More Young Justice Trash

Afterschool Hangout

-Here's a short fic to hold you over while I'm moving all my stuff out into my brother's old room-

Dinah entered the mountain about 5:00pm est. She was working with Ollie tonight so the kids could have the night off, and had just realized she'd misplaced her water bottle.

There were two kids in the atrium, both in comfortable athletic clothes, discussing between themselves as what sounded like voguing music played from someone's phone.

"Hey BC!" Robin called. "I'm teaching Kaldur some flamenco steps." he grinned. "Just the stuff I learnt as a kid."

Kaldur looked at his feet sheepishly. "He said it was a necessary trade after I taught him how to write a few words in my native Atlantean dialect."

"It was so cool!" The tween bubbled. "I had to share part of my own culture in return."

"That's very nice." She rest a hand on Kaldur's shoulder. "Go easy, you were up late, don't push yourself so hard."

"I'll be alright, thank you." He smiled a little. 

Dinah had been on call with the team leader the previous night, coaching him through some anxiety. He really did push himself too hard as team leader, it wasn't healthy. 

"Is there anything you need?" Robin asked, rehearsing his pivots.

"I just swung by the mountain for my water bottle." She replied, giving the boy wonder some attention too. "Do you know where it is?"

The boy shrugged. "Ask Conner or M'gann, they live here."

"Ah, well, thanks." She waved good-bye to the boys and set off further into the mountain.

"Hey guys," Dinah said, entering the livingroom. A few of the kids were scattered around, most leaning over pages and pages of homework. "I think I left my water bottle here after training?"

"Oh, Conner saw it." M'gann perked up. "I'll show you. Conner's working on his English essay."

Dinah frowned at the boy. "I though you did that last night?"

"He's still doing it. Says it needs to be 'perfect'." M'gann told her. "Conner is such a teacher's pet. He doesn't act like it, but he is!"

"No I'm not." Conner said, scratching away at a double-lined essay.

"You were told to write 'at least two paragraphs'. You wrote a ten page paper."

"That's more than two paragraphs." 

"You were asked to run 'a couple laps' and you ran like twenty!"

"It's not my fault I have high stamina."

The Martian rolled her eyes. "You're always trying to show up the rest of the class and impress the teachers!"

"Why would I try to impress them?" Conner scoffed, setting down his pencil and crossing his arms. "I know more than they do."

"Yeah, but they're parent-aged adults!" M'gann laughed. "You always try to impress parent-aged adults."

Conner set his jaw out. "...I don't know what you're talking about."

Wally stifled a laugh. "Sorry."

Conner frowned. "It's in the kitchen. I ran it through the dishwasher for you."

"Thanks." She took off towards the kitchen and living room. She was sort of aware that Conner wanted a parental figure, and honestly, she was almost jealous that it applied to anyone who wasn't her. Everyone knew that after maybe superman, she and Red Tornado were contenders for his most idolized adult. She also knew that she wasn't equipped to parent him (given that she was his 26 year old tutor), but she knew she and Red cared more about him than any of his school teachers for sure.

"Di," She heard someone call, turning she saw a slightly frazzled Artemis jobbing after her. Her long hair was pulled into a disastrous bun and her eyeliner was everywhere except where it was supposed to be. "can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"I... uh... I kinda relapsed." She raised something square and brown in her hand: A fine leather wallet.

"Artemis, you didn't."

"I didn't mean to!" She shouted defensively. "And I didn't take any money out of it!"

"You stole someone's wallet." Dinah said severely. 

"I know I..." Artemis huffed. "...I want to return it."

Dinah opened the wallet. Under the clear pocket was a name and phone number. "Well that's helpful." She observed. "I'll say I found it in the subway or something."

"Really?" Artemis asked. 

"Sure," She planted a kiss on top of the kid's head. "I'll return it for you."

"Thanks Dinah." Artemis pulled her into a tight hug and then released her, sprinting back out of the room. 

Dinah took a minute to catch her breath. She always forgot how strong Artemis' arms were, but that kid was growing.

She grabbed her water bottle.