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Jonathan watched Jordan grumble in frustration as he scrubbed across his paper with his eraser yet another time. Through his telepathic connection, Jonathan could also sense the monologue of stress running through Jordan’s mind about the upcoming finals and the need to ace his trig exam. It wasn’t often that Jordan worried about his marks, but he seemed to be swimming in it tonight.
Although Jonathan was stretched out on the sofa with his eyes closed, he was also working as hard as Jordan, just on a different skill. Like it or not, he needed to explore more of his telepathic abilities, so after a lot of awkward conversations and careful negotiations he had figured out some ground rules with Jordan to avoid as many embarrassing invasions of privacy as possible.
While Jordan sat at the kitchen table immersed in his homework, Jonathan settled into his brother’s mind to try to sense as much as he could through the connection he maintained. Having a task to focus on made it less likely that Jordan’s thoughts would wander into areas he didn’t want to share, and it made both brothers feel more comfortable with the experiment.
Jon was getting pretty good at it, and he could easily see the smudgy paper in front of Jordan and even feel the wooden pencil in his brother’s hand as if it was his own. Mostly, he could sense how his brother was cursing out the fact that he had been busy figuring out x-ray vision the week this concept had been taught, and he hadn’t been able to learn it from his classmate’s notes.
Jonathan couldn’t let his brother struggle any longer.
“The formula’s written down wrong,” he spoke up from his spot on the sofa.
“What?” Jordan scowled as he lifted his head up from his work.
It was disorienting for Jonathan to see his own body through his brother’s eyes, but he fought to stay in the moment and made sure to keep his own eyes closed. It was much easier when he was blocking one of his other senses.
“You’re missing the square root sign,” Jon explained to Jordan, watching his own hands gesture from afar.
He took a moment and wiggled his fingers in the air. Yep, definitely weird.
“You must’ve missed it when you copied it from Eric,” he continued. “Or maybe he did; you’ll have to ask him if he’s bombing this section, too.” He grinned, but Jordan was too frustrated for humour.
“You’re not even in this class,” he grumbled, staring back down at his mangled page. “How do you know?”
“I have History in that same room right after,” Jonathan reminded his brother. “All those formulas are on a poster on the wall.” It was easy enough for Jon’s telepathy to work in reverse when he was this connected to his brother. Calling up his memory of the poster, he showed it to Jordan.
“I can’t believe you even remember that.” Jordan shook his head as he corrected his notes.
“What can I say, I get bored in History. Just like I’m bored now,” Jonathan complained. “We were supposed to be done this half an hour ago. Remember, we were going to go out in the barn, and you were going to let me feel what it’s like to use your heat vision?”
“I’m almost done,” Jordan promised as he turned back to his work. “I just need to get this nailed for the exam. I really need the boost to my grade.” The steady thrum of stress was back front and center in Jordan’s mind. It wasn’t something that Jonathan was used to seeing from his brother. Usually, he had enjoyed his difficult AP classes, but this term had been a struggle for him.
They had both missed a lot of school and on many of the days they had been present, some crazy Superman-related event was also taking place and it had been hard to concentrate on what was being taught. Jonathan hadn’t seemed to struggle with it as much as Jordan. All of Jon’s classes were pretty easy this term and he had found himself frequently drifting off in class as the teachers repeated material way more often than seemed necessary.
But Jordan was having a hard time, and Jon realized he probably wasn’t helping his brother right now. He had been assured that using his telepathy this way didn’t hurt, but Jordan had described it as a niggling itch, and it would probably make it hard to concentrate.
“Fine, keep working,” Jonathan sighed dramatically. He pulled himself out of his brother’s mind and blinked as his eyes readjusted to the light. “I’m heading out there and I’m going to practice something fun. You can join me whenever you’re ready, math nerd.”
Jordan nodded absently, and Jonathan could sense that he was already immersing himself deep into his work.
Despite his best efforts, Clark had never managed to make it to many parent/teacher conferences in Metropolis. His Superman duties always seemed to put him in a constant state of playing catch-up at work, and he could never seem to be able to add school communication to the balancing act. After the boys’ first year of school, Lois had somewhat frustratedly told him that it was just easier for her to handle all the appointments and communication rather than having to cover for him last-minute when something inevitably came up.
It was a nice change to be able to meet up with Lois at the Gazette office and drive over to the school together to meet with the school guidance counsellor even if Clark was a bit worried about why a meeting might have been called.
“Thanks for coming in, Ms. Lane; Mr. Kent,” she greeted them warmly. “I’m Sheila Platt.”
Clark settled into the chair beside Lois and took in the small but cheery office. It hadn’t changed much since his time at Smallville High beyond a fresh coat of paint and updated posters on the wall.
“I’ve asked Jonathan to be called down here so he can join in… Oh, there he is!” She waved at Jonathan through the window of the office, and the teen came in and took a seat nervously. He caught Clark’s eye, and Clark tried to push some encouraging thoughts towards his son. It was hard to tell if Jonathan’s telepathic receptors were open right now, but Clark figured it couldn’t hurt.
Mrs. Platt took stock of the subdued family in front of her and smiled brightly.
“Don’t worry, Jonathan, you’re not in trouble,” she reassured him. “I just wanted to talk to you and your parents about your course selection next term.”
“Oh,” Jonathan frowned. “Okay. What about it?”
“Well, I’ve spoken with some of your teachers,” she explained, “and they all say that you’ve excelled in their classes. You’re getting top marks and a few of them have even said that you’re not being challenged by any of the coursework. I really think that you should consider registering for at least a few advanced classes for next term.”
She passed a pamphlet towards Jonathan.
“Uh, are you sure they’re talking about me?” he asked, taking the pamphlet without looking at it. “Not Jordan? He’s always been the smart one.”
A slight frown flickered across Mrs. Platt’s face.
“Jonathan, you are perfectly capable of succeeding in your own right,” she told him firmly. “I’m telling you that your teachers think you’re a very bright student with a lot of potential. AP classes are an excellent addition to college applications. And it’s important that you’re doing work in school that is challenging to you. Coasting through your classes isn’t going to do you any favours, even if you’re getting near-perfect grades.”
Clark tried not to let his surprise show. Sure, Jonathan had always done well enough in school, but Clark had never expected the phrase “near-perfect grades” to be applied to him. His football schedule usually kept him busy enough that perfect grades weren’t a priority.
Jonathan seemed just as surprised to hear what Mrs. Platt was saying.
“I’m not coasting,” he frowned, deep in thought. “It’s… I dunno, it’s just easy to remember stuff. But it was never like that in Metropolis.”
As Jonathan spoke, Clark started to realize why that might be. He cleared his throat meaningfully.
“Well, Jonathan, it seems like something’s… clicked for you since we moved here.”
Jonathan shot a surprised look at his father.
“We can talk about it tonight,” Clark promised him.
“That’s a great idea,” Mrs. Platt spoke up, oblivious to the coded communication happening in front of her. “Talk it over as a family and let me know what you decide. You have a couple of weeks to change your timetable still.”
“Sure,” Jon muttered. He stuffed the pamphlet into his pocket as he stood up to leave.
“Hey,” Lois reached out her hand to stop him before he left. “It’s good news, Jon,” she smiled. “And you don’t have to decide anything right away.”
“Yeah,” Jon nodded absently. “Okay.”
He left to go back to class, and Clark was ready to go himself when Mrs. Platt stopped them.
“There was one more thing I wanted to talk to you about,” she told them. The friendly, easy-going expression looked a little more serious now.
“Sure,” Clark looked over to his wife to see how she was taking the switch in tone. She had much more experience with this kind of thing than he did.
“It’s about Jordan,” Mrs. Platt began hesitantly.
“Is it his anxiety?” Lois wondered, reaching for Clark’s hand. Apparently, she had noticed the shift in tone as well. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement with it at home…”
“It’s his academics,” Mrs. Platt told them gently. “He’s still passing all of his classes, but he’s definitely struggling.”
“Oh,” Lois blinked in surprise.
“He’s got a pretty heavy course load,” the guidance counsellor continued, gesturing to where she had Jordan’s file pulled up on the computer. “And he’s had a lot of absences…”
“Just some bad luck with being sick and a couple of teenage injuries,” Clark replied, pouring on as much Kent charm as he could muster.
He had suffered the same fate in high school and had yet to find another solution for his sons when a new power suddenly appeared. It just took time and practice for them to be able to control it enough before they could handle a whole day of school. His boys also had the added challenge of getting sucked into some of the dangers Clark faced as Superman. Sometimes, going to school and getting homework done was at the very bottom of the family’s list of priorities.
“Right,” Mrs. Platt nodded. She didn’t seem upset, but there was a firm set to her expression that Clark didn’t like. “Jonathan’s had some absences as well,” she agreed. “But he seems to have a good enough memory and understanding of the content that he can bounce back without any issues. Jordan appears to be struggling.”
He was struggling because of who he was and who his father was. It was yet another way that Jordan’s life was made more difficult because of Clark.
Clark felt Lois give his hand a squeeze, and he turned to look at her supportive expression. Pulling himself out of the guilty spiral he was circling around, he forced himself back to the matter at hand.
“So, are you saying we need to look at some tutoring, or…?”
“Well, that’s a conversation you can have with Jordan,” Mrs. Platt told him gently. “Another option is for him to take a few less AP classes next term. I’m sure he’ll do fine keeping up with the work if it’s a little less rigorous.”
“So, Jonathan needs to take harder classes and Jordan needs to take easier ones?” Lois wondered. It was the opposite of what the boys usually experienced with their schoolwork.
Mrs. Platt smiled sympathetically. “I know it may be difficult for them to understand. But even though they are twins, your sons are very different people on two different paths,” she said simply. “They each have their own set of talents and as they get older it will become more and more apparent.”
She didn’t even know the half of it.
Lois was relieved at how well the conversation with Jonathan went later that evening. She and Clark had decided it was best to speak to the boys separately about school, and they were able to corral Jonathan before dinner.
“So… you guys think I have Dad’s photographic memory?” He didn’t look overly upset or confused about it, which Lois was grateful for.
“Eidetic memory,” Clark corrected pedantically. “My memory includes other senses, not just images.”
“How come they don’t ever talk about that on the news?” Jonathan wondered.
“It doesn’t make for a splashy headline,” Clark shrugged. “And I don’t like to draw attention to it. The ability doesn’t mean I automatically remember absolutely everything. I usually have to be studying something in order to remember it later.”
He was downplaying the ability, Lois felt. It still astounded her what he could remember from random conversations with people from years ago, or some scrap of an article he had read in an obscure paper.
“Anyway,” Lois spoke up, “even though you don’t have any of your dad’s other powers, this one would make sense for you to develop.” Jonathan had a wide range of mental abilities, and an eidetic memory would fit well with everything else.
Jon nodded, thinking through what his parents were saying to him.
“I just thought that classes were getting easier because of the different school,” he admitted. “How do I know if it’s actually, like, a super memory thing?”
“We can do some testing later on,” Clark offered. “But if you think back, you’ll probably have a good idea of what you’re capable of.”
Jonathan leaned back for a moment, mulling it over.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed quietly. “But… shouldn’t I just make some mistakes in school on purpose or something? That way I’ll blend in better with everyone else.”
Lois shot a look over at Clark. She knew that her family pretended to be less capable than they really were every day, but the idea of her kid purposefully doing a bad job on his homework bothered her more than any of the other ways they pretended to be average.
“I don’t think that’s necessary right now,” Clark was replying, and Lois sighed inwardly in relief. “Your high marks will draw less attention if you transfer into more challenging classes. It’s expected there. And we can figure out some other stuff for you to be working on to keep your mind busy. Languages are always fun,” he offered. “And useful. Pick a continent, and I’ll help you make your way through it.”
Jonathan shook his head in amusement. “Weird,” he told his father with a grin.
“The important thing is not to get obnoxious about it,” Clark cautioned. “People aren’t going to notice that you have an incredible memory as long as you’re not shoving their nose in it all the time.”
Lois had still found it a little irritating some days at the Planet when she had been slogging through a mountain of research only to have Clark buzz in from being Superman, flip through a stack of pages, and suggest a connection she hadn’t been able to see all before zipping off again. Her good instincts brought her a long way in her career, but sometimes the sheer amount of data that Clark was able to process gave him an advantage.
But despite his extraordinary talents, their working relationship had always been a partnership. They had learned to play to each other’s strengths, and it made them all the better as a reporting team.
The world was lucky that these incredible abilities belonged to such a humble and gracious man, she reflected. And she was the luckiest out of everyone to be able to spend her life with him and raise their kids together.
Handling things with Jordan was a little harder. She had learned, through painful experience, that he could only handle so much bad news before he needed to be able to process things on his own for a while.
She had broken the news to him with Clark, but both of them had backed off and told him to take some time to think through the guidance counsellor’s suggestions when they recognized the increasingly mulish set to his jaw.
It was a couple hours later when Lois knocked on his door again to see how he was doing.
“Come in, Mom,” he answered.
Both of her kids could recognize who was on the other side of a closed door by using their abilities, and Lois had gotten used it surprisingly quickly.
Jordan was lying in his bed as she entered, staring up at the ceiling.
“How are you doing?” she asked gently.
“Fine,” he answered limply.
Taking the lack of anger as a positive sign, she sat down beside him on the bed and ran a hand through his curls.
“I knew that school was getting hard to keep up with,” he admitted to her. “I just… thought I’d figure it out.”
“Well, we will figure it out,” she encouraged. “We just have to decide how. Do you want us to look into hiring a tutor?”
After fifteen years of parenting twins, she knew better than to suggest that Jon could help him out but there was probably some senior student at the school who could use some extra cash.
Jordan shook his head reluctantly.
“I… don’t think that’ll help.” He turned his head so he was looking straight at her. “It’s not just the missing class that’s making it hard,” he admitted. “Don’t… don’t tell Dad this, okay? But it’s all the other stuff that’s making it hard, too. I’m spending time after school every day practicing my powers, and it seems like there’s always some new crisis happening that makes it hard to even think about school…”
“That is a lot,” she agreed. It was too much to put on teenagers. She knew it and Clark knew it. But try as they might, this seemed to be what their family was like.
“I know he’s just going to feel guilty,” Jordan continued, pushing himself up until he was sitting on the bed. “I don’t blame him for any of that, though. And it’ll help a lot if I just transfer out of the AP classes next term. It just… sucks.”
“Yeah, it does,” she agreed.
“Anyway,” Jordan brushed his hair out of his eyes with a sudden shy expression on his face. “I know that if I had to do a bunch of tutoring and extra homework to stay on top of school, I wouldn’t be able spend as much time with Sarah. This way, we’ll actually be in a lot of the same classes.”
“Oh, so there’s the real reason,” she teased ruffling his hair. “I should have known it had to have been about a girl.”
If it had been Jon wanting to take an easier course load because of a girlfriend, she would have put a stop to it in a second. But with her boy who had struggled to make any friends throughout most of his school years and seemed genuinely and adorably happy with this lovely girl… She found herself making an exception.
Jordan had started running with Jonathan when he first joined the football team. He had been struggling with the conditioning training in practice, and Jon had taken it upon himself to help his brother get at least close to in shape.
It had been extremely difficult at first for Jordan to keep up with his athletic brother, but after the first month or so, they had gotten into a rhythm.
The habit had continued even after the season was over, and Jordan found himself actually enjoying the regular exercise. It was a normal activity that they could both talk about openly if someone decided to make small talk and casually ask what the Kent twins had got up to over the weekend. It wasn’t like Jordan could tell someone that he was practicing his ice breath or something.
Today, his less-than-stellar grades and his downgrade in classes was weighing heavily on his mind, and Jordan soon found himself getting lost in the rhythm of his stride as he pounded out some of the frustration and disappointment he was feeling.
He had been so distracted that Jonathan had to call his name a few times before Jordan snapped out of it enough to notice that his brother was lagging behind.
“Sorry,” Jordan apologized, stopping on the spot.
Jon jogged over at a slower pace to catch up with him. His face was flushed and slick with sweat, and Jordan could hear his thundering heartbeat without even trying.
Jordan stood watching awkwardly, not feeling even a little bit sweaty. He had noticed his endurance had been slowly creeping well into the “not humanly possible” category, but usually they set a slower pace, so it wasn’t as obvious.
“Jordan, save the superspeed for practices with Dad,” Jonathan panted grouchily as he finally caught up with his brother. He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees as he gulped in deep breaths.
“It’s not superspeed,” Jordan muttered back, earning an annoyed glare from his brother.
“You know, we don’t need to keep doing this. It’s not like it’s doing anything for you,” Jon grumbled.
“No, I want to,” Jordan protested, swallowing down the pang of guilt he felt. It was the one normal activity he did with his brother, and apparently he couldn’t even handle that. “I was just thinking about stuff,” he explained lamely.
Having his brother essentially take his place in next semester’s AP classes had rankled more than he thought it would. Sure, it was great for Jonathan that he suddenly had this amazing ability, but Jordan had put more stock in his identity as “the smart twin” than he realized.
While Jon easily outshone everyone on the football field, Jordan had decided to buckle down and succeed academically. Now that achievement was slipping away from him due to circumstances beyond his control and his brother was stepping into that same spot just because he was blessed with some lucky genetics…
It actually was a pretty familiar scenario, Jordan realized.
“Hey, I don’t know if I ever really thanked you for being so cool about me joining the football team,” he told his brother.
“Huh?” Jonathan huffed, stretching out a stitch in his side. “That was months ago; why are you bringing that up now?”
“I guess I finally understand what you went through back then,” Jordan shrugged. “And you were really great, so thanks.”
Jonathan shrugged nonchalantly, but Jordan could see a pleased smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Just helping out my brother,” he replied. “No biggie.”
“Anyway, it looks like you won’t have to put up with it again next season,” Jordan told his brother. “With the way things are right now, I can’t be on the team.” It wasn’t only his endurance that had increased. He was a lot stronger than he had been in the Fall, and he was starting to lose track of what his human limits had felt like.
Even if it had been fair for him to stay, he didn’t want the constant pressure of having to be just strong enough to be a useful member of the team and not so strong that he raised suspicion and was a danger to others. It was unsettling to realize that he was so far away from “normal” that having human behaviour was becoming a constant act he had to play.
“I don’t know if I’m going back on the team, either,” Jonathan confessed to Jordan hesitantly.
“What?! Why not?”
Jonathan dragged a hand across his sweaty forehead and blew out a heavy sigh.
“It just sucks to be in a big group with my powers,” he told his twin. “Especially on a team where everyone’s all working together. I either get pulled into some sort of mindless groupthink mentality or I have to concentrate the whole time to keep my own thoughts with me.”
Jordan knew the team had been a big part of what Jon had loved about football, and it was yet another heavy reminder of how much had changed for both of them.
“It’ll get easier with practice,” Jordan offered.
“Yeah,” Jonathan agreed half-heartedly. “But probably not in time for this season. I don’t want to spend every practice fighting a headache and being burnt out afterwards. Besides, it looks like I’ll be able to get a ton of academic scholarships now, so maybe I don’t need to worry about the football career.” He flashed a grin at his brother.
As much as Jordan wanted to return the smile, he couldn’t find it within himself to do so.
Jonathan winced, realizing his carelessness.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine,” Jordan waved aside. “You’re allowed to be happy about something good in your life. And I need to get used to it.”
“If our lives weren’t so crazy, you’d still be rocking all those AP classes,” Jon encouraged. “And it looks like you’re getting all of Dad’s other powers. I’m sure you’ll get the super-memory soon enough.”
“What if I don’t?” Jordan wondered.
“Well… then there’s one small corner of your life that stays normal.” Jonathan clapped his hand on his brother’s back. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing, Jordan. This eidetic memory thing is the same as any other power: there’s a serious downside. I listened to the radio for two minutes yesterday and I still have a sound-perfect replica of all the dumb commercials I heard running through my head on loop.”
“Is there the one about Victoria May’s?” Jordan asked sneakily. They both shared a hatred for the earworm of a jingle that featured in that commercial.
“Ugh, yes,” Jonathan groaned. “Plus, that one for the hardware store? It’s even more annoying if that’s possible. C’mon, let’s head back. I need to get moving so I can stop thinking about it. But I’m setting the pace this time, Superboy.”
He set off down the road with an easy jog, and Jordan fell into step beside him.
Sometimes, Jordan felt like he couldn’t be more different from his brother, but at least in this moment they could be together.