Chapter Text
He should have known that it was silly to hope for a normal day.
Everything in his life was a complete mess right now but, nevertheless, he’d decided to show up for his Saturday shift at Britt and Dunn’s. The process of getting ready for work and driving across town was almost enough to trick him into thinking he could still maintain some aspects of his former life.
But the moment he opened the door to the store, the look of Denise’s face instantly told him that he’d been naive to even try.
Her head snapped up the moment the little entry chime rang out, her eyes widening as she set her gaze upon him.
“Jon!”
Her surprised gasp did nothing to quell his welling fears as he did his best to stride casually towards the front counter.
“What are you doing here?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. Everything about her reaction was off, and he was already wondering how much Lex Luthor had been spreading his discoveries around town.
This was Denise. They’d known each other for years and usually enjoyed casual chats while working together at her parent’s store.
There was no doubt in his mind that she was suddenly looking at him in a way she never had before. As if he was…different.
Probably because he was.
His heart sank. But still, he tried to plaster on a shaky smile.
“It’s Saturday. I still work Saturdays.”
His co-worker blinked, starting at him for an uncomfortably long moment before glancing at the door. She seemed to assess the situation in her mind before quickly rushing past him and locking the front latch.
Then, she turned the small open sign around— apparently deciding to close a mere ten minutes after opening.
Jon swallowed. This had obviously been a mistake. Though even now, he kept hoping for the best.
“I know I called in sick last week, but I’m fine now,” he said, building upon the lie he’d offered the previous weekend. That had been a few days after they’d found his dad…after everything. He’d barely even remembered to text Mr. Olowe at all, but he had.
Denise was still staring at him, and it was painfully apparent that she wasn’t buying it. She knew something. Her behaviour was making that clear.
Jon wondered how, and what. He also wondered how quickly he could get home if he abandoned his truck in the parking lot and simply made a run for it. Because apparently, that was suddenly something he could do.
He’d still barely processed that unwelcome surprise in the midst of everything else. A heated argument with his brother had unleashed previously untapped superpowers, and the ghostly image of his father had already confirmed that more would come.
Of course it was just his luck that this would happen at the worst possible time. With his father gone, and Luthor looming over them with the big secret.
That was why he’d come to the store today. To temporarily forget and mindlessly stack cans in the storeroom. His mom hadn’t been thrilled but he’d insisted, claiming that he had the newfound strength and speed under control. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if he’d manage the entire shift without accidentally breaking something, but he’d reasoned that he could cover for himself.
He was an expert at covering things up after all of these years. Though those things weren’t usually about himself.
And judging from the look on Denise’s face, the time for coverups had probably passed.
“Did Lex Luthor come in here?” he blurted out, folding his arms tightly across his chest. He hated that the man was lurking in town. It sent a pulse of fear and anger through him every time the thought crossed his mind. It made sense that he’d probably scoped out the place that Jon worked.
Denise shook her head, brow furrowing.
“Uh, no,” she replied.
That only brought a bit of relief, and more confusion.
“Oh, um, okay,” he shrugged awkwardly, “so are there boxes to unpack, or should I—“
He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.
It felt like he’d never get a chance to anything normal ever again.
“Jon, I know,” his friend said meaningfully, gaze still locked on him in that uncomfortable way. “I was leaving the store last week when that thing brought Superman back,” she paused, sympathy radiating off of her.
Jon struggled not to flash back to that fateful moment. But the lump in his throat had already returned.
“I saw you and your mom and Jordan. And I…he wasn’t just your mom’s friend, was he?”
He sucked in a sharp breath. He knew his eyes were prickling with tears and he couldn’t stop one from falling. Wiping it away wasn’t going to be enough to hide anything.
Not anymore.
In his grief, he hadn’t noticed her there that night. And he certainly hadn’t cared about his surroundings as his father’s lifeless body had been tossed before them. He’d let the emotion overcome. In the middle of the town.
Clearly, she’d seen enough to know.
Words felt too difficult, and so did denial.
He slowly shook his head.
Denise froze for a second, as if trying to take in that quiet confirmation. Then, she took a step towards him.
“He was your dad,” she affirmed, voice barely a whisper. “And since no one has seen Mr. Kent around town for over a week I guessing…”
There was still a hint of disbelief that that, but Jon didn’t hold back.
“Yeah,” he managed to choke out, wiping another tear with the back of his hand. He was still trying to hold himself together, but it was becoming harder by the second. “They are…were the same person.”
His mind flashed with images of that terrible night, interspersed with memories of the father he’d never truly see again. The entire thing was somehow both inconceivable and painfully real at the same time.
“On Jon. I’m so sorry.”
Denise took another step towards him, her voice full of sympathy. But even though she was giving no indications of wariness or caution, he found himself pulling back.
“I shouldn’t have come,” he said, hands clenched tightly at his sides. He silently wondered what the newfound force in his fists could destroy if he had been gasping at more than air.
“I know this changes everything. Luthor knows too now. So I doubt we’ll even be able to live here much longer. Tell your dad I’m sorry, and thank him for letting me help out around here. It was fun.”
He began to turn towards the door, wondering if he was stable enough to drive, or if darting home from the alleyway was actually a better idea. He’d barely practiced, and was still far from accepting it. But the thought of being home in seconds was enticing right now.
He wanted to hide away for as long as he could.
As this encounter had made clear, there probably wasn’t much time left.
“What? Jon, no,” Denise seemed genuinely confused, “you don’t have to leave. I mean, if you want to I totally get it. You’re grieving and you shouldn’t push yourself to come to work until you’re ready. But you can come back anytime.”
It sounded like she meant it. But the insecure part of him couldn’t accept the words at face value.
Not after everything that had happened.
“Denise, I don’t think you understand what this means.”
It probably would have been better just to walk away. Part of him really didn’t want to dig even deeper into this. But she was also the first person he’d talked to outside of his family since he’d realized what was happening to him— and she shed already pieced it together, there was no point in denying anything.
Terrifying as it was, he could lay it all out there. And start getting a sense of exactly how awful things were going to be when the world found out the truth.
“It means you’ve just lost your dad in the worst way possible and need to be with your family until you’re ready.”
He managed to hold back the tears this time.
“But you know who he is. Was,” he corrected himself, the lump still unrelenting in his throat. “You know who I am.”
“Your dad was a hero,” she answered simply, still missing the point. “And you’re Jonathan Kent.”
Jon held in a sigh, hating that he had to spell it out but feeling compelled to nevertheless.
“I’m only Jonathan Kent because my dad’s spaceship crash landed in a field when he was a baby. I don’t belong here. I can’t. Because I’m half—“ he stopped himself, still not able to say the word that was abruptly more real to him than before. “Everyone is going to realize that soon,” he finished instead.
Denise paused, considering his words for a moment as her dark eyes scanned his form. It was uncomfortable, but he could tell that she was finally getting it.
“Oh,” she nodded, fairly nonplused by the reminder. “Fine, I guess you’re unique. But why does that have to matter? Smallville has welcomed all sorts of people over the years. My parents weren’t born here either.”
It was Jon’s turn to blink in surprise, thrown by her relaxed response. She was right, of course. But he hadn’t suspected the easy comparison. As much as he appreciated it, he wasn’t ready to gloss things over.
“I have powers.” He blurted out, body pulsing as he said a sentence he hadn’t managed before.
It had been less than a week since he’d realized he hadn’t escaped that fate. It was so new, and it felt like it changed everything.
Denise still didn’t recoil, but simply cocked her head in interest.
“Yeah, I kinda figured,” she shrugged.
Jon felt the urge to defend himself from the assumption. Even if it was (very recently) correct.
“I didn’t for most of my life,” he asserted, as if that somehow made things better. “Actually, Jordan and I didn’t know anything about this stuff until we were fourteen. That’s when Jordan got powers,
and our parents had to tell us. But I was always the normal one. I thought I was like my mom. And then, last week…”
“Last week?”
That seemed to take her aback more than anything else so far. Jon gave a shaky nod.
“Yeah,” he shifted on his feet, surprised that it was all pouring out but unable to stop it. Maybe he needed this. Maybe this was why he’d actually come after all.
“I got into this big fight with my brother last week about everything that had been going on and all of a sudden, boom, I shattered a bunch of wood beams and took off across the field. It was crazy, part of me still doesn’t believe it. After all this time, I never thought it would happen to me. But apparently it is, and apparently it’s not going to stop until I’m exactly like my dad.”
That’s what he’d been told at the Fortress, much to his own shock. He was still reeling from it, and terrified about what lay ahead. He’d seen all of the pain Jordan had gone through, and he didn’t want that. Especially now, without his father there to truly guide him.
“I didn’t want this to happen. And I’m angry and scared that it is. I feel like a total freak, and I’m terrified about what people will think when then find out the truth,” he paused, contemplating the other feelings that arose with that statement. “But that makes me feel guilty as well. All of this weird stuff is a connection to my dad, and I probably shouldn’t reject it. Maybe I should even be proud. Jordan is. I just…I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know who I am,” Jon took in a ragged breath, barely noticing that the tears were welling up once more.
“I don’t know how to do this without my dad.”
In front of him, Denise was nodding with the same sympathetic gaze as before. Despite everything he’d just said, she didn’t pull back. In fact, she took two big strides forward.
“Jon, I’m so sorry. That would be a lot for anyone to deal with, especially at a time like this.”
It was, he didn’t deny that as he wiped the fresh wetness from his cheek. He was usually so in control, and he hated losing himself like this in front of a friend. But there was no way he’d be able to keep it in.
“Nothing can make the grief go away, and I have no idea what it’s like to deal with all of the superpower stuff,” Denise said sadly, “but I do know that you don’t have to worry about your place in this town.”
She sounded surprisingly confident about that for some reason. Jon stared, not quite sure how to respond.
“Even if the world finds out, I’ll be here to support you. Everyone in this town will be. Luthor won’t win, no matter what he does. The Kent family will always belong in Smallville.”
Jon gave a slight smile, wishing he was as convinced as she sounded.
“I’m not even sure if I’m a Kent anymore,” he admitted, feeling a fresh swell of guilt. He never wanted to dishonour the grandmother he loved, or the grandfather he was named for, but the powers had made him question everything.
Even that.
“Of course you are,” Denise replied without hesitation. “Your dad was raised here, and no one loved this town more than he did. You’re the one who told me that,” she reminded him, harkening back to one of his many rants about his dad’s dorky enthusiasm for every community event.
Those had been simpler times, joking with Denise at the end of a long shift. He wished he could go back to them now.
But he couldn’t. He had to keep moving forward.
“He was Martha Kent’s son, and you’re her grandson. No one in this town is ever going to forget that. You’ll always be safe here.”
There were still so many reasons to question that, and to argue that maybe it wasn’t true. But his resolve finally crumbled as Denise closed the gap between them and wrapped him in a tight hug.
He couldn’t return it.
Not with an increasingly alien body that he didn’t quite understand.
But he allowed himself to relax into it, the tears seeping into her shoulder as he tried to keep himself rooted in his place.
For the first time in several days, he began to hope that it was possible.
Even with powers. Even without his dad.
Even if everyone knew the truth.
Maybe he still belonged right where he was.