Young Justice drabble
Title: Yearbooks: The Memories You Didn’t Know You Had
Rating: safe
Characters: Artemis, Wally, Robin, fake Dick/Artemis
Warnings: Disregards the fact that no one is supposed to realize Artemis attends Gotham Academy
Summary: "We'll laugh about this someday." Pity Artemis still isn't in on the joke.
Yearbooks: The Memories You Didn’t Know You Had
Artemis was on a mission. Something had happened to turn two-thirds of the entire female student body population of Gotham Academy against her and she was determined to figure out what. Seeing as how the yearbooks had just been released today, she figured that was a good place as any to start.
Especially since she found herself owning one despite never bothering to place an order.
In hindsight, she didn’t know what possessed her to bring the yearbook to Young Justice Headquarters. It had seemed like a good idea when she was thinking of a nice, quiet place to hide so she could search through the book in peace.
Peace that was stolen from her the second Kid Flash walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, gorgeous! I didn’t think anyone else would be here,” Wally greeted as he grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. “What do you have there?”
“Nothing.”
Even without using his super speed, Wally was ridiculously fast.
“Oh, is that a yearbook?” His face lit up with excitement. “Can I see it? Can I sign it?”
Yearbook clutched protectively against her chest, Artemis was fully ready to deny the request until she took in the way Wally was on the verge of vibrating with anticipation. With a sigh, she handed it over.
“You can sign it, but you’re not allowed to look through it. At all.” Leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms, she glared at him for good measure.
“Fine by me!” Wally disappeared with a gust of wind and reappeared with a Sharpie in hand. “Who should I sign it as? Wally West or Kid Flash?”
Artemis blinked. “What? Why would I want Kid Flash’s autograph in my yearbook?”
“Uh, I believe the correct question would be why wouldn’t you want Kid Flash’s autograph in your yearbook,” Wally corrected, flipping open the front cover and scanning through the few messages that littered the page.
“And how am I supposed to explain having Kid Flash’s autograph to my friends?” Artemis demanded, her muscles tensing in preparation to snag the marker away at the first hint of anything but a ‘W’ once it hit the page.
Wally shrugged, dropping the book on the table and leaning over it. “I don’t know. I saved your life on your way home from school? Or you saw me at an autograph session?”
“You do autograph sessions?” The question was deadpanned, indicating Artemis was fully ready to take Wally’s ego down a notch if needed.
“I could do autograph sessions!” Wally defended, pointing the Sharpie at her. “Hey, you wanted excuses, I’m giving you suggestions. Never said they had to be good ones.”
“Is that a yearbook?” Both heads whipped around to Robin, who had somehow appeared by Wally’s side without them noticing. “Can I sign it?”
“Okay, I know Robin the Boy Wonder doesn’t do autograph sessions.” Artemis dragged the book back towards herself before either boy could touch it. “Come on, guys, really. No matter how you look at it, I won’t be able to explain why I have TWO superheroes signing my yearbook.”
“Just tell them we saved your life on the way home from school or something,” Robin dismissed as he grabbed the marker from Wally.
“It doesn’t work that way!” There was a slight scramble as Wally fought the book out of Artemis’ hands. “Guys, I’m being serious here!” Artemis stood, leaning over the table to plead with her friends. “Half the school is already out for my blood and the last thing I need is the other half getting jealous that I’m-”
“What’d you do?” Robin asked, the tilt in his head showing he was genuinely curious.
Artemis snorted. “Like I know. It all started shortly after the yearbooks were passed out, so I’m assuming - Hey! Stop that!” She shoved Wally’s head away from her yearbook as he flipped through the pages in an obvious attempt at speed reading.
“Aw, come on! What do you care?” Wally asked, trying to turn his head against Artemis’ palm so he could continue to look through all the pictures. “It’s not like I’ll remember any of it!”
Artemis propped a leg on her chair to push Wally further back. “I don’t care if you won’t remember it, the point is I said no.”
“Whoa-ho-ho! Could this having anything to do with everything?”
Artemis and Wally paused and looked over at Robin who was now holding up the yearbook, showing off a page that had a picture of herself and a vaguely familiar looking boy, followed by a long wall of text.
“What?” Artemis snatched the book and began reading the dedication out loud as Wally rushed to read over her shoulder.
“I was there for your first day of school, and would love to be there for your last. Artemis, I know you’ve probably never bothered to look at me twice seeing as how I’m a freshman, but I feel like we could have a real connection. I’ve watched you around campus and you seem so real amongst the sea of over-priced hairdos and name brand makeup that I wish we could be more than passing acquaintances, more than friends, more than more-than-friends. We could be partners in crime. You are the Robin to my Batman. The Harley to my Joker. The peanut to my butter…unless you’re allergic to peanuts. In which case you can be the nut to my tella.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is I love you - WHAT?? - and while I understand you may never fully return the sentiment, I just thought you should know. Because someday in the hopefully near future, you’ll look back on this and understand and maybe share a laugh or two with me.
“Devoutly yours, Richard Grayson.”
“Richard Grayson, huh?” Robin bit into the apple Wally had long-since abandoned. “Nice guy. Sounds a little desperate, though, if not realistically optimistic.”
“But I don’t…”Artemis stared at the photo, completely shell-shocked. “I hardly even know the kid!”
“Uh…you don’t?” Wally’s jaw snapped shut long enough to stare at the girl in mild surprise.
“No! I mean, sure, he’s got one hell of a reputation, but I’ve never - how should am I supposed to gently turn him down after this?”
Robin’s snicker turned into coughing as he choked on his apple, and Wally merely blinked. “You’re…kidding right? The dude’s a freshman. And an obvious loser.”
“T-total loser,” Robin agreed, the back of his hand covering his nose. “But you should at least grant him one date considering the trouble he went through,” he pointed out, ignoring Wally’s glare.
With a groan, Artemis snapped the yearbook shut and placed it on the table. Richard Grayson’s reputation was an excellent one, which explained the animosity she had been receiving from all the girls at the school. She would probably be judged regardless of the answer she gave the poor boy.
“Where are you going?” Wally asked as Artemis moved around the table.
“Target practice,” was the simple answer as she left the room, her mind obviously being weighed down by the woes of a teenage lifestyle.
To his credit, Wally waited a full three seconds until after they were alone before picking up the yearbook and smacking Robin none-too-gently upside the head with it.
“Bad Robin,” he scolded, frowning as the other boy started cackling while rubbing his head.
The End.