Chapter Text
Used parts of The World is beautiful by Anru with my friend's permission. As well as a lot of others ideas.
I decided to rewrite this. Because I was r at her unhappy with the original chapter. And it warped into this more grand one shot of season two with aspects of the other seasons mixed in.
M'gann's problem I noticed seems to consistently a disrespect of Conner's agency. The mind violation being the largest example of that. Though it's again repeated with her lack of simply telling him the truth in s3. So that's the direction I went with her toxicity. Superboy himself plays down what she did to everyone who would listen. And it spiraled from there.
Midnight Sun
I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry," M'gann repeated like a mantra.
Conner blinked away stars as he picked himself up from the floor of her bedroom. His head was pounding from the effects of the unexpected psychic attack she had just unleashed. He forcefully pushed away the false memory she had tried to implant to replace the past few minutes away, vanishing from his mind as quickly as it entered.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she continued. The martian made herself as small possible while she clutched her arms tightly,. Considering the vast range of her power set, it was a good possibility she had actually shrunk. "It was an accident! I swear, Conner. I didn't mean to." Tears were falling freely from the green girl now. "You have to believe me. I love you. You know that, right?"
Conner did know that.
He just knew at that moment it didn't matter anymore.
He took Sphere as far as he could go before he found himself at his home away from home at Smallville.
Sneaking into his designated room, his adoptive parents sleeping soundly away, he collapsed on his bed as the past few hours washed over him.
He had known M'gann had been getting more and more reckless with her ability. Every other day had been a new argument over the subject.
They had never seen eye to eye on her abilities. His past wouldn't allow him otherwise. They impressed him for sure. She was the most powerful psychic he had ever met. How could she not?
But when he first met her. She had at least tried to respect boundaries. She was clumsy but learning and her touch was kind.
A far cry from all the other psychics he had encountered. Cadmus, Lex, Psimon, monsters who forced themselves onto him without respecting his agency. To them he was just a weapon they were directing. M'gann cared about the sanctity of everyone. Even her enemies.
She was different.
She had been different.
He wasn't quite sure when it changed. When Marie died? When Jason died? When Tula died? When Kaldur left?
Maybe it just happened so slowly that he didn't notice.
But she stopped caring about people. She got lazier, rougher with her abilities. She Nightwing and the others never questioned it. Why would they? She was getting results.
But they didn't understand. All he could see in her victims was himself. Overpowered by a psychic who didn't think his thoughts had any worth.
She was supposed to be better.
And so they argued again and again for her to stop misusing her powers. Neither giving an inch. The Cold War between them growing colder and colder with each mission.
But even so he had never—never thought she was capable of entering his mind.
He had thought that at the very least, despite all their problems, that he would be her line in the sand.
What a idiot he had been to think that?
What exactly was he supposed to do now? Go back to the mountain? To the bed they once shared? That was impossible.
He couldn't even go back to the team.
The idea of sharing a mind link with her was unthinkable now. He would have to wonder if she would try to slip in through his defenses again. If she had done so before and he hadn't caught her. So many what ifs that would endanger any mission they would share. The idea of him feeling her mind touch which was so pleasant before, so distinctly different than any other psychic he encountered had suddenly turned vile.
He—He had to leave.
It had been close to a week since he left the mountain to crash on the farm. Ma and Pa hadn't asked questions and he hadn't been ready to give answers.
So Clark was naturally the first person who contacted him.
He was in the middle of milking a cow, when Superman descended in all his costumes glory.
"Hey."
"Hey," he repeated listlessly keeping his eye on the task in front of him.
"Are you okay?" he attempted again.
"Fantastic."
"Conner…."
"Get the hint, Clark," he said turning his head to face him.
Clark put his hands up in surrender. Before the two finished his chores in silence.
"You had a lot of people worried, you know. You just up and vanished. If Ma didn't call me. We would have done a search party."
He doubted it.
He had been ignoring his phone since that night. What M'gann had told the others about the break up, he doesn't know. But the series of angry texts by the majority of his teammates that he was sent told him it wasn't positive.
After all the sad truth was excluding Dick, Wally and that traitor Kaldur. All of his friends were mostly hers to begin with and he was just the tagalong. Beast Boy was her brother. Even his conversations with Artemis without involving M'gann could be counted on one hand.
"Sorry."
"I mean she was your first—only girlfriend. It's going to be rough. I get it." Clark said supportively.
But he didn't.
No one did.
"She was the first person who ever told me they loved me," he corrected.
Clark flinched.
They rarely spoke about his first six months. Clark had tried his best to apologize and Conner did his best to move past it. Settling into the strange not quite father not quite brother relationship that they had. But times like this how could he compare his relationship to a simple break up.
M'gann was his first everything.
"Conner," he said hesitantly. "You—You know I do right? That I love you."
"Yeah, I know," he said waving him off. "I just thought this entire time that at least her. At least her love would be unconditional. How stupid was I?"
"It's not stupid to think that! You deserve to be loved just like everyone else!" Clark defended. "I'm just sorry she—we just keep letting you down don't we? You deserve so much better."
Conner swallowed thickly, Clark's words stinging him like kryptonite. He wrapped his arms around himself.
He couldn't do this anymore.