*Edited on 2/1/16*
At some point, between the then and the now, he's pulled my thin shirt over my head and his mouth makes quick work of the newly revealed skin. The tops of my breasts heave over the edge of my dreaded push-up bra, and he bites into the swollen flesh, leaving behind a trail of red skin. I let out a moan, curling my fingers into his thick locks of hair.
He pulls away from my chest and brings his lips up to mine while bringing his hand from my hip up to cup my breast. His wet tongue swirls around the inside of my mouth. I pull his hair harder and feel the smirk on his lips, but he doesn't pull away.
When his hand moves away from my breast and joins the other on my face, he brushes his thumb roughly against my bruised cheekbone and I tug away from him with a hiss.
"Oh fuck," he's completely out of breath but he lets out an airy chuckle and runs a hand through his already disheveled hair, "I'm sorry." He licks his lip and gently rubs his thumb down my cheek. I wince slightly but don't stop him or pull away.
His hand trails across my jaw and down my neck and his head looks down at what I assume is my breasts as my chest heaves with my breathing. But then he's running his finger over my bicep and I painfully remember that my face isn't the only thing that's bruised.
"Are these fingers?" He asks, circling a fingertip around one of the small red bruises on my arm.
"Uuuh yeah, one of those bots must have grabbed me." I dart my eyes around nervously as he just continues to trace over the bruise.
"Those bots only had three fingers," he says slowly, catching me in my lie. He turns his head to my other arm, which has nearly identical bruising on it, then looks back up at me with a raised brow.
"Robin, can we not do this?"
"Who did this to you?" He asks, completely ignoring my previous question. I open my mouth to say something but I'm not sure what it is I want to tell him, so it hangs open.
"Artemis? Did someone hurt you?" I look down at his chest beneath me. His breathing has already returned to its normal pace. I press my hand against it and push up, pulling my leg out from between his and getting off the bed. I bend over for my discarded shirt and bring it up to my chest.
"Of course not," I toss over my shoulder while trying to find the opening to my shirt which looks like a ball of tangled cloth. I sigh and give up on the shirt, turning to face him and letting it fall by his legs on the bed.
"You remember the other night, after we got back to the cave?" He nods his head and I continue, "Connor pulled me aside to tell me about the Flash, and-" I cross my arms over my chest, searching for the right words to say without upsetting the situation anymore.
"And I got upset at-at everything that had happened," I rub my hand over my biceps, trying to warm my skin which has started to cool now without the added heat of another body pressed close, "So I took it out on Connor, which was a stupid thing to do," and I lift my hand up to show him my chapped and bruised knuckles.
Robin's jaw is clenched tight but I've learned to read it as one would read eyes, and he's expressing both his dislike for the story and his interest in finding out how it ends.
"He grabbed ahold of my arms to stop me," and now I sit back on the bed by his side, looking down at him, "And you can argue that maybe he used too much force, but he got me to cool down." I run my fingers through the hair that hangs over his sunglasses, brushing it aside and toward his ear.
"So there's no reason to be upset with him." I finish, glad to see his jaw relax. He bends up and grabs my shirt.
"Okay I'm definitely sorry." He starts as he pulls a sleeve out from the ball of shirt, slowly getting it untangled. "I lost my cool and that is way not okay." He gets the shirt straightened out and holds it up to me with a lopsided smile. I gingerly take it and pull it over my head.
I smile in return and lean in to press my lips to his in a quick peck. "You are very forgiven." I stare straight into his glasses.
"God you're beautiful." He mutters almost more to himself then to me. His hand runs down my hair and the feeling is so familiar. My brow furrows, but I push those thoughts aside and kiss him again. Much harder. He brings his hand up to cup the back of my head and returns the kiss with a rivaling intensity. After a few minutes I pull away again and rise to my feet.
"Okay, as much as I don't want this to end, I do need to patrol tonight." I lean in for one more kiss then head to the door.
"Art?"
I turn back to him, splayed out on the bed with his shirt ridden up over his hips, revealing the bottom of his hard, flat stomach.
"Yeah?"
"Your ass looks really nice in those pants." He says through a wide grin.
I shake my head and let out a small chuckle before exiting through the sliding door. I'm halfway down the hall when I notice a slumped figure outside of Superboy's door.
"M'gann?" I stop in front of the Martian and she raises her head up, revealing swollen eyes streaming with tears. I lower myself down to my knees and place a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey what's going on?" She looks past my shoulder down the hall.
"Did you just come out of Robin's room?" She asks softly, ignoring my question. I blink at her, surprised at the implication in her question.
"Uh, yeah…" Then after a beat I crinkle my brows at her, "Don't change the subject."
I sit down on my legs and scoot in closer to the slumped Martian.
"M'gann, this is the second time I've found you crying in the hall." Her wet, blood-shot eyes lock onto mine, "What's going on?"
"I slept with Wally." Her voice is so calm and collected. I feel my eyes widen and my mouth falls open as I try to respond but nothing comes to mind that feels appropriate to say.
"And Conner knows." She finally looks away from me and down at her lap. The hall light reflects on the short hairs on her head. "He just broke up with me." Her voice sounds almost angry.
"How did he find out?" I ask slowly, trying to keep my voice and face neutral. M'gann had been my best friend for years, but Conner had a point - I hardly knew her anymore. This woman sitting beside me is definitely not my best friend. This woman - who seems angered by having been dumped for being adulterous - makes me sick. But it's still M'gann in there somewhere, so I listen patiently as she describes how her boyfriend eavesdropped on her and Wally.
"-and then he forced the truth out of me like I was wrapped up in Wonder Woman's lasso." A tear streaks down her cheek and it's so odd that she can appear so cool, yet still cry. "But, honestly, I think it came out so easily because I wanted him to know." She turns away from me and looks up at the wall in front of us.
"How could you do that to him?" I bite my tongue after the words slip out, my disgust getting the better of me.
"Excuse me?" Her brows furrow as she turns back to me.
I shake my head trying to erase words, "No I-"
"Who are you to judge? You're fooling around with Wally's best friend." She rises to her feet and with the rage frothing from her mouth it's hard to believe she had been crying just moments before. "He dumps you so you get yourself off on the horniest guy in sight?"
I sit dumbfounded. I can feel bile rising up my throat. "I may have cheated on Conner but at least I'm not pathetic. I know what I want." And with that she stomps away down the hall and out of sight.
I sit in the floor until the tears stop streaming.
Conner doesn't ask why I'm late. He doesn't say much of anything. His jaw tightens up when I approach and after he points out where he wants me to patrol on the map, he jumps away, abandoning me on the street.
When we cross paths later in the night, we walk side-by-side. Our hands brush once. Then twice. There's a jolt of electricity we both feel. The third time leads us down an alley where he pushes me against a wall and kisses me hard. I can feel the wetness on his cheeks as he starts to cry - over his failed relationship, I can only assume - but neither of us stop.
The kiss is terrible. The spark is gone, but I don't stop him as his hard lips rove over mine then down my jaw to my neck where he's biting down between laps of his tongue. All I can do is wince and pull his Raven hair, which is much too thin. I am beyond pathetic.
The courtyard was nearly empty today - probably due to the wind - but I knew she would be out here regardless. Barbra Gordon, curly red hair tied up into a high ponytail, sits against the wall, reading from a textbook. As I approach I see that it's a calculus book. Gorgeous and smart, it would seem.
"Hey…" my voice is low and scratchy, "Is Dick alright?"
"Excuse me?" She looks up from her book while pushing up her oversized, thick-framed glasses. Her tone is sharp, which doesn't calm my nerves.
"Dick- uh - he hasn't talked to me all week, I just -" her teal gaze begins to soften, "I just wanna make sure he's okay. And not mad at me." I add the last part quickly under my breath.
"Why ask me?" She asks coolly.
"Because you're close to him. I know you are."
"Not as close as you." She mutters under her breath, casting her gaze down to her lap. "He is upset with you. About the accident." She says louder this time.
"Yeah, I'm sure he is." She continues looking up at me before shutting her book and shifting over, turning her body on the stone ledge she's perched on to face me.
"Look Artemis, I know we don't get along, but trust me when I say that he is crazy about you." My cheeks get hot and I cross my arms over my chest.
"No. He's really not," I reply in a petulant tone.
"Believe what you want." Her round, glittering eyes study my face. "He's fine, but he's hurt. Just give him time."
I look away from her and bite the inside of my cheek, almost wishing she would act vicious towards me. I would have deserved it. But instead her eyes are clouded in both pity and jealousy and I don't deserve either.
"Yeah. Okay. Time… Thanks Barbara." My voice breaks and her eyes soften just another fraction more.
"Of course." She looks at me for another moment before turning to her book with her back to the wall, silently dismissing me. I walk from her slowly and head to class, no longer hungry.
I'm sitting on a rooftop, patrolling. My legs hang over the edge of the building and I swing them absentmindedly. I can feel my cellphone vibrate in my boot against my calf, but it takes me a moment before I decide to bend down and pull it out. I glance around my surroundings, ensuring no one is around to see me before tapping the screen. It lights up and my heart races as I read a message sent to me from Dick.
I miss you
My eyes scan the message a hundred times over, but my mind can't make sense of what he's saying. It's not as obvious as it seems. Nothing ever is with Dick.
For a moment, I imagine that Barbara is the one who sent the message; because what a coincidence that the day I talk to her about Dick, the boy breaks his silence out of nowhere and for no reason. But that's silly. Why would she do that for me. We mean nothing to each other. Maybe she talked to him about our conversation; talked sense into him that he shouldn't leave his best friend hanging out to dry. It would make more sense, but again, she has no reason to get involved with this matter any further.
So maybe it was Dick, who decided his week and a half of silent treatment was enough of a punishment and reached out to me of his own accord. And after all this time of his ridiculous, irrational punishment the only thing he can say is that he misses me. The message itself was so very unlike him it made my stomach hurt. And why is that what he would choose to say of all things? He is the one who isolated himself over nothing. Over a fake story.
But he doesn't know the story is fake. His reality differs from mine. His best friend got in a car accident and failed to tell him about it. Maybe that is grounds for being upset.
But his message leaves me feeling sour and I decide it's grounds for getting upset also. I tuck my phone back into the side of my boot before getting up to my feet and leaping to a lower section of the roof. Superboy had been silent all night. Part of me is thankful. The other part is itching for human contact, and that dead message from Dick left it craving even more.
"SB?" I whisper while pressing the talk button on the communicator in my ear. After a second I hear his reply vibrate in my ear.
"Artemis?"
I swallow slowly. This is crazy and it's bound to end in disaster. But Dick has left a hole inside of me and I want some kind of release. As I bring my finger up to respond, Robin flashes in my mind, and I hesitate. There is something there between us. It may be new and scary, but it has crawled under my skin and made a home and it won't be leaving anytime soon.
"Everything okay?" His tone is genuinely laced with worry. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, blackening out Robin's sweet smile.
"Where are you?" I ask, in a cool fashion while scaling down the building and landing on the street. I walk down to an alley a block away where I parked my bike.
"A few buildings from Star City Plaza." I reach my bike and start the engine. As I speed off for his location, he all but whispers, "You heading over?"
"On my way." I mutter, while dumping fuel over the fire inside me.
***Alright so I finally finished editing the story and am super happy with where it's going and I should have a new chapter out here soon. This has been such a long ride but writing is a passion of mine and I'm glad I can share it with you guys. If there is anyone left who still cares to read this, thank you very much. And I promise, this story will have an ending.***
~Just Look Up
