Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’m telling you, you’re not going to be able to make a thermal blaster that small. I’ve tried.”

Jon smirked from the driver’s seat of his truck as he listened to Natalie circle around to the exact same arguments she had been using for the last twenty minutes. Although he was currently pushing through an annoyingly persistent headache, he was looking forward to this. They were just a couple minutes from the farm, and he couldn’t wait to prove her wrong.

“That’s because you were trying to do it without a Kryptonian energy crystal. One of those things can power any kind of blaster way better than the X-K you’ve been using.”

Natalie still wasn’t convinced. “How do you take into account the extra shielding you’ll need?”

“Can we please talk about something else?” Jordan complained from the back seat.

“You know, you’d be better at this if you actually came with me when Grandma’s teaching me stuff,” Jon pointed out.

Jordan rolled his eyes in response, and Jon chuckled before he turned his attention back to the road. Truthfully, he didn’t mind being the only one of them who had latched onto the Kryptonian science thing. After two years of floundering, it felt nice to finally have a niche where he was excelling, and although Nat still blew him out of the water when it came to human engineering, it had been fun to show her some of the Kryptonian stuff. They had made it a habit this summer for her to come by a few days a week and hang out in the barn as they tinkered with various projects.

“I’ll show you what I’m talking about,” he told Natalie as they turned off the road towards the house. “I’ve got the whole thing set up in the barn.”

But he didn’t get a chance.

He had just put the truck into park when his headache surged up, sending a stabbing pain into his forehead and behind his eyes. Hunching forward in his seat, he let out a groan as he squeezed his eyes shut. What the hell was that? The headache had been annoyingly on-and-off for a week now, but he had never experienced it spiking this suddenly and this painfully before.

“Jon?” Jordan’s concerned voice thundered excruciatingly in Jon’s ears. “What’s wrong?”

The pain was increasing, with a heavy hot pressure collecting in his head. He took a deep breath, trying to regain some equilibrium. Then he opened his eyes.

“Holy shit!” Natalie shouted. “Jordan, you gotta—”

There was a rush of wind, and suddenly Jon was standing on the grass, his brother hovering over him. The world was covered in an angry red tinge.

“Jon, you gotta let it out.”

“I don’t—”

“It’ll be okay. I’ll make sure it’s safe, but you can’t keep it inside.”

His stomach roiled. Was this heat vision? It had to be, right? His grandmother had talked about the possibility of this making itself known, but Jon hadn’t expected… The pain surged again, and the red haze intensified.

“Jon! Seriously! Just let it out.”

“How?”

Jordan was talking about it like it was some intuitive thing, but it made zero sense to Jon. He couldn’t picture any way to get rid of the burning energy inside of him. Instead, everything got brighter and hotter and heavier. Natalie’s voice joined in on the shouting, and just as Jon’s vision was blurring into black, he felt himself getting yanked upwards into the sky.

***

When he woke up, he felt a lot better. The headache was down to a faint whisper and the red haze had disappeared completely. He recognized the crystal walls of the fortress, and it really wasn’t a surprise that he was here. Whatever had happened to him was something decidedly Kryptonian and this was the place for him to get answers.

“Jonathan!” His mom’s face popped into view above him. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”

“Uh, okay.” He cautiously pushed himself upright. They were in one of the smaller chambers of the fortress, and Jon recognized the low, long medical platform that he had been stretched out on. He just never thought he’d be needing it. “What happened?”

Both his dad and his brother were there as well, looking solemn and worried.

“You had a dangerous build-up of solar energy, Jonathan.” The hologram of his grandma stood to the side, her hands clasped in front of her as she spoke. “I had to manually drain the energy from your body to bring you back into equilibrium.”

“I had… I had that much solar energy?” He scratched at his still-tender head. Lara had told him weeks ago that his body was capable of processing and storing the energy from the sun, and the news had come with its own sense of surprise and discomfort. There had been no hint of powers at the time, and Lara had still been unsure if he would ever get them. It was possible that everything would simply remain at a low level within his body, giving him little more than an added energy boost during daylight hours.

There had been a lot of confusing feelings around that, and he hadn’t really let himself decide if he’d be disappointed or relieved if he never got powers. Maybe that was a good thing, because apparently things were even more complicated than they realized.

“You were storing an incredible amount of energy,” Lara explained. “But unlike your brother, your body has not created a safe way for you to expel that energy.”

“You mean powers.” A sick, heavy feeling rose up in Jon. He knew that he and Jordan were genetically unprecedented and that things didn’t always work out the best way in biology. But now that reality had suddenly become very personal. “So… so, what is it? I just store up sun energy until I almost explode and then you have to drain it out of me?”

Jordan was watching him with a pained expression, and Jon dropped his eyes to his lap. If he was going to do this, he wanted to be like his brother, working through their abilities side by side. Instead, he had ended up as a failed genetic hybrid; too Kryptonian to live a regular life, but too human to actually function properly.

“It appears that you have missed a key stage in your development,” Lara continued. “Your brother’s abilities manifested as he learned to store energy. The process was mostly smooth, and he remained in good health throughout. In your case, you began storing energy without the outlet of any of your father’s abilities. Your body never learned to continue its natural process and now an impassable block has developed.”

Jon swallowed heavily. He remembered how eager he had been to brush off the whole superpower thing back when he first learned about his dad. Everything had been totally overwhelming, and it was so much easier to just decide it was ‘Jordan’s thing’ and leave it at that. But had he actually screwed things up for himself permanently? Had that window of time when he was fourteen been his only chance?

“I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I should have—I should have realized—”

“Jon, no, it’s not your fault.” His dad squeezed his shoulder. “None of us thought to look at things deeper, but we really should have. If I had asked my father to examine you when we had the chance, then we would have had that answer.”

“So…” Jordan was frowning, his arms crossed tightly in front of himself. “So, that’s it? He’s never gonna get powers?”

The bottom dropped out of Jon’s stomach. He hated the blunt way that Jordan had phrased it, but at the same time, he needed to know.

“There is one possible solution,” Lara offered with trepidation. “It would be unorthodox and perhaps not the most pleasant for Jonathan.”

Jon shrugged uncomfortably. “Well, I gotta say the idea of getting mega-headaches for the rest of my life isn’t all that pleasant, either.”

“Yes.” She nodded in sympathy. “This may be preferable.”

“What’s your plan?” Lois asked, squeezing Jon’s hand painfully tight.

“It is possible for me to temporarily reset Jonathan’s cells to the state they were in when he should have developed powers,” Lara explained. “We would allow his body to adjust to the reality of expelling solar energy and then return him to his regular state.”

“How long would that take, Mother?”

“It’s difficult to say, Kal. Perhaps a week, although I would need to re-evaluate once the process is underway.”

That didn’t sound the most encouraging, but there was another thing that Jon was also worried about. “What do you mean by resetting my cells?”

“I would temporarily return you to the biological age when your powers should have manifested. Although it may not be ideal, I am confident I could do this safely.”

“So… so, wait, I’d be… I’d be fourteen again?” It sounded crazy, but Jon had learned a lot studying with Lara over the last few months. Kryptonian technology was capable of a lot of things that he had thought to be impossible.  

“If my data is correct, Jordan’s abilities developed shortly after your fourteenth birthday,” Lara said.

“Yes,” Lois confirmed. “It’s been almost exactly two years.”

Lara nodded. “In that case, I recommend bringing Jonathan to the age of thirteen. Most likely, both of the boys were processing energy from the sun far before Jordan’s powers made an appearance, and it would ensure that we don’t miss the window of opportunity.”

Jon caught his brother’s gaze, their eyes widening together. They had celebrated their sixteenth birthday just a couple weeks ago, and the idea of him going backwards with that was insane.

But the alternative was even worse. Being permanently stuck in a powerless limbo wasn’t an option he was going to take.

His mom ran her hand through his hair. “We’d get you through it, Jon. It’s only going to be a few days, right?”

“Yeah…” A few incredibly weird days.

“I guess I’ll get to be an older brother for a bit, huh?” Jordan said, giving Jon a cautious smile.

Jon scowled. “That doesn’t count. I’m still gonna be me. Uh, right?”

“You’ll have all your memories,” Lara confirmed.

“Okay. Uh, good. Yeah, that’s… that’s good.” He pinched his fingers together.

“Maybe we should wait a while,” his dad suggested. “You’ve already been through a lot today.”

But Lara was shaking her head. “I would recommend undergoing this procedure before the solar energy has had a chance to build up again. The furthest we could delay it would be another day or two.”

“Let’s do it now,” Jon decided shakily. He knew it was inevitable, and there was no point in putting it off. The sooner he got it done the better, right?

His dad led him around the corner to an even smaller room that was mostly taken up by a large windowless pod. Apparently, the amount of energy Lara would need for this had to be contained within that space, and Jon tried to remind himself that she knew what she was doing as he climbed inside.

He was safe. He was looked after. He would be okay. Right?

“We’re going to be right outside, Jon,” his dad promised.

Jon barely had time to flash a shaky smile at his family before the door to the pod slid shut, cutting him off from them and sending him into darkness. Soft surfaces didn’t really seem to be a Kryptonian thing, but Jon did his best to lean back and get comfortable. As if he actually could.

“Take a deep breath, Jonathan.” Lara’s soft voice spoke to him privately. “This will all be better if you can manage to relax.”

“Kinda hard to do that,” he admitted tightly.

“Here.” There was a flash of light, and suddenly, Jon felt his tension drain out of him.

What had she just… The hard backrest now felt comfortably soft. He let out of steady sigh. What had he even been worried about? Oh, right. The weird, terrifying medical procedure he was about to undergo. But he was sure that it would all work out. Lara knew what she was doing and… And he was going to be okay…

There was a gentle humming that surrounded him, and a prickle of goosebumps started to crawl across his skin. Were things starting? He had forgotten to ask if it was going to hurt at all.

But the loopy, dizzy feeling kept swirling through him, making him feel like he was about to spin off into the air despite the close quarters of the isolation pod. There was a squeezing pressure bearing down at him from all sides. Maybe in normal circumstances he’d have a headache from it, but right now everything was muffled by whatever calming influence Lara had put on him.

Finally, there was a soft click. The pressure eased, and a sliver of light was visible around the door to the pod. Jon squinted as it was lifted off, and then he found himself tumbling forwards, sliding out of the pod on legs of Jell-O until he was caught by his dad’s strong arms.

“Whoa! Jon, be careful! Just take it easy.”

His dad’s grip gave him some much-needed stability, but it also felt incredibly strange. Recently, Jon had been closing in on the height gap between them, helped by a decent growth spurt over the winter. That had all disappeared. Now, he once again felt small in his dad’s arms, needing to tilt his head upwards to meet his eyes. Even his dad’s hands felt bigger now as they closed around the circumference of Jon’s skinny arms.

“Honey, are you okay?”

Jon snapped his head around, eyes widening when he realized that he was now about the same height as his mom.

“Yep. I’m—” He paused, clearing his throat as he flushed. Finally growing out of the embarrassing voice cracks that had plagued him in his younger teenage years had been a relief, but apparently, they had made their way back. “I’m okay,” he finally continued, flashing a shaky smile towards his parents.

“Do you feel anything? Any powers?” His dad’s eyes looked him over carefully.

Jon shrugged, his suddenly too-large t-shirt falling off his shoulder sloppily. “I don’t think so…”

“It may take some time for them to make their appearance,” Lara explained. “His cells have been through an incredible shock and most of his solar energy was drained earlier.”

Maybe that’s why he was feeling so unsettled. Even just shuffling his feet on the floor of the fortress felt weird, his body not moving the way he was used to.

“We’ll make sure you get some rest,” his mom decided. She cupped his face gently, thumb brushing across his perfectly smooth cheek.

Jordan hadn’t said anything yet, instead gaping at Jon with his jaw slack.

Did Jon look that weird now that he was younger again? A part of him was desperate for a mirror, but another part was afraid of what he’d see. Even though he’d already been this age before, it felt completely foreign to be like this again.

At least this was just going to be for a few days. He just had to… well, somehow get used to having superpowers. Shit. Apparently, this whole thing was going to be impossibly hard.

“C’mon.” His dad pulled him closer. “I’ll take you home first.”

“Yeah, okay.” Jon flashed one more look towards his brother before he crossed his skinny arms over his equally skinny chest. “Let’s go home.”

Jordan knew he probably shouldn’t be staring as much as he was, but it was just so weird. He hadn’t really thought about them looking older in the last few years, but suddenly seeing Jon back to being thirteen made it obvious how much they had actually grown up.

Jon was a lot shorter now, of course, and there was no hint of the wiry hairs that had been steadily sprouting along his jaw line. He was also a lot quieter and more withdrawn, but Jordan wasn’t sure what to think about that yet. There had been a lot thrown at him in a short time. Maybe he was just tired from everything. Maybe he was even more weirded out than Jordan.

Probably he was. Jordan had no idea how he’d handle having to go through something similar, and he decided he’d need to do his best to help his brother through it all. He flashed Jon as many encouraging smiles as he could during dinner, but they were all weakly returned.

“I think maybe you need to go up and get some rest after this,” Lois suggested, watching Jon with concern. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“What? Mo-om! It’s summer; I can handle my own bedtime.” The whiny complaint slipped out of Jon as an automatic response and he stopped abruptly, blinking in surprise before turning sheepishly to Lois. “Uh, sorry. But I don’t think I need to sleep, like, right this second.”

“Okay…” Her eyes still watched him carefully. “But you’re still getting an early night, got it?”

“Fine,” he grumbled, stabbing at his peas with his fork.

Jordan wasn’t sure when that deadline would actually come, so he snagged his brother as soon as they could get away.

“You still don’t feel any powers?” They were alone in his room, finally able to speak freely without any parents listening in.

“No. Grandma says maybe tomorrow?” Jon shrugged, picking at his nails. He was sitting in the beanbag chair, shoulders hunched up and arms wrapped around his knees. Although he had changed into some smaller (previously outgrown) clothes when they first got home, everything was still a little too big for him. The cuffs of his hoodie bunched and buckled awkwardly over his wrists and the drawstring of his athletic shorts had been cinched as tightly as possible. “I kind of just want to get this whole thing over with.”

“How does it feel? The, uh… being younger?”

Jon grimaced. “Really weird. Being thirteen again sucks.”

“Well, you won’t have to stay like this very long, right? Just a few days?”

Jon shrugged moodily, reaching into his pocket when his phone buzzed. As he looked at the screen, a violent blush rose up on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked.

“Nothing. It’s just, uh…” Jon shoved the phone back into his pocket and then dug his hands into his hair. “It’s Candice.”

“Oh. Crap. What are you gonna say to her?”

“I dunno.” Jon’s skinny shoulders hunched higher, and Jordan winced in sympathy. There was no way they could meet in person, and the fact that there was no clear answer to how long this would all take made it even harder.

“Well, you gotta say something,” Jordan insisted. “You can’t just ghost her for a bunch of days in a row.”

Jon chewed on his nail and pulled his phone back out. The blush started to creep back up his neck as he stared at the screen. “I don’t even know… Like, how do I…”

He looked totally uncomfortable with the situation. And fair enough. Jordan knew he’d be miserable having to handle that kind of thing, too. But Jon had always been better at the relationship stuff than Jordan. He had been the first one out of the two of them to start dating back when they were fourteen and…

But Jon was thirteen now. Sure, he had all his memories, but maybe there was a part of his mind that had been changed somehow? It would have been kind of hard to tell with a lot of stuff; Jon had been the one to have things more together when they were that age. But the whole ‘talking to girls’ thing was definitely something that was different for them at sixteen compared to thirteen.

“Maybe just tell her that you’re grounded,” Jordan suggested. “And that Mom and Dad are taking your phone and you don’t know when you’ll get it back.”

“Oh, good idea.” He bent his head down as he started typing away.

Jordan watched him silently from his spot on the bed. Lara knew what she was doing with this whole thing, and hopefully things would be back to normal soon, but the more Jordan thought about it, the more he knew for sure that it had been more than just his brother’s appearance that had changed.

Chapter Text

It had taken Clark longer than it should have to realize what was happening. Jonathan had rolled out of bed and tromped downstairs in much the same way he had any other day this summer. The only difference seemed to be that he was a few inches shorter and several pounds lighter. Although he still didn’t look all that comfortable in his own skin, he seemed less tired than yesterday, so Clark had taken it as a win.

There was no point in delaying things, and he knew Jon was eager to get things back to normal, so they had gone outside almost immediately after breakfast. It was a sunny day, thankfully, and Clark tilted his head up towards the light, taking a minute to soak in the invigorating energy. After a beat, he turned towards Jonathan curiously.

“Can you feel that?” He knew Jordan could, but he had never asked that of Jonathan before. Apparently, it was only going to be a matter of time before he did.

But Jon didn’t seem interested in talking about it. “Everything feels weird right now,” he complained, shrugging his baggy t-shirt back into place. “Can we just get this over with?”

“Sure.” It wasn’t the enthusiastic response Clark had been expecting, but that was okay. Jon had been through a lot in the last day and getting things back to normal was no doubt at the forefront of his mind. “So, I was thinking we should try to activate something with your strength. I know the heat vision was the first thing for Jordan, but usually there’s more of a stress trigger with that.”

“Okay. So, what, I have to try punching the log?”

“It worked for me.” He smiled at Jon, but only got an eyeroll in response. Well, okay then.

They trooped down the stairs of the cellar together, and soon Jonathan was standing in front of the log in much the same way that Jordan had just a couple years ago. Clark clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder, struck once again by how small he was.

“Take a deep breath and focus. There’s no need to rush any of this.”

“Well, the sooner it happens the sooner things get back to normal,” Jon grumbled as he set himself up for his first attempt.

His form was a lot better than Jordan’s had been, but the result was about the same. He smacked the log weakly, groaning in response when his punch failed to make any sort of dent in the wood.

“That’s okay,” Clark encouraged. “You just have to figure out how to tap into it.”

Jon took two more attempts, but still couldn’t produce a result. “This hurts,” he complained, shaking out his fingers. “And it sucks.”

“Okay, okay.” Clark pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stay positive. The lack of results was worrying, and Jon’s attitude really wasn’t helping things. “How about we go upstairs and try lifting some stuff instead?”

Jonathan trudged moodily back up the stairs, and Clark made use of his speed to collect a few objects for Jon to try: a long railway tie, a bale of hay, and an old metal milk tin. The last one wasn’t incredibly heavy, but Clark figured it’d be enough of a challenge for a thirteen-year-old Jon to lift. He’d be able to tell if Jon’s powers were activated to make the job easier.

They started off simple with Jon lugging the tin across the length of the barn, and it wasn’t long before his face was flushed with effort. He continued to drag it across the floor, breath huffing and puffing and jaw becoming more and more tense.

“You’re doing great,” Clark encouraged. “Just keep pushing through and—”

“And what?” Jon exploded. “It’s not working, Dad! All this training is dumb and—”

“Jon!” Clark’s voice barked out sharply and Jon froze on the spot. “I’m doing this for you, remember? And I get that it’s frustrating, but I could really do without the attitude, got it?”

Jon nodded silently, wide blue eyes staring at Clark. “Yeah,” he whispered breathlessly. “Got it, Dad.” Tears welled up, and he dropped his head down as he sniffed sharply.

“Jonathan.” Clark’s chest tightened. He hadn’t expected Jon to react in that way, but he still felt a surge of guilt at the result. They had come such a long way since the whole X-K debacle, and he hated the idea of them sliding backwards over this. “Bud, look, I’m sorry—"

“No, Dad’s, it’s okay.” Jon sniffed again, pushing the heel of his hand across his face to wipe away the tears. “I’m not—You didn’t—I just—Ugh!” He plopped himself down on a nearby hay bale, tilting his head back and blinking rapidly. “I’m just a total mess right now.”

Cautiously, Clark stepped closer to his son. The difference in age seemed so much more apparent now that he was sporting red-rimmed eyes and cheeks flushed with emotion. Even when Jon had actually been thirteen, Clark hadn’t seen this side of him. Jon had always been happy and cheery, willingly able to tackle any obstacle he was given.

But so much had changed since then. Jon had been through a lot, and he had also confided in Clark that he often felt the need to put on a brave face through any problems. Clark was grateful that they had reached the point where Jon didn’t feel the need to cover up his emotions anymore, and as he watched his son, he finally realized that something else was also at play.

He sat beside Jon, nudging his shoulder gently against him. “You’ve been through a lot,” he reminded Jon. “And… I know for me being thirteen was a lot harder to get through than sixteen.”

Jon’s eyes narrowed. “But I’m not… I mean, I’m still me.”

“Yeah. But you’re also thirteen right now. It might be harder to manage some of those big emotions.” And it made it all the more likely that those big emotions would leak out in the form of lippy remarks and a bad attitude. Jon maybe have been an easy kid, but he wasn’t immune to those teenage tendencies.

He stared down at his shoes. Then he gave a heavy sigh. “Yeah, maybe.”

Clark put his arm around Jon’s shoulders and squeezed. Jon stilled, then after a beat, leaned in, resting his head on Clark’s shoulder.

“This sucks,” he grumbled.

Nodding silently, Clark rubbed his hand on Jon’s back. He couldn’t fix the problem, but he could be with Jon through it. And maybe he had been pushing things a little too far earlier, used to how much effort he could demand from a sixteen-year-old compared to a thirteen-year-old.

“How about we take a break from all this?” he suggested. “Maybe you haven’t charged up enough energy for the powers to break through. We can head outside for a bit.”

“Yeah, okay.” He stood, crossing his arms in front of himself. “Sorry I was a brat just now.”

“Well, I think I can give you a pass. You’ve had a lot to handle.”

Jon shrugged, shoes scuffing across the rough floorboard.

“But just this once,” Clark warned teasingly. “Having to temporarily become three years younger so you can develop powers isn’t an excuse you can use for forever, you know.”

Jon snorted, amusement finally gleaming in his eyes. “Yeah, I know. Thanks, Dad.”

Lois had been in her office slogging through a budget report for the Gazette when she heard the front door slam and footsteps running up the stairs.

“Jonathan, is that you?”

The footsteps paused. “Yeah.”

She didn’t say anything else but waited until she heard a soft sigh and then the footsteps doubled back, thumping down the stairs and finally leading into her office.

“Hey, Mom.”

Even after a full twenty-four hours, it was still surprising for Lois to take in the sight of Jonathan’s current appearance. His curls were softer and lighter, his cheeks were rounder, and his—

“Jon, your shoes are covered in mud!”

He blinked. “What? Oh. Uh, whoops.” He toed off his beat-up trainers, revealing the double-layer of socks that he had used to pad the too-big shoes. “Sorry. I’ll clean it up.”

“Not just yet though. I wanted to check in with you. How are you doing?”

“Uh, okay.” He slouched down into the corner armchair, toes curling on the hardwood floor. “I was outside pretty much all day, but the sun just went down so…”

“No powers yet?”

“No.” He chewed on his thumbnail as he stared at the floor.

“Well, it must just be taking a while for you to build up that stockpile of solar energy,” Lois decided.

“Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced, and Lois searched for something to change the subject.

“I talked to Mr. Olowe today. He’s okay with you taking a break from the store for a while. I told him that we need you on the farm.”

A faint frown appeared on his face. “I could have done that. I could have, like, called or…”

“It’s okay, honey, I got it.” Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if Jon doing something like calling would have been a good idea. The subtle change to his voice could be explained away easily enough, but Clark had told her of a few moments where Jon had been acting differently than their usual sixteen-year-old son and she didn’t want anything said that would make his boss suspicious.

Jon sighed again, slumping down further in the chair.

“So, did you do anything fun with your dad and Jordan?”

“We, uh, did some practice passes, but I kinda suck right now,” he admitted. “Maybe that doesn’t matter anyway because it’s not like I’m gonna play on a team ever again.”

Lois nodded somberly. If the X-K debacle hadn’t already shut him out of football, the impending superpowers certainly did. Again, there was so much he would need to adjust to this summer, and it was all the more reason why she wanted to make sure she was staying on top of how he was feeling.

“Anything else?” she pressed, hoping that Clark had managed to pull Jon out of his funk for at least some part of the day.

“Well, Dad took Jordan driving and I hung out in the backseat,” he shared, starting to uncoil for the first time since he had come in. “And, oh, it was so funny because Jordan ran over this pothole, and he got freaked out and then he ended up floating in the cab of the truck.” He snorted at the memory. “I think he’ll get it eventually. I mean, he’s gotta, right? Dad can fly and he still drives all the time.”

“He’ll get his license when he’s ready. There’s no rush.”

Jon shrugged. “Well, I still think that I’m a better driver than him even though Dad wouldn’t let me try with this whole… thing.” He wiggled his fingers in front of his face. “And he’s lucky that Sarah knows about stuff now cause then he didn’t have to lie about how he got into town to meet her tonight.”

Lois frowned. She hadn’t known that Jordan had gone to visit Sarah and although she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he had told Clark, she wasn’t convinced.

“When did he leave?”

“Like, an hour ago. Mom, he’s gonna be back by curfew. He shouldn’t get in trouble for—” He broke off in a grunt, bringing a hand up to massage his temple.

Lois rose from her desk. “Jonathan? What’s wrong?”

“Just… the headache’s back.” His pained eyes lifted up to meet hers. “I—I don’t get it. Aren’t I supposed to have powers instead?”

“I don’t know, honey. Clark?” She raised her voice slightly, knowing he would hear her from anywhere on the property. “We need you.”

He arrived in a gust of wind, kneeling down close while Jonathan batted him away.

“It’s not as bad as before. I mean, not yet.”

“This still shouldn’t be happening,” Clark insisted as he cupped Jonathan’s face. “I need to get you to the fortress.”

“Wait!” Jon rocked back before Clark swooped him away. “Can, uh, can Mom come, too?” He turned towards her, childish vulnerability leaking through much stronger than it had before.

“Of course, honey,” she promised automatically. “I’m gonna be with you for all of this, okay?”

They got to the fortress as quickly as possible, but Lara was unfortunately stumped when she examined Jonathan.

“He still isn’t releasing solar energy,” she reported as the beam of light around Jon faded. “I can’t explain it.”

“Maybe I’m just always gonna be screwed up,” Jon muttered. “No matter what we do.”

“That’s not true, Jon,” Clark replied. “We’re going to figure it out, I promise. Mother, is there anything else that might explain why this is still happening?”

She frowned as she looked over the small hologram of Jonathan that was in her hand. “Is there any chance that Jonathan started his solar energy absorption even earlier than we hypothesized? Any incidents from his childhood that you recall? Something that would align with that?”

Clark shook his head automatically, but Lois felt a sick feeling flutter up in her stomach. “There was one thing,” she admitted painfully.

“Really?” Jon lifted his head. “What was it?”

Already, the implications of this were becoming painfully obvious to her, and she desperately hoped that she was wrong. That she hadn’t let her own complacency and denial create this problem that Jonathan was suffering the consequences for.

“Do you remember the summer we came out to the farm to visit Grandma?” she asked. “You had just started with your peewee flag football team, and you were obsessed with practicing your form.”

“Yeah… I used the tire swing for target practice and—”

“And he broke the rope,” Clark remembered, the unmistakable mark of guilt flooding his face. “We thought… Well, I had chalked it up to a fluke. Nothing ever happened after that and… Jonathan, I’m so sorry.”

They had missed it. Lois had been just as complicit, more than willing to brush off what was undoubtedly a super feat in the quest to continue burying her head in the sand and carry on with their normal life. If Jonathan had known the truth about himself, would more powers have manifested? Instead, he was left thinking that what he had done was extraordinary in only a human way, and that’s exactly what he had continued to be all these years since.

Jon’s face had become deathly pale. “I was seven that summer,” he choked out.

“I know, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” Lois moved to comfort him, but he stumbled backwards, shaking his head.

“I can’t… I… What am I supposed to do now?” He winced as his voice cracked at the end of his sentence.

“Honey—"

“Mom! You don’t get it! I can feel…” His eyes skittered frantically around the chamber. “I can feel that I’m different, like, in my head. Even when it’s just me being thirteen. And now I have to be even younger?” He crouched down, fingers digging into his hair.

Lois gripped Clark’s hand. This was all their fault. All the difficulty Jon was facing right now was because they had wanted to delay the inevitable.

“I understand there may be some difficulty for you, Jonathan,” Lara spoke up sympathetically. “But I promise you will be back to your regular self once the process is complete and your powers are stabilized. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the temporary discomfort.”

Jon snorted bitterly. “I’m gonna have to be a little kid for a whole week. ‘Discomfort’ doesn’t even touch that.”

Lois had let him sit on his own for long enough. She lowered herself to her knees, brushing her fingers across his cold hand. When he didn’t flinch away, she took it as a good sign.

“Honey, I’m so, so sorry that this has happened. We didn’t realize how letting things play out the way they did would end up hurting you this much. But I promise you that we’re here for you now. We’re going to help you through all of this stuff. Whatever you need, okay?”

He swallowed heavily. “I’m probably gonna need a lot of help.”

“That’s okay, Jon.” Clark had joined them on the fortress floor. “You’re mom’s right. We’re so sorry, but our job as parents is to look after you no matter what. We’re going to be with you through this whole thing and I know you’ll be able to get through it.”

Unsurprisingly, Jonathan decided not to put things off any longer. He had always been one to act when he set his mind to something, and this seemed like no exception. His set his chin stiffly as he climbed into the containment pod for a second time. Lois gave him an encouraging nod as the door slid closed once again.

The same hum as last time filled the room, and it was only a couple minutes before Lara informed them that the process was complete.

When the door to the pod was opened, Lois’ jaw dropped. There, leaning against the backrest was her baby. Golden curls shone in the light, long dark lashes brushed across his soft round cheeks, and the t-shirt and shorts he had been wearing puddled around his child-sized body. His eyes blinked open woozily before they slipped closed.

Automatically, she scooped him into her arms, pulling up the saggy clothing with him. He squirmed lazily against her before drooping against her shoulder. Even at this age, he had been getting heavy for her, but in this moment she didn’t care.

“Mom.” His protest came out as a soft mutter.

“He’s still under the influence of the sedative I gave him,” Lara explained. “The larger size difference has made the effect stronger than before.”

Clark leaned in to get a closer look, brushing his hand through Jon’s hair. “How long until it wears off?”

“Not long. Although I suggest you let him transition into a natural sleep for the night if possible. His body has been through a lot of stress.”

Lois nodded, her ‘mom’ instincts already feeling the same. There had been a lot of difficult feelings that Jon had faced tonight, and a good night’s sleep would be the best thing for him.

They’d have to face everything else tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Jon could feel the difference when he woke up. He stretched his arms out across the bed, immediately noticing that they didn’t reach nearly as far as before. The pillows felt large and bulky underneath his head and even the blanket was somehow heavier.

His memories of everything after going into that pod were hazy. He knew his mom had taken him out, that they had flown home, that he had been tucked in… But the sun peeking through the gap in his curtains told him that it was now the next morning. He must have slept through the night.

Staring up at the ceiling, he tried to gather his courage to face the day. Being thirteen again had been bad enough. He’d been an emotional mess the whole day, vacillating between being lippier than anyone deserved and leaking tears at any hint of difficulty. Despite his best efforts, he had noticed some furtive looks between everyone else in the family. They had noticed that he had been different.

What would it feel like to now have to go about his day as a seven-year-old? There was no way he’d be able to pretend like things were still normal for him. And how much had actually changed? It had taken him a while to realize the differences he was dealing with yesterday; would he notice whatever he was in store for today?

At least he could cling to the fact that this was all temporary. The plan was going to work (it had to) and then he’d be back to his regular sixteen-year-old self.

He rolled over and pushed himself upright, feeling an uncomfortable lurch in his gut when he caught sight of his tiny hands, his knobbly knees, and the t-shirt he was now swimming in. It was irrefutable proof of how much had changed, and suddenly the only thing Jon could think about was seeing his face.

His phone was laying on his bedside table, and he clumsily wrapped his small and weak fingers around its bulky shape. The facial recognition didn’t work, but all he cared about was accessing the camera anyway.

Holy shit.

His wide eyes were familiar, at least, but somehow his eyelashes were weirdly long now. Everything looked softer: his hair, his face, his skin. Any trace of maturity that had been developing within him was completely wiped out, leaving a profile that no one could mistake for anything other than a kid who hadn’t even finished learning to read yet.

It wasn’t the face of a stranger. Jon knew enough of what he had looked like at this age, both with his own hazy memories and the various family photos his parents had littered around the house. Still, he couldn’t resist the impulse to poke at his cheek as he watched with the camera, needing to make sure that what he was seeing and what he was feeling were actually connected.

Dimly, he became aware of his heart thudding, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. It might not feel like it right now, but he was okay. He was safe. The memory of his mom’s arms around him as she pulled him out of the pod surged up within him and suddenly that was all he wanted to feel again.

She had to be in the house somewhere, right?

He pushed himself off the bed, landing with a jarring thump when the distance to the floor was further than he bargained for. A neat stack of folded clothes caught his attention, and he realized it was all kid-sized stuff. His sense of dignity warred with the yearning for his mom’s comfort, and he finally shucked off his oversized shirt and dug into the pile.

Thankfully, everything was plain, the clean designs and colour-blocked patterns more in line with his preferences now compared to the bright logos and branded gear he had loved as a kid. Thankfully, he was pretty sure that no one in his family could handle the amount of irony that would come from him wearing a Superman t-shirt right now.

He had just slipped on a pair of (embarrassingly) elastic-waist shorts when he heard a quiet knock at his door. His breath caught.

“Jon? I, uh, I heard you get up.”

He felt a surge of disappointment followed by a flutter of nerves. It was Jordan, not his mom. But was he ready to face his brother like this?

“Mom and Dad told me what happened last night. Can I, uh, can I come in?”

Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. Jon drew in a shaky breath and squared his (tiny) shoulders.

“Kay.” The sound of his voice startled him. Not only was it several pitches higher than usual, but it also sounded pitifully weak and hesitant. That wasn’t what he had meant to sound like, and he tried to collect himself as the door to his room swung open.

“Holy shit.” Jordan froze in the doorway, wide eyes locked onto him. He kept a tight grip of the doorknob with one hand and pushed his messy curls off of his face with the other.

Jon screwed up his courage, tilting his head up to meet his brother’s eyes. He opened his mouth, ready to say some kind of witty comment that would knock the awkwardness out of the air. Nothing came to him. The only thing he could seem to manage was a stuttering, dragging inhalation.

“Uh, sorry.” Jordan shook his head abruptly and then took a step into the room. “I thought I knew what to expect but… Man, this is weird.”

Jon rocked back on his heels, craning his neck even further as his brother came closer to him. “You’re big.” A flush rose up as soon as the words escaped his mouth. It had sounded impossibly childish, both in the tone and in his word choice.

Jordan huffed a surprised laugh, tilting his head curiously. “I mean, I think it’s more that you’re tiny, bro.”

“Yeah…” Jon crossed his arms in front of himself, dropping his head down to catch sight of his little-kid toes. “Where’s Mom?” The need to see her was aching inside of him and he didn’t care how juvenile it made him seem.

“Downstairs,” Jordan answered in a soft voice. Could he tell how much Jon needed her? How unsettled he was feeling right now? “Let’s go find her.”

The stairs were another thing that was unexpectedly hard, and he had to stretch his arm up to reach the railing for balance as he fumbled to keep his stride on the way down. But his feet hit the landing soon enough, and then he was padding his way into the kitchen, already hearing the sounds and smells of breakfast cooking.

His mom turned away from the stove as soon as he came in. “Hey, sweetie. It’s good to see you up. Did you sleep—Oh!”

He hadn’t wanted to let her finish talking, choosing instead to crush against her, arms squeezing around her waist and face buried into her side. She brushed her hand through his hair. The soft murmuring of her voice soothed his frayed nerves even though he couldn’t seem to focus enough to listen to what she was actually saying. After a beat she shifted, dropping to her knees and putting her own arms around him. He sighed, draping himself over her shoulder and drinking in her solid presence.

Although there were times that the sixteen-year-old him had craved his mom’s support, this felt different, like he was going to break apart into a million pieces if she didn’t somehow hold him together. Maybe he should be feeling self-conscious about it right now, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Eventually, an inner stability started to come back to him. He pulled away from her, tugging his t-shirt straight as he gave her a bashful smile.

“That looks like it fits okay,” she said, hands brushing over his shoulders. “Your dad picked up a bunch of things for you after we got you home last night, but we had to make our best guess for the sizes.”

He nodded, thankful that she wasn’t going to make a big deal about his emotional greeting just now. It had definitely been a ‘little kid’ thing that had surged up within him, but the emotions still had a hold on him, and he wasn’t really sure how to talk about it.  

Then her breath suddenly caught, and she leapt towards the stove, stirring a pan frantically as a charred smell hit Jon’s nose.

“Well, it’s not terrible,” she muttered. “Not as good as your dad’s, but he had to go before he could finish this.” Turning to grab a serving bowl from the cupboard, she dropped a kiss down on the top of Jon’s head. Surprisingly, he didn’t mind. “Go sit down, okay, honey? And Jordan, can you set the table?”

It took Jon a while to figure out how to get comfortable in his seat, and he finally settled on sitting up on his knees so he could actually see what he was eating. The fork and knife were heavy and unwieldy in his hands, and he was starting to think that it was more than just the size difference. Had his coordination also been affected?

With that worry in mind, he was privately grateful that his mom had chosen to dish his plate for him, but when he took a bite of the scrambled eggs, a gag surprisingly rose up in his throat.

“Oh, they’re not that bad, are they?” Lois worried, examining her own serving cautiously.

“No,” he rushed to tell her, taking a swallow of orange juice. It wasn’t the burnt flavour that had been so off-putting. It was something else…

“The pepper,” she realized suddenly. “Jon, I’m sorry, I forgot.”

Truthfully, so had he. The whole ‘not liking pepper’ thing had gradually faded out for him as he got older, but it was obviously back in full force now. He couldn’t stomach the idea of taking another bite and so he turned his attention to his toast and bacon instead.

They had made their way through most of the meal by the time he noticed his mom glancing at the clock apprehensively.

“You don’t hear your dad coming, do you, Jordan? If he’s not back soon I’m going to have to call Chrissy and tell her I’ll be late.”

“Why?” Jonathan didn’t look up from his plate, engrossed in trying to cut his piece of bacon. He gripped the fork and knife in his fists, but he still couldn’t figure out how to make them work.

“Sweetie, do you want me to—”

“I can do it!” He inwardly cringed at the whiny tone that had slipped out and ducked his head lower.

“I don’t hear Dad yet,” Jordan answered. “But I can stay here and, uh, hang out with Jon.”

Jon’s cutlery clattered onto his plate when what his mom and brother were talking about finally clicked. She didn’t want to leave Jon here on his own, and Jordan had just volunteered to babysit him. He automatically opened his mouth to object but found himself swallowing it down.

He could see the two of them exchanging some sort of silent look between them. There was something they had noticed with him that they were trying not to make a big deal about. Had it been that obvious that he was acting more like a little kid than a teenager now?

Well, so far, he had given his mom a desperate, epic hug in greeting, he had been grossed out by perfectly normal food, and he was still stumped by something as basic as a knife and fork. Yeah, no wonder his mom thought he needed a babysitter.

Giving up on the idea of table manners, he grabbed the strip of bacon with his fingers and bit off a chunk. He chewed it thoughtfully. If he was being really honest with himself, the idea of being home alone gave him a strange, fearful flutter that he hadn’t felt in years. It wasn’t the worst thing if Jordan made sure to stick around, right? It wasn’t like he had to actually take care of Jon.

Jordan was apparently convincing enough, and soon their mom made her exit, making them both promise to call her if there was the slightest issue.

“We should go outside,” Jordan suggested once they were on their own. “You gotta get some sun, right?”

The reminder made Jonathan’s stomach flop. Yesterday had been a total failure as far as that plan went, and he couldn’t completely squash the worry that he’d face the same problems today.

But the sooner they dealt with things, however they’d end up, the sooner he’d be back to his sixteen-year-old self and that pushed him to give it a try. His dad had also bought some child-sized socks and shoes for him, but when it was time to put them on, he discovered a whole new problem. His uncoordinated little-kid fingers couldn’t seem to grip and loop the laces properly, and he found himself squatting by the front door, biting his lip in concentration as he fumbled through tying his shoes.

Jordan shifted uncertainly. “Uh, did you want me to…”

“I can do it myself,” he snapped. It wasn’t like he had forgotten, but it did mean that his suspicions had been confirmed. His coordination had taken a big hit since yesterday along with all the other invisible changes that he was grappling with.

Already, there had been a few immature phrases slipping out that he had only noticed after the fact. It wasn’t like he had forgotten how to talk like he normally did; it was more that the emotion of the moment short-circuited his impulse control.

The attachment to his mom was also a big thing. Even now, a small part of him wished she was still at home. Not necessarily going outside with him and Jordan, but just in the house; there close by in case he needed (or wanted) her. But he refused to wallow in that. Even when he had actually been seven, he had survived the day at school or daycare or whatever, and there was no reason why he couldn’t handle it now.

Eventually, he managed to get his shoes into a passable state. He stood facing his brother, once again having to tilt his head upward to meet his eyes.

It was so weird. They had been neck and neck as the grew up together, each of them taking turns to be taller or quicker to learn something or more independent. Jordan’s powers had complicated things over the last couple years, but Jon’s current age brought it to a whole new level.

There was no way he could keep up with his brother with anything right now and he couldn’t help but feel completely useless. They weren’t in this together anymore. Instead, Jordan was going to have to carry more than his share of the weight.  

Did he recognize that, too? He was staring down at Jon thoughtfully, but Jonathan couldn’t work up the courage to ask what was going through his mind. After a beat, Jordan shrugged to himself and then pulled the door open, leading them both through it.

When the sun hit Jonathan’s face, he gasped.

A warm, pleasant buzzing spread across his skin, tickling the small hairs on his arms and making his nose itch. The energy that flooded in gave him a surge of confidence and he found himself rushing down the porch steps, bouncing on his toes as he turned to face Jordan.

“Do you feel that all the time?” he asked, stretching his hands out to soak in even more sun. “The… the tingling?”

“Yeah…” Jordan nodded as he walked to catch up with Jon. “Wait, you feel it now? Like, more than before?”

“Way, way more than before.” A smile was stretching across his face, and he tilted his head up to soak even more of it in.

“That’s good, right? That means grandma hit the right window for you or whatever.”

“Yeah, hopefully. But I still have to figure out how to make the powers work.”

Jordan cocked his head to the side. “I think I have an idea for that.”

He strode towards the barn and Jon trailed after him, having to jog every few steps to keep up with his brother’s much longer legs. It took Jordan a few minutes of digging, but eventually he found the old junior-sized football that they had kept at the farm for years.

“Playing football was when Mom and Dad noticed your powers, right?” he asked. “So I figure maybe that’ll trigger them for you again.”

“Okay,” Jon shrugged. “That sounds better than trying that dumb log again.”

The smaller ball still felt uncomfortably large in his hand, but Jon finally managed to get his fingers somewhat into place around it. He backed up a few paces and then tossed the ball over to Jordan.

It fell short by a lot, but Jordan kicked up a burst of speed and caught it anyway. Jon felt the beginnings of a pout start to form on his face. His pass had been even worse than yesterday.

“Dude, remember that you’re seven,” Jordan told him. “You did pretty good for that.”

The ball came spiralling back to Jon, and he let out a soft grunt as he caught it in his arms. “You’re doing pretty good, too. When did you learn to throw like that?” He had wondered the same thing yesterday and never got a chance to ask.

Jordan ducked his head sheepishly. “I, uh, think it’s kind of a powers thing. Or maybe just all that training with Granddad? Anyway, I’m just a lot better now at figuring out what my body’s supposed to be doing.” He held out his hands, and Jon sent the ball sailing in that direction.

That attempt went a lot better than his first one, and he felt a smile start to grow on his face.

“Who knew that being Superboy comes with passable sports skills, huh?”

Jordan rolled his eyes. “You know, out of the two of us, you’re the only one who’s an actual little boy right now.”

“I’m not little,” Jon glared as he caught the next pass.

Jordan just laughed, and okay, maybe that had proved Jordan’s point more than anything, but Jon couldn’t walk it back now. Instead, he lined himself up to pass the ball, concentrating to make sure he was using as much of the correct form as his stupid tiny body would allow him to do.

As he pushed the ball forward, he felt something new stirring within himself. The bright tingling feeling he had been basking in this whole time surged and solidified, warming his limbs and bringing about an energy and purpose that he had never experienced before. The ball shot across the lawn in a blur, smacking Jordan on the chest before it gave a pitiful whine, collapsing as the air leaked out of it.

Jon stared at the ball. Had he just…

Jordan, meanwhile, was staring at him. He squeezed the ruined football, forcing a bit more air to eke out of the busted seams. “Bro…”

Jon hadn’t been imagining it. The evidence was right in front of him, Jordan had seen the same thing, and he could also still feel the well of strength bubbling inside of him.

Stretching his arms up, he punched the air with both of his fists. A smile splitting his face in two.

“Yes!!”

Chapter Text

Clark touched down on the same spot behind the barn that he always used, feeling the familiar churning of guilt within him. No matter what promises he made to his kids, it seemed like he was always falling short. He had meant to be with Jon this entire morning, helping him through the difficult transition and with strategies on how to activate his powers. Instead, Superman had been busy for the last couple hours helping out at a particularly dangerous mine cave-in and although he didn’t regret the lives saved, he did regret what he had missed out on.  

He was just rounding the corner when a small, blond-haired child stuck his head out of the open barn door.

“Dad!”

The ear-splitting shout instantly brought Clark back almost a decade, when anything from the promise of an ice cream cone to waking up on Christmas morning could bring out that exact same reaction. Feet pounding and arms pumping, Jonathan sprinted towards Clark.

“Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad! It worked! I have powers!”

It was honestly a beautiful sight, his pure joy and excitement radiating out to combine with Clark’s relief that his mother’s out of the box solution had actually worked. Bending down, Clark swept his son up into his arms, giving him a fierce hug and spinning him around.

It wasn’t until Jonathan let out an awkward squawk that Clark remembered that a sixteen-year-old might not appreciate that show of affection, no matter what he currently looked like. Clark set him back down on the ground, getting ready to do some damage control, but it seemed like that wasn’t necessary.

Jon stumbled as he found his footing again, and then gave a short huff, straightening his shirt. “Man, being little again is weird,” he commented, flashing Clark a cautious smile.

How much of him was a child again? It had been hard to tell last night, and Clark’s thoughts had spun through all sorts of scenarios while he had been gone today. In the moment, it seemed like his excitement had overridden any residual teenage instincts to play things cool.

“So, you figured it out?” Clark asked, squatting down to meet Jon’s height.

“Oh! Yeah! Me and Jordan did! C’mon, you gotta see!” He grabbed hold of Clark’s hand and pulled. Hard.

The surprising amount of force knocked Clark off balance before he got up to follow him. Yeah, Jon definitely had superstrength. He didn’t seem to be aware of how much he was using right now, though. Instead, he continued to chatter away as he dragged Clark towards the barn.

“So, first Jordan wanted to play football and that was totally the right move because it worked, like, right away. But then I broke all the balls we had so then I remembered all those stupid hay bales beside the barn. I can lift one even though it’s bigger than me! Well, I guess everything’s bigger than me right now, but it’s still cool. I can’t lift up the whole tractor, though. Just the front part.”

They had arrived at the door, and Clark finally caught sight of Jordan. He had hung back in his spot, his teenage attitude tempering his own excitement and pride. It was still plain as day to Clark, though, and he clapped a hand on Jordan’s shoulder.

“Thanks for taking the lead on this.”

Jordan shrugged, a smile growing on his face that matched his brother’s. “It was pretty fun. And Jon’s getting really good.”

“Dad! You have to watch!” Jon was standing by the tractor, bouncing on his toes.

“Okay, bud, I’m watching. Show me what you got.”

The rest of the morning flew by. Jon had taken to the superstrength well and was eager to try all sorts of challenges. He cajoled Jordan into joining in, and even Clark took the leap to show off a little for his sons, much to Jon’s delight in particular. Was this what it would have been like if he had told his sons the truth when they were this age? Had his own stubbornness robbed them of years of happiness?

Jon continued to ride the high of his accomplishment, but it wasn’t until Clark decided they needed to stop by the fortress that the change from his usual behaviour became impossible to ignore.

“Jonathan, I need you to hold still while I scan you,” Lara told him patiently.

He nodded agreeably. “Right. Oh, hey, Dad, remember we were gonna ask Grandma if—”

“Jon, you have to stand still,” Clark reminded him. Again.

“Whoops. Sorry.” Jon shrugged sheepishly. Lara was just about to make another attempt when his head snapped up, tracing the pattern of crystals on the ceiling.

“Dude,” Jordan chided, shaking his head in disbelief.

Jon let out a sharp huff and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry! I keep forgetting.”

Eventually they managed to get the scan done with Clark holding onto Jon’s shoulders and locking in eye contact the whole time. Lara looked very pleased as she gave her results.

“Jonathan’s body is now processing and expelling solar energy just as it should. I still recommend we let things develop for a few more days to ensure he’s healthy enough before we return him to his natural age.”

Jon heaved a giant sigh. “I have to stay like this for even longer?”

“We knew that was probably going to happen,” Clark reminded him.

“Yeah…” He leaned his back against the wall, letting his feet slowly slide further and further away from him until he plopped down on the floor. Then he rolled over, got up, and started the process all over again.

“Okay, what is up with you?” Jordan asked.

“Huh?” Jonathan scrambled back to his feet. “I don’t…”

Lara was chuckling in amusement. “There is a very high amount of fresh solar energy in him right now. Has he spent a lot of time outdoors today?”

“Well, yeah. We were trying to jumpstart his powers.”

“You certainly did that,” she smiled. “But you’ve also given him an enormous increase in his general energy levels in the process. He’s currently working through that the same way any child, human or Kryptonian, would.”

Jordan’s eyebrows raised. “What, instead of a sugar high he’s got a sunlight high?”

While his son may be sceptical, Clark was sure that his mother was right. Now that he thought about it, he remembered how Jonathan had always seemed more energized after a day in the sun rather than exhausted like many of his friends were. Jordan, of course, had usually chosen to avoid particularly bright days, claiming the light made him feel weird. More hints that Clark had ignored…

Jonathan shifted restlessly, suddenly self-conscious now that his wired antics had been pointed out and analyzed. “Can’t you just, like, take out all the extra stuff?” he asked. “Like you did when I had the headaches?”

“It’s important that your body learns to deal with this naturally,” she explained. “I’m sure you’ll stabilize throughout the rest of the day.”

Clark did his best to help out with that, putting Jonathan through even more physical challenges inside the barn when they got back to the farm, but eventually it was time for them to go into the house. Jon was bolting up the stairs, eagerly following Jordan when Clark looped an arm around his midsection and held him back on the porch.

“We need to talk for a sec before we go in,” he explained.

“Okay.” Wide blue eyes peered up trustingly at Clark, packing even more punch now that they were once again framed by child-sized features.

Motioning for Jon to sit on the steps, Clark settled down beside him as well. “You’re getting really good at using your strength, but now you need to start working on pulling back.”

“Oh.” He wrapped his arms around his legs. “I didn’t think about that.”

“It’s not as big of a deal as you’d think,” Clark encouraged. “You just need to stay focused on what you’re doing and be a little more careful when you’re holding things.”

Jon sighed heavily, his small, bony shoulders slumping. “Dad, those are, like, the two things I got really bad at when I turned seven all over again.”

“I’m not expecting perfection. No one is. Just give it your best try, okay?”

He nodded, toes wiggling inside his shoes. “Did you ever break anything? When you were a kid?”

Is that how he saw himself now? As a kid rather than a teenager? It was hard to tell just in the way he was acting, childish mannerisms carrying through but the occasional glimmer of teenage attitude making an appearance.

But, like many situations, Clark had a story that he felt Jonathan could relate to. “Yeah, I definitely broke stuff. Once, I put a hole clear through the house with a toy rocket.”

“What? Really?”

“Yep. But you can’t even tell now, can you?”

Jon shrugged, eyes roaming across the side of the house. He squirmed in his seat, the last bit of extra energy still swimming within him.

“I’m strong enough to hurt Mom, aren’t I? If I’m not careful?”

“That’s not going to happen, Jon,” Clark assured him.

“But how do you know?” His breath hitched. “I’ve only been around you and Jordan with my powers but when she comes home—”

“Hey, bud, I promise, you’ll figure it out.” Clark dragged Jon across the step, tucking the boy close in at his side and wrapping his arm around tight. “I’ll help you make sure, okay?”

After a beat, Jonathan slumped against him, letting out a soft sigh.

Clark ran his hand over Jonathan’s arm, trying to give his son as much support as possible. It had been difficult enough helping Jordan through everything as a teenager but seeing this small child version of Jonathan confess fears about his growing powers was much harder.

If only they could go back to the uninhibited fun of earlier today. Jonathan had been excited and proud with every little skill he had managed. But the time had sadly come for him to face the unpleasant consequences of who he was. The powers were amazing, but they were also a burden. And now both of his sons were preparing to bear it.

Lois poked her head into the living room and felt a smile grow in her face. Jonathan was stretched out on the sofa, laying on his belly. His feet kicked in the air, and he hummed quietly to himself as he flipped through the dense electrical engineering textbook that Natalie had lent him.

It was an incongruous mix that Lois was getting more used to as the day went on. Jonathan clearly did have all of his memories and could keep up with anything being said in a way that he hadn’t been able to as a child, but there was a plethora of child-like mannerisms and responses that bled through everything he did.

His emotional highs and lows were more easily triggered, he struggled with a lot of fine motor tasks just like any seven-year-old would, and, although he hadn’t said anything out loud, Lois could tell that he needed the same level of emotional support from her as he had when he was younger.

At least the situation with his powers had been cleared up. She had been treated to a lively description of the events from Jordan, and it came with a big feeling of relief that they were on the right track. Jonathan had strangely been a little more withdrawn when talking about his powers. It couldn’t possibly be uncertainty over how she’d react, could it?

Although her instincts were to tackle the issue head on, she felt like she needed to use more of a delicate touch in this situation.

“How are you doing, kiddo?” She came into the room, reaching out to tussle his hair. Although she had planned to sit in the armchair across from him, Jon eagerly sat up, scootching over on the sofa to make a space for her. There was no way she was going to say no to that unspoken invitation, so she sat down beside him.

“I’m okay,” he replied. He pulled his knees up to his chest and laced his fingers through his toes. “Just waiting until I can get back to normal, I guess.”

She nodded. “Do you miss Jordan?”

After a lot of hemming and hawing, Jordan had finally decided to head into town and meet up with some friends. He had very sweetly been hesitant since the same activity was out of the question for his brother, but Jonathan had insisted that he go. Was he now regretting that impulse?

He rolled his eyes in response to her question and gave an affronted huff. “I don’t miss him. You remember we could be away from each other even when we were actually little kids, right?”

That was true, but Lois also remembered how bonded the two were when they were young. Any long separation was always followed by a joyful reunion and period of even closer attachment.

“Anyway, he probably deserves to hang out with people who are actually his own age,” Jonathan continued. “Can’t expect him to be okay with babysitting a little kid the whole time.”

“He loves you and he’s happy to be with you,” Lois corrected. But as Jonathan shrugged it off, her curiosity got the best of her. “Is that what it feels like for you? That you’re pretty much a kid again?”

He bit the ragged end of his nail as he stared at his toes. “Kind of,” he finally admitted. “Like, I still remember being bigger, obviously, and I can still do some stuff like read Nat’s book or whatever. But there’s, um, a lot of stuff that I can’t do anymore.”

The list had been long, and Jonathan had responded to his new limitations with varying degrees of acceptance. Although he had been grudgingly thankful when Lois had found a step stool for the bathroom sink, he had stubbornly refused to let her cut up his chicken breast at dinner, and she was dreading his reaction to the inevitable ‘bedtime’ discussion.

“And there’s other stuff,” he continued, still avoiding her eyes. “Like, I know I’m not… That I, uh, need you and Dad a lot more.”

She nodded encouragingly.

“It’s not even for anything specific,” he shared, “just to be here. Like I’m afraid to do anything by myself.” He gave a quiet scoff and then snuck a sheepish glance in her direction, embarrassed to be admitting that.

“Well, you know we’re here for you always, no matter what you need and whether you’re sixteen or seven.”

“Yeah…”

His despondent look pushed her to open up even further. “And, you know, honey, I can’t say that I mind being able to baby you just a little bit more than usual.” She planted a firm kiss on the top of his head. While she loved both of her rapidly maturing teenagers, having Jonathan suddenly return to this child-like state had given her a dose of sweet nostalgia that she was wanting to savour every scrap of.

He gave her a small eyeroll, teenage self peeking through for just a flash before he sighed in resignation and shifted in a little closer.

“You’re going to be back to your regular life soon,” she encouraged, brushing her hand through his hair as he leaned against her side.

“I wish it was right now,” he said wistfully. “I miss driving.”

She chuckled. Strange as it was to hear a seven-year-old voice that desire and have it be accurate, that’s what life in their family was like.  

“I could take you for a drive,” she offered cautiously, not sure if it would hit the spot for Jon.

But he straightened up in interest. “Wait, really? Can we take my truck?”

“Sure.” There was a part of her that was interested in seeing what all the fuss was about with those things, and this seemed as good of an opportunity as any. “We’ll just have to stick to the backroads so we don’t run into anyone.”

“Yeah. Totally!” He bounced off the sofa eagerly and then reached out to take her hand. “And you’re gonna let me ride in the front seat, right? I know I’m really small right now, but it’s not like we’re gonna get in a car accident our here and—"

The pained gasp from Lois put an abrupt stop to the flow of words coming out of Jon. A sharp, shooting pain tore through her shoulder as Jon pulled at her arm with greater force than she could handle.

He dropped her hand immediately. “Mom!”

“It’s okay, honey.” She tried to rotate her shoulder back, but another stab of pain prevented her from moving it very far. A grimace flashed on her face before she could prevent it.

“I—I’m sorry! Mom, I didn’t mean to—” Tears were welling up in his eyes and he clenched his fists against his chest.

“Jon, I know it was an accident. I promise I’ll be okay.” She reached her good arm out towards him, but he just shook his head frantically, taking a stumbling step backwards.

His breath was hitching unsteadily as his face crumpled. The outpouring of fear and sadness broke Lois’ heart. No kid, whether he was seven or sixteen, should have to deal with something like this.

But then she noticed something that made her even more concerned. A warm, pulsing glow was starting to collect at Jonathan’s temples.

“Jon, honey, you need to take a deep breath.” She tried to keep her voice low and calm, but she was sure that some of her worry was bleeding through.

Jonathan dragged in a shuddering gasp, but it didn’t make a difference. A low, desperate sob leaked out of him and the light at his temples continued to coalesce.

Could he feel what was happening? Or was everything too overwhelming?

She stood up, determined to make her way towards him, but that just seemed to worry him all the more.

“Don’t come here! I’m—I’m too—” Finally, his eyes flashed red, and he gasped in realization, clutching the sides of his head.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetie, just—”

“I can’t stop it!” His eyes burned brighter, and Lois squinted against the light.

There was no going back now, and it was becoming more and more clear that she was in over her head. Taking a deep breath, she raised her voice for the first time she since realized what was about to happen.

“Clark!”

Chapter Text

Clark had been keeping an ear out for trouble while he got a few things done for the farm. Although he trusted Jon to try his best, superpowers were never an easy thing to handle, not to mention figuring them out in a body that he wasn’t yet used to.

But even though Clark had been listening for it, hearing Lois’ frantic voice sent a shockwave through him. He abandoned the tractor hitch he was putting back into place and raced into the house, pouring on as much speed as he could. The stream of heat vision hit the planks of their hardwood floors just as Clark got there, and he automatically angled his body in front of Jon, dousing the house with a burst of ice breath while he bore the brunt of one of his son’s heat vision for the second time in his life. The red beams finally cut off and Clark stretched out his hands towards Jon, ready to comfort him through the chaos.

That turned out to be a mistake. As soon as Jon caught sight of Clark’s injured palms, he gave a choked sob and his eyes flared up yet again. Being inside was just making things worse, so Clark grabbed hold of Jon’s shoulders, ignoring the pain that shot through his hands as he sped them both outside.

“Just let it out, Jon,” Clark coached, holding Jon’s head still and pointing it to the dirt. “It’s safe here, I promise.”

There was another blast of heat that trailed off weakly, and then Jon sagged against him, spent for at least the time being.

Clark stretched his free hand in the fading sunlight and then smoothed it over Jon’s head. “See? It’s okay.”

But Jon shook his head frantically, unsteady breathing picking up again. “It’s not! I… hurt… Mom…” He gasped for air between each word and then finally slumped back into shaking sobs, arms squeezing tightly around Clark.

This time, it was Clark’s breath that caught. Pivoting where he was squatting, he searched with every sense he had to find Lois.

She was just stepping out onto the porch now, and he sagged in relief when he saw her. Although she was moving slowly and clutching her shoulder carefully, there was no evidence of burns or broken bones on her.

“I’m okay, babe,” she told him, her quiet voice easily reaching his ears like it always did. “Just get Jon settled first.”

As much as Clark wanted to help his wife, he knew he was the only one who could deal with Jon right now. The heat vision had dried up, but the strength wasn’t going to go anywhere and there was no way Jon could be expected to regulate that at the moment.

“Mom’s okay,” he told his son softly, running his hand through Jon’s hair. Right now, there was no hint of teenage confidence or experience. There was only child-like pain and fear. “She’s made of tough stuff, you know.”

“But… but…”

“Jon, I promise. She’ll be fine. How about you? How’s your head?”

A silent shrug was the only thing Clark got in response.

“Here, let me see, okay, bud?” He pulled away gently, keeping his hands supportively in place.

Jon’s eyes were completely bloodshot and the skin surrounding them was irritated and flushed. Cupping his face, Clark reached across with his thumb to wipe away the tears coursing down. There was one more flicker of heat in his eyes before it died down completely.

“I know it probably hurts right now,” Clark acknowledged, “but it’s going to heal up soon.”

Jonathan shrugged dully, eyes dropping down to the charred dirt at their feet. Clark had seen that exact same overwhelmed, heavy look on Jordan when it had happened to him: the numb shock of the damage he had caused mixed with the realization that he’d be responsible for trying to prevent it in the future. Clark never wanted to see his kids struggle in that way, let alone with something that he had given them.

And that’s what hurt Clark more than anything.

There hadn’t been very many times that Jordan had been asked to use his powers by his dad. Although he always said that Jordan was capable, he also said that Jordan shouldn’t have to take on that kind of responsibility yet. Jordan knew it was something he had keep negotiating about, but for now it was a surprise when he had been called back to the house and asked to come as soon as he could.

When he got there, the cause of the problem was instantly obvious. The large scorch mark on the floor of the living room could only logically be from Jonathan and seeing his mom in pain gave another clue about what had happened.

He was more than happy to stay home with Jonathan while their dad took their mom to the Smallville Medical Center to get checked out, but he also didn’t really know how to help Jon through his first superpower-related disaster. It was something Jordan was painfully familiar with, but Jon’s current state made everything all muddled. Did he need the genuine, blunt bolstering that Jordan usually gave him when he was struggling? Or was there something else Jordan should do given Jon’s changed age?

The sun had gone down a few minutes ago, but Jonathan still sat out on the porch, staring into the horizon with his raw, bloodshot, post-heat-vision eyes. He had folded himself into the smallest package possible, with his legs tucked in onto the seat and his chin resting on his knees.  

“You heard what Dad said,” Jordan spoke, finally breaking the silence between the two of them. “Nothing’s broken or anything. I bet she’s gonna be fine.”

Jon shrugged one shoulder, letting it droop even lower than before as he brought it back down.

“And it’s gonna take Dad, like, ten seconds tops to fix up the living room. I know it was probably hard for you to notice, but it really doesn’t look that bad.”

There was still no response. A cool breeze blew across the porch, and Jonathan shivered, wrapping his arms even more tightly around his legs.

“We can go back inside,” Jordan offered.

That finally got a reaction from Jon, but it wasn’t a good one. He stiffened and then shook his head firmly.

“Okay… Well, there’s no way that Dad didn’t buy you a tiny hoodie or something. Want me to go get it for you?”

“No!” Jon snapped his head towards Jordan. “I don’t want—I mean, you don’t have to go do that; you can just stay here. Um, if you—If you want.”

Well, that answered one thing, at least. Apparently, Jordan wasn’t being completely useless out here. He still felt bad watching his brother freeze, so he unzipped his own hoodie and threw it over Jon’s shoulders before his brother could protest.

He shrugged at Jonathan’s questioning look. “It’s not like I really need it.”

A frown puckered on Jon’s face as his fingers ran along the teeth of the zipper.

Jordan winced. His brother probably didn’t need any more reminders of how much was destined to change for him in the future.

But at least Jonathan was pulling the hoodie around himself now, tucking his entire body into the fabric for protection from the cold. He snaked a single hand out and rubbed at his eyes.

“That should go away soon,” Jordan offered. “The whole, uh, burning eyes thing. And it really only hurt like that the first time I used my heat vision. It gets easier.”

Jon let out a quiet scoff. “I don’t really want it to be easier right now; I just want the whole thing to go away.”

To his horror, Jordan saw tears pooling in Jonathan’s eyes. How had he somehow made things worse? “Jon, I’m sorry. I don’t—”

“No, it’s okay,” Jon cut in with a wavering voice. “It’s not your fault. It’s just that being a dumb kid again means I start crying over every little thing.”

“Oh.” Jordan watched awkwardly as his brother scraped the tears off his face. Pushing through his own uncertainty at having a (temporarily) younger brother, Jordan reached out and put a steadying hand on Jon’s shoulder. He knew he had done the right thing when Jon sighed, leaning back in his chair and tugging the hoodie even tighter around himself.

“I didn’t really mean it,” he said softly. “That I wanted the whole thing to go away. I mostly like being like you and Dad. It’s just what happened… what happened with Mom...” His voice wavered again, and he flicked a fresh rivulet of tears off his face.

“Yeah, I know what that feels like.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just because you have powers too doesn’t mean—”

“Jon, I broke your arm.”

“Oh. Yeah, but that’s…” He tilted his head as he thought. “That’s different.”

Jordan shook his head. As far he could tell, the biggest difference was that he had been acting like an idiot that night and taking stupid risks with his powers. Jon had just had a simple accident stemming from forgetfulness.

Did he want to dig into all of that now? They had moved past it a long time ago and what was the point in arguing over who was the most at fault between the two situations? Mostly, Jordan just wanted Jon to be able to forgive himself as much as he had forgiven Jordan.

“Look, I’m just saying I know how much it sucks sometimes. Especially when things first hit, it’s a lot to handle. But it gets easier.”

Jonathan shifted in his seat, turning to the side so he could face Jordan directly. “Does it still feel like you have to be careful all the time? With the strength?”

Jordan tucked his hands against his sides, missing his hoodie not for the warmth but for the security. He really hadn’t thought about himself as an expert in all this, but it was all completely new to Jon. That wouldn’t change even when Jon got back to his normal age.  

“It kind of just feels like a new threshold,” he finally answered. “You learn how much force you need to put on everything. And, uh, it’ll probably get even easier when you get back to being you.” The coordination struggles his brother had gone through today hadn’t escaped Jordan’s notice, but he wasn’t really sure how to talk about it without making Jon feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Jon snorted in acknowledgement. “I think everything’s gonna get easier when I’m sixteen again.” Then he dragged the edge of Jordan’s hoodie across his damp nose.

“Bro! That’s disgusting!”

He blinked, staring down at his hand in surprise over what he had done. “Uh, whoops. Sorry, I wasn’t, uh…”

“It’s okay.” Jordan slouched down and stretched his feet out on the porch. “But you’re doing the laundry for that; I don’t care if you fall into the machine when you try to load it.”

“Shut up.” Jon’s arm shot out of his hoodie cocoon and shoved Jordan with an impressive amount of force. It wasn’t enough to knock Jordan over in his chair, but it was close.

Jordan eyed his brother strategically. Their roughhousing days had dried up around the time that Jordan joined the football team but now that Jon’s powers were kicking in, there was a whole bucketload of possibilities.

Jon must have realized the same thing, because he quickly scrambled to his feet, standing on the wicker chair as the overly large hoodie flapped around him.

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait! That’s not fair! I’m just a little kid!”

“Oh, come on, you can’t play that card and shove me around.”

Jon shrugged, an irritating smirk rising on his face. “What would Superman do?”

Jordan glared but slumped back in his seat anyway. It did feel a little wrong to take advantage of his size, no matter how much Jon was pushing his buttons. But soon they’d been on equal footing, fumbling through this whole superpower mess side by side.  

Jordan couldn’t wait.

Lois sighed as she painstakingly cleared objects off the mantel in the living room with one hand only. In her opinion, the doctor had been far too cautious in giving her a sling to wear for the next few days. The sprain to her shoulder wasn’t all that serious and the restriction of her movement was more annoying than the pain had been.

Still, she wanted to heal up as quickly as possible, no matter what she had to do. Taking it easy wasn’t something she ever liked, and she was also eager to erase the evidence of what had happened. The sooner she was back to her usual self, the sooner Jonathan could move past what he had done.

She desperately wanted to assure him that everything was fine, but she had barely had an opportunity. He had avoided eye contact with her all day so far, only making an appearance in her presence at breakfast and then scurrying away as quickly as he could. There had been some quiet murmuring from both the boys coming from Jordan’s room, so at least that was a good thing. Clark had decided to wait another day or so before he practiced more with Jon, stating that it was unlikely that Jon would have another episode so soon after the last one.

Maybe that was true, but Lois had a strong suspicion that it was Clark’s own guilt that also motivated that delay. She’d have to nail him down about that sometime today, and she put that on her mental to-do list as she lifted a picture frame off of the mantel. Clark had fixed the scorch mark in the floor, but there was still soot and water stains everywhere. After a few minutes of painstakingly slow work, the mantel was (finally) almost clear, but at that moment she felt a prickle on the back of her neck.

“Hey, sweetie,” she greeted casually, not wanting to spook Jonathan away. “Why don’t you come on in?”

There was a beat of silence, and then finally his little feet padded across the floor. She heard a soft thump as he jumped up onto the sofa. Lifting the last picture frame off, she turned around to face him, confident that she wouldn’t scare him off immediately.

He picked at his fingernails. “Can I help you? With the cleaning?”

That’s how he always was: the consummate helper. He had a gift to be able to find something that needed doing or some person that needed bolstering. In this case, though, she wasn’t sure if she had a job for him. The mantel was too high for him to dust, and most of the knickknacks she was clearing were too breakable for a seven-year-old with newly developed superstrength. Accidentally shattering his grandmother’s clock would only make him feel worse about everything.

“You can keep me company,” she said.

That offer went over like a lead balloon. Jonathan huffed and crossed his arms, seeing through her suggestion much faster than he would have when he had actually been seven.

“I’m being serious,” she insisted. “You’ve been tucked away all day.”

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on his knees.

Should she push harder? The biggest thing Lois had learned through that whole X-K debacle was how much Jonathan was capable of keeping hidden. Letting him come to her with an issue wasn’t something she could expect out of her teenager. But now that he was a kid, would pushing for a conversation before he was ready just make him shut down?

“How’s your arm?”

She stilled, gripping the dust rag in her hand. Apparently, he was ready to talk about it after all.

“It’s okay. I took some Tylenol and with your dad around it’s impossible to run out of ice.”

Jon nodded. “Kay. Good.” His voice came out as soft as a whisper. Then he let out a wet sniffle.

Lois couldn’t take it anymore. She crossed the space, stretching her good arm out to wrap around him but he shook his head fearfully, pressing himself into the corner of the sofa while he kept his hands carefully tucked away.

“I don’t want to hurt you again. Maybe I shouldn’t have done all this stuff. I could have just stayed my same age and never gotten the powers. Grandma could keep draining the energy from me and—”

“Jon, no. As scary as I know it is right now, this is who you were meant to be. You’re doing the right thing.”

“But I hurt you!”

She sat on the edge of the sofa, giving him the buffer he seemed to want while still getting as much closeness as she could.

“Do you remember when you were three years old, and you knocked over one of our dining room chairs?”

He frowned at her abrupt segue. “No.”

“Yeah, you were trying to climb up onto the table; I don’t know what had gotten into your head. Anyway, the chair fell back, I tried to catch it, and I ended up breaking my toe.”

“What?” He stared at her aghast and she shrugged in response.

“It was a pain. I had to wear a splint for a while, and it drove your dad crazy because it was right when things were heating up with the Luthor investigation. I was limping all over downtown chasing leads and refusing to take any time off.”

Jon smiled weakly. No doubt it was a scene he could easily picture; she certainly had a reputation.

But all too soon he slumped back down. “So, what? Your point is that at least I didn’t break a bone this time?”

“No, honey. My point is that accidents happen. Whether or not you have powers doesn’t actually change that. And I get that the powers make everything a lot scarier and more serious, but I know you’re going to get everything figured out soon.”

He chewed on his nail, easing out of the corner he had shoved himself into. Maybe he wasn’t ready to move past it completely, but he did seem less fearful right now.

“You said you wanted to help me, right?” Lois asked.

“Yeah…”

“Give me a hug?”

Nose wrinkling, he sent her a sharp look of confusion mixed with a heavy dose of disdain. It was a purely teenage reaction, even though it was filtered through his more youthful features. Lois bit back a laugh, still hoping to convince him.

He twisted his fingers together. “Is this just you making me get over the whole superstrength thing?”

“Well, partly. It’s also because I only have a few more days with you like this. I’ve got to soak it all in.”

He huffed, scowling down at his wiry body.

The reluctant, teenage antics were adorable being acted out with his child-sized body, but Lois knew better than to say that. Instead, she did her best to look patient and encouraging while he came to decision.

“Okay. Sure.” He shuffled across the sofa, tucking in close on her good side. Then his arms wrapped around her waist, falling into place with extreme care.

“You can do a little harder than that, Jon; I’m not made of glass.”

But he shook his head. “Maybe later. Right now, I just… This is all I want to do.”

“Okay. Take your time.” She brought her unencumbered arm around him and squeezed tightly, trying to put enough strength into the one arm to replace the one that was out of commission.

Their embrace was imperfect from both of their contributions: Jon’s being too cautious and hers coming from only one side. But together it was enough.

Chapter Text

Clark heard the frustrated grumble of his son through the bedroom door as he knocked lightly, letting the door swing open into the room. Jonathan was hunched over at his desk, feet dangling from the chair and head propped up in his hand.

He pushed against the desk to swivel the chair around to face Clark. “Hey, Dad.”

There was a faint frown on his face, and he looked more subdued than any seven-year-old normally was. It was the second day since his powers had set in, and although Lois had said that things had been worked out between the two of them, Clark knew that he still had his own part to play in this. He needed to help Jonathan accept his powers, despite the pain they had already caused him.  

“Hey, bud. What are you working on?”

“Oh, just some calculations I was gonna show Nat. It’s not going very well, though.”

Clark’s stomach flopped. “Is it something with your powers?”

“No, it’s because my stupid tiny fingers can’t write properly.” Jon scowled down at his hands. “Maybe I need to figure out how to write Kryptonian characters on a computer.”

Clark huffed a laugh. “Well, I know you can do anything you put your mind to. Look at how you’ve handled everything in the last few days.”

Jon scoffed. “Yeah, sure. I’ve been killing it as a superpowered kid.”

That’s what Clark had been worried about. He sat down on the bed and lifted his eyes to give Jon the most encouraging look he could manage.

“No, I’m serious. I know how hard it is to adjust to having powers, and that doesn’t even count how difficult it’s been with you having to be seven all over again. And… and I know it’s my fault that this has been such a journey,” Clark admitted. “If I had been more aware of things or more willing to see what was right in front of me then your powers would have developed just the way they should have. It would have been easier.”

“Well… I don’t know if it would have been completely easier,” Jon shrugged. “I mean, having to jump back in age sucks, but I think it also would have been really hard to do all this when I was actually seven. At least this way I got to be a normal kid the first time around. I know football kind of crashed and burned for me in the end, but I’m glad I got to do it.”

“Yeah?” As much as Clark wanted to believe that, he didn’t want to absolve himself of responsibility so easily.

But Jonathan was nodding sincerely. “Yeah, Dad. For real.”

The tight band of stress that Clark had been carrying over the last few days eased finally eased. Maybe there was no way to tell completely what the ideal strategy would have been, but at least Jon appreciated the normal childhood that Clark had been so desperate to give him.

“And, you know, I’ve thought about you a lot with all this, Dad,” Jon admitted. “Being seven is hard enough, I can’t imagine getting powers at four years old. It’s just so much to handle.”

Clark shrugged. It was something he had thought about as he watched his own kids growing up, but at the same time that’s what life had been like for him; he didn’t know anything else. For as long as he could remember, he had been different. Never quite fitting in, always being careful to make sure he wasn’t hurting the people he loved.

Both Jonathan and Jordan had close experience with that problem now. They all had this incredible, terrifying, overpowering heritage in common. With Jordan, Clark had fumbled a bit at the start, trying to figure out how to help his teenager through the transition, especially when they had struggled to connect beforehand. But Jonathan had always shared some of Clark’s interests and maybe that’s exactly what they needed to be locking into now.

“Come with me for a bit?”

Jon hopped down from the chair, tossing his pencil back onto the desk. “Are we going to do more superpower practice?” he asked warily, knowing what they had both been putting off.

‘Yeah,” Clark confirmed, leading Jon out of his room and down the stairs. “But we’re going to mix it up a bit. I’m going to show you something I always wished I could do as a kid.”

They made their way to the north field. It was laying fallow this year, and the tall grasses that had sprung up by the fence reached the height of Jonathan’s head.

Clark looked down at his son. “I can—”

“You’re not carrying me, Dad.” Jon waved a bug away from his face and scowled moodily. The expression was undercut by his youthful face, but Clark did his best to respect it anyway.

“Alright. Stay close behind me, then.” They waded through the grass together, Clark carving a path as they went. It got less overgrown as they reached the far edge, and finally Clark stopped in front of the pile of rocks that had been there as long as he could remember. Apparently, his dad had unearthed them when the field had first been cleared and he never got around to doing the variety of projects that he had ideas for with them. Clark hadn’t either, even after almost two years on the property. At least they’d be put to good use today.

He selected a decently sized boulder, checking it over and knocking off any particularly rough bits. Then he passed it over to Jon.

“How does that feel?”

Jon hefted it experimentally. It was larger than his head, but he managed to lift it without any visible problems.

“Weirdly easy,” he admitted. “Like, I think I can tell that it’s supposed to be heavy, but it really isn’t.”

Clark nodded, familiar with the sensation. Then he took the rock back from Jon. “Ready to go long?”

He waited only long enough to see Jon start to nod, and then he shot across the field, still keeping closer than he normally would when playing catch with Jon. Even with superpowers, Jon wasn’t up to his usual hand-eye coordination.

Once he was set in place, he launched the rock in Jonathan’s direction. He watched carefully, ready to step in at any time if Jon couldn’t catch it. But although his son’s eyes widened in surprise as the rock came hurtling towards him, he soon caught it neatly, demonstrating the effortless athletic talent that he had always had.

Jon heaved in a gasp, staring at the rock in his hand. “That… was awesome!” he shouted. “This thing is huge!”

Clark chuckled. “Yeah, it’s pretty big. Toss it back to me?”

Jon sent it spinning towards Clark, beaming the whole time. His aim was good, and the rock landed easily in Clark’s hands.

“I always liked playing catch,” Clark shared. “But I had to hold back from what I was really capable of.”

“Well, you’re still gonna have to hold back. I’m not exactly a pro right now.”

“But this is still pushing the limits in a lot of ways.” He sent the boulder back to Jon, who laughed delightedly when he caught it with ease.

It was nice to see those childish mannerisms peeking through again after all of the heavy realizations. Clark held out his hands for the pass, and Jon sent it zipping across the field with even more force than last time.

“Can we try a bigger one?” he asked, feet already drifted back towards the pile. “I’m pretty sure I can do it.”

Clark tossed the rock in the air and caught it in one hand, walking over to join his son. “Sure. We can try whatever you want.”

Lois glanced up from her novel and smiled. It had definitely been the right choice for the whole family to get out of the house today, and the secluded mountain lake that Clark had brought them to was the perfect environment. So far, her time had been happily divided between digging into an indulgent summertime read and watching the unique dynamics of her family.

Jonathan had been annoyed when Clark insisted on putting him through a quick swimming assessment when they arrived, but it gave everyone peace of mind when he managed to pass it with flying colours. With that taken care of, Clark moved right into challenging both boys with underwater swimming, holding their breath as long as possible and using their strength to push through the water effortlessly.

Lois carefully watched each time they ducked below the surface, scanning the water to see how far away they’d be when they popped up again. They were in the middle of a particularly long stint when a breeze suddenly blew across her skin and her husband appeared, stretched out beside her.

“Hey.” He flashed a broad smile in her direction. “You looked so great laying out here that I had to come over.”

“Oh, really?” Lois’ eyes drifted over her husband’s form. Water droplets trickled over his muscled torso, his wet hair was slicked back, and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. It was the perfect blend between Clark Kent and Superman, one of those very rare times when he was just her husband rather than one of the public masks he had to present to the world. “I could say the same for you, you know.”

He leaned in and they shared a mountain-water-drenched kiss warmed by the bright summer sun. Disappointingly, it ended all too soon when Clark pulled away, eyes drifting towards her sprained shoulder.

“Do you need more ice for that?”

“Babe, I’m fine, I promise. The swelling’s almost gone down completely and I’m getting some mobility back.”

“Okay.” His fingers brushed across her skin.

“If you want to help, how about you give me something to lean against?”

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Lois resting against her husband in the comfortable way she was used to as her eyes drifted lazily over the surface of the lake. Jordan and Jonathan were still splashing and laughing a fair distance from the shore.

Then, suddenly, Jonathan’s small body launched into the air, arcing over the surface of the water as sparkling droplets flew off of him. He let out a surprised shriek, and Lois bolted upright just as he crashed back down into the lake. A spray of water exploded out from beneath him.

“Jordan!” She staggered to her feet, letting Clark’s firm grip support her. “What did you just do to your brother?!”

“He’s fine, Mom!” Jordan called out over the distance. “I barely threw him higher than a diving board.”

Jonathan’s head popped out of the water, and he bobbed in place as he waved at Lois and Clark.

“See?” Jordan said. “Totally okay. You don’t need to freak out or—”

A startled shout burst out from Jordan as he flew out of the water, following Jon’s earlier trajectory almost exactly. Jonathan let out a triumphant whoop, punching his fists in the air. Jordan, being a good sport, fell back down into the water, making a significantly larger splash than his brother had.

It was a few minutes before they got back to the shore, each wearing a broad grin and dripping head to toe.

“How come you didn’t say anything when Jon threw me?” Jordan objected, shaking the water out of his hair.

“It’s cause I’m all innocent and vulnerable and stuff,” Jon explained smugly. “You’re supposed to be looking out for me and—ack!” He stumbled blindly as he tried to wrestle out of the towel that Jordan had shoved over his head.

“Can we take a break from the roughhousing for now?” Clark suggested. “Even though Jon has powers you both still need to be careful.”

They agreed reluctantly, but Lois had a foreboding that this wouldn’t be the last time the boys would get into something like this, and it would probably only get worse when Jonathan was restored to his proper age. The pause on those activities for the time being reminded her that it was getting late, and they should be heading home.

“Maybe we should have brought some dinner along,” she said in response to the boys’ complaints. “We’ll know for next time.” Solar energy absorption aside, she remembered all too well what the school-aged Jonathan had been like when he got hangry, and she didn’t want to experience that again.

But Jon slumped in disappointment at the news that their day had come to an end. “Do we really have to go already? The sun’s not gonna set for a while, right? And, Dad, you’re Superman. You can just fly somewhere and pick us up some food. Please?” He turned towards Clark, bright blue eyes angled upwards entreatingly.

Lois watched with a suspicious eye. Did Jon know what he was doing right now? Enough time had passed for him to get used to his current circumstances and it was only going to be a matter of time before he started working things to his benefit.

Predictably, Clark caved under the pressure. “I suppose I can duck out and grab something. How does pizza sound?”

That was met with an enthusiastic response from both boys.

“Can we get bacon and mushroom?” Jordan requested.

“And just plain cheese,” Lois added, intercepting Jon before he could speak. That had been the only kind he would eat when he was a kid, and she wasn’t willing to gamble on any changed tastes right now.

Jon’s nodded grudgingly. “Okay, yeah. Fine.”

After some negotiation, Jordan convinced Clark to be allowed to tag along, and so the two of them blasted off into the air together. Jonathan watched them disappear into the horizon.

“You’re going to be joining them soon, you know,” Lois told him.

Lara hadn’t been completely sure if any more abilities would surface when Jonathan was returned to sixteen, but it was a decent prediction that flight wouldn’t be that far away for him.

He blinked in surprise as he turned to face her. “Yeah, I guess, huh? It’s still weird to think about.”

Knowing her husband, they only had a few minutes before it was time to eat, so Lois busied herself digging into the supplies they had brought, laying out a second blanket and unearthing a handful of sodas. It was all jobs that Jon could actually help with this time, but that soon proved to be a struggle. He couldn’t seem to focus long enough to straighten the blanket or grab the things she was requesting. Instead, his eyes darted excitedly in every direction, pointing out various wildlife or an interesting rock. Lois was left with no choice but to gently suggest that he take a seat away from the prep area she was working on.

“Sorry,” he winced as he plopped down in the grass. “I think it’s cause I got a ton of sunlight today. I’m, like, the hyperactive kid at the birthday party who had too much cake.”

“That’s okay,” Lois grinned. “It’s pretty cute, you know.”

His eyes rolled up into his head. Then he followed the journey backwards until his entire body was laying in the grass, feet knocking together restlessly. “Yeah, I get it, Mom. You love having me as a little kid again.”

“I love you no matter what. But, yeah, this whole thing has reminded me of some good times.” With things as organized as she could get them, she closed the gap between them, sitting down beside him.

Jonathan rolled upright again, scootching a little closer to her as they both watched the sky for signs of Clark and Jordan.

“It’s gonna be different when I learn to fly,” Jon spoke softly, fingers fidgeting along his legs. “I’m not gonna be with you anymore.”

“Not all the time,” Lois acknowledged. “But I’m still going to be here for you no matter what. And I know that you’re going to do great.”

Jonathan huffed in annoyance as he hiked his baggy shorts up higher on his body, bunching the extra fabric in his hand. Yeah, it made sense to change back into his teenager clothes before his grandma restored him to his sixteen-year-old self, but it didn’t stop things from feeling incredibly awkward for the time being.

“So, everything’s good, right?” he checked. “It’s all going to work?”

Lara smiled. “Yes. Your solar metabolism has stabilized in the last few days, and I have every confidence that your body will be able to adjust with the transition.”

“But you’re still not sure if any other powers will be activated?” Clark asked, his hand firmly gripping Jon’s shoulder.

“It’s impossible to know until I can get a reading on Jonathan’s teenaged cells.”

“Well, you’ll be okay,” Jordan insisted. “Dad and I are both here if you need help.”

Jonathan gnawed on his fingernail. “Yeah. Okay.”

“You’ll get through it, honey.” His mom bent down to meet his eyes. “Just like you got through all this other stuff.”

He needed help to climb into the pod, short legs not giving him enough clearance to manage the high edges. As he settled into place, he crossed his fingers that this would be the last time.

A stretching, pulling sensation gripped him as Lara began her work. The humming sound once again rattled in his ears. He clenched his fists and fought through the discomfort, this time having to keep heat vision at bay on the top of everything.

Finally, he felt the tension ease. The wooziness thankfully drained out of him much faster than the times he had been made younger. Leaning back and taking in a deep breath, he waited for the pod to open once again.

His dad beamed as soon as he came into view. “Welcome back, bud. You need a hand out?”

Jon did need his dad’s stability as he climbed out of the pod, but this time he felt his forgotten muscles flex underneath his dad’s firm grasp, and Jon was soon returning it, pushing out far more strength than he had been able to the last time he had been sixteen.

It was unexpectedly odd to be taller than his mom again, but when her slight frame pulled him into an embrace, he still felt strength there. No matter how many powers he got, he knew that he was always going to need her to help him through it.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, fingers combing through his hair in the exact same way she had done when he was little.

“Pretty good, actually.” It was a little weird to be suddenly in this bigger body, but he felt at home in a way he hadn’t over the last week. There was also an inner strength within him that he had been missing, the fragility of being a vulnerable child once again sent back into his memories rather than being a current reality.

Jordan was watching him, full of curiosity but trying to hide it. “Do you think you have any other powers?” he asked, purposefully casual.

Jon took stock. He could definitely tell that the strength had grown with him, and the capability for heat vision was still there, of course. But there was also something else. A bright, bubbling well of energy simmering beneath the surface, similar to how he had felt on those days when he had overdosed on sunlight as a kid.

He turned towards Jordan, tilting his head thoughtfully. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Really? What is it? Can you tell?”

“Well…” Jon shook out his legs, getting a sense for them now that they were back to the size they were supposed to be. “Why don’t I show you? Let’s see if you can keep up.”

Then, in a blast of speed, he was off, feeling his brother fall into place at his side.