“Hey, hey. Stay with me, Hal.” Green Arrow steadied his partner against the wall, one hand at his hip. The other found it’s way from the man’s shoulder to the side of his face, cradling it in his palm.

“C’mon, baby.”

He had the staring eyes of someone who’d been knocked for a loop. There were stars before his eyes and all sounds were a violent, cacophonous jumble of nonsense.

Except Ollie’s voice.

This pulled him back and, nauseated as he was, Hal managed to shake his head, groan, and lean into the hand on the side of his face. “...love it when… you call me that.”

Can you?

Parallax.

Of course.

What else could it be?

Hal shakes his head, pursing his lips as he considers how best to respond. “People always say we’ve gotta forgive ourselves first…. But what happens when what you did is unforgivable?” He sighs, shoulders sagging. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of a clean-cut bomber jacket, Hal Jordan shifts his stance a little, not seeming uncomfortable, so much as restless—not that he is trying to get away, but that he wants to go for the simple desire of it. Such is the way of pilots.

“I can’t make amends, not fully, and I can’t reconcile myself to it… All I’ve got is doing my damnedest to make sure it never happens again and to heal what I can… fix what I can. What I can’t… well I guess I’ll worry about that when I hit the Pearly Gates at Mach what-have-you in some new prototype.”

"Never once have I quoted Top Gun, ever." This is a lie. It is a lie and he knows it. Just earlier this very day, he recalls having said "I crack myself up" to Ollie, completely unironically. If Barry says "I feel the need", Hal Jordan is compelled to respond "the need for speed". The list goes on.

"Drop an anvil on it." He holds a very serious expression for a grand total of five seconds before bursting into peals of laughter, grabbing his left pectoral and slapping the ever-loving SHIT out of his knee.

Once he is under control, the Green Lantern considers the question. "Ineffable, huh? I dunno about that. Everyone's got self-doubt. For me, I guess it's a little more tangible. It's kinda the antithesis of my whole... deal," he explains, waving his beringed hand about to indicate this, "so I've gotta keep a tight leash on that. Ollie says I haven't got enough imagination to doubt myself... I think I lack in the brains department, personally, but..." He shrugs, as if it doesn't matter. "I think it's just that my friends are the kind I can rely on, anytime, anywhere."