pichitinha-prompts

[pichitinha-prompts]

The Moment I Knew

Title: The Moment I Knew. Author: Naty. Rating: PG. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: Spitfire. Future Fic (ish). Ignores the ending of S2.  Genre: Romance. Words: 2,456. Summary: Artemis has been dating Wally for six years when she overhears a snippet of conversation he’s having with his aunt in the kitchen. A/N: First of all my two beautiful betas are really busy this week so this work has not been read by anyone but me so beware of disaster. Second of all, yes, the title does happen to be a Taylor Swift song, but unlike every other time, this was a complete accident and the fic in no way related to the story of the song.     

Read it on AO3 or FFN. Don’t forget to kudo / bookmark / comment / favorite / review if you feel like it! :)

Artemis has been dating Wally for over six years, now. He’s been her only serious boyfriend, considering they started dating when they were only sixteen. They’ve lived together for a little over three years and, quite frankly, things were great. People had told her in the past that you eventually outgrow your high school sweetheart, and she used to believe that, until she met Wally. There’s just something about him… she can’t really see herself with anyone else. She loves him and she’s completely in love with him and she’d have to be blind to not see how that was completely reciprocated.

Artemis has been dating Wally for six years when she overhears a snippet of conversation he’s having with his aunt in the kitchen.

“Aunt I… when did you know uncle Barry was the one? I mean, how did you know you wanted to marry him?”

There’s a pause in which Artemis can’t really see what’s happening as she’s on the other side of the door, but soon Iris sighs.

“I just… knew, I guess. One day we were just happy and together and the next day I simply knew I wanted him and only him forever. You just know, you know?”

“Yeah.” Wally agrees. “I guess I do.”

Artemis runs away immediately.

*

Dinner had been awkward, to say the least. Artemis can’t help but be on the edge all night after what she heard, and every time Wally would so much as gesture towards her or his pockets direction, she’d act strange.

He, of course, questions her as soon as they get in the car.

“Hey, babe, you ok?” He’s adjusting the seat and mirrors as he’s apparently driving today, since Artemis absentminded headed for the passenger’s seat instead of the driver’s. Another sign something is definitely wrong.

“What?” She looks at him then, the first time since before dinner. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a little headache.”

“You’re sure? You were acting really weird back there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Really, I just need a shower and some sleep.”

He nods, unconvinced, and they head home in silence.

Artemis can’t stop thinking about what Iris said. I just knew . That’s such a movies cliché, waking up and realizing ‘ it’s him’ . And she’s never had that kind of revelation before. She never had that epiphany, that feeling of certainty. She loves Wally, yes, and she does not think of a future without him. But marriage? Without that… that moment ? It feels suffocating.

She can’t really sleep that night. More than the uncertainty of her own future, she’s worried about Wally: he was asking about marriage to his aunt. Why would he be asking unless he was thinking of it? Could she say yes without the moment ? The moment which he, apparently, had already had, as he had agreed with Iris when she asked him? Was Wally certain he wanted her for the rest of his life? And could she say yes without being sure? And isn’t she sure? She doesn’t want anyone else, she does want him, but she’s never had the realization. Something must be missing, right?

Oh god .

*

She wakes up with kisses on her neck and for that blissful moment, still under a sleepy haze, all she does is smile and snuggle back against him.

“Morning.” His voice is rasp as he continues his ministrations, moving to the back of her neck and then down.

“Morning.” She replies relishing on the warm feeling of his skin against hers, his lips pressing up on her sensitive spots. “What gives?”

“I have a beautiful semi-naked blonde on my bed, that’s all.” He jokes as he turns her around, their eyes meeting before he kisses her lips. It’s tender and sweet and just overall a wonderful way to wake up. She loves this, loves kissing him, loves lazy mornings in bed, loves him .

He trails down her body with his mouth and she just sighs contently. His hands soon follow suit, roaming over her entire figure, and even though she’d normally be all over him as well, today she wants to lay back and enjoy, something he doesn’t seem to mind.

Wally moves back up, their lips meeting once more in a quick kiss before he looks at her. “You okay?”

The words send her back to the day before and she tenses. “Why do you ask?”

“You were feeling down yesterday, I’m just worried. Are you feeling better?” His brows are creased and she can see the worry in his eyes which causes an urge of affection for him, but that doesn’t erase her worries.

“I’m-I’m okay. Yeah, totally better. I just, I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me.” She disentangles from him and gets up quickly, sure that that’s not how he planned on ending their little session, but she doesn’t look back as she leaves the room.

*

It’s Sunday, which usually is their day, the only day in the week they can take only to themselves with minor chores and errands. I can do this , Artemis convinces herself. There’s nothing in particular indicating that Wally is even close to thinking about proposing. He could be asking that to his aunt for a million reasons. And even if he is thinking about proposing, he’s not gonna do it today, right? He’d have to have asked that question a long time ago if he was planning on doing something now. As far as she knows he doesn’t even have a ring!

She forces herself to calm down, then. Worrying will solve nothing and, she tries to convince herself, there’s nothing really to be worried about. Wally proposing? Is that what’s troubling her? That’s pathetic, honestly. What they have is solid and real and the prospect of a proposal should have, if anything, the opposite effect on her.

She tries to focus on all of that all day long. Nothing to worry, be happy, he won’t do anything, you love him, everything is fine . They spend a quality day together, but Artemis knows that he can see something is not quite right. He keeps glancing worriedly at her and that only makes her feel worse because one of them under distress is enough, she doesn’t Wally worrying about her when there’s nothing to be worried about in the first place .

Still, she knows this feeling will keep following her, and she can’t take it anymore.

“Shit! You know what, Wally, I promised my mom I’d go see her today and I forgot!” She exclaims suddenly when the episode they were watching ends.

“You agreed to go see her on a Sunday?” He asks curiously, his eyebrows up. They never make plans on Sunday as it is, once again, their day.

“Yeah, she had something yesterday and we had dinner with your family in the evening… just seemed better to do it today. I’ll just zeta there for a while, but I’ll be back early, ok?”

“Do you want me to come with you?” He offers promptly, starting to get up.

“No!” She denies quickly. “I mean, I don’t know what mom wants, might be better if I go alone. I’ll call you if I need anything, ok?”

He nods, clearly not convinced, and she kisses his lips before putting on some more clothes and leaving the apartment.

*

She has a cup of tea in her hands, her mind searching for the words to what exactly she wants to hear from her mother. The other woman is patient, drinking her tea slowly and eyeing her knowingly.

“Artemis, will you tell me why you appeared unannounced on a Sunday evening?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. Uh… I was just wondering… I don’t remember that many details about your relationship when I was kid, but I don’t really recall you and dad as ever being… romantic . Were you, ever? Like, did you two… did you love each other?”

She knows her mom doesn’t like talking about Lawrence, but this is bigger than her. She needs to know, she needs more intel than just Iris’ experience because Iris and Barry are simply the perfect couple and not everyone follows their perfect road, right?

“I did.” Her mother answers promptly, though, her face unreadable. “And I think he did too, at some point. I don’t know really when we fell out of it. But we certainly felt something before. Otherwise I wouldn’t have married him.”

“Why did you?”

Her mom shrugs. “Like I said, I loved him. There was no reason not to.”

“Did you ever have a realization moment? Like waking up one day and knowing dad was the one?”

“No. And good thing, ‘cause he wasn’t.” She tries joking, but Artemis can’t laugh because she feels choked on her throat. “I just figured… we were in love, right? So why not?”

Artemis can’t answer, her heart beating a million times per hour.

“Why do you ask, Artemis? Are you and Wally…”

“No! No, we’re not. It’s nothing, just something a friend of mine was saying the other day and… it just got me thinking. It’s nothing.”

She dismisses her mom quickly, but she knows the other woman is not buying it and most likely knows precisely what is happening. Her mom has always had the gift. Nonetheless, she says nothing and sips her tea.

Artemis is unsure whether she’s grateful or not.

*

Artemis goes back home later than she intended. Wally is already in bed by the time she enters the apartment, and she hopes that he’s not upset or worse, based on his reaction to her actions.

“Hey, babe.” She calls to him as she opens the bedroom door after a quick shower.

“Hey.” He doesn’t deviate his eyes from his phone, but although tired, he doesn’t look upset or mad. “How’s your mom? Everything ok?”

“Uh, yeah, nothing urgent. She just wanted to chat.”

Wally looks at her then, and she knows he didn’t buy it, but he doesn’t say anything.

Artemis walks to her side of the bed and lays down, weirded out by the situation. They never go to bed mad at each other – either they sort it out or they don’t sleep – so it’s unusual that there’d be tension.

And that’s when Wally sort of sits up and turns to her, his expression nervous.

“Artemis, I need to ask you something.”

She sits up, too. Oh no .

“Wally, please don’t, I can’t say yes now and-“

“Are you pregnant?”

They just stare at each other for a few seconds, both clearly confused.

“ What ? What are you talking about?” She asks, completely off guard. Pregnant? Where did he get that from?

“What are you talking about? Can’t say yes to what?”

“I asked you first.” She states defensively.

“I’m just… you were so weird yesterday night, and then you barely touched your dinner, today you rushed to the bathroom several times, your attitude was really strange, you suddenly needed to see your mom and I know you’re hiding something from me. I’m gonna tell you, I’m really hoping for pregnancy, because I don’t know if I could handle cheating.”

“Wally, I am not pregnant.” She states, firmly, and then she meets his eyes. “ Nor am I cheating on you. Come on, Wally.”

“Then what is happening? Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden? And what the hell can’t you say yes to? A threesome? Cause you know I was just joking, right?”

Despite the situation, she has to roll her eyes.

“I… I’m sorry, Wally.” She sighs. “I overheard you and Iris yesterday, in the kitchen. You asked her how she knew she wanted to marry Barry and she just said some bullshit of ‘when it’s time you’ll know’ and I’m just… I don’t know, I never have that moment, that realization, and I’m afraid that you have and that you’ll propose and I just… I can’t say yes to that because I don’t ‘ just know ’.”

She can’t look at him because he’s most definitely devastated and she can’t take it. She wishes she did ‘just know’ because she loves him and she wants to be sure, sure enough to not hurt him, but she isn’t .

“Babe.” He takes one of her hands into his and makes her look at him. “I never had that moment either.”

“No?”

“No. I freaked out a little yesterday too after Aunt I told me that, but after… I guess you weren’t listening me anymore. I told her that I thought about marrying you and, you know, building a family and all that, but that I had never had an insight and that maybe I should just forget everything and not make a fool of myself and… anyway. And she told me that her realization wasn’t a magic thought that he was her soulmate and that there were no doubts or such. Her realization was more like I have been in love with him for so long and I want to be with him forever for so long that it just… it suddenly made sense to take the next step, something she’s never thought before.”

“Oh.”

“And Artemis, that’s what happened to me yesterday morning, that’s why I asked her. I know that I love you, and I know that I’d love to be married to you, and I always think about a future together. But I have for a long time, now. I just… suddenly I want it to be a plan instead of just a possibility. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” She doesn’t trust her words as she is a tiny bit more emotional than she usually is. “That makes total sense.”

“Babe, I was totally not gonna propose, I thought about it literally less than 48 hours ago, but if you wanna go for it, I’m game.”

She laughs and jumps on him. “You know what? Let’s do it. Let’s get married!”

“Yeah?” He has a huge stupid grin on his face and she loves it.

“Yeah!”

“This is a much less terrifying end to the night than you being pregnant.”

She slaps his arm at the remark, but laughs and kisses him anyway.

“I love you.” She says as she moves to his lap, her head towering his.

“I love you, too.” He pecks her lips. “Future Misters West.”

“You’d better get me a ring tomorrow.”

“First thing in the morning.”

“Speaking of mornings.” She adjusts herself to get closer. “How about we finish what we started in today’s?”

“It’s like you can read my mind, babe.”

*

When Artemis wakes up the next morning, there’s a “congratulations” on her phone, texted from her mom. She just smiles, her mom always knows what’s happening.

[pichitinha-prompts]

For Good

Title: For Good. Author: Naty. Rating: PG-13. Fandom: DC. Category: DickBabs Week: day 01 - Marriage. Romance. Babs POV. Genre: Romance. Words: 813. Summary: Just a little snippet of Dick and Babs marriage featuring morning Babs. A/N: yes, the title is from the Wicked song. There’s no connection to it whatsoever, though. Also, please pretend I’m on the west coast and therefore managed to post this on the right day, thank you.

Read it on AO3 or FFN. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment or fave/review if you feel like it! :)

If there’s one thing to be said about Barbara, is that she doesn’t believe in fate. Sure, sometimes she thanks the universe or her lucky starts if something particularly good happens (or blames them for bad situations), but honestly she thinks that events are always a mix of randomness, coincidence, choice and opportunity.

So, no, she doesn’t think that she and Dick were meant to be together forever, or even together at all. No one is meant to be with anyone. People meet, get along, fall in love, and work to make it work.

And roughly speaking, that’s what happened between them. Between meeting and properly falling in love there had been a lot more than simply “getting along”, but it happened, eventually. Between falling in love and getting together, a lot of work had to be done. But they did it. They worked, and they worked hard, and they did it because they knew it was worth it. And it worked, in the end, as they knew it would, not because of fate, but because they knew what they wanted and where they were going and so they made it there.

Barbara wasn’t meant to be with Dick, but she wanted to.

That’s what she ends up saying in her vows, when their wedding comes. I can live without you, but I don’t want to, she copies from a TV show as well, the words as true and as meaningful as she can gather. And in the beginning not everyone thinks it’s romantic, but they catch on as she goes. And it doesn’t matter anyway, because Dick gets it. He understands every word and the way he looks at her only proves that.

And that’s what she thinks about when she wakes up every morning, his arm around her waist, his breath tickling her neck, his warmth spreading through the sheets and embracing her whole figure.

She never properly thought about getting married before. If it happened that she’d love someone enough to spend the rest of their lives together, sure, but it was never a thing on her mind. But now she relishes on the moments, the tiny snippets of marriage that they live. The few minutes after she wakes up before he follows suit – because he just senses that she’s awake, always – when there’s nothing to worry about, no villains at their door, no computers to run; when there’s no one to barge in on them unwanted; when his wedding ring presents a different texture on her skin where his left hand is on her waist.

And, yes, she could live without Dick. She had, many times before, when they hadn’t worked hard enough. But she really, really didn’t want to.

“Mmm… morning.” He mumbles sleepily and half into the pillow as he starts to join the waking world. His left arm tightens around her waist, unintentionally bringing her closer, causing her to forget her thoughts for just a moment and turn her head to him, instead of the window.

“Good morning.” She replies, just as lightly. Sleep is still lingering on her as well and she thinks briefly about how long it had been since she’d slept in for real.

“The wheels on your brain were working so loudly they woke me up.” Dick jokes as he places a small peck on her nose, both the action and the words making her grin. “What’s you pretty redhead worrying about?”

Instead of replying, she moves closer. He adjusts himself so he can receive her in his arms, cuddling her on his warm torso, and she sighs contently on his chest. “I love you,” is all she says, as if that would answer his question.

And weirdly, it does. He just smiles and kisses the top of her head, murmuring the words back quietly as a breeze against her ginger threads, but she hears them, loud and clear, and she knows he means it just as much as she does, as the gold band that touches her back could prove partially, but as his tone and beating heart leave no doubt of.

And she thinks, before letting his rhythmic breathing rock her back to sleep, that this is what marriage is. This amazing feeling on her heart that she’s happy, even though things are not perfect and there’re a lot of problems outside of their bed, she’s still happy, and she’d choose to want Dick over being meant for him any day, because this, what they have, their happiness, is a result of everything that did together. Their marriage is real and it’s good and it’s so much better than anything she’d ever imagined she’d get with him.

They fall asleep again, locked in an embrace, secluded in their bed, in their bedroom, in their home, and things might not be perfect, but they are good. And that’s all that matters.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Four times Wally thought Artemis looked pretty

Title: Four times Wally thought Artemis looked pretty. Author: Naty. Rating: PG. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: Spitfire. Canon Compliant. S1.  Genre: Romance. Words: 2,029. Summary: And one time he actually said it.

Read it on AO3 or FFN. Don’t forget to kudo / bookmark / comment / favorite / review if you feel like it! :)

-1-

One thing Wally loved about his powers that he never shared with anyone was how, sometimes, a second held so much. Most of the time he’s distracted or anxious and doesn’t notice anything, but from time to time, on certain occasions, there’s that one split second that seems to last forever, where he can see, and hear, and smell and feel in a way that he usually doesn’t. And it’s in those moments he notices things that are normally the ones he holds on to for the rest of his life.

And, funnily enough – and also something he’ll never tell anyone – one of those happens to occur the first time he meets Artemis. He has sunscreen on his nose, his face shoved into the floor of the cave, he has only swim trunks and the whole team plus some League members are observing his embarrassing moment. He looks up and for a second, a tiny, miniscule second for everyone else but him, he sees her. She’s tall, she’s blonde, she has the most amazing outfit and a super long hair. She’s ridiculously pretty and during that second, that one split second, that’s all he can think about.

But then she’s talking and she isn’t exactly nice. She’s sassy and fierce and usually he’d find that attractive. He does find that attractive. But he’s not in his uniform, he’s not protected behind the superhero logo that allows him to zoom to her and flirt mercilessly because he is Kid Flash. Instead, he’s not even Wally West. He’s Wall-Man. He’s in his trunks, on the floor, and she’s making fun of him.

So even though his head can’t really stop thinking about how pretty she looks and how he’d love to run to her, hook his arm on her shoulders and ask “hey gorgeous, who are you?”, all he can do is get up and put on an annoyed face.

“Uh, who’s this?”

And, needless to say, it only goes downhill from there.

-2-

Artemis doesn’t really reveal her real identity to the team. It’s not really a surprise: she’s new, she doesn’t know all of them that well, and well, Robin never revealed his identity either, so what’s the big deal?

It’s not really, but it bugs Wally. Everything about Artemis bugs him, honestly. How she’s always sarcastic, how she looks like she’s hiding something, how she’s always wearing her uniform. The last one is obviously stupid and he knows it, especially since he does admit to himself some nights that the green fabric looks amazing on her skin and he loves the bare midriff, but he’s just annoyed about everything Artemis and he just wishes she’d wear something different someday because yes and he doesn’t need any more reasons.

And as if reading his mind, one day she enters the cave still wearing her uniform, but with a leather jacket on top of it.

Wally immediately regrets his wishes.

It’s not even because he misses her bare midriff – although he does – but she just looks ridiculously pretty in the leather jacket, too, and it’s simply not fair. She’s always fierce and sassy and salty, but the jacket just gives her this extra bad boy aura and Wally hates that it affects him so much.

She walks by everyone, gives a general greet, and smiles lightly. And for a brief second she’s smiling at him too and he almost forgets everything and just compliments her right there and then because damn, but soon she’s rolling her eyes at him and moving along and he bites down his comment.

“Bought a tricycle?” He asks instead, stupidly.

“You have mustard on your face.” She answers.

He immediately cleans his mouth and turns away. It’s not even going downhill anymore, it’s almost Mount Everest.

-3-

It’s the most idiotic thing in the world, but as he’s about to die, the only thing he can think of is how Artemis looked pretty on the white winter outfit and how he regrets not telling her before she… before the not zeta radiation reached her.

He thinks about how she always looked pretty and about how she was smart and quick witted and about how they really hit it off in Bialya. He thinks about how he should’ve said something, about how they could have been friends and about how much it hurts him that she’s gone. He even thinks about how he might feel something for her more than simple friendship.

He thinks one more time about her, about how much he likes her eyes and how pretty they are, and then it’s dark.

When he wakes up, he has the chance to say all of that. Instead, he shuts up for the first time in his life.

It feels like an avalanche.

-4-

Everything happens so absurdly fast that he honestly loses track of time. Everything was fine and then suddenly the whole Justice League has gone crazy and they’re fighting their mentors and then Roy is the mole and then Roy isn’t Roy and it’s just too much. It’s hectic and it’s New Year’s Eve and he’s tired and he just wants to go to sleep.

And then he notices Artemis. And she, much like everyone else, is a mess. Her hair is out of place, she has marks all over her uniform, and dirt and bruises and cuts all over her skin. She looks dead on her feet.

She’s so pretty.

The countdown starts and as opposed to what usually happens with him, time goes faster instead of slowing down. He lifts her up in his arms and is a little surprised when she actually stays there, waiting.

He looks at her face and he thinks once again of how pretty her eyes look. He loves her features and her skin tone and the way she furrows her eyebrows. He wants to say she looks beautiful. It feels like it’s finally the right time and he can finally say it. But instead, he thinks she needs to hear something else first.

“I should have done this a long time ago.”

This seems to please her as she gives him half a smile and hooks her arms around his neck.

“No kidding.”

They kiss, then, and there’s no time for compliments. But he figures there’ll be time for that later, and he looks forward to it.

-1-

It’s been exactly 48 hours since Artemis kissed him on the Watch Tower. It’s also been 47 hours and 45 minutes since he’s last seen her. It was New Year’s Day, and they were tired, and he had his family waiting, and she had her mom and it just could wait, right? Sure, she was in his arms for a full ten minutes and he never cared less about sore muscles in his life, and sure, kissing her was the most amazing thing he had done in his mere sixteen years of life, and sure, he never wanted to let her go. But it was late, the league was there, and all their friends were making fun of them. They should find a more private place for that conversation.

At least that’s what they said once he finally put her down. She straightened her hair and her clothes and they looked at each other in a way they never had before: unsure and embarrassed. They rambled a few words and agreed to meet later – never mind they never agreed on when or where – and she jokingly punched his arm to try to make it less awkward, but it didn’t work.

Lastly, he pulled her in for another kiss. It was a brief kiss, barely a touch of lips, just a goodbye. And when they parted she smiled lightly at him before moving towards the exit. His last thought as she beamed herself to her home was how beautiful she looked.

And that’s why he’s calling Dick at the moment asking if he knows where she lives. Because they’re not supposed to go to the Cave for a few days yet – a deserved break unless a threat rises – and he just can’t wait that long. He has to see her and talk to her and kiss her again and he just really needs to tell her how beautiful he thinks she is because it’s suffocating him ever since the first time he laid eyes on her.

It takes him thirty minutes to extract the information from Dick because the dick decides to mock him mercilessly before actually helping him out. Turns out she lives in Gotham and he could very well use the zeta beams to go over but he considers the whole logistics and how absurdly ecstatic he is and he just runs without thinking about it. He’s not really in his uniform and it’s reckless, and if Batman ever find out he’s dead, but he just can’t seem to care. He just wants to talk to her.

He gets to her place and he would be unsettled by the conditions if he didn’t have a goal in mind. He makes sure no one’s seen him run and he walks to the front door. He goes up the stairs as slowly as he can, calm, cool and collected, the absolutely opposite of what he’s actually feeling, and then he knocks on her door.

It takes a while before he hears any noise inside, and that’s when he realizes he totally forgot about time zones and that in Gotham right know it’s past three AM. No wonder it took Dick three times to answer his phone.

He worries for a bit that her mom might be the one on the door and then he freaks out because he doesn’t know what to say to her. Does she know about him? Does she even know who he is?

But then the door opens and instead it’s the archer that meets him on the other side. She was definitely sleeping, her eyes tired and barely open, her hair the biggest mess he’s ever seen, her pajamas baggy and old around her figure.

She looks amazing.

“Wally?” She asks uncertain, her eyes trying to focus with just the dim light of the corridor.

“Hi. Yes. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it would be this late in Gotham.” He feels bad and he feels scared because the regular Artemis would definitely have killed him by now.

“What are you doing here? How… how did you find out where I live?” Her eyebrows scrunch up but she actually moves a little away from the door so he can come in. She must be still half asleep, it’s the only explanation.

“Robin gave me your address.” He hears her mutter ‘figures’ under her breath. “I was thinking about you. We said we’d talk but we never really agreed on when. I don’t have your number and… and I couldn’t wait another week.”

She looks up at him and blinks. He’s not sure is she’s analyzing his words or just trying to process them through her sleepy mind.

And then she smiles. Well, kind of. But her lips quirk a little and her eyes soften and he’s not really thinking straight when he leans down and kisses her.

She kisses him back, hugging him closer, and they stay like that for a few minutes, taking in the fact that they’re alone and that this is really happening.

When they part, they’re smiling, and Wally can’t even understand that his lips are forming words.

“You are so pretty.”

It takes a few seconds, but then she snorts. She moves away from him and offers a cup of a tea and tells him to sit down on the couch.

It’s quiet, it’s simple and most of all it’s comfortable. He sits and they talk and they kiss and at some point they fall sleep sort of hugging.

In the morning he tells her she looks beautiful just before leaving so her mom doesn’t catch them. Turns out her eyes spark a different way whenever he says that and he actually likes it very much.

Apparently he’ll have to never stop saying it. It’s about time.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Long live the walls we crashed through

Title: Long live the walls we crashed through. Author: Naty. Rating: PG. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: Spitfire. Coffee Shop AU. Genre: Romance. Words: 5,040. Summary: The job is already bad enough with Artemis handling coffee all day. But an annoying redhead barista? That's just too much.

Read it on AO3, FFN or Watt. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment/favorite/review/vote if you feel like it! :)

It’s eight a.m. on a Monday and guess what Artemis is doing? Starting her new job on a sad gray rainy day.

She’s been fighting the idea of working there for days, but rent won’t pay itself so she had to suck it up and take it like an adult. She had an excellent scholarship at college – the only reason she was able to do it, anyway – but it required her to live very far from home so she had to pay for all of her expenses, and the restaurant she worked in had closed off a few weeks ago.

So now, there she is. In a coffee shop. Could it be worse? No. For starters, she hates coffee. Put a lot of cream and fill it with sugar and she might drink half a cup, but the pure black substance? Eeew. If she’s being honest, its smell usually got her sick.

Second, she knows for a fact that coffee shop customers are the worst. She works in the morning so she is positive that half of her clientele will be grumpy office workers that need to caffeine to wake up. And no matter how grumpy these customers might be, she has to be polite and kind and smile brightly at them, the owner had said. Ugh.

So, yeah, a coffee shop might not have been the best idea she’s ever had. But it did pay more than any other place she’d looked for and it was really close to the university, so she really had had no choice.

The shop had opened only a week ago, so everything was fairly new and there weren’t any usual customers yet.

“Uh, good morning.” She says when she enters the store and sees that the redhead that is the nephew of the owner – Wally, isn’t it? - is behind the counter.

“Good morning!” He says cheerfully. That’s a thing about him, apparently. He’s always smiling. Ok, so she’d met him only once before and for like fifteen minutes on the day she took the job and went to discuss shifts, but she doesn’t remember him not smiling through all of that. “Would you like some coffee?” He offers when she moves behind the counter with him, putting on her apron. The way he speaks tells her that he might be a little high on caffeine already and she wonders if his uncle knows how much he’s gonna to pay for his nephew’s free access to the beverage.

“No, thanks.” She replies wearily, taking a step to the side so she doesn’t smell it. Her stomach has been bothering her since the night before and the last thing she needs is to smell more coffee than necessary to mess up her new job.

He raises his eyebrows, intrigued. “Okay, then.” He moves to sit up and gives her a weird look.

“I don’t really like coffee, ok?” She says a little rudely because he’s looking at her like she’s crazy and she’s not having that. “It makes me a little sick”.

“You did know this was a coffee shop when you signed up, right?” He says it like a joke, but something in his tone just doesn’t sit right with her. Like he really doesn’t think she should be there at all. She doesn’t like it.

“Yeah, well, I don’t have an uncle that owes a business for me work at, so.” She shrugs and goes to the back to put on her apron and cap, and totally misses the flash in his eyes as her words hit him.

They don’t speak to each other the rest of the morning.

*

“Hello, guys!” Megan says when she enters the shop exactly at midday. “Am I late? I hope I’m not late!”

Artemis is about to reply when Wally moves really fast towards the girl and gives her a lopsided grin. “You could never be late, beautiful, you’re the life of the party.”

If by party he means the three of them currently alone in the shop, ok. And, yeah, she had almost forgotten that during those fifteen minutes she’d seen Wally he hadn’t stopped smiling because he was shamelessly flirting with the other redhead barista.

What as idiot.

“Well, now that you’re here, I can leave.” She says loudly calling both their attention.

“It’s so sad that my shift starts right after yours ends.” Megan said with sincerity and a pout. Usually Artemis wouldn’t give it much attention, but Megan is just so… adorable? It’s hard not liking her.

“So sad.” Wally repeats ironically and Artemis gives him a death glare. It goes unsaid that they hadn’t actually talked since the first interaction in the morning.

“We’ll find time to talk later.” Artemis promises with a – surprisingly not forced – smile. She really does need more friends and Megan seems to be the kind of person to be friends with anybody.

If she can stand Wally, Artemis definitely has a chance.

“Okay, have a good day, Artemis!” Megan waves as she puts on her apron and goes behind the counter.

Wally just turns around and so Artemis does the same.

*

It’s been three weeks and Artemis can honestly say that her favorite days are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, because while her shifts are everyday in the morning, Wally’s are all day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and as he annoys her to no end without even trying, she’s glad for the three free days she has.

During those days, the full-time shift is Zatanna’s and that’s also a good thing because she came to really like the brunette. They had good conversations but could both stay quiet when needed as well.

Today, unfortunately, is Monday again, so she has to deal with Wally. At least there are lots of customers as soon as it opens so she can focus on that – the bigger the smile, the bigger the tip, and not even Wally can mess up with her finances.

“Good morning, sir, how can I help you?” She asks in an extra cheery voice and tries not to sound fake.

“Good morning.” They guy responds with a smile and it gets easier because kind customers are nice to deal with. “A mocha and a bagel, please.” He says all that without taking his sunglasses off and Artemis can’t say it doesn’t bother her a bit. “Also, is Wally there?”

She stops dead. The first nice customer had to be a friend of Wally’s. “Yes, he’s in the back. He’ll be right here, uh…”

“Dick.” She raises her eyebrow and can see why they’re friends. “It’s short for Richard.” She nods even though it’s ridiculous and proceeds on making his order.

“Dick!” She hears Wally exclaiming happily as soon as the back door opens and she can’t help but feel really annoyed at that, for some reason. “What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d visit the ‘super amazing coffee shop that Uncle B. just opened seriously Dick it’s been two weeks are you ever gonna stop by’ that you mentioned. It’s nice.”

Artemis hides a small smile at that as she puts the lid on his cup.

Wally looks affronted. “It’s not nice Dick, it’s awesome. Do you want something?”

“Thanks, but Artemis already got my order.” Right on cue, she offers him his drink and his bagel. “Much more efficient than you.” She can’t help but feel that he winked under his sunglasses and she enjoys way too much the offended noise that comes out of Wally.

“Don’t you even.” Wally acuses pointing a finger at him as he walks over to a customer.

Dick just smiles at that. “He’s not really fond of people ganging up to mess up with him.” Artemis just blinks. “I’m really fond of that, though.”

She laughs. So maybe meeting his friend isn’t so bad.

*

It’s been two weeks since she met Dick and he’s a constant visit there. She’s sure he only goes there to goofy with Wally, because he rarely goes when the redhead isn’t there, but it’s good, though, she has company to prank the boy and he tips very well.

Today, of course, she’s in the middle of throwing a leftover bread at Dick for helping Wally make a joke at her ­- how dare he – when Roy comes in.

Obviously.

She straightens up immediately, but he’s seen. Wally clears his throat and Dick moves away a little as the oh so lovely manager glares at them. Well, at her.

“What is this?” He asks her and she doesn’t really know how to react. She can’t risk her job but she was just throwing food at a client.

“Uh, relax Roy.” Wally moves forward and tries a smile. It surprises her that he’s defending her. “It’s Dick, so, you know.”

Dick grumbles offended, but complies. “Yeah, Roy, I started.”

Artemis is a bit confused at this.

Roy makes a face, like he just ate something spoiled, but nods to the guy. “Nice to see you, Dick.”

“You too. It’s been a while.”

Ok, Artemis is really confused.

“Roy is an old friend.” Wally says when said guy goes to the back. “He’s… difficult. Hasn’t been around much. Uncle B. thought he might need a chance and gave him the job.”

“That’s nice of him.” She says, even though she’s not sure it is. It’s not like Roy likes her, and it’s not like she likes him either, so. “Uh… thank you.” She says, finally. Like it or not he may have just saved her job.

He shrugs, embarrassed. “Nah, it’s fine. I know Roy isn’t exactly the nicest person around here.”

“That would be you?” Dick jokes, then, breaking the atmosphere.

Wally smiles charmingly and bows a little. “The one and only.”

And Artemis laughs at that, genuinely. Wally is a lot nicer when Dick is around and he might not be as bad as had thought.

“Megalicious!” He exclaims, then, when the redhead girl appears.

Never mind.

*

It’s been almost three months since the coffee shop opened and it’s fair to say that Artemis knows almost every employee. They change shifts a lot for personal reasons, so she has had chances to work with Megan a few times and know her better. She has met Conner, the grumpy but kind evening barista, Raquel, the explosive but fun Sunday one, and Kaldur, the vice-manager that is actually there more often than Roy.

So when Wally says he convinced his uncle to give them all a free day for a get together, she is surprised that it sits right with her. If she’s honest with herself, she likes all of them – including Wally, even if it makes no sense – so it doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe she has made some new friends.

On Saturday morning she meets half of the gang in front of the coffee shop. The others are a bit late – something that always bothered her, but she tries not to show - so they wait a while. Soon Wally comes out of the shop still yelling something inside. “You got it, Aunt I, but I gotta go, bye!” He looks around and smiles excitedly at all of them – by now Artemis can pinpoint exactly how many cups of coffee he’s had considering his behavior, and she can certainly say he’s already had two. “Everyone here? All right, then, let’s go!”

He doesn’t say where they’re going, explaining it’s a surprise, but the fact that he advised them all to bring beachwear leaves pretty much just one option.

As they expected, he takes them to the beach.

It all ends up being a lot better than she thought it would be. Everyone is at ease with each other and she is certainly more open to all the jokes and the stories they tell about their lives.

They sit in the sand in a circle and she learns that Megan lives with her uncle and that Conner has two cousins and that Dick – who Wally dragged with them – has a redhead girlfriend.

She then tells them that she used to live with her mother back in Gotham and that she doesn’t know where her sister and father are and everyone is sympathetic and nice about it. It’s the first time she has ever talked about her family with anyone and it feels nice. Wally smiles comfortingly at her, and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t confuse and calmed her out at the same time.

To break the mood, though, he has the brilliant idea of going for a swim.

She’s not ready for what waits her when he takes his shirt off.

She averts her gaze, pretending she didn’t notice nor care about it, but she can feel the way Zatanna stares knowingly at her. On a whim, then, she gets up and takes her shirt off. She runs to the water and passes by Wally on the way, but doesn’t stop. When she reaches the sea she turns around and looks at him.

It’s unnecessary to say that she’s greatly satisfied as he trips at this and falls face on the sand.

*

They spend almost the entire day on the beach. It’s a hot day as one would usually expect in California and they’re all glad to have a day out with friends.

Wally still flirts mercilessly with Megan, but something is different. Usually the girl doesn’t mind, instead pretending she doesn’t notice, but now it almost seems like she’s uncomfortable. At some point she decides to go take a swim and not five minutes later Conner joins her. Wally is buying food at the time, probably the only reason she doesn’t join her immediately, and Artemis watches as the two figures meet each other on the water.

Even in the distance, though, she sees it.

“Are… are they kissing?” She asks loudly at the entire group and soon all heads are looking at the water.

Dick actually raises his sunglasses to look better and then comments. “In the very least, yes.”

Wally drops to his previous place, then, a hot dog in his hand. He doesn’t say anything and no one asks it either.

Artemis looks at him, sitting across from her, and it’s clear he’s upset.

And, for some reason, now she’s upset too.

*

It’s been almost a month since the beach thing and they never talked about it. The first time she sees him after that he seems to be completely fine. She even wonders if she’d imagined his face then, but the most plausible explanation is that he was simply surprised.

Their relationship has changed a little since that day, though. She knows about his family and his life and he knows about hers. They both go to Stanford, but weirdly enough never met there. He’s double majoring in Physics and Chemistry and when he found out one of her majors was Biology he thought that fact was incredible, because together they form a science trinity or whatever nerd thing he’d said.

They still argue and fight frequently, but she’s noticed how they don’t really need a third person to have a real conversation now. They talk about their friends, about school, about the things they like, and maybe – maybe – he’s a lot nicer than she ever expected.

On Friday the day starts with a heavy rain. They had two to-go customers as soon as they opened, but the shop has been empty for almost an hour. Relying on the fact that she probably could, Artemis goes to the back and gets her material. She has a chemistry assignment to finish and she might as well try to finish it now because chemistry simply isn’t her thing.

Wally is pacing around – he just can’t stand still and she calculated he’s had two cups of coffee – and then he stops behind her. She pays no attention, but soon she can feel he’s looking at her paper behind her shoulders.

“Cal I help you?” She asks him, bothered by the proximity.

“Well, no, but I can help you. The first two questions are wrong.”

“What?!” She exclaims and gets several papers to check it out. “But… here it says…”

“Well, yeah, I know. But you didn’t consider this factor.” And he shows the part of the problem she hadn’t seen.

“Dammit.”

“I can help you, really. I’m a TA so I’m used to it.”

Artemis thinks of saying no, but the shop is empty and she needs the grades and he’s majoring in chemistry. She’d be stupid not to take advantage of this.

“Oh right, if you don’t mind, I really need help. This course is mandatory in the biology major but I just don’t get this stuff.”

He sits by her side, then, and gathers her papers and books. He reads the problems and asks her what she understand from them and how she’s solve it. He gives her insight on things she doesn’t know and facilitates the concepts she has problems with. It takes them an hour – two customers interruptions included – but she finishes her assignment and Wally assures her that it’s 100% right.

“If you get anything less than an A+, let me know. I know all the chemistry professors and I’m sure I could sort it out.” He offers her kindly and she can’t help the smile that covers her face.

“You’re such a nerd.” She covers it up with a joke.

He gives her a side grin. “Nerd is being obsessed with Star Wars.”

And he’s a million percent the type of person that would be obsessed with Star Wars, so she just stares at him waiting for him to break.

“Which I am.” He complies with an eye roll.

She shrugs. “That’s all right. I am, too.”

That gets a reaction out of him. “You are?!”

She laughs as she puts all of her stuff away. “Yes, Baywatch. Why so surprised?”

“I don’t know. We never really talked about it. What is your favorite movie?”

And then they talk and discuss everything there is to be discussed in the Star Wars universe. They talk about the not-new trilogy and the trailer for the new movie and the fact that they’re excited and can’t wait to see it in the cinema. They discuss the accuracy of the science shown in it and they move to other sci-fi stories and it’s easy and Artemis is confused, but glad.

One customer comes in at one point, but it doesn’t break whatever it is that’s surrounding them. They continue to talk after the woman leaves and they’re sitting side by side on one of the tables and Artemis wonders if it’s normal that as Wally speaks she thinks about kissing him?

A lock of hair falls on her face, at one point, and he makes the mistake of putting it back behind her ear. Something stirs inside of her at that and all she can think about is how it’s been easier and easier to talk to him and how today’s been great and how he looked at the beach. He heart is hammering on her chest and without a second thought she moves her hand to his face and starts approaching him.

He looks shocked and maybe a little scared at this, but just as her mouth is about to touch his, his watch beeps announcing it’s midday.

They break apart at that and he looks at his wrist. Without saying anything he just gets up and moves to the back without spending her a glance. She doesn’t even have time to think about how this hurts her, because in a minute Megan is opening the door and greeting her happily.

She doesn’t pay attention to it. She just grabs her backpack and leaves without saying goodbye.

*

“It’s gonna rain.” Artemis complains looking at the gray sky above them. She is mad, so mad, and to be honest she doesn’t know why. She just wants to be mad at something – to be mad at him – and thankfully he gives her the chance by being late. She’s just so angry.

“Will you chill out? We are going, just give Wally a couple more minutes to get here.” Dick replies even though he is looking at this phone.

“He’s already fifteen minutes late! We would be there already if he could just be on time for something in his life for once!” She’s angrier by the minute and she refuses to address it, even internally. This is not about what might have happened two days before, no. This is about Wally being an idiot and she absolutely hating him.

“He forgot something and had to back home to get it.” Dick sighs looking at her. “Just wait a little more, no one else seems to mind.” He points to all of their friends that are behind her and, sure enough, they seem all involved in their conversations and not worried at all about Wally’s delay.

“What could he possibly have forgotten? It’s a street festival. He won’t even need money, we all know you’re paying for him.” She crosses her arms, annoyed.

“I don’t know Artemis, but he said he’s on his way.”

“Why can’t we just go without him anyway?”

“We can’t just leave Wally behind, Artemis. We’re friends and friends wait for the others.”

“We are not friends!” She nearly yells and she can feel all of their friends turning to her as she says it, just as Dick’s eyes grow a little bigger. “I am not his friend, he’s an annoying, self-centered, overbearing idiot that I’m forced to work with for three mornings a week and it already feels too much! So if I want to skip on the ‘opportunity’ of spending even more time with him on my break, then well, sue me!”

She is angry. She is angry that he’s always flirting with Megan, she is angry that he seems to never take things seriously, and she is beyond angry that he almost kissed her two days before then ran away and pretended it didn’t happened. She is just angry and even though most of what she said is bullshit, she feels good just crying it out.

And then she hears his voice.

“I…” His voice sounds shaky, weaker than she ever remembers it being, and as she turns around and finds him there, her own voice fails her. She doesn’t know what to say and she immediately regrets every word, but she simply can’t find it in her to tell him that. “I just wanted to give you this.” He offers her two pieces of paper and she glances briefly at them before noticing that they are tickets to the private Star Wars session that is happening a week before the release date. “Uncle Barry has this friend and he got me two tickets and I thought you might…” His sounds out of himself as he speaks, not once meeting her eyes. “But you can just keep both and take a friend with you. I gotta go.”

And before she or anyone else can say anything, he turns on his heels and runs on the opposite direction.

She looks at the tickets in her hands and feels a little sick. He knows she’s as much of a fan as he is and of all the people in the world he wanted her to go with him. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t said anything after the almost-kiss, maybe he had this planned, maybe-

She’s torn out of her thoughts when she hears Dick clearing his throat behind her. She looks up and finds all of her friends giving her mixed looks.

“Oh, Artemis.” Megan says like she pities her and it’s officially the worst because she hates being pitied and also because she doesn’t deserve it. She is the asshole.

She needs to fix things before it’s too late.

“Should we…” Kaldur starts suggesting but doesn’t finish his sentence, unsure of what to say.

“I need…” She doesn’t know what to say either and looks hopelessly at all of them.

Dick touches her shoulder. “Can you drive?”

She nods.

“Here, you can take my car. I’ll send you a text with our address.” He gives her his keys and points to where his car is parked.

“Thanks Dick, thank you so much. I-“ She wants to say she’ll owe him one, but he just pushes her.

“Just go and fix this. We’ve all been waiting for way too long.”

She wants to reply to what he said, but she doesn’t really want to think about what he was implying. So she just sprints to his car and gets in.

She really, really hopes she can fix this.

*

Artemis gets there before Wally does. She knows that because she knocks and screams like crazy before she realizes all the lights are out.

She sits down on the front door and waits. She’s determined to not leave until he gets there because Dick is right, they need to sort this out. This stupid dance had gone on for way too long.

After an hour she starts to get worried. She wants to text him, but she’s afraid that if she says she’s at his house he won’t come. So she waits for another hour and considers calling Dick so he can check on Wally and see if he’s alive, but right when she’s about to, the redhead appears on his bike.

She gets up and tries to clean her clothes, even though she knows he wouldn’t spare her a glance. He notices her when he’s merely feet away.

He stops dead on his tracks. “What are you doing here?” His voice is hard, but he doesn’t sound angry.

He sounds sad.

“I came to talk to you.” She answers nervously. That’s a first.

“Is there seriously anything you didn’t say yet?”

She sighs. “Come on, Wally, you know I didn’t mean that.”

“You seemed pretty sure about everything to just be saying it out of the blue.”

“That because that was true. You were all of that when we first met, you can’t deny it.”

He chuckles humorlessly. “Are you kidding me? I was nothing but nice to you and the first thing you say to me is that a spoiled kid who just got a job because his uncle gave it to him?”

She’s taken aback by that. “What?”

“Whatever, Artemis, I don’t care. Just let me get inside.”

She takes a step back and covers the door. “No. We are going to sort this out.”

“There’s nothing to sort out.”

“Yes, there is! I’m mad at you, okay, that why I said those things, but I didn’t mean it. I don’t hate you and you know I don’t.”

“Why would you be mad at me?” He sounds honestly confused and she just can’t believe it.

“You must be joking.”

“What? I didn’t do anything!”

“Exactly! Look, it isn’t fair, I know. But I thought… I thought that maybe you liked me, too. And it was wrong of me to assume that, but you didn’t have to run away and then ignore me. You could’ve just acted like an adult and said to me that you weren’t interested.”

He blinks at her. Once. Twice.

“Who said I…” He cuts himself off and runs his hand through his hair. “Let’s get inside.”

“Uh, okay. Yes.”

Artemis moves out of the way and Wally opens the door. She half expects him to just shut it with her outside, but he steps away and invites her in. The house is a lot cleaner than she expected and he tells her to make herself comfortable.

He sits by her side on the couch and she’s painfully aware of his proximity. He takes a deep breath and she looks at him.

“You’re mad because I ran away after we almost kissed.” He says it as a statement, but his voice makes it sound somewhat like a question.

“Of course I am, Wally, are you serious right now?”

“I panicked!” He explains as he throws his hands in the air. “Suddenly you’re there getting closer and closer and I was sure you were out of yourself.”

“You panicked?” She repeats incredulously. “Ok, so you panic and you go hide in the back. And then what? Forgot my number? Lost your phone? Didn’t get my message?”

“I’m sorry.” He says tiredly as he covers his face with his hands. “I was embarrassed. Embarrassed I ran away and embarrassed that you would just apologize and say you didn’t like me like that and I just. I panicked, ok, I’m sorry.”

They stay silent for a few moments and it’s so strong they can feel it. Finally, Artemis breaks the ice.

“So I guess we both made mistakes and we’re both sorry. Right?”

“Yeah, I think so.” He looks at her again and neither one of them can look away.

“So maybe you’d still like to go to the Star Wars session?” She tries with a small smile.

“I’d like that.”

“Good.”

And before silence can fill the room again, Wally moves a little bit closer.

“One more thing, though.”

“What?”

His hands move to her waist and start bringing her closer. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

She only has time to say “no kidding” before his lips are on hers.

She doesn’t really mind.

*

It’s Monday and her shift is almost over and Wally is obviously whining that he doesn’t want her to leave. He’s a lot clingier than she’d imagined, even though it actually suits him once she thought about that.

When the movement is slow, like today, he’ll use any possible excuse to kiss her even though she’s always telling him that they shouldn’t and that Barry would be mad at them. He’ll just use it to tease me later, Wally replies.

The clock strikes midday and in a few minutes Megan is there and Wally follows Artemis to the back to kiss her goodbye after she picks her stuff.

“I love you.” He says when they part.

She smirks and can’t let this opportunity pass.

“I know.”

[pichitinha-prompts]

Title: You can feel it on the way home. Author: Naty. Rating: PG. Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Category: Percabeth. Future fic. Married. Firefighter!Percy.  Genre: Fluff. Words: 1059. Summary: "He laughs again and starts stroking her hair. He loves what she’s doing, loves how much she knows him." Just a small piece of married Percabeth fluff with no actual plot.

Read it on AO3, FFN or Watt. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment/favorite/review/vote if you feel like it! :)

When Percy opens the door to his house, it’s almost two in the morning. He is still in his uniform as he walks lightly through the dark space, sleeping the only thing on his mind after the night he just had.

When he opens the door to the bedroom, the first thing he notices is how the moonlight is strong as it comes through the window, completely bathing the sleeping body of his wife. She’s lying face down on the mattress, the covers up until almost the middle of her back, and she seems very peaceful. Even in his groggy state he can’t stop himself from appreciating just how effortless beautiful she is. Sometimes he honestly can’t make himself believe that this is real.

And that’s when Percy spots a spider on her shoulders.

This is about one of the worst scenarios to happen in the Jackson household. Even though her fear subdued a lot since the Arachne thing, there’s just a mutual understanding between them that Percy should take care of every spider that would appear in their house without her acknowledgement.

He moves closer and prepares to attack. He just really wants to do it without waking her.

The clapping sound is louder than he expected.

“What?!” Annabeth practically screams as she sits up, awaken by the loud sound, her hand going for the dagger on the nightstand. She’s alert and seems to be tense by the sudden awaken, her heart rate fast.

“Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” Percy says nonchalantly as he quickly cleans his hands and starts changing into his sleeping boxers.

She looks at him for a couple of seconds, as if she’s accepting he’s there, and then she goes back to the subject. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” He dismisses.

“Percy.” She threatens.

“Ok, promise me you won’t freak out.”

She rolls her eyes. “Just tell me already what could have possibly caused you to make such noise at” she looks at the clock “two in the morning.”

“There was a spider on your back.”

“There was a what?!” She yells and jumps to the far end of the bed, slapping her arms and legs in a futile attempt to eliminate some non-existent spiders.

“It’s alright, just a spider, it’s gone now.”

“Ugh, that’s disgusting!” She says as she continues cleaning herself, as if she can feel webs everywhere.

Percy can’t help but feel amused by this, staring at her from his place besides the bed.

When she notices his face, she glares and points her index finger at him. “If you laugh, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

His mouth twitches, but he tries his best to stop the grin. She lets a small smile cover her own mouth, but still inspects his with a fake glare.

“You should have more respect for a hero who was just out until two in the morning saving lives.” He says in an extremely cocky way as he draws the covers and lies down beside her.

“Oh, wow, a national treasure.” Annabeth mocks as she adjusts the pillows. “A hero who saved, how many again?” And before he can say anything, she’s counting on her finger. “Three… four… five! Five cats this past month. Wow.”

He laughs with her as she sets her head on his chest and they stay quiet for a while, letting their laughter die.

And that’s when she notices he’s way too stiff.

“Something wrong?” She asks moving her head up so she can look at him. “Percy. What happened?” Her eyes soften alongside her voice and her hand moves to cup his cheek, concerned.

He sighs. “There was this kid… he had some condition, they didn’t explain it right. Something on his lungs. I pulled him out alive, but the smoke had a terrible effect on him. He’s in the hospital, but they didn’t… They don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

He doesn’t meet her eyes as he tells the story, instead fixing his glare on the ceiling. She doesn’t know what to say – there really isn’t much to be said - so she just waits a little and lies down on his chest again.

“Tell me about the other people that you saved.”

“’Beth…”

“Just tell me. I wanna know about them.”

She can feel he takes a deep breath as his chest expands a little.

“Uh, well… the little boy has a sister. An older sister. She was still inside because she went back to- to save their cat, actually.” Percy explains with a chuckle and she laughs lightly with him.

“Look at that, we’re at six cats this month. Two more and you’ll break your record, Jackson.”

He laughs again and starts stroking her hair. He loves what she’s doing, loves how much she knows him.

“Looking forward to that.”

She smiles. “Now go on, the girl?”

“Yeah, uh. I saved her – and the cat. Their parents were already outside, they were taking care of the boy, waiting for the paramedics. They were really grateful. The girl… she said she wanted to be a firefighter someday.”

Annabeth smiles, knowing how much it means to Percy when a kid says that to him, just as much as when a parent thanks him, and because she wants to and feels like he needs it, she raises her head again and kisses his lips. It’s light and sweet, just a reminder that she is there even when things don’t work like they’re supposed to, and he kisses her back.

“You know you are my hero, right?” She asks with a playful tone, but they both know she means it.

He grins. “Yeah, well, you’re mine.”

She lies down again, listening to the calm beat of his heart, and asks him to continue. He tells her about the old lady, and the dog, and the unconscious guy on the highest floor of the building. His voice is quiet and it almost lures her to sleep, but she wants him to know she’s there.

When she can no longer keep awake, she kisses his chest and murmurs ‘I love you’. She can hear he’s calmer now, remembering all the lives he’s saved, all the people he’s helped.

He replies that he loves her, too, and in seconds she’s asleep.

She doesn’t hear his ‘thank you’, but deep down she doesn’t need to.

She knows.

[pichitinha-prompts]

[About Wally and Artemis] 12. Saturday

It’s a Saturday morning when Wally asks Artemis to be his girlfriend. It’s hours after they kissed for the first time at the changing of the year and they’re both coming out of a nap they involuntarily took after way too much kissing and goofing around at the mountain. It doesn’t seem like Wally has to ask, but it still seems weird that he hadn’t asked yet. So instead of good morning, she’s met out of her slumber with a “so, are we a couple now?”

She never really officially answers, but Wally’s pretty confident her kiss means yes.

*

It’s a Saturday morning when Artemis first meets his family. They’d been dating for a few months and he had insisted that she joined one day for breakfast – and no, Wally didn’t seem to think it was weird at all to invite someone over for breakfast – so she had to give up and say yes. She’s so nervous her skin feels like it’s going to come off, and even though Wally is reassuring all the way over, she knows better. Her family is not good and neither is her past and his parents are going to see it right away – you’re not good enough for him.

His mother hugs her really tight, though, when she’s leaving, and says lowly on her ear that she’s glad her son has her.

Maybe she was wrong after all.

*

It’s a Saturday morning when Wally first meets her mom. She remembers him saying that he wanted her to go over for breakfast because it’s the best meal, so it seemed only fair that she invited him over for breakfast as well. He accepts right away, apparently really eager to meet her mom, and she can’t shake the feeling of happiness that sets in her stomach at that. He brings her mom her favorite flowers and tells her all the right jokes and compliments the perfect amount of things.

As she kisses him goodbye on the door, she can feel her mother beaming. It’s a nice feeling, for once.

*

It’s a Saturday morning when Artemis realizes she’s in love with him. They’ve been together for a lot of months by then and the night before she’d been hurt during a mission. Nothing major, but it granted her a night in the med bay with some meds to knock her off. She wakes up to the early sounds of morning and it doesn’t take her long to notice the full head of red hair that is resting alongside her arm on the bed, his hand holding hers. Her smile is involuntary and she just feels so much love for him that it’s impossible to keep it inside. Trusting the fact that he’s sleeping, she lightly murmurs “I love you”.

His face is turned to the other side, so she can’t see it, but he soundlessly says is back.

*

It’s a Saturday morning but Artemis is not expecting anything big to happen. She’d come to notice a pattern in their first year together on how they seemed to always take important steps during Saturdays, specifically mornings, but they’ve been together for almost three years now and all the steps that were to be taken by then had been rightfully taken, most of them a while ago.

They’re at his room having breakfast, enjoying the fact that the dorm will be free the entire weekend, talking mostly about the upcoming midterms when during a change of subject Wally casually asks her if she’d like to move into a place with him.

Her heart skips a beat as her brain comprehends his words and for a moment she wonders if that’s how Wally feels, because it’s like everything is moving around super slowly in front of her, or maybe it’s just her thoughts that are too fast.

She composes herself quiakly, not wanting to overreact or giveaway how important this feels for her, and nonchalantly replies “sure”.

For a moment it’s like he’s confused about what she just said, but he soon recomposes himself too and pulls her in for a kiss.

It all escalates quickly and the last thing she thinks before losing herself in him is that she really loves Saturday mornings.

*

She makes sure they schedule their move on a Saturday. None of the helpers seems happy about it, but she couldn’t care less.

This is another step for her and Wally and the only important thing is that they take it together.

And they do. And it’s a Saturday morning.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Title: You could just... Author: Naty. Rating: R. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: Spitfire. Makeout Session. Between S1 and S2.  Genre: Romance. Words: 736. Summary: Wally and Artemis tend to turn anything into a competition . A/N: No sex scene. Yes foreplay scene.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

To say that Artemis Crock and Wally West started their relationship with the wrong foot is an understatement. Not their romantic relationship, no. That had happened after a lot of theirs problems had been solved. But their first meeting and the months after that… well. To be fair that just happened because of bad timing. If Wally had not just gotten out of the first day of school and embarrassed himself in front of her, things would probably have been different. He wouldn’t have been hostile – he’d be flirtatious, obviously – and she’d have no reason to be rude in return. But, unfortunately, it happened like that. And it goes without saying that this particular messed up meeting set off the tone of their relationship. Rivalry. Training matches? Competition. A little girl needs saving? Competition. We both have a math test on the same day? Competition. Going against each other became second nature to them even in things where it made no sense to be competing or there was no positive outcomes at all in winning. In most occasions this animosity was amusing to their friends – who knew, of course, that it was mostly just the undeniable sexual tension between them. But they thought that once the two idiots finally got together, things would get better. They thought wrong. Becoming a couple happened smoothly for them and it was clear that they were good for each and were happy with this new stage of their relationship. That did not mean the end of any rivalry, though. Angry fights turned into playful banter, but it still happened in the same frequency – more often, actually – and over even smaller things. Some competitions, though, were in the kind of situation that friends and family and pretty much anyone does not know of. Like now. “Wally.” Artemis eyes are needy as she says his name, but her voice comes out stronger and nothing but demanding. He grins against her collarbone but doesn’t actually stop kissing his way down as he asks “yeah?” “Just-“ She stops to swallow down the sound threatening to leave her mouth and tries again. “Just get on with it.” He chuckles and continues kissing down until the hollow between her breasts before he stops there and looks up at her. “If you’re such in a hurry, you know you could just…” He trails off and she puffs some air out, somewhat annoyed. He laughs again and prepares to continue his ministrations when in a truly Artemis move he somehow finds himself sprawled on the bed as her body covers his. “I could what? Take control of the situation?” She asks with a teasing smirk on her swollen lips and he pretends to be annoyed even though not a single muscle in his body could ever be bothered by his girlfriend on top of him. He tries to think of something to say, but just as he opens his mouth her lips find his neck and her hand finds his boxer and he just loses it. Well, not entirely. He almost moans, but manages to bite his lip and stop the sound from coming. “You are such a tease.” He says through gritted teeth as both her mouth and her hands keep doing things and he just wants to give up but he knows he can’t. He still has some pride left. Granted, it’s fading, but it’s still there. She moves her head up to look at him, but her hand doesn’t stop. Her eyes shine playfully as she repeats his words, “if you’re in such a hurry, you could just…” except when she stops speaking her hand squeezes him and before he can even think his eyes shut down and his mouth opens up. He moans. She laughs and he mutters dammit under his breath. Soon her head moves again and with her mouth really close to his ear, she murmurs: “I win.” It sends shivers down his body and then, as if they were not just trying to see who could go longer without moaning, she continues assaulting his neck and his underparts. And, yeah, she’s always complaining that he’s super cheesy, but he just can’t miss this opportunity, not when she’s half naked on top of him and they’re moments away from having sex. “Hmm, I definitely think I win.” She smacks his chest but he can feel her smile against his skin. Worth it. 

[pichitinha-prompts]

[About Wally and Artemis] 11. Insecure

Deciding to move in together was actually easy for them. They had already left the team by then, and leaving the dorms to share their own space seemed only natural after all the time they’d been together.

hey both talked with their families when they agreed that they were 100% ready for it and to their surprise everyone seemed to be okay with it. Advices had been given freely, of course, but everyone seemed to understand why they wanted to do it and also to agree that they were ready.

The whole process had been a walk in the park, really, until the moment they started to unpack the first boxes.

“Babe, where do you want me to put my-“ Wally was asking as he entered the living room carrying a Star Wars DVD collection in his hands, but stopped in his tracks when he saw that Artemis had the exact same thing in her hands. “Oh. You have a Star Wars collection, too.”

Artemis looked from her own hands to his several times before coming out of her trance. “Oh.” She said stupidly.

“Uh… I guess we don’t really need two equal collections. Not to mention it’d be stupid to waste space like that when we really don’t know how we’ll fit everything else in here.” Wally says it like it’s obvious, but he doesn’t look very sure.

“Yes, of course, we only need one collection. I mean, the important thing is actually the movie, right?” She gives out a strange chuckle and it becomes completely awkward in the room.

“Yeah. They’re only DVDs, nothing important.” He says as his free hand goes to his neck, nervously.

They both stay quiet for a while, not looking at each other, and then suddenly both try to break the silence at the same time: “So...”

More silence.

“Uncle Barry gave me these after I was released from the hospital when I got my powers.” Wally tries to explain.

“This was the first gift Ollie ever gave to me after he took me as his protégé.” Artemis tries too, at the same time.

They go back to the awkward silence.

“Maybe we could just keep both. You know, for a while.” Wally suggests, then, unsure.

“Yeah, totally. It’s just some DVDs, they’re not gonna overflow the house.”

And just like they pretend the moment never happened and go back to unpacking.

“Ok, I know Star Wars rock and all that, but to have two copies of all the DVDs is a little too much, don’t you guys think?” Dick asks them the first time he visits, almost a week after they’ve moved in.

The couple freezes, both just remembering the whole Star Wars ordeal. They had simply put both their collections on the shelf that day and never spoken or thought about it since then.

Dick seems to realize the subject was for some reason not a good one and changes the conversation, but even after hours, when he leaves, the whole DVD thing is still bothering the couple.

“I suppose… I suppose I could just take mine back home. It’s not like mom would mind.” Artemis says then, trying to be nonchalant, but Wally can see she’s stiff.

“Home?” He asks her then, his eyebrows up.

She bites her lip, not sure how to respond.

Wally sighs and moves closer to her on the couch.

“It’s just a stupid DVD that probably means nothing to Oliver or Barry.” He says trying to comprehend everything. “Why can’t we just sell them?”

“Giving our private things up means that now we both own one same thing.” Artemis says then and Wally notices she’s been thinking about it for a while. “What if…” She trails off.

“What if we break up?” He guesses.

She looks away, but doesn’t deny it.

“Makes sense.” He agrees. “I guess my subconscious thought about that, too.

“I’m not saying that we’ll break up. We’ve been together for three years now, we are seriously committed, jus-“

“I know, I understand.” He cuts her off. “Let’s make a deal, then.” He suggests. “Everything we have doubled, we’ll pick one and send back to our parent’s house. And we’ll keep going, see if things work out – I mean, you’d think three years of relationship means something’s going right – and if in one year things are still good… we’ll get rid of those. Permanently.”

She looks at him, considering. Then she intertwines their fingers and smiles. “Sounds like a plan.”

Their pockets were really glad about that decision as they made some good money a year later. Deep down they both think they already knew it.

[pichitinha-prompts]

So I woke up today to 500 followers on my fanfic account! I find it truly amazing because I don't post anything else other than a fanfic here and other there, so it's just really 500 people who just follow me for the trash piece of fluffs I usually write.

I want to thank all of you for sticking with me when I stop writing for a while or focus on a different couple or etc. I want to do something to celebrate this mark, but I can't promise because I'm very busy. I'll try my best though, I swear.

Thanks once again, you guys rock!

[pichitinha-prompts]

Home, Love, Family

Title: Home, Love, Family. Author: Naty. Rating: PG-13. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: DC Marriage Week: babies. Adoption. DickBabs.  Genre: Romance. Words: 3350. Summary: People are always asking Dick and Barbara when they plan on expanding the family. Maybe they're finally ready for that. A/N: The title is from "Journey to the Past", a song from the movie Anastasia, but honestly the words just fit, it has literally nothing to do with the story.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

When Dick and Barbara finally decided to get married, nothing else really mattered but promising each other forever. The path leading to that moment hadn’t always been easy, so officially being together was all both of them cared about.

They took their time planning the details of the wedding, just a little ceremony for family and close friends, and sooner than they both expected, they were a merrily married couple.

It wasn’t until people started prying into their lives that they realized they had never actually discussed a very important matter.

“So, how long down the road to you two think you’ll expand the family?” Had been the curious and polite question of one of Dick’s coworkers when Barbara went to visit him at the precinct one day. They both looked at each other, alarmed, mouths hanging for lack of words, and soon the guy noticed the question wasn’t as innocent as he thought. He excused himself and soon Barbara had to leave, but the thought popped in her mind for the rest of the day.

That night, after a quieter than usual dinner and we’re-avoiding-responsibilities kisses, they lay together in their bed trying to decide on how to approach the subject.

“So…” Dick starts, rather awkwardly. “Expanding the family.”

“Yeah.” She replies, even more awkwardly, and cringesd inside. They’re not like this, they aren’t weird out by anything. She clears her throat and decides to take charge of the subject. “What do you think? About, you know, kids.” She asks him, turning her head to his side to see him better.

He seems uncertain of what he should say, almost like he just wants to say what she wants to hear but he doesn’t know what that is. “Well… I’ve always wanted them. Kids, I mean.” He unnecessarily clarifies, nervous. “I don’t know when I’ll be ready for that, but I know that I want to have children. Someday.”

He’s still looking at the ceiling, like he’s afraid of her reaction, and she actually smiles before moving closer and resting her head on his chest, hugging his torso.

“Well, I know that. Come on, Dick, we’ve known each other for ages, of course I know you want kids.” She rolls her eyes as she feels him release his breath, and soon his arms are circling her waist, too. “And I want them, too, of course.” She can’t see his face, but she could bet all of her money that a dopey grin is covering his lips now. “I don’t know when I want them either. I just think we can agree that now is too soon, right? We should wait at least a couple more months down the road.”

He kisses her head, then. “Absolutely. We got married just a few months ago, let’s just enjoy some more months of us before we start bringing kids into the picture.”

“Agreed.” Barbara says as she raises her head and moves her mouth over his, searching for a kiss.

He obliges and soon turns them over, both of them trying to focus on this rather than the previous subject.

Unknown to the other, of course, both later go to sleep imagining what their first kid might look like.

*

It’s not common, but a few of times during the following months people will ask them about ‘expanding the family’. Barbara blames it on society’s stupid idea that people were designed to have kids, Dick blames it on the fact that people simply don’t know how to just take care of their own business. Be as it may, it happens more often than they wish it did.

One day, several months after the first time they were asked that, almost on their one year anniversary, Barbara brings the subject up again.

“I’ve been thinking of visiting Leslie.” She says as soon as Dick sits down in front of her after putting their food on the table.

His eyebrows shoot up. “What for?”

“Well, I know we haven’t exactly discussed it anymore or anything. But we did say that we wanted to have kids one day, right? And, well, it’s stupid, but since the accident I never really felt the need to ask her if… if I could, you know.” She motions to her belly awkwardly. “Get pregnant.”

His mouth opens in a perfect O shape. “Oh… that’s… I didn’t even consider that. We should check it up, yes.”

“You don’t need to go with me, it’ll probably just be a boring and long exam.” She dismisses quickly.

“Babs, of course I’m going with you.” He reaches for her hand on the table and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her heart feel lighter. “We’re in this together, right?”

She smiles and nods and soon they’re back to eating dinner and talking about their days.

She decides to wait until the appointment to tell him that maybe she’s ready to think about kids.

*

They get home and Dick still doesn’t know what to say. The car ride had been the most quiet and awkward of his entire life – and that includes a day when he had to give a ride to four of his ex-girlfriends at the same time – and he honestly just wants to make things right. But he can’t. He can’t go back and undo what the Joker did, he can’t give Barbara back everything she’s lost. And he doesn’t know how to make things better without changing the past.

She wheels over to their bedroom and he’s brave enough to admit that he’s cowardly waiting in the kitchen until she’s almost sleeping so he won’t have to say anything. He goes over much later, sure she must be sleeping already, but even though her figure is still under the covers, he knows she’s awake. And then he feels guilty for letting her alone when she obviously needed him.

“Babs.” He calls when he lies besides her, hugging her waist from behind. “Sweetheart, look at me.”

She does, then, turning her head ever so slightly, and he’s a bit terrified to see the clear path of tears on her cheeks.

“Oh, Babs, I’m so sorry. I wish-“

“What are you sorry for?” She asks shaking her head a little. “I’m sorry. I wanted to give you this, Dick, I thought…” She trails off, her head turning away again.

He’s shocked for a few seconds before he turns her face back. “Barbara, I don’t care that you can’t have kids.”

“You don’t?” She asks in a low voice, almost a whisper, like she’s scared.

“You might not know this, but I was adopted.” He says with a straight face. “And so were my brothers. Well, most of them anyway.”

She chuckles a little at that, signs of crying still in her face, but much less noticeable now.

“So if we decided to adopt, you’d be okay?”

“I just to have my children with you.” He says honestly, and she fully turns to his side with his help.

“I love you.” She says with her face pressed at his chest and he caresses her back softly.

“I love you, too.”

“And I think… I think I’m ready to ‘expand the family’.”

He’s quiet for a while, but she can hear the smile in his voice he replies. “Me too.”

*

As it turns out, adopting a baby is not as simple as it seems. Not even if you have money and your father is Bruce Wayne. Adopting eight-year-olds with no apparent future that nobody wants? Easy. Adopting a baby? Impossible.

For starters, it requires a lot of money. Luckily for them that’s not a problem, but there are many more stones on the way.

The fact that they can’t have kids is a positive sign on their chart, but the fact that Barbara has a physical disability is a negative one. Dick’s work as a cop also makes their file look bad, for some reason, and aside all that they have to put a lot of work into it.

Proving they’ll be a stable and loving home, proving their families are good families, proving they have enough money to support this child, proving they really want it, proving there are no second intentions, proving everything on their social and professional lives is necessary and it takes a lot more time than they thought it would. It takes months for them to even quality to be foster parents, and only then they can finally try to decide what child they want to adopt.

“I feel terrible.” Barbara says as they park on the first orphanage. “You can’t just choose a child, they’re people.”

Dick puts his hand over hers and gives a comforting squeeze. “I know, I feel bad, too. But no one can actually assign a kid for us, we need to choose one, so let’s just try to do this, okay?”

She takes a deep breath and nods, and soon they’re inside.

It’s hard. They see so many kids that just want someone and it feels too close to home. They both almost cry several times, looking at the amount of innocent children that just a family. One of the nurses shows them around and then takes them to the infant area, and they can’t shake the feeling that choosing one baby will be like telling the others that they aren’t good enough. They just want to adopt all of the children, it’s impossible to do this.

When they’re on their way out, they hear light footsteps behind them and a little girl that couldn’t be more than three is running towards them, keys bouncing in her hands.

She offers it to them, shy, and in words a little too babish for her age says that they’d dropped it.

She has olive skin and a short dark hair, her eyes a dark shade of blue, and Barbara’s heart pauses for a moment. She thanks the little girl and smiles widely at her, and when the door closes behind them, she tells Dick:

“I want that girl to be my daughter.”

*

After that, there’s not a lot of discussion to be made. Something clicked inside of her at the sight of the girl, at her childish shy voice and her bright sad eyes. She just wants to make the little girl feel loved, she just wants to make her eyes shine for a different reason.

When they first started this, they had decided to go for a newborn or the youngest baby that they could. They wanted to be there for every experience, to see the baby grow in every stage. But Dick knew Barbara and it was impossible not to notice how she had clearly connected with the little girl. And he’d have to have no heart to not feel moved by the expression on that little face as well.

The process is even slower now, as they have to prove everything all over again and to connect with the girl before bringing her home. They go over there on the next day and talk to the same nurse, explaining the situation. The girl’s name is Elle and they’re allowed to talk to her that day. They leave completely sure that she is definitely their daughter and start the paperwork immediately.

It takes time, but a month later they’re requested to start making daily visits to her so they all can get used with each other. They go and each time they stay longer and each time it’s harder to say goodbye to her when they leave. At some point she starts to understand the arrangements and cries every time they kiss her goodbye. She’s part of the family already and they can’t wait to get her home and to never have to leave again.

One day, finally, they get the news that everything has been approved and that they can get her home in a couple of weeks once all the paperwork is finalized.

And that’s the night they find out Barbara’s pregnant.

*

Leslie doesn’t have a lot to say to them other than “it was a one in a million chances and you guys got lucky”. They’re honestly too dumbfounded by this situation to even worry about how it happened. All that matter is: what now?

When the responsible for their adoption case learns of it, she says it might complicate things up. She’s pregnant, they’re having a baby on their own, maybe there’s no space in their lives for an adopted kid anymore. She advises them to go home and think about it, consider the fact that it might even be bad for Elle that she gets a new sibling so soon that could possibly steal her attention away. Maybe it would be better for all of them if they just stopped the adoption altogether.

Barbara sits in their bad that day, a photo of Elle in her hands, and considers if the woman could be right. Would she love her baby more than she’d love Elle? Because she grew to completely love the little girl, she wishes she were home with them, but she’d learned about the baby inside her a couple of days before and she already loves them with all of her heart.

She doesn’t want Elle to not feel loved, but how can she ever make sure she won’t fall into that?

Dick comes in a couple of minutes later with two cups of tea. He puts both cups in the nightstand and sits by her side, his hand holding her fiercely.

“I’m scared, Babs.” He says then in a small voice.

“Me too.” She leans her head on his shoulder and wonders why everything is always so complicated with them.

“I… I don’t want give up on Elle.” He finally lets out, his voice firm. “I feel like she’s my daughter already. Giving up on her now would feel the same as if after this baby is born we give it up for adoption.”

“But what if they’re right?” Barbara asks in a whisper. “What if we end up neglecting her?”

He raises her chin and makes her eyes meet his. “There’s no way that the woman who knew that kid would be our daughter the first time she saw her could ever neglect her, Babs.”

She lets his words sink in for a few moments and then she kisses him, calm and sweet, just to remember herself that she’s not alone in this.

When they part, he moves over until he’s leaning on the bed frame and then pulls her to his lap. They both take their mugs and stay silent for a few minutes.

“It’s gonna be hard, two kids. Practically at the same time.” Barbara says when she’s almost done with her tea.

“I think we can do this.” He says as he lightly squeezes her waist, and soon his hand moves to her stomach and stays there. It’s the nicest feeling.

“I love you.” She says against his lips.

“I love you, too.”

*

They proceed to tell they intend to keep the adoption process that same day. All of that puts a delay on the plans, but in the end, it all works out.

Three weeks later all the papers are signed and approved, and before they know it, they’re opening the door of their house to Elle for the first time.

She’s comfortable around them, but seems shy to be in a new place. They show her the room they prepped for her and she’s in awe of everything, how big her bed is, how many clothes there are in the wardrobe, how many toys she can find everywhere. Truth be told, they can’t even pretend they’re not crying. They’re parents now, truly.

They spend the whole day together and she seems to be getting used to the house and to what she could or couldn’t do. They hope she can soon understand that it’s her home now.

When bedtime comes, they decide to tell her about Barbara’s pregnancy. Apparently when she found out she’d been well into her third month, so they already know it’s a boy. They explain it to Elle, how there will be a baby boy in their family in a couple of months and how she would be a big sister. They make sure to tell her over and over again that the four of them will be one family and that they love her and that nothing will change that.

She doesn’t seem to understand it fully, but says she likes babies. Soon she’s sleeping and that night, the first night with their daughter, they sleep with her in her bed.

*

After all the exams during her pregnancy months, the doctors tell her that it’s too risk for her to go into labor, so they should schedule a c-section. She wishes she didn’t need it, but she understands it, so they knows exactly what day their son will be born and they both make a countdown when the date starts to approach.

They had easily fallen into the routine of having a kid. Elle was as much theirs as John would be. She’s always awestruck by Barbara’s belly growth and loves to talk to her new unborn brother when she and Babs are spending some quality time together.

Soon the day arrives and they go to the hospital at the arranged time. The procedure goes smoothly and faster than they thought it would be, and soon Dick is holding little John in his arms as he waits for Barbara to wake up from the anesthesia.

Elle is standing on a chair by his side, her eyes wide as she looks at the baby in her father’s arms.

“Here, give me your hand.” Dick asks her and she obliges, moving her left hand forward. He takes it and holds her fingers leaving just the index one showing. He moves it closer to John’s hand and soon he grabs it.

“Wooow.” She says in her childish voice and Dick simply can’t stop smiling.

“Pretty amazing, huh?” He asks and Elle nods her head, still in awe.

“Huum, look at you three.” Barbara murmurs from the bed, coming out of unconsciousness.

Both Dick and Elle turn their heads towards the voice.

“Mommy, he’s holding my finger.” Elle says trying to show her the little hand wrapped around it.

“I think he likes you, sweetheart.” She tells her and the little girl smiles in amazement.

Dick then wraps his other arm around Elle and gets up, moving towards the bed. “How are you feeling, Babs?”

“Just a little dizzy.” She says and stiffens a yawn. “I want to hold him.”

They look for the button to sit her bed and soon she’s taking John in her arms. Dick puts Elle on the bed next to Barbara and then proceeds to sit down.

“He’s perfect.” She says as she contours his soft skin.

“He is.” Dick agrees and then smiles at his daughter so she knows she’s not left out.

“Come here.” Barbara asks Elle and soon the girl is leaning towards her, her eyes glued to her brother. She offers her finger again and it takes some time, but he eventually catches it.

Dick’s eyes meets Barbara’s then and they can’t stop smiling. They silently mouth I love you to each other and then Dick leans over and kisses her forehead. He moves over to the other side and tries to hug all three of them at once, the family that he’s dreamed for a long time. It’s perfect and he can’t stop a few tears.

“Don’t be sad, daddy.” Elle asks when she sees her father cry.

He chuckles and cleans some of the tears. “I’m not sad, sweetheart. I’m actually really happy.”

She considers him for a moment and then looks at her mom who’s also crying a bit. “You’re happy too, mommy?”

Barbara just nods and smiles, and then Elle leans on her shoulder again.

“’m happy, too.”

And honestly, that’s all they needed to hear.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Real or not real

Title: Real or not real. Author: Naty. Rating: PG-13. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: DC Marriage Week: wedding.Fix-it. Spitfire. Genre: Romance. Words: 1321. Summary: During the months Wally's gone, Artemis has a lot of dreams about their wedding. Telling reality from dream when the day actually comes it's actually hard after that. A/N: Yes, title is a reference to THG. You can find some of it in the fic as well.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

During the few months they all believed Wally to be dead, Artemis had lots of dreams of their wedding. She blamed it, of course, on the ring she found hidden in a book inside his nightstand, when she was packing up his stuff.

Whatever the cause may be, the dreams did start after that day and began occurring more and more frequently as the weeks went by.

Artemis hated it.

The dreams were never the problem. They were all perfect; different from each other and slightly impossible in some matters as dreams always tend to be, but perfect nonetheless. Sometimes she’d dream of walking down the aisle and sometimes she’s get to say her vows. She only got to hear his – made up by her own subconscious, obviously, but very similar to what she thinks he’d say – twice, as even when the dream would go further to their kiss or first dance, his vows never happened, for one reason or the other.

Sometimes she’d dream of the dances she’d share with Ollie and Barry and Dick, sometimes she’d dream of who would catch the bouquet. Sometimes, even, her dreams would go as far as to them alone in a hotel room afterwards – usually very nice, with a bed impossibly big if not in a dream – and she’d even get to them almost having sex.

It didn’t matter, though, where the dream ended or what happened until then. She’d always wake up, her heart fluttering with love and affection for about two seconds before her involuntarily moving hand would find the space by her side empty and her heart ended up dropping to her stomach.

Her dreams were not the problem. Reality was.

She dreamed of him on a number of other situations as well, of course, although less often. Because of those dreams, she admits, she had a hard time telling reality from imagination when they found out he wasn’t dead and brought him back. Sometimes she’d walk on him making breakfast and it would take a couple of minutes to calm her heart and convince herself that she was not hallucinating. Remembering he was back was never the problem, not knowing if she’d dreamt he was back or not was.

But the months passed and soon it all started to be left in the past. She’s certain he’s there and she knows how lucky they are for this second chance.

It’s a weird feeling when she feels difficulty in telling real from not real in that moment, then.

“Artemis, are you okay?” Dinah’s worried voice reaches her ear from behind and she notices she’s been staring at her reflection in the mirror for several minutes, her mind elsewhere.

She turns around and looks at all the girls in the changing room, trying to find any detail that doesn’t add, anything that might prove that isn’t real and that she’s dreaming just like all the times before. She’s so tired of the empty mattress.

“Artemis?” It’s her mother’s voice that calls for her now, from her right side, and when both women’s eyes meet, Paula understands. She wheels herself closer to her daughter and takes her hands in hers. “You look beautiful, honey.”

And it’s the tone of her mother’s voice and the loving look in her eyes that convince Artemis. She feels like she’s waking up as the weight in her chest lifts and she genuinely smiles.

“Thank you. I feel perfect.” She says because it’s true. She doesn’t remember ever feeling this light.

“Well, you are perfect.” Barbara interrupts, getting closer to the three women by the mirror alongside the rest of the bridesmaids. “Which is good because it’s almost time. Are you ready?”

It’s not actually classy, but Artemis snorts. “Am I ever.”

All the women laugh and then get out of the room, moving to the space reserved for them at the beginning of the aisle. The ceremony starts not long after that and soon all the girls are leaving to meet with their partners and walk to the altar. She debated for a long time who she wanted to walk her down the aisle, her mom or Oliver. Her dreams always varied in that matter, but in the end she really wanted Ollie to understand what a big part he had taken in her life. He still pretended he had not cried when she asked him.

As her arm locks around his, waiting for the wedding march to begin, she is once again consumed by the strange feeling that this might be a dream. Ollie catches her stiffen pose and uses his free hand to squeeze hers. “It’s okay, Artemis, you just have to be the center of attention for a few minutes and soon you’ll be one happy married girl.”

Artemis chuckles at his words, her heart lessening again, and sooner than she expects, they’re walking.

She looks at Wally and tries not to be overwhelmed about all this. He’s waiting for her at the altar, willing to spend the rest of his life with her, and it honestly knocks her breath away, that notion. The fact that she fell in love with a man that loves her just as much is just incredible. And they’ve been through so much.

Soon she’s by his side, her hand in his and it feels real. There’s no way her subconscious would be able to recreate such an accurate feeling of the exact warmth and roughness of his skin. She’s smiling so much it hurts her cheeks, but as Wally smiles just as much, if not more, she cannot find it in herself to care.

They both turn to the front and the ceremony proceeds. It happens all too fast and all she can really remember is how everyone was weeping with her vows and absolutely crying with his. She hears his vows this time, from beginning to end, and it’s somewhat similar but also completely different from the two times she’d dreamt it. She never meant to cry on her wedding day, but it’s inevitable when he’s just there, saying that he loves her in a million different ways.

When they’re supposed to kiss, she shakes a little. This was one of the most common parts for her to wake up, back then. Wally catches it, of course, knowing her better than anyone else, and his touch is sweet on her cheek and his lips are soft on hers and the love he puts into it is just real.

There are cheers, but she’s not paying any attention. There’s a ring on her finger and his hand claps around hers and as they turn to walk back down the aisle, she realizes she walked it in single, and now she’s married. She sees the flashes of the cameras and the cellphones and the smiles of the people, but all she cares about is the fact that Wally’s there and they’re married.

She dances with him, many times. They’ve liked dancing and this is their night. She dances with Ollie and Barry and Dick, and somehow they all make her feel this is real. If she somehow starts to doubt it, Wally seems to always find her to prove that it is. They take millions of photos, they eat, they drink, they laugh and they dance. They hug and they kiss and they smile.

Afterwards, she concentrates extra hard in going against the couples are actually too tired for the wedding night cliché, and Wally complies to all of her requests and needs, including wordless demands of a silent proof of reality.

She lays on his chest, later, completely spent and ridiculously happy, and her last thought before sleeping is that she really hopes that what meets her tomorrow isn’t an empty bed.

She wakes up to his heartbeat in her ear and this time her involuntarily moving hand finds his hand with a ring on it.

Real.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Loving him was red

Title: Loving him was red. Author: Naty. Rating: PG-13. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: DC Marriage Week: proposal.Fix-it. Spitfire.  Genre: Angst. Romance. Words: 1971. Summary: Artemis has a good, logical plan to get over the events of Endgame. Except life doesn’t always work out the way you expect.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

Losing him was blue, like I’d never known Missing him was dark grey, all alone Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met But loving him was red

After one month of Wally’s ceasing (she would not call it death), Artemis decides she needs a plan. It’s easy enough to figure it all out:  she and Wally had dated for five years and people always said that there were five stages of grief. Five months was a good enough, logical time for her to get back on track.

Not getting over it as in forgetting or moving on. But maybe enough so that she can remember he won’t be waiting for her when she opens the door or that she can look at photos without her throat closing up.

It’s been a month so she should be over the first stage. Denial. She can be over with that, right? She can stop believing that it was some sort of mistake and that he’ll come home at some point. He won’t, she knows that, and dreaming about it doesn’t mean she’s still in denial. It’s just her subconscious, right?

She thinks so when she realizes the second stage is anger. And does she feel angry. How is that any fair? How can the universe or whatever force moves it be like this? It doesn’t make sense and she hates it and she just wishes there was someone to blame. There isn’t.

By the end of the second stage, one month feels actually too little time to be angry, because she’s still furious. It boils inside her and makes her want to snap at everything, but she can’t. She needs to follow her plan, because otherwise she’ll never recover. And she realizes that the person who decided on this all five stage bullshit was wrong. Because it’s not a process, it doesn’t follow a line-up. It’s an overlap of emotions that she can’t control or dominate, they make no sense and have no order and she feels lost. But she needs to move on, she owes this to herself and to him.

So she simply buries her anger and lets bargain take over. And it’s the hardest thing in the world. Because all she wants is for someone to answer to her demands and just give him back. They’re superheroes, they know aliens and magicians and all kinds of stuff and it’s simply not possible that nothing can bring him back. There must be something, science tells her that there must be something – matter can only move and be transformed in energy, not disappear – but everyone shuts her off on that, because, as she herself pointed out, they deal with magicians, why would physics be actually a law for them?

She slips into depression some days before the month is over, and she tries to convince herself that it’s actually progress. It’s been officially three months since it happened and she feels like it’s just dawning on her. All the hopes that she secretly held on to, every dream. The future she had planned out would never actually be. If she ever got married to someone, it wouldn’t be him. If she ever had babies, they wouldn’t have his stupid smile. She would never be a West. She’s never been a crier, but she convinces herself that it’s necessary. The tears will clean her out and she needs it. It’s a stage, it’s normal, and it just means that she is closer to moving forward. So she cries and she hurts and she lets her heart ache. It’ll be over soon, she tells herself.

And then the fourth-month anniversary of his death comes and she can’t breathe. The next stage is acceptance, but all she feels is denial, anger, bargain and depression all bottled up inside of her and she can’t accept it. Wally can’t be dead, they had plans, they had promises, they had something good and she’s selfish enough to admit that sometimes she thinks of other people who could’ve died instead of him. She can’t accept it, she can’t.

She’s not getting over it.

And that’s when - fourteen days into her acceptance stage - Dick brings Wally back.

*

“I’m not… ready, Dick.” She tells him over her cup of tea, after finally accepting there was no way to avoid the subject.

“Artemis, all you’ve thought since he…” Dick motions his hand, not wanting to use any words. “All you’ve thought of was getting him back. And now he’s here, in a hospital, desperately asking for you. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t… I don’t think I can do this, ok? I can’t even being to explain to you how these months have been to me. I’m a mess. I want him back so badly it physically hurts, Dick, but I’m broken. I’m all over the place, I have sorrows and grief and guilt from five months accumulated inside me and he’s not, he doesn’t have all this baggage, he’s five months in the past where everything was fine and I wasn’t mourning the love of my life!”

Dick sighs and gets up, moving closer to where Artemis started pacing in the middle of her rant. “He’s not stuck five months in the past. He hasn’t talked much, not awake for long, but something happened to him during all this time, Artemis. He’s as broken as you are and none of you are gonna heal alone.”

“Dick, everything’s changed.” She looks desperate at him, and he can see that she is as torn about this decision as he is.

“It seems to me that you still love him and want to be with him. And he wants the same, because he talks about it every time he asks where you are. You can’t wait until you’re not broken anymore to reconnect, because that’s not happening, Artemis. You need each other.”

Artemis casts her eyes down and fidgets with her hands at his speech, but he knows he’s convinced her.

He just hopes he’s right.

*

She’s been there for almost an hour, debating whether or not this is the right choice, when he starts to wake up. Deep down she knows she’d never have the heart to leave, not after coming into the room, not after being so close to him.

She’s missed him so much.

She gets up from the comfy chair by the bed and leans closer to his bed, almost hovering his face but from a safe distant. His eyes immediately set on her when they open. The way they shine even before he opens his mouth makes her heart twist in a way it hasn’t ever since the accident (that’s what she calls it now). It’s the best feeling in the world.

“Artemis?” He asks slightly, like he thinks he might be dreaming or hallucinating, and before she can control herself she’s smiling as she nods, and a second later she has his hand clasped in hers, where she kisses it.

“Hey, babe.” And it’s wrong, it’s too soon, they shouldn’t be using pet names, but it feels so normal that she can’t help it.

His stiffness finally melts and he smiles largely at her. “You’re here.” He says releasing a long breath, like he’s been waiting to do it for days.

“I am.” She doesn’t know how, but her hand is caressing his hair, which is longer and falling into his eyes. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

This time he’s the one taking her free hand and kissing it. “I’m just glad you came.” He releases another breath, more like a sigh this time, and adds. “I missed you so much.”

And that’s when her eyes start watering and her walls crumble down together with her tears. She’s hugging him in no time, careful not to hurt him, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem as he tightens his arms around her. “God, Wally, I don’t even have to words to say how much I missed you.” Her voice is muffled by her crying and also by his shoulder where she’s hiding her face, but it doesn’t matter. Wally has tears in his eyes, too.

“I know, babe, I know. I’m so sorry, so, so sorry. I never meant to leave you, much less without saying goodbye. When I realized what was happening… it was too late, I was already running and I couldn’t stop. Please forgive me, Artemis.”

She shook her head a little while she moved from his shoulder and cleaned some of her tears. “I have nothing to forgive you for. You went out there and saved the world. That’s what we do.” She sat by his side and tried to remember what she was afraid of. How could she possibly heal from losing him, by being away?

“I’m still sorry for hurting you.” His eyes are sincere and his thumbs are caressing her hands in a comforting way.

“You’re back, though. That’s… that’s really all I wanted, Wally.”

They stay silent for a few seconds, his hands still comforting hers and the heart monitor beeping constantly by their side.

“I love you.” She says, suddenly, even though that was the first rule she set to herself before letting herself into the hospital. “I love you so much that it actually makes me a little sick. I just… I really love you, Wally.”

His heart doesn’t skip a bit and he doesn’t even blink. “I love you, too. It doesn’t make me sick, though, because you know I love romances.”

She actually laughs and rolls her eyes a little. Loving him is so easy. Being with him is easy. She feels like every piece of her that was scattered on the floor is being finally put together. Not the whole puzzle – it’ll take time, she knows – but now it feels like she actually knows where all the pieces are and they’re actually arranged in groups to come together as the big picture. She’s not whole, but she knows now that she will be.

“I think…” She has to swallow her feeling a little before going on. “I think we’re gonna be okay.”

He squeezes her hands. “Of course we are. We always do.”

They share a little smile at that and after a couple of seconds he tries to sit down.

“Artemis. I know I just got back and that it’s probably not the best timing. I don’t even have a ring – I mean, I do, but it’s not with me now because I bought before the whole ceasing fiasco – the point is, I’ve been planning this for a while and I just-“

She cuts him off with her lips, their first kiss since the one in Paris all those months ago. It’s gentle and caring, like the ones they used to share when they first started dating.

“Wally.” She says when they part and she can see in his eyes that he understands she needs to explain this. “I have been planning to marry you for a long time. I am 100% sure, even more now, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But right now I’m not ready for a proposal. We’re not ready. You’ll get out of here and we’ll get our life back together, and then you’re gonna propose again, somewhere more romantic than a hospital, and it’ll actually be just a formality, because you know that I’ll say yes. Okay?”

And then he’s kissing her, a bit more forceful and passionate than her kiss, and Artemis knows he understands.

It honestly doesn’t matter to them. Being together is a certainty, it has been for years. The universe was just very stupid trying to get in the way.

He’s on his knee exactly 41 days later, and she doesn’t say yes either, but that’s simply because words aren’t necessary.

And that’s her acceptance stage. Her plan is finally complete, and she feels free to finally start on new ones.

[pichitinha-prompts]

Percy steals Jason's glasses and Annabeth's trying to make him give it back but he puts it on instead and looks hella cute

So I’m finallyfilling up the prompts on my askbox. It might take a while, but I think I’ll be able to finish all of them this time. Please have this on that was sent to me ages ago. Terrible ending, as usual.

Read it on AO3 and FF.net. Don’t forget to kudo/favorite/bookmark and comment/review if you feel like! :)

“How oldare you again?” Annabeth asks from the shore, her arms folded across her chestand a grin that she swears she was fighting against gracing her lips.

Percy isgrinning widely in the middle of the lake, lazily turning the new acquired glassesin his hand. He shrugs. “Depends on what age we’re talking about. Mental one?Probably five.” And he gives her his troublemaker smirk and she can’t help butsmile and shiver.

“Soundsabout right.” She shakes her head laughing slightly. “But tell me, what wereyou competing about that made you steal his glasses?” she raises her eyebrowsand waits for an explanation. She swears someday they’re going to argue overwho has more hair in their heads.

In hisdefense, he looks a little sheepish. “We may have started a discussion aboutwho could read the warning board faster.”

Annabeth rollsher eyes exasperated. They really could turn anything into a competition. “And when he read it faster you decidedto steal his glasses?”

He puffedhis chest defensively. “He only read faster because of the glasses. That’scheating.”

“So youstole it?”

“I didn’t steal it. I got it so the competitioncould be fair.” Annabeth raises her eyebrow again and waits expectantly as shegives him a look. “And then I ran really fast to the lake. Yeah, okay, I mayhave ‘stolen’ it.” He says as he makes quotation marks with his fingers.

She can’thelp her chuckle. “Come on, give it back.”

“Now thatwouldn’t be fair.”

“Percy.”She warns jokingly.

“Why don’tyou come and get it, Wise Girl?” He gives that smirk again and she stiffs her pose.

He’s challenging her.

She looksat the water in front of her feet. It’s probably cold and she’s not really in amood to get wet. Percy is perfectly fine there with his powers, not a singledrop of water in his skin.

She looksat him again and he’s still smirking.

Well, okay,two can play this game.

“Okay.” Shesays decisively. In a second she takes both of her sneakers off and when heopens his mouth to say something, she takes off her shirt as well. He closes hislips immediately. He’s a little bit far, but she can see how he gulps when hershorts come out, too.

She takes adeep breath and takes a step forward. The water is freezing, but she doesn’tlet it stop her. His eyes are glued on her, the once turning glasses in hishands now loosely forgotten. She takes slow steps, trying not to show how thecold is affecting her, but he can probably see the goosebumps in her arms.

When shereaches him, she crosses her arms again and gives him a side smile. “Well?”

“Uh.” Hesays still mesmerized. Then he shakes his head and gives two steps back. “Well,you still have to get them.”

She glaresat him. “Since you’re all about fairness, shouldn’t you get wet, too?”

Heconsiders for a moment and murmurs shitunder his breath. Suddenly she can see the droplets of water clinging into himand this time he jumps a little and actually exclaims. “Shit! It’s fuckingfreezing!”

She takesadvantage of his moment of distraction to jump forward and raise her handstowards the glasses. He sees it in the last moment and moves his hand to theother side.

Sheresurfaces from the water and it’s hard to not laugh as he laughs so happily ather.

They staythere playing catch for several minutes, both soaked wet and breathless fromthe laughter and the cold, then Annabeth finally manages to hold on to his arm.

“Gotcha.”She says with a smirk and he smiles back.

As a lastresource to keep her from taking the glasses, he puts them on. He squints his eyesa little as soon as he does it because they mess his vision up, but soon hegets used to it.

He realizesAnnabeth got quiet, though, and looks at her. She’s staring at him, eyes alittle wide.

“What?” Heasks dumbly.

She clearsher throat and looks away, but Percy doesn’t miss the slight pink on hercheeks. “Nothing. Just, hum, it’s getting colder.”

He movesover, glasses forgotten over his nose, and hugs her, drying her out. “Better?”

She looksback at his face, now inches apart from hers. “Uh, yeah.” She says still flushed.

He raisesone eyebrow, confused. “Are you su-“

She cutshim off with her lips and he lets out a confused sound before he kisses herback. It’s short, but more intense than he’d have expected her to kiss him inpublic.

“I kind oflike the glasses.” She says in a low tone, her mouth is still close to his,their gazes connected.

“Oh.” Hemurmurs. “Oh.” He says again, moreeloquently this time. And before she knows it, he has a smug smile on his lips.“Does that mean I can keep them?”

She givesout a breathy laughter. “Maybe a couple of hours won’t hurt.”

He smirksone more time before closing the gap between them again. “I’m telling Jason youlet me keep them.”

He can’treally blame her when she forces his head underwater.

(Luckilyfor her he can still make bubbles and underwater kisses are their thing anyway)

[pichitinha-prompts]

Dickbabs please? As nightwing and oracle maybe?

I have like a thousand prompts to write but I did this one first simply because I’m trash. The fic starts out all good and emotional and then it’s a sappy fluff thing that i’m not sure how it happened.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

Wanna hear you say (yes)

“You know.”The voice says out of nowhere, and Barbara hates to admit that she was sofocused on her work that it didstartle her. “I clearly remember someone promising to not work after midnightanymore.”

“Dick.” Shegreets with a tiny smile, slightly turning her head. “Unfortunately crime isn’twilling to catch a break when I do.” They stay silent a couple of seconds andshe adds. “What are you doing here?”

He walksover to where she is and she can see his face has a confused frown on itthrough the reflection in one of the monitors.

“You’rekidding, right?” He asks when he gets to her side.

Now she’sconfused. “Did we schedule something? I don’t remember anything.”

Hiseyebrows go up and then he sighs. “It’s your birthday, Babs.”

She looksat the bottom of her computer screen and sure enough it’s 12:37 of her birthdaydate. “Oh.”

He chucklesand moves closer. “So, how about you close it up for today and enjoy yourbirthday a little?”

“Shouldn’tI do that tomorrow? You know, in daytime?”

“Nope. Youshould do it the whole twenty-four hours of the day. Come on, we’re alreadyforty minutes behind.”

She doesn’ttake her eyes out of the computer. “I can’t. I’m… busy.”

He staysquiet for a while and she knows he’s not accepting that. When he speaks,though, it’s not a reprimand.

“Did I dosomething, Babs?”

She finallylooks at him. “What?”

“Did I dosomething wrong? Did I upset you somehow? Are you mad at me?”

“Why areyou asking that?” She feels uneasy.

“Well,everything was fine and then suddenly you started avoiding me and diving intowork and making lame excuses not to spend time with me. Tell me, what did Ido?” He kneels in front of her chair and looks somewhat pleadingly at her.

She shakesher head but doesn’t meet his eyes. “You didn’t do anything.”

“Thenwhat’s wrong?” He tries taking her hands but she doesn’t let him.

“Nothing’swrong. I just… I think we’re getting too old for this game, Dick.”

“Whatgame?”

“This… thisthing!” She motions between them, frustrated. “This is teenage behavior.”

He raiseshis eyebrows again. “Dating is teenage behavior?”

“We’re notdating.”

“What? Ofcourse we are!” He exclaims but then considers for a second and adds. “Are you…seeing other people?”

She glaresat him. “That’s a ridiculous question, Dick.”

“How so?It’s the only explanation I can see as to why what we have isn’t a relationship.”

“So youdon’t go out with other people? Ever? Really?” She sounds sarcastic and hedoesn’t understand.

“Of courseI don’t. I thought… for me we were dating, Babs. I tell people I have agirlfriend.”

Thatstrikes her. “What?”

“We hadthat talk… at that dinner… I thought…” He goes quiet and she finally meets hisgaze. “I see I misinterpreted things, though.” He says seriously and gets up.

She holdshis arm. “That’s not… Of course I’m haven’t been seeing anyone.”

“Why,though? If you thought… if we aren’tdating?”

“I thoughtyou would… you know, I thought you were seeing other people. Why would you tieyourself to me?”

“Whywouldn’t I?” He asks still standing, and when her eyes lower he tries not to beangry. “Babs. If I went on a mission today and lost both my arms, would I lose me? Would you think people shouldn’tlike or love me because of it? Would I be less worthy?”

She keepsher eyes low. “Of course not.”

He kneels againand this time secures her hands before she can stop him. “Then why do you thinkless of yourself?”

She doesn’tanswer and moves her hand slightly, trying to show she wants to set them free,but Dick doesn’t let her. He just stays there, looking at her, and at somepoint her eyes water a little bit.

“Youdeserve more than this.” Her voice is shaky and vulnerable and it’s so out ofplace Dick is unsure his actions are actually right. Usually he’s much moreprone to being is that position, Barbara is much too fierce to fall into thatpart.

“Why? Whatis more to you? And what is this inyour eyes? How is it so diminished?”

“I don’tknow, Dick, I just… look at us, look at me,this is-“

“Stop.” Heasked firmly. “Let me tell you this, I believe that to have a good and happyrelationship a person needs two things: one, to love the person they’re with,two, to be loved by the person they’re with. That’s all. And listen to me, Ilove you. I want you and I love you and that hasn’t changed in the past yearsand it’s not changing anytime soon either. So here’s the deal: if you don’tfeel the same for me anymore or if you’re in love with someone else or if youstart hating me so much that the mere sight of me makes you nauseas, you tellme that and I’ll never bother you again. But if you do love me back and wantto be with me, then please be. Stop looking for excuses, Babs, stop with allthe thinking. Let’s just be happy, you and me.”

She’s quietfor several seconds and he can’t for the life of him make her eyes meet his.

“How canyou be sure we’ll even be happy? Youdon’t know how hard it is, Dick, it’s not gonna be a walk in the park, okay,you’ll have to compromise and a lotof things we were used to doing we’ll never get to do again, and-“

“Barbara.”He interrupts her, his voice deep and serious. “You’ve been in this chair for awhile now. I know your difficulties and you know I try to help you whenever Ican. But to be honest I don’t even see why you’re bringing this up, I’ve neverseen you asking for help. You’re so independent and you can do everything thatyou set your eyes on. I know you. Don’tplay the defenseless maiden, Babs, because you and I both know that’s bullshit.”

“I’m notsaying that I’ll need you there twenty-four seven Dick, but you need tounderstand-“

“Why do youkeep finding excuses?” He sighs and lets go of her hands to run his own handthrough his hair. “I told you, I’ve been there the whole time since theaccident, do you think I don’t know how your life is right now? Everyrelationship needs compromising, Babs, and helpingyou is not work. I’m gonna say thisagain and you need to understand it, okay? I truly want to be with you. Notjust today, not for a while. I want the real deal.” He tries lifting her headagain and this time she finally obliges. Her eyes are still watery, but shehasn’t let any tear fall. “Tell me, what do you want? No excuses, no reasons,no nothing. Just simply tell me what you want.”

She takes adeep breath and casts her eyes down. “I want that, too.”

Dick almostsmiles, but he knows the battle is not completely won yet.

“Then whycan’t we have it? Why can’t you haveit? Haven’t we been through enough?”

“Dick…” Shebreathes out again and he waits for more, but it doesn’t come.

On animpulse, he moves forward and hugs her. She doesn’t resist, instead shetightens her arms around his middle and hides her face in his chest.

“I’m notgiving up on you, Barbara Gordon. But I need you to not give up on yourself.”

She nodsslightly and he feels himself relaxing for the first time that night.

They staylike that for a long time, no matter how uncomfortable the position is forDick. When they part, he kneels once again in front of her chair and caressesher face, now completely free of the previous tears in her eyes.

“I need tobe honest, Babs, because you’re smart and you would’ve figured it out anyway.But don’t freak out, okay?”

Hereyebrows shoot up at the abrupt change of subject, but she’s known this boy – man – for years and she can read himeven with her own eyes closed. So she sees right through his expression; shesees his anxious eyes and his soft hidden smile and she can feel his pulse wherehis hands are now meeting hers. She knows.

“Oh my God,Richard! I can’t believe you.”

He actuallylaughs at that. “You can’t blame me, we were on a completely different place inmy mind, and I just-“

“Are youkidding me, it’s been a couple of weekssince that dinner, not years, you can’t-“

“You needto consider all of our history, too, Babs, otherwise it’s unfair.” He says alittle offended and she can’t help her smile.

Sheactually chuckles and covers her mouth because honestly.

His smilegrows so bigger she’s afraid there might be a permanent damage. “So, is that ayes or…”

She shakesher head and laughs. “You honestlycannot be seriously proposing to me right now. You just convinced me into arelationship like five minutes ago.And you didn’t even ask anything, seriously Dick, I can’t believe you-“

“Well,okay, will you-“

“Dick!” Sheexclaims, but she’s laughing. He stops middle sentence but doesn’t lose hissmile.

Barbara putsher finger on his lips, like she’s stopping him from talking, and releases ashaky laughter. “I… baby steps, okay? It’s not a no, it’s… it’s a promise thatwhen you ask on the right time, it’ll be yes. Okay?”

He looks ather like he can’t believe she’s real, and it sends shivers down her spine.Lastly, he grabs the hand that is still on his mouth and kisses it like an oldknight. “Okay.”

And withthat, he finally kisses her. Short and sweet, just to seal the deal, and it’sthe best feeling in the world.

(And if she’sconvinced that he’ll actually propose to her the next day at lunch it’s onlybecause she knows him and secretly craves to say yes)

(And whenhe does it at dinner is because he knows she was waiting for it)

(She saysyes nonetheless)

[pichitinha-prompts]

Can I buy you a drink?

Title: Can I buy you a drink?  Author: Naty. Rating: PG-13. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: Canon Divergence (Wally and Artemis aren’t dating). Wally and Artemis. Cliche. Genre: Romance. Words: 975. Summary: This guy is bothering Artemis at the bar and Wally comes to the rescue. Thing is, she doesn't need saving. A/N: Written for a fanfic forum contest. Theme was cliche and I chose “Person A is being harassed at a bar and Person B pretends to be their boyfriend/girlfriend to help them out“.

Read it on AO3. Don’t forget to kudo/bookmark/comment if you feel like it! :)

“Hi. Can I buy you a drink?” An average height guy with blond hair asked her sitting on the closest stool. “Thanks, but I’ve got a drink already.” Artemis gave a fake smile and shook her glass a little bit for effect. “Well, you’re gonna finish that one soon and you won’t quit the night already, huh?” He threw her a flirtatious smile and pointed at his watch, not actually looking at the hour. “I appreciate the thought, but I’d rather drink alone.” Barbara had to go to the bathroom and leave her alone for five minutes. Everyone knew she was a magnet for guys like him, meaning, those who simply don’t quit. She knew going to the bar with the team was a mistake. “Come on now, don’t be so uptight. What’s the point of coming to a bar if you’re not looking for company?” He moved an inch closer, little enough that the average person wouldn’t notice, but she did. “I go out for fun and getting company isn’t necessary for that.” She really didn’t want to be rude, but if he kept going, he’d leave her no choice. “It may not be necessary, but it wouldn’t hurt, would it?” He moved another inch and Artemis decided that if he moved an extra one, she’d have to go physical. “Look, I’m flattered and all that shit that you’d be that insistent, but I’m really not interested. If you could please leave so we could both have a good night separately, it would be wonderful.” “Ok, I think we started off on the wrong foot. Let me try again.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he continued extending his hand. “My name is-“ “Babe!” They both turned to the guy approaching them. “Sorry I took so long, it’s like a labyrinth here.” “Wally, thank god!” She commented a little surprised. “I was starting to think you had left without me.” She teased, although her teeth were a bit gritted. “Like I’d ever do that.” He smile graciously at her and encircled her shoulders with her arm. “Hi. Are you a friend of Artemis?” He flashed the guy a grin and offered his hand for him to shake. The guy was obviously shocked and a little intimidated. “Uh, no, I was just… uh, she was asking for the time.” “Oh.” Wally’s eyebrows rose and he gave the guy a look, missing the murderous one that Artemis had at him. “Well, thanks for the help.” “No problem. I should go, enjoy your night.” He got up in no time and almost ran to the opposite direction. Wally took his seat as soon as it was free. “What a douche, huh?” He asked nonchalantly, ordering a drink from the bartender. “Him or you?” She asked, her arms crossed and her jaw line set. “What?” He asked shocked. “I saved you from the idiot!” “I don’t need saving, West, I can take care of myself.” “He was annoying you to no end, I could tell!”He motioned widely with his arms, bothered. “But I could handle him, Wally, I don’t need your help ditching men.” “Well, obviously. Your ice glare should do the job just fine.” “Don’t turn this onto me, you were the idiot!” She pointed at him and almost poked his chest. “How was I the idiot?” He nearly got up from his seat. “You were having a problem and he was clearly not getting you totally did not want him here and I made him go away without missing any teeth! Everybody wins!” “I’m not a property, I don’t need to pretend to have a boyfriend so a guy would quit. He needs to quit because I don’t want anything and I was going to teach him that lesson.” She was fuming at him, both their drinks forgotten. “Artemis, can you just enjoy a good thing for once in your life? Who cares it wasn’t the way you wanted, the guy left, just be grateful for a change!” “What if didn’t want him gone? What if you ruined my chance at a date with a nice guy?” “Except you didn’t. I was watching you, you were clearly uncomfortable not to mention you asked him to leave twice.” Artemis stopped at that. “Wait, what? You were watching me?” He opened his mouth trying to find something to say. “I, uh… Well, excuse me for not trusting guys in bars when it comes to a pretty woman drinking alone!” He exasperated. She was the one speechless for a while. “Pretty, huh?” She tried for a smirk. Wally rolled his eyes, even though he reddened a little. “Well, you’re annoying as hell, but I can’t deny facts.” “I think that’s the first time you’ve said I’m pretty. You’re always going about it for every girl on the team, but I don’t think you’ve ever said it to me.” She admitted, trying not to sound anything other than normal. “That can’t be true.” He replies. “It is.” She insists honestly. He looks at her then, eyes w little wide, eyebrows raised. “Well, you really are beautiful.” He’s very intense and sincere in his statement and she catches herself shifting uncomfortably on the stool. “Thanks.” She’s sure she is blushing as much as he is, both embarrassed and looking at the drinks on the shelves in front of them. The silence in uncomfortable and foreign, they never don’t talk when they’re together, usually bantering and occasionally having real friendly conversations. She clears her throat. So does he. “So…” He says and takes a deep breath, looking at her. She looks back. “Can I buy you a drink?” She considers and looks at the glass she’s holding. She turns it all in one go and slams it a little back on the counter. She grins at him. “I’d like that.”

[pichitinha-prompts]

[Hinny] E is for Engaged

Harry would always stick with his opinion: the only – only – good thing about these events was how beautiful Ginny got in her formal dresses. But, then again, she would look good in anything, so they were a total waste of time.

He hated wizard formal clothes. The daily robes were fine and he actually couldn’t remember the last time he wore a muggle pair of pants, but these damn things the wizarding world called formal were horrible, Harry felt like a wrapped Christmas gift.

Also, the whole thing was a joke. They gathered together at the ministry to a remembrance of those who had perished in the war, but the tribute would last less than half an hour, and then they would reunite in a formal night that had no purpose at all besides an elegant event to be published in the tomorrow’s paper.

Harry bloody hated those things.

That year, 2002, the party was being held on May 4th, as it was a Saturday. The ministry, good as it was, changed the date at the last minute, postponing it a week just the Friday before the scheduled date. That, of course, interfered directly with Harry’s plan, as he had planned that on Friday, May 3rd, he would take Ginny for a short trip in the weekend and would then, propose. It was perfect because she was always in a weird mood on May 3rd. May 2nd they would celebrate Vic’s birthday, and therefore forget about what that day had been a year before the little girl had been born. Ginny used the next day to feel the grief.

But Harry had been planning it for over a month and he simply could not postpone the proposal, so instead of a trip he had to propose to her over a simple breakfast at his house on the planned day. Thankfully, for her, it didn’t make any difference and she said yes anyway. In the afternoon they went to the Burrow to share the news which meant they’d barely had time to celebrate it by themselves.

And now they were stuck at a ministry party.

“A knut for your thoughts?” Ginny’s voice reached his ears at the same time her hands reached his belly as she hugged him from behind.

He chuckled. “Sure you want to spend money on something so easy to discover?” He made no effort to turn around, he could feel her smile against his back and he loved it.

“Can I try and guess then, save my valuable knut?”

“Ok, you’ve got one shot.”

“Hum…” She hummed like she was thinking. “Me?”

He turned around then, encircling her waist with his arms. “Told you it was easy.”

She smiled brightly and kissed him. “Why were you thinking of me here by yourself, instead of in some quiet corner with me?”

“I was trying to think of an excuse to take you home, and I’d not be able to think clearly if we were alone in a corner, as you are immensely distracting.”

She laughed lightly and got a little bit closer. “Came up with any good ideas?”

“No, sorry. But maybe it’s because you really are so damn distracting that the mere thought of taking you home already distracts me.”

“So it’s all my fault?” She asked with arched eyebrows and he playfully shrugged. “Okay. So I guess I should take over your task and try to come up with as excuse myself?”

“Yes, definitely. Especially because, let’s admit it, you’re way better than I am at having good ideas.”

“Taking me home is a very good idea!” She exclaimed.

He laughed and kissed her for a little longer than the times before. “Yeah, well, I tend to have my moments. Now, so far, any ideas?”

“No. But I know who can help us.”

“Who?”

“George.” She said and looked around to find said person.

“Are you out of your mind? We’re not going to ask your brother to help us get some alone time.”

“Sure we are, it’s the only way.” And without further words, she dragged him to the table where George was sit.

“I didn’t do it, I swear!” George stated putting both hands up when he noted his sister going in his direction with Harry firmly gripped in her hand.

“Do what?” She asked confused.

“I don’t know, but whatever happened it wasn’t me. Not this time. Promise.”

“Oh, no, nothing happened.” Harry reassured him. He knew that Ginny seemed angry when she was determined; it took him a whole year to understand the small differences between the two faces.

“Oh, good. What do you want, then?”

“Can you help us with something?” Ginny asked sitting on the chair by his side.

“With what?” He raised his eyebrows suspiciously.

“We want to create a little distraction so we can leave.” Harry really couldn’t believe the fierce of the girl.

“You want me to help you shag?” He mocked with a pointed look.

“Yes.” She answered like it was no big deal and Harry didn’t know whether to laugh or pretend he wasn’t paying attention.

“There’s no respect for big brothers anymore, let me tell you that.”

“Come on, don’t be a prat. We’ll do it anyway with or without your help; I just thought it would be easier if you helped.”

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you. Just promise me that the next time I ask you if you want to shag you’ll lie and say no.” He had a sort of disgusted look on his face and Ginny had to control herself not to laugh.

“Okay, I promise.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, I was hoping you would have a plan.”

“And you’ll also leave the hard work for me! The times we’ve achieved, what a shame.”

“George!”

“Ok, ok. You’re lucky I’m a master at making plans.” He rearranged himself on the chair to pass over an impression, and got down near them, like he was about to whisper a secret. “So, I think I know a way, but you will hate it.”

“Figures.” Harry said.

“Says the guy who wants to shag my sister!” George exclaimed.

“Okay, what is it?” Ginny interrupted what was bound to be a great discussion- George loved to bother Harry with that and it was sort of a tradition already for both of them to bicker around it.

“Well…” George raised his head a little bit and looked around the room. Suddenly his eyes shone with recognition and he got close to them. “I’m sorry, but you’ll thank me later.” And then he stood up and said in a loud voice that got the attention of several tables nearby. “Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are engaged!”

Harry and Ginny looked mortified at each other and then at George, trying to understand what the hell he had done. George just pointed with a head movement a reporter running towards them, and with that, they got the hint.

They’d go home to escape the journalists.

Trying not to laugh, Harry got Ginny’s hand and they both hurried to the nearest fireplace. The last thing they saw before disappearing was George’s face saying ‘you own me’.

“Your family is insane. Completely.” Harry said amused when they appeared in his living room.

“Yeah, but you love them, and is apparently planning on joining it for good.” She raised her hand to show the engagement ring, a big smile spread across her face.

“I am, indeed.” He circled her waist with his arms and kissed her. “And I know my plans always go wrong, but I assure you this one won’t.”

She kissed him again after that, and then with a smirk on her lips, said. “I believe this is the time we finally celebrate it, then?”

“Definitely.”

And with no worries about fancy clothes – or any clothes, for that matter – they made an event better than the ministry one, just there, in their own little flat.

Because it was just the two of them, and they didn’t need anything else.

[pichitinha-prompts]

About burgers and (super)heroes

Title: About burgers and (super)heroes. Author: Naty. Rating: PG. Fandom: Young Justice. Category: AU (no super-heroes). Wally and Artemis. First Meeting. . Genre: Romance. Words: 1301. Summary: So the redhead guy thinks he can trash talk about her favorite character during the movie? Hell, no. A/N: Based on a tumblr prompt: "you were trash talking my favorite character in the cinemas and obviously I need to show you the light, even if I have to buy you a burger to get you to listen". Aside from that it's really stupid, really.

Read it on AO3 and FF.net. Don’t forget to kudo/favorite/bookmark and comment/review if you feel like! :)  

If there’s one thing Artemis deems as essential, it’s silence in the movie theater. She’s paying to see it soon, in a big screen, with quality image and sound. She wants to pay attention. The redhead sitting in the row below her doesn’t seem aware of the silence rule, though. He’s been trashing on the movie ever since it started, and even though his friend seems annoyed, he’s easily ignoring him. Artemis isn’t. “Hey.” She whispers to him, irritated. “Can you keep it down?” He looks at her, surprised, and nods a little sheepishly. He is quiet for whole four minutes after that. “Aw, come on.” He exclaims at some point and Artemis really tries not to be annoyed. “Dude, shut up! People are trying to watch it!” His friend finally says and she’s grateful. But that doesn’t make the guy stop, obviously. “Ok, I’ll try, but you can’t seriously expect me to accept this!” He points to the screen in outrage and Artemis arches her brow considering what he’s mad at. The movie is great?? She’s growing more and more annoyed as the film goes by, partially because he can’t shut up, but mainly because she’s trying to understand what he doesn’t like and what the hell? So when the movie ends and she’s sure that the annoying guy hates her favorite character, well. She’s definitely doing something about that. “Excuse me.” She calls after him and his friend as they move to leave. “I told you to shut up.” His friend elbows him and walks a little bit closer to her and her friend. “I’m really sorry about big mouth over there, I’ve been trying to make him be quiet in movies for years.” Her friend shrugs – traitor. “It’s fine, really, some of his comments were actually funny.” “Megan!” She exclaims at her friend. When she gets a proper apology look, she turns back to the two guys. “Anyway, no matter how funny it might have been, you’re supposed to stay quiet in the cinema.” The redhead finally walks over. “But what is the point in watching a movie if you can’t comment it? Besides, I’m sorry, but I have some serious problems with it and I can’t keep down.” “Yeah, about that, stop trash talking other people favorite characters, will you?” She moves her hands to her waist, not believing the nerve of the guy. “Hawkeye is your favorite? Are you kidding me?” It’s like she personally offended him, and that gets her offended. “Okay, okay.” His friend says stepping in. “How about we introduce ourselves before we get into a fight. In the movies.” He looks pointedly at his friend and then turns back at her and her friend. “I’m Dick and this is Wally.” “I’m Artemis. This is Megan.” She adds and nods at the girl, her eyes never leaving Wally’s. He hates Hawkeye??? “Uh, Artemis, I need to get going. I promised Uncle John I’d make dinner today.” She finally snaps to her friend. “Uh, right. Right. I just…” I just really want to prove this moron wrong. “I need to go too, I promised Tim I’d help him today.” Dick intervened, looking between Wally and Artemis. “Yeah. No, dude, that’s okay, you can go.” “You can stay, Artemis, if you want. It’s no problem.” Megan offers as they start to slowly move towards the exit. “No, I’m not leaving you-“ “Silly. I’ll be home in ten minutes.” She puts on her coat and looks at her friend and at the two boys they just met. “It was nice meeting you guys. Bye.” She has a big smile as she waves and turns around and Artemis feels awkward standing there with Dick and I-Hate-Hawkeye-Guy. “Well, I’ll be off too. Are you staying dude?” Dick did the same motion as Megan. “Yeah. I told you, I need to buy-“ “Aunt I. gift, right. So, see you later. Nice to meet you, Artemis.” And he waves and leaves in a second. Artemis can’t hold it in herself – also, the silence getting weird – and blurts. “For your information, Hawkeye is the bestAvenger.” He looks at her and raises his eyebrows. “Do tell.” He is mocking her. What a jerk. “Do I need to make a list? PowerPoint presentation? Because I can.” “How about you buy me a burger and I agree to sit through the torture of you defending an archer?” She straightens. “I teach archery.” His face morphs in an instant. “Oh. I… wow, that was a dick move, huh. I’m sorry. I didn’t-“ “Yeah, whatever. Who is your favorite, anyway?” She crosses her arms on her chest. He shrugs. “Quicksilver is cool.” “Oh, god. Quicksilver.” She snorts. “Okay, I’m gonna buy you that burger because you really need to learn some things.” They start to absentminded move towards Wendy’s. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those who think he’s a villain?” He doesn’t even give her time. “Oh my god, you watched X-Men evolution, didn’t you?” She rolls her eyes. “No, I didn’t. I just think that if you’re going for a Maximoff you’re definitely choosing the wrong one.” “Says the girl whose favorite is Hawkeye.” She bites back her reply as they order their food and true to his words he makes her pay. As they sit on a table, silent for the first few moments since they started shouting in the movie theater, she realizes she just bought a complete stranger a burger and is about to sit with him. And she’s doing it because he hates her favorite character. What the hell is she doing? “Look, why would you favor a normal hero, when you can favor a super hero?” He says and snaps her out of her thoughts, and she tries to forget the sudden shyness that overcame her. “Are you saying heroes don’t have values if they don’t have superpowers?” “No!” He exasperates. “But superheroes are cooler.” “That’s bullshit. Regular heroes are much better. Would super heroes still go for the hero thing if they had no power? Probably not. They’d possibly be scared. But non powered heroes do it even though they have less protection. If you ask me, they’re much fiercer.” “But Hawkeye or Black Widow aren’t really heroes, are they? They’re agents, they work for a corporation. They probably get dental. You can’t compare their choices.” She is quick in her reply, but can’t stop thinking that he’s good at debating. She rarely ever tries to talk about comics, because most of her female friends either don’t like it or like those she never reads, and boys usually take her as a fake fan and dismiss her opinions – even when she knows way more than them. It’s a nice change of scenario, talking to someone that clearly understands it and despite the different opinions is interested in hers. They go from hero to hero, from similar to complete different likes and dislikes, and suddenly she realizes they’ve been talking – and arguing a bit – for hours. “Oh, wow. Look at the time.” She says as she lightens up her phone. His eyes widen and he takes his own phone to check. “Wow. Time flies, huh?” Uncomfortable silence fills the air again as they stare at each other and then at the phone in their hands. She clears her throat. “This was… nice.” “Yeah.” He agrees, still uncomfortable. “We could exchange numbers or something? There’s… there’s still a lot of ground to cover.” He blinks. “Yes, absolutely. Uh, here, let me save mine.” He motions for her to give him her phone and gives her his. They take their time and then get up to leave. “It was very nice meeting you, Artemis.” He says when they realize they’re going to go opposite ways. She smiles. “You too, Wally.”