Always Traught

Bathtubs Are Scary

"I'm not going in there," Artemis said as she looked at the water below her. Dick was already in the pool, his arms wide open.

"Come one, Mai. It's not going to hurt you," He coed. The blonde shook her head and crossed her arms securely on her chest. She wasn't going to do it. The moment she would step in the water was the moment she would panic. Plus, she had seen what Kaldur could do. She went through what her father's abuse. Water certainly could hurt her.

"It can hurt me and it will," The archer's eyes flickered from him to the pool. Dick's eyes just followed her. He noticed how hard she gulped when she looked at the expanse of clear liquid.

Dick walked up to the ledge, "It's only three feet. It'll be up to your waist. As long as you keep your feet on the ground, you'll be okay."

"Can I just put my feet in and call it a day?" Artemis joked as she sat down on the tiled floor. She didn't put her feet in yet. The blonde held her legs to her chest.

The bat kid scoffed as he grabbed her knees and lowered her legs into the water, "You're not going to overcome this fear if you don't try."

She protested against his allegation, "I'm not afraid," Anyone on the face of this earth could have called bullshit. He knew this and rolled his eyes almost as hard as Batman. It was kinda scary how much Dick was taking after his adoptive father. Sometimes it felt like she was dating Bruce. That was just plain nasty to think about.

"Don't lie to me, Artemis. I've seen you runaway from Kaldur during a mission. I mean, how do you even manage to take baths?"

"I have taken a bath since he- Never mind," Artemis sighed. She kicked her feet lightly. It was just so wet. That was the only way to describe it. It wasn't colorful and she couldn't feel the the salt in it. Chlorine hurt Kaldur's skin (another way water hurt people).

"'Since he,' what?" Dick questioned, holding onto what she had said before she thought about how to describe water.

Artemis' head snapped up, "Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Ah, so you admit that you said something," Dick raised a challenging eyebrow at her. Artemis frowned when he wrapped his hand around her thighs.

"Richard John Grayson, I swear to God. Don't you dare drag me in," She snarled at him, already knowing his intentions. Nothing good every came from his smirks.

"If I pull you into the water-

-I'll break up with you and then I'll k-AH!" Dick pulled her down by her legs and into the water. Before she was all the way submerged she grabbed his head and pulled him down with her.

Artemis panicked like she knew she would. She grabbed onto her boyfriend's body as tight as she could. Then, she held her breath. Water that had already went up in her nose stung harshly. She tried to focus on anything but being underwater, so she focused on the vibrations coming from Dick's back. He was laughing and that made her feel worse. How was he not scared? Why did he find this funny?

He pushed forward in order to stand up. He must have underestimated the space between them and the wall because her skull hit the tiles with a sound. Instead of raising with Dick, her limbs went numb. An image of her father flashed across her eyes. The feeling of water became all too strong, adding to the inner panic she felt inside.

Artemis' mind told her body to move upwards and it listened. Her heart told her to keep imagining her father and not defy the terrifying liquid. It felt like an eternity before she bobbed up, but it was only a matter of seconds.

Dick was still laughing by the time Artemis came up from the water. He stopped when he noticed that she was holding her head in her hands. He immediately walked up to his girlfriend and stared at her in concern.

"Mai? Are you okay?" He placed once hand on her shoulder and the other one went to the back of her head.

"I'm don't want to do this anymore."

Artemis looked at her alarm clock and sighed. It was 7:39 in the nighttime. She had spent four hours in her room doing absolutely nothing. She could've done homework, trained, or cooked a whole ass cake for all she cared. The archer could've apologized to Dick, which she knew she needed to do.

The blonde rolled over onto her opposite side and took a deep breath. Artemis had never seen Dick as her father. That terrified her. She had seen Batman and Oliver as her father, but never her boyfriend. She knew he didn't mean to hurt her, but it felt all too real. She almost snorted at the idea of Dick beating him up over this when it was her fault.

The heroine sat up from her bed and walked over to the little desk in the far corner of the room. She didn't have much furniture in her room at the cave. The only time she came in here was to do homework and study. If she had to go asleep at the cave, she slept in Dick's room.

Artemis snatched a writing pad and a pen from the desk's drawers and started to make her way towards Dick's bedroom. If he was beating himself up over the situation, like she knew he was, the acrobat wouldn't want to verbally talk. She had already started her message to him by the time she had gotten to his door.

Dear Dick,

I already know you're beating yourself up over this, so don't tell me otherwise. What happened was not your fault. Truth be told, I'm terrified of water. I don't like it. I know you saw that and were only trying to help. When you pulled me in, I panicked. I shouldn't have. You weren't going to do anything to hurt me, and I should've known that. When I hit my head, I didn't see you anymore. I saw my father. One of the Shadows favorite punishments was drowning. My father always took it too far and banged my head against a rock. That was the first time I fractured my skull. And when I hit my head, that was all I could see. My reaction was out of impulse. I'm so sorry for not trusting you. I know you aren't him. I know you will always keep me safe.

Love your stupid girlfriend,

Artemis :) ♡

P.S. If you wanna respond write on the back. (Insert finger guns.) 

She slid it under his door and waited for him to respond. He always did. Artemis smiled despite herself when she heard footsteps coming from inside the room.

Dear Artemis,

First of all, don't you dare call yourself stupid over this. I don't condone murder but if you keep doing that, I will kill you. ;P Anyway, it wasn't your fault you reacted like that. We all get flashbacks. It's apart of our line of work. If anything, it's your father's fault. How dare he take the joy of swimming and baths from you! No but seriously, he deserves to rot in hell. I hate that man. I know you know I would never hurt you, Babe. And for emphasis, I would never hurt you. I care to much about you to let that happen. It's like I'm addicted. ;)

Love your smoking hawt boyfriend,

Dick ♡

Artemis chuckled as she read his message. He always had to joke in his letters. In the early stages of their relationship, she got annoyed at it. Now she found it absolutely adorable. Sometimes she wondered how she had gotten so blessed to be with a boy like him.

How did I get so lucky? Artemis slid under his door before she stood up and begun to return to her room.

Truly, she was the luckiest girl in the world.