just a short of wally and artemis, i love them so much! this is before season 2, before they are a couple.
She couldn't sleep.
At all. Every position she tried in her bed at the mountain proved unsuccessful, and Artemis could not manage to shut her eyes. She missed her usual room, back at her house, but their mission had ended so late that she had decided to crash at their cave for the night. That, apparently, had been a bad idea. She was so tired, yet she couldn't seem to actually sleep. The archer glanced at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. it read 2:43. She had been laying in bed for almost four hours now, and yet she was still wide awake. Ever since she could remember, she always had trouble falling asleep any where else besides her room, her safe haven. But never before had she had this much trouble at trying to get some rest.
The young girl shifted to her side for the eighth time that night and sighed, tightly closing her eyes in another attempt at rest. Suddenly, a large rumble sounded at the pit of her stomach, and Artemis groaned aloud. Her and her stupid late night cravings. All she was asking for was a couple hours of sleep, but what did she get instead? A wide awake state and a bad case of a midnight sweet tooth. Grumbling to herself, the girl pulled the covers off of her body as another growl sounded, and she slowly came to her feet. adjusting her pj shorts and tank top, Artemis stubbornly made her way out of her room and to the kitchen. the hallway was dark, but as she ventured nearer to her destination, she noticed that the lights were on, and realized that a certain someone was already stuffing his face with junk food from the pantry and fridge. Grumbling inwardly, the archer almost turned around and headed straight back to her room. Almost. But her stomach had growled again, and she knew she had to get the craving satisfied. Sighing, she walked into the kitchen.
Wally had a family sized bag of chips in his hands, shoveling handfuls into his mouth, when he noticed Artemis come into view. She couldn't help but smirk at how he looked. His hair was messy from bed, crumbs of chips falling onto his white shirt and blue boxers, his mouth completely stuffed with food. He swallowed his mouthful and gave her a wink while brushing the crumbs off of him.
"Hey, Arty. You here for a midnight snack as well?"
"Yup, couldn't sleep." She said, ignoring the nickname and making her way toward the fridge, pulling out a small tub of ice-cream.
"What a coincidence," He stated cheerfully as he sat up on the island in the middle of the room, reaching back into his bag. "Neither can I."
Artemis grunted an acknowledgement but said nothing as she dug through the drawer to find a spoon, then placed the metal utensil in her mouth and started back towards her room. She was just about to reach the edge of the kitchen, when she heard Wally say something, catching her off guard.
"Want to talk about it?" He asked with a genuine care in his voice. Weird. Wally never wanted to talk to her, only if it was to say some stupid retort, and especially not with care. Surprised by his question, Artemis turned around to face him. He was sitting cross-legged on the countertop of the island, looking friendly toward her. Without realizing what she was doing, Artemis joined him, pushing herself onto the counter as well, sitting in the same position as he and opening the top to her snack, taking the spoon out of her mouth the dip into the ice-cream. Wally swiveled to face her, pulling out a chip and munching on it patiently, waiting for her to say something. Artemis sighed, and met his gaze, digging her utensil into her snack.
"I don't know, i guess i just find it hard to sleep here because my room's like my safe place, you know?" She started, then shoveled a spoonful into her mouth. Wally nodded, thinking for a second.
"Okay, so you can only sleep there because its where you feel safe…" He said carefully, and she nodded. "But, you know that we are safe here though…" He continued, not quite understanding what the girl meant.
"Right, but its just…" she struggled with her words. "Not the same." He nodded slowly before biting into another chip.
"Alright," He continued, "So you just don't feel comfortable outside of the normal place where you sleep then?" Artemis shook her head, swallowing another scoop of ice-cream.
"Its not so much room, i guess." she tries, "Its more like…the people that are under the same roof." she paused for a moment, realizing who she's talking to, only to let all she could pour out. "See, knowing that I am in that room means that i am close to my mom in case she needs me, closer to another day, closer to memories that i have in from in that room. So…i guess its more of the feelings that come with my bedroom than the actual room itself," Artemis paused, afraid that she said too much and that Wally would say some lame remark, but he only stared at her. She cleared her throat and shoved another bite into her mouth, swallowing it down quickly. "That make sense?" She asked.
Wally was silent for a moment before answering, not breaking his stare. "Perfect sense." He stated calmly, and quickly ate the last of the chips. He wadded the empty bag up into a ball and threw it toward the garbage.
"And thats why you couldn't sleep?" He asked. Artemis nodded.
"Pretty much." Wally shrugged, pretending to think over it.
"Sounds reasonable." He stated. The girl laughed.
"Wow, I'm glad you approve my story, Wallman." Artemis stated with sarcasm, and Wally wiggled his eyebrow.
"No problem, babe." He said. Artemis rolled her eyes, but before she could reply, there was just a blur from where Wally sat just a second before, and when another second barely passed he was back again, sitting in the same position. This time, however, he held a spoon of his own in his hand. Before Artemis realized what he was about to do, he had a scoop of ice-cream for himself, and was happily shoveling it down his mouth.