More Young Justice Trash

Late Night Drive

"Oh, no I... uh... The Martian held back the wraps, revealing his bloodied knuckles.

"Oh. uh." Oliver paused, watching glittery tears rim the kid's water line, faer nose and ears were flushed chartreuse and he found himself stuttering with how to handle this situation.

"Don't worry," A high, perky voice pulled him out of his thoughts and down to the kids sheepish smile." you're doing good, at least I think so," she paused." I mean with your mentoring thing. That's what you were thinking about right? I don't know if you're going to do good with my hand."

Oliver was shaken, and quite a caught off guard, but he tried to play it off by remembering that this kid was the closest they were going to get to a child version of J'onn." I... Thanks. Come on let's get you to the first aid kit."

Xe continued to chatter as they walked, holding a tissue over her bleeding knuckles. " Y'know despite being in fights all the time I don't usually bleed. I'm more like a distance fighter you know? Like you and Artemis except instead of firing arrows it's telekinesis. So I'm not in combat a lot. I kind of wish I was, it's fun to hit, but I have trouble keeping my body mass consistent."

"Yep, you gotta hit stuff sometimes, and sometimes it can be fun. When it doesn't split your knuckles." He nodded, more than familiar with having teenagers talk at him and just relieved it was les aggressive than he was used to. Well, except that she was an empath and a mind-reader, but that's neither here nor there. "There you go." He finished affixing the bandages. "You can go back now-- and tell Canary you need to go light on your left hand!" He shouted after them as they sped back towards the atrium.
After a moments consideration he grabbed the first aid kit, from the looks of things injuries were a dime a dozen and he didn't want to make that trek again to retrieve it.

He paused at a red light, even though the streets were decently quiet, contemplating a McDonalds on the opposite corner. Fries do make everything better, but no; he would either have to deal with a sulky Artemis that he didn't get her anything, or be forced to wake her from her nap (which not only was a risk he was unwilling to take, but would spur accusations of favoritism from Roy). No, as sad as it was to say, they had food at home. And just like that he felt like the last remnants of his youth withered and computed in a small puff of fire.

It's not like the writing hadn't been on the wall for a while, though. Being in his early-mid thirties didn't necessarily mean his skill or quality of life was degrading, but he needed to pace himself more, he couldn't do what those kids did and just throw himself at something at full force for hours until it worked. That was probably what had Artemis knocked out right now; going all out until her body physically collapsed under her and the burnout kicked in. The commonness of that approach was uncanny; of course Dick had been like that since Bruce first dragged him into fighting crime, but according to Dinah when she was mid-rant, even Aqualad got constant ailments and stress hives from the degree he worked himself. Were they instilling these habits in them, or was this just what youth were like?

A few weeks back Artemis and the boys, Wally and Dick, had a sleepover (at Ollie's place, as the Nguyen apartment wasn't prime land for it), and he swears they were still up watching drag race when he woke up the next morning.

He glanced back at Artemis, who's cheek was no longer stuck to the window, she'd curled forwards and was hugging one of her thighs for security. She sure wasn't staying up tonight.

God, He was so proud of her. Not only because of all the progress she'd made in a few short months, but because of how she was. She'd so come out of her shell since getting on blockers, and she'd soon be starting HRT. He couldn't help the way her excitement bubbled over to him. He was so happy that she was happy.

He pulled into the garage, noticing how silent everything was without the engine or the thrum of rain above his head. It was dark and quiet. Sliding out the side of the car, still half in costume, he circled around to the back door, opening it as quietly as he cloud. Artemis stirred and slumped a little, but stayed asleep.

Delicately, hesitantly, his hand snaked around her tummy, undoing the seatbelt. One arm under her legs, one behind her shoulders, he lifted with his legs, only huffing a little with the strain of carrying a fully grown teenager. Either he was too old for this or she was, and looking down at his charge's smudged, dreamy face he knew it couldn't be the latter. So he was getting older, so what? He couldn't have two incredible sidekicks if he was 20, and that was a trade off he could take. Now his job was to make sure the two of them lived to be 33 as well.

He gently nudged the car door closed and with all his remaining energy, carried the girl up to bed.

-SURPRISE! This book isn't dead, I just took a break cause I have other stuff going on and other hyperfixations, and had trouble directing my fleeting inspirations-

But I have some YJ-themed playlists y'all can enjoy! I update/add to them regularly:

Conner
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETYDtYD_PdiJuDkcXxyxFsl6

Artemis
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETbehnIO8vdIiaLMPx55H4cZ

Dick 
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETZHrFDZBEreSh4xXp4Eu_wj

M'gann
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETYUPJhTqQFRrzOrMM6Lco3s

Wally
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETb7Df9t4C4o_5rz-Mq5vgbx

Kaldur 
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcouoYebETYSOpB9x8RqnU-wdC86wcsS