Title is from "Taste It" by Jake Bugg, which is an extremely appropriate song for Traught.
Anyway, this takes place during the five-year timeskip. It can stand on its own, but I plan on writing a few more chapters that build to a fully Traught AU instead of this pre-ship thing. So, uh, enjoy.
Sometimes Robin thinks he knows the rooftops of Gotham better than the streets. (He knows he spends more time on the rooftops.) Robin's been on top of Artemis's apartment building, he's pretty sure, and once he pulls her apartment number out of Gotham Academy's files, it's not too hard to find her window. Robin leaps from the adjacent roof to the roof of Artemis's building, then climbs down a story to perch on her windowsill.
The window is right above her bed, and he can see her still lying awake. Her eyes are focused on the ceiling. It's nearly midnight. She still hasn't noticed him yet. "Hey, Artemis," he hisses.
She sits up with a jerk and twists around, tangling herself in the sheets. Her long hair falls loose around her face. "Robin?"
Robin smirks and wiggles his fingers at her. Artemis leans over to undo the latch, then pushes her window open. "May I come in?" he asks courteously, in no hurry to move from the window ledge. To some people, his perch would look precarious. To Robin, it's easy as breathing.
"You show up at my house in the middle of the night and you want permission to come in? What are you, a vampire?" Artemis snaps, but he can see the grin starting to form on her face.
Robin snickers and climbs into her room, taking a seat on the bed. "Can't sleep?"
"No. Late-night missions are messing with my sleep schedule," Artemis grumbles. Robin nods. He knows the feeling. "Why are you here, Robin?"
Robin shrugs. "You know—couldn't sleep, thought I'd do a patrol. Figured I'd stop by and see if you wanted in," he says, smiling at her.
Artemis frowns. "I don't know…I have school in the morning."
"So do I. Come on, it'll be fun," Robin wheedles. He sees the gears turning, the moment where she gives in.
"Okay. Just—let me get dressed," she tells him, gesturing awkwardly to the hallway. Robin climbs back out of the window and then onto her roof.
"Ready when you are," he tells her. Five minutes later, she climbs up onto the roof with him. Her climb isn't as graceful as his, but then, she hasn't had quite his experience. Artemis moves like a criminal, not an acrobat.
"Okay," she says, one hand tight around her bow and the other resting on her cocked hip, "where to first?"
For an hour Robin takes her on a tour of Gotham. It's not a patrol, not really. Superhero-worthy crime has gone down recently, and though it makes Batman nervous, Robin is enjoying it while it lasts. They bust a petty thief in the first fifteen minutes. One of Artemis's arrows pin him to the wall, they give him a stern warning, and he walks away.
For the next forty-five minutes, Robin just shows her his favorite places: the enormous greenhouse, all lit up at night; Gotham viewed from the top of WayneTech's building; Gotham's public zoo with some of the animals much more active at night than they ever are during day visits. The security guards see him at the zoo and Robin just gives them a friendly wave; they let it go.
"What's next?" Artemis laughs as they leave the zoo. "Are we going to break into Wayne Manor or something?"
Robin grins. "Nah, I've tried. Wayne's got some top-notch security," he says, which is perfectly true. A year before, Robin tried breaking into Wayne Manor without using his clearance on the security protocols, and it ended with him nearly being killed. Bruce designed it like that in case one of them somehow came under mind control. "What do you say to a midnight snack?"
Artemis considers. "Yeah, I could use some food," she says. So Robin leads her to a twenty-four-hour pizza place that he found a few months ago, picks up several pieces, and takes her to the roof.
For a few minutes they eat in silence. Then Artemis tells him, "So, I don't know if you were telling the truth earlier or if you already know this, but I had a shitty day today. So thanks for all this."
Affecting as innocent of a look as he can manage, Robin says, "Artemis, I always tell the truth. But I'm glad you're having fun."
Robin had seen her at school that day—well, the day before, technically. He usually kept an eye on her, though Robin never tried to get close to her as Dick Grayson. Today, he'd seen her look…perturbed. He knew she hadn't done well on a math test, since that was the only class they had together, but it didn't account for how tired and upset she had seemed. "Do you want to talk about it?" he probes.
Artemis scowls at the rooftop. "Well. I slept in too late because of my weirdo sleep schedule, realized I'd forgotten my science homework, and failed a math test. And I'm covered in bruises from the last mission, and me and Kid Flash had a big fight about couple stuff that I'm not going to talk to you about because you'll just hear it from him. And just generally…stressed, I guess. You know?" She shrugs and glances up at him, looking almost embarrassed. Robin leans forward and nods at her to go on. "I just…I don't know. I feel like I'm juggling too much. I love being on the team, but I've got to do that, keep up my grades, take care of my mom, manage a relationship, and the whole time I've got to act like I'm normal."
"Sounds pretty overwhelming," Robin says neutrally. He can understand that. He's had days where he thought he could manage the whole double life thing, no big deal, and he's had days when he felt like everything was going to crash down on him like an avalanche. It's probably worse for Artemis; Robin's never had to work for his good grades, for one thing. They just sort of happen. Not that he's going to tell her that.
"You probably think I'm being dramatic, don't you?" Artemis asks, leaning back on her elbows and staring at the sky. He's noticed something about her. She absolutely refuses to make eye contact when she's talking about something that makes her feel vulnerable.
Robin glances up at her face, down to the curves of her mostly-bare torso, and back to her face. Shaking his head, Robin grins at her. "No. I know exactly what you mean, actually," he says. "And for the record, if you need to vent to someone about couple stuff, I'd be happy to be there. There's nothing you can say about KF that I haven't heard or thought already." Once upon a time he would have felt disloyal saying something like that, but now Artemis is as much of his friend as Wally. Maybe more so, now; Wally's started acting touchy and secretive around Robin lately, though Robin can't figure out why.
Artemis gives him a wry smile. "Thanks. Maybe some other time."
"Gotcha," Robin says. He pulls up the time on his wrist computer—about one-thirty. He shows her the time wordlessly.
"Oh, shit," Artemis says, frowning. "I should go back home."
"Gotcha," says Robin. He stands up and finishes off the last of his pizza slice. "Let's head out." She follows him back to her house, but when they get to the roof of the building nearest her window, Robin stops and gestures. "Ladies first."
Artemis rolls her eyes. But she does a last scan for observers (there are none, Robin already checked), fires an arrow with a cord attached that sticks just above her windowsill, and neatly swings in feet first. Robin takes the same route as he did arriving, but this time propelling himself through the window so he lands on her bed instead of the windowsill. Robin quickly gets to his feet, since he doesn't want it to look like he's planning on staying. "So, goodnight, then?"
Artemis is standing up, too, her bow already stored somewhere and her mask in her hand. "Thanks, Robin," Artemis tells him sincerely. "This was…I needed this."
"No problem," Robin says. He's not expecting her to hug him, but she does, wrapping her arms around his waist. After a second, Robin returns the gesture. It's…nice. Not something he's used to, especially since he and Zatanna broke it off. He lets go of her first. "And just so you know, if you're having homework trouble, I'd be happy to take some of the math stuff off your hands."
Artemis raises an eyebrow. "That would be great, you nerd," she says with a grin. "And, yeah. Goodnight."
Robin salutes her and makes his exit.