(Action Comics I #381) - The Legion closed shop for the night, and Chemical King offered to give Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy and Matter-Eater Lad a ride home so he could show off his new air-car. Matter-Eater Lad had him drop him off a while away from home because he didn’t want his fellow Legionnaires, who lived in expensive upper level units to see that he lived in the lower level slum with his parents. Matter-Eater Lad got into an argument with his parents because his father Rall spent his entire pension and most of Matter-Eater Lad’s Legion check on his gambling habit. Matter-Eater Lad suggested that they could look for work too, but Rall raged about being forced to retire because the robot plant closed, and Mitz said she couldn’t work because of her nerves. Rall called Matter-Eater Lad ungrateful, so he  decided to leave home and stormed out. He walked back to the Legion Clubhouse where he found Shrinking Violet, who’d replaced Brainiac 5 on night duty when he’d been called away on a mission. She was obviously distraught, and she explained that she’d fallen for Duplicate Boy, and started dating him, but they rarely got to see each other because they lived five million parsecs apart and were often on missions for the Legion or the Heroes of Lallor respectively. They had a date that night, but Duplicate Boy never showed up and Violet felt lonely. Matter-Eater Lad decided to spend his Legion check and ask her out on a date. Princess Projecta offered to relieve Violet of night duty, and help her get snazzed up for her date. Over dinner Matter-Eater Lad told her about the problems in his home life, but she said she couldn’t offer advice and had to figure out how to cope with things himself. After dancing  at the Top of the Towers they returned to the Clubhouse, and shared a kiss. Duplicate Lad, who’d missed his date with Vi because he was on a mission, was observing her with his telescopic vision and appeared on Earth, threatening to crush Matter-Eater Lad. Matter-Eater Lad told him that if Violet loved him nothing he did would change that, and beating him up solved absolutely nothing. Duplicate Boy realized he was right and calmed down, and Violet told Duplicate Boy she still loved him, she was just lonely. The next day Matter-Eater Lad agreed to move back home after his father promised to stop gambling.

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