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Clark sat down in front of Jonathan with a sigh like he had the weight of two worlds on his shoulders.
“Jonathan, I know things have been rough between us, but none of that matters. You’re my son, and I love you, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
They were all the right words, said in the right order, but they weren’t enough. Jonathan scoffed, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or rage, but the words for either refused to leave his throat in full sentences.
“You think… You won’t…” Jonathan shook his head and stared down at his hands.
“What?”
Jonathan’s lips were tight. He just shook his head again until he winced, bringing one hand to the ice pack at his chest and the other to the opposite shoulder, rubbing at a muscle that didn’t feel like it would ever be loose again. For a moment they just sat in silence. Clark looking at Jonathan. Jonathan looking anywhere else.
“We used to talk to more,” Clark finally said.
“You used to listen more.”
“I’m listening now.”
For a second, Clark thought he might have gotten through. Jon looked at him. Whatever he was thinking was at the tip of his tongue, ready to spill out. But then he looked away again. A soft “Yeah. Right.” died halfway out his mouth.
This time Clark shook his head, slapped his hands on his thighs as he rose from the coffee table and was halfway to the foyer when Jonathan spoke.
“You would have left me there.”
“What?” Clark turned back to look at him.
“Out there,” Jonathan said, gesturing to the yard near the barn outside the window. His words were slow and measured. “You were going to leave me out there.”
“Jon-”
“No,” Jonathan interrupted, his words growing in volume with each one. “I could have been dying, and if Mom hadn’t stopped you, you would have just left me there!”
“Oh, come on, Jonathan, you weren’t dying-”
“You didn’t know that! I didn’t know that!” Jon winced again. The anger in his tone faded with the bulk of his breath. “Why would you do that?”
“I was trying to get to the other you before he could do any more damage!”
This time, Jon did laugh, as much as he could through a few bruised ribs and shot to the solar plexus. It wasn’t a funny laugh.
“Right,” he said, standing from his spot on the couch. “I should have known your super sons are always more important, no matter what world your on.”
“Hey, that’s not fair!”
“Guys, what’s going on,” Lois asked as she appeared in the hallway. Jordan wasn’t far behind.
“No?” Jon said, “Doesn’t have to be fair, if it’s true. And somehow, I’m the screw up everywhere, right?”
Jon pushed past Clark.
“Jonathan!” Clark reached for him, caught the sleeve of his shirt and tugged just enough to turn him around. He didn’t expect Jon to jerk away or for the fabric tear in his hand.
For a moment, all anyone could do was stare. Jonathan’s eyes were wide with a heartbreaking mixture of fear and anger.
“Jonathan,” Clark said softly. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean-”
Lois stepped between them, her hands up, one palm facing Clark, one Jonathan. She was a literal buffer between them.
“Guys, let’s just all cool down, for a second, okay? Let’s talk this through.”
“You know, I’m really tired,” Jon said loudly. “I’d like to go to bed, if that’s okay.”
Lois nodded and lowered her hands.
“Yeah. Yeah, sweetheart, that’s fine. We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay?” Jon bobbed his head slightly and turned for the stairs. “We love you,” Lois finished.
Jon looked back at them and gave one deep nod before laying a hand on the railing and looking at the journey ahead of him. He felt most of the night’s events in his chest, but really, there wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt. He sighed, and put one foot in front of the other and hauling with his arm on the rail, grateful at least that he didn’t have to two-foot it up each stair. He could feel their eyes on him, and it wasn’t long after that that he felt Jordan, standing next to him, wrapping one arm around his waist to take some of the weight off.
“I got you, bro,” he said softly. Jon couldn’t bring himself to look at his parents as they ascended the stairs. He was just grateful both that Jordan was helping him but also not making it too easy. It wasn’t until Jordan had propped up some pillows and helped him in to bed that Jon spoke.
“I didn’t mean it like that, you know.”
“What’s that?”
“You know, the whole super sons being more important. I don’t…I don’t blame you, or anything.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Jordan said with a wave of his hand. “I know how I was … and I know how I am. Look, I’m trying not to be such a timesuck and to learn everything so I can be useful-”
“You’re useful.”
“Yeah, busting up hay bales with my body, real useful.”
“Cows have to eat, too.”
For a second Jordan stared at him. It wasn’t until the corner of Jon’s mouth raised up in a smile and his eyebrows waggled that Jordan smiled and laughed. Jon’s own laughter almost immediately turned into a wince.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, no, I just…I just forgot my icepack downstairs.” Jon tugged at his shirt, doing his best to flap cool air onto skin that still stung.
“I’ll go get it-”
“No, no,” Jon said quickly. “If you go down there for it, Mom’s going to ask why, and then it’s going to be a big thing…I just want to get some sleep.”
Jordan nodded and looked around the room until his eyes landed on a water bottle, stainless steel in a silicone sleeve. He gave it a shake, unsurprised to hear jostling water inside. He took a few test breaths before blowing lightly over the bottle until the sloshing stopped and a thin layer of frost formed in the outside. Smiling, he dropped it in a tube sock and wrapped a T-shirt around that before handling the bundle to Jon.
“Thanks,” Jon said, pulling the bottle close to his chest and leaning back into his pillows. “Feels nice.”
“No problem,” Jordan answered. “Get some sleep.” He was halfway out the door when Jon spoke next.
“Hey.”
Jordan turned around. Jon was craned around, leaning on the head of the bed, so he could look at him.
“I could feel it, you know? When he was trying to… It was like…” Jon chewed on the inside of his lip, trying to find words to describe something he didn’t even understand. Finally, he said the only thing he did know. “I don’t think I had much time left. Just a few more seconds, and I might not be here-”
“Don’t say that-”
“You bought me time,” Jon finished. “It wasn’t useless. Okay?”
Jordan nodded. A soft “okay,” passed his lips before Jon smiled and turned back to his pillows.
“Now get out of here, so I can sleep.”
Jordan grinned. There was almost a laugh as he wiped at suddenly moist eyes.
“Yeah, okay. ‘Night Jon.”
“G’night”
Jordan softly shut the door and walked back to his room. It had been a crazy day. Would probably be a crazy tomorrow and weeks to come.
But at least his family was here and whole, if not a little dented.