VIOLET EYED.

this particular day is harder to bear than many others, his own reminders and past grievances weighing heavily down on him. in spite of it, garth’s demeanor is nothing less than cordial around his teammates, the day seemingly lurching on without missing a beat. when night came, garth sought the solace of his room, burying himself between the sheets as tears began to burn his eyes, and a stuttered sigh slipped past his lips as he sunk in.

footsteps approaching induced an immediate panic as he rose, his fingers raking away the tears that had streaked along his cheeks. it took him a minute to decipher the figure looming near his doorway, but the empathetic eyes and comforting smile was almost immediate to recognize. “go away roy,” garth said quietly, gaze lowering. to his relief, roy did not heed his words, and as soon as he felt roy’s hands wrapping around shoulder, he leaned against him, eyes falling shut. he didn’t have to speak, didn’t have to ask; roy’s presence in itself eased some of the weight bearing down on him.     /     @ryhrpr

@ryhrpr

“wow roy, you really know how to push a guy’s buttons. don’t know how i’ll forgive you for this one.” 

he’s tempted to ask her why she would do such a cruel thing to him, to ask her how she could be so selfish. but he’s not going to, not while he has his son here in front of him. “like what?” he asked, hostility still ringing in his tone despite his efforts to suppress it. his violet eyes flashed, staring down at her with accusation very pointedly in his expression, but the anger is softened by the small murmers of cerdian who seemed to be trying to gain his attention. garth looked down at cerdian, his smile soft as he ran a finger across cerdian’s cheek. pride and joy swelled as cerdian responded with a laugh, violet eyes twinkling with delight. how he’d kill to be there the day his son had first learned how to laugh. he’s reminded that dolphin is still standing there, waiting for his response, but he’s unsure if he could speak to her without upsetting her. for the sake of cerdian, however, garth made the effort. “you took him away from me. how could you ever think that was okay? i mourned the both of you, dolphin. i thought i had lost my son, do you know how agonizing that is?” he said, his throat bobbing. “i couldn’t live with it, dolphin. i tried to erase you from my memory just so i could function again. i willingly gave up every memory i had of my son so that i wouldn’t have to keep living with this weight over my shoulder, so that i didn’t wake up every morning wishing i was—” he stopped, his breath rising and falling rapidly. his gaze fell to the small patch of white hair on cerdian’s head, his breathing slowing as he focused. “we could have worked through our problems. i would have done anything for you.” 

garth’s eyes widened, head shaking slowly. “i—i could never ask you to do that for me my ki— er arthur,” he said. “atlantis needs you, not me.” it never had wanted him. how could he ever forget the years of startled looks cast his way whenever they saw his violet eyes? for that alone he was considered an outsider, his fate having been determined before he could even utter his first words. things were different now that arthur was king, or rather, was, but even if things were restored, garth wasn’t sure atlantis would ever truly accept him. he loved it and would save it a hundred times over, but he could not exactly forget the hardships he’d been put through by its people. arthur had always been his tie to atlantis, the reason he still chose to return time and time again. “it will never come to that anyways,” garth said with a wary smile. “we’ll always have each others back, right?”    /       @aquaticruler

“i’m not that well acquainted with artemis or rose, so i think maybe i’d hug them both. i’d kiss, cuddle, and hug lilith!” 

garth laughed nervously, the tips of his ears tainted scarlet. “i’m not sure? i think so, right now i’m just trying to figure myself and really just deal with my past. there’s some feelings there that i’ve yet to fully process but it seems that i do.” 

from garth’s response, roy lightly kicked his friend on the edge of the bed, though not enough to cause any sort of harm. of course, he was right and in all honesty, roy deserved that sort of wake up call from him. while with the titans, the archer would often do the same to garth, throw some sort of liquid over his friend to hydrate him. sure, it was all harmless fun — or it was to roy. “you don’t want me to answer that.” he snickered, albeit nervously.

he reached for the flannel shirt beside the bed, slipping it on as he listened to his friend, a smile easing its way onto his lips. “yeah, just like old times.” his eyes flickered around the room, of course, the golden boy would live in such luxury. “sick pad, right?” he glanced back over to garth, sitting up a bit more as he bared a nod in agreement. there was a welcoming nostalgia from being around his old teammates again, although it was never going to be the same between them, he was starting to wish this could be more frequent. “that’s cause it has been — we’ve not spoken since the seventies!” a puckish grin graced his features, but he understood where garth was coming from and heaved a sigh after a pause. roy was more than understanding when it came to needing some time to yourself and in his own experience, away from those you care about. if it weren’t for donna… and dick’s hospitality, he wasn’t sure where he’d currently be. possibly with the outlaws, but it was more likely to be star city with how he felt. somewhere he didn’t particularly want to be. “i missed ya too, if that’s what you’re trying to get at, gillhead.” he sent him a sincere smile, sluggishly pushing himself off of the bed. “troy’s got me feelin’ some things, and maybe we should get the band back together — y'know, to catch up properly.” he mused, focus drifting around dick’s bedroom. “when i’m not just getting outta bed… uh, could you throw me some pants?”

he rolled his eyes, shoving the foot that prodded him with a small smile. “oh, trust me, i do. but i’ll spare you,” he winked, before getting up. his eyes observed a frame that caught his eye, one that encapsulated a fond memory. they were so young then, it brought a smile to garth’s face to see the childlike happiness his expression gleamed, and a little bit daunting to see himself without his scars. garth pivoted, head nodding in response. “i mean, its grayson we’re talking about, of course it’s a nice pad,” he grinned. roy’s next words caused him to once again roll his eyes. “that is definitely not what i was trying to say, but since you said it first, i guess i’m inclined to agree that it is nice to you see,” he returned, knowing full well that it was exactly what he’d been trying to say. in his own diplomatic way, of course. his brows furrowed at roy’s next words, a look of surprise settling across his features. out of all the people to express wanting to reform the titans officially, roy was at the very bottom of that list. though as he said, being around other titans again has a tendency to resurface old memories. just being here now, garth was already feeling nostalgic. 

“no just spooked.” he shook his head and lazily placed an arm around garth’s shoulder. “let’s get out of here before someone actually does snitch on me.” he let go of the younger atlantean, giving him a gentle clap on the back and taking his cell phone out of his pocket. “you know i still can’t believe you convinced me into buying a phone. but it does help in getting up to date with news.” he paused and snorted. “there it is. there’s always that person who tweets everything—a group of people in this case.” he held his phone up for garth to see and chuckled. “you think sentinels check twitter?” he couldn’t help that joke. everything and everyone had been far too serious for the past few weeks, himself included, it wouldn’t hurt to make lighthearted comments here and there. it helped ease some of the tensions after all.

his head lifted where it was nestled on the cushion of the couch. he had to admit that these last couple of days had been rough, but tula’s presence was comforting. now knowing what he did, it was daunting to even imagine being separated, they’d already lost so much time. his eyes were heavy, weighed down by sleep, but he managed to sit up, a lazy smile working its way across his lips. “always,” he affirmed, reaching for her hand and pulling her into his chest. “i’m just sorry that it took so long for me to remember.” // @aquatula

the concrete dug into his skin as they remained flattened against the structure. a blast came from overhead, barely missing where they were hidden. “i’m the dumb one?” he exclaimed, his scars beginning to light up as power surged to his hands. “you’re a class act, arsenal.” garth inched towards the edge of the wall and peeked out, looking for a good moment to start going on the offense. “if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even be in this mess!” he said, turning back to face roy. “if we get out of this alive, i’m going to turn you into a sea slug.” 

“dude, what the fuck?!” garth was lucky he didn’t try to throttle him, instead he let go of his wrist and grabbed the hem of his vest to wipe the water away from his face. “that’s not cool, man. that’s way over the —” he paused as it suddenly dawned on him, how hypocritical he was being over the incident and roy tugged his damp vest back down, leaning against the headboard as he glared at garth. “what the hell are ya doing? why are you here?” he sniffed, though after a moment there was a slight curve to his lips. “what have i ever done to you, fishbrains?”

his eyes had widened as roy’s hand lurched out to stop him, and as he’s reprimanding him, he wonders if maybe he had gone to far. even then, he’s still unable to wipe away the smirk from his expression as he set the now mostly emptied glass back down onto the nightstand. he perched himself on the edge of the bed, hand running across the soft sheet. “i can’t come and visit my friends now?” he asked, feigning hurt before emitting a chuckle. “what haven’t you done to me,” he deadpanned, a brow rising quizzically. it seemed like most times, garth was the butt of the joke when it came to roy’s pranks and teasing, but he never took it to heart. not always, anyways.

garth raked a hand through his hair as he looked around dick’s room, not at all surprised that it was better than most rooms. he was even a little jealous that this was where his friends were staying, he imagined it must be nice. “dick told me that you and donna were staying here, so i thought i’d pay you guys visit,” he explained, legs kicking up slightly in the air as he peered down. “i uh, just really needed to see you guys. it feels like forever since we last spoke.” 

“ if you agree to be ariel, then all four asshole. actually, now that i think about it, i think you’d look good with a mermaid tail, i’m onto something here roy.”