Notes: This is for the Scent Challenge with a Twist over at the Young Justice Fanfiction Challenges forum. I encourage all to go check it out—the people are great and the challenges fun! Anyways, my prompt was the scent black cherry, and the twist: a diamond necklace.
Standard Disclaimer(s) Apply
The sounds of crashing waves against sun-drenched sand and the laughter of his teammates are like music to Superboy's ears. Two nights ago Superboy wasn't sure that they would ever get to have days like these again—or any days for that matter.
The mission had gone FUBAR the moment it started. The team had been charged with the protection of the transport of deadly biohazardous materials. Normally something like that would be handled by the police, but it was rumored that a crime syndicate was interested in it.
Long and short of it, Cheshire and other agents of the Light had shown up. The team fought hard but their attackers only left as reinforcements in Red Tornado and Red Arrow showed up. The team had taken a major beating. Wally had received acid burns covering parts of his right arm and chest after crashing into a vat that hadn't been secured all the way. Robin had been cut by one of Cheshire's shuriken coated in a paralytic poison. Artemis broke her wrist landing wrong and Megan had been shocked into unconsciousness. Kaldur and Superboy had remained largely unharmed, protecting the team while waiting for help to arrive.
"Earth to Supey!" Wally said, waving his hand in front of Superboy's face.
"Huh?"
"We asked if you wanted to join in a game of volleyball."
"Sure."
Superboy took Wally's outstretched hand, allowing the other boy to pull him up. He couldn't help but notice the still healing burns. They didn't look nearly as bad as they had two days prior, but they were still a little inflamed.
Noticing what had Superboy's attention, Wally reassured, "It's okay. Uncle Barry said it should be healed in no time."
Superboy shook his head, "Yeah."
As the two approached where the team had erected a net, Wally exclaimed, "I claim Supey!"
The competitors played hard; Robin, Megan, and Artemis on one team, Kaldur, Wally, and Superboy on the other. By the time they were done, they had played five games and the sun was setting.
"I will get us some ice cream!" Megan exclaimed, heading off for the entrance of the mountain.
"I'll go help her," Wally rubbed his hands together, and in a flash was down the beach beside Megan.
Kaldur and Artemis decided to get one last swim in before the sun completely dropped below the horizon. Robin was lounging on the sand, having finished making a small bonfire. Superboy sat down beside him. A star became visible as the changing colors faded.
"Do you know the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" Robin asked.
"It shares a tune with a variety of songs, including the Alphabet Song," after seeing the shocked look on Robin's face, Superboy explained, "The genomorphs instilled a wide variety of knowledge in me."
"My mom used to sing it to me when I was little. When she was done I'd always say I'd take the diamonds from the sky and make a necklace for her. 'Course back then I didn't know that stars were just big flaming balls of gas."
Superboy smiled. While he knew nothing of mothers, he thinks that Robin's would have loved the notion.
The moment was broken when Kaldur and Artemis gave up on swimming and joined them by the fire. A few minutes later, Wally and Megan returned.
A light, delicate fruity smell permeated the air as ice cream sundaes were passed around.
"Vanilla topped with black cherries?" Robin's brow was lifted.
"Is that not acceptable?"
"No, no. It tastes great. Just a little unusual," Robin covered.
"Ah…"
Sensing that Megan was still unsure of herself, Superboy took a bite. "I like it."
Megan beamed and happily took a bite. After twelve batches of burned cookies, failed brownies, and fallen soufflés, she had finally seemed to do something right in the kitchen. Perhaps it was a good thing that Wally had stopped her from putting watermelon on it.
After the ice cream, the team exchanged embarrassing stories of their mentors before moving on to "scary" stories. Superboy didn't really see why others thought they were scary, but he enjoyed the tales nonetheless. Especially when Robin and Wally began to act out the scenes.
"And then the man fell to the ground, DEAD!" Robin narrated, Wally spinning dramatically before falling to the sand.
The team burst into laughter. Kaldur got up, wiping sand from his swim shorts.
"We should head in now. Red Tornado said that Black Canary is resuming our training tomorrow."
Getting up with groans and complaints, the team headed back to the mountain. Today had been a good, relaxing day that everyone had needed.
Superboy just hoped they wouldn't need another one anytime soon.