Superboy and Roxy Leech fic and art
So, after that one time when Kon died, I stopped reading comics completely and just made up alternate universes in my head where he didn't die. There was that one where he joined the Superbuddies. Here's another.
Title: That story about Kon living with Roxy after their larger family breaks up (assorted snippets)
Characters: Superboy, Roxy Leech (gen)
Rating: G
Summary: see title
Authors Notes: Because, see, the thing about Roxy? She was one of the few (possibly only) characters who really seemed to genuinely respect and value Kon for who he already was, and not judge him for not being smart or mature or responsible enough. It never sat right with me that she just dropped out of his life like that. They should have adopted each other as brother/sister and lived together. And since she was a cop, he could have been her side-kick/partner in training!
“Superboy Leech?”
“Look, you need some kind of last name, and you said using mine was okay,” Roxy said defensively.
“Yeah, but it sounds really dumb after Superboy,” Superboy argued.
“We talked about makin’ somethin’ else up,” she argued, “callin’ you Bill or Sam or Karl, and you said you didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, because Superboy’s my name.”
“And now it’s legally your name!”
“But it doesn’t make sense as a first name!”
She groaned and rubbed her face. “So what, I shoulda split it in two? Super as your first name and Boy for a middle name? People almost always drop the middle name; you’d be Super Leech. Sounds like a giant flyin’ slug monster.”
“No,” he said, making a face, “God, that’s even worse.”
~
“Gawd,” Roxy said with disgust as the cockroaches skittered under furniture. “S.B., please tell me we ain’t livin’ here.”
Superboy followed her into the apartment, trailed by a long line of floating boxes being carried by ttk. “C’mon, Rox,” he said cheerily, “we’ve lived in worse. Remember that one hotel back in Oklahoma?”
Roxy smiled in spite of herself. “I try not to.”
Encouraged, Superboy went on. “At least I can probably take these bugs if it comes to a fight. I swear those hotel cockroaches were metas, probably mutated from that radioactive slime that they tried to pass off as oatmeal.”
“And I ain’t arguin’ with you,” Roxy said, crossing her arms protectively against the filthy room. “I just didn’t wanna know, is all.”
Superboy set the boxes down gently, then turned to her a bit hesitantly. “You’re not-you don’t regret this, do you? I mean, I know you barely make enough as a cop right now to support yourself, let alone some deadbeat teenager who doesn’t even pay rent....”
“Aw, shut up,” she said, shoving his shoulder. “My dad an’ me lived off’a you for a year, I think it’s my turn to be the bread winner. Besides, you gotta get yourself back in school. Can’t have no dropout superheroes flyin’ around.”
“It’s gonna be so weird,” Superboy said, opening the nearest box to start unpacking.
“You went to school before,” Roxy pointed out. “And without my dad here getting you publicity all the time, maybe you won’t get attacked by supervillains so much and they won’t kick you out this time.”
“I don’t just mean school, I mean this whole thing. Just you and me, no Rex, no Dubbilex… I mean, I know you’re older than me, but not by that much.”
“Depends on how you count,” Roxy smirked. “It’s just until you graduate. Then we can be-I dunno, crime solving partners maybe. I guess we’ll figure it out when we get there. But until then, someone’s gotta sign your permission slips, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s weird that it’ll be you.”
She shrugged. “Who better than family?”
~
“Oh for-what’d you even do?” Roxy asked with exasperation edging on despair. “It looks like you got blown up.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” Superboy said as he collapsed onto the couch. “There was this guy who was shooting-I dunno, they were small but when they exploded they did a ton of damage. And he was about to hit Robin, and there wasn’t any time to stop it, all I could do was jump in front of it and block him.”
“What were you thinking?” Roxy demanded furiously.
“I was thinking that I have an impregnable force-field to protect me, and Rob just has his skimpy little tights,” he defended. “It’s okay, it took me out for the count but I heal quick-“
“How the hell am I supposed to repair this?” Roxy went on, picking at the shreds of his costume where they clung to his shoulder. “There’s nothing left to sew back together!”
“My costume!” Superboy cried, offended, “I only practically got my head blown off an hour ago, and you’re worried about my costume?!”
“You said yourself, you’re fine,” Roxy snapped, “you always are! But your costume don’t heal itself, and I can’t afford another one!”
The severity of the situation began to dawn on him. “But-what am I supposed to wear when I going heroing and stuff, then?”
“That’s what I’m sayin’,” Roxy said, throwing her hands up. “Closet thing we got around here is that Super-themed bikini I used ta wear for the helicopter stunt.”
Superboy made a face. “I don’t think that’ll fit.”
~
“Please?”
“I already said no, S.B,” Roxy said wearily. She was sprawled out on the grungy old couch with the lights turned low against a killer headache after the day from hell at work, and the last thing she wanted to deal with was an energetic S.B.
“Come on!” he whined. “You’ll have fun! You like this band, I know you do, I hear you singing the music in the shower all the time!”
“Only because you’re always playin’ it so loud and I can’t get it outta my head,” she muttered. “Why can’t you just go alone?”
“Because I’m under 18 and they won’t let kids into the club without an adult!” he said with frustration.
She sighed. “Look, it ain’t that I don’t wanna go, but not tonight, I’m tired.”
“You always say that!” he protested. “What happened to you? You used to be fun!”
“What happened was that I was dumb enough to adopt the world’s most annoyin’ two-year-old!” she snapped angrily.
She regretted it as soon as she said it, the effect on him was too obvious. But it did get him to leave her alone.
Maybe she’d wait until tomorrow to apologize.
~
She regretted leaving the apology until the next morning once she woke up. When she woke up Superboy had already done all the dishes, cleaned the apartment, washed the windows, and all without making any noise at all. If Superboy had been mad and tried to get back at her with loud music or by trashing the apartment, something like that, then she could get mad back and feel better. Even if he’d been actively trying to guilt her she’d have been okay; her dad was that type when they were fighting and she’d gotten pretty immune to it.
Superboy pulled that stuff sometimes, but not this time. He was being nice and he was being quiet, which meant that he was feeling guilty. Which made her feel guilty, because she knew he wasn’t just feeling guilty over bugging her last night (which he should) but over inconveniencing her life with his general existence (which he should not, ever.)
~
She’d never really thought much about Superman before. He was a big deal to Superboy, obviously, but she’d never met the guy herself, so she didn’t have much to think about. But when S.B. came back from that whole weird thing with the other dimensions or whatever, and he was all gloomy and sad because of what he found out, she couldn’t help but be pissed.
Not because Superboy wouldn’t tell her-she didn’t care what Superman’s secret ID was, and anyway she'd always respected Superboy for doing the right thing. She wasn't about to try and make him rat anyone out. She wasn't pissed at S.B. at all, but at the big S himself. He'd gone and made Superboy put on that bomb-jacket and risk his life, and Superboy hadn’t even stopped to think about it, because he never did. Superman said jump and Superboy fell all over himself trying to go high enough. And after all that, Superman wouldn’t even tell the Kid who he really is? What a jerk.
But maybe she was a little pissed at Superboy, too, for taking it so hard. Sure, Superman was being a jerk, but so what? The world was full of jerks, so you ignored them. Who was Superman to them anyway? It didn’t matter where S.B.’s DNA came from, or what symbol he wore; he should have known by then who his real family was.
~
Title: That story about Kon living with Roxy after their larger family breaks up (assorted snippets)
Characters: Superboy, Roxy Leech (gen)
Rating: G
Summary: see title
Authors Notes: Because, see, the thing about Roxy? She was one of the few (possibly only) characters who really seemed to genuinely respect and value Kon for who he already was, and not judge him for not being smart or mature or responsible enough. It never sat right with me that she just dropped out of his life like that. They should have adopted each other as brother/sister and lived together. And since she was a cop, he could have been her side-kick/partner in training!
“Superboy Leech?”
“Look, you need some kind of last name, and you said using mine was okay,” Roxy said defensively.
“Yeah, but it sounds really dumb after Superboy,” Superboy argued.
“We talked about makin’ somethin’ else up,” she argued, “callin’ you Bill or Sam or Karl, and you said you didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, because Superboy’s my name.”
“And now it’s legally your name!”
“But it doesn’t make sense as a first name!”
She groaned and rubbed her face. “So what, I shoulda split it in two? Super as your first name and Boy for a middle name? People almost always drop the middle name; you’d be Super Leech. Sounds like a giant flyin’ slug monster.”
“No,” he said, making a face, “God, that’s even worse.”
~
“Gawd,” Roxy said with disgust as the cockroaches skittered under furniture. “S.B., please tell me we ain’t livin’ here.”
Superboy followed her into the apartment, trailed by a long line of floating boxes being carried by ttk. “C’mon, Rox,” he said cheerily, “we’ve lived in worse. Remember that one hotel back in Oklahoma?”
Roxy smiled in spite of herself. “I try not to.”
Encouraged, Superboy went on. “At least I can probably take these bugs if it comes to a fight. I swear those hotel cockroaches were metas, probably mutated from that radioactive slime that they tried to pass off as oatmeal.”
“And I ain’t arguin’ with you,” Roxy said, crossing her arms protectively against the filthy room. “I just didn’t wanna know, is all.”
Superboy set the boxes down gently, then turned to her a bit hesitantly. “You’re not-you don’t regret this, do you? I mean, I know you barely make enough as a cop right now to support yourself, let alone some deadbeat teenager who doesn’t even pay rent....”
“Aw, shut up,” she said, shoving his shoulder. “My dad an’ me lived off’a you for a year, I think it’s my turn to be the bread winner. Besides, you gotta get yourself back in school. Can’t have no dropout superheroes flyin’ around.”
“It’s gonna be so weird,” Superboy said, opening the nearest box to start unpacking.
“You went to school before,” Roxy pointed out. “And without my dad here getting you publicity all the time, maybe you won’t get attacked by supervillains so much and they won’t kick you out this time.”
“I don’t just mean school, I mean this whole thing. Just you and me, no Rex, no Dubbilex… I mean, I know you’re older than me, but not by that much.”
“Depends on how you count,” Roxy smirked. “It’s just until you graduate. Then we can be-I dunno, crime solving partners maybe. I guess we’ll figure it out when we get there. But until then, someone’s gotta sign your permission slips, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s weird that it’ll be you.”
She shrugged. “Who better than family?”
~
“Oh for-what’d you even do?” Roxy asked with exasperation edging on despair. “It looks like you got blown up.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” Superboy said as he collapsed onto the couch. “There was this guy who was shooting-I dunno, they were small but when they exploded they did a ton of damage. And he was about to hit Robin, and there wasn’t any time to stop it, all I could do was jump in front of it and block him.”
“What were you thinking?” Roxy demanded furiously.
“I was thinking that I have an impregnable force-field to protect me, and Rob just has his skimpy little tights,” he defended. “It’s okay, it took me out for the count but I heal quick-“
“How the hell am I supposed to repair this?” Roxy went on, picking at the shreds of his costume where they clung to his shoulder. “There’s nothing left to sew back together!”
“My costume!” Superboy cried, offended, “I only practically got my head blown off an hour ago, and you’re worried about my costume?!”
“You said yourself, you’re fine,” Roxy snapped, “you always are! But your costume don’t heal itself, and I can’t afford another one!”
The severity of the situation began to dawn on him. “But-what am I supposed to wear when I going heroing and stuff, then?”
“That’s what I’m sayin’,” Roxy said, throwing her hands up. “Closet thing we got around here is that Super-themed bikini I used ta wear for the helicopter stunt.”
Superboy made a face. “I don’t think that’ll fit.”
~
“Please?”
“I already said no, S.B,” Roxy said wearily. She was sprawled out on the grungy old couch with the lights turned low against a killer headache after the day from hell at work, and the last thing she wanted to deal with was an energetic S.B.
“Come on!” he whined. “You’ll have fun! You like this band, I know you do, I hear you singing the music in the shower all the time!”
“Only because you’re always playin’ it so loud and I can’t get it outta my head,” she muttered. “Why can’t you just go alone?”
“Because I’m under 18 and they won’t let kids into the club without an adult!” he said with frustration.
She sighed. “Look, it ain’t that I don’t wanna go, but not tonight, I’m tired.”
“You always say that!” he protested. “What happened to you? You used to be fun!”
“What happened was that I was dumb enough to adopt the world’s most annoyin’ two-year-old!” she snapped angrily.
She regretted it as soon as she said it, the effect on him was too obvious. But it did get him to leave her alone.
Maybe she’d wait until tomorrow to apologize.
~
She regretted leaving the apology until the next morning once she woke up. When she woke up Superboy had already done all the dishes, cleaned the apartment, washed the windows, and all without making any noise at all. If Superboy had been mad and tried to get back at her with loud music or by trashing the apartment, something like that, then she could get mad back and feel better. Even if he’d been actively trying to guilt her she’d have been okay; her dad was that type when they were fighting and she’d gotten pretty immune to it.
Superboy pulled that stuff sometimes, but not this time. He was being nice and he was being quiet, which meant that he was feeling guilty. Which made her feel guilty, because she knew he wasn’t just feeling guilty over bugging her last night (which he should) but over inconveniencing her life with his general existence (which he should not, ever.)
~
She’d never really thought much about Superman before. He was a big deal to Superboy, obviously, but she’d never met the guy herself, so she didn’t have much to think about. But when S.B. came back from that whole weird thing with the other dimensions or whatever, and he was all gloomy and sad because of what he found out, she couldn’t help but be pissed.
Not because Superboy wouldn’t tell her-she didn’t care what Superman’s secret ID was, and anyway she'd always respected Superboy for doing the right thing. She wasn't about to try and make him rat anyone out. She wasn't pissed at S.B. at all, but at the big S himself. He'd gone and made Superboy put on that bomb-jacket and risk his life, and Superboy hadn’t even stopped to think about it, because he never did. Superman said jump and Superboy fell all over himself trying to go high enough. And after all that, Superman wouldn’t even tell the Kid who he really is? What a jerk.
But maybe she was a little pissed at Superboy, too, for taking it so hard. Sure, Superman was being a jerk, but so what? The world was full of jerks, so you ignored them. Who was Superman to them anyway? It didn’t matter where S.B.’s DNA came from, or what symbol he wore; he should have known by then who his real family was.
~