Disclaimer: No, I do not own Young Justice or the head cannon.
A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for being so absent. Out of all my one-shots, everyone who's reviewed/favorited requested a second chapter. So, in honor of Jason's Birthday, I present a Gravity Sensitive Chapter Two. See the end for more notes.
-Ana Uzumaki
186. Dick is still incredibly gravity-sensitive. He abhors the idea of falling to such a point that anything falling bothers him. At one point at school, Artemis leaned back in her seat during a lecture in Biology and nearly fell over. Dick flew out of his seat and ran across the room just to catch her. He was sure to scold her about leaning back like that because she could get hurt. No one else in the class understood why he'd done it. No one, that is, except Barbara.
― Youngjusticeheadcanons
Gravity Sensitive
Barbra Gordon
Location: Gotham Academy
Date: April 7 Time: 1545
"Leave him alone," I growl. I reach down and pull at Dick's hand in an attempt to get him away from this royal Dick. He flinches away; he doesn't jerk his hand away hard, just enough to where I can tell he doesn't want me holding it. I glare at the too-perfect haired jock making it blatantly clear he isn't on my good side. Just as I'm about to knock that smug look right off his unbearably good-looking face I hear a soft voice beside me.
"It's fine Babs. Don't worry about it," he mumbles, hugging one arm to his side close to his body. I haven't seen him this… Well, broken might not be one of the best words to describe him at the moment. I grimace. Okay maybe I should really rethink my train of thought. To my relief, Dick turns away from the stupid popular jerk face and begins heading back for our table.
I shoot him one last glare before switching my focus back to the wellbeing of my best friend. My heart drops a few notches as I watch him take his seat. The anniversary is soon, I note dipping my head as I take my seat beside him. The teacher clears her throat and even I saw the look of pity flash in her eyes as she turns her attention back to the diagram on the board.
As soon as she turns back to address the class, Dick's hand shoots up. "May I be excused?"
His voice is quiet and I know there is no way she's going to refuse his request especially not with what just happened and with the ever lingering threat of Wayne Enterprise Lawyer's if they catch wind that Mrs. Landry wouldn't allow Mr. Grayson to exit the room after such a traumatizing event. No one leaves class the last half-hour rules, be damned.
She tucks a strand of Strawberry Blonde hair behind her ear nervously, weighing her options. "Yeah sure, go ahead," she answers finally picking a stray stand of hair off of her green cardigan.
Good answer, I silently applaud her as Dick shoves his Chemistry book into his designer messenger bag along with his notebook and a few notes he scribbled down during class. I don't even have time to wave goodbye as he scrambles out the door.
"There the baby goes," Jackson jabs, smirking as Dick's retreating from exits the room.
"I'm warning you. Jackson, not another word," I threaten.
"Or what Gordon, you'll have your daddy arrest me?" he smiles, as he brings his hand up to run it through his artificially blonde hair.
"No, but I will make sure that, after I'm done with you, not even your substantial inheritance will be able to cover the plastic surgery your face will need when I'm done with it and trust me, I'm ready and willing to do the jail time it'll require," I smile, as I bat my eyelashes ever so sweetly.
"Crazy bitch," he growls, turning away from me with a scowl on his face.
"You are ever appeasing in your generous vocabulary as usual Jackson," I retort. He ignores me and turns to his equally demonic minion. I can't believe I'm not out of my seat after him already. I know if I do it'll only make everything that much worst for Dick and me in the long run. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes. Out of Dick and me, I definitely have the worst temper. I quickly blow my bangs out of my face and glance at the clock. H, E double flipping hockey sticks; fifteen minutes of class left.
I shake my head and look out the window for a familiar car not even bothering to listen to Mrs. Landry's explanation about our stupid marshmallow experiment. Finally after nearly ten minutes of her consistent droning on she gives us the last ten minutes of class to "put away" our experiment. Every parent loves when their kids come home from school hyped up on sugar and, of course, acting more like a Neanderthal than normal.
Completely unaffected by Dick's earlier display, the rest of the popular kids sit tossing marshmallows into each other's mouths to see who can catch them. I roll my eyes, utterly disgusted with their display regardless of the fact, that if Dick was still here and today had gone different we would be doing the same thing. I flash one more glare at them as I shove my own books into my almost presentable looking backpack.
I'm sure if I asked Dick he would've got me another one. In fact, he even offered at the beginning of the year but me? Of course I didn't take him up on it. Barbara Gordon doesn't accept handouts; not even from her incredibly rich best friend. Its bad enough I lost the argument over Birthday Presents.
When I'm sure everything is packed I shove my pencil behind my ear because this is what awesome bookworm types like me prefer to do with our writing utensils. Now if only I could remember putting it there every time I do so. I take out my hair tie and ruffle my soft auburn hair so it falls in messy ringlets around my face and shoulders and flash our teacher an award winning smile as I approach her desk.
"Excuse me but I would like to leave to-"
"No," she interrupts, not even bothering to look up at me from the cheap romance novel in her hands.
"What?" I gape, blinking up at her almost stupidly.
"You may not leave my classroom," she clarifies. "You know the rules and I already allowed one student out of my glass after time allowed so the answer is no Ms. Gordon."
"I'm going to check on said student," I argue.
"The answer is still no Ms. Gordon," she states, turning to the next page of her novel.
"This is ridiculous," I snap, throwing my hands up in exasperation as I pull at my backpack strap. I shake my head, silently fuming as I head back to my table from what now is about three minutes too long. "I hope you know, that you are endangering my sanity," I call to her. She waves her hand dismissively again not even bothering to glance up at me.
When the bell rings, I nearly fall out of my seat in my rush to get out. The bad thing is everyone else had the same idea and with a seat in the back of the room near the window, I'm trapped until the endless sea of students dissolves into more of a trickle. As I glance out the window, I notice something. Dick didn't call Alfred. If he did I would've noticed the dark gray Bentley pull up.
"So um...," I hear Artemis frown from the other side of the room. "I'll catch you all later."
It's the first time I've heard her speak since she snapped at Dick after she fell out of her chair. I look up and see some of her friends nod and go back to their chatter as they exit the room for the day heading to whatever dark hole they came from. I shake my head and fettle with my backpack strap.
"Hey Barbra," she calls, shoving her hands into the straps of her backpack and sliding them up so the bag rests of her shoulders as she approaches me. She looks down and pays attention to a scrap of dirt on the tip of her shoe.
"That's my name," I hum, keeping a straight face as I look her over. As usual her long blonde hair is wrapped up in a pony. Several strands fall in messy ringlets.
"Yeah… Um… I was wondering if you know what happened earlier… With Dick I mean."
"Don't you have anything better to do," I frown. I turn my head and make an attempt to walk pasted her, our shoulders touching as I head for the door. "What no cheer leading practice with your friends?"
"What? No I have um...," she trails off and I know her tone right away.
"Things to do after school instead," I finish for her rolling my eyes. "Now you're starting to sound like Dick."
"I am?" She questions, following behind me as I head for one of the only places I think Dick could possibly be if he hasn't gone home already.
"Yeah. He's always busy with fancy dinners and charity events and whatever things he does," I answer shaking my head. "It'd be all fine and dandy if he wasn't constantly ditching me but I'm sure you're following me because you want to hear me complain so what do you want Artemis?"
"I um..." She trails off and bites her lip dropping her eyes to look at her feet again as she walks.
"Spit it out Artemis," I sigh, pulling my bag over my other shoulder to lessen the strain. "I don't really have time for this."
"Do you know why Dick did what he did in class today?" She asks finally as I turn down the hall.
"Yeah; of course I do. I'm his best friend. You should too but you and your crappy friends made fun of him instead of treating it for what it was," I rant.
I guess my blame might be misplaced because she's not actually the one who made fun of him but you are who you hang out with and sometimes not saying anything at all is just as bad as being the one who's making fun of someone.
"And what was it?" She asks quietly.
I take a deep breath and turn to look at her ready to ream her out for being so insensitive but when I see the look on her face I know she's serious. "You really don't know, do you?"
"I really don't," she answers. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't go around making fun of people."
"Do you even know who he is? Why do you even care? Not that I'm against anyone sticking up for my best friend."
"He's Bruce Wayne's ward," she shrugs. "Of course I know who he is."
I take another deep breath and fight down the urge to punch her. "You can go now Artemis," I snap.
"What? Why? What'd I say?" She gapes.
"You are very dense and you don't have to play stupid with me. I can spot someone who only tries to fit in because she's been bullied before. I'm not stupid. It's happened to me on more than one occasion and then one day I realized I was going to be friends with whoever I wanted and damn it to hell anyone who was going to put my friends through what they put me through."
She goes quiet because what can you really say to that? I shake my head and head for the next door. Three more hallways and I'll be at the gym. As I'm about to turn the corner, a hand catches my shirt and I stop ready to unleash a whole heck of a lot of frustration.
"I'm sorry," she sighs, taking a deep breath before she continues. "You're right about everything. Can we start over?"
I look at her and close my eyes, taking a deep breath before I open them."Hi; I'm Barbra but my friends call me Babs."
"I'm Artemis," she smiles. "And sometimes I'm a jerk but not always."
"Sounds legitimate," I smile back offering her my hand. "It's nice to meet you."
She takes my hand and when she lets go I move to continue walking. After about a minute, I turn around and notice she's not following. Artemis is still standing where I left her. "Yo, are you coming or not?" I snap, placing my hand on my hip.
"Yeah, sorry," she answers, running to catch up with me. "So, Dick hasn't always been Wayne's ward. I've met Bruce Wayne, he's um... Interesting. His parents were killed right? Sorry about being so insensitive but I really didn't know how else to phrase it."
"He's a jerk. You can say it. At least he's only a jerk when he's in public. He's actually a really good dad to Dick and you're right, he hasn't always. His parents were more then killed; they were murdered, Artemis. He's a Grayson. In fact, he's the Grayson."
"And that means..." She trails off.
"And you claim you've lived in Gotham all your life? He was a Flying Grayson back in the day," I explain.
"Oh," she hums. "Oh!" She exclaims, finally getting it."
"Yeah," I raise my eyebrows. "Oh is right."
"I should apologize to him. I'm such an idiot. How did I not make that connection?"
"Yeah, you really should and he hides it well but some subject areas…. are still a bit fragile."
"Why did he…" She trails off again and I can see her put together the pieces. "I fell."
"You fell. Right, now do you get it?"
"Yeah," she shakes her head. "Do you know where he is?"
"Yeah, I'll show you. I have to go get him anyway," I shrug. "That or Alfred will have a shit fit and a half and you don't want to get on Alfred's bad side."
"What'll happen?"
"I don't really know but I'm not willing to find out."
I lead her down the last hall toward the trophy case where Dick's picture hangs prominently in the front above his trophy. Beside it is the one we all won together. If I had to pick an area in this stupid school I actually liked, it would definitely be a toss between this small hallway and the tree in the back of the courtyard Dick and I claimed as our own.
"Oh, hey… Artemis?" I begin softly, knowing it's going to be a sore subject.
"What is it?" She asks, turning to look at me, her eyebrow raised at the sudden shift in my tone.
"Don't worry about being a Wayne Scholarship kid."
"Why not?" She frowns. "I'm a poor kid in a rich school. My family could barely afford the uniforms let alone the full price to get into a place like this," she shrugs. For once, I actually think she's being open with me.
"Which is kind of the point of the scholarship...? You're not the only one here on scholarship you know."
"You're on scholarship too?" She blinks, not even bothering to hide her surprise.
I chuckle at the look on her face. "Yup," I answer. "What? You think a city cop can afford tuition for four years at a place like this?"
"No offense, but good point. Didn't you're dad get a promotion though?"
"Yeah but even with the big Bat around, Gotham is still filled to the brink with greedy corporate guys sticking it to the little guys. One day I'm going to help take back the city though," I smirk.
Artemis clears her throat. "So Dick hangs in the gym?" She assumes as we near the largest building on campus.
"Sometimes," I shrug. "Wayne Manor has its own gym but he comes here too," I answer, stopping right before we go in.
"What's wrong?" She frowns.
I take a deep breath and flash her a genuine smile. "Would you like to see something amazing?" Artemis casts me a confused side-glance before nodding her head. "Don't make a sound," I instruct. She nods in conformation and I push the door open.
The door touches my hand and I make sure it doesn't slam. In front of us, Dick has his back to us his arms raised over his head. Beside me Artemis is about to call his name. She goes silent as I gently elbow her in the side. He takes off running and when he leans forward his hands touch the ground and he goes airborne. His body twists in no way any human's should but it's not painful to watch. He's graceful as he lands on his feet without skipping a beat.
"Stay here," I whisper to Artemis. Leaving her hidden behind the folded up bleachers, I step out and call Dick's name.
Right away he turns to me and smiles; it doesn't reach his eyes though. "Hey, Babs. It took you long enough."
"You're lecturing me on showing up late when you left me in class alone…" I answer, lifting my head up into a mock pout.
"About that I-"
"And," I interrupt, "You over compensated your double twist thing."
"What? That Double Layout was perfect," he exclaims, nearly throwing his hands up like a drama queen. I hold up my hand to stop him before he goes full technical genius on me.
"I brought someone who really wants to apologize to you," I announce.
"What? Who-"
Before he can continue, Artemis steps out from behind the bleachers. Sheepishly, she holds up one hand in a weak half-wave. "Hey Dick."
Dick blinks back a look of surprise and I elbow him in the side. He looks at me and does that funny scratches-the-side-of-his-head-and-looks-down-when -he's-nervous thing. "Uh. H-Hey Artemis. Funny seeing you here."
"I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry about earlier, I overreacted."
"You overreacted? I'm pretty sure I'm the one who tackled you."
"Good point," she replies.
"Seems like everyone's been making a lot of those today and now, if you do not mind, I suggest we get going before we end up having to face a very annoyed Butler."
"Shoot, Babs what time is it?" Dick asks as he moves to shove his remaining things into his bag.
"Shouldn't we um… clean up?" Artemis suggests as she looks around at the blue mat covered floor.
"Nah, I caught Coach Carder as she was leaving. The need the mats out for this week. They're bringing in a mini-rock wall."
"You're kidding?" Artemis and I exclaim.
"My old school never had anything cool like that. We got excited when the orange juice was cold and didn't have any green thing floating in it."
I give her a strange look. "Green things? Now that's disgusting."
"I guess it's a perk of going to a fancy school," Dick shrugs, before shoving his backpack over his head to cover the T-shirt he had changed into sometime after he left class. "You guys ready?"
We both nod choosing to follow him as he heads for the door. "You should try out for the Olympics Dick. You're the best gymnast I've ever seen and my mom and I were really big into watching all the competitions when I was younger." Artemis smiles.
"Robin might be able to give him a run for his money," I argue jokingly.
"Yeah right, I'm sure Dick can kick his butt. Right Dick?"
"Nah, Bab's is right. I'm not as good as him," he shakes his head, sprinting forward to hold the door open for us.
"I was just kidding," I frown.
"No, trust me. It's fine. I don't mind. It's just a hobby anyway and you haven't seen me do anything really fancy yet."
"Yet," I raise my eyebrows, teasing him. "Arty hasn't seen you do anything fancy but I've known you a lot longer."
"Okay, okay," he smiles, a real one this time. "Maybe I could give him a run for his money," he answers as he does a no hand cartwheel.
"Don't mind him; he's a showoff."
"That maybe true, but I don't have time to argue. Big thing with Bruce, I should be outside already."
"Yeah whatever just go, showoff."
He waves his hand before taking off ahead of us in the last hall way. Through the glass doors I spot Alfred standing beside a dark gray Bentley. "That's Alfred," I point out. "Don't let the big scary Butler look spook you. His cookies are to die for but I'm pretty sure he secretly rules the world behind the scenes… Artemis?" I frown not hearing her respond.
She's a almost a foot away from me, a giant smile on her face. "What is it?" I ask curiously.
"You called me Arty. Only my friends call me Arty."
"What like those popular jerks?" I frown, squinting my nose at the thought.
"No," she answers softly. "My real friends."
A/N: We needed more fluff in the YJ Fandom so I thought this was called for. Pretty much thoughtless Gotham Academy Dabbles from here on out, if I come up with anymore. (I'll probably change the name to Gotham Academy Dabbles if I end up with a third one) Please feel free to send me a prompt.
I'm still trying to finish Apprentice, but that's probably not going to happen by September 11, 2013. If it doesn't I'm going to put the story on [Hiatus] until I return from school January/February some time. If anyone has any interest in working with me to get it finished I would really appreciate the help. Send me a message her or via my Tumblr.
So I guess that is all my lovelies.
Until next time,
-Ana Uzumaki