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The medical supply wrappers crinkle as Artemis shifts her weight on the gurney, trying to find a comfortable position where bare skin isn't flush against the chilly sanitized metal.
“Stop moving.”
“I can’t help it. I’m cold and getting stiff.” She retorts sharply before she realizes her mistake. Wally’s eyes flick up to hers playfully at the implied connotation.
“That’s what—“ Artemis smacks him, cutting off the rest of his retort.
“Oh, grow up, Baywatch. Seriously, it’s too late.” After a quick glance at the analog clock hanging on the wall she corrects herself, “Too early.”
“Aw, come on.” He grins, “You weren’t saying that two hours ago.” Artemis groans in response, wincing as he tightens the bandages around her bruised middle.
“Two hours ago was adrenaline. Now it’s just the recoil.”
“There. Bruised ribs, check. Everything else, treated. Wanna grab a snack from the kitchen before the sleepy-time drugs kick in?” Artemis makes a face at him. “Alright, no snack. More for me then.” He is gone in a puff of air and back just as quickly. Artemis slumps forward, cradling her head. Her cowl down but eyes hidden while her elbows dug just above her knee pads deep in thought.
Another mistake, her brain sneers. Criticism is a constant beat in the background of her mind. If only she had just moved faster, fought harder, shot with greater precision, maybe the mission wouldn’t have ended the way it did. It was all her fault this time. Maybe her father was right.
Not good enough! Failure is unacceptable in this family. Why can’t you be more like–
“Hey.” Wally’s voice startles her out of the familiar downward spiral. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
“Like you haven’t already eaten everything?” Artemis returns with snark, glancing at the empty wrappers filling his hands. Wally crunches them into a ball and sticks his tongue out before attempting to shoot into the trash can across the room. Throwing his hands up, he spins on the spot mimicking the sound of an audience cheering in the distance,
“And the crowd goes wild! Ahh! Thank you, thank you—“
“Baywatch…” Artemis interrupts, deadpan. “You missed.” He stops his exaggerated bowing to look at the trash to see that he had indeed missed. The wrapper ball is sitting just next to the container. In a breath of air, he zips back to lean next to Artemis with a grin.
“Of course I didn’t, Arty-McSmartyPants. I don’t see anything.”
“Using your super speed so I can’t see you throw it away again doesn’t change the fact that you missed the first time.” Wally pouts, clearly looking for a comeback that could detract or distract or... where was Robin when you needed a good witty comeback? He settles for ‘deflect’ instead.
“So what were you thinking about just then?” Artemis snorts,
“That your ego is entirely too big for your –”
“I mean, size is what matters sometimes, Arty.” Wally cuts her off with a salacious smirk. “And no, I meant when I came back from the kitchen. You seemed… in your head. Wanna talk about it?”
“Oh,” Deflection achieved! But Artemis is suddenly much more quiet. There is a long silence, unbroken while the air filtration units hums above them. Too long. Like, ohmygoshthiswasahugemistake and whyamIstillsittinghereinthisdeadspace long. Just when Wally thinks he made the moment even more awkward and needs to try a new de-tactic, Artemis speaks into the stillness.
“I made a mistake. And the team almost got killed.” The words fall to the ground like bricks from her lips. Now it’s Wally’s turn to having nothing to say,
“Oh.” More silence. This is painful, Wally thinks. But Robin was right. They were a team. And they needed to start acting like it if they wanted the respect of the League. “Well, we can’t all be as perfect as yours truly,” He preens, but she doesn’t take the bait. So he tries a different tactic. “Mistakes happen. And we’re a team for a reason. We have each other's back and take care of one another.”
“Well, M’gann didn’t almost wreck the trap we had set for Bane and release juiced up wolf creatures into the warehouse.” She seethed in return.
“Ah, M’gann.” Wally sighs dreamily, instantly wistful and distracted. “A powerful telekinetic and she looks good doing it. I tell ya, if her and Super-bum weren’t dating –”
But Artemis’s snort cuts him off.
“Yeah, Superboy. Not like any of us can date outside the League anyway.”
“Wha– Of course we can!” Wally sputters.
“Really? How come I never see you or Boy Wonder taking off early for a girlfriend? Too busy dating each other?” Wally flushes like a tomato under his cowl, still sputtering but Artemis doesn’t look up from her knees.
“I– you– dating– what?”
“Forget it.” Artemis swings her legs, too wide, threatening his airspace and simultaneously giving herself room to hop off the gurney as Wally finally strings words together.
“We’re not dating! We’re just – I just – He was flirting with Zatanna! I like boys! No! I meant girls! I mean… Everyone is fine, I guess–”. Artemis only shakes her head at his progressively garbled responses.
“I said forget it. Move your boots or get stomped on.”
“Sure, the teams got couples. But Connor and Mehgan have been–”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Wally. Loving a hero is easy.”
“Oh, whoa! Hey now, LOVE is kind of a big word–” Artemis’s next words stomp out the rest of his response.
“No one loves the fuck-up, Wally.” Those words leave a heavy silence. Even heavier than before. And this time, Wally doesn’t wait longer than two slow heartbeats to break it.
“Why are you such a bitch sometimes?” The words hit. He can see them land as Artemis’s eyes flash with emotion before clouding over to their familiar steely grey. She levers herself to the side of the gurney and tries to stand but the movement makes her gasp and clasp her bandaged ribs.
Wally just stands there. Half of him vibrating in place, waiting for her to respond with either a cutting remark or snide insult. Another half wants to rapid dash out of there, find Robin and the closest fast food chain to fill up and talk on garbage on what a terrible day this is.
“We can’t all be lovable, Wally.” He snorts in return, his tone derisive.
“You’re right. Some of us are a goddamn delight every day. You should try it.”
Then he’s gone. Out of the mountain, out of the city, anger and petulance making his super-speed faster. Stupid Artemis and her stupid questions. Her stupid cold eyes and stupid plans. He never should have helped her when that plan went awry, saving her from that crushing fall. Not fast enough to save her bruised ribs. Why did they even keep her on this team? She was hardly a hero.
But just as fast as his feet, her face when she said it caught up with him. The flicker in her eyes before she said “fuck-up” and the way she was glaring at her knee pads the whole time. Maybe… maybe she wasn’t talking about him. Maybe she was talking about someone else. The twitch of her eyebrow when he said she should try it. She was hardly a hero. But then for all she had claimed to be Green Arrow’s niece, she had only just started heroing a few months ago. And Green Arrow, while experienced with protegee’s, wasn’t exactly famous for his benevolence.
Loving a hero is easy.
No one loves the fuck-up.
We can’t all be lovable, Wally.
What exactly was this all about?
He could ask Robin. Could speed his way all the way to the Bat Cave and bemoan himself on Alfred’s cooking. But that would only lead to more questions. And the only questions Wally wanted answered tonight were his own.
Pretty soon his feet find him right back where he started. It’s been more than half an hour at this point but she’s sitting there. Alone on the gurney with goosebumps rising all over her exposed skin. Like she hasn’t moved an inch since he left, just staring at her knees again.
“What the hell is your problem?” She jumps. Like she didn’t hear him come in. Too lost in her own head to sense the shift in the air that heralded his arrival. He expects scathing words in response. Vitriol and spite. But Artemis surprises him with a quieter response. On a completely new and out-of-pocket question of course. What even are girls?
“What’s Flash like…. When you make a mistake on a mission.” Still angry, Wally decides to go with it.
“I wouldn’t know. I’m pretty perfect if you haven’t noticed.” He preens. But she doesn’t take the bait. Doesn’t look up from her knee pads. Her legs still dangling in the open air next to the gurney, gently swinging. She’s quiet again so Wally decides on a more sincere answer.
“I don’t know, usually he just gives me a stern talking to and forgives me.”
“Why?”
“Why? What do you mean why?”
“Why does he just... forgive you like that?”
“Uh,” Wally’s vocal pause drags out as he tries to think how to answer honestly and succinctly to something he has always just taken for granted. Why does Flash forgive him? “Because people who care about you accept your mistakes and trust you to do better next time?” Artemis’s laugh cuts the air before it changes to a tight cough and a wince around her bruised ribs.
“Because they care about you? You’re kidding. What a joke.”
“Well, what the funk else do you do? Grind them to dust? Hardly productive when people are built on love and trust.”
“Love is just another joke.”
“Hey if Superboy can become lovable, anyone’s got a shot. You should try it.”
“Lovable?!” Artemis laughs again humorlessly before cutting back, her voice rising. “Ha! You don’t even trust me.”
It’s a loaded question. Wally can almost taste the bitterness lacing with it in the air. Normally he would crack a joke. Normally he would make a dig against her. But this is what those long silent stares have been about tonight. This week, between M’gann and Superboy. In the past, when things go wrong and end up right but something never quite settles in Artemis’s eyes. When she hits every target but one and never leaves the firing range again until Green Arrow drags her out. Trust is hard. Trust is built across time and experiences. Experiences she is clearly lacking. What would Robin do? What would Flash? They are supposed to be a team. But this is about being more than a teammate, a friend. What could someone love about a girl who feels so broken and unlovable?
“Trust is… complicated. You love your family, right?” Apparently the wrong thing to say. Artemis withdraws into herself.
“Yeah… family.”
“Ok, then Superboy. He’s hardly a casanova but M’gann seems… willing to smooth out the details.”
“Not all of us are lovable, Wally.”
“Hey now–”
“What could you— or any person, for that matter possibly love about me?
“A lot of things.” Wally says, suddenly serious, and she looks up. He doesn’t meet her eyes but carefully ghosts a hand down her left arm. Just brushing the tough, scarred skin to stop at her wrist. “For example...” he gently picks up her wrist, turning it over, and letting her fingers slide across his with familiarity. “This.” His thumb touches the unblemished streak of skin normally covered by her arm guards, protected against the whip of the bow string and mysteriously unscarred. Artemis huffs, emotions unchanged.
“What’s there to love about...” But she stops as he lifts her arm to his face and slowly breathes on the sensitive skin. Goosebumps break out across her forearm, raising the hairs. But it's just a breath. He barely even touches her, this is stupid –
“So many scars but none here. I noticed it’s pretty sensitive.” She is silent for several seconds as she sluggishly tries to process what he is trying to do. “And what about this?” His other hand presses down hard, like a plane of steady heat, on the top of her thigh. The muscle tense, rock hard and firm with years of training in resistance to pressure. She is watching him carefully as his eyes wander unfocused across her hair, her uniform, anywhere but her face.
“And this...” he continues. Stroking the same hot hand down the curve of her leg and around the outside, hooking his long fingers under her bent knee. He draws closer, seeming unconsciously, as they both stare unseeing at her scuffed knee pads. Artemis’s mind narrowed to the heat seeping through the heavy fabric. Soaking and soothing the strained muscles and tendons. Almost in reaction to her thought, Wally starts kneading right where she gets twinges after a hard landing in the field. It feels amazing and she breathes out in relief before catching herself.
The heat from his touch expands as his other hand releases her wrist to move slowly up her arm. Turning to look at his face, a scowl creases her brow as confusion creeps in, prickling cold from the inside of her chest. She breathes in to speak but can’t catch his eyes. Their bright apple green is focused on the path of his fingers across her olive-toned skin and she never noticed how they matched the green of her chest arrow as they brush over the fabric before continuing up. And suddenly she doesn’t want to ask what he’s thinking. She’s too afraid. The lazy path stops at the crook of her neck.
“They could love this little spot...” He says with a small smile, and he presses down firmly with his fingers. Artemis, to her horror, giggles in a high girlish way that is completely out of character. Her head scrunches down, capturing his touch on instinct to protect the ticklish spot he had once discovered on a Saturday with the Team relaxing.
“Yeah, that too.” He says with a smile. “And this one too...” Tracing to another spot just by her ear, behind the sharp corner of her regularly tensed jaw.
A sigh escapes as her lips part, eyes drifting closed, and a shiver slips down her spine at the sensual contact. Wait, what? No, just a leftover reaction to the adrenaline over the past hours, she rationalizes. And this counter was still very cold through her insulated, green uniform. Plus, she was sitting in her sports bra and bandages so she’s of course going to shiver with a sudden chill in the medbay. It was too small for him to have noticed. Yeah... But she could hear the smile in his voice as he chuckles saying,
“Especially that.” Her grey eyes snap open irate, a sharp retort pricking the tip of her tongue already but his expression stops her cold. Such a careful expression, devoid of all the usual snark and humor, as he trails his fingers around her neck and into the tangled mass of blonde tresses.
“I could love this.” He whispers, as his right hand burrows deeper. His other hand braced on the outside of her hip. Candy apple green eyes finally flick to hers and her breath catches deep in her chest as he does. Her heartbeat skitters and Artemis suddenly questions her rationale in popping back those painkillers when they first got back to the Cave. Did she know what kind they were? Did she check? Maybe these are palpitations. Her mind had been in a post-battle haze. This feeling, breathy and energized with tingles up and down her spine. Butterflies – no, nausea. It had to be side effects of the medicine, not this obnoxious redhead in front of her.
Wasn’t it?
With her mind running through every first aid and medical textbook she had read for training, she can only gasp in surprise when Wally dips his head to hers. Just a brush of contact, back and forth across her lips, before he pulls back to look at her. She is breathing too quickly, too shallow. She is giving herself too much air as she watches his lips. So she blames the hyperventilation as she allows a quick dart of her tongue to wet her lips.
“And what else?” she asks, her voice coming out soft and husky, eyes locked on his lips and reliving the quick touch of them. When he doesn’t respond, she finally looks up to find him watching her. He looks at her. For three long heartbeats (she’s counting) he just stares, before his hand tightens in her hair and grabs her fully around her back to draw her into a full kiss.
He kisses her slowly, softly and seductively.... Lovingly.
They are both gasping when they manage to pull away. Her hands had come into action, grabbing his shoulders during the kiss. Now one is wrapped around his neck and knotted in his fiery red locks. So vivid against her still smoke-smudged fingers. His body is pressed close as their chests rise and fall in unison.
“Oh, yeah.” He pants, still a little breathless. “Anyone would definitely love that.” Her sharp Ha! Breaks through the stillness of the medbay, drawing them back to the present. Artemis looks away, withdrawing into herself. Humor disappears off her face as she suddenly realizes their position against the counter. What if someone walked in? What would they think? What was she—
“You want to know my favorite part, though?” Wally’s voice was soft again, careful.. “What someone could love most about you?” Artemis closes her eyes and takes a centering breath before turning back to his green gaze with a verbal blow braced on her lips to snap the tension. It's something stupid, she’s sure. Some overt, sexual joke.
“Here.” He beat her to it; his hand drops from her hair to rest one finger against her skin.
“My breasts? You perv!” She smacks him. Just like a typical teenage boy after a makeout session.
“What? NO! Here! Under it.” Wally’s entire body is flushed red now. But his tone is adamant as he points again.
“My... second rib?” she asks sarcastically.
“No, in your chest. It’s that strong heart. A hero’s heart of gold… it’s what I love...uh. Yeah.” There’s an awkward silence after that confession. They both sit in silence as those words permeate the chilled air of the medbay. It’s what I love… Love what? Artemis thinks, her mind filling in the blank a millions different ways, ruminating on every single meaning. Wally laughs nervously, suddenly leaning away; creating physical and emotional distance between them.
“I’m sorry that was a super cheese fest. I was just trying to make you feel better. I don’t know why I—“ He stops when her hand slides down from his shoulder to his chest. Both wait as she lays her palm over his red lightning, feeling his heart thrumming in exhilaration beneath.
“Wally?” Artemis stops him. She lets the words trail off just watching her hand rise and fall with his breaths. Feeling the beat of her heart matching his, in the silence after she says his name. His eyes are on her face as she looks up.
He waits.
And waits.
But time moves slowly when you are constantly in and out of the Speed Force and waiting is hard.
“What!?” he bursts. Flinching as his voice reverberates in the cold medbay. His freckled face blazes with red – at this rate he won’t be normal colored until next week But Artemis only grins like a cat with the canary.
“It sounded just fine out loud.”