Grew up with Green. To love Aqua. (A YJ fanfic/ Kaldur: Aqualad Love story.)

Him and I

~08:32, The Cave • August 13th, 2010. Medical Bay~

Four days Kaldur'ahm kept his promise strictly. No once daring to move from the chair he had positioned next to Astral's bed side the first day. (Aside from the occasional bathroom break) The rest of the team and Hal would often offer Kaldur a relief away from his watch. He always, as politely as possible, refused.

Of course, this made a lot of the members curious about Kaldur's reason. However, the final outcome of ideas was that he was weighing guilt too hard on himself and took this as recompense in watching her get better. So Megan did what she did best and made Kaldur food from Astral's teachings. Even some goods she had been experimenting on in her baking. He humbly accepted, thanking her kindness.

The 96 hours effected Kaldur in many ways, but none more so than his change of heart. For years, all he once thought about was who he had left behind in Atlantis. But now, all his mind focused on was the colors of Astral's hair, her eyes; which he hadn't seen in what felt like forever. He thought about her personality and how it changed based off not of her own self, but of those around her. And then he thought about her secrets; the ones she feared of her forgotten past and those she kept in her own darkness.

He talked to her a lot as well. Everything from the well being of the team or asking what it was like to be so close to the JL in a way the rest of the team could only hope to achieve. But with her in a non-responsive state, it was mostly rhetorical questions and un-replied statements. Hours passed this way. Kaldur holding onto the girl he had feelings for, either listening to the beat of her heart on the monitor, talking to her absentmindedly, or sleeping next to her side.

Kaldur would admit, he was disappointed his consciousness had not been called upon since the night of the incident. But even so, his mind still boggled at the proof of what had transpired within. With his hands encasing one of hers, Astral's condition increased ten-fold. The pealing rash was healing at an exponential rate and all signs of abnormality in her breathing and heartbeat had disappeared. At that point, it was only like she was sleeping.

Batman confessed, it baffled him and Canary at the sight. Both fully aware of Astral's lack of healing contributed powers. Kaldur had no conscious to tell them what he knew. The knowledge being something more of a personal thing. He only kept by her side hoping, waiting for when she would open her eyes once again.

~Astral's POV~

I've been asleep for so long now. If it wasn't for Kaldur, I wouldn't know what day it was.

I can only guess when, but it was probably sometime after I was stabilized from the poison did I start to hear voices. At first I thought it was my mind taking me into some sort of dream but after a while of just his deep voice and no image, I knew it was from the outside filtering in. Plus the fact that I could hear the others on occasion too.

Against the awesome feeling I've been having for a while which I couldn't really explain at first, my heart broke every time I heard Kaldur continue to reject going out with the team for a game or at least get up to stretch out his legs for the hell of it. But unasked by the Atlantean, blessed Megan always came to take care of his sustenance needs.

Nevertheless, I should get to the main idea on my mind since my slight coma. What I had critically deduced over my time here was that I had a lot of a closer connection with Kaldur than what my feelings were taking me for. With him, this warmth I mentioned before consumed me like wildfire and calmed me like the greatest spa a girl could ask for. And it wasn't just after we got back to the cave. Even the simplest of touches back from the cafe we were attacked in made me feel so much better while the poison was still taking its effect. My powers were giving me one hell of a loop here. I never would have asked for something like this... I wonder if over time I can try to remove it. But I also wonder by that time, would I want to remove it?