The mission with Zatanna was kind of...well, let's just say, in Dick's words, no one was feeling the aster.
I wake up to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I look at my clock. 1:36am.
"Wally, if you want food, go to Artemis." I groan. My door slides open. It's not Wally, it's Dick. His face looks panic-stricken. "Dick?"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know you need rest after what happened with Zee, but I had a-" Dick starts.
"Nightmare?" I finish. Ever since his parents died, Dick has really bad nightmares. Being a hero doesn't help.
"Yeah. Usually when I'm here I find Wally or Zee, but I don't feel like talking to Zee, and Wally is asleep, for once." Dick says. "Was wondering...if I could stay in your room?" I sigh.
"Fine." I shrug. Dick starts to curl up on the floor. "Oh what the hell. If you want, you can come up here." I offer, pulling a pillow in between us. Dick falls asleep almost instantly, his arm hugging the pillow. I try to fall asleep. After almost an hour, I finally sleep.
"Arrgh!" Dick scream, sitting up. I turn on the light.
"What? Who's attacking?" I scream in response. Dick looks at me. "Nightmare?" I sigh. Dick nods sheepishly. I'm about to lie back down, but Connor rips off my door. Wally sprints in, grinning.
"Dude!" He cries. "What're you doing in here with BG? You have a girl, remember?" Dick sighs.
"After what happened today, I didn't feel like going to Zee, ok? And you were asleep, for once." I pull the blanket up to my eyes, so the others can't see me blushing. Thank God Zatanna doesn't live in the cave. I would go back home now, but I'm supposed to be on a camp with the Wayne's for two weeks.
"If you guys, don't mind, can I go back to sleep?" I groan. Tim and Cassie run in, holding hands. When they see everyone, they drop hands. I don't think anyone noticed but me. "Please?" Connor shoves everyone out of the room.
I wake up at dawn. Dick's still asleep. I grab some training leggings and a black tank top. I walk into my shower. Just as I close the glass door, Dick walks in, smiling smugly. I pull a towel around me.
"Dick! What the hell are doing in here? I'm naked!" I scream quietly. I don't need a repeat of last night.
"I know." He shrugs slyly. "Can I join you?" I guess I must've looked pretty shocked.
"You dick!" I screech.
"I've been called worse. Can I join you?" He repeats. I'm about to say no, but he gives me puppy dog eyes.
"Fine. Just don't look at me, ok?" I growl. Dick steps in, and I try to ignore him. Besides, he doesn't even like me that way, does he? I mean, he has a girlfriend.
"Dude, what happened last night?" Wally cries when Dick and I walk in to the kitchen. Dick shoots him a look worthy of Batman. Zatanna's sitting next to Meghan. Artemis gives her a dirty look. She's not too fond of super-powered heroes. Besides Wally.
"NightWing?" Zatanna asks sweetly.
"Uhhh..." Dick says awkwardly.
"He stayed in BG's room last night. " Wally said calmly. Zatanna turns a colour similar to my hair.
"WHAT!?"
"No, Zee. Not like that!" Dick says hurriedly. I just lean against the wall.
"The shower was better." Wally says. I shoot him a glare worthy of Daddy Bats.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE COME TO ME!" Zatanna screeches. She turns to me. "You slut!"
"Says the girl in a leotard and nylons." I mutter.
"TT. Hey NightWing what's-" Damian zeta's in, holding hands with a new girl [1]. he immediately pushes her back into the beam.
"You know, maybe I'll just go home...bye!" I say quickly, grabbing my bag and rushing towards the zeta beam. . I race out of the telephone box, climbing buildings. Dick won't know where I'll go. I won't go to the mansion. I won't go home, either. I walk to a small townhouse in the east of Gotham and knock on the door. "Ms. Crock?" I say quietly. Artemis's mother hugs me. I guess she's had enough pain to know it. Artemis and her mom are the only people in Gotham outside the Bat Family to know my identity. I sit on the bed opposite Artemis's, waiting for her to get home. It used to belong to her sister, Jade, before she packed up and left to become Cheshire.
A few hours later, Artemis comes in, looking flustered.
"Babs?" She asks, surprised.
"Yep, the one and only." I say weakly. "What happened after I left?"
"Well, the magician put spells on everything, making it attack NightWing. M'gann ended up having to knock her out, otherwise, things would've gotten bad." Artemis says. "Then NW went looking for you, but you weren't at the mansion, or your house. Guess you'll be crashin' here for a couple days?" I nod.
"Why does he even like her?" I sigh to myself.
"The nylons." Artemis says knowingly. I try to laugh. "Cass is coming over in twenty minutes." She says, looking at her phone. "We can have a girls night."
Cass brings over hair and face masks, bath bombs, and a few new clothes. She hands me a bath bomb. 'NightWing'.
"Oh. Sorry." She says quickly. "Tim reckons he and Zatanna have had it, the way he was yelling at her on the phone." Somehow, that makes me smile.
"Feel like grabbing the capes and taking out your anger on some bad guys?" Artemis asks.
"Right now, there's nothing I need more."
