It's a funny thing actually, he thinks from time to time, because on Thursday evenings like this, normal kids his age would be preoccupied with something like studying, or chores, or mundane things that teenagers usually fret over. And then he usually thinks about how silly it is to be wondering what that kind of life must be like, because there's no place else he could picture himself, really.

As Wally West peered through the red and white candy striped curtain separating the ring, and all the patrons it held, from the hectic backstage of the Wayne's Wonders Traveling Circus, he had to smile to himself in the midst of the chaos buzzing around him.

Tonight's show was nearly half over, which he was grateful for considering it was their last show in Texas, and despite the fact that everything before the audience's eyes was absolutely dazzling in every way, the conditions on the opposite side of the curtain were just that: Opposite.

"West, where the fuck is the body glitter?!" Wally jumped and faced a frantic Diana, or Wonder Woman as she was referred to, towering above him. She had what Mister Wayne liked to call an "Amazonian" stature...

Wally refrained from cracking a grin and promptly answered, "Second makeup table, bottom drawer. It should be overflowing with the stuff."

She gruffly nodded and began toward the makeup stations.

"By the way, Clark was looking for you. Him and Conner just finished their act and are in need of some ice packs."

"On it." Wally murmured, glancing through the curtain one last time at the overjoyed crowd before making his way to the ice box.

Ice packs? More like ice bergs. Those guys have too many muscles for just a pack or two… He thought to himself.

His job wasn't easy. As backstage manager, the youngest one the circus ever had, he was responsible for making sure everything ran smoothly during the performances. It was a pretty daunting task for a sixteen year old, but then again there were kids in Wayne's Wonders that were even younger than he was, and they weren't even stagehands like him...

He passed his Aunt's workstation in the makeup tent on his journey for ice and chuckled at the sight of the young redheaded woman with bright colors splattered and smeared across her arms, face, and shirt, with a million bobby pins being held in her mouth. She was painting a thick layer of eyeliner on Barbara, an AcroBat, when she noticed Wally passing by.

"Wally, hon, please be careful when you handle the thermite in Barry's torches!" She mumbled in an overbearing motherly tone through the metal in her mouth, frantic as well from the wave of faces she'd had to cover in makeup for the past two hours.

"Thermite is only harmful when exposed to open flame Aunt Iris, I'm not lighting those monsters up anytime soon." He rolled his eyes, because he has this exact conversation with Iris pretty much every night.

"Whatever." She responded, grumbling a "smartass" from under her breath when he continued his trek, a smirk reaching the corner of his lips.

Wally's parents had died in a plane crash when he was very young, nine to be exact, and he'd never had a real family outside of his Aunt Iris until he began traveling full time with Wayne's Wonders. Wally had been living with the circus for about five years now, his aunt Iris was a makeup artist that had started working at the circus as a summer time gig to make a little extra money for her and Wally, but ended up meeting and eventually getting married to Barry, Wayne's Wonders resident firebreather. Wally genuinely liked Barry, he was an honest and kind man who adored his aunt and never made him feel out of place at Wayne's Wonders. He even tried to teach Wally the basics of firebreathing and all the science to it that Wally liked the most, but Iris had put a stop to it out of hysterical concern for Wally's safety.

With ice buckets in tow, he finally reached Clark and Conner, or Superman and Superboy, the circus' strongmen. Conner was rubbing at his shoulder with a pained look on his face.

"Trust me son, aches are just a part of the gig; They never really go away." Clark assured the boy.

Conner nodded and raised his blue eyes upon Wally's arrival. Conner was a quiet kind of kid, he was almost eighteen and had been working with his father since he met Clark at the age of ten. He was a moody guy, built like a freaking Hulk despite his age and harboring plenty of angst, but pretty sensitive. Besides Dick, Wally considered Conner to be one of his closest friends.

Dick, known as Robin to everyone, was the youngest of all the kids in Wayne's. He was Bruce's adopted son, and one of the most talented gymnasts in the AcroBats act. He was also Wally's best friend, because he was the first one to show the redhead the ropes when he first stepped foot into the circus. All the teens at Wayne's (and there were quite a few of them) were pretty close with one another. It's kind inevitable, the closeness and all, what with being homeschooled together between practicing and performing their talents, and basically just living the majority of their lives with one another. Part of what made Wally love the circus so much was the sense of loyalty (one could almost call it family) that surrounded the atmosphere there.

It sure beat the hell out of living in Blue Valley, fucking Nebraska.

Wally, who'd picked up a lot of medical knowledge in his years at Wayne's, sat with his brawny friend near the curtain and helped with the icing and massaging, because he really didn't mind it at all.

Soon enough Kaldur, the Fishboy, finished up his set and entered through the curtain with exhaustion evident on his face and a hearty applause following him. He set himself on the bench beside Wally and Conner and chugged a full jug of water. The three boys fist bumped and chatted for a while about the show, when the crowd began to quiet down to a low buzz as Mister Wayne introduced the next act.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to proudly introduce our newest addition to Wayne's prized collection of Wonders, Artemis!"

Wally's ginger head snapped up from its focus on Conner's aching shoulder, to the slit in the curtain where he saw her.

A long wave of curled golden blonde hair flowed delicately down over the girl's exposed shoulders, ends brushing the small of the back of her bedazzled, white chiffon babydoll dress as she waved from her perch on the hanging trapeze bar in the center of the ring. She looked right at home sitting so dangerously high up in the air with just a measly bar to support her.

The lights dimmed, leaving a large white spotlight on Artemis that seemed to just soak up her radiance. Soon she began to swing, like it was just a regular playground swing and not a fifty foot hanging bar hooked into the ceiling, if tents could even have ceilings. As she gained momentum, she managed to twist herself up so she was standing, and did it so rapidly Wally almost didn't see it. There was an almost childlike joy in the way she gripped the ropes, pushing herself back and forth, sailing through the spacious air with wind rushing through her glinting locks.

Wally didn't know much about Artemis, just that she was an amazing aerialist who showed up at the circus not too long ago with Jade, the knife thrower. Apparently they were sisters, Wally'd heard it from Dick. They were also runaways, which wasn't uncommon here (Roy for instance), and they hadn't socialized much at all with anyone in the entire company. Wally could understand part of the reason why, the only reason he hadn't gone to ambush Artemis yet was because she was so beautiful, an intimidating kind of beautiful that rendered the male species vulnerable with just a glance of her wide grey eyes and a twitch of her lips.

That and he was fucking obsessed with her.

It made Wally antsy that he didn't know why this girl had such an impact on his ability to function as a normal human, but he couldn't find himself to be angry or annoyed at her for it at all. He was also unable to flirt with her like he'd done with all the other females around the company, which frightened him a bit.

She kipped herself over, stretching her legs and wrapping them around the ropes to hang upside down while continuing to glide back and forth over the tent, mesmerizing her audience. The train of her flowing white dress followed her movements, making her look like some sort of enchanting apparition.

Wally found himself gripping the icepack in his hand tighter, the cold burning into his skin but not able to bother him while he watched Artemis hang from the swinging bar just by the tips of her toes, managing to make it look so easy with the care-free weightlessness she presented herself with, her face relaxed as if there was no place else she'd be able to find such comfort, such solace and ease...

And then she was hanging from the bar just by the crook of her knee, head and arms thrown back, her hair like a waterfall of liquid gold. She made her craft look so effortless, so easy and alluring with grace and beauty that only a goddess could possess. Her tricks were always so interesting, so completely unique and all her own, and that was probably why she had been gaining so much popularity amongst the crowds each night.

The teen stagehand let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as she began to wrap up her performance with a full body twist in the air that required her to let go of the whole bar. She was able to catch it just in time, which elicited a few gasps from the audience, but didn't surprise Wally at all. She was damn good at what she did, he'd creepily watched her practice enough times to know.

"Just talk to her already." Conner deadpanned and rolled his aching shoulder. "It's obvious you want to."

Wally smirked and kept his focus on Artemis.

"Con, my friend, these things take time. No need to rush perfection." He glanced at Conner with that saucy glint of mischief in his green eyes and placed a hand to his chest. "I'm perfection, by the way."

Conner shook his head at Kaldur, who just smiled.

"I agree with Conner. She seems rather… Lonely. Maybe you could help her adjust to things around here, introduce her to everyone. Befriend her."

"Yeah, as you may recall, it's tough being the new kid." Dick said, appearing out of literally nowhere and scaring the living shit out of Wally.

"Jesus Christ dude, you need to stop that ninja shit, it ain't cute any more." Wally swatted at the fourteen year old with a scowl.

"Yeah, we already know what you think is cute, Wallman." Dick snickered and pointed to the girl out in the ring, hanging above everyone's heads as she waved.

Wally grumbled and closed the curtain after shoving Dick, in all his bedazzled unitard glory, off the bench. He's not wrong though…


"Zatara and Zatanna!" Wally called out as loud as he could in the hustle and bustle of the dusty field surrounding the tent. It was pretty early, and everyone was spending the day preparing for the next stop in the tour. The final performance in Texas was last night and this morning was to be spent packing up and moving onto New Mexico. Wally was excited, Wayne's Wonders had been in Texas for a month now, he was ready for a slight change of scenery. The nomadic lifestyle of Wayne's Wonders hadn't been an easy adjustment to adapt to when he and Iris first joined up five years ago, but he found that traveling all across the world, seeing places that kids his age wouldn't be able to see, it was something Wally really loved about the circus.

His eyes skimmed the clipboard as he crossed off Superman and Superboy's names from his place in front of the train. He was the stage manager, so of course it was his job to make sure that everyone was present and accounted and ready to go before they moved the whole operation.

The strongmen are here, so next up is the magicians, then the firebreather, followed by contortion, the fishboy, AcroBats, and then the archer and the knife thrower, who'd decided to share a room for some reason... Wally kept skimming until his eyes finally spotted what they'd been searching for.

Trapeze.

He'd be a rotten liar if he said his heart didn't do a small jump at the simple word.

"Here, West." Zatanna suddenly appeared in front of him, breaking him from his lovelorn thoughts before they could really even begin. She had that signature, mischievous half-smirk on her face (the kind that little prepubescent trolls like she and Dick wore on a regular basis), with her fist on her cocked hip. Her father was right behind her, handling their luggage.

"Hey there Zee." Wally said. His lack of enthusiasm was apparently blatant enough for Zatanna to pick up on, despite the forced cheeriness he tried to exert in his tone.

"Something wrong?" She quirked a brow, side stepping a distressed performer with a giant prop bin just in time without ever moving her piercing eyes from Wally's. "You seem a bit down."

"Nothing's wrong." Wally stated while straightening himself, internally wincing when his voice cracked a bit. "I'm just tired."

"I can see why..." She mused, surveying the frenzied performers as they scurried about the vast field. "Everyone is pretty amped up for New Mexico. I think it's just because we're all counting down the weeks 'till California."

Wally grinned a bit. California was always everybody's favorite stop.

"I know I am. Did'ja bring your bikini this time, Zee?" Wally half-heartedly crooned, waggling his eyebrows. Behind Zatanna, Zatara's overprotective father ears picked up Wally's comment, and he sent glare burning into the boy's skull. Wally ignored him.

Zatanna laughed. "Sure did. But not for you."

Wally fake pouted and sighed. "I get it, I get it, you're saving yourself for Birdboy. No need to wound me any more than you already have..."

"Oh I'm sure I'm not the one you're all butthurt over, trust me..." She said cryptically as she grabbed her suitcases and loaded her stuff onto the train, disappearing inside.

Hell, was everyone in on his love life now?

Wally was about to interrogate her thoroughly, but as soon as she'd ambled inside, her head popped back out before he could get a word out.

"Your Aunt is looking for you by the way. She's in the makeup tent."

Zatanna disappeared again, her father following her with one last glare in Wally's direction. Wally sighed and shoved the clipboard off on another roadie before making his way to his Aunt's work station.

Pulling back the curtain of the white tent, Wally walked in. All the makeup tables and vanities were disassembled, the makeup and props and wigs and everything in between were packed up into giant bins, save for two small stools and a large makeup box in the center of the cluttered tent where his Aunt and Megan, the contortionist, sat. Iris didn't even look when he entered, hyper-focused on Megan's eyes with her brush poised critically.

"Wally, finally..." Iris muttered. "I need you to run some stuff over to a performer for me really quick."

"Hi Wally!" Megan chirped, eyes closed.

"Hey Megs." Wally grinned. He used to have a huge crush on the foreign girl when he first started traveling with the circus, and it came to a hasty end when he found out her boyfriend was one of the strongmen. That definitely stopped Wally in his incredibly hormonal tracks. "Lookin' good as always, I see."

Megan chuckled. "Thank you, but I would be nowhere without Iris..."

"Oh please, sugar, you shine brighter than any star in the Texas sky, you don't need any of that makeup shit."

"Wally, focus." Iris said gruffly.

"What's the mission Aunt Iris?" Wally clapped boisterously and rubbed his hands together, eyes flitting about the various boxes.

"I tailored some clothes for this one performer; poor thing barely had anything wearable in her whole bag, which is pretty scarce already, so I kind of took her stuff without permission..." Iris reached over and grabbed a distressed gray duffel bag.

"Aunt Iris!" Wally rolled his eyes. His Aunt was such a sucker for helping people. She got it from Barry, who was so adamant on being courteous of others that he probably could've moonlighted as a superhero.

"I know, I know..." She tossed him the bag, which was considerably light. "I just couldn't help it."

"So who is she?" Wally asked, settling the bag over a shoulder and watching in amusement as Megan made faces at herself in one of Iris' mirrors.

"A new girl." Iris shrugged as she began to gather everything back into her giant makeup box, digging through it distractedly. "She does trapeze, I think?"

Wally nodded, cool and composed on the exterior, raging with nerves internally.

Megan nodded excitedly, causing her shoulder length, auburn locks to bounce. "Yes, she is really pretty aerialist! I introduced myself to her a while ago, but she did not say much. She is very much like sheep, yes?" Megan said unconfidently in her thick Russian accent.

"Sheepish, babe, the term is sheepish." Wally said flatly, anxiety rising in the pit of his stomach and resting uncomfortably in his throat.

"I'm pretty sure she and her sister have been staying in Ollie and Roy's trailer." Iris told him, beginning to move things out of the tent. "Megan, sweetie, would you mind helping me?"

"Of course Iris!" Megan exclaimed, exuberant as always.

"Better catch her before it's too late hon, the train leaves at four sharp." Iris mentioned as she and Megan passed him and left him to his devices.

His thoughts rattled in his ginger head. Taking a deep breath, he secured the bag on his shoulder and began toward Ollie and Roy's trailer, which was all the way on the other side of the camp, near the animal cages.

The whole five minute walk to the trailer, Wally let himself plan out exactly what he'd say to her. He wanted to make sure that he didn't waste this golden opportunity to talk to the mysterious girl he'd been secretly crushing on for the past few weeks. He couldn't mess this up. No way.

He approached the animal cages, which were right next to the spot outside of the trailer where Roy kept his personal archery rage set up. Like everyone else in the circus, Roy was the kind that would get pretty pissy at the sight of somebody handling his equipment, especially without permission. Roy was a bro, but it was debateable with how dramatic he could get. The moody nineteen year old was fiercely protective over his bow and arrows, and was adamant about keeping them untouched by anyone but himself.

But either Roy hadn't told the new girl, or she just didn't care, because Wally stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Artemis, her back facing him as she expertly shot arrow after arrow in the middle of Roy's multiple targets set around the area.

For a moment, he didn't even move. He just stood there, watching her, because he could believe how fucking good she was.

Seriously, where the fuck had this girl come from?

After a solid ten minutes of just standing there and leering at her talent like some sort of voyeur, Wally decided to warn the blonde of both her rather risky actions and his presence, and proceeded to step forward onto the crunchiest leaf imaginable.

God fucking dammit universe.

Artemis promptly whipped around, startled, and much to Wally's surprise had an arrow skillfully aimed at his chest like a damned assassin or something. Wally couldn't help but freeze and hold up his hands in a scared-shitless surrender.

They just stood there, staring at each other with wide eyes the size of saucers, not saying a word for the longest time. Wally was growing more and more concerned as to why she hadn't moved the arrow away from the direction of his fucking heart yet.

He swallowed thickly, her cat eyes watching the movement carefully.

"I-" He stuttered, not knowing how to detangle this situation. This was so not how he wanted his first meeting with the hot new girl to go. "I-I just-"

"... Will you hold on a second?! Let me pack up the damn practice range first..." Both Wally and Artemis' eyes widened impossibly wider, nearly the size of the moon now, as they heard Roy's frustrated voice approaching.

"Well make it quick Harper, I'm not going to be this horny forever..." An abrasive alto joined in, and Artemis' face twisted in disgust. Wally would've taken the time to appreciate how it was absolutely ridiculous for a girl to look that cute with her eyes all crinkled like that, but only if he weren't literally five seconds away from peeing himself.

It only took a fleeting moment, but this look passed over Artemis' features, an almost pleading one that had her gray eyes suddenly dancing with panic.

"Do something." She mouthed to him urgently.

So without thinking, like at all, and completely forgetting about the weapon threatening him at such a close proximity, Wally quickly crossed over to Artemis, pried the bow and arrow out of her grasp, and hastily dropped it to the ground before grabbing her hand and rushing them both into an empty elephant stable. It didn't completely cover them from sight what with the top half just being bars like that of a damn jail cell, so Wally unceremoniously collapsed onto the floor, dragging a frazzled Artemis down with him and covering her mouth with his hand when she let out a little squeak. He winced at the pain in his knees when he dropped himself onto the hay-littered floor.

They stared at each other, absolutely terrified. Roy and the other person stumbled upon Roy's possessions in disarray just outside their hiding place, and as predicted, all hell broke loose. As Roy raged, and the other voice mocked him in boredom and annoyance, Artemis' eyes zeroed in on the bag on Wally's shoulder and familiarity sparked in her eyes, which narrowed and shot back up to his in question. Wally rolled his eyes, more at himself than her, and pled with her silently to just wait until they were in the clear. The blonde huffed as quietly possible and settled herself into a more comfortable kneeling position on the floor. He then let his hand fall away from her mouth, figuring it was safe to do so.

It seemed like hours until Roy finally cooled down and got all his shit together. The whole time Wally and Artemis sat on the stable floor, awkwardly avoiding each other's eyes.

Finally Roy and his guest began to retreat.

"... Are we done here? It's really sad how you coddle that bow like it's a fucking child. Totally mood killing, by the way." The feminine voice spat impatiently.

"This stuff is expensive, you'd be reacting the same way if someone touched your knives." Roy's defensiveness laced every word.

"Nope, not likely, because I'm not stupid enough to leave my weapons out in the open for anyone to find, you jackass."

"Jesus, don't get your panties in a twist..."

"I'd have to be wearing panties in order to get them in a twist, Red." She purred as their voices faded away.

"God dammit, Jade..."

Oh. So that's the knife thrower. And the reason why Roy isn't throwing a Class A bitch fit about sharing a room with someone on the train. Made sense now...

Wally peered up through the bars on the top half of the stable and sighed in relief when he saw the pair were nowhere in sight. He closed his eyes and sat back down on the floor in exasperation next to Artemis, who hadn't moved at all. Cracking an eye open, he saw that she was staring wide eyed into space, cheeks flushed.

"You all right there, Beautiful?" Wally cringed a bit when the word flowed out of his mouth without permission from his brain.

She didn't move though. Just stared at the ceiling.

"Fuckin' called it..." Artemis whispered, kind of ignoring Wally in favor of her own musings.

"Um..." Wally floundered for a minute. Her voice was raspy and throaty, not anything like he had been expecting it to be. "Called what, exactly?"

Her eyes focused on Wally and she sighed, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her delicate hands, that when Wally really looked at them, were not as delicate as he thought. They were actually rather calloused and rough looking.

"Nothing." She sighed again, letting her head fall back and bump against the stable door, eyes closed. When they opened again, they were a bit brighter, and the corner of her lips were curled ever so slightly upward. "Thanks for, y'know... Acting fast. My sister and I can't really afford to get in any trouble around here, we kind of have no place else to go, so..." When she realized she'd began rambling, she shook her head slowly as if to shake away the nerves. "I owe you one."

Wally grinned at her. "No problem..." Her eyes opened halfway and she gave him a hesitant, unsure smile back.

They sat there awkwardly for a moment, not really sure what to do now. Then Artemis' gaze fell on the bag now in his lap, his eyes going in the direction of hers.

"Oh! I um, myAunttoldmetogiveyouthis." He shoved the bag at her, his cheeks flustered with blush. Damn, this girl...

Artemis surveyed the item, opening it up and rummaging around through it. She held up an old tank top with a freshly sewn hemline, and Artemis fondly admired the article of clothing for a second.

"Wow, she actually managed to fix it..." She mused. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she turned to Wally. "Why did she have my stuff? Where'd she get it anyway..."

Wally ran a hand through his hair nervously and blew out a breath of air. "She kind of... Took it. Without your knowledge."

Artemis nodded thoughtfully. "Is your Aunt Iris, by any chance?"

"Yep." He said, popping the "p".

"Iris is cool." Artemis murmured. "I just kind of assumed, 'cause you both look alike and all..."

"It's the hair." Wally grinned somewhat proudly. "And the eyes. Ginger genes aren't easy to escape."

At this moment Artemis seemed to lock his eyes in a metaphorical death grip. He was too afraid to look away. Her mouth slowly formed into a smirk.

"I'm Artemis." She said suddenly.

"I know." He answered quietly. "Wally."

He stuck his hand out and Artemis shook it.

Huh. Nice grip. Probably from clutching that dangling fucking bar for dear life every other night...

"I know." She responded with that smirk still firmly in place.

"You do?" He didn't mean for it to come out as surprised and squeaky as it did.

"Mhm." She nodded, chewing on her lip. "You live with the circus. You also watch me while I practice. Kind of hard not to notice."

Wally groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Was it really that obvious." He deadpanned to himself.

"Yep." She said, popping the "p".

He lifted his head and looked at her. Talking to her really wasn't as scary as he assumed it would be, and he wondered why the ever-living fuck he hadn't done it sooner.

They shared a smile before Artemis sighed and hoisted herself off the ground. She brushed the dirt off her shorts and raised a brow at Wally.

"Our little secret?" She said, motioning a perfect hitchhiker's thumb to Roy's now packed equipment that lay outside the stable. He'd taken the extra precaution by storing it all in large, locked trunks.

Wally scrambled up and smoothly ran a hand through his obnoxious red hair, getting it out of his eyes before nodding a bit too eagerly. She nodded once, making a move to exit the stable with her bag in tow, but Wally, impulsive Wally, panicked and grabbed her by the crook of her elbow.

"Y'know, you're really good at archery." He blurted, wishing he could do something other than make a fool out of himself around this girl, who'd frozen at the physical contact. "Like, professional good. How'd you get so...?"

He couldn't seem to finish the statement he'd been stammering out, because she was freaking staring him down with this amused look that paired with this smirk, almost like she knew some sort of joke that he'd never be let in on.

And it frustrated him to no end.

"I'm multitalented." Her eyes glinted in a way that was similar to when the sunlight shone against her hair as she turned her heel and left him, breath taken and confused with his head drawing in thoughts about this mysterious newcomer.

"Huh…" He muttered with a grin. And as if lightening struck, he jolted his ass into gear and ran after her.

Because what kind of gentleman would he be if he just left a lady to travel by herself with a bunch of circus freaks for nine hours?


Hey there. So I know I usually don't put these author note things in my stories because I think they clutter them up, but I thought I should let all you lovely readers know some stuff.

First, that I've been in love with the idea of this story forever and it's taken me months just to must the courage to write it. (I was inspired by the internship I received over the summer at Cirque Du Soleil: Iris working as a techie. My favorite act is trapeze, if you couldn't already tell.) So I decided to put this up as a placeholder for now, until I can really make it better and perhaps add multiple parts to it. I just wanted to get my idea out there, because I love Spitfire as well as the image of everyone having a special circus act. Second, I understand it's ridiculously AU and probably just as ridiculously OOC, but I was too eager to upload it and too lazy to fix it. Third, there are links on my profile for videos of swinging trapeze artists and what it really looks like in person. That's about it, so I'll stop this nonsense. Thanks for reading.