trans_9 | Coping at Ke'e Beach

So, what do you do when you find out you're going to die? Kon's seen how thrown Kal is from his death--but Kal comes back. Even if he doesn't believe it now, Kon knows this, and he knows that he's not likely to have the same thing happen to him. He's not Kal. The world doesn't need him like it needs Kal, so why would he come back?

Heh. The Good Ship Stacy: two good-as-dead Super-guys enter, one super-guy leaves.

...Okay, that's kinda not funny.

Superboy doesn't know if he can take his mentor's tack of playing it by ear and trying his best to help everyone else. He doesn't know if he can get over the whole feeling lost part of it to get to what he needs to do, and just deal with their situation here.

Even after all his talk to Tim of not avoiding people, Kon deals at first by avoiding the others. But it's just for a bit, just a little while, not like all that time he spent on the farm, hiding, after Luthor made him hurt everyone, and the difference is, he's not hiding from coping, or repressing, this is how he copes. He just doesn't like people to see the initial anger--and it is anger, that he expresses by punching robots in the Sensorium until his knuckles start to bleed.

Heh, and that leads to his other problem. Not enough sunlight. The stuff in the Sensoriums feels like the real deal, but it's obviously not, if he can't process it so that his powers stay at full super-levels, and the light that Will kid's been conjuring up for him is weak. He's going on empty now. He can be hurt.

And it just drives it home even more exactly how...mortal he is.

But if anyone comes looking for him and poke their head in the Sensorium, they'll find him not punching robots or moping and brooding. If they peek in, they'll see him sitting on a rock on a beach bathed in the glow of a Hawaiian sunset. He hasn't availed himself of holographic clothes, but his plantsuit is stripped down to his waist, and he's writing things on one of the media pads from the Media Library, a thoughtful look on his face.

"--Have I ever been sledding? No. Better put that on there..."

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression... is he at acceptance already? Maybe his general attitude of rocketing through his life at warp speed is benefiting him for once.

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"Like build a snow fort. I lived on Hawaii and then on a farm in Kansas, where you were too busy worrying about getting the cows out of the snow, so that just kinda never happened." He goes on, "I'd add 'build a treehouse' but we had the old Justice League headquarters as our base and there really isn't a cooler treehouse than that."

"I've never built a snow fort either, actually." Dean replies. "Or built a treehouse, or moved cows outta the snow. Or even been to Hawaii."

Which will never happen, most likely, considering he hates flying.

"Pfft. What, did you get grown in a tube, too?"

Dean snorts. "Nah, just had a helluva childhood."

"I kinda always wondered what those were like," Kon says thoughtfully. "Like, being a little kid."

He doesn't sound sad about it, just intensely curious.

Dean folds his arms. "Yeah. Me too, actually. Never was much of a little kid."

"I never even got to be a kid at all. I was artificially aged up to a teenager before I broke free."

"You tryin' to challenge me in who's life was worse, kiddo?" Dean jokes.

Kon snorts.

"No way, my life's been great," he says with a genuine grin. "I mean, come on, I've got superpowers, and I get to wear the S and fight bad guys all the time. I've been to outer space--I've been to the future. I've helped saved the world by beating aliens at baseball, even. I've got great friends, and I sort of picked up family along the way, even if I didn't start with any. I've got a girlfriend who's an Amazon--kinda literally--and is a total hottie. I mean, we're talking a babe and a half. Forget being a ten, she's a twenty. Really smart, too. And funny."

He looks back to his list, and the smile doesn't reach his eyes as much.

"There's just...a lot I still wanna do. That I never got to do."

He looks back up.

"Haven't you ever looked back and just...wished you could do the stuff you missed out on?"

Dean's got a grin in return through most of Kon's explanation. But he can't help but think, lucky guy, getting to do all of those things and be seen as a hero. To have a girlfriend and not a series of one night stands. Dean could be jealous, but what's the point?

And Dean's got Sam, which, in his opinion, outweighs the bad in most situations. So it's not all bad.

"No, man, I get what you're sayin'. There are tons of things I wish I coulda done. I never had the time. Wasn't ever a kid, y'know. Raised as a solider." Dean's still grinning, though. "Sounds like we're kinda in the same boat, huh?"

"Yeah." His grin widens. "Know what I really need to do? I need to get go to a bar and get ripped at some point."

He holds up his list.

"See? That's number 4."

Dean laughs. "Oh, man, count me in. I need me some booze."

Boy, he isn't kidding.

"I drank before, but it was seriously, like, only one time, 'cause, y'know, the mentors get all cranky if we do anything irresponsible," Kon says, leaning back on the rock some and kicking his feet.

"We threw the party in the Fortress of Solitude, and invited all the young heroes and sidekicks and stuff, but Robin and I were half-freaking out about being caught by Superman the whole time, so I didn't drink enough to get drunk."

He snorts and laughs, remembering something.

"Batgirl did. Total lightweight."

"God forbid a bunch of teenagers have fun," Dean replies to that, rolling his eyes. He may be thirty, but Dean knows exactly how the whole rebellious teenager thing works. Not that his dad was ever home enough to notice the drinking and drugs and cigarettes (just once, the last one, because Dean couldn't afford screwed up lungs).

"So I am talking to Superboy. Figured as much." Dean chuckles. "And I thought I'd seen everything."

Dean does raise an eyebrow, though. "Batgirl's a lightweight? Never woulda guessed."

"The one and only," he says to the Superboy bit. "And the second Batgirl. First one could probably drink you under a table."

He's still grinning. "They're not that bad about letting us have fun, but lives on the line and all that. They're always pushing us to be better. Not really in a bad way."

"Yeah? I'd like to see her try." Dean says, taking it as a challenge.

"Lucky you." He tries really hard not to sound bitter at that, and the permanent cheeky grin he's got helps.

"Eh, the kinda life guys like us live, you get a little, you lose a lot."

Kon looks out at the ocean at that one.

Mentors who croak. Girlfriends who croak. Friends who croak...

"Got that right." Dean agrees, stretching slightly. "But the stuff we do got is worth it."

Innocent people saved, the world kept together, family who haven't died... those are worth the trouble, even if Dean pretends they aren't.

"Like helping people?"

Dean rolls his eyes, but grins. "Yeah. Like helping people. It's my job, you know. Not that I have superpowers, but."

Coping at Ke'e Beach

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