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Collateral Damage	By : defying3reason Category: DC Verse Comics > Green Lantern Views: 1529 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Green Lantern or anything from the DC Universe and am not profiting off this story in any way.

Chapter List
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Chapter Three
"Now's not the best time, actually."
Hal squeezed his eyes shut and did his best not to voice his displeasure. Roy's voice was gruff and guarded; it sounded like he was lying about something, and considering the kid had only been clean for two weeks there was no way in hell Ollie was going to take off after hearing that.
"You hiding something from me Speedy?" Ollie asked, with that edge in his voice that Hal recognized perfectly: Green Arrow's personal pain in the ass level of determination.
"Oh what, you can't leave me alone for awhile even though you dropped in without calling or anything? You were more than happy to leave me alone a few months ago!" Roy snapped.
"And how many times do you want me to apologize for that? I'm sorry! I'm sorry beyond your self-absorbed comprehension, but I promised both of us that I was never going to let anything like that happen again. I'm here now because I wanna check up on you and fix this, and I feel like if I walk away right now then it's as good as when I walked away for that damn road trip. Now will you please let me in and talk for a little bit so I can reassure myself that you're not shooting up? I do want to believe that Roy."
Shit. It probably would be better to humor him for a little while. Hal did not like the idea of being the reason Ollie suddenly suspected Roy of relapsing.
But he didn't want to hide naked in a tub and listen to that conversation either.
"Fine, five minutes. Let me go throw some clothes on," Roy said with a sigh.
"Thanks kid."
Shit. Hal looked around the room and wondered if he'd be able to at least get his clothes back on without alerting Ollie to his presence. Though neither option was exactly appealing, if he had to choose between being found lurking in Roy's bathroom fully clothed and lurking in Roy's bathroom naked, he liked clothed a whole lot better.
He heard every little creak of the floor as Roy walked to his bedroom, which meant that if Hal walked over to the clothes pile by the bathroom door that Ollie would probably hear his footsteps just as clearly. Then he heard another noise he liked even less; the sounds of Ollie shuffling around the living room, snooping. He must be looking for drugs.
If that was the case then Hal didn't have much choice. He looked down at his hand and considered using the power ring to float the clothes to him. 'Oh yeah, good idea Hal. Because Ollie would never notice a flash of green light coming from the bathroom.'
Shit-shit-shit. It sounded like Ollie was almost done with the kitchenette. Which meant the bathroom would be his next stop. Maybe he wouldn't hear Hal over the sounds of his own inept snooping (did he not expect Roy to freak out on him for that?).
He decided to risk it and, as quietly as possible, padded over to his clothes. He managed to fumble on his briefs and had his jeans halfway up his thighs when the door was suddenly whipped open.
There was a long moment where Hal and Ollie were simply staring at each other in mutual shock. Ollie's mouth fell open, and he tried to form words a few times but nothing came out (possibly a first). He looked kind of like a fish. At least Hal wasn't the least bit hard anymore. That would have been worse.
This wasn't exactly ideal though.
"Y-you you're y-you? Why are you here? Hal, why are you hiding in my sidekick's bathroom? Why were you in my sidekick's bathroom when he was in the bathroom? Why were you in the bathroom when he was in the bathroom naked?" Ollie asked, looking lost. "Why weren't you wearing pants?"
"Uh…you're not going to make me say it, are you?"
Still with that agonizingly lost look on his face, Ollie turned around and walked back into the living room. Hal finished dressing as quickly as possible and stumbled out after him, still frantically buttoning his shirt.
Roy was just coming out of his bedroom. He took one look at Ollie, briefly locked eyes with Hal, and then turned back towards Ollie with a look of grim resignation. "You were snooping," he said, though he seemed to know that his indignation wouldn't count for much considering what Ollie had found.
Hal had never felt so guilty before. He kept waiting for Ollie to turn on him, to scream at him and berate him for taking advantage of a vulnerable teenager. He'd known it was wrong and he'd still given in. It was completely inexcusable; Hal was a Green Lantern. His weapon was powered by his will, meaning his will was better honed than anyone else on Earth. If he'd really wanted to, he would have left.
And yet half of him was still hoping Ollie would take off and he and Roy could get back in that bathroom and try out the massaging showerhead…
What Hal didn't expect was for Ollie to aim a punch at Roy.
Thankfully, Roy's reflexes were good. He ducked out of the way and rolled behind Ollie, getting the couch between them. Ollie's momentum kept going, and he ended up hitting the wall with enough force to send up puffs of plaster.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Ollie screamed. "First drugs and now you're seducing my friends?"
"Ollie calm down!" Roy yelled.
Hal tried to step between them, since Ollie was charging at Roy again. "Hal, get out of the way!" Ollie all but growled.
"I'm not going to let you hurt him," Hal said, trying his best to keep his voice steady. "Your hand is bleeding Ollie. Just sit down for a minute and cool off, okay-whoa! Ollie stop it!"
He'd lunged past Hal, but Roy had darted to the other side of the couch. They started circling it, eyes locked on each other, Roy's iced over while Ollie's blazed with emotion. Hurt, betrayal, and a worrying amount of anger.
Hal felt like the world's biggest asshole. He was still confused though. Why was Ollie mad at Roy? Hal was the adult. He was the one that should have known better.
Shaking it off, Hal pushed Ollie onto the couch with the help of his power ring and held him there, determined to do so until some of that dangerous looking emotion left him. He screamed curses exclusively at Roy while he was (hopefully) cooling off, seeming to forget about Hal entirely despite the green beam holding him in place.
"I don't know why I thought you were actually going to change this time! You're a diseased little fuck! Selfish son of a bitch! You wonder why I took off? I took off because you fucking pushed me out the door with your god damn shit! I couldn't take any more of it and now you're going to bring my friends into it, you goddamn fucking slut? Isn't enough that you're the whore of the Titans, oh no, now you gotta move on to the Justice League? You know how much crap I already get from people because of how fucking screwed up you are Roy?"
Hal would have gagged him, but he was too busy gaping at him in shock. He'd heard Ollie rant many a time, but never anything like that. He'd known for a good long while that his friend was having a hard time with his sidekick. It came up on the road trip more than once, but every time Ollie had talked about his problems with Roy he'd sounded sincerely worried and concerned for the safety and well being of his young partner. There had been no hint of this kind of explosive anger.
If anything, Ollie had always sounded mad at himself for not being strong enough to help a kid with so many problems. And that was before knowing about the drugs.
And he still didn't know about the prostitution. Hoo boy…
"Shut up-shut up-will you just shut up?" Roy screamed. Hal finally looked away from Ollie and immediately faltered when he saw Roy. His icy façade had probably given way some time ago, but Hal had been so focused on Ollie that he hadn't noticed. Tears were streaming down his face and he was doubled over with his hands over his ears.
"Roy-" Hal started, but he was cut off.
"Fuck you Ollie, fuck you! I'm not a slut, and if I'm a whore it's only because you made me one! I wasn't a slut, I had a boyfriend, just the one, and then you told your buddies in the Justice League what a bad kid I was and Batman made him dump me! And when I went out with Donna the same thing happened with Wonder Woman, so fuck you!"
"It's not my fault you made your own reputation!" Ollie yelled back. "I'm not gonna keep giving a rat's ass about you if this is what you do with peoples' concern! Go out and fuck around instead of facing your problems like a man!"
"I'm warning you Ollie, shut your fucking mouth or so help me-"
"Hey, you started this by being a filthy fucking whore-"
"Ollie, you really shouldn't call him-"
And then Hal was holding them both back with his ring, because Roy had let out a sound of blood curdling rage and charged at his ex-guardian. Hal pinned him to the wall.
"Don't call me that you piece of shit!"
"Roy, please calm down!" Hal yelled over him. "Don't let him get under your skin! Ollie, for god's sake, you don't mean this! I know you care about him so cut it out!"
"I used to," Ollie said in a voice as deadly calm as his tone had been explosively angry only seconds before. "I used to care about the kid an awful lot. Not anymore."
Hal dropped the green beam and stared at Ollie in shock. "You don't mean that."
Ollie only shrugged.
Roy slid down the wall and landed in a crumpled heap. He hugged his knees to his chest with his forehead pressed against them.
Ollie started walking towards the door. Feeling numb, Hal let him go. Just before he reached the exit he stopped and threw a withering glare at Roy that (thankfully) he didn't see. He did hear Ollie's parting shot though.
"You disgust me." Then he was gone.
Roy let out a choked sob as soon as the door shut. Hal froze for a moment, torn between comforting the distraught teenager and running after his friend to beat some sense into him. Though the thought of punching Ollie in the face was severely tempting, he went to Roy's side and pulled him into a protective embrace.
"I'm so sorry Roy. I know he didn't mean any of that. It's not true anyway. You know it's not, so don't let him get to you. Please don't…"
"I didn't want to be a-a whore," Roy whimpered. "I didn't have a choice! I-I couldn't get a job, at least n-nothing that would pay rent, and I-I didn't have any money or anywh-where to go, I didn't…it was the only th-thing I could do, I swear."
Hal rubbed soothing circles on Roy's back, wishing there was something he could say.
"I don't want him to hate me," Roy whispered, and Hal's heart ached for him.

Hal spent the next couple of hours with Roy. It didn't take him that long to calm down, but when he did he was obviously embarrassed about his emotional reaction. Hal didn't begrudge him the tears; it had been one hell of a confrontation, but every attempt he made to convey that seemed to make the sullen teen shut down further.
"I'm just, uh, I'll be right back." Roy wiped at his face with the heel of his hand, then dazedly walked into the bathroom. He kicked the door shut and a moment later the faucet turned on.
Hal got up and paced around the living room, trying to process what he'd just witnessed. He'd never seen Ollie lose his temper like that before. He'd seen the man angry plenty, and he'd seen him go on many a rant, sometimes irrational ones, but never anything like the way he'd just lashed out at Roy.
Hal knew Ollie cared about the kid. He'd listened to the guy unload about his fears and worries for his sidekick (which was part of the reason Hal had felt so guilty when he'd discovered the identity of the prostitute he was so enamored of). He knew Ollie was capable of losing himself in his emotions, and he knew the man had a temper, but...damn. He'd been trying to hurt Roy. There was no way to spin what he'd done as concern. It was just hurtful.
Hal was pulled from his brooding by Roy walking back into the room. His face was dripping with cool water and he looked a bit shaky, but otherwise much more composed. "So...uh...yeah. Sorry about that."
"No, I'm sorry. I thought if he found out he'd go after me. Roy, that was, that was vile. I've never seen him act like that before-"
Roy laughed at that, a sharp, humorless laugh. It took Hal by surprise. "Really? So he doesn't tell you much, huh?"
Hal regarded him in some confusion. "What do you mean?"
Roy sat down on the arm of the couch, a bitter smirk on his face. "He flips out on me like that all the time. I mean, don't get me wrong, I flip out right back and probably deserve half the shit he says, but still. That was pretty typical for us."
"Not really?" Hal couldn't even begin processing that.
Some of the bitter almost-amusement left Roy. "Well yeah. I mean we fight a lot. You heard him, that's why he left."
"But-but I've talked to him about you!" Hal exploded. He couldn't figure it out. "He worries about you like crazy! And what just happened, he was only trying to hurt you! I mean, there was nothing constructive in anything he said."
"I keep forgetting you don't get fear," Roy said, and Hal had an epiphany.
"He's scared?"
Roy nodded. "Yep. And I get it, I've been doing stupid shit that could get me killed. But I do it because he drives me crazy, and then he gets more scared and angry, and I get more depressed and angry at him, and then I do more stupid shit...we've got this cycle going...sorry. You probably don't want to be in the middle of this. I'll, uh, try to get healthy and then get back to you when I'm eighteen."
Hal shook his head. "If you think I'm taking off now and leaving you alone with this after screwing up your fresh start, you're as insane as he is."
Roy turned to face him, and it hurt Hal a little to see him look so guarded. "What are you saying Hal?"
"I'm saying I'm here for you." The rational part of Hal's brain told him to leave it at that, but he never was very good at listening to the rational part of his brain. "Because I care about you."
Roy smiled weakly. "I care about you too. But you know...Ollie can't keep his damn mouth shut. Everyone's going to find out, and the shit they're gonna say about it...I mean, everyone already says stuff about me, but you're the Green fucking Lantern. They respect you. I don't want you to lose that over me."
"Let me worry about that." Hal walked over to the couch and stood next to Roy. He took the boy's hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Roy squeezed back, then lowered his eyes.
"Hal, if you're serious about this...if you want me to trust you...you gotta promise to-to stay. Okay? I mean this is your chance to back out. It's a bad idea. I thought we might be able to get away with sneaking around before, but now that Ollie knows, this is a very, very bad idea and we both know that. So if you leave, I'll get it and I won't be upset...but if you start something with me and then take off I'll never forgive you."
"I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I'll tough it out with you Roy, I promise. You don't think I'm afraid, do you?"
Roy laughed, a genuine one this time, and Hal felt a warmth spread through him that he hadn't felt in some time. Not since Carol.
"No, I suppose not." Roy smiled at him, visibly relieved and breathtaking for his happiness, and Hal's misgivings about the situation parked themselves firmly on the backburner. He sat down next to Roy and kissed him, because he was just too damn irresistable not to, and Roy all but melted into his embrace. He stroked Roy's hair, telling the rational part of his brain to go fuck off, because everything about holding Roy and tasting him and seeing that gorgeous smile when he pulled away was perfect.
Once he really believed Roy felt better Hal decided to get going so he could go have the required fight with Ollie, something he'd rather get over as opposed to laterwith sooner. They made plans to see each other over the weekend and after a long, lingering kiss Hal took his leave.
When he'd decided to go talk to Roy about their tryst, the last thing Hal had expected was to leave the place in a committed relationship...kind of. They hadn't exactly called each other boyfriends or anything. He shook his head, and decided not to overthink it.

Ollie wasn't home when Hal dropped by. He hadn't really expected him to be, since that would just be far too easy for the kind of day Hal was having. He hung around for a little while, but as time passed he figured Green Arrow was probably out adventuring, and likely blowing off steam by turning some unlucky mugger's face into hamburger.
Hal changed into Lantern garb and flew through the city, keeping an eye out for the occasional crime to stop, but mostly looking for his friend. After an hour or so he did manage to find Green Arrow wailing on some minor felon. Hal dropped down in Ollie's line of sight and waited for him to finish up.
Scowling, Ollie hit the guy one last time, dropping him, and then bent over to zip cuff the unconscious thug. "I'm trying to patrol here."
"I think the scum of Star City would appreciate it if you dealt with your issues before taking it out on them."
"I think the scum of Star City deserve what's coming to them, and if the lot of us resolved our issues we probably wouldn't be running across rooftops in spandex looking for crime to fight to begin with," Ollie returned.
Hal shrugged. "Can't argue with that, but if you're this upset then you might make it easier for a group of them to get in a lucky shot. Come on GA, you shouldn't be doing this when you're this level of pissed off. If you want to punch someone it should be me. I deserve it after what I did."
Ollie shook his head. He started walking towards the end of the alley, and Hal silently trudged after him.
After a long moment that stretched uncomfortably between them, Ollie spoke. "I'm not mad at you Hal."
"You really should be. Hell, I'm not exactly thrilled with myself."
"Exactly. You've got a functioning moral compass. But the kid, the kid gets off on pushing at people and screwing up. Believe me, whatever you think's going on with him isn't. This is to get back at me for leaving, I know it."
"Uh Ollie...I don't know how to break this to you...but Roy didn't know who I was when we met. He had no idea I was friends with you."
He could see Ollie's eyes widening in surprise behind his mask. They'd just about made it to the main street, but Ollie ducked down another shadowy nook and Hal followed after him. "Just how long has this been going on then?"
"Not long," Hal assured him. "We've only seen each other twice. I was going over to talk to him about...about the other time and...well, you can probably figure out what happened from there."
Ollie considered that. "So it's not about me?"
"I seriously hope not."
"You're sure he had no idea who you were?" Ollie pressed. Rolling his eyes, Hal nodded.
"There was no way he could have known."
Ollie frowned. "Well how did you two meet anyway?"
Hal closed his eyes in a wince. He should have noticed the conversation was heading there and deflected. "I'd rather not say."
"I take it I'd rather not know then?" Ollie asked, tone taking on a level of cynical amusement. "Sheesh, typical Roy. You know it's interesting timing though. I mean, less than a month ago you were so far in the closet you never would have gone for his advances, and now all of a sudden..." The metaphorical lightbulb went off in Ollie's mind. "You didn't...take my advice, did you Hal?"
'Lie. Lie to him. It's the only way out of this right now-' Except that Hal never was very convincing when he lied to his friends (at least not about anything important).
"No, of course not-"
"Oh fucking hell. Fucking hell! He was selling himself?" Ollie shrieked.
Hal saw a few lights turn on in the windows above them and realized that this was not the place for this conversation. He enveloped them both in a green beam and flew for a private looking rooftop. The rushing air of the flight seemed to do Ollie some good, because he wasn't screaming anymore by the time they touched down. His skin had a worrying sour milk kind of pallor to it though.
"Ollie, I'm so sorry."
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Ollie asked. "We're supposed to be friends. You were really going to sit on that?"
"I...I wasn't sure," Hal said, and it was almost true. He'd thought about telling Ollie and come close a few times. "I wanted to talk to Roy about it before I talked to you, and he didn't want to tell you. It's a sensitive subject."
Ollie nodded, looking numb. "He wouldn't have sunk to that unless he was really desperate. I let him down worse than I thought."
This was the Ollie Hal was used to seeing. The one who seemed to genuinely care about his teenage charge. It was difficult to reconcile with how Ollie had behaved earlier in the day, and Hal only realized how angry he still about that when he heard his own biting comment escape him. "Brings a new light to what you screamed at him today, doesn't it?"
That snapped Ollie out of his brooding thoughts. He turned his head towards Hal, a defensive, angry look on his face. "Oh get off the fucking high horse Lantern. Fucking a messed up teenager isn't the same as trying to parent one."
Hal gritted his teeth and forced himself to take a deep breath before he responded to the barb. "I wasn't taking advantage of him this time."
"He's sixteen years old Hal, and you're what, twenty six?"
"Twenty five," Hal returned. He was two years younger than Ollie, and just about the same age as anyone else in the League with a teenage sidekick. It made him wonder why they all thought it was a good idea to mentor damaged kids when they were still rather young and not exactly stable themselves.
"Twenty five, twenty six. Doesn't really matter. If he's really not manipulating you to get at me, then you're taking advantage of him."
"So those are really the only options you see?" Hal snapped.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you in love with him or something?" Ollie asked in a mocking tone.
"You know what, I'm done with this." Hal took off into the air and left Ollie on the roof. It wasn't until he was halfway back to Coast City that he realized he couldn't answer Ollie's question, even just for himself.
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Collateral Damage