you took me by surprise (and you stole my heart before i could say no)

Artemis Crock's favourite colour is yellow.

Well, she thinks it is, anyway. It's not like she's ever seen any yellow; or any other colour, for that matter. She thought she was going to, just for a moment, the day she ran into Zatanna and spilled her coffee all over the magician's blazer, but no.

All the greys got a little brighter, but there was no colour for either of them to see. Such is the way of the world. Being able to see colour is a luxury one isn't given until they meet their soulmate, which is total bullshit in Artemis' opinion, but it's not like she can do anything to change it. She's just a girl with a bow and a chip on her shoulder.

Yellow, though, she thinks she likes. She once asked her mother to describe colours and how they made her feel, and with regards to yellow, her mother claimed it was a happy colour that made her feel the same way as the warm sun on her skin.

Artemis has always liked the sun.

One must only have to meet their soulmate in the loosest of terms, she realises, when she's sitting in her first college class- something about English that she didn't really want to take but was a core subject that they were making her sit through anyway- and when she looks up, finds that suddenly everything that was once monochromatic is now bright and new, and she's confused for a moment because if anyone introduced themselves to her, she certainly wasn't paying attention.

Maybe she just caught a glimpse of whoever it is through the crowd. She's been told it can work like that sometimes, if you and your soulmate have a particularly strong bond. For most of the lesson, she keeps her head down, afraid to examine the possibilities.

She calls her mother later that night, who laughs with glee and delight and promises to tell her which colour is which when Artemis and Zatanna next come over for lunch. They go the very next day.

She was right; yellow is her favourite colour.

"Saving the world is boring," says Zatanna, fighting back a yawn and throwing her face up to the sky. The two of them are sitting on the balcony of an unoccupied apartment, watching the deserted alley below them. "At this point I'm hoping someone tries to kill us, just so I have something to do."

Yeah, the alley's been deserted for a while.

Artemis replies with a noise- something between a huff and a snort- of agreement. Her bow's on the wooden floor a foot or two away, forgotten, which says a lot about the evening's action as she's always the last to put down her weapon. "We could go across town," she suggests.

And that's when things get interesting; a blur of movement, red and yellow, darts through the alley. Following it is a much slower black and blue figure, and then the streak comes back to circle the figure.

The figure, clearly annoyed, tries in vain to shove at whatever's darting around it. "Fuck off, KF," it says- or rather, he says, because as Artemis slowly lowers herself from the balcony and onto the closed dumpster below, it becomes clear to her that the figure is in fact a he, probably a he not much older or younger than her and Zatanna.

Artemis raises her bow, and it's the streak of colour that notices her first, because it comes to a shuddering halt in front of her, arms raised, and she realises that this, too, is a boy, one in a yellow suit adorned with a red lightning bolt that matches his messy hair and, oh, shit, it's Kid Flash.

The yellow makes her almost smile, but the red stills her lips. Red has always seemed too violent for her to truly enjoy it. Too much like blood, like death.

"Whoa, lady," he says, inching closer. "We come in peace."

From the balcony above, Zatanna laughs- a musical, mildly menacing laugh- and doesn't bother with the dumpster as she drops unceremoniously into the alley. "That's a shame," she says. "Because we don't."

Artemis rolls her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic," she says, and then she eyes Kid Flash. "I know you. You're always on television."

He beams, like this is the best possible news she could have given him. "I'm Kid Flash," he tells her, needlessly. "So, you know, I'm kind of a big deal." He gestures at his friend- who's still behind him and scowling at the exchange. "This is Robin."

That most certainly is not Robin. He's the most famous sidekick in the world; Artemis thinks she'd recognise him if she saw him.

Not-Robin seems to agree. "Hey!" he cries, finally pushing ahead of Kid Flash. "I am not."

This time, it's Kid Flash rolling his eyes. "Right," he says. "Sorry. He used to be Robin, but he's in the midst of an identity crisis and is insisting we call him Nightwing. He's pretty touchy about it." He leans forward and fake-whispers, conspiratorially, in Artemis' ear, "I think he and Batman are having a fight."

"Well," says Zatanna, cutting off Nightwing's aggravated response. "I'm Zatanna."

Kid Flash gets a big, goofy grin on his face, like it's the best thing he's heard all week, and gives her a mock bow before pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.

Shoot me now, thinks Artemis, and maybe he's telepathic because he then remembers her, looks her up and down, and then does the exact same movement all over again, but Artemis pulls her hand away before he has a chance to kiss it. "Tigress," she says, pointing at her chest, and figures he gets the hint about not touching her. "What are you doing here?"

"Fighting crime," says Nightwing.

"Lookin' for babes," says Kid Flash.

The two glance at each other, Nightwing's eyes narrowed visibly even through his mask, and Kid Flash sighs. "Okay, so we're mostly fighting crime," he admits. "But hey, even if we weren't looking for babes, we sure found them!"

Then he winks, and Artemis fights the overwhelming urge to shoot him.

"You won't find any crime here," says Zatanna, crinkling her nose. "It's actually pretty annoying."

Nightwing makes a noise of discontent, and looks at his friend. "See?" he says. "I told you we should have gone to Gotham." He crosses his arms over his chest and explains to the girls, "There's always crime in Gotham."

Artemis and Zatanna share a 'can you believe this kid?' sort of look, and simultaneously deadpan, "We know."

That makes Kid Flash laugh, though he seems easily amused so Artemis doesn't think too much of it, until he calms down enough to say, "I like you two," and starts pulling off his yellow mask, revealing the spattering of freckles it had been hiding. "You can call me Wally."

In all honesty, Artemis isn't sure whether she or Nightwing is more surprised. He gives a disbelieving splutter as he tries in vain to force the mask back onto his friend's face before Artemis or Zatanna have long enough to actually look at him.

Of course, Zatanna takes it all in stride, shrugging. "Cool," she says. "I'm just Zatanna. Not big on the whole secret identity thing, ya know? It takes way too much effort."

"Exactly!" exclaims Wally, clearly happy someone finally agrees with him. Artemis has a feeling this is something he and Nightwing don't agree on. "And besides, I'd much rather get recognition for things I do as me, rather than as some chump in a suit who nobody knows."

"I hate my life," says Nightwing, and Artemis chokes back a laugh. "You just can't make it easy, can you, KF?"

Wally shakes his head, a gleeful grin on his face, and then gestures at Artemis. "So, what about you?"

"Still Tigress," she says, and her eyebrows are raised but she knows nobody can tell with her mask. She'd rather go head-to-head with Batman himself than tell this kid who she is. Her alter-ego is like an invisibility cloak, and it's all she has; she likes being Tigress a hell of a lot more than she likes being Artemis.

Nightwing smiles, and Zatanna tells Wally not to mind Artemis; "She's just paranoid," she says with a dismissive wave of her hand, and ignores the glare Artemis sends in her direction. "I think it's her daddy issues."

Well, thinks Artemis, that's not entirely incorrect.

It's Nightwing who, a few minutes later, insists on parting ways. "We've got places to be," he says by way of explanation, and Wally, who by this point is a few feet behind him, makes a number of gestures suggesting they do not, in fact, have places to be. "It was nice meeting you, though."

"Hopefully we'll see you around," says Wally, and then he winks and is once again a blur or colour as he races away, Nightwing following at an obviously much slower pace.

Artemis decides she doesn't much like Wally. He's almost ruined her favourite colour for her, honestly. Winking twice in one conversation is simply overkill, and she doesn't tend to trust anyone who winks at all- except maybe Zatanna, but she's kind of stuck with her so she figures it doesn't count. Nightwing's okay, though, so maybe if she and Zatanna do see them around, she won't mind it too much.

"Well, we might as well head home," says Zatanna. "I doubt anything's going to happen now." She glances up at the balcony they'd been on earlier, distaste evident in the twist of her mouth. "What kind of an apartment building has a balcony over an alley, anyway?"

"A cheap one," says Artemis.

Zatanna nods her agreement, and they're silent for a few minutes as they walk off in the opposite direction to the boys, and then she looks at Artemis with a funny look on her face. "You and your mum say yellow's the happy colour, right?" she asks, sounding uncharacteristically subdued.

"Mm," hums Artemis in agreement. "Why?"

There's another long moment of silence. "I think Wally's suit was yellow."

Artemis stops dead in her tracks. "Hold up," she says, grabbing Zatanna's elbow and yanking her back as the brunette tries to continue nonchalantly, like she hasn't just dropped the biggest bomb since they met and she'd announced she was a magician. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Depends what you think," says Zatanna, sighing and letting Artemis spin her around until they're facing each other. "If you think that I'm considering getting a buzz-cut, then you're very much incorrect, but if you think I'm seeing colour right now or that I've suddenly developed a craving for cookie dough, you'd be correct. On both counts."

"Shit," says Artemis. "I… shit."

Zatanna starts walking again, fast enough that Artemis has to take off at a slight jog to catch up. "I wonder which one it is," muses the brunette, adjusting her blazer. "Maybe it's both of them," she adds, a twinkle in her eyes. "We can be like the golden trio- you know, from Harry Potter?"

Artemis snorts. "Well, I don't know about that," she says. "But for your sake, I hope it's Nightwing. Or, even better, the universe is just reacting late to our meeting, and I'm your soulmate after all."

Laughing, the two girls link arms and speak nothing more of it for the night.

"I hate English," says a too familiar voice the next morning in Artemis' dreaded English class as Wally- Wally West, as she and Zatanna had discovered when they'd looked through the student directory to see if he went to the same university as they did- drops into the seat next to her. "What about you?"

Artemis responds by yelping in alarm and shifting as far away as possible, which isn't far considering she'd chosen a seat by the wall. A stupid decision, really. "Uh, it's not that bad," she says, softly, hoping he won't recognise her voice. She hadn't spoken much last night, so it's not an unreasonable want.

And it's a hope that seems to work in her favour, because if Wally West recognises her, he doesn't say anything about it. "Cool," he says amiably. "You're probably an English major." She isn't, actually- journalism is her poison, inspired by Iris West Allen who, the more she thinks about it, is probably related to this kid, and that makes her wish she was an English major- but doesn't correct him. "Anyway, you're Artemis, right?"

She raises an eyebrow, silently asking how the fuck he knows her name, and he laughs.

"I read it on the seating chart," he says, pointing down at where a few sheets of paper are pinned to the wall behind the space where their professor has yet to appear. There's a seating chart? How the hell did she manage to end up in what she assumes, based on the boy chatting like they're to be best buddies from now on, is the correct place? "I'm Wally, by the way."

Wally. What a ridiculous name.

"That's nice," she tells him, still not quite able to meet his eyes, and she's then saved by the professor's uncannily timed appearance, who announces that whoever they're sitting next to is their new writing partner for the semester, and Wally's sweet grin is almost unbearable. She glances over at him, trying not to sigh- she's not that rude. "Well, this is great."

He nods his agreement, either not noticing the somewhat bitter tone in her voice or choosing to ignore it, and spends most of the two fucking hour class murmuring jokes and wry observations in her ear.

They leave the lecture theatre with a meeting for the next afternoon to work on the first assignment together, and Artemis thinks she might well be screwed.

Zatanna laughs- of course she laughs, the bitch- over her cup of coffee.

She and Artemis are sitting at one of the multiple cafés the campus runs, both with hot drinks in their hands and sweet treats to the side; a croissant for Zatanna and a caramel slice for Artemis. The sun beams down on them as the bustling crowd around them makes it impossible for them to hear one another without having to lean in.

"You've got to admit," says Zatanna after taking a long sip. "It's pretty funny."

Artemis scowls. "It isn't at all funny," she snaps, smacking her friend's hand away when she reaches to pick off some of the slice. "It's awful. How am I supposed to spend a semester working with this kid when I a) know his super alter-ego, and b) don't want him to know my super alter-ego, and c) I'm not entirely certain I don't hate him."

"Don't be so dramatic," chides Zatanna. "Of course you don't hate him. If you hated him, you would've stuck an arrow in his arm the other night. Admittedly, you did look like you wanted to, but you didn't and that's what really counts here." She still looks far too amused by the situation.

Groaning, Artemis checks her watch. She only has a few minutes left before she's supposed to meet Wally at the library, and she wishes she had more time to vent to Zatanna. They hadn't had the chance to talk last night because Zatanna had been going out with a group of people from one of her performance classes, and Artemis had been invited but she was too much in the midst of a crisis to even consider it. She regrets the decision now; it would've been far easier to talk about this, she wagers, while getting drunk thanks to an impeccable fake ID.

Zatanna sympathetically pats Artemis' hand. "I feel for you, babe, I really do," she says. "But I need to take off." She stands up and pushes her half-finished coffee and almost untouched croissant over to Artemis, brushing a few crumbs off her dress. "I've got a date, see."

"A date?" repeats Artemis stupidly. "Zee, how do you already have a date? Classes only started like, a week ago."

Zatanna gives a helpless shrug. "I'm irresistible," she says, and then laughs. "I don't know, honestly. This guy, Dick, spilled a drink on me last night and insisted on taking me out for lunch to make up for it, and if I don't head off now I'm going to be late."

Dick, thinks Artemis. And here she is, thinking Wally was a bad name. She'd take Wally over Dick any day. "Well, have fun," she says, defeated, finishing the last of her coffee. "Don't get too attached, though. You've still got Nightwing and/or Wally fucking West to think about."

And then Zatanna disappears, and Artemis can't avoid it anymore.

There are a set of group study rooms on the library's second floor, and that's where she and Wally are meeting. It takes her a good few minutes to climb the wide staircase, mostly because she's still tired and sore from a training session with Black Canary a few days ago, but also because she doesn't really want to. She knows Zatanna's right about her being too harsh on Wally, but there's nothing about this situation that isn't torturous.

"It is the east, and Artemis is the sun," says Wally grandly, throwing his arms wide in a sweeping gesture when she appears in the room. "I'm not sure if you know this, but you're very bright today. It's almost blinding."

Artemis glares at him, though he isn't exactly wrong. She's wearing a white t-shirt dotted with sunflowers, and a pair of yellow jeans Zatanna, upon seeing them that morning, begged her to throw away, or at least dye.

But his observation is an interesting one. He can see colour, apparently, which makes his meeting with Zatanna a lot worthier of her attention than she'd assumed- surely, she thought, it would've had to be Nightwing.

"How long have you seen colour?" she asks casually as she sits across from him, letting her bag and its contents spill across the desk.

Wally smirks. "You jealous?" he asks, and ducks- remarkably fast, of course, god, this kid isn't even trying to hide his speed- when she flicks a pen at his face. "Um, a few days, actually." Artemis bites her lip to keep from saying something. "About a week, I guess. Yeah, that sounds right. A week ."

Oh.

It hasn't even been forty-eight hours since he and Zatanna met, so that can't be it, then. She makes a mental note to give her friend the news that she either needs to get freaky with Nightwing, or if not him, a very quiet and invisible person who'd been hiding out in that same alley.

This is good news, thinks Artemis, though she wonders if Zatanna will agree. She hadn't been at all opposed to Nightwing, but it certainly seemed as though she'd been quite taken with Wally's easy humour. Artemis really hopes she's wrong; if Zatanna does end up with Wally regardless, that's so much more time Artemis will have to spend trying to hide her identity from him, and it's honestly exhausting.

"I'm happy for you," she mutters, reaching for her laptop.

Wally's hand shoots out to halt her. His hand is warm, with a cluster of freckles on its back and trailing up his wrist and onto his arm. The freckles aren't thickly spread; there's just enough of them to highlight his bright hair, and there's even a very faint tan underneath them. "What about you, sunshine?"

She isn't sure why she does it, but it's like her mouth moves of its own accord. "You're all grey to me," she says flatly, pulling her hand away and again moving to open her laptop. This time, he doesn't stop her.

Leaning back in his seat, he appraises her for a moment, and then a crooked grin appears in place of his momentarily serious expression. This is better- she's much more comfortable with a typically amused Wally than a solemn one. "Well," he says. "That explains the yellow, then. It's truly horrific."

Artemis isn't sure what he's getting at, considering his Kid Flash suit, but she can't very well say that, so she ignores his comment. "So, who's the lucky lady?" she asks in an attempt to keep a civil conversation going; she still doesn't want to be here, but his cheerful, chatty demeanour is infectious, and she isn't sure she's capable of ignoring him. "Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it." She raises her eyes to meet his. "I don't think I know you well enough to make that call."

"Oh, lucky, for sure," he says, not at all offended by the mild insult. "You can take my word for it; I'm a real catch. And your guess is as good as mine, because I have no clue. I was just sitting in class- our first English lesson, actually- and poof! I was finally free of the dreary monochrome."

Artemis' eyes widen so suddenly she's sure they're going to fall out.

Fuck.

It's during her and Zatanna's routine patrol that night that Artemis breaks the news that Zatanna's apparently stuck with Nightwing. She doesn't mention the Wally revelation, and is still deciding whether she should bring it up at all, when Zatanna gives a casual shrug.

"It doesn't matter, though, does it?" she says. "This whole soulmate business, I mean. Like, just because the universe thinks I should be with someone doesn't mean I have to think the same. Don't get me wrong, Nightwing was definitely cute, but… Well, this Dick guy and I are really hitting it off, I think, and I don't want to throw that away just because some weird mystical force is telling me to."

Artemis doesn't point out that Zatanna's entire life revolves around weird mystical forces, because she doubts it would be productive. Instead, she takes to closely examining her nailbeds and trying to not meet her friend's eyes. She doesn't say a word about Wally, and she thinks the universe must be punishing her when Zatanna's words are, "Don't suppose you've gone and found your guy without telling me though, have you?"

"Of course not," says Artemis.

She can't tell her about Wally.

"What do you do," asks Artemis, aiming a kick at her opponent, "When your soulmate is someone completely unsuitable?" Chest rising with thick, heavy breaths, she pauses to wipe the sheen of sweat off her forehead. The abandoned warehouse they're training in is hot and dark, and her movements are sluggish with exhaustion. They've been going at it for over an hour. "I mean, I know you and Green Arrow are a great couple and all, but it isn't exactly convenient, is it?"

Black Canary steps back and straightens into a more casual stance, lowering her arms. "No, it's not," she agrees, voice hoarse. "But I wouldn't know about unsuitable soulmates, because I don't have a soulmate at all."

Not that's surprising. "Really?" says Artemis, incredulous. "But I thought you guys…" She doesn't know what she thought, honestly, so she trails off and lets the sentence hang in the air between them.

A shaking head is the response she's given. "Nope," she says, like this is something casual they're talking about, something mundane and expected. Like it's not something that's literally threatening to blow Artemis' mind. "Neither of us have soulmates- well, not that we've met, in any case, but that doesn't mean we love each other any less."

"Of course not," agrees Artemis, because this is a conversation she's already had a number of times with Zatanna and one that sounds perfectly logical, in her opinion. The weird mystical forces determining everyone's lives can't be right all the time, surely? Even they have to make mistakes sometimes. "Well, thanks anyway."

Artemis goes to throw another punch, but Black Canary easily blocks it and catches the younger girl's wrist in her own. "Hang on," she says. "I don't think this discussion is quite over. Is there something you need to talk about, Artemis?"

The use of her real name shocks Artemis into agreeing. Both Black Canary and Green Arrow- Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen, she reminds herself, though it's so hard to refer to them as the latter when they're on the news as the former every other week- know who she really is, and that's probably why they- and Zatanna, naturally- have always been the hardest for her to hide from.

A moment later, Artemis and her mentor are sitting cross-legged on the cold concrete floor, and Artemis is explaining how she found out Kid Flash's real identity- which Dinah, oddly enough, isn't aware of, and Artemis feels a swell of protectiveness in her chest at that and refuses to disclose his name, even though she's sure he wouldn't mind- and how she's fairly certain the two of them are soulmates, but that he doesn't know this, and that she's just very, very confused.

Dinah's always been a good listener, and she doesn't even open her mouth until Artemis is finished. When she does, she looks both sympathetic and fond, like she's simultaneously happy and sad for Artemis' revelations. "Honestly, Artemis, I think you need to stop focusing so much on the matter of him knowing or not knowing who you are. It's not impossible to keep your civilian life separate from your superhero life, you know?"

That sounds fake to Artemis, but she nods anyway. Dinah is right that just because Wally might be her soulmate doesn't automatically mean he needs to know who she is. Plenty of heroes do it; Batman and Catwoman fought for years before realising they'd actually been in a relationship the entire time, and for Artemis it should be even easier, because she and Wally aren't actually dating, and she doesn't intend for them to be, either.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," she says. "I mean; it's not like I actually like him."

Dinah smiles. "Of course you don't," she says, and then she's jumping back up and giving Artemis ten seconds to be on her feet and ready to fight.

Dick Grayson, it turns out, isn't a total dick.

This is good for a number of reasons, most notably that he makes Zatanna happy and that Artemis doesn't constantly feel the overwhelming urge to shove him into a wall. It is also, however, ridiculously unfortunate in that he and Wally seem to be friends, which means the more Dick is around, the more Wally is around.

As if their English class and bi-weekly meetings to brainstorm together and check each other's work wasn't enough.

Currently, the four of them are standing in a shopping centre aisle, all crowded around the one trolley and fighting over whether they should get the cookie dough ice cream (which, irritatingly, Artemis and Wally agree to be the superior flavour), the mint ice cream (Dick's choice), or the banana ice cream (Zatanna's suggestion, of course, because Zatanna's fucking weird).

"Majority rules," declares Wally after a good five or so minutes of arguing, and darts past Zatanna to grab the cookie dough and drop it into the trolley before she or Dick can further protest. He catches Artemis' eye, and winks. "Don't worry, sunshine. I've got your back."

Sunshine. She hates him for making the nickname stick.

As if echoing her thoughts, Dick spins around with eyebrows raised. "Sunshine?" he asks, like he can't believe it. He glances between her and Wally for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nope. I don't see it. She's the least sunshiney person I've ever met."

Well, that was a little excessive.

Wally lets his slender arm fall across her shoulders, and she ignores the way his fingers feel as they lightly rub against her bare arm, even as she feels the heat rising in her cheeks, even as he presses a little closer to her than is strictly necessary. "You just don't know her like I do," he tells Dick, and then he finally steps back. "And besides, she's a hell of a lot more sunshiney than you are."

"Touché."

Zatanna, having slipped her banana ice cream into the trolley and started carting it away without any of them paying her any mind, turns back around, a hand on her hip. "She is pretty sunshiney," she agrees. "It's kind of disgusting. I mean, I could forgive those jeans if she couldn't see what colour they are, but she can, and they're positively awful."

Okay, Artemis really should have told Zatanna about Wally.

He looks over at Artemis, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. She can see his comprehension as it passes over his expression, but he still asks. "I thought you said you couldn't see colour," he says, and he sounds almost offended, as if upset she didn't trust him with that information, as if he's accusing her of something.

Thanks, Zatanna.

Zatanna starts wheeling the trolley back over. "Of course she-" She breaks off after that, catching the irritated look on Artemis' face, and quickly tries to cover her trail before Wally can say anything else. "Oh, right," she says, comically slapping her forehead. "I'm thinking about the other Artemis, my… cousin."

For his part, Dick just looks confused.

"Drop it, please," murmurs Artemis to Wally. "I'll explain later, alright?" Later because she needs time to think of a plausible story to make her sound not completely pathological. Yeah, she thinks, good luck with that.

It takes a moment of Wally frowning and contemplating before he shrugs. "Sure," he says, and then he's a few steps ahead of her and getting away fast. "Yo, Zee, what are we doing for dinner? Because I'm thinking nachos."

Zatanna agrees easily, and the two disappear into the next aisle in search of corn chips.

Dick sighs. "He's always thinking nachos," he says, and then he and Artemis are following their friends, and it's like the past few minutes didn't happen.

The trip to the supermarket had, in fact, been an impromptu one, and the four teenagers immediately went back to their original plans for the evening, which had been a marathon all of the Harry Potter films. Of course, it had been Wally's suggestion, and of course, Artemis was wholly irritated with herself for it being her own preference as well.

As it is, Dick and Zatanna disappear into Zatanna's room halfway through the first movie, leaving Artemis and Wally sitting alone on the couch. They'd been squashed together due to it only having room for three people, but now that they have room, he isn't moving and she can't very well ask him to without seeming like a colossal bitch.

The two plates of nachos Wally had made- really, really good nachos- sit almost bare on the coffee table, as well as both tubs of ice cream with spoons sticking out of them. There's a bottle of vodka with a bottle of lemonade next to it, and the drink Artemis clutches tightly in her hand is decidedly more filled with the former.

It's a very typical scene, she thinks, and that only makes her more stressed about the entire situation.

"So," says Wally, as a not at all subtle transition to the one topic she really, really doesn't want to talk about. He pauses the film, and holds the remote captive so she can't turn it back on. "What's this about you having a soulmate?"

Artemis shrinks into the couch, wishing the pillows would swallow her whole. "I don't see why you care," she says, looking anywhere but at his eyes, which she can feel staring down at her even as she avoids their curious, watchful gaze. "It's not like it's any of your business, and we hardly even know each other."

"That's not true," he protests. "I know you plenty well. You always read things out loud when you're trying to understand them, your birthday's in two weeks, and you sing at the shower- okay, so Zatanna told me that one, but it still counts." She feels her cheeks flush, but he's looked away and is gesturing at the remnants of the nachos. "Plus, you hate salsa."

Well, then.

In the few hours since she'd vowed to come up with a good story, she'd played scenarios out in her mind, and since she has no good lie that isn't likely to come back and bite her in the arse, she decides to tell him something true, even if only so she can't slip up and say something wrong about it later.

"I'm just… not really comfortable with the whole concept of soulmates, okay?" she says, standing up and stretching her dormant limbs before reaching for the alcohol again. "My parents were soulmates, and all it gave my mother was two decades of unhappiness, so forgive me for not having that much faith in the system. And even if their relationship had been perfect, I'd rather be in love with someone on my own terms, not because the universe tells me to be. Is that really so wrong of me?"

Wally, if only for a second or so, looks like he doesn't believe her, but then he slouches until he's lying down, taking up the entire couch and then some, and looks up at the ceiling. "Well, that's very pragmatic," he says. "But I think it's a bit harsh of you to dismiss all soulmates. I mean, what about Dick and Zatanna?"

"What about them?" asks Artemis. "They're not soulmates."

There's a beat of silence. "Yes, they are," says Wally, and he looks as confused as Artemis feels. "I was there when they met, and trust me, that's definitely when Dick started seeing colour. He wouldn't shut up about it for days."

Artemis frowns. "But Zee told me she started seeing colour the day before she met Dick."

Oh.

Oh, wow. She gets it now: Zatanna had met Nightwing the night before she met Dick, but hadn't known who he was, and so naturally she doesn't think she and Dick are soulmates. Nightwing and Wally had both known who she was straight away, so they do know that Dick and Zatanna are soulmates.

Dick Grayson is Nightwing. Nightwing is Dick Grayson.

The two are, in fact, one and the same. Holy fuck.

Desperate to cover her tracks, she hastily adds, "Wait, never mind. You're right. I forgot that she met him before I did. Shall we put Harry Potter back on?" She doesn't wait for Wally's response before she snatches the remote and presses play, and then takes a good long swig from the bottle of vodka.

The night before Artemis' birthday, she and Zatanna take over Dinah's patrol so she and Oliver can celebrate their anniversary.

"I don't know why she didn't just invite him to patrol with her," says Zatanna, using her magic to levitate her a few feet off the ground just to piss Artemis off. "This is peak romance. I mean, if Dick and I make it to like a billion years of dating like those two and he asks me to roam the streets and fight crime with him, I'll be ecstatic. Of course, he wouldn't do that because he's blissfully boring and suburban, but you get my point."

Artemis doesn't respond. She still hasn't told Zatanna that Dick is actually Nightwing and isn't sure how she should approach the subject. Perhaps she should say something like: hey, Zee, your boyfriend/soulmate is actually a masked vigilante who used to be Batman's sidekick and I don't think he's ever going to tell you.

Yeah, that'd go down great. Now that she thinks about it, it's painfully obvious that Dick and Nightwing are the same person. Artemis doesn't think Wally could pay a second person to like him as much as Dick does. It's truly a wonder that Zatanna hasn't figured it out yet as well.

Also high on the list of things Artemis is keeping from her best friend is the fact that she's fairly certain Wally is her soulmate. It's entirely possible that their respective perfect matches both happen to be in that same English class, but it's not exactly likely, and thinking about all the other possibilities is exhausting.

She could do worse than Wally, she supposes. He's rather smart, and even though she hates to admit it, a much nicer person than she is. He's even funny, but she wouldn't tell him that for fear of inflating his ego, which is already past a healthy size.

Just as she's thinking that, Wally and Dick appear, both in their ridiculous costumes and apparently arguing about their plans for tomorrow. Dick sees them first, and straightens imperceptibly, letting the discussion drop off. "Hey, Zatanna," he says awkwardly. "And Tigress, hey to you too."

"Ladies!" cries Wally, clearly delighted. "This is the best surprise I've had all week."

Zatanna laughs. "Of course it is," she says. "We get that a lot, you know. It's not good for our self-esteem when people have more exciting things in their lives than their friendships with us, so we mostly avoid it, isn't that right, Tigress?"

Artemis hums her agreement.

"I don't doubt it," says Wally, and then he's looking directly at Artemis, at where her eyes poke out from behind her green mask. "Are we friends, though? I mean, it feels like years since I've seen the lovely Tigress here. It's almost like she's been hiding from me."

"I have been," says Artemis bluntly, and Dick lets out an appreciative laugh. This seems to be the tone of their meetings, even when they're not fighting crime; Wally flirts and Zatanna laughs, Artemis insults and Dick laughs. It's a nice rhythm. "What are you boys doing here, then?"

Dick and Wally exchange a look that she can't read. "We're looking for Black Canary," says Dick eventually. "She was supposed to be out tonight, but Batman said she couldn't make it and we've got some intel suggesting she might be in trouble."

Zatanna shakes her head. "Nah, she's fine," she insists. "She and Green Arrow had, uh, plans tonight. We're taking the shift for her."

"The intel came from Green Arrow," says Wally bleakly.

Artemis swears.

"He thinks she's helping Speedy out with some turf war or something, but Batman called him onto a more urgent mission before he could do anything," explains Dick. "He called us in to go find them."

Zatanna swears, too.

"Want in?" asks Wally.

Artemis is already raising her bow. "Of course we do."

Green Arrow's intel sends them to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham.

Wally zooms them over one by one, Dick first- who, if you ask Artemis, seems far too comfortable in his best friend's arms, and Zatanna second.

Artemis doesn't have time to wonder if his saving her for last means anything before he's holding her against his chest. Her arms instinctively wrap around his neck while she presses her face into his shoulder. One of his arms is under her knees while the other is curled around her body, his fingers splayed across her ribs, burning against her torso.

She hopes he doesn't look down at her; she can feel herself blushing.

"Hold tight," he whispers as she squeezes her eyes shut and his grip tightens before he starts to move.

It's like flying.

Artemis has always liked flying.

The warehouse in which they find Dinah is less abandoned than it should be, in that no, Dinah's not just here for the grimy vigilante aesthetic, but is in fact rather busy kicking at Sportsmaster while Speedy and Cheshire brawl in the corner, which Artemis would normally find amusing considering their relationship status- are they together currently? Probably not, given the power behind that punch Cheshire just threw- but she figures this situation probably doesn't call for humour.

This fight, as most fights do, passes in somewhat of a blur. Dick and Zatanna go to Dinah's side- she lets out a Canary Cry which Artemis winces against, but Sportsmaster and Cheshire must have some token or spell on them making them immune because it doesn't seem to have any effect on either of them- and Wally, only pausing to give Artemis a crooked grin, is at Speedy's side in, well, a flash.

Artemis doesn't really want to fight at Wally's side- or more importantly, she doesn't really want to fight her sister- but there's no real choice. The other three certainly don't need her help, though she isn't sure what she's supposed to do that Speedy can't. She's basically just a cheap, counterfeit Roy Harper, and everyone knows it.

Regardless, she can't just stand there. If anything, she should fight purely so she doesn't look ridiculous.

It doesn't take long after their arrival for Sportsmaster to lead his opponents out one entrance and onto the docks, which Artemis knows from experience is a ploy to divert as much attention from Cheshire as possible so she can make a swift escape. How oddly paternal of him.

Speedy's last arrow catches Cheshire in the arm, and she hisses as she pulls it out. She should know better than that, thinks Artemis; dark blood starts staining her clothes where it broke the skin, but she doesn't seem bothered.

"Bad move, darling," she hisses, and then she throws a smokebomb at him.

It explodes in his face, and the thick grey smoke that billows around him looks like an impending storm. Only his dry coughing and weak, "I'm fine," convinces Artemis that she should pursue her sister as she takes off in the opposite direction of their father and disappears into the alleyway.

"Make sure Speedy's okay, then go help the others," commands Artemis, and Wally just gives a tight nod in response, even though it would make a lot more sense if he was the one chasing Cheshire, considering he can run for more than a few minutes without stopping to catch his breath. "I can handle Cheshire."

Artemis is almost at the exit when he calls her name. She turns to see him, already at the opposite side of the warehouse, watching her with an odd look in his eyes that she can't for the life of her read. "Tigress," he says again, softer than before, so softly she almost doesn't hear it, and then he clears his throat. "Just… be careful, okay?"

That's when she decides she's a terrible person. This boy is so good, and here she is, the daughter of a criminal who spends her days avoiding him and praying he never finds out who she is. She almost wants to tell him then, but a larger, more dominant part of her consciousness reminds her that there's no universe in which she could ever deserve him, even if she wanted him, which she doesn't- she can't.

"I will be," she promises after a moment, but he's already gone. "You too, Wally."

Cheshire is leaning against a brick wall outside the warehouse, not having yet disappeared, except she's not Cheshire at the moment because she's removed her mask, and she's just Jade. Jade, the older sister who when they were kids had no problem beating up boys on the playground when they pulled Artemis' ponytail; Jade, who tries so hard to be a good person when their father isn't around.

"That yellow kid your boyfriend?" she asks, voice lilting and playful. Her cheeks are red from the struggle and her chest is heaving, but she doesn't look tired or upset. She looks alive. "They should call him Speedy, not my useless boyfriend. Dude's fast."

Huh- boyfriend. So she and Roy are still together. "What are you doing fighting the guy who loves you?" asks Artemis, arms crossed over her chest, ignoring the quip about Wally being her boyfriend. "I know I don't have as much experience with guys as you do, but I'm pretty sure that's not exactly how romance works."

Jade gives a huff of annoyance. "God, I'm so sick of people trying to tell me about romance," she says, rolling her eyes. "I can do whatever I fucking please." She's quiet for a moment longer, and then she gives her real answer. "He proposed."

Ah. That makes sense. "So marry him!" cries Artemis. "That makes a hell of a lot more sense than putting on a mask and beating him up for it." Honestly, keeping up with their relationship is exhausting. This is why she only ever calls Jade on birthdays and Christmas. It's just too much work.

"You didn't answer my question, you know," says Jade. "About Little Flash, or whatever it is he calls himself. I saw the way he looked at you when the lot of you barged in to ruin my fun."

Artemis isn't sure why she actually answers, but she's so tired of lying about this to everyone. Dinah knows, of course, but that's not even close to being the same as having a friend or a confidante to talk about it to- Dinah's practically her boss, with a handful of maternal instinct thrown in for good measure. "He's not my boyfriend," she says, sighing. "He's my soulmate, which if you ask me, is about a billion times worse." Then she grins smugly. "It could be worse, though. He could be my boyfriend and my soulmate, and then I'd probably be as messed up as you."

If the jab at her and Roy's relationship affects her, Jade doesn't show it. She shrugs. "Yeah, sis, it could be worse," she agrees. "You could have nobody." And then she swings her leg over the getaway motorcycle, slips her mask back on, and disappears into the night.

Artemis just goes back inside.

It should be hard telling everyone that she let Cheshire get away, but then she realises that the four of them let Sportsmaster get away- well, he didn't so much get away as he did jump into the water, and none of them could be bothered following him, because heroes get tired too, damn it! – and it doesn't seem like any of them care either way.

According to Dinah, Roy has recovered from the smoke incident and is angrily pacing along the docks, and Dick and Zatanna don't even notice her return because they're too busy making out in a corner.

"It turns out they've been dating for weeks," says Wally by way of explanation. "But she didn't realise it until his mask got wet and slipped right off. Beautiful, isn't it? The universe works in mysterious ways, I guess."

Dinah, sitting against the wall, barks out a laugh. "You mean she didn't realise it until his mask got wet and you made an elaborate show of being worried about him getting salty water in his eyes and promptly tore it off?"

Artemis turns to look incredulously at Wally. "You didn't," she says, but it's not a question because she knows that he would. It's more an accusation. "Wally West, you're positively awful."

"How'd you know my last name?" he asks, frowning.

Fuck.

Artemis stumbles over stuttered words for a few moments while Dinah watches curiously from the wall, and then she gives an embarrassed smile and scratches the back of her neck. "I, uh, might have looked you up," she admits. "I mean, you seemed like you were probably university aged, so I checked a few directories, and only one redheaded Wally showed up." She doesn't bother saying she wasn't stalking him. It would sound so weak she doubts even she would believe it.

For a few heartbeats, she worries he isn't going to buy her story- even though that's technically exactly what she did- but then he grins with delight. "So you do care about me!" he exclaims cheerfully. "I knew all that hostility and sarcasm was just an act, Tigress. I almost thought you'd never admit it God, it feels like I've been waiting years for this moment."

"We met like, a month ago," she says, but can't help responding to his smile with a small one of her own.

Wally shrugs. "Whatever," he says, dismissing her claim. "It still feels like I've known you my entire life." Then he glances over at where Zatanna sits in Dick's lap, furiously kissing him, and shakes his head. "I'm going to break those crazy kids up. They really need to get a room."

Once he's gone, Artemis sits down by Dinah's side. "Are you okay?" she asks, assessing the older lady. There's some scrapes and cuts, and a nasty looking bruise blossoming on her cheek, but other than that she looks fine. "What happened?"

Dinah rolls her eyes. "Roy called me when I was getting ready for mine and Oliver's date," she says. "He needed help, and he and Oliver are in a fight so you know he was too stubborn to let me bring in backup. I sent Oliver a message saying I'd be a little late, and…" She pauses to check her watch, and groans. "Fuck. He's so going to kill me for this."

Artemis laughs. "He couldn't kill you even if he wanted to," she says. "You're much faster than he is."

"That's true," agrees Dinah with a smile. "But enough about me." She glances over at where Wally is trying in vain to pry Dick and Zatanna away from one another, and her smile grows. "So, that's the love of your life, huh?"

Artemis' eyes widen. "He is no such thing," she says, but the words sound weak even to her own ears.

After Dinah leaves to see if Oliver and Batman need help with whatever it is they're doing- and also to apologise profusely for skipping out on their anniversary, though Artemis doubts it will matter considering he ended up having to do the same- and Dick and Zatanna head over to his apartment, Artemis is left with a characteristically sulking Roy and Wally, who is much too alert for just past midnight.

"Come on, Tigress," pleads Wally, trying- as he has been for the past ten minutes- to get her to go get waffles with him. "I know this really great place, and I know for a fact it's opened twenty-four hours a day so you don't even have to worry about it being closed, and I'm hungry."

Artemis, truthfully, isn't paying much attention. She's preoccupied with thoughts of Roy and Jade. "So go by yourself," she says absently, watching as Roy shoots arrows aimlessly around the warehouse.

"I can't go alone," he replies sadly, and then he follows her gaze, snorting when he sees what she's staring at. "Oh, I see. You and good ol' Speedy McGee have a thing happening, is that it? Because I'm sure he wouldn't mind us grabbing an early breakfast or a really, really late dinner. Hell, he can come!"

Roy snorts, though Artemis isn't sure whether it's about being called Speedy McGee or about the thought of dating her, but he doesn't respond.

Artemis tears her eyes away to finally give Wally her full attention, if only for a moment. "Look, I need to talk to him about something, so I'm going to head off with him," she says, and seeing the mild disappointment in Wally's expression, touches his shoulder briefly. "We'll grab waffles some other time, alright?"

"I'll hold you to that," he warns, but then he waves her amiably on.

Without bothering to reply, she stalks off, and grabs a startled Roy by the elbow before she proceeds to drag him along with her toward the nearest exit. As they leave, she can hear Wally yelling out, "You're a lucky man, Speedy McGee!"

"You wouldn't mind if I killed him, would you?" asks Roy.

"Not at all," says Artemis, and then she asks if he has his motorcycle so they don't have to walk back to his and Jade's apartment. He does, and so they go.

Jade is brewing tea when they arrive, and as she hands both Artemis and Roy steaming cups, she grins. "Happy birthday, sis," she says, jumping up slightly to sit on the counter. "Nineteen years and Dad still hasn't tried to off you. I'm jealous; he's sent his people after me at least twice."

Roy's fists clench, and Artemis is reminded that there's genuine love here, and that no matter how many times these two break up and declare war in shady warehouses, that love isn't going to leave them alone. It's moments like these when she thinks Zatanna might be wrong about soulmates not mattering, and she really hopes that if Oliver and Dinah do have soulmates that they never meet them, because how can a love like this be ignored?

But then, it's probably just Jade and Roy. She can't imagine Wally ever feeling that much for her- well, she can't imagine anyone feeling that much for her, but especially not someone like him.

"I baked you a cake," says Roy awkwardly, which makes Jade howl with laughter, and he pulls an entirely unappealing chocolate cake out of the fridge. It's topped with copious amounts of cream, and Artemis doesn't like chocolate or cream but is too nice to say so. "But you have to take it home with you, because it's only been in the fridge for twelve hours and I'm already sick of it, and I refuse to let either of you tear into it before lunch."

Artemis salutes him. "Yes, sir."

Sipping her tea, Jade shifts her position until she's facing her sister directly. "So, you want to talk about lover boy?"

"Not at all, actually," says Artemis. Roy looks confused, but doesn't ask. "He doesn't know about it and he doesn't know who I am and I don't plan on telling him either of those things, so that's all there is to it."

Jade hums softly with her eyebrows raised, like she doesn't believe her but knows better than to argue. She hops off the counter altogether, and pulls three forks out of the drawer- clearly, Roy's request that the cake be eaten later is being ignored. "You want to stay the night?" she asks, and Artemis doesn't bother answering aloud.

Of course, the answer is yes, and when she leaves the next morning her sister is wearing a pretty, sparkling engagement ring.

When she gets home, her phone is sitting on the counter with about a dozen birthday messages from Wally, and her heart hurts.

It's really a crazy, random happenstance that leads to Dick Grayson discovering that Artemis Crock is just Tigress with obnoxiously orange clothing and a ridiculous mask.

Late one night, having just been on a mission with Miss Martian and Aqualad- both of whom agree that the colour of her uniform is uniquely terrible, but that's beside the point- she's standing on the mat outside her and Zatanna's apartment, squeezing water out of her hair and onto the floor, before she pulls her mask off and unlocks the door.

This, she thinks later, is why she and Zatanna really need to have a system to tell one another when they have guests.

Dick is lying on the couch, shirtless but probably not in a compromising sort of way considering Zatanna's got green cream all over her face and How I Met Your Mother reruns are blaring from the television, and really, it's all Artemis' fault because instead of darting for her room or back out the door, she lets out a squeal of alarm.

It's Zatanna who looks over first, and her eyes widen as she dives to try and cover Dick's eyes with the pillow she'd been clutching in her lap, but she's not quite fast enough; he pushes her off, and she falls to the ground with a disgruntled cry, and Dick looks as though Artemis just blew his mind.

Artemis sighs. She's too tired for this. "Please don't tell Wally," she says, and as soon as he nods, she disappears into her room and falls asleep.

"What is it with you and yellow, anyway?" asks Wally as he and Artemis are sprawled across a particularly green lawn with their books scattered around them. They've been studying together for two hours, and he's been antsy the whole time, not able to sit still. He always needs to be in motion. "It's starting to get ridiculous."

Artemis looks up from her laptop, on which she's typing a practice creative writing piece for their upcoming exam, and shrugs. She's wearing the jeans again, which she assumes is what brought this topic about, and she rolls onto her back, squinting against the sun. "It's hard to explain," she says. "Before I could see colour, my mother always used to tell me that it was the happy colour, like sunshine, you know? And I guess I just really liked the idea of happiness, because I decided it was my favourite colour and it's stayed that way ever since."

Lying down next to her until their shoulders are practically touching, Wally's face turns toward her, and there's this small, lazy smile spreading across his face. "You're such a softie," he says, and she shoves him even though she knows he doesn't mean it as an insult, and he laughs. "I think it might be my favourite thing about you, sunshine. It's very… sweet."

"You're sweet," she says before she can stop herself, and she feels heat rising to her cheeks almost immediately. It really seems like she can't shake him, can't shake this, and it makes her want to bang her head against a wall. Or kiss him, but she can't very well do that, can she? "You know, when you're not being an idiot."

Wally laughs. "I'm never an idiot," he argues, pushing himself onto his elbows so he's hovering above her. "And I think I get what you mean about the yellow. I know a guy who wears so much of it you'd think he was going to turn into a goddamn lemon."

Of course, she knows exactly what he's talking about, but she can't say that, so she just smiles.

A leaf falls from the tree above them and lands on her cheek, and she thinks it's like they're in a goddamn movie as he leans impossibly closer. His long fingers brush the leaf away, and they linger against her cheek for a moment and fuck, his lips are so close and they're just getting closer and she finds herself wondering what they might taste like and-

Artemis slides away just as their lips are about to touch, and squeezes her eyes shut. When she finally looks at him, he doesn't look angry or sad or any of the things he has every right to be. He just looks confused, and there's a lump building in her throat as she says, "And here I was thinking you were a romantic."

"I'm very much a romantic," he agrees, voice uncharacteristically soft.

Pulling her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees, she feels herself shaking slightly. God, she really needs to get a grip; she shouldn't be letting anyone have this sort of effect on her. She shakes her head. "You're not," she argues. "Romantics don't go around kissing girls who aren't their soulmates."

"I didn't kiss you," he points out, and now there's just a hint of bitterness in his tone, and she hates herself for making such a perfect boy upset. "And I don't know about my soulmate, honestly. I can't imagine there being anyone out there more perfect for me than you. You know I'm crazy about you, Artemis."

Artemis does know, and she thinks she might just be crazy about Wally too, and if she wasn't so stubborn- so Artemis- she'd just tell him that she likes him and that she might be his soulmate, anyway, and maybe even that she's Tigress. But she is so stubborn- so Artemis- so she just shakes her head again. The tears are building in her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall, not while he's here to wipe them away like she knows he would. Still, she can't deny how she feels, so instead of saying she doesn't feel the same way about him that he feels about her, she says, "You shouldn't be."

Wally's expression goes hard. "Yeah, well, I've never been good at doing what I'm told," he says, and then he's gathering his books and standing up. He brushes the grass off his clothes, mutters something about seeing her in class tomorrow, and then he's walking away so surely that she worries he might never come back.

Once he's disappeared, she ignores the bewildered looks of the people going past and starts sobbing into her lap.

Artemis tells Zatanna everything, who's not at all understanding. She's pissed, actually; or, as she and every parental figure to ever walk the earth claim, not angry, just disappointed. Honestly, Artemis doesn't blame her. She's disappointed in herself, too.

After a good twenty or so minutes of irritated berating, Zatanna gives a great sigh before she drops down onto the couch beside her friend and passes over a fresh bottle of cheap, cold beer.

"It's not too late to fix this," she says. "Wally's a good guy, Artemis. A really, really good guy, and I'm pretty sure he's in love with you, and since you haven't talked to me about any of this until now I have no clue what you feel, but it's really seeming like you might be in love with him, too, and I know you don't think so, but you deserve to be happy."

Artemis doesn't think she doesn't deserve to be happy. She just thinks she might not deserve to be happy with someone so relentlessly good. Life would be easier, she thinks, if she hadn't been forced into a life of fighting crime just to piss off her father.

Fate is strange, thinks Artemis, when she and Zatanna run into Dick and Wally while patrolling one night.

Literally, run into them. Artemis is rounding a corner, glancing back at her friend and debating whether or not she should wear yellow or purple- Zatanna, of course, endorses purple- to Jade and Roy's wedding, and she's not looking where she's going, and apparently Wally isn't either because she breaks off mid-sentence when she collides with his chest.

Well, this is fun. His hands fly out to steady her, which she's sure he wouldn't do if he knew it was her, and the world is still as his hands remain on her shoulders a little longer than necessary, and she wishes she could fucking evaporate.

"Sorry, Tigress," he says, finally stepping back. He seems deflated, and some twisted, evil part of her hopes he's so down because of her. Thinking about him being anything less than jolly is painful, but less so if it means she affects him the same way he affects her. "I'm really out of it tonight."

Dick is just a few paces behind him, and steps out of the shadow to greet Zatanna. He glances over at Artemis, too, with a meaningful look that she doesn't understand until he says, "Don't mind him. He's just distracted, moaning and groaning about some girl."

Oh.

Wally gives Dick a sharp look, and then lets out a bitter laugh. He runs his hand through his hair, which is already messy like he's being the exact same thing for hours. "Yeah," he says. "I guess he's not wrong."

"Do you guys want to grab something to eat?" asks Zatanna suddenly, and Artemis figures it's probably the shock that has both of them agreeing.

It's certainly the shock that stops her protesting.

The diner is brightly lit, despite the clock being about to chime midnight, and Artemis finds herself squashed between a wall and Dick. Wally is directly across from her, slumping, his head resting against the window, and Zatanna's next to him, chatting mindlessly as she picks at her fries.

Artemis' straw never leaves her lips, the milkshake giving her an excuse to not talk.

Its Dick who ruins everything.

He's halfway through a conversation with Wally about how quiet the streets have been lately, and is apparently sick of Wally's disinterested responses because he slams his hand dramatically down on the table. Zatanna jumps; neither Wally nor Artemis respond. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he says, clearly annoyed. "Wally, Tigress is Artemis."

Wally, oddly enough, is the only one who doesn't react.

A chip that had been dangling from Zatanna's mouth drops to the table as she coughs loudly, and Artemis feels herself go rigid as she straightens, her shoulders pulled tightly back and her jaw set.

"No, she isn't," says Zatanna, laughing awkwardly, trying to force the accusation out of the air. "I mean, I think I'd know if my best friend and my other best friend were secretly the same person. Fuck, Dick, I'm not an idiot."

Dick smiles at her. "I know you aren't, babe."

He then turns to Artemis and goes to pull off her mask, and she can't even be bothered fighting him. The action would've been a lot more dramatic, she wagers, if at the exact same moment as it clattered off, Wally hadn't said, "I know who she is."

The group goes completely silent. "Zatanna," he says, twisting in his seat. "Could you please let me out?"

Zatanna, a very good best friend, shakes her head, even as her mouth is open in shock and she's too surprised to actually respond.

Sighing, Wally stands up and clambers over the back of the booth and onto the table behind him, apologising to the waitress who glares at him from across the diner. "I'll see you later, Dick," he says, and then he's gone, just a blur of yellow as he darts out the door.

Yellow, thinks Artemis, isn't so happy anymore.

"How long have you known?" murmurs Artemis. It's a few days later and they're in the shared English class, and they can't escape one another. She'd tried; the professor had insisted the seating arrangements are final. "About… you know. Me."

Wally glances sideways at her, his fingers tapping incessantly on his desk. It seems for a while like he won't even bother responding, but then he shifts his weight until they're just a little bit closer and they don't have to speak quite so loudly. "Since the night with Cheshire and Sportsmaster," he admits, and she feels her eyes go wide.

While the professor switches slides, she doesn't say anything as she hastily copies the notes. "How'd you figure it out?"

"I heard Speedy and Black Canary both wishing you a happy birthday," he explains. "And I knew it was your birthday the next day- or that day, probably, it was pretty late. It really wasn't that hard. I'd already… suspected it." He brings his eyes back up to her curious gaze. "You're very transparent, sunshine. Plus, you being so close to Zatanna was pretty uncanny."

Sunshine. She's too awful for such a nickname, but she can't tell him, because if he stops calling her that it might well break her heart.

Artemis fumbles for a moment, unsure of how to continue. "Why didn't you say anything?" she finally asks.

Wally's answering sigh is soft and would escape her if she wasn't staring at him. "Look, I'm trying to take notes, so let's just drop it, okay?"

"You can copy mine," she offers automatically, but knows the conversation is over.

Jade and Roy get married on a Saturday afternoon, and Artemis is unbelievably happy as she stands behind her sister at the altar. The unfortunate part is that apparently Roy has zero friends- which isn't surprising, when she thinks about it- so while she and Zatanna are on Jade's side, it's Dick and Wally behind Roy.

She isn't sure why this is so shocking; sidekicks tend to stick together, and she was pretty late to the party. Those boys probably started some sidekick fight club before she'd even picked up her bow for the first time.

Is it her imagination, or does Wally keep stealing glances at her? Probably just her imagination, she thinks, playing tricks on her as she steals glances at him.

Oliver officiates- Dinah says he got ordained online, just for the occasion, but he says he did so not specifically for this but because it could be 'useful', which is of course total bullshit- and Artemis is pretty sure he's getting emotional because his voice is thick like he's about to cry, which is totally lame and Roy's probably going to fight him at the reception for caring so much, but it's sweet.

The lovers say they do, and it's quite a nice moment, really.

The reception is even smaller than the ceremony- neither Jade nor Roy is exactly popular- and Artemis thinks she might be drunk. She's unsteady on her feet, tripping over herself as she dances with some distant cousin, and she's not sure why she's such a mess- she's only had five or six glasses of wine, after all.

Normally Zatanna would be saving her from this embarrassment, but she and Dick are obliviously slow-dancing, and so it's Dinah and Oliver who are left to drag her away from the dance-floor. "Come on, Artemis," says Dinah, grabbing her arm while Oliver puts a hand on the small of her back and starts pushing her toward the nearest table. And then Artemis laughs, because of course the nearest table has to be the one Wally's sitting at, swirling the wine in his own glass, looking positively wretched.

Artemis wants to tell him that she's infinitely more upset than he is, but is afraid if she opens her mouth she might start to hiccup, and under no circumstances can she retain her dignity following such an occurrence.

"Watch her, would you?" says Oliver, grabbing Artemis' shoulders and pushing her into the seat next to Wally, and Wally looks up, sighs, and nods. "Thanks."

Dinah lingers a moment longer than her boyfriend to pat Artemis' head and wink at her.

It's moments like these that Artemis remembers how much she adores Dinah.

"You alright?" asks Wally, and it's the first thing he's said to her in weeks, and she thinks he sounds marginally less upset than he had the last time, so this is progress, right? She nods, and then despite her best efforts, she hiccups anyway- her hand flies to cover her mouth. It's worth the lack of grace, though; it makes Wally laugh, and she'd do anything to make him laugh again. "How much have you had to drink"

Artemis frowns. "I'm not entirely sure," she admits. She points at Dinah, across the room and deep in conversation with someone Artemis doesn't recognise. "She says a lot, but I don't believe her. I'm not a big drinker."

Sliding his glass to the other side of the table when she reaches for it, he raises his eyebrows. "Clearly not," he says, and he's smiling slightly, which makes her smile slightly, and for a few perfect seconds everything is okay.

The two spend the following twenty or so minutes in total, blissful silence.

Wally looks over at Dick, who gestures vaguely and gives him a sharp look that Artemis can't interpret, and then Wally's standing up and holding his hand out. "Come on, sunshine," he says. "You're looking well enough to dance."

That catches her so much by surprise that Artemis finds herself letting him take her hand. He pulls her out of her seat, and then over to the dance-floor where the distant cousin is still looking vaguely hopeful that she might join him again. Wally's hands go to her waist, twisting in the fabric of her dress- she'd gone with the yellow, despite Zatanna's protests- and she wraps her arms around his neck, turning her head sideways and resting it against his chest.

"You know," she murmurs, moving slowly with him. "I wouldn't blame you if you hated me."

When she looks up to see his reaction, he smiles slightly. "I couldn't hate you," he says, shaking his head slightly, and then he leans his head down with lips parted, and she angles her body upward just enough that her lips brush momentarily against his, which she really hopes is what he'd been going for because otherwise this is going to be extraordinarily embarrassing.

She figures she read the signals right when his mouth stays there a moment or two longer, and then he pulls away again. He presses a light, second kiss to her forehead, and then rests his chin atop her head, her blonde hair brushing against his skin.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks finally.

The question doesn't surprise her. It's been hanging between them ever since she turned him down- probably since her birthday, if that's when he knew, but she hadn't let herself notice it then.

Artemis shrugs. "I'm an idiot," she tells him. "I'm not… good at this whole emotions thing, and I've always wanted to keep my two lives separate, which sounds stupid when I think about it- I mean, I live with Zatanna- but I guess I just didn't want you to know that part of me, even though I knew that part of you. It wasn't at all fair of me, really. I know I haven't really apologised, but I hope you know how really, truly sorry I am."

"If that was meant to be an apology, it was awful," he says, laughing. "But you don't need to be sorry. I get it; you didn't tell me when we first met because you didn't much like me, and telling me after that would've been pretty awkward anyway."

This conversation had to happen eventually, she knows, but she wasn't expecting it to go so civilly. "And what about you?" she asks. "Did you dislike me when we met? I would have. I was pretty rude."

Wally smiles. "I've always liked you, sunshine. It's been pretty inconvenient, actually."

"I seem to have that effect on people," she says, and she wants to laugh but she can't because she knows she can't keep lying about the other thing anymore. She steps back, lacing their fingers together and letting her uncertain pause fill the space between them. "I think we're soulmates."

"I know we are," he says. "I've always known it was you- well, maybe not always. When I met you in that alley I really hoped it was you, that you'd been there on the first day of class, but then when I actually sat with you I didn't really think about it because I just figured you were a cute but jumpy weirdo. I wasn't really sure until I found out that you could see colour after all, and then it made sense why you'd looked a deer in headlights when I told you how I'd first started seeing colour myself. Of course it was you; it had to be."

Artemis hesitates, and then lets out a shaky laugh. "How is it you know everything about me?" she asks.

Wally returns the laugh. "Because I'm smart," he says. "It's like I told you, sunshine: I know you. And I love you, but I hardly see how that's relevant."

"You love me?" she repeats, and doesn't wait for his response before she smiles. "I love you, too."

"Well, obviously," he says. "I'm awesome."

Then he's kissing her again, and Dick and Zatanna are cheering from where they've been leaning against the wall to watch the exchange, and Oliver and Dinah both yell something about the beauty of young love, but Artemis isn't paying any attention to anything but this moment and Wally and the feel of his skin against her own.

When they break apart, Jade and Roy are scowling.

"I think we stole their moment," says Artemis.

Wally shrugs. "It was worth it."