Kon spent the first week of his punishment in a daze that seemed to keep his usually sullen disposition far more silent and a small smile curling his lips sporadically only to the utter shock of Ma' and Pa'.

Clark had grumbled a little as he left him there, explaining the situation quickly and promising to return as soon as he managed to come up with an explanation and a few days of vacation back in Metropolis.

Kon had barely noticed.

"Are you alright, Kon dear?" Ma' asked whenever she caught him over-feeding the chicken or simply plowing the fields with his bare hands in zigzagging, irregular patterns that he would need to redo if the Kent's ever planned on harvesting that season.

Kon had only nodded at her, unable to form a coherent response when there was only one word echoing in his head.

Tim, Tim, Tim, Timtimtimtimtimtim…

And the clone wasn't as stupid as his team-mates were to believe, he could tell something was definitely different with the way Tim seemed to consume his every thought, the way he felt he could burst from the inside out whenever the other teen smiled at him.

It was, in a way, how he had once felt for M'gann, but also only comparable the way a broken piece of colored glass could resemble a carefully cut jewel. He could understand the similarities in the most basic, shallow way, but all comparisons died inside of him with a single utterance of Robin's name.

Tim…

He smiled foolishly to himself as he allowed his body to land on the grass, his eyes set on the quickly darkening sky.

Tim's eyes were that color.

Yet, somehow, the sky itself palled in comparison.

He felt his skin warm up, especially as the scent of burning tobacco reached his nose and the sound of heavy footsteps on gravel finally became clear to his ears.

He sat up just as Pa' let himself fall onto the grass by his side, his pipe in his hand and a fond smile on his aging face.

"You know," he said as he took a drag. "Clark used to have that same dopey smile when he was around your age. Drove Martha up the walls he did."

Kon blinked, trying to imagine Clark's dopey smile reflected on his own face.

"Why was he… smiling?" he asked, feeling dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

Was there something wrong with him?

Was he sick?

Pa' chuckled.

"Her name was Lana," he said with a shrug. "They were the best of friends when they were kids, Clark and her."

Kon instantly perked up.

"Tim is my friend," he said, leaning forwards. "He is my best friend."

Pa' laughed out loud this time, his eyes wrinkling with mirth.

"That Tim of yours is the boy you got in trouble for in Gotham?" he asked, one of his rough hands coming to rest on Kon's shoulder gently. "He must be something else."

Kon felt his skin burning.

"He is," he said, resolute. "I like it when he smiles."

"I bet you do, son," the old man said, his voice wistful. "And I'm sure he smiles a lot when you are around?"

Kon nodded eagerly, his lips twitching upwards.

"He does and it makes me feel like I can fly just like Clark," he paused. "But then Arsenal will show up and he will say something dirty and Tim will stop smiling and go fight with him. I hate him."

Pa' raised an eyebrow.

"Is Arsenal another one of your friends?" he asked.

Kon shook his head, his mood souring.

"No, not mine," he replied, feeling how his shoulders slumped. "But he is Tim's friend."

"Ah," Pa' said, nodding. "Tim has more friends, then…"

"He does," Kon assured. "I can't blame them, he is the best friend ever, so it's natural he is other people's best friend too."

"And you want to be Tim's best friend then, just like he is yours."

The teen nodded, his eyes wide. No wonder Clark decided this was a good place for him. Pa' must have some mental powers of his own, if he could be so accurate.

He knew exactly how to put into words the main core of Kon's conflicts.

"How… How do I become Tim's best friend?" he asked, feeling his throat clench around the words. "He is… nice. And sweet. He strokes Bart's hair whenever he wants to cuddle and he speaks in other languages with Jaime when he is stressed. He even helped Wonder Girl with her homework once."

Pa' took another drag from his pipe, silent.

"It sounds like your friend has a lot of love to give," he surmised with a smile. "And you want to monopolize his attention."

Kon's eyes widened.

"I don't mean to…"

"Son," Pa' interrupted with a soft pat on his shoulder. "It's not a bad thing to want to be special in someone's eyes. It's part of being human."

The clone pouted.

Pa's smile widened.

"I remember I was like that when I was young, myself," he said. "I wanted to be Martha's one and only."

Kon swallowed loudly.

"How did you do it?" he asked, his hands clenching and unclenching in the grass so hard he thought he was about to part the earth beneath him in two. "How did you become Ma's one and only?"

Pa' laughed, shaking his head as if the memory itself was embarrassing and yet precious.

"I did many things, really, embarrassing things, stupid things, crazy things," he began. "I made a fool of myself and then some, if only to probe to her I was serious about her."

Kon closed his eyes then, allowing Pa's comforting words to surround him, to drown him, to penetrate every single pore of his conscience as he absorbed the stories and learned from Pa's advice.

Pa' and Ma' had sworn to be together until death did them apart and then maybe beyond that.

And that was exactly what he wanted for Tim and himself.