Chapter Text
Jonathan didn’t really understand why he had to be here. Sure, he knew that helping out on the farm was all part of the deal with moving out here, but it wasn’t like the other farmers had to move the abandoned ships belonging to their strange, interdimensional half-sisters, right? And it wasn’t like he could even do much to help.
“So, did John Henry rent, like, the world’s largest U-Haul or something?” Jonathan wondered. He was standing to the side, watching as his dad coached Jordan on how to get the proper grip on the large object. They had made it as far as the barn door before Jordan had to take a break, and they were now readjusting for a second attempt. Clark could have easily done it himself, of course, but he had somehow got it into his head that it would be a good training exercise for Jordan.
As for Jon… well, maybe it was good for him to watch for future practice, but he was kind of annoyed that this whole job was delaying his morning run. In the last couple days, he had been able to work himself down to twice-daily practices and although there was still some shakiness, he was proud of his progress. Now, he’d have to wait to get the run out of his way, which meant he’d have to wait to actually do anything that could be qualified as ‘normal’.
“They’re going to break it down into parts,” Clark explained. “But he asked if I could get it pulled out and dismantle some of the larger pieces before they get here this afternoon.”
Jonathan shared a nervous glance with Jordan. They hadn’t seen Natalie since she had moved out to Metropolis with her dad, and both of them felt a little uncertain about having to see her face-to-face again.
“It’ll be fine,” Clark encouraged. “Now, Jordan, it’s best if you get under—”
His head tilted in an expression that Jon instantly recognized. Whatever sound had caught his dad’s attention was way beyond Jonathan’s capabilities, but it was clearly urgent.
“I’ll be right back,” he told them both. “Just keep it here for now.”
He disappeared in a blur that Jon could now sort-of kind-of follow, leaving the twins with a ship stuck awkwardly in the middle of the doorway of the barn.
“Do you know where he went?” Jonathan wondered.
Jordan shook his head wordlessly, eyes roaming the length of the ship. “Are we seriously just supposed to leave this here?” he asked.
“I guess? Not much we can do about it, right?” If his dad was gone for a while, maybe Jon would be able to duck out and spend some time zoning out on his phone. It was probably cheating at life in some way, but his future self had dropped Candice’s name by accident when he was here, and Jonathan had taken that as a cue that he should reach out. They had started sharing some flirty texts, and he was keen to do a little more of that today.
“I think I can figure out how to lift it on my own,” Jordan decided, putting his hand on one end and rocking it gently.
“Really? How heavy do you think it is?” Jonathan wondered, privately amused by his brother’s desire to prove himself in this way. Also, he kinda wanted to see it.
Jordan shrugged, ducking his head uncomfortably. “It’s not like I’ve measured how strong I am. How fast can you run?”
“Good point.” Although Jon was pretty interested in finding out the answer to that, he didn’t really have the means to time himself, so he made a note to ask his dad about it. He had only had superspeed for just over a week, and there seemed to be an endless number of things to figure out.
“Anyway. I think I can carry it on my own. Then at least we don’t have a spaceship sticking out of our barn and we’re that much closer to getting some kind of normalcy today.”
Jonathan smirked in amusement. It seemed like his brother was thinking along the same lines as him. “Okay, Superboy,” he agreed. “Let’s see it.”
Jordan took a moment to observe the ship on the ground, steeling himself for the task ahead of him. Then he bent down and reached his arms underneath it. It balanced oddly in his hands, and he had almost managed to lift it up when it suddenly tipped forwards. It hit the ground with a heavy thump.
“You almost got it,” Jon encouraged. “Maybe you just need to—” The sudden humming of the ship caught his attention. Lights began to glow from inside the cockpit, and Jordan’s panicked eyes snapped up to look at Jon.
“How do we turn it off?!” he demanded.
“How should I know?”
The ship started to lift off the ground, and Jordan thew himself on top of it. He was almost successful in keeping it down, but then a whirr started up from within, and the ship rose a foot in the air.
“Just let go!” Jonathan snapped.
“No!” Jordan insisted. “We have to—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. With a flash of light, the ship shot forwards with Jordan on top of it, heading directly for the large tree that stood in the front yard.
Instinctively, Jonathan set off to follow it, giving himself a boost of speed as he went. He had no idea what he would do when he caught up, but he couldn’t let his brother zip away from him like this. They neared the tree, and apparently there was no type of sensor onboard, because it wasn’t veering away in the slightest. Jonathan stretched his hand forward as far as he could and just barely managed to grab Jordan’s ankle.
The ship crashed into the ground right at the foot of the tree. There was a flash of light brighter than anything Jonathan had seen before, knocking any sense of direction out of him. He felt a dizzying sensation of falling an impossibly long distance. A loud roaring sound overwhelmed him, he couldn’t breathe, and his guts got left somewhere far behind. Completely disoriented, his grip on his brother was the only thing that kept him grounded.
Finally, they stopped. As Jonathan took in his surroundings, he felt hopelessly confused.
The smoking, crumpled remains of Natalie’s ship was next to them on the ground, and the tree was knocked over with sharp jagged bits of wood sticking out of the remaining stump. Somehow, the leaves had completely disappeared from it. The grass that carpeted the ground was dry and brittle compared to the bright green summer lawn that had been there only a few seconds ago, and the angle of the sun had lowered.
The barn was still there, thankfully, but when Jon turned around to face the house, his eyes widened in surprise. It looked bright and freshly painted, extremely different from when he last saw it, and the two vehicles parked beside it were completely unfamiliar, oddly shaped with strange plates.
Jordan was still by his side, and Jonathan turned towards his brother.
“What happened?” he asked anxiously.
“I don’t know…” Jordan replied dazedly. “It felt weird, and then…”
The screen door to the house opened, and a kid maybe a couple years younger than them exited. He had a baseball in his hand and wore a catcher’s mitt on the other. As he jogged down the steps, he tossed the ball in the air and then effortlessly caught it with his other hand. Although the activity was different from what Jon was used to seeing his brother do, the dark curls that hung in the kid’s eyes looked spookily familiar and something about the way he was walking felt like an echo of Jordan’s own gait.
“Jordan,” Jon whispered, nudging his brother. “It’s like a mini you.”
The sight of the kid was stirring up an awful suspicion within him. They were home, but also not. Everything was familiar but somehow incredibly different.
“What?” Jordan scowled. “That’s not what I...”
The boy finally noticed them at this point. He stood frozen on the spot, staring at the two of them with a slack jaw.
“Hey,” Jonathan greeted gently, taking a cautious step forward. “Uh, look this might sound kinda weird, but—”
With wide eyes, the kid tilted his head back and shouted to the sky. “Dad!”
The volume that he had managed was impressive, and it made Jonathan jump in surprise. His ears ached, still sensitive to loud noises after only a few weeks of his superhearing kicking in. Heart pounding in trepidation, he tried to calm himself down.
It was it a good thing that they’d get to talk to an adult, wasn’t it? It seemed like they’d have no other choice. With a rush of wind, another figure suddenly appeared on the lawn. He had hair that matched the kid’s shade exactly, although his style was cut shorter, sides clipped close with a bit more length at the top. A pair of glasses sat on his face, and he was anxiously checking over his son as soon as he arrived.
“What is it?” he demanded, hands gripping his son’s arms. “Are you—”
Jon could tell the instant the man realized they were there. He stiffened in a way that would have been comical if the whole situation wasn’t so overwhelming. Whipping his head around disbelievingly, he turned to face Jonathan and Jordan directly.
Jonathan knew those eyes. Although he was more used to seeing them on someone his own age, he had seen this exact same person just a few weeks ago.
His brother was frozen in shock at his side, so Jonathan knew it was up to him. He screwed up his courage, stepped forward, and faced the adult version of his twin that he thought he wouldn’t see for another twenty years or so.
“Hey, Jordan,” he greeted boldly. “Weird question, but is there any chance that you knew we were coming? Cause this was definitely a surprise for us.”
The adult Jordan blinked and shook his head to clear it. Taking a moment to give a reassuring nod to his son, he turned back towards Jonathan.
“No,” he admitted. “And I’m really not sure how I’m going to get you home.”