-Oliver drives Artemis home after a mission and reflects on the team-
-This one's Artemis-centric, but also includes some cute M'gann content, and the rest of the gang are mentioned-
"Hey kiddo, you're pretty quiet back there," Ollie said, glancing in the rearview mirror as they sped along the dark road; the wet asphalt reflecting an oily kaleidoscope of coloured light. "kid?"
Looking in the mirror he couldn't see Artemis in the back seat. Glancing behind him, however, he saw the teen's slumped figure, folded in on herself with her feet tucked up on the car seat. Her hair was still damp and disheveled, pulled into a half ponytail on top to keep it out of her face, and the edgy black eyeliner she scribbled on was smeared and dispersed across her flickering eyelids. Looking at her now, she didn't look like much more than a kid going through their punk phase. Roy had been the same when he discovered eyeliner.
Remembering that he was on the road Oliver's head snapped forwards again. He wasn't sure when his charge had fallen asleep, but she must have been pretty tuckered out, because Artemis never missed an opportunity to complain about school or work, or to show him the new songs she was listening to.
Honestly, he sometimes forgot that their kid interns worked longer hours than he did; they went from school, to recreational activities, to training, to missions usually without time for a snack or a lie down. He remembered Artemis complaining to him about a 14 hour day they'd had last week, and how she hadn't been able to sleep because she had a test the following morning, meaning she got almost 28 hours of nonstop work. He was honored that Paula trusted him with her daughter, but hearing things like that he couldn't find her trust justified: what kind of guardian lets a teenager-- a child, really-- burn both ends of the candle like that when she shouldn't even own a book of matches.
They were nearly home now, this was one of those nights when she would be staying at his house as it was too late to have her wandering through downtown Gotham. Plus, with the general state of Paula's life, it seemed to help when he could take the kid off her hands for a few hours and satiate her worries. of course Roy wasn't enthused by their new occasional roommate, but luckily they rarely crossed paths.
But as excited as he was to get home, shower, and more or less kick the bucket for the night his mind kept wandering back to the kid in the back seat.
He cast his mind back to earlier: sitting on the side lines and watching Dinah work the kids sore. Aqualad and Robin-- far apart in size and age, but approximate in skill-- were paired up, and Artemis and Kid Flash fought, one of them occasionally subbing out so the combat-unfamiliar Ms. Martian could get a few jabs in. Dinah insisted on being the only one to manage Superboy, for all she insisted he wasn't dangerous, she refused to risk one of the other kids. It seemed like fist-fight day, Dinah slid between the groups, shouting encouragements, half the lights turned off, water bottles, towels and tubes of ointment scattered in nests across the floor; one of the teen's playlists blasting at volumes that exhausted him.
He was only 33, but watching those kids shoot around in parries with tape-wrapped feet and mouth guards that limited speech to hyperactive war cries, made him feel ancient. How dare people under 23 exist? They were far too powerful. He couldn't even go to a club without feeling sick and needing to leave after an hour or two.
"Mom?" Ms. Martian called gingerly to their trainer, cradling the wraps that had come loose around xir wrist.
Without pausing, Dinah shouted over the music. "Wally, sub in for M'gann. Arrow! Help thon."
Taking a swig of Dinah's iced mocha, he crossed the floor, crackling his knuckles absently and positioning over the kid's shoulder. "Need help with those wraps?"
"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