Chapter Text
The whole situation starts out normal. Well, normal for them.
Because what’s more normal than Superman visiting Lex at his current penthouse to stare him down through the window and lecture about Justice (yes, with a capital J) after defeating another batch of Lex’s goons?
Yep. Normal.
And these days, normal also includes any Supers in Metropolis floating behind Superman in a lil’ chorus of familial solidarity. It still blows Kon’s mind that he’s among that troupe now.
Luthor looks his way and Kon feels his whole body go still. Lex frowns. Just… frowns. No knowing smirk. No calculated tap of his temple. Just a confused lil’ frown. It hits Kon like a bolt of lighting.
He doesn’t know me.
The thought is so freeing, so exhilarating that it takes everything he has to stay still and not immediately start zipping through the sky in victorious loops.
Lex Luthor doesn’t have a friggin’ clue who I am!
Clark spares him a glance, clearly realizing that something has just happened, but he keeps his poker face as he wraps up his lecture.
Ten minutes later, back at the Lane-Kent apartment, Clark is giving a Jon a hug as the kid heads out to a movie with friends.
Twelve minutes later, he’s put the war world twins to bed.
Fifteen minutes later, they are alone, with Lois and Kara not-so-subtly claiming the living room for “girl time” so that he and Clark can talk in the kitchen.
Clark gets the ball rolling with “I’m sorry.”
Kon starts in confusion. “Why?”
Clark busies his hands with Ma’s homemade cocoa recipe. “When I took all of you with me to confront him, I didn’t think about how it would make you feel.”
“I feel great?”
“You… do?”
They stare at each other for a solid two seconds before Clark sets a saucepan of milk on the burner and speaks again. “I guess I thought with Lex being involved with your… creation… you might have some mixed feelings about him.”
Kon bites his lip. “There was a time I did. There was a time I tried to find some good in him because I was so scared it was the only way to prove that he hadn’t left some kind of inherent evil inside of me.”
Clark reaches out, placing a hand on his shoulder. Clark’s been doing that a lot in this timeline. It’s awesome and weird and Kon 100% suspects that it’s due to his dad-hood.
Clark speaks softly, “You’re not evil, Conner. You’re so far from—”
“Yeah, I know.” Kon softens the interruption with a grin. He watches Clark’s hands as they mix the dry ingredients: cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, a dash of salt.
“You had some kind of reaction to him tonight. Clearly, I misread it, but care to clue me in?”
Kon nods. “He has no idea. Like, man, I can’t even tell you… Lex Luthor has No Idea who I am. That’s just… never been true. In my life. Ever. I’ve never known what it feels like until tonight. It’s fantastic.”
Clark’s expression only grows more worried, not less, as the milk begins to steam. “Conner. I don’t have a secret identity anymore. Anybody connected to me won’t stay a secret for long.”
Kon shugs. “I know. The guy’s as paranoid as a bat, and at least half as resourceful. He’s probably already figured out I’m a clone, and he’s probably three fourths of the way to figuring out he’s my human gene stabilizer.”
If it were Tim, or Bart, or Cassie in front of him… he’d just say ‘bio dad’. For the simplicity. And to convey how mixed up his feelings have been about all of it. But he’s not quite ready to unpack that with Clark. Not yet. Because if Lex is his dad, what does that say about Clark?
He can see gears turning in Clark’s head as he grabs The Syrup. Ma makes the stuff by the barrel and uses it in all her sweet stuff. She told Kon once that he was on the list of people in her will who would get the recipe after her passing.
Kon tries not to think about it. Who wants to think about their mom dying? Because that’s who she is to him.
Martha and Jonathan Kent are his parents in every way that matters. They didn’t raise him, exactly. He’s never been a child. But they are the people who have offered unconditional love and sanctuary when he’s been the most lost.
They are the ones who have called him “our boy” with a tenderness that has somehow outlived the collapse and reconstruction of time itself.
He hasn’t quite brought himself to explain that to Clark yet. Because Clark is clearly still trying to wrap his head around his parents remembering the existence of someone when he can’t.
It clearly drives the guy a bit crazy. Because Clark—especially this Clark—is dying to know all his family. And while Kon is flattered to be included, he doesn’t quite share Clark’s need to slap a label on everything.
When Jimmy Olsen asked who he was, Clark had referred to Kon as “cousin”. And while that’s not quite right? As if Kon would know— at least it worked. Kon doesn’t mind being “cousin” in public.
But Clark is still dancing around how they refer to each other in private. And okay… it’s awkward. But it’s not a bad awkward.
Just the kind of awkward you get when someone is eager, really cares, but doesn’t have all the answers. And that’ s okay.
Clark’s voice brings him back to the present, “I guess I’m still surprised. If you know Lex is going to pull up an uncomfortable amount of data on you so quickly… I would expect that to put a damper on any satisfaction that he doesn’t know you now.”
With the ingredients mixed and melted, Clark sets down a warm mug in front of the both of them.
Kon thinks about that eagerness again. That desire that Clark clearly has to being trusted and relied upon… it’s not as if Kon doesn’t know a thing or two about that himself. He takes a sip, and sets down the mug with a tiny ‘clack’ on the counter-top.
“When I was a Titan--yeah big guy, I was a Titan for a while too—I was going about my business one day Lex said a code-phrase that completely hijacked my mind and body. He sent me on a rampage. I broke Robin’s arm. I choked Wonder Girl and slammed her into an oak. I came within an inch of killing my friends. And you wanna know what he called me right before he deployed me? He called me ‘son’. He said it like he owned me.”
Clark’s hand is covering his mouth. Like maybe he’ll be sick. Or maybe he’ll just cry. So much for enjoying the cocoa.
Kon has to steal himself against crying in his own right. He’s probably given Clark a whole new nightmare to torment him in his sleep, but… he knows Clark wants Kon to confide in him. And now he’s committed.
“I snapped out of it eventually. It took a few pep talks from my teammates before I even dared step foot off the farm again. But for years I kept wondering… what if Lex trips that switch again? What if he has another code in back pocket and he’s just waiting until my guard is down? And some small part of me has always been wondering that…”
“Until today. When he didn’t know you.” Clark finishes.
“Yeah.”
Kon takes a deep breath. “He doesn’t know there’s any switch to flip. And even if he did, he wouldn’t know how because he’s no longer the guy who built it.”
Kon lets himself finish the exhale and across from him, Clark follows suit.
The sipping of cocoa resumes. They are down to the dregs when Kon speaks again.
“So how much of that do you think the ladies heard?”
“Sorry.” Lois and Kara’s voices chorus from the living room.
Clark offers a sympathetic shrug.
“S’okay,” Kon polishes off his drink. “The illusion of privacy was appreciated.”
He gives a goodnight hug to the three of them before taking flight towards Smallville.
Pa offers a wave as he arrives. Ma kisses his cheek. Krypto waits for him to get into bed before making little circles on top of him and settling into the space by his feet.
The night ends as it began. Normal.
And it’s fantastic.
- end. -