Author's note: This one is going to take a breather from the actual heroic aspects of Young Justice, and focus on M'gann, Superboy, and Desmond's civilian lives as students at Happy Harbor. Enjoy, review, favorite, and follow please!

Disclaimer: If you took Desmond out of this story, it would be produced by DC comics. I own none of it.

Chapter Six

First Class

Sunday flew by, however uneventful it may have been. The day had mostly consisted of Aqualad's return, and Desmond getting to know him better. The two got along well, and Desmond felt it important to regale the Atlantian about what had happened with Ambush Bug. Aqualad had been impressed by Desmond's triumph, and approved of 'Shifter' as well. Then he told the group how his time in Atlantis had been.

"My king has been making great strides to bring peace to warring cities," he explained. "He wished for me to make a few appearances, shake a few hands, and explain how things on the surface world are handled. I used the peace negotiations taking place in Taipei as an example." Desmond wasn't sure what that was, exactly, so Robin quickly gave him a crash course so he could stay with the conversation. After that, the team just spent some time lounging around the cave. There were no alerts requiring them, and it had rained all day, so there was no point going outside. The sun set that night had been a relief, really.

The next morning Desmond was woken by his alarm. He turned it off, got out of bed, and went to put on some clothes. He chose a red shirt, and a pair of jeans. Hopefully I won't need to fight any villains, he thought to himself, slipping on the slightly tight pants. They wouldn't offer much mobility. Leaving his room, he walked into the Mission room. He found Superboy and Miss Martian there, as he had expected. Surprisingly, though, they were joined by Kaldur, Martian Manhunter, and Red Tornado. Desmond joined his "classmates" in a straight line. Miss Martian was wearing that same pink and white combo, and Superboy was wearing his regular shirt, but folded inside out, accompanied by a dark jacket.

"Morning," said Desmond, yawning slightly. "We off to school, or what?" Superboy rubbed sleep out of his eyes, but M'gann seemed like she'd been drinking coffee since four in the morning.

"Not yet," she said excitedly. "Superboy and I still need to think of civilian names. Well, actually, just Superboy." With that, M'gann changed her skin tone to Caucasian. "Call me, Megan Morse!" Desmond nodded, then looked to Superboy.

"What about you?" he asked. "I'm sticking with Desmond, by the way." Superboy shrugged.

"Hadn't given it much thought," he admitted. He seemed to wrack his brain for a minute, when M'gann—or, Megan—floated up, with a finger raised in order to interject.

"I've always like Conner," she offered. Superboy looked at her, then looked at Desmond, then back at M'gann. He shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" he said. M'gann smiled warmly, as if this gave her some weird sort of pleasure. "I'll need a last name, too." Superboy/Conner reminded everyone.

"What about… Kent?" offered Martian Manhunter. Desmond raised an eyebrow, wondering where the Martian had come up with that name on the spot. But Megan seemed to know.

"Oh, in memory of Kent Nelson," she said. "That's really nice." Now Desmond understood. Another part of what had happened on Sunday was the team filling him in on some of the missions they had already been on. He'd heard all about the old magician, the helmet of Nabu, the whole enchilada. Martian Manhunter had a look as if there was something that his niece wasn't fully understanding, but instead just said;

"Uh… yes. For Kent Nelson."

"I'd be honored, I guess," said the newly named Conner Kent. Then, with a few nods and wishes of luck, the three friends were off. "Wait, shouldn't I be Conner Nelson?"

XxXxX

Desmond should have known things wouldn't go well, but he didn't know things would go wrong so soon. The three had just arrived at the school, waves of students were still filing in and out of doors. Conner, Megan, and Desmond were just trying to make their way inside. Suddenly, a short boy on a skateboard came barreling towards them. Conner, without thinking, grabbed the boy by his jacket, and hoisted him high into the air.

"Dude?" questioned both Desmond and the poor boy simultaneously. Conner snarled, and poked the boy in the chest.

"Explain this," he said, not moving his finger from the boy's body. Desmond looked to see what Conner was pointing at, and realized the boy was wearing a shirt with the letter 'M' on it, but stylized like the Superman shield. Suddenly, a deep voice came from behind them.

"What's your problem," the three new students looked to find the source of the voice. A large African American student, wearing a Superman shirt (with the actual Superman shield) was staring at Conner. "But my man Marvin down." He ordered.

"I… I don't think he likes my shirt," stammered the boy, Marvin. Superboy's eyes scanned the crowd of students who had gathered, possibly expecting a fight. He quickly realized how many of them were wearing shirts that bore the symbol of a League member; on boy had a Flash T-shirt, one had a Green Lantern Hoodie.

"Your shirt's fine," Conner grumbled, begrudgingly putting the small boy down. "Everyone's shirt is fine." M'gann quickly tried to cover for Superboy's little scene.

"Hi," she offered. "We're new. I'm Megan Morse, this is Conner Kent, and Desmond Marigold." The comment didn't help, however, as Conner strode over to the student that had called him out. They had a small stare down for a second, and Desmond was sure it would have escalated to a full out brawl, had someone not snapped their fingers. Everyone looked for the source of the sound. It was in a thin man in a black jacket, probably a teacher.

"Alright, time to get to homeroom, gang," he said. The students exchanged some glances, and began filing inside. As the large boy walked past Conner, he bumped his shoulder into him, clearly on purpose. Conner spun to face the boy, and gritted his teeth, but a stern look from Miss Martian told him to check himself.

"Dude," interjected Desmond, as more and more students began walking away. "I know you aren't used to popular culture, what with being in a pod for your whole life, but for teenagers, the League is what's cool. There's going to be a lot of Superman merchandise, so you'll need to learn and deal." The conversation died down as two students walked over, a girl in a cheerleading uniform, and the skateboarder who Conner had harassed not two minutes ago.

"Hi, I'm Wendy," said the girl. She had short black hair. "I was new last year, so I know how hard it is to fit in. But you look like instant Bumblebee Material to me." This was met with quizzical looks from the three young heroes, so Wendy explained. "Cheerleaders. The Bumblebees. Tryouts are after school." Conner and Desmond both rolled their eyes, but Megan couldn't have looked happier.

"Thanks, I'll be there," she said. And then they walked off together. Just like that M'gann M'orzz, the Martian, had made an earth friend. That was more than one could say for the human or the Kryptonian. But the conversation wasn't over yet, as the boy, Marvin, walked up. He quickly caught Conner by the chest.

"Dude," he started, sounding slightly like Kid Flash. "Facing down Mal Duncan. Fierce! Not too bright, but fierce." He walked away as Desmond stifled a chuckle.

"Come on, man, let's get to homeroom," he said, patting Conner on the shoulder. The big guy had finally calmed down, but was being pretty silent. Batman had arranged their schedules, and, conveniently they had all the same classes together. From homeroom they went to English, then history. This was followed by gym (the only time that Megan would be separate from Desmond and Conner) which was followed by a lunch period. The day finished off with Spanish (which none of them really cared about, but the school required a foreign language class) Geometry, and finally, Biology. The Biology class was two periods, and every day (except Wednesdays, their lab days) this would end up being a free period. Batman wanted to get them back to Mount Justice as soon as possible. This didn't seem like it would be the case, however, if Megan really did join the cheerleaders. This was, currently, the topic of conversation in the back of the homeroom.

"Megan," whispered Desmond. "You're not seriously going to join the cheerleading team, are you?" Conner looked at their Martian friend expectantly. Megan avoided their gazes.

"Uh… yeah, I was thinking about it," she mumbled. "If I made the team, that is. Why, don't you think I should?" The way she said it made Desmond feel like one wrong word could set her off on a crying spree. Apparently this meant a lot to her. Desmond was going to respond, but Conner saved him the trouble.

"Of course you should," he said. Desmond and Conner both agreed she shouldn't, but Conner didn't want to tell her that. "But it might really eat into your time with…" he looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. "With Young Justice." Megan looked like she was weighing the options out in her head. Then she smacked herself in the forehead.

"Hello, Megan!" she chimed. Her usual (somewhat annoying) catchphrase. "I'll join the team, and if you guys need me, I'll call in sick or something. They'll never know." Conner looked like he had an argument, but Desmond decided that Megan was right.

"Yeah," he mused. "That would work. I'm proud of you, Miss M, you're starting to sound more like a regular student every minute." She smiled, and returned her attention to the front of the class."

XxXxX

English went by without a hitch. In a surprising turn of events, the Kryptonian and the Martian seemed to know a lot more about the English language than the human. In Desmond's defense, one had been studying earth language for her whole life, and the other had been force fed rapid fire information. After English, the three friends stood in the hallway where the locker rooms were situated. There were two gyms, each accessible through their respective locker room. The friends leaned in close.

"Okay," he said. "I know you know a lot about Earth culture, but they might do some things in your class you aren't familiar with. I think it's best if you make a mental link for the three of us now, just in case." She nodded, and in a moment, thought a quick message to the boys.

Have fun, she messaged, the ran off to her locker room. Desmond patted Conner on the shoulder.

"Come on big guy," he said, as they walked to their locker room. "Let's get changed." The locker room was hot and sweaty, and considering it was full of dudes, that was not a good thing. Conner and Desmond made sure to get lockers directly next to each other, and quickly changed into their gym clothes. Conner was less than happy to change out of his usual outfit, but Desmond convinced him it was necessary. Once they were changed, they walked into the large gymnasium that they would spend the majority of their gym classes in. After a few "get to know you" activities (which Conner was just thrilled about) they began their first game. Dodge ball.

"Alright, bud," Desmond whispered to Conner, who had been staring at one of the red rubber balls for a while, wondering what to do with it. "You'll want to throw that at the other side. Not too hard though, so we don't give away your powers. If they hit you, you're out. If that happens, someone will need to catch a ball thrown at them, and then you can get back in. If they catch one of the balls you throw, you're out. If you catch one of their balls, they're out, and you pick someone on our team to being back in. Got it?" Conner nodded, just as Megan's voice appeared in their heads.

Hey Des, she started. Can you explain dodge ball? Desmond groaned, and was about to explain, when Conner cut him off.

Throw balls, catch balls, just don't get hit, he said. Desmond looked at him, and he grinned. "Got it, right?" he asked. Desmond nodded.

Couldn't have said it better myself, he confirmed to M'gann. She thanked the boys, and they were separate again. The coach blew his whistle, and the game began. Desmond and Conner were good; dodging a ball here and there. Suddenly, a ball sailed through the air, right at Conner's head. Conner! Desmond mentally alerted him. He spun, grabbed the ball, and flung it across the room. it hit another boy square in the stomach, sending him to the ground. Conner had gotten two people out in less than fifteen seconds. He turned to Desmond and smiled cheekily.

"I like this game."

So wasn't that fun? Soon they'll get back to the action, but I really wanted to throw that in there. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, a special thanks to all of you that have read this and the few that have followed it or added it to your favorites. Keep reading!