Dick Grayson stood outside Superboy's Kansas home, gathering the courage to knock. Of all of the parts of this meeting he had envisioned struggling with, knocking on the door hadn't even made the shortlist. He irrationally wished that he had come in his uniform, rather than his civilian disguise. …he felt so naked and unprepared. It's not necessarily that he expected Superboy to react poorly and maybe break everything around him… Necessarily… One way or another, this wasn't going to be a boost to the struggling man's already fragile ego. He realized that he had been pacing and stood still. With a deep breath, he prepared himself to knock.

"Robin?" Conner opened the door wearing a flannel shirt and jeans. He even had a bit of straw in his hair. Robin felt his cheeks burn at the sight.

"Uhh, hey there. I've got news." Conner straightened his shirt a little bit before inviting him inside.

"Come on in." Robin couldn't help looking around the small country dining room and attached kitchen. The home was immaculate, but not in the way that Alfred kept Bruce's mansion. In Wayne Manor, tables were kept completely empty except for subtle, extremely expensive, decorations. The home, if it could be called that, was mostly for show. The real living quarters were hidden underground and filled with vermin. (The irony was not lost on the young hero.) Here in the Kent household, everything seemed to have a perfect place where it belonged. In the middle of the old wooden table sat a fruit basket filled with a couple of different kinds of apples. Hand sewn curtains lined the double window over the sink which looked out over the endless grassy hills of the farm.

Conner followed Dick's gaze out the windows. He remembered the day he'd arrived here, looking out those windows for hours and marveling at how the sky and the land met, forever away on the horizon. He was released from an incubation chamber to live here of all places, where he couldn't even pretend to belong. Mrs. Kent gingerly stepped into the kitchen and watched the two boys for a moment before interrupting. She smiled at Dick who couldn't help but blush at the attention.

"Hello Mrs. Kent, I'm—"

"—It's okay. I don't need to know." She gave the seemingly veryyoung man a wink before turning to her ward. "You've taken care of the chickens, haven't you?"

"I—Yes, Mrs. Kent." She lovingly picked a piece of straw out of his hair.

"Good." She looked at the boys for a second and placed her worn old hands on her hips.

"I'm sure you've got business to take care of, but I think the pie I baked is just about cool. We were going to save it until dinner, but I'm sure you have no idea how long you'll be staying." She said, seeing herself in the young man's… boy's sunglasses. "Is apple alright?" Conner's face turned three different colors in embarrassment before he looked sheepishly at the woman's feet.

"That'd be nice."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you." Dick could feel his heart racing watching the young Kryptonian. Seeing him like this… It was so different. He was used to seeing Superboy quiet and skulking, seeing him in a family setting, looking so… sweet, caught him by surprise. The same guy he knew punching through buildings and beating up criminals like they were children could show a face like this. It was almost as alarming as the time he caught Batman smiling at one of his jokes, but there he was holding two slices of apple pie and blushing as Mrs. Kent brushed some dirt off his back. Forget the Justice League, Mrs. Kent could probably take down the Dark Hand with a smile and a pastry. It was Superboy's look of urgency which brought him out of his thoughts.

"Thank you Mrs. Kent." Superboy was already halfway up the stairs. "We'll be in my room."

Dick smiled at the older woman before rushing up the stairs behind him. Before Robin had even crested the stairs, Superboy had the plates of pie sitting on a desk and stood waiting for him. When Dick slowed, Superboy grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, closing the door behind him.

"Robin," he stood only inches away, still holding the smaller man's arm. The face looking down at the younger man was very different than the one he'd had a couple of seconds ago.

"I have news." Superboy nodded his head, desperate for Robin to continue. "Superboy, you're going to want to sit down." Robin stepped back, refusing to look into the terrified blue eyes. "I ran the sample in the Batcomputer, and compared it to Superman's DNA. Y-You're not actually his clone. Not really…" Superboy ran his fingers through his hair. He'd been waiting for weeks to hear from Robin. He'd known all along that it would come down to this, but it still hurt to hear it aloud.

"Then what am I?" Superboy could practically feel the pity rolling off his friend in waves.

"You're a hybrid. You're a combination of Superman's genetic coding and the genetic structure of…"

"Of who?"

"Lex Luthor. You're almost perfectly split, half and half. They were able to replicate the physical traits of Superman using a phenotype transfer, but the more complicated traits are primarily Luthor's." Superboy sat slowly in his desk chair, his mind still reeling. Not only was he nota clone, around half of his genetic code came from one of the most notoriously evil people on Earth. Being a poor clone of Superman was hard enough to deal with, but this? He could feel Robin's hand on his back.

"Superboy… Superboy, this doesn't change anything. You're still the exact same person you were before. This doesn't have to control the way you live your life. Conner, please look at me." His blue eyes didn't seem so much like Superman's anymore. He'd seen Superman angry and stressed and sad, but never had he seen Superman look hurt and lost like Superboy did now.

Thanks a ton to everyone who's been reading this! Please read and review! I'd love to get some feedback about what you guys think.