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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 Four

Hal was blatantly going through the motions at work, to the annoyance or amusement of his coworkers, depending on temperament. They all assumed the skirt chaser was hung up on some new girl. Well, they were in the right ballpark.

He couldn't stop thinking about Roy. He hadn't slept much the previous night, and that was a novel (and much loathed) sensation; one of the perks of being all-but-fearless was that you tended to have satisfied, restful sleep. Hal wasn't used to being a walking zombie, and if it wasn't for Tom having the sense to stick a large coffee in his hand and refill it throughout the day, he probably would have crashed something.

First he'd been concerned about the kid, but as dawn inched nearer and nearer his thoughts had turned to himself. Just what in the hell did he think he was doing, getting involved (illegally) with an emotionally damaged teenager coming off a drug addiction? When Hal was actually near his boy, it was hard to remember all those nasty consequences, but when he was alone (trying to sleep, or even at work apparently) his mind fixated on them.

Hal was seriously looking at losing some important friendships over this. Ollie clearly wasn't a fan of the relationship, and if the asshole decided to press charges…even though the man had been negligent, he was still Roy's guardian. He could have Hal arrested. Hell, if he tried then the rest of the League would find out why and Hal figured he'd be lucky if he was only imprisoned. He was sleeping with a sidekick. He couldn't see his friends overlooking that.

He couldn't even process what he'd do if Barry turned on him (Hal really wished he could remember if Roy was older than Barry's soon-to-be-nephew or not).

Hal trudged up the stairs to his place, ready to drop off to sleep before even considering costumed activity for the night. He kicked off his boots, tossed his jacket on an armchair, and flopped onto his couch, not even bothering to drag himself to his bedroom.

He got in a good fifteen minutes before he was jerked awake by a succession of knocks on his door administered at superspeed. "Go 'way!" he yelled.

Silence, blessed silence, reigned for about five minutes. Then his door was flung open and Barry was standing in front of him with a coffee. He was wearing the Flash costume, but he'd taken the cowl down and his spiky blond hair was sticking out at odd angles. There was laughter shining in his clear blue eyes. "Busy day Jordan?"

"Grnn…" Hal grunted. He held out his hand for the coffee, pretty sure he would have materialized a giant hand to fling his friend from the room if he hadn't brought the caffeine with him.

"Sit up first or you'll just spill it everywhere. Geeze, what happened to you? Epic battle with Sinestro or something?"

Hal sat up and was awarded his coffee. "No, just couldn' sleep last night. You're awfully chipper though."

"Important relationship breakthrough with Iris. Is it okay if I babble, or should I save it for when you're…?"

"Conscious? Maybe." Hal took a slow sip of coffee. "Nah, go ahead."

He indulged Barry and half-listened to the guy's story about outing himself as a superhero to his fiancée (who'd figured it out forever ago and was waiting to be told). Hal considered teasing the guy about his original plan to marry Iris without telling her, but he wasn't awake enough to play it off in a way that wouldn't piss Barry off.

He did kind of wonder if Barry had told Iris he'd given her nephew a costume, minimal training, and told him to go off and have adventures though.

"So, uh…heard from Ollie lately?" Hal asked, once Barry finally rambled into silence.

"Not really," Barry answered, looking surprised at the question. Good. Ollie hadn't told him then. "We don't really hang out without you." Oh. So Ollie hadn't told him yet. "Is something up?"

"Kind of."

"Is it about his sidekick? I heard the kid was a junkie. I can't imagine Ollie's dealing with that very well."

Hal couldn't tell if he meant 'Ollie's having a hard time handling it' or 'Ollie's not taking care of it the way he should'. Barry sometimes got a bit high and mighty when the sidekick talk started. Of course, he was also the only hero other than Wonder Woman who wasn't acting as sole guardian of their junior partner, and didn't seem to notice how that changed the relationship dynamic. Hal got the feeling Ollie and Barry would be much closer if they never discussed sidekick mentoring; Barry had a tendency to get judgmental and Ollie was stubbornly defensive.

"Roy's off the drugs," Hal said. "But yeah, Ollie's been in agony over it."

"As well he should be. That's a scary thought. I don't know what I'd do if Wally ever…but he won't. He's not that kind of kid."

Hal snapped his head up and narrowed his eyes. "What kind of kid?"

Barry shrugged. "A trouble maker. Wally's had nothing good to say about Speedy. He's aggressive, he dropped out of school, he's promiscuous, he swears worse than his mentor, and he talks down to the other Titans. And now with this drug business…I don't know. Feels like he belongs on the other side."

"Roy's a good kid," Hal said through gritted teeth.

Barry snorted. "That's not what I've heard. Even Ollie says the kid's a lost cause half the time."

"He's had a hard life Barry. Not everyone comes from the two parent suburban American dream you know."

Barry eyed him in some confusion. "Did I hit some kind of nerve? I'm sorry. You know I'm not trying to offend you, right?"

"I know. I'm just…tired." And for the first time he could remember, he kind of wanted to punch his best friend.

"I noticed. Guess I'd better leave you to the shut eye."

"Thanks."

"See you later Hal."

He was gone before Hal's head dropped back onto the couch cushion.

Roy wearily trudged down the hall to his apartment, greatly looking forward to a shower and bed. He was having a god-awful day, and sleep was the only oblivion he allowed himself anymore.

Jupiter had insisted on a brutal training program, which in a way was good. The Titans weren't as polished as they needed to be, which was why they'd almost broken up. But Roy got the feeling that the reorganization was hitting him harder than any of his super powered peers.

He really missed Dick. Back when Robin had been in charge, everyone remembered that certain members of the team were only human and had limits without said members having to humiliate themselves by announcing their weakness.

The light on the answering machine was blinking. Roy's first instinct was to ignore it in favor of the shower. But it might be Hal…a small smile formed on his lips at the thought of his sort-of boyfriend (and the only good thing in his life at the moment). Roy hit the button.

None of the twelve messages were Hal. Eleven of them were Ollie berating him, growing more and more hysterical the further in they went. Roy started fast forwarding over the tape until he heard Dick's voice. He backtracked and played the full message.

"Hey dude, haven't heard from you in awhile. Just wanted to see how you're doing, y'know, since you were having a tough time. If you need to talk, I'm here. You're perfectly welcome to crash at my place again if you want. I'm busy with finals, but I can always make time. Anyway, call me back. Bye."

That was an idea. Roy had visited Dick a few times since he'd started college, and every visit had been wonderful. He'd have to camp out on Dick's floor, since the apartment was a small one bedroom on the Hudson U campus, but chilling with his friend sounded really good. He'd probably run it by Hal first though, since Dick was his ex.

Roy was still musing over Dick's message when the last one played. It was from Ollie, and since Roy was distracted he didn't reflexively skip it like the others.

"I don't know why you're not answering your phone you little prick. You think it's funny, making me worry like this? I bet you do, you selfish bastard!"

"Yeah, or maybe I was with the Titans," Roy informed his empty apartment.

"Or maybe you're just shooting up again!" the message continued, as though in response. "How you paying for it this time smart ass? Gonna go out and suck some more co-" The tape cut off with a loud beep.

Roy's insides lurched. He froze in shock, but it only lasted a moment, then he dove for the machine and played the last message back.

Ollie knew. How the fuck had he found out? And worse, who else had he told? Within twenty four hours of Ollie and Hal barging in on him shooting up, the entire Justice League and all their sidekicks had known Roy was a junkie. Who was he trashing Roy to this time?

Dick must have known. That was why he had called Roy, to check up on him. He probably thought he needed to talk Roy out of prostitution, as though that hadn't been a choice he'd made for himself as soon as it was viable.

Roy played the message back a third time, then sunk to the floor and hugged his knees. He was starting to lose it, and his breathing was getting faster and faster the more he thought about it.

Because there was only one way Ollie could have found out, really. One of Roy's former customers would have had to tell him. And Ollie only knew one of Roy's former customers.

Roy took a shuddering breath, willing his heart to stop hammering so hard he could feel it in his temple. He picked up the phone and called Hal. He didn't get an answer.

"H-hey Hal, um, it's-it's Roy. Me, uh yeah. I really gotta t-talk to you. Could you, um, call me back? Please? Bye."

His hands were shaking when he hung up. He hadn't felt this bad since those god awful nights at Dinah's. Roy tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn't. His heart was going a mile a minute, and he couldn't take a steady breath, couldn't get air in his lungs.

Everyone knew. They knew he was a junkie, and they knew what he'd done to fuel his habit. He tried to say the hooking was for food and rent, and it had been, but he'd put heroin before food, and he'd put it before utilities too. The morning after his night with Hal, he'd gone to his dealer and then spent the rest of the day in wonderful, blissful oblivion.

What was the point of getting clean? He was never going to live this down. No one would ever let him forget how fucked up he was. They all wanted him to fail so they could be right. He was a lost cause, the bad seed of the Teen Titans that the other mentors all wanted kept the hell away from their own sidekicks. He was the fuck up.

Even Hal must have thought so…

What was the god damn point?

Hal's couch wasn't the most comfortable place he'd ever dropped off for a nap, but for whatever reason it turned out to be the most restful. Maybe he'd just pushed himself to the limits as far as sleep deprivation and worry went, and his body had called shenanigans on him.

At any rate, the much needed nap was fantastic, and he woke up feeling more like his usual confident self.

So maybe the situation wasn't ideal, but really there was a lot of good there too. He had a new lover he was crazy about. And Roy was coming over tomorrow. Hal was determined to do something to make the weekend special. God knows Roy needed a treat, not to mention a chance to relax.

Hal stretched his arms over his head and glanced at his clock. It was already a little past midnight. He debated engaging in superheroics, but ultimately decided to just take the night off in favor of channel surfing and unwinding. It'd be nicer if he had a cute redhead curled up with him, but that would have to wait for the next night.

Then he noticed that the light on his answering machine was blinking.

He knew something was wrong as soon as he heard Roy's voice. It was tight with badly concealed pain (as though Hal wouldn't notice), and at no point in the message did his boy exhibit any of his usual warm playfulness. Despite the request for Hal to call him back, Hal took to the air, figuring Roy would prefer seeing him in person.

Unfortunately, when he got to Roy's apartment it was empty. Hal tore through the boy's meager possessions, looking for anything that would clue him in as to where Roy had gone. But Hal wasn't much of a detective, and he couldn't find anything useful. Then he noticed Roy's answering machine.

It was probably some kind of violation to play that tape. But Roy was out there hurting somewhere, and he was probably alone.

Hal rewound the tape and hit play without any further hesitation.

What he heard made his heart ache. Though now that he knew to listen for it, he could hear the fear behind Ollie's hateful words. He listened to message after message, sure that eventually there would be one from some friend, calling Roy back and inviting him over. Maybe he wasn't popular with Kid Flash, but there were other kids in the Teen Titans. At least one of them had to have Speedy's back.

Better yet, maybe Ollie would come to his senses and invite Roy over for a heart to heart.

He heard the message from Robin, and breathed a sigh of relief. Roy must be on his way to Hudson University then.

And then the last message played. Hal's heart dropped to his knees.

"Fuck."

He tore out of the building and back into the air. Now he needed to find Roy.

As one am drew nearer and nearer Hal found himself in an unfamiliar situation: he was scared. He had no idea where Roy was or what he might be thinking, but all the scenarios playing through his head were horrific. No wonder Ollie had snapped. He couldn't imagine feeling this way long term.

Eventually he went back to Roy's place and found Robin's number. He gave the kid a call (he sounded groggy, and explained that he'd fallen asleep on his Orgo book). Of course he hadn't heard from Roy.

He spent another hour looking blindly, but clearly that wasn't working. Admitting defeat, Hal flew to Ollie's. Maybe Roy had gone in search of a confrontation.

Hal squeezed his eyes shut and prayed to any divinity deigning to listen that Roy was okay.

Ollie was patching up a cut on his arm when Hal walked in. He scoffed, then turned back to his injury. "What brings you by?"

"Has Roy been over tonight?"

"You'd know better than me, what with you being a pedo and all."

"Really Oliver, that wasn't called for. I think Roy's in trouble, now have you seen him?" Hal asked, taking great efforts to keep his voice even.

Ollie finally looked at him, the beginnings of concern on his face. "Trouble? What kind of trouble? What's wrong?"

He really had to ask that after all the verbal abuse he'd left on the answering machine? Resisting the temptation to chew him out, Hal explained about the message Roy had left him, and that he hadn't heard from him since. "And I've been looking for him all night, and I can't find him anywhere!"

"Yeah, welcome to my world. Shit. Shit! The answering machine cut off on my last message. How much did it get anyway?"

"It got you asking if he was sucking cock for heroin. For fuck's sake Ollie, why would you say that?"

"Why do you think? Because I'm scared that it's true!" Ollie roared back.

"Well it's going to be if you keep pushing him like this!"

"Oh go fuck yourself! You don't even know what you're talking about!"

"I don't know why I thought you'd actually get your head out of your ass and be helpful. Maybe if you spent a little less time thinking about how Roy's stressing you out and a little more time thinking about him, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Hal probably deserved the punch to the face. The boot in his gut while he was down as a bit excessive though.

"I am thinking of Roy, and that's the only reason you're not in jail or worse for getting your jollies off with a freaking teenager! Don't you dare judge me Jordan. You have no idea what this kid has put me through."

"I'm starting to get an idea," Hal choked out. "Can we skip beating the piss out of each other and just find him?"

"Yeah, let's go. I've got a few ideas you probably haven't tried yet."

They spent hours searching for Roy, occasionally heading back to his apartment to see if he'd stumbled home, but no luck. Hal was getting more and more frantic the later it got, while Ollie in turn seemed to be shutting down.

"I think we'd better call it quits Lantern. The kid'll be found when he wants to be found."

"How can you say that? What if he starts shooting up again?"

Ollie shrugged. "Nothing we can do about it. And if that's what he wanted to do, he's been alone long enough to do it by now. I'm heading in."

Hal swore, then pounded a nearby garbage can with a giant green fist. Ollie shook his head. "Gonna give me a lift or should I start walking?"

"Start walking. I'm going to find Roy."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

Roy spent awhile wandering the streets. The walk did a lot to cool his head, and he managed to get his emotions under control. The hysterical waves of panic left, replaced by an equally unpleasant numbness.

He really wanted to talk to someone, but he didn't think he had anyone to turn to. Ollie clearly wasn't an option, and probably never would be again. Dinah was pretty much the perfect sympathetic ear, and she'd said Roy could go to her for anything, but he didn't want to pull her into this mess. For whatever reason, she'd fallen in love with Ollie and he didn't want to screw that up for her (besides, Ollie would probably wreck that all on his own sooner or later). He could call Dick, but the kid had plenty of his own problems, and in addition it just wouldn't be sensitive. They still had chemistry (after all, it hadn't been Dick's idea for them to break up either), so it would just be rude to talk to the guy about Hal.

Eventually Roy sat down in a condemned building he used to hang with his old friends at. The non-superhero kids who only knew Roy as a high school drop-out wannabe musician. He hadn't seen any of them in weeks, not since he'd announced he was getting clean. Roy half expected to find one of the guys passed out on the dusty floorboards when he walked in, but he was alone.

He sat down amidst their garbage, leaned back against the wall, and closed his eyes. The place stank from their crushed beer cans and old bags of fast food. Despite the fact that his clique had been drawn together by their shared pain, Roy did have some good memories to go with those guys, and this place.

Sad, really. The only place he'd actually fit in and felt comfortable in his own skin was a crappy building that was going to be torn down, surrounded by druggie failures. They were just like him.

Roy opened his eyes again and took a deep breath, but the numbness wouldn't leave him. There was a syringe by his sneaker. He picked it up and eyed it as though he'd never seen anything like it before, even though he was well practiced with intravenous drugs by this point.

Maybe he'd made a mistake, trying to get clean and start over. Ollie didn't want to give him a fresh start. Anytime they fought about anything, no matter how small it was, the first thing Ollie did was throw the drugs in his face. The Titans all knew, and he heard them talking shit about him (well not Donna, but that was only because she was a saint). It would be easier to just sink back into his habit, to not try anymore and just stay in a state of drug induced euphoria until he finally died from it.

He was still fiddling with the syringe when a boxing glove made of green light crashed through the boarded up front window. Roy snapped his head up and watched as Hal flew into the room. He'd only seen Hal in costume a couple times, which was not nearly often enough to get used to the sight. The costume was so sleek, hugging his body like a second skin. He looked like raw power, yet still somehow commanding and refined. He was sexy as hell, is what he was.

Hal's expression changed from superheroic impassivity to something like fear when his eyes locked on Roy's hand. Quickly, he tossed the syringe across the room. Hal landed in front of him and shook Roy's shoulders violently. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

"Let go of me!" Roy snapped back, trying to shrug out of Hal's grasp. "It's not what it looks like! The needle's old. Look at the place Hal, do you see anything fresh? There isn't anything for me to shoot up even if I wanted to." Forget the part that he did want to.

Hal let out a relieved breath, and the hands on Roy's shoulders unclenched, turning into a gentle touch instead. "Sorry, sorry. I wasn't thinking. I got-"

"Scared?" Roy had been teasing, but he was surprised to see Hal consider his words.

"I guess that's what that was."

"How did you even know to look for me here?" Roy asked.

"It wasn't the first place I checked, but I was getting desperate. And…this is where Ollie and I found you before. I thought it might have some meaning to you, albeit not in a good way. You, er, didn't sound happy when you left me that message."

"No, I was kinda freaking out," Roy admitted. He broke eye contact with Hal (well, if you could call it eye contact considering he was wearing the Lantern Mask and Roy couldn't actually see his eyes), turning his head to the side and worrying his lip with his teeth. Hal pulled him into a protective embrace.

"I could hear it in your voice. I was worried you would do something desperate. Are you okay now?"

"N-not really. Hal…did you tell Ollie about…about what I did when he was gone?" He hated the way his voice sounded. This was not how he wanted Hal to see him. The guy already had enough reasons to think he was weak.

"I'm so sorry Roy. I didn't mean to. He figured it out when he asked how we met and I wouldn't tell him."

Roy looked back at Hal in some surprise. "He guessed prostitute from that?"

"It wasn't quite as direct as that, but I am sorry, and I didn't mean to tell him."

"You do realize that now he has more fuel to hurl at me? And he really didn't need anything else," Roy said, some anger creeping into his tone.

Hal winced. "I know. If it helps, he's mad at me too."

"Why would that help?"

Hal smirked. "Good point. Well anyway, I've been talking to Ollie and he's worried about you too. I know he has a shit way of expressing it, but he does want you to be okay."

Roy nodded. "I know. I've always known that, it's just…Hal, if everyone in tights knows that I sucked cock for heroin, I'm not coming back from that. I can't…" Roy's voice broke off. Hal hugged him closer, and he buried his face in Hal's chest. The material from his costume felt odd, but it was cool and soft against his flushed face and the gloved hand stroking through his hair was soothing. It didn't take long for him to start to calm down.

"I talked to Ollie. I don't think he's going to tell anyone, he's just scared."

"Everyone found out I was a junkie quickly enough."

Hal sighed. "I'll talk to him again. Roy, I'll help you with this. You're not alone, okay?"

Roy leaned back to look at Hal, wearing an incredulous expression. "You still wanna be around?"

Hal brushed his thumb down Roy's cheek. "Yeah. Now can I take you home yet?"

Smirking, Roy allowed himself to be lifted into Hal's arms like some news reporter love interest, and enjoyed the flight to Coast City.
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Collateral Damage