The bird and the cat (conversation)

Chapter 10:lovely dreams

The outsiders were official now. Everybody knew who they were. It felt surreal. But... There was other things on Artemis' mind. Her and Dick had of course been speaking normally, they didn't really have a choice. Though Artemis was unaware of it, Dick had heard the entire conversation she had with her mother.

Neither Dick nor Artemis was the type to let certain tensions get in the way of their relationships. Of course sometimes the tension was too strong, but they were both still relatively in control of those types of emotions. Still though, the tension was there. Violet and Tara noticed it on their last night there.

"If you don't mind me asking," Violet started, caution lining her voice, "Did something happen between you and Dick?" Artemis stopped what she was doing. What was she supposed to say? After one unbearably long moment, Artemis just said it wasn't important and Violet didn't try to pry any further. Though, she still appeared concerned.

Now that the girls had moved into the outsiders hq, Dick and Artemis were... Alone. With each other. Lovely. They'd been talking a little less, now that they felt less forced to pretend everything was cool. They were eating dinner in silence, when suddenly—

"I overheard the conversation you and your mom had on thanksgiving." Dick blurted, surprising Artemis. She had no idea what to say, the two simply looked at each other, neither knowing what to do.

"I just... Felt like you should know." Dick stuttered, He looked away and began eating again. "What we have," Artemis looked in his blue eyes, seeing a mix of emotions, "Is just friendship. I think. I hope." "What else would it be?" Dick laughed, trying to make the situation shimmer down. It got quiet, and awkward. That was the opposite of what he was going for.

"It wouldn't be anything else. That's the point." Artemis spoke up, drowning out any emotions she felt. She excused her self and made her way to the bathroom where she cried. Why was she crying? She felt like her words betrayed her. Like she somehow didn't believe what she had just said. But that's absurd, absolutely ridiculous.

After Dick finished his dinner, he decided to go out on patrol early. He was lost in thought, thoughts primarily containing Artemis. Great. Things were already a little awkward, now he had to go and make them 10x worse.

Dick suddenly got a text from Barbara. It was about Batman inc. Finally! Something to take his mind off of... it's not important. What is important is whatever Babs texted him for.

After Artemis was done sobbing for whatever reason, she decided to go to bed. That night, she had a dream about Dick. She didn't remember any other details... But it was a lovely dream. And maybe if she kept it to herself, she could hold on to that good feeling she got when she thought of it.