Chapter Text
Danny stood next to the red tractor, watching Clark and Jon pass tools to each other. They were laughing and enjoying each others’ company when they asked Danny to come help fix it up. He used his telekinesis to lift the tracker so Clark wouldn’t have to hold it with one hand.
He felt it then.
For the first time in three years…
He felt… he felt…
Happy.
Truly happy.
Danny was on the couch watching T.V., Jon was next to him slumped back into the couch. On the screen, there Jordan was, in his disguise, being interviewed by none other than Lois Lane.
This was his official debut, but it seems like everyone around the world already knew about Jordan by now.
It was hard not to.
“I have to talk to you about something,” Jon said softly. Jon was alone in the living room with Clark.
“Anything,” Clark said. He sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to him. Jon sat next to him.
Jon took a shaky breath. “I don’t know if I want to be a superhero,” Jon said. “I don't know if that’s what I want.”
Clark looked forward, not meeting Jon’s eyes. He scrunched his eyebrows. “I didn’t want this for you. Or Jordan. It’s a messy world. It’s scary, it scares me.” Clark looked over to Jon and gave him an understanding smile. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want.”
Jon gave a small laugh. “Danny said the same thing.”
“Well he’s right,” Clark assured. He put a hand on Jon’s shoulders and looked at him deeply. “I’ll support whatever you decide. And if that changes, or even if it doesn’t, I’ll support you then, too.”
Danny felt the air around him stiffen, unmoving, breathless. Danny knew what this meant. He looked over to Clark and Jon who were frozen in time.
“It’s time to go, Danny.”
Danny turned around to face who he knew was behind him now. He pulled his shoulders back and flared his chest open. “No. I do want I fucking want, Clockwork,” he spat. "I’m done with this. I'm done with you. I’m staying here.”
The crown on Danny’s head materialized into full view for the first time. Dripping blue and green ice and cooling the air around him, nearly causing nearby condensation to freeze in place. The Ring of Rage shot through existence and landed on Danny’s finger before Danny even knew what was happening.
Clockwork smiled. “Of course, my king.”
Danny knocked on Jordan’s dorm room door. He was in his human form now, but he did totally phase through the walls to get here. Why would he climb stairs and open doors, of all things?
“Come in,” Jordan said behind the door.
Danny saw no one was around, so he walked through the door and then flashed his eyes at Jordan and gave a smirk. “I came to give you something.”
Jordan raised an eyebrow, but Danny simply put a hand behind his back as he pulled into his ice core. In his hand, he formed a new ice duck. He moved his arm and handed it over to Jordan.
Jordan simply laughed. “Thank you. I didn’t know how to tell you the last one melted.” Jordan placed it on his nightstand, on top of a coaster with water designs and a lily pad drawn on it.
“It’s good to have,” Danny said and, to give Jordan a convenient excuse to ask again in the future, he continued, “If it melts, you’ll know I’m in trouble.”
“In that case,” Jordan said. “Here.” Jordan tossed him a device. Danny easily caught it and inspected it. “It’s an ELT. Press it when you’re in trouble and me or my dad will hear it and come rescue you.”
Danny laughed. “You’ll rescue me before the ice even melts!”
Jordan laughed back. “That’s right.”
“Thank you, by the way,” Jon said to Danny as they floated in the air in front of the latest full moon.
“For?”
“For being here, for supporting me, for dealing with…” Jon gestured to himself with a small smile. “I am so thankful you were here. I was feeling so lost and… you came right on time.”
“Being right on time is my specialty,” Danny laughed. Jon pushed him with his force with a pout and Danny did a spiral in the air and grabbed his stomach as he started laughing fully.
When Danny was done laughing and calmed down, he responded sincerely. “Same to you.”
Danny landed outside the farm after going to rescue over a hundred people from a fire in an apartment complex on the other side of the country.
It was a regular thing, now. He was able to save so many people across the entire world. He never thought he’d be able to do this, but with Clark and Jordan, and even Jon sometimes in the mix… it was possible. He didn’t have to protect just his town, he could protect everyone.
And he didn’t have to do it alone. Never again.
And maybe…
Maybe not every bad thing was his fault.
Maybe he really could do good.
And maybe… just maybe… he really was happy.
Clark opened the front door of the beautiful two story farmhouse, greeting Danny with a huge smile as he stepped onto the white front porch. Clark leaned on the railing, took a deep breath of the warm yellow summer air, and then said, “Welcome home.”