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Even Jordan couldn’t repress a skeptical snort when he found out that the teens of Smallville unironically called the local not-so-secret outdoor swimming spot ‘The Swimming Hole’. Jonathan’s eyes hadn’t been able to roll far enough back in his head. But life on the farm was slowly making small town guys out of them both, so they had spent several hot, lazy afternoons hanging out there with their classmates as the summer months dragged on.
The best thing about it was that it gave Jordan something to do with Sarah that wasn’t just trips to Victoria May’s and walks through the cornfields. They had spent some time splashing around playfully in the water and were now stretched out together on a blanket Jordan had brought over from the farm.
The sound of everyone else’s shouting faded into the background and Jordan looked over at his smiling girlfriend. Yeah, the swimming hole definitely had a lot of good things going for it.
Jonathan knocked into Jordan as he landed clumsily beside them.
“What are you guys doing over here? Come on over to the fun side.” He waved his plastic cup towards the crowd of people clustered across the grass. It wasn’t uncommon for people to bring a few beers to enjoy, but it was someone’s birthday and their older brother had rolled out a couple kegs that everyone had broken into.
Sarah wrinkled her nose.
“We’re fine here,” she replied, and Jordan nodded in agreement. Sarah had a very low tolerance for drunken antics from growing up with her dad. Jordan had learned after a couple unofficial experiments that alcohol really didn’t affect him. There was a lot more noise and commotion coming from that end than usual, and Jordan wasn’t really keen on observing the stupidity from the sidelines while he remained perfectly sober.
“C’mon,” Jonathan wheedled. “Don’t be a drag.”
“Sorry that we don’t think puking in the grass makes for a good time,” Sarah retorted.
Jordan shifted in his spot awkwardly. Usually, Sarah and Jon got along well, but it seemed like they were headed in a bad direction now.
Jonathan scoffed and took another swig of his drink. Jordan watched him with concern. It wasn’t like his brother to be so oblivious to others. His empathetic skills meant that he always had a good idea of what another person was feeling, and Jon was usually quick to adjust his actions based off of what he sensed.
“Jon, are you okay?” Jordan asked hesitantly.
“I’m fine,” Jon replied shortly. He fixed Jordan with a sloppy glare. “Stop hovering.”
Jordan felt a flash of irritation zip through him, followed by a strange wooziness that settled into his body.
“Quit it,” he snapped at his brother. Although they hadn’t practiced this ability much, Jordan knew what his brother’s telepathic influence felt like. Usually, Jon was extremely reluctant to use this ability, and Jordan wondered what was happening to make his brother slip up so much. Was it because of the booze? They had gone to a few parties over the year, but Jordan couldn’t remember if he’s seen his brother this drunk before.
“I’m not doing anything,” Jonathan scowled back at him.
The light-headedness didn’t let up, and Jordan felt himself getting increasingly annoyed. He had been enjoying sitting closely to Sarah, but now Jon’s influence was starting to make him worry. His strength had been increasing with every passing month. It meant that he always had to be hyperaware of his movements.
“Jon, I mean it,” he insisted, gritting his teeth, and concentrating on holding himself perfectly still. “Either stop it or get lost.”
“Ugh, fine,” Jon grumbled, dripping beer as he scrambled back up. “I’ll let you guys go back to making out or whatever.”
As Jordan watched Jonathan stumble his way back to the party, he felt his body thankfully return to normal. Whatever Jon was doing had stopped with the distance between them, but Jordan still wasn’t sure what exactly was going on.
“Is he okay?” Sarah asked with concern.
“I don’t know…” Jordan replied, watching Jon laugh and joke with everyone else. On one hand, it seemed like Jon was acting just like his regular, sociable self. It was a side of his brother that Jordan hadn’t seen much since they moved away from Metropolis. But there was a strange edge to it that Jordan hadn’t seen before. And it really wasn’t like Jon to use his abilities carelessly on Jordan.
“Maybe you should try to get him home,” Sarah suggested.
Jordan had been about to reply when several cars suddenly rounded the corner. From the Sherriff’s Department. Apparently, someone had called in a complaint.
Surprised shouts sprang up from the group by the kegs, and a few people took off for the trees.
Jordan glanced nervously towards Sarah, looking to see what she wanted to do. They hadn’t been drinking, but that might not matter…
But the sound of sharp screams and panicked splashing drew Jordan’s attention to the water.
The large raft in the middle had capsized, and there was a tangle of people and churning water as partiers tried to swim for other floaties or head to the shore.
After hours of practice, Jordan had developed a decent amount of control over his enhanced senses. It was easy for him to see through the roiling water and watch all the people getting to safety.
Except one.
The girl, Katie Graham, sluggishly fought to stay afloat and Jordan felt a sick feeling swoop through him when he saw the side of the uncontrolled raft ram against her head. She started sinking.
“Jordan?” Sarah reached out a hand towards him. He had stood up without even realizing.
“Someone’s in trouble,” he explained distractedly, already jogging towards the water.
He didn’t have his dad’s speed, but he did have enough abilities to have a decent advantage. One breath was all he needed to take before diving in. Pushing through the water powerfully, he moved quickly underneath everyone else until he got to Katie.
Despite her dead weight, it took him no extra effort to carry her to the surface and then out onto dry land. As he laid her gently in the grass, she coughed up water and dragged a heavy, stuttering breath back in.
The cacophony of partiers and police officers bounced around behind him, but Jordan clamped down on his hearing and focused on Katie. Her heartbeat was fast, but strong. He could still hear her wet, laboured breathing, though, and it worried him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see one of the deputies squatting down beside him.
“Thank god you found her,” the officer spoke. “I can’t imagine how you saw her go under.”
“Uh, I got lucky, I guess,” Jordan shrugged off.
The deputy seemed to have things under control, so Jordan stood up on shaky legs and turned to face Sarah.
She grabbed onto his cold, wet hand.
“I was so worried when you just ran in there,” she confessed, watching him closely with a concerned expression on her face.
“I was fine. I’m a strong swimmer,” Jordan fibbed, trying to ignore the uncomfortable churning he always felt when he didn’t tell her the truth. It wasn’t entirely a lie; he was strong at a lot of things. “Have you seen Jonathan?” he asked, needing to get her mind off this topic. “We need to find him; I want to make sure he’s okay.”
It was times like these that Lois wondered if her sons were actively trying to make her lose her mind.
They had gone to a party with drinking.
In the middle of the day.
By the water.
And it had apparently gotten so rowdy that the sheriff’s department had been called out to check on things and some poor girl had almost drowned.
So, the deputy explained before she had driven off, the more inebriated ones had been given an escort home so the parents could be made aware of what had happened.
The more inebriated ones.
That’s how the local law enforcement now described her sons.
“Both of you get in the living room and sit down,” she hissed.
Jonathan stumbled over to the sofa obediently. But Jordan swayed unsteadily by the entrance still.
“Mom, something’s wrong,” he told her, trying with great effort to meet her eyes firmly. “Jon’s doing something…”
Lois glanced between her boys. She hadn’t needed any abilities to smell the cheap beer on Jonathan’s breath, but there was nothing of the sort from Jordan. And she knew what Jonathan could be capable of…
“Clark, Jon needs the headphones,” she realized. Her husband, already on the same page as her, retrieved them quickly.
Jonathan had discovered that blocking out one of his other senses helped him to take better control of his abilities. Jordan’s headphones had turned out to be the perfect tool that allowed him an extra edge when practicing something particularly challenging or when he was too tired to control his powers easily. Not having to process sound gave his brain the freedom to concentrate on his other abilities.
Jordan looked more alert almost as soon as Jonathan put the headphones over his ears.
“Better?” Lois checked in.
“Yeah,” he nodded with relief. “Thanks.” He collapsed in a chair, being careful to still put space between him and his brother. “It was like that the whole car ride over,” he confessed.
Lois raised her eyebrows in surprise. There were still times that Jonathan unconsciously influenced those around him, but he usually figured it out pretty quickly. Now, he stared at Jordan curiously, and Lois could practically hear the mental cogs turning.
They probably would turn a lot better if he hadn’t been busy getting drunk in broad daylight.
Lois waved her hand in front of Jon to get his attention.
“I know you can’t hear me right now, but I’m sure you can tell what I’m thinking,” she fumed. “We will talk about this once you’ve sobered up and you’re no longer a danger to your brother. Head upstairs to your room. And you’re keeping those headphones on until your dad or I say you can take them off.”
She wasn’t sure what specifics her telepathic son had managed to pick up on, but her speech still seemed to have the intended effect. Jonathan paused just long enough to look guiltily at Jordan before swaying unsteadily up the stairs.
Lois listened to make sure he had gone into his room before snapping around to look at Jordan.
He hunched down in his seat protectively, and Lois felt her anger fizzle. Obviously, not everything that had happened had been his choice. Clark put his arm around her, and she relaxed into him, letting his steady presence calm her as it always did.
“Jordan, why don’t you tell us what happened?” Clark asked gently.
Hearing him recount the strange effect Jonathan had pushed onto him was no surprise. Although Lois hadn’t felt anything from Jon, the connection the twins had sometimes meant this kind of thing only happened between the two of them. Jordan was insistent that it was unintentional on Jon’s part, and Lois brushed it to the side until they could have a real conversation with Jon.
What was a surprise was hearing Jordan hesitantly recount how he had rescued one of the partygoers from the water.
“You saved her life,” Lois told her son bluntly. How long would it have been before someone noticed that she was missing if Jordan hadn’t been watching?
“I couldn’t do nothing,” he shrugged off sheepishly. The he turned to his dad anxiously. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have used my powers with all those people around.”
“Jordan, I would never expect you to just stand by and watch if someone needed help,” Clark assured him. “I know how impossible that is. All that we can ask is for you to be careful.”
“I didn’t do anything suspicious,” he replied. “Most people were too distracted to pay attention, and I think that a regular person could have done most of the stuff that I did.”
Thinking of either of her boys sneaking powers past the unsuspecting public made Lois’ stomach flip. But she knew that the alternative was impossible.
She couldn’t imagine having to stand idly by and pretend to not be able to help someone in danger: there was no way she could ask that of her sons. But was it too much to hope for them to make smart decisions and not end up in those situations?
“Hey, is Jon going to get in trouble?” Jordan asked, interrupting her musings.
“Well, we’re not about to buy him a cake,” Lois grumbled.
“Yeah, I know,” Jordan said. “But I really don’t think he even knew what he was doing to me that whole time. And… there was something else going on with him at that party,” Jordan added. “It was weird.”
Clark had deferred to Lois’ experience on how long it might take for their son to sober up enough for a conversation and they had waited a few hours before going to talk to him.
Clark signalled for Jon to pull off the headphones and the teen did so cautiously.
“Is Jordan…”
“He’s outside,” Lois assured him dryly. “And you seemed to have mostly sobered up anyway.”
Jonathan nodded guiltily. “I had no idea I was doing anything to him,” he rushed to explain. “You guys know that I wouldn’t-”
“We do,” Clark nodded. “But you made the choice to drink, Jonathan. You’re still responsible for what you do even if you’re drunk.”
“I know,” he agreed. “I made a mistake. I know I shouldn’t have been drinking in the first place, and my powers make things even more dangerous if I lose control. I should have been more responsible.”
Despite his earlier conviction, Clark shifted uncomfortably. He knew better than anyone the additional burden that superpowers put on a person. Sometimes, he just wished that his sons could be ordinary teenagers with ordinary consequences to their bad decisions.
“Jordan told us he thought that something else was going on with you,” Lois spoke up. “More than just the drinking. Is that true?”
Jonathan hunched up protectively.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I kinda…got lost in everyone else,” he admitted.
“What do you mean?” Clark wondered.
“It’s happened sometimes if I’m with a big group of people who are all doing the same thing,” he explained hesitantly. “Like, at a school assembly or in class or something. Everyone starts thinking the same thing or feeling the same emotion, and it’s like one big powerful force that I have to fight against.”
He fiddled with the headphones that were still in his hands, not willing to make eye contact with either of his parents.
“Usually, I can feel it happening and I can pull myself out of it. But it was probably harder for me to even notice once I had that first drink,” he admitted.
He had mentioned the problem before, but this latest episode helped Clark to understand the consequences more fully. It had been a good thing for Jonathan that the party had been broken up when it was.
“I know it’s not an excuse for what I did,” Jonathan continued. “I screwed up. I hate that I let all those people get into my head like that.”
His son looked truly miserable. And Clark was starting to wonder just how much of Jonathan’s behaviour was actually his responsibility and how much was a bad reaction to getting sucked into the crowd.
“Jonathan…” Lois looked as torn about this as Clark was.
Jon seemed uninterested in sympathy.
“Do you remember my teammates from Metropolis?” he asked abruptly. “Cutter and all those guys?”
Clark nodded.
“Why was I even friends with them?” Jonathan wondered. “They were total jerks to Jordan the whole time, and I barely said anything to them about it.”
“Well, you guys all played together for years,” Clark suggested hesitantly. The boys’ different friend groups had been a constant landmine that had gotten progressively worse the older they grew. Clark had been relieved when the move to Smallville had unexpectedly resolved the problem. Apparently, Jonathan was still thinking about it.
“Yeah…” Jon agreed absently. “And it was great when we were at practice together and stuff. But they stopped keeping in touch pretty much as soon as we moved out here. And, honestly, I didn’t even care about it all that much. Do you think it was just some weird empathy thing that happened whenever I hung out with them?”
Jonathan looked at them both expectantly, but Clark found himself at a loss for what to say. They had no clue about Jonathan’s powers when they lived in Metropolis, but they knew now that he had been unconsciously using some of his abilities for as long as he could remember. Was this another example of that? It honestly would be impossible to tell at this point.
“Jonathan, we may not ever know the answer to that,” Lois spoke up. “You’ve grown up so much since we’ve moved out here, that maybe thinking back on those friendships helps you see how much you’ve matured. I know it’s not easy handling your powers on top of just being a teenager, but I want you to know that your dad and I are proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Jonathan smiled shyly. Then, a grin sprouted up. “So does this mean I’m off the hook for the party this afternoon?”
“Nice try,” Lois scoffed. “You’re going to be kept so busy on this farm for the next few weeks that you won’t even have the energy to go see friends, even if you were allowed to.”
“And you need to apologize to Jordan,” Clark spoke up.
Jonathan nodded seriously; all trace of joking gone.
“Yeah,” he agreed solemnly. “I will.”
It was always strange for Jonathan to find himself in someone else’s dream when it took place somewhere he had also been.
Although he recognized that he was at the swimming hole, the sounds of the screaming partiers made his ears ache more than they had before, and the water looked more sinister and threatening than he remembered it.
Jordan stood on the grass, looking ready to dive into the water towards a frenzied mass of people all calling for help. With practiced ease, Jonathan pushed all of the dream people away, leaving just the two brothers on the shore.
“Hey,” Jonathan spoke awkwardly. “You’re, uh, just having a dream.”
There was always a moment of vulnerability in his family members when they first realized that Jon had burst into whatever illogical fear their sleeping brain had produced. It always made Jon feel a little uncomfortable, especially with everything that had happened between him and Jordan during the day.
“Oh.” Jordan frowned as he looked around at the newly empty space.
Jon swallowed down his nervousness. He hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jordan about what had happened at the party yet, but he couldn’t let things fester any further.
“Hey, Jordan? I’m really sorry that my powers screwed with you again. You tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen.”
Jordan nodded, still frowning out at the dark, churning water.
“You made me feel like I wasn’t in control,” he told Jonathan.
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan whispered.
Jordan shook his head unconsciously. “It’s just… I’m so strong now, Jon. Like, not nearly as strong as Dad, but strong enough that I have to be careful every second of every day. I always have to be in control, and when you messed with my head it really scared me,” Jordan confessed. “It wasn’t like we were just practicing in the barn and Dad was around the corner in case something went wrong. It was in front of everyone.”
Jon felt a lump rising in his throat. If something had happened because Jordan wasn’t in control of his powers, it would have 100% been Jonathan’s fault. But there was no way his brother wouldn’t have felt that guilt even if he hadn’t been the one responsible.
“And there was something wrong with you,” Jordan remembered, turning to face his brother. “More than just being drunk. What was it?”
“Yeah, turns out that the collective force of a crowd of drunk people was too strong for me to shake off after I’ve had a couple of my own,” Jon explained bitterly. He had been completely oblivious to how far gone he had been until he was loaded into the deputy’s car, and even then, it had taken until he was alone in his room with the headphones on for him to really feel like himself again.
He watched his brother anxiously.
“I’ll just… I’ll get a handle on it for next time,” he told Jordan, feeling a flutter of discomfort. Would he be able to keep that promise? Yeah, laying off the alcohol would help, but there was no way he could just turn off his empathy.
“Just make sure you listen to me next time,” Jordan suggested. “Even if you think I’m being paranoid or whatever. We can figure something out as long as you trust me.”
What would he ever do without Jordan? It seemed like no matter what kind of curveball Jonathan threw, his brother was still willing to stick with him.
“Thank you.” It was all Jonathan could manage to say, but Jordan smiled in understanding.
“If we help each other enough, we can hopefully figure out all these powers without one of us completely losing it,” he shrugged wryly.
Jon snorted in agreement as he turned to look out at the water again. Thankfully, it had stilled and now resembled the cheerful pool he was familiar with. A dim recollection from the afternoon started to surface.
“Hey, did you save Katie Graham from drowning?”
“Oh.” Jordan ducked his head sheepishly. “She hit her head. I just pulled her out of the water. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Dude! It’s totally a big deal,” Jonathan insisted. “It’s Superboy’s first big rescue.”
“No way,” Jordan blurted out in horror. “That’s never going to happen. Even if I decide to do the whole Dad thing, my name is never going to be Superboy,” he shuddered.
“You better start buttering Mom up now,” Jonathan teased. “She’s the one who chose Dad’s name.”
“I just need to convince her to give it you instead,” Jordan grinned wickedly.
“Not cool,” Jon grumbled. “Still… do you think you might? One day?”
They had talked about it before, but it somehow seemed more real tonight.
“Yeah… Maybe,” Jordan admitted shyly. “As much as I was worried about Katie and everything… It still felt really good to help her. I wasn’t second-guessing myself about anything. I could just kind of…be me.”
Jon nodded in understanding. His own covert rescue attempt in Metropolis had not been that long ago. While it had tasked his powers heavily, Jonathan knew he would do it again if he ever found himself in the same situation.
“It’s kind of weird to think about showing the world everything I can do,” Jordan confessed. “We spend so much effort trying to hide our family’s connection to Superman, but I know that everyone’s going to figure out that I’m, you know, Kryptonian in some way as soon as I use my heat vision or whatever. Although it’s kind of nice, in a way, to not have to hide that, you know?”
Jon shrugged uncomfortably. Jordan had that advantage, but he didn’t. What would people think if he started using his abilities publicly? Would they even be able to trust a hero that could manipulate someone else’s thoughts?
“I’m probably still going to have to lie completely,” Jonathan told his brother. “No one’s going to believe that the guy with freaky mind capabilities is related to Superman.”
It surprised him how much that thought saddened him. It still was a little unsettling to think of his alien heritage, but at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to reject it completely. He had imagined what it might be like following in his father’s footsteps, and somehow all those mental pictures involved him wearing that famous ‘S’.
“I bet we can think of some way to explain it,” Jordan pondered. “Most people don’t know anything about Kryptonians; Mom could literally write any explanation we wanted, and no one would know any different.”
“Maybe,” Jonathan allowed hesitantly.
“And,” he added sneakily, “I bet it’d be even more helpful if you had a name that tied directly to Superman…”
“I’m not being Superboy, Jordan.”
“Damn,” Jordan laughed. “I figured it was worth a try.”