Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of its characters. Really, I don't.

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Chapter 1: Hurt || Bruce & Conner.

Superboy stood there, hands curled into fists as he saw Superman fly away. Away from him.

"He doesn't mean to hurt you."

A deep familiar voice called behind him a moment later, making Superboy tear his gaze away from the blue sky. There was no sight of Superman anymore.

"Superman." Batman clarified at the clone's silence. "He doesn't act that way to hurt you."

Superboy blinked at him. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer Batman, and if he did, he didn't know how. He wasn't sure if he believed Batman's words, though Superboy didn't think he had any reason to lie. But even if it was true, it didn't make Superman's indifference hurt any less. He said nothing, waiting for Batman to say something else or just disappear as he always did.

"Superman spent his entire life knowing himself the last of his kind. He came to terms with the fact he would never meet someone like him a long time ago." Batman paused, watching Superboy's eyebrows furrow as the clone processed the information he was being given. "And then you showed up. Not only a Kryptonian but a clone. Someone that looks just like him. Someone that was made to replace him." He purposely left out the killing part. It wouldn't do any good to bring that up right now.

Superboy shifted his gaze away from Batman.

"That does not mean Superman is right to act the way he has instead of acting like the responsible adult he's supposed to be."

Despite his instinctive anger at the insult against Superman, Superboy couldn't stop the warm feeling that expanded in his chest, flooding him with all sorts of strange emotions he didn't know the name of. Hearing someone like Batman showing his disagreement with the way Superman was ignoring him was- It was overwhelming.

"What can I do?" Superboy whispered without meeting Batman's eyes. Who better to tell him what to do to make Superman like him than the man's best friend?

"Nothing." Batman's unintentionally harsh tone made Superboy flinch away. In a softer tone, he added, "There's nothing you can do to rush Superman into making a decision. At least not the decision you want. The only thing you can do is be patient and continue working to improve."

Superboy sighed deeply, doing his best not to get angry at Batman. That didn't help him. At all. That was exactly what everyone kept telling him and what he had been doing since the moment he came here. Be patient. Wait for Superman to even acknowledge his presence. To look him in the eye for more than two seconds.

Batman could see that was not the answer Superboy had been hoping for. Could see the momentary glimpse of vulnerability in his face melt away, giving way to his usual hard and angry expression.

In a rare moment of hesitation, he stayed where he was. The easiest thing to do would be let things like that. Turn around and let Superboy to his own thoughts. It's what he should do.

He had never been good at doing what he should, though.

"I don't know what Superman's decision will be," Batman started, drawing the clone's attention back to him. "But what I do know is that you're part of this team now, and that as long as protect the innocent and fight crime remain as your priorities, you'll have a place here."

Batman didn't give Superboy a chance to reply, turning around to walk away as soon as he finished speaking.

He had a place where he belonged. Batman said that. Gaze softening, Superboy followed Batman's retreating back until the man was almost out of sight. He eyes moved back to the skyline where Superman had disappeared just moments ago, just for a second, before following Batman.

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a/n: Long notes are long, but well...

Am I the only one craving Batman/Superboy mentor-ish friendly interaction? Because seriously, I totally am. I'm going to be honest with you guys. I have a very basic canon knowledge (I have only seen scraps of episodes, and yeah, watching them all is on my to-do list. Which is way too long right now) but enough to know of the Superman/Superboy issue and Batman's intervention too. So here I am, getting plot bunnies and writing them.

Basically, I love Batman. And I love a universe where he interacts with kids and -without really being sure at this point for the reason mentioned above- is good with them. But especially Superboy. For some reason.

I have a few other ideas in my head, but I'm unsure about posting them just yet. I would very much appreciate any feedback; both on if you would like to read more and the characterization and tone of the fic. Or even Superboy-Batman prompts of thing you'd like to see. All gen, of course.

Lastly, I'm not English native speaker and this is unbetaed, so feel very much free to point out any mistakes/misspellings you find. I would appreciate.