After getting back from last night's mission in Tokyo, Artemis had made a B-line for her bed, drifting into a deep sleep, so dead to the world that she's surprised she even has the energy to wake up this morning. Shaking off her fatigue, she fumbles for her phone resting on her bedside table and switches off her alarm. She's missed enough school as it is, so she has no choice but to haul herself out of bed, or risk losing her hard-earned scholarship and disappointing her mother.
None of her old friends from Gotham North bother to text her anymore, writing her off as a preppy private school girl who's not worth their time, so it surprises her to see that she has a message waiting for her. When she reads the contact name she groans; it's Wally. What did he want?
Inputting her pin tiredly, she scans his message. It reads: Please don't kill me!!!
Great, she thinks, what has he done now? But for once, she can't seem to muster her usual distaste for any interaction with the red-headed speedster. After all, he had saved her last night, literally sweeping her off her feet to save her from being crushed by a hunk of debris before it turned her into an Artemis pancake.
What did you do this time? She types out before hitting send.
His reply is almost instantaneous. Never mind. Obviously you haven't seen it yet, just when you do, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, he repeats, always his overdramatic self, even through text messages.
She sighs, too tired to deal with his weirdness this early in the morning, and starts to get ready for school.
–YJ–
Her eyes started to droop mid-way through second period: biology. Luckily it's one of her stronger subjects, but she still didn't want to risk failing even one of her classes, so she fights to stay concious. The teacher has been droning on about homeostasis and the metabolic rate for almost thirty minutes, and Artemis finds herself wishing that she'd had time for an extra cup of espresso before she left.
"Now, I know all these facts can be a little overwhelming all at once, so I thought I'd spice things up a little and let you do a case study." Most of the other children groaned, but her professor smirked in a self-satisfied manner that made Artemis think there was more to the briefing that would prove to be interesting after all. "Today, class, we'll be looking at the biology of none other than the Scarlet Speedster himself!" Miss flicked to the next slide and Artemis found herself staring into the eyes of the Flash.
She'd seen the picture before, and, although she'd never tell anyone, it was one of her favourites. It was taken just after a foiled bank robbery, one of the first missions KF had ever assisted him with, so posing beside him, with a cocky, self assured grin plastered on his face, was her team mate, Wally. He looked a little younger, with less muscle definition and more freckles, but few other noticeable differences. For some reason, she finds herself blushing, but brushes it off as her obvious lack of sleep.
Then, Miss' continued explanation of their work shakes her from her musings. "So little is known about how these two developed their abilities. Is it genetic? Were they born with super speed, or did it develop in later life?" She uncaps her board pen and starts to write in big lettering. "I want you to discuss in pairs, using what we've just learnt, could be different in their physiology to accommodate their unique abilities and what other effects this might have." She underlines the line of text and smiles as she turns around to meet the faces of her eager students.
When no one has any questions, the teacher allows a hum of chatter build up, and Artemis turns to her partner. In most classes, she sits next to the famous ward of Bruce Wayne, and biology is no exception. Dick looks shattered, almost as if he'd spent yesterday evening fighting Japanese thugs and bandits with her.
"So ...uhh, I guess what she's getting at is that to posses super speed, they'd need to have a high metabolism or something." Artemis starts, keenly aware of how careful she has to be so that she doesn't reveal any sensitive information.
Dick, doing much the same, says, "Yeah, every time Speedy-"
"-Kid Flash." Artemis automatically corrects, remembering how much it annoys Wally when people make that mistake.
Dick chuckles, but the joke is lost on Artemis. "Okay, when Kid Flash gets injured, he's never down for long. I guess that means he has accelerated healing."
Artemis nods slowly, this kid's observant, but she's only half-listening as the pair behind her, Barbara Gordon and Bette Kane, are having an animated discussion that she can't help but overhear.
"He's sooo cute!" Bette squeals at the auburn-haired girl beside her.
Babs nods fervently before adding, "I know! It's such a shame that he has a girlfriend."
Her brain back peddles. What? Since when did the Wall-man get a girlfriend?
"Who was that archer girl anyway?" The blonde asks pouting, twirling a lock of golden hair between her fingers.
Artemis freezes. They couldn't be talking about her, could they? She swivels on the bench to face her fellow students with a forced smile. "I'm sorry, but could you repeat that, please?" she asks sweetly.
"Who was that archer girl?" She repeats.
Artemis shakes her head exasperatedly. "No, before that."
"Kid Flash is cute?" The other asks.
"No, after that." Artemis says, trying to maintain a cool facade.
By process of elimination, Bette realises what Artemis is talking about. "That kid Flash has a girlfriend?"
"Yes. What's with that?" Asks Artemis, likening this conversation to pulling out teeth.
"Haven't you heard? It's all over social media." She says, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her feed to find proof. "See?"
Artemis stares at the phone in disbelief. Her so-called 'proof' has been taken completely out of context. Someone had snapped a photo of her being carried bridal-style by Wally as he heroically saves her from being flattened by a slab of concrete. Her arms are wrapped around his neck and their faces are centimeters apart and she has to admit that they do look like a couple. Has everyone seen this? She frets. Damn, lies travel fast.
"Tell me that's not proof," Barbara challenges.
Artemis flounders for words. "That's not what it looks like."
Someone puts a hand on her shoulder. "I know you're not the only one who's upset that he's taken, but you don't have to get so emotional." She turns to see Dick, who has now joined the conversation, only to mock her, clearly not taking this very seriously.
"But... but..." She stammers, her ears are burning red with anger, but her class mates only mistake this as her blushing.
Artemis' mortification increases as Bette erupts in a fit of giggles. "Ooooh... Artemis! You're totally crushing on Kid Flash! Admit it!" Bette's voice rises above the background noise filling the room, arresting the attention of the entire class and soon all occupants are engaged in a heated discussion about Wally's love life.
After catalysing the situation, Dick sits back and watches as the chaos unfolds before him and Artemis fails to defend herself against the other students' insinuations, until someone at the back of the class pipes up with an opinion of their own.
"I thought Kid Flash and Robin were an item!" They yell, followed by choruses of: "So did I," and, "Me too!"
"They're just friends!!!" Yells Dick, standing up and turning an indignant shade of red.
Artemis raises a brow at his outburst, but dismisses it, still focused solely on what method she's going to use to dispatch the red-headed sidekick.
Wally West, you are so dead!
–YJ–
The moment Wally steps out of the zeta tube and the computer announces his arrival to the cave, he feels his phone vibrate in the back pocket of his jeans. Before he even reads the message, he knows it can only be bad news -- it's from Artemis.
Unlocking his phone, Wally taps the screen and scans her text. It's just one word: Run. Good advice for a speedster, but it makes dread pool in the pit of his stomach.
Wally gulps, opening up a second message, this time from Robin. Similarly, it read: Arty's on a war-path. Beware.
He can almost hear the younger boy's creepy laughter as he absorbs the words. I'm doomed, he thinks as he massages his temples and runs a hand through his bright orange hair.
If it wasn't for training, Wally would be half way around the world by now, far from Artemis' wrath, but Black Canary is marginally more fearsome and he decides to face the music in the ring with the others.
Wisely avoiding the training room, Wally sets his sights on the kitchen in an attempt to satisfy the black hole that is his stomach. Opening the fridge and retrieving a chilled can, he overhears part of a conversation between a voice he knows well: Robin, and a feminine voice he is less familiar with, but he identifies as Zatanna. The two are sat on the sofa, but Wally doesn't look up, fully aware that his eavesdropping is probably unwelcome.
Robin is lacking his usual bravado, and the subject of their hushed conversation almost makes Wally choke on his soda. "KF and I are just friends." The best, thinks Wally smugly. "You know that right," he questions, but it sounds more like an interrogation.
Zatanna has adopted a playful tone and mocks him by saying: "Sure. . . What else would you be?" She pauses and Wally listens intently. "A couple, maybe. . . ?" She teases.
Wally almost shut his head in the fridge.
"What? No!" The younger boy cries. "Wally is clearly in love with Artemis and I like–"
That time, Wally really does inhale his drink and spurts coke all over the kitchen tiles. Two raven-haired heads abruptly spin in his direction and the gig is up. Robin, however, breathes a sigh of relief; he'd almost confessed his feelings to Zatanna.
"How much of that did you hear?" The masked acrobat asks, still frozen in his seat beside the magician.
Doing a realistic impression of a goldfish, Wally initially fails to respond, mouth agape as he struggles to form coherent sentences. "Enough," is all he can rasp, a crimson blush creeping up his neck.
Distracting himself with moping up the pool of soda, Wally avoids their questioning gazes. Why doesn't he just deny it? I don't want to justify that statement with an answer, he reasons, but somehow, he doesn't even convince himself.
He's still distracted by this train of thought even once Black Canary has summoned the team for combat training and the blonde meta has to call his name three times before he even acknowledges her.
"Head in the clouds, Kid?" She questions as she beckons for him to join her in the ring.
He shrugs and saunters over. "Something like that." He doesn't go into detail.
Black Canary surveys the group to select a suitable opponent for the red-headed speedster and KF knows his fate is sealed when a mischievous look comes over her face.
Black Canary has seen the photo too.
"Artemis!" She claps her hands together. "Why don't you step up and spar against Wally?"
Cracking her knuckles menacingly, she rolls her shoulders and smirks. "Gladly."
Wally has chills. "Arty," he puts his hands out in a placating gesture. "You said you wouldn't kill me."
Readying her fist, Artemis purrs, "I didn't make any promises." She takes a swing at his head, but he evades, retreating to the far side of the ring.
"C'mon, let's talk about this."
Artemis choses instead to communicate with her fists and attempts to land a hit to his side, narrowly missing her target.
"What's there to talk about? You let everyone believe we're. . . a thing!"
Wally stifles his laughter at her chosen terminology which only serves to anger her more. Crouching like a tiger to sweep his leg, Artemis grunts as she kicks out and Wally vaults over her outstretched limb.
"Why is she mad at him this time?" Miss Martian whispers to Superboy from the sidelines. "I feel like we missed something."
"Maybe it's a lover's quarrel?" Connor innocently suggests, not intending to humour his team mates, but succeeding nonetheless.
Wiping away a tear of mirth, Robin doubles over with laughter and even Kalder cracks an amused smile.
"Oh, come on! That was taken completely out of context!" Wally cries indignantly, ducking another punch.
"Finally, we agree on something," she pants, frustrated that he wouldn't stay still so she could pummel him. He wouldn't even throw a punch!
"So. . . Truce?" Wally asks hopefully.
The archer's smirk is the last thing he sees before the floor moves from beneath his feet and the computer utters the immortal phrase: "Kid Flash, Fail."
"Truce."