Wally

I freaking hate Kent Nelson.

"Find your own Spitfire, one who won't let you get away with nothin'. Like that girl A-"

And then I take the helmet off.

I have no idea who the hell he was talking about.

M'gann's name starts with M, not A. I have no idea what he meant.

Way to leave a guy in suspense, Kent.

See, the problem is, and I know this will shock you, for all of my dashing good looks and boyish charm, I'm not very good at, um, talking to girls.

But he wouldn't be talking about a girl I hadn't met yet. That wouldn't make sense. It'd have to be somebody he knew.

So who was it?

After we wrap up the mission and debrief, the Team takes a few hours off to just chill out. We watch a movie, have some soda (in my case, a lot of soda, since I metabolize the caffeine too fast to get on a sugar high anyway), and eat some food (again, in my case, a lot of food). It's fun.

About an hour into the movie, M'gann gets up to go to the bathroom, and I see Dick follow her. I ignore it, figuring it a coincidence.

They sit down about five minutes later, and nothing happens for another five minutes.

Then Conner goes to bed.

Five minutes later, Kaldur leaves.

Five minutes later, it's M'gann.

Then it's just Dick, Artemis, and me.

Dick smiles. "I'm going to bed too. No funny business, lovebirds."

She frowns. "As if."

I stay silent, just thinking to myself. "Doesn't Artemis start with A?"

I ignore the thought. Even Kent Nelson, the magic believer, couldn't believe in something so dumb as Wally West and Artemis Crock together. That's just dumb.

Right?

I open my eyes in the middle of some sort of dream.

I guess I must have fallen asleep on the couch, because I'm now outside and there's a girl holding my hand.

She's pulling me after her, running down a sidewalk past all of these small shops, no places that I've ever seen before.

I hear laughter, I see sunlight, and I feel happiness.

It's amazing. I'm smiling, everybody I pass on the sidewalk is smiling, and everything feels like it couldn't possibly be better.

I know it's a dream, but I wish it wasn't.

Then it dawns on me that I have no idea who the girl holding my hand is.

I look up to see her… and the last thing I see before I wake up is a flash of long, golden-blonde hair.

I open my eyes.

"Damn you, Kent."

Artemis looks over at me and raises an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

I shrug awkwardly, knowing that I'm in a weird, vulnerable position. Sleeping will do that to a person. "Oh, nothing. Weird dream."

She laughs. "You fell asleep and I didn't even mess with you. That's disappointing. I wish I had noticed."

I smirk. "Lucky me. You know I would never have let such an opportunity get away."

She smirks back. "Only because you're always staring at me."

I turn an uncomfortable shade of red, and I thank God that the lights are off. "You wish."

"No wishing necessary if it's already happening."

"Ha! You admit that you'd wish for it."

"Ugh, you are so annoying! No, I wouldn't!"

"Sure, Beautiful. I totally believe you."

It takes me 0.326 seconds to realize what I just called Artemis.

It takes her 0.139 seconds longer to process it, and then we both get really, really uncomfortable.

I start talking, the same way I react to all uncomfortable situations.

"I, uh, I'm really tired. I think I'll, uh, just, um, go to bed."

She nods rapidly. "Yeah, I'm, um, a little tired too. Good night, Wally."

"Um, good night, Artemis."

We walk to our respective rooms, and the movie we had been watching plays on, unnoticed by anyone.