Hey, guys!
Quick Jon story that I had to write after everything that has happened in these past few episodes.
Hope you enjoy!
Part One: Punishment.
Clark stood outside of Jon and Jordan's bedroom and took a deep breath.
He had calmed down a lot since his talk with Jon the night before, and even since their conversation after breakfast. But he still allowed a small part of himself to be stern. To be angry and disappointed in what Jon had done. He still hadn't told them who the drug dealer was either, which was a whole different can of worms.
After a second, he knocked on the door. "Jonathan?" He called, then opened the door.
Jon looked up from the book in his hands and to his father. "Yes, Sir?"
Clark looked at the boy. He sat cross-legged on his bed with a book in his hands. A book about space. He had never seen it before. "Are you done with your school?"
Jon set the book on the bed beside him and untangled his legs so that they were hanging over the side of the bed. "Yes, Sir," he said. "I was just reading."
Clark nodded. "There are some chores for you outside," he told him.
After the move to the farm, Lois and Clark had sat down and talked about what chores could be used as punishment on the boys, and which ones were too much for even Jordan. With the revelation of the X-K inhalers though, Lois had told Clark to give him whatever chores he wanted with the exception of the usage of dangerous machinery. Jon was still human, after all.
Jon chewed on his lip for a second, then nodded. "Okay," he said. His voice was so quiet these days, Clark had realized. It was almost as if being quieter would get him into less trouble if he did something wrong. That wasn't the case.
"You'll want to change into something you can get dirty," Clark told him. "I expect you to be at the barn in five minutes."
Jon nodded again. "Yes, Sir."
Five minutes later, Clark and Jonathan were outside of the barn. It was colder outside than Clark had realized. Cold enough that he was almost tempted to send Jon inside to put on another layer. Almost. An afternoon in the chilly weather wouldn't kill the boy. His father had done it every day, so had his mother.
"The barn needs to be cleaned out, the coop needs the chicken poop scooped out, and the hay needs to be moved to the barn as well." Clark told him.
It was a lot of work that would have taken his father at least a couple of days, but Clark figured that Jon needed a few days of hard work to think over his recent actions. And Clark had definitely done more than that in one day for smaller infractions.
"Alone?" Jon asked, and Clark couldn't tell if Jon was shocked or nervous by his voice.
"I'll be out here working on the machinery to make sure that it's ready when harvest comes," he said. "And to make sure that you aren't getting into any more trouble."
Jon's wince didn't go unnoticed by Clark, but he didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.
"You can start wherever you want," Clark said. "But don't expect to be finished with the chores if you don't do them right. I'm not going to accept any half-effort work."
Jon swallowed, then nodded. "Yes, Sir."
Clark nodded curtly before tossing a pair of gloves to the boy. "You won't want blisters on your hands," he told him. "And trust me, you will get blisters if you don't wear these."
Over the next hour or so, the two of them worked in silence. Any conversation had more to do with where things went than about anything interesting or important.
"Dad?" Jon said after a bit.
Clark got out from under the tractor and looked up at him. His curls were matted with dirt and sweat, his cheeks flushed red from the cold and the work.
"Yes?" He asked.
Jon cleared his throat and looked down towards the ground. "I was wondering if you could come check the area where we put the hay in to see if it's good and clean," he said. "I didn't wanna fill it up with hay if it wasn't good enough…"
Clark stood and nodded. "Let's go."
Clark walked over towards the corner of the building where they had started storing hay. He could feel Jon's presence behind him.
He inspected the area, then turned to Jon and smiled. "You did good," he said. "This looks nice."
Jon let out a breath that Clark hadn't realized the boy was holding. "Thanks."
Clark nodded. "I'll pull the truck up to the barn so unloading the hay won't be so hard," he told him.
"Okay," Jon said. "Thanks."
After Clark pulled the truck up to the barn, he went back to work on the tractor. The rain had started to fall as he had been pulling up the truck. At this point, he wanted to tell Jon that it was time to go in, but the hay did need to be put away before it got wet and the tractor still needed a bit more help.
Clark listened to the sounds of Jon's footsteps as he walked back and forth to the truck, though his footsteps on the way back always sounded slow and staggered, like the hay bales were almost too heavy for him.
He continued to work on the tractor, but his thoughts faded to Jon. How had things gotten like this? A Kent doing drugs? Maybe he wasn't selling them, but that didn't make things much better. What had happened to the kid in Metropolis? The one who was about to be the first freshman to become starting quarterback?
A shout of pain pulled him out of his thoughts.
Jon.
Clark pulled himself out from under the tractor as fast as he could without damaging it, then ran over to Jon.
There was a bale of hay on the ground, and Jon stood in the rain cradling his arm. It didn't take super hearing to hear Jon's sobs.
Clark's heart broke at the sight. He hated seeing the boy in pain. It was a cruel reminder that he wouldn't always be able to protect him, just like the drugs had been.
"Let me see," Clark said. He could feel the rain beating down on him and soaking through his clothes.
Jon hesitated for a second, then took a step closer to Clark. He didn't say a word as Clark gently took his arm in own hands and X-rayed it. There was no damage to the bone. The muscle looked irritated, but there was no lasting damage.
Clark let out a sigh of relief as he looked at Jon's arm. "I think you're okay," he told Jon. "The weight of the bale was probably just a bit much for it."
As soon as Clark said the words though, a bit of guilt began to settle in his stomach. He should have put more thought into the jobs he was giving Jon. While he had been out of recovery for a while, his arm was still weaker than normal and these hay bales were heavy.
Jon nodded, then wiped at his eyes. "Okay," he said. He leaned down and picked up the hay bale. Clark could see the obvious strain in his eyes.
"Jonathan…" Clark said.
"What?" Jon answered as he started to walk towards where he had been stacking the hay. He staggered from the weight of the bale.
"Stop," he told him. "You're gonna hurt yourself."
Jon turned around. "Why do you care?" He asked. "You gave me this job in the first place!"
"Because I care about you, Jonathan!"
"No, you don't!" Jon shouted.
"Yes, I do!" Clark said. He placed himself in front of Jon. Was this kid trying to hurt himself? Was he doing this on purpose?
"Get out of my way," Jon said, then tried to push past Clark.
Clark could feel his anger boiling over. Why wasn't Jon listening to him? Why was he disobeying him again!?
"Jonathan, that's enough!" He reached out and grabbed Jon's uninjured arm.
Jon gasped, and Clark didn't miss the look of fear in his eyes. Maybe if he feared him, then he would obey him. Nothing else had worked so far.
"When I tell you to do something, you do it," he told him. "Do you understand me?"
For a second, Jon looked like he was going to cry. Clark didn't care, he was finally getting through to the kid. "Yes, sir."
Clark nodded once. "You're done for the day," he told him sternly. "Go inside and get cleaned up."
He let Jon's arm go and watched as the boy practically ran inside. It wasn't fun talking to Jon like that, but at least he had finally obeyed.
For a second, Clark stood there in the silence, then he reached down and picked up the hay bale that Jon had dropped. There was still work to be done. He would figure out what to do with Jon later.
So, here's part one! I hope you enjoyed! Please follow, fave, and review! I would love to know what you thought!
Thanks for reading!