The Prince & Me

Suspicions

La'gaan turned his head and saw M'gann walking in his direction.  Neptune's Beard!  He smoothed down his green ponytail and leaned against the wall casually but cooly, waiting for M'gann to start up a conversation with him.  "S'up, Angelfish?"

But M'gann didn't even see him.  Instead, she walked right past him as if he were only a table or a chair.  He got out of his position and watched her go up to Conner and plant a kiss on his cheek.  Smiling at her, he hooked his arm with hers and led her towards the Zeta tubes.  Recognized—Superboy, B06, Miss Martian, B07.

La'gaan stomped his fishy foot on the floor repeatedly.  "Neptune's Beard!"  Ever since Conner returned to Mount Justice with his new family, La'gaan might as well have been invisible.  M'gann barely so much as blinked in his direction anymore, and she only spoke to him when they were on missions.  Now that Super Ex-Boyfriend was back in the picture, M'gann seemed to want nothing more to do with La'gaan.

He held back the tears that were burning in the back of his red eyes.  It wasn't fair.  Back in Atlantis, he had had trouble finding a girl who loved him, because of his abnormal appearance.  He had gone to the surface to escape the racism, only to find it was even worse there.  But there, he had finally found what he had spent his whole life searching for—a girl who could see past his fishy face and love him for he was.

Even though he was happy with M'gann, he couldn't help but notice how she'd steal a longing glance at Superboy once in a while when he wasn't looking.  It made him even more upset when Conner would do the same at her.  This made La'gaan resent Superboy, and he made it his mission to make it clear that M'gann was HIS now.  This had led to a tiff between the two heroes.  La'gaan had been pleased when his Angelfish had told Conner off—until an hour later, when she came back crying that Conner had run away.

Everyone had blamed La'gaan for Conner leaving them, and after he left, his relationship with M'gann became strained, to the point when she decided it was best that they break it off.  Her telling him that they should just be friends and start seeing other people was one of the worst moment of his entire life.  And now any hope he had had of getting back together with her was crushed.

If only Superboy would just go back to wherever he came from and leave us alone!, La'gaan thought.  But then he remembered what happened the last time Conner went AWOL.  No, that won't help.  If anything, it'll only make it worse.  What I have to do is find some way to get M'gann to lose her trust in him.

He caught a glimpse of Helen standing in the corner.  She had a box of donuts, and was going through them like there was no tomorrow, gobbling them down one by one with more haste than manners.  It was almost as if she had never tried a donut before.  La'gaan ran over to her.  "Whoa!  Whoa!  Slow down, Godzilla!"  Helen looked at him with a confused expression.  He groaned.  "That's a famous movie monster."

Helen took out her napkin and wiped the frosting off her mouth.  "My sincerest apologies."  She bobbed a little curtsey to see that it was La'gaan who looked confused this time.  "Why do you always do that?"  "Do what?"  "This!", La'gaan said, imitating her gesture.  He noticed her eyes dart back and forth.  "Oh, I...guess I've watched too many Disney movies.  Silly me!"

Karen came in with the Team lunches.  "Here's what you ordered, Helen!", she said, handing her her food container.  "Oh, my heartiest thanks!", Helen said, curtseying again as she took the food and walked over to one of the tables in the cafeteria.  La'gaan watched with a suspicious eye as she took out her knife and fork.  She sliced her burger into small, bite-sized pieces and stabbed them each with her fork before putting it into her mouth.

He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but he couldn't help but feel as if there was something not quite right with Conner and Jason's new family.  Helen acted a little too prim and proper for a carpenter's daughter, and the rest seemed to feel out of place with the other kids their age.  They were able to fool M'gann, Nightwing and the rest of the Team, but not La'gaan.

I'm onto you, Carmines., he thought, his eyes narrowed in dangerous little red slits as he kept his focus on Helen.  Whatever it is you're hiding, I'm gonna figure it out.  Something is wrong with you.  Once I find out what it is, I'm going to expose it for the whole world to see.  Then the Team will see you for the phonies you are, and M'gann will realize who is the right guy for her—ME!