A quick one shot request for beautifullove521. Super fun to write, but super gross having to look at pictures of creepy spiders. I used the Gasteracantha dalyi as inspiration and hooooolyyyyy craaaaap. All aboard the Nope Train.

Prompt: Artemis's fears and Wally taking care of her.

Artemis and Wally trekked through the jungles of India with no destination in mind. All they knew was that they were heading west, hopefully towards the rest of their team, or at least Kobra and his "Lazarus Pit". Rumors had been circulating that he had somehow managed to build his own somewhere within the country.

The mission itself was dangerous enough. Kobra, his bodyguard Shimmer, a Lazarus Pit. None of it was going to be a walk in the park, but when the Bioship started acting funny, things quickly went from bad to worse. Shakes, loss of elevation and velocity, the ship plummeted with each member taking quick exists to avoid a harsh crash landing. Being the closest one to her, Artemis had instantly clung to Wally to avoid complete separation. The only things was, now they were both completely separated together.

"It's hot," Wally complained. "And we're going so slow."

"Well would you like to carry me to our unknown destination?" The heat was getting to the archer as well, but she was trying her best to keep her cool. She had no idea where she was, where she was going, who was watching, and worse...what was in the jungle.

"No. Have you tried seeing if Miss M has the link up?"

"I got nothing." She stopped to stretch for a moment and assess their surroundings. Trees. All around them, trees. Sounds of water and birds could be heard from every direction, so it was hard to get her bearings straight.

"Think we'll see any tigers?" It had barely been an hour, but he was already breaking into his emergency snacks. He didn't look particularly worried, just bored. He'd probably want to ride one, or race it, or something stupid.

"Tigers have become increasingly rare in India. Not even many bengals left here, and most are in the north." Wally shot her a quizzical look. "I like tigers."

"You would." He popped a morsel in his mouth before continuing. "Shall we, Tigress?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. Tigress...It was a better name for Jade than herself. She took a step forward when she felt light touch on the small of her back. She froze. Her eyes locked onto Wally who, as per usual, looked confused and bored. Before she could stop herself, she felt her face scrunch up in fear.

"Get it off," she whispered.

"What?"

"There's something on my back. Get if off. Now."Artemis couldn't open her eyes. Her fists clenched around her bow as her entire body tensed. This was how she was going to die, by some bug in the middle of nowhere with Kid Mouth. Wally's footsteps could be heard as me made his way to the other side of her body.

"Holy shit!" It was the worst possible thing he could have said. "Is that a spider? How does it even look like that?"

"Wally, get it off. If you do, I won't hit you for a week. A month. Just get rid of it. Please." Her whole body was starting to shake, and it could even be heard in her voice. If there was one thing Artemis hated, it was showing fear, weakness. But here she was on the brink of tears over what was apparently a freakish spider that she couldn't even see.

"I'm not touching that."

"This is no time to be an asshole." She couldn't even break out into spastic flails if she wanted to. She was completely petrified in fear. "Take my bow and swat it off if you have to. Kick me in the back, I don't care." Her eyes peaked open to see him in her peripheral. He was studying her back with the intensity that only he could possess. Somehow, some part of him was loving this, and she hated him for it.

After a few moments, his hand reached around to grab her bow, jerking her from her thoughts.

"On three. I'll try not to hit you too badly." He looked back around towards her face and gave her a wink. It was comforting in that way that only Wally could comfort. She didn't even hear the countdown, or feel him strike her back. Before she knew it, he was standing in front of her again, his green inquisitively staring up into hers.

"You ok? It's gone."

Her muscles must have been more tense than she realized. As soon as she relaxed she nearly fell over, missing the ground thanks only to Wally's quick reflexes. She held onto him for a moment, telling herself it was purely for balance, but deep down she just needed to be held.

Spiders...gross...

"You want to see what it looked like?" His voice pulled her from her thoughts once more. It had been happening often lately.

"What? No! I want to find everyone else and get out of this damn jungle." She swatted his shoulder before storming off, leaving him with his laughter. He caught up in a second, wiping tears from his eyes as he tried to catch her eye. They walked in silence for what felt like ages before he spoke up.

"I don't like needles, by the way. Can't even look at them. You can feel 'em in your arm, and...eugh. I'd rather go toe to toe with Bats." Artemis didn't respond, but kept walking forward. "Yeah, my mom tried to get me to the doctor's like 5 times this past year for shots before she finally sent my uncle with me. I kept speeding out of the office."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Wally trying to assess her emotions. The soft smirk on her face was all the permission he needed to continue.

"This one time, think it was like the second or third visit, mom almost caught me before I got away. Grabbed the back of my shirt, but I actually managed to vibrate through it." A smile broke onto her face against her will as he laughed. "I was so pumped! There I was in a parking lot like a mile away, and no shirt. My nose was bleeding though. Kinda looked like I was mugged, but we all know that wouldn't happened to me."

She cracked. Laughter burst through her as they reached a clearing in the jungle. Night was beginning to fall and there was still no sign of their team, but it didn't matter. For the first time since they landed, she wasn't on edge, stressed, or worried. It was then that she heard the familiar voice in her head.

"Artemis, is that you?" Miss Martian's voice was as clear as if she were standing beside them.

"M'gann, where are you? Wally and I just reached some sort of clearing in the middle of the jungle."

"Oh thank goodness. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, no sign of Korba here."

"Good. Stay where you are. Superboy and I will come find you."

Artemis turned back to Wally who seemed to guess what had just happened.

"We get back into range?"

"Yeah. M'gann said to stay here for them. Shouldn't take too long, I guess."

Wally nodded. "So...you should have seen this thing on your back. It had these weird horn spike things on its back-"

She hit him with her bow and he started to laugh again.

"If you tell anyone about this so help me-"