A/N: I'm back! And it's time for your next installment of...S.S. Justice!
I wasn't really clear last chapter about Jason's age and I'm really sorry, he's fifteen, almost sixteen, a few months younger then the others since they are all sixteen in this. Sorry that I didn't mention that earlier. Read and Review, tell me your thoughts. I love to hear from you guys. If you have any sort of suggestion for this story, feel free to tell me. Anyone have an idea what is going to happen with Artemis' dear old dad? I promise that it will be interesting.
Disclaimer: Young Justice will never belong to me, this is just for fun and to show my love of the show!:)
Finally
Wally stood besides Conner and Dick, looking over the edge of the boat at the people below. The three of them had just gotten off of work. Their job of the day had unfortunately been cleaning duty, Wally's least favorite job. He could just barely keep his room in order and they wanted him to clean an entire cruise ship? It was done now though, leaving him plenty of time to get excited for sailing.
"Guys, this is going to be so much fun." Wally tells his friends for the millionth time since they had got off work twenty minutes ago.
"We know." Conner says.
"Yeah. Why are you so excited about this again? I mean I enjoy sailing but clearly not as much as you." Dick comments.
"Um...well...It's Artemis' first time so it'll be fun to see her fail at something for once." Wally lies. Dick and Conner exchange a look. "What, she's like good at everything."
"That is true. But I'm pretty sure there is something else to it." Conner says, grinning.
"The wind, the gentle lull of the waves, the sunset, Artemis in a bikini." Dick trails off. Wally realizes what his friends were saying.
"No way! What are you guys talking about? Artemis and I are just friends." Wally insists. Of course, they didn't need to know how he would like to change that status. Somehow in the two months that he had known her, she had grown on him. He couldn't imagine what he had done before he met her. She was a part of his life, almost like his left arm.
"Sure." Conner simply responds and Dick cackles.
"You guys are really annoying you know that?" Wally states.
"Really? Then why are you still hanging out with us? Hey, maybe we should go find Artemis." Dick asks. Wally's cheeks turn almost as red as his hair. He spins around and walks away.
"He is definitely feeling pretty chalant." Dick comments.
"Chalant? Do I even want to ask?" Conner asks his shorter friend.
"Zatanna and I came up with it, opposite of nonchalant." Dick says sadly.
"Dude, have you still not fixed things with her yet?"
"What is there to fix, everything is fine." Conner rolls his eyes.
"You don't honestly believe that do you?"
"No..."
"Good, I guess you are not such an idiot about girls." Conner says with a smile. "You know, you and Zatanna are a lot like Wally and Artemis. You guys are always hanging out with each other and she doesn't like it when you ask if you think you can get another girl's phone number..." Conner trails off as Dick face palms.
"She was annoyed with me because I wanted to get the other girl's phone number."
"Yeah, I mean you two were practically about to start dating and then you did that."
"I need to go talk to her, like right now. You alright here Con?" Dick asks.
"Yeah. I'll probably go see how Megan and Kaldur are doing with those towels." Conner says with a smile. "By the way, I'm pretty sure Zatanna, Jason, and Artemis were working the dining shift."
With that, Dick took off. Conner watched his friend go, a rare smile on his face. He never once in his life thought he was going to be the one giving relationship advice. Spotting familiar red hair besides short blonde hair, Conner walked away from the spot. He would know later how successful Dick was.
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"Zatanna!" Artemis looked up from the table she was clearing to see Dick running into the dining hall. A few heads turned, but most of the passengers were absorbed in their own conversations and didn't notice. Artemis spotted Zatanna look up from where she was taking the order of an elderly couple. She looked at Dick in confusion, but finished getting her order.
Artemis looked over to where Jason was talking with Barbara. She walked over and joined them; the two of them were also watching the exchange going on.
"Shouldn't you be working?" Artemis asks Jason. He looks up with a grin.
"Shouldn't you?"
"Touché." The three of them watch as Dick approaches Zatanna. She says hi and gives a small smile before turning to walk towards kitchen, Dick follows.
"Finally." Barbara states. "All he ever talks about is Zatanna, it's about time he fixes things with her." Artemis nods in agreement.
"Guys, it wasn't entirely his fault." Jason says. Artemis looks over at him in confusion. "What? Barbara caught me up. But that isn't the point, its not like he and Zatanna were dating so it's not a big deal."
"They flirted with each other constantly and totally had it for each other, they were practically dating." Artemis argues.
"Still. They didn't ever say they were dating." Jason inserts.
"Guys, they are disappearing into the kitchen. Damn it." Barbara says, the other two look at her. "What? I wanted to see them kiss finally." Jason and Artemis laugh at that and Barbara quickly joins.
"I'm sure we'll hear about it from Zatanna later." Artemis says, turning to Barbara. "You should go do something fun. As for us," Artemis grabs Jason. "We have work to do."
"Hey, what's that for?" Jason asks incredulously.
"We have a job. And despite what you clearly think, your job is not to flirt with Barbara." Artemis tells him, smiling when the boy's cheeks turned slightly red.
"Whatever." He says trying to brush it off and roll his eyes. "Think what you want."
Artemis watches as he walks away, trying hard not to laugh.
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"And then we kissed!" Zatanna announces. The other four girls cheer and smile at their friend. Megan squeals and hugs the ebony haired girl.
"Finally." Raquel proclaims. "Hey, you think they need any help?" The five girls turn to where the guys were wrestling with trying to pull up two small sailboats onto the sand.
"Why would we do that? It's so much more fun to see them struggle." Barbara says with a mischievous grin. She pulls out her cell phone and takes a picture of Dick tripping over his own feet and landing face first on the beach.
"Do I even want to know what that is for?" Artemis asks.
"Leverage." Barbara announces.
"You two are creepy similar sometimes." Megan tells her.
"I guess that is just what happens when you've known someone for so long." Barbara says shrugging, taking a picture of a confused Jason staring at the sailboat, trying to figure out how to rig (1) it properly.
Finally after watching the boys struggle for another ten minutes, the girls got up to help them finish getting the two boats ready. Artemis was pretty clueless though, just doing whatever Kaldur told her to do. He was the expert boat person having grown up on an island and everything. When the boats were finally done, they decided who was going in which boat.
"Alright, so Conner, Megan, Kaldur, Raquel, and Jason will be in one boat and Barbara, Zatanna, Wally, Artemis, and I will be in another. We all happy with that?" Dick asks. Everyone else nods. Artemis looks to her right, spotting the giant cruise ship in the setting sun. "We should only go out for like an hour so that we can get back before dark."
"Yes. It is not wise to sail in the nighttime with out the proper safety precautions." Kaldur insists.
"Alright, thanks Kal." Dick says clamping his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's head out."
The eight of them all put on lifejackets and got into their boats. Dick went right ahead to steer his boat and Kaldur steered his. Artemis found a spot in the bow of the boat; she stuck her feet in the water, enjoying the wind in her hair.
"It's nice isn't it?" Wally asks, sitting besides her. Dick stood at the helm with Zatanna besides him, ready to take over. Apparently they had all taken lessons in Antigua before she joined them. Barbara wasn't very far from them, laughing at something Zatanna said. Across the water, they spotted their friends on the other boat.
"Yeah. I've never done this before, but its pretty fun." Artemis says with a smile.
"I aim to please." Wally says, earning him an eye roll from Artemis. They sat together in silence for a little while, laughing whenever a wave got high enough to get the two of them wet.
"You're it." Artemis says, kicking water at Wally. He laughs and does the same to Artemis. They did that for a few minutes. Artemis looked back towards the stern of the boat where Zatanna was steering. "You think they'll let me drive?"
"Its steer and I'm sure they would. Come on." Wally extends a hand to Artemis to help pull her up. She smiles and accepts and together the two of the walk back towards the back of the boat.
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"Dick, I dare you to strip and go swimming." Barbara says to Dick. Everyone laughs, as Dick's face turns red.
"Really Babs? What happened to our eight year long friendship?" Dick asks.
"Sorry. Now strip." Barbara says. Dick sighs and motions for everyone to turn around. They turn around when they hear Dick running towards the water. There is a splash in the dark and then a yelp.
"Why is it cold?" He asks, causing them all to laugh again. Behind them were the lights from the town, to their right was the lights from the boat, and above them were the stars, but on the beach, it was pretty dark. No one could see Wally's hand inching towards Artemis' across the sand, trying to work up his courage.
Dick ran out of the water, tugging on his boxers and shorts as he ran. He throws his t-shirt on and rejoins the group.
"That was terrible. Why are you so..." Dick says to Barbara, trailing off.
"Like you?" Conner asks.
"Similar to yourself." Kaldur asks.
"Awesome?" Raquel asks, high-fiving Barbara.
"Okay, my turn. Jason, truth or dare?" Dick asks his adopted brother.
"Truth." Jason says, surprising all of them who had been almost certain that he would choose dare.
"Um...okay...I'll go easy on you since your my brother now and all and I want you to be feeling the aster and all." Dick begins, thinking. "First impressions, on each of us, including Barbara."
Jason nods. "Okay, Conner, I thought you were a really tall guy with zero personality. Kaldur, I thought you looked like the peacekeeper of the group, I was right about that. Raquel, my first thought about you was that you reminded me of this girl I knew from Gotham North, I didn't like her so I wasn't sure what to think about you."
"Megan, you seemed a bit like a control freak, but you're actually alright. Zatanna, my first thought was that you were kind of hot. Wally, I thought you looked like a total nerd." Artemis laughs at that while Wally glared at her. "Artemis, my first thought was that you looked really familiar. Dick, you seemed like a goody two shoes and Barbara, I thought you were some really smart snobby girl, like everyone else at Gotham Academy. There."
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"Dude, you're not trying to put the moves on my girlfriend are you?" Dick asks smiling and everyone laughs. Jason who looked like he had been holding his breath, exhaled and smiled at the group.
"Okay my turn." Jason says with a wicked grin. "Artemis, truth or dare?"
"Dare." Artemis answered just like everyone knew she would. They had grown accustomed to her only doing truth when they made her and even then, she was as vague as possible with her answers.
"Oh, you're going to love this." Jason grins at her. "Kiss Wally."
"What?" Both teens asked in shock.
"Wait, you want me to kiss...him?" Artemis asks Jason. He nods in response. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Hey, I'll let you know that I am a very good kisser." Wally insists. Artemis sighs in annoyance.
"That is not the point Wallace." Artemis responds.
"Are you passing Artemis?" Raquel asks, raising her eyebrows.
"Um...well...no." Artemis admits, knowing that if she didn't kiss Wally they could ask her anything and she still... she didn't want them to know. It was stupid she knew it, but she still had the irrational fear that they were going to reject her as soon as they knew the truth. They would pity her too and everything would be different. She liked things just the way they were. Things were always changing in her life, for once could they just stay the same? Just for a little while?
"Alright, pucker up you two." Zatanna says with a grin. Artemis shoots a glare at her, but she turns to Wally. His face betrayed no emotion as he leaned over to kiss her. Artemis did the same, their lips meeting in the middle.
The kiss...it was...amazing. That was the only word that Artemis could use to describe it. Before she knew it, her arms were going around his neck and his arms were going around her waist to pull her closer. They continued to kiss, oblivious to all the others. They came up for air, finally noticing the smug looks of their friends.
"Guys I said kiss, not make out." Jason comments.
"What can I say, I have that affect on girls." Wally says with a grin. Artemis punches him in the shoulder. They go back to the game, pretending that nothing had happen. But in the darkness, nobody noticed the entwined hands of the red and blonde haired teens.
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He knew his youngest daughter visited his wife in prison. He doubted that she had stopped. He waited behind the crates, waiting for his opportunity to get in. He gave a malicious grin, knowing his wife was going to be in for quite the surprise.
A/N: They finally kissed! Yeah! Review and tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
1. Rigging means setting up the boat, just in case somebody didn't know that.
At the helm means that they are the ones steering the boat. Any other sailing terms you weren't sure about, feel free to ask me.