Disclaimer: If Young Justice was mine, season 2 would be called "The Adventures of Wally and Artemis", not "Invasion".

Their first New Year's Eve was the most dramatic one.

Artemis and Wally spent the day fighting against their mentors and the rest of the Justice League, freeing them from mind control, saving the world, and kissing for the first time.

It was the kiss that shocked everyone the most.

The team didn't notice at first. They were all distracted. M'Gann and Superboy were, predictably, too wrapped up in each other to notice much of anything else. Robin was reeling from Zatanna's boldness, wondering if he could manage another kiss without anyone growing suspicious of his not-so-little crush, and Kaldur was blushing furiously. All of a sudden, Robin caught sight of Wally and the girl he thought Wally hated and yelped.

The rest of the team turned, wondering what could have caused the Boy Wonder to freak out after the day they had already had. A horrified Robin pointed a shaking hand toward Wally and Artemis, who were oblivious to their surroundings and still kissing.

Kissing.

M'Gann started squealing excitedly, causing the two to pull apart. Both turned red.

"Hey guys," Wally said weakly. "How's it going?"

"You were. . . she just. . . and I. . . what. . . Kissing!" Robin stuttered.

"Yeah I noticed you getting a little action too, Boy Wonder." Artemis spoke with her usual sass, but a slight blush lingered on her cheeks.

"When did this happen?" Connor whispered to M'Gann. She shrugged, but didn't seem too concerned with the details. She was just glad that Wally had found someone else to obsess over. Oh, and Artemis was happy. That was important, too.

Everyone stared at Wally and Artemis, who started shifting uncomfortably. Wally adjusted his grip on Artemis.

"Drop me and we'll all find out if you can run as fast with an arrow through your foot," she threatened.

Wally gulped, but seemed to realize it was her way of dealing with all the unwanted attention. And he had to admit, as much as the great Wally West loved being in the limelight, it was a little much at that point.

"Think we can make a break for it?" he whispered.

She nodded and he took off at high speed. Connor, who had overheard their conversation (thank you super-hearing), tried to stop them, but even Superboy couldn't outrun the fastest boy alive.

Wally sped around the Watchtower, looking for a place where he and Artemis could talk without being disturbed. He finally stopped in the gym. He set Artemis down gently and took a few steps back, pulling off his hood and goggles.

"So," he said. "What's new with you?"

Artemis cocked an eyebrow. "Really? That's what you're leading with?"

"Yeah, I know, it's not my best line. But I don't want to use lines with you, Artemis. I just want to be honest."

"And honesty is admitting you should have kissed me a long time ago?"

"It is the truth."

"Why didn't you? I mean, I get that you wanted Roy here, not me, but you really seemed to hate me when I first joined the team. Why?"

Wally ran a hand through his hair. "You sure aren't making this easy, asking all the tough questions first. I guess part of it was wanting Roy around. But you kind of intimidated me. All the girls I've met have been giggling high schoolers. Well, except for the ones who were villains, but I have a strict no-dating-bad-guys-or-girls policy. None of those other girls really understand the evil in the world that we see on a daily basis. They see me as a class clown, someone to laugh at, not as anyone serious. You were different. I'm kind of used to girls just taking my jokes and laughing, either at the jokes or at me. You told me when my jokes sucked. You didn't put up with my cheesy attempts at wooing M'Gann and told me that no girl would actually fall for that."

Artemis rolled her eyes at the memory of some of his more creative ways of trying to win M'Gann over.

"I never told anyone this, but that mission we went on not long after you joined the team, the one with Dr. Fate? Kent Nelson said something to me. He saw the two of us and I think he knew that we'd end up together. I think we reminded him of him and his wife. He told me 'Find your own spitfire, one who won't let you get away with nothing.' I didn't want to admit it, but I knew he meant you. You were the only girl I'd ever met who told me what she thought without holding back." Wally smirked. "Plus you were hot and hot girls have always intimidated me."

Artemis punched him in the arm. "Can't you be serious, for once?"

"Nope! But you wouldn't have me any other way. You're serious enough for the both of us. Probably too serious. You need to lighten up." Wally paused. "Why did you never like me?"

"Oh, you're going to kick yourself for this," Artemis said with smile. "I thought you were adorable when I met you. I had just finished meeting the team and everyone was so solemn about the whole ordeal. Then you came running in dressed for a day at the beach, yelling about a party and tripping over your own feet like some overgrown puppy. I was pretty interested in you until you started fawning over M'Gann."

"Why did that bother you so much? Besides making you jealous, of course." Wally managed to dodge her fist, but moved closer to her.

"You're an incredibly confident person, Wally. It might come off as cocky sometimes, but for the most part, it's refreshing to see someone be sure of himself. But the minute you were around M'Gann, it was like you were trying to be someone you weren't. You were trying to be the person she would be interested in." Artemis scowled. "You should never change yourself for another person. I found it hard to respect you because of that."

Wally nodded. "I can understand that. I guess that explains why we got along so well that time we lost our memories."

Artemis laughed. "Yeah, except for the fact I thought my father wanted me to kill you."

"It's not like you would have, even if that's what he did want."

Artemis was silent.

"I mean, you wouldn't have, right?" Wally laughed nervously. "Seriously, babe, you wouldn't actually kill me, would you?"

She finally laughed. "Oh, I'd kill you. Not because my dad told me to, but if you hurt me, I'll kill you in a heartbeat. And did you just call me babe?"

"No?"

"I'm pretty sure you did. Pet names like that are a privilege reserved for boyfriends only, Wally West."

"Well I guess there's only one thing for me to do, then."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Convince you to let me date you, cause I'm not going to stop calling you babe."

"And how do you plan on doing that, Baywatch?"

"Now, now, pet names like that are a privilege," Wally parroted, "reserved for girlfriends only." He wrapped his arms around her. "Lucky for you, there's an opening with your name on it. If you want it, the position is yours."

"Are you asking me out?"

"Yup. We can go out for pizza, watch a movie, beat up bad guys, whatever you want. Just please say yes."

"That's a very tempting offer."

"Did I mention we can keep kissing? Because that is one of the perks of dating Wally West. Kissing yours truly."

Artemis laughed. "How could I possibly say no?" she asked sarcastically.

"Meet me at the mountain tomorrow at 5?"

"It's a date."

Wally leaned in close to kiss her again.

"Best New Year's ever," he whispered.

I ship them so much.

This is actually the first fanfiction I ever wrote. But I decided to save it for, you know, New Year's Eve. I'll be updating this story every day from now until January 31st, so you're welcome.

Special thanks to star-eye for beta-reading and getting me hooked on YJ in the first place.

Catch ya later, lovelies!

-FD