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“Artemis?” The archer jumped at the sound of her name and turned her head to see M’gann looking at her with a confused expression. Artemis had been so caught up in her ‘mission’ that she hadn’t noticed anyone approaching.
“What are you doing? If you don’t mind my asking…” M’gann inquired hesitantly. She seemed uncertain, as though she wasn’t sure if she did want to know the answer.
Artemis’ lips twisted self-consciously; she supposed she did look a little suspicious, standing in the shadows of the hallway and peeking around the door to the common room. Her eyes widened as she realized she had let her attention be diverted for what could be a second too long. She quickly sunk back against the wall and peered around the frame.
Letting out a breath of relief when she saw her target hadn’t moved, she whispered back to her friend, “I’m spying on Wally.”
There was a baffled moment of silence, and then, “May I… ask why?”
Artemis narrowed her eyes, still focused on the speedster sitting sprawled on the couch. “Because there’s no way he doesn’t have something up his sleeves and I refuse to be the butt of whatever joke he’s going to pull.”
“Oh,” M’gann responded, “… I’m sorry, I still don’t understand. Wally makes a lot of jokes every day; why is today special?”
“Right, you probably don’t have it on Mars,” Artemis mumbled to herself. She briefly met M’gann’s eyes over her shoulder to explain, “On Earth we have… a holiday of sorts, that always falls on the first of April.”
“A holiday?” M’gann smiled, clasping her hands in excitement, “What is this holiday about? Should I bake something in celebration?”
Artemis raised an eyebrow, a smirk flitting across her face as she considered directing the green-skinned girl on how to cook a ‘traditional’ dish for the day. It could involve any number of ingredients to make her enemy’s stomach crawl and M’gann would never know the difference. Not to mention, Wally would eat it without question if it came from her.
Artemis shook herself of her thoughts and, taking one look at her friend’s eager expression, decided not to deceive her. She would think of some other way to get back at Wally should he try anything.
She checked in on him, seeing that he still hadn’t moved, and answered, “It’s called April Fool’s Day.”
M’gann tilted her head in interest, “And what does one do to celebrate it?”
“They prank each other,” Artemis shrugged.
“Pranks?” M’gann tapped her chin, looking up in thought, “You mean like when Wally put that bucket of water over Robin’s door?”
Artemis snorted, “That wasn’t a very successful one considering Robin found it and put it over Wally’s door instead. Kid Idiot should have known better than to try anything after that hair-dying incident.”
M’gann hummed, “But dying Robin’s hair… that was a successful prank?”
Artemis grinned. “Sure, I mean he did pull it off. Doubt he thought it was very successful though, considering how it ended. Anyway,” she continued with a wave of her hand, “after you prank someone you’re supposed to say, ‘April Fool’s’ and… that’s actually pretty much all there is to it.”
“Is it fun?” M’gann asked.
“It can be I guess…” Artemis muttered, “unless you’re dealing with someone like Wally who doesn’t need an excuse to prank any day of the week. I can’t even imagine what he’ll do now that he’s got this golden opportunity.”
M’gann stepped forward, poking her head around to take a look of her own at the subject of their conversation. She frowned as she observed him, “Has he moved at all since he got here?”
“No,” Artemis growled in irritation, “and I don’t understand why; it’s almost like he’s waiting for somethi-“
Her sentence was cut off as the mountain’s sound system announced the arrival of Robin. Wally immediately perked up and turned his head to watch the common room’s other entrance.
“Or someone,” Artemis rephrased her thought. She groaned as the team’s youngest member walked over to join Wally on the couch. She couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but they were obviously discussing something. And whatever it was…
“What’s wrong?” M’gann seemed alarmed at the archer’s reaction.
“What’s wrong is that the only thing worse than a plotting speedster…” Artemis huffed, “is a plotting speedster with a crafty bird to bounce around ideas with.”
M’gann’s eyes widened, “You think Robin is going to help Wally prank you? He always seems to prefer to stay out of your… disagreements.”
“Yeah, usually,” Artemis agreed, “But today is April Fool’s Day and Wally is his best friend. If he’s going to team up with anyone to create pranking mayhem, it’ll be Kid Mouth.” She watched as Wally leaned in closer to whisper something to Robin and set her jaw. There was no way she was going to take her eyes off of them for a second… not until this horrendous day had passed.
“They are not getting the drop on me,” she swore to herself.
“Hey, Wally.”
The redhead smiled a little as his best friend strolled into the common area; shades on, hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like it was just another day and nothing was bothering him.
It was a well-practiced act that probably fooled anyone who only knew him as Robin. But for those who knew him as Dick Grayson, like Wally, it wasn’t hard to see through the cracks. This time of the year was always a struggle for the boy... especially today.
“How’s your day been going?” Wally kept his tone light as Robin took a seat beside him.
Robin stared at the blank TV for a moment and shrugged. “It’s been okay, I guess,” he tilted his head toward Wally, a small smile pulling at his lips, “No emotional breakdowns or anything.”
“Well that’s always nice to hear,” Wally smirked. He became serious a moment later, “You go to see them yet?”
Robin nodded, “Bats took me a little after breakfast; he stayed for a while but…” he released a little sigh of disappointment, “he had to leave for a meeting.”
Wally raised an eyebrow in surprise, “A meeting? Seriously?” It didn’t sound like something the man would normally do, especially not to Robin. Wally kind of figured he’d move mountains for his kid if he had to… or if it were physically possible.
“Well it is with Lex Luthor, so…”
Now both of Wally’s eyebrows were reaching for his hairline. “Luthor?” he blurted in disbelief. He took a quick glance around them before leaning in closer and dropping his voice to a whisper, “I wouldn’t think Wayne Enterprises would do business with a major villain.”
Robin gave him a pointed look, “Why do you think he had to take care of it personally?”
Oh… he probably wanted to make sure none of his employees weaseled their way into Luthor’s pocket by making a deal. Only way to insure that was to be there. Made since.
Still though…
“He didn’t want you to wait around or something?” Wally questioned hesitantly, “I mean… I’m guessing you’d rather be with him right now.”
“Nah, I don’t mind being here,” Robin assured with a shake of his head, “Besides, it isn’t safe to hang around Gotham when B’s in the beginning stages of conferences with Big, Bald and Snooty. Don’t want to give them something to use as persuasion.”
Wally felt his mouth fall open at the implication. “What… You’re not saying… Has he ever…” he felt nearly lost for words, “Has he ever… grabbed you before? As… you know… you?”
“Not personally,” Robin made it sound as though it wasn’t a big deal, “But he’s had me… ‘collected’ on two occasions. B called in Superman to help the first time, and I busted out a taillight that caught some cops’ attention the second. Timing-wise it was obvious Luthor had a hand in it, but we never could legally connect him.”
Wally felt like he should say something else on the subject; but he wasn’t sure how to respond, given how nonchalant Robin’s attitude was concerning the whole thing.
“You could’ve stayed with the Temperamental Mother Hen,” he decided to move on for now and ask for details later. Wally’s nickname for the Commissioner’s daughter always made Robin smile; the speedster had only met her a few times, but he thought she was pretty cool. He found it amusing that she never asked how the ward of the richest man in Gotham was friends with the nephew of a forensic scientist from Central City.
“She has a gymnastics competition today,” Robin informed him, “Too public. She sent me a few texts though.”
Wally hummed in understanding and watched as Robin crossed his arms and relaxed further into the couch.
“You know Artemis has been staring at us since I came in,” he observed, sounding less than half as curious as he normally would.
Wally snorted, “Dude, she’s been watching me since I first beamed in this morning. She thinks I’m going to pull some major practical joke on the whole cave… or maybe just on her.”
Robin rolled his head to look at Wally, raising a curious eyebrow, “Are you?”
Wally grinned and shifted Robin forward, so that he could wrap an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pull him closer. “Nope,” he made sure to pop the ‘p’ for emphasis, “Today I’m just gonna hang with my best friend. Maybe we can have a Lord of the Rings movie marathon.”
Robin smiled gratefully and relaxed against his friend. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Besides,” Wally added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, “She’s completely freaking herself out all on her own and I don’t even have to do anything. Best April Fool’s joke ever.”
Actually drawing a laugh out of Robin? That more than made up for missing out on his golden opportunity.