Work Text:
Artemis would swear on her life that Richard Grayson, that annoying first year, was Robin. While their behaviours and mannerisms were different, their voices were eerily similar, and she’s sure if she was brave enough to rough up the younger boy’s hair it would resemble the curly mess of black hair that she knew all too well.
Of course she wasn’t brave enough. She wasn’t friends with Richard, and aside from their odd interaction (she was assuming it was a dare) when she first started at Gotham Academy, and since then they haven’t so much as been in the same room together.
Apart from lunch time of course, it’s the only time during the day that the entire student body is in the same room - the cafeteria.
Currently she’s sitting at a table by herself. Not so subtly staring down the boy who has his back to her. He’s sitting with a group of people, animatedly talking to a red-headed girl who was in her year. In her homeroom actually. Barbara Gordon, she recalls, the Gotham Police Commissioner's daughter. Not usually someone high schoolers would want to make friends with, especially if their extracurriculars included donning a colourful suit and fighting bad guys somewhat illegally.
Technically, the Young Justice team were not entirely official yet, as they were mostly still children Batman advised it would be for their own benefits to keep their team under-wraps until they gained more experience. While the Justice League was legal and sanctioned by the UN, Artemis and her friends were not so much.
Artemis decided she needed a plan, regardless of if Richard Grayson was in fact Robin or not, she’d like some friends at this school. And it would be for the best if she tried making friends with someone who was actually in her year first - Barbara.
The school day ended and she made her way to the closest Zeta tube after changing out of her uniform. Artemis B-07. She exited the gateway and walked groggily over to the closest couch, dropping her bag from her shoulders and collapsing face first.
“Rough day?” She looked up and saw Conner sitting on the couch opposite her, a book in his hands. She grunted in affirmation before rolling more comfortably on her stomach to look at him.
“What 'cha reading?” She asks, showing a genuine interest.
“It’s called Harry Potter, I am up to the second book and am enjoying it immensely.” He said with a grin. After finding out how much the Kryptonian enjoyed reading, the whole team began enthusiastically supplying him with reading material. It got to the point that Robin suggested they put a library somewhere accessible, so Kaldur and Robin went out to buy a whole heap of bookshelves and together they all assembled them in the main living area with the tv and the lounges.
Of course when Red Tornado entered the shared living space to see Conner reading The Hunger Games, which was firstly out of his reading level and secondly inappropriate for someone who was barely a year old in all capacities but physical. They’d received a good scolding from Batman after that, and a very confused and upset Conner. Now the communal bookshelves only house family friendly reading material, to the rest of the team’s reluctance.
Kaldur and M’gann found that Conner was unable to read their respective languages, and delighted over the fact that they could keep the majority of their books on the shelves. They claimed one shelf for the non-English book’s, which Robin slowly started adding to.
“Dude I didn’t know you spoke other languages!” Wally had shouted in the younger boy's face. Kaldur rolled his eyes at that and Robin just laughed,
“Wally, it's not like I try to hide the fact that English isn’t my first language.” He chuckled.
“Especially when he says things like ‘whelmed’ and ‘turbed’.” Kaldur added.
It was one of the few things the team actually knew about him. English wasn’t even close to being his second language. When asked how he knew so many he’d just shrugged and stated that his family had travelled a lot when he was growing up.
Making the ever so curious and nosy group of adolescents, more curious and nosy.
“Hi Artemis!” M’gann called from the kitchen, she was currently cleaning, whipping down the bench and cleaning up bowls and baking materials. From the sweet warm smell in the air, she had a batch of cookies in the oven.
“Hey dude, what’s everyone up to?” She asks curiously. Wally would have finished school by now and he usually arrives at Mount Justice before her. She has no clue what exactly Kaldur got up to during the day or where he goes. And Robin is unpredictable, whether he is with the Bat or if he’s on his way is anyone’s guess. Or she guesses he could just go home, he’d have to see his family after all.
Which is something she’d never really considered too deeply, everyone has family and other commitments aside from being superheroes, but they never really discuss their personal lives. Some less so than others. She wasn’t even exactly sure if the Boy Wonder had a family as he’d never actually mentioned them, not even offhandedly.
“Wally should be here any second, Kaldur is in the gym, Zatanna is with her dad, and I have no clue about Robin’s whereabouts.” She stated with a grin. Does no one on the team actually know anything about Robin?
Artemis is going to need a plan…
She takes a breath and slowly approaches the table where Barbara and Richard sit. It’s just them today, to her relief, so she won’t have to confront so many people.
“Hi?” She says, immediately getting Barbara’s attention, her bright brown eyes widening then creasing as she smiles.
“Hi there! Artemis right? Awesome name, I’m Barbara, would you like to sit with us?” She asks, getting the attention of the boy across from them.
“Yeah thanks,” She places her food tray down and sits next to Barbara, “I don’t really have any friends so I was trying to work up the courage to come say hi.” She mumbled out, suddenly shy all of a sudden. The bright blue eyes glaring her down probably were not helping. When he realises she caught him staring he sat up straighter,
“Hey, I’m Richard.”
“Yeah, I remember you.” She spat out, more in shy annoyance than anger. He blushed and rubbed at his neck,
“Oopsie, sorry about that.” He chuckled, not dissimilar to the way Robin does.
“How do you two know each other?” She asks, changing the subject and turning to Barbara, “It’s not too common for first years and third years to be friends?” Barbara rolled her eyes with a smile.
“Unfortunately for me, our dads are friends, so I’ve known Dick since he was little.”
“What do you mean unfortunately?” Richard barked out, Artemis just chuckled.
“I’m aware your father is James Gordon right?” Barbara nodded, “And what about your family?” She set her gaze on Richard, who had apparently become a red deck chair and folded in on himself. Overcome with confusion she turned back to Barbara who was snickering into her hand,
“Richie Rich here always gets embarrassed.” Barbara stated in between laughter.
“Hey! Don’t call me that, and I’m not embarrassed, not entirely, it’s just complicated.”
The bell rang signalling the end of lunch and Richard stormed off instantly. Barbara just rested a hand on her shoulder,
“Sorry about that Artie, can I call you Artie? He doesn’t like talking about his family situation, it’s complicated.” She smiled gratefully at the red-headed girl, still looking at where the younger boy had stormed off,
“Yeah you can call me that.”
“Wonderful, you can call me Babs! We’ve got the same maths class don’t we?” Artemis nodded and they walked to class together.
It had been a week of getting closer to the two. And Artemis felt she wasn’t any closer to discovering if Dick Grayson was or wasn’t Robin, the younger hero was very good at hiding any hints as to who his civilian identity could be. She even asked Wally, Robin’s best friend from the team, and even the speedster had no clue.
She dragged her feet to the cafeteria where Babs and Dick were already eating. She sat down next to the red-head as usual and began shoving pasta in her face. Barbara was animatedly talking about something to do with school, and Dick was just pushing his pasta around on his plate.
Artemis paused in her munching when she noticed quite a large bruise on the younger boy’s face, just under his eye. She turned her gaze to Barbara who’d since stopped ranting and was looking at him sympathetically.
“What -appened chu your fash.” She managed, mouth still full. Dick startled as if he hadn’t noticed her sit down and start eating with them.
“Oh, right,” He shoved a mouthful of pasta in his face and avoided eye contact, “Jush bulliesh.” He mumbled, before eating another forkful of presumably cold pasta.
Artemis frowned, sitting up straighter and swallowing the food in her mouth.
“What? Who’s bullying you? I’ll beat their asses!” She proclaimed, her fist slamming down on the table. Barbara watched on curiously, eyes flicking between them. Dick just laughed, he laughs things off a lot she’s noticed.
“Don’t worry about it Artie, I don’t want you getting in trouble. Besides, I’ve had worse.” As the last words left his mouth his smile faltered, Barbara threw a scrunched up napkin at him.
“The hell do you mean you’ve had worse?” She assumes, if he is Robin, he slipped up and meant his hero business. But Robin never slips up, so either Barbara knows and he’s used to talking about it with her, or Dick Grayson is being abused by somebody. If Artemis were to guess, it would be by his ‘sensitive subject’ family.
“It’s none of your business new girl.” He snapped, resuming stuffing his face with food so he didn’t have to speak. He pulled out his phone as a means of ignoring the two older girls.
Barbara just bumped her shoulder gently and gestured a ‘cut it out’ with a fork in her hand and a nervous expression.
Artemis turned back to her own lunch reluctantly.
“Uuughhhh, school sucks butts.” She groans out as she exits the Zeta tube, flopping on the couch she usually collapses on. She arrived at the mountain later than usual at her mothers request. She helped with some chores and did homework before departing for Mount Justice.
“I know right,” She glanced over at Wally who was leaning against the kitchen counter, a bag of chips in his hands. Robin was standing next to him, well half next to him, half behind him?
Artemis squinted at him accusingly and Wally tensed, at first thinking the glare was directed at him before turning to his friend behind him.
“Did you two have an argument or something?” The tall boy asked, in between mouthfuls. Robin pushed off the counter and looked back at Artemis,
“Why would you think that Walls?” He asked cheekily, staring her down behind his sunglasses. Sunglasses that would conveniently hide any bruise on his cheekbone, she thought in annoyance.
“Cuz she is glaring you down dude.” Wally stated, glancing back to where she was still stretched across the couch.
“Nah, I’m just thinking.” She stated.
“Don’t think too hard,” Robin said, “You might blow up your brain.” Artemis groaned and could just imagine bright blue eyes winking behind those glasses. She rolled away from them and pulled out her phone.
The living space remained relatively quiet for a few minutes, aside from the hushed whispers and giggles from Robin and Wally.
Eventually footsteps from the direction of the dorms and training rooms announce Kaldur’s presence, if Artemis could guess from his footsteps. Then the Atlantean speaks up,
“Robin, that’s a nasty bruise on your face.” Artemis sits up instantly, noticing that the bruise on Boy Wonders face was indeed visible now, the sunglasses had shifted up on his face.
“Ah yeah, I had a tricky patrol with the B-Man last night, we ran into some of Maroni’s thugs, another drug ring or something. One of the thugs gave me a solid whack while I had my back turned.” Robin recounted happily, as if talking about a weekend holiday.
“Did you whack him good back?” Wally questioned excitedly.
“‘Course I did, who do you take me for?” Robin claimed proudly, hands resting on his hips, before folding them to his chest.
The others present were prompted into conversation about their most recent missions and mishaps. But Artemis’ focus remained on Robin, who had stepped back and shuffled his feet nervously. She swore he kept glancing at her, but his head movements were too minimal to tell.
Tomorrow. She promised herself. Tomorrow, she’ll confront Dick about the bruise.
“Dick.”
“Artemis.”
“Is there something you’d like to tell me?” She questioned, her left eyebrow quirking up, arms folded in front of her.
“Why, whatever do you mean?” He responded cheekily, folding his arms mockingly.
“The bruise.” She stated plainly, taking note of how the younger boy’s demeanour changed almost instantly. His whole body slumped slightly, but his shoulders were tense, he was avoiding eye contact.
“No, I’m not being abused.” He said softly, his voice shaking slightly. “I think you know the answer, Artemis, I know you aren’t stupid.” He lifted his head slightly, looking at her through his fringe, bright blue eyes sparkling mischievously. She just smirked at him,
“Why, whatever do you mean?” She replied, smacking him on the shoulder good naturedly.
They walked to lunch together, joking about their team’s odd habits.