Always Traught

Phobia

It was the single shiver she noticed. The way his body seemed to flinch from head to toe was so different to his character that she could only notice. At first she didn't say anything. The clap of thunder probably startled him. But when the second one roared loud and unrelenting, he did it again. His fingers clenched the stirring wheel until they turned even more white. His shoulders went up and then down. His breathing grew heavily.

"You're scared of the thunder," Artemis said. Dick scoffed in response, as if that was above him. She had known him long enough to know that was his way of deflecting.

"I'm Nightwing, Artemis. There's no way I'm scared of thunder," He tapped his fingers against the wheel. They had gotten stuck in a storm. Even the windshield wipers couldn't clear all of it. Dick pulled over as the result. A car crash didn't need to go on their many lists of induced injuries.

The blonde rose an eyebrow and waited for the next rumble. When it came, it was louder than expected. It seemed to shake everything around them. This time Dick hands flew to his ears and he closed his eyes.

The archer sighed as she unbuckled her seat beat. She twisted to face her friend. He turned to look at her, too, "I'm not scared."

"I'm not stupid," She responded. She pulled his palms from his ears and held his hands in her, "It's okay to be scared."

"But I'm the son of Batman. I shouldn't be scared of anything," Dick shook his head, "Plus, I'm twenty one. Being scared of thunder-

-Is normal," Artemis gave his hands a comforting squeeze, "And I know Batman has to be scared of something. He just doesn't let us see it."

"Like what?" The raven rose his own eyebrow at her.

"Ladybugs or something?" She chuckled to herself, "Rats or slime?"

Dick chuckled too, immediately dropping his eyebrow, "Rats or slime?"

"What about snails?" She suggested.

"Maybe lettuce?"

"Or soup?"

"Possibly popcorn?"

"Yeah," Artemis agreed. She looked at the space in between them. It certainly had closed in. He had moved in closer and so had she. Their noses were almost touching.

But a strike of lightning flashed in front of his car, creating a slashing sound that pierced through the rain. Dick slammed his blue eyes shut. He hoped that it would all go away if he couldn't see it.

Artemis knew that thunder always followed the lightning, so she closed the space in between them. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and pressed her lips against his. His eyes shot open from surprise. After a few seconds he fell into it and tilted his head to make more space. When the thunder rolled in, Dick didn't jump this time. Instead he focused on Artemis' lips and how she started to work on his bottom one.

They kissed until they needed breath. Artemis was the first to pull away. She looked down at her fingers and not at him. She didn't know what else to do besides that. The blonde had just kissed her best friend and not in a one time, whatever way. For some reason she felt the sudden need to apologize, "I shouldn't have just kissed you like that. I'm sorry, Dick."

He shrugged, "It's okay. I liked it."

"You did?" Artemis responded in shock. Dick nodded and he slowly began to smile at her.

"C'mon, Mai. I kissed you back, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't always me-," Artemis was interrupted by his lips this time. This kiss wasn't opened mouth liked the one before, but it felt just as intimate. Maybe even a bit more. When he pulled away, she was dumbfounded.

"It meant something to me," Dick's smile softened to one of love. Artemis just blinked at him, not sure of what to say.

"I-I think the thunderstorm is gone."

"Yeah, but it's still raining pretty hard. Can't go anywhere, anyway."

"So does that mean we're going to make out in your car?"

"If you want."

"Much rather have popcorn."

"Seriously?"

"Hey, you said that Batman was scared of popcorn."

"Funny thing is that Bruce is actually terrified of popcorn."

Artemis snorted, "Knew he was scared of something."

Dick scoffed as he looked out the window shield. The wipers still pushed the rain off, but hundreds of droplets continued to replace them, "Hey, Artemis?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are you scared of?"

"Being abused," Artemis answered, "Y'know, for obvious reasons."

"Oh ... That's deeper than I thought. I always thought you were the kinda girl who had some silly fear or something."

"I mean, I have arachibutyrophobia."

"You have what now?" He raised a brow again. That had to be the weirdest word to ever come out of anyone's mouth. And he spoke several languages.

Artemis laughed, "It's the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof off your mouth. That's why I don't eat peanut butter."

He laughed too, "That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"Trust me, I know."

A/N: Yesterday I was re-reading some of the old chapters on this story. I saw that I thanked you guys for thirty votes, and that made me so grateful. I don't write for the numbers or readers, but it means so much to me that you guys support my writing. Thank you so much. <3

Also I have so many ideas for new chapters and I don't know what to do. AH!