Wally maintained his big, silly, puppy dog smile as he assessed his friend for damage. Generally, Superboy looked fine-- as in, something Wally would have found creepy a few months ago but now considered quite endearing.

"So-o, how's the living situation?" Tactful as ever, at least Superboy was too socially oblivious to care.

"It started pretty bad," he confessed, "and then it was really bad, but now It's not as bad. Ms. Lois is really nice."

"Ah, you've met Lois then, have you?"

"You know her?" Superboy demanded, a touch of hurt in his voice.

"Not personally," Wally clarified, knowing that the kryptonian tended to be territorial of the few he considered his allies. "We've met once or twice through work stuff. She has quite the reputation in the League."

"What do you mean?" He sounded more protective now, and Wally knew to tread carefully.

"She just tends to get up in things she shouldn't be up in." He said loosely. "And the whole not-knowing-superman's-secret-ID thing."

"I have a secret identity." Superboy said suddenly.

"...really?"

"My name is Conner." He said, the first hints of happiness cresting his proclamation.

"Conner, huh?"

"Yes."

Wally grinned, freckle-smattered cheeks puckering. "That's a great name! Wait till I tell the others!"

Conner seemed nearly relieved with his reaction. "Do you like it?"

"Absolutely. Couldn't have picked a better one myself." He wanted to give Conner an avuncular pat on the shoulder, but he knew the boy was usually resistant to touch. "So, how's it living with Superman?"

The room became very cold. Hollow blue eyes cut him into filets. "Bad."

"...Yeah?" He asked cautiously. "...Do... do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay." Wally regretted asking, now the only thing he wanted to do was talk about the problem. It was an elephant in the room, an unavoidable inevitability, he needed to talk about it. "Are you sure?"

"It's nothing." Conner said, a familiar aggression in his voice. "He doesn't like me. It's fine. It's just a fact."

Wally didn't know how to argue that, so he didn't.

"You made it."

"Yeah." Clark sat across from her in one of the conference rooms, pages spread across the table between them.

Lois rolled him a highlighter. "No kid?"

"He's at home."

"Won't he--"

"Don't worry." Clark said. "He won't be lonely." The duo went collectively silent, highlighting their way through the provided documents for this assignment. Clark watched her out of the corner of his eyes, thinking over his next words carefully. "Lo... I think Conner hates me."

"Why?" She asked, not concerned, not confused, not even curious. She didn't even look up at him.

"He said that I hate him."

She stifled a chuckle, quickly returning to her distracted indifference. "Do you?"

Clark bit the inside of his cheek. "No."

Lois nodded in a no nonsense kind of way. "Do you like him?"

"I don't know."

She uncapped her highlighter. "Okay."

Clark looked up at her. "You aren't giving me advice, are you?"

"Nope." She said.

"We, uh, we have a mission next week."

"Oh." Conner said, drawn into his safe inner world; he wasn't fully there in the room with Wally.

"Yeah, out of country too." Wally replied lazily. "Bialya I think." He looked over his phone at Conner. "Conner?"

It took a second for him to react. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to say that I-- we-- everyone on the team likes you. So, even if this doesn't work out, you'll have us, okay?" Conner didn't reply. Wally looked at his phone. "FYI, M'gann is super excited about your name. She says it's perfect."

Conner's aggression dialed down slightly at the thought of his friends. "I don't trust them yet."

"M'gann?"

"And Artemis." He said. "They're new. I like being around you Robin and Aqualad."

"These things take time." Wally said, honestly he wasn't sure about them either. "Everyone thought I was too wild when I joined, but obviously they love me now." His good humor fell flat. "It takes time to trust new people, it's like, totally normal.

Conner frowned at the floor. "Right."

"Actually," Wally began "Maybe that's the issue Superman has."

The room got tense again. Wally became very aware of what he'd just said.

"What do you mean?" The alien ordered coldly, eyes flared dangerously in his direction.

"I-I mean, maybe you're just new in his eyes, so he doesn't know how to trust you." Conner didn't reply. "I don't know. Like you with M'gann. I don't know, Just a thought."

"I didn't invade his mind."

"Yes but, maybe he's scared of you the same way, y'know? Maybe he doesn't hate you, he just loves his friends and doesn't want someone new to show up and hurt them,"

Conner nodded slowly. "Am... am I scary?"

"No! You're not scary." Wally lied. "But maybe he perceives you as scary."

"Oh."

"Lois."

"Yep." She said, head down.

"I think I have a problem."

"Christ, another one?" She snorted. "Is this one moving in too?"

"Lois," He repeated seriously. "I think I like him. I mean, if I don't dislike him, and there are some things about him that I--"

She finally looked up, lifting a painted hand. "Take a moment. Do you like him?"

"Yes."

"That's good enough for me." She said. "Just make sure he knows that too."

Clark came home to a quiet apartment. Wally must have left early for dinner, because Conner sat on the couch in solitude.
Clark didn't bother him. He fixed a modest dinner in silence.

"Come eat." He said, just above a whisper. Without a word, Conner got up and joined him at the table. He began picking at the food drearily. Clark cleared his throat. "Did you have a good time with your friend?"

"It's okay that you don't like me."

Clark blinked in surprise, his prepared words falling all out of place. "No... No, Conner."

"It's because I'm new and you can't trust new people." The boy continued, now that he was on a roll all the words came out at once. "Because I can stay until I'm not new anymore. Will you like me then?"

Clark was at a loss. "No, I... No, Superboy..."

Conner shook his head. "I understand. I don't like new people. So you don't like new people either."

"Oh." Clark swallowed hard. "Conner?"

"What?"

The sentiment died on his tongue and Clark looked away. "I'm going out of town this weekend." Conner just watched him expectantly with that empty, mannequin-like expression. "Is it... would you like to come with me?"

"Okay."

They finished the meal in silence.