014

— conner kent: super-boy —

HAZEL PULLED A BOX OF CEREAL OFF THE SHELF, KRYPTO FOLLOWING HER CLOSELY. Conner grabbed the largest bowl he could find, and Hazel hummed as he turned to her. "Okay, that's coming out of Dick's pay check," Hazel mumbled to herself as she filled the bowl with the last of the cereal. She saved a handful, letting Krypto eat from her palm. Conner watched her for a moment before taking a large spoon and began to dig into the cereal, shoving it into his mouth.

Gar opened the fridge and grabbed the last jug of milk. "So, we pretty much have the entire place to ourselves-" Gar tried to pour the milk into Conner's cereal, but he reeled back slightly. Gar persisted and filled the bowl to the top, continuing to talk as he did, "-uh, until the others get back, that is." Gar placed the jug down, his lips pulled into a tight smile. "Which should be soon."

"How did I get here?" Conner asked, his mouth full.

Hazel pulled herself onto the counter between the boys. "You don't remember?" Hazel questioned. Conner shook his head. "Do you remember anything?"

"Just little bits and pieces," Conner shrugged. "I remember feeling really sick, and hearing a lot of voices, and then it was like I was on fire, I remember your face and name because Eve-" Conner paused, looking between Hazel and Gar. "Is Eve here?"

"She was," Gar confirmed. "She, uh- She helped you get better." Gar chuckled softly. "Well, it was her and Kory and Hazel." Hazel gave Conner a small smile.

"Kory's why it felt like you were on fire," Hazel explained, and Conner nodded softly.

Conner shovelled more food in his mouth before continuing his question, "What is this place?"

A proud smile grew on Gar's face as he turned to face Conner fully. "Titans Tower," Gar answered with pride.

Conner's smile dropped and his eyes furrowed. Hazel laughed softly and nudged Gar with her foot. "Gar, he's been out for like three days," Hazel reminded, leaning back on the counter.

Gar's smile disappeared and he nodded. "Yeah, I guess that might sound a little weird with no context," Gar mumbled. "Um, okay. The Titans are a group of people like you, basically."

"Heroes," Hazel clarified.

"I mean, you're Superman's son, right?" Gar questioned with excitement.

"And Lex Luthor's," Conner added.

"Yeah, well, no one's perfect," Gar shrugged, laughing slightly. "You saved our friend, Jason Todd. He was falling from a building, and you caught him."

"And then I got shot," Conner remembered, his eyes widening.

"But then the Titans saved you and brought you back here," Hazel spoke up. "That's what we do."

"We all have powers and special abilities," Gar continued. "We choose to help people."

Conner nodded quickly, his large smile growing again. "Eve said it's okay... for me to help people," Conner said proudly, setting the bowel on the counter. "I remember that." He reached for an orange, biting right through the skin.

Hazel's eyebrows furrowed as she reached for the fruit, "Okay, cool..." Hazel set the fruit to the side. "Listen, the important thing is you're awake now, which is great because I was on the verge of losing my mind." Hazel chuckled, tossing the orange in her hands. "Normally I heal people way faster than this."

Gar tapped his pockets, pulling out his phone, "Uh, watch him, please Haze. There's someone I gotta call." Hazel nodded and Gar rushed off.

"What do you do?" Conner asked, picking up the cereal again. "Gar said you all had powers."

Hazel nodded, smiling softly. "Oh yeah, yeah. I have Phytokinesis and Luminokinesis," Hazel explained.

"That's so cool," Conner said with a grin. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, so Phytokinesis basically the manipulations of nature. Plants, flowers, that kinda thing. I use them to fight bad guys, although recently it's more for cool decorations. And Luminokinesis is the manipulation of light. Like daylight, moonlight, that kinda stuff, but I can create it in my body to make laser beams kind of thing." As she explained, Conner's smile grew larger and larger. "And I can heal people, that's how I helped you."

"That's so cool. That's a lot of powers, and you helped me with those powers," Conner said, continuing to shovel the cereal in his mouth. "That's cool."00"Hey," Gar called, jogging back to the others. "Do you want a tour Conner? Like show you around and stuff."

Conner nodded quickly, "Yeah, sounds fun."

Hazel's phone started to ring, the sudden noise making Conner jump. "It's Terran," Hazel said, sliding off the counter. "You go ahead with Conner." Gar nodded, motioning Conner to follow him as Hazel walked to the living area, throwing herself on the couch. "Hey Terran."

"Ah, thank fuck, thought I had the wrong number for a sec," Terran said with a relived sigh.

"Yeah sorry," Hazel apologised. "Conner's up and wandering, had to settle him in."

"So it's all good on your end?"

"Bored out of our minds, but yeah, good over here."

Terran laughed softly. "Cool. I booked a flight, still a couple days away. But I'll be back soon."

"Thank God! I shall await your arrival."

"I expect a well-cooked meal," Terran teased.

Hazel laughed, resting her head against the back of the couch. "Yes ma'am. Alright I gotta check on the boys, see ya."

"Bye Haze!"

Hazel clicked her phone off and tossed it on the table. She kicked herself off the couch, jogging down the hall to the control room, watching Conner press a few buttons, Gar watching over him. "Please don't break anything," Hazel pleaded, and Gar turned to her. "If you wanna break things, that's what the training room's for."

Gar nodded, hitting Conner's shoulder softly and led him down the hall. "This is the training room," Gar exclaimed, opening the doors to the training room, Conner and Hazel following him. "We have weights, weapons, equipment. Basically, anything that you need, we have it." Gar wandered over to the punching bag as Conner looked around in awe. "Sometimes it feels like I never leave this room," Gar muttered.

"So where is everyone? I mean, the Titans?" Conner asked.

Hazel stammered, looking up at Gar who turned towards the heavy bag. "Well, uh... You could say we're taking a break," Hazel explained vaguely. "They just have some other more personal stuff to do."

"Are they coming back?" Conner asked nervously.

"I think, once they realise-" Gar threw a punch at the bag, "-how important it is to do what we're all doing-" Gar continued to hit and punch and throw kicks at the bag, a hint of anger in his voice. He took a deep breath, settling his annoyance. "They'll be back."

Conner stared at Gar; his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Hazel chuckled softly and pet Gar's shoulder. "God, we really did need the company," Hazel muttered. "Uh, this is the heavy bag." Hazel motioned Conner towards it. "Give it a shot."

Conner stepped closer to the heavy bag, pressing his clenched fist to the fabric. Gar nodded and Conner threw a soft punch at the bag. His hand broke straight through the bag and out poked out the other side, the sand from inside spilling out onto the floor. Hazel and Gar's eyes widened, and Krypto barked at Conner.

Conner slowly removed his hand and turned to the others, "Sorry."

"It's okay," Gar squeaked, turning Conner around and leading him to the door. "We'll just tell Dick Hazel did it."

"Wait, what?" Hazel snapped, spinning to chase them. "Why me?"

❁

SAN FRANCISCO WAS ALIVE WITH NIGHTLIFE AND SO WAS THE TOWER. Hazel awkwardly manoeuvred her way through the doors of the elevator, three boxes of pizza stacked in one arm, the other balancing their drinks. She stumbled to the dining room, looking over to where Gar was setting up his computer, Conner watching him closely with a confused stare.

"Boys! Dinner!" Hazel called dropping the pizza boxes on the table.

"Sweet," Gar cheered, rushing to the table, Conner following him.

Gar tried to grab the box, but Hazel took it from him. "Uh, uh. What do you say?"

"Thank you, Sunshine," Gar said quickly.

"Thank you," Conner echoed.

Hazel laughed softly and sifted through the pizzas. "Alrighty... One Vegan deep dish," Hazel announced, sliding Gar his pizza. "Along with one raspberry hot chocolate... which I am only silently judging." Gar scoffed and sat on one of the chairs. "Conner's first pizza, meat lovers and a regular coke. If you get a sugar high, it's not my fault."

Conner smiled and sat in the opposite chair. "What did you get?" Conner asked, opening his pizza lid.

"Hawaiian with extra pineapple, and of course..." Hazel sat down sighing slightly as the smell of cheese and pineapple filled her senses. "An iced chocolate and coffee frappe."

"So you can get a frappe, but I can get a hot chocolate?" Gar scoffed, stopping midway through his bite.

"Yours has raspberries in it!" Hazel shouted in defence. "That is not the same thingju!"

Once their meal was finished, Gar and Conner raced back to the couch, after helping Hazel clean up. Hazel sat on the edge of the couch; her legs draped over Gar's lap as she read through her book. Conner and Gar battled through levels of one of his indie multiplayer games, teaching Conner as they went. It wasn't until level seventy-two did Gar's usual gaming commentary emerge.

"Oh, no," Gar muttered, his fingers smashing harder against the controller. "No! Bro, I'm dead. I'm dead! We're dead! We are dead, bro!" Gar shouted.

"Gar..." Hazel mumbled, his voice raising with each word.

"Ugh, game over!?" Gar complained as the computer sounded the death noise. Gar jumped to stand, throwing Hazel's legs off. Hazel stared up at him with wide eyes and Gar huffed. "Sorry Haze..." Gar muttered. Hazel laughed and turned back to her book. "I just can't believe I lost... Again!"

"It's not over yet," Conner mumbled. Conner's fingers sped across the controller with incredible speed hitting every button so fast, most didn't register to the computer. As soon as the computer had time to input all the controls, the Boss screeched a loud no which was immediately followed with you win!

Gar gasped softly, starting to stammer as his eyes bounced between the screen and Conner. "That's... That-That's impossible." Conner smiled in triumph and Gar started to laugh hysterically. "I've never beaten that boss before. No- No one has."

Gar sighed and flopped back onto the couch. Hazel laughed and closed her book. She stood and walked around the couch, stopping to run her fingers through his fluffing green hair. "It's okay Garfield, people can be better than you," Hazel teased, tossing her book on the shelf.

"Why's you have to use my full name?" Gar huffed before turning to Conner. "How did you do that?" Gar asked, his voice so incredibly serious it made Hazel laugh as she sat next to him.

Conner shrugged softly and turned to face the others. "I don't know. It's like something just took over inside me and... I knew how to beat him."

Gar started to laugh hysterically again. He threw his arms around Hazel and shook her as he hugged her, his laughs growing louder. "This- this is amazing!" He let go of Hazel and threw his arm around Conner's shoulder. "Conner... how would you like to be a Titan?"

Conner's smile disappeared quickly and shook his head. "I don't think I can, Gar," Conner said sadly. "I mean, you guys, you're actual heroes. I'm not."

"Yes you are Conner," Hazel assured. "You can be."

"Look, the guy who made me, he's not a nice guy. I have this, uh other side," Conner murmured, squirming in his seat uncomfortably.

Gar smiled softly, his arm sliding from Conner's shoulder to squeeze it softly. "I hear you. But, dude everybody does."

"Even Hazel?" Conner asked, looking past Gar.

Hazel nodded, smirking at the boys. "Yep, one hundred percent evil," Haze mimicked, leaning back on her hands. "Oh Beast Boy, Super-Boy, how will you ever stop me?" Hazel pressed her hand to her chest, feigning a pain in her heart.

Gar's smile grew and Hazel tilted her head at him. "Conner... Have you ever played tag?" Gar asked, looking back at Conner. Hazel cursed and sprung to her feet, running down the hall, the boys close behind.

— pain —