Day 40: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

[clockmongler]

Well, that was... special. No wonder he was losing respect for this place--the fearful Martin Landel was coming undone, most probably with boredom. So scary. Even Nursey seemed a little exasperated, though that most likely had more to do with X's constant insistence to stay in the Sun Room rather than go inside the Greenhouse

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[thecamellia]

Tsubaki just folded her hands in her lap and ducked her head, smile unwavering. “It's okay, because we'll all see our loved ones soon, so I'm not worried.” The quiet confidence in her voice wasn't a lie, not really, not in any way that was important. Superboy was right-she was making other friends here, friends she needed to protect with a clear heart. The fact that a lot of them were from different places, times, situations wasn't the defining factor to friendship, anyway, even if she found herself missing Black☆Star and the others more and more. But when it came to what he was getting at in that... particular... way of his...

If Superboy's idea of 'watching her back' involved touching her back like before, she could do without.

“You're a good friend, Superboy,” she said instead, keeping that thought to herself. “I'm here, too, if you need me. We can watch each other's like we promised. And maybe I can meet Impulse sometime and hear more about the place you guys come from.”

The question about therapy came unexpectedly, and the girl blinked in surprise. Therapy, as in talking with one of the doctors? She was shaking her head again before she even realized she was doing it. “My nurse hasn't said anything. Why, have you?” Was that what was bothering him?

[gottabetactile]

He should probably be more careful talking about Bart. Kon didn't think anyone would see his discussions with Imp on the bulletin board and him talking with Bart in person and put it all together but you never knew. He knew Tsubaki wouldn't try and hurt Bart or give away his secret identity but he still needed to be careful. Which meant he should probably stop talking about Impulse for now.

Tusbaki was pretty confident they were going to be out of here and home soon enough and while he knew it was true, especially with all the heroes here, it was good to hear someone else say it.

"Yeah, the other day they sent me to see this guy." Kon waved a hand about to dismiss it. He'd been thinking he could see what they said to Tsubaki, if they tried to pull something similar with her but if she hadn't had anything like that yet there wasn't much point talking about it. He didn't want to have to explain why it was bugging him. He'd told her about being a clone and all but the rest was kind of complicated.

[thecamellia]

Hmm...

“Did something happen?” she asked.

[gottabetactile]

"Nah! He just talked at me, that's all." Time to change the topic before he said something embarrassing. Fortunately that was easy enough, Superboy was always good at distracting girls. Kon quickly moved closer to Tsubaki, smirking as he reached out to drape an arm around her shoulders. "It's not important, I'd much rather talk about us, babe."

[thecamellia]

The thought that definitely can't be all flashed across her mind when Superboy's arm suddenly found a place across her shoulders. It was a deflection if she'd ever saw one, and she probed his expression (so close up, it was easier than it should've been) with a tiny furrow in her brow. "As long as you're sure..." she tried, haltingly. "I'm always around to talk." Even if he didn't want to, or wasn't comfortable confiding in her, the offer was at least there... it wasn't as though she'd push...

... But there was something dangerous in the new topic Superboy had jumped to.

She'd just been thinking he wasn't a bad person, so it wasn't like she was worried about her safety or anything like that, but being wary was something different. Tsubaki wasn't sure how to put the feeling into words--she just hadn't been in such close proximity to someone acting like that to know what to think about it yet.Yet. Considering this was the second time Superboy had gotten so close, she figured it was something he did a lot...

Her gaze flicked to where his hand rested over the curve of her shoulder and back again, unable to help the idea that despite the fact she wasn't outside to exercise, she might still break out into a sweat just sitting there.

[gottabetactile]

Man, Tsubaki was freaked. He almost laughed at the way she seemed so worried just 'cause he'd gotten closer to her. Sure, he'd been kind of a jerk before, trying to cop a feel the first night they met, but he could behave. It did help that she was kind of worried about him. He was fine - it took more than some loon with too much time on his hands to get to Superboy, he just didn't want to talk about it. 'Cause that would be lame. But it was cool that she was concerned so he'd be nice.

Besides, her near panic at having him so close did help lift his mood, even if it was a little cruel.

"You're really something, you know? How come you haven't got a guy following you around making sure no one else tries something? Not that I don't think you can take care of yourself, but surely no guy in his right mind wouldn't be possessive."

[thecamellia]

The furrow became quizzical, the only sign she gave as to her thoughts.

“I don’t really think…” The hesitant protest trailed off, and instead Tsubaki laughed once under her breath. “You don’t have to say things like that.”

She was well aware the dismissal was a pathetic attempt to deter him. It was beyond her to consider whether his words were realistic or not--she just knew he liked to tease, probably for the sake of teasing, especially in this case. That left no good way to respond. Not to mention that Superboy was asking about a subject she had little to do with, and that… made her feel a little uneasy. Inexperienced.

And in the end, it was only Superboy who thought that way…