A/N Should I start adding summaries to these or??? Just to be clear, Conner is being a SUPER *wink, wink* friend to Arty in this oneshot. Nothing flirty or romantic going on. They're most certaintly more of a BROTP.
Conner sat on the concrete floor, a wrench in his hand. A toolbox was next to him. He was finishing up a repair on Wally's motorcycle. The rather reckless speedster had busted one of his tires, and it needed to be replaced. As Superboy put up the tools, Green Arrow walked in. "Hey, Ollie. What's up?"
"What's up?" Oliver sighed. "Artemis' apartment got broken into last night. She and her mom are fine, thankfully, but her mother's wheelchair got broken. I was going to borrow one from the cave's infirmary for her until we can find someone to fix it. Paula isn't exactly enjoying not being to move around by herself at all." Ollie cracked a smile at that.
"I can fix it," Conner said. "I have plenty of spare time. I can probably have it fixed by tomorrow night, based on how bad the damage is. But I'd need to see it before I can promise anything."
"Really, Conner? That would be great."
A few minutes later, the two were walking down the streets of Gotham towards Artemis' apartment building. "This neighborhood is probably the sketchiest place I've ever been," Conner admitted.
"Wouldn't surprise me," Oliver said. "It's the third worst in Gotham, so it makes the top 30 in the world. Watch your back."
"Why don't Arty and Mrs. Crock just move somewhere safer? The certainly could with some help from you."
Oliver snorted. "They're too stubborn. The only money they'll take from me is pocket money for Artemis. They're big believers in doing things for themselves as much as possible. Paula's pension and Artemis' paycheck provide enough for them to get by."
"How much is that pension anyway?"
"$1,000. She could get more, due to how bad the living situation is and all, but let's just say she's done some things that make the government hesitant about letting her have more than she and Artemis need, and leave it at that."
"What did she do?"
"Was involved in some things you'd expect from someone who lives in this general area."
"Criminal record, huh? What's the big deal about that? We already know Artemis has been to juvie."
"Yeah, well, Arty loves her mom too much to let anyone talk poorly of her." They arrived at the apartment. Ollie knocked and Artemis answered.
Conner was trying to subtly assess how crappy the building was. The place was a dump! Artemis mentioned her building wasn't great, but he hadn't thought that 'wasn't great' meant that their were bugs, rodents, and a fairly prominent smell of cigarettes.
"Conner?!" Artemis looked and sounded like she could not decide if she was angry or just confused.
"Hey, Arty. I'm here to see if I'll be able to fix your mom's chair. I mean, tomorrow is Saturday so there's no school, so I figured I have the time, so why not?"
"Thanks, I guess. Would've liked a heads up." She gave Ollie a look. "Come on in, guys."
Conner greeted Mrs. Crock, who cringed when he called her that and told him that Paula was just fine. He looked over the wheel chair and was quickly positive that he could fix it.
"Paula, it's already pretty late," Oliver said. "How about you just go out for dinner tonight? On me. Conner can come too, I'm sure you'll appreciate meeting at least one of her friends from the team."
Paula laughed. "That would be nice. I would have liked to meet him in a more- um... conventional matter."
Artemis rolled her eyes and grabbed Conner's arm, pulling her into his room. But not before he saw a picture of a much younger Artemis with a girl a few years older than her who looked a lot like Artemis and Paula.
"Who was that girl in the picture?" He asked as Artemis closed the door.
"What picture?" Artemis asked.
"The one on the coffee table with you when you were little. There was another girl who looked like you and your mom."
Artemis immediately tensed. "Touchy subject."
"Ok? Answer my question. It's just a person."
"Exactly. Just let it go. I don't like talking about her."
"You don't have to. Just tell me who it is."
"If I tell you, will you promise to let the subject drop?"
"Yes."
"Ugh, fine. She's my older sister. She ran away a few years ago. I've only seen her a couple of times sense, and they weren't exactly happy family reunions."
"That sucks."
"Yeah. Now, can this conversation be over?"
"Sure. How old is that computer?"
Artemis laughed. "Old. My parents got it when my sister started middle school so she could do her homework, so it's from, like, 2003, maybe? 2002? It's old. And the internet here was terrible, so combine those two things, and it's no surprise why I did my typed homework during study hall. Up until my new school found out about the problem and got me a new laptop and updated the internet. Perks of going to a rich prep school on a scholarship, I guess."
"Definitely rich prep school scholarship perks."
"Artemis! Conner! We're going to dinner now! Conner, do you want to come?" Paula called.
"Sure!" Conner called back.
Artemis grabbed her backpack- she was sleeping over at the cave. The two teen heroes headed to the door. On the way out, Artemis stubbed her toe. "Sh**!" She slammed her fist against the wall. "Stupid thing!"
Most people would've thought she was crazy, but Conner's own anger issues mad him understand. "Yeah, that sucks." He agreed.
"UGH!" She exclaimed. Then she paused, taking a breather. "Ok, I'm good now."
"You guys wanna go ahead and drop Paula's chair and Arty's bag off at the cave and meet Paula and I at Peter's Diner?"
"Sure," Conner said, lifting the broken chair. After dropping off the stuff, Artemis and Conner made their way to the diner. Soon, they slid into the booth where Ollie and Paula were sitting. They talked for a long time, eating and just generally talking about how no one ever understood the inability to control their anger all of the time. (A/N That is a problem that I'm familiar with.)
When the kids got back to the cave, Artemis thanked him for helping her mom out. Megan gave a flustered and very happy Conner a big kiss when Artemis told her what he'd done for her.