This is all based on a head canon submitted to/by youngjusticeheadcanons that during a game of baseball, Wally took a playful swing at Artemis and she noticeably flinched; later, Robin only had to ask, "Your dad" and watch her eyes darken to know the worst was true.
Disclaimer: I don't own the idea or the characters.
No one had expected Conner to take to baseball so quickly, or to be so good at it for that matter, but three homeruns under his swing had Megan and Kaldur eagerly handing him the bat and urging him up to the broken Frisbee that served as home plate in the team's make-shift game out in the park.
The six members of the younger team had gone to Batman earlier that day and whined their way into a free-day, seeing that there wasn't anything for them to do up at the cave, and managed to get permission to head down to Colt State Park for the afternoon. They had left before the man could change his mind, gathering up a quickly made picnic basket and some make-shift sports equipment for some friendly competition.
The lunch had been a few sandwiches, juice boxes at Wally's request and a few bags of Doritos all eaten underneath the big shady trees around the park's edge, friendly conversation kept and laughter shared freely. When they all had cleaned up, stuffing the trash back into the picnic basket, that was when they all had agreed upon a game of 3vs3 baseball.
Some of the ground rules had already been established earlier by Batman, some easy things they had to agree on before heading out. The com. link had to stay in at all times, their powers and alter egos had to be kept from the public's sight, they were to drop whatever they were doing if they were needed back in and Robin's glasses were to stay on the whole time. That last rule had been broken the second they had left the ZETA tube, but no one had the intention of telling on him.
The rest of the rules were made up when they got out to the designated field after the four markers had been placed in a makeshift diamond to serve as bases. Three games of rock-paper-scissors determined the teams; the losers were in outfield and the winners went to bat. That's how Artemis, Dick and Wally were sent up to bat while Conner, Kaldur and Megan jogged out to the outfield. Three strikes was an out, four outs for a switch, no bunting and a homerun was when it hit farther than the bluish looking oak to the north. Powers weren't allowed either, to make it fair.
After Wally had tripped over his feet, securing their fourth out at 15-8, the teams had switched and that was how both teams ended up tied at 15.
"This is all your fault, Kid Dork!" Artemis accused from across the field with a glare.
"You got the first two outs! All on you, princess!" Wally shot back with a scrunch of his nose, folding his arms over his chest for a second before going back to bending over with his hands on his knees.
Dick held the plastic ball in his nimble fingers, chuckling down at it with the smallest of smirks as he turned it over in his hands. They were too quick to lose hope. The score was just tied, two outs on their half. A victory could easily be assured on their part, a lot more easily if they'd stop bickering long enough to pay attention.
"We can stop if you two need to go settle your differences behind a tree for twenty minutes, you know," he tossed back at them, smirking wider as they both clammed up and shot daggers at his back.
About time.
"Swing batter, batter," the thirteen year old quipped with a small giggle before bowing his head and pitching the ball towards Conner after the nod had been returned.
The batter, batter swung.
The second the bat came in contact with the plastic ball, a heart-stopping crack that had Dick dry throated [1] sent the two broken halves of the ball in opposite directions. One was caught by Megan, probably encouraged with some discrete telekinesis and had her grinning excitedly to herself. The other was sent Artemis' way, only to be snatched by a speeding Wally who made a show of boasting about his catch and how it should count for at least ten outs.
The redhead smirked broadly, backing up a bit and making sure to emphasize whose fault it actually was, raising his arm to playfully slug the blonde's shoulder. Artemis jerked back, her eyes growing painstakingly wide at the action, an arm flying up to block the punch with a bit more rehearsal than just training.
Wally laughed at it, assuming she flinched because she was actually afraid of him, only to get denied with a coarse, "Shut up!" and a rough punch to the shoulder that had the fifteen year old staggering back with a confident laugh. He held his laugh all the way until he was congratulating Conner on the hit, leaving Artemis to take the breath she had been holding and glance out over the field to see if anyone had noticed her flinch.
At first, she just noticed the others crowded around the batter and almost let out a sigh of relief. It was swept back in when she turned just a bit and caught the worry in a dark blue gaze, a knowing look furrowed hard into Dick's brow. He knew. Of course he did. The two looked at each other for a long moment, their frowns hard, until Wally ran back and declared that they'd have to end the game without a ball to play with.
After returning to the cave and putting up the equipment, the team made their goodbyes and everyone headed for their ZETA tubes or rooms to finish up on some homework for school tomorrow. Megan, Conner and Kaldur stayed behind, seeing where their rooms were and bid the humans a kind farewell. Artemis and Dick gave their goodbyes to Wally—a gruff smile and an obnoxious hug—before Wally dashed off to his own ZETA and the two non-supers stepped through theirs.
Usually, Dick would make a small quip and grapple up to the rooftops to ensure Artemis wouldn't know where he was headed and she in turn would take the long way home. Not tonight. Tonight, the second they stepped out, the ebony caught her arm and his gaze from the park was brought back up again.
The sigh the blonde had been holding in had long turned bitter, giving her even more cause to release it now, "Look, I don't want to talk about it."
Dick's eyes grew soft and he drew his hand back, the understanding delicate over his features like the setting afternoon sun.
"Your dad?"
Those two words were all he had to say, watching her features darken and frowning to see that the worst was true. The blue eyes were soft in glancing over her quickly, mentally plotting where he suspected bruises and cuts had once laid fresh and bloody. Just the thought had his stomach churning painfully in his chest, enough to the point he raked his fingers through his hair, letting out a darker sigh than her previous one.
Artemis just watched him and waited, for what she wasn't quite sure of; an apology, words of comfort, a hug? The silence didn't give her much to go on, causing her to draw back when he pulled back his jacket and fumbled around inside it for a second.
"What are you doing?" she asked softly, eyebrows knotting up when his fingers secured an old photograph and handed it over to her.
Curiosity served its purpose and soon, gray eyes were raking over the photo. The back said '2006' in a messy scrawl, probably a woman's writing, but the front was where her interest lied. It was of a small family— a husband, wife and their son— all in green leotards marked with cursive G's in front of a circus tent, all bearing thick grins. The boy looked eight, maybe a bit older.
When he was sure she had seen the picture long enough, Dick defensively drew it back from her fingers and slipped it back into his jacket with a dark sort of smile.
"My parents," he answered her unspoken question with a hard swallow, "That was the last photo I ever took with them, besides the one they used on the front page of the papers for a few months."
Their gazes held again, a special sort of accent to their edges, before the two nodded their farewells. Dick took the sidewalk. Artemis took the shortcut home.
[1] This is set on another head canon I'll write about one day that I borrowed from someone else that I'll credit eventually. It says that the sound of bones breaking still shakes Dick up after hearing his parents fall, so a crack of any sort will definitely stop him from carrying on in his regular schedule.
-F.J. III