Born For This

Needed Breaks

MOUNT JUSTICE

August 27, 07:58 EDT

I was in desperate need of a shower.

After a miserable defeat at the hands of Clayface and having Batman save our butts, I really wanted to shower, change, and head home to sleep. I felt gross with all of the residue the villain left on my uniform and skin, shivering at the substance. 

Batman informed us, "I need to talk to Aqualad. The rest of you hit the showers and head home." 

Thank God for the Dark Knight. Giving him a weak two-fingered salute, Artemis, M'gann and I walked toward the girls' locker room. 

"Head home? I am home," Superboy muttered in annoyance at our failure. 

My blue-grey eyes met the floor, disappointed in my poor performance in regard to the mission. There were so many things I could have done differently. If only I had deduced sooner that it wasn't really Kid Flash calling me into the warehouse, maybe we wouldn't have been in our predicament. I should've known better.

M'gann seemed to notice my distress as we turned the corner into the locker room and gently touched my shoulder. 

'It wasn't all your fault,' she tried comforting me. 'I should've read Clayface's mind when he was posed as Superboy.'

Smiling back, I sighed, 'Guess we just weren't on our A-Game, huh?'

'I suppose we weren't. Good thing Batman showed up when he did.'

I nodded in response, heading for the showers to clean off the clay and mud. After I finished, I swiftly changed into civilian clothing. I needed the sleep throughout the weekend. Since starting school last week, I have been eager to complete all work for the next few weeks. If I did that, that meant vacations would come earlier and I would be able to graduate ahead of schedule. 

Allowing my hair to air dry, I walked out of the locker room, leaving Miss Martian and Artemis to talk. I carried my bag over my shoulder and headed directly for the Zeta-Tube. While approaching the device, a familiar voice called out my name before I turned around to find the red-haired speedster skidding to a stop in front of me, decked out in his civilian attire. 

"Hey, Walls," I greeted with a tired grin, sleep threatening to take over. 

He smiled back at me, "Didn't know if you left already." 

My eyebrow arched upward as I queried, "Were you waiting on me, West?"

He rubbed his neck absentmindedly, his cheeks brightening light pink momentarily. "Did you wanna hang out today?" 

"I wanna sleep."

Okay, so it was a little blunt, but I was running on fumes at this point, and needed a good eight hours. 

The redhead merely shrugged, mentioning, "We've got a guest room at the house. You can crash there."

"Wally," I tried to explain, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I wouldn't be hanging out with you then. I'd be sleeping over."

"Don't I know it, beautiful," he replied smugly, wiggling his eyebrows.

I scoffed, turning around to put my address into the computer. Wally's hand grasped mine and whipped my head to face him. He seemed... sad, almost, by the rejection.