I really should be working on my other stories, but I've been so obsessed with Young Justice lately that I can't...I can't write anything else.
BUT I WILL SOON GUISE.
Also, more Wally/Artie to come.
She hates feeling.
She hates it more than she's ever hated anything in her entire life. More than she hates her dad, more then she hates the police for ruining everything for her. More than she hates the juvenile detention center she had to spend four months of her life in.
It is her number one rule. If you don't feel for someone, then you never get hurt when they leave. And people? Well people always tend to leave her.
But this…this stupid thing, this feeling just creeps up on her. Suddenly, she feels for Oliver Queen, even though she shouldn't. She wanted to show him that she could be tough and that she wasn't the little street rat that they all thought she was. She feels for Megan, because she's only ever had the girls around her neighborhood and she's never felt like she belonged with them. She feels for Kaldur and Superboy and Robin, because God, their kind of like brothers now, aren't they? So suddenly, all these stupid feelings come rushing forward, engulfing her and turning her against everything she's every believed in.
But then the stupid, stupid Kid Flash, he had to go and make her feel more. It wasn't enough that she felt dislike towards him. No, now she has to feel a little bit of like. And that little bit of like just keeps adding more. Soon…soon she'll start feeling things that she's not supposed to feel. Never, never, never.
It's only right that they become friends, because teammates have to work together, and you can't do that if you don't like each other. So they talk, exchange snarky remarks, smile once in a while, and soon enough their kind of friends.
He saves her life.
She'll never forgive him for it either, because she isn't some stupid damsel in distress and she doesn't need saving. But the one time, the one time that she was sent on a solo mission she was stuck with him.
"Hey, Artie!" He called. She grimaced at the stupid nickname everyone had been calling her ("My name is not Artie!") and moved forward, her bow at her side. The water rushes along bellow her, making her skin crawl. She's never been a strong swimmer; she hates the water, too.
"What do you want?" She whisper-yells, trying not to give away their position to anyone near-by although their probably alone in these woods. All they had to do was steal something from a warehouse and head home but the idiot Kid Flash wanted to do some exploring.
"Come check this out!" He yells, disrupting the silence. She edges along, slower now, since the ground is getting narrower, the stream becoming more of a huge rushing death-trap by the second.
"Would you keep your mouth shut for God's sake?" She says harshly, turning the corner and smacking into Wally. His hand grips her arm, steadying her, and for a second she thinks that he'll push her in the water, but he doesn't, because he'd be a dead man if he did.
"Wanna go swimming?" He grins at her, and she pales slightly.
"No, actually, I would not like to go swimming you idiot."
Wally shrinks back slightly, but his hand is still on her arm, warm against her hot skin. "Why not? It's not like we're doing something wrong."
"We don't have swimsuits," she points out. "I hope you don't expect me to swim in my underwear. Especially in front of you-"
"Don't be a loser Artie," he says coolly, moving away from her. He pulls back a branch, and gestures for her to go first. "There's this stream thing…it's pretty cool."
Exhaling loudly, Artemis moves forward, pushing past him and moving into the brightly lit lagoon. He's right: there is a small stream, though it's more of a pond, and the lagoon is pretty secluded and it's really hot.
"You'll never ever in a million years speak of what is about to happen."
Wally grins and comes up beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Scouts honor," he says cheerily, holding up a hand. Rolling her eyes, Artemis begins pulling off her uniform.
She's almost done with her top when she hears it. The rustling is too loud to be an animal, and Wally's heard it too, so she knows that she's not hearing things.
Turning quickly, she scrambles to pull her shirt back to the right position, and she notices Wally leave his jumpsuit unzipped, the top half hanging down, exposing his chest. Her bow is in her hand in the next second, but it doesn't matter, because the gun shot goes off, and she feels something sharp and hot and painful tear through her shooting arm.
She goes down hard, her vision blurring and her mind spinning.
When she comes to, she's met with bright green eyes. Then she remembers.
The white hot pain surges through her, making her cry out. Tears spring to her eyes, but she won't cry, because only losers cry-
"Whoa, careful," Wally murmurs and she feels his hand tighten around hers and- wait when did they start holding hands? She lets out a whimper, and looks around. "What's going on?"
"You got shot," he says carefully, his green eyes boring into hers. "I barely got you out of there. Then Megan came and picked us up, and you almost died."
Dread fills her. She let her guard down- and while she was on a mission no less. "Fuck," she mutters angrily. This won't go over well at all.
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Wally murmurs, and she thinks she feels his hand move hair away from her face, but whatever medicine their pumping into her seems to be working and she isn't sure. "I told them we were ambushed…"
She falls asleep.
She feels like Megan, which isn't good, because sure, Megan is nice, and pretty and a really good friend, but she's so naïve and love-struck by Superboy, and Artemis is starting to think she's falling for Wally, which is stupid.
Her thoughts are on him, all the damn time, and she can't stop thinking about the way he held her hand, or how he stayed with her while she was getting better (according to Megan, who seemed to be pushing her towards Wally).
So why, she wonders, would Megan be kissing him?
It's a shock. Oh boy is it a shock. One second, she's humming to herself, actually in a good mood for once, her arm almost all healed up, and she doesn't have to use the stupid sling anymore.
She can hear talking from Wally's room, and she goes to knock on the door, but its open slightly, and she looks in.
Megan is there, on Wally's bed. With Wally's hand in her hair and Wally's body on top of hers, and everything about this is so wrong, because it's supposed to be Megan and Superboy and Wally and Art-
She stops herself, and just stands there. She doesn't think, she doesn't move, because thinking and moving will involve feeling and hurting and hating and liking and she doesn't want that right now.
But Megan pulls away, her eyes heavy, and she looks at the door.
Artemis is fast, but not fast enough.
"Artemis!"
"Artie?"
She moves quickly, her instincts kicking in. Soon enough she's hidden in some room (its dark and smells like mothballs). Megan and Wally run past the door, but they don't stop.
And secretly, she kind of wishes they would.
Dinner is awkward. Kaldur talks to Superboy, who isn't really paying attention, because his gaze is locked on Megan, and his hand is curled into a tight fist. Robin is shoveling food into his mouth, making snide remarks every once in a while to Wally, who sits next to Megan. The two of then ignore everyone.
"So," Artemis begins happily. "What did everyone do today?"
The silence at the table is deafening, because she made sure everyone knew what happened. Wally glares at her, while Megan's lip trembles.
"Me? Oh well I saw the cutest thing-"
"I'm sorry," Megan begins quickly, glancing up at Artemis, then eyeing everyone at the table. "I'm so sorry, really. I was just- Wally was just-"
"Oh save it," Wally says, pushing away from the table. He continues to glare at Artemis. "You have nothing to apologize for Megan."
He stalks off, leaving Artemis feeling like a total jerk.
She thinks about ignoring the knock on his door, because she really doesn't want to talk to anyone, at all, but the knocking is so insistent, that she think's they'll tear her friggen door down if she doesn't answer it.
Crawling out of bed, she moves through her room in the dark, stubbing her socked toe on the corner of a dresser. "I'm coming!"
Pulling her door open, she scowled at the person on the other side of the door. Megan stared at her.
"What?" Artemis asks. Her voice came out harsher then she intended it too, and Megan's eyes watered again. "Artemis, I'm really sorry-"
"Why'd you do it?" The words tumble out of her mouth before she can stop herself. "Why would you do that Megan? You know Superboy likes you- it's so obvious and how could you do that to m-" she stops abruptly, knowing she's said too much.
"I wanted Superboy to notice me. I wanted him to know that I won't wait forever…" Megan trails off, rubbing at her eyes. "Wally was willing to help me. Superboy was supposed to walk by…not you."
"It's not like it matters," Artemis says carefully, her voice breaking slightly.
"I wish I could take it back, I really do-"
"Just go to bed, okay Megan?"
"I'm so sorry-"
"I know. I forgive you, okay?"
Megan stares at her friend for a second, then steps forward and embraces her quickly and tightly. Artemis hugs her back tightly too.
"Wally."
The boy looks up and green meets blue. Neither talk, they merely stare at each other.
"What?" Wally finally snaps. Artemis stands in his doorway, a frown on her face. "I'm sorry-"
"You shouldn't be apologizing to me." He states angrily, speeding over to her and glaring. "No, you should be apologizing to Megan, because you made her look like an idiot."
Anger floods through her, and she steps forward, their chests are almost touching now, and she has to look up to look him in the eye because he's just a little bit taller. "You are the one who volunteered to be- be her little…her whore, so why should I apologize, when all I wanted to do was talk to you-"
"You told the whole team!" Wally explodes, his arms coming up and pushing her. "You told everyone! Do you know what Superboy said to Megan? He said that they had a chance before, but there was 'definitely no chance in Hell, now'!"
"That's not my fault-"
"Yes it is!"
"No-"
"Why would you say anything?" Wally yells, moving closer to her. She's backed against the wall now, and she can't move, they're so close.
She doesn't answer. She can't, because if she does, then she has to admit that she actually gives a shit about him. And she can't be vulnerable. Not with him.
It dawns on him then, because all the heat and anger leaves his face. He stares at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "You like…me?"
"No-" her face flushes, and she knows that he knows and not even she knows because this is all so fucked up and she should not feel like this-
He kisses her.
It's not like she thought it would be. She thought he wouldn't know what to do. She thought that he would be inexperienced but God, this boy can kiss-
Her hands curl into his hair, and his wrap around her waist, and for a second, everything seems perfect.
When she dies, it isn't like in the movies.
It's not drawn out, or dramatic, or even coherent, because when she tries to speak, all that comes up is blood, and she can barely see because blood is filling her vision, and red little tears drip down her face and onto the pavement. Wally is there, so is the rest of the team. He grips her hand, his hand brushes away hair from her face. She probably looks awful. The knives got her in the stomach, and the poison is going through her at an incredible rate, and life is just slipping away from her.
She tries to move, but a scream bubbles off her lips, and Wally leans forward, resting his forehead against their intertwined hands. "Careful, you be careful, you got it?" He says, but it's not harsh. "Don't you dare die. I'll never ever fucking forgive you, if you die…"
The words are lost on her as she slips into a permanent sleep. But just before she does, she realizes that maybe feeling isn't so bad after all.