Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Artemis graduated college, they decided to move to Star City.

It wasn’t a hard call to make. It was closer to Ollie and Dinah, plus, there were no Zeta tubes in Stanford, so the commute was hell. And for Artemis - there were too many memories in that house. She needed some space.

So Ollie bought them a house - a stupidly large one for just the three (sometimes four) of them, but it was nice and comfortable and it saved them the trouble of looking for a place on their own. Roy decided to go by Will and started his own private security company, and Artemis decided to go into freelance photography. Jade lived with them when she felt like it, and disappeared when she got a job or just got restless. They tracked down an extremely nice, fancy preschool for Lian and went about their lives.

It was good. Peaceful. They fell into an easy rhythm. Turned out, when Will wasn’t acting out programming from Cadmus, he and Artemis got along really well. It was still a little awkward, but hey, at least they weren’t trying to kill each other anymore.

“Can you pick Lian up today? And, uh, maybe tomorrow, too?”

Artemis heaved a sigh, pouring herself a bowl of cereal. “Who called? Dick or Kaldur?”

“Jeez, what kind of animal are you? Who pours the milk before the cereal?” She flipped him off with one hand and ate a spoonful of her cereal with the other. “Whatever. Anyways, it’s Kaldur this time. This mission is above board.”

“If he’s calling you in, how above board can it be?” Artemis asked, smirking. It was a fair question, because Will wasn’t technically in the League anymore. Artemis retained her place on the team, but she was a reserve member. Neither of them ever got the call anymore unless they needed rule breakers.

Or unless someone on the team was missing them.

“So. Is Kaldur actually going on the mission too?”

Roy’s cheeks pinked and he looked pointedly at the table. “Shut up, Artemis.”

“So that’s a yes. Anyone else going?” Artemis asked with a broad grin. This was one of her favorite things to tease Will about.

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

“Wait, is it actually a mission? Like, did he give any details? Or did he maybe call you for… something else?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Will glared and flipped her the bird.

It was a common hand gesture in their house.

“It’s a mission. Something about Gotham. Luthor’s been hanging around there and he wants to know why.”

“Right. Suuure,” she said with a knowing grin. She slurped her next spoonful of cereal extra loud, just because she knew it annoyed him.

“Shut up, Artemis,” he grumbled “I’m going to go wake Lian up. Will you cover her for the next couple days or not?”

“Yeah, sure. Any time. Especially if Kaldur needs you for a mission,” she singsonged, her last word dripping with innuendo.

It was too damn early for this conversation.

Will walked upstairs and returned a few minutes later, carrying Lian and trailed by Brucely, who trotted over to Artemis to receive good morning pets and then went to his bowl and tucked into his breakfast.

Artemis stole Lian out of Will’s arms, ignoring his affronted look, and twirled with her. “Good morning, kitty cat!” Lian giggled happily and hugged her, giving her a big smack on the cheek.

“Gmornin,” she yawned.

Roy looked at Artemis and arched a brow, mouthing “Kitty cat?”

Artemis spun around with Lian once more before plopping her into her chair at the table. “She didn’t tell you? Yesterday she decided that since her mom’s Cheshire and I’m Tigress, she’s going to be a cat when she grows up too,” she muttered out of the side of her mouth as she grabbed her own cereal bowl to put it in the sink.

“Ah, of course,” he deadpanned as he grabbed an apple and started to cut it up for Lian. He worried about her being exposed to the hero/villain stuff too much, but at least, unlike Jade, Artemis showed at least some discretion. No suiting up in the house and Lian never saw her handling a weapon. Jade was… a little less subtle. She wore her mask around the house and sometimes left her sais on the table. Lian only knew about Tigress because she’d overheard a conversation between Artemis and Dick, but still. He worried.

Artemis dropped a kiss on Lian’s head. “How would you feel about you and me having a sleepover tonight?”

Will set the apple slices down on the table in front of Lian and started looking for something for himself. “Does Daddy have work?” Lian asked, brow furrowed as she took a bite of her apple.

“Yeah, he does. But you know what that means?” Artemis asked, leaning in close.

Lian didn’t exactly have whispering down yet, but she tried. “Double dessert?”

“You got it, kiddo. Double dessert,” Artemis whispered, smiling as Lian’s eyes lit up, sufficiently placated.

Will’s head popped out of the cabinet, “Wait, what was that?” he asked, grabbing a bag of trail mix that he thought may or may not have been expired.

“Nothing! We’re just going to order pizza and watch a movie,” Artemis said brightly, shrugging off Will’s suspicious glare.

“Uh-huh.” He grabbed a cashew from the bag and gagged. Definitely expired. Fantastic. He grimaced and tossed the bag in the trash and started grabbing the ingredients for a protein shake. “So what movie are you watching?”

He knew the answer. So did Artemis. Mulan. It was Lian’s favorite movie and Will and Artemis had both seen it so many times they could recite the lines from memory. And they did, to each other, constantly.

(Once, Will asked Lian why she liked it so much and she told him, very matter-of-fact, that girls with swords were cool.)

(“Yeah, Will. Girls with swords are cool. Duh.”

“Shut up, Artemis.”)

“Lion King,” Lian responded happily, “cuz it has cats like mama and aunty Artemis!”

Will blinked, stunned. “Well… Alright then. That’s great! It sounds like you two have a great night planned.” He glanced at Artemis, who looked just as surprised as he felt.

“Yup!”

He poured his shake into a to-go cup and gave Lian a kiss on the head. “Daddy’s gotta go now, but I’ll see you tomorrow night. Be good for aunty Artemis.”

Lian grabbed his cheeks and looked at him very seriously. “Kay, but you gotta be good too. Don’t get hurt.”

“You got it, boss.”

She kissed him on the cheek, a big, wet, kinda gross toddler kiss and nodded, dismissing him and going back to her apples.

“Have fun with Kaldur,” Artemis whispered in his ear as he grabbed his bag.

God, she would never let that go. So maybe he had a thing for Kaldur, and maybe their relationship seemed to be heading in a new direction. And maybe Artemis had helped that happen. But still. “Shut up, Artemis,” he grumbled. “Seriously though. Are you two gonna manage?” he asked, softly. He didn’t like leaving his daughter, even though he knew she was going to be fine.

“Yeah, we’ll have a blast,” she assured him. “Be safe, see you tomorrow.”

“Awkward sibling hug?” he asked with a broad grin.

Lian was a big Gravity Falls fan.

She laughed and nodded. “Awkward sibling hug.”

They wrapped their arms around each other stiffly and said, in unison, “pat pat,” as they patted each other on the back.

“See you tomorrow night, Will. We’re going to be fine. Call us tonight if you can, yeah?”

“Yeah. See you later.”

He walked out the door with a small smile. He had work to do.

Chapter Text

Lian jumped out of the car and ran to the front door, stumbling on the steps leading up the porch, leaving Will behind to grab his duffle from the back seat and trudge up behind her. It had been a long day and he was just glad to be home.

Lian grabbed at his sleeve, staring at his hand. “Daddy! Key!” she demanded, with all of the stern authority a three year old could muster.

He chuckled and handed her the his key ring. It had about a dozen keys on it, but he knew she’d figure it out. She studied it carefully, her brow furrowed, before zeroing in on the right one.

It was pink. And there were daisies on it.

Lian really loved unlocking the door.

She started to try to put it in the lock, focusing all of her four year-old energy on aiming and figuring out which way was right. After a few fumbled attempts, she got it right and turned the key, yanking the door open triumphantly and rushing into the house. Will followed her, smiling fondly.

Lian hurtled herself at the couch where Artemis was sitting, working on her laptop with some reality show playing on the TV in the background. “Aunty Artemis! Aunty Artemis, I unlocked the door all on myself!”

Artemis smiled brightly, setting her laptop on the coffee table so that Lian could jump into her lap. “Great job, kitten! How was your day?”

Lian launched into some story about snails and a frog, and Will caught Artemis’s eye over her head and nodded hello, giving her a grateful smile. She was so good with Lian, and whenever he needed some space to unwind, she stepped in and took care of her until he was good to tap back in. She smiled back, and there was something different about it, but he figured he’d ask later. He just wanted to put on some sweats and relax for awhile.

He came back down ten minutes later after ditching the security uniform and wandered into the kitchen to get some water and see if they had any real food or if they’d be ordering take-out. Again.

Only there was someone else in the kitchen.

“Hey Artemis?” he called into the next room.

She and Lian were peeking over the top of the couch. “Yeah?” she called back, and Lian started giggling.

“Did you know we had company?”

Lian started giggling even harder, and Artemis hushed her. “Yeah, I did.”

“Would you happen to know what he’s doing here?” he asked warily, eyeing Roy, who for some reason was in their house, and happened to be drinking milk straight from their carton, making direct eye contact and making a failing effort not to smile.

“Nah.”

She was still only just peeking over the couch.

“How long’s he been here?”

“I dunno. Three hours, maybe?” Lian couldn’t stop laughing, and Artemis was starting to crack, letting out a tiny giggle.

Will pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “You didn’t ask why he was here?”

She shrugged. “I figured I’d let you do it. Not my brother, not my problem.”

“He is your brother-in-law, though.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Semantics. You two have fun now!” she called, then dove behind the couch, pulling a giggling Lian with her. Artemis started flipping through the channels to find something for Lian, and they settled on a Doc McStuffins rerun. So he wasn’t going to get any help there.

Traitors.

“What are you doing here, Roy?” he sighed.

Roy was searching through the cabinets. “Dude, you guys have like, no food here. Aren’t you supposed to be adults?”

Okay, so maybe he had a point there. But still.

“That’s not an answer.”

Roy shrugged. “Roommate troubles.”

“Aren’t you living with Ollie and Dinah?” Will could feel his blood pressure rising and reminded himself to take deep, steady breaths.

“Yeah. And?”

Will started to mentally count to ten. He forgot how much teenagers sucked. Once he felt composed enough, he gave Roy his best Dad Glare™ until he cracked.

“Fine. The trouble may or may not be that I kind of accidentally lit one of his fancy cars on fire during target practice,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the floor.

“Accidentally?” Roy had as good of aim as any of them, so he was having a hard time buying it.

“Well.. Mostly accidentally. I was going for extreme precision, so I decided to put a rock on the hood of the car and try to hit that. I maybe kind of miscalculated on the settings for the laser, and, well…” he trailed off.

“And the car caught fire,” Will filled in.

Roy shrugged, again. Will would have hoped he wasn’t quite such a nightmare when he was seventeen, but he knew better.

“So things are kind of tense there. Thought I’d crash here.”

“And you didn’t think to call ahead? Or maybe, oh, I don’t know, ask?”

At least the kid had the good sense to look apologetic. “Whatever, man. Can I stay for a couple days or not?”

Will sighed, yet again. “Fine. But you’re right, we need real food. So if you wanna stay here, you’re going to have to go grocery shopping. With me.”

“Pfft, that’s it? Deal.”

Will smirked at him. He was going to have fun with this.

“Was this really necessary?” Roy asked, trailing five feet behind him.

Will grinned. “What, you don’t like my shirt?”

“Why do you even have a Despicable Me shirt?” he asked, eyeing the shirt in question with disgust.

To be fair, it was a pretty awful shirt. It said “One In A Minion” in huge letters, emphasized with an image of a minion. It was one of the worst shirts in his collection. Which was exactly why he wore it.

Will chuckled. “Running joke.”

Roy narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, you sure are.”

“Aww, I love spending time with you too, little brother,” Will said, far more loudly than necessary and pulling him into a tight hug.

Several people stopped to stare and Roy turned bright red, ducking out from under Will’s arm. He didn’t complain again for the rest of the trip.

“So when are you gonna go make up with Ollie?” Artemis asked, staring at the wall with her back to him and her bow drawn, listening carefully.

Roy arched his eyebrows. “What happened to ‘Not my brother, not my problem?’”

“You’ve been hogging the couch, sulking, for three days. That makes it-” she broke off, turning quickly to shoot down the tennis ball he’d just thrown. They were at the archery range, training. Regular target practice was a bit too mundane for them, so they found ways to make it challenging. “-my problem,” she continued. “Also, Ollie calls like, twice a day to see how you’re doing, and his hovering is getting really annoying.”

Roy wandered over to grab the tennis ball and picked it up. Her arrow had found its mark exactly. “He was really mad, Artemis” he said, suddenly quiet, for once sounding like the kid he tried to pretend he wasn’t.

Artemis walked over to the wall and sat down, resting her back against it. She tapped the ground next to her and Roy walked over and took a seat.

“Well, you did light his car on fire. And I have a feeling it wasn’t quite as accidental as you claim,” she said. He suddenly became very focused on a loose thread on his jeans. “But that doesn’t really matter. Ollie gets mad sometimes, but he still cares more about you than the car. He’ll forgive you.”

Roy looked at her, skeptical. “… Yeah. Okay, I guess.”

“You might be banned from the cars for awhile, but it’ll blow over soon enough,” she said, picking up the tennis ball and yanking her arrow out. She suddenly threw the ball, hard, and Roy instinctively blasted it with his laser.

“You think I can stay one more night?” he asked.

She stood up and offered him a hand. “Sure. If you stop sulking. And pay for the Chinese food tonight.”

“You know that means Ollie is paying, right?”

“Eh, he can afford it.” They laughed and she slung an arm around his shoulder as they left.

Lian jumped on him as soon as they got home. “Uncle Roy!”

“Hey, kid, what’s up?” he asked, with an amused grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Backyardigans!” she replied happily, letting go and grabbing his prosthetic hand to guide him to the couch. He sat down and she immediately climbed into his lap, grabbing the remote and hitting the play button.

Roy started looking for an out. He wasn’t any good with kids, and this show looked terrible. But Lian was looking at him with a huge smile and babbling about her day, about the show, and something about… unicorns? Maybe? He didn’t speak toddler.

He was trapped.

This was arguably more daunting than being stuck alone on the War World.

Lian jumped off his lap and wandered away and he briefly considered making a break for it, but she rushed back holding a piece of paper. She shoved it in his face. It had hearts all over it and a scribbled rainbow and something that could, if he squinted, maybe be him.

She started telling him all about the drawing - it was, indeed, supposed to be him - and he felt his throat tighten.

Well. Okay. So he would die for this kid.

When Will got home from work, he found Roy sitting on the floor with Lian. He was wearing a tiara and a pink feather boa, holding a tea cup with his pinky out. He also had one massive clip on earrings, messily applied bright blue eyeshadow, and there was glitter on his cheeks. He was talking animatedly to Lian’s Cheshire cat plushie, to her obvious delight. Will snapped a picture before Roy saw him and sent it to the family group chat. Roy shot him a quick glare before returning to his conversation.

When Roy left the next day, there may or may not have been a pink, glittery heart sticker on his prosthetic arm that he may or may not have deliberately left there, and there was definitely a piece of paper covered in crayon, folded up carefully and tucked into his wallet.

Chapter Text

Will pretended he didn't know.

Jade pretended that she didn't know that he knew.

(They were not known for being particularly good at the whole "emotions" deal.)

So they never spoke about the nights that Jade slipped in through Lian's window and slept in the rocking chair in her room.

It wasn't a common occurrence, really. Jade couldn't, wouldn't, take that risk. But when she could, she would ditch any tail she may have had, make absolutely sure no one was watching, and make her way home.

And it was still her home, even if she hadn't stayed there for months. Because Will and Lian were her home. And she missed them so, so much.

She couldn't face Will, not yet. There was too much happening, too much she couldn't tell him.

But she could sit in her daughter's room and hum lullabies while she slept, listen to her breathe and tell her stories that she couldn't hear about beautiful little girls whose mothers loved them more than anything in the whole wide world.

She would fall asleep for a couple of hours and leave before Lian woke up.

(Sometimes, she would fall asleep without a blanket and wake up with one draped over her gently. And there was something so intimate about that, so vulnerable, and she would feel herself getting choked up. Which was her cue to leave. Immediately.)

(Sometimes, she could swear that she felt a gentle brush of lips across her cheek as she fell asleep. She chose to believe that she was dreaming.)

(But at the same time, she knew she wasn't dreaming.)