| The Point of No Return | Young Justice | Dick Grayson

XIV

~

"Huh? Why aren't you coming to Happy Harbor High with us?" Meg'ann asked with a disappointed frown. It was the night before Meg'ann's first day of school, she and Christine were in Meg'ann's room painting their nails on the floor. Not looking up from the pink polish she was applying to Meg'ann's nails, Christine shrugged.

"Batman is sending me to some academy where I can take ballet as one of my academic classes, apparently schools here don't have that as a regular elective." Christine explained through the mental link.

"What kind of school did you go to before you came here?" Megann asked curiously as she admired Christine's handiwork on her nails.

Christine paused for a moment, not expecting that question. She opened her mouth as if she were to reply verbally, before shutting it and closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry was that too persona-"

"I went to a Performing Arts Boarding School Academy."

"Oh!" Meg'ann blinked in surprise at Christine's sudden response, "That sounds interesting." Meg'ann gestured to the multiple colors of nail polish, wordlessly asking Christine which one she would like. Christine pointed to the red one.

"What was it like there?"

Such an innocent question. It wasn't all bad, the time before the Phantom came in her life was... more cheerful to say there least, but outside of the Phantom, life at the Rogue Opera House Arts Academy wasn't so bad.

"Challenging, but it was all I had ever known."

"Mars was all that I had ever known too before I was brought here by my uncle!" Meg'ann said as she switched to paint Christine's other hand, "Look at us now, both embarking on a new adventure in unknown territory! Together right?" The Martian girl glanced up at the brunette almost hopefully.

Christine's chest felt warm, the corners of her lips curling upward ever so slightly.

Together.

This word had not felt so safe in a long time.

"That would be nice." Christine replied looking at the martian girl fondly. Meg'ann beamed.

"Okay, now tell me how I did?!" Meg'ann asked excitedly gesturing to Christine's newly painted nails.

For a martian that had never painted human nails before, it wasn't bad. Was Christine going to tell her that the skin around the nail was supposed to be avoided?

Definitely not. The Martian girl's hopeful face of performing a simple human activity to perfection was to priceless to ruin with the reality. Next time, she would give her some tips and pointers to help her improve. Next time sounded nice to think about.

"They're perfect."

Christine smiled at the Martian girl's giddy excitement who then proceeded to insist that they had to paint their toenails as well. Was Christine going to tell her that this was her first time painting her nails with a friend? Maybe someday, but not today.
~

Christine walked out of her room the next morning, dressed in her ballet warm ups with her new ballet slippers in one hand hand ready to be broken in, and her pointe shoes slung over her shoulder in the other. She was going to check out the gym to see were the ballet barre was so she could train. Walking into the main area of the HQ she saw Martian Manhunter, Kaldur, Red Tornado, Superboy, and Meg'ann. Christine decided to make a small detour to wish Superboy and Meg'ann well for their first day of school before she went to the gym room.

"Tris! What do you think of my first day of school look? Meet Megan Morris, and Superboy is going by Conner Kent!" Meg'ann asked the short brunette as she approached the group.

Christine nodded with a smile in approval. Meg'ann looked very pretty, her outfit definitely was not the current trend, but she made it work.

"Best of luck on your first day of human school." She signed to Superboy knowing he would understand. He grunted in response.

"Well we're off! See you later!" Meg'ann said as she and Conner made their way out the HQ.

"They grow up so fast." Martian Manhunter said before both he and Red Tornado excused themselves.

"Going to the gym room?" Aqua lad asked after seeing Christine's attire. She nodded in response.

"I may be leaving headquarters soon to help a friend," the Atlantean said at a slower pace so that the hand motions of sign language could keep up with his words, "but Red Tornado is here so you won't be completely alone for too long."

The sight of her new friend showing her his sign language progress caused her heart to swell.

"You started to learn?" She signed slowly after putting her shoes down, careful not to confuse him with her faster signing pace, looking at him softly.

"Indeed I have. It is important to not rely on Meg'ann's telepathy." He said with a smile, signing the words he knew, "I also wanted to express my gratitude. On the mission in Bialya, I was supposed to be the one helping and protecting you if needed, and you ended up doing that for me despite not remembering who I was."

Christine was touched by his kindness and his thanks. She couldn't remember the last time she was gifted with a thank you for someone. This team, the days so far in America, have made her realize how much she was missing out on without interaction with others.

"There's no need the thank me, but you are very welcome." She replied slowly with a smile.

The two fond friends parted ways, and Christine continued to the gym room. After finding the barre and warming up for about 40 minutes to instrumental musical rhythms playing in her head, she moved to the open space of the gym room and closed her eyes.

She imagined herself to be standing on a stage, orchestra by her feet, not a single person in the audience. She could hear the staccato notes of the Sugar Plum Fairy variation in her head as she opened her eyes and began the variation. Determination gleaming in her eyes and sweat on her brow.

She ran the variation about a whole three times through with self critiques in between before calling it a day and starting cool down stretches before she would head black to her room.

Little did she know, there was a little birdy watching her from the air vent above, completely enamored by her performance. He watched her like he was enchanted by her movements, caught under her spell. Without any complaint.

He kept telling himself the reason he was there was to try and memorize the air vent system in case of emergency, but was it just him wanting to catch a glimpse of his mysterious teammate who didn't have to ability to speak? He would never admit that. 

~

Heyo! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I have a few filler chapters coming up, I want to develop some of the relationships here though as well!

Let me know if you find any grammatical errors haha

Thank you for reading! please vote and leave a comment if you can ;)

~Mags