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[not_the_s]

It took him a few days to calm down enough to be appropriate company for anyone more than his really close friends and even then, the conversation with Bart hadn't been the best. Was it that hard to believe that he wanted to go home

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[only_son]

Over time, it's slowly gotten easier seeing his own face on somebody else everyday. Clark likes to think that it's been getting easier to have a relationship with Kon, too, but in truth, he still takes care to tread lightly there-It's been nearly six months, but he still remembers all too clearly the first time they met. The younger man intimidates him in a way he imagines is reserved strictly for the parents of teenagers, and he's come to have a new-found appreciation for everything his own parents dealt with when he was growing up.

"Everything alright?" he asks as he steps up to the bookcase, feigning an interest in its contents but really only taking the detour for Kon's sake. "You look a little frustrated."

[not_the_s]

"So can I ask something?" Kon asked without looking over at Clark. "What would you do if you realized you had a thing for your best friend?" He didn't specify name or gender because he wasn't sure he wanted Clark to know who it was that he had a crush on, but it would probably maybe help if he had an opinion for people. "And that best friend most decidedly does not return the feelings? Things are awkward between us and it completely sucks."

Things were worse than just awkward. He wasn't sure that Tim was going to talk to him again.

[only_son]

This particular topic is one Clark has quite a lot of experience with. However, his experience almost exclusively falls on the other side of the issue. He can't help but think of Chloe and the tense periods they'd gone through during high school.

"That's a tough one, Kon," he finally settles on replying, forehead creased as he ponders the dilemma. "There isn't going to be an easy solution. If this person is truly your best friend, I'd assume that given enough time, things will be easier between you. But that's going to depend on you respecting her- Or him," he corrects, as the thought occurs to him, "enough space and not trying to force the issue. It will suck for awhile, but it will get better."

[not_the_s]

Kon tensed for a moment when Clark made the leap from 'she' to 'he'. A part of him still remembered the way the other Clark here had avoided him and the Clark he'd known back home, his Clark had ignored him for a good half of his life. More like a quarter, now. That's when it occurred to him that there was another question that Clark could answer for him. A question that related right back to the initial one, even if it seemed like it didn't.

"And what do you think about there being another Clark on the island? Or even the Clark I knew back home? Has it affected things with you and Lex?"

Really he was more interested in the first question. What was it like for someone who had already been on the island before when they didn't remember anything about it?

[only_son]

"You know, Lex is just about the only person it hasn't affected things with," Clark replies with a considering tilt of his head. "I guess he knew me well enough back home to know that those other versions of me aren't necessarily this me." And thank goodness for that, considering some of the things the other versions of him had done.

"Of course," he amends, "I've met myself before, so that might have made a difference. To be completely honest, it isn't the idea of another version of me that bothers me, it's what those versions of me have done. Things I couldn't ever fathom of doing. I feel like I have an uphill battle in this place just to make up for all the things I didn't even do."

[not_the_s]

"I've met myself before," Kon admitted quietly. "Just before I showed up here. We were trying to go home and the time travel went a bit wrong. We ended up maybe ten years in our future. I wasn't exactly the best person." He rubbed his eyes, remembering what he'd seen. Torturing Deathstroke. Sure, he'd done all kinds of evil things, but did that really justify torturing them? Killing them? He hoped there was never a point in his life where the answer to that question was yes.

"Anyway, it's kind of like things with Bart. There's all this history between us that he doesn't know about." He laughed. "And other history between us that I don't know about."

[only_son]

"Is Bart the friend you were talking about earlier?" Clark gently asks, hoping it's not too presumptuous of him. He's not had all that much interaction with the Bart on the island, but the one back home had been a little girl crazy, so it fits.

[not_the_s]

"Bart?" Kon flushed. "No, no, definitely not, no. He's got a girlfriend. Finally. I've been pushing them together for months." And okay, maybe that was just a little more complicated than it looked like at first, but definitely no. "It's someone else."

[only_son]

That's more of a relief than Clark will admit, if only because it seems much easier to give advice on this sort of thing without being caught in the middle of it. He doesn't know the island's Bart that well, but the fact remains that he does know him.

"I wish I had better advice to give you, Kon," he says, briefly pulling a face. "Maybe meeting some new people would help," he hazards. "You're a good guy, there's got to be somebody out there who would return your feelings. If I can find somebody who puts up with me, there's definitely someone out there for you."

[not_the_s]

"Plenty of fish in the sea?" Kon asked. "Or in our case, ocean, even if it seems more like a little tiny puddle." There was the problem, of course, that there might have been an infinite - or near enough - amount of people back home, but here there were only the people you lived with. Sure, there might have been plenty of people, but a lot of them or at least the ones he knew were in relationships.

"But that still doesn't fix the problem of me being short a best friend."

His lips twitched just the tiniest at the mention of Lois, though. Because...it was Lois.

[only_son]

"I'm pretty sure that as long as you don't press the issue, the best friend thing will take care of itself. You just have to give it time." Not everyone is Chloe, but surely if this person is Kon's best friend, they care about him enough to get past all this.

"And, you know, you shouldn't write off this place just because it's small. Back home, I'm assuming you couldn't date just anyone, right? Well, here you can."

[not_the_s]

Kon frowned a little. "What do you mean 'couldn't date just anyone'? Sure I could have. I mean, for a while there, I wasn't anyone but Superboy. No secret identities. And still, when I was in the Titans, they all knew who I was." Maybe if he'd dated someone back in Smallville, but the thought had never really occurred to him.

"I had a girlfriend anyway."

[only_son]

"It didn't worry you, potentially putting people in danger?" Clark asks. He can't fathom that not being a concern for a superhero, even one whose identity was known, like Oliver.

[not_the_s]

Kon frowned and wrapped his arms around himself. "I did that once. I dated someone and she...well, we weren't dating anymore, but it was still my fault. I don't know. I do know that if she knew I was worrying about it, she probably would have smacked me silly. And then, with Cassie, it didn't matter because she had similar powers."

[only_son]

"My point was just that maybe the puddle is bigger than you think," Clark replies. "No powers here, everyone's more or less on an even playing field." Unless he counts Iron Man, but Clark isn't sure he should within this context.

[not_the_s]

"Don't remind me," Kon muttered. "I miss the powers. I was home for a while and I had them again." He chuckled. "I'm not sure I touched down for a single minute. At least until I was at Ma and Pa's." They insisted that he keep his feet on the ground, at least while he was under their roof and, because it was them, he'd agreed. They'd done a lot to make him feel welcome in Smallville.