So I've decided to follow what originally happened during season one in this story but adding new twists right away I hope whoever reads this enjoys it. Because I'm gonna shoe in as much shipping moments for Joanfk as I can…same for the other pairing too!
I still own nothing but the plot and my ocs.
Jack (JFK) pov
This should have been easy, Jack thought to himself as he looks down nervously at the small metal pieces. At the end of the day, they were just that…small pieces of metal, waiting to be moved and manipulated to his own will. And yet the clone of JFK couldn't find it in himself to do what needed to be done, worst yet he could feel the eyes of the other students and teachers judging him waiting…waiting for him to bend the metal like he has already done with larger sharper pieces of metal.
"JFK are you sure you don't need help?" Asked the teacher.
"What?" Jack finds himself saying without looking away from those small pieces of metal.
"I er uh said are you uh sure you don't need me to help you get the er uh booze?" Joseph asked once more in concern as he watched his younger brother space out while he had been setting up for his party. "Your uh party's gonna er uh suck if Lincoln doesn't pull through?"
"Correction big bro, Lincoln is gonna suck if he doesn't pull through." Jack says in a smug tone. "Then Cleo and the rest of them will er uh finally realize what a er uh bozo he is!"
"All this to get Cleo ta see that he's a mok?" Joseph questioned while shaking his head. "Seems like er uh lot of work just to get some bozo off your uh back?"
"Not just her uh everyone too!" Jack answered. "Besides that, chowder head needs to learn to back off!"
"Why not just knock his er uh teeth in?" Joseph asked with a raised eyebrow. "One old fashion Kennedy knuckle sandwich would er uh teach any bozo a lesson."
"It's not enough for that bozo." Jack said with a sigh. Sides I er uh don't want to get her to hate me even more.
"What's wit you Jackie?" Joseph questioned while shaking his head at his younger brother. "All week you've uh been acting odd?"
"I've uh just been busy planning for the party." Jack said with a shrug as he kept setting up for his party.
"Okay." Joseph as he started gathering his things to leave. "I'm heading out-"
"Your uh not gonna stay?" Jack asked briefly looking at his older brother.
"At a High School party?!" Joseph laughed while shaking his head at his younger brother. "Course not, besides I'm er uh going back to the gym at school need to put in more earth bending practice for the next match…hey how is uh that new metal bending class going?"
"Oh, its er uh good!" Jack said quickly turning away from his brother and going back to setting things up. "I er uh had a good first day."
"I er uh know you'll breeze through that class in no time." Joseph says with a confident smile. "It's the er uh Kennedy way. Then you'll uh move on to lava bending classes and-"
"You er uh know it's rare to be an earth bender that can also bend metal and lava?" Jack says trying to keep his voice from shaking.
"Yeah, maybe for er uh other bozos but not for us Kennedy Brothers." Joseph said with a laugh as he heads out the door. "First me, then you, then Bobby, like it's supposed to be right?"
"Right." Jack says in a small whisper as he heard the door shut behind Joseph.
"Hey, Jackie boy I'm finished with the-" Ponce began to say as he walked into the room only to stop when he noticed the look on JFK's face. "Jack? Did you tell Joey-"
"No Poncey." Jack said quickly shaking his head at his best friend.
"Well, maybe after the party you two can talk and-" Ponce began to suggest.
"And what Ponce!" Jack shouted forcefully in anger. "Tell my big bro that I'm er uh disappointment to the Kennedy name!"
"You're not a disappointment Jackie boy!" Ponce tried to reassure his friend. "Just because you're having a hard time-"
"Joseph never has a hard time with anything, not with babes, not with grades and especially not with any form of er uh earth bending!" Jack proclaimed while clenching his fists. "Meanwhile, it's bad enough that I lost one babe to that lanky Lincoln but I'm losing my safety babe too. My grades are never as er uh good as Joseph's was and now metal bending is…I'm the one whose er uh supposed to live up to the legacy."
"You're being too hard on yourself Jackie boy." Ponce says while putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "No one is perfect, not even Joseph…just talk to him he is your brother."
"Yeah, I er uh know." Jack says with a sigh, before moving to continue getting ready for his party.
If only it were uh that easy to just talk to the 'perfect' clone. JFK thought slightly bitterly to himself, if only Ponce could understand that it wasn't as easy to talk to his older brother about something like this. Him and Joe didn't have heart to hearts conversations about their worries or fears, they were the kind of brothers who dragged raced each other through the streets of their city. They challenged each other to friendly earth bending competitions, they went cruising for babes and got into fights with other people at bars. The older Kennedy brother's relationship was all about having a good time no more, no least. Jack wouldn't even know where to begin with asking his big brother for help with a 'real' problem. Especially when Jack knew his big brother wouldn't be able to relate to his current metal bending issue.
Why did I er uh have to have this problem now. It was very difficult for Jack to admit when he had a problem, especially when before he had been doing so well with all his bending classes. He had even been fine with metal bending when he first began two months ago but then he moved on to the advance class the one that specialized in sensing and controlling bullets. For most clones who were earth benders this class was becoming more and more necessary as the amount of hatred for their existence grew outside of Exclamation Point. You couldn't leave the city without the risk of being harassed by someone in some way, and now the number of attacks against the clones were growing more violent. His foster fathers had insisted that Joseph took the class when he was sixteen and given what happened to Jack's own clone father it was also insisted that he went to that metal bending class as well.
Joseph passed that class easy, just like everything else he did that related to earth bending…Jack on the other hand was struggling with a newfound sense of fear though. One that he wasn't sure how to face, and yet he had too, he was a Kennedy and the world expected him to master anything put in front of him. After all he not only had to be like his big brother but like his clone father as well, and how would it look if the world found out that he was afraid to bend small pieces of metal even if they were bullets. For now, he would focus on making an awesome party for his classmates and hopefully humiliating Lincoln. He would have to worry about everything else later.
Cut to a few hours later
Though the party was still in its early stages it looked like things were going great, Lincoln had yet to showed up meaning that he wasn't able to pull off getting the beer after all. Which meant that soon JFK could swoop in and be the hero, it was going to be perfect.
"Hey everybody it's a keg of beer!" Abe shouts happily.
"Abe!" Everyone cheers happily.
"Damnit." JFK mutters under his breathe as everyone clammers to get themselves a drink. Looks like his plan backfired and now Lincoln was the party's hero, and it wasn't long before Cleo started embarrassing him by making out with Abe in front of his party guests.
Sure, they had an open relationship, but they had both agreed that they would be as discreet about it as possible (because Cleo didn't want people to think of her as a whore) Jack at least had the common decency to keep all the people he hooked up with under public radar. And the fact that it was Abe Lincoln just made it so much worse, Lincoln who already had an amazing Betty who adored him and him alone. Why did he have to take Cleo when he already had the Betty that Jack would trade every dame in school for?
"What do you think you are uh doing?" Jack asked angrily as he approached the two of them.
"Look Kennedy, we kissed and I don't want to exaggerate the importance of it but we're gonna be together forever." Abe states firmly with his arms still wrapped around Cleo.
"Come on she's drunk, she also kissed a talking peanut." Jack stated while pointing towards the bio-engineered anthropomorphic talking peanut that the clone of George Washington Craver created.
"Right here on me left nut." Peany proclaims while pointing to his left nut, and JFK would have probably laugh if he wasn't currently glaring at Lincoln.
"So er uh who's it gonna be?" Jack asked Cleo.
"Cleo, I care about you and every moment we spend together makes me wanna know you more." Abe tells Cleo as JFK rolled his eyes at him.
"My abs are so firm you could grate cheese on them!" Jack counters back loudly while lifting up his shirt.
"It's so hard to choose." Cleo says with a sigh. "I need some time to be alone." She says dramatically leaving the two boys alone to glare at each other.
"I told you to er uh back off!" Jack shouted glaring at the taller boy. "I otta bury you six feet under!"
"Cleo and I have something specially JFK, something that goes beyond shallow attraction." Abe says firmly.
"You uh air heads always think you're uh so deep!" Jack says while rolling his eyes at Lincoln again. "If you er uh were above 'shallow' attraction you'd be with-"
"Abe, quick hide me before Joan kills me!" Gandhi interrupts the argument before running off. "Protect the Avatar!"
The two former president clones only had to wait at most five minutes before Cleo returned with a serious look on her face. "After consulting a random person on my phone, I've come to a decision." Cleo says before taking a deep breath. "Abe, I choose you." She said to Abe who embarrassingly falls to the ground.
"Fuck." Jack mutters under his breath before angrily waking away. Another Betty lost to that chowder head Lincoln. Jack thought angrily as he stomped away, if he were honest with himself, he knew that deep down it wasn't about Cleo, or Abe. It was about how it would look to everyone tomorrow when they sobered up and realized what happened between the former 'power' couple. A Kennedy losing a Betty to a person like Lincoln of all people. At least maybe now I can try my shoot with Joan she is number three through one hundred fifty. Jack thinks to himself as he grabs two cups of beer and works up the courage to approach Joan. "Wanna beer?" Jack asked as he held up a cup for her.
"Sure." Joan says in a deadpanned tone as she took the cup from JFK. "Maybe pretending to be drunk will ease the pain.
Don't say something stupid. Don't say something stupid. Jack repeats over and over in his head as the two stood alone together in somber silence for a few minutes while drinking. "So uh are you drunk enough yet to sleep with me?" Jack asked casually as he put an arm around her shoulder, unsurprisingly Joan quickly drop kicks him, but JFK is so used to it that he gets back up right away. "Answer the question!"
Before Joan could respond though the sound of a siren rang down the street and Jack cursed under his breathe again knowing that the police were no doubt heading to his house. Most of his classmates were used to this happening and ran to hide quickly, Joan though hadn't moved much to Jack's confusion. Maybe she's uh frozen in fear. Ha a fire bender frozen! Jack quickly pulled Joan out of sight behind a bush.
"What the hell Kennedy?" Joan says glaring at him now with a fire ball in her hand standing up from behind the bush.
"Are you uh trying to get arrested?" Jack asked as he pointed at the police that was now in front of his yard.
"Well, well, well if it isn't my old friend…underage drinking." The cop says firmly as he picked up a cup of beer. "So we meet again…how are you? Underage drinking besides illegal!" He says while pouring the cup onto the ground.
"Underage drinking." Gandhi says drunkenly while falling onto of the cop car from a tree. "Shame on all of you! Shame! Back to you Kojack." He said before passing out.
"This kid's not sober, is he?" The cop asked while holding Gandhi up by his neck. "And none of you are twenty-one, are you? And these pot stickers aren't made with real crab, are they?" He said before taking a bite of the pot sticker. "I stand corrected." The cop then starts looking around the yard before stopping at Joan. "You, you're holding a beer, get in GET IN!" The cop shouted at Joan waving his baton at his car. Joan rolls her eyes at the cop but still starts to move towards the cop car only to be stopped by JFK.
"Ah wait!" Jack says quickly grabbing the cup from Joan's hand much to her and everyone's surprise. "She wasn't uh drinking that! It is er uh my beer see!" He stated before chugging the cup down his throat.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to arrest a Kennedy especially when the next bending match is two weeks away." The cop says before looking around again. "Well, I guess I'll just take this one in…it's not like I have enough room to arrest more than two people in the squad car. The rest of you are free to go." The cop drags Gandhi away but before he could shout the door Abe finally comes out of hiding.
"Let him go." Abe says firmly as he stands in front of the cop.
"Son, if we don't enforce the drinking age the excitement of sneaking around and getting wasted might disappear forever." The cop says in a serious tone. "You want that on your shoulders pal?"
"It's non-alcoholic beer." Abe admits in a defeated tone, as everyone at the party gasped in shock.
"I knew it!" Gandhi says drunkenly from the squad car.
"I guess I was just looking for what all of us are acceptance." Abe tells everyone.
"Loser." The cop coughs out, causing most of the party goers to laugh at Abe. "I am so right!" The cop says while high fiving a kid before letting Gandhi go and driving away.
Abe walked over to help Gandhi stand back up and find his shirt since surprisingly the smaller clone was still acting drunk despite the fact that it was revealed all along that the beer was non-alcoholic. Maybe it's an Avatar thing. Jack thought to himself as he watched the two friends walk away.
"That was surprisingly noble." Joan said, reminding Jack that she was still standing next to him.
"Yeah, well er uh he would have been an asshole if he let his best friend get arrested." Jack says with a shrug. "Especially since it er uh wasn't real beer."
"Yeah…but a that's not what I meant." Joan says sheepishly looking a bit uncomfortable. "Thanks for you know trying to help me not get arrested. It was really noble of you to step in like that to help me…though it does suck to know that you can avoid being arrested because you're on the bending team."
"No er uh problem." Jack said while fighting to keep his face from turning red, this was probably the most positive attention he has gotten from Joan in…ever. "I er uh would have been a real mok if I er uh had let you take the fall when I er uh gave you the beer."
"Well, thanks for trying to help…both times I guess." Joan says with a shrug as she started to walk away. "Later."
"You're uh leaving?" Jack asked while trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone.
"Yeah, party's kinda dead now." Joan states while pointing to some of the party goers who were starting to leave as well. "Later Kennedy." She said before moving to walk away again.
"Wait!" Jack cried out as he quickly ran after her. "I'll er uh walk you." He claimed once he stood in front of her once more.
"Why?" Joan asked suspiciously with a raised eyebrow.
"It's er uh the gentlemanly thing to do?" Jack said quickly as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm not gonna sleep with Kennedy." Joan says in a deadpanned tone as she moved around him. "So don't even try it."
"Can we er uh at least talk about that on the way to your uh house?" Jack asked as he followed her.
"Go away Kennedy." Joan said evenly while shaking her head.
"Or we er uh could just make out!" Jack suggested as he fell into step with her.
"Are you even capable of thinking about anything other then having sex JFK?" Joan asked sarcastically.
"Sure, I er uh think about drag racing with my brother-" Jack began to list.
"God, does my sister hate it when you two do that." Joan states as she shook her head.
"Josey never told me she had a er uh problem with it!" Jack said defensively. "I er uh kind miss when she used to come over and supervised me and babysit Bobby."
"Supervised?" Joan repeats back in confusion. "Oh, that's right Josephine said you hated admitting that she was your babysitter too!"
"She wasn't my babysitter!" Jack said defensively causing Joan to chuckle a bit at him. "Bobby was babysat, I er uh was supervised!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night Kennedy." Joan said while laughing and shaking her head at him.
"You know I er uh wouldn't mind if you-" Jack began to say slyly.
"Would you like me to set your hair on fire again?" Joan interrupts glaring at him.
"No, I er uh just got it back to looking Kennedy boss again." Jack says in a panicked tone as protectively covered his head.
"Then either talk about something other then sex or be quiet!" Joan says in a forceful tone.
The two continued walking in silence since Jack didn't know what else to say and Joan was clearly too annoyed with him to want to make small talk as they walked towards her home. Come on you knuckle head say something, this er uh might be the only chance you get to speak to Joan without her throwing fire balls at you! Say something idiot! "So er uh…haven't seen you at the bending arena lately?" Jack tries thinking that bending would be a safe topic until he saw the way Joan had flinched at his question.
"I've been…busy lately." Joan says in an even tone.
"With that er uh Crisis Hotline thing?" Jack asked, having a vague memory of her mentioning something like that in class.
"Yeah." Joan says in a deadpanned tone. "Stupid fucking Hotline." She muttered under her breath, now glaring at the ground.
"Well, you er uh should come back to the arena soon." Jack tried to encourage. "You're uh really good fire bender."
"Fucking irony." Joan mutters as she kept marching forward.
"What do you er uh mean?" Jack decided to ask. "How is it irony that you're uh good fire bender?"
"Well considering how my clone mother was burned at the stake and I'm a 'good' fire bender. I'd say that's one shitty piece of fucking irony." Joan spats out angrily at him causing him to flinch and step back a bit. "Not that anyone can understand that."
"I er uh kinda get it." Jack admits after a few minutes of standing in silence.
"Really." Joan says sarcastically rolling her eyes at him.
"Yeah, I er uh mean I'm an earth bender and er uh can metal bend too." Jack begins to explain in a nervous tone as he rubbed the back of his neck again. "And being a metal bender isn't like super rare or anything anymore but my clone father couldn't do it, but now I'm er uh supposed to take advance metal bending classes so that I can sense bullets and I er uh-" Why are you spilling your uh guts about this she's gonna think you're uh wimp now!
"You're scared to bend the metal, aren't you?" Joan asked in a matter of fact tone.
"It's not er uh all metal just…just bullets." Jack admits much to his embarrassment. I er uh can't believe you just tone the Betty that you've after since fifth grade that you're uh scared! She's gonna think you're uh nothing but a big p-
"Well, welcome to the club Kennedy." Joan says evenly in a non-mocking tone as she starts walking once again. "The support group meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"I er uh can't believe I just told you that!" Jack says in surprise before catching up to her again. "I can't even talk to my big brother or my parents about this."
"Why haven't you told them?" Joan asked in a curious tone. "I'm sure your parents would-"
"They want me to learn so bad." Jack stated firmly. "My dads…they try to hide it but they're uh scared the world keeps getting worse. They want me to be able to just in case-" He let the sentence hang there because he already knew that Joan would understand after all they both faced the same problem being clones, they both had to worry about what could happen to them outside of their city…sometimes even in their city. "How can I er uh tell them that I er uh can't especially when Joseph could…especially when Bobby will need to learn too." Before Jack knew it the two were standing quietly in front of Joan's house. "Sorry about er uh dumping all that stuff on you."
"It's okay." Joan says evenly with a small smile. "It's nice to know that there's more to you then just being a horny jerk."
"You er uh really think I'm a uh jerk?" Jack asked with a frown.
"Well, you were a bit least jerky tonight then how you normally act." Joan said with a chuckle before playfully punching him in the arm and walking towards her front door. "You should do that more often."
"Maybe." Jack said with a chuckle while rubbing his arm a bit. "Night Joan." He said with a wave about to turn around to walk back home.
"Wait Kennedy." Joan calls out before he could leave, she walked back up to him and pulled a card out of her pocket. "Here." Joan said as she handed the card over to him.
"Is this you're uh phone number?" Jack asked trying not to sound too excited as he glanced briefly at the card.
"Try not to be an idiot right now Kennedy." Joan says firmly rolling her eyes at him again. "This is the number for Dr. Jones, she's a therapist-"
"You think I er uh need a shrink!" Jack shouted as he stared at her in disbelief.
"Don't be so closed minded everyone needs therapy in some way!" Joan counters back in a sharp tone before sighing. "Look I've been seeing Dr. Jones myself for a few weeks now about my bending issues…I figured that if you can't talk to your family….it might help."
She's really trying to help me? Jack thought to himself a warm feeling spreading throughout his body, it felt nice knowing that in her own way Joan was trying to help. "I'll er uh think about it." He said as he put the card in his pocket. "Thanks Joan."
"Whatever." Joan says with a shrug before walking back to her front door. "Night Kennedy."
"Night Joan." Jack replies back as he watched her shut the door behind her as she walked into her home. This was a good night! Jack thought cheerfully as he turned away from the door. Maybe this was the right step and she'll finally start getting over Lincoln. He wasn't sure if that would happen but for the first time in a long time, he was hopeful. When she's my Betty I'm gonna call her Joanesy and First Lady…sometimes dear too!
"Damnit, you'd think I'd be able to come home from work without seeing another Kennedy." Josephine grumbled, breaking Jack out of his lovesick thoughts.
"Josey!" Jack said excitedly with a big smile on his face. "Hugs!"
"Not now, Jackie I'm too tired to deal with another Kennedy." Josephine said with a sigh as she walked passed him. "I've had a long day."
"What the hell was that about?" Jack asked out loud as he watched his old supervisor slammed the door behind her.
A/n and that is the end of this chapter! I hope anyone interested in this story has enjoyed it so far because for the next two chapters we will dive into the oc's of this story. Please read and review!