A/N: Hey guys! New chapter time! Yay Aqualad's in YJ Season 2! How did Tula die I wonder? And Salvage is going to be about Aqualad. I had my hopes set on it being Roy personally but I can deal. I'm still wondering where KF and Arty are though. Superboy and Superman partnershipness was also in the episode! Yay for Supey!
Chapter 6: Finding a Foothold
Star City 1994,
17 April 6:30 PDT
Roy's eyes shot open and he looked around warily. Something was off, he knew it was, he wouldn't wake up for no reason. His archer-senses were tingling, (A/N: Sorry guys, it had to be done) and when they tingled he knew not to ignore it. He glanced up towards Ollie's bedside table and saw that it was 6:35 in the morning. He groaned softly. He wasn't going to fall back to sleep again. He swore something wasn't right, he just couldn't put his finger on it.
He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Ollie's bed empty. OK, Ollie's bed was empty. That was... Wait! Ollie's bed was empty? At twenty five to seven in the morning? Surely, that wasn't right? Panic gripped Roy as he thought about what could have happened to the sixteen year old. His eyes darted around the room in search of the Queen heir. His clothes were still in a heap on the floor; which meant he hadn't got dressed. What if he's been kidnapped? The panic was just rising even more with every retake of the room that didn't reveal the boy. Roy would never be able to forgive himself if the timeline was messed up because his future father figure and mentor went missing when he was sixteen. He could barely face a life with Ollie out of it for a couple of days – not that he'd tell him that, of course – never mind never meeting him. Roy glanced down at his chest when he felt something shift. And there was Ollie, cuddled up on his chest with a content smile on his face.
Roy breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god! He's alright. Roy smiled down at the young boy. He must have had a nightmare or something. Roy looked closely at Ollie's shoulder and saw a healing cut. When did he get that? How did he get that? Roy saw more cuts criss-crossing down Ollie's back when he shifted. Roy growled softly when the answer came to him. Collin, that prick! He's gonna pay for this! After I clean and bandage those cuts and any other injuries he has. Which means that I have to wake him.
"Ollie?" Roy whispered softly. Ollie groaned, throwing an arm over his face and wincing. Roy realised that he'd moved his injured shoulder. "Ollie?" Roy said a little louder.
"Wha?" He mumbled, opening his eyes to glare blearily at Roy.
"You need to get up, kiddo." Roy said softly, stroking the boy's face in the process.
"Why?" Ollie whined, after looking at the clock.
"Because you have injuries that need cleaning and bandaging. And I'm gonna do it. 'Kay?"
Ollie pouted and then stretched, wincing and nodded meekly. "Fine."
Roy carefully placed his hands under Ollie's arms and helped him stand and then followed him up. He glanced around the room again and saw that Todd was yawning wide and uncurling his body from his position. He walked over to Ollie and rubbed his head against his leg and then proceeded to do the same to Roy.
"We need to clean you up and feed Todd before Collin wakes up. And then I need to get you to school; and then I was thinking of becoming a teaching assistant for my stay in the past." Roy informed both sets of ears that were listening. Todd's twitched cutely and he purred contentedly as if agreeing with this plan.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Ollie said walking towards his door and opening it enough for him to poke his head out and look around in trepidation.
"It's clear. Follow me."
Roy picked Todd up and crept out of Ollie's room carefully shadowing Ollie and glanced nervously around in case Collin decided to wake up and pop his head out of his bedroom door. Ollie carried on past his parents' room and stopped two doors down. Roy presumed that this was the bathroom. Ollie opened the door and stealthily crept in on the tips of his toes.
The bathroom was a spacious room. The wall that the bath was on was just a mirror. The rest of the walls were covered in medium sized beige tiles that were occasionally broken up by vertical bordering tiles that were in various shades of brown. The sink on the same wall as the window and the toilet. There was a cupboard and a set of drawers built around the sink and the toilet was built into the toilet systen with a flush button. The bath was a Jacuzzi and had a thousand different jets. The airing was on the adjacent wall to the Jacuzzi and there was also a laundry cabinet. The floor was black lino and the rugs were also black. The radiator was stainless steel and screwed onto the wall across from the bath. It stood vertically against the wall. All in all it was an expensive looking bathroom and Roy was in awe.
While Roy had been gawping at the bathroom Ollie had proceeded to fill the Jacuzzi style bath full of water and stripped down to his boxers. He then got in the bath and went to grab a sponge. Roy snapped out of his trance and approached the bath.
"Let me help you, Ollie." He said kindly and placed Todd by his feet where he settled.
"But I can do it myself." Ollie protested.
"Yeah, I know you can, but I bet it's a pain doing everything for yourself isn't it?" Roy answered knowingly.
"Yeah, I guess." Ollie conceded, handing Roy the sponge.
"Where's the alcohol, then?" Roy asked.
"Aww, seriously? That stuff hurts like a bitch!" Ollie whined, crossing his arms and pouting.
"Yes. Now where is it?" Roy asked, growing agitated with Ollie constant whining.
"In the cupboard under the sink." Ollie answered dejectedly.
Roy retrieved the alcohol from under the sink and proceeded to drench the softest sponge in the substance. "This is going to sting," He told Ollie softly.
"Don't I know it," Ollie sulked, mentally preparing himself for the pain that would follow. I'm doing that a lot lately, Ollie thought darkly.
Star City High School 1994,
17 April, 8:30 PDT
Ollie crashed through the high school doors on his skateboard, laughing when Principal Jones shouted as he flew past him, causing his files to go flying through the air.
"Queen, detention!" Principal Jones furiously shouted while picking up his fallen files.
"Yeah, whatever. See ya later, Pete!" Ollie called back, cackling madly when Jones' face when white with rage. He doesn't scare me. Not as if he can hurt me, and it gets me away from the house for a while. Better text Roy though, so he doesn't worry. Ollie thought smiling.
Star City, High School 1994,
17 April, 8:40 PDT
Roy sighed as the receptionist continued to ask questions. He'd been here for the past ten minutes answering question after question and it was getting boring. He'd never realised how much he took for granted until he had to go job hunting. Roy sighed again.
"I'm sorry Mr. Harper, but am I boring you?" the receptionist asked in a flirtatious voice, batting her eyelids.
Roy barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes and snapping back. If this job wasn't so important, Roy sighed mentally. "Of course not, I just have places to be, one of them being a classroom." He answered, winking.
"Well, it would be easier if I sent your resume with you to the class teacher that you want to learn from. Would you prefer that?" The receptionist asked sweetly.
"Yes, I would very much, thank you." Roy answered smiling. Thank god for those etiquette lessons Ollie forced me into. Roy thought.
As soon as he was out of the reception, his phone buzzed:
Hey, Roy. Kinda got detention l8r, oops hehe, so don't worry about me. Should only be about 5 mins, cuz I'll fake an illness or something. ^^
Ollie
Roy sighed. It would be like Ollie to get a detention after school. Even though, I'm not one to talk, the amount I've texted those words to Ollie, Roy thought, shrugging. There was nothing he could do about it. He had a class to get to, anyway. He'd text back later.
A/N: There you go my lovely reviewers. A little bit of progression and plot. If you can't already tell, we'll be in the past for a little while, so should I drop the '1994'? Drop a review?
MyLittleAngelxxx