Conner Has Two Daddies (and a Robot Nanny)
Chapter 11
Conner woke to the sun shining through the window into his eyes. It was strange how he could dislike the thing that gave him his powers this much when it was interrupting his sleep.
In the end Conner managed to drag himself out of bed. He recalled that later that day he'd be returning to Mt Justice, since with the beginning of the new week would come new training exercises with Black Canary. Conner wandered over to the living room to see Ted already sitting down on the couch, poking at a small machine with a screwdriver and with a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of him. The brunet looked up when Conner walked into the room and the boy's attention was instantly drawn to the brown goggles that made Ted look like he had bug eyes.
"Morning kiddo," Ted greeted the teen, snapping Conner's attention away from the glasses. The man was smiling, but it gave away to a thoughtful frown when he saw the expression on Conner's face. Then the brunet laughed and pushed his goggles up to his forehead.
"Sorry, must have startled you with those." Ted laughed again as he grinned at the teen. "Morning, Conner."
"M-morning," Conner managed to utter out before he slid down into an arm chair beside Ted and looked around, wondering about the silence in the apartment. "Where's Booster?"
"League business," Ted replied a bit absent-mindedly. The brunet gave Conner a searching look. "You like him, don't you?"
"He's nice," Conner replied instantly, without thinking about it, before he realized how rude that might have sounded and fumbled: "B-but so are you!"
Ted released a good-natured chuckle. "Don't strain yourself in complimenting me." The man looked expectant now. "Is something bothering you, other than Booster's absence?"
There was no way Conner could simply say he wanted to spend time with Ted; that would surely be considered selfish. The youth looked at the parts and tools spread out on the living room table and wondered if maybe they could help him bridge this...gap that was between him and the brown-haired man. After all, it was through lessons that Booster and he had connected.
"I'm not a very good flier," Conner spoke out, starting with the undeniable truth. "I'm not sure...maybe I'll never be as good..." He gave Ted a determined look. "I want to learn other things too, things you can teach me."
A moment passed before Ted clarified: "You mean science?"
Conner shifted nervously. "Is it no good?"
"No, no, it's fine," Ted assured him. "Everyone who wants to learn science should be allowed to." The brunet thought for a moment, before pointing out: "But you do realize that it would mean more work for you, right?"
Conner made sure to let his dedication show on his face as well when she said: "I can handle it."
"I'm sure you can." Ted's voice and expression were completely sincere when he said this, and Conner wondered how the man could believe in him so effortlessly.
Tucking his head down in embarrassment, Conner's eyes fell on the small electronic device on Ted's lap. He looked back up at the man's face. "What were you doing when I interrupted?"
"Mm..." Ted sounded slightly distracted by the quick change in subject. "I was doing some maintenance, checking if any parts were so worn they needed to be replaced."
"I-I have good eyes," Conner offered. "If you can teach me what to look for, I can help."
"Sure thing." Ted nodded before glancing at the clock. "But that's going to have to wait until later." The brunet picked up his coffee and stood up, indicating Conner to follow, after which he led the youth into the kitchen, where Conner sat down by the table.
"Booster had to make a quick trip to Metropolis," Ted explained. "He'll be back any minute now." The man seemed nervous. "I'll get you some breakfast while we wait."
Somewhat curious about what they were waiting Booster for, Conner ate his toast in thoughtful silence. Ted was uncharacteristically silent as well, until Booster came back with a bang of the door. The blond stumbled into the kitchen and headed immediately for the coffee machine.
"God, I wouldn't have half the bruises I do now if I'd had enough time to get a cup of coffee," Booster mumbled to himself as he dropped down into the chair next to Ted's and took a greedy gulp of his coffee.
"You would have had time if you had skipped the hair gel, sir," Skeets offered while he hovered beside the blond man. Booster smacked the metal surface half-heartedly before grumbling equally half-heartedly: "Take a hike, Skeets." Something passed between man and machine, like a previous agreement, and the golden robot left the kitchen in silence.
"You were at Metropolis?" Conner couldn't help but be curious.
"I do most of my solo heroing there, with all the alien and mutant menaces that place attracts," Booster answered easily. Beside him, Ted tapped a finger on top of the table, suddenly having thought of something. Then the brunet spoke out: "Superheroes can't really move from one city to another without attracting a while lot of attention. While Booster lives here, he still spends a lot of time in Metropolis, so he has an apartment there too. He's sort of split between two homes."
That had Conner confused. Home was supposed to be the one place you belonged, so how could anyone have two?
"Also, with lives like ours it's good to have more than one place where you feel comfortable and safe." It was like Ted knew what he was thinking, but the Blue Beetle wasn't supposed to have any super powers. Conner wondered if it was coincidence.
"You consider Mount Justice your home," Ted was saying and Conner started feeling that the previous remark was a part of something else after all. "But you could have a second home here, if you wanted to." The offer came easily, but the man looked somewhat nervous, while Booster gazed intently into his coffee.
"Home..." Conner repeated. He glanced around the kitchen, thought about the apartment where he'd had fun and had taken the first steps to understanding why these two heroes were so full of good cheer all the time. He looked back at the two men facing him and found two pairs of blue eyes watching him carefully.
"Booster and I have been considering this for a while now." Ted's hand lifted off the table, but then lowered back down. "We'd like to give you a home, and...and a family."
There was silence, as Conner mused over Ted's words and Ted seemed to wonder if there was anything else he was supposed to say. As usual, Booster came to the rescue to break the silence.
"Just think about it," the blond man said. "Think about it and then tell us what you think."
Ted reached out to grasp his empty coffee mug, rotating it in his hands absently as he added in: "And if you feel it's too soon, then that's fine. Even if you don't want it at all, that's fine too."
"And we can still have flying lessons, even if you say no," Booster hurried to add. "So there's no need for you to worry about-"
"Yes," Conner blurted out. Booster's deep blue eyes widened and Ted's coffee mug clattered back to the tabletop. Conner felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment and his tone lowered. "You guys are always so happy. At first it was weird, but, but I like it like that, I like you guys like that." Conner glanced between the two men. "I'd like to be a part of that."
Booster and Ted were smiling, as bright as Conner had ever seen, and slowly the teen felt his own lips stretch into a smile and, finally, a full-blown grin.
To be continued…
Author's Notes: This chapter was something that I was planning for a long time before actually writing it. It's really satisfying to have it finished.
And yes, Ted and Conner not spending that much time together was leading up to this chapter. And it will be brought up again later.
Also, people were for some reason worried about Booster going off to fight a tentacle monster. Apparently the genre here isn't obvious yet. I'll have to try harder next time.
