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Serling Roquette, super genius geneticist researcher at project CADMUS and Kon-El, Superboy, were on a mission.
A quest to complete; one of absolute importance.
It was something which Kon had never heard of until today. A tradition that, according to Serling, was an ordeal cemented in tradition and community.
“Serl, can you pass me those blue beads?”
Friendship bracelets.
Kon and Serling, lounging in Serling’s room at CADMUS, rummaged through countless boxes overflowing with beads as a CD played swing music. Kon eyed his creation with contemplation as Serling snipped a piece of string off hers.
“Look, Kon! I finished one of my bracelets!” Serling proudly held a small bracelet in the air. “It’s quantum, right?” Beads of every color formed a polychromatic ring, from neon green to deep plum purple to baby pink.
Kon looked up from his own bracelet and peered over. He narrowed his eyes at the garishly bright beads arranged on the string. “Those are… some colors, alright. Serl, are you sure this is for a friend, not an enemy?”
“Neither- it’s for me,” she emphasized. “I’ll make some bracelets for other people later.”
“Other people? What, ya gonna make one for Frank Sinatra? Heart-shaped beads just for him?” He smirked, gesturing to the posters hung up in the room.
Serling blushed. “Uh… I… oh my god, Kon, just shut up. Go make a bracelet for Salma Hayek or something.” She picked up a bead and lobbed it at him.
The small projectile hit him square in the forehead- bullseye. “Hey!” He exclaimed, rubbing at the spot. “Y’know, if I wanted to, I could’a blocked that with my tactile telekinesis… ”
TTK or not, Serling threw another bead at his head for good measure.
This time, Kon dodged. “So not for Sinatra, then? Maybe you wanna make one for the Mickster? Who knows, he might appreciate those kooky colors! Or maybe Dubbliex- he already doesn’t have the best taste in fashion. ‘Ex might dazzle up his horns with some new bling!”
Serling shot him a dry look, unamused.
“Fine then, if you hate my suggestions, who’ve you made friendship bracelets for in the past?”
Serling stopped. “Well, I, uh, actually haven’t made friendship bracelets with anyone before…” she trailed off. “You’re kinda… um… the first person.”
Kon turned to look at her in surprise. “ Really ? But you knew how to make ‘em!”
“Well, sure, I know how to make the bracelet,” she started. “I’m a geneticist at 16, Kon- putting beads on a string is as easy as E = mc². But I’ve always liked the idea of friendship bracelets. Ever since I was old enough to be making carbon dioxide gas emerge from a volcano, I wanted to have a bracelet I made with my BFFs. They always looked so cute, you know?”
Serling fiddled with a piece of her hair. “But I guess no other girls my age were interested in reading papers on Schwartz’s Five Laws of Magnetic Motion… or really hanging out with me at all. And the scientists I interned with when I was older… well. They were fun, but, well, what adult would want to make bracelets with a teenager?”
Kon’s hands clenched around the beaded string in his hands.
Serling, taking in a breath and adjusting her cat-eye glasses, continued unknowingly. “But nevermind about me. With you being, uh, ‘born’ late and all, I guess you never really had much of a childhood to do all those things.” She glanced up at Kon. “Do you think there’s anyone you would’ve made a friendship bracelet with?”
Kon’s hands, still squeezing the bracelet, tightened further, almost breaking the beads. CADMUS had made him hoping to have the next Superman- not a kid making amateur accessories. He wasn’t even supposed to have a name! Even if somehow, Paul Westfield had put ideas of bracelet-creation in his brain, he wondered if anyone would have truly wanted to partake in making one with him.
Tana? She probably would have thought it was childish and immature. Roxy- maybe she would’ve back in Hawaii, though he didn’t think that’d she stop to do it now. Rex, however, would have made a thousand if it meant he could sell them as ‘Superboy Exclusive’ merch. Dubbilex, then? Kon could barely imagine the D.N.Alien wearing a bracelet, much less making one.
Kal-El?
Would he have… accepted… a friendship bracelet?
No. Of course not. He was Superman. That was silly.
“Nah,” he said instead. “No one. And I doubt Robin and Impulse are interested in dressin’ up in jewelry either.” Kon ran a hand through his curly black hair and shrugged.
Kon and Serling went quiet, the only sound in the room being the cheery tune emitting from the CD player.
Serling broke through the tension. “So- do you like the music? It’s Brian Setzer’s most recent album.”
Kon, concentration focused back on finishing up his bracelet, cracked a small smile. “Not as good as Garbage, I’d say- but still pretty good!”
He held up his own bracelet he had been making. It was a wide loop- way too big for his or Serling’s hands. Red, yellow, and blue beads alternated in a pattern; a big bead with an ‘S’ on it shone in the center. “Does this look alright?”
Serling grinned. “Looks nice to me. And ‘no one’, huh? Does that mean that S stands for ‘Serling’, then?” She teased.
“Actually, this one's for you,” Kon replied, picking up another smaller bracelet. “Here.” He handed it over to her.
“Oh, quantum!” Admiring the bracelet, she slipped it over her wrist. Hot pink beads adorned the string next to cheetah print orange ones. A singular yellow smiley face bead matched the jewelry dangling from her ears. “Thanks, Kon- I’ve got one for you too!” She passed him his respective bracelet.
The colors matched his Superboy outfit- red and dark blue. Two tiny black tassels shone as the light hit their gold accents. Surrounding that, a few uniquely shaped beads sat. A music note, a dog, a globe and what looked to be a camera.
And in the middle of it all, 3 beads wrote out a name.
K O N.