Title: Playing Hookie
Pairing: SeaArrow (Kaldur and Artemis)
Summary: Artemis and Kaldur play hookie from the Team's latest mission to spend a little quality time together.
[a/n]: I hope you like it!
"Aqualad is on a mission with Aquaman" Batman said all too quickly.
Kaldur glanced around him anxiously, surveying alley where the Zetabeam Teleporter stood hidden in the shadows.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" He questioned the tall figure beside him. The blond looked onwards, arms crossed over chest, staring up at the bright, blue sky above them appreciatively.
"Come now, Kaldur'ahm. You can't tell me you're scared" The alluring voice remarked teasingly. The blonde turned to face him, allowing the light to hit her face just right so her brown eyes with slight blue accents shone remarkably.
"Ditching a team mission for a date? Lying to the Dark Knight of Gotham? How could I possibly be scared?" Kaldur replied with equal sarcasm.
His blonde date smirked at him. "I know, how can you be scared when you should be excited!" Artemis lunged forward, wrapping her lean arms around Kaldur's tattooed arms. Of course, his tattoos weren't visible from underneath the heavy jacket, but Artemis knew they were there. She traced her finger along the Atlantean ink lines through the jacket, smiling to herself as she easily recalled the smooth curve of each eel-like image.
Kaldur leaned into the touch slightly, sighing to himself. "You mean I should be appreciating the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream?" He brushed his webbed fingers through Artemis's bushy ponytail.
"Exactly." She practically purred.
"Then, by all means, I shall do so. What did you have planned for today?" Kaldur asked as Artemis continued to cling to his arm. They walked out of the alley together joining the stream of people flowing through the city they'd found themselves in.
"I was thinking we could try to continue your Surface-dweller education." Artemis stated lightly.
"How so?" Kaldur questioned, his curiosity gradually rising.
"Well, how else? With a tour!" Artemis stopped just as she said that in front of a bus stop. Only two or three other people waited with them. Kaldur looked around inquiringly.
"A tour of a bus stop?"
"No, Kal, see this is why we're doing this. You've never been on a bus tour before."
"We're touring a bus? I've been on buses before Artemis-" But his blonde girlfriend held her finger to his Atlantean lips, shushing him, and pointed to a red vehicle approaching through the traffic.
"Just wait and see. I promise you'll like it." She said as the red, double decker bus pulled to a stop in front of them. Eagerly, Artemis pulled Kaldur along with her, quickly showing the driver their tickets, and pushed the hesitant not-sidekick up the stairs to the top floor.
"Artemis," Kaldur hissed under his breath urgently as she walked them towards the front where the tour guide stood patiently waiting for everyone to be seated, "Should buses really have stairs. Are you sure this is safe?"
The archer let out a quick laugh before stifling it to answer her boyfriend's question, "Yes, Kal, it's fine." She rolled her colorful eyes, and planted herself on the aisle side of the cushioned bench at the front, right beside the tour guide. Smiling invitingly, she patted the seat beside her, the window seat, "Just sit down or we can't get going."
Kaldur obeyed, sitting there with awkward stiffness, his eyes darting back and forth between the people bellow, the young tour guide who he'd seen eye Artemis slightly, and the bus in general. When the red monstrosity of an automobile lurched forward, the Atlantean nearly panicked, clutching the edge of the seat with on hand and Artemis's arm with the other.
"It's fine, Kal." Arty whispered reassuringly, calmly placing her hand over Kaldur's and squeezing it gently.
"Why did we have to sit up front?" Kaldur insisted, relaxing ever so slightly at his girlfriend's touch.
Artemis waved her hand out in front of her exaggeratedly, declaring, "Best view!"
After that, the tour guide stood up with a big, toothy smile and placed his microphone headset on. "Good morning, can everyone hear me? Yeah? Cool, I'm Kyle and I'll be your tour guide today. Welcome to the Chicago City Tour. Remember you can hop off anytime you want, and hop right back on at any one of our specially marked bus stops. Okay, let's get started!"
Some forty to fifty minutes later the bus came to another stop and Artemis hurriedly grabbed Kaldur's arm and raced down the stairs and out the bus, laughing as the Atlantean stumbled over his hardly ever worn shoes. "Come on, Kaldur! We're going to miss it," She laughed delightedly as they raced away from the bus towards the Chicago River. Kaldur finally picked up his speed so they raced down the street together, Artemis navigating down stairs and along busy sidewalks, when they finally came to a stop at a rather secluded dock.
The blonde bounced on the heels of her feet excitedly as she looked up and down the river. She glanced down at her arm, pulling up her leather jacket's sleeve to reveal a green watch, "Looks like we made it on time. It'll be here any minute."
"What will be here any minute?" Kaldur finally asked, ever the patient one.
"Oh you'll see." Arty chirped secretively.
"But, was it necessary to exit the tour so quickly?" Kaldur nearly let a pout form across his full lips, but stopped himself before he did so. Though, Artemis could hear the pout just from Kaldur's sultry voice. She laughed, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"See? I knew you'd like it. Very educational. Very your thing. So you had fun right? On your first double decker bus ride?" Arty smirked over at her leader. Though, right now she couldn't really see him as anything but her amazing boyfriend who'd agreed to ditch a mission for a day with her. She watched the water from the river reflect slightly against his smooth, dark skin with hooded eyes.
Kaldur noticed the look and blushed slightly, "It was... it was enjoyable, thank you."
Artemis wrapped her arms around Kaldurs, kissing his cheek. It was all the "your welcome" Kaldur needed.
Soon the boat arrived and Kaldur chivalrously helped Artemis onto the boat. They chose a seat where the sun could shine on them and they could easily see the water of the river flowing around the boat. They looked up at the beautiful buildings towering above their heads. The magnificent lines of the steel and marble and the reflection of the dark windows took their breath away. Kaldur felt as he did the first time he saw a surface world city.
"Welcome to the Chicago City Architecture Tour, I will be your guide today-"
The lull of the rocking boat calmed the couple as they observed the Chicago buildings with intrigue. Artemis rested her head against Kaldur's strong shoulder with a peaceful smirk on her lips. Kaldur kissed the top of her head before wrapping his arm around Artemis's waist.
"You know," Arty whispered as they slowly passed a particularly ornate building, "There's this chocolate factory that makes the entire downtown smell like chocolate."
Kaldur raised his eyebrows at that, chuckling in disbelief, "Truly? Remarkable..." he hugged Artemis closer to him, mumbling, "You sure know a lot about this city."
"Err... yeah." Artemis blushed. "I just like Chicago even if its go that whole mobster reputation from the twenties... um," She gazed down at the water but pressed closer to Kaldur, "And I sort of did a lot of research on this place. To make sure this date went well..."
"Really?" Kaldur asked, not quite astonished because it wasn't as though Artemis had never done anything nice for him.
"Yeah..." Artemis's blush deepened, her cheeks growing warm and gaining a decidedly rosy color.
Kaldur kissed the top of Artemis's head appreciatively. It was all the "thank you" the Artemis needed. She moved closer still, stretching up and cupping Kaldur's cheek with her hand. Artemis tenderly pressed her lips to Kaldur's, wrapping her free hand around his neck (covered with a turtleneck so to not show off the gills). Kaldur leaned into the kiss that was all the "your welcome" he needed.
After the boat ride finished, they held hands as they strolled through downtown Chicago. Even in the late fall chill, even with Kaldur having to wear shoes, even with Artemis's stomach growling slightly from hunger, the couple felt contentedly comfortable.
Suddenly, Kaldur halted, causing Artemis to stumble backwards slightly. She turned curiously, rubbing her thumb against the back of Kaldur's dark hand. With a knowing smirk spreading across her face, she watched as her astonished boyfriend sniffed at the cold air.
"It... it smells of chocolate!" He exclaimed under his breath. With a brief laugh, Arty nodded and hugged Kaldur's arm.
"Told you." she whispered alluringly in his ear as they continued walking back towards the Zeta tube.
As they reached the carefully hidden teleporter, the archer turned to her boyfriend. Her brown w/ hints of blue eyes trained on Kaldur, she inquired, "How did you like your day of Surface-dweller education?"
Kaldur chuckled slightly, "Oh it was very educational. Thank you, Artemis. I had fun."
Artemis wrapped her arms around Kaldur's neck, "So," she smirked, her eyes hooded and body pressed to his, "Was that worth playing hookie from the team?"
"Indeed. I might have to lie to Batman more often if it means more dates like this." Kaldur let his hands rest on the small of Arty's back as he savored the feeling of her breath ghosting his skin.
"My dear Kaldur, this is only the first part of our date." Artemis grinned cheekily.
Cocking an eyebrow, Kaldur asked, "Then what is the second part?"
"Oh, you'll see." Artemis whispered in her sultry, cocky voice, slipping from Kaldur's arms and turning to the zetatube. She punched in the coordinates and offered out her hand for Kaldur to take. "Coming?" her lips just couldn't help pulling into her signature smirk.
With a contented smile, Kaldur followed his blonde, tanned beauty into the teleporter, not even thinking about what Batman will do once he finds out Kaldur had lied about a mission with Aquaman. Because, trust me, Batman would find out (if he didn't already know.) Yet, neither Artemis nor Kaldur cared at the moment.
[a/n]: I'm thinking of making this a two-parter rather than just leaving the ending to the readers' imagination... I already have the second half of the date planned out anyway. If I get enough reviews I'll write the second part.