More Young Justice Trash

Return of the Cadmus Quartet

-I submitted a very important application yesterday, so I thought I'd treat myself to a little domestic fluff-

Superboy knew a lot of things, but he struggled to understand them. He could talk but he couldn't hold a conversation. He could fight, but all his other movements were stiff and clumsy. He a baby who became a crimefighter without any of the necessary adult skills.

"Isn't he precious?" Wally asked, watching the clone struggle with a juice box. He was very fond of Superboy as were Robin and Aqualad, they felt they had some responsibility for the boy.

The problem was that they couldn't make it out to the mountain every day. Tornado did his best in between their visits, but he lacked the hands-on care they could provide Superboy.

"Let's clean you up, bub." Dick grabbed a paper towel and dabbed at the juice spill on his friend's shirt.

"Am I allowed to go outside yet?" Superboy asked.

The trio hesitated. "....No, not yet, but I'm sure you will soon." Wally said optimistically.

The mentors had been cagey since the whole med bay incident, reluctantly admitting that they shouldn't have strapped superboy down against his will, but still insisting he was dangerous to them.

"I want to see the sun." Superboy said moodily. He'd only been outside on the night they'd freed him, and he felt weaker and weaker every day he was inside. They didn't have him under yellow sun lights like Cadmus did. "It's not fair!"

Sensing a tantrum on the horizon, Kaldur interrupted. "What would you like to do today, Superboy?"

"Go outside." He replied.

"Other than that."

The clone frowned at the floor, thinking hard.

"I brought some toys." Robin added, tantalizingly. "You wanna play, buddy?"

"Cadmus didn't teach me how to do that." He admited.

"That's okay, we'll show you!" Wally enthused, watching Dick empty his backpack. Robin had chosen the most age appropriate toys he could, Lego seemed a little too complex for a newborn, so he'd settled for building blocks.

"What do you use them for?" Conner asked.

"You, uh, you build structures with them."

"They won't make very solid structures." 

"That's not the point," Wally explained. "The point is you can build things, take them apart, and then build something else." The redhead sat on the rug beside Robin. "Here, we'll show you."

The boys built a simple little structure, like a log cabin, and looked up at Conner expectantly. "You try."

Conner took a little wooden block and examined it. He set it down and grabbed another, building a near identical structure to his friends'. "Now what?"

"Now this!" Wally stood, and in one swift movement, he kicked he and Robin's structure to bits.

Conner stared, first upset, then confused, then, with a look of pure excitement, he pushed his own house over. He watched it crumble. "Is this... fun?"

"I think so." Dick replied, picking up the pieces. "Aqualad, you try."

"I'm not very familiar with land architecture, but I'll try."

"You don't need to know anything, just stack the blocks."

Kaldur hesitantly began placing an intricate base for his structure, a lot of buildings in atlantis were domed, and though he wasn't sure how to replicate this with blocks, he started with a round shape.

Conner excitedly mimicked him, building a little circular building and then toppling it. "This... this is fun."

"Yeah." Wally smiled, sitting back down to build. 

They played like that for several minutes, Robin and Wally bickering about what to build, Kaldur working carefully in silence, and Conner building anything he could topple. It wasn't much, but it was fun; it was time with their friends, building structures in an air conditioned room on what must be a hot summer day outside.

"Oh, Supes, I almost forgot." Robin grabbed his bag. "I got you something special." He removed something, caged in plastic packaging.

"What is it?" Superboy asked, curious.

Robin opened the package and handed it over: a little superman effigy.

"It's a doll-- action figure-- whatever you want to call it."

He looked up with dinnerplate eyes. "For me?"

"All yours buddy." He agreed.

"Hey! Supey, how about we make a house for superman?" Wally asked.

Superboy nodded emphatically, and the boys got to work.

The afternoon wore on, the boys played with their building blocks. Superboy found joy in making his superman fly around the buildings they made, and occasionally obliterating them while 'fighting bad guys'.

They were midway through building a miniature hall of justice when the zeta went off.

"Hey kids." Flash skidded to a halt. "Hey, what're you doing?"

The four looked up at him, huddled around the building blocks.

"Flaashh! Can't you give me a heads up first?" Wally whined.

"Are you building stuff?" Barry asked. "That's so cute."

"We aren't cute!"

"Yes you are."

"We're not!"

Flash was about to retaliate that they, in fact, were, when Kaldur cleared his throat. "Flash, were you here for a particular reason?"

"Oh, yeah." He cleared his throat. "Kid, I need you. There's been a prison break."

Grumbling about bad timing, Wally stood, following his mentor. "Later guys." The duo exited the mountain.

"I should probably get going too." Robin relented. "Bats will want me home for dinner."

"Are you taking your blocks?" Superboy asked.

Robin shook his head. "You can keep them."

"Really?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "Superman needs buildings to save, right?"

Superboy nodded seriously. Kaldur elbowed him. "What do we say?"

After thinking for a moment, he got it. "thank you."

"You are very welcome." Dick said, ruffling the bigger boy's hair. "Have a good one!"

The clone turned to Kaldur. "Are you leaving too?"

He shook his head. "I'm staying." 

Superboy pushed the blocks at his friend. "Can you make more?"

"Why?"

"For superman." He said, holding up the doll.

Smiling, Kaldur agreed and got to work.