(no subject)
Jan. 12th, 2011 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kat8chaWhen they go out, not on missions but just to be normal teenagers, Kid Flash has a tendency to forget about everyone but himself and Robin. It is not that he doesn't include every else, he tries, but generally Wally (and seriously, Superboy can't believe some of the names his teammates have) pulls Robin along with him and they disappear together, into the arcade, or the food court, or wherever they've gone to this time. A lot of the time Superboy ends up sitting somewhere relatively quiet (he still can't get used to how much *noise* there is in the world outside of Cadmus) and waiting until Kaldur or Megan find him.
They're in a library this time and while Kid Flash had scoffed he'd pretty soon found something to do on the computers. Superboy and Megan had briefly wandered around together before Megan had found herself pulled over by Kid Flash to see something or other. Superboy hadn't paid attention.
It wasn't like Kid Flash excluded him, it was just that Superboy wasn't on his radar. At least Wally didn’t call him an 'it'.
Superboy, left to his own devices, found himself wandering up and down the stacks, not really looking for anything or looking at anything. He passed everyone from teenagers to old men standing in the stacks, most of them crowded up close to the stacks either reaching for a book or reading from one to see if it was what they needed. At Cadmus Superboy had never had to read, although he knew how. He had read some of the literature that the library under Mount Justice had but that library was nothing like this one. The library at headquarters was filled with books of technical knowledge, criminology, psychology, chemistry. Superboy glanced up and down the aisle he was standing in to make sure it was clear before he reached up and picked out a book at random. He looked at the cover oddly for a few seconds before flipping it open.
There'd been a turtle on the cover, was the book about a turtle?
The book was about a turtle, but it was about a turtle who was actually a god, and there was this acolyte or something and it was all ridiculous but Superboy found that he actually really liked the book. It was only when he was almost two chapters in that he realized he had been standing in the aisle reading for a while and that his teammates were probably wondering where he was. That was also when the redheaded librarian at his elbow coughed and Superboy found himself spinning around and flattening himself against the bookshelf.
"You're awful jumpy, aren't you?" And the redhead flashed him a bright smile. She didn't look too much older than Superboy was supposed to be, she had to be in her early twenties. Maybe she wasn't even a librarian, maybe she was a volunteer. "I just wanted to know if I could get past you to put these books back on the shelf."
"Oh, sorry." Superboy glanced at the book in the hopes that he would remember the title or the author's name later and he could ask Robin how the story ended (sometimes Superboy could remember every detail about something and other times he couldn't) before he slid it back onto the shelf and stepped out of the library workers way.
"Not going to rent it?" The redhead asked, slipping a few books into various spots on the shelves. She barely had to look at the spine of the book to know where they belonged. "I'm not really a big fantasy reader but Terry Pratchett is pretty good."
Superboy stuck his hands in his pockets and fought both the instinct to run away and the urge to rock back and forth between the balls of his feet and his heels. "I don't have a membership." Libraries were probably like video rental stores, right? Superboy wasn't sure.
"It doesn't take much to get a library card," the redhead was really pretty, pretty in not the same way Megan could be but in a totally *real* way. When Megan was trying to be a human she managed to seamlessly blend into the populace, but she always ended up looking just a shade too normal. To Superboy, who saw the same awkward too normal normalness in his own face in the mirror every day it was obvious. "If you have something with your address on it I can get you started right away."
"So you are a librarian." He felt so stupid when he just blurted it out like that, stupid and real and the librarian was smiling at him and sticking out her hand for him to shake. Superboy did.
"I am. Barbara Gordon, librarian, at your service." She was smiling in a way that made Superboy feel almost as tongue tied as Kid Flash always seemed around pretty women, but the awkward pause that followed her greeting wasn't because Superboy was tongue tied… he just didn't know what to say.
"I'm…"
Thankfully, that was when the giant marauding elephants lead by 'The Ringmaster' (don't ask) attacked. Superboy had never been more grateful for an excuse to kick badguy ass. Though he'd felt bad about keeping the elephants, they seemed like really nice animals, normally. The fight was enough to knock the melancholy about not having a real name right out of him. At least until they'd all been cleaning up after the fight (and seriously, they were supposed to be a *secret* team, Batman was probably going to tell them off for this, Black Canary sure was because they'd been sloppy) and Superboy had seen Robin and Barbara talking in the shadows.
Robin had a real name, Superboy thought as he unconsciously pulverized a piece of brick, he probably even had a library card.
They're in a library this time and while Kid Flash had scoffed he'd pretty soon found something to do on the computers. Superboy and Megan had briefly wandered around together before Megan had found herself pulled over by Kid Flash to see something or other. Superboy hadn't paid attention.
It wasn't like Kid Flash excluded him, it was just that Superboy wasn't on his radar. At least Wally didn’t call him an 'it'.
Superboy, left to his own devices, found himself wandering up and down the stacks, not really looking for anything or looking at anything. He passed everyone from teenagers to old men standing in the stacks, most of them crowded up close to the stacks either reaching for a book or reading from one to see if it was what they needed. At Cadmus Superboy had never had to read, although he knew how. He had read some of the literature that the library under Mount Justice had but that library was nothing like this one. The library at headquarters was filled with books of technical knowledge, criminology, psychology, chemistry. Superboy glanced up and down the aisle he was standing in to make sure it was clear before he reached up and picked out a book at random. He looked at the cover oddly for a few seconds before flipping it open.
There'd been a turtle on the cover, was the book about a turtle?
The book was about a turtle, but it was about a turtle who was actually a god, and there was this acolyte or something and it was all ridiculous but Superboy found that he actually really liked the book. It was only when he was almost two chapters in that he realized he had been standing in the aisle reading for a while and that his teammates were probably wondering where he was. That was also when the redheaded librarian at his elbow coughed and Superboy found himself spinning around and flattening himself against the bookshelf.
"You're awful jumpy, aren't you?" And the redhead flashed him a bright smile. She didn't look too much older than Superboy was supposed to be, she had to be in her early twenties. Maybe she wasn't even a librarian, maybe she was a volunteer. "I just wanted to know if I could get past you to put these books back on the shelf."
"Oh, sorry." Superboy glanced at the book in the hopes that he would remember the title or the author's name later and he could ask Robin how the story ended (sometimes Superboy could remember every detail about something and other times he couldn't) before he slid it back onto the shelf and stepped out of the library workers way.
"Not going to rent it?" The redhead asked, slipping a few books into various spots on the shelves. She barely had to look at the spine of the book to know where they belonged. "I'm not really a big fantasy reader but Terry Pratchett is pretty good."
Superboy stuck his hands in his pockets and fought both the instinct to run away and the urge to rock back and forth between the balls of his feet and his heels. "I don't have a membership." Libraries were probably like video rental stores, right? Superboy wasn't sure.
"It doesn't take much to get a library card," the redhead was really pretty, pretty in not the same way Megan could be but in a totally *real* way. When Megan was trying to be a human she managed to seamlessly blend into the populace, but she always ended up looking just a shade too normal. To Superboy, who saw the same awkward too normal normalness in his own face in the mirror every day it was obvious. "If you have something with your address on it I can get you started right away."
"So you are a librarian." He felt so stupid when he just blurted it out like that, stupid and real and the librarian was smiling at him and sticking out her hand for him to shake. Superboy did.
"I am. Barbara Gordon, librarian, at your service." She was smiling in a way that made Superboy feel almost as tongue tied as Kid Flash always seemed around pretty women, but the awkward pause that followed her greeting wasn't because Superboy was tongue tied… he just didn't know what to say.
"I'm…"
Thankfully, that was when the giant marauding elephants lead by 'The Ringmaster' (don't ask) attacked. Superboy had never been more grateful for an excuse to kick badguy ass. Though he'd felt bad about keeping the elephants, they seemed like really nice animals, normally. The fight was enough to knock the melancholy about not having a real name right out of him. At least until they'd all been cleaning up after the fight (and seriously, they were supposed to be a *secret* team, Batman was probably going to tell them off for this, Black Canary sure was because they'd been sloppy) and Superboy had seen Robin and Barbara talking in the shadows.
Robin had a real name, Superboy thought as he unconsciously pulverized a piece of brick, he probably even had a library card.
