Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Relationships: Kid Flash/Robin, Robin & Zatanna Zatara, Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara, Artemis Crock/Zatanna Zatara

Additional Tags: implied Zatanna/Robin, pining Artemis, Mild Language, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Minor Violence, Told in Artemis' POV, YJ fest 2018, I don't write women often, I'm Sorry, I hope this came out well

Summary: Artemis can't help the fact that she's fallen for Zatanna, hard. And she also can't help the fact that Zatanna isn't interested in her, but rather their bratty boy wonder. She can however, hold a grudge when she catches Robin kissing not Zatanna in the hallways, but Kid Flash.

Notes: For TheArcher on Ao3. Oh boy, well this was a wild ride. I had literally no idea what I was going to do for this prompt until almost the half way point, and even then it took me right up until the last second to finish it. But, hopefully you like it! It was fun and stressful, but in a good way.

Misconstrued

Ever since the team had met her, it was no secret that Robin and Zatanna were close. She would hug him from behind and hang off of him during mission briefings. They would both run up and hug the other randomly for no reason. Often times they referred to each other as 'babe' and, there had been more than a few times where members of the team would catch them giving each other deceptively chaste rumor that they were going out was almost fact if you asked nearly anyone on the team. And even then, after the rumors started to make their rounds, neither Robin or Zatanna actually denied them. Whenever asked, they'd simply share a look, crack a smile, shrug, and then laugh it off.

The only one that seemed to think they were just being overly friendly, was Wally. In fact, Wally almost seemed to hate the Rozanna/Zebin rumors to the point of getting grumpy about it when anyone even thought about bringing it up with him. Artemis, herself, didn't quite get it. Zatanna was practically perfect in every way, like, a more magical, way hotter, less English Marry Poppins. Thinking that nearly made her sick, but she had made peace with her sappy gay thoughts long ago. It was weird, she'd never thought highly of romance before, it was a distraction after all. She had always believed that love made you weak, made you an easy target, gave your enemies something to use against you. But, she couldn't deny how hard she was crushing on the magician of their team, and one peppy little bird boy was in her way. If Zatanna liked him though, and honestly, who wouldn't, then she was happy for her.

That was before she had walked in on Wally fucking West, pinning said bird boy to a wall and kissing him like his tongue held the secrets to curing world hunger though. She was furious. She had always thought so highly of Robin. He was kind, and smart, and energetic, and was always thinking of others. She'd never have pegged him for the cheating type. And then there was Wally. Wally, who she knew, hated cheaters with a passion that Artemis had seen first hand on a few occasions.

She couldn't help it, she was seeing red. Zatanna didn't deserve this, didn't deserve this kind of betrayal from her boyfriend and someone Artemis hesitated in this moment to call a friend. And Robin, Robin didn't deserve an angel like Zatanna if he was so willing to eagerly throw her away in favor of sucking face with his best friend, arms wound around the ginger's neck, his fingers threaded through the bright red locks, pressing the speedster's face closer to his own.

When the two boys finally pulled away she hardly noticed that she'd walked over to them, her body on autopilot as her brain tried to comprehend Robin's apparent stupidity. Before she could even rationalize the decision to act, she'd already raised her hand.

"Oh, hey Arty! What's up?" Robin asked with a smile, his arms still locked around Wally's shoulders like it was nothing. Like that was where he belonged. Her hand stung with the force of her anger ringing through the almost empty hallway. Her cheeks felt hot and slightly tight, like they were wet. Was she crying? That didn't seem right, why should she cry if Robin was the one that got smacked?

"What the fuck Robin?!" She shouted angrily. Robin only held his cheek in mild shock before his brow wrinkled with confusion and he leveled a questioning look on her. Like he had no clue why she was so mad at him. Like he couldn't see that he was in the fucking wrong.

"I could ask you the same thing, Arty. Did I do something to upset you? If I did, I'm sorry." His words meant nothing to her. Why wouldn't he drop his act? Why wouldn't he just come clean and admit that he'd done something awful? Or was that too much of a hit to the Bat kid's pride, admitting he was wrong?

"Don't play dumb with me!" Artemis seethed. How did he expect to charm his way out of this mess when he knew she knew the truth? It wouldn't work.

"Who's playing? I really have no idea why you're mad at me." Robin frowned, only for Wally to frown as well, the redhead's hand on Robin's waist tightening just a bit.

"Come on Rob, obviously Artemis is feeling a little crazy today. Let's just let her work through it on her own, without taking it out on us again."

"Us? She slapped me Walls, I wanna know what I did wrong." Robin protested as Wally tried to lead him away.

"Dude, sometimes breathing offends little miss Ice Queen over there."

He wasn't wrong, sometimes Wally's entire existence in general did piss her off, but right now, that honor was all Robin's. Maybe she should talk to Batman about this. But then, she'd be outing her own feelings to the world's greatest detective, and it would simply sound like whining. Plus, Batman didn't really seem like the type of mentor that liked his sidekicks to have potential weaknesses like a girlfriend in general. Even if said weakness was actually super strong, and brave, and sexy, and could absolutely hold her own against nearly anyone. Well if it potentially got Robin in trouble … she was feeling just a bit petty at the moment. But then, what would she do if he didn't care? What if Batman didn't see cheating as a problem? Maybe she should talk to Ollie too. He'd take her side for sure. The real question there though was if she would be able to handle talking to him about her problems. Ugh! This was so frustrating!

Growling, she turned from the two homewreckers and stormed off, leaving the boys as they were, confused, and hopefully, a little scared. She needed to talk to someone who she wasn't going to get pissed off at, to someone who wouldn't make matters worse by blabbing the problem all over the mountain. So, pretty much anyone her own age was out. Maybe Canary? She had a good concious, she listened well, and didn't judge too much. Plus, if she thought the issue needed to be brought to Batman's attention, she seemed close enough to the masked shadow to be the one to do that too. No matter what she did though, she would make sure that word of Robin's betrayal never reached Zatanna's ears until she knew what to do about it. With any luck they weren't too serious about each other and the news of Boy Wonder's substantial mess up wouldn't upset her too badly.

Of course, if she was being honest with herself, Artemis kind of did want Zatanna to be upset and cry on her shoulder or into her chest. She wanted to run her fingers through those soft looking ebony locks and caress the magician's head and back. She wanted to be her stability. God, she was so gay. Angrily, she stalked her way through the halls of mt. Justice and made her way to Canary's room. Once there though, she wasn't entirely sure if she still wanted to talk to her. This wasn't really what the League would consider important after all, and what if she had been wrong? What if Zatanna and Robin had broken up? She really hoped that was the case, but then, that would mean she would have to apologize to Robin. Uuuuuggghhhh, this was horrible. She just wanted to bang her head against the nearest wall and cry. This wasn't even her mess and she was getting lost in the stress of it all. She wouldn't care this much if it wasn't because of Zatanna. God, love made you stupid and nosey. Before she could make good on that head basing though, Canary's door slid open and she was face to shoes with their team mom.

"Artemis? Can I help you, or would you like to continue making dying animal noises outside my room?" Canary's voice was calm, teasing almost, but still inviting. Oh man, had she been making those disgruntled groans out loud? Fuck.

"Uhhh, sorry about that." She muttered, her cheeks heating up in mild embarrassment. Now that she had the chance, she wasn't really sure how to bring it up though. "Uh, I do actually … have something on my mind … if you wouldn't mind listening." She admitted weakly. This sucked. She hated feeling weak.

"Of course Artemis, that's what I'm here for, to listen." She didn't look up yet, but Artemis knew that the other blond wore a compassionate smile as she watched those black heels step aside to let her in. She hesitated just a moment longer before mentally taking a breath, and stepping inside. "Make yourself at home, sit wherever you'd like." Canary says softly as she closes the door behind her. Finally looking up, Artemis surveyed the room, it was sparse, but that made sense, not many of the Leaguers actually spent too much time here anymore. Deciding that the bed was probably far too personal, she opted for sitting on the small cushioned bench at the foot of the bed.

"Sooo, I'm not really sure how to actually …" she trails off, bringing her knee to her chest and wrapping her arms around it, the other leg simply dangling off the seat at an angle.

"That's okay, take your time, I can wait." Canary comforted softly.

"IthinkRobinischeatingonZatannawithWally." She blurted out. Not even she could actually make sense of half of that, and she'd said it, but it seemed Canary had gotten enough of it to look slightly surprised.

"That doesn't sound like Robin, are you sure?" Canary asked, sitting down at the foot of her bed. Artemis could only give a small nod.

"I saw them kissing just now, in the west wing." her voice is soft as she explains the whole event, even her temper slipping and her violent reaction.

"Have Robin and Zatanna actually said that they were going out?"

"No, but they also haven't denied it. They're super obvious about it too. They're always all over each other and most of the team has seen them share kisses. Why else would they do that if they weren't dating?" Artemis defends. This seemed to make a decent amount of sense as Canary nods, bringing a hand to her chin in thought.

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Canary asked, her voice calm and even. Artemis really didn't know.

"I guess … I want to find a way to get back at Robin. Zatanna's a really nice girl and she doesn't deserve being treated like that." she answered honestly.

"I can't condon revenge on fellow teammates, especially when we don't know the whole story. But, I can talk to Batman about it and see if he is willing to share with me what he knows on the matter." Canary offers, Artemis supposes it's the best she's going to get. She almost wants to be there to see what Batman says, to watch what sort of reaction he has and what he ends up saying or doing to Robin. Almost. But then she'd have to subject herself to them possibly asking why she cared so much. And well, she wasn't too sure she was ready for that.

It was nearly three days later when she saw Robin again, this time with Zatanna. They were huddled in the back corner of the main room whispering to each other. They seemed just as close as ever so she supposed she could rule out a previous break up. Not even Boy Wonder could stay that close with an ex. With a harsh glare that she knew Robin hadn't picked up on, she walked into the kitchen, hellbent on avoiding the both of them for as long as she could. Not hellbent enough though it seemed as she noticed Zee and Robin trying to box her in.

"We need to talk Arty." Robin started, boxing her in with his arms against the island counter.

"There's nothing to talk about." She argued, avoiding looking directly at him. When she felt light, slender fingers on her shoulder though, a glance to her right confirming that they were in fact Zatanna's light, slender fingers, she wished she suddenly had the power of teleportation. Anything so she could be literally anywhere but here.

"I disagree. If you liked Zatanna so much you should have just said something! Do you know how hard I worked to keep Batman in the dark?!" Robin exclaimed with exasperation. Aaaaaand, she was officially lost.

"What?" Artemis asked dumbly.

"I'm flattered Artemis, but I think this would have been much easier if you had just talked to me about your crush." Zatanna said kindly from beside her, a smile very obvious in her voice. At risk of sounding like a broken record, Artemis turned to look at the beautiful witch that had possessed her heart the last few months.

"I'm not sure I follow. What's going on here?"

"What's going on here, is months of hard work and being careful is now completely out the window. Wally's public enemy number one back home at the cave because of you." Robin frowned. "Zatanna and I were just acting like a couple to throw Batman off the trail, when really, I was actually dating Wally." he explained.

"We never confirmed or denied being in a relationship, but as long as Batman thought Robin and I were together, he wouldn't get all 'Daddy Bats' on Wally. But, now that he knows about them, we don't have to pretend anymore."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you both think I have a crush on you." Artemis backpedaled, trying to make sense of it all in her head. There must be more to that story, but honestly, she couldn't care less right now. How the fuck did they find out she liked Zatanna?

This time it was Robin who smiled fondly at her, which, without being able to see his eyes behind his sunglasses, probably wasn't as reassuring as he'd have liked it to be.

"Well for one, it explains why you would be so mad at me when you found Wally and I kissing. You were obviously mad for Zee, which, is why I'll forgive you for slapping me for no real reason. If I really had been dating her, you would have been completely in the right and I'd have been a sleeze bag. But also, Dinah mentioned that you were only worried about Zatanna, so that kinda made it really obvious." Well fuck. She'd been outed, and Zatanna still hadn't said anything other than that she was flattered. That didn't bode well at all.

"What?" Arty squeaks out, because that's really all her brain can comprehend asking right now, and even though she hates how weak it makes her sound, the more pressing concern was the rising heat in her cheeks. She's burning up. She can feel it. Her face feels like a batch of Megan's cookies; too well done and entirely unappealing. Robin seems to be able to find some sort of pity in his little demented heart since his smile seems to shift ever so slightly and he backs off her for a moment before looking over her shoulder to where Zatanna still stood.
"I think it's your turn for a confession Zee." He says softly, not at all like how he had come at her, and suddenly, Zatanna's hand was gone from her shoulder and it felt impossibly cold. Like that single shoulder had been thrust out into a blizzard, or, at least shoved into the fridge when you're not expecting it. But, she doesn't have long to focus on it because soon the Brat Wonder is behind her and the angel that's been plaguing her dreams is in his place.

"Artemis, I don't really know how to say this, but, thank you." Zatanna smiles. "I mean, it was technically uncalled for, but, if we had been really dating, what you did would have been really sweet. And the fact that you cared this much to try and spare my feelings means the world to me." She continues. Artemis can smell the "but" just around the corner. She's waiting for it.

"But you don't see me that way, yeah, I get it." Artemis mumbles, letting her eyes fall to her lap as she wrings her hands in disappointment. So this is what rejection feels like. Huh.

"Wha-No, Artemis, that isn't what I was going to say at all!" Zatanna objects, her hands flying to her cheeks and lifting her face back up to look at her. The feel of Zatanna's hands on her cheeks made Artemis' blush come back full force, but what sealed the deal was the soft look in those gorgeous blue eyes of her's, the pout on those beautiful pouty red lips. She was so far gone, might as well embrace the gay thoughts, especially if it sounded like maybe Zatanna might feel the same way? "Artemis, I really like you. You're strong, and smart, and brave, and your archery is absolutely amazing. And as silly as it sounds, I've actually been a little worried that you weren't interested in me. So I didn't say anything before now." She finishes, her hands starting to slip from Artemis' cheeks and her gaze falling to the side. No, she didn't like seeing that sort of look on her! Reaching up, Artemis placed one of her hands over Zatanna's on her cheek, leaning into the kind, light touch, and letting the other reach out and guide Zatanna's face back to look at her. Before she could think better of it and talk herself out of it entirely Artemis surged forward and captured Zatanna's lips in a kiss. It was quick, and light, just a peck, but she hoped that it conveyed everything she wanted to say.

"Who the hell in their right minds wouldn't be attracted to you girl? You're absolutely smoking, and by the way, a hundred times smarter than I will ever be. You're always so brave and I wish I could be that calm on missions. And don't even get me started on how sexy you sound when you're casting those spells." Artemis smiles, she sounded insane, but as long as Zatanna knew how she felt, she supposed that was okay.

"Please tell me this means you two are getting together, because if I have to watch you two pussy foot around eachother until one of you works up the courage to ask the other out, we're gonna have a problem." Robin chuckles, and oh yeah, he is still there, isn't he? Artemis had almost forgotten.

"We better be together now, I mean I've only had a crush on her for forever now." Artemis answers with a smile. And Zatanna offers her one back. Yeah, everything was going to be fine. And now, she could finally put the Rozanna rumors to rest. Artanna sounded much better anyway.

"I'd really like that." Zatanna agrees, and okay, this was officially the best day ever. Even if she did still have to actually apologize to Robin and Wally at some point, right now, all she wanted to do was pull her brand new girlfriend in to her chest and kiss her like there was no tomorrow. Which, in their line of work, that was a real possibility, so she had to make every second matter. Starting, with this one.