Pairing: Wally/Artemis

As a personal challenge to myself as I wait with anticipation for the next episode of Young Justice I have decided to write a five chapter story (chapter a day) till March 3. This is my first time writing an YJ fanfic so be as critical or benign as you want. All criticisms accepted. I know the first chapter is really cliché but it does get better I definitely have a few twists in store for this couple. I do not own Young Justice.

So please enjoy Good Night.

Good Night

It was a horrible habit. Habit. That was the word he was sticking with as he hovered outside Artemis's door at one in the morning pacing frantically. It was not creepy, stalker-like, or disturbing—in fact if anyone looked at it from his perspective it was kind of sweet that he was so concerned for her well being that he had situated himself as a personal sentry outside her room at Mount Justice. No, it was not bordering on obsessive that he had been doing this since that failure of training exercise all those weeks ago. He stopped pacing, looked at the door, sighed bitterly, and proceeded to shove it open. Empty.

Perfect.

He sat down on her bed heavily, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning his head against his hands. This was so dumb. She was at home. He was supposed to be at home, yet here he was in the middle of Artemis's room because five minutes ago he had woken up from his recurring nightmare of snow, ice, aliens, and disintegration beams. He shook his head inhaling deeply. He'd never appreciated how much her smell placated him until it was gone.

Was this how it was going to be from now on? He'd have a terrible dream, run like a maniac to home base (because there was no way he was going to let those loud-mouth zeta tubes announce his unexpected entrance at this god forsaken hour there would be way too many questions), zip outside her room, and...sleep in her bed. True, he was no longer late for debriefing meetings, and he always got first dibs on M'gann's pancakes but this...habit...was going to either get him killed by Artemis or made a laughing stock by Dick. God damn stupid Dick who kept making kissy faces at him whenever he stood beside, sat behind, or generally was in the vicinity of the irate archer.

Wally lifted his head. This sucked. He was not supposed to feel this way. He was not supposed to have anything even remotely close to feelings for...ugh...blondie. He hated her! He can't think of two nice things to say about her and if he had to envision the perfect woman it certainly wouldn't be angular, sharp, snappy, and rude. Heck, no one on the team knew a thing about Artemis, well okay, Dick probably knew, but he knew dirt on everyone.

Shifting he pulled the evergeen covers around him. No. Stop smiling. He mentally snapped. He was not happy about this horrible situation. He was not happy that he was in Artemis's room wrapped up in her heavenly scent. He was not happy that Black Canary was playing Dr. Phil with the team in an attempt to get him to admit his nonexistent feelings. He was not happy that the harpy was alive. He was not happy that her scent was the only thing that could make him fall asleep. He was not in anything even remotely akin to "like" with Artemis. He punched her pillow bitterly before laying down, pressing his face into her pillow. He just wanted to sleep. Sleep and forget this stupid habitual ritual of his.

But sleeping in the siren's bed wasn't his only problem. On those nights when he approached her door and heard her quiet shallow breathing he'd slip inside and watch her. She was hauntingly beautiful in her moments of peacefulness, when nothing seemed to threaten her. He'd always assumed that she was someone who would sense an intruder anywhere in her vicinity since she was always so defensive. But she clearly did not sleep with one eye open because he would sit in the absolute darkness of her frigid room until dawn watching her chest rise and fall rhythmically.

He growled angrily picking a long flaxen hair from the duvet and weaving it between his fingers, cursing when it snapped. He wanted to see her. That was the worst part of this whole mess. On those nights when he ran here faster then sound, and quietly padded into her room just to hear her silent breathing brought him immense comfort. But she wasn't here tonight.

"My, my, my don't we look cozy," whispered a sarcastic voice from the doorway. Wally froze. Maybe it was just another one of his delusions, as he quickly chanced a look over his shoulder to see the bane of his existence silhouetted in the doorway, harsh fluorescent light streaming into the room from behind her frame. "Get lost Kid Idiot." Nope. Real Artemis was in her real room, and he had been caught red handed cozying up to her bedspread.

"Please, don't flatter yourself," he sputtered pushing himself away from the mattress, "Must have taken a wrong turn." Artemis snorted in response.

"You expect me to believe you thought this was your room?" Her arms were crossed over her chest and her hip was pushed to the side defiantly, "Seriously?" There really was no way to answer that question without getting his foot lodged in his mouth permanently.

Wally had never one of those people who could pull off "understatement." This was clearly proven by the obnoxious shade of yellow he had painted the walls of his room and aside from the souvenir shelf his mother had taken this fantastic opportunity to ship off everything piece of Flash and Kid Flash merchandise Wally owned to his "second" home in the hopes that she might be able to find her son's bed again in his pigsty of a bedroom. So not only was the room yellow, it was filled to the brim with red Flash knick knacks making the once neat room into a personified Kid Flash/Flash shrine. As an added touch he had gotten a red carpet installed so that whenever he heard the tell tale recognized: B07 Artemis, he could rapidly shuffle his feet on the floor, and then subject Artemis's hair to a static electricity tirade. No his room was as bright as his personality and it had come back to bite him in the butt.

"Honest mistake." Artemis rolled her eyes at his response.

"Oh sure. I believe you," she drawled, "You just happened to mistakenly stumble into the room three doors down from yours, on the left side of the hallway, with the painted black door that does not have a single Flash insignia anywhere on it. Yeah, mistake, sure."

"It was," he was aware of how squeaky his voice sounded as it cracked from her inquiry. Growing impatient with his stupidity and the fact that he clearly was not making any effort to move from the confines of her sheets, Artemis angrily kicked the door closed with her foot stormed over to the bed and laid down on top of the covers. Trapping him between her body and the wall in a cotton prison.

"Artemis!"

"Look Baywatch, I really don't care at the moment because I'm tired as hell but if you so much as touch me anytime tonight I'll make sure you can never run again." Wally gulped sparing a glance at her still costume clad form.

"Whatever you say," he paused searching for the right insult, "Arty."

She kicked him angrily before turning and glaring at him a malicious grin on her face.

"So then, Kid Creepy, are you going to tell me why you've been sneaking into my room the last few weeks to watch me sleep." Kid Flash blanched and sputtered as he struggled to find an excuse. Looking Artemis in eye for the first time since she'd caught him in her room he noticed a sticky red trail running down her cheek.

"You're bleeding!"

"Mmmm?" she raised a hand to her head feathering her fingers over the skin until she detected a bleeding gash above her left eyebrow. She pulled her hand away looking curiously at the red substance, "Looks like the thug got one good slug in." She shrugged pulling off the now damaged mask and tossing it to the floor.

"What were you even doing fighting criminals at this hour?" he questioned sounding a lot more concerned then he had intended.

"You sound like my mom," she joked that earned her a kick from him, but it was barely noticeable as he struggled to move beneath the blanket he was tucked under.

"Let me out."

"Fine," she quipped shifting slightly to lean against her headboard, "But once you're out, you're out. Permanently." He stopped struggling for a moment considering this. He hated her so why was he so terrified of leaving?

"I hate you," he muttered turning around to face the wall. True, he didn't like her but he was more worried about having those horrific nightmares again. Those illusions that only seemed to invade his subconscious when he was away from her—therefore he could handle suffering her belligerent company (at least for one night.)

"Feeling's mutual." She lay back down her back to him and went to sleep. Wally considered crawling out of her bed and escaping to his room, where he could silently mull over the fact that Artemis hadn't killed him for basically stalking her and he could question why she was doing solo crime fighting late at night without backup. But instead of escaping he lay awake for an hour listening to her gentle breathing and marveling how her hair glowed ethereally in the meager light from beneath the door and when sleep did finally find Wally West he realized he was at peace for the first time in what felt like forever.

Wally would never understand how the next morning she ended up in his arms, or how his face wound up pressed into her hair and hers into his neck - her exhales of breath deliciously tickling his skin forming goosebumps. He had quickly scrambled out of the sheets and her limbs his heart literally pounding a mile per minute as he stared at her sleeping form before zooming to the kitchen to try and hide his blush under a mountain of pancakes.

Damn it! That was the best night's sleep he'd ever had.