Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice or any of it's characters.
Well, this is officially the sort of halfway point of the fic here, maybe a bit over half. I think momentum picks up pretty quickly throughout the upcoming chapters leading into the end.
Anyway in this chapter it's FLIRT CIT-AAAAYYYY!
o.o.o.o
Chapter Length: 3,157 words
o.o.o.o
Wally awoke with fingers threaded through his wild morning hair.
He yawned sleepily, at first not remembering what had happened the night before, but then it rushed back to him. He turned his head to see Artemis snoring like a gorilla, her hand resting on his head, tangling in the locks.
He couldn't be sure if she'd moved her hand there in her sleep or if she'd woken up at some point and petted through his hair.
The thought made his cheeks tingle with a pleasant feeling.
By the time she woke up he had an easy breakfast of oatmeal ready for her, along with a tablespoon and salt shaker. It was clear from the moment she cracked her eyes opened that she was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, her nose was running, and when she spoke to him her husky voice was huskier than it had ever been, a telltale sign of a sore throat.
"How are you feeling, Beautiful?" he asked, bringing the bowl of oatmeal over. He sat down in a chair he'd brought from the kitchen, giving her a moment to wake up fully.
"Like shit," she rasped, rubbing at her eyes. "Oooooh, my head is splitting."
"Wolfsbane'll do that to you," Wally told her a little sadly. Her tired gray eyes flicked to him, narrowing. Wally couldn't even take it. "Artemis, I am so sorry, I shouldn't have—"
"Can it," the blonde demanded, pushing herself up into a sitting position. She coughed, scrunching her eyes closed and clutching her throat through the resulting pain before continuing. "Don't go there, Wally. It was an accident, no one is to blame. And don't make me talk so much, it hurts like a bitch."
He sighed, holding out a spoonful of oatmeal for her. Artemis looked affronted, leaning away from it.
"I'm not crippled, hand that over."
"Fine," Wally groused, setting the bowl on her lap. He turned around in his seat, grabbing the salt shaker and spoon he'd left sitting on the coffee table. He poured the entire thing full, aware of Artemis watching him with a look of concern for his sanity on her face. "At least let me give you this."
"Salt? Why?"
"It's a long, painful story. Please, Artemis? I'll leave you alone after, just take it. It'll help."
Artemis eyed him. She pursed her plump lips, eventually shrugging and opening her mouth. Wally put the spoon in and her lips closed around it. There was a pause, their eyes catching, and Artemis's cheeks turned pink. She took the salt from the silverware, swallowing it and making a face at the concentrated taste.
"Gross."
"And helpful," he stated matter-of-factly, his own face a bit warm.
"Whatever."
o.o.o.o
Artemis got worse before she got better.
The second day was hell; she spiked a pretty high fever, coughing and sneezing and making her sore throat even worse. Wally insisted it was the wolfsbane working it's way out of her system, and kept feeding her copious amounts of salt. She told him he was going to clog her arteries but he thought that was no big deal as long as she got better from this.
"That makes no sense. I'll get better then die from my arteries," she'd pointed out.
"You're delusional, take the salt."
"No, I'm right," she'd huffed, then had a tablespoon of salt shoved into her mouth. That asshole. When she was better she was going to shove an entire salt truck down his throat.
She couldn't say she didn't like the way he took care of her, though. He kept her comfortable, made sure she had enough blankets when she went through a bout of fevered shivering, but only at the agreement of drinking tons of cold water to make sure she didn't overheat.
He kept her well fed, perhaps overly so. She let him feed her because her fever drained her, making her feel like the act of lifting her arms would be the end of her.
He was good about that too, though. He made her some kind of special broth stuff his mother had apparently always given to him when he was under the weather. She had to admit it was delicious; it slid down her throat like liquid honey, soothing the raw muscles and making her hum with delight more than once. He laughed at her when some of it dribbled down her chin, and reached out to wipe it away with his thumb.
That caused another moment of embarrassment, much to her chagrin.
That seemed to keep happening a lot.
Wally relieved her boredom by finding some old 80s movies he loved a lot. They were entertaining, but sometimes boring. Artemis fell asleep on his shoulder for about ten minutes at one point, then woke up and moved back to the opposite side of the couch for a nap she clearly needed. Clearly.
The redhead went back into the lab on that second day, too, bringing her the news that the lone rat they had, had died from asphyxiation because Wally had used the antihistamines on her instead. He told her he would go get one from the pet store this time, that way it would be clean, but by that point Artemis was getting pretty out of it from her fever.
She watched him talk, not taking anymore of it in, seeing his chapped lips move but not noting the sounds that came out.
It was very interesting to watch him. He was absurdly animated when he was earnest about something. It was almost too hard for her to keep up with his wide array of expressions, so she instead focused on the features of his undulating face.
His freckles stood out more than ever, a soft dusting over his cheeks and along the bridge of his nose. Had those things multiplied since she first met him, or was it just her?
His green eyes were bright and earnest, and his red locks looked in need of a trimming because they brushed his forehead. Her steel eyes flicked down to his torso, appreciating the tight long sleeved red shirt he'd picked out for that day's attire.
He was surprisingly well toned for a science nerd, but she supposed that came from his days of track and keeping up that routine.
She kind of wanted to know what that routine was.
Because oh, Fenrir, Wally was very handsome. Incredibly handsome. It wasn't like she had never noticed it or even admitted it to herself; he was a good looking guy, there was no way around it. But now it just seemed so obvious that he was even more handsome than she'd first come to the conclusion of.
Wally West was hot. Objectively, as a friend would point out. No, no, not objectively, Artemis couldn't lie to herself about it. Wally was just straight up hot, in the kind of way she was pretty sure she would wrap her legs around if they weren't best friends.
She wasn't supposed to be having these thoughts. But she kind of had been more increasingly of late.
And she kind of didn't want to stop them anymore.
"Artemis? Are you feeling okay? Oh man, your temp's getting pretty up there again. Time for some more salt and cold fluids."
She groaned, snapping out of her thoughts.
"Take them yourself," she protested, hiding her face underneath one of her pillows.
The redhead grumbled about how stubborn she was, and Artemis grinned to herself from under the pillow.
o.o.o.o
"Wally?" Artemis asked softly on the last day, when she was feeling much better aside from the faint itch in her esophagus.
He was looking politely away, handing her the cleaned shirt she'd worn the night she'd been exposed; she traded him his own shirt back, a baggy one that she had been borrowing for a few days.
"Yeah?" he answered, glancing out his window while she buttoned up. She cleared her throat to let him know she was done, even though it seemed silly because he saw her naked the freaking night he met her. Normally she would have called him a dork, but now it just seemed a sweet gesture.
"Thanks for taking care of me," she told him sincerely, surprised that it took no swallowing of her pride to say it. He beamed at her.
"Of course! I told you before, I'm here for you," Wally said, placing a hand on one of her shoulders. They shared a meaningful smile, and though they couldn't know it, their hearts both skipped beats when the blonde briefly laid her hand overtop of his before patting it lightly and brushing it away from her.
She stood up, stretching intensely and clearing her throat.
"Well… I better get back home, my mom's probably worried sick."
"That's fine, you can tell her the Wallman had it all covered."
"I'm sure that'll impress her."
"She'll probably be happy someone else could handle dealing with your stubbornness so she didn't have to," Wally chimed in, crossing his arms smugly. Artemis scoffed, moving out of the window at his fire escape. He'd followed her, and had his head poked out. "Am I right or am I right?"
"Wrong. When my mom orders you to do something, you fucking do it or suffer the consequences. Even I tremble before her," Artemis warned him very gravely, already with her hands wrapped around the railing of the steps leading down. Wally laughed, the sound of it floating up into the blue sky high above.
"Somehow I believe it, with how you are. Anyway…"
"I'll be back soon."
"Right. Still got work to do. I'll make sure to contain the dangerous stuff with a lid from now on."
"That would probably be a good idea."
Artemis began to descend.
"And Artemis?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you're okay." The tone in which he said it was so soft she imagined she might not have heard it if she didn't possess advanced hearing. She paused on the stairs, looking back up at him, the emerald eyes gazing down at her with nothing but sincere earnest and relief so intense it almost took her breath away.
She smiled up at him, her tone just as careful.
"Me too."
o.o.o.o
"Uh, cuz? Can I talk to you about something?" Bart asked, sitting down noisily at the same table Wally had chosen for his lunch. He was buzzing with tension but Wally failed to noticed, preoccupied as he was with his own personal affairs.
The redhead was very busy going over some things involving Artemis and the project, sending his own self text message reminders for later on that day; mostly they consisted of a few items he'd need to "borrow" from the labs again.
And maybe the other thing holding his mental attention possibly had something to do with a thought about dinner with Artemis. At like, Bibbo's. Sometime soon. Because really he was tired of cooking all the time. They'd ordered take-out on plenty of occasions but seriously wasn't it about time they did something that didn't involve sitting on his couch or eating in his kitchen or working in the lab?
Was it wrong of him to want to take her to dinner? The very thought made his heart pump a little faster, made his palms clammy enough to make his cell phone slippery in his fingers. He bit at his lip, thumbing through the last few text messages the two of them had volleyed back and forth earlier in his shift, noting the increasing level of, well… he didn't know what, exactly.
All he knew was that it had made him feel inexplicably happy.
Wallman:
I'm pretty sure the new intern here is like really into me right now, Wally had texted her during a free moment while he was observing some pills about to come out of the mixing vault. And I mean it's not even subtle. I can feel her trying to have eyesex with me and she's always the one bringing me things from administration.
Artemis:
Wow, and you're not jumping all over this opportunity, Mr. Pasty Legs? Show some of that leg, she'll be all over you.
Wallman:
But I don't want her to be all over me!
Artemis:
Why the hell not?
Wallman:
I just… don't! I'm not attracted to her, I'm attracted to- not her!
Artemis:
So just tell her you're already dating someone.
Wallman:
But I'm not dating anyone!
Artemis:
So you lie about it.
Wallman:
But what if she starts asking for specifics.
Artemis:
Then you make some up, jesus, Wally, get it together.
Wallman:
Right, I'll just tell her I'm dating a super hot blonde with eyes like steel wool. Like her soul.
Artemis:
Wow. That was really something, Wallman. You should also tell her about how she's the super jealous type too. Yeah, and she knows how to punch out a grown man.
Wallman:
Great, yes. And that I'm deeply committed and if she doesn't keep her eyeballs to herself there's going to be a huge problem.
Artemis:
Tell her your fictional hot blonde girlfriend bathes in the blood of her enemies every morning.
Wallman:
Haha, raunchy! No I'll just tell her she eats her steaks raw, like, still wriggling around on the plate.
Artemis:
That's the only way to eat them!
Wallman:
You're disgusting have I ever told you that?
Artemis:
You love it, West, don't even pretend.
Wallman:
Maybe I do. So what?
Artemis:
Then I guess I'll stick around for a while, Firehead…
Oh Einstein that last one…
And it was that conversation that had gotten his brain working on a scheme to ask her out to dinner. Or just treat her to it. Maybe not asking her out like a date. Or maybe he would. He hadn't decided yet, but that was exactly why he was so very distracted with himself when his cousin plopped down very unwelcoming in the seat next to him.
The redhead barely registered his cousin until the boy elbowed his forearm, hard.
"Huh?" Wally asked, blinking, finally pulling out of his reverie. "Yeah, sure, what?"
"Can we talk over by the snack machines, maybe?" the brunette whispered. Wally followed his gaze, noticing nothing out of the ordinary, just their fellow workers taking their own breaks.
Wondering what had the kid all wound up this time, Wally picked up his hoagie and meandered over to the snack machines, green eyes alighting immediately on the Lightspeed bars available inside.
Hello dessert.
"Wally, focus!" Bart insisted, tugging at the redhead's sleeve.
"Fine, fine! What is it, you spazz?" he questioned, taking a huge hunk out of his sandwich, savoring the delicious beef.
"You, actually," Bart said, sending his cousin a withering look, crossing his arms.
"Me?" Wally got out through his stuffed cheeks, accidentally spraying Bart with a myriad of crumbs. Largely used to it, he wiped his face off without much complaint before continuing, poking Wally in the chest once to emphasize the problem.
"Yeah, you! Look, I know you've been taking stuff from the lab!" he blurted out. "Dude, cuz, I have covered for you like, five times already but I'm not sure I can keep it up. I'm already incredibly unpopular with the administration right now, they're so not moded with me!"
"Maybe if you didn't shatter everything you touch," Wally snorted out in amusement.
"This is serious," Bart groaned. And yeah, it actually was.
Wally had figured that sooner or later someone was bound to notice the things he slipped into his bags at the end of the day. It wasn't really a huge deal technically speaking, just a few extra test tubes and beakers, some syringes, some drugs and chemicals… no big.
Well, according to the law it was, but the redhead was hardly concerned with it, as long as he was able to reach his goals for Artemis.
He had known right from the start he'd need to borrow some supplies, because his own lab didn't house all the things the two of them would need, but he hadn't thought too much about the consequences of getting caught. He could be put in jail so fast his head would spin if things went south, but he had no intentions of dragging his cousin down with him.
Wally put his free arm around Bart's shoulder, the other holding tightly onto his food.
"Bart, I don't need you to cover for me, okay? Don't get yourself involved, it's fine. I know the risks, but I won't need to borrow much more anyway. Seriously, I don't want to have to explain to uncle Barry how we both got thrown in the slammer."
"But—"
"No buts!" Wally said vehemently, poking him in the chest as Bart had done to him. "Don't do it, kid."
Bart pouted, clutching at the strap of his bag, looking upset by the demand. But finally he let out a great sigh, throwing his hands up into the air in surrender.
"Fine! Jeez, who's even so important they've got you stealing?"
"Shh!" Wally hissed, putting a hand over the kid's loud mouth. He glared. "I told you not to cover for me anymore, that doesn't mean start shouting it to everyone."
"Is it that girl on your phone?" Bart asked, pointing to the mobile phone sticking out of Wally's shirt pocket. Wally choked on his sandwich, coughing until his face turned red. Bart patted his back, trying to help him out while calling out to some concerned employees that the redhead was alright.
"How would you know?" Wally rasped, beating his chest with his fist, hacking a few more times; his eyes watered.
Bart grinned. "I saw you looking through texts. All from and to Artemis Crock," the brunette said, rolling his tongue suggestively over the name, waggling his eyebrows at Wally.
"Okay, first of all, never say her name like that again. And secondly it's none of your business you little pipsqueak."
"Are you two dating or something?" Bart questioned, not phased a bit by Wally's threat. The scientist huffed, stomping past him to return to the table; Bart followed. "Is she sick? Is that why you're taking stuff for her?"
"No, and sort of," Wally admitted.
"Cuz, I—"
"Well, would you look at the time!" Wally said out loud, enough that everyone in the break room could hear. "Lunch is over in three minutes, better get back to work!"
"Dude, you're so moded, that's not even cool. I'm trying to help!"
"You can help by staying quiet about all of this," Wally declared, scooping his lunch box up into his hand. "And remember what I said about no more covering?"
"Yes, cuz," Bart drawled, rolling his eyes.
"Good. See you later."
"I think you should date her!" Bart yelled after the redhead's retreating form.
You know, Wally was just starting to think the same thing.