Kon-El (Connor) Kent (partiallysuper) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2023-12-11 17:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | barbara gordon (wantstodogood), conner kent (partiallysuper), ~2023 december |
Who:Conner and babs
What:Halloween shopping
When:Before Halloween
Where:Costume shop
Warnings/ratings:None, low
Barbara had been hearing from both Lois and Dick that Conner was having a rough time around this place. She put the blame fully on herself for not reaching out sooner since she had been busy with the new job and other issues that kept popping up. Deciding maybe him spending some time who wasn’t his guardian or mentor/leader would be good for him, and who knows maybe she could be a listening ear with stuff he didn’t want to share with the other adults in his life.
After work, she had made plans to meet him outside the Halloween costume shop. She had to find some ideas to try to convince Dick to wear, figuring it would be hilarious if she could get him into something. What? She had no idea, and that was part of the reason for the trip. Also, from Lois, she had heard he didn’t know much about the holiday and figured maybe he could find something for himself. Rolling up to the store in her wheelchair, her eyes scanned to see he hadn’t shown up yet. Figuring he may have gotten caught up in something, she moved her chair out of the path and pulled her phone to check to make sure there were no new updates or notices in the system that she had installed within her place to keep track of somethings around this place. Her need to put her skills to use along with boredom had resulted in some new devices, and she was putting them to use. Her eyes looked up every few minutes for any sign of Conner even though she was pretty sure she’d know once he was here.
–
Conner wasn’t super into the Halloween thing yet. But maybe that came with the territory of being around people who wore costumes on a daily basis. Still, he was trying to be open to it. Lois seemed excited about it, so did the rest of the Kents. So, he agreed to meet with Babs to see what this whole thing was all about.
However, he got caught up at school with a pretty unpleasant situation he’d just dealt with. Conner himself didn’t have to deal with your average bully. None of them even tried to approach him, he was built like a tank and it seemed others noticed, but some kids didn’t have the same luck. There was one he’d helped out of a rough spot, but the other kid now had a injury to match. He was pretty sure the Kents were going to hear about it at some point, but for now he stayed quiet–but it had made him late. Finally, he showed up. Looking around for her until he spotted her looking at her phone. He stepped up beside her. “Hey. Sorry, school is…stupid.” He didn’t enjoy it, and thought about maybe taking Clark up on not going. Problem was, he just didn’t know what else to do without it.
–
Barbara had enjoyed Halloween when she was younger, but living in Gotham and then adding her job into the mix back home, it wasn’t exactly her favorite holiday. People in masks were a common occurrence with the bad guys, but now everyone was in them, which sometimes made her and her officer's job even more difficult. Only this wasn’t Gotham and nothing like back home, so she figured it’d be fun to enjoy it. Maybe even see if she might be able to get Dick to dress up in something. Barbara knew she could get him on board, which was why she had to make sure to take advantage of it by finding something amusing. A look around, catching up with Conner, and maybe even finding him something was on the to-do list.
Feeling him next to her, she sent her phone to sleep mode and setting it down on her lap before looking up at him. “Hey, and it’s fine,” she said slowly, deciding to just be upfront with his comment. “I know school can be rather boring, but what happened? I’m assuming something happened for you to be calling it stupid.” Her eyes studied him for a moment to see if she was right on the money before starting to roll her chair to the entrance so they could go inside. “On a different note, I heard you have gotten a bit of an idea on this holiday. So, if you see anything you like, let me know?” She offered, leaving the door open to any questions he may have.
–
“ It just is.” He responded blandly in return, not really wanting to talk about school. There were regular kids there with powers and what not, but he didn’t really fit in with any of them. And then this bully situation had him frustrated, but he wasn’t really prepared to talk about it yet. He just shook his head at the look she gave and shrugged.
“A little. Lois mentioned something about kids and trick or treating for candy. And needing a costume..but..I never really had one before?” Could anyone actually call a t-shirt and jeans a costume? He apparently didn’t. His initial cold response about school seemed to warm a little when the talk of Halloween started. He was much more interested in that than school. “There’s some kind of religious meaning but apparently most people just dress up and get candy from what I understand.”
–
“Okay, but if you ever want to talk about it, you have plenty of people who will listen,” she offered before deciding to drop it. Barbara knew from all her years with Dick and other people when to push and when to not. For now, she would let it drop; if Conner wanted to talk about it, he would. Or if she saw that something needed to be said, then she would do that, but for now, she felt it was fine to drop. Barbara also figured he might want to talk to the Kent’s or Dick about it before her, which she understood and was fine with that. They barely knew one another only meeting when he had come to Gotham, so she wasn’t surprised if she wasn’t the first person, he wanted to talk with about it.
Barbara was not surprised, but she was glad to hear Lois gave him a bit of a run down. Listening to what he knew as she rolled into the store. “Yeah, the religious aspect is not as focused on compared to the candy, dressing up, and spooky part of the whole thing,” Turning the chair around to look at him. “For your age group, some may still do the trick-or-treating part, wanting that free candy, then you’ll have others going the party route,” Barbara told him, knowing at his age, she would have been at the parties for sure. “Have you heard of anything going on party wise for the holiday?” It was still early so it was possible there was nothing planned, knowing most teenagers were waiting until the last minute. “This story has a lot of Halloween items and costumes that you can gain a better idea on what you may want to be.” Turning back around in her seat, she moved to head down the first row, checking a few things out since she wanted to find something funny to try and convince Dick to wear.
–
He gave her a bit of a side long glance. “I know. I know.” Parties usually involved knowing people. There was a girl he’d been hanging around a bit, but other than her? He hadn’t really branched out. He’d tried at first, then went straight back into his own shell. “I’ve heard a lot of things. But most of them are by people I don’t know.” He offered with a small frown. The Titans had been easier. Built in friends.
“I hear everything, all day long at that school.” It was tiring for him. Physically hearing all those kids was just a lot. He browsed over some things but hadn’t actually chosen anything yet. He was still uncomfortable stating that he actually wanted things for whatever reason. Though he did pause at a bag of Reese's items and tried to see what was in it specifically. “Do I have to be anything?”
–
Barbara gave him a look before shaking her head. “I know you’ve probably heard a lot of things, but okay, what are some of the things you have heard?” She asked then made a slight face to correct that, “and when I ask that I mean about the holiday because I do remember high school and the crap one will hear in those walls.” Adding in some of the stuff she would say, Barbara did not want to hear all about that. “The joy of high school parties, you can go and get to know people. Very rarely do high schools care about who shows up as long as you don’t break anything or ruin things.” Unless high school had changed, but oh, she very much doubted it. “I know you probably hear it enough, and I hate repeating what everyone else is probably saying, but you should join some things to meet people. Either at school or outside of school.” Barbara knew for sure Dick had made comments, and she hated putting him on the spot. But it was better than knowing he was having a hard time and seems from his own comment not to know many people.
She knew what Clark was capable of and could only imagine what he heard, especially in high school. “I can only imagine, and I know that isn’t easy. Have you tried talking to Clark? He may have some tricks on how to overcome all the voices or filter them out?” Barbara couldn’t offer any tips or tricks, but she was sure Superman could since he had to deal with it himself. “And no, you do not. It’s much more fun especially if you decide to do anything, but you do not. You can also decide to make something or be creative and come up with an idea that is not even in the store. For example,” she rolled over to a football uniform, holding it up, “you might want to take this, cut it up a bit, and be an undead football player.” Replacing the item once she said what she did, “the sky is the limit and it’s an opportunity to show who you are.”
–
He wasn’t sure what that was. He’d heard it inadvertently from one of the other students. He heard everything spoken. Sometimes it was hard to figure out exactly who was saying what though. “Half the time I just hear people making out or arguing about people making out.” He rolled his eyes a bit. Mostly just ignored it. “Something called a rave.” He responded when she corrected her generalized question. Conner stared at her flatly for a moment and then rolled his eyes. “Dick said he hated high school too..” He was one to talk about Conner needing to meet other high school kids.
“Jordan wants me to go full time…but I can only take part time. Clark knows. I destroyed a library my first day…” He’d burnt it to a crisp with laser vision he couldn’t control thanks to a echo chamber of voices. “Maybe I should just go as Nightwing and call it done.” He stated with a roll of his eyes. “I never really had a costume. The others did though…” He trailed off as he picked at the corner of the football jersey and looked it over. “This will make them like me?” He asked as though he had no clue of what actually was going to happen with this halloween thing.
–
Barbara was not at all surprised about that since she remembered what high school was like. Thankfully, as far as she knew no one in her school had been able to hear or know about the trouble she got into or when she made out with anyone. “Ahh yeah, those can be wild parties. Which if you want to check it out, you should. If you don’t like it or it hurts, you can bail, but you should talk to Clark about the hearing. He’s been dealing with it for a while so it does not hurt to ask,” and she was sure from what she knew of Clark that he would try to help the best he could. A small laugh on hearing what Conner said that Dick told him. “High school can be rough, and most people don’t like it. But it can have some pluses to it such as making friends or introducing you to things you may like. For example,” she said, moving herself in the chair and turning it to look at him, “When at school, what’s the one thing you do there that you look forward to or seen that looks interesting?” Barbara was sure no matter what that at least something had to catch his attention.
She had heard and knew about the library, nodding as he said it. “That’s between you and your guardians. If you can only go part time, then that’s fine, but there are things around this town you can do that have nothing to do with school.” Considering how long some people spent in this town, Barbara figured Conner could do with something to keep himself busy or start testing out things that might interest him. Everyone had their own thing, and he just had to find what interested him. A smirk appeared at the Nightwing idea, tilting her head slightly, “That’s your call. Just like you can dress up as nothing. The thing about this holiday and even others is there is no rulebook. You go along with what you want to do. Some people may hang out at home handing out candy and watching horror movies, others will hit up a party. I can’t tell you what you should do only you know what you want to do,” Barbar told him, moving away from the football jersey to glance at costumes, hoping to find something for her and Dick in the process. “There is no sure way to get people to like you BUT,” she said loudly to show she wasn’t done, “you’re an amazing kid and if you gave people a chance, they’d like you. There are plenty of people around here with powers. You just need to be you and you’ll find people with similar interests as long as you try.” Barbara smiled, knowing exactly what might help. “Did you know Dick is not always the best at making friends?” Knowing how Conner looked up to Dick, she was hoping maybe that would show him he wasn’t the only person.
–
He examined some of the costumes along the way while he listened to Barbara. Even in that building he could hear voices and heartbeats and everything in between. He was improving, but it wasn’t as fast of an improvement as he’d have liked. “I guess it’s a common experience then? Going to school I mean.” Conner made a face at the idea of everyone needing to go. He thought for a moment at her question of if anything interested him there, and he came up with a smart ass remark. “Lunch?” The work just wasn’t that challenging to him. It was more of the social aspect he found difficult. “I don’t know yet. Dick thinks I should try sports.” He wasn’t sure if sports were a thing he cared about or not though.
Conner ran a hand over the costumes they passed idly and was silent for a little bit. “There’s a lot of choice. I never really had that much choice in things.” It was overwhelming to a certain degree.
“I don’t tell anyone I have powers…should I be?” He raised an eyebrow at that comment about the powered people. And actually gave a sort of awkwardly shy smile about being amazing, he didn’t feel amazing half the time. He just felt awkward. “Dick doesn’t seem to have many adult friends..” Conner commented thoughtfully. He hung around the titans, but they were all teens thrown together by circumstance. Rarely did he see Dick hang around adults. He had with Hank, but Hank was gone now.
–
“Pretty much, and yes, there is other options like home schooling, but this gives you the opportunity to make friends, find things you like, and so on,” Barbara told him. Barbara had classes back then she hated and even some people who she wasn’t a fan of; however, her time in school also helped her learn who she was. A momentary glare was shot in his direction at the smart ass answer before running with it. Hey, she had dealt with many smart asses in her life, and she knew how to push back. “Is that so? Does that mean we should be looking at cooking lessons for you?” She asked with a smirk. “On a more serious note, besides lunch there must be at least one thing. Besides the voices and noises, what has been a struggle at school and what hasn’t?” Barbara felt like maybe they were getting somewhere just had to give a bit of a push. “Okay, and do you want to try sports? Since the only way you’ll find what you like is by trying different things. It’s how I found my love of computers,” she told him, using herself to show it came from trying that she found one of her interests.
Glancing back, she saw what he was doing, but focused on her own task at hand while listening to him. “Consider it a new change and something to embrace. This is your opportunity to find out who you are as a person. Not who either of the people you were made from but who you are,” she pointed at him, emphasizing what she was saying. Taking note of the shy smile, Barbara made a mental note to herself as a reminder to build his confidence up a bit more. His comment caused her to snort and laugh softly at the assessment that Conner made. “He has some, but also, most of us have known him for a while. This is why you should talk to him. I think you’d be surprised at how much he can maybe help you. Dick can come across as a jerk sometimes, and oh, I’ve been mad at him plenty of times over the years; however, there is no one I would want more in my corner than him. Just don’t tell him I said that I love keeping the guy on his toes,” she teased, adding a wink to show she was messing with Conner on the last bit. Though she did mean what she said about talking to Dick.
–
“D on’t think you want me cooking.” He smirked a little in response as he looked over at her with a shrug. “I’ve burned cup noodles, so.” Gar had him try once at the tower. It wasn’t pretty. He missed his friends. “Talking to people.” He admitted as he picked up a bag of reeses from the top of a shelf that were shaped like skulls. “Can we get these?” He had some money but not a ton, Lois had given him a bit to take with them.
Conner wanted to fit in, but he was also frustrated at having to try so much to do so. Other people seemed to just have that touch and were able to quickly make friends. “I only even ever met Dick because Jason fell out a window…don’t suppose you know of anyone who does that here?” Dick had then basically assigned him a friend and he ended up with Gar. That comment about keeping Dick on his toes caused a shake of his head with a mild amusement. “He can be yeah. But Same..I know if I do need him he’s there.”
–
“Have you ever thought of a cooking class? Not only can you maybe learn how not to burn a cup of noodles, but you can meet people.” Barbara offered, but she had an amused look on her face about the cup of noodles. “The thing about this place compared to back home is you have the time to try things out. This place has plenty of activities for you to choose from. No one is going to make you stick with anything if you don’t like it, but how can you know without trying? Try something, if you don’t like it, then switch to something else,” she knew forcing someone to do something that wasn’t fun was only asking for trouble, which was why she was offering him the idea of trying things out. “Ohh,” she said, getting an idea and looking over at him before speaking. “Have you thought about getting a part time job? You get cash of your own that you can spend on what you want and it’s a way to meet some people plus get out of the house and do something.” Barbara knew Lois and Clark would never force him to work, but maybe if he wanted, it could give him something to do, especially depending on where he worked. On his question, she nodded. “Yeah, just hold on to them or remember to grab them when we go to pay once done.”
Moving along, she stopped at some more costumes, debating on whether she wanted to wear it or not. With her wheelchair and her missing leg, she was a lot pickier when it came to costumes, especially on the length. It was never fun to get it caught in the wheel as she had done in the past. Deciding she wasn’t really feeling the costume, she put it back before continuing. She made a face at the Joker and Harley outfits that always seemed to pop up, but there was no way in hell she was even going to think about getting either of those. “No, I don’t, but okay, then you met the rest of the Titans through that meeting, right? You have Jordan who is about the same age as you, right? I know Lois has another son and I’m sure he’s missing his brother, so maybe the two of you hang out at the comic book store, coffee shop, movies, or anything that is of interest to you two. It will help you feel more comfortable and who knows you two might run into people from school to interact with.” Barbara was also hoping maybe it would get him more comfortable interacting with kids his own age by starting easy considering they lived together. “You have a bunch of people who are here for you. And the only reason why we’re being nagging pains cause I’m sure we’re all coming across that way is we care about you, and we know this is a chance for you to explore different things and figure out who you are. None of us will force you to do anything, only suggest ideas; however, you need to make the final call on what you’re going to do.” In the end, Conner had to be the one who made the move if he wanted to change things. “See anything you like besides the candy?” She asked, changing the topic so he didn’t feel like he had to defend himself and could focus on something else.
–
“Not really, no. Gar always did the cooking anyway.” He hadn’t really needed to when his friends were around. Someone always just made sure he had a portion of whatever was being made, and Conner was fine with that. While they walked along the different costumes, he saw the Harley one and raised an eyebrow. He’d only ever heard Dick talk about the Joker a few times. He did briefly examine a FBI jacket and badge, but shrugged. “This one might be okay.”
When she was talking about people being there he gave a sort of half smile and nodded. “I know you do. I just…never imagined needing or wanting a life different from the Titans? I was happy with that life. Now I just have no clue yet.” He might try the sports thing, but what interested him more was things like science. Maybe there was some kind of science club or something. Either way it did give him something to think about. “What does Dick do without being nightwing all the time?”
—
“It’s something to think about. Might find it interesting or may find you hate it, but the only way you’ll learn is to test it out,” she told him. Barbara knew it had to be hard to be his age with no idea what he may or may not like, but the only way he was going to figure that out was try different things out. Here was the perfect place since it was not like back home with having to always save the day or some new bad guy to deal with. “You have nothing but opportunities here, Conner to try out new things.” Barbara could handle Harley and had no problem with her, the history was between her and the Joker. History she talked very little about and only few people knew about like Dick. Hearing his comment, she turned in the chair to look, nodding. “Hold on to it, and if you see nothing else, we will get that for you, okay?”
Barbara listened, and she could understand what he was saying. “Life can throw you curveballs at times, Conner. I never thought I would be in the position I was in back in Gotham, but life had different ideas for me. Right now, life has a different idea for you which is why you’re here. However, you know you’ll return and have the Titans again,” she told him with a small smile. “This is your chance to try something new while also knowing at some point, you will go back to being a Titan. It’s not like that story is done for you, it’s just,” she paused, looking at another costume while trying to find the right wording, “on pause for the moment.” Barbara was not at all surprised by the question on Dick, knowing Conner looked up to him, but also considering how Dick could be. “Maybe that’s something you should ask him. Maybe the two of you can find an activity even to do together,” she suggested, but as for what he did, Barbara figured Dick was better one to ask. Then maybe Dick could get Conner to see that while it was difficult, he did do things outside of being Nightwing. “Find anything else you want?” Barbara asked, turning to look at Conner. She had a few ideas on costumes for her and Dick, but she’d circle back to get them after she finally decided on what was the best option.
—
Conner was physically strong, but lacked confidence in that area. When it came to fighting, he knew what to do. Socializing? Not so much. He held onto the costume and frowned a bit as he wandered the aisles of Halloween chaos. “This place really does love it’s holidays” There were so many, and it seemed like all in a row.
He didn’t realize how weirdly attached to Dick he was these days, but the fact that he was there brought Conner a lot of comfort. He knew Dick, as much as Dick let anyone know him anyway. He was familiar. “Figuring out how to exist in one place was hard enough.” He ran a hand through his short hair in frustration as he nodded. “Dick showed me this training place. I like that.” He shook his head a bit at the question of other costumes. “Nah. This ones easy. Never really had a ..costume thing like the others.”
—
Barbara had a few potential ideas for her and Dick though she’d circle back on her own time after thinking about it a bit more. She had to decide if she wanted to be cruel to the man or not, knowing she could get away with it. “It’s normal to be figuring things out, Conner. Whether human or not, everyone is trying to figure out how to exist and what to do with themselves. This place only makes it harder because for some they had to change their plans to adapt with this place.” She knew it was difficult and even she had a hard time in the beginning. Barbara had gone from the job she had to trying to figure out what she wanted to do around here. “Then maybe you should go back there. I’m sure Dick would have no problem going again with you if you asked,” Barbara was sure of it as long as Dick had nothing going on. “Okay, hand it over and I’ll buy the stuff then if you want we can grab some lunch and continue talking?”
Conner was a bit distracted by all the halloween things. The holidays were a huge part of existing apparently, so he agreed and handed her that costume. “Lunch sounds good. I’m starving.” He was a teenage boy still underneath all those super powers, constantly starving was normal.