Artemis Crock sat cross legged on the bathroom floor. In one hand she held a knife, and in the other she held a tiny bottle of tequila. She downed another desperate gulp of liquor and winced as it burned its way down her throat. Not drunk enough yet. She tipped the bottle back and swallowed another mouthful before sputtering as she choked. Hacking and coughing, she desperately tried to clear her airways, as reactionary tears welled in her eyes. Artemis recovered, wheezing heavily, and wiping away the fluids escaping from her mouth, nose and eyes.

"Hey, who's in here? Are you okay?" A familiar voice asked from outside the bathroom door. Wally.

"Shuddup, Flashboy." She slurred. "This's your fault anyway, you fucking dick."

"Artemis, are you drunk in there? You're drunk in a bathroom at 3 AM?" He sounded exasperated and she sniffed haughtily ...as haughty as you can be when you're completely sloshed in the middle of the night and are trying to drown all your problems in liquor.

"Oh, cuz your mister class. And just so you know, I'm not as think as you drunk I am." She giggled giddily at her mistake. "I mean- you know what I mean."

"Artemis, would you come out please?" Wally asked.

"No." She glared at the door. "I'm not drunk enough yet. I can't look at your ugly face until I'm at least three sips drunker."

What she didn't say was how much it hurt to see his face. To see him, so cheerful and casual, interacting easily with everyone except her. Always seeing his features turn to stone whenever she was around.

"What are you-? Y'know what, I don't care. I'm coming in."

She stiffened, at least lucid enough to know what that meant. She shot to her feet, scrambling for order. "No, no, you don't have to-!"

It was too late. The door flew open as Wally kicked it in and Artemis felt her heart plummeting in her chest. The triumphant speedster froze as he surveyed the situation and processed what he was seeing.

Artemis was standing unsteadily in a pair of cotton shorts and a large t-shirt. The knife clenched in her right hand was slicked in crimson blood, and the tequila bottle was a quarter empty. The blonde archer had sickeningly methodical slices, completely even and thin across her thighs. Wally in his horrified stupor foggily realised this was the first time he had ever seen her legs, and that must've been why. Each cut was at a different stage of healing, some were sealed with a scab, some were raw and half mended, some were nothing more than faint pink lines. Wally, however, was more focused on the ones that were openly bleeding, leaving beads of blood crawling down her legs.

"Artemis..." He whispered shakily. "What did you do?"

Her face pitched a dark shade of red. "Get out."

"No. We need to talk about this. You're cutting yourself?" His voice was soft, and she hated him for the pity in his eyes.

"It's none of your business." Artemis crossed her arms. "And don't look at me like that. I'm not a kicked puppy."

"Why?" Wally croaked eyes raking down her cuts. "Why would you do this?"

Perhaps normally she would've shut him out, but the tequila loosened her lips and she scowled at him.

"It's your fault, you fuck." She swayed tipsily, but didn't let that affect her withering glare. "You and Red Arrow and Kaldur."

The ginger looked lost for words at that, and his eyes widened. "What are you talking about? What did we do?"

"'If someone hadn't lost it'," she imitated his voice, sneering. "'And between the two of you, you know who we'd choose', 'I know she's the mole'."

Wally's lips parted with understanding, and his expression fell.

"You didn't even bother to give me a chance." Her anger was burning away, replaced by the suspicious brightness in her slate-grey eyes. "You don't know anything about me. About what I've been through."

"Artemis." He reached for her, but she stumbled back drunkenly before tipping her head back with another measure of liquor. "Okay, I'm sorry. Why don't you hand me the tequila and the knife, and we'll talk this out."

She cradled the bottle to her chest. "Leave me alone, Wally. I don't need you. I don't need your approval. You're not my mother."

"While I agree you hold your liquor well, how old are you, sixteen?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"So what if I am?" Artemis muttered grumpily.

He sighed, and sped forward in a blur to snatch the bottle and the knife out of her hands.

"Hey! No fair!" She whined, lurching forward. Off balance, she floundered for something to steady herself on, which happened to be Wally. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she grappled for purchase.

"Ow, ow, try not to claw my shoulders off." He snapped, sliding an arm around her waist to steady her.

"S'ry." She mumbled, reaching half-heartedly for the bottle in his other hand.

"Nope, nope, nope." Wally held it out of her reach. "C'mon, I'm taking you back to bed."

The two heroes half staggered, half blundered down the hall until they reached Artemis's honorary room in the cave.

The door opened, and the speedster dumped Artemis on the bed.

"Don't move." He ordered firmly. "I'm going to get the first aid kit."

Wally sped up to his own honorary room and grabbed the first aid kit he'd stashed under his bed. He dumped the tequila down the drain and recycled the bottle, muttering, "good riddance."

When he got back to Artemis's room, she was sitting exactly where he had left her, but with a book in her hands.

"What are you doing?" He asked, furrowing his brow. "Is that Alice in Wonderland?"

"It's my fav'rite." She informed him, slurring her words. "I like the kitty."

Wally sighed and got out the antiseptic wipes and bandages. He ripped open the packet, and started wiping her cuts down with the wipe.

"Ouch!" She hissed, flinching away. "Stop, dad."

"Did you just call me your dad?" The ginger stared at her incredulously.

Her face turned an unflattering shade of pink and Artemis muttered something incoherent. He didn't bother asking what, just continued cleaning her up.

"So, why don't you tell me why you've been cutting yourself." He said, opening a new packet of antiseptic.

"It's none'v your biz'ness." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Considering the fact that I busted down a door to find you drunk as hell at 3 AM in the morning and am now bandaging your injuries, I'd say it's my business." Wally countered, now unrolling a package of gauze.

The blonde was silent for a while, watching him carefully wrapping up her cuts.

"I don't belong here. I'm not a hero." She whispered finally, eyes glossy. "You said so yourself. You all would be better without me. The world would be better without me."

Wally swallowed awkwardly. "Artemis, that's not...okay, you're not going to remember this in the morning, and on the slim chance you do, I will deny ever saying this. But, you've kinda proved yourself. More than Red Arrow has, anyway. Stupid bastard wouldn't join our team until it benefited him."

He chuckled grimly and shook his head, the true hurt of the statement leaking through.

Her eyes shimmered with tears, and one slipped down her cheek. "I'm not a hero, Wally. You all have...no idea what I've been through."

Her words were relatively clear and eloquent, making Wally wonder if she had been exaggerating the affects of the alcohol earlier.

He tied off the gauze, and sat back on his heels. "Artemis, how drunk are you right now, on a scale of one to ten?"

"Three." She answered. At his narrowed gaze, she amended her statement. "Okay, fine. Like six. Maybe seven."

"Where did you even get the alcohol?"

"My mom. She used to have a problem with it." Artemis crossed her arms and gave him a look that told him she wasn't going to elaborate.

Wally sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair. Already, small patches of red were blooming on the bandage. "Just, why? Why would you do this to yourself?"

"I told you already." Her voice melted to a murmur. "I'm just... I have a lot going on, okay? And begin constantly questioned, distrusted, and blamed really doesn't help with the fact. It's just me and my mom and I really don't need all this extra shit."

The speedster felt an unpleasant tug in his gut. Guilt.

"Wh-what happened to your dad?" He asked carefully.

Instantly her mask of anger was snapped back on and she glared. "None of your business, Kid Bitch."

He backed off, holding up his hands in the universal sign for surrender. "Fine, fine, sorry. But promise you won't do this anymore."

She eyed him cautiously. "Why should I? It's my body, it's my decision."

"Artemis. For me, promise." He said, staring into her eyes.

She paused, and then let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay. I can- I can do that."

"Good, I'll be coming in to check on you every night." Wally warned her, raising his eyebrows.

Her mouth curved into something almost resembling a smile and she crawled backwards to slide under her duvet. She didn't lie down, just sat there, with her knees tugged up to her chin.

And then, she dropped her forehead and started to cry. Wally took a seat on the bed and pulled her shaking body to his chest. He rubbed a hand over her back and stroking her thick hair. The blonde locks were surprisingly soft, and he couldn't resist trailing his fingers through it.

When she finally quieted, Wally found her asleep on his shoulder. Easing her gently down, he pulled the covers up to her chin and turned to leave the room, grabbing his first aid kit on the way out. He flicked off the lights, but turned back to see her sleeping figure. The sparse light from the hallway illuminated Artemis's features, painting them golden where the light struck and inky where shadows fell.

He studied her for a second, and then shook his head and turned to leave. It was, after all, 3 AM. And Wally was not a morning person. Closing the door behind him, he sped back to his own room and climbed into bed. He'd deal with this in the morning, for now he just wanted some sleep.

fin

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Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed that little plot bunny! So I've decided I'm going to begin creating playlists for each oneshot/story I write. For oneshots, I'm only going to put six songs, because making a longer playlist would be useless. Oneshots are short, and so are the playlists. Anyway, I tried to pick out something for everyone. So either you can go on Spotify and look up "Spitfire in the AM", or I've put the songs below. Cheers!

Playlist:

1. A.M. by One Direction

2. Drunk by Ed Sheeran

3. I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance

4. Creep by Radiohead

5. I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight by Neil Diamond

6. Drunk in the Morning by Lukas Graham