Conner's Longing (Initial Version)

Fuck. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have possibly slept with some random chick on some random bed. How could it be that one. Ugh....

“Screw it, Conner. You've already done it with her. The least you could do is get out of bed and see if she's doing anything right now. It'd certainly do you well given what you've done.”

“Alright, alright. I'll get up” blared Superboy angrily at his mind, though no one would hear the words he would say.

Slowly, deliberately, yet with a rebellious smirk, Superboy got out of the bed. Once he did, he went to the bathroom and glanced at himself in the mirror. Admittedly, he didn't look half bad. (Not that he'd dwell on that too long, of course.)

However, there was something else that he'd noticed. He had nothing on, and he wasn't about to go barging out wearing nothing.

This posed a problem, though. He only had the clothing he wore yesterday, and he wasn't about to use his dirty underwear again.

There were a couple of options. He could look in the room drawers and see if by any chance he could find a pair of underwear, but no such luck. He did manage to find a night robe though, so he put that on.

In the meantime, it wasn't as though the team had much on their plate. At least for then, they were enjoying a rather lazy day. However, they did notice that Conner wasn't there, and M'gann was concerned, as was Nightwing to a lesser extent.

Ultimately, Nightwing decided that he'd need to find the hero himself. He didn't want M'gann to see him then since he felt that she was too tied to him, and Nightwing deduced that Superboy was probably not in the most presentable of conditions then.

“Conner, why, oh why. You were so good but then you hooked up with some random girl. I would have expected better of you. I thought you were better than this” Nightwing said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Ugh. Let me get some clothing for Conner since he's probably stuck in there, but I'll be damned if Conner doesn't get something out this.

(Nightwing grabs a pair of jeans, underwear, a t-shirt, and some socks and shoes and puts them in a small bag of sorts.)

In the meantime, Conner finds a phone in the room and calls M'gann.

“I'm stuck in Tracy Ullman's house here and this frankly is starting to grate on me. Is anyone gonna come here?”

“Conner, Nightwing is on his way. He said he needed to find you for something personal. I don't know what it is he wants you for, but he's going to take you.”

Conner gave a reluctant sigh and said “Fine.”

As Nightwing boarded on his motorcycle (dressed in his civilian clothes) he got a call from M'gann telling him where Conner was at.

“Thanks for the intel, M'gann. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

As Nightwing rushed through the streets, he frowned slightly. He could understand adolescent rebellion; after all, he had to deal with that before, but what he couldn't get was why Superboy was just so determined to break free even though it could hurt him.

“There has to be a reason” Nightwing said internally.

Finally, after some time, he entered into the neighborhood where Tracy lived. Rows and rows of large, well-manicured houses dotted the area, and almost idyllic sentiment pervaded the area. He kept on riding, finally coming to a stop in front of her house.

He dismounted from his motorcycle, and upon doing so, knocked on the door.

After a bit of time, a young lady stepped out. She was seemingly aware of who Nightwing was, and asked him. “What are you doing here, Dick?”

“Umm. I'm here to pick up a friend of mine. Conner, if you know him.”

“I do. He's in the bedroom. You can go and see him if you want.”

Nightwing stepped into the house and though the house wasn't as nice as where he lived, he did note that it was rather pretty.

Mentally, he said “Ordinarily I'd be whelmed, but not really. In any case, I'm here for a purpose.”

He walked the halls for some time and heard a low voice, seemingly an upset one, inside a room.

Nightwing felt that he'd found the room, but decided to knock on the door.

After two taps, he heard Superboy's voice. He invited Nightwing to enter, and Nightwing reciprocated. He entered the room, closed the door, and sat next to Conner on the bed.

“I brought you some clothes” Nightwing said.

“Thanks, man.”

Superboy put his clothes on, and shortly after, looked at Nightwing. It was clear that Conner wanted to leave the place, and so did Nightwing too, if we were to be honest.

Before long, Superboy and Nightwing left the house. Superboy boarded in the back of Nightwing's motorcycle as both men drove off, heading into the cliffs on the beach as the sun began its descent.

On arriving, Nightwing found a secluded place near the cliffs. Though others were walking, both felt alone in that space.

At that moment, Nightwing turned to Superboy.

“Dude, what's up with you? You were doing so well and now you're seemingly backsliding. I get wanting to have friendships with others and doing things normal people would do. That's all fine, but you have powers, and with those powers, you have a responsibility.”

“WHAT'S UP WITH ME, YOU ASK? WELL, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN BEING A CHILD OF RAPE? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN HAVING TO SOCIETY WHEN I WAS REARED AS LITTLE MORE THAN A WEAPON. LEAVE ME ALONE! I NEED TO COOL DOWN AND AT THIS MOMENT YOU'RE REALLY NOT HELPING. ”

“STOP. YELLING. AT. ME.” Nightwing said.

Now, look, Conner. I need your attention. I get what you feel, I really do, but you need to calm down.

“I guess. How do you deal with the curveballs life has dealt you?”

“It's hard to deal with, but you learn. We care for you, Conner, and we want what's best for you. I want what's best for you. So does M'gann and everyone else. However, at this moment, I think you want some space here. I'll be at the beach swimming and leave you here to think.”

Connor placed himself in thought for a while and after some time, realized hat though he did need to adapt himself to the world, that he couldn't completely dispense with his powers. Life wouldn't be easy, and he knew that being a child or rape sucked, but at least he was in the end accepted as more than a weapon.

He then, for the first time in a long time, smiled as the waves lapped and the moon shined in the dark night sky.