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timeturner-jay · 5 years

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A Logical Solution to Relationship Problems, as Presented by Robin

Fandom: Young Justice Rated: T (for some swearing) Characters: Artemis Crock, Dick Grayson Pairings: Background Spitfire, pre-Traught if you want to read it that way.

Summary: Artemis has a fight with Wally. Robin knows just the thing to cheer her up. (Gotham Gang bonding by doing Gotham Things together. I will die on this hill.) Canon compliant.

Artemis groaned and slumped against the wall, drawing her knees up to her chest and letting her phone slip out of her fingers, absently watching it land on the mattress with a light bounce.

She had the vague urge to punch something, and she eyed her pillow disdainfully; it wasn't a villain or her idiot of a boyfriend, but it would have to do.

In the end, slamming her fist into the soft material turned out to be less satisfying than she had anticipated – if anything, it only made her feel even more frustrated.

She opted for hugging it to her chest instead as she buried her face in the pillowcase and muttered half-hearted curses into it.

What a shitty night.

Wally was great. He was sweet, he was funny – and he was utterly clueless sometimes.

Artemis let out a huff and glared at her phone like the device was at fault for the fight that had sprung up between her and the speedster.

It had only been three months since that fateful New Year's Eve at the Watchtower. Her rational mind whispered that they were still figuring things out between themselves, and that misunderstandings were bound to happen. Her fist, however, said that it would very much like to punch someone's teeth in instead of worrying about technicalities.

She let her head drop back against the wall dramatically and buried her bare toes further into her comforter. God, this was so stupid. She was acting like a typical teenager in some romcom. This was almost as bad as Hello, Megan. Not that she'd ever say that to M'gann's face, but the Martian's favourite TV show contained exactly the kind of drama that Artemis didn't want in her life. Period.

Still though, her wounded pride stung.

She was itching to go out and do something, but this was Gotham. Batman didn't like other heroes in his city, and she had a reputation to uphold with her hero identity anyway. Artemis was supposed to be a Star City heroine. She couldn't just show up in Gotham City unannounced, or people would start asking questions.

Artemis was just considering the benefits of making the long trek down to the Zeta Tube when a polite knock on her window startled her so badly that she almost fell off her bed.

She was on the fifth floor.

What the fuck.

In one fluid movement, she dove forward, drew her pistol crossbow out from under her bed and trained it on the window, staring through the dirty glass pane with adrenaline-fuelled focus.

Robin grinned awkwardly and waved his free hand in a gesture of cheerful surrender.

Dropping her crossbow in a mixture of baffled surprise and bemused annoyance, Artemis got to her feet and made her way over to the window.

She pulled it open with a little more force than strictly necessary.

“What do you want?”, she asked drily.

Robin gave her a cheeky smile as he climbed all the way up and perched on her windowsill. “Aww, and I'm happy to see you too, Arty!”, he exclaimed.

He then sobered a little. “Actually, I've had a certain speedster whine to me about his relationship problems for the last four hours. He has now succeeded in eating himself into a chocolate-induced coma, so I wanted to check up on you. Wally was mostly feeling sorry for himself, but you-”, he gestured awkwardly, completely failing to underline his point in any meaningful way.

The vigilante huffed and started over. “I thought you might like someone to talk to too. I pride myself on being an impartial and very objective neutral party!”

Artemis felt oddly touched amidst her annoyance, but there was also something else that was very much bothering her.

“How the fuck do you even know where I live, Boy Wonder?”

His smile became sheepish.

“I've always known”, he admitted uncomfortably. “Detective, remember? Actually, Batman had me do surveillance on you for a few days before he offered you that spot on the Team. Sorry about that. The only thing that we knew back then was that Sportsmaster's daughter was running around the city in a costume, but we figured out pretty quickly that you were on our side.”

He coughed awkwardly.

“Bats didn't want you doing the hero-thing in Gotham, at least not unsupervised, so I suggested adding you to the Team instead. That way, you'd get some contacts in the Justice League, better equipment and better chances to help out where it counted. He thought it was a good idea, so he made the arrangements to meet you together with GA.”

Artemis just stared at him, struck dumb.

“Okay. I have no idea if I want to hit you or hug you right now”, she muttered darkly. “But Robin? That's creepy. Seriously, why must you ninja-types always pull weird shit like that?”

His grin regained some of its previous brightness, but the rest of his body language made it clear than he was definitely feeling at least somewhat embarrassed. “Yeah, I know. Sorry again. But I'm glad that I finally got to tell you. Playing dumb about the whole situation in front of you and the Team was really frustrating.”

He got up and hopped off the windowsill, landing inside her room in one annoyingly graceful movement.

“And don't worry. Your secrets are safe with me. I won't tell anyone that you're really a Gothamite, if you'd prefer your private life to stay private. Trust me, I get it.”

Artemis snorted. That, at least, she could easily believe. “No doubts there, Mr. Sunglasses-Indoors”, she teased and lightly boxed him on the shoulder.

He grinned up at her without a hint of remorse, bowing with a dramatic flourish. “I aim to please.”

As Robin straightened back up, she gave him a critical glance. “Thanks for the offer to talk, I guess”, she said, bending down to collect her crossbow off the floor. It wouldn't do to leave her weapons lying around.

She gazed at the well-worn fibreglass handle thoughtfully, trailing her finger along the loading mechanism. “But to be honest, this thing Baywatch and me were fighting about is kind of stupid. Talking about it would only make me feel even more annoyed, I think.”

She lifted her eyes, meeting Robin's gaze. “I'd rather let some steam off.”

Her growing grin was mirrored on his face.

Robin's voice was low and conspiratorial as he leaned forward, and his excited energy was contagious. “I know just the thing. Grab your gear.”

“You're insane.” The flat words were matched by Artemis' equally flat expression, but Robin only cackled. He was only further proving her point, as far as she was concerned. He always sounded absolutely bonkers when he did that.

The duo was standing on a bridge overlooking Gotham's impressive network of train tracks, and Artemis tightened her grip on the shaking railing as a freight train sped by beneath their feet, the vibrations prickling up her legs even through her combat boots.

“No, I'm serious”, she argued. “You're insane. Mad. Absolutely out of your mind!”

Robin's laugh only grew louder, and she gave him a sour glare. “Train surfing. There's no way in hell that I'm going train surfing with you. Train surfing isn't even a thing!”

“Sure it's a thing!”, Robin grinned, his voice still airy and breathless from all his stupid laughter. “Believe it or not, Batman is the one who invented it. ...Admittedly though, he probably wasn't expecting me to make a regular hobby out of it.”

Artemis let out another exaggerated groan, but quite frankly, the idea was starting to grow on her. This was absolutely stupid and idiotic. It was the most reckless thing she had ever heard of.

“What the hell”, she sighed, a slow grin growing on her face. “Let's do it.”

“I was hoping you'd say that”, Robin cackled and promptly pulled something out of one of his many hidden pockets.

It looked like two long, black strips of ...fabric? Artemis stared in puzzlement as Robin reached out to hand her one of the things.

She took it and turned it over in her hands, feeling the dense, soft material between her fingers. It felt almost like a-

“No.”

Her eyes met Robin's, and she got the vivid impression that he was winking at her from behind his mask.

“No. No way.”

He just shrugged and proceeded to tie his own blindfold around his head.

An incredulous laugh bubbled up in her chest, and Artemis doubled over, laughing more freely than she had in what felt like years. She felt light and almost dizzy with excited adrenaline.

“Train surfing! While blindfolded! You're a madman!”

Robin shot her a grin that was somehow still just as bright and dazzling, despite half his face being obscured by fabric.

The archer savoured her laughter for a few more moments as it faded away into breathless giggles, and she gripped the black fabric with renewed determination. The grin on her face was excited enough to rival Robin's own as she raised the blindfold up to her face.

“Fuck yeah. Let's go!”

The wind was whipping past her and her whole body felt alive with the intense vibrations that were racing up her legs from the shaking rooftop of the train.

It was surprisingly easy to stay upright – it wasn't her first time standing on a moving train of course, but all the other times, the Mission had been involved somehow; sometimes even to the point that they were battling on top of the speeding trailers.

She had never thought to associate the sensation with fun.

There was a sudden jolt and she stumbled, regaining her footing with a startled laugh that was echoed from where Robin was standing a few feet to her right.

The sounds of traffic approached rapidly and then faded again just as quickly. They must have just crossed one of the highway bridges, which meant they were well out of Gotham by now. She had no idea where they were even going, but she didn't care. The lack of direction suited her just fine tonight.

For a long time, it was just her, the wind and the train beneath her feet, her body intuitively feeling every curve and shift before it happened, moving to adjust for them without any conscious effort of her own.

The excitement that had been bubbling in her veins slowly faded, being replaced by a calm, warm assuredness that settled in her chest and spread through her whole body, leaving a happy tingling in its wake. A small, contented smile curled the corners of her mouth upwards.

She flung her arms wide, feeling the wind rush past her relaxed limbs. It caught her hair and sent her long ponytail streaming out behind her like a golden flag.

She felt so weightless.

It almost felt like she was flying.

The train gave another unexpected jolt, but this time, she just leaned into the wind further and greeted it with an elated cry, trusting her feet to keep her steady as she allowed herself to get lost in the feeling of utter and absolute freedom.

Her head felt clear for the first time in forever, free of all the things that had been tying her down.

There was just the moment, just this point in time.

She knew that the past would catch up to her again once this was over, and that worries for the future wouldn't be far off either, but for now, she was alive right here and now, and nothing else mattered.

Robin thought similarly, if his own delighted shout was anything to go by.

“By the way, Artemis!” His words barely even reached her, torn away by the wind the moment they left his mouth.

“At the speed we're moving, there should be a tunnel coming up very soon!”

As if to confirm his words, there was another jolt and the feeling of the train's vibrations suddenly changed.

Artemis guessed that they must have switched tracks. Damn, Robin was good.

His next shout sounded a lot more urgent. “Basically, DOWN!”

She was on her back almost as soon as the words left Robin's mouth, her hands blindly grasping for purchase on the smooth roof.

Barely a moment later, a solid wall of stale air hit her body, and suddenly, the train's noise was coming from everywhere at once, echoed back at her from within a much smaller space.

The vibrations, now shaking the whole length of her body, tickled her laughter out of her once more, and she didn't care how loud and breathless it was. Robin joined in a moment later, and their shared exhilaration filled up the darkness around them.

“Thanks for tonight”, Artemis said, and she really meant it.

She swayed slightly, her body still moving with the phantom sensations of a train that wasn't there anymore, and she shared a small smile with Robin, who was standing unfairly steadily compared to her.

They had switched trains eventually, boarding one that was heading back to Gotham, and it had taken them a while to make their way back to her decrepit apartment building.

It was probably close to sunrise now, but Artemis was far from tired. She didn't think that she'd be able to get much sleep with the remaining adrenaline that was still thrumming through her body.

Standing next to the familiar brick walls of her home now, she was almost sad that the night was ending. Still though, the calm happiness that had settled in her chest earlier wouldn't be shaken. She didn't think that she had felt this at peace in a long time.

What had she and Wally been fighting about again? It seemed so insignificant now.

She knew that her boyfriend wouldn't be getting up for a few more hours, but she would call him once he'd be getting ready for school.

She needed to apologise and set things right.

There were more important things than petty squabbles, and she certainly wouldn't allow them to get in the way of the people and things she loved.

“You know what? This was exactly what I needed.” She shot Robin a satisfied smirk, which he returned easily enough.

“Next time you go train surfing again, definitely give me a call.”

He grinned. “You got it! I knew you'd love it.”

And yeah, as much as she hated to admit it, she absolutely did. Robin definitely knew how to have a good time, she'd give him that.

“So, huh. Guess I'll be heading back upstairs now”, Artemis said, giving the dark Gotham sky a critical glance. It was as grey as it ever was, but dark enough that she could safely conclude that sunrise was still some ways off.

“Maybe we can both try to get at least a little sleep. We could probably use it.”

Robin gave her a wry nod and made an aborted motion to raise his hand in a cheeky wave, when suddenly, a bright yellow glare lit up the night sky.

Artemis blinked frantically, trying to clear her eyes as she turned them up towards the looming clouds again.

The Bat Symbol stood out in all its glory against the dark smog, and there was the distinct sound of sirens wailing in the distance.

Robin's raised hand dropped back to his side.

“Oh. Huh”, he said. “So much for sleep, I guess.”

He turned back towards Artemis, one of his trademark grins lighting up his face once again.

“Batman is out of town right now, actually. He wants me to keep an eye on things, but this seems like it might be big. Wanna come along? I don't think people will ask too many questions as long as they see you working together with me.”

Taking the invitation for what it was, Artemis answered him with one of her own smirks. “Oh yeah, I've got plenty of energy left. Just try to keep up, Boy Wonder.”

The warm, happy feeling within her chest only grew brighter as Artemis turned to disappear into the shadows of this dark, familiar city alongside her friend.

It felt like coming home.

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