A/N: Another fic helping me get through my writer's block. Based on the song Kiss Me Again ft. Alex Gaskarth by We Are the In Crowd. Enjoy!~
Artemis had always believed that having a relationship wasn't a thing for her. Not that she didn't believe in the couples around her. Conner and M'gann, Dinah and Ollie... She just believed her family was cursed with bad relationships.
It was obvious to her because of the ever lasting relationship there was between her mother and father (note impeccable sarcasm). Or that one fling between Roy and Jade.
So, it was completely sudden how she caught herself checking out the team's resident masked acrobat. Well... okay, it actually wasn't a surprise since there were plenty of reasons why she would be checking out Robin. One, he's rather flexible, and it's hypnotising to watch him do all the different contortions; two, one has to keep an eye on him or else he could disappear at any moment; and three, he's really sexy to look at when he moved.
It was actually pretty normal to stare at his shapely butt when he did his warm up stretches in the training room, but this time, watching him twirl the handwrap around his hand, part of prepping for working the punching bag, had her fascinated. Thing was, when he caught her staring for the millionth time that week, a sudden burning started up in her chest. It had coiled around there before it burned a trail down to the pit of her stomach, where it started to heat up the rest of her body.
Usually, whenever he met her eyes, through that mask or sunglasses, she was able to grin back and have her eyes rake his body unabashedly just for shits and giggles. A little flirting never hurt anyone.
But she came to the realization that the burning sensation did start to hurt each time they met eyes. And god damn it, it annoyed her to no end.
She'd been mulling over it for the past few days too, and she was starting to see the effects, especially at the loss of concentration while fighting.
The terribleness of it all was that they were currently on a mission, another observe, gather, and foil type (foil, courtesy of Kaldur) and this time, she was paired up with Robin. Normally, it was all chill, but her body was her own enemy tonight.
"Something the matter, Artemis? You're looking a little tense there," he rasped curiously beside her. The tilt of his head indicated that he was looking at her.
Just the thought of his eyes on her sent shivers down her back. Thankfully, there was a breeze when that happened.
"I was really looking forward to some action tonight," she replied, tapping her crossbow on the outside of her thigh.
There was a slight raising of his mask, and a little smirk formed on his lips.
"Sorry, you got batblocked."
It wasn't meant to be some sort of implication from her side, but, of course, he had to make it sound like that, and because of that all she could do was blink in response. Her reaction time to glaring at teenage boy sexual innuendos was a bit slow. However, before her mind could even process a response, Robin reached up to clutch the bar above their heads to lean closer to her.
A little puff of air tickled her lips, "Relax," he whispered, and she was suddenly locking lips with the Boy Wonder. There it was...that burning sensation again. The feeling of her body turning red, and the way he pressed more of his lean, acrobatic body closer to hers had her heating up way too quickly.
He suckled on her bottom lip, lightly grazing his teeth over the sensitive part. More out of instinct, she reached up with her free hand to graze his neck, then grasped it lightly just as she started to respond. The burning didn't let up, and she gasped to try and let some of the cool evening air into her body, but Robin took advantage of that and did nothing to soothe it.
She all but moaned, and her hand reached around to grab a few strands at the back of his head, tugging none too lightly. His resolve broke with just the faintest of gasps.
-Target spotted, relocate inside the building.-
Artemis jolted away, chest heaving from the kiss. Robin, on the other hand, looked thoroughly not kissed. A faint glimmer of her lipgloss smudged on his lips in the moonlight was the only evidence.
She didn't even get enough time to say anything to make a fool out of herself. The moment she blinked, he had shot a grappling hook and was already swinging to the other building.
Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes to steady her racing heart. It sort of helped that the breeze started to pick up, but that burning was taking it's time to subside...Of course she couldn't do anything about it, and so she opened her eyes once more, licked her lips in grim remembrance, checked her crossbow, and aimed it at the other building.
xXx
It had gotten to a point where Artemis was staring too hard at him as of late. She was pretty sure he was all too aware of it by now, especially when she wasn't even trying to hide it. When he volunteered to help her bake cookies for an injured M'gann, all she could do was shrug -a little too forcefully- and point towards the fridge, requesting he help get some of the refrigerated ingredients. It was too obvious when she fought to keep from meeting his eyes, and only stared when she thought he wasn't looking.
As for being the younger one, he was the one that found the whole ordeal cute. Of course, stating that out loud would probably get her trying to kick his ass about it.
Nonetheless, he liked seeing her normally creamy complexion turn into a bright red.
"You know, I totally understand you checking me out while we train," he stated nonchalantly, taking the room temperature softened butter that had been placed away from the work space and handing it to her, "but is it really necessary to do it now too?"
It was fun watching her freeze, hand stretched out to grab the bowl he was offering while the faint fast breath made her nostrils flare in surprise. Her eyelashes brushed her cheeks multiple times while her mouth formed a small 'o'.
He smirked, looking up at her, and patiently waited for some B.S. response she'd probably spout off. He'd studied her character so thoroughly that he knew what to expect.
Her hand started to work again, albeit shakily, with slender, calloused fingers wrapping around the ceramic bowl nimbly.
"I didn't think you'd notice," she mumbled softly, pouring the butter into the mixing bowl, "actually...no, I was hoping you wouldn't notice, but...screw you, you have a nice body and it should be appreciated, even if it's hidden in sweats sometimes."
Well...that's new. She'd never really openly admitted it, at least not verbally.
It seemed she caught his thrown off look, and her own growing smirk was confirmation enough. She glanced back at the bowl and dipped both hands into it. Somehow the way she started mixing the would be cookie dough reminded him of the times he helped Alfred in the kitchen. Robin sidled up next to her, knowing full well that her body would tense up as they brushed arms while he reached in.
Even though it was a big enough bowl, they managed to tangle sticky, dough-y fingers with sticky, dough-y fingers after a few flicks of the wrist.
"Guess I could say the same for you. Even though you tend to show your midriff more than a girl normally should."
"I don't hear the guys complaining."
"Pretty sure they keep their mouths shut because your abs are more defined than theirs."
The laugh they shared was light, and he noticed how she unconsciously leaned down towards him, while he moved towards her. When the laughing died down, Robin found himself wafting her scent, and just by taking it in at little doses, he realized he was starting to get light-headed. A flicker of movement was warning enough, and he was met with a handful of cookie dough in his hair. The hand that had dealt it started to massage nimble fingers on his scalp, making sure to get the cookie between strands.
The owner of said hand was grinning widely at his misfortune, mirth clearly stated between those grey eyes. The laugh twinkled out from between her lips and a few of her pearly white peaked out.
Despite the way he enjoyed watching her laugh at him, he decided it was time to return the favor. While she was closing her eyes, shoulders shuddering from her giggling, he took out his own handfuls, one with less compared to the other.
He grabbed her ponytail gently, and started to do what she did to him. The thing about her having long hair was that she couldn't really feel him putting cookie dough in it, but her reaction -when she had opened her eyes- was instantaneous. He, just as quickly, pulled away and smiled cheekily while her lips formed a frown.
Robin felt a bit of the cookie dough in between his fingertips and got another idea. He reached up and smothered the rest of the dough all over her lips and chin, watching gleefully at how her eyes widened in silent protest. He followed after her purposefully, letting his hand drop away and reached around her neck to cup the base of her head.
Not sure where he was going with this, he pulled her down, and met lips to lips. The faint taste of chocolate chip as well as a bit of cookie dough enticed him enough to lick her lips in earnest. He felt her hands reach up to grip his shoulders tightly, probably needing a bit of leverage.
An arm wound its way around her waist and pulled her closer to him just as he started to feel her return the kiss tentatively.
He had to say...this was one of the messier kisses he's experienced, but it definitely made his top five.
Canting his head to side, he gave just the tiniest of moans while she pulled away to tug on his lower lip.
Thing was...it could have gone longer...if it wasn't for hearing the door swish open to one chatty speedster.
They quickly pulled away, the sticky mess that they were and tried their best not to look guilty at being caught making out.
"I smell cookie dough." That sentence was folllowed by the berating of their redheaded friend, criticizing how much cookie dough had gone to waste to be a substitute for hair gel.
xXx
"We have to stop meeting like this."
Robin had dropped down beside her on top of one of the buildings next to her. It was pretty legendary how the Batman could be territorial about his city, so it was surprising how easily he let Green Arrow and Artemis into Gotham to help on a case that dealt with a Star City mob that had expanded to the Dark Knight's realm, which in itself meant that Robin and Artemis had some bonding time while scoping the city.
She smirked, never taking her eyes off of her city's nightlife.
"You don't have to come looking for me if you don't want to."
He scoffed, waving one hand, "I'm pretty sure by now that Batman and GA are trying to do the whole peer tutoring thing, hero style."
Artemis snorted, "Peer? They do know you're younger than me right?"
He shrugged, "It's either that or they're trying to pair us up. Either one is plausible, and I wouldn't put it past Batman...he does have access to video feed just about anywhere."
She might as well have suffered from whiplash, because the way she turned her head actually had her hair whipping her in the face. "You," she spluttered, "you can't be serious?"
"Anything that deals with Batman is serious. He's known about the few make out sessions we've had for the past few months."
"And he's talked to you about them?"
"No...he just knows. You can't really question that."
The bow that was slung over her shoulder shifted as she crossed her arms and cocked her hip. "So you're saying that all the times that we've been put on patrol together while Green Arrow and Batman work on the case was just their way of setting us up?"
He grinned and stepped closer to her, "Hmm, it depends."
"Depends on what?" She questioned suspiciously.
"You're not going to get angry about all of this, are you?" She was pretty sure there was a twitch of anticipation, to which she leaned down and pecked him on the lips.
"Look I've been on the team long enough to get a feel of how Batman works. This is his way of saying he's okay with the whole ordeal, right?"
There was a flash of relief on his face before he grinned widely and pulled her in to give her a deeper and proper kiss. The thing that she liked about their arrangement was that it never got old, and with enough study and practice they had pretty much mastered each other.
He pulled away and whispered against her lips rapidly, "I think I just got turned on at the fact that you can actually understand his methods."
She shoved him away playfully, and screwed her face up. "Woah there Boy Wonder. I think we should just stick with making out first...at least until you've taken me on a proper date."
They heard a few gunshots below and the grin on his face -something that never really seemed to go away when she was around- made her guess what he was going to say next.
"If you count us going on patrol as a date, then technically we've been on 5, but since I'm such a gentleman I'll let you count this one as the first date," he gestured downwards, over the ledge and nodded towards her, "Race you?"
She slipped an arrow from her quiver and locked it into her crossbow, smirking at him, "You're on."
xXx
They were fairly certain that they had kept most of their escapades secret from their teammates as well as some of the League members, except for Batman and Green Arrow, of course.
Bring her back on the corner of 23rd and 45th street by midnight. I don't want to have to explain to her mom that she's probably making babies and won't get back until the morning.
Ollie!
So they were a bit uneasy when someone on the team suggested that they partake in the tradition of kissing someone on New Years. Their eyes met across the counter and the back of the couch, and it was suddenly an instant agreement. That's what Robin liked about Artemis, she seemed to be on the same wavelength as him, and simply understood when he had something in mind.
However, that plan had been pushed to the back of their minds when the situation with the whole Justice League and Roy being the mole thing came across. So it was unfortunate how Artemis was across the room standing next to Wally while he, on the other hand, stood next to Zatanna. As the melody of Auld Lang Syne played throughout the Watchtower, he watched in slight bewilderment and amusement as Artemis was swept off of her feet by Wally, but he was somehow(?) saved from witnessing the scene by Zatanna, who had pulled him in for a kiss of their own.
It was pleasant and he could tell it was just a friendly locking of the lips, but he couldn't help but compare Zatanna to Artemis. There was a small pang in his chest as he thought of her kissing Wally right at this moment. So he pulled away, gave Zatanna a warm smile, and strutted towards the blonde and the redhead, both of whom had already ended their kiss and were making light quips at each other, with her still in his arms.
When the two finally realized that Robin had made his way over to them, they shared questioning glances just before Artemis was pulled down to his height and was being thoroughly kissed. He could hear the team's gasp -barely- over her sharp intake of breath, and smiled when her hands reached down to cup his cheek and neck, nails slightly digging into his skin. They were lost in it for a moment, clutching at each other and savoring the other's taste, until they had to come up for air to which they unwillingly pulled apart. They stared at each other, breathing hard.
Depending on how one looked at it -surprisingly or unsurprisingly- Conner was the one to break the silence.
"...Are we supposed to kiss another person too?"
M'gann inclined her head in question while Kaldur added, "Yes...I was unaware of the addition to the land traditions to celebrating the new year."
Zatanna only grinned and Raquel whooped, adding a "you go girl" in there.
It came to a back to a full circle to Wally, who had his mouth hanging open.
"Dude!" He exclaimed, jostling Artemis in his arms, much to her annoyance, "Indirect kiss! Not to mention how unexpected and awkward that was for me -and hot- but nevermind that. I wasn't even sure if I should have just dropped her."
Artemis gave up some of her grip to whack him upside the head and gestured for him to put her down. Before she could return his comment with something scathing the echoing of Red Tornado's voice cut her off.
"Human customs still elude me."
Maybe it was due to the relief and hysteria from the unexpected mission or the remaining adrenalin running through their bodies, someone had started to giggle, which triggered the many chuckles and laughs from the others on the team.
