"With the new information that has come to light…" Superman formally addressed the League, "I believe that it would be wise for Superboy to take some time away from Young Justice to address his more… personal matters."

"Is this for Superboy's sake, or your own?" Manhunter sighed, sensing the growing tensions between Superman and Batman.

"Well, Batman. We discussed it and we believe that it is in his best interest—"

"-to get the hell away from you." Black Canary watched the fight from a distance as the Flash tried to intervene.

"C'mon Bats…"

"No, Flash. Sooner or later we are going to need to address the elephant in the room. Putting this off won't make it any easier for the team and adds unnecessary distractions. Superboy is cloned from Lex Luthor's genetic coding. If Superboy wants to take time off, I would encourage him to do so, but sending him away doesn't change what he is."

"I'm not trying to change what he is. I'm trying to give him a chance to adjust."

"Sooner or later, Superman, you're going to need to take some kind of responsibility for him."

"Batman, I know you're upset with me—" Batman silenced the larger Kryptonian with the wave of his hand.

"Not everything has to be about emotions." The League members did what they could to avoid the growing tension in the room. This was an argument they had heard before, and it never ended very well.

"Damnit, maybe it wouldn't hurt if you had some." Batman only paused a second before standing and turning to leave.

"Uh, so… Superman. About the whole uhh…" The Flash chatted helplessly at the large man's side while the rest of the League looked on in pity. Superman could do nothing but watch his friend go.

The following week, Kon-El took some time off in Kansas. Aqualad and M'gann were alone in the tower while Robin was out working in Gotham and Kid Flash and Artemis were on what she vehemently insisted was 'not a date'.

"Wait… Aqualad. I understand that Lex Luthor and Superman have fought a lot in the past, but I don't understand why. From all of the news information I have found, Mr. Luthor seems to be a nice enough guy."

"That's true, but he also owns all of those news sources. What you've found… They're mostly not true. I mean, look at this one. Sure, Lex Luthor attended the World Summit and made a substantial donation, but Superman also insists that he hired an assassin to kill one of the leaders. Lex Luthor is powerful, brilliant, and thoroughly evil."

"But Superboy… he isn't evil at all."

"I don't think that he is either. I just can't imagine what it must be like. Knowing what kinds of horrible things you could be capable of…"

About a week later in Smallville, Kansas:

For the second time this month, Robin found himself in Kansas. This time he was waiting on the Kent's doorstep with his good friend Wally West. No one on the team had heard from Superboy since he left for Kansas two weeks earlier and instead of Superboy, this time it was Jonathan Kent who answered the door. His kindly weathered face wrinkled with consternation.

"Well you two are some young boys. I presume you're here to see Connor?" Wally smiled openly at the man while Dick shifted his sunglasses uncomfortably.

"Yeah. We're from Youn-mpphhh…"

"We're friends from school." Dick finished with a conspiratory smile.

"Suuure ya are," he smiled back. His smile, however, faded before he continued. "I have to warn you guys, poor Connor hasn't been doing so well since he came back. Clark used to come back here pretty frequently when things were getting tough in Metropolis, but he never took to stuffing himself up in his room like Connor has. Hopefully you can lure him out." Jonathan motioned for the two young teenagers to let themselves inside and up to Connor's room.

"He's going through a bit of a rough patch right now, but I'm sure he'll be okay." Dick assured the elderly man.

"I'm sure he will, and if he's anything like my son, he'll come out of it even stronger."

"Funny you should say that…" Wally twitched impatiently at his side. "We should be heading upstairs then." Robin started after Kid Flash up the stairs.

"Good luck, boys."

Wally knocked gently on Superboy's bedroom door.

"Hey, Superboy? You in there?" There was no reply from the room so Wally opened the door. Superboy was lying face down in his bed, his face completely hidden by his pillow. His room was a complete disaster. The trashcan was overflowing with wads of notebook paper and there were dishes everywhere. Dick couldn't help but pick up one of the wads and place it on top of the mountain that once was a trashcan.

"Uh, hey Superboy, how are you holding up? I'm sure it must be a lot to take in…" Superboy rolled over at the sound of Dick's voice, laying on his side and facing the wall.

"Hey man, is there anything we can do?" Wally offered kindly, his eyes wide with concern. With still no response, Dick moved closer to the bed, sitting gently beside his friend. Sitting, however, turned out to be a bad idea. The morning he had awakened next to Superboy had taken a lot of effort to wipe from his memory until this point. He remembered sneaking himself out of Superboy's ridiculously strong grip and praying to God that no one saw them and that Superboy wouldn't awaken. His face flushed under his sunglasses and he quickly stood and walked stiffly to the other side of the room. Wally glanced between his friends curiously, waiting for some kind of explanation from Robin. Instead of giving one, Robin opted to distract Wally from the entire awkward affair.

"Hey, uh... Wally. Maybe you could clean his room for him really quickly? Not all of us have super speed and I'm sure he'd really appreciate the help clearing out the old dishes. Uhhh… especially that one." Robin frowned in disgust at a particularly moldy cup.

"Sure, no problem." Wally practically flew around the room balancing plate after plate on top of each other. Once the dishes were all stacked, he started to make his way down the stairs.

Crash!

"I'm okay!" While Martha Kent helped Wally to clean up the vast pile of dishes, Superboy turned to face Robin.

"Hey Robin." Superboy looked like he hadn't slept the entire time he was away and then some. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was matted and messy.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Robin stepped slightly out of the corner he was hiding himself in. "Sorry if I overstepped my bounds asking Wally to clean, I was just thinking that maybe—"

"Come here," Superboy begged, more with his eyes than his words.

"Yeah. Sure." Robin walked over closer to the bed.

"No, I mean, come here." Superboy grabbed Robin's hand and pulled him so that he was sitting on the bed next to him. The proximity drove Dick nuts and he did the only thing he could do. Chatter.

"You know, it really doesn't change anything what your genetic coding is, and I'm sure you've already thought about that, but just so you know that other people are thinking it too…"

"Robin. Why did you sleep with me that night?" Superboy heard Robin's jaw clinch shut and watched as his cheeks reddened even further.

"W-What night?" Dick has always been, and always will be a very poor liar.

"When I was injured. You could have gone to bed at any time, but you stayed with me. You even fell asleep sitting there."

"Uh… sitting there. When were you, uhmm, awake?"

"You were snoring for a little while. It awakened me."

"Ah, right. Sorry." Dick scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Could this get any more awkward?

"Heh," Superboy chuckled at the flustered boy on his bed.

"D-did you just laugh? I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before…" Superboy laughed again a little harder.

"S-Sorry. I couldn't help it. Your face is purple. You look like you swallowed a pineapple whole!"

"Hey! I-I…"

"You didn't crawl into bed with me, Robin. You can stop worrying about that."

"But then, how did I?" Superboy leaned in and placed his hand on Robin's forearm.

"Remember when you were snoring? You looked really uncomfortable so I might have…"

"You pulled me into bed with you!" Robin was practically flailing by this point.

"Shh! They may not have super hearing, but they have ears." Superboy whispered. They stopped for a moment to stare anxiously at the door.

"You pulled me into bed with you?" Robin asked, whispering this time.

"…" Superboy turned back to the wall for a while before responding. "When I was in the helicopter, I could hear your heart beat. I… I've never heard your heart beat like that. Not when you're not running anyway. You're always so cool and collected but you… you were really worried about me."

"O-Of course I was!"

"Robin… I…" Superboy's free hand grabbed Dick's. "I'm not sure I understand it, but I really care for you." Dick tried to pull his hand free.

"I-uh, yeah man. You're a really great friend."

"No, you don't get it. You don't look at me like I'm some kind of freak or some kind of ticking time bomb. When I'm with you… You treat me like I'm just… me. What I mean to say is…" Superboy pulled the smaller teen closer, leaning in until their lips were touching. Robin's lips were tight at first, his mind racing with shock, but just as he started to relax and his fingers laced into Superboy's hair, Superboy broke away.

"S-Sorry," he whispered, swallowing loudly before turning to the door. "Hey, uh, Wally? Is that you?" The door creaked open slowly and Robin jolted out of the bed.

"W-Wally? How long have you… The uh, dishes?"

"I have super speed, Robin. They've been cleaned up for a while."

"So you…"

"I'm going to go. I'll run home. See you guys later." Wally refused to look at Superboy or Robin, disappearing almost instantly.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was…" Robin stared at the floor, his face completely pale. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"It's f-fine. It's not like this changes anything. I mean, Wally and I have been friends forever. I can't imagine him caring about…" Superboy placed his hands on Robin's shoulders.

"I'm really sorry, Robin." Robin turned around, burying his face in one of the large shoulders in front of him.