Ages: Cameron is 24 and Artemis is 22.
A/N: This is it. I'm sure at some point in the future, I'll re-read this entire fic and go "goodness, why didn't I proofread for errors more?" That will not be today though.
Forward
Winter, End of Team Year 7
For the most part, almost the entirety of the Starling University campus was quiet, with a few exceptions: The occasional soon-to-be graduate taking last second pictures in their graduation gowns. The random faculty member scurrying to and from their offices. The completely lost family member, sure that they're in the wrong part of campus and not much else. Still, in comparison to the normal hustle and bustle, the place felt like a ghost town.
That all changed when Cameron finally made it to the grand outdoor theatre, the hosting site of the graduation ceremony. It was a picture of chaos, with a sea of guests surging back and forth as they jostled for seats, looked for bathrooms, and dashed back to their cars for missing things. The contingent of graduates, donning the dark green university colors, were off to the side, waiting for the notice to get in formation. A few friends and family members milled around them, darting around for their honored graduate.
Undeterred by the crowd size, Cameron kept a mobile gaze, scanning with purpose as he strode over to the area of the graduates. By the big tree he recalled. The description did little to help, as the few trees near the graduates all seemed abnormally large to him. Seemed to be a design that the campus was going for.
Still, he kept searching.
It took several minutes and a few false calls, but he finally spotted who he was looking for and once he caught wind of her, she stood out like a sore thumb: The flowing blonde locks seemed to merge with her gold stole, itself littered with various honors and accomplishments she'd achieved during her studies. True to her word, she was standing next to an enormous tree, even compared to the others around it.
She didn't seem him approach, her focus solely on adjusting the stole around her neck and shoulders.
"You look great," he announced, introducing his presence.
Artemis looked up, a grin on her face. "Thanks. I was worried I might not see you until after the whole ceremony was done."
"Hard to miss the bright gold locks Rapunzel," he answered cheekily. "But where is everyone else?"
She shrugged, which caused her stole to move again. "I saw some of the Team here earlier, but I think a lot of them are just slipping in and out. Sounds like a bunch of them have a mission to catch. Dinah also called. Her and Ollie are stuck off-world until tomorrow, but she sent her love. And I ran into Jade earlier, but she had to take Lian to the bathroom and I haven't seen her since. She told me to look out to my left front side, about 7-10 rows deep. Apparently that's where everyone will be."
"We could reserve seats?" Cameron asked, vaguely wondering if he should have paid more attention to the commencement schedule.
"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p'.
"Then how-"
"I don't think either of us want to know," Artemis answered, starting to fiddle with her stole again. No matter how she moved it, the fabric seemed insistent on defying her will. Cameron reached out behind her to adjust it himself, moving her hair out of the way and fastening the stole properly.
"There, perfect," he said softly.
"Thanks," she answered, squeezing his arm quickly in gratitude. "I'm sorry I've been ghosting you. How have you been?"
"I don't think it's ghosting if you tell everyone in your contact list don't call you if someone isn't dying," he replied. "And besides, I saw you yesterday."
"Hardly counts. I didn't even have time to ask you about your apartment hunt. I really liked some of the pictures you sent of the last few places. Have you made a choice on what you wanna go with?" she asked.
"Not yet. Been thinking about going for a two-bedroom."
"Yeah?" she asked curiously. "Why's that?"
"You never know. It's always nice to have extra space," he said, shrugging as if that was all there was to it.
Artemis raised an eyebrow, unconvinced by his explanation. "That'll be a bit pricey."
"Pfft, do you know much cash I've got stored in….totally legal off shore bank accounts?" Cameron said, correcting himself considering the crowd around them. "Besides, I might get a spot closer to your mom, and with all that extra space I can convince you to do a bunch of your grading as a TA at my place next year, instead of us sitting around this campus all day."
"I told you, I haven't decided if I'm coming back yet. I'm still considering a gap year," she replied.
"Riiiight," he said, heavy skepticsm in his tone.
The sound system came to life, blaring instructions loudly. "Graduates start lining up by your college! Follow the signs! Again, graduates start lining up!"
"You ready Rapunzel?" Cameron asked.
"I'm tired. Exhausted. Ready to sleep for like three days, wake up to check my final grades, and then go back to sleep for another three days," she answered.
"So you're ready," he replied.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she conceded, smoothing down her stole and adjusting her cap one last time.
"You're gonna kill it," Cameron said.
"Thanks Frostbite," Artemis replied, squeezing his arm one more time and shooting him a smile before joining the moving crowd. Cameron watched her disappear into the sea of green gowns before turning and embarking on his second search of the day.
Alright. Time to find everybody else.
...
"Hey!" Zatanna exclaimed, catching Cameron completely off guard. "Where are you sitting? A group of us have some seats towards the back. We're gonna watch Artemis cross the stage and then we've gotta head back for our 'extracurricular' activities."
"Where did you even come-, you know what, never mind," Cameron replied, noting the playful grin on the magician's face. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm looking for Jade and the rest of the crew."
"Ooooh, family man," she said with a knowing smirk, though Cameron wasn't exactly sure what she knew. "I saw them sitting closer to the stage. Catch you later!"
Zatanna waved goodbye and seemingly melted back into the crowd as fast as she appeared, leaving Cameron to keep making his way to the front. He kept an eye out towards the first few rows, hoping that the family group would be rowdy enough to stick out.
"Junior! Over here popsicle boy!" The un-mistakeable judgement of Jade's voice cut through the air. Cameron simply turned his line of sight towards the sound, his eyes landing ona frantically waving Will. Besides him, Jade had already turned her attention elsewhere, apparently too disinterested to follow up with further taunting.
Yup, looks about right Cameron thought, making his way over to the group. Will & Jade were accompanied by Lian between them, with the other two harper brothers sitting next to Will. Paula sat towards the end of the row, in a wheelchair friendly area, and patted the empty seat next to her as Cameron approached. "Happy you could make it."
"Sorry I'm late, got turned around earlier."
Paula waved it away as insignificant. "Did you have a chance to talk to Artemis?"
"Yes ma'am," he answered.
"Mmm. Good. She seemed stressed this morning, so I'm sure that helped."
"I don't know how much good I was able to do," Cameron commented.
"I do," Paula replied with certainty. In front of them, someone clad in multi-colored academic garb made their way to the stage to start the first of many speeches.
Cameron spent most of the ceremony largely zoned out. After a lifetime of listening to villainous monologuing and superhero lecturing, listening to various academics drone on and on about how proud they were and how the students should take this time to appreciate themselves was boring as all hell. He found his time better served making weird faces with Lian, who quickly locked into the game with her own goofy faces, while pretending he didn't notice Jade shooting him fake-annoyed glares.
He zoned back in when they started to call up the graduates by name. They were going in alphabetical order, so it wasn't long before Artemis was called up.
When she made her way towards the stage, Cameron stood up to shout, but was temporarily stunned into silence by the unholy noises that Paula, Jade, Lian, and the Harper brothers started making at the same time. The combined ratchet was so loud that he was only barely able to catch the end of her introduction.
"-with distinction, Artemis Lian Crock!"
He managed at least one garbled celebratory scream before she was done crossing the stage.
...
When they finally managed to get ahold of Artemis after the end of the ceremony, there was a lot of hugging and crying – mostly from Paula, though Artemis may or may not have a shed a tear – and passing but firm congratulations from friends who promised to catch up later but clearly wanted to give the family space. For his part, Cameron spent most of the time milling around the edges with a goofy smile on his face.
"Okay, let's get a family picture and hit the road or we'll be stuck in traffic forever," Will said in his dad voice, one eye on the growing traffic que forming in the parking lot.
"Here, I'll take a picture," Cameron offered.
"Actually, I got you," came a familiar voice from behind him. Cameron turned back to see Dick Grayson, clad in a hoodie and sunglasses, giving him a signature mega-watt smile.
"Perfect. You, get in here already!" Roy called out, grabbing Cameron by the arm mid-thought and dragging him into the group, apparently completely unfazed by the arrival of the Gotham hero. No one else seemed to be particularly surprised by it either, so Cameron chose to act similarly unbothered, even if he wasn't sure if Nightwing & Tigress were still entirely back on the best terms.
That train of thought got lost in all the jostling and shuffling, and some how Cameron found himself shoved right next to Artemis, who was flanked by Jade on her other side. Will kneeled next to Paula in front of them, with Lian sitting in her grandmother's lap, and both Harper brothers standing next to Cameron.
"Alright, alright, I'm going to take a few shots at some different angles. Trust me, you get enough pictures taken of you and learn a thing or two about paparazzi," Dick joked. It earned a groan from the Harper brothers and a tired eyeroll from Artemis as he started snapping away.
"Are any of these going to be good?" Cameron whispered to Artemis.
"Probably not," she whispered back.
"Hey, smiles wide and eyes here!" Dick called out, gesturing with his fingers.
"I'd rather look somewhere else," Roy joked, elbowing Jim.
"Shut up so we can focus on the picture," Jade told him.
"Guys," Artemis warned, her tone leaving no room for discussion as Dick kept snapping away.
"Lots of candid pics here, not sure if any of these are feeling the -aster though," Dick commented, though it was not clear how he could be sure since he hadn't taken the time to review any of the pictures he was continously snapping.
"Feeling the what?" Cameron asked Artemis quietly, still a stranger to Dick's mangling of the English language.
"I thought I said shut up," Jade snapped.
"Enough," Paula cut in. "We need a countdown to make sure that Lian, and everyone else, is looking at the camera. Richard, if you could be so kind."
"You got in Ms. Nguyen," he replied, re-adjusting his angle. "Alright, final countdown coming. You ready Lian?"
The young girl nodded furiously, face scrunched up in serious concentration as if she was embarking on an important mission.
Behind Paula & Lian, Cameron started to slowly rub his hands against one another, picking up the pace almost immediately.
"Alright, I'm going to start!" Dick called out.
Cameron clenched his fists and brought each one up to his mouth in alternating fashion to rapidly breathe into them, a move that Artemis recognized immediately.
"3!" Dick said, starting his countdown.
"Hey Cam," Artemis whispered quietly, leaning every so slightly in his direction.
"Yes?" he exhaled, in between breaths.
"2!"
"The next one's for the scrap book," she whispered, tearing her eyes away from the camera to give him a knowing look.
"1!"
Cam matched her glance with a grin, as if to say way ahead of you.
"Cheese!" Dick & Lian screamed out at the same time as Cameron threw his arms up in sync with the flash.
Later, they would all agree that was the best picture: A smiling family, surrounding their graduate as faint hues of green, purple, and yellow snow crystals danced around them, reminiscent of the aurora borealis lights. At the center of the picture: Two young people staring knowingly at one another, ready to take on the future. Together.
The End
A/N: And there you have it. This is a story about Artemis & Cameron growing up together, drifting apart, and eventually finding their way back to each other. Thirteen years after they first met, their future, just like their past, will undoubtedly be closely interwoven. What that looks like is left up to the reader to decide. For me, for this story, ending it here feels right.
For those who read, reviewed, or otherwise interacted with this story: Thanks for inspiring to me to keep coming back and adding to this. This started as something to pass the time during lockdown. I thought it would be ten, maybe fifteen chapters to get some some of my pent up fanon out there but nothing I'd explore much deeper than that. You guys are the reason I kept coming back.
For more, better Cam/Art works, check out some of the older fics from WriteOnForever and Cafeanna. My favorites are under my Favorite Stories list.
Much love!
-Soberfrost.
