"Have you seen Aqualad?"
Mas blinked. "No hablo ingles!" he cheerfully reminded Speedy.
Speedy rolled his eyes. "All right midget. Donde esta el Aqualad-o?"
"No se!" Mas laughed, hopping down from the planning table and running out of the lobby. Speedy sighed and followed. His life would be so much easier if Aqualad just answered his communicator. But no, Fish Boy had decided that today of all days he wouldn't respond to the incessant beeping and flashing. He was always so good at answering…
Speedy waited before the door as it opened for him, and stepped towards the living quarters. A short figure clothed in white walked towards him.
"Menos, have you seen Aqualad?" Speedy halted his teammate.
"Que?"
"Oh, right. Spanish. Donde esta el Aqualad-o?"
"No se!" Menos echoed his brother. A slight breeze ruffled Speedy's impeccable hair, as the being before him turned into a white blur.
"Mas y Menos, si podemos!" echoed down the hall. Speedy growled and clenched his fists. He stormed up to Bumblebee's room and pounded on the door.
"Double B! Open up."
"Keep your pants on, Fish Boy," called a voice from inside. A few moments later, the door hissed open. "Oh, my bad. What do you want, punk?"
Speedy bristled. "Have you seen Aqualad?"
Bumblebee narrowed her eyes. "He didn't check in this morning?"
"No. And he isn't answering his communicator."
"All right. Let's check his room." Speedy almost sighed in relief. Aqualad's room had been his next option, but he didn't want to have to invade the boy's privacy. He was glad Bumblebee had made that decision.
He led the way to Aqualad's door and stood impatiently as Bumblebee swiped her master key through the lock. The door slid opened and Bumblebee stepped inside, Speedy close behind. "We're coming in, Fish Boy," she called.
"He's not here," Speedy grumbled.
"Stop breathing on my wings," she whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Speedy growled, but put some space between them. The curtains were pulled shut over the windows, and the floor was littered with clothes, books, and maps, making it almost impossible to walk.
"Tch. Men. How does he live like this?" Bumblebee nudged an overturned book with her toe.
"He doesn't," Speedy said, his voice tight in his throat. "He never leaves anything lying around. You know how he gets when the dishes aren't done. Something happened." He raised his voice, poking his head into the adjacent bathroom. "Aqualad?"
"You're right. He's not here," Bumblebee said as Speedy stormed across the room to where Aqualad's giant water tank resided.
"Something's wrong. Look, the glass is broken. A struggle. He didn't leave of his own free will." Speedy ran a finger gingerly over the broken glass.
Bumblebee walked towards him, her feet squelching in the carpet. "The water is almost dry, considering how much that tank could hold… It happened early. Why didn't any of us hear the glass break?" She walked to the door and slammed her palm against the wall beside it. The room became washed in red light, and a beeping noise resounded through the tower. "Titans to the lobby, now!"
Five seconds later, the remaining Titans stood around the planning table. Bumblebee started.
"Our tower has been compromised. Aqualad is missing in action."
"He's been kidnapped," Speedy cut in.
"Keep your pants on, punk. We don't know anything. All we know is that Aqualad's room is trashed and he isn't here." Bumblebee glared at Speedy. "Mas, Menos, have you seen him at all?"
"No senorita Bumblebee," they chorused.
"And hothead over here hasn't seen him. Mas, Menos, go to the control room and put a location on Aqualad's communicator. Speedy, get the T-ship ready. I have a feeling we're going to need it. The only way in or out of the Tower that isn't monitored is the ocean outlet." She pointed to the pool in the lobby below.
Speedy leapt to action, springing over the table before anyone else had moved. He was in the hangar when he heard Mas and Menos overhead Aqualad's position to Bumblebee. Speedy froze. The coordinates were for the bottom of the ocean. That couldn't be right.
Bumblebee buzzed into the hangar. "Speedy! I wanted that ship ready yesterday!"
"I'm working on it!" he snapped, slipping into the pilot's seat. He scowled furiously as he punched buttons. After he slipped the headset over his ears, he barked, "Everyone in?"
"No," Bumblebee answered. "Mas and Menos aren't aboard yet."
"What's taking them?" Speedy growled, his fingers closing over the joystick.
"I sent them on a weapons run, Speedy. Why are you so agitated?"
"Aqualad could be in trouble and we're just sitting here!" Speedy's eyes flicked back and forth around the hangar, looking for signs that the twins were done.
"Cool it or I'll leave you here."
Speedy grit his teeth.
"All right, punk, the twins are on. Everyone strap in and let's go pick up our teamma–" Her words were drowned out by Speedy letting loose the throttle. The engines kicked to life, sending a shiver of life to Speedy's fingers gripping the joystick. "Speedy! What did I tell you? Chill out or I'll dump you in the ocean to cool your jets."
Speedy knew it was no idle threat. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Behind his eyelids, he could see Aqualad's smirking face. Yesterday he had beaten Speedy in Ultimate Shootout, and hadn't let the archer live it down. The stupid GameStation didn't register his moves quickly enough for him to beat Aqualad, but Fish Boy wouldn't listen until Speedy held an arrow to his throat. The other had just smirked and took a backwards dive into the pool.
"That can't be my last memory of him…" Speedy whispered, shaking his head.
"What was that?" Bumblebee's voice cracked over the radio.
His eyes jerked open. The ship had led them under the water already, at increasing depth and pressure. Not a good time to zone out. "Nothing, Double B," he said.
"Stop calling me that, punk." She sounded like she was smiling. "Glad to see you've rejoined the land of the sane." The radio fell silent.
"We're approaching signal depth," Speedy said several minutes later. "Keep your eyes peeled."
"Los ojos miran nada," chorused the twins a few minutes later.
"Keep looking. The signal is coming from down there somewhere." Speedy gripped the controls before him.
"Speedy, touch her down on the bottom. Turn on all flood lights, including the ones on her belly," Bumblebee commanded. Speedy complied, and the sub settled into the dirt. At this depth, the visibility was only about three feet around the ship.
"Alla!" Mas suddenly called.
"Where?" Speedy whipped his head around.
"Oh god. His communicator…" Bumblebee's voice strained through the radio.
"What in hell are you all looking at?" Speedy nearly shrieked, pressing his face against the windows of the T-ship.
"Portside, Speedy, about ten o'clock from where you are, under the clump."
He saw it then, a tiny blinking beacon of red in the murky water. His fingers curled into fists against the glass. No. It would not end like this. Aqualad was stronger than that.
"He's not gone," Speedy choked out.
"Speedy…"
"He's not! There's no way he's that weak!" Speedy threw himself back into his seat with enough force to rattle the delicate instruments before him.
"Speedy! Cool it!" Bumblebee bellowed. He could barely hear her through the ringing in his ears. "Dammit, punk, if you won't drive us home I will, and you're swimming the rest of the way!"
He slumped back. "We find his communicator and you assume he's dead. What kind of team leader are you?" he growled.
"Que loco!" He heard one of the twins whisper to the other.
"Shut up!" he yelled. "He's not dead, damn you all! I will find him!"
"And just how do you plan on doing that, Speedy?" Bumblebee's voice came back, cold and hard. "By going out and swimming around in your trunks? We have to get back to the tower and regroup. We can form another plan there. We're not giving up, but we can't scour the entire ocean in this little sub. I suggest you calm down and get us the hell out of here, before whatever got Aqualad gets us."
His teeth ground against each other, but he obeyed. As soon as the T-ship was parked safely in the garage, he leapt from the cockpit and stalked from the hangar, ignoring Bumblebee's calls. He marched straight up to his room and locked the door behind him, though he knew that wouldn't stop his leader. He tossed his bow to the floor with carelessness that would have made Green Arrow cringe, and hurled himself on the bed, stomach down and head in his arms.
"Speedy, you complete and utter idiot. Throwing a temper tantrum won't find Aqualad. Why are you so royally pissed off anyway? It's not like you liked the guy." Bumblebee's voice drifted through the door. Speedy's fists closed around his bed sheets. "Dinner is at six. Kitchen closes at seven." He listened as her footsteps faded down the hall.
His own behavior was indeed puzzling, even to himself. But somehow, the thought of never sparring with Aqualad again, or never playing GameStation, or never watching his horrible cooking disasters and then laughing in his face about them… It made his chest contract painfully, and he didn't quite know why. There was no way he actually missed the smart-ass, black-haired, gill-necked Fish Boy…
Was there?
He slept straight through dinner and breakfast the next morning, and awoke to find the tower empty. Bumblebee and the twins were out on a minor call, which left him free to lie on the couch and mourn. He slipped his mask from his face and let it fall to the floor, burying his face in his arms. He didn't cry, but when Bumblebee and the twins breezed in, he wouldn't be moved. Gradually, motion in the tower ceased as night fell once again.
When the sun came in the next day, Speedy was already awake to see its light coast across the surface of the pool. He found he didn't even have the energy to stand.
And then, as he watched, something broke the surface of the water. A black head, followed by a tan, muscular body. Arms and legs, rising out of the water with fluid grace, water sloshing off the limbs like scattering jewels in the sunlight.
Speedy realized he was on his feet, gripping the edge of the railing that separated the planning table from the pool below. The black head shook, splattering water all over the floor. Speedy gripped the railing to tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Garth!"
The head below snapped up at the use of his given name. Violently purple eyes narrowed. "Speedy? What an ungodly hour for you to be up. Your hair is a mess!"
Speedy's mouth went dry, and if it hadn't been for the five story drop, he would have cleared the railing in two seconds. "W-Wait – Just wait there!" he stammered, turning and bolting further into the tower.
He burst out onto the ground level not five seconds later, and stood breathless before Aqualad. The other cast him a curious glance.
"Where's your mask? Or is incognito not working for the women anymore?" Aqualad smirked. Speedy found himself caught between two opposing emotions. While he wanted nothing more than to punch the smirk from Aqualad's face, he also wanted to gently touch the other to make sure he was real, and not some horrid dream. He settled for a mix of the two, as he closed the distance between them and crushed Aqualad in a fierce hug.
Aqualad inhaled sharply, taken by surprise. "Speedy?"
Speedy pulled the boy tight against him, not caring that his clothing was getting soaked, or that Aqualad's ribs scraped against his own under too-thin skin, or that he smelt of salt and sea-weed. He didn't even realize that his nose and lips pressed against the slender curve of Aqualad's neck, until the boy's voice rumbled gently against his skin.
"Uh, Speedy, you're scaring me, are you all right? Did something happen to Bumblebee?"
"God! Garth, you are the stupidest son of a – "
"Great Neptune, why do you keep using my given name?"
Speedy drew back, still clutching Aqualad's shoulders in his hands. "We thought you were dead!"
"Dead?" That irritating smirk was back. "Why on earth would I be dead?"
"You-Your room was trashed, your water tank broken, and your communicator is on the bottom of the freaking ocean… Garth, you didn't tell anyone you were leaving! What do you want us to think?" Speedy's voice cracked.
To his relief, the smirk vanished. "Oh… Oh Neptune… I'm sorry… I didn't even think about…" The boy's eyes closed, and a hand came up to massage his forehead wearily. When he opened his eyes again, they were soft with apology. "There was a family emergency, and I didn't have the heart to wake anyone. I didn't know it would take this long, I really didn't. I'm so sorry… I got angry, and I smashed my room, and then somehow managed to drop my communicator on the way to Atlantis. I'm all right, though. Really."
Speedy could do nothing more than just stare at Aqualad.
"My god, but your eyes are green," Aqualad suddenly said, peering hard at Speedy. "Like the water after a storm. Of course, they're bloodshot as well. Have you gotten any sleep at all? Gods, Speedy… How worried were you?"
"Worried enough to know that I can't function without you," Speedy whispered, almost in disbelief.
"Roy…?"
Something inside him snapped at the sound of his name in Aqualad's voice. He moved in, and sealed his mouth over Aqualad's lips. The other made a small sound of surprise, but no move to retreat. Rather, his mouth opened for Speedy, and he accepted Speedy's tongue with a small exhalation of breath. Hands wet with ocean water slipped up Speedy's body, moving on either side of his face to hold his chin steady as Aqualad delved into Speedy's mouth.
"Salt…" Aqualad whispered against his lips.
"From the ocean," Speedy agreed, eyes slowly opening.
"No… From your tears." Aqualad smiled gently, rubbing a single pearly streak from Speedy's cheek.
The archer's lips pulled into a frown. "I don't cry."
"Of course not. And you don't like me, either."
"I hate you."
"How much?"
Speedy reached up and pulled his hands through Aqualad's hair, latched his fingers around the back of the other's neck, and drew him down for another kiss, rougher and more heated than their first. Speedy wasted no time in scraping his teeth across Aqualad's lips, and left a trail of kisses down his jawbone. When his teeth touched tender skin above Aqualad's gills, he bit gently, and was rewarded as the boy sagged against him.
"That's a lot of hate," Aqualad gasped, hands tight on Speedy's shoulders.
"Well, I see you're not dead."
Speedy jerked away from Aqualad as if electrified. Bumblebee stood in the door, arms folded over her chest.
"You took us all for quite a spin, Fish Boy, but most especially the punk over here." She stepped into the room and offered a towel to Aqualad. "I'm glad you two worked out your differences. This better not affect the team." She glared harshly at the two.
"No ma'am."
"Never in a million years, Double B."
Bumblebee glared at Speedy, but seemed too relieved to see him snarky that she didn't say anything. "Practice in an hour. You, shower, and you, eat something." She pointed to Aqualad and then Speedy. She turned and flew up to the planning table, most likely to prepare for the day's training.
Speedy grinned at Aqualad. "She never said separately."
"You're wicked. Come along, you horny teenager." Aqualad tugged at Speedy's wrist, leading him out of the lobby.