Shattering Mirror Ch 12 Sneak peek
Tim/Kon - that moment when you commit a B&E as a bonding activity. Ya know, just to cheer up your friend.
AO3 link
“Superboy,” Red calls, from where they stand at a small table, “have you seen the city of Kandor yet?”
Shaking his head Kon floats over to come see what they’re talking about, when he gets closer he sees what they’re looking at. It’s a city in a bottle, what catches his attention is the fact that the city is populated. On the table there are some notes clearly taken by Superman that Red is skimming, they don’t seem very happy and Kon understands why as soon as he gets a good look at them; they’re in Kryptonian.
“What does it say?” They demand flipping to the page with yesterday's date.
“Uh, December 29th.” Kon reads out, putting on his best posh-Superman impression he can, “The citizens of Kandor are celebrating a holiday they call Woksnansh. Its origins and purpose are lost on me but they’ve made food that smells different than usual and are burning it. I suspect it has religious origins from this fact alone.”
“He’s studying them to learn about Kryptonian culture.” Red hums flipping through notes they can’t read. “Interesting…”
They inspect the notes for a few moments before looking at the city closely. Kon can hear the bustling of the city now that he’s not tuning out the noise of the world in his mind. The bustling streets are filled with people talking and it’s… Kryptonian. They’re all speaking in Kryptonian!
A fond smile forms on Kon’s face. Suddenly another noise gains his attention: the sound of someone landing in the snow outside.
His eyes snap to the door in fear.
Superman was coming.
He turns to tell Red, when they cover his mouth with their hand. Their face full of understanding, like he doesn’t have to say it; they got it from his body language alone. Glancing around, Red quickly makes a decision and ducks under the table with the Kandor city on it; dragging Kon with them.
It’s cramped, but they both fit and he watches on as Red fixes the blue table cloth to where it had been before they ducked under the table.
Kon can hear the rumble of the door and he can barely breathe. God this was so stupid. What were they thinking? Breaking into the fortress of solitude? Superman could hear them, he had X-ray vision, he could probably smell them if he wanted to.
Kon’s eyes follow Superman around the room, looking through the table cloth with his own infrared vision. The man bustles around grabbing something off one of the shelves before turning and beginning to head their way. Red isn’t breathing as Superman approaches the table they’re under and Kon follows their lead.
He stands right in front of them, the toe of his shoe poking under the table cloth and Kon hears the scratching of a pen on paper. Red and him press further together so as not to touch the man’s shoe, because there really isn’t any room under this dumb table.
Seeming done, Superman takes whatever it was on the shelf and flies out the door. He and Red stay where they are for a few seconds, just to be sure they’re out of hearing range.
Slowly Red crawls out from under the table and Kon follows, letting out a sigh of relief. Seeming to agree, Red lets out a similar sigh and meets Kons eyes under their domino. They stare at each other in disbelief for a second before they both double over in breathless laughter.
Here they were: In Superman’s base, sneaking around and hiding under tables like little kids at a party.
“Mon Dieu, that was close,” Sighs Red,
“Why the table?” Kon snorts,
“Because, if we made noise he’d probably think it was just one of the Kandorians.” They shrug, turning back to the city. “Super senses means it’s best to hide in a crowd.”
“Good to know that’s where you’ll be when I look for you.” laughs Kon, striding back over to the shelves, there's an empty space but he doesn’t remember what was there.
They spend another few minutes exploring before Red tells him they should get going before Superman gets back to return whatever he took out of the fortress. Agreeing, Kon takes one last look around, quickly whips out his phone to capture the moment and curses himself for not doing so earlier.
He finds a warped crystal as they walk out of the hall, it gives his reflection giant shoulders and a tiny head. He snaps a picture merrily. It only gets better when Red comes to remind him they need to leave, and ends up with large bug-like eyes. He takes a picture of the both of them, cackling as Red all but shoves him out the door. He’s pretty sure they were smiling.
