If you're reading this, let me start by saying thank you. I've been out of the fanfiction writing world for a few months, and I've gotta say I've missed it. If you happened to open this story, you've probably never read anything else I've written. I certainly hope you find me mildly entertaining or possibly, I'll invoke your inner feels? I love feels.

Usually I write cheesy, lovable romance, but in this collection of short stories, I'm probably going to take a darker approach to everything. Don't get me wrong, I love light and humour filled stories, but I'm feeling like this is going to be angsty. If that's not your cup of tea, you have no obligation to continue reading, although I hope you will.

One last note, this entire collection will be about 7 chapters long. Each chapter is inspired by lyrics from Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, but the work itself is mine. Also, I won't focus directly on one pairing. I'll be writing some Supermartian, Dick/Babs, Kaldur/Tula, and a Jaime/Bart bromance. Not slash, just bromance.

Okay, I'm going to leave now and stop writing this rather long a/n. I won't let them be this long for the rest of the series!

I don't like walking around this old and empty house

So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear

The stairs creak as you sleep, it's keeping me awake

It's the house telling you to close your eyes

Two months.

She'd only been gone two months. Wally sat on his couch in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Artemis Crock, in Palo Alto, California, staring at the wall just above the TV that had been given to the couple generously by Oliver Queen, Artemis' former mentor, and surrogate uncle. Since leaving on her mission of infiltrating the Light as Kaldur'ahm's, formerly Aqualad, right-hand man, Wally didn't know what to do with himself. He'd quit showing up for classes at Stanford for a while, but the apartment was lonely, so he'd shown back up. The university had been very understanding of his grief, believing that Artemis was dead, and he'd worked closely with his professors and a few other students to catch up with his classmates, with the exception of Vietnamese. He dropped Vietnamese.

At first, when she left, Wally told himself he was being unreasonable with the grief he felt. Everyone else thought she was dead, at least he knew she was alive! Soon, however, he realized that he had it worse than anyone else in the entire world because Artemis wasn't dead, she was very much alive, but he didn't know if or when he'd ever see her again. He hadn't had any sleep the past week and a half she'd been gone because he was always worrying about her whereabouts.

So now Wally was alone with Nelson, Artemis and Wally's pet dog, and the ring he had kept hidden in his sock drawer. He'd meant to give it to her, to propose, before she left, but he hadn't been brave enough. He knew she loved him, but she just didn't seem like the marrying type. The few times he had casually brought up the topic of marriage, she'd laughed and said she didn't want to go through what her mother had.

So he'd waited.

"Stupid!" Wally cried in anguish, feeling a sharp pang at his lack of initiative. "I'm weak!"

Nelson yelped a little and got up from his spot on the floor in front of the TV to sit in front of Wally, whining to be pet. Wally reached down to rub the dog dolefully.

"You miss her too, don't you boy?" Wally asked softly, scratching between the Nelson's ears. The dog put a stubby paw on Wally's foot and looked up longingly as if he were saying, Of course. She fed me better than you.

Wally smiled weakly at the dog. "I'll feed you, buddy. Let's go over to the kitchen, why don't we?" He stood to walk over when he happened to glance at the digital clock on a corner table.

1:04 AM, it read.

Wally shook his head miserably. He hadn't done his work for the morning, something Artemis would have made sure he'd started hours ago. It didn't matter, he just wouldn't do it. He knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate anyways.

After feeding Nelson and locking up the apartment, Wally made his way to lay back down on the couch. He'd taken to sleeping on it since Artemis had left, because he couldn't bear being in the bedroom they typically shared without her.

As he covered himself with the thin blanket he was using as a comforter and closed his eyes to another nightmare filled tiring night, Wally could almost hear Artemis calling to him softly.

"I love you, Wally West," she whispered.

"I love you, Artemis Crock," he answered back with a sigh, succumbing for the first time to the exhaustion that had plagued him for so long.

Six years ago, Artemis would have thrived off of the adrenaline she felt as an undercover agent. Now, in 2016, she still felt the adrenaline, but now she was working this job for another reason. Wally. A sudden stab of pain pierced through her mind as she thought of him. She loved him.

Unfortunately, love was not a feeling an "assassin" should express, especially when said assassin was the supposed heartless subordinate to Kaldur'ahm, Black Manta's son.

Artemis loved the hero business, she really did, but she missed being with her boyfriend. She missed the way he'd look at her with heavy eyes in the mornings, just after he'd woken up with the California morning sun just peeking through the shades on their window making his red hair appear to glow in the dark room. She missed his sense of humour, as it was surprisingly difficult to find a funny henchman. But most of all, she missed the goofy grin he got when he was looking at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She loved that grin.

It was nighttime, not like anyone could tell since they were in Kaldur's ship. The machine was submerged somewhere off the east coast of the United States and swiftly moving south. Tonight, Artemis was on an odd sort of patrol duty. She, along with several other higher ups, were put to the task of monitoring radio transmissions that came through to communications. However, these weren't just any communications, they were a code Kaldur had worked out with Dick. Kaldur claimed they were listening for signals from "friendly" trench-dwelling creatures, but Artemis knew better. Icicle Jr., the Trouble twins, and herself were told to listen out for static that sounded slightly out of the ordinary. Artemis would never have trusted the others, of course, but then again, she didn't have to. They were only supposed to be on patrol so it didn't look suspicious that she was. Besides, Dick would only send a possible hidden message late on a Thursday night, the only night Artemis was on patrol. She would record the slight beeping that she had been trained to listen for, make a few notes as to times and such, erase some data from the ship's computer, and continue on to bed.

Tonight was no different. It was Thursday night and swiftly approaching the designated time for a brief message from Nightwing. At 12:45:00 AM precisely, Artemis pressed the record button just as the high-pitched beeps began to come through. After two minutes, the noise stopped and she cut the recording.

"Well done, Art- I mean, Tigress!" she commended herself, almost slipping into her real name. "Here's to a night of good rest!" she faked a toast to herself and stretched, cracking her back with loud pops before heading down the hall to where her private chamber was located.

She finally made it to her room. It was a ten-minute walk from the communications room to her quarters, and she was glad to finally get to the only room she could consider private. Kaldur had made sure to that. While all of the other rooms had wiretaps, she and Kaldur had the only two that were completely clean. She changed for bed and went over to the small sink that was attached to her wall. Hygiene, even for a supposed villain, was very important. She glanced into the mirror and looked through the glamour charm everyone else saw.

"Hello Artemis. My, you're looking ravishing this fine evening," she said to herself with a mock British accent. She chuckled drily to herself, then set to work brushing out the mess of her hair.

It was silly, but brushing her hair made her think of Wally. He always said he loved her hair and sometimes he'd attempt to braid it, making it into a mess similar to its current state.

The memory filled Artemis with sadness and longing and she looked into the mirror to see puddles forming in her eyes.

"Oh Wally…" she whispered. "Take care of yourself. I love you, Wally West."

I love you Wally West.

I love you too, Artemis Crock.

Okay dearies, what did you think? Did I nail it or fail it? Am I doing okay on the angst? To be honest, I thought the end was slightly weak, but that's up to you. I'm always a fan of constructive criticism, just don't be mean to my fragile heart. Remember to review so I know whether or not I should continue!

I love you all!

Val