A lot of BxB.
"Talking"
'Mindlink'
…
"Aqualad, assemble everyone at the President's residence."
Africa, Kenya… Uhuru Kenyatta's house
"In other words, you're telling us we're going to be babysitters to the President." Red Arrow says to him sitting down in a chair his feet up, Superboy beside him.
"So, what's your take, Batman? You have an opinion about this, I'm sure." Aqualad says to him.
"We're not dealing with a simple copycat crime. The situation is more complicated." Batman tells him.
"This threat is a warning to Uhuru Kenyatta for repealing the Refugee Special Action Policy, which the previous administration enacted as a temporary legislation. And with there being no progress on the refugee issue after all the protests and their chants of, "End the discrimination! Set the refugees free!" they're calling it an act of treason against the people, therefore they say they're going to execute him for that? What they say is completely inconsistent. The police may think that all these crimes were committed by the same organization, but at this point, I don't see how they could be. Nothing ties them together." Superboy says, they look at him, not matter how stupid or goofy or cold Kon seemed he was smart.
"If it weren't for the fact that they have this logo in common, I'd have to agree with you." Batman starts. "Granted, I can't completely trust what most government officials say including the Commissioner General, but considering that several claims of responsibility bearing this mark were sent as specific individuals, we've no choice but to operate on that assumption."
"So what is the truth?" Robin asks.
"At the moment, our objective isn't to determine the truth behind each crime. Focus the sum of your energies on guarding the President. But at the same time, I also want you to investigate these threats and the logo in order to ID the person or group behind this."
"Red arrow, Superboy and Miss Martian, you'll take security duty with me on the Minister." Aqualad tells them. "Robin, I want you to research the logo angles, you're going be working with Kid Flash and Artemis."
"Roger." They all say at the same time walking off from the living room, Batman watches them and nods, that's what he would have said.
…
Cat Grant is on Tv with people gathered behind her taking pictures of a man in a suit. "President Uhuru Kenyatta, out ill yesterday, was back in high spirits this morning as he held an extraordinary Cabinet session. However, with a budget committee meeting looming just days away and no sign of developments in the still-unsettled refugee policy in sight, has lost the luster he had when he formed his Cabinet, and his expression seemed clouded as well."
…road
Red arrow was in a car behind the President's Superboy was behind him as he drove. While Aqualad and Miss. Martian where flying under camouflage in the sky.
'Superboy, you don't sound very gung-ho about this.' Red arrow says to him on them mind link.
'Really? It must be a hormonal thing.' Superboy smirks looking out the window.
'Quit joking around.' Red arrow snaps at him. 'What do you think of the missions we've been assigned to lately? As I recall, we were supposed to be a black ops covert team. Even if there has been a death threat against the President, having our hands tied like this ain't my idea of a good time.'
'What? Are you fed up?'
'What I'm getting at is, do you feel the same way?'
'Truth? Yes.'
Red arrow sighs.
Africa…One of Batman's safe house
"Hmm." Kid Flash says as he looks at his computer. "Doesn't look like there's ever been a group affiliated with the Refugee Liberation Organization that's used a symbol remotely similar to this one." He tells Artemis and Robin.
"We haven't gottta clue how to read this thing, it could be meaningless was for all we know." Artemis says as she looks at her holo-computer moving it around to get a different angle at it. "Come on, people, write your name so that the outsiders can figure it out."
"The top is Vengeance, and the symbol means infinity. It does sorta hint at an ideological background, but still…"
"Maybe they're just using an established motif, one that already exists." Robin says as he taps his finger on his shoulder.
"An example?" Artemis asks.
"Hm, lemme think...some literature from a historical figure, the title of a play or of a movie. It might be from a trademark that represents a person or group that played a prominent role in history."
"Now I follow you." Artemis says as she types as quickly as she can looking at different websites of history with symbols. "Found it, says here that it's supposed to be read "Revolutions." It's the title of the collection of essays on revolutions written half a century ago."
"Put it up over here." Robin says as he moves to the main computer set. Artemis waves her hand as it moves, Kid Flash and Artemis walk over to him. "Reflections on Nations and Revolutions: Collected Preliminary Essays on Revolution" by Patrick Sylvester. Yeah, I've read this before." he says as he looks at it skimming through it.
"Essays on Revolution?" Artemis says as she looks at it.
"At the time the collection made his debut, however, the essays weren't exactly best-sellers, didn't make much of a splash." Kid Flash says as he reads some reviews off the website. ""The Haitian Revolution," "The Iranian Revolution," "Cuban Revolution," "Chinese Revolution," "Young Turk Revolution," "Taiping Revolution," "The October Revolution," "The American Revolution," and "The French Revolution." he reads as he looks at them.
"It's a compilation of preliminary essays composed of those 9. There's also a 10th one on "The May Revolution" which he witnessed firsthand and which kindled his own dreams of becoming a revolutionary leader it exists but the author himself locked it away, ashamed of the ending." Robin says as he reads and talks at the same time.
"But there are no records whatsoever showing that it was published." Artemis says looking at Robin.
"Yeah, plus consider the source, this information is nothing more than data uploaded to the net by hardcore followers of this." Kid Flash adds.
"But there's something important here we mustn't overlook, those devoted fans are more than that. They're all fanatical individualists." Robin reminds them.
"They see his essay as a bible for individualists, huh?" Kid Flash ads and thinks. "...Uh, I just remembered. You know when we searched that Cold Case from the Vietnam War during the case?"
"Hm-hum?"
"I saw a note in his place that had this logo drawn on it." kid says to them.
"Hm?" Artemis nods.
"And what about the group of terrorist we tackled a while ago who took over the Chinese embassy, didn't they call themselves The Individual Rebellion as well?"
"Ah?"
'Aqualad.' Robin calls out to him.
'I got it.' Aqualad says over the midlink, Miss Martian had established. 'That is interesting information. Unfortunately, it isn't gonna help us get any closer to fingering our perp. Besides, the police have probably uncovered that much as well. Dive deeper and turn up something that'll identify our man. Don't skip over any potential clue no matter how insignificant it may seem.'
'Understood.' Artemis, Kid Flash and Robin think at the same time.
Red Arrow is now in his suit and tie as he stand by the door outside the president's office.
"Would you please check the contents of this?" a clerk asks as he gives a cop a box, Red arrow looks at them both putting his hands in fits.
Inside the President's office…
"I'm going to proceed with this, then." The secretary says to her president as he signs a document.
"Very well." President Uhuru Kenyatta nods to her. "Superboy is it?" Superboy opens his eyes looking at him as he leans on the wall, he had been using his TTk powers to scanning the building for any abnormalities. "Regarding the schedule I'll have for tomorrow."
"There's no reason for you to be worried. We'll make every effort to be unobtrusive while we accompany you, Mr. President." Superboy says to him.
"I thank you. This is a personal matter, and I'm sorry for involving you." President Kenyatta says to him, then a knock comes to the door. "Come in."
Red arrow walks in with a box. "Kon."
"What's wrong?" Kon says as he pulls away from the wall walking towards him.
"This was in the mail among letters and parcels that were addressed to the President."
"What is it?" Kon says as he looks at the opened box.
President Kenyatta starts walking towards them abandoning his desk.
"Perhaps it might be best if you didn't look at this." Red Arrow says to him.
"Undue concern for minority is what leads to contempt for them." President Kenyatta he says to them, he gasps horrified and turns away disgusted.
…Batman's safe house
"It's no use. I haven't been able to find anything on the content of the essay."
"The topic of that thing was some kind of incident, what was it?"
"The day when a group of young naval officers, army cadets, and farmer sympathizers who had been swept up in a whirlwind of nation-building fervor decided to take radical action." Kid Flash starts to read. "The central figures of the plot succeeded in assassinating the Prime Minister at the time, as the result, Africa plunged headlong into an era of dominance by militarists." He adds telling them.
"You can't justify with those officers' deed, it was heinous acts of terrorism plain and simple, but it's what happened afterwards that symbolically illustrates the importance of this incident. After the assassination of the President, the 10 young army officers who participated were apprehended and brought before a military tribunal, but once the trial got under way, things began to take a strange turn."
"Based on the solid conviction in their beliefs, the defendants, who were barely in their 20s, started to make statements with tear-filled eyes, it declined any defense saying that they were prepared to die. When they did this, it had quite in affect, the judges, the soldiers on the prosecution, the press, and the people in the gallery all found themselves sympathizing with the young men, and began weeping, too. What's more, the leniency movement, which had been unable to see much of the trial, gained tremendous momentum after the prosecution delivered its closing arguments. By the time the verdict was handed down on September 19th, 350,000 petitions had been sent in, public opinion which had been displaying ultranationalist tendencies, reached a fever pitch when the box full of 10 fingers, and amount clearly representing the number of defendants, were mysteriously delivered to the courthouse.
"So after those 10 young officers killed the president, a kind of nationalism began to spread one that celebrated them as heroes. It's an essay offered by someone who was fascinated by the details of the event. I'm willing to bet that the more he wrote about the people involved in the case, the more strongly he identified with them."
/…
"Some of those fingers look small, maybe a woman's." Red arrow says looking inside the box filled with fingers, just fingers.
"We can run finger prints on them, figure out who's they are." Superboy suggests.
'Aqualad, 10 severed fingers were just delivered to the President's home. Track down where they came from.' Red Arrow says to his leader.
"Did Red Arrow just say 10 fingers!?" Kid Flash asks out loud. 'Red, SB, we've been working the essay angle, and we came across a situation that involved 10 fingers, it's connected with the May 15th incident. There's gotta be something to this.'
Church…
The President took his three children plus his wife to church as they enter the red brick building, with high windows, his security went around taking a stand in each door, window, some by the trees, flowers and grass.
'The perimeter's clear. Still, the president's being pretty damn selfish.' Artemis says as she hides on the roof of the building. 'Who in the right mind would go off for some confession when somebody's trying to kill 'em? And with us not being allowed into the main temple, this ain't gonna be on my head.'
'I think in his own way, he's fully aware of his situation. He wanted to go to confession precisely because of that. And isn't that why he also agreed to the unofficial use of trackers?' Superboy tells them.
'Look, I can admire his courage and all, but he's only gonna let you stand by that is dangerous.' Robin says.
The family walks in they kneel on the ground putting their hands together closing their eyes as they pray. The president walks over to the confession booth pulling back the curtain then sits down.
"Forgive me father for I have-"
"Righteousness is on my side." A man says suddenly on the other side of the booth. "Die!" he yells out with a gun.
Superboy appears grabbing all 15 bullets as he fires them quickly. "Give up! You're completely surrounded!"
"Aah!" the president runs out of the booth then grabs his family and running away.
The man looks as they run off, he turns to look at Superboy and punches him, Superboy wasn't expecting it to hurt as much as it did. Superboy groans and punches back, they they both punch and dodge each other. The man a couple of more times than he had ever expected, then kicks him into the pews breaking them. Superboy groans. The man jumps up breaking through the ceiling, Artemis looks up shoots an arrow at him, he turns in midair grabbing the arrow tossing it back to her, she gasps and lunges forward grabbing the side of the roof as the arrow explodes where she had just jumped off.
"Superboy! Miss Martian!" Aqualad yells, Miss Martian appears in midair de-camouflaging Superboy flies up where the man had just made a hole.
"Don't worry. I'm all right." The president says to Aqualad as he stands to him.
Superboy and Miss Martian fly around looking down as people pass by cars, busses, looking at buildings.
"Umm…" Superboy looks around pausing.
Miss Martian turns to look at Superboy. "Oh-oh." She says worried.
"Split up." He tells her.
"Kon."
"Yeah, I know, let's go back."
"Now that's a metahuman." Red Arrow says looking up at the hole.
'Begin a search of people with metahuman ties.' Aqualad tells everyone.
"I apologize for all this trouble. If you and your team hadn't been here right now, I'd probably be dead."
"I'm not so sure. There's a possibility that he simply had no intention of killing you."
Mount Justice…infirmary
"Ow!" Kon yells. "It's hurts you jerk face." He snaps at Roy.
"Chill Kon." Roy says as he puts an ice bag on Kon's eye.
"You have no idea how much this hurts." Kon moans as he holds the bag over his eye, Artemis, Zatanna, Robin, Roy and Wally all look at him. "Sorry." He adds, knowing they've all been beaten, stabbed and shot repeatedly.
"Ok, it's starting to swell." Roy tells him pulling away the ice.
"No, it's not." Kon says stubbornly.
"Rorrim." Zatanna says a purple smoke around her hand a small mirror appears on her hand she puts it in front of his face.
"Wow, it is starting to swell." He says looking at his eye. "Either that or the rest of my face is shrinking."
"Look at this. Neosporin, Bactine, bacitracin, hydrogen peroxide and…Winnie the pooh band-aids?" Wally says as he looks through a drawer. "Where'd you get all this stuff?" he asks looking at the box of band-aids with yellow bear on it.
"I think we should put more ice on it." Roy says.
"No more bag ice." Wally tells him as he looks through the drawers.
"An eye patch?" Zatanna asks with a smile.
"Steak." Wally says.
"Huh?" Kon says confused.
"Steak is supposed to be good for a black eye."
"Frozen peas." Artemis adds.
"Why would I put peas in my eye?" Kon asks her.
"No, like a bag of frozen peas, it molds to the contour of your face." She explains.
"But steak has actual healing properties. Something about the juices or the fats is good for the skin." Wally tells him.
"I'm going to get more ice bags." Roy says.
"And steak. And peas. And ice cream! That would feel good on my eye. And then when I'm done using it, we can eat it. It's black-eye dinner."
"Says the kid who can't cook eggs." Roy tells him.
"Please. I'm not gonna cook. I'm too injured. You cook." Kon tells him as Roy gives him the ice bag, he puts it on his eye. "And get some Bacitracin. Whatever we use it for, we're almost out."
"Be right back." Roy tells him as he walks off.
"Thanks!" Kon yells out. "See if they have eye patches." He adds.
Zatanna nods. "You'd look so good."
February…Happy Harbor high school
Conner, Megan and Zatanna are walking across the school's parking lot. Conner wearing his black leather jacket, jeans, red I'm not anti-social I'm selectively social. There's a difference. white letters t-shirt. Megan was wearing a cable knit cashmere sweater, leggings, and flats. Zatanna is wearing her black skirt, black boots, black shirt with purple skulls on them.
"One of us has to do laundry tonight." Zatanna says them, mostly to Conner since Megan doesn't wear normal clothes.
"Why?" Conner asks her.
"Because I haven't had any clean underwear for three days." Zatanna tells him.
"So right now under your skirt you're wearing...?"
"Not underwear." Zatanna whispers.
"Zatanna!" he says to her.
"It's kinda nice, actually-breezy."
"My best friend, ladies and gentlemen."
"How come you haven't run out yet?" Zatanna asks him curious.
"I don't know." Conner shrugs as he walks a bit faster. "I guess I have more underwear than you." He adds.
"That's not true. You have less." Zatanna walks beside him. "Have you been doing laundry without me?"
"No." he says quickly.
"Conner?"
"OK, one load." He says honestly.
"And you didn't even ask if I had stuff to throw in?"
"It was a big load. There wasn't any room."
"I'm crushed. I'm bleeding. Get me a tourniquet. Oh, no, they're dirty 'cause Kon wouldn't wash them with his stuff."
"I'm sorry. I'll do another load tonight, I promise."
"Never mind. I'll do my own laundry."
"Fine, even better."
Zatanna sighs. "I hate doing laundry." She says frustrated. "Maybe I'll just buy new underwear."
"No, you are not buying new underwear." Megan says to her speaking for the first time.
"Oh what do you know, you have organics." Zatanna tells her.
"Hi boyfriend." Mike says as he puts his arm around Conner giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi."
"What's wrong?"
"Ok, just because I'm not happy to see you every day doesn't mean there's something wrong with me." Conner says as he pulls Mike's arm off him.
"Yeah dude, get over yourself." Zatanna says to him like a guy. "What are you doing for V-day?" she asks Mike sweetly.
"What's that?" Conner turns to ask her.
"What's what?" Zatanna asks him back.
"V-day. It is like victory day or something?" Conner asks, Mike, Zatanna and Megan look at him eyebrow raised. "What? What'd I say?"
"It's Valentine's Day." Mike tells him.
Conner still looks at them confused, that was something Cadmus give him a lot of information, holidays was not in the bunch.
"It's a celebration between couples, they do romantic things, dinner, chocolate, flowers, gift exchange." Zatanna tells him.
"Yeah right." Conner says rolling his eyes, thinking they were joking around with him.
"We're not kidding Conner, Dick is going to take me to Paris for two days, he arranged it with his…dad."
"Wow, he must be rich." Mike says as he looks at her.
"Yeah."
"Oh crap." Conner whispers and walks off.
"Any tips?" Mike asks Zatanna.
"Make sure he knows what day it lands on." Zatanna tells him with a smile.
"Here's another-don't sit on any cold benches!" Conner yells out to her as he walks into the school.
…Mount Justice
"Hey."
"Hey." Kon says back. "What's with the big smile?"
"Off to Paris we go, it's gonna be awesome." Dick says happy, he looks at the box Kon is holding. "What's that?"
"Oh it's a swimming watch."
"For who?"
"Mike."
"Dude, I'm taking my girlfriend to Paris. You couldn't come up with something else?"
"I'm gonna have mind blowing sex with him afterwards." Kon tells him, Dick looks at him. "Girls talk, you might wanna think about that next time you judge my gift." He tells him with a smirk. "Here gives this to Zatanna when you see her, I gotta go meet Mike at a restaurant."
"Sure, what is it? Feels like a book."
"That's cause it is genius. Have fun in Paris."
"Thanks." Dick mumbles as he looks at the perfect purple wrapping paper. "Is there something he's not good at?" he asks himself.
…Mike's house
Mike kisses Conner on the lips then kisses him on the neck as Conner straddles his hips.
"Oh you have chocolate on your shoulder." Mike says as he licks Conner's left shoulder.
"So, can I take these off now?" Conner asks jiggling the black furry handcuffs that where broken on the chain.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Cause you look hot in them." Mike says as he kisses him on the lips.
"You know what I also look hot in?"
"Everything in the entire world." He says in a very serious tone.
"The t-shirt you got me."
"I thought you might enjoy it." Mike says as he kisses Conner's chest.
"Is it time for you to open your present?" Conner asks Mike as he pulls away.
"I thought the you covered in chocolate and the furry handcuffs on the bed post was the present."
"No that was desert, remember?"
"Oh yeah, chocolate covered boyfriend."
"So, presents?"
"Later."
"Now."
"Conner." He whines.
"Mike." He imitates him.
Mike scoffs. "Fine."
Conner gets off Mike's lap, off the bed grabbing the box tossing it to him, Mike catches it and smiles at Conner then unwraps the box opening it as Conner gets back up on the bed beside him, he opens the box, Mike sees the watch and his mouth opens.
"Do you like it?" Conner asks as he pulls the watch out of the box.
"Conner theses are like 200 bucks."
"Yeah, so do you like it?"
"Yeah, babe I love it." Mike kisses him on the cheek. "I love you."
"I wanted to make sure that you could use it for a long time, plus with your scholarship."
"I'm still not 100 percent that I got it."
"You got it."
"Thanks Conner." Mike says to him. "Although it does make me feel like I should get you 50 t-shirts."
"That's ok, just let me be on top and we'll be even."
"How about 100 bucks instead?"
"Why wouldn't you let me be on top?"
"It's not me, it's not how I'm built, I'm sorry it's just never gonna happen."
"Ok."
"Why, do you have the urge to do me so much?"
"You have the urge to fuck me every chance you get, why can't I?"
"I can't believe were fighting about this."
"Then give me a good reason why I can't fuck you."
Mike looks at him. "You have a dirty mouth."
"You sound like my brother."
"Oh please don't say that."
"Just give me a good reason."
"I love you so much and if I let…I don't know if I'll ever let you go."
"That is so sweet."
"DON'T make fun."
"You are about to get soo lucky." Conner says getting on top of him.
"Ok, you can do whatever you want."
"I like the sound of that."
Mike laughs at him.
…March
"Best birthday gift ever." Zatanna says to Conner as they sit down on their regular table with Megan, Riki, Sam, Wendy, Karen, Mal, and Marvin.
"What are you doing here?" Conner blurts out at Marvin.
"I enjoy our greetings Conner."
"Birthday gift?" Mike asks looking at Conner.
"I got the day off Saturday."
"From work." Zatanna adds.
"Right." Conner says with a nod then turns back to Mike. "Work."
"You work?"
"Oh yeah happy birthday." Wendy says as she eats her burger.
"Thank you."
"Want a present?"
"No." Conner says quickly.
"How about a party?" Mike asks him.
"Birthdays are just days like any other days. I don't like them. Don't celebrate them. No big deal."
"Oh come on, 17 that's a big deal one more and your 18." Mal says to him. "Then 3 more and your 21."
"Yeah like I'll ever be 21." Conner scoffs at him, they all look at him, Zatanna and Megan shake their heads slightly. Conner looks back at them. "What like that's the strangest thing you've heard me say?" he tells them and gets up. "I'm getting a slushy, Z?"
"Red." He walks off.
"Ok, he's downplaying it, right? I'm his boyfriend, I have to do something for his birthday, right?" Mike asks them.
"Yes." Megan says smiling.
"No." Zatanna says shaking her head.
The both girls say at the same time, they turn to look at each other.
"Of course you do." Karen says to him.
"A surprise party." Marvin suggests.
"Bad idea." Riki says to everyone. "Surprise parties are hostile, they're dark, people jump out and scream at you. They never come to any good."
"Here you go." Conner says, they all look at him. "What?" he asks them.
"Nothing."
"Talking simultaneously? You guys think I'm weird."
…
"How do you leave your jacket?" Conner asks as Mike holds his hand walking beside him.
"Conner."
"We could be making out right now."
"With you covered in chocolate."
"No thanks, I had to shower twice." Conner says, Mike puts his arm around him. "Hey did you even bring your jacket?" he asks him as Mike opens the doors.
"Surprise!"
Conner looks around, everyone he knew plus more people, balloons fell from the roof, confetti, he turns walking off.
Zatanna walks towards him with a black with a skull party hat. "Told ya."
"Can you get him for me?" Mike asks Zatanna.
"Fine, but only because I got dressed up plus instead of a bra and underwear I have a bikini under this dress." She says and walks off.
"Is it weird that kinda turned me on?" Mike whispers to Sam and Riki.
"It turned me on." Sam says he tilts his head looking at Zatanna walking away.
"I guess it means you're definitely not gay, so there's that." Riki says as he pants him on the back.
"My mom will be so happy to hear."
"I'm not going back there and you can't make me." Conner tells Zatanna as he walks quickly to his bike.
"Alright, stop walking so fast, I have my boots on." Zatanna calls out to Conner, he stops turns to look at her. "Oh god, it was a bad idea." She moans talking about her boots.
"A surprise party? No it was a great idea, let's do it for your birthday." Conner tells her.
"HEY! Don't you even joke about that." she snaps at him, he turns walks off to his bike. "What's your problem?" she asks him straight out.
"You should have told me there was going to be a party."
"Yeah maybe but that's not your problem so what is?"
"Mal."
"Duncan? What about him?"
"What he said, it's true." Conner turns to look at her. "I am going to be 16 for the rest of my life and I do mean the rest of my life. And the only point to being 16 is to get to 17 which turns to 18. I'm stuck until the day I die. Which if life keeps throwing things at me, might happen sooner than later."
"Conner-"
"Besides I'm not actually turning 17, I'm turning 2 so there."
"You're not stuck, Kon."
"Yeah I am, but it's okay. You know, it's all good, I'll be fine. You guys will be getting prostate exams and mammograms while I'll still be young." Zatanna glares at him. "But I just need to not go back in there."
"What if I said please?"
Conner sighs, they walk back to the gym with the indoor pool, Conner takes off all of his clothes down to his boxers climbs up the 1-meter diving board. "Let's get this party started!" he dives down doing a couple of flips landing head first of the water everyone yells out clapping turning the music back up high.
"HOLY shit!" Riki yells out shocked.
"Is there anything he's not good at?" Sam asks annoyed.
"You'd be surprised." Zatanna says as she takes off her purple dress with her purple bikini and jumps into the pool.
…
"How come I get to clean up?" Conner asks as he picks up a plastic cup. "It's my party."
"Hey birthday boy." Roy says as he holds box.
"Dude you missed it." Dick says to him.
"Yeah, I have a life." Roy says to Wally as he tosses the box to Conner.
"You didn't even wrap it." Zatanna complains.
"I have a life." Roy repeats himself.
Conner opens the box. "A movie. Die hard?"
"Yeah, so stop borrowing mine."
"Thanks."
Conner goes to hug Roy and in 2 seconds Mike pulls them away, as he puts his hand on Conner's neck. "Why that movie?" Mike asks trying to sound casual.
"It's my favorite movie."
"It is?"
"You didn't know that?" Roy asks him. "Are you sure he's your boyfriend?" he asks him.
"Wanna watch it later?"
"I have work, come with me?"
"Yeah I'll be there."
"I thought we were hanging out later." Mike says to him.
"Yeah, we are. This is much later."
"Oh ok." Mike says still holding Conner by the neck.
"Hey help us clean up." Zatanna tells him.
"Why? It's not my crap." Roy says to her. "Oh cake." He walks towards a table with a half-eaten cake.
"What are you doing?" Conner asks Mike.
"What?"
"You're hand, what are you doing?"
"Holding you."
"By the neck?"
Mike bent to kisses him, his hand tight on his hair. "How's it one year older."
"Just one year closer to death."
"Or one year closer to freedom."
"Get the wrapper." Artemis tells Wally.
"What wrapper."
"The wrapper by your foot."
"What wrapper."
"Oh whatever."
"You're still mad about Valentine's day are ya?"
"For crying out loud, Conner remembered!"
"Artemis."
"Your friends are awesome." Mike says smiling.
"Wanna go have sex in the locker?" Conner asks him.
Mike looks down at Conner, Conner looks back at him. "Yeah." He nods exited.
…Paradise Island
After beating up some bad guys that where robbing a bank, stopped a fire, and helped the cops stop a car chase he went to the quite place. Kon looks down at the water as he sits by the edge of a cliff the water moves with the air. A new day was staring.
"Kon."
"Hi Diana."
"Happy Birthday."
He sighs. "Not you too."
"I love birthdays." She says with a smile as she walks behind him, she was wearing a white dress instead of her usual armor.
"Yeah? Aren't you like 100, or something?" he says a little rude.
"Well you have to adjust your perception of time when you don't age, Kon. Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial human conventions."
"I'm still dying on the inside."
Diana sits beside him. "I could die tomorrow, if that's what I let happen. If you really believe your existence has no meaning." She pauses. "I thought about it myself, once or twice over the years, truth will be told." He turns to look at her a little surprised. "But I'll let you in on a little secret. There is a whole world out there, waiting for you. Great cities and art and music, genuine beauty. And you can have all of it. You can have a hundred more birthdays. All you have to do is fight for it."
Kon looks at her. "I don't wanna die."
"Then don't."
He leans on her, she puts her arm around him, kissing the top of his head.
…May
"Where's Conner!? I need to talk to him! It's urgent is he here?" Michael says as he runs over to their usually round table. "Is Conner here?"
Conner raises his hand. "I'm Conner."
"I got my Stanford scholarship!"
"Holy shit!" Conner says standing up from his chair.
"I know! Never in my life have I been so happy that my mom opens my mail before I do."
"I'm so happy for you." Conner says as he hugs him, Mike hugs him back.
"We're so happy for you." Riki says hugging him from behind.
"Congratulation Michael." Sam says as he joins the hug.
"We should throw you a party!" Riki yells out.
"You don't have to."
"Dude, you are going to Stanford on a full ride scholarship." Sam tells him. "We're throwing you a party where you like it or not."
"Thanks." Mike says with a smile, his arm around Conner.
"We should make a list."
"Already doing it!" Karen says with a paper and pen as she writes down names.
"Put down the whole swim team. Everyone is going to know that his guy is going to be a king." Riki says as he pats Mike on the back.
"And some of the football players."
"No." Michael, Sam and Riki say at the same time.
"You guys are assholes." Mal says glaring at them.
"Says the jock smacks asses on a daily bases." Riki tells him.
Mal points to Conner and Mike who were still holding each other.
"Say a word and I will fucking beat you to a bloody pulp, that not even your own mother will be able to recognize when they find your body in the ditch that I throw your corpse in." Conner tells him.
"Yeah…jerk." Mike says lamely.
"Sorry." Mal says to him and turns to look at Karen as she hugs him.
"You are such a badass." Zatanna tells Conner.
…
"Hey Mikey." Riki says as he puts his arm around, Michael glares at him as he stops chewing his chip. "Sorry, I'm a little drunk."
"You're off the rest of the night." Mike says as he takes the red cup from him.
"No problem." Riki shrugs as he takes a little plastic cup with blue Jell-O on it.
"Dude that's pure vodka."
Riki swallows. "Yeah I know. How's my tongue?" he asks sticking it out, it was blue. "By the way that red head is totally flirting with your boyfriend." He walks away.
"What?" he asks then walks outside putting down the bag of chips as he looks at Conner and the red head who were talking and drinking. The red head ruffles Conner's wet hair from the pool. Mike walks quickly to Conner's side, putting his hand behind neck kissing him roughly on the lips.
"Hello to you too." Conner says to him.
Mike smiles at him then turns looking at his friend. "Oh sorry I didn't see you there Roger."
"Roy." He corrects him.
"Right, sorry."
Roy nods a little. "So, which one's Wendy and which one's Kim?" he asks Conner.
"Oh well Wendy is the one with the black and yellow bikini over there and Kim is sticking her tongue down Riki's throat."
"That's Wendy!? Damn she's pretty." Roy says as she looks at her talking to Karen, Conner looks at him. "Lucky." He adds, remembering the pain he went through when Wendy broke up with him. "To have had a boyfriend like you."
"ROY! Come on the water's awesome!" Artemis yells out to him as she dunks Wally down in the pool.
Roy takes off his t-shirt, and smack Conner on his shoulder. "Come on, let's show them how it's done."
Conner moves but Mike still had his hand on the back of his neck. "Can I talk to you for a little bit?"
Conner looks up at Mike then over at Roy, Roy scoffs. "Whatever dude." He walks over to the pool and jumps in.
Mike takes Conner upstairs to Sam's room, Conner pulls himself off Mike's hands.
"What the hell is your problem?"
Mike moved fast to grab a fistful of his hair and yanked him back up against him. His arm snaked around Conner's neck so he couldn't move. His hand went sliding over his throat, his collarbone, down his chest.
"What do you want?" Mike asks Conner.
"To take off your clothes."
"As you wish." Mike says as he takes off his t-shirt and his bathing suit shorts taking off Conner's as well and shoved him onto Sam's bed starts kissing him everywhere.
"Wait, wait, wait." Conner says pushing him back a bit. "Is this ok? In Sam's bed?"
Mike pauses. "What he doesn't know, can't hurt him." he shrugs.
"True." Conner nods as they go back to kissing each other. "I'm thinking maybe there's something you want too, Mike." he said softly, hands on his ass, drawing him closer, his lips on Conner's throat.
Mike moves Conner to the edge of the bed and then lifts his legs and rests them on his shoulders. He ran his hands from Conner thighs, down to his calves to ankles. First gently, then harder, his fingers clenched, the knuckles white. If he was normal he'd leave bruises on the skin.
"Jesus, you're so tight."
"Is that good or bad?"
"So good." he groaned, his hands moving to him hips, holding him there. It didn't take long before he called Conner's name, his hips snapping forward before he pinned him under him to the bed. "Holy shit." he gasped, careful as he slid out of him, caring now that he could think again.
"I love you." Conner exhales.
Mike turns to look at Conner. "Ok, fine."
"Fine? What does that mean?" Conner asks him sitting up.
"Means that I love you too."
"But?"
"No, but's." Mike tells him. "I love you." He tells him again, Conner looks at him. "No sudden moves." He whispers, Conner glares at him. "Babe, you are like a deer in the woods." He sits up kissing him.
"Don't make fun of me." Conner pushes him.
"I am not making fun of you. I love you so much, you are my soul mate."
"Fuck you." Conner snaps at him getting up.
"Ok, wait, come back here." Mike says as he pulls Conner back down.
"Mike."
"Stop fighting me."
"But-"
"I love you Conner, I truly love you. Do you love me?"
"Yes, I love you."
"Now was that so bad?"
"No."
Mike hands sliding up his throat, cupping his face, touching his hair. When Conner's mouth covered his, he parted his lips for him, Mike kissed him deeply, thoroughly, exploring his mouth, sliding his tongue over every inch of his, tasting him, devouring him. Mike caught his breath as Conner pulled back.
"We are so good at that."
"Can I try something?'
"You are not getting on top of me."
"No, I wanna do something, turn around."
"Conner."
"I'm not getting on top of you." Conner tells him annoyed. Mike sighs and turns around, laying down on his stomach. "You are so paranoid."
…
Sam watches as both Conner and Mike come out of the house Mike's hair a bit messy, Conner walks to Riki who was still making out with Kim. Sam walks over to Mike.
"Where you upstairs having sex in my bed?" Sam asks him.
"No."
"Oh before I forget, I'm sorry I bite your butt cheek." Conner says as he kisses Mike on the shoulder.
"It's ok, I kinda like it."
"Conner!" Zatanna yells out as she and Artemis wave for him to jump in the water.
"Be right there." Conner says and jumps in the water.
Sam glares at Mike. "Oh you meant now? Yeah we did about 5 times, you might want to wash your sheets."
"Ewww." Sam says disgusted. "Please, please, please tell me you're kidding."
"I got a full ride to Stanford. They're gonna pay for my food, room and board plus all of my classes and I get to swim."
"Ew." Sam pouts.
Mike pats Sam on his shoulder and jumps in the water with most of his friends in it.
…May
"Oh my god, you did? You finally said it? I'm so proud of you." Zatanna says as she eats popcorn from a bowl.
"Why?" Roy asks as he walks in his Red Arrow uniform.
"I told Mike I love him." Kon says as he eats a popcorn.
"How many times did you guys do it afterwards?" Roy asks him.
"About 5 at the party, then some 4 at his house."
"Nice."
"That is so not appropriate." Zatanna says as she eats.
"No, this is inappropriate." Roy tells her. "Did he finally let you fuck him?"
"WHAT!?" Zatanna yells out shocked.
"No but I'm ok with it. He loves me, I love him. Plus he's leaving in like 4 months."
"Are you seriously telling me you've never been on top?" Zatanna asks Kon.
"Yeah."
"That is both disturbing and nice."
"Come on, you promised me you'd patrol with me." Roy tells him as he grabs a hand full of popcorn.
"Alright, let me go get my clothes." Kon says as he stands.
"Hey." Zatanna grabs his hand. "Every time?"
"Yup."
"You are so in love."
Kon rolls his eyes and walks off.
…Mall
"I need coffee." Roy says now in his street clothes, t-shirt and jeans.
"Whose fault is it that I got showered in acid?" Kon asks him holding a bag, he was wearing Roy's jeans and sweater.
Roy looks at Kon. "…Yours." He tells him, Kon raises an eyebrow. "Mine." Roy sighs rolling his eyes.
"Plus I ran out of S t-shirt."
"I need coffee." Roy tells him again.
"Hold my bag."
Roy grabs the bag and sits down on the bench. "Black, no sugar crap. And three shots of espresso."
"Got it." Kon tells him and walks into the Starbucks shop. "Hi."
"Good morning." A very perky blonde says to him.
Kon pauses "…Sure." he says. "Can I have two coffees-"
"Latte? Cappuccino?-"
"Just black and three shots of espresso
"Ok, we have fresh blueberry scones." She says to him.
"Yeah get me four, and a blueberry muffin."
"Ok, anything else?"
"No, that's all."
"Name?"
"Kon." He says without thinking about it.
"That's such a unique name." she says as she puts it in her cashier's computer. "C or K?
"K."
"I got it. That'll be 22.30."
Kon swipes his card. "It'll take about 5 minutes."
"Ok."
"So what are you doing at 7 am in the morning?"
"Partying too hard."
"Well you don't look that bad to me."
"Yeah, youthful good looks."
"I'd doubt you'd look to bad in the mornings."
"Oh I don't know about that, hair in disarray, and clothes flung over the night stand, you know. It's not exactly a pretty sight."
She laughs at him.
"Hey." Mike says to Conner's back.
"Hey." Conner says casually then does a double take. "Hi." He says surprised to see Mike standing there holding a yogurt in sweat pants and a muscle shirt slightly sweating.
"You said that." Mike says with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" Conner asks turning to look at him.
"It's 7 am in the morning, on a Saturday. I run then get yogurt here."
"Oh, I didn't know that."
"I know, I never told you."
"Kon-coffee's ready." The blonde cashier says, Conner continues to look at Mike. "Kon." She says again.
"I think they're calling you, Kon."
Conner turns around grabbing the 2 coffees and the small cup of three shots of espresso.
"Is that all for you?"
"What the hell man? I've been waiting for an hour."
"Coffee." Conner gives the cup to Roy.
Roy sips, then cries out in pain. "Oh, hot! Warn me!" he tells him.
"Coffee's hot?" Conner asks him. "Sorry. Coffee's hot." He turns to the girl. "Can I get-"
"Ice cube." She says as she gives him a cube of ice.
"Here."
"Thank you."
"I ordered scones." Conner tells Roy as he gives him a brown bag.
"Thanks." Roy mumbles and walks to small table.
"Here are your other coffees." The cashier says to Conner and grabs the other two. "I put my number on this one. If you want to call me I get off at 2."
"He'll run that one down by his boyfriend." Mike says as he puts his arm around Conner.
"Oh I'm sorry." She says quickly and looks at Conner and Mike. "Really?" she asks them. "I usually have a very good gaydar."
"Well we have sex about 3 times a day but he'll call you after I go off to Stanford." Mike snaps at her and walks to Roy who was eating and drinking his coffee.
"I have nothing to say." Conner says to the girl grabs his coffees and walks to the table.
"What'd you guys buy?"
"Clothes."
"Yeah something happen to my other clothes."
"At work." Roy adds.
"Where do you work?" Mike asks him.
"He's an escort."
"I'm drinking the espresso."
"No. I'm sorry." Roy says quickly grabbing the small cup and starts drinking it.
"Is that a new sweater?"
"No it's mine." Roy says as he exhales hot air.
"Dude, you ate my muffin." Conner says as he looks in the bag.
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did, I saw you." Mike says to him.
"Oh, well it's 7 am and I haven't gone to sleep yet, be grateful I didn't eat the bag."
"Alight, fine I'm sorry." Conner says as he puts his hand on Roy's head. "I'll take you home."
"Thank you."
"You should buy new jeans those fit you a bit big."
"There mine."
"Alright, I gotta go." Mike says as he walks away quickly.
"Bye."
Roy rubs his eyes.
"Wanna go teleport home?"
"Yes please." Roy says as he stands and looks at the three cups of coffee. "What do we do?"
"Oh I know." Conner says and drinks his own coffee, then takes Roy's coffee and drinks it then takes the espresso cup dinking it all in about 2 minutes. "Ok let's go." He walks off with the bags.
"I like you." Roy says as he walks behind Conner, putting his arm around him.
…
"You should have seen them, they were all over each other." Mike complains to Riki and Sam who were both in there bathing suits in Sam's naked bed.
"So you keep saying, why didn't you say anything?" Sam asks him.
"Conner wouldn't cheat on me."
"Then stop complaining."
"But I should talk to him about it right? Tell him it makes me uncomfortable."
"Or since you're leaving in 3 months you should start getting used to the idea that he's gonna to see other people." Riki suggests, Mike and Sam look at him. "Or not, what do I know." He says as he goes back to bed.
"Did you guys sleep together?" Mike finally notices.
"I couldn't drive." Riki shrugs.
"Still haven't heard from your colleges?" Mike asks Sam.
"No and it sucks. I keep thinking that I wrote the address wrong."
"Would you stop talking, I have a hangover." Riki snaps at them.
"Then you shouldn't have eaten all of the pure vodka Jell-O."
"At least my boyfriend isn't cheating on me, with the hot red head." Riki blurts out. Mike looks at him and walks off. "Oh no, I was kidding! Michael!"
"Nice job."
…Mike's house
Mike gabbed Conner close and kissed him until he had to pull away to breath. Mike pulled him down on the bed both of them naked, into his lap.
"God, I love having you in my lap." Mike says as Conner just stared at him. "You know what the sexiest thing about you is?" he asks Conner, massaging his ass, pulling him forward over his groin so Conner could feel him getting hard again.
"My ass?" Conner teased him, as Mike started to kiss his nose, his cheeks and then forehead.
"No." he said, pulling back to look at his face. "Your eyes. They're like blue but not deep blue or sky or light blue they're like all of them depending on the lights. Did I tell you I was a sucker for killer blue eyes?"
Conner smiles at him. "That's awesome, thank you."
"You're being sarcastic but I'm serious." Conner grunted. "It's sexy as hell, your blue eyes."
"As long as you think so."
"And your mouth-you have the most beautiful lips…" Mike continues, Conner puts his hands flat on his chest, feeling the sculpted muscles under his palms. "And your skin and your ass."
"See." Conner scoffs. "I knew you'd get around to my ass eventually."
"But seriously." Mike says, putting his hands on Conner's face as he eased him forward, Conner tilts his head at the last moment so he could kiss his throat. "Your eyes kill me. They burn me up every time." Conner sighs looking at Mike with his eyes. "You have no clue how sexy you are."
"Looks aren't that important to me."
"That's what's also sexy about you."
"I find your knowledge of the human anatomy sexy."
"OH! So reading all of my grandfather's books while growing up is finally paying off."
"Yeah they are."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes we can have sex again."
"Can I ask you a question to which I don't already know the answer to?"
"OH yeah sure."
"How do you know Roy?"
"Roy who?"
"You're friend the red head."
"Oh he's my friend. Do you remember the time they throw us in jail because you started that fight?" Conner asks him, Mike nods. "I called him to pick me up."
"I told you my dad would have paid your bail."
"You're dad hated me back then."
"And how did you guys meet?"
"He's the nephew of my brother's friend."
"Oh so Clark knows him?"
"Yeah."
"Ok."
"Ok." Conner says as he goes to kiss Mike on the lips.
Mike pulls away. "So do you guys hang out a lot?"
"Me and Clark? Yeah."
"You and Roy."
"Yeah, we're hanging out tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"I thought we were hanging out tomorrow."
"I didn't know. What were we doing?"
"Well…we didn't really make a plan."
"So?"
"So I'm your boyfriend you should tell me where you are."
"Noooo. I'm your boyfriend you are meant to do dirty things to me."
"That's it?"
"What else is there?" Conner teases.
"This isn't funny Conner." Mike says as he pulls Conner off his lap. "You don't tell me anything."
"I tell you stuff."
"Oh what kind?"
"I told you, I love you."
"Ok, what else?"
"I told you about my past Christmas." Conner says feeling a bit guilty, it was a made up story about the foster mom and the bagpipes it had been the first thing that popped in his head, his first Christmas was actually spent on a mission in Moscow hunting down an arms dealer.
"Where do you live? What are you afraid of? Where do you work? And why is it that when I call your home phone Megan is the one that always answers?"
"Well she's the closest." Conner says responding to his last question.
"So she lives with you."
"Yeah, she's like my sister." Conner says to him. "By the way so does Zatanna and Kaldur."
"Who?"
"Oh you don't know Kaldur, he's like my older brother, he's the only who bosses me around and I'm ok with it…Its weird now that I think about it." Conner says to him, Mike looks at him. "You'd like him, he can kick my ass in swimming."
"Conner-"
"I love you." Conner interrupts him. "Isn't that enough?"
"Are you or have you ever had sex with Roy?"
"Ewwwww! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!" Conner tells him disgusted.
"Ok."
"You thought I had sex with Roy?"
"Well-"
"Are you crazy?"
"Well you can't blame me. You were wearing his clothes. No offense but before we got together you got around." Mike tells him, Conner looks at him. "No offense." He says again.
"How many people have you slept with?" Conner asks him.
"Including you, eight."
"Ok, you may be right."
"How many people have you slept with?"
"More than eight."
"How many?"
"I'm not exactly sure…more than eight."
"Be sure, how many? Go ahead, I can wait." Mike says to him. "And if you can name them, that'd be great."
"Well there was Wendy."
"Yeah, she was your first."
"And then there was that summer with you."
"Right, our first time."
"And there was actually some other girls before you."
"Wait when you and I were together, you were with other girls?"
"Yeah, four there was Sophia from the coffee shop, Gabriella from the library, Isabel from the park and Rebekah from the hotel we were staying at."
"wow."
"But before them, there was Artemis."
"You're friend Artemis the hot blonde super tan girl?"
"Yeah before she was with Wally."
"Ok so six."
"Kim."
"Seven."
"Then the summer I ran away from home and…" Conner starts then stops looking at Mike. "There was a lot of girls."
"Ok."
"So let's stop talking about this."
"Ok."
"And your leaving in 2 months let's not spent it fighting."
"I wouldn't be leaving if I got accepted in Brown, which by the way I did."
"But you're not going because you want to be a Doctor and-"
"I can do my basics in Brown that'll give us some time to hate each other and brake up." Mike tells him with a smile.
"True but what about the cute cashier girl from Starbucks, I told her I'd call her when we broke up. I doubt she'd wait for 2 years." Conner says sarcastically.
"That's not funny."
"Sure it is."
"Do you believe in soul mates?"
"No."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's stupid." Conner says honestly. "Do you believe in soul mates?"
"No…but I guess the concept is nice."
"Sure if there weren't trillion of people in the world."
"You're right."
Conner kisses Mike on his chest, then shoulder, then kisses his neck. Mike hugs him. "I love you." He tells him.
"I love you too."
…April
"So what are you doing for prom?" Sam asks Mike, Riki and Conner was there too, he just wasn't paying attention but he was reading his book.
"I asked Kim to prom, she said she'd pick out my suit so it'd match her dress." Riki answers.
"What about you Mike? What are your plans for the 25th?" Sam asks him trying to sound casual.
"Well me and Conner will probably end up watching a movie or something."
"So you don't want to go."
"I don't know I mean it is my senior year but Conner says it's stupid."
"Go with someone else." Riki suggests, the both boys turn to glare at him.
"That's a good idea, Megan doesn't have a date, you can take her." Conner says to him.
"Oh yeah that-that is a good idea."
"Oh crying out loud." Riki says annoyed. "Conner take Michael to the prom before he pulls a muscle trying to convince you."
"Ok." Conner says going back to his book.
Sam and Mike both turn to Riki. "See, it's not that hard. Now are we going to get a limo or not?"
…April 25
"Come on Dick please." Zatanna says in her hair down, asymmetrical purple and black printed gothic dress with flower printed detail and ribbon lacing in the back, lace black fingerless gloves and black boots not her high heel boots she wanted to dance. Dick Grayson however did not.
"I told you, slow dances yes, Kesha no." Dick says as he gets pulled on his hand by her to the dance floor as everyone dances to Kesha's We R Who We R.
"Dick."
"No."
Zatanna stops pulling on his hand and turns seeing Conner talking to Mike about something.
"Conner!" she runs up to him grabbing his hand. "Come dance with me." she tells him and they take off to the dance floor with everyone else dancing.
"Hi Megan." Dick says walking over to her as she passes out a drink to Wendy and she walks away.
"Hi, having fun?"
"Yeah."
"Where's Zatanna?"
"Out there." Dick points to where Conner was touching Zatanna's side and Zatanna was running her hands on his chest.
"Oh." Megan says looking at them dance.
"Hey." Mike says as he grabs a drink.
"Having fun?" Megan asks him with a smile.
"My boyfriend is dancing, but not with me, I'm having a blast."
"That's my fault, I told Zatanna I wouldn't dance with her."
"It's ok, I didn't want to dance either."
"But he does make it look good." Megan says as she watches them dance to an Usher song Scream.
Conner leans to Zatanna's ear whispering something, she laughs turning red, he puts his hands on her waist as she puts her forehead on his chest laughing. The song stops and a slow song starts, they head back to their boyfriends.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing." They both say.
"Come dance with me." Zatanna says to Dick as she puts her hand around his.
"Ok." He says as they go back to the dance floor, she puts her arm around his neck and he puts his's around her waist.
"Dance with me." Mike says to Conner.
"As you wish."
…Hotel room
"Didn't I tell you I'd be worth it?" Mike asks him as he lays naked next to him on his back.
"Yes you did." Conner nods as he lays on his stomach looking at the tv flipping through the channels. "Plus you get to be as loud as you want."
"You're the loud one." Mike laughs. "Oh, yeah, right there! That feels amazing! Don't stop, harder! I want you so bad. Give it to me!"
Conner looks at him with a smile. "Got yourself turned on?"
"Little bit yeah."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Mike says as he starts to kiss him.
Conner pulls away. "But Game of Thorne is on, can I finish watching it first?"
"Oh yeah sure." Mike says as he looks at the Tv then back at Conner who was paying close attention to it.
Mike turned on his side and started kissing Conner's neck, then kissed the spot between his shoulder blades he was admiring his body perfect, muscles, no scars, no birthmarks, no moles nothing. Conner did however have his tattoo. Wild and Free. He ran his finger on it was smooth usually it was a bit bumpy from the ink and skin.
"Mike what are you doing?"
"When did you get this tattoo?"
"I don't know, a year or two. Why?"
"No, just wondering." Mike says kissing his back putting his head down, falling asleep.
Mike wakes up to Conner playing on his phone, he crakes his necks and Conner looks up at Mike.
"Hi." Conner says to him.
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"It's 2 am."
"Oh…wait why are you up?"
"I don't sleep."
"Right." Mike says as he gets off of Conner and off the bed going to the bathroom, Conner continues to play on his phone as Mike turns on the shower waiting for it to turn hot. Mike gets in waiting for Conner to join him, except Conner was still playing. Mike gets out of the shower wetting the white floor. "Dude you're supposed to come in with me."
"Oh sorry." Conner clicks his phone screen off. He gets off the bed and tosses his phone on the bed walking in the shower. Mike hugs him, Conner smiles up at him and he bent and kissed him.
…July
"We have reached a new time high here in Metropolis. 110 degrees to be-what? 115? OH right because those 5 degrees would make a giant difference. I'm on the air for crying out loud! OH! You're going to fire me!? How will I live without hose 200 dollars a week you pay me! FUCK OFF!" the news anchor throws a fit as he gets out of his chair throws the mic away.
"We will be back after these short messages." The woman beside him says with a smile.
…Mount Justice
"Looks like this heat is affecting everybody huh?"
"I hate this weather."
"I like your shorts."
"I am so not in the mood."
"I like it."
"You would."
"And those of us who don't love 100 degree weather is hell."
"I'm going to take a cold shower." Kaldur sighs. "Again. Again."
"Even the bad guys aren't coming out." Roy says annoyed.
"Why are you here?" Wally asks him.
"What? I can't spend time with my friends?"
"His A.C is out." Kon says as he watches Wolf sit by a fan, his face getting hit.
"You are using us." Robin says to him.
"Why are you here?" Roy asks him.
"I care about my friends."
"The house doesn't get good A.C."
"Thanks Kon."
"You're welcome." Kon says to him slightly sarcastically.
They all hear a loud noise.
"What was that?"
"I believe it was the A.C going out."
"How is that even possible? It's supposed to be the house of the Justice League."
"It's also super old."
"We can fix it, can't we?" Artemis says worried.
"I have an idea." Kon says raising his hand.
"I cannot believe this."
"I'm gonna die, in a cave."
"Well it's over heated, there isn't much we can do." Robin says replying to Artemis.
"I said I have an idea." Kon says keeping his hand raised thinking nobody listen to him.
"Isn't there a backup one?" Roy asks Robin.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Well, it's old and the league didn't know we would need a backup."
"Man this sucks."
"Oh great I have to go home."
"Oh great."
"I know maybe we can go to the pool, cool ourselves down."
"I said I Have An IDEA!" Kon yells out standing up.
"Ok."
"Geez Kon."
"Relax dude."
"Whatever, grab on to me."
"No." wally says.
"Come on don't be a wuss."
"I don't like teleporting."
"Pussy, pussy, pussy."
"Alright, let's go." Wally says holding Artemis's hand.
…Metropolis Park
They teleport to the park with the statue of Superman an Eagle resting on his arm.
"What are we doing here?"
"Dying of heatstroke."
Along the street full of red-faced, sweaty people and pets on the sidewalk, at their windows, in their cars absolute misery all around. It was shimmer and waver in the heat.
"HEY! EVERYONE IT'S SNOWING!" Kon yells putting his hands on his mouth.
"What?" everyone says confused.
Kon flies up using his artic breath making snow fall as he blew.
"Wow."
"This is so…cool!" Robin says feeling the cold air on him.
"So not wearing the right clothes for this." Zatanna shivers. "Egnahc ehtolc." She says change clothes as a purple dust appears all around them changing from short and muscle shirt to jeans long sleeve shirts.
"Snowball fight!" Wally says as he gathers a round a ball of white snow and tosses it to his girlfriend.
"Wally!" Artemis yells at him. They laugh. "Alright, let's do this." She says gathering the snow at her boots and they start to get into a snowball fight.
"HEY Kon!" Roy waves him over as he continues to blow his arctic breath. He turns over to Roy. "Freeze the lake!" he points to the water.
"Ok, I'll try." Kon says as he stands over the lake and blows.
"You did it!"
"I did it!"
"HEY EVERYONE!" Roy yells out. "Skating lake!" they stop the snow ball fight and Zatanna says some magic words they all get some ice skates.
"Oh, man, this is cool!" Zatanna says ice skating like a pro.
"Very." Megan says as she twirls in the lake with her own clothes.
Wally skates past them. "Whee!" he yells out happy.
"Check me out! I'll try." Artemis says getting in the frozen lake a bit slow.
"Everyone look! It's Superboy! He made the park all frozen."
They run to the park as Superboy flies up and starts blowing out cold air making it snow more so that it wouldn't melt.
…
"We are here in Metropolis were our favorite hero-Superboy has frozen everything. That's right folks it's snowing in 115 degree weather. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be laying in the snow. And if you are watching this I have a question why are you watching this when you could be here."
The camera turns to the adults and kids all playing in the snow.
…August
"Got your bag?"
"Yeah I got it." Mike says as he puts his lugged on the wheels then sees his name on a piece of mail. "Oh wait hold on."
"No, Mike we have to go, we're going to hit traffic."
Mike opens his mail. "OH no." he says as soon as he starts to read it.
"Ready for Metropolis?" he asks him.
"I wrote the date down wrong."
"What date?"
"This is from Stanford. My orientation is Saturday."
"Right, next Saturday."
"No, this Saturday."
"No, next Saturday."
"No, this Saturday." Mike tells him again putting down his luggage and walks to his Stanford folder which had everything he needed for the trip.
"But today's Thursday. That means we have no-"
"I have to be at school the day after tomorrow."
"But…no! We had a free week. I had it all scheduled out."
"Well, I wrote the date down wrong."
"Why would you do that?"
"I don't know."
"You never write the date down wrong."
"Well, I wrote it down and I wrote it down wrong."
"We were supposed to have a week." Conner complains.
"Well, we don't." Mike snaps as him as he looks at the plane ticket that he had already booked early on and sighs angry putting it down on the table. "Conner." He hugs him.
"This isn't fair."
"This sucks."
"This totally sucks."
"Well, I'm not ready." Mike says pulling away from Conner. "I haven't packed. I have things I need to get. We were supposed to go to Metropolis and see the museums and the park maybe get a picture of Superman and-"
"Ok, listen, calm down. We just need to revise our plan."
"We were supposed to have a week."
"Ok, today we stay home and pack. Tomorrow we get up early. We'll get all the stuff you need, and that will give us time to watch at least a movie or something. We'll still have a partial day and a great night of sex."
"Chinese." Mike blurts out.
Conner blinks several times. "What?" he asks.
"Food. Order it. Go."
"No, no time for full sentences!"
"Right."
"Ordering!"
…
"Michael! Let's go!"
"Alright!" Mike yells back from his room.
Both Conner and Mike stand up from the bed quickly, they got their underwear and jeans back on, Conner fiddling with his belt, fumbling around, making the buckle jingle while Mike put his shirt on.
"That was good." Conner says.
"Yeah."
"A final good bye."
"Yeah."
"Shouldn't you shower?"
"No I'll be fine."
"Ok."
Mike sits back down on the bed. "I don't think…I can do this."
"Do what?"
"Leave, I don't want to leave."
"Mike." Conner says sitting down with him. Conner put his hand on his thigh and he immediately covered it with his, sliding his fingers between Conner's. "It's going to be ok."
"Yeah?" Mike asks him, Conner nods. "I don't get it."
"What?"
"How can you be so okay with everything? Ever since I've told you that I'm leaving, you're just all busy with shopping and packing, and you seem fine with it."
Conner sighs. "It's too soon."
"What?
"If I stop to think about you leaving now, I'm gonna fall apart. We don't have time left. It's too soon."
"I can stay."
"No."
"What if you're my soul mate? And I'm just leaving you."
"Soul mate? You gotta be kidding me with this crap, Mike. Nobody has just one soul mate. That'd be such a dumb system." Conner says to him. "You deserve better. And there is more than one soul mate for everyone... and someone like you? There'd be a line out the door as soon as word got out."
"I should go."
"Yeah let's go."
"No, I can't leave with you, I can't…ok. Go home."
"Ok." Conner says not wanting to push him.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Mike goes to kiss him but instead ends up hugging him tight, Conner hugs him back. Mike sighs and pulls away from Conner walking out of his room.
...Oblivion Bar
Kon takes a shot of whiskey and swallows as more shots are lined up next to another six in a row. "I knew it was coming, I knew we were going to break up and it still hurts a lot, a lot, a lot!"
"You're yelling." Blue devil says to him, as he dries a glass of beer.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I don't like to yell. I'm not a yeller." Kon says to him taking shot. "He is the only steady relationship I have had. Ever!"
"You're yelling again."
"I like women, I love them. The only relationship I have with a woman broken up with me after sex."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, ouch." Kon says to him. "I loved her." he pauses. "Thought I did, I loved him, I do love him. He made me love him and then he left. I made him leave."
"Wait him?" Blue Devil says paying attention.
"Yeah him." Kon says and takes a shot, then another and another.
"Take it slow."
"This is slow." Kon says. "I can drink at super speed, now speed it up Blue."
Blue Devil pours another drink for him, refiling his shots, Kon takes it and swallows. Blue Devil looks at him. "Are you even 21?" he asks.
Kon looks at him. "I can give you an aneurysm." He says a bit slurred, Blue devil refills the shots with whiskey. "Atta boy." He tells him.
…Mount Justice
"How do you feel?"
Kon throws up for the 20th time. "Awesome."
"Water?" Roy asks with a water bottle as Kon lays down on the floor.
"Thanks for picking me up."
"I'm your person."
"It wasn't my fault, it was him. He was all, let's be in a relationship it'll be fun."
Roy slides down on the floor. "Are you even 21?" he asks him.
"I'm gonna throw up again." Kon says as he sits up and leans on the toilet, Roy stands up. Kon breaths heavy. "No wait…false alarm."
"What's going on?" Superman asks as he looks at them.
"Stupid boys and stupid relationships and stupid boys in relationships." Kon says to him.
"What?...Happen?" Superman asks as he looks at Kon a little confused. "Is he drunk?"
"Hangover."
"Are you kidding me!?"
"Why is the big blue blob yelling at me?" Kon asks as he sits on his knees look up exhausted.
"A little drunk." Roy adds.
"How do you feel?" Superman asks him.
Kon moves over as he lays his legs down sitting up on the stall looking straight ahead at the showers. "I feel empty."
"Three hours of vomiting will do that to you." Roy says leaning on the other side of the stall.
"No, just empty."
Superman looks at Roy. "Mike left yesterday." Roy says to him explain.
"Oh." Superman gets down on his knee. "Kon it'll get better." He says as he puts his hand on his shoulder, the looks up at Roy.
"He's your clone." Roy shrugs. "Here." He says handing him the water bottle. "Tell him to hydrate."
…
Farewell Mike.
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