After Conner finds out about where the other half of his DNA came from, once he knows that Superman might actually find a valid way to hate him one day, it would have been easy for Lex to slip into the shadows and leave the secrets Conner learned to torment him.
He doesn’t.
Instead he starts to visit. He texts Conner and asks if he would like to go to a diner after school. He calls Conner to ask how his day’s going. He smiles when Conner tells him that he taught Wolf a new trick.
If Conner didn’t know better, he might think that Lex was trying to parent him.
He assumes that Cadmus must have gotten something wrong. He guesses that he misunderstood what it meant when they put the thought that ‘parents look out for you and give you advice and forgive you when you yell at them’ because if he didn’t then-
Then Lex Luthor would be a significantly better dad than Superman. Which wouldn’t make sense. At all.
~
After about a month of visits and kind words and pats on the shoulder that make Conner feel embarrassed but so full of happiness he might burst, he decides to confess to the team. Partly because he hates lying to them more than anything in the world. Partly because he knows this is wrong and he knows that he has to stop before he says something he shouldn’t and screws everything up but if he’s ever going to stop he needs someone to tell him he has to.
So he confesses. And very pointedly doesn’t look at anyone as he waits for them to start yelling.
“But-” starts Artemis, soft in a way Conner’s never associated with her before, “but you’ve been happier.”
He finally looks up and instead of angry they just look sad and understanding and Conner loves all of them so much.
“Conner,” Kaldur says, calm and measured, “If Lex Luthor is your blood, and you want to get to know him, I don’t think that any of us would feel comfortable taking that away from you.”
Wally steps forward like he wants to reach out. “We all have adults we can talk to about all of this, it’s not fair that you don’t. We won’t tell on you man.”
Conner squeezes his eyes shut because if he keeps looking at all their earnest faces he might start crying.
“I’d never-” he struggles to get the words out, “I’d never choose him over any of you. I like him and sometimes he feels important to me in a weird way. But he’s nothing compared to you guys.”
“We know.” M’gann says.
‘We know’, they all say with their trust and their kindness and all the ways they’ve tried to make him feel at home since they came together.
Before he can leave to calm down somewhere with fewer people and more things to break he’s swamped by a tangle of limbs and reassurance and forgets why he wanted to leave anyway.
He really does have the best family.