#It feels wrong to try getting rid of or merging some OCs into one? Like I didn't wanna have so many to draw/ Introduce and work with...

[lizartgurl]

“Back To You” (Aqualad x OC)

Day One of Aqualad and Nightingale going into hiding. Things aren’t going very smooth. But what did either of them expect?

@staar-sailorr​ @betteonit​ @the-shadow-of-atlantis​ @lesbianstargirl​

This part goes out to Clark, for their kickarse playlist that fits the ship and the story perfectly. Listen to it on Spotify.

PART THREE.

(part one) (part two)

Wildcat gave them headphones and mic to be able to communicate on the flight, but no one really talked. Wildcat wasn’t exactly the chattiest of heroes, and even if they weren’t currently exes, Emma and Kaldur wouldn’t have wanted to have a conversation that excluded him.

They landed hours later, each one blurred to the next for Emma, and as the chopper lurched to the side, all three occupants wondered how they'd made it that far.

Ted hopped out first, dragging their luggage from the secure compartment. Kaldur went after him, and offered a hand to Emma to help her down.

As she wobbled between the choice to refuse or accept his help, she stumbled out of the helicopter and into his arms.

She felt her heart beat three times- pounding painfully against her ribcage, as she took him in. He wore a dark gray Star City University hoodie- one she knew for a fact was stolen from Roy- and a navy blue beanie, the one she bought him one Christmas after her attempt to learn knitting with M'gann had gone terribly wrong.

The skin around his eyes was pale, and his eyes were more gray than green, reminding her of a cloudy day where it wasn't  sunny and it wasn't rainy. Caught in the middle, unable to figure out how  the day should be spent. He didn't smell too bad, though, but the sea-salty scent she was so used to from him had faded.

Wildcat threw their bags at them, refusing to carry their crap for them. Emma shouldered her bag, embarrassed at being caught like that. But she couldn't help but wonder, what did Kaldur see when he looked at her?

“Alright, kids,” Ted’s voice made both of them snap to attention. He reminded Emma vaguely of stuck-up Captain Atom.

“This is the JSA’s only safe house, so if you blow this one up, you’ll be moving in with Doctor Midnite.” The had landed at the southernmost tip of Moose Factory Island, the helicopter was situated on the only bit of ground solid enough to hold it. To their left was the river that surrounded the island merging back into one. Directly ahead was a small wooden cabin, behind it was the beginning of a forest, which arced around to their right and behind the helicopter, blocking the rest of the island from view.

“What of Batman’s safehouses?” Emma heard Kaldur speak for the first time in months.

“Don’t know which ones Demon Head knows about. Wanted to stay on the safe side,” Ted grunted. He unlocked the peeling-paint-red door before dropping the key in Emma’s hand.

“No wifi, watch your electricity, the generator’s been running for forty years now.”

Emma’s hand fisted around the key in her pocket, the hair on her fingers tingling with static electricity. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“This island is owned by the Cree tribe. The only reason we’re allowed here is because I’m on good terms with most all of them. Don’t ruin that. Batman told you about credit cards?”

Emma didn’t feel like talking, so she simply held up the envelope Bruce had given her.

“There’s a trading post in town on the other side of the woods. You can buy most everything there. ‘N they’ve a landline there too, but only in emergencies. You can send messages to your little sidekick friends through letters when Midnite stops by every month with your allowance. They’ll send you letters too, I’ll bet. Least Dinah will.”

He slapped his palm down on the vanilla-colored countertop. “Map to Midnite’s is in the fridge. Memorize it.”

Emma could sense Kaldur nodded just as she did.

Wildcat sighed looking between the two of them, trying to decide if it would be more or less awkward if he left.

“Well, that’s it. Tolerate each other, don’t burn the house down, and don’t get caught.”

He propped his hat- the one with the kitty ears- back on his balding head, and the slamming door behind him echoed emptily. Neither Emma nor Kaldur made a move until the whirring of chopper blades had faded away into the crisp, autumnal air.

She turned, and Kaldur was staring at her, mouth open as if he was going to say something. “Thank you” maybe? “I’m sorry for the past year”?

He thought better of it, dragging his duffel down the hall to the first available hall.

Grumbling under her breath, Emma shouldered her own bag and went off to find the other room that Dinah had promised would be there. If Black Canary had lied to her there would be very strong words spoken between them.

Emma found the other room soon enough, thank goodness. It was sparsely furnished, a safe house wasn’t supposed to be a vacation rental, after all, but the whole house seemed to have a plaid thing going on. The front sitting room was green with the kitchen as yellow and black, both having dark brown walls to match the house exterior. The room Emma had found for herself had solid red pillows, with a red plaid comforter and a single dark brown dresser, and a white closet to match the walls and the bathroom. Emma was willing to bet that Kaldur’s room was exactly the same, only in blue. It was simple, but comfortable. She almost felt at home, if the room didn’t feel claustrophobic compared to her suite at the manor. She really needed to shed her privilege more often.

The clothes that she’d packed filled about two of the drawers, so she spread them out to make them feel of more use. She hung up the one dress and a couple of her nicer shoes, and shoved the duffel into the shelf above. She stacked her books on the shelves and paused to see Brandon Sanderson’s “Elantris”,her immediate thought being that Kaldur might like to read it.

After she did, of course. Bruce said that there was a bookshelf stocked full for electric-free fun, and although Kaldur was dyslexic, he was quite an avid reader. He’d be well occupied before Emma should take it upon herself to keep him entertained.

It wasn’t her job to keep him entertained anyway, she was there to keep him safe. Nothing more, nothing less, and she’d been guilted into that anyway.

She let herself fall face-first into the thick comforter, wishing for Justice or something to cuddle.

Her eyes fell on something bright red- brighter than the dull tones of the cabin decor. An article of clothing having fallen from her bag?

She picked it up, staring at it with disdain. It was the plush dragon that Kaldur he won her at the Happy Harbor Festival. Well, technically, he’d won her a bright green plush, with yellow wings instead of purple, to match her own, but that was lost in the chaos when the Terror Twins became more than a little ticked off at the fact that they were not allowed to enter fair grounds. The double date Emma and Kaldur had been on with M’gann and Conner was disrupted, and in the aftermath of the fight, the boothkeeper offered them his one surviving plush as a thank you for saving the rest of the festival (and keeping the Terror Twins from stealing all his sketchily-earned cash).

After Kaldur was discovered to be working with Black Manta, recently revealed to be his birth father, Emma had to admit she went a little berserk in her reaction. All his messages deleted from her phone. His letters and little gifts boxed up and given to Alfred to “get rid of them”, though if he actually did so remained a mystery. After Malina Island, she even went into his former room in Mount Justice- the first to do so in months- and eviscerated one of his pillows with her lightning. At the time, it made her feel better, but it didn’t make her less mad, and the cave smelled like burnt cotton for weeks. Until Kaldur blew it up anyway.

Out of everything, Emma rationalized keeping the dragon. It wasn’t the one Kaldur had given her, though she always felt it was meant to replace the one she lost, and she did love dragons, even if the green and yellow one had been prettier.

Emma felt her heart beat distinctly, and she held the dragon close, curled up on top of the covers.

“Thanks, Tim,” she whispered.

She didn’t know how long she lay there, back stiff, eyes red, mind numb, door open.

The next thing she knew, she smelled cookies.

Not just any cookies, Miss Martian’s cookies. Chocolate chip. Freshly baked. With extra cinnamon.

She sat up, but before she went to investigate, she hid the dragon beneath the pillows, between the mattress and the wall.

Kaldur was in the kitchen, alone, pulling a cookie sheet out of the oven, and sliding the cookies off to cool on a plate on the table with the others.

Emma stood there, just staring at the cookies for a moment, before Kaldur spotted her.

“Would you like some?”

It was the first time they had spoken directly to each other since...the summit. Three months ago.

“Yeah,” She was embarrassed that was all she could bring herself to say. No “sorry for threatening to kill you if you touched a hair on Mara, Tim, or Gar’s head,” or “I’m sorry for freaking out and being so willing to believe that you’d actually side with Manta over us.”

She shoved a cookie in her mouth to keep from embarrassing herself further. It appeared Kaldur had the same idea, but then they both started choking.

Kaldur immediately procured two glasses of water.

“It appears that I used too much cinnamon,” He lamented.

“Well, that, and I kind of forced mine down my throat,” Emma admitted sheepishly.

“”As did I,” Kaldur’s attempted to smile made Emma giggle. Just a little bit.

“Did...did M’gann teach you to make these?”

Kaldur nodded. “I have had plenty of free time as of late, while there are no missions to assign.”

Emma nodded. “Well, if we aren’t totally alienated from cinnamon at the moment, I think I still have a couple of Alfred’s cinnamon rolls, and then some potato casserole for dinner that we can heat up.”

“That sounds delicious, just let me clean up.” Kaldur placed the cover on the spicy cookies, and went about brushing the spare ingredients off the counter and into the small trash bin.

Emma bit her lip. “Need any help?”

“No, thank you. I can handle it.” Kaldur assured her.

“Alright,” Emma whispered under her breath.

She only hoped that Bruce and Aquaman could bring in those threatening Kaldur sooner. If today was any indicator, the coming weeks, maybe months, were going to be terribly painful for both of them.