As a young boy smiled, thinking about God knows what, his mother sneaked up by him silently. She took out her film camera, secretly taking pictures of her cute boy. He had a little bit of frosting on the side of his face. She already took seven photos before he realized what she was doing. Before he could stop her, she took a few more with the horrified look on his face. Trey sighed, knowing her ever-growing collection of embarrassing photos had new additions. He glared at the rest of the table for not warning him. Only his father responded.
"Hey, don't blame me, son. You know how your mother is about creating memories." Tyson said before putting some plates away. His sister Kyla was on their auntie's lap, asking about Superman.
"What was it like flying? Did you see his laser vision? Is he really an alien?" Kyla rapidly fired off questions. She was jumping up and down with excitement.
'Someone has a sugar rush.' Trey thought.
"Calm down, sweetheart. I've only met him in person a couple of times. I didn't get to speak to him when he saved us from the plane heist." Auntie Lane said.
"I'm glad he was there, Lois. What would I do without you, girl? I'd cry for seven days and seven nights." My mother said—fake collapsing on the floor in sadness.
"Please, you'd only miss me because I'm the only woman you trust to watch these kids. None of our other sorority sisters live on this side of the country." Aunty Lane said in a fake huff.
"You lie outside of Trey and Kyla. You're the one I love the most!" The mother declared as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They do this bit all the time. They regularly joke that if they were both gay, she'd leave Dad in a heartbeat. Funnily enough, he encourages it and always seems super supportive when he hears it. The embarrassment they get from him is the only thing to get them to stop their fake love fest.
"What's a sorority?" Kyla asked.
"It's a group of friends that live together, work together and have fun. You'll probably join one when you get older, sweetheart." Auntie Lois said, rubbing her head.
"Why can't I make one now, Trey-Trey let's make one!" Kyla said excitedly, still on her sugar high. Tyson came back in just as she finished speaking. All the adults started giggling and smiling at her declaration. Kyla was confused about what was so funny.
"Mom, can I show you guys my surprise now?" Trey said. She nodded. Everyone was kind of confused about why he wanted to surprise them on his birthday. All this time, Trey had hidden his talents from his family. His parents knew he could draw and play piano from the lessons he begged them for last year. They assumed he quit, as most kids do with hobbies at this age. He was just using the lessons as a cover for when he got his powers. The other reason he chose today was two-fold.
One was because it was one of the few times his family was together. The Carter family worked a lot despite making good money. Trey's mom was a science professor at Met U, and his dad was ex-military and now a firefighter. Lois also started to work a lot since she began working for the Daily Planet recently. She was a pivotal reason for showing his skills today. Now having connections from all the interviews she's done, his auntie could get his foot in the door in the entertainment industry.
The second thing was that he was running out of time. It was currently March 20, 1995. Only a couple of years from a world-ending event if he was right about what universe he was in. He pieced together from the news, the slow 90's internet, and the library that he was in an alternate DC universe. Characters had appearances from all mediums of DC comics. Lois, Superman, and Bruce Wayne look and sound like their DCAU counterparts. However, some characters had live-action appearances. Oliver Queen looked like Arrowverse Oliver. He saw many characters with look-alike counterparts from Young Justice, SynderVerse, Smallville, DCMAU, and more. What made him want to get started soon was the timeline.
So far, the timeline is closely resembling DCAU. Why is this a problem, you might ask? It's because the episode "World's Finest" just started! Lois just got saved from the plane, exactly how it was in that episode. Trey's aunty also mentioned how Bruce Wayne was coming to town. She's hoping to get an interview with him. What was most worrying is after this episode when Darkseid appears later on. Trey was determined to get to the superhuman level before then.
Trey rushed upstairs and locked the door. He couldn't keep everyone waiting by the piano for too long. He took out the four blank coloring books he had. It was time to use his powers finally. He made four new books for kids using Supernatural Artisan and Artistic Replication. He then took out two blank pieces of paper, making sheet music with his powers. Feeling mischievous, he changed his clothes into an all-black suit but a black polo instead of a button-up. With his preparations set, he took everything and returned downstairs.
"Please, no pictures until the end of the presentation," Trey said forcefully. Alexandra slumped back in her seat. Devasted, she couldn't take more photos.
"I welcome you all to the Trey Talent Show TTS for short. Today I'll be displaying my talents for the first time. Mom, Dad, Sis, and Auntie Lois, sorry for hiding it from you guys for so long. Art is the first talent I'll show you." Trey said. Trey then handed out three of the books he made to each of them.
Tyson looked at the book with interest he gave him. The book was titled Cat in the Hat. The book had a weird cat in a top hat on the cover. He started reading the book and was surprised at how good the art was. The other two books Trey gave were Green Eggs and Ham and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Lois and Alexandra were just as impressed as Tyson was. Trey handed a different book to his sister.
"I made this one special for you, sis." Trey smiled at her. Kyla was confused, looking at the cover of the book. Within minutes of reading, she couldn't put the book down. Her brother had given her an all-time classic, Where the Wild Things Are.