Their 'dalliances' as they snidely referred to them, hadn't been a regular thing. Not really. It had started innocently enough (or perhaps 'innocently' wasn't quite the right word to use?). They had just been swimming together, on the beach, in the early hours of the morning when they collapsed onto their beach blankets and just sat, watching the sun come up. They hadn't been lying together, not really, so it was a bit of a stretch for Artemis to reach over and trace her hand lightly down his chest and over his stomach. "Your civvies really don't do you justice Baywatch," she'd noted. "Such a pity all this is hidden under those massive shirts you wear."

And he's smirked and waggled his eyebrows and said, "Hey, who needs shirts if I've got a gorgeous babe who wants to stare at me all day long?" And she'd been sitting on a very lovely snide comment to accompany it, but his chest was warm and wet and his tongue was tracing the edges of his lips, cringing when they tasted the saltwater, and really, there wasn't far for them to go to start getting naked. So instead she kissed him, and her fingers traced the outline of his manhood over the swim trunks and she could feel him getting excited.

She'd wondered, afterwards why it was that people always wanted to do it on a beach, because really, it was very cold and the water had started to lap at them and sand had gotten everywhere. But the sunrise had been such a lovely accompaniment and he'd been so warm and gentle and sweet, that she supposed really, it wasn't so bad as far as first times went.


The team is seated around the table while M'gann serves up the food. Roast potatoes, fried chicken, and fluffy rice - a veritable feast. At least, Wally thinks, her cooking gets exponentially better the more often she tries it. He's already digging into it, offering a very unintelligible "Thank you" as she sits. Robin is engaged in some sort of heated debate with Kaldur, and Superboy, Artemis and M'gann are all talking idly about the way M'gann's gotten adjusted to life on Earth. He's already started on his second helping when he feels it, and his leg jerks up under the table and bangs, hard, into the underside. The food jumps an inch in the air and everyone turns to look at him, as he mutters a hasty "Sorry." He knows it's her just by the way her mouth twitches upwards in a sly smile at his discomfort. Her hand is still on his crotch, even when she turns around and resumes conversation.

He tries to continue eating, he really does, but it's just so goddamn distracting, and his pace starts to slow and eventually, Robin turns over and looks at him, concerned. "Dude, are you okay? You're barely eating." And this one comment elicits so much attention from the table that he can't stand it and he bangs his head down.

"Forgot to chew KidIdiot?" He can hear the teasing lilt in her voice, and he looks up to glare at her. The flash of heat in his eyes makes him flush, and really, this is all her fault, isn't it? It's all he can do to choke out a resentful, "Mind your own business!" She just coolly lifts an eyebrow and stares at him, and he has to look away again. He can hear Robin cackling as he tries to down his glass of water, whispering something along the lines of, "Hit the nail on the head, didn't she?"

After dinner is over and the team has dispersed, he stalks over to her room ready to tear into her for doing that at the dinner table, and to demand she not do it again. He's stopped though, when he gets inside, by the sight of her emerging from the washroom clad in nothing but a very short fluffy white towel, her golden strands curling around her, heavy with moisture. He swallows and shuts the door quickly behind him while she smiles, laughter evident in her face.

He leaves in the middle of the night, careful to shut the door quietly behind him and retreat to his own room. He knows in the morning Robin's going to jump him, and if he's found to be in her room – he winces at the thought of his best friend knowing what goes on behind closed doors.

He remarks later, to himself, that he never remembered to tell her off. It doesn't matter, he supposes, since he doesn't really mind all that much after all.


They've started getting careless again – a terrible pattern that she's noticed of their . . . relationship. She isn't even really sure what to call it; it's not something they've ever discussed in so many words. He still slips out of her room in the middle of the night – less likely chance of intrusion – but she's always really wanted to spend at least one full night together with him. She doesn't think she'll get the chance, but Fate is a little bit unpredictable.

The team is split up tonight. Aqualad has a ceremony to attend to in Atlantis, and Superboy and M'gann have opted to go on a camping trip offered them by a very hesitant Superman. Robin is, as ever, with the Batman, so they have the mountain to themselves for the night. It's strange, and quiet.

They started out watching television. It wouldn't have progressed much farther than that, but they were finally, MERCIFULLY alone,and they knew chances like this were one in a million. She could hear the subtle breaths he took, saw the way he let his hand fall, open, so close to hers. Really, he should just man the hell up, but she took it anyway, and the way his lips quirked upwards in a smile made her chest warm. Eventually, tired as she was with this whole stupid charade, she'd just up and sat on his lap, snuggling against his admittedly very nice chest

The television is really just background noise at this point. Lips crashing against lips and skin, fingers tearing at clothes, aching to get so much closer – she knows they are perilously close to losing it right on the couch. She shudders though, at the thought of doing it here – she certainly wouldn't like to sit here if this was somewhere M'gann and Conner had ever gotten it on. She pulls back, albeit reluctantly, and notices the measured disappointment in his eyes. A quick kiss at the corner of his mouth, and then she's pulling him by the belt loops towards his room.

He starts, because they've never done it in here before, and really, he hasn't been expecting it, so it's a bit of a mess. He grabs their clothes and throws them on a chair in the corner of his room, making her wait by the bed while he tidies up. She doesn't mind so much, it isn't like it takes him any time at all, but she misses the feeling of his skin against hers, and she playfully sticks her foot out as he comes past, sending him sprawling on the bed.

"Still tripping over yourself, I see," she teases, crawling on top of him. He mock-glares reproachfully at her, even as her lips are hovering just over his. "It's your fault you know," he points out. "You're just such a distraction."

And then there isn't really anymore space for talking at all, because they're so engrossed by each other, so occupied, that their minds are getting hazy and it is becoming very, very hard to focus. Underwear is strewn all over the place, and by the end of it they're breathing heavily, and they're flushed and tired and so happy that they just throw whatever they want on under the covers, and revel in the warmth of each other.


It's morning, and the first thing she notices is warm arms around her waist, and the smell of pine and peppermint and boy, and it's all just so Wally that she doesn't bother opening her eyes. But then she hears a cackle, and her mind flashes briefly to Robin, and honestly, he doesn't belong in this picture at all. The warmth is suddenly gone, and the rush of cold air under the blanket is so intrusive and unwelcome that her eyes shoot open and she stares, questioningly at a muscled, lightly freckled back.

He's blocking the doorway, and she can hear him mumbling something to someone – Robin it must be, and god it's just so cold without him and she's still so sleep-muddled and tired and really, what the hell Robin, what time is it even? It takes her a moment to realize that there is a very good reason for her not to want Robin to see her here, but then she notices a sugary sweet smell, and the dripping maple syrup on his skin, combined with the feathers floating lightly to stick there, and she gives a short snort of amusement.

The talking immediately stops, and she can see his shoulders tense.

Robin peers at her from behind his back, and she can see even now that Wally's too stiff to move. Robin's face is flushed in a surprised 'Oh-mother-of-Batman-what-the-hell-is-going-on-here' expression, and it's both amusing and humiliating, so she simply raises an eyebrow and points to the door. Wally turns around, and his face flushes, and he's at her side in a flash (Ha, a Flash! she thinks, giddy), and he pulls her shirt – or his rather – up by the shoulders, leaning in to whisper, "Running a little low there, gorgeous." And she notices more with a resigned sigh than anything else, that his shirt had been starting to slip a little bit off her chest, and she runs a hand through her loose blonde hair and mutters, "Thanks."

Then she turns to Robin and motions for him to get the hell out of here. He turns to his friend and asks what should be a redundant question but really isn't. "Are you guys dating or what?"

And he pauses because really, he's not sure, and he wants to be and are they even? And he just blurts out "Yeah."

Wally stops him as he's leaving, whispering a very rushed, "Don't say a word," to him as he steps into the hall. And then he's back in the room, and they're just staring at each other, and, despite the mortification of what just happened, he does look fantastic, so she smiles and starts to laugh. He looks down at his feathered arms and groans and she just shakes her head and walks over, licking some syrup from his ear. "I think we need a shower, Sweets." And that's the closest she has ever come to a legitimate pet name for him, and it makes his heart start beating erratically, and she just drags him playfully over to his washroom and starts to undress.

"Wait," he starts, and she looks over at him, already naked, and it's taking all his self-control not to just rush over and start ravishing her right away. "Are we, you know, dating?"

And she thinks about it and she knows he's waiting on her answer because he's got that air of hopeful hopelessness about him, and it's so sweet and he's just so vulnerable and she can see that the pause is making him so restless. But he stays quiet, and she's impressed at the very least, so she walks over and licks his chest and tugs on his boxers, and she's satisfied by a very low moan. "I'm serious," he pants, and she smiles. "You have to buy me dinner first, sailor." And really, she knows she's using it a little bit backwards, but it's alright, isn't it, and anyway they both know what she means.

He smiles against her lips and mutters something about this place with amazing pasta, and she laughs and herds him into the shower and she must admit it is one of the most enjoyable showers she has ever had the good fortune to experience.

When they walk into the dining room, of course, they're bombarded by questions from the assembled team, and they look as confused and innocent as possible, saying, that really, everyone already knew didn't they? And wasn't it Robin in the first place who told them to get a room? And if everyone already knew, what difference did it make if they said it or not? And she can see the light in M'gann's eyes and the amusement (and slight discomfort) in Robin's and she laughs and thinks that this is nice. Wally's hand shyly finds its place in hers, and while it's foreign and odd, it's also really very pleasant, and she marvels at how one of the fastest men alive can make the world stop.


It isn't until later, as she's getting ready for their first real date, that the thought comes barrelling to the forefront of her mind, unbidden. She's closing off all her options; leaving almost no room to manoeuvre and no room to escape. She can tell that soon, he's going to be a permanent fixture in her mind, and that all the paths she takes after this will only ever lead back in one direction. She wants so badly for that to be okay, for this to just be something she can count on, something wonderful and warm and real. She closes her eyes and squeezes them as tightly shut as she possibly can, because she doesn't want to be thinking this – not now. But there's that one dark alleyway in the corner of her mind that she knows she will never be able to push out, or brick up or destroy, no matter what she does. And she wants to bury it so badly because all paths lead back in one direction. But then the doorbell rings, and she knows he's standing on the other side, probably nervous as hell and a little bit uncomfortable, and the thought of his face creased with worry or flushed with nerves is so sweet it warms her heart and calms her down, and she thinks damnit, she can let herself be happy. And even as her hands are closing around the cool metal of the doorknob, she knows that anway, as long as he's with her, happy is the only place she can be.