The smell of breakfast quickly wrenched Roy Harper from sleep, his stomach growling hungrily.
Last nights patrol had been brutal and he was sore down to the bone. He got up, wincing as a bruise on his backside ached painfully. A thug had landed a solid kick to his tailbone, making him slpat to the ground face first in a very undignified way. The thug, in return, had gotten a trick arrow to the face that covered his body with a slimy goop that Roy knew for a fact took days to wash off. (He would know. He had gotten some trick arrows as a gift from Ollie, and curiosity won him over. Needless to say, he got that stuff in places he didn't even know he had.)
He stretched, letting his joints pop and crack as he got out of bed. Following his nose to the kitchen of his small apartment, he found his girlfriend at the table, eating waffles. Artemis looked just as disheveled from sleep as he did, but had obviously gotten up some time earlier as her hair was still damp from a shower, wavy clumps of it cascading down her back. She made a small noise, acknowledging his existance. Artemis wasn't exactly a morning person, claiming that mornings were the bane of her existance. Then again, Roy wasn't a fan of them either.
"Morning, sunshine," he muttered, voice gravelly and laced with sleep. He shuffled to the cabinet, extracting a plate. The plates were a purchase from a garage sale, the entire plastic set a mere fifteen dollars. In all honesty, they were the ugliest things Roy had ever seen, the plastic a gaudy shade of lime green that reminded him of Sprite. Artemis, however, loved them. Because of that, he put up with them.
Artemis made another noise, yawning and rubbing her eye with the back of her hand. Cracking a smile, Roy took a bite of the waffle. He froze mid chew, the taste of the waffle... off. Chewing slowly, he tried to diagnose the awful taste before forcing himself to swallow.
"These.. Taste like shit." He muttered, pushing his plate away. He wasn't very hungry anymore. Artemis glared up at him, lips pouty. "I made those," she said peevishly, taking his plate and eating them herself. She didn't seem to have an issue with the flavor.
"Still taste like shit," he said, getting up to go the fridge. He scanned the contents for something edible- the only appealing foods being American cheese and some strawberries. He chose the strawberries, making a mental note to tell Artemis that the fridge needed cleaning.
"How rude," she said through a mouthful of waffles, sitting cross legged in her chair. She was wearing one of his oversized t-shirts, covering her bare olive legs in an infuriatingly attractive manner, Roy noticed.
"Is it gonna be just us again tonight?" she asked, uncrossing her legs and taking the empty plate to the kitchen sink, rinsing it off. Despite himself, Roy found himself staring as the shirt crept up and revealed more skin when she leaned over the counter.
"Dunno." He shrugged, taking the oppritunity to go over to her and wrap his arms around her waist. She smiled, leaning into the embrace. He wasn't the overly affectionate type, but he had his moments.
"I miss the team," She admitted, leaning her head back into his chest. It had been ten years since she joined the team, five since Wally dumped her for a girl named Linda, and three since Roy started acting civil towards her. Civil turned to friendly, friendly turned to friends with benefits, friends with benefits turned into a relationship after Roy asked her out on a date. Artemis, being stubborn as she was, had turned him down abruptly, saying that their "thing," wasn't romantic at all. However, she had surprised him by showing up, totally dressed up and looking gorgeous.
Roy just shrugged, burying his face in her long blonde hair. It smelled like shampoo- "fresh ocean breeze," as it was advertised. She forever complained that it took too long to wash her hair and she might as well cut it off, but Roy insisted that she never cut it. Ever.
"Lets go do something," she said, twisting in his arms and kissing him on the cheek. He sighed. "And get some pants on, Boxers." she swatted at his (extremely bruised) butt as she strode past to their room, causing him to flinch and let out a strangled yelp. Manly.
Wincing, he finished off the last of the strawberries and tossed the empty container in the trash, following Artemis into the bedroom that they shared- and had shared for over a year.