A Fluffy Valentine's Day
"And….there!" Artemis had added the finishing touches to her special Valentine's Day surprise for Wally. Yes, she'd gotten him a fridge full a food, something that should last the speedster for a day, but a nice cake layered in chocolate and strawberry topped with various frostings and filled with Bavarian cream was just the right ending for today. He'd spent all night writing that paper, from time to time she'd bring him coffee, kiss him on the cheek and correct a few mistakes but that particular morning she had archery practice and the responsible thing to do was go to bed. She awoke to find her boyfriend with papers stuck to his face, the adhesion being his own salvia.
"Wally wake up!" She had said shaking him. He bolted up, grabbed the printed papers and started to speed off, backtracking quickly to kiss her on the cheek once more before he left.
"Bye babe!" After practice she had gone to the market to pick up a few extra ingredients for the cake. Tired as she was, she'd plopped down next to Kent on the couch; the dog licked his owner's face and started panting.
"Do you want to help me make daddy a special cake?" she said cupping the dog's face in hands and scratching it behind its ears. The dog seemed to nod and smile at her.
"I'll take that as a resounding yes." The two got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen. She washed her hands, inhaling the lavender scent of the soap bubbles. Within two hours, she had stirred and mixed her cake, baked it in the oven and added all the fancy little designs she picked up from reading all those damn cook books she was always buying for Wally.
"Already Kent, you were completely useless in making this cake, so go watch the door and make sure daddy doesn't come home until I finish setting up the table!" She hadn't bothered cooking up a nice meal for the two of them knowing Wally would just stuff everything inside his mouth, gluttony being his favorite deadly sin. As she slipped the cake onto the table she realized what a mess she was. The flour all over her clothes, her sticky frosted fingers and when was the last time she washed her hair?
"I'm taking a shower Kent, please don't fall asleep this time!" Artemis lifted the cake up and placed it into the fridge, having learned from past experience not to leave food out with Kent around. The archer slipped off her clothes quickly enough, she turned the knob to the hottest temperature letting all the fouls of the day slip off of her. She ran her hands through her blonde hair, stopping suddenly a few inches below her neck. She still hadn't gotten used to its length but in all practicality it was a nuisance, in and out of battle. The only reason she'd kept it so long was to annoy her father. Things had changed, Wally made her see there's more to life than trying to prove others wrong, he made her feel like a free individual.
"Oxymoron?" She thought as she realized she had only become a true individual once she started dating Wally as he washed away the last of her reservations, her worries, her doubts about being who she was. It was not longer a matter of pretending to be confident with snarky remarks, she was now in fact confident (of course the snark was her personality, that would never change). Thus being with him, being two people as one made her a person in her own right, not just the assassin's daughter playing the good girl. In his eyes she was the good girl…the hero.
"Pffffft good girl." She said laughing to herself.
As Artemis reminisced over the past five years, the speedster had entered their apartment with a bag in hand, his eyes shifting back and forth for his archer. Kent nestled once again on the couch, snoring softly under the hum of lights left on.
"Sleeping again?" he said rubbing the head of his pet. Kent opened his eyes and let out a quiet howl before falling asleep again.
Wally pulled off his jacket and hung it on the rack staring at the green colors filling their apartment. It was Artemis' idea of course; green was her favorite color. She wasn't too fond of the idea of a yellow and red color scheme. Wally thought it was brilliant like McDonalds…of course Artemis countered with a roll of her eyes. She knew it would make Wally even hungrier and thus he'd never had time for anything else, considering that she was his girlfriend it wasn't exactly something she approved of.
"Hey Kent, where's mommy?" Kent opened one eye at the word "mommy" her tilted his head in a gesture that said "there's something I'm forgetting" before laying his head back down.
"You're a buttload of help." Wally said with a sigh. He pulled out the item in the bag, a black rectangular box; he opened it slowly to make sure the contents were safe. He smiled; this…this is the perfect gift.
A few moments later the blonde had come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her head, she was singing an old Vietnamese lullaby under her breath with her fingers tapping the side of her hip matching the beat in her head.
"Whoa, babe." Wally almost dropped the box as he laid eyes on his girlfriend who was now staring at him with a mixture of surprise and anger.
"KENT!" she said as she turned to glare at the dog. Kent merely opened one eye and scoffed, or at least a sound that appeared to be a scoff.
"Damn it, I'm not even ready."
"Really? Hmm," Wally laid his elbow against the table and placed his hand under his chin. He wore a mischievous grin with a pair of wicked eyes as he continued to look his girlfriend up and down, "I would have to disagree with that."
Artemis yanked off the towel on her head and threw it at him, screaming and cursing at his immaturity.
"Shut-up! Damn it, forget it, just eat the cake I made, I'll be in my room sharpening my old arrows." Wally began to laugh, a heavy laugh sprinkled with his classic mischief and pervasion and yet a twinkle of kindness stemming from his love of this girl, this woman. He walked over to her and pulled her close, at first she resisted until her nose reached his neck. She could smell his aftershave, the scent still fresh…that and the smell of the detergent had her swooning, her knees went weak.
He insisted on using Snuggle, the one with the teddy bear because that's what his mother had always used. Artemis had always washed her clothes with bath soap and water from the shower because 9 out of 10 times their washer was broken. Even now, living together, she preferred Tide as she didn't like the scent of Snuggle on her own clothes…but on him…it was heavenly.
"You know I think you're beautiful in anything…or nothing." he said laughing at his own joke. His hands were going through hair, even though she'd cut it, it still had the same softness and the same smell of apples. It'd gotten to the point where he couldn't sleep without it.
"Excuse me?" Artemis pushed him in the chest.
"Ba-"
"No, no, no, sir. I'm not upset that I'm not all dolled up, this isn't the 1950s, I'm no domestic housewife. I'd just like it if for once we had a nice little slice of cake…like…I don't know something resembling a date?"
"I would have taken you out if I thought you wanted to go somewhere!" Wally said raising his arms up in frustration. He wasn't upset with her but with himself, his attempt to do something nice for her, apart from the daily notes he'd stick around the apartment with sayings like "I love you" and "Hey beautiful, I miss you," he hadn't been doing much of anything. It was Artemis who'd pack him heart shaped sandwiches and draw secret stars on all his clothes with Yoda sayings. It was Artemis who spent all night with him fixing his spelling errors being the linguistic genius that she was and it was Artemis who was always buying those cook books to learn new recipes for him. He always felt the need to do more for her.
"Relax Baywatch." She grabbed his arms and placed them around her waist, shaking her head and pecking his lips.
"I don't need a date-date. I just wanted to spend some time with you. We've been so busy with school and work…and practice…I just wanted to see your face, and when I say your face I don't mean the one riddled with anxiety over a paper you waited until the last minute to do." Wally tightened his grip around her waist and kissed her cheek, smirking in the process.
"That's not surprising, it's a sexy face."
"Yes. A very sexy face." The started cracking up.
"Ok, let me put something on, feel free to eat the cake but-"
"And then a movie! I brought home a movie!" He sped to the bag and pulled out Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".
"I thought we already had that…" Of course Artemis had it, she had everything Wonderland from the covers over her bed, which Wally never objected to because it meant he could pick the bathroom curtains (an assortment of cakes), to the design on her back-pack.
"Ah but this is a special collector's edition!" Wally said rushing back to hand her the DVD. She smirked, placing her hand on his cheek, his eagerness to please her gave her a sense of warmth that she had only known for the past few years…well five years to be exact.
"Alright, put the DVD in, I'll be right back." She stepped into the bedroom, pulling out the unmentionables along with a green dress. She was quick putting them on as she wanted to hurry back to him, to laugh at all the stupid jokes he made whenever watching a movie (unless it was Star Wars, God forbid anyone talk during Star Wars). As she stepped outside she could hear their dog finally up, barking…a little late Kent. She rolled her eyes as she came into the next room, leaning against the wall as she watched Wally jump up and down with Kent, playing some sort of bouncing game.
"Boys settle down." She said as she sat on the couch waiting for them to join her. Wally shrugged his shoulders and picked up Kent, placing him next to him. The dog struggled to sit next to his adoptive mother but Wally shook his finger.
"No Kent, I get mommy tonight." Wally pushed the dog to the side. He growled and hopped off, turning his head to look at the two before storming off to the next room.
"Kent, come back! You can sit on the other side of mommy!"
"Ah, let him go, just the adults tonight." Wally pulled her into his arms; somehow he had not only managed to grab the cake out of the fridge but also eat a slice because Artemis spied a small bit of frosting on his nose. Artemis wiped it off, licking it off her fingers.
"I think we're being like a fluffy normal couple at the moment."
"You're the one licking frosting off my face."
"Oh please, I know you like it."
"More like the other way around, like that time we-" Artemis, having spotted the cake on the coffee table, grabbed a piece with her hand and stuffed it into his mouth causing him to choke a bit. His eyes were smiling despite having turned red from the momentary lack of oxygen.
"Right. Now can we start the movie?"
"Ye…wait! I have a present for you!"
"I thought this was my present?"
"No, well kind of. But I wanted to make-up for forgetting…all these years and…ok here." She hadn't seen him get up, only the breeze told her he had moved, that and the box he had in his hands.
"Open it!"
"Relax." she said with that seductive raspy voice of hers. Wally rolled his eyes, annoyed by how slowly she took life in that moment, of course only here…in other things…
Artemis carefully opened the gift, staring intently at the contents. Her immediate reaction was a smile followed by a loving glance at her boyfriend who was bobbing his head back and forth to an unknown sound. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to kiss him. He let out a small cry from the force but quickly recovered. Inside the box was a beautiful necklace; it had a black band with a small green arrow striking the center of a yellow lightning bolt. When Artemis released him she placed her hands on his face.
"Where'd you get this?"
"I made it, spent a few hours sitting in on a jewelry making class. For the record, it was excruciating." He said as he placed the necklace over her head, admiring his handiwork.
"I bet you liked it." She said pecking him on the lips again, this time tasting the frosting.
"Maybe." He grabbed her, pulling her body over his, she now sat on his lap with her arms around his neck.
"Oh God Wally, we're being too cutesy." She stuck out her tongue. He immediately ran his hand over the frosting from the cake and placed his finger over her tongue.
"Tastes sweet huh?" She kissed him once again, this time much more slowly than before. Her hair fell over his cheek, touching his freckles and tickling him, she could feel him smiling under the kiss; this made her smile too. He pushed closer to her feeling the warmth of her body more so than before. His hands ran up her waist as he recalled how they felt in Bialiya all those years ago. She pulled back to look at him.
"I love you."
"Baby I know." He said with a wink.
"Wally."
"I love you too beautiful." She rested her head on his neck as he pressed play, the two at complete peace at least in this moment in their little apartment where it felt like the world couldn't touch them, it was only them, two lovers enjoying a movie on Valentine's Day.