Part One
When he and Barbara were little – well, not that little, about ten or so, but he was so tiny then – they wrote letters to each other and placed them in a time capsule, together with some photographs and things, which they buried in a corner of Wayne Manor's garden. That's how he gets the idea, at Jason's funeral, watching Artemis lean on Wally's shoulder, a faraway look in her eyes: they'd each write two letters, one each to the other members of the trio, to be read in the event one of them passed away.
He can tell that Artemis and Wally are at least a little unwilling to commit to such a blatant admittance of their mortality, but Jason's death has taken a toll on all of them, and the letters are written. They hide the six envelopes together in the second drawer of Artemis' desk in the cave, under a false base.
Dick Grayson is nineteen when his younger brother dies. He is twenty when he attends the funeral of his best friend.
By the time Dick was fifteen, he was extremely good at a lot of things most fifteen-year-old boys were not particularly adept at, martial arts, acrobatics, computer hacking – if there was an obscure talent out there, Dick Grayson possessed it. What he was not so adept at was having a younger brother. When they first talked about adopting Jason, Dick was all for the idea, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would mean. He'd never had a sibling before, and he'd heard about first-child syndrome and how difficult it was having to share parents and all that. Not to mention straight-off-the-streets Jason was vicious and rude and snappy and extremely eager to prove himself. Dick always swore Jason was trying to kill him when Bruce pitted them against each other in hand-to-hand combat. Later, when he and Jason were on better terms, Jason admitted to it.
But he did learn to be a – dare he say so himself – completely asterous bigger brother, and before long, he could not imagine life without a younger brother. Theirs was a brotherhood forged through long hours training together, watching movies in the Batcave with a bucket of popcorn, helping Alfred bake his amazing cookies and attempting to prank Bruce on April Fool's Day. By the time Dick proudly trotted out Jason, newly decked out in Robin attire, to the team, they were pretty much best friends.
"Really, Nightwing, when you told me there was going to be a new Robin, I was hoping there would be a reprisal of your old costume," Artemis said, grinning at her friend.
"Not a chance in the world," Jason said, shuddering, before Dick could even open his mouth. "No one quite pulls off the green panties like Nightwing. He's the only one with the legs for it."
"Yeah," Artemis grinned at Jason. "And we all know why…"
"Because he's an acrobat," they said in unison, then burst out laughing.
"Really, guys? It's not that funny," he protested, but could barely suppress his smile. Huh – Jason and Artemis. Now that he thought about it, they would get along famously.
Artemis finished school relatively early on Wednesday afternoons, and almost always made her way to the Cave's training room right after school to put in an hour or two of solo practice with her bow. It was her favourite training slot because the training room was usually empty. Some happy alignment of her teammates' schedules and the will of God allowed her to have a good session she could concentrate perfectly at.
She was surprised, and mildly annoyed, to find that the training room was already occupied by the team's newest Robin, doing some very impressive flips on the steady rings. He beamed when he saw her, but his smile was nothing like Dick's friendly one. Instead, there was something about his every expression that was laced in mischief and cockiness.
"Hello, Artemis," he said, as he dismounted and landed perfectly in front of her.
"Hey, um – Robin," Artemis said, remembering she did not know this Robin's real name.
"It's Jason," the younger boy said, and shrugged at her look of surprise, "hey, I figured, since you know Nightwing's identity, why not, right?"
"Right," Artemis said, suppressing a laugh. She'd liked Jason from his introduction, but he was turning out to be even more entertaining than she'd expected. "Well, I'm Artemis Crock."
She fidgeted a little, not sure how to tell the newest member of the team she'd meant to put in some hours of serious training without sounding impolite, but luckily, Jason seemed to get the hint. "Well, I'm sure you came here to train, so I'll let you be. I've got some moves to perfect before Dick "I'm-an-acrobat" Grayson gets all high and mighty at our next training," Jason gave a mock curtsey, and delved back into his training.
Artemis laughed, grateful the new kid wasn't the persistent tagging-along type. She was good with kids – something many would not expect of someone so acerbic – but not when they interrupted her training time. Quickly forgetting the kid, she took out her crossbow and became so engrossed in her training she almost jumped when she turned around two hours later to find Jason, grinning at her, an extra bottle of water in hand.
"Whoa! Didn't see you there," Artemis said, startled, before accepting the bottle.
"Sorry. I can't help creeping up on people these days, y'know, bad influence and all," Jason said conversationally. "So, I hear your entire family is basically made up of assassins."
Artemis lowered her bottle and gave Jason a look. He tried to keep his expression innocent, but it was clear he was dying to see her reaction. "Did Dick tell you that?" Artemis said carefully.
"In a manner of speaking," Jason replied, "He taught me how to hack the databases."
Artemis laughed, "Oh, and you decided to check up your entire team?"
"Nah, I was going to check up on the entire team, but I started with you, and your file was just too interesting I ended up spending a long time there," Jason grinned at her toothily.
"Riiiight," Artemis felt mildly amused. She'd outgrown being insecure about her family background years ago. It was not something she enjoyed talking about, but at least Jason was asking her with some sort of curiosity, rather than blatant pity, or suspicion. "And to answer your question, yes, my family is basically made up of assassins. Though my mom is more of an ex-con and my sister has something like a friends-with-benefits relationship with crime."
"Hmm," Jason said, and Artemis prepared herself for a long interrogation. Jason, it seemed, did not really pull any stops with the probing questions. He surprised her. "Well, I bet you've learnt some great moves from them. Wanna spar?"
She and Jason took to training together every Wednesday, and sparring after they'd finished their individual training sessions. She helped him with his homework, from time to time, though Jason, being a Robin, was excellent at his studies, though he frequently got in trouble for alternately being disrespectful or falling asleep in class. The others did not particularly mind this new dynamic in their team. After all, anyone could see Jason and Artemis got along well, and while Artemis was comfortable with the rest of the team, many of them were still unsure how to deal with a consistently snarky kid that often overstepped the boundaries.
"So," Wally said, cutting to the chase as usual, as they helped M'gann prepare hot chocolate for the team after a tough mission. "What's up with you and Jason?"
Artemis rolled her eyes, "Jeez, West. You can't seriously be jealous of a twelve-year-old kid."
"Hey, who's jealous?" Wally said defensively. "Can't a boyfriend casually ask about the kid his girlfriend spends way too much time sparring with?"
"There is no such thing as too much sparring," Artemis said seriously, before relenting, "Look, Wally, Jason's new to the team. And we both don't have powers. I'm helping him out. Besides, we get along 'cos we're similar."
"You're not similar," Wally seemed horrified that his girlfriend could ever be like a thirteen-year-old loudmouth, "I mean, he's arrogant – "
"Caustic, defensive, secretly nice…" Artemis trailed off, "Wally, do you have a problem with me hanging out with Jason?"
Wally sighed. "I don't. I mean, I'm not the kid's biggest fan – he mouths off way too much – but I guess I'm glad you two are friends?" Wally looked away from her to focus intently on the mug of hot chocolate he was stirring. "It's kinda like when Zatanna joined the team."
"What does Zee have to do with it?" Artemis looked confused.
"Well, she was like you, you know, the kind of girl who would talk back and speak her mind. I mean, M'gann and Robin are so cheerful they're like fountains of rainbows and cotton candy. Kaldur and Conner can be pre-tty stoic, and well, there was me, so having Zee around made you… a lot happier," Wally shrugged. "I guess I liked that, even if we were pretending to hate each other then. And I like it now, that having Jason around makes you happy."
Most Wednesdays, Artemis would enter the training room to the sound of Jason practicing on the parallel bars or still rings. While Dick could do his acrobatic routines without even thinking or concentrating, it was clear Jason had only learnt the art later in his childhood. All the same, Jason was outstanding, and Artemis liked watching Jason practice while she readied her bow and arrows.
Today, Jason had set up a punching bag and was pummelling it with a frightening amount of gusto, and Artemis was speaking as someone who regularly witnessed Superboy go on his crazed, destructive rampages.
While Jason was friendly to her, Artemis knew well enough that he was no sunshine-and-rainbows kid. He was often filled with a sort of anger she figured was inexplicable even to him, partially from being a teenager, she supposed, and partially from his troubled upbringing. In many ways, it reminded her of how she would sometimes lash out at others verbally when she was younger, and so much more insecure. But this, this furiousness with which Jason was slamming his fists into the punching bag, it was more than a teenager's temper tantrum.
"Jason?" she called out cautiously, leaving her bow and quiver on a bench. She approached the boy, who continued punching at the bag, ignoring her. She touched him and the shoulder, and was quickly shrugged off.
"Jason, you should stop. You're going to hurt yourself," she tried to keep her voice calm yet forceful, but really, he was beginning to frighten her. She clasped each hand on one of his shoulders. "Jason."
He stopped, breathing heavily, and Artemis registered that he was shaking. He shrugged her hands off again and walked away to pick up his water bottle. He was still not looking at her when he sat down, still quietly fuming, on the bench where she had left her bow.
She sat next to him. "You should probably train," Jason told her gruffly, "Sorry for distracting you."
"I'm not going to train until I make sure you're alright, Jase."
"I'm fine," he said testily.
Artemis wanted to get up, pat him on the shoulder, pick up her bow, and train. There was nothing about this situation that was familiar to her. She could disarm fully-grown men, speak five languages and on occasion, entertain a bunch of toddlers, but dealing with a kid's deep-rooted anger? She simply did not know what to do, and Artemis did not deal well with situations where she was completely clueless. But this was Jason. Her sparring partner, the kid who always had her back on missions, who stayed up late chatting with her about the finer points of street fighting.
"Your father," Jason said abruptly, startling Artemis out of her reverie, "Did he make you do anything? Anything bad?"
It was something only Black Canary had asked her about before, when she had noticed how Artemis' fighting style could veer towards the ruthless if she was under pressure. Even Green Arrow skirted around the issue when they were training. "He was training me to be an assassin," Artemis explained, "He gave me these… tests. At first, I had to take out opponents, seriously injure them or I had no chance of getting out of it alive. I never knew if they even deserved what I did to them. But he made me. When I got older he tried to teach me how to kill."
"Did you?" Jason's voice was quiet, and Artemis was acutely aware of how intently he was staring at her.
"No," she said, remembering the nights she spent confined in her room without food because of her defiance. "I refused to. I'd knock the guy out and run for it. Dad said he wouldn't get me until I killed the guy, but I always found my own way back. Maybe he made it easy for me, secretly." She shrugged. "Or maybe I was just resourceful."
"You're a good person, Artemis," Jason said, smiling at her so sweetly it could break her heart. She wondered how he would've turned out, how the two of them would've turned out, if they had been siblings and born to a normal family like Wally's.
"So are you, Jase," she told him, and he stiffened immediately. "Come on, Jason. What's wrong?"
He stayed silent for so long it seemed like he wasn't going to tell her, until he finally said, "I'm not like Dick or Tim or anything. They're just so… good. I'm just angry all the time. That's why Batman took me in. He thought if he didn't, I'd be some terrible criminal. And that's the thing: he's right. You know how he found me? I was stealing the tires of the Batmobile, 'Mis. And I used to – to fight. People thought I was just a kid, so they could take me. But I'd get mad, and I had a knife-"
"You were doing what you had to do to stay alive, Jason," Artemis said. She tried to keep her voice gentle, but she knew he wouldn't be convinced. She had spent years trying to come to terms with the things her father had her do, wondering just how much choice she had in it.
"I know. But what if it's still in me? What if I'll always be a criminal, and it can't be washed out?"
She wanted to tell him so badly what had taken her years to learn, how it had been mission after countless mission before she felt like a real hero, a hero that earned her place. But they were not things that could be told; he had to learn them for himself. "Jason, your past made you who you are. You aren't like Dick or Tim, but that doesn't matter. I wouldn't be this good with a bow if I didn't have a homicidal father training me to kill fourteen hours a day. And you wouldn't be so tough or resourceful if you didn't make your own way on the streets of Gotham," Artemis said, getting a small smile out of the boy. "And I'm sure you know Batman better than I do. He wouldn't have picked you if he didn't believe you would be a great hero."
Jason was quiet. "I messed up during patrol. I shattered this guy's collarbone. I thought he deserved it, but we needed him to talk. We ended up fighting about it. I was so pissed off I just stormed to my room," he choked up. "Dick came to talk to me. He explained that Batman was tough on us because it was a tough business – all that usual stuff. He was nice about it. But then Batman, he came and talked to me. Apologised for shouting. We made up, but I just felt really… undeserving."
"Most kids never deserve exactly what their parents give them," Artemis said wryly, thinking of her mother. "That's what makes parents so awesome."
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Thanks, 'Mis. For listening. I mean, Dick and Tim are great, but I'd pick you any day. I wish you were my sister."
"You don't mean that. Without Dick, who'd teach you to hack into top-secret files?" Artemis joked, but smiled warmly at Jason. I wish you were my brother too, instead of a sister that abandoned me when I needed her most, she wanted to say. "But I'd totally adopt you as my younger brother. No kidding."
"Really?" Jason sounded mischievous. "You'd pick me over Dick?"
"Wellllll," Artemis pretended to consider, "You are a lot cuter, now Dick's gone and grown ten inches overnight."
"And I don't wear panties." Jason's grin, usually so smug, was playful, but happy. "Thanks… Sis."
Artemis was preparing for a long night of cramming for a biology exam when a face appeared outside her window, making her jump and spill grape juice over her notepad.
Snarling, she pushed the window open and glared at the very aptly named Dick Grayson, who simply beamed at her. "What is your problem?!"
"Just felt like dropping in," Dick quipped, grinning. Before she knew it, Dick had somehow propelled himself through the window and stood, cheerfully, by her desk.
"Haha, you're a walking cliché," Artemis rolled her eyes.
"Artemis?" her mom called, knocking on her door. "Is everything alright? I heard voices."
Before Artemis could think of a plausible excuse, Dick had already opened her bedroom door and was grinning at her mother, exuding charm. "Hello, Mrs. Crock! I just had something to ask Artemis. Sorry to bother you late at night."
Her mother smiled widely at Dick. The former-assassin had met Dick before, and was helpless against his smooth charisma. "Oh, no trouble at all. Though you really must come in by the door next time, Dick!" Her mother gave her a firm look. "I'll leave you two alone, but door stays open, Artemis."
"You have to leave the door open?" Dick asked, grinning, once her mother was out of earshot. "What are you, fourteen?"
Artemis rolled her eyes again. "No, just that my mother rather likes Wally and would prefer I not cheat on him, is all."
Dick snorted. "Pfft. She knows Wally and I are best friends, right?"
"Everyone knows about your bromance, Dick," Artemis sat down on her swivel chair. "Anyway, get to the point. To what do I owe this honour? Because I've got some serious studying to do."
"Biology test? Jeez, 'Mis, we both know you know that stuff backwards and forwards. You'd do much better for the test if you just got a good night's sleep," Dick said, eyeing the thick biology textbook which lay abandoned on her desk.
"To. The. Point. Grayson."
He grinned. "Well, my younger brother had two brothers until quite recently. I hear he's acquired an older sister. Might you have anything to do with that?"
"This is about Jason? Jeez, Grayson, you know the kid and I are alike. He is like a little brother to me. There's no harm in it."
"'Course there isn't! Just wanted to, well, thank you, I guess. Jason was really upset, and nothing Tim or I did or said would help. But you helped," Dick explained, his voice sincere. "As a big brother… I'm grateful."
"Oh." That was a surprise. "Well, you're welcome, I guess. A simple text message would have sufficed, though. Or you could've waited for school tomorrow."
"These visits are so much more sincere," he smiled at her, before cackling his creepy Robin cackle that Artemis had been hearing less and less since he became Nightwing.
She picked up a pen from her table and twirled it expertly. "I do really care about Jason, Dick. Jade was a great sister to me… before she left. And I never understood why she had to then, but I do now. All the same, I guess I want to be like an older sister to someone. Help them the way Jade always helped me, when we were kids." Artemis looked away. "I just wanna do right by Jason."
Dick blinked. He opened his mouth, hoping for eloquence, but nothing came out.
Artemis turned back to him and smiled tentatively, and he forced himself to smile back. "I'm glad," he said, and while his voice was earnest and enthusiastic, he knew he had to leave soon or she would notice something was wrong. "Anyway, as much as I'm enjoying myself here, I do have patrol to return to, and you have a test to study for. Bye, 'Mis!"
She rolled her eyes, but granted him a smile. "Bye, Dick."
He had escaped from so many buildings he didn't have to think before he found himself swinging from building to building like he did every patrol. What was wrong with him?
For a short period of time after Artemis had first joined the team, he had been the one that known the most about her, simply because of his hacking skills that had given him privy to the family background she tried so badly to protect. After she revealed to her past to the team, she had become much more open, talking about her family from time to time, inviting the team over for tea ever so often. But her tone was so often light hearted, or sarcastic, or witty. She was so rarely earnest, or anything even close to comfortable with talking about her feelings.
He was one of her closest friends, he knew, probably the only one comfortable enough to climb in her window in the middle of the night unannounced, anyway. But he so rarely saw her as simply Artemis. Not a tough, biting heroine, not a valuable team mate and extraordinary archer, just… a person. He no longer knew the most about her – shouldn't that be okay? Why did he want to know more?
When he got back home, he downloaded the picture of them, from her first day at Gotham Academy, onto his wrist computer. He did not know why yet.
"I need to talk about Wally," Artemis said abruptly, twisting her hands together nervously, as she walked in and found Dick sitting calmly in the Cave kitchen, tinkering with his wrist-computer with a screwdriver.
I'm not ready for this, he thought involuntarily, but he set the screwdriver down anyway. "I'm all ears, 'Mis. What did the Wall-Man do this time?"
"Well - it was actually - me. He - " She bit her lip, and rolled her eyes. "This is dumb, I'm making a big deal out of nothing."
"Doesn't sound like nothing if you're resorting to getting romance advice from fifteen-year-olds," Dick said cheerfully. "Spit it out, spitfire."
Artemis scowled at him, and ran a hand through her damp hair. "Fine. Wally said he loved me. And I couldn't say it back."
Dick blinked, waiting for her to continue, but she looked at him with equally expectant eyes. "Oh. Uh - he was upset at you?"
"No - not yet. He was understanding about it. He knows I have issues with this sorta thing. But he wants to hear it back and I don't know how to tell him."
"What did you tell him? After he said it."
Artemis laughed darkly. "I said, 'I know,' like in that Star Wars movie he made us watch. It wasn't what he wanted to hear but at least it was nerdy which I suppose to him is the next best thing. But I could tell he wants me to say it back, he can't keep any of his feelings off his face, anyone can read him like a book."
It was true, Dick had known Wally for years and the boy was awful at concealing his emotions, and Dick wasn't speaking just as a Bat. "Well," Dick said carefully, "Maybe you don't have to say it if it makes you so uncomfortable. You could show him - I don't know, do nice things for him, get to know his family better - I'm sure he'll understand." Dick proceeded to burst out into the first few bars of Extreme's More Than Words, and while Artemis had always said he could potentially be the lead singer of a boy-band, she merely folded her arms and glared at him. He finished the verse with a cheesy grin, not wanting to test her patience.
"It's not that, Wally knows I love him. It's just something you have to say. The importance of saying "I love you" that first time is ridiculously conflated in modern society, even if we both know innately we love each other, we still have to say it aloud! It's some ridiculous relationship milestone, and utterly pointless in my opinion, but it's important because – because he deserves someone who can freaking get those words out, in context, meaningfully, and I. Can't." Artemis was rambling now, and he imagined if she were somewhat more prone to melodramatics she would be waving her arms around in the air desperately. "I should know how important it is to say it aloud," she said finally. "After all, before him, no one ever – "
"I love you," he interrupted, and she looked up at him, blinking. "You know, not in a Wally sort of way. But you're like a sister to me, and I love you a lot. See – it doesn't have to be like a moment of ridiculous neediness and intensity. It can be totally out-tense." He beamed, like he was wont to whenever he created a new word.
She smiled wryly. "I – I love you too, Boy Wonder."
"See? Totally asterous. Telling Wally you love him isn't going to make you the only thing he lives for and he isn't going to follow you around everywhere and depend on you forever for emotional support. He's well adjusted, you know that. All it's going to do is make you feel better for saying it, and make him extremely happy, and then you get to feel happy for making him happy."
"You're oversimplifying," she argued, though she sounded slightly persuaded.
"Maybe you're over-complicating. Look – it's a big step and all, and I know it's hard for you, but if you feel you're ready, then really, you shouldn't stop yourself."
"I'm starving," Wally announced, as he ran into the room and skidded to a stop in front of the fridge. Artemis and Dick stared at each other for a moment, sharing a look that transmitted volumes of information. Finally, Dick stood up and did the exact opposite of what Artemis had tried to tell him not to do with her eyes.
"Well, I'll just leave you two alone," Dick's voice was way too cheerful, "You've got some talking to do, after all."
"Dick-!"
By now, Wally had lain out some bread, ham and peanut butter on the kitchen counter. How anyone could mix ham and peanut butter together was a mystery to her, but Artemis suspected her boyfriend was going to make a multi-layered sandwich. "What's he talking about?" Wally asked, looking confused. "Some talking…?"
Artemis looked helplessly at the door Dick had disappeared out of. "Dick's right," she said finally, looking at Wally, "I do have something to say to you."
Wally froze, his sandwich halfway from his mouth and his expression an odd mix of dread and abject horror. "Oh. Well… What?"
Oh God, he thinks I'm breaking up with him, say something, quick! "My grandmother loved me," Artemis blurted out. Well, not that. Wally looked confused, sandwich still poised a distance from his mouth. "I mean, well, she used to. Before she got dementia, and couldn't recognize me anymore, but well. She loved me." Great, Artemis, you're rambling, nothing good ever comes out of your rambling.
Wally cautiously took a bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly, clearly waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he said, after swallowing audibly, "What was she like? Your grandmother - I'm trying to picture her."
"She was my paternal grandmother, small-time criminal, gave my dad most of his training. Trained me when my parents were away on the job. She wasn't big or imposing, but she commanded respect. She – she had long white hair and always sat ramrod straight, made my sister and I do the same. My dad used to tell me that she loved me."
"That doesn't sound like a bad thing," Wally pointed out, "It even seems oddly nice of him."
"Except he used to say it like he was jealous, or something. He told me that she'd never loved anyone in her life, not even him, but she loved me. And he made it seem like… he didn't even know why. I didn't even know why. I mean, I sorta looked like her, back in the old days, but I wasn't like her. She took no one's crap; I had stuffed animals. I didn't get why she would praise me but never Jade, or why she would tuck me into bed when I missed my parents, or why she got me my first bow…" Artemis trailed off, not sure where she was going. "It was stressful. I didn't know what I was doing right, or what I had to keep doing so she wouldn't realize she was stupid for loving me. When she started forgetting me, it's terrible, but it was easier. She didn't love me anymore, so the pressure went away."
Artemis bit her lip. "I still visit her. My dad dumped her in some care centre. I'm the only one who does – she hates my mom, and I'll bet Jade doesn't even know where she is."
Wally looked at a loss for words. "That was… I'm glad you told me, Artemis," he said, though he seemed confused.
"I know you're wondering if it had any relation to what, um, what you told me last week." The look on his face demonstrated she was right. "It's just, in my family, we never said 'I love you', so all I had was this inexplicable love that made me so confused. I guess, this is my way of saying that I don't understand the first thing about loving or being loved, and definitely expressing it, and it's so strange and terrifying and I keep wondering why -" she cut off, not wanting to go there, and thought about what Dick had said to her. "But I don't want that to be my life. So… I love you."
And then he was hugging her, and she found herself laughing into the soft red material of his hoodie. Laughing. How odd that she would feel so giddy after the most impromptu speech of her life, and that would include the time she totally forgot her Literature Oral Report on Lolita was due and make up her ridiculous analyses on the spot – Dick didn't stop sniggering the entire time.
"Wow," he said into her hair, "If I'd known you'd make a whole speech I would've written one too. I would've even worked in a science metaphor or two – maybe something about the moon and the tides as a reference to your name…"
"Right, lunacy," she said, laughing, "fitting."
He let go of her eventually, to finish his sandwich, of course, but he didn't stop grinning for the rest of the night.
In the corridor, leaning against the wall, Dick fought down the uncomfortable feeling that clenched his heart. She hadn't told him the story about her grandmother. It seemed a stupid thing to get upset over, but it gnawed at him all the same. He was jealous. As her best friend, he got her problems, but not her stories, the ones that gave people a window into her brilliant complexity. Stories that, he realized, had to be earned, and that he would never be able to deserve.
"Dude, I know it sounds dumb," Wally said, between mouthfuls of popcorn, "But I really think I'm gonna marry Artemis someday." A football game blared on the television, but neither of them was really paying much attention.
Dick nearly choked on his popcorn. Wally glanced at him.
"Sorry. I guess that was really sudden," Wally shrugged, "It's just… I have a good feeling about this whole thing. Even if we're seventeen, and everyone says no one lasts past high school."
"Just trying to picture you married, dude," Dick made a face, and if his voice sounded unconvincing Wally did not notice.
"Yeah, hard to imagine the Wall-man tied down so early, huh," Wally laughed. "So how are things going with you and Zee?"
M'gann and Conner were out, probably on a date, or so Dick figured from the absence of the bioship in the dock and the emptiness of the kitchen. Wally and Artemis, he knew, were doing a summer internship at some research institute. Kaldur was at Atlantis with Raquel, and Zatanna – well, he didn't know where she was, naturally – and Red Tornado had Watchtower duty. He pretty much had the place all to himself, which was exactly what he had intended. After all, the only person he wanted to talk to at the moment was studying protein structure and folding while her boyfriend investigated neurological disorders in mice.
He settled down on the couch and picked up the remote. He had originally come to the cave to make use of the training facilities, but now, he just didn't feel like moving.
"Artemis, B07," a female voice said in his ear, mimicking the cave computer.
Any other person would have jumped, but not the Boy Wonder. He whirled around to find Artemis grinning at him widely. "Artemis?" he beamed back at her, surprised but glad, and feeling like the world had decided to be kind to him for once this week. "Shouldn't you be at your internship?"
"Oh, we were supposed to be updating our mentors on our progress, and I finished early. Wally, on the other hand, had some mice-related problems that I'd rather not go into," she made a face, "That, and I had breakfast with Zatanna this morning and she let me into some gossip…"
Right. "Sorry I didn't tell you," Dick grimaced. "How is she doing, by the way?"
Artemis looked sympathetic. "Well, Zee's a tough girl. She's handling it. Of course, all the practice helped – I mean, this is your third breakup since you guys first got together."
Dick laughed despite himself. "The last time," he promised.
Artemis hummed a few bars of We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together as she settled next to him on the couch. "How about you?" she asked, elbowing him. "Doing okay?"
"Trying to stay whelmed, I guess," Dick said, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Zatanna and I are better off as friends. Maybe we're too similar to actually be together. Or similar in the wrong ways." He imagined, involuntarily, a girl with long blonde hair and calloused hands lacing her fingers with his, and immediately dug his fingernails into his palm.
Artemis fought to urge to ruffle his hair. "It really is hard to believe you're fifteen sometimes," she said, fondness in her voice. "It's good that you and Zatanna gave it a shot… so many shots, really. Maybe it was just a mistake that had to be made so you could decide you really should just be friends, and move on."
Dick forced himself to smile gratefully. "Yeah. Thanks, 'Mis."
"Anyway, I know what'll distract you best," Artemis declared, "I hear the circus is in town."
"In Happy Harbour?" Dick looked surprised. He would've heard about that!
"Nope, New York City, actually. I checked – if we zeta now, we can make good time," she announced, getting off the couch and stretching lazily.
He grinned, genuinely this time. "You're the best."
"Hey Jason," Wally said as he zipped into the kitchen in search of a snack. The new Boy Wonder looked up from his homework with an expression of distaste as Wally rushed past him, messing up his hair.
"Hey Wall-man," Jason responded, trying and failing to keep his annoyance from leaking into his voice. "You really as good at Physics as Artemis says you are?"
"Probably better, knowing Artemis," Wally said between mouthfuls of a granola bar. He ran from the fridge over to where Jason was pulling his hair out and glanced over his shoulder.
"I've been at this stupid problem for twenty minutes," Jason complained. He seemed seconds away from a tantrum. "Thermodynamics is a bitch."
"Oh, you're fine. You just didn't convert the units here," Wally pointed out, "The rest of your working is right."
"What-?" Jason examined his working again, this time realizing his error. "Oh GOD. Thanks, Wall-man. You're really not that bad."
Wally rolled his eyes. "No problem, kid."
"I have a problem," Dick said, as he sat opposite Barbara. She looked up from her Calculus textbook, which she was, let's face it, barely reading anyway.
"What happened?" Barbara raised an eyebrow.
"I broke up with Zatanna – no, that's not the problem!" Dick added hurriedly, upon seeing Barbara's expression.
"Yeah, you've both been thinking about it for weeks, I'd have thought that was the solution," Barbara pointed out. "So, what's up? You're making me worried."
There was no way about it other than to spit it out. "IthinkI'minlovewithArtemis."
Barbara blinked. "Artemis," she said carefully.
"Yeah."
"Our friend, Artemis."
"That's the one."
"In other words, your best friend's girlfriend, and one of your closest friends."
"I think you see why this is a problem," Dick groaned, pinching his nose bridge.
"I think it was a severe understatement when you called it a 'problem'," Barbara said dryly. "Dick, I thought she was like a sister to you."
"That's what I thought! But Barb – you're like a sister to me. Wally's my best friend, and Zee, well, she's a great friend at most. Artemis is… different," Dick tried to explain, as Barbara looked on in concern. "She's… I can't get over her. I keep trying to, but I can't."
"Have you considered telling her?" Barbara suggested, "Maybe it would help to get it off your mind."
Dick shook his head. "I can't. She can't know, not while she's with Wally, anyway. Even if I get it off my mind, Artemis would worry about it. It could change everything."
"Well then," Barbara said, unhelpfully, "It's probably going to remain a problem for awhile."
"You sure the League's not going to mind that we used the zeta tubes to visit Stanford?" Wally asked. This whole day trip had been his idea, though it was Artemis who meticulously planned it, and he had been incredibly gung-ho about misusing League property until the moment they stepped out of the zeta-beam exit point.
"Really, Wall-man? You're worrying about this now?" Artemis rolled her eyes. "Relax, we'll just say we were checking out a possible future college. As irresponsible usage of zeta transportation goes, this is probably the most responsible you can get."
"Well, I suppose the deed's done," Wally sighed, "Now, we have a school to visit!"
Bruce was said to be the world's greatest detective. Dick was a great hacker. Tim had amazing observational skills and a close to eidetic memory. But Jason's methods were more direct.
"Hey Dick, you're home," he called to his brother from his place on the cough as Dick strolled into the television room. "Where were you?"
"Oh, um, just hanging out with Barbara," Dick replied.
"Are you two dating?" Jason asked, sitting up, "you spend an awful lot of time together."
Dick rolled his eyes. "Jeez, like I don't get enough of this from Bruce. We're just friends."
"Hmm," Jason said, all too innocently, "Well, how about you and Artemis then?"
In the end, it all came down to knowing your subject well. Bats were masters at hiding their emotions, but not so much to other Bats. Jason didn't miss the way his brother startled, the difficulty he had in swallowing, before he finally pasted a look of confusion on his face. "Don't be ridiculous, Jason. You know Artemis is dating Wally."
Dick's mistake was being completely unprepared. Jason caught his gaze and held it. In that moment, Jason knew, and Dick knew he did.
"We heard," Dick declared, as he and Jason stepped into the TV room, "that there was going to be a party."
The atmosphere in the TV room-cum-kitchen did not bring to mind a party at all. Instead, Artemis was pouring popcorn into a large bowl and setting it on the counter, where there were a few bags of potato chips, while Wally was cheerfully setting up what looked like a karaoke machine.
"You heard right! Well, Artemis and I got here, and we found this place totally empty and we thought it was the perfect time to break out that karaoke machine my parents got me last Christmas!" Wally said with a flourish, before running over to help Artemis carry the food over to the coffee table.
"Wait, your parents got you a karaoke machine?" Jason sounded incredulous. "Have they, well, actually heard you sing?"
"Actually, they did say I could only use it in the Cave," Wally said, unfazed, "But the acoustics in here are better anyway."
Jason groaned, and appealed to Artemis. "Sis, do we really have to listen to Wally sing?"
Artemis laughed and handed him the microphone. "Well, only one way to prevent him from singing. Sing yourself!"
Jason made a face. "Nah, make Dick sing. He's got this reedy, teen heartthrob voice."
Dick laughed, and accepted the microphone gladly. "Well, let's get this party started!"
Dick did have an amazing voice, but no one was surprised at this – what was Dick not excellent at, anyway? They all took turns to sing. Jason, in particular, gave an extremely rousing performance of Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name, and they found Wally did not sound nearly quite so bad when singing with Artemis. Wally insisted on giving a solo performance of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, and the three boys performed The Rolling Stones' Start Me Up, which Artemis met with raucous applause and catcalls. Jason declared Artemis' beautiful rendition of Heart's Alone "haunting", and they forced Dick to sing at least four Backstreet Boys songs in a row before anyone took up the microphone again. They all got up and danced crazily in the middle of Jason and Dick's rendition of Don't Stop Believing, fingers snapping and limbs flying, and Artemis somehow lost her hair tie and became a storm of whipping blonde hair. She hit everyone in the face with her hair at least once, but that did not stop her from throwing her hair back and forth as she sang I Love Rock'n'Roll at the top of her lungs.
When Zatanna arrived at the cave a few hours later, she found them completely passed out in a tangle of blankets and limbs: Wally slept stretched out across the couch while Artemis leaned against the cough from her spot on the floor, hugging her legs to her chest. Wally had his hand tangled in her long hair, and Jason was curled up against her shoulder. Dick was sprawled out on the floor, his head resting on Jason's feet.
Zatanna giggled despite herself, and dashed into her room to get her camera. She crept to the front of the room and snapped a picture as quietly as she can, but the flash somehow managed to rouse her ex-boyfriend.
"Zee," he said sleepily, getting up. His movement made Jason murmur and curl up even closer to Artemis. Dick smiled fondly at the pair as he sat up. "Hey."
"Hey yourself, Dick," Zatanna said, sighing inwardly. She set the camera down on the coffee table, and sat opposite him, cross-legged. "So… we're okay, right?"
He smiled at her, his wide, Dick Grayson smile, all charm and good-naturedness. "Of course we're okay."
"Hey Dick," Jason said, catching up to his older brother as they prepared to hit the showers after a particularly tough training session with Batman.
"Oh, hey Jason," Dick grinned at his younger brother, before taking a long swig from his water bottle. "Good job today."
"Thanks. Um, I'm not sure how to say this," Jason said, cutting to the chase, "So I'll just be blunt as usual. I know about… how you feel about Artemis. And I know you know. I just wanted to promise you that I won't tell her."
Dick blinked at his younger brother, his expression measured and emotionless, "Jason…"
"I figured that if you wanted to tell her you would've, or maybe you're waiting for the right time," Jason explained. "Either way, I'm not going to interfere."
"Well. Thanks, little wing," Dick said wryly.
"No problem," Jason replied brightly, completely ignoring his brother's tone.