#museumheist

let’s see… let’s look at some of the fifty sentence set i did way back when, shall we?

#06 – Dark

Growing up in Gotham, sticking to the shadows is second nature to the two of them—it’s Wally that pulls them out.

#39 – Solid

He’s their rock, and he accepts the role without missing a beat.

#40 – Spring

The air is fresh and filled with promises, and Wally plans on making them both get out of Gotham to enjoy it in all its glory.

wally is so, so incredibly important to dick and artemis, and what i talk about here is really only scratching the surface. i’ve already talked about why i think wally is so important to dick, because he was dick’s first real friend and one of the only people he trusts with his backstory and his identity. he was a light in what was a dark time for dick, and i don’t think that ever changes (you can’t convince me that dick’s subdued demeanor in invasion can’t be partially attributed to wally and artemis not being on the team).

as for artemis: i’m pretty sure i don’t even need to explain this to you, lol. you know what wally is to artemis—he plays a similar role that he does to dick, which is challenging her to see the good in things and challenging her in general (and she does the same to him and keeps him in check—really, the dynamic between the three of them is very much centered around keeping each other in check, except for when they decide as a group to just go ‘fuck it’ and do what they feel is best). really, though, artemis and dick do not have it easy—they’ve been through hell in more ways than one, and, hell, we all know growing up in the midst of gotham’s shitty areas/the criminal underworld can’t have been any picnic.

and, wow, wally west, man. he’s a beacon for them both, someone who isn’t going to let them be consumed by their demons, someone that reminds them that there is more to life than the dark and dank streets and smog of gotham city, more to life than the criminals and ghosts that plague them—awake or asleep.

and they’d make fun of him and poke his sides and generally make him a big old buttmonkey of their snark and hit him when he eats the majority of the fridge (which is all of the time). they’d do their best to gang up on him during snowball fights but the truth is he’s unbeatable and—of course—they all have a competitive streak a mile wide so we can all imagine how that turns out. they exploit wally’s sensitive feet together and he always tells them to stop but they all know he doesn’t mean it. sleepovers happen all the time at his place because the west family spoils them all rotten.

wally is… well, i think this sums it up:

#35 – Roses

After eying the petals scattered around the room, Artemis and Dick exchange glances, stifling affectionate snickers—it’s just so Wally.

i think wally is comfort in convention—that’s the most succinct way i can put it. not that wally isn’t unconventional in many (many) ways, but think about it. dick and artemis had such untraditional, unstable upbringings that having someone that grew up in the midwest, in a well-adjusted home with a supportive family—that’d be so incredibly refreshing to them. 

so, uh, i know traught dynamics have probably been talked to death but i do need to take a second and mention just how important i think it is that artemis and dick both (not just artemis having dick or dick having artemis, mind you—it’s mutually beneficial and supportive and i feel like a lot of time that gets lost when people talk about/write traught??) have each other. because, wow, there’s really only so many things you can explain to someone before it comes down to ‘you just don’t get it’ and i feel like growing up in gotham is one of them. there’s a sort of weight added to your step when you’ve walked through the narrows or seen crime happen under your nose on a daily basis. 

and there’s another dimension to it, because being the only normal kids on the team had to mean a lot to them, because no one else understands that. i wrote in a fifty sentence set that they chose to be heroes in a way the others didn’t, really (yes, i acknowledge wally made the choice to recreate barry’s accident to give himself powers so he could be a hero, which gives the three of them even more common ground—but at the end of the day he has an advantage dick and artemis don’t), because it’s one thing to have powers and decide to use them in a way that benefits others—it’s another to take it upon yourself to become capable of helping others, of training for hours and hours to just manage to reach the level of their super-powered friends. 

and i think dick needs to be there for wally and artemis’ sake, really. 

#14 – Fire

Dick is always terrified that the two of them—Wally and Artemis—will burn so hot and so strong that they’ll all go up in flames.

preface: i’ve made no illusions that i do not ship spitfire, and that’s based on what we’re given in the show as canon. wally and artemis are two very, very intense people. they’re both prone to getting defensive, they can be incredibly abrasive, and confrontational, and they charge into things without thinking a lot of the time. but add dick into the mix—i think there’s a lot of potential for him to act as a buffer for them both, because he’s more level-headed than the pair of them (not always—he’s blinded by things like his ambition and his desire for control which, again, wally and artemis would help to reign in when it got to be too much); he’s logical and rational where they’re more ruled by instincts and emotions. that isn’t a bad thing for any of them, but it helps to have balance. 

and that goes right back to why he needs them—when he’d brush off how he feels for the sake of maintaining a facade of rationality and reliability, artemis and wally would see right through that. they’d make sure he didn’t lock himself away. they’d likely be two of the only people he’d confide his fears regarding turning into batman, and that’d be something they’d be watching for, because they don’t want him to turn into that, either—that’s not dick. dick can be narrow-sighted and have tunnel vision when it comes to his goals and objectives, something i think that comes from a lot of time with bruce. but dick is also light-hearted and a troll and absurdly bright in more ways than one (it blows them both away at times—artemis and wally are shown to also be incredibly intelligent, but i think dick’s mind reaches a different level), and he’s compassionate and loving and understanding. 

i think season two shows what impact the absences of wally and artemis—on top of everything else—have on dick. he’s on edge, he’s subdued, he’s less interested in going out in the field… he had the world riding on his shoulders and two of his closest friends weren’t there to help him get through it (one of them was practically a stranger to him i’m not bitter what makes you say that and criticizing his every move, and he was actively putting the other into very grave danger)

i just. i have a lot of ideas for how these three ultimately get together as a triumvirate, but one of my favorites is wally and artemis—as a couple—spending so much time with him, not really realizing they’re all getting more and more comfortable with each other and at first they’re like ‘oh wally’s head in dick’s lap is totally platonic and so is the way dick is running his hands through wally’s hair and it’s definitely a just friends thing when artemis absent-mindedly reaches for his hand or dick leans over her shoulder and just a little closer than necessary to whisper something conspiratorial in her ear.’ until, suddenly, it stops being platonic and none of them can be bothered to even care. wally and artemis don’t know how to be without dick and dick is at his best when he’s with them and they all bring out the best in each other and i just. 

#11 – Earth

Looking at them, their mentors can’t help but feel as though—if they so chose—the trio could bring the world to its knees.

#21 – Head

When it comes down to it, they’re too damn smart for their own good.

being mutually beneficial for each other!!! and loving each other and kicking ass together!!! god i love and hate these stupid losers so much.

Artemis does not fancy herself a voyeur. Honestly, what other people do is entirely their own business. The team's coming up on adulthood—what happens in one's room stays in one's room (and if you're smart and/or considerate enough to remember Conner has super-hearing, all the better).

Not to mention she really doesn't want to know just how often Wally decides to blow off some steam with Mr. Sock. Yes, that's its name—the unfortunate happenstance through which she discovered this is not one she particularly likes to revisit ("I am never doing the laundry again, you hear me?"). No, Artemis isn't going to go observing or even commenting on PDA. She learned a long time ago, with the occasional night spent in Star City with Ollie, that it's best to just walk away. Goodness knows that would make training with Canary… interesting.

Speaking of discomfort, though.

It isn't often Artemis finds herself mulling over the mechanics of Wally and Robin's relationship. They both came out several months before - shortly after Robin turned 15 - and told the team (and only the team), that they were an item. Artemis, at the time, leveled quite the skeptical smirk at Wally.

You think you can convince me that there wasn't anything before? She sees the looks the two shoot each other—knows the way they send shivers down her spine.

An arch of the brows was the only response, but it was all the answer she needed.

Can you prove otherwise?

And she let it drop from there.

It's a rare occasion when the matter ever returns to the forefront of her mind, besides the few instances of PDA - which, outside a quip or two, she pointedly ignores.

This time, however - turning the corner to find Robin and Wally in a full-on liplock - she isn't given much of a choice.

In an instant, she's out of sight behind the wall. Grateful for her quick reflexes, she's nearly certain they can't have seen or heard her (despite the squeak of sheer surprise she may-or-may-not-have uttered). No, they were faaaar too involved to notice her.

She begins to walk away, with every intention of wiping the incident from her memory (or so she tells herself), but the ghost of an image sticks in her mind.

No… it couldn't have been.

Despite whatever misgiving or doubt she has, she takes a deep breath and peers around the corner, wondering if she did indeed see what she thinks she saw.

She's lucky she's so good at controlling external reactions, else her jaw would likely be on the floor right about now.

The two are absolute fiends. It takes her a moment to determine where one starts and where the other begins. After careful observation, she's able to determine Wally has a hold of Robin 'round the small of boy's back, with the Robin's legs wrapped (more like glued) around Wally's waist, hands framing Wally's face and clutching his flaming red hair.

And within a second, Artemis confirms that she had seen correctly. Robin, despite being smaller and despite relying on Wally to hold him up, is inarguably dominating. Where Artemis might have expected Robin to be the one against the wall, with Wally calling the shots, she's still somehow unsurprised to see it's just the opposite. Wally's head tilts up into Robin's, their tongues dancing and teeth nipping. Robin pulls away, going to Wally's ear and doing something with his mouth that makes the speedster whimper.

If asked, Artemis will fervently deny that all of this is going straight to the area between her legs.

But, of course, with Robin's grunts and moans of approval almost coming out as his trademark laughter (it occurs to Artemis that this might be intentional) and Wally making those explicit groans and gasps, this is hardly the truth. Never mind the fact that Robin is without his cape and Wally's cowl is pushed down, leaving the two exposed (their uniforms leave absolutely nothing to the imagination) in a way that Artemis finds hard to disapprove of.

And then Robin grinds down into Wally's groin, and he's not the only one that gasps. Thankfully, they're both still too involved to notice the way Artemis almost squeaks (though there's nothing almost about it) when Wally's mouth goes to Robin's neck, the smaller boy arching to give him more clearance and goodness gracious the stretch of his neck should not be that sexy and how does he make baring his neck a gesture of dominance. Wally's mouth is making the most obscene sucking sounds, and Artemis knows there's going to be a mark there tomorrow.

It takes Artemis a second or two to realize that Robin's shift in position means he can see her peering at them—easily. And when Robin suddenly catches her eyes through that mask (a mask should not make a fifteen year-old look that attractive), he winks.

Artemis practically sways on her feet, not wanting to consider that Robin might just be getting off on her watching (but who is she kidding—the thought sends more shivers down her spine). And before she can show any sort of reaction besides the wide-eyed shock of being caught, his attention returns to Wally, recapturing his partner's lips with a newly found fervency (putting on a show). When she sees hands moving south, she decides it's time to leave.

The next morning (after a far-too-explicit, entirely-too-wonderful dream filled with red hair and domino masks), there's a note on her door, written in a familiar, neat writing:

Unless you truly enjoy spectating, may I suggest taking a more active role next time?