My mom never much cared about me. That sounds bad, she was a great mom, really. But she was an archeologist. She was always telling me about history and facts and great things about the new Ming dynasty urns she found. Great Mom. She never really cared about what I did or how I behaved. She was a lot like Sean Connery in The Last Crusade. She came in contact with Wonder Woman when I was young and still small. She wanted help with my powers and how to deal with them. She never took the time to think of the consequences of what would happen of sleeping with Zeus though.
Wonder Woman agreed to train me and help me control myself, for exchange that I would help her. I trained with her and saved people until I was around fifteen. She sent me back home for a few weeks saying that she "had something big planned for me".
I didn't know about the team then. Scratch that, I knew about them, I just didn't ever think I would fight with them. They seemed so elite, so famous. I was just a hick from Idaho. So when I was woken up at the crack of dawn by a knock at the door, I was not expecting Superboy.
He was a hunk, like really smoking. I stood there, in my pajamas and thought I was hallucinating when we asked if he could come in.
"Uh sure." I mumbled, tugging my t-shirt farther down over my shorts. "Can you just give me like one sec?"
He nodded awkwardly and I practically flew upstairs. I ran a brush through my hair and threw on my costume in the biggest rush ever. Superboy was in my house. Superboy was in my house. Why was Superboy in my house?
I came back down and saw him looking curiously at an old Aztec tablet my mom had unearthed in central Mexico last winter. He squinted at it, regarding it carefully.
"It's Aztec, my mom is an archeologist." I said, hoping to explain why there was a strange tablet on the mantle. Not that it took away anything from the other ancient eyesores that littered the walls.
"I gathered." He said, standing up and looking back to me. I shrunk under his gaze.
"So uhm," I cleared my throat. "Why are you here?"
"Nightwing has been cooperating with the Watchtower. Wonder Woman said that she thought it was time for you to work with the team. She said it would help you build relationships with people your own age." He said not batting an eye.
So many emotions ran through me, mostly anger for thinking that Wonder Woman assumed I needed a babysitting club. But what came out was, "What does that mean, people my own age? I have plenty of friends."
"I don't think that is what she meant." He said before walking into the kitchen and promptly sitting down in one of our old wooden chairs.
"Oh, so I should feel honored to be invited into your sidekicks club?" That probably wasn't the right thing to say, but I was in the mood for snark. His eyebrows raised, I got the feeling that he didn't like dealing with people, which raised a good question as to why they sent him as opposed to Nightwing in the first place.
"Not sidekicks, and yes." He glared back to me, I folded my arms and leaned on the doorframe, not backing down. "She said that she wanted you to work with us, it would help."
"Uh huh." I said, dripping with sarcasm, "So why did they send you here? I can see your exemplar people skills."
"We have similar abilities." He smiled, folding his arms across his chest like me. "They thought I could get you to listen. They didn't assume you'd be so hardheaded."
"Har har." I smiled sitting down across form him and putting my arm on the table. "Prove it."
I raised my forearm up with my palm to him. He looked confused before registering the movement as a challenge.
"Are you sure?" He asked voice thick with trepidation.
"Come on Super-chum. Afraid you'll get your butt beaten by a girl?" I smiled at it, egging him on. If the whole team was as easy as him, I might have some fun with them.
"I might break the table." He said, eyeing the thick oak. For some reason, not completely appropriate, my heart beat faster at that statement.
"Just once, I win then I don't have to join the team, you win and I do. Simple as that." He grinned.
"But I don't even know you, why would I risk a perfectly good table convincing you to join the team?" He asked, blowing holes in my plan and flirting heavily I might add.
"Because if I win then you might never see me again and I will forever be known as the one who beat you and got away." I smiled until he put his elbow on the table and I looked at his bicep. I tried not to look psyched out but Jesus, it was huge.
"Fine." He put his hand in mine and it was surprisingly soft.
"One…two…three…go." We looked each other in the eyes under our eyebrows as we pushed. I heard a crack immediately and hoped to God it wasn't my arm.
It was it that hard to hold him back until my arm started to give way. I forced myself to put up a fight, hell if I was going down early to this guy. I steadied myself and then looked back at him. He was focusing hard on our hands before flicking his gaze back to me. I winked at him. That instant gave me enough leverage to gain a few inches on him while he was surprised.
"Oh come on Superboy." I smiled through gritted teeth. "How bad do you want me on the team?"
Egging him on was a bad idea in hindsight. He forced my hand back and closer to the table, which was chipping under the combined force of our elbows. My hand hit the table with a sickening crunch and he quickly pulled up with a scared face.
"We broke the table!" I pulled my hand up, where there was a sizeable dent and several huge fissures and cracks spreading over the surface.
"Good thing that wasn't glass." He muttered, standing up. We looked at it for a few seconds before I put a finger on one side of the big fissure and pressed slightly.
The table fell in two equal halves at both our feet with a crunch and a moan.
"That was smart." He muttered again, smiling back at me.
I started laughing for some reason. The fact that I just arm wrestled the Superboy and we broke my mother's table seemed like the most hilarious thing in the world. I bent to my knees laughing before saying, "Jesus that was fun."
"I win." He smiled as I straightened up and wiped a tear from my eye.
"I let you." I recovered, leading him to the door.
He hung on the doorframe, like a freaking Abercrombie model. "Uh huh sure. I'll see you tomorrow at six AM right here."
My brain fluttered that he was picking me up. He could have told me where to go, but no, he was picking me up and taking me to the team himself. It was almost a date. Almost.
"Six AM? Are you insane? I have to sleep!" I called as he walked off the porch and on the drive. He threw a smile over his shoulder. "How many of my mornings are you going to take away from me?"
"All of them!" He yelled back before laughing and leaving me in the dust as he ran off.
"I'll hold you that." I said softly to no one before shutting the door.