Hurts Like Heaven

Chapter 4 - When I Sing Along With You

***CONNER***

Well, that was easy, taking out that Luthor truck. So, as an impulsive and ever-hungry young Kryptonian kid, my first question is, "What's for lunch?" This in spite of having heard Kara make sex jokes with Barry, as if I wasn't traumatized enough after hearing them make the bed springs squeak at her place the other night. No amount of music from Alex's iPod - or anyone else's, for that matter - will help me forget the shit I heard, I don't think.

Hell, I'm scared that if and when I ever get laid myself, all I'll be able to think about will be Kara and Barry's...relations. Pro tip: if Kryptonians (or any other beings with superior senses than humans, pets notwithstanding) are in your place, maybe don't do the do? Much appreciated, thanks in advance, tip your servers.

"Conner?"

I jump at first, then steady myself when I realize it's only Jesse Wells talking. For a second, I mistook her voice for...well, I never met Luthor's sister very often, but I didn't trust her any more than I did the man himself. She seemed nice, but I always suspected Lena Luthor (if that is, in fact, her real name) was a honeypot her brother used to try and seduce me. If so, gross. Especially if, as I also suspected, Lex Luthor got off on using his own sister that way.

"What's up?" I ask Jesse, trying to play it casual. She even looks a tad bit like Lena, though only because she has a similar pale face and blue eyes. They're both pretty, though Lena's is a cold beauty that repels me, while Jesse is warm and inviting. Like how I expect a Kryptonian girl to be, if I knew of any to whom I wasn't related. I'm especially drawn to her eyebrows. Curved, sharp. Bladelike. They scare me. In a good way, of course. I don't know why, but eyebrows, even more than eyes, I find them attractive sometimes. You can imagine my slight disappointment when I learned that Barry was Kara's boyfriend - and my jealousy of Kara for getting to wake up to those eyebrows every day.

(Then again, Barry's a little old for me anyway. Not as old as Lena, at least.)

"You looked a little lost," Jesse says, snapping me out of what I realize has been quite the daze. "You looking for something? Or...or someone?"

"Not particularly, no..." I lean against the wall, whistling aimlessly to myself. It keeps me from really losing my mind, but I can still feel a hint of my usual musical-dysplasia madness creeping around the back of my brain.

"What the heck kind of song is that?" Jesse asks.

"Hmm?"

"Sounds like nothing I've ever heard. Is it Kryptonian? Or..." She smacks her forehead. "Stupid me, you probably never got to learn any Kryptonian music. You were only a baby when...when it happened, right?"

"No, I never did. And it's human music I had in my head too." I switch to humming so she can understand it better.

She picks up on the tune a lot faster now. "'Everlong?'"

I smile at her. "'If everything could ever feel this real forever...'"

"Are those even the actual words?"

"At least you didn't tell me my voice sucks."

She chuckles, blushing. "I mean, your voice isn't the best, but it doesn't suck."

"Yeah, I'm just not classically trained, is all."

I don't know what I'm thinking, getting flirty with Jesse. If I can call this "flirting," that is. But hey, she's a pretty girl, and pretty smart too. And I'm a forever lonely Superboy who's single and ready to mingle. (Are they calling me Superboy already? I bet Barry and Kara are. If not them, maybe Cisco.) But then, she's from another Earth, so maybe we could have one date before going home...but a long-term relationship? That'd probably be out of the cards for us, unless she or Cisco makes something that allows for easy travel between Earths without Cisco's direct assistance? From what I've seen, Jesse is inventive enough that she could pull it off herself. But then, so is Cisco. I don't want to start a genius competition between them...or do I?

Yes. Yes, I do.

And I'm saying this as the Superboy who's crushed out on one party in this hypothetical fringe-scientific face-off. (Okay, make that two. It's just that Jesse's a little more my type than Cisco is, but Cisco, he's his own unique flavor of adorkable.)

Thank God Jesse's not a metahuman. Especially a meta who could, let's just say, have the ability to read your thoughts. Telepathy could be the death of any relationship before it even starts. One of the few nice things Lena did for me back in the day was watch Buffy with me. She was quite the Angel fan, whereas I preferred Spike - yet more reason why we could never work out as a couple. (Also, I was underage pretty much that whole time - seriously, Lena, if you genuinely thought I was attractive, you either were unaware of my age or you have serious, serious issues.) But back to Buffy. I remember the first episode Lena showed me - it had Buffy accidentally become a telepath for a day or two. The increasingly messed-up thoughts she kept hearing from other people's heads...including, of course, Xander's endless preoccupation with sex. So relatable, especially for such a perpetual virgin as myself.

"You're looking a little lost again," Jesse says with a soft laugh that tickles my own funny bone, somehow. "You want some lunch? We got some good pizza in the cafeteria."

Pizza...ah, a universal treasure. "I can smell it already!" I follow her with my nose in the air - and no, I'm not kidding, I really do smell pizza now. And maybe, just maybe, a hint of perfume. Jasmine? Holly? Something sweet, and something fitting for Jesse, I think.

If nothing else, I'd like to at least kiss her before I leave.

Preferably not with pizza breath, though. Unless we both have it. Which we probably will, let's face it.