Aqualad One-Shots

Art

New Cover Yay!!!!

"Oh my gosh, Kaldur, did you paint this?" They were in the middle of cleaning up after a team dinner, and it was Raquel's turn to take out the trash. No one, least of all Kaldur, the recipient of her question, had expected her to return with a banner-sized length of canvas which she unfurled over the couch so that everyone could see.

Most of it was still the plain, yellow-white color of the canvas itself, except for about a fourth of it. This fourth was a purple-blue color, with black trees and tiny pinprick white stars painted on top of it.

Kaldur bent over the canvas in question with his face struggling to remain blank.

"What makes you think that it was made by me?" He asked.

"Duh!" She grinned. "It was rolled up too nicely to be folded by any of us," she pointed out the rest of the team. Kaldur even made sure to flatten and fold even the boxes that their butter came in. Everything with him was always neat and orderly, even his trash, and that was what outed him.

He sighed. "Yes, I painted that." He nodded.

"Well why'd you throw it away?" Artemis asked, tracing a dried lump of paint on the canvas. "The blending and the detail is amazing!"

Kaldur shrugged and folded his arms, stepping back while his friends studied his handiwork.

"It is not adequate enough." He said at last, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Uh, no, that's a lie. This thing is awesome!" Wally agreed with his girlfriend, holding the picture up to Kaldur's face as if that would help him see what he'd been missing.

Kaldur shook his head and carefully took the canvas from Wally's hands, setting it to the side. "Nevertheless, I am not happy with it no matter what I do with it."

"What's it about?" Robin asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. Everyone leaned forward, anxious to hear Kaldur's answer.

Sighing, Kaldur pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against the kitchen island, dishtowel draped over his shoulder and the rest of chores forgotten. His younger teammates would give him nothing but grief until they had their answer.

"I was inspired by the scenery outside the other night, when we went out on the beach and watched the stars. Raquel's glow and M'gann's cape seemed to blend very well with the half-sunset sky as they flew about." He explained.

"Oh I see it!" M'gann tapped the corner of the canvas. "It's supposed to be like you're looking up at the sky through the tree canopy!"

"That's really cool, Kal. Is that supposed to be Mount Justice?" Zatanna pointed to a smoother, less jagged area of black.

"Yes, yes it is." Kaldur nodded approvingly at Zatanna, who beamed.

"Still, seems to be a waste to just throw it all away," Raquel lamented. "You could keep it and come back later when you aren't so worried about it. That's what I do with my books. Sometimes it takes a break to make a breakthrough," she grinned at her own pun.

Kaldur picked up the canvas again, and began to roll it up again.

"Thank you for your encouragement," he nodded to each of his friends. "For now, I will hold on to it, and, perhaps, someday come back to it.

Raquel smiled proudly at him, mirroring the others.

That was the first time Kaldur attempted to pursue a surface-world art form. It was also the last time for the next several years. The team grew in numbers with each passing year, and as the leader, Kaldur made certain that they were always safe, at home and in the field, He made certain they were trained well, and disciplined the team members when Batman was otherwise occupied.

He rarely had a moment to himself.

The six-foot roll of canvas sheet was left, alone and forgotten, in Kaldur's room at Mount Justice.

At least, until the day he blew it up.

-------

Kaldur stared at the accomodations set up for him in the Watchtower. Back when he first lead the team, he mostly stayed at the Cave with Miss Martian, Superboy, and the others, but now the Mount Justice was gone, the League members returned, and the Reach Invasion thwarted, and Kaldur once more lead the team, now working out of the Watchtower, side-by-side with the Justice League.

Black Canary told him not to dwell on the invasion, to try and focus on other things. So he sat in his bedroom and tried to think about "other things". But all he could think of was the team. The Reach, the undercover work, his father, Wally...

He looked over at his belongings, stacked neatly at the end of his bed. One stood out to him, a singed roll of paper held together by a thick rubber band, poking out of a box of things salvaged from the explosion of the Cave.

Kaldur examined the blackened edges as he carefully removed the rubber band, not wanting to tear the paper or for it to fall to ashes in his hands.

Most of the five-foot roll was black, except for one end, which showed a night sky pricked with white stars and bordered by black, spindly tree branches. 

Something was still missing, but now he knew what it was. It was incomplete, but now he could finally finish it. 

He spread the canvas across the floor of his room, deciding against trimming off the burnt edges, and grabbed one of the few cans of paint that still actually had paint in them. He didn't have any more brushes, but his fingers worked just as well for that. 

For a moment, his finger hesitated above the textured paper. Could he really make it tell the story he had in his head?

Yes, yes he could.

He took a deep breath in, and let it all out. 

IF YOU GUYS HAVE REQUESTS I'M OPEN FOR PROMPTS JUST PLEASE LET ME KNOW