Your post about Lex and Kon is so interesting because it reminds me so much of the other media in which both appeared, as well as some of the fanfiction I've read.
Like the movie version of "The Reign of Superman", for example, was "raised" by Lex in his first months of life.
And he's not the only one of Lex's children to have these emotions, Lena II has them too.
Yes and I love this!! Because this is just how Lex IS as a parental figure. He has struggle for care with all of them. He does care, but damn it's hard to see it unless you know him. It's simply in his nature after so many years of evil, calculating, uncaring schemes.
I think Lex and his children have the type of relationship that's really hard to explain or understand if you're not them. Like, why doesn't Kon cut him off? He obviously should, Luthor is out to get his adoptive family like 24/7. But then he meets up for an awkward lunch or decides to drop by lexcorp for an unrelated reason, they have a conversation, and he feels empathy all over again. Again, like being mad at your family member, talking to them, and realizing they're still human- because deep down you care and dont want them to be the villain.
Kon gets that Lex is evil, but even Jackson is still in contact with Black Manta! It's hard to just cut ties with a parent. How is he supposed to cut ties when Lex cares in his own way, and Kon, his flesh and blood, can see it. Just as many times as he's disregarded him, put him aside, and undermined his experiences- he's rolled his eyes endearingly. He's cracked a smile at a stupid joke. He's taken Kon to a nice restaurant as a job well done, or let him go crazy on his card.
Kon and Lex don't have a lot of contact, either. So compare the lack of contact with his parent (opposed to constant contact when he was first created) to the fact most of their rare meetings are very tame? Extremely normal? Conversations held without any risks or death rays involved?
Kon feels EXTREMELY conflicted, and so does Lex, because Kon was supposed to be just a clone.