A/N: For this just pretend that Failsafe happened a little earlier than October, so like mid-September. Please enjoy! Remember I don't own any of the characters, as much as I wish.
It was one of the last days that felt like summer. The heat was a wet heat the clung to hair and skin, and made everybody feel like they were permanently sweating. Artemis loved it. Most assumed Artemis loved the winter, for reasons usually unknown, but it was something the Team universally agreed on. Wally said that the winter matched her "winning personality" as he put, and the rest agreed. To Artemis, summer was too reminiscent of the happy parts of her childhood. The few that occurred happened in summer and she'd be damned if she let those got away from her.
Artemis remembered the year before her mom was shot, and Jade just left, there was a day in June where Lawrence was gone, and Paula had let them skip training, and let them all walk down to the pier. They bought vanilla ice cream from a cheap vendor and watched the sun set, and Artemis could remember the smell of the sea, the rough of the wood from the railing on her elbows, the feeling of her ice cream drip through her fingers, and the sound of her mother's laugh as Jade told an amusing story. There weren't too many days like that after that summer.
And so Artemis, instead of sitting inside the cave with the others under a stream of air conditioning, was outside on the sand just thinking. Basking in the suns lowering rays, and reveling in this small moment of peace. The heat crawled under her hair and rested where her ponytail rested on her neck. She watched as the sun began its dip under the water and the gold, orange, and yellow mixed with the blue of the waves and bathed the beach in pinks, purples, and gold. This was Artemis' favorite part. The last few minutes of blissful heat and sunshine before the moon unwound itself and blanketed the city in darkness. That was one thing Artemis hated about Gotham, the sunsets were never as pretty.
"Never thought you were a sunsets person."
Even though Artemis didn't hear him, which was unusual, he didn't surprise her. She had grown comfortable enough with his presence that rarely anything Wally did startled her. She was surprised, however, that he didn't have a humor filled remark for her.
"Nah, I just like to see all the light be extinguished from the earth," she says turning her head and looking up at him, with a little smirk on her face.
He grins, and settles down next to her, typically not asking if she wanted him there and turns his gaze toward the water, and wraps his arms around his knees. "Figures. I knew you were, like, allergic to happiness, and just wanted to feel the world drained." The remark isn't biting, but Wally says it with such a big smile, that it could almost be taken as a compliment. If Artemis didn't know him that is. She can't help, though, but to admire him when the light hits his hair and the color actually flatters him (a little) and his green eyes light up till they are almost precious stones. Artemis turns away quickly. He'd never let her hear the and of it if he caught her staring.
"It was my devious plan all along. To watch everything go dark and then make my escape. Maybe find some bad guys to play with." She lays down and closes her eyes, not interested in the usual banter she and Wally usually engage in. It's just too pretty.
They both sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes, a rather unusual feat for the both of them, until Wally breaks the silence, "Are you afraid to die? Like, maybe not the dying part, but what comes after?"
Artemis, without opening her eyes says, "I'd die right now if it meant never hearing you talk again."
Wally rolls his eyes, "Ha ha goddess of congeniality. I'm serious."
Artemis opens one eye, "What brought this on? I didn't know you battled with existentialism."
"I was just thinking about Kent, and the, um, the… uh, training exercise, and I just realized I wasn't ready to die. And I asked first!"
Artemis pulls herself back up into a sitting position and sighs, "I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of leaving people behind. Like my mom, the team, GA, and Jade even. I'm afraid of not being able to tell them one last time how much they mean to me. Wait, why am I telling you this?" Artemis says as she turns to face Wally again, this time with a raised eyebrow.
He gives a small smile, "It's just that my charm is dripping off of me and you got covered in it." He smooths his hair, and starts drawing swirls in the sand.
Artemis rolls her eyes so hard it hurts, and then pushes him over, and Wally gives a yell of "HEY!" as he smashes the sand around.
"Not fair Arty! I thought we were having a moment!" He says with mock horror and hurt displayed across his face.
Artemis snorts, "Yeah until you started to boast about you nonexistent charm."
Wally places a hand on his chest and feigns shock, "My own friend turned against me! The horror I say! The HORROR!" Artemis stares at the dramatic boy in the sand in disbelief. How could he be asking about death one minute, and the next he's writing around in the sand whining about how she "betrayed" him.
She pokes him, "You never answered your end of you question." Artemis says, not used to this happy Wally, who for the first time ever called her… friend. Sure she and him had been friendlier since the exercise, neither of the two had openly admitted to the other that they were something as simple as friends. Artemis became painfully aware of her own heartbeat.
"Nah its dark out and I'm hungry. I think Miss M has some leftover spaghetti in the fridge and I know there's pudding cups. Wanna get some?' Wally says perking up when he starts talking about food. He pushes himself up and offers a hand to Artemis. "I just know you love pudding cups."
Artemis sighs and grabs his hand (out of courtesy of course) "Damn. Those pudding cups tempt me so." She grumbles as she stands up. For a moment, his and hers eyes meet, emerald with silver, and the moonlight surrounds, and cradles the two in eerie silence. Neither can hear the waves. Artemis can hear her heart in her ears, and its beating loud and fast in ways she's never experienced and it scares her. Just as it was there, the moment is gone, and Artemis pulls her hand out of Wally's grasp like he had burned her, the loudness of her heartbeat still echoing in her head. She misses the flash of hurt in his eyes.
"Yeah its probably why you are bad at math. The sugar is eating away at your brain cells." He quips, because know they are Wally and Artemis again, and Wally will never let her a moments peace.
"You're one to talk Kid Bottomless Pit. I'm surprised they even let you out of the fourth grade."
"Haha funny Arty, but last one to the kitchen doesn't get any pudding." Wally says with a grin and takes off at lightening speed.
"Damn it!" yells Artemis and she starts running after him.
—
Later, Artemis lies awake in her bed at the cave, still a little bloated from all of the pudding. She had to wrestle some away from Wally, but she got them in the end. She had a sneaking suspicion he didn't fight back very hard, and Artemis didn't know how to feel about this newer, kinder Wally. Maybe those therapy sessions with Black Canary had helped. She turns over and buries her head in the pillow. She hates being afraid.
On the beach, Artemis had lied to Wally, (again, her mind likes to remind her) her biggest fear before dying, was taking all her lies to the grave with her. Her heart always pumped a little faster when she thought about that secret. Adrenaline would course through her and dread would settle in her stomach. Artemis keeps tossing and turning between that, and the little moment at the end of their conversation. Wally had looked at her in a way that she'd never seen him look at anything before. It scared her, because she's pretty sure she looked at him in the same way.
Artemis throws off her blankets and sits up and grabs her glass of water on her bedside table. "Damn freckles." She mutters and takes a big gulp of the water. Try as she might, Artemis Crock barely went to sleep that night. What she though was fear keeping her awake, was something much different and much more potent. But all Artemis would remember was that a certain red-headed speedsters green eyes was keeping her up.
And, little did Artemis know, a few doors down, that certain speedster was awake an imagining if Artemis was awake too. Two ruby hearts alike in their pulses and beats, synchronized for the first time on that beach. And the bodies and minds those hearts belonged too, connected fully for the first time. And you can be sure it wouldn't be the last.
A/N: What did ya think? Could be a twoshot if you like it enough and maybe some more plot could be revealed. If not, its just a little pre-love fluffy Spitfire!
