Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice!
Title: Kisses, Quivers, Speedsters, And Trolls
Summary: Kid Flash and Robin had been in a relationship for years, but then Artemis enters the picture and things get a little messy; Museum Heist, Artemis centric.
Pairing: Robin/Kid Flash/Artemis (Robbing all the wall art.) =)
Warnings: Three-way relationship, possible O.O.C, etc.
Setting: Season one, mostly, but it parts could be during the time gap, I guess.
Author's Note: So.. my third Young Justice fanfic ever! Woohoo!
Also my first three-way pairing I've written in, oh, a year, year-and-a-half? I'm a little rusty.
...
Robin and Kid Flash had been in a relationship since they were twelve years old. A low-key, no-pressure relationship, but a relationship nonetheless.
It wasn't really all that much about the romance as it was the companionship factor. They had crushes and dated other girls, but at the end of the day, they ended up together, fighting for their lives or just curling close to fight off nightmares.
It was a bromance, basically. The best kind of romance. Friendship first, relationship second. The way it should be.
No one really knew, save for Batman and The Flash. (Well, Batman couldn't really count, since Batman knew everything). It was more of a feeling, an idea that nipped at the back of peoples minds that gave him plenty of room to be a troll.
Black Canary probably knew, now that he thought about. But Black Canary didn't give a damn about who was dating who, so long as they pulled together and acted as a team at the end of the day.
Things were perfect. Low-key, no worries, with no real sign of things changing.
But then came Artemis.
Artemis was stubborn, street-smart, with a full knowledge of what she could or could not do. She was slightly egotistical (in a good way), with just enough insecurity to be both harsh and lovable at the same time. Robin liked her immediately.
But, for whatever the reason, Kid Flash couldn't stand her. She was biting and standoffish and she refused to open up to anyone, friend or foe, about anything.
So... yeah. Robin's hopes of a three-way were temporarily dashed. But that was okay; he knew it was only a matter of time before they broke the ice.
Artemis had a certain way of standing, back and legs stiff, that immediately put Wally on edge. She looked ready to bolt at any second. Or attack someone. Or both.
Her quiver and bow were her security blankets. Her mind; a vault of secrets. She was everything Rob was wrapped up in an insecure shell of self-destruction and distrust.
Wally hated her on sight. Artemis didn't fare much better.
Robin was a troll. Kid Flash; a jerk. That was as far as she allowed her mind to travel.
Yes, they were good-looking, and, yes, they were good at what they did (The two Crock family conditions of dating in a nutshell), but they were still her teammates. Artemis had lived with her sister and father long enough to know just how dangerous it was to sleep with teammates.
Because that was all it would be, should something happen. She wouldn't let herself get attached.
(Not to mention that they seemed to have a pretty good thing going on by themselves, no matter what 'that' was. Why bother messing with something if it already worked?)
Kid Flash reminded her of a trained puppy. Excitable and loyal, more than eager to please, loved (almost) everybody and everything, but was still more than capable of guarding the house from strangers with the ferocity of a wolf being challenged for territory, and, if it came down to it, he was always willing to jump in the way of the fatal shot to protect those who mattered most to him without so much as a second thought.
The Wall-man could man up enough to die for his friends. Artemis couldn't even woman up enough to tell them that her own father was one of the men who sought to kill them. Wally was, in his own way, a much better person than her, better than she ever would be.
And that made her hate him.
Rob she could handle. Robin was professional, calculated, more than capable of smacking her upside the head if she was being an idiot, but still able to balance himself enough to turn around and joke and laugh with them like it was nothing.
Artemis couldn't even manage to open up and have a good laugh with her mother, the woman who was trying so hard to make sure she was on the right path. It made her feel slightly envious, watching him do what she could never accomplish herself.
So, yeah. They were dorks. Attractive dorks (not that she'd looked, or anything), but still just that. Dorks. Artemis wouldn't have anything emotional to do with them. With any of them.
Screw that. She had a job to do.
Robin kissed her first. (And Wally still hasn't forgiven him for it.)
Life or death situations will make you do crazy things, was all he ever said about it.
Not that it was actually life or death or anything. Not unless you counted M'gann's half-burnt cookies.
Rob could never explain what made him do it. Maybe it was her hair, shining in the light, so overabundant that sometimes he wondered if Artemis had ever seriously considered getting a haircut in her entire life. Maybe it was how her storm grey eyes, the second she thought no one was looking at her, had melted into something... softer. Less defensive, even. Or maybe it was just how relaxed she'd been, watching the team talk about this and that, contently crunching on a cookie while leaning against the wall to the right of the doorway. Whatever the case may have been, he waited until the kitchen was empty save for them and not a second longer before yanking her down to give her a quick kiss on the lips.
"You had crumbs on your face." Was all he said, after he'd dodged Artemis' reflexive attack.
"You're lucky I don't have my quiver." She grunted, tossing the remaining half of the cookie into the sink.
"You wouldn't shoot me."
Yes, yes she would. Sportsmaster had been thorough in making sure she was prepared to face the world, no matter what side she was on. And the first lesson he'd taught her was to hurt anyone who touched her without permission, no matter who it was. Teammate or enemy, her instincts didn't care. "Whatever."
Robin's smirk only grew. "Totally worth it."
This time, it was a kick to the face he almost received, but the look on her face was worth it, too.
Everyone knew about Artemis and Wally's first 'real' kiss. No one knew about the first kiss she'd witnessed between him and Robin months prior.
It was a mission in the middle of the jungle- obviously. Because nothing in her life could ever be normal.
Kaldur was in Atlantis. Conner and M'gann were busy rooting around the South Pole to get there within the next few hours. Roy, was, well, probably with Cheshire. (Artemis shuddered at the thought. Poor Jade.) Black Canary had a run-in with a nasty flu bug (screaming and sore throats don't exactly mix, and no one was willing to risk it, not even Canary), and Wolf had a sprained ankle.
Artemis was now under the impression that the Justice League was trying to kill them. Sure, Captain Marvel was a good leader, albeit a bit excitable with the odd attention problem, but the idea of him only being ten years old made her feel a bit uneasy, even if he was a valued member of the Justice League.
(And maybe that was why he kept it a secret in the first place. Artemis couldn't really blame him- they all had skeletons in their closets. Some were just a little younger than others.)
Robin grabbed him by the neck, swooped in for a kiss (which was pretty awesome, considering the height difference), then sprinted away, calling over his shoulder. "Good luck!"
Little troll.
Wally stared after him, dumbfounded. Artemis found that her tongue was still in use (surprisingly enough), and snickered.
"Aww, how cute. Has he bought you dinner yet?"
Wally's jaw snapped shut. He glared at her. "Shut up."
"Hey, relax. It's not my secret to tell." And just how hypocritical would she be if she did? "But that doesn't make it any less funny."
"It's not funny."
"Alright, so it's adorable. Whatever." The words might as well have the same meaning at this point.
Wally blinked at her. "Did you just use the word 'adorable?'" He hadn't known the word existed in her vocabulary, honestly.
Now it was her turn to flush and look away. "For the first and last time, Baywatch. Don't get used to it."
Billy, who had been staring over the horizon intently to spot incoming enemies, turned to look at them. "Did I miss something?"
"No!"
"Nope, nothing at all."
"Oh. Okay then." He dismissed with a shrug, turning to look at the horizon once again. He could always find out what really happened later.
"Well, that was easy." He commented after a long moment of silence.
"I didn't know you had a thing for over-used store cliches."
"...I hate you."
While few knew it and Artemis would die before she would admit it, she had a thing for hair. And by which she meant she had a thing for other people's hair.
She liked running her hands through it, brushing it, watching it bounce and move as though it were alive. She was pretty sure that it had something to do with the fact that, as a child, the Crock family had had a thing about putting up and brushing hair. Specifically; hers.
Every night, to the day she moved out, her mother would crowd her (and Jade, back when she lived with them) in front of a mirror and brush the parts of her hair she couldn't quite reach herself, then put it up in a firm ponytail. After she'd gone to jail, Sportsmaster had taken over, albeit a tad more roughly, and Jade had taught her how to put it up in a good, strong, ponytail herself a little while before she'd left.
The only reason anyone knew was that one day M'gann had been forced to comb out some gunk that had splattered everywhere and she couldn't quite get it all, and images of her mother muttering "Sit still, Artemis." and her father tugging on her head with that deep, gruff voice of his ringing in her ear. "You've got some pretty hair, baby girl. It's almost a shame it only get's in the way." And some of her emotions must've transferred with the images, because M'gann gasped (For a second there, she'd honestly thought she'd figured out who her father really was).
Two and three clicked to get five, and suddenly she was on her feet and being pulled into a hug.
"Oh, there is something about you that's girly!" M'gann squealed in her ear.
Artemis was torn between humor and embarrassment. Had it been anyone else she would've pushed them away and snapped, but M'gann was, well, M'gann. To her, this was some big discovery that she never thought she'd find. Artemis couldn't really knock her for it.
Word got around the headquarters within the week (she suspected the martians none-to-subtle boyfriend), and suddenly Wally had some serious blackmail against her and Artemis knew she should have denied it.
(Thankfully, he stops 'blackmailing' her about it a week later, and then no one mentions it ever again. The wonders of short attention spans.)
Although, she has to admit, it was almost worth it when Wally and Robin let her run her fingers through their hair or brush it, or the time Rob tries to braid her hair while it's wet and how frizzy it looked the rest of the day and it was totally his fault, dangit. Almost.
People always assumed that Wally and Artemis' first kiss was on New Years. And, in a sense, that was true. That was the first time they'd gone all the way with a kiss.
But they'd had plenty of almost-kisses, numerous amounts of cheek and neck kisses (not that they'll ever admit that), and plenty of light brushes that could almost-but-not-quite be counted as the real deal.
The New Year's kiss was a way of sealing the deal. It was also a way of half-coming out.
Robin was a creature who lived in the shadows. Artemis understood his wish to stay that way. In a way, she was a creature of the shadow's. Secrets, lies, cover-ups, they were what made them feel most at home.
Wally, a being with a good family and a mostly alright childhood (minus the whole abusive-dad bit, obviously), didn't get it as well as she did. He thought keeping secrets was harmful.
It is. But not keeping secrets was fatal.
Most days she missed how things were at the start; her, the mysterious new girl with lots of secrets and every right to keep them, and the boys; two teammates with long histories together who knew nothing about her.
Things were better, then. Safer. Now they (and by they she meant the whole team, not just Rob and Wally) wanted more. They wanted the truth.
Artemis had been taught to never give up the truth. To keep it close to her heart and never left anyone else see it. They wanted her to act against the very instincts she lived by, and for what? For them to turn their backs on her and leave her to collect the pieces of her shattered heart. (She'd sworn to herself not to get attached, and see what she did? She got attached. How very wise.)
"We're a family, Artemis." M'gann had said. "You're my earth sister. Nothing could change that."
Learning that your step-earth-sister was a semi-psychotic assassin with daddy issues even more potent than hers might. Discovering that she had been molded by her family, not to be a hero, but to be a ruthless killer who enjoyed watching blood stain the ground might.
Admitting that at the all-knowing age of twelve, she had made her first kill, and that she still took the odd bouquet of flowers to their grave, fighting off memories of her father's praise and the small bit of pride she'd felt for receiving it would more than do it.
No. She shook her head. No one would ever know about that. Not even mom.
In the base, they shared a room. Artemis frankly couldn't remember whose bed it was, exactly. But it was big and it was comfy and Robin and Wally were with her so she honestly couldn't care less.
"Artemis, what's your middle name?"
"Why?"
Wally shrugged. "Why not? You know mine."
"Yeah, yours and only yours."
Robin, who had been sprawled on his side facing the wall, shrugged and rolled onto his back. "John."
Artemis' face fell in surprise. "You didn't just."
"Yup. Named after my dad."
Wally stared at him. "Dude, Batman's gonna kill you."
Robin's face scrunched up, then smoothed out. "Nah. It'd be pretty hard to figure out my secret identity from just my middle name. He won't be happy, but... Artemis?"
She closed her eyes and shrugged. "Lian. Happy?"
Wally snorted. "Who names their kid Lian?"
"Who names their kid Rudolph?" She retorted calmly.
A long pause. "... I hate you."
"Good. The feelings mutual."
"You don't have to hide from us, Artemis." Robin looks at her, dark shades and all, and it feels like he can see right through her. "Were a family."
Yeah, a family that just so happens to make out with each other.
Artemis rolled over and squeezed her eyes shut. Her father would laugh if he could see her right then. Laugh and shake his head.
"I told you that getting attached wasn't a good idea, baby girl. You always learn the hard way, don't you?"
"Artemis?"
She didn't answer the unspoken question. "Goodnight, trolls one and two."
Robin and Wally exchange looks over her before settling in. She didn't have to look to know that at least one of them was angry.
They all slept in the same bed.
It wasn't about sex. Sex was good, don't get him wrong, but their thing (whatever it was) was about a lot more than just sex (Not that they'd had it, or anything. They weren't legal; their pride wouldn't let them for a couple years yet). It was about the feeling one got when they curled close, warm and comfortable and protected.
The team doesn't know. Well, no, that would be a lie. Batman knows everything, and Black Canary was a heck of a lot more than a pretty face. (The Flash knew about Wally and Dick. He didn't know about Wally and Dick and Artemis. Not yet.) Neither of them said anything, but the looks were more than enough.
Batman wanted them to tell the others. Canary just wanted them to be happy and get the job done.
Other then them, however, everyone else was in the dark. The room was soundproof ("In case there's any top-secret Batman stuff we need to talk about. You know, like homework."), and M'gann's mind-link was only really used in battles or when everyone was up and moving. Past bedtime didn't really count.
As far as anyone else knew, Artemis never stayed the night unless she had to, and when she did, she left before the sun rose. That wasn't quite true; she just didn't like it when people saw her pre-coffee.
Tonight, however, Artemis truly was at home, sleeping in her own bed. Wally didn't know whether to be thankful for it or angrier that she didn't stay the night to face him head-on when the team wasn't around.
"She's only human, you know."
Wally fell onto the bed with a groan. "Of course she is."
"I'm serious, Wals. Got a heartbeat and everything."
He knows. He's seen blood soak through the green of her uniform just like its stained everyone else's. They all know.
"And, while you wouldn't know it when you first meet her, she's insecure. Like, seriously insecure."
Wally snorted. "Everyone knows that."
"Well, obviously it's news to you." A pause. "She thought she had to, KF. In her head, she had no other choice."
"But she didn't, and she should have known that. Gosh, does she... does she even trust us?"
"With her life." Rob nodded.
"She certainly doesn't act like it. I'm getting sick of this, Rob. It's like everywhere I turn there's another wall or secret of hers I'm not allowed to break or know. It's driving me nuts."
"She has her reasons. We all do."
"Are you condoning how she acted?"
"Condoning it? No. I just want you to understand." Another pause. "Artemis only sees back and white. Right now, she's more worried she'll look a different color than she really is."
He ignored the urge to snort. "Do you know what's up with her?"
"Haven't the foggiest. Why?"
Wally paused. Robin's a master manipulator and they all know it. Lies came out of his mouth as smooth and as easy as butter (Unlike Artemis, who's lies come out more like gravel), but something in his voice... it was off. He wanted to press, and Rob, for once, may just want to be pressed.
But could he handle it? The shadow's in her storm gray eyes, the secrets she clung to like a lifeline?
Would it be right for him to invade her privacy like that?
"No reason, Rob. Just a hunch."
"I thought as much." A pause. "She'll tell us when she's ready."
Was he ready to know? He slowly nodded. "Yeah, I know."
Coming out is more of a hassle than it was probably worth.
M'gann just blinked at them. ("Is this... strange on earth, or something? I'm not quite getting the need to hide."), Conner looks at them ("Your business, not mine."). Kaldur doesn't look all that worried ("My deepest congratulations to you.") and Zatanna, ever the source of happy energy, jumps up and hugs them. ("Cool! Congrats you guys, and good luck.")
Robin and Wally take the acceptance with carefree smiles, silent but happy. Artemis, a person who was raised in an environment where you died before you spilled your secrets to anyone, no matter how small they were, wasn't quite sure what to make of the utter nonchalance with which they were received.
A speedster. A ninja-troll. An archer. The odd couple of all odd couples.
But it's them, and that's what counts.
Author's Note: -Stares at the word count- Over three thousand words, and for what? A fluffy, semi-awkward piece of Young Justice fanfiction?
-Nods to myself- Eh. I can live with that.
Like I said, this is my first threesome fic in forever, and I'm a bit rusty when it comes to romance as a whole as it is. This is kinda the best I can get.
But I fell in love with the Museum Heist pairing, so I thought i'd brave the waters once again.
Thanks for reading!
-Mandaree1
No flames! Don't like don't read! Review!