"Ugh!" Roy threw down the bow as he missed the bull's-eye yet again. He knelt to the ground clutching his pounding head as Garth walked through the door rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Roy? It's so early. What are you doing up?" He reached down to put his hands on Roy's shoulder only to have the archer jerk away from him violently. Garth pulled back in shock at the look of anger and fear in his boyfriend's eyes, "Are you okay?" His voice was soft and soothing as if he was trying to coax an animal out of hiding.
Roy seemed to collapse in on himself as the tears started to fall from his eyes, "Garth, I..." Tears fell to the floor in front of Roy as he looked to the ground.
"Shhh, Roy it's okay," Garth knelt down and put his arms around the man he loved. He felt Roy lean into him and grip onto the T-shirt he was wearing as though it was the only thing keeping him sane.
"Garth, I'm craving them, the drugs. I woke up wanting to shoot up," the tears fell harder as he choked on his words, "I-I'm disgusting! I hate myself," he looked up into the shocked violet eyes of the beautiful man holding him, "how can you even stand to be around me?"
"Roy," Garth grabbed his boyfriend's shoulders and turned him to look at him face to face, but Roy still avoided his gaze, "Roy, look at me." The archer stubbornly shook his head and buried his head in the Atlantean's broad chest. The water dweller sighed and wrapped his arms around the redhead, "Roy, do you remember the very first day I said 'I love you' to you? Not after we were together, before that." Roy furrowed his brow, trying to remember.
*Flashback*
The two young boys were trapped. They never should have tried to go on a mission without their mentors, but Robin had been so insistent. For being the youngest of the preteen heroes, he definitely had the aura of a leader. Speedy looked towards Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash, cornered on the opposite side of the room by the hoards of robots, determinedly fighting still. Speedy was down to his last arrow and there wasn't a drop of water around for Aqualad to use as a weapon.
"Speedy," Speedy looked over at his friend, "if we don't make it out of here, I want you to know tha-"
"Is this really the time Aqualad?" Speedy questioned, frantically searching for the area in the crowd that would cause the most damage with his last arrow.
"Yes. I have to say this," Aqualad turned the other boy to face him, "Speedy, I love you."
Speedy's eyes widened beneath his mask, too shocked to say anything. What could he say? Was he taking this the wrong way, it did he really mean 'love'? He looked around to see that the other three were too busy trying to fight off the encroaching robots to see the odd scene that was taking place between the two boys across the room.
CRASH!
Speedy turned his head to see the young heroes' mentors bursting through the wall. He wasn't sure which was worse, him being reamed out by Green Arrow for being reckless or staying in this awkward situation. Nonetheless, it seemed as though he had no choice as Aqualad quickly let him go.
Speedy watched as the king of Atlantis blasted through what just a few seconds ago had been their impending doom. Before Speedy knew it, he was being grabbed around the waist by Aquaman and taken out of the room. He looked to his right to see Aqualad tucked under the king's other arm, dejectedly staring down at the floor. Speedy saw a green arrow zoom past them on their way out and knew he would only have it worse if he were Robin right now (who was currently being dragged out by the collar by a very angry looking Batman).
Like Speedy expected, the young heroes were grounded from hero duty for two weeks and he'd been grounded from everything fun in normal life for a month. He sighed as he walked to meet Green Arrow at the transport pads.
"Hey," Speedy jumped at the sudden voice beside him and looked over to see Aqualad, probably the last person he wanted to see right now.
"Oh, uh, hi." He scratched the back of his neck, looking anywhere but into his friend's eyes.
"Um, about earlier," Aqualad kicked at the floor with his toe, unsure of what to say.
"Hey, uh, no need to explain. I, uh, love you too buddy," he plastered a smile on his face and patted his friends on the shoulder, "as a friend of course, I mean, well, you know."
"Oh, yeah...well that's what I meant. I love you as a friend. Always got your back haha." Aqualad coughed into the awkward silence that ensued.
"Well, I, um, have to go. Arrow's waiting." Aqualad watched as the red clad archer sprinted towards the Watch Tower ops room, cursing his cowardice and stupidity.
*End of flashback*
Garth felt Roy nodding against his chest. He pulled the sobbing man away from him and put his hand under his under his chin, tilting his head up to look at him. "Roy, please look at me." Roy finally let his eyes meet the purple gaze, his view blurring as more tears pooled over. "Roy, I love you more than I think you possibly know. When I said that, we were probably only twelve or thirteen, but I meant it even then. That day, when I said I love you, I meant it. And I loved you the next day, I loved you the next week, the next year, hell, I will love you into the next century. Most importantly though, I love you now, through all your ups and downs. I'm going to keep on loving you, no matter what." He smiled at the man whose crying had now slowed, "And I am here for you when you need me. Especially when it has to do with this. I want to help guide you through the darkest valleys that your life pulls you into."
Roy dragged his love back into a hug, "Garth I love you so much. I don't know what came over me this morning, but I think I'm starting to feel better." The two young men held each other on the floor of the training room, the pink light of the rising sun illuminating them.
"Do you want to go back to bed?" Garth asked.
"No, I just want to sit here with the man I love."
