"Don't Call Us Sidekicks" [Young Justice]

Summer Vacation (TempestxReader)

(Y/N) grinned as they finally finished their chores. Sure, the beach house was rented, but that didn't mean that vacation was spent in a pigsty.

"Mom, I'm going down to the beach!" They slung a beach towel over their shoulder, shoving an assortment of snacks into their bag, careful to include to blue raspberry popsicles.

"Be back by dinnertime!" Mama warned.

"And bring your boyfriend, too!" Dad teased.

(Y/N) rolled their eyes, "Bye dad, love you too."

The porch door slammed behind them, flip-flop foam smacking against the souls of their feet as they ran up the asphalt path that lead to the beach. (Y/N)'s family had been coming here every summer for as long as they could remember, and (Y/N) couldn't imagine it any other way.

Once they reached the pinkish sand, they carried their flip flops and pulled out their shades to see better in the sun-baked crowd, though they always knew where to look for him.

Garth was down by the tidepools, as always, pointing out all the different creatures to the one kid who had the spunk to talk to a stranger.

"Can I touch the urchin? Can I?"

Garth chuckled nervously. "It might prick you," he warned.

"Like a porcupine?" The boy asked. Confusion flickered across Garth's face for a moment, before the boy started rambling again. "I got pricked by a porcupine once, and I didn't cry at all! I got sprayed by a skunk though, and that hurt."

Garth was spared any more interrogation when the boy's parents called him, packing up to return to the hotel for lunch.

"That was strangely attractive," (Y/N) grinned, announcing their presence.

"I was not too awkward?" Garth asked.

(Y/N) pulled out the blue raspberry popsicles, handing one to Garth, "You were phenomenal. Better than I am with kids, by any means." They had two younger brothers, a younger sister, and an older sister.

"Wanna get off the beach?" (Y/N) asked, the blue ice in the plastic packets already half-melted. Garth was looking a little uncomfortable around all the people swarming to the beach.

"What did you have in mind for today?" Garth asked, already following (Y/N) off the beach.

(Y/N) put their flip-flops back on their feet. We can go to the bookstore, the antique store, or any of the other tourist traps, and then my mom's making lasagna if you want to join us for dinner.

Garth frowned, catching the sticky drips in his hand. "I am not sure, I do not know when I will have to return home."

(Y/N) quickly forbade themselves to frown. "It's okay, we can still have fun. We always do."

Hand in sticky hand, the two wandered down the cobbled streets of the seaside tourist town. As long as they remembered, (Y/N)'s family had been vacationing here. For just as long, (Y/N) remembered spending almost every day on the beach with Garth after a lifeguard rescued the purple-eyed boy from a riptide when they were seven. (Y/N) waited until he woke up, a blue raspberry popsicle at the ready, though it was all melted by the time Garth had actually come around. They played with Garth in the waves until it was nighttime, when Garth's parents came to bring him home. (Y/N) barely remembered meeting them, though they were fairly certain his dad was blonde, and his red-haired mother wore some sort of crown. (Y/N) hadn't expected to see Garth again, until they collided on the beach again the next summer, each having acquired a fresh blue raspberry popsicle in order to cool off in the beach heat. Garth didn't have a cell phone, but somehow, every year, they managed to find each other again and again. (Y/N)'s older said it was fate, though (Y/N) said it was just luck, as in they were lucky to have a friend like Garth.