A/N: For Jncera, who can Punnett like a boss. From one admiring nerd to another :)
Disclaimer: I do not own "Yellow" by Coldplay or YJ.
Yellow
So then I took my time.
Oh what a thing to have done.
'Cause you were all yellow.
-Coldplay
It was a conundrum. A rubix cube of incoherent logic. She was half-Vietnamese, which, based on established laws of human genetics, meant her hair and eyes should both be brown. In reality, this either indicated that Artemis was not human, or her alleles had undergone a genetic mutation to encode for the gray eyes and lustrous yellow curtain that trailed behind her. Reginald Punnett was probably rolling in his grave.
Wally liked to attribute it to the fact that she wasn't human on days when she was being particularly intolerable (which, granted, was most of the time). Her eye color didn't bother him so much as her hair. At first, he figured she dyed it on a regular basis, but her roots never grew out to anything remotely resembling a dark, ebony color.
His ponderings, much to his chagrin, caused his eyes to travel to her hair more often than he was comfortable admitting, intimately acquainting him with all the subtle nuances of her tresses. It was annoying as hell.
And it was getting to the point where he had to make a conscious effort not to stop and stare. Artemis would surely catch him gawking, which would undoubtedly lead to another heated argument causing one or both of them to storm off in disgust. Inevitably, her hair would leave with her, rendering him unable to continue his meticulous observations.
But it wasn't like it was his fault! Wally couldn't help but notice when she turned her head and each lock miraculously transformed into a multifaceted mirror, reflecting even the artificial lights of the Cave's kitchen in scintillating loveliness.
He would never say it out loud, but Wally preferred sitting behind her in the Bioship. It allowed him to scrutinize with impunity the liquid gold cascading over her slender shoulder and onto the armrest. Some days, it was all he could do to NOT reach out and run his fingers through the smooth strands.
Even in the velvety night, the yellow glow never dulled. It didn't matter if the entire team was decked out in stealth tech for the mission—Wally could pick out Artemis in the tree twenty yards ahead, her hair following the small movements of her shoulders, tensed and ready for attack.
A small part of his logical mind idly wondered if she should pin her hair up to attract less notice. But that idea was almost immediately quashed with the mental equivalent of a brick-ton by the irrational part of him that found the archer something like pretty.
Wally was particularly fond of Artemis's silken locks in the early evening. They appeared vibrant next to the rolling ocean, capturing the intense colors of the sun. Reds, oranges, and purples cast an entrancing halo of light around her head, down her back, and throughout the strands that escaped the confines of her tie.
Sometimes, she would catch Wally's gaze, her eyes sparkling like the water of the harbor until Wally didn't know where she ended and the sky began. He had to remind himself to breathe whenever this was ever accompanied by that rare, soft, happy look she sometimes tossed his way.
Her form was especially striking on a windy day or as she ran toward the horizon, leaping and jumping with the grace of a gazelle, or perhaps something more ferocious and alluring, like a cheetah across an eternal savannah. On days like this, her hair whipped behind her, a contrail remnant in pursuit of her target. Not that Kid Flash would ever admit it, but she looked majestic, standing there with strands flagellating around her face, a wild look in her eyes. It simultaneously terrified and thrilled him to be so near a beauty that raw.
Often times he wondered if the archer knew what affect she had on him, casually tossing her golden hair over her shoulder as she walked by. Predictably, his eyes would track the motion, and every so often he would catch a small smile flitting across her face. But then he would blink, the smile would be gone, and he'd have to convince himself he was imagining it.
Kid Flash wasn't known for his patience, but he held out for a remarkably long time before caving into the desire of touching Artemis's hair.
It was late on a Saturday night, and the team had just returned from a recon mission an hour or so ago. Kaldur, M'gann, and Conner had gone to bed, Robin had left with Batman, and Wally had hit the showers before plopping himself on the couch with a large bowl of popcorn, flipping through the channels.
He found a newer action flick that had just started before setting the remote down, absentmindedly wondering where Artemis had gone when she vaulted the back of the couch to plop down next to him. Tucking her feet off to the side, she smirked and leaned into him, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl.
"Hey! Get your own," he grumbled, trying to ignore the way her hair grazed his arm and emitted a painfully appealing flowery scent. She hadn't bothered pulling it back into a pony tail after washing and blow-drying it.
Artemis raised her eyebrow. "What, do you have something against sharing?"
No, he wanted to tell her. But I find your hair incredibly gorgeous and distracting and will be unable to enjoy the movie if you keep leaning over like that to steal popcorn.
He settled for a noncommittal grunt. Artemis correctly interpreted this as a victory in her favor and the smug look returned as she reached over for another handful.
She was sitting in very close proximity to him, but Wally brushed off her position as being more convenient to access the popcorn bowl. He was mentally congratulating himself for studiously watching the television for the first half hour instead of the golden hair a finger's breadth away when Artemis threw him a curve ball.
She yawned, leaned her head into his shoulder, and reached into the bowl, not bothering to move away after retrieving a few fluffy kernels. Her eyes never left the screen, so Wally had no clue if she noticed the sudden tenseness of his muscles, the hiked breathing, or the pounding kick drum inside his chest.
A few loose waves of yellow tickled his cheek, drowning him with that alluring fragrance. His thoughts were muddled, his synapses failing to fire and depolarize the connecting axons in a coherent manner. His hand, almost of its own accord, came off its perch on the back of the couch to settle behind the archer and trace pathways between the smooth hairs.
Wally's mind froze, having finally caught up with his actions, and he fully expected Artemis to turn around and deck him for even deeming to think touching her hair was acceptable behavior.
To his never ending surprise, Artemis did not pull away, nor attempt homicide, nor threaten him with unspeakable pain. She relaxed completely into the touch, letting out a contented sigh almost resembling a purr.
The speedster's mind went blank with this new kind of torture, and he released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Reminding himself to inhale, Wally ran his hand through the soft locks again and again, sometimes twisting them around his fingers, relishing the smooth texture against the calluses of his fingertips.
Kid Flash didn't know when he'd get another chance to indulge this crazy whim, so he completely gave himself to the moment. He basked in her half-lidded expression, sleepy gray eyes flitting closed with pleasure at his ministrations. The movie played on, ignored by the speedster as he studied her, the dim light of the screen emitting an ethereal glow across the shiny planes of her tresses. Here and there a rebel curl twisted and fell across her arm and back.
Her hair was like the sunlight, giving off sparks and igniting something in his chest that he wasn't quite ready to come to terms with. Wally looked down at her closed dark eyelashes and brushed a few wisps of yellow from her cheek. When had she transformed into something more than a nuisance in his eyes? When had she become so beautiful to him?
When had he fallen for her?
Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful.
But you know…You know I love you so much.