Roy didn't smile. It wasn't even that he didn't want to smile. He just couldn't smile. Because if he did, he felt like he would shatter into a million pieces. And just like Humpty-Dumpty, he wouldn't be able to put himself back together again.
If he smiled at them, if he smiled at Wally, or Dick, or Green Arrow, or any of the others, the villains would figure out how much they meant to him. They would find out that he loved them, with all his heart. They would hurt them. And Roy couldn't, wouldn't, allow that. So unlike Wally, who wore his heart on his sleeve, he locked all of his love and happiness away, where no one could ever, ever find it. Because he could hurt his friends if he was allowed to love them and care for them, or even smile at them.. So he was doing this for them. He was doing it to keep them safe.
He had to keep being surly and grumpy, like an old, sour man. He had to be detached from them, be disconnected from their kiddie team, in order to protect them. He had to have the least number of ties with them he could possibly have, so he could protect them. Because after all, isn't that why he did all those things? Leaving GA, refusing to be a part of the team, going solo? He did it to protect them. Because if he was too close to them, they would get hurt. And it would be all his fault.
So that was why he couldn't smile. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was because he couldn't. Whenever anyone told him to lighten up, he just got so angry, because he wanted to, he really, truly did. But he just couldn't.
He couldn't care.
He couldn't love.
He couldn't smile.
He couldn't smile. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He couldn't allow himself to. The funny thing was, though, whenever Wally, Dick, or the others managed to make him smile, managed to crack open the shell he had placed around himself (which only happened for a second, he regained control after that) he didn't feel broken, or shattered.
He felt whole.
I mean, there's got to be a reason he doesn't smile, and why he acts like a PMSing girl all the time, right? So I took it to a deeper meaning...just a random plot bunny.
HUGGLES!
~lilmissf
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