hahahaha lmao so like this is Totally self indulgent dont like, don't read thank you for your time also so like this is not canon in like 82 ways but I mean, if you have any questions feel free to message me but basically everyone thinks nightwing/the first robin is and always has been a boy (for safety reasons) the team is used to him so like they don't question it idk also this takes place like 7/8 years after the first season so april/nightwing is 20/21 and wally is 22/23
also i'm going to be playing a lot with dramatic irony in the future and i'm sorry i literally only wrote dialog for three(3) characters p much but sometimes it be like that
im sad. i'm allowed to have nice things and write indulgent fics if I want. if you wanna talk more about YJ headcanons and fic ideas please please please slide into my DMs i'm so lonely
Looking back on it, Artemis can't say she was surprised to find out that Wally was in a relationship. No. That's not quite right. She was very surprised, but the clues were all there from the beginning. In fact, if she thought hard enough she could probably pick out the exact day when Wally's attentions shifted from flirting with M'gann to actively pursuing only a friendship with the green skinned martian.
But it had been so long since that day and nothing could quite prepare her for the night after a too long mission when Wally had come out of the showers with a gold band proudly displayed on his left ring finger.
"Wait, what!" All the attention in the room zeroed in on the blonde as she dropped the bottle of water heavily on the kitchen counter. Next to her, M'gann looked up with a frown and Conner squinted his eyes in pain as her voice grated on his super hearing.
"What…?" Wally looked around for a second before realizing her attention was focused on him, more importantly on his left hand. Sheepishly the ring was gone in a millisecond with only a slight blur of color indicating that he had used his speed to hastily remove the ring from view.
"You're married?" Artemis stalked over to the redhead, her boots were loud on the cave floor, making her presence only more imposing. M'gann gave a squeal and floated over, inspecting Wally's hand and the faint outline of a new tan line. It was obvious the ring wasn't a new addition. The redheads face was turning the same color as his hair as he open and closed his mouth a few times but was unable to make a sound.
"Spill, Baywatch," Artemis pushed him backwards with a single finger, sending him sprawling on the couch. He sat up with as much dignity that he could muster but words still seemed to be failing him. He looked around wildly, eyes jumping from each of the gathered faces, making eye contact with M'gann, Conner, and Artemis.
"Uh…" his green eyes darted from his hand and up to Artemis and back again. "No."
Artemis rolled her eyes. "Try again"
"Really, I'm not. It's uh, a decoy, you know these speedster charms, I was just fighting girls off left and right, it just became too much, I can't romance all of them, and it'd be a shame to get their hopes up."
The blonde let out a snort "as if you'd pass up the chance to have girls falling over themselves to get to you, and that's assuming that they would even do that, which is even less likely than you getting someone to say yes to spending the rest of their lives with your big mouth."
"That's just hurtful"
"C'mon, Wally, tell us the truth!" M'gann widened her eyes and tried to put on her best puppy dog pout, something she'd almost mastered in her last seven years on earth.
"It's uh, it's complicated?" He shrugged.
At that moment, the door to the boy's showers opened with a hiss and Nightwing sauntered out, running a towel through his still damp hair. His sunglasses held only the barest traces of steam along the edges and his oversized hoodie almost swallowed his lithe body. He stopped upon seeing what looked like an interrogation, towel still to the side of his head, he shrugged and moved towards the kitchen, tossing out a casual: "What's going on, guys?"
M'gann floated over to him in a second, exclaiming in excitement "Wally is married!" This gave Nightwing pause, arm halfway in the refrigerator, he tilted his head to the side as if debating whether to go for the milk or the apple juice. After pulling out the juice, and a moment of quiet, he shut the door and said simply
"No, he's not." All the attention in the room immediately shifted to the raven haired man in the kitchen.
"But I saw his ring, he even has a tan line around it, he's probably been wearing it for months now!"
"How many rings did you see, Artemis? He's engaged, not married."
"You knew?!" Artemis couldn't believe the sense of betrayal she felt at this, sure, maybe her and Wally weren't best friends like he and Nightwing were, but they were still teammates and this seemed to be the type of life changing event that one would share with their teammates.
"Yeah, it's been serious for a while now, right, Wally?" Wally nodded from the couch and pulled the ring out of his pocket, sliding it back on his finger quietly, he smiled down on it.
"Going on seven years" he mused and Artemis couldn't believe her ears.
"Seven years? Seven years you've hidden your boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other, fiancé whatever from us? I don't even know what they are! That should say something, Wallace!"
"Think about it, Arty," Nightwing brought his glass into the living room and sat down on the couch across from Wally, M'gann walking dutifully behind him. "There's no good reason that you and Wally would know each other as civilians. Plus, the more heroes she comes in contact with, the higher the risk is to her."
"Okay, so she is a girl?" Wally and Nightwing both nodded, "that's also a surprise. I'm not going to lie, I kind of always thought you'd end up getting together with Nightwing" the man in question gave a small snort into his juice, while the blonde took a deep, calming breath "even so, you didn't think once to mention her to us?" Megan also looked sad from her position next to Connor.
"Can we meet her now?" The Martian asked cautiously. "I've seen a lot of documentaries on weddings and I would really like to go to one!"
"Of course you'll be invited!" Blurted out Wally "I just don't know, things are a little weird right now? Okay? I'm sorry I didn't tell you but…" he ran a hand through his already rumpled hair "you know what, I should probably be getting home to her, we have been gone for awhile and I'm sure she's worried." With that, he was gone, leaving only a brief flash of color and the girls hair ruffling in the draft that was created.
"Okay, wow." Artemis looked as if a bomb had gone off in her face, in fact she'd probably be less shocked if one had. M'gann nodded in agreement and Conner just gave a small grunt. Nightwing stood up with his glass in his hand, heading back to the kitchen, only to be stopped when Artemis declared "I'm going to meet her"
"What?" Nightwing turned around and begin to walk back to the living room.
"His fiancée, I want to meet her." M'gann's face lit up with a wide smile
"Yes! I bet she's really nice and I could probably help with the wedding! I have a ton of ideas!"
"Woah, woah, woah, calm down real quick, how are you planning on meeting this girl if you don't even know what she looks like. You didn't even know she existed until a few minutes ago."
"Easy," smiled Artemis, "Wally said he's going home to her right now, which means they live together, and the league has everyone's address on file, right?"
"Right…" Nightwing trailed off, not happy with where this was going.
"So we'll just drop by and say hello! You guys are coming with me, right!" M'gann clearly didn't need to be asked twice as she was already nodding her head enthusiastically, Conner sighed, knowing that he'd be dragged along but Nightwing didn't look so sure.
"I think I'm going to sit this one out, guys, B needs me in Gotham tonight, but thanks for the invite."
"What is she like, Nightwing?" M'gann was on the edge of her seat "You have met her, right?" Artemis was already at the computer, typing away at light speed.
"It's not really my place to say…" He trailed off "I should probably get going, but don't forget to clean up before you head over." With that, he turned heel and casually walked towards the nearest portal. M'gann looked down at her uniform and frowned. She needed to change, and fast. First impressions are always important.
In Central City, April Grayson pulled off her sunglasses and tugged a baseball cap low over her short cut hair, quickly exchanging her oversized gray hoodie for something a little more fitted and styled as she began her quick five minute jog to her shared apartment. She kept her head low and tried her best to keep her gait even and casual but all she could think about was how little time she had until her teammates would come knocking on her door. Not the optimal situation but definitely not a worse case scenario. She quickly unlocked the two locks to her apartment, and as soon as she was inside she was met by Wally, who pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Hey, babe" She smiled at his pet name but pushed past him into the entry way. She sure was glad he was a speedster at the moment, due to the amount of cleaning the apartment was going to need in the next thirty or so minutes.
"Hey, Wally, listen, we don't have much time" his smile immediately fell.
"What's up?"
"M'gann, Artemis and Conner are on their way soon, and we need to make this place look like two crime fighters don't live here, and I've got to go get ready, but also it can't look like we were expecting them. But also not like we were pecting them. Somewhere in between. But super inconspicuous" He nodded
"Aye-eye, captain" And he was off, picking up the first aid supplies scattered in the living room, and blood stained towels in the bathroom, hiding ecrema sticks and Wingdings behind hidden compartments in the bookshelf, while April excused herself to their bedroom.
There wasn't really a point in cleaning up this room, hopefully, she mused, but she pulled the comforter onto the bed and straightened out the pillows, it was clear that the last night they had had to leave in a rush. She sat in front of the mirror and carefully pulled her short hair into a wig cap, and set the shoulder length black wig gently onto her head. It wouldn't do to have Nightwing and April Grayson look too much alike, regardless of if everyone thinks they're different genders or not. She also threw on a quick change of clothes, not bothering with makeup or shoes or anything that might be atypical of someone who had planned to spend a quiet Sunday night at home.
Meeting back with Wally, in the living room, she turned on the tv and motioned him over "This'll be fun" she smiled as she locked lips with him. "Remember we can't look like we're expecting them"
"I think I know something that'll give us a cover" he pulled her gently onto his lap, sliding his hands up under her shirt, across her stomach and around her back. The TV was muted in the background, but neither of the young adults could hear it over the breathing of the other, which is why it took two times for April to hear the knock at the front door.
"I've got this," she gracefully unfolded herself from his lap, only barely fixing her rumpled jacket and tugging at the bottom of her shorts, she pulled her engagement ring off the chair around her neck as a last thought and slid it onto her finger right as she opened the door.
Standing there were three young adults all staring at her with varying amounts of excitement and confusion.
"Hello," April smiled at them "Can I help you?" She said at the exact moment Artemis realized where she knew those striking blue eyes from.
"April Grayson?" The girl in question made sure to widen her eyes and take a step back, smiling in confusion
"...yes? I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"I'm Artemis Crock, we went to school together"
"Oh yeah! Hi! I haven't seen you in awhile, not since you graduated, four years ago?" Artemis nodded "Not that I don't want to catch up, but uh, what are you doing here?"
Artemis's eyes shifted to the side, it was clear that this part of the plan wasn't as well thought out.
"We were just looking for Wally…" April's eyes lit up and she called into the apartment
"Hey, Wally, your friends are here," a distant
"Coming, babe" resounded from inside
"Why don't you come in, any friend of Wally's is a friend of mine. Will you be staying for dinner?"
"No, we wouldn't want to be a hassle"
"It's really no problem, I was just about to start cooking." Wally turned the corner and as soon as he saw his 'guests' his eyes went wide
"Hey, friends what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you'd be stopping by"
"We just thought we'd drop by, and see how you've been doing"
"Hey, sweetheart, would you mind giving us a second?" April shook her head and moved into the kitchen to start cooking. "What's the big idea just showing up here?"
"No, What's the big idea about you being engaged to the daughter of one of the richest businessmen in America and not telling us?" Artemis whispered back fiercely
"She's more than just her wealth and adopted dad, you know"
"No, I wouldn't know because you never gave me the chance to learn anything about her!" Conner was staring intently at the kitchen door, where April had disappeared moments earlier.
"She already has a target on her back as it is, just based on who she is, but now she's going to have another one since she's associating with a bunch of superheroes, do you see why I might want to keep these parts of my life separate?"
"I know, and I'm sorry, but she was going to have that target regardless of whether or not we met her seeing as she's engaged to the fastest man alive, know she'll just have three more people looking out for her" Wally sighed and ran a hand down his face
"You better mean that, I swear, if anything happens to her—"
"Aw, Wally, that's so sweet!" M'gann interrupted
"We still have a lot to talk about, back in the cave" Artemis threatened, glaring him down despite him having a good few inches on her. M'gann knocked on the kitchen door when it looked like the talk was winding down, and walked in to the cozy but well furnished kitchen.
"Do you need some help, cooking?"
"I'd love some, what's your name again?"
lmao kudos to you if you made it this far. idk when I can update next i'm a busy guy, also sorry if my english is bad this is unbetad and fresh off the press and I need to sleep bc I have early lessons tomorrow and also haven't done my hw yet