Disclaimer: I do no own Young Justice

Author's Note: Well… this is a lot longer than I expected it to be. And that was with me cutting out a hunk of the original outline for this chapter. I was planning around 3000 words because this was just the domestic stuff in the story, it didn't need to be long. Well, I guess I just got super into it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It has my favourite thing to write in it. It was just a lot of fun to write. Oh, while writing this, I realized I had completely forgotten to add Barry into this fic. I'm glad I remembered in time to actually add him in.

The phone went off right in his ear at five a.m., waking him up with a jolt. Wally groaned as he picked up the phone. He looked at the caller I.D. and had to resist the urge to throw his phone across his bedroom.

"What do you want?" he asked once he answered it. "It's five in the morning, this better be good."

"It is, well it's a good reason to call, the thing itself… Not so good. Dude," Dick said on the other end, "I'm really sorry but I've got to bail on our plans for today. I know I said we'd celebrate your birthday, but I just got called out on a mission."

"Oh…" Wally whispered. "That's cool, it's totally fine. The Agency comes first."

"I'm so sorry. I know you're already bummed your birthday's on a Monday, but apparently this is super important and Bruce is overseeing it himself," the boy explained.

"No, no, it's totally cool. We can always hang out after school tomorrow. Really, it's fine. Are you guys going to need help?" he asked, readjusting the blanket over his legs.

"Actually, yeah, if you're willing. Megan and Conner aren't going to be back from the Kent's farm, so if you can hang at the warehouse to run thing on that end…" Dick said nervously. He was very aware of his friend's dislike of being left behind.

"Sure, whatever. I don't have plans for today anymore, and this way I won't have to see relatives," Wally answered.

"Dude, you love your family," the boy over the phone laughed.

"Yeah, but I'm turning sixteen. Uncle Barry will try to make this huge deal out of it and Aunt Iris will definitely not take my side and then my parents," the ginger rattled on. "Not how I want to spend the day. Just dinner? Fine. But a whole day? No way."

"Well, we'll be glad to have you helping us," Dick said. "We're going to be leaving at around nine it looks like though I'm sure Bruce wants earlier. So I guess get down to the warehouse by eight if you can."

"Sure, no problem," he answered.

"Great! I'll see you there," and with the other end went silent.

Wally lay back down on his bed. Frowning, he tossed his phone to the end of it and looked up at his ceiling. He wanted to yell out his frustration but didn't want to make the morning worse than it already was; walking him mother this early would basically be a death wish. He sighed and rubbed his face with his good hand. He knew he should go back to sleep for at least an hour, but his head was buzzing.

Things had been weird since the out of town mission. There was the fact that somewhere in the Agency there was a mole and they had no idea who it was. From what Wally had heard from Dick, they had begun questioning every agent but it wasn't getting them anywhere. That, and the number of missions escalating; the ginger found he spent less and less time with his agent friends.

This also meant he was spending less time with Artemis and this bothered him the most, much to his best friend's delight, annoyingly. After their talk in the desert, he thought thing finally would have gotten better been them. He even thought that maybe things would start head in the direction of becoming really good friends, though he ignored the part of him that was hoping for even more than that. But now he rarely saw her, even at school the girl seemed to find excuses for why they couldn't spend time together. She stopped waiting around for him so they could walk home together. Two weeks had passed and Wally was beginning to wonder if he had done something stupid again.

Sighing, the boy got out of bed and stretched before making his way to the washroom, grabbing his towel as he left his room. He showered quickly and got dressed, throwing on whatever was lying on his messy floor. He tried to fix his hair up before heading downstairs to eat something.

"Wally, why are you up already?" his mother asked when he walked into the kitchen.

"Meeting up early with Dick. He wants to get an early start on Fringe so I can be home for dinner," he answered grabbing a pair of frozen waffles from the freezer. He put them in the toaster as he continued, "I know, crazy best friend, but I know dinner's important cause everyone's busy for my actual birthday."

"Well, as a way to make it up, we'll have a late dinner and we'll let you open your presents. Sound like a good idea?" she asked.

"Sounds perfect, Mom. I'll be home for seven. See you tonight," he said, kissing her cheek. He grabbed his waffles with a quick yelp before running out of the kitchen, ignoring his mother's call of no running in the house. He quickly put his shoes and jacket on with the waffles in his mouth and headed out the door.

The walk to the warehouse would take about an hour, though Wally made sure he had enough time to get there. He finished the waffles quickly and regretted not grabbing more food. He hoped that his friend would think ahead and stock up the warehouse with snacks, or else the ginger was going to be pissed. He grinned at the amount of money the Agency had to spend on food for him when on missions out of town. Wally's friends always wondered where all the food he at went.

The ginger arrived at the warehouse ten minutes early and was still the last to arrive. He walked over to the other teens, ignoring Dick's guardian standing at the computers nearby. Wally bumped fists with his younger friend while grinning at Artemis and Kaldur. The girl rolled her eyes and looked away. Before he could say anything, Bruce began to talk.

"Now that we're all here, I just want to remind everyone how a reconnaissance mission is supposed to work. Radio silence as much as possible, no actual contact with those being observed, and no reckless actions. Are we all on the same page?" the older agent asked, eyes rest on both Dick and Wally longer than the other two present. "We will be outside of LexCorp again today and for as long as I say. Any questions? No? Good, we leave in five minutes."

And with that the man made his way out of the warehouse. Wally sighed and made his way over to the computers. He smiled at the pile of chocolate bars near him, mentally thanking his friend for doing it. The ginger watched his friends get ready as he set up the computer and comm link. While he was nowhere near as good at using these as Dick, or even Megan and Conner, he was far from bad at it.

"Dude, we'll see you in awhile. I'll make sure that Bruce lets you go before you need to be home for dinner. And I definitely though I'd see you longer before we left," Dick called over to him as the three agents began to leave.

Wally nodded and sat down in the chair at the table. He watched his friends leave and sighed once he was alone. While he was always willing to help, he was relieved he wouldn't be seeing anyone today. He understood that the mission comes first, but it did make it harder to want to continue helping the Agency.

The ginger watched the computer as time passed. Every now and then he would get word from one of his friends or Bruce about the mission and he would pass on any information that they needed. Dick was definitely right; Wally really didn't like this part of working with agents.

Six o'clock came round and Wally was half asleep. Nothing had happened the whole day. The most exciting thing was when Dick and he were told of for playing word games over the comm and when he tried to get Artemis to talk to him, according to Bruce the comms weren't for personal use. Finally he was given the okay to leave from Dick's guardian for the day, and was told he didn't have to wait around for them to return. The boy cleaned up the mess of wrappers around him and left, somewhat disappointed. This was not the day he had had planned.

The walk home felt longer than the way over, filled occasionally by a next from his best friend apologizing for how the day turned out and how he would make up for it later. He got a couple other texts from Kaldur and from Megan and Conner, both hoping that the evening with his family went well and he got a lot of presents. He didn't hear one word from Artemis.

When he got home, his spirits immediately lifted when he saw his aunt and uncle through the living room window. He took back not wanting to spend a day with them, it would have been better than what he had been through so far. He raced into the house, excitement radiating off of him. He was greeted warmly by his family, his aunt rushing over to hug him tightly.

"It's so good to see you, Wally," she said as she let go. "I can't believe you're sixteen tomorrow. Remember when you were just a kid whose best friend was his aunt?"

"Yes, Aunt Iris, thanks for reminding everyone what a dork I was in elementary school," Wally groaned, though there was a smile on his face.

"What happened there, Kid?" his uncle asked walking over, point at his cast.

Wally gulped and tried to keep the smile on his face, "Oh, you know, messing around with Dick at school. I fell in the bleachers."

"Right," the man answered, giving his nephew a questioning look.

"Iris, dear, can you help me in here? Rudy will be home soon and I want dinner on the table before that so we can eat as soon as possible. Wally, Barry, you two go and do whatever you two do," Wally's mother called from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mom," he answered. He looked at his uncle and smiled awkwardly before heading up the stairs to his bedroom.

Once they were in there Wally let out a sigh. His uncle knew about the 'extra curricular activities' he got up to. He had found out almost immediately when Wally had started getting random and pretty nasty injuries that had accompanied the first few missions. Barry put some of it together and the boy had to come clean. He didn't mind that much though, it was nice to finally talk to someone about it without lying for once.

"So, how did you really get that?" Barry asked, sitting at on the desk chair. The boy explained the failed mission from a few weeks ago and his uncle frowned. "Wally that could have gone so much worse."

"It was mostly under control. Dick had me covered. I didn't die or anything," the ginger boy said proudly, sitting down on his bed. He avoided the man's eyes as they sat in silence for a moment. Then, in a much quieter voice, "Please don't tell my parents."

Barry sighed and rubbed his temples, "You know I already promised I wouldn't say anything. But Kid, seriously, this is getting dangerous. Ever since you actually started going out on these missions… Wait a minute. Where were you a couple weekends ago? Your mom said you went to the Wayne family's cottage, but now I'm doubting that."

"Um… We may have gone off to a desert for an over night mission," the boy muttered. "I know hanging with Dick is a tired excuse, but it still works."

"I'm just worried about you, Wally. I don't want you running yourself into the ground one day. But I'm going to add more to our deal to keep me silent. If it looks like you're going to die at any point, you stop. Got it? I'm not losing my favourite nephew," the blond man said, leaning forward in his chair.

"Yeah… I'm your only nephew," the teen answered, throwing a pillow across the room. His uncle laughed and easily ducked out of the way. "But okay. And trust me, I'll be fine. I promise nothing too terrible will happen to me. Well, nothing caused by the mission at least."

"Oh, are there people problems in your life?" Barry asked, leaning back in the chair. He grinned as he waited for his nephew to answer.

"A person problem. It's really confusing," he answered, slouching and crossing his arms. "She's been avoiding me for a couple weeks now, and she didn't say anything to me when I saw her today at the agent warehouse place."

"Wait, are you telling me you have girl problems?" his uncle asked, the grin spreading even more across his face. His nephew blushed, causing him to laugh. "You know you can talk to me about that if you want."

"No, it's fine. I mean, it's not and I'm annoyed she won't talk to me anymore, but we'll work it out. We go through a bunch of weird ups and downs all the time. We just happen to be on a down right now," Wally explained.

"Wait, is this about that Artemis girl? The one that really annoys you? I thought you hated her," Barry said.

"Well, we may have moved on from hating and are now on the path to being friends, maybe even good friends. But now the avoiding thing has happened," he explained, rubbing his face. "It's really frustrating. We had this kind of important talk about where we stood with each other when we were in the desert and when we were heading back things seemed great. I just don't understand her. It doesn't really matter though, we'll work it out."

"And that's all that's bothering you? Nothing else on your mind about her, about how you feel about her?" his uncle smirked.

"What, no, of course not! We're just friend, come on!" Wally shouted.

"If you say so. Want to head downstairs? I'm sure your dad will be here soon," the man said standing up. The ginger nodded and made his way to the door and opening it for his uncle. As they walked downstairs, he continued, "So you definitely do like this girl, right?"

"Uncle Barry!" Wally shouted, stumbling down the rest of the steps. "Seriously not cool!"

His uncle just laughed and headed towards the dining room.

The dinner went by smoothly, though Wally's uncle did try to bring up that a girl was causing him problems. Eventually that game grew old and the family just talked about how excited they were for the boy's future, much to his embarrassment. The evening slowly passed into the night, not that anyone seemed to mind. Eventually Wally's aunt and uncle did leave.

"Kid, just before I go, I have a present for you," his uncle called to him from the hallway. The ginger made his way over to him and smiled. "So, eventually track is going to start up again and I thought it would be pretty nice if you had a new jacket for training in. This is mine from back when I ran in college. It'll be a bit big on you now, but you're definitely going to grow into it."

Wally's mouth gaped a little as he accepted the jacket. It was a red, now somewhat fade, with yellow lines up the side of the sleeves. On the inside collar it has his uncle's initials in faded pen. Already next to them were his initials in a much darker black.

"I… Wow, I don't know what to say," he said quietly. "Thank you."

"No problem, Wall-man," Barry said, ruffling his hair a bit. "Happy birthday."

And with that, he left. Wally stood in the hallway in a daze; trying to get control of the emotions his uncle gave him with this gift. Eventually he hung the jacket up in his room and changed out of his clothes into a pair of sweatpants. After tossing his clothes onto the ground, he lay down on his bed.

It was getting late now, every minute getting closer to midnight. His eyes drifted close as he thought over how strange of a day it had been. He began wondering what the home life for his agent friends was like. Did they just switch off the day's events and act like normal teens with their families or did they have to be on edge like during the mission?

He began to wondered what it would be like if his parents did know. Would they be as accepting as his uncle or would they freak out? Laughing quietly to himself, he pushed the thoughts out of his mind. There was no way he was going to tell his parents about everything. It wasn't that he didn't trust them; he just didn't want to deal with what Bruce would do.

Just as he was about to fall asleep when his phone went off. Sighing, he fumbled around his bed until he found it. It was a text message from Artemis. He chest tightened slightly as he opened the message.

From Artemis Cock:

If you're awake call me.

Frowning, he looked at the time on his phone, curious about how late it had gotten. It was past midnight and he had no idea what she could want. Why wait over twelve hours to talk when they saw each other that morning. Sighing, Wally pressed call.

"Wally?" her voice said after one ring.

"What do you want? It's kind of late," the boy answered, keeping his voice hushed. He was sure his parents would be asleep by now and didn't want them waking up.

"I'm outside your house. Get out here," she answered.

"Wait, what?"

"Just coming outside!" and with that the phone call ended.

Wally stared at it before trying to quietly get off his bed and out of him room. He grabbed a sweater on his way out and tripped trying to get the sweater over his cast, then tiptoed down the stairs. He shoved his phone into the front pockets of the sweater absentmindedly.

He crept his way to the front door with a practiced ease from all the nights of sneaking down to the kitchen during the night. He only came across a problem when he had to find his shoes. After a few minutes of rummaging around the floor of the front hall, he managed to leave the house.

Artemis waved at him as he walked towards her. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was wear what Wally guessed were yoga pants and a dark green hoodie. Before he could say anything, she tossed him a package that he caught with ease.

"Happy birthday," she said once he was standing in front of her. "It's not much, but I thought it would be useful, since you're always late."

Wally furrowed his brows and he opened the somewhat poorly wrapped package. He then opened the box within and smiled. He pulled out a simple black watch, already ticking away. He looked up at Artemis who was smiling with a faint blush dancing across her cheeks he could see due to a nearby streetlamp. He ran quickly back towards his house to throw out the wrapping then back to the girl, a smile still taking over his face.

"Wow, thanks," he said quietly as he tried to get the watch on his good wrist. After a few moments of watching him struggle, Artemis stepped forward and took the watch from him. They silently watched her put the watch on together. When she finished, Wally found himself gentle holding her hand in his. "Thanks."

"It was nothing," the blonde whispered, avoiding his gaze. "Think of it as also my way of apologizing for kind of avoiding you these past few weeks. Sorry about that."

"That's fine. I mean, I missed walking home with you, but it's fine. You needed you're space, I get it," Wally said, stumbling slightly over his words. "Just, do you think you can promise not to do it again? Turns out, and I know this is super shocking for the both of us, but I actually like spending time with you."

Artemis laughed and squeezed his hand. He had forgotten he was still holding it, almost like their hands were meant to hold the other. He smiled and started laughing as well.

When they stopped, she smiled and answered, finally looking back at him, "Surprise, I enjoy spending time with you too. But you have to promise the same, no avoiding me."

Wally grinned and gently shook the hand he was holding once, "Deal. And thank you again, the watch is really nice."

"I bought awhile ago when Megan made me go shopping with her. She kept talking about how your birthday was coming up, almost like she was hinting that I should get you something," Artemis said, eyes gleaming.

Wally chuckled and just began to admire her. He liked how the tip of her nose and ears where slightly pink from the cooler temperatures. Her cheeks were still dusted with a faint blush, though that could have been from the cold as well. He liked how her hoodie hung nicely from her shoulder and how he could see a part of her collarbone. He liked her hair in the messy bun on her head. He liked that she was standing there with him. He was beyond ecstatic that she was the first person he saw on his birthday.

"So, I have to ask," he said, finally breaking the silence between them, "why are you here? I mean, tonight? Why not just wait until school tomorrow?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone. And I mean actually alone," Artemis answered, shrugging slightly. "I didn't want Grayson eavesdropping or something."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Wally said, grinning. "He's kind of a pain."

"I've noticed," she laughed. Her eyes were bright for how dark they were, especially at night. Wally decided that he was happy to stare into them for as long as the world would let him.

After standing still for a while, the blonde took a step closer and the ginger noticed just how much taller he was than her. It wasn't by much, but enough for the girl to have to slightly tilt her head back a bit to now look into his eyes. He was becoming aware of just how close they were standing in front of each other now. He had to look down to look in her eyes and could now feel her breath on his face. It sent shivers through his body, and it seemed his breath was doing the same to her. The air around them seemed to fill with electricity and made his skin come to life. Wally was certain that his heart was racing the fastest it ever had; more than on any mission he had been on.

He then noticed a strain of her had fallen onto her face. He let go of her hand and slowly he ghosted his hand up the side of her arm, taking his time, allowing himself to feel every shiver go through the girl's body. Gently, and barely touching her face, he pushed the hair away and tucked it behind her ear. His hand stayed in place though, gently holding the side of her head.

At some point they had both stopped breathing. Their eyes were locked together and time felt like it had stilled. Not like it had over a month ago when he felt like he had lost everything about himself. No, this felt completely right. It wasn't heavy but there was strength to it. It was like the two of them belonged in moments like this one.

He wasn't sure who started moving, but soon they were both leaning towards each other. Wally was moving the slowest he had ever in his life; trying to make sure each second was stored in his mind for the rest of his life. They were only millimeters away from each other now and Wally felt like he could die happy in this moment.

Then his phone started ringing. The two teens jumped apart in shock, both now trying to catch their breath. He pulled his phone out of his hoodie's pocket; completely forgetting he had brought the phone along. He answered it, sending an apologetic look to Artemis.

"Hello?" he said, unsure of who was calling this late.

"Happy birthday, Wally!" Megan's voice yelled from the other end. In the background he could here Conner repeat the words. "Welcome to the world of sixteen!"

"Wow, uh, thanks Megs," Wally said, rubbing the back of his head. He hoped that his breathing was under control enough so the girl on the phone wouldn't think something had almost just happened.

"I just wanted to try and be the first to wish it to you today. Did I make it?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Um, no, Artemis already wished me it. She's actually…" he began to say until he saw the blonde begin to shake her head. "Um, she phoned me about ten minutes ago. Dick forced her or something apparently. But sorry Megan, you came in second."

"Well, as long as it was Artemis how beat me. I'll let you go now, see you at school!" she basically sang into the phone before hanging up.

Putting his phone pack into his sweater pocket, Wally let out a huge sigh and looked over at the girl. He felt his heart rate rising and realized just how sweaty his hands were. Were they this sweating much earlier?

"So…" he said quietly, taking a step towards her.

"I… I should probably go home. I don't want my mom to worry," Artemis said quickly, avoiding his eyes. Wally frowned and his shoulders slumped. He couldn't hide his disappointment from her words. She took a step away from him before looking back at his eyes. "Happy birthday, Wally."

"Yeah," he said, trying to smile at her. He wanted to reach other and pull her back to him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. He wanted to slowly lean into her again, to feel the same energy again. He wanted to go back to before the phone call. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow, uh, later today."

Artemis laughed awkwardly before turning away and walking down the street. He had half a mind to run after her and kiss her, to just get it over with, but the moment had passed. It would be the same as before and Wally wanted their first kiss, if they ever actually managed to get there, to mean something.

Sighing, he watched her disappear into the night and headed back into his house. He locked the front door and slowly managed his way back to his room. He felt deflated and he just wanted to go to sleep. Once he was in his room he pulled his sweater off, his stupid phone still in the pocket, and flopped onto his bed. He fell asleep quickly to the sound of a soft ticking coming from his wrist.