A/N: Wrote this basically forever ago, but just posting it now. Artemis's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own, who do you think I am?

Little Sparks

I guess I've always known there were little sparks between us. The kind that make you get tingly and frustrated because you don't know what's going on, then the hormones kick in and then there's that burning feeling of nerves in the pit of your stomach and you have no idea what it is until you're feeling sick and confused and everything goes a little kinky in your head to the point of the world doing somersaults while you're standing perfectly still.

Yeah, that's me and Wally, if it makes any sense. Of course, it doesn't make much sense to me, so explaining it is just that much harder. Maybe it doesn't even have to make sense, I don't know.

Point is, there were these little sparks when I first met him. When he fell into the cave, part of me wanted to help him up. After all, it's what teammates do. The other part of me wanted to laugh because he was clumsy in a kind of adorable way. Like a five-year-old trying to say a really big word.

His first impression of me: Roy's replacement.

I'm sure he might've felt the sparks too, but he was so Hell-bent on bashing me and winning Roy back that those sparks were lost amidst the other feelings: hatred, rage, fear. So the sparks were redirected.

As for me? Well, not like I'm really used to being loved. Even if I knew I liked him, I would've been a damn mess trying to explain it. Love is a foreign language. It's not for me.

So it was redirected into something I did know: defense, sharp words, aggression. I was familiar with it, and it felt good; Wally just fueled it. He gave me a reason to redirect my rage. It made me feel better to get it all out, even if it was misguided and misplaced.

And every thought about him being adorable was pretty much smacked right out of my skull. I left it at the point where he was a jerk and I would retaliate, an eye for an eye, and I didn't care who all went blind. The killer instinct sank back into my bones even after I'd tried to pull back my defenses to make new friends and better my life.

Wally made me this way whether he knows it or not.

There were these little sparks between us. Quiet, almost unnoticeable. Little sparks. They were redirected. Now I don't know what love is and all he thinks is that I hate him. And maybe all he knows is that he hates me. What's the difference? It's never going to happen.

What a funny thing first impressions are, able to make or break anything.

A/N: So ridiculously short. Review?

~Sky