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Chapter Five

The next morning, Jon-El woke up to the sun shining in his eyes.

He let out a soft grunt in protest of the yellow rays, but he found that he couldn't really be all that mad.

Only yesterday he was convinced that he would never see the world outside of a DoD cell again, and now he was in a soft bed in a house that looked almost like his own.

He sat up on the bed and yawned. Over the past few days, he had been getting used to once again being powerless, but he still ached with exhaustion. He hadn't realized how much he had relied on his powers to keep him going when he should have been sleeping.

He looked around the room, but there wasn't a clock for him to be able to tell the time and the sky was too yellow for him to be able to gauge the time…

If Jon-El was being honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to get up yet. Sure, he didn't want to sleep all afternoon, but he also didn't want to have to deal with the awkward silences and stares from the Kents.

And he was pretty sure that Jordan hated him.

Knock, knock.

Jon-El jumped, then looked up at the door. He hadn't expected anyone to come get him. He cleared his throat and tried to calm his thudding heart.

"Come in!" he called.

The door opened, and Jon-El felt his heartbeat spike again.

"Good morning," Lois greeted. She had a box in her arms, and there were a few more surrounding the door. She must have set them down to open the door.

Jon-El must have been staring at the boxes for too long because Lois began to talk again.

"Oh, these are filled with some of Clark's old clothes," she explained as she set the boxes in the corner of the room. "Thought you might like something to wear that isn't leather."

Jon-El found his cheeks heating up at what she was implying. He had been wearing the same outfit since before he even set foot on this world. She was saying he stank.

"I doubt all of this will be a perfect fit or match your style, but it'll be something," Lois continued.

He nodded, but decided not to say anything. Clark's choice of plaids and heavy jackets definitely wasn't his preferred clothing style. In fact, it was really weird to see his father's doppelganger in anything other than the suit and crest. He couldn't imagine it on himself either.

Lois seemed to have sensed his discomfort though because she crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Don't worry," she told him. "We don't plan on making you wear glasses yet."

Jon-El could tell that she was joking, it was the same tone of voice that his mother would use when she was joking, but his breath still caught in his throat. Would they make him wear glasses? Would they make him hide who he really was from the rest of the world?

He tried to shake the thought out of his head. He wasn't allowed outside of the farm yet, he didn't have to hide anything for now.

Lois leaned forward so her arms were propped on her knees. She had the same soft smile that his mother had, but that was where a lot of their outer similarities ended.

"You okay, kid?" she asked.

Jon-El found himself nodding. "Yeah," he lied. He wasn't okay. He was stuck on this new world and in a place that was so eerily familiar yet completely different.

They sat in silence for a moment, then Lois cleared her throat. "Well, Clark made breakfast," she told him. "You can come down whenever you're ready."

Jon-El tried not to smile. A homemade breakfast sounded so… Normal. So very much not like the Els he had lived with for so long. The image of his father's doppelganger cooking breakfast was almost funny.

Then he remembered what Lois had implied earlier. He didn't want to go downstairs yet if he smelled bad…

"Um, can I borrow the shower?" he asked.

Lois nodded. "Of course you can. You don't have to ask either," she said. "There should be some extra toiletries in the bathroom cabinet."

Jon-El nodded back at her. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me," she told him. "I'll tell Clark that you wanted a quick shower before you ate."

"Well, I'll let you get to it," she said. "See you in a bit."

Jon-El watched as Lois left the room, then took one more look around his new bedroom before going to find the bathroom.

Clark was sitting down at the kitchen table when he heard the soft footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Morning," he greeted as Jon-El walked into the kitchen.

"Hi," Jon-El answered back. It was then that Clark realized that Jon-El was wearing an old T-shirt of his. It was baggy on him, but they could do some actual shopping for him later.

Clark watched as Jon-El opened a cabinet and grabbed a plate.

Jon-El filled the plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. After the plate was full though, he hesitated in the middle of the kitchen.

"There's juice or milk in the fridge," Clark told him. "There's also water if you would rather have that."

Jon-El nodded as he placed his plate on the counter and opened the cabinet with the cups. His hand froze as he reached out to grab one and he let out a sigh.

"Is something wrong?" Clark asked.

"Why are they so… round?" Jon-El sighed.

Clark tried not to chuckle. He remembered thinking the exact same thing when he was on the Inverse World. Everything being so square had definitely been weird.

Jon-El seemed to shake it off pretty quickly though because a moment later he was sitting down at the table with a glass of milk and plate of food.

At first, the two of them sat in silence as Jon-El ate. Clark wasn't sure what to say. Everything was still so tense and awkward between them, unsurprisingly…

Finally, he just decided to say something. "Is there anything that you want to do today?" he asked.

Jon-El looked up from his food and shrugged. "Dunno."

Clark nodded. "Well, I can show you around the farm at some point," he told him. "If you want."

Jon-El chuckled softly, and Clark frowned.

"What?" Clark asked.

"Oh, it's just that my dad never really did anything with the farm," he explained. "Too busy doing press tours and hosting award shows, I guess…"

Clark winced. He knew that nothing Kal had done was his fault, but knowing that some version of him had been corrupted by fame… It hurt.

The way Kal had treated his family hurt even worse though. Just the idea of abandoning his own family like that made Clark feel sick.

"Jonathan," Clark began, but then he realized that he had no idea what to say. There was nothing he could say right now that would make things better.

Jon-El shrugged. "Nothing can be done about it now," he said. "It's whatever."

Clark wanted to reach across the table, grab Jon-El's hand and tell him that it definitely wasn't whatever, but he didn't. Jon-El had been raised to think that not having his father around was normal, and it was going to take a lot more than a heart to heart to fix that mentality.

Right now Clark knew that he just needed to be there as often as he could.

A small silence lapsed between them, then Jon-El spoke.

"Does the tractor actually work?" Jon-El asked.

Clark looked up, caught off-guard by Jon-El's question. "Hm?" he asked.

Jon-El hesitated for a second. "When I first came here, I noticed a tractor in the barn," he said. "Does it work?"

Clark found himself laughing before he could stop it. "On good days, yeah," he told Jon-El. "But my father's tractor is always needing some kind of repair…"

"If you want, we can work on it together this afternoon," Clark offered. "Normally I would ask the twins for help, but Jordan is studying with a group and Jon has work."

"You want my help?" Jon-El asked. "Really?"

Clark nodded, but he took note of Jon-El's tone. He had sounded so shocked that Clark would actually want his help... "Sure I do," he told him. "I have to make a quick run to town for some chicken feed, but help is always appreciated around the farm."

Clark watched as Jon-El tried to mask a smile. He wouldn't tell him that his superspeed had caught the edges of Jon-El's lips turn upwards or that there was a sparkle in his eyes that couldn't be diluted by a fake frown.

All he could right now do was make an effort to be there for Jon-El. Everything else would fall into place if this was the right path for them. He just needed to be around. It was a waiting game full of baby steps. There was still a lot of trust to be earned. On both sides.

But Clark had hope. After all, that was just who he was.

These interactions were definitely fun to write! Getting into Jon-El's mind is soooo fun. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!