Chapter 2- Awkward
*Mount Justice*
M'gann stirred a bowl of batter slowly with a wooden spoon, Wally rested his head on his arms. He was seated at the kitchen island, he stared off into space depressed. Artemis leaned on the counter avoiding eye contact with the others. Kaldur was just outside the kitchen arms folded,he leaned against the wall,intensely staring at the ground. Robin sat on the couch, even his sadness was visible, through the pitch black shades he wore.
The room was filled, with tension so thick you can cut it with a knife. Nobody dared to break the silence, all remembering what happened in the training simulation. Wally glanced at Robin,catching the younger boy staring. Robin let out a light gasp before turning towards the TV that read in bold letters.
"NO SIGNAL"
*Watchtower*
Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado watched this depressing display,on holographic projectors.
"RECOGNIZE BATMAN 02" The three turned to the transporter, as the computer announced the dark knight's arrival.
"How are they?" Batman asked turning to the Martian.
"I am still shaken,from what you and I watched one can only imagine how these youth fair" he explained gesturing towards the screens.
"I know the simulation went badly, but I had hoped they'd bounce back by now" Batman stated in his normal calm voice.
"Trauma tends to linger old friend, as I know you know" Manhunter said with an expression of disbelief. Batman seriously couldn't expect,them to bounce back so quickly they're children.
"Black Canary?" he asked,trying to swing the topic away from him. Manhunter sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"She's got her work cut out for her" he stated,turning back to scan the monitors.
*Mount Justice*
"I can only imagine what you went through,losing Wolf….the Team in essence your family" Black Canary scanned Superboy's face, she noticed he was becoming agitated. He clenched his fist and stared at the ground,grinding his teeth.
"I get it your Superboy you're not suppose to have feelings of sadness or" He cut the blonde off by standing.
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT I FEEL!" he stormed out of the room followed by Wolf.
"CONNER!" The Super Heroine called out watching his retreating form,she let out a defeated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Conner storming out, caught everyone's attention.
"Conner?"M'gann reached out, he continued walking.
"not now M'gann please" He grumbled continuing his walk.
The remaining teens looked at each other,Wally made his way to the door. His bright green eyes widened seeing Robin.
"Oh um sorry you can go first" The younger of the two points at the door.
"No no no I insist you go" Wally blushed, he turned away and scratched the back of his head.
"Move" Artemis rolled her grey eyes,she pushed past the ginger and entered the room.
"Artemis, how are you feeling?" Black Canary asked, as the French/Vietnamese girl took a seat.
"Look,me dying during the exercise may have started things going south, but I was coma girl, Ms doubt on all the fun forgetting it wasn't real so no trauma,no need for the shrink wrap" Artemis expressed her disdain for the session.
"you're too tough to need help" Black Canary raised an eyebrow.
"whatever maybe" Artemis looked away crossing her arms.
"Or, too tough to admit you need help, Artemis it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends" BC explained, the younger blonde narrowed her eyes, she clenched her fingers on her arm and grinded her teeth together.
"I know that" She growled out.
"But you still keep secrets from them" Black Canary, stated the elephant in the room. Artemis eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"You WON'T tell them YOU CAN'T!" she screamed at her teacher.
"I won't but you should,you can start with you're not really Green Arrow's niece" She said, Artemis leaned back in her chair.
"Do you know what Wally would do with that?" She asked,leaning closer.
"Interesting, so Wally is the one you're most concerned about?" Canary asked.
*outside*
"Um Wally" Robin hesitantly walked to his best friend.
"Yea Rob?" Wally asked, his heart was beating a mile a minute.
"In the mothership, right before we died,you kissed me….why?" Robin asked him unsure of if he wanted the answer, he hasn't thought about how he feels about Wally. His life is go to school as Dick Grayson and fight crime as Robin there was no middle.
"I…...I…..I" Wally dumbly answered, he couldn't think of any reason. He had no idea why he kissed Robin, but in his last moments, that's all he wanted to do. He was more sure, than he'd ever been in his life, but they didn't die. They were alive here, dealing with that awkward situation.
"You?" Robin asked,motioning for the boy to continue.
"I need some popcorn" Wally impulsively said, he used his super speed, to run into the zeta tubes, before Robin could even blink.
"RECOGNIZE KID FLASH B03" The computer announced his departure. Artemis exited the room and made her way to the zeta tubes,a look of pure annoyance on her face.
"RECOGNIZE ARTEMIS B07" The computer announced the archer's departure from the cave. Kaldur walked into the room, wanting to get his therapy session over with.
"Robin,I know what happened" M'gann said. He stared into her amber eyes before looking away.
"I know you're dating Conner" He said,the two chuckled at each others information.
"I think,Wally is confused, it's obvious you two are closer to each other than anyone else on the team but maybe he feels more" she insinuated.
"And you don't care we're two guys?" Robin asked her skeptically.
"On Mars that's not very uncommon, we're shape shifters, so any organs we need we can just make" M'gann explained her culture. Robin raised an eyebrow and looked away, he just learned something new about martian mating.
"But do you like boys?" M'gann asked. Robin actually had to consider this, he's never really thought about it before. He thought girls were attractive especially Barbara and Zatanna, he just never saw himself as straight or gay.
"that is an excellent question" he said to the green skinned girl,shoving his hands in his pockets.
*The Room*
"I was the general,but behaved like a soldier,sacrificed myself, I am not fit for command I must resign as team leader" Kaldur belittled himself.
"And who do you suggest take your place?" Black Canary asked raising an eyebrow.
"Artemis is to raw and untrusting, Kid Flash to rash and impulsive, Miss Martian remains to eager to please ,Superboy carries too much anger" Kaldur listed off his options.
"Leaving Robin as the only,Logical choice" Canary stated.
"He's so young" Kaldur wrote the boy wonder off.
"Kaldur….you're all young" Canary stated.
"I cannot shift this burden to him,not yet, It appears I must withdraw my resignation" Kaldur leaned back into the chair.
*living room*
"RECOGNIZE KID FLASH B03" The computer announced Wally's arrival in the cave. He held a big bowl of popcorn close to his chest, he threw popcorn into air and caught it in his mouth. He glanced over to the couch noticing M'gann and Robin laughing with one another. Wally felt a sudden rage deep inside him, he sped over to the couch squeezing in between them.
"Hey what are we talking about" Wally asked enthusiastically, he gave the martian a slight glare. Pieces of popcorn flew from his mouth into Robin's face.
"Say it don't spray it Kid Mouth" Robin brushed popcorn off his face. Wally gave him a huge smile leaning in slightly. Robin backed up slightly, a pink color covering his pale cheeks.
"Um Wally?" Robin asked,a look of realization covered Wally's features. Kaldur exited the room Black Canary was in and towards the Zeta tubes.
"Recognize Aqualad B02" the computer announced his departure from the cave.
"I'm….gonna….bye" Wally stuttered, he sped into the therapy room. Robin glanced over to the female Martian, she had a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Don't say it" he growled.
"He totally likes you" M'gann sang,Robin ran his hands down his face and let out a frustrated groan.
"I really hope Conner okay" M'gann sighed, Robin patted her back.
"It's Superboy,he's tough" he reassured her. Unknown to both he was currently with aliens from New Genesis.
*Room*
"You want me to believe, after everything you went through,including your own death by fiery explosion, you're peachy" Canary asked sarcastically.
"I'm fairly certain I never use the word peachy" Wally says through mouthful of popcorn.
"But I think you got the point" he smiled at her, the ginger laid in the seat, his feet resting on the headboard.
"So you have no interest in confronting,your extreme reaction to Artemis death?, or the fact that in your last moments you kissed Robin?" Black Canary asked raising an eyebrow, Wally choked on his popcorn and quickly sat up coughing up kernels.
"I'd rather talk about you,babe" Wally shot her a smile recovering from his coughing fit.
"Wally you're in denial" she said to him with a deadpan expression.
"I'm comfortable with that" He smiled continuing his feast of buttered popcorn.
*outside*
Robin glanced around the empty living room, Superboy and Wolf went in first, than Artemis than Aqualad. They all ended up storming out of the base, that's not giving him any high hopes that this session will help. Although to be real, Superboy and Artemis are both bad when it comes to emotions. Aqualad keeps it together most of the time but even he is hurting right now. Knowing Wally he'll avoid the topic all together,act like there isn't even an issue.
Heck that's literally all he's been doing with their kiss. The wait gave Robin a good chance to reflect on his life. Raised in the circus until he was 8,orphaned at 9 and adopted by billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, and became Robin. There never been any room for dating, he's only 13, him and Wally have been friends since he became Robin. Wally's the only one on the Team to know his true identity.
He always did feel better when the speedster was around.
"Robin?" M'gann's sweet voice pulled him out of his day dream.
"mind going first?, I need to mentally prepare myself" she smiled at him, the boy wonder nodded at her, he stood and took a deep breath entering the room. Black Canary glanced at him and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Robin,come in have a seat please" she pointed towards the chair across from her. He nervously took a seat.
"I know you must be hurting" she started the conversation, he gave her a look of disbelief.
"Hurting? Try traumatized, I finally become leader and end up sending all my friends to their deaths, I know I did what I had to do,but I hated it" Robin sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"That's not even the worse of it,you can't tell Batman" he said glancing up at her.
"nothing leaves this room" she reassured the young hero.
"I always wanted,expected to grow up and becomes him, and the hero bit I'm still all in, but the thing inside of him,the thing that drives him to sacrifice everything for the mission, it's not me, I don't want to be the Batman anymore" Robin stared at the blonde. She sat there shocked at his revelation, never in a million years did she think the ward of Batman would open up so much.
*Gotham*
Artemis quickly wrote down equations in her notebook.
"no that's a prime number so it can't go into, ugh forget this" she tossed the book across the room. The archer laid back on her bed satisfied with the book being far enough away. Her phone rang indicating that she got a message. Artemis picked up the piece of technology and turned on screen.
"Message from Baywatch…., what the heck does Wally want?" she asked herself.
"Hey Arty, can we talk please…..meet me at Star Labs" she read the text out loud.
"what could he possibly want?" she wondered to herself.
*Mount Justice*
"It's all my fault,Hello Megan" M'gann hit herself in the head.
"Who else could take a simple exercise and turn it into a nightmare that terrorizes everyone she cares about" Canary's blue eyes widen, she was shocked to see the martian's green skin turn caucasian.
"you've turned white" she stated M'gann eyes widen, she shot up panic all over her features.
"NO!" she screamed, nearly hysterical, this caused Black Canary to jump back in her seat.
"Oh you mean caucasian" M'gann calmed down, she took a seat.
"I'm fine being Megan but,I can't be trusted to use my other powers" the martian girl sighed, she looked down brushing her hair behind her ear.
"M'gann you're a martian,not using your natural abilities is like, me refusing to speak, which by the way I tried for a while after my very first canary cry nearly deafened my entire 1st grade class" She shared a bit of her history with M'gann.
"I get how you feel,but not being yourself, is never the answer and won't make your feelings of guilt go away, learn from what happened your uncle would be happy to train you,practice until you gain control and regain your confidence" Canary encouraged the teen.
*Star labs*
"Why am I here West?" Artemis asked crossing her arms, the speedster fidgeted.
"Wow Wally I've never seen you this nervous, what's up?" she asked concerned.
"Artemis I need you to kiss me" Wally practically begged.
"Are you high? What the hell Wally" she glared at him.
"Artemis please, it's just….I'm so confused right now" Wally said tears forming in his eyes.
"Are you crying?, wow wow wow" She grabbed his hand and guided him to sit at a table.
"What's going on with you?" she asked, concern filling her voice.
"Artemis….I like you…...but in the training exercise right before I died I kissed someone…." Wally said tears streaming down his face.
"what you kissed M'gann? Dude I'm sure she'll forgive you" The archer started, she noticed how he shook his head when she said M'gann. Okay Superboy and Aqualad are an automatic no same goes for Martian Manhunter. A look of realization crossed her features.
"You…. like. ….Robin" she gasped stuttered out, he stared at her. He gave her a slight nod signalling that she's correct.
"I feel weird, like a freak" Wally sobbed harder, Artemis held his hands tightly.
"Wally when I met you, you had on swim trunks and sunscreen, you've always been a weirdo to me baywatch" she smirked, suddenly her face got serious.
"But you're not a freak because you like Robin" She stated gripping his hands tighter, he smiled at her warmly.
*Mount Justice*
"Here's the ugly truth, I wasn't devastated, even with Superman,Tornado, you the whole League dead, even though I didn't save Wolf,watched Artemis and Kaldur die abandoned M'gann I felt at peace" he stated a shocked expression covered the super heroine features.
"See, from the first moment I opened my eyes, in that cadmus pod the only thing I wanted, and feared was to know what it's like to be Superman and I knew, so I was happy, everyone I care about dead and I'm happy, how do I get past the guilt of that?" Conner asked.
"I don't have any easy answers, but one thing is clear, admitting it is the first step" she said placing a hand on his knee. He stared into her blue eyes sadly.