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The world blurs around Kon as he stands up shakily, the debris around him erupting in bright yellow light. His head aches and he rubs it, as if it will relieve any of his pain. He hears chaos fluttering around him, but the pounding behind his eyes makes it hard to focus. He hears Clark’s voice call out for him, and he looks around, trying to spot the familiar blob is blue and red.
It takes him a moment to remember that Clark wouldn’t be in his Superman suit, instead in a white button-up and grey slacks. Kon stares at the blurs of moving people and realizes that the description wouldn’t help much, seeing that everyone there is wearing almost that same attire. A loud voice booms above the building and, when Kon looks up, he sees an army of what seems to be robots. Probably Luthor’s doing, if he can guess. His eyes go in and out of focus painfully, never allowing him to truly see anything fully before going out again, and Kon thinks that it’s probably from hitting his head so hard on the floor when he tripped. He thinks that he tripped, he can’t really remember anything after a few days ago, and even that’s a little foggy.
Clark’s voice nears him and Kon turns to follow the voice, all but collapsing in Clark’s hold. Or, at least, he thinks that it’s Clark’s chest that he’s leaning against. It would be awfully embarrassing if it wasn’t. Kon feels a soft tap on his shoulder and, when he looks at the person who did it, he realizes that Clark was standing there. Which means that the person who he is gripping on to for dear life isn’t Clark.
Lovely.
Clark says his name, more and more clearly the more that he repeats it. Kon hums, blindly reaching out for Clark and finally letting this mysterious person go.
“I’m so sorry about him, he’s really out of it right now,” Clark laughs awkwardly, apologizing to the other person presumably for Kon’s actions. Clark leads Kon away after a moment, hiding them between two buildings, out of sight from everyone else. “Are you ready to change?” Clark asks, shooting glances in the way of the wreckage. Kon stares at Clark, still barely able to see the man, with an unimpressed look.
“I don’t… it hurts.” Kon tries to explain. There’s a little bit of smudging on Clark’s face, perhaps some sort of facial expression, but Kon’s vision is too blurry to make out exactly what it is.
“Was there– do you think there’s kryptonite somewhere in the wreckage?” Clark asks hesitantly. Kon doesn’t think so; there’s a specific way that he feels after being exposed to kryptonite, a unique, sickly feeling that settles deep into his bones, and he doesn’t feel that now. He doesn’t know what else could possibly hurt him so much, especially enough to blur his vision as bad as it is, so he nods. Maybe it’s one of the offsets of kryponite, an undiscovered colour or something, Kon thinks that’s possible. Clark hums. “I’ll be careful, look around to see where it is. You wait in the car and I’ll drive you home when I’m done.” With that, Clark runs off, leaving Kon in the dust.
Kon looks out of the alleyway, vague shapes and colours presenting themselves with no real form. Kon stumbles out, trying to use muscle memory to guide him, at least, to the car park. When he starts to see fairly uniform black and white blobs, he thinks that he made it. Clark usually parks in the same spot every day, but Kon can’t tell which direction he came from. He looks at his surroundings, trying to make out what each building is to get a feel for where he is, but he doesn’t come into work with Clark often enough to know without help. Kon sniffles, forcing himself to think harder about where the car is. Through brute force (read: thinking so hard he gets a headache, although that might be because he was straining his vision, as well) he manages to make it to the car, opening the door and promptly passing out as soon as he sits in the seat.
~~~
When he wakes up, his vision is still blurry, but the room around him feels familiar and he thinks that he’s in his bedroom. He groans, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to make them clear up, but the action, obviously, did not help. Clark must have heard him, since not even a minute later, the man opens Kon’s door.
“Hey, how are you feeling? You were already asleep when I got back. I didn’t find any kryptonite in the scene, though, but I couldn’t ask you about that when I got back, cause, y’know, you were asleep.” Clark awkwardly states. Kon stares at him, trying to process everything and be able to formulate a response, despite how his brain is moving slow, as if his thoughts are going through honey. He hums.
“I can’t see, so I just thought that… it was because of kryptonite.” Kon replies, embarrassed. Clark makes a noise of interest at that.
“What do you mean, you can’t see?” He asks. Kon glares at him, annoyed.
“I mean, I can’t see. Everything is blurry and I can see vague shapes and blobs but like, I can’t make out anything specific.” Kon huffs. Clark sits on the edge of his bed.
“We’ll see if we can get that checked out. I’ll find someone who we can trust to see if there’s anything going on that we can help with.” Clark decides after a moment. Kon gives him a weird look.
“What do you mean, if? Am I gonna be blind forever?” Kon’s eyes widen, Clark shakes his head repeatedly.
“No! Well, hopefully not, we will try everything to prevent that, I promise.” Clark has sincerity dripping from his tone, and Kon tries to believe him, he does, but… if he’s blind, he can’t be Superboy, and if he isn’t Superboy, then who is he? He feels a tear fall down his cheek, Clark reaching over to lay a gentle hand on Kon’s leg. He’s always so gentle, as if afraid that he’ll hurt someone, even if it’s another superpowered person. Or maybe that’s just how Clark is, he doesn’t know.
“If I do get help, I’ll have to wear glasses, right? Even when I’m Superboy?” Kon asks after a moment. Clark’s face blurs again, but Kon can imagine that he’s pursing his lips.
“It’s very possible, yes.” Kon nods slowly, accepting that he’ll never be normal again. At least he can hopefully still be Superboy.