Chapter Text
NO ONE’S POV
Conner doesn’t know how. He had simply gotten on one of the public buses of Metropolis to take a ride around the city before heading back home when he got off and realized he wasn’t in Metropolis anymore. He had been in a daze for most of the bus ride, but during the beginning he had felt the air shift, subtly. Barely noticeable by anyone else, but the city had definitely changed. He looked around the bus stop and asked a nearby stranger, a teenager probably. “Umm, excuse me?”. The teenager looked up at the kid’s voice. “Yeah kid?”, the teen responded, putting their phone down. “This might be a weird question, but where am I?”, Conner asked, looking around at the dimly lit area around them. “We’re in Queens right now, why? And what’s a kid like you doing out this late?”, the teen said to him, looking at him. Conner hummed as he took in this information, but for some reason, he couldn’t remember where he had originally come from. He knew that he had taken a walk to calm down from an argument, but he couldn’t remember where and why. “Umm, I think because I took the wrong bus…”, Conner answered when he realized he had been quiet for a bit too long, but he said it with a tone that had made it clear that he himself didn’t know why he was there. Conner shook his head and gave a little smile, trying to pretend he wasn’t panicking and walked off.
The streets were quiet, but somehow buzzing with city noise at the same time. Dogs barking in the distance, the faint sound of rats scurrying in alleys, cars driving past and honking their horns at other cars.
Eventually, Conner made it to a park bench and sat down on it. He sat there as he took in everything that had happened and how he got here, in New York. He pulled his knees to his chest, trying to remember anything as to why he was there. He didn’t remember when he fell asleep, but he did remember getting woken up by a man shaking him awake as the sun was barely rising. Conner rubbed his eyes as he looked at the man. He looked like he was around his late 20s, or even early 30s. He wasn’t alone. There was a boy next to him, who looked around the same age as Conner. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and wore glasses. “Hey, Kid? You okay? Why are you out here alone?”, the man asked him. “Uncle Ben! He just woke up!”, the boy told his uncle. Conner, finally waking up fully, looked at them. “Umm, sorry…. I didn’t mean to… umm…”, Conner said, not exactly sure what to say since he didn’t really do anything wrong. “What’s your name? I’m Peter!”, Peter told him, holding his hand out for him to shake. Conner took it and tried to smile a bit, “Umm, Conner. My name’s Conner.” Peter smiled as Conner told him his name, and Ben nodded his head. “I’m Ben. Now, why are you sleeping on a bench?”, Ben asked him. Conner stayed quiet, not wanting to answer that question since he didn’t know how to explain his situation. After a few moments of silence, Ben spoke again, “Do you have a place to live?”. Conner shook his head, not meeting either of their eyes. After another moment of silence, Ben sighed and looked at Peter, “Don’t we have an extra room we’re not using the apartment?”. This confuses Peter for a second before Peter realizes what he means, “Yeah! We do!”. Peter turns to Conner, “You want to come over? We’re not dangerous or anything.” Conner thought about it and looked between tone two.
On one hand, he didn't have a place to go, didn’t know the city, or had anything on him except $4.40. On the other hand, he didn’t know these people, but they seemed nice and he didn’t really have much of any other opinions. He nodded and followed them back to their apartment building. Once inside, Conner looked around the apartment. It was cozy, nice, and warm. A woman, with black, damp hair, came out of one of the rooms, looked at Conner, then Peter, and then at Ben. “Who is this?”, she asked, gesturing to Conner, who smiled nervously at her. “May, this is Conner. We decided he’s going to stay with us for the day”, Ben told her, trying to make it sound okay. May raised an eyebrow at him before looking at Conner. “Alright. Fine. We’ll take him in for now, but that’s it. We already have Peter”, May told him, giving Conner a warm smile before he was pulled away by Peter to his room. “You’re going to love it here!”. Conner smiled.
Maybe this won’t be so bad? Conner told himself as he had started listening to Peter tell him about the science project he was working on.