A/N: I am alive! I haven't written anything in this fandom for a long time - with all the hiatuses, I kept forgetting to watch and lost interest - but I've finally watched the rest of the first season and have watched virtually all of the second, so I'm back!
On that note, understand that I've never written Artemis before, and it's been several days since watching any eps! She also wasn't one of the characters I really paid attention to much (especially not as far as dialogue goes, unlike Robin or Aqualad, who are distinct), so if she's not in character, please tell me how I can fix her! Thanks!
Seriously, though, guys, I'm gonna be perfectly honest: I don't really know how this is going to be. I've been working on this for days (including two several-hour car rides), parts of it have frustrated me to no end, and I'm so tired I haven't read this over yet (though hopefully my million-time sweep caught most everything - though beware the part where I switched from present to past tense because that kept catching me...! XP I'll read it over tomorrow, promise!
For now, please enjoy my very first jump into the second season (after recently finishing the first for the first time online...)! For the record, this may be seen as either a Traught friendship or Traught romance, depending on your preference - or even both, really, since I couldn't totally determine what I was writing when doing this! Consdiering Spitfire is established and makes an appearance here, though, most people will probably read it as friendship! XD
Notes on Shipping (if anybody cares): Traught is officially my OTP for this show! I thought the idea of these two was intriguing and amazing to look at, but I never completely understood where the shipping was coming from even after "Depths"(which admittedly had me psyched for the couple, but still not entirely convinced) until l I read a comment on the Traught tag on Tumblr - and voila! I am a Traught fan forever now! "WLATS" for the win!
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. That's Cartoon Network. I also do not own the song, "Pictures of You" by The Last Goodnight, on which the title is based.
Pictures of You
Every night before he goes to sleep, Dick will access the extra wrist-computer he keeps in his nightstand drawer and stare at the picture he took of himself and Artemis on her first day at Gotham Academy.
He'll crack a smile and maybe laugh at her bewildered expression before his eyes will drift to his own giddy, trolling one. He'll always remember what he said, too: "We'll laugh about this someday!"
It's true. They will laugh about this someday. Because he trusts her, has trusted her from the very beginning despite everything, and he won't settle for going through his entire friendship with her without telling her who he is. He's found something special in her as well: a kindred spirit. He's found one in Bruce so far, another in Wally, and now, a third in this beautiful archer girl named Artemis Crock.
He feels happier than he has in a long time, realizing this, which might explain the rather idiotically big smile he's wearing now. Settling on the blond in the picture one last time, his gaze softens fondly before he shuts the system down and stows it away.
Folding his arms behind his head, he closes his eyes with that same smile on his face. When he feels himself floating into the warm waters of sleep, the last thing he thinks is this: See you tomorrow, Artemis…
Five years later, things are so different. Dick's taken on a new title, and he's the leader of Young Justice. Artemis and Wally are still a couple, they're living and attending Stanford together, and they've both left the superhero business behind.
He still hasn't told her who he really is, and now he may never get the chance. For a week and a half now she's been on an undercover mission in Black Manta's pit while her former teammates and her new ones think the Artemis Crock she hides is dead. And for all intents and purposes, she is—that's the hard part.
It's not difficult for him to pretend she's dead. He feels badly enough that he had to ask one of his retired best friends to do this in the first place, abandon her entire life and probably make some enemies of once-friends and mentors, as well as put a target and price or two on her head. So he communicates this very real guilt and sadness to the Team in healthy intervals, and that's that (with Tim, it's a little harder, Conner and M'gann, too, but all seems to be working flawlessly so far).
The hard part is dealing with the pain he's causing everyone, the darkness that eats away at him.
The night after Artemis left, Dick had gone over to their—for now, Wally's—house. His best friend had opened the door slowly, red face stained with tears (only half to keep up appearances, Dick understood with a sinking gut). The moment he realized who it was, the former Kid Flash had vibrated the tears away and gave him a scathing glower that rivaled the Batglare, something Dick had always believed to be incomparable. He'd never felt so low in his life.
And even now, Wally can barely look at him, hardly speaks to him, and when he does, the fear that Dick's lost his best friend for good merely grows. Not that he can blame him. Of course not.
After all, how can he when this whole plan was Dick's idea? He had spent weeks analyzing and reanalyzing everything they knew about the enemy just to come to terms with how low they really were on information, even with Kaldur's extremely helpful yet unfortunately inconsistent intel. He'd spent another several weeks drawing up plan after plan, going almost as long without sleep and barely nourishing himself enough to survive, before finally concluding that the only chance they had was to put a mole of their own into play. Someone who would enter the operation at the bottom of the food chain and better be able to dig up the more top-secret details without arousing too much suspicion.
So when he called Kaldur, Wally, and Artemis together at the warehouse, he made sure to take in the looks on their faces and breathe deeply before telling them the plan. Looking back, he wishes he hadn't said anything at all.
"Are you serious?" Wally demanded immediately. "Sending Artemis into the snake pit like that?" He threw his hand, palm up, at his best friend in disbelief. "Even you know that's suicide!"
"Not necessarily," Dick countered calmly. "Remember, she doesn't have to do this. I'm giving her a choice. I did say she's best-suited for the job, and she is, but if she says no," he shrugged, "I'll find someone else. Besides, Kaldur will be watching out for her," the Atlantean nodded firmly, "and everyone else will think she's dead, including Manta. Nobody on their side will be the wiser." He did his best to offer a smile. "She'll be as safe as we can keep her, Wally."
The redhead gripped his fiery hair with both hands and laughed harshly, mockingly. "I know you wouldn't be asking if Artemis weren't your last and only resort, Nightwing—I mean, come on, man, you were the Bat's!" he hissed, a callous sneer coming to his face. He'd seen right through Dick's lie of having others in mind. "Anything can happen out there, Nightwing, you know that, especially when we've been out of the business for five years! We're rusty! Kaldur's help or not, she could still end up dead!"
The former Robin groaned and closed his eyes tightly, kneading them with two fingers and his thumb. Well, it was going a little better than he'd hoped. Wally hadn't tried to punch him yet…
"You don't think I know that?" he threw back desperately. "Why do you think I sounded so broken up about this on the phone?"
"Gee, I don't know! Maybe because you knew it would put your best friend's girlfriend into a potentially-deadly situation?" the twenty-year-old shot back.
The younger man narrowed his eyes. Instead of retaliating immediately, however, he harked back to a calming breathing exercise Batman had taught him years ago. Ending it several seconds later by expelling one of the heaviest sighs Wally had ever heard from him, he gazed at his best friend with pleading eyes.
"Look, I-I know we're all still scarred by that disturbing training simulation from a long time ago," at the mere mention, no one dared look each other in the eye, although both Dick and Wally were drawn to Artemis, "but I've gone over every shred of data a thousand times, and this is our one shot!" Truth be told, too, Dick looked like he hadn't eaten or slept properly in a long while, making Wally second-guess himself and wonder if he'd spoken too soon. "I need someone I can trust on the other side, someone who's been trained by the best on both spectrums of the law!" He locked eyes with Artemis and somehow managed a proud, genuine smile. "Artemis was the one and only person on my list."
The archer glanced to the side as she beamed. Even after all this time, he still held her on that dizzyingly high pedestal…
For a long moment, Wally did nothing but glare at him. He felt like he'd committed the worst crime imaginable, and in a way, perhaps he had. Finally, a lone, half-astonished, "You are serious…!"
"Yeah," Dick confirmed quietly, carefully. "I am."
"So you're really going to make her do this? You can't find anyone else?" he pressed.
The eighteen-year-old raised his hands defensively in front of his person and spoke gently in an effort to keep everyone level-headed. "I'm not forcing her into anything, Wally. I'm giving her a choice. Artemis can do whatever she wants."
The redhead scoffed. "You sound just like the Bat," he shot back quietly, sardonically. "Manipulating everyone else to get what you want. Face it, man: you've become the one thing that scares you the most."
At this, Dick paled, clenched a fist until his knuckles cracked, and his face scrunched into a terrible amalgamation of years of pain based on this one fact. "Shut up, Wally! Don't pretend you know anything about him!"
That green-eyed glare never left, never let up. "Whatever you say, Boy Blunder. I still say no. Anything can happen out there, and you can't guarantee her safety!"
"Yeah, anything can happen, which means there's a possibility we could win! Come on, Wally, please." It was clear by his expression and his voice that he was desperate now, both to get this last-ditch effort through and to save their friendship. "I'm asking you to trust me. You know Artemis can take care of herself—" an impish smile here, just like when they were younger, "—I don't think she knows the meaning of the word 'rusty.' Chances are, she won't even need our good luck! She'll kick butt and be back to you in no time!" His best friend clenched his eyes shut, as though a part of him wanted to agree if only for the sake of their long history. "So what do you say, Wally? Feel the aster one last time? For me?"
Getting no response, he peered over at Artemis, who had been glaring at the two of them for the last several minutes, but made no move to stop them. Black Canary had taught them that talking things out was better than fighting—and yet...
Dick brought his attention back to the former Kid Flash. "She needs to know you trust her, too."
And he swore Artemis stepping in front of him was the only thing that kept Wally from knocking his lights out right then and there. The black-haired man's shocked-relieved breath escaped him in a rush, and the older woman shivered when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
"Enough!" Both men shrank under her. It was scary how well she could pull off a pissed Black Canary. "If I recall, Nightwing said I had a choice!"
She threaded her fingers through her long ponytail out of frustrated habit (a suitable substitute for caressing her bowstring). Looking up at Wally, she wacked him upside the head before kissing him on the cheek.
"Babe, you know I love you, but I don't need you making decisions for me. I meant it at Haly's Circus when I said each of us would give our lives for this Team," out of the corner of her eye, she swore she saw Dick pale slightly, "and I mean it now. You have to trust us. Nightwing's your best friend, I'm your girlfriend, and we both love you more than anything." She threw a bright, almost teasing secret smile Nightwing's way. "If he promises to take good care of me, he will. He always has." She smirked just a tad then, narrowing her eyes as much. "And you might want to borrow some of hisfaith in my abilities, Mr. 'Cover-for-Me-with-Profzilla.'" Wally looked away, effectively put in his place, and she turned to grin at the man she had known as Robin. "I'll do it. Your plan's sound in theory, and like you said, I'll have Kaldur and the element of being dead." Her beam turned wistful. "It might feel nice, being back in action."
Wally peered back up at this, expression again uneasy, and she stepped up to take his hands. "It's nobody else's choice but mine." He brushed a stray tendril of hair behind her ear, and she leaned into his touch, smile growing. Closing her eyes, she rested her head on his chest and squeezed his hands reassuringly. "I'll be home before you know it, safe and sound."
Appearing incredibly tired and years older already, the former Kid Flash finally caved with a tight hug and a soft, noncommittal, "Yeah. Safe and sound."
And well, needless to say, Wally still hasn't forgiven him. Heck, Dick doesn't know if he ever will. But…but so far, Artemis is doing great, has folded into the ranks without issue (Dick expected nothing less), and Kaldur's been keeping a close eye on her as promised. That's something, right? Maybe more?
Since day one, Dick's been feeding his perhaps-former best friend every single update he gets, even the ones that may seem insignificant, in hopes that it'll be enough to prove to the stubborn redhead that he knows what he's doing. That he would never put Artemis in danger if he didn't think she could handle it.
Dick can only pray, for Wally's sake never mind his own, that she stays all right.
That she comes home again.
It's true, too, that Wally's not alone in having an exceptionally hard time with this. Dick's been the Bat of the house ever since Bruce left, and he does his best to balance his duties of Fearless Leader in the field and responsible big brother at home.
But he hasn't slept more than a few hours every night since Artemis left, partly from worry and partly from nightmares (all of which end in her dying for real), and a few times these nights have been followed by whole days without eating. He tries not to let it get out of hand, though, because it worries his family and Barbara, and Artemis wouldn't like it either, would probably tell him to get his butt in gear or she'd do it for him. Whenever he thinks of this, a smile sneaks onto his face, and he'll force himself to eat a little something.
He doesn't tell anyone about his nightmares. He's afraid that he'll jinx something if he does, that by voicing any such fears they'll become real. He doesn't even want to consider the possibility of losing her. But some early mornings when he can't sleep, it's all he can think about.
These are the times when he'll allow himself a moment of pure weakness and sneak down the Manor hallway into Bruce's room, crawl into the bed that still smells like him and clutch the sheets until he fists go numb. Burying his face in the black plush pillows, he'll breathe deeply and let a few tears slip, wanting nothing more than his adoptive Father to come home—if not to confirm whether he's done the right thing, then at least to remind Dick that there's one thing in the whole world he can count on as Bruce holds him to keep the nightmares at bay. The next morning, Alfred will walk in to clean the room to find tangled in the sheets a saddled eighteen-year-old boy missing his Father, the barest hints of smudged tear trails on his cheeks. The old man will smile sadly and feather-lightly brush the black bangs from his charge's forehead, whispering, "I miss him, too, Master Dick."
Still, despite his immense worries, nothing's changed since they were kids. He trusts Artemis, believes in her and what she can do wholeheartedly. After all, five years out of the field, and she can still kick butt with the best of them!
Oh, yeah. And that picture he took all those years ago of the two of them on her first day at Gotham Academy? It's still his mind's eye-lullaby.
But this time, there's a difference. Now, five years later, his comfort of knowing he'll see her tomorrow is nonexistent. He won't see her, and there is a terrifying, gut-wrenching chance that she won't make it back (to him) at all.
His eyes are drawn to her adorable deer-in-the-headlights countenance, and it is only when he reaches out to touch the holographic depiction that he finally comes to grips with just how much he misses her. …God, does he ever…
A moment later, he opens his eyes to realize they've been closed for the past minute and a half. All of a sudden, he feels so tired… Figuring it's just the many hours of sleep he's missed catching up to him, he powers down the machine and stores it, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.
"Just you wait…Artemis…" he whispers, swearing his words are slurring. Then, his mind starts going fuzzy, and he understands Alfie must have put that sleeping draught in his warm milk again. "We're still…gonna laugh…about this…"
Someday…
A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Sorry if this wasn't that great!
Also, before I forget, the part where Wally's saying Dick's just like Bruce, manipulating people to get what he wants, that's basically something Dick says to Barbara about Bruce in The New Adventures of Batman and Robin, when Dick tells Tim how he got fed up with Batman and left to become Nightwing (I looked up the exact line, and it goes, "He manipulates, pulls strings! Anything to get what he wants!"). Personally, I've never seen Bruce and Dick's relationship like that (I like to think they split on a more amicable note - though, while heartbreaking for me, it iis/i interesting to mess around with the idea of the original), so though Dick has always feared becoming that side of the Batman, he still loves his adoptive Father as much as when he was Robin and will defend him even against his best friend. Just to clear that up. XD