In the small cramped apartment in the late evening, passerbys would probably see thick coats of steam fog up the glass windows on the second floor. People may be suspecting some promiscuous activities to be the cause of the fogged windows, or at the very least some illicit drug use. But inside- just as the apartment was becoming overwhelmed in the steam- two hands quickly jerked the old windows up as a plume of white smoke emerged from the opening and into the Gotham night sky. The hands disappeared and returned with a kitchen towel as flapping arms tried to quickly dissipate the smoke from the building unit.
Never before had Artemis been so grateful for the toxic city air.
She breathed in a deep breath and called back into the apartment to an unseen figure
"I told you this kitchen could only handle one pot of stock boiling at a time, but no, we had to try four different recipes at once!"
Although the words sounded chastising there was an underlying tone of affection in her voice. Artemis turned back to the stove where, sure enough, four pots were simultaneously simmering on the cramped stove. She lifted the partially covered lid to the one closest to her and inhaled the scents of the fish bones mingling with the leek. The slight hint of citrus from the makrut leaves lingered in her nose as she relaxed at the familiar scent of it all.
She started stirring and heard a pair of feet quietly pad over to her, sticking ever so slightly on the tiles. Feather-light fingers started brushing up her arms sending a chill through her body despite the warmth of the room. The arms wrapped themselves around her upper body, as a reassuring strength settled behind her. The person behind her let out a soft chuckle to let her know that they weren't fooled by her berating. Artemis leaned into the solid body behind her and gently placed one hand over theirs. She turned her head to listen to the soft breaths coming from behind her; Artemis breathed in a deep calming breath in sync with her partner.
With a jolt Artemis quickly exhaled and sat up in a split second.
It was quiet.
And the only breathing she could hear was her own.
She was no longer in her kitchen, but rather in her single twin bed pushed against the wall of her studio apartment. Taking deep breaths she felt around for her phone to check the time.
3:45 am.
She only beat her alarm by 15 minutes. Great. Artemis threw her legs over the side of the bed and began her day. She first made her way over to check on the broth that had been simmering on low in her kitchen overnight. But it was one, not four. And it was beef, not fish. She turned off the heat and began removing the tender brisket that starts to fall apart. After ensuring they are out and in a container she began to strain the spices, bones and herbs. She found the methodical routine of sorting out the broth in the morning calming, and a welcome routine to her days. By the time she finished up in the kitchen it was closing in on 4:00am so Artemis threw on some clothes and began bundling up for the brisk morning air.
The first stop of her day was always at the fishmongers, and was truly the only reason she was up at this ungodly hour. She wrapped her forest green scarf around her neck and slipped on the matching fingerless gloves before slipping out the door and locking it behind her. The narrow staircase leading down to the front entrance creaked below her feet as usual before she finally was greeted with the cool late autumn air.
It was still dark outside with only the grey clouds to lighten the sky. On her way down the street Artemis saw a group of women staggering along the sidewalk with their heels clutched in their hands, and their arms thrown around each other for support. She enjoyed the long walk down the city streets before they became crowded with people and noise. The only others she saw along the way were a couple of sleeping homeless people huddled under the entrances of storefronts. The rest of the walk down to the docks was fairly uneventful.
It was fairly easy to tell when you started to get near the dock, not because of the noises or the ocean view, but by the smell.
Maybe it's because they live in a big city - or because they live in one of the most waste producing countries in the world- but the ocean on the shore of Gotham reeked. And the bustling of nearly a hundred fishmongers covered in fish guts and sweat did not help.
The giant open warehouse on the docks that housed these stalls had fish from all over the world, freshly caught and dragged in on the fishing boats each morning. If you truly cared about ingredients - and Artemis did - this was where you went to find the best options for seafood. There was shouting as the fishmongers started to sell to the arrival of people like Artemis, trying to make their dead fish sound the most appealing.
"RED SNAPPERS, FRESH RED SNAPPERS! PRICE ADJUSTED BY COLOUR!"
"GET YOUR MUSSELS! STRAIGHT FROM THE OCEAN! MUSSELS!"
"WILD ALASKAN KING SALMON ARRIVED THIS MORNING! $20 A POUND!"
Artemis remembers her first time journeying down here almost 2 years ago, her list of seafood she wanted clutched tightly in her fist as she tried navigating through the various stalls and styrofoam boxes. Despite it being a warm spring day, the cold from the ocean seemed to have been dragged in with that day's catch, and she felt chills run down her arms in her light t-shirt. She felt so unprepared and overwhelmed.
Somehow the thought of her own overwhelming feelings brought back fond memories of when Dick coerced their friend group to drop all prefixes to words and instead use 'whelmed' and 'traught' all throughout her Junior year. That memory had helped her move out of the corner she had pushed herself and into the fray of fish. On her first shop at the fish market she had made the rookie mistake of keeping her head down and buying at face value, hoping to get through transactions as fast as possible. It wasn't until she had a friend on the inside to help her to haggle and find the best deals in the market-
Not then anyway.
"Artemis"
She turned around and saw a familiar face making his way in steady strides towards her. Kal was still just as striking as he was in high school - dark skin with high cheekbones and an angular jawline. He was a good six inches taller than she was and his good posture and formal way of talking always seemed to elevate him further.
"Good morning" he greeted as he stopped directly in front of Artemis "How has your day been thus far?"
"Oh you know" Artemis shrugged giving him a small smile "The usual 4am grind".
"As per usual" he grinned back "Is there anything you are searching for in particular today?"
"Just some medium prawns and if there is anything you can recommend for my special?"
"Hmm" Kal seemed to ponder her inquiry as his eyes drifted across the warehouse at the various stalls "I believe there was a good shipment of soft shell crabs over in the northeast section, would that be adequate?"
"Sounds great as always Kal, thanks"
"It was nice seeing you again Artemis, we should catch up sometime soon" He gave her arm a small pat and nodded at her in confirmation.
He always said that when they saw each other each week at the fish market but had yet to make good on their empty promises. It wasn't that they didn't want to- but neither of their schedules allowed it. Their encounters, like most of her friends, seemed to be limited to seeing them at work. Either she would pop into the fish market or bakery, or her friends would stop by her restaurant. Other than that, she never saw them. And that was okay.
It was fine.
It was.
After they parted ways and Artemis bought the things she needed she made her way to the nearest bus stop with her haul. Walking there unencumbered was no problem but walking back with 2 days worth of seafood was a stretch. By the time she arrived back at her shop the sun had just begun to peak over the Gotham skyline. The lack of a full night's rest was finally starting to catch up with her body as she started unpacking that day's haul into the industrial refrigerators. She gave a bleary onceover of her small restaurant with her eyelids threatening to drop at any second. The little shop had pale yellow walls with areas of paint chipped away revealing an older, brighter yellow beneath. There was a wall that had a long red bench stretching along the length of the floor space, and 4 tables with chairs adjacent from the benched spots. There were 3 remaining tables scattered around the floor space. It was about 200 square feet of customer space total. The only decorations that adorned the restaurant (unless you counted the glass cups on each table containing chopsticks and spoons) were the few Vietnamese paintings covering large chips in the wall. Artemis was well aware that the small shop was a little rundown and needed some freshening up, but it was hers, and that's what mattered.
Artemis finally dragged her body back upstairs and set her alarm for an hour from then, and promptly passed out on top of her bed. It felt like 1 minute had passed before the trilling of her phone awoke Artemis to notify her that, yes, an hour did pass and it was time to get back to work. She began her second routine of the morning, and it wasn't even 8am yet.
By the time 9 o'clock rolled around, Artemis was back in the restaurant prepping for the lunch crowd. She had stopped by the butchers and Megan's bakery across town. Megan's bakery wasn't the closest bakery by any means, but her friend was nice enough to make fresh baguettes for the banh mi she sold at Vietnamese.
Oh yeah.
That was the name.
Was she proud of it?
Nope.
Did she like it?
Not really.
Did it get the point across of what she sold there?
Yes, barring the occasional elderly veteran presuming she sold different...services.
Megan had greeted her cheerfully as usual and gave Artemis a quick rundown of everything that had happened in the last day since they had seen each other; Megan was trying a new cupcake frosting, Connor bought a new black shirt, Wolf (their rescued husky) could almost roll over, and they were planning on a small reunion with their mutual high school friends. Megan was very insistent that Artemis join them, reassuring her that it would be 'just like old times' If there was ever a phrase that made Artemis want to turn and run- it was that. Nonetheless, after nearly 5 minutes of Megan pleading, Artemis promised she would think about it.
Artemis loved prepping the kitchen. She loved the satisfaction of cutting into a crisp carrot and slicing it so thin that it lost its shape and wilted in the sauces. She loved the methodical nature of peeling and deveining shrimp, eager for the enjoyment people would gain from the fresh, plump bite. She loved standing in her own space feeling confident and ready.
In the middle of rolling up some chả giò she heard the front door unlock and the bell chime welcoming in the new arrival. Artemis looked up and saw Kori, her waitress/kitchen assistant, come through the door with a bright smile on her caramel coloured cheeks.
"Good morning, Artemis!"
"Hey Kori" Artemis replied looking back to the food at work. She heard Kori shuffling towards the kitchen to put her coat and bag in the small closet, before making her way next to Artemis.
"Is there anything I may assist with?" Kori asked politely as she pulled her dark red hair into a ponytail.
Artemis did a quick checklist through her head of the tasks that needed to be done before opening in an hour, and whether or not it was a task she trusted Kori with. While Kori was one of the sweetest and hardest working women Artemis had ever met, she had learned quickly that she was not adept in the kitchen. Anything that involved the stovetop was out of the question.
"Can you wrap up some spring rolls?" Artemis asked, deciding that it only needed deft hands and no heat.
"Some gỏi cuốn?" Kori asked teasingly.
Oops.
Artemis always forgot that Kori was fluent in Vietnamese and didn't need the translation. The only person Artemis ever felt comfortable talking in Vietnamese to was her mother and everyone else got filtered through somehow.
"Yep. Sorry, forgot" Artemis glanced over at Kori but she seemed unoffended as she smiled sweetly back at her.
"That is alright, I would be happy to roll them up for you. Shrimp and pork in all of them?"
"Make a dozen of them with just the shrimp in case someone is pescetarian"
Kori nodded in confirmation and they both got to work. After Kori finished she went on to give the tables an extra wipe and to begin cleaning up areas of the kitchen. Artemis was glad she hired her over the summer. She had been run ragged and even with her mother's occasional help in the kitchen and Zatanna popping in on the weekends to help with the crowds it was hard to manage most of the days on her own.
At 11:30am sharp the doors were unlocked and they stood in wait for the chaos.
Artemis could always find her rhythm in the rushes; the movements across the kitchen felt like dancing. Lunch rounds were usually very straight forward, not many people wanted to be adventurous eaters for their allotted 30-45 minute break time. This meant a lot of pho, spring rolls, and banh mi's. She was furthermore grateful that she had Kori taking orders and dealing with customers as she was a lot more patient and tolerant of rudeness than Artemis was. If Artemis had to hear someone call her 'sweetheart' or ask for the 'man in charge' despite reassurances that it was her establishment; she would have a hard time resisting hitting someone.
Ergo, Kori.
It wasn't until about 2:30 when the lunch rush seemed to start wrapping up and the few customers who had stayed to eat in had already dispersed leaving satisfyingly empty bowls and loose tips scattered on the tables. Artemis and Kori did a quick clear up so they could relax before prepping for the dinner round.
"Artemis, would it be alright if I ran to the bank quickly?"
"Sure Kori, no problem you can take your lunch break after that" Artemis smiled over at her.
"Thank you!"
Kori beamed and hung up her apron quickly before exiting the building. Artemis finished clearing the rest of the tables and began rinsing the dishes before loading them up in the dishwasher. Over the noise of the water she heard the bell ring. Figuring it was just Kori returning she remained squatting by the dishwasher and loaded up the dishes, until she heard:
"Woof, what a dump"
Artemis froze in her spot and felt her jaw seize up.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
This wasn't the first she had heard this, but it was the first time she had heard it declared so openly after just walking in. Another familiar voice chimed in:
"Aw, c'mon give it a chance! You can't judge a place by appearances, it has great food, I promise!"
"Dude, this can't be the best place you have to show me after moving here. If this place was successful at all they would have the money to take care of it better. The most we will probably get here is food poisoning"
Alright that was about as much as Artemis could stand to hear. If this guy didn't want to eat here he could slander her restaurant outside, but it wasn't going to continue to talk shit inside her place. She didn't even realize she had stood up while the man was talking and was already steadily making her way to the front door.
Her eyes glazed over a familiar face that she recognised as her friend Dick who had been the one defending her restaurant; instead they landed on the figure next to him.
She couldn't believe it. The absolute audacity this man - this boy - had of showing his face after 7 years and the first words out of his mouth is to talk shit of the restaurant she poured her soul, sweat, and tears into.
Like a red-headed ghost of the past, Wally West strode back into her life.
And she couldn't wait to kick him the fuck back out.