Conner Has Two Daddies (and a Robot Nanny) [8/??]
Conner Has Two Daddies (and a Robot Nanny)
Main Characters: Superboy/Conner, Booster Gold / Michael Jon Carter, Blue Beetle II / Ted Kord
Pairings: Booster/Ted
Rating: K+
Warnings: shameless WAFF and Boostle slash
Summary: Superman won't become a parent for Superboy, so when other heroes step up to take the responsibility, there aren't many objections. Well, other than the fact that the parents-to-be are Booster Gold and Blue Beetle.
Notes: For the YJ anon meme prompt: Superboy get somehow adopted/mentored by someone who is not Superman. Who then turns out to be TOTALLY AWESOME at being a parent/mentor. Happy fun adopted family times a must.
Original post here.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
"Well then," Booster exclaimed while clapping his hands together eagerly. "I hereby declare our first flying lesson open!"
Conner looked up at the man, expectant. They had left the city for the lesson so as not to attract any attention. Conner and Booster were currently standing on the roof of a roadside café that had been removed from use while Ted had seated himself at a table on ground level from where he could watch the proceedings, Skeets hovering near him keeping him company.
There was one thing Conner had been wanting to ask ever since Booster had told him they'd be working on his flying that weekend. He kicked at the concrete as he tried to think of a good way to phrase his question.
Booster lifted his brows at him inquisitively. "What is it?"
A bit startled over being caught brooding, Conner blurted out instantly: "Does this make you my mentor?"
A moment passed when Booster frowned in a manner that was more confused than thoughtful. "Umm…I guess. Sure."
Nodding his head in acceptance, Conner hesitated a moment before continuing: "…will I have to change my costume and name?" Usually mentors and protégés matched, he was fairly certain of this. "I heard you used to work with someone named ‘Goldstar’…" That was a yet another thing he’d looked up online.
Booster's face was twisted into a strange expression that Conner couldn't read before the blond spoke out: "Con, you’ll be whoever-the-heck you want to be." The man smirked, and Conner could clearly see the amusement now. "Besides, you’d look terrible in the Goldstar costume."
There wasn't much Conner could say in response to that - the sense of humour Ted and Booster shared often left him speechless like that - and the boy didn't even need to say anything before Booster was already continuing: "So, about flying." Conner stood to attention when the man spoke: "I asked Power Girl about how Kryptonians fly. She said something about being able to fly because she knows she can. But there are many alien species that can fly and most of their abilities rely on willpower, like a power ring." The blond sounded very serious and dedicated to what he was saying. "I think it's all about the attitude; you just need to want to fly." There was something soft in Booster's eyes then. "And I think there’s no one who wants to fly as much as you do."
"Taking off is the most difficult part of flying to learn," Booster was saying as he moved closer to the edge of the roof. "All sorts of flying tricks are easy in comparison to trying to get your whole body off the ground. So, we're going to have you off the ground to begin with. Like so." The man stepped off the roof and into empty air, only to stay at the same height. He turned to give Conner an expectant look. "So, you just have to concentrate on following me."
Conner looked at Booster's face; the man looked so encouraging, like he had all the reason in the world to trust in Conner, and Conner hated the thought of that expression turning to disappointment. It was probably somewhat funny, that even though no one’s life was at risk even if he did fail, he still feared the very thought of failure, but Conner doubted it was the kind of funny that earned amused laughter.
"I don't want to do this anymore," Conner mumbled and bit his bottom lip, giving Booster a helpless look. The man blinked in surprise. Then he frowned.
“I thought you’d been looking forward to this. Why did you change your mind?”
Conner scowled, unwilling to speak his thoughts out loud.
Booster didn’t falter. “I asked for an explanation, not for your interpretation of the Batglare.”
Feeling somewhat admonished, Conner grumbled: "I just don't want to fall again."
"Of course you don’t,” was Booster’s deadpan response. “It would be bad if you couldn’t fly when you really need to. That’s why we’re practising.” Booster was smiling again. “Here it won’t matter even if you fall.”
Still unconvinced, Conner uttered: “But I…I thought, if I failed, then you’d-”
“When did this become about me?” Booster asked suddenly. “These are your lessons; we’re focusing on you.” The blond beckoned Conner closer with his hand. “Now get over here, and don’t worry; if you fall, I’ll catch you.”
“You do know falling from this height wouldn’t hurt me, right?” Conner quipped even as he started nearing the edge. Booster laughed.
“It’s the principle of the thing.” Booster had a lot of principles, Conner had learned, so he decided not to argue the matter.
Conner was still hesitant when he stood at the edge of the roof and felt his stomach twist up in knots when Booster levitated further back. There wasn’t much distance between the two of them, but Conner didn’t even feel confident in his ability to overcome these scant metres over to Booster. Still, he would have to try, because not doing so would be worse than failure. Or, that was what he kept trying to repeat to himself in his mind when he stepped over the edge.
It wasn’t working; Conner could feel it as soon as his centre of gravity moved forward. He knew he was going to fall in that instant and his insides flopped. He didn’t fall far, however, because Booster had covered the distance between them in a flash and grabbed Conner by his arms to push him back to his feet on the ledge.
“Hey, hey, easy there, I got you.” Booster’s tone was gentle, it was low and soothing and it eased the burn of insecurity in Conner’s chest. "Now we'll just try again." The blond was smiling when he released his grip on Conner. "Okay?" Conner nodded.
"You know, Booster, if you're aiming for the bird teaching method, it would probably help if the drop wasn't less than a dozen feet," Ted's voice piped up from below suddenly, and Booster turned around to glare down at the brunet.
"I'm not dropping a kid off a cliff!" Booster snapped heatedly. "Who knows how far his invulnerability protects him?"
Feeling oddly like he was being coddled of all things, Conner tried to defend himself: "Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm mostly invulnerable."
Booster was now giving Conner the kind of look that it had the boy reconsider his objections. That was the exact same expression Booster had given him when the boy had insisted on not needing to be tucked in. In other words, it didn't seem like the blond was going to be listening to anything he might say unless it was 'whatever you say, Booster'.
"Let's keep practising," Conner spoke out. "I'm ready to continue."
"Sure thing." Booster was all smiles again when he backed up and grinned at Conner expectantly. The youth took a deep breath before closing his eyes. Robin had told him that closing yourself off from distractions helped you focus, so he tried to ignore everything else but his desire to fly. Some moments later he felt something inside him grow lighter and opened his eyes, looking at Booster.
The blond was waiting patiently, apparently not minding one bit that Conner was taking his time. The man had spread out his arms in a gesture that sparked a strange instinct in Conner to get closer and so the brunet focused on that. He wasn't thinking about getting higher from the ground; he was concentrating on getting closer to Booster.
When he felt Booster's hands around his arms again, Conner was certain he had failed again for a moment, but then the boy saw Booster's grin, bright and full of teeth and not a trace of that carefulness of before, and he felt elation fill him.
"Oh, wow, oh wow..." Conner murmured as he looked down and saw that he was indeed flying. Booster's hands released their grip on Conner so that Conner could properly test out his new ability and the boy glided steadily back and forth and around.
Conner was certain he was grinning widely when he turned to where Ted and Skeets were and called out: "I'm doing it, Ted! Are you watching?"
"I'm watching!" Ted laughed brightly. "I've been watching all along! Great work, Conner!"
Feeling like he was about to burst from joy, Conner whirled back to Booster and flew at the man with enough force to send them spinning in the air. Booster laughed breathlessly and brought his arm around Conner's shoulders to help steady the boy when he directed the two of them to a stop.
"Thank you," Conner murmured into the front of Booster's jersey. He pulled back to give the man his sincerest look. "You're the best."
Booster looked startled by the words and Conner lowered his suddenly burning face, certain he'd said too much. But then Booster laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Nah, I'm nothing special," the man spoke good-naturedly. "You're the miracle, kid."
Only the knowledge that crying would not be a reaction that followed the social norm stopped Conner from bursting into tears at Booster's words, at what he'd called him. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him and Conner had never been happier than when he heard that word.
He would always remember it, and treasure it.
It wasn't quite kokcinelo, but Conner wasn't greedy. It would be enough.
---
Author's Notes: A mostly useless side note that people might find interesting; when writing Conner learning to fly, I purposefully made a minor allusion to children who are just learning to walk. How successful I was in that, I don't know, but it was something I wanted to include.
Main Characters: Superboy/Conner, Booster Gold / Michael Jon Carter, Blue Beetle II / Ted Kord
Pairings: Booster/Ted
Rating: K+
Warnings: shameless WAFF and Boostle slash
Summary: Superman won't become a parent for Superboy, so when other heroes step up to take the responsibility, there aren't many objections. Well, other than the fact that the parents-to-be are Booster Gold and Blue Beetle.
Notes: For the YJ anon meme prompt: Superboy get somehow adopted/mentored by someone who is not Superman. Who then turns out to be TOTALLY AWESOME at being a parent/mentor. Happy fun adopted family times a must.
Original post here.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
"Well then," Booster exclaimed while clapping his hands together eagerly. "I hereby declare our first flying lesson open!"
Conner looked up at the man, expectant. They had left the city for the lesson so as not to attract any attention. Conner and Booster were currently standing on the roof of a roadside café that had been removed from use while Ted had seated himself at a table on ground level from where he could watch the proceedings, Skeets hovering near him keeping him company.
There was one thing Conner had been wanting to ask ever since Booster had told him they'd be working on his flying that weekend. He kicked at the concrete as he tried to think of a good way to phrase his question.
Booster lifted his brows at him inquisitively. "What is it?"
A bit startled over being caught brooding, Conner blurted out instantly: "Does this make you my mentor?"
A moment passed when Booster frowned in a manner that was more confused than thoughtful. "Umm…I guess. Sure."
Nodding his head in acceptance, Conner hesitated a moment before continuing: "…will I have to change my costume and name?" Usually mentors and protégés matched, he was fairly certain of this. "I heard you used to work with someone named ‘Goldstar’…" That was a yet another thing he’d looked up online.
Booster's face was twisted into a strange expression that Conner couldn't read before the blond spoke out: "Con, you’ll be whoever-the-heck you want to be." The man smirked, and Conner could clearly see the amusement now. "Besides, you’d look terrible in the Goldstar costume."
There wasn't much Conner could say in response to that - the sense of humour Ted and Booster shared often left him speechless like that - and the boy didn't even need to say anything before Booster was already continuing: "So, about flying." Conner stood to attention when the man spoke: "I asked Power Girl about how Kryptonians fly. She said something about being able to fly because she knows she can. But there are many alien species that can fly and most of their abilities rely on willpower, like a power ring." The blond sounded very serious and dedicated to what he was saying. "I think it's all about the attitude; you just need to want to fly." There was something soft in Booster's eyes then. "And I think there’s no one who wants to fly as much as you do."
"Taking off is the most difficult part of flying to learn," Booster was saying as he moved closer to the edge of the roof. "All sorts of flying tricks are easy in comparison to trying to get your whole body off the ground. So, we're going to have you off the ground to begin with. Like so." The man stepped off the roof and into empty air, only to stay at the same height. He turned to give Conner an expectant look. "So, you just have to concentrate on following me."
Conner looked at Booster's face; the man looked so encouraging, like he had all the reason in the world to trust in Conner, and Conner hated the thought of that expression turning to disappointment. It was probably somewhat funny, that even though no one’s life was at risk even if he did fail, he still feared the very thought of failure, but Conner doubted it was the kind of funny that earned amused laughter.
"I don't want to do this anymore," Conner mumbled and bit his bottom lip, giving Booster a helpless look. The man blinked in surprise. Then he frowned.
“I thought you’d been looking forward to this. Why did you change your mind?”
Conner scowled, unwilling to speak his thoughts out loud.
Booster didn’t falter. “I asked for an explanation, not for your interpretation of the Batglare.”
Feeling somewhat admonished, Conner grumbled: "I just don't want to fall again."
"Of course you don’t,” was Booster’s deadpan response. “It would be bad if you couldn’t fly when you really need to. That’s why we’re practising.” Booster was smiling again. “Here it won’t matter even if you fall.”
Still unconvinced, Conner uttered: “But I…I thought, if I failed, then you’d-”
“When did this become about me?” Booster asked suddenly. “These are your lessons; we’re focusing on you.” The blond beckoned Conner closer with his hand. “Now get over here, and don’t worry; if you fall, I’ll catch you.”
“You do know falling from this height wouldn’t hurt me, right?” Conner quipped even as he started nearing the edge. Booster laughed.
“It’s the principle of the thing.” Booster had a lot of principles, Conner had learned, so he decided not to argue the matter.
Conner was still hesitant when he stood at the edge of the roof and felt his stomach twist up in knots when Booster levitated further back. There wasn’t much distance between the two of them, but Conner didn’t even feel confident in his ability to overcome these scant metres over to Booster. Still, he would have to try, because not doing so would be worse than failure. Or, that was what he kept trying to repeat to himself in his mind when he stepped over the edge.
It wasn’t working; Conner could feel it as soon as his centre of gravity moved forward. He knew he was going to fall in that instant and his insides flopped. He didn’t fall far, however, because Booster had covered the distance between them in a flash and grabbed Conner by his arms to push him back to his feet on the ledge.
“Hey, hey, easy there, I got you.” Booster’s tone was gentle, it was low and soothing and it eased the burn of insecurity in Conner’s chest. "Now we'll just try again." The blond was smiling when he released his grip on Conner. "Okay?" Conner nodded.
"You know, Booster, if you're aiming for the bird teaching method, it would probably help if the drop wasn't less than a dozen feet," Ted's voice piped up from below suddenly, and Booster turned around to glare down at the brunet.
"I'm not dropping a kid off a cliff!" Booster snapped heatedly. "Who knows how far his invulnerability protects him?"
Feeling oddly like he was being coddled of all things, Conner tried to defend himself: "Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm mostly invulnerable."
Booster was now giving Conner the kind of look that it had the boy reconsider his objections. That was the exact same expression Booster had given him when the boy had insisted on not needing to be tucked in. In other words, it didn't seem like the blond was going to be listening to anything he might say unless it was 'whatever you say, Booster'.
"Let's keep practising," Conner spoke out. "I'm ready to continue."
"Sure thing." Booster was all smiles again when he backed up and grinned at Conner expectantly. The youth took a deep breath before closing his eyes. Robin had told him that closing yourself off from distractions helped you focus, so he tried to ignore everything else but his desire to fly. Some moments later he felt something inside him grow lighter and opened his eyes, looking at Booster.
The blond was waiting patiently, apparently not minding one bit that Conner was taking his time. The man had spread out his arms in a gesture that sparked a strange instinct in Conner to get closer and so the brunet focused on that. He wasn't thinking about getting higher from the ground; he was concentrating on getting closer to Booster.
When he felt Booster's hands around his arms again, Conner was certain he had failed again for a moment, but then the boy saw Booster's grin, bright and full of teeth and not a trace of that carefulness of before, and he felt elation fill him.
"Oh, wow, oh wow..." Conner murmured as he looked down and saw that he was indeed flying. Booster's hands released their grip on Conner so that Conner could properly test out his new ability and the boy glided steadily back and forth and around.
Conner was certain he was grinning widely when he turned to where Ted and Skeets were and called out: "I'm doing it, Ted! Are you watching?"
"I'm watching!" Ted laughed brightly. "I've been watching all along! Great work, Conner!"
Feeling like he was about to burst from joy, Conner whirled back to Booster and flew at the man with enough force to send them spinning in the air. Booster laughed breathlessly and brought his arm around Conner's shoulders to help steady the boy when he directed the two of them to a stop.
"Thank you," Conner murmured into the front of Booster's jersey. He pulled back to give the man his sincerest look. "You're the best."
Booster looked startled by the words and Conner lowered his suddenly burning face, certain he'd said too much. But then Booster laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Nah, I'm nothing special," the man spoke good-naturedly. "You're the miracle, kid."
Only the knowledge that crying would not be a reaction that followed the social norm stopped Conner from bursting into tears at Booster's words, at what he'd called him. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him and Conner had never been happier than when he heard that word.
He would always remember it, and treasure it.
It wasn't quite kokcinelo, but Conner wasn't greedy. It would be enough.
---
Author's Notes: A mostly useless side note that people might find interesting; when writing Conner learning to fly, I purposefully made a minor allusion to children who are just learning to walk. How successful I was in that, I don't know, but it was something I wanted to include.