I can't explain why I want these two to make out but it is what it is
Title: The Strange Thing
Fandom: Young Justice
Characters/Pairing: Kaldur/Artemis (kinda), Tula, Garth, the team
Rating: PG
Word Count: 852
Summary: Kaldur's friends visit from Atlantis. There is a Strange Thing. Artemis makes it better.
A/N: Written for a prompt on
yj_anon_meme. Weird Atlantean PDA and how non-Atlanteans react. Also, this is probably cheesy and I apologize for that.
Artemis was the one who crouched at Kaldur's side in the desert, doing her best to soothe his restlessness and shush the broken snatches of Atlantean he moaned in his delirium; she was the one who heard a few mentions of Garth and a lot more of Tula, and if she's the only one who turns suspicious and alert when Kaldur tells the team a few of his friends are visiting from Atlantis, she lets everyone put it down to natural paranoia.
It's the way he talks about them that gives her pause. The contrast between the clear affection with which he speaks of Tula and the faltering hesitance to direct the same at Garth, and the guilt that comes with it. Artemis makes a habit of listening too hard; looking too closely. Stories tend to unfold before her eyes.
The pair of them are, in person, much like Kaldur; formal, reserved, but friendly all the same and radiating a sort of inner tranquility that a human teenager would have to sell their soul for. The open air is a clear shock to them, one they struggle with throughout the weekend of their stay. They sleep in the pool, and Kaldur joins them. Artemis wonders if this hardship has grown easier for Kaldur with experience, or if he has only learned to better conceal it.
She also wonders if all Atlanteans are as strikingly beautiful as the three of them.
They remind her, with a poetic flourish that Artemis resents to the bone, of the ocean, especially in their eyes. Tula's are the aquamarine of a Pacific reef; Garth's, the last light of sunset over the bay; Kaldur's, the gray-green shallows of a lagoon. She can picture them swimming deep under the waves in their native home and questions the part of herself that wants to feel a little jealous.
Artemis watches the three of them interact, becomes familiar, and when the Strange Thing happens, she may be the only one who doesn't find it quite so strange.
Tula hugs Kaldur goodbye, tight and lingering, the two of them cheek to cheek and entwined in each other's arms, swaying faintly on their feet as though rocked by an invisible current. When Tula pulls away, she gives Kaldur a brief peck on the lips and follows it with a warm smile. The gesture is intimate for friends, but not necessarily for two people with their history, and Garth doesn't seem to mind.
When it's Garth's turn, he braces both hands on Kaldur's shoulders, and visibly falters - there are unspoken words caught behind his lips; Artemis can see it, but Kaldur smiles, a reassuring gesture everyone on the team has had directed their way.
But Garth remains uncertain, and then the Strange Thing happens.
Kaldur covers Garth's shoulders with his own hands and walks forward until the two of them are pressed forehead to forehead. There's a moment of silent communication between the two of them, the kind Artemis has only witnessed between two people who have known each other their entire lives, and then Garth smiles back, bright and sure.
And when they separate, Kaldur gives Garth the same quick, chaste kiss Tula had given him.
It takes Artemis a moment to catch up to why, after their guests are gone, Kaldur seems nervous and everyone else seems dumbfounded.
Predictably, Wally and Robin ruin it by laughing.
Megan and Superboy are only confused, but the others are mocking him, and Kaldur is beginning to look hurt and defensive at once, withdrawing almost imperceptibly bit by bit as he tries to explain that it's normal where he comes from; it's customary, and Artemis finally intervenes by slapping the cackling pair of them upside their heads and giving them a righteous chewing out for, among other things, intolerance, poor team-building skills, and being idiots.
If Kaldur appreciates it, he only shows it by going quiet.
--
The incident is mostly forgotten by the time Kaldur is slated to make his next trip home. But Artemis has been doing some talking-tos and some corrections, and she is armed and ready with the Plan.
She catches him on his way out and stops him physically, both hands around the back of his neck before she leans all the way up on her toes to kiss him soft and fleeting on the mouth.
He blinks, and asks her why, and she tells him that she speaks for everyone on the team when she says that they accept him for who he is, no matter what, end of story.
Artemis likes the shift of his expression from confused to surprised to a small and just-maybe embarrassed smile. Kaldur thanks her, and she knows he means it.
So she kisses him again, and this time it's slower, longer, deeper. When they part, Artemis decides she likes his face this way even more - stunned and slightly unfocused, his breath a little unsteady and the sound a little louder when he swallows.
This time, when he asks why, Artemis tells him that that time she was only speaking for herself.
Fandom: Young Justice
Characters/Pairing: Kaldur/Artemis (kinda), Tula, Garth, the team
Rating: PG
Word Count: 852
Summary: Kaldur's friends visit from Atlantis. There is a Strange Thing. Artemis makes it better.
A/N: Written for a prompt on
yj_anon_meme. Weird Atlantean PDA and how non-Atlanteans react. Also, this is probably cheesy and I apologize for that.Artemis was the one who crouched at Kaldur's side in the desert, doing her best to soothe his restlessness and shush the broken snatches of Atlantean he moaned in his delirium; she was the one who heard a few mentions of Garth and a lot more of Tula, and if she's the only one who turns suspicious and alert when Kaldur tells the team a few of his friends are visiting from Atlantis, she lets everyone put it down to natural paranoia.
It's the way he talks about them that gives her pause. The contrast between the clear affection with which he speaks of Tula and the faltering hesitance to direct the same at Garth, and the guilt that comes with it. Artemis makes a habit of listening too hard; looking too closely. Stories tend to unfold before her eyes.
The pair of them are, in person, much like Kaldur; formal, reserved, but friendly all the same and radiating a sort of inner tranquility that a human teenager would have to sell their soul for. The open air is a clear shock to them, one they struggle with throughout the weekend of their stay. They sleep in the pool, and Kaldur joins them. Artemis wonders if this hardship has grown easier for Kaldur with experience, or if he has only learned to better conceal it.
She also wonders if all Atlanteans are as strikingly beautiful as the three of them.
They remind her, with a poetic flourish that Artemis resents to the bone, of the ocean, especially in their eyes. Tula's are the aquamarine of a Pacific reef; Garth's, the last light of sunset over the bay; Kaldur's, the gray-green shallows of a lagoon. She can picture them swimming deep under the waves in their native home and questions the part of herself that wants to feel a little jealous.
Artemis watches the three of them interact, becomes familiar, and when the Strange Thing happens, she may be the only one who doesn't find it quite so strange.
Tula hugs Kaldur goodbye, tight and lingering, the two of them cheek to cheek and entwined in each other's arms, swaying faintly on their feet as though rocked by an invisible current. When Tula pulls away, she gives Kaldur a brief peck on the lips and follows it with a warm smile. The gesture is intimate for friends, but not necessarily for two people with their history, and Garth doesn't seem to mind.
When it's Garth's turn, he braces both hands on Kaldur's shoulders, and visibly falters - there are unspoken words caught behind his lips; Artemis can see it, but Kaldur smiles, a reassuring gesture everyone on the team has had directed their way.
But Garth remains uncertain, and then the Strange Thing happens.
Kaldur covers Garth's shoulders with his own hands and walks forward until the two of them are pressed forehead to forehead. There's a moment of silent communication between the two of them, the kind Artemis has only witnessed between two people who have known each other their entire lives, and then Garth smiles back, bright and sure.
And when they separate, Kaldur gives Garth the same quick, chaste kiss Tula had given him.
It takes Artemis a moment to catch up to why, after their guests are gone, Kaldur seems nervous and everyone else seems dumbfounded.
Predictably, Wally and Robin ruin it by laughing.
Megan and Superboy are only confused, but the others are mocking him, and Kaldur is beginning to look hurt and defensive at once, withdrawing almost imperceptibly bit by bit as he tries to explain that it's normal where he comes from; it's customary, and Artemis finally intervenes by slapping the cackling pair of them upside their heads and giving them a righteous chewing out for, among other things, intolerance, poor team-building skills, and being idiots.
If Kaldur appreciates it, he only shows it by going quiet.
The incident is mostly forgotten by the time Kaldur is slated to make his next trip home. But Artemis has been doing some talking-tos and some corrections, and she is armed and ready with the Plan.
She catches him on his way out and stops him physically, both hands around the back of his neck before she leans all the way up on her toes to kiss him soft and fleeting on the mouth.
He blinks, and asks her why, and she tells him that she speaks for everyone on the team when she says that they accept him for who he is, no matter what, end of story.
Artemis likes the shift of his expression from confused to surprised to a small and just-maybe embarrassed smile. Kaldur thanks her, and she knows he means it.
So she kisses him again, and this time it's slower, longer, deeper. When they part, Artemis decides she likes his face this way even more - stunned and slightly unfocused, his breath a little unsteady and the sound a little louder when he swallows.
This time, when he asks why, Artemis tells him that that time she was only speaking for herself.