Spoilers for the third episode of the Young Justice cartoon!
Written for the lj_anon_meme prompt:
You know, it struck me that Miss M and Superboy are kind of the outsiders in the group. I mean, she's an alien new to Earth who doesn't know any of them, and he's, uh, him, and new to the group as well. TOGETHER, THEY FIGHT CRIME!
So can I have some bonding over this? Not shippy, just BFF-ness like, IDK, Robin and KF have? they can be ~bros! lmao
Afterwards, M'gann searches for Superboy to make her own apology. An error made out of ignorance can still wound, after all; she must do what she can to make amends.
She finds Superboy outside. He's staring upwards, his aura a dizzying mixture of dark gray and yellow, joy and fear helplessly entwined.
She follows his gaze, and finds herself staring up at the stars. As a child, she remembers, she loved to stargaze, enduring sleepless night after sleepless night in order to track the stars' movements across the sky.
M'gann is reminded again that this is not her world- these stars are unfamiliar ones, though no less beautiful. Homesickness tastes sharp and bitter on her tongue as she swallows back momentary grief.
"Studying the stars?" she asks quietly.
His shoulders tighten, and then relax. "Yes," he says, and raises a hand, points. "That's the North Star." An unreadable expression flickers across his face, the gray in his aura overtaking the yellow. She wonders what he is thinking, if he is wondering about Krypton and the world and people he will never know, all lost years before his creation.
She comes to stand next to him, careful to give him room. These humans cherish their space, she has noticed. Perhaps that should have been a hint that they valued the privacy of their own minds, but she is still learning the sometimes contradictory rules of this strange world.
"I am sorry," M'gann says after a moment. He opens his mouth to speak, and she continues before he can interrupt. "I accept your apology, but I owe you one as well. I did not realize telepathy was considered invasive here or that...that it would hurt you. I am very sorry."
She pauses, and watches him grimace a little, as though even the memory is painful to recall. "It's okay," he mutters at last. "You didn't know. And you won't do it again."
M'gann sighs, clasps her hands tightly in front of her. "I can't make that promise." His eyes widen at that, and she hastily explains, "If we are fighting a battle, and it is necessary for me to use my telepathy to warn you of something, I will use it. However, I swear to refrain from using it in any other situation."
He frowns, but it's a thoughtful look this time. "Okay," he says at last. "I still won't like it, but- okay."
She smiles tentatively at him. He doesn't smile back, but he's not glaring either, which M'gann counts as a good sign. She looks up at the unfamiliar sky. "On my homeworld, we had constellations with such stories behind them," she says. "My favorite was Queen M'lass. If you traced the stars with your finger, you could see the outline of her crown and sword. It was that same sword which she used to strike down the evil usurper L'tabb."
"Strike down a usurper? Sounds interesting."
When M'gann looks at Superboy again, there's a glint in his eyes that she thinks means he's amused. His tone hadn't been teasing, not like Kid Flash when he's trying to rile Robin. Maybe he's actually interested.
"Oh, it is," she says earnestly. "During her defeat of L'tabb, who had stolen her throne when she was very young, Queen M'lass created an entire style of defensive fighting that is used even today."
Superboy's quiet for a moment, and then he clears his throat. "Start from the beginning?" he asks. "I want to hear how L'tabb stole her throne. And it'd..." He pauses, and finally shrugs. "It's be nice to know something the others don't," he says.
M'gann smiles at that, and nods. "You can impress them all with your knowledge of Martian lore," she assures him cheerfully, and then proceeds to tell him of the battle of Lgrash, in which L'tabb betrayed the then-Princess M'lass's mother and seized the throne.
As she speaks, the gray leeches from his aura. By the time she has finished that story and gone on to the next, this time the one of King G'nall and his battle with the monster of Ranvash, Superboy's aura is calm.
Above them, as M'gann gestures and Superboy ducks his head in order to hide what M'gann is certain is a smile, the stars seem a little brighter and much less distant.