Happy Harbor, Mount Justice – August 6

...

He'd heard Megan's sudden burst of laughter in the middle of a combat exercise with Black Canary. Laughter like that, so genuine and lacking of even a hint of irony, was not something that missed Superboy's acute hearing.

It had caught him off guard. The sound had thoroughly distracted him, and he had not been able to avoid Black Canary's uppercut in time. With a grunt, Superboy stumbled backwards and crashed onto the illuminated floor, but he remained unharmed. If anything, the only thing damaged was his pride.

He heard the computer's monotonous, effeminate voice claim Black Canary as the victor, but underneath he could still hear Megan's sweet peals of laughter lingering in the air. He growled, frustrated, but didn't move from his compromising position on the floor.

Black Canary was absentmindedly rubbing the fist she'd hit him with as she walked over to him. Clearly her punching him had hurt her more than anything else, but she was not unaccustomed to it. Like many superheroes, she'd developed a high tolerance of pain over the years.

"That was an amateur mistake," She reproached lightly, offering her hand for him to take in order to help him up.

Superboy said nothing, his lips pursed and his brows drawn broodingly. He roused himself off the ground, pointedly ignoring her offered hand.

Black Canary frowned and let her hand fall to her side. She was use to his aloof behavior by now, but it didn't mean she couldn't be concerned, "Something on your mind, Superboy?"

"No." He deadpanned, and promptly left the training room without another word.

Superboy returned to his room and took a shower. He hadn't even broken a sweat while he'd been training, but it helped him cool off. The sound of the water beating against his skin, hissing and sloshing and chaotic, it was soothing. He closed his eyes, focusing on those sounds. And then he heard her laughter again, twinkling and somehow louder than the blood pounding in his ears.

"Ugh," He grated, teeth bared against his lips in a grimace.

He switched the water off and quickly exited the shower stall, not bothering to dry off as he changed into his clothes, and left his room.

Superboy stalked out of the corridor and into the common room, his gaze immediately zeroing in on the back of Megan's head. She sat in the center of the large black sofa, her back to him, facing the absurdly huge flat-screen TV that took up one wall. Something was on, some sort of live-action show, but he wasn't sure what to make of it.

She was still laughing, the way she always laughed, soft and genuine—not loud and rambunctious like Wally's, or mischievous and vaguely creepy like Robin's.

Superboy did not laugh; he didn't think he'd ever had the pleasure. He understood the concept and nature of it, how its purpose was to express one's amusement and joy, but he just never found the need to. He was never happy, at least by definition. He couldn't honestly say to himself that he'd ever felt the way happiness was alleged to feel like.

Kid Flash and Robin found humor in many things, some of which was at Superboy's expense, which perhaps was the reason why he felt particularly apathetic towards laughter and happiness in general.

But Megan's laughter was different, he realized that the moment he'd heard it. That was why, admittedly, it sort of fascinated him. Megan laughed so easily and effortlessly at even the simplest of things, like the show she was currently watching on TV.

Superboy felt a stir of envy twist in his chest. She was so… happy. It came easily to her, it seemed. It was unsettling, to someone like him.

He walked over until he stood directly behind her, bringing up his arms to fold them across the wide expanse of his chest. "What are you watching?"

Megan nearly jumped, twisting around to look up at him, clearly startled. "Superboy!" She gasped slightly, as if it already weren't obvious who he was simply by the red 'S' insignia on his black shirt.

Superboy tore his eyes away from Megan and glanced at the TV, eyeing the redheaded Caucasian girl who suddenly came on screen dressed in a rather close-fitting white shirt with an M embellished on it, a blue miniskirt, and gloves. She also had these strange, puffy-looking things in her hands, and she was waving them around and kicking her feet up in the air and, to Superboy, it was all just really bizarre.

Superboy narrowed his eyes at the screen. The actress looked very familiar, but that couldn't be right. Up until now, he'd never watched TV.

"Hello Megan!" The redheaded actress spoke, slightly tapping her head with her hand as if in reproach, and for some reason this prompted a burst of distant, disembodied laughter out of nowhere.

Superboy drew his brows closer together, clearly puzzled by the unusualness of the whole scene before him.

And suddenly he knew who she reminded him of. He glanced down at Megan, and then up at the redhead on TV, and then back to Megan again, his face blank. The resemblance was uncanny, but of course there were key differences: skin coloration, height, and species were among them. Also, he observed, Megan had freckles lightly dusted over her cheeks, and fuller, redder lips…

Megan flushed under his intense stare and grabbed the TV remote, setting the show on pause to give him her full attention.

"It's called Hello Megan." Megan smiled coyly, feeling the need to explain herself, "I would watch it back on Mars all the time, but I suppose our transmission isn't as up-to-date as Earth's. I had no idea it was an old 80's sitcom until I came here, at first I thought it was some kind of human behavioral documentary. But I guess that doesn't matter, they don't even make new episodes anymore. I just re-watch my favorite ones when I can and—" Megan paused, realizing she was babbling. Her smile became sheepish, "Um, did you need something, Superboy?"

Superboy grunted and abruptly sat down next to her, which startled Megan even more. She stared at him, eyes wide, speechless.

Feeling her prolonged stare, Superboy huffed. "What?"

"You…" Megan sputtered, and then quickly shook her head, composing herself, "I'm sorry, did you plan on watching something?"

"No." Superboy said, plainly.

"Oh." Megan bit her lip, "Do you want to watch with me, then?"

"No," He repeated, but he drew his brows together again, something like uncertainty twisting inside his chest. He stubbornly ignored it.

Megan's brows furled, her full lips curling into a dejected frown. "Do you… want me to leave?"

Superboy glanced at her, his gaze meeting hers like a magnet. He said quite quietly, "No." And he realized he was being sincere.

Megan flushed, and it was an interesting phenomenon, seeing her bright green skin tinged with a rosy hue. She shied away from his intent look, eyes wide as she attempted to focus on the show on TV.

"Oh… okay then," She said, a tiny, hopeful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She sat uncomfortably straight and very still, her hands folded neatly over her lap.

Superboy leaned back into the sofa beside her, his back slumped against the backrest and his arms crossed. He tried to focus on the show, but he didn't know what it was about at all, having never seen it before—or any other television broadcast, for that matter. He couldn't follow what was going on, and quite frankly he didn't think he'd care even if he wanted to.

After a particularly bad joke cued another bout of insincere laughter from the invisible audience (and a genuine giggle from Megan), Superboy glanced at his redheaded Martian teammate, trying to understand why she'd enjoy doing this at all, just sitting here watching an outdated sitcom.

She'd relaxed into a more comfortable position on the couch, seeming to forget his presence entirely as she focused on the television screen. Her shoulders were relaxed, her mouth tugged into a small smile, and her eyes glazed as if in a fascinated stupor. Superboy couldn't comprehend how she seemed so at ease with this kind of recreation, when he wasn't.

He was not paying attention to what was going on in the show, more intent on studying the Martian girl's behavior than anything else, but some sort of conversation was taking place in the middle of what seemed to be a locker room, and the redhead, whose name was apparently Megan as well, blurted the catchphrase, "Hello Megan!"

And his Megan laughed outright—the real Megan, Superboy quickly corrected, Right? He wasn't sure who came first, and just how much Megan had based herself off of her uncanny lookalike.

"What's so funny?" He asked, genuinely curious but painfully blunt.

Megan looked at him, as if suddenly realizing he was there. "Oh, um… well, I dunno, I thought it was funny. Didn't you?"

Superboy's expression was blank. "I wasn't paying attention." He still wasn't paying attention, and now neither was she.

Megan smiled hesitantly. "Um. Oh."

It was uncomfortable, spending time with her. Which was ridiculous, they were teammates, they lived together. Why was this so hard?

Superboy set his lips into a concentrated frown, determined.

"Megan," He said, slowly, "Why do you like this show?" He was careful to keep his voice low, and his tone calm. Sometimes the things he'd say tended to come out gruff without him really meaning it to, according to Kaldur. He still had much to learn in the way of polite conversation, especially when talking to a girl—and an alien one, at that.

Megan was a little taken aback by the sincerity of the question; it was not asked out of spite or condescension, but rather genuine curiosity.

"You said… you watched it back home, on Mars, right?" Superboy persisted, staring at her expectantly.

"Oh… oh! Yes, I have." Megan blushed sheepishly.

"What drew you to it?"

It occurred to her then that Superboy was genuinely trying to get to know her better. They'd been living together all this time, and yet they'd never actually bothered to sit down and properly introduce themselves—at least, not really.

Megan had tried in the past, but she wasn't familiar with interacting with humans, least of all a boy—a clone of Superman, at that. It was all rather daunting, and perhaps she hadn't tried hard enough, always floundering with her words and shying away before any progress was made. That was the effect he had on her. He made her nervous and unsure of herself, but it was certainly not out of fear.

"On Mars, we don't really have cable television or any kind of visual entertainment," Megan explained, a sense of cautious optimism rising within her. "Since coming here, I learned that the ways we entertain ourselves and experience things are a lot different from you humans. But before that, Uncle J'onn was happy to help me learn on Mars, since he knew I was interested. He introduced me to cable." She giggled softly at the memory. "After that, I was instantly fascinated with Earth. In Hello Megan, Earth looked so… bright and quirky, so happy, and everyone was so beautiful." Her gaze lingered on Superboy, a dreamy smile on her face.

Superboy didn't understand what she was implying, or perhaps he chose to ignore it, but he felt something stir in his chest as her eyes were on him, staring at him with such a warm, inexplicable look, and for some reason he felt compelled to smile back, faintly.

"Would you like to watch something, too? It's fun, and you can learn a lot about Earth that way. I know you don't really like to go out much so…"

Superboy grimaced.

Megan added quickly, "It doesn't have to be Hello Megan! I understand, not everyone likes it, that'd be silly. But there are a lot of other shows to choose from, we could surf channels until we find something you like!"

She smiled at him, all hope and open excitement, and Superboy couldn't bring himself to say no. Quite frankly, he wanted to watch TV, wanted to laugh and be fascinated the way Megan had been while she was watching her favorite show.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Superboy nodded.

Her smile broke into an outright grin, pearly white teeth bared against red lips. He'd half-expected her to get up and do a little happy dance, but she simply took the remote and happily began channel surfing (the Hello Megan episode she'd been watching had ended by then).

They'd perused a number of different television series' and channels, Megan encouraging him to watch some, and they did, briefly, before changing channels again.

"Oooh, this show is cool, maybe you'd like this?"

"What is it?"

"It's a cop show, called NCIS." Megan grinned, "It's short for Naval Criminal Investigation Service. My favorite character is Abby."

"Favorite character?"

"The characters in the show, you can pick who's your favorite, the character you like in particular. I mean, you don't have to, but it's what makes it fun, I guess."

"Hm…"

After several minutes of watching the episode of NCIS, Superboy smirked, "I like Gibbs."

Megan grinned, delighted. "He's awesome."

A quick minute of channel surfing later, and then—

"Doctor Who! I love this show!" Megan exclaimed, excited, "And it's the latest one, too! The 11th Doctor is so cute…"

Superboy stared. "What…?"

Megan blushed, "Um. I mean, well… he's very silly, and heroic and, well—let's just change the channel!" Megan quickly clicked on the remote and it settled on a familiar soap opera. "Oh."

Superboy turned his attention to the TV show currently on, deciding to disregard Megan's floundering antics, and perhaps allow her to save face. He was use to it by now.

"What is this?" He asked, intrigued. The show had just started, the opening theme song beginning to end.

"It's One Tree Hill," Megan explained, "A soap opera about human teens in high school, living in a small town called Tree Hill."

"Hm."

Megan added helpfully, tentatively, "A soap opera is a drama—it's supposed to be, well, overdramatic."

Superboy continued to stare as the episode progressed. "Hm."

Together, they watched the entire episode, from start to finished, completely silent. It turned out there was a One Tree Hill marathon on the Soap Channel, and they watched at least five episodes before Superboy spoke up.

As the TV went dark and the credits rolled, he looked at her, and said simply, "I don't want to watch anymore TV."

Megan nodded and turned the TV off. "Um, so… what did you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"About the show, did you like it? Do you have a favorite character?"

He was silent, and Megan was sure he'd remain that way until one of them left, but he surprised her by admitting suddenly, "Brooke."

Megan blinked rapidly a few times. "Brooke?" Brooke Davis, the rich, popular, vivacious cheerleader of One Tree Hill? That Brooke? The episodes had been particularly dramatic, focusing on the relationship between Brook and Lucas, and highlighting a few of their emotional baggage.

"Who's your favorite?" Superboy asked.

"I—well, Lucas, I guess. He's very noble, and always thinks of others before himself. Even though his dad is... kind of a jerk, he won't let that bother him. He doesn't let his parentage define him. "

"Hm."

"So… why do you like Brooke?"

There was another bout of silence, but it was thankfully shorter than the last. Superboy explained haltingly, "There's more to her than meet's the eye. She likes to keep this front that she's strong and fearless, that she doesn't care what people think, but really… she's afraid, and lonely, and she has issues with her parents never being there for her. Even in a sea of people, she's alone."

Megan stared. He was… very observant. But it was such a bleak observation.

"But Lucas is there for her," Megan frowned, "He tries so hard to be there for her but she won't let him in, she's too afraid, she thinks she doesn't need anyone. She needs to open up to him and realize he's sincere. She's so fickle, she should really stop leading him on like that."

"It's because she's not use to someone genuinely caring about her. It's daunting for someone like her. People have been using her nearly her whole life."

"Lucas won't give up on her," Megan insisted, looking at Superboy meaningfully, "He'll make her understand that he's not using her, that he genuinely cares—there are people who care about her, even if it's not her parents, and one day she'll get that through her thick skull and believe him!"

Superboy blinked.

Megan had been on a roll, so engrossed in her own rant that she hadn't realized she had practically been saying it up to Superboy's face, barely an arm's length of space between them. She blushed and pulled back, scooting to the other side of the sofa, her hands over her mouth.

"Sorry," She squeaked, her voice muffled by her hands, but he'd heard it clearly all the same.

Superboy frowned vaguely, and Megan refused to look him in the eye. Awkward silence ensued.

"Do you believe that?" Superboy asked, staring at her until Megan finally looked him in the eyes, their gaze meeting like magnets.

"I do," Megan nodded, smiling slightly. She raised the remote in font of her and waved it, "But we can find out together, every Friday night!"

Superboy smiled, nodding.

...

Acknowledgments:

Timeline takes place shortly after Schooled but before Infiltrator. I do not own Young Justice or any of the TV shows mentioned!

I think you'll only understand the conversation about One Tree Hill better if you've actually watched One Tree Hill. XD But maybe not. I was trying to make a loose comparison to Brook and Lucas' relationship with that of Megan and Superboy's. I use to watch One Tree Hill in the afternoon, out of boredom, and eventually ended up liking it (even though I usually can't stand soap operas, especially about teens—oh the irony). XDD

I wrote this because I wanted to explore the memory of that Hello Megan sitcom in the episode Bereft. It may've been a memory of Superboy's, or maybe a part of her memories accidentally slipped into his. Both are plausible. Megan was hesitant to share her memories with her teammates to help them unlock their memories, but she did it to help Superboy. My theory is that she'd never done this before, and was afraid some of her secrets may be revealed if she wasn't careful (assuming that she's secretly a White Martian). That would explain why, when she helped Superboy remember, we see the Hello Megan sitcom. And the White Martian! :O

I hope I kept them in-character and that this makes sense; it's a little hard to tell for me. OTL Also, I wish in future episodes they finally start calling Superboy Conner or something, it's getting weird just calling him Superboy all the time. :I

Review?