— or swallowed her pride and borrowed the money; something she knew she couldn’t do, not when she wasn’t sure how long it would take her to pay whomever she’d borrowed from off and still keep food in the fridge —she wouldn’t be able to get the hundred dollars she needed.
Arley closed her eyes.
Wally loved her, he stayed up late at nights after practically bad missions to make sure she would sleep through the night and he would pull extra hours at the lab after going for two days straight just to make sure she still had an apartment to come back to after a month or two in space.
He took care of her; she had to take care of him, besides, Green Lanterns they didn’t stall, and they wallow or pause, they did what they were afraid to— what they didn’t want to —because that was their duty. That’s what they had been trained to do.
Arley surged forward, into the pawnshop, her grandmothers ring biting into the palm of her hand.
...
Wally and Arley sat on their bed facing each other— neither of them was dressed impeccably, Arley had her hair thrown up into a sloppy bun that hung more to the left than to the right and the heel of Wally’s sock was warn through so that his pale skin was poking through the white fabric —and both former sidekicks had their gift in the lap.
Wally’s gift was tiny, it was a small box the size of his palm and if it weren’t for the fact Arley and Wally had already talked about waiting until after school she would have thought that were was a ring in the box, one unlike the one already sitting on her middle finger.
“Are you sure you want to do gifts now?” Wally asked with a flirty glint in his eyes, the speedster leaned forward and his knees moved underneath him, “I mean we have a few more hours until our anniversary is over and Artemis is out of the apartment.”
With a hum Arley leaned forward herself, her lips ghosted over Wally’s and the Lantern felt goosebumps raise across her skin. Four years and she would never get tired of kissing him; Arley would be old and gray and dead and buried before Wally stopped making her thoughts go fuzzy and her heartrate spike.
“Just open your gift Handsome,” Arley breathed as she leaned back and Wally let out a whine.
“Tease.”
“Yeah well—“ Arley held up the wrapped briefcase with a giggle. Wally loved his chemistry set, it wasn’t the one he had used to become Kid Flash— as that one had gone up in flames with his parents garage —but rather the one he’d gotten from Dick for his sixteenth birthday.
It was his baby, his pride and joy.
“—Open this first, okay? You’re going to love it.”
“Not as much as you love your gift,” Wally dared as he set the palm sized box to the side on the bedsheets and took the gift Arley had gotten for him. The wrapping paper was a reflective Happy Birthday as that was the only thing Arley could find in the apartment and there was probably more duck tape wrapped around the briefcase than wrapping paper— Arley could singlehandedly defeat a fleet of warships and stop an interplanetary invasion but she couldn’t wrap gifts for the life of her —but as Wally held the present in his arms he looked like a child on Christmas day.
Arley watched with an excited grin and bright eyes as Wally’s nails dug into the paper and the red head tore away at the tape and the paper until he was left holding a dark leather bag in his hands, the strap hung low as Wally held the bag up at eyelevel.
Wally’s brows knitted together.
“It’s a bag for your chemistry set,” Arley declared; Wally’s smile fell and Arley’s heart dropped into her stomach. “What’s wrong is-will your set not fit?”
“No-I mean it will-we, would,” Wally said as he set the bag to the side, he scooped up the tiny palm sized box he’d gotten her as a soft and tender smile overtook his face.
“I don’t have the set anymore,” Wally confessed.
“What? What do you mean you don’t have the set anymore-Wally you love that thing!”
“Yeah well I love you more babe,” Wally said easily, like the fact he no longer owned his prized possession was nothing. Wally breathed deeply as one of his hands— the one not holding the tiny blue, palm sized box —grabbed Arleys and his fingers threaded though hers. “I sold the set to get you this.”
A glowing green construct emerged from Arley’s ring as she continued to hold Wally’s hand and in the box were two tiny emeralds; they weren’t earrings or anything, just loose stones in a box.
Arley shot the speedster a quizzical look.
“Their for your ring-er, your grandma’s ring,” Wally answered her unasked question. Arley hadn’t needed to ask anything— to say anything —because Wally knew Arley like the back of his hand. Before they’d gotten together they’d been best friends, at twenty the two had known each other for over half their lives.
Arley’s heart, the one that dropped into the pit of her stomach tightened at Wally’s confession.
“You sold your chemistry set for me?” Wally didn’t lie, not to her but Nortz for once in her life Arley wished he did; she wanted Wally to be lying, for the set to still be in that box in their closet.
“Yeah,” Wally nodded, “I figured that way you could actually wear it, you know? You’re always carrying it around with you and I know how much it means to you and I love you,” he said tenderly.
He said it like selling the chemistry set was nothing, like it was an old sweatshirt and nothing something Wally had spent hours simply looking at once he’d gotten it.
“I—“ a ball formed in Arley’s throat, “Wally I don’t have my ring anymore.” A crease formed between his brows.
“What do you mean you don’t have the ring anymore? What happened to it?” He didn’t sound angry— he wasn’t angry —but rather confused and worried.
“I sold it to by this,” Arley told him as she motioned her head to the briefcase.
“Babe,” Wally said, “That was your grandmothers ring-why?”
“Because I love you,” Arley told him, the same way she would tell him that the sky was blue or the grass was green. Her hand moved from his and she cupped his cheek, her other draped over his shoulder and her fingers played with the ends of his red hair “And you take such good care of me Handsome, I wanted to do something for you—“
“—You do,” Wally cut her off, the construct moved so that the box was now settled on the nightstand next to her side of the bed and Wally’s fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt. His thumb drew circles on her skin.
“Not the way you do,” Arley denied, “Not the way you take care of me,” she stressed. The pair of them breathed in tandem for a moment, Wally’s forehead rested against Arley’s and their noses brushed against one another.
“You can take the bag back,” Wally said, “To get the ring back.”
“Or you could take the emeralds back,” Arley said instead, “To get the set back?”
Wally shook his head, “The dude that bought it doesn’t even live in the country and I doubt he’d resell it me, he said it was a gift for his kid.”
“I sold the ring to a pawn shop,” Arley confessed, “I doubt we’ll be able to afford it even if I take the briefcase back.”
Wally frowned.
“Thank you though,” Arley said, “Really, I mean you sold your set so that I could actually wear my grandmothers ring.”
“That’s nothing, you sold your grandmothers ring so that I could have a nice bag for a chemistry set,” Wally breathed; Arley shrugged and the dark haired Lantern pressed her lips against Wally’s.
Her fingers twirled around the ends of his hair as her other hand, the one that had been cupping his jaw slipped down his neck and under the fabric of his shirt. Wally’s hands moved down from Arley’s waist to her thighs and her legs wrapped around him as he maneuvered them across the mattress.
Wally, as he and Arley broke apart a moment later, with his knees dug firmly into the bed and one hand planted next to her head, hovered over Arley.
“I love you,” he said. Arley let out a hum and she shook her head.
“Not as much as I love you.” Wally laughed.
“Oh you’re on Glowstick.” And then he kissed her again and again and again until the briefcase had landed on the floor of their bedroom, somewhere amongst their clothes.