To say Conner was nervous was something of an understatement. It had only been a few days since Superman - Clark - had finally come to accept his existence, and he was already on his way to meet the people who raised Clark. To top it all off, he now had to spend ten hours with the man, confined to the small space of a pick-up truck. And it was off to an awkward, boring start.
"So, Conner, how have the past few days been?" Super - Clark asked.
Conner shrugged, "Fine I guess."
"That's, ah, good." Clark said, nodding his head but keeping his eyes on the road, "Did anything… interesting happen?"
Conner wondered what counted as interesting to a man who came from a different planet and had a Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica. Conner doubted kissing M'gann really counted as 'interesting' to the Man of Steel.
"No." he answered finally. He'd never exactly been good at small talk.
"Oh." Clark said.
And so they lapsed into an awkward silence. Again.
Conner sighed and glared out the window. He didn't understand why they had to drive when Superm - Clark - could easily fly them there.
"Conner, listen," Clark said after a while, "I know we didn't get off to a good start, and I am well aware of the fact that I'm largely to blame for that. But that's what this drive is about. I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other, and to get comfortable with each other."
Conner looked at Clark skeptically, a frown on his lips, "You really want that?"
Clark's face showed both sadness and guilt, it was amazing to Conner how easy he was to read when he wasn't busy being Superman.
Clark sighed, "I really do, Conner. I know I completely deserve distrust from you, but I want that to change. So I'm asking you: will you give me a second chance? Please?"
Conner looked away, he wished M'gann were there, she was better at this emotional stuff.
Finally he looked back at Clark and said: "I guess I wouldn't be here with you if I wasn't willing to give you a second chance."
Clark smiled in response, "That's true. I guess I just needed to hear the words."
Conner's lips twitched up into a small smile in response and he nodded in understanding.
This time when they fell back into silence it was much more comfortable than before, although the awkwardness wasn't quite gone completely yet. But it was an improvement. And as long as things kept improving everything would turn out okay in the end.