To be honest, being grounded for a month wasn't all that bad. Yeah, he wasn't allowed out after school hours and had to double down on his chores, but Jonathan figured that if he took his mind off of being the only superpowered teen in the world (not literally) that wasn't a part of team up then it would just fade away. Probably wasn't going to work but what could you do?

What he did do however was take up a new hobby which was knitting — something that his Nana Martha would always let him do whenever he spent the weekend at his grandparents' farm. Jonathan, no offence, didn't really care for it but made an effort for his grandmother whose face of joy made him feel guilty of not enjoying it as much. However, none of those hours went to waste as he went to work; albeit it took a lot of skill that he even had to try over and over again. But he wasn't going to give up with this, he promised to himself.

The start of Jonathan's free period was indicated by the bell that rung across the entire campus of Gotham Academy — why he had to go to a whole other city just for school, he still didn't fully agree with. Leaving his state school in Metropolis for a place where egos were practically cultured to the extreme was seen as a "chance for you to do anything you want", quoted by his mom. Of course, moving to school that was "right around the corner" didn't sit well with him at first but at least he knew people — two to be exact.

Jonathan was being cautious in his movement as he had to make sure nobody was following him — not like a lot of people were friendly to him either. He tightened the handles on his bulging bag and slipped through the scarcely full hallways, making his way up the staircase that led to the roof. The one place that he had for privacy, where he could be himself by himself. The perfect spot.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself with relief that he could finally go back to what he was doing for the past four days. "Time to start working on you again. Man, was Dr Burnard's English class nearly brain-rotting. Could've literally bored us to death…"

He unzipped his bag that struggled to hold its contents and made sure nothing spilled out all over the place — so naturally it did. Jonathan groaned in frustration as books as well as needle threads and bits of fabric burst from his bag seemingly everywhere, prompting him to grab everything like there was a crowd watching. Although all those bits and pieces were important, it was what took up most of the space in his bag that he took extra precaution to avoid even the littlest smudge.

Jonathan look at the unfinished product with pride as he took half of it out just to admire it. Incomplete but in his eyes soon to be, Jonathan held what was a makeshift costume (or uniform, uniform sound more official and cooler) made from one of spare hoodies that he snagged from the Theatre department and half a Superman logo that was not fully stitched on yet. But that wasn't the whole thing: attached to the hoodie was a pair of black jeans (dyed as much as he could to make them not look like jeans) just to finished the entire look. Of course, it wasn't done just yet but even just looking at what he did so far was enough to—

"Didn't take you for a craftsmen, Kent," a voice of nonchalance spoke from just behind Jonathan's ear. He leapt across his unfinished costume like it was under fire from a rain of bullets and did his best to cover. How he couldn't hear anybody even walk in the hallway bellow was beyond him until he realised who was present.

"Dick, you jerk! You can't just sneak up on people like that," Jonathan snapped towards his best friend, one whose haughty grin did nothing but get Jonathan riled up even more. Dick Grayson, another who was Gotham-bred but a lot more privileged. Who couldn't be when you were the son of Bruce Wayne? Dick's hair was neatly combed compared to Jon's tussled locks but sported blue eyes not dissimilar to Jon's own. His uniform was also tidy which contrasted Jon's more 'relaxed' look with an unbuttoned collar and untucked shirt. Although he was pretty short (Jon wasn't much taller), Jon knew that his small stature masked what was a very… different person to say the very least.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it," Dick replied as he leaned against the edge of the border, "You get trained to the bone about stealth and it just sticks with you. It just happens."

"Don't count yourself so lucky next time because I'll be on the lookout. Anyway, didn't you already have your free period? This is like the third day in a row that you're skipping classes."

"What can I say, I'm too cool for school," Dick joked before he saw Jon raise his eyebrow at him. "Uh, Barbara's still not talking to me," he continued, now sheepish.

All that Jon could do was chuckle as he sat near his friend with his back against the wall, drawing out his costume and seeing equipment. "She was pretty mad, huh? You should've seen her when we went to D.C. dude, she wanted to have your head on a stick. Dick Grayson with the disappearing act strikes once again."

"Ahh, she'll get over it… hopefully. She will, won't she?" Jon looked up and saw the slight despair in his eyes and shrugged as he started on sewing his costume. "Still working on that, huh?"

"Yup…" Jon mumbled without taking his eyes off the needle. "I couldn't do it at home anymore because my parents kept on bursting into my room too much. Does Mr Wayne ever go into your room without knowing that you need privacy?"

Dick looked up to the clear sky and thought on it for a second and answered, "Yeah, but that's when it's time to suit up. Plus, it's not like I hide anything from him for me to be on his 'hit-list'," he added with gestures.

"I'm not hiding anything really, I'm just… whatever. So… how's your team doing?"

"Dude, I can't tell you anything about it anymore. I've already revealed way too much."

"Come on, Dick," pleaded Jonathan as he set his costume on his lap. "It's already bad enough that I'm suffering out here watching you guys and now I can't even get a look in?"

"I'm sorry, Batman's orders," said Dick sternly, and then he sighed. "Look, Jon… I get why you're doing all of this: asking me what's going on all the time; even when you're making this. Trust me, I more than anybody in the world would've wanted you on the team but… if your own dad who's Superman said that you're not ready, then…"

Another one that joined the brigade. Jonathan couldn't understand why people thought that he was still a little kid. He had powers now — yeah, maybe his durability was shaky and he couldn't float more than a foot off the ground but he was trying. He really was trying but nobody would give him a chance, not even his best friend.

"Just forget it," Jon said quietly as he returned to his stitching again. In the awkward air between the two, Jon gritted his teeth when he forced the needle too hard against his thumb, causing it to snap in two. "Stupid needle and super skin…"

"I'm gonna get into so much trouble for this…" Jon heard Dick's rambling but didn't pay attention until he felt a hand on his shoulder along with seeing from the corner of his eye Dick crouching down to his level. "Now I'm not allowed to say anything that's going on behind the scenes but… I think I can get you a way into the team."

"What?! No way, really?!?" beamed Jon. "I mean — I just wanted to know what you guys were up to but to be in the team?! Dude, this is amazing—!"

Slapping his hand over Jon's mouth, Dick told him to hush and closed in. "But only on one condition: you do exactly as I say. No talking back, no detracting from the mission, none of that, capesh?" Jon nodded, more than enthused as Dick removed his hand. He couldn't believe that this was about to happen. "Now listen closely: the "big man" told me that he's gonna be out of Gotham for a few days and gave me something that he was working on. I could do it on my own but this will be a good chance to show everybody what you got."

"Or an excuse to never let me do anything other than school," Jon said casually.

"A realist — I like that. Meet me tonight at… the top of the Daily Planet and—"

"Wait, wait wait — tonight?!" spluttered Jonathan as he continued nervously, "That's so quick, I mean — how am I supposed to leave the apartment when both of my parents are gonna be watching me like a hawk?!"

Dick merely smirked and told him, "Not to worry. Bruce and your old man are doing League business and your mom is gonna be tired when she comes back home at seven twenty-five precisely."

"It's a little weird that you know all of that —"

"No talking back! You want to be a part of the team, don't you? Meet me tonight at the Planet and make you've got that ready to go," Dick pointed to the unfinished costume. "The things I do for you… You owe me big time."

Jon sprung up to his feet in jubilation and lifted Dick in the air with absolute ease above his head. "This is gonna be awesome!! I promise I won't let you down — oh, wait you want me to let you down, hold on."

The shorter boy smoothed his crumpled uniform in annoyance and jested that he was having second thoughts. Laughing it off, Jon bent down to fold his costume back into his bag along with everything else, feeling like he was about to burst into a joyous explosion of outrageous proportions. Sure, he had to sneak out… again but this felt like it was his only door to who he really was. It was going to be tough but he could feel it in his bones that he was ready — more than ready. He just needed that one person to have faith in him and they did.

Jon took in the warmth of the sun as the bell rang for the end of his free period, feeling invigorated by it. He knew that's where the source of his powers came from but he never quite felt it like he did now. He was going to do it. He was going to become a hero, just like his best friend, just like his dad…

"I'm gonna be a hero…"