"So, what d'you get in trouble for this time?"
"Huh?" was all that Jon could stupidly respond with when he was suddenly caught out of his day dreaming. It took him a second to remember where he was and who he was with at that moment — up on the roof of the Daily Planet, beneath the giant golden globe that glimmered under the powerful sun. And Ellie, casually leaning forwards over the edge as she blew out a puff of smoke into the air.
The two had been there for almost twenty minutes during Ellie's self-given break, mostly consisting of her giving the middle finger to other smokers giving a lasting stare and Jon just standing there awkwardly in silence, no better than the other men who paid attention to Ellie. But she didn't seem to mind all too much when it came to him — then again, she probably only ever saw him as a little kid anyway.
Ellie then brushed some of her behind her ear and continued, "Hey, hey — I let you off staring the first time, but it's getting weird now, Kent. Answer the question: what did you get in trouble for?"
"Trouble? Why would I be in any trouble?" Jon awkwardly laughed until Ellie gave him a skeptical look, causing him to sigh. "I, uh… I snuck out of the house to hang out with a friend."
"Oh, look at you! A little rebel already — how adorable. First time is sneaking out the house, then the next is sneaking a girl in… you've got some stuff about you, Kent; I respect it."
Jon rubbed his elbow and looked away, pushing up his glasses that slid down his nose as he mumbled, "Whatever… how d'you even know I'd be in trouble anyway? It's not like I've got it tattooed on my forehead for everyone to see."
"Well, every time that I see you here, it's usually you being grounded and your mom taking you along to babysit," Ellie smirked before taking in another pull of the cigarette. "Your mom and I are like besties in this place — we talk about everything up here, even though she quit smoking ages ago. You know, if you didn't have her eyes, then I wouldn't have even guessed that you were her son."
"First Barbara, now you. Why does everyone say that…?"
"Oh relax, don't get your diaper soggy," said Ellie, taking one more pull before chucking the cigarette butt to the ground and stomping on it. She then got Jon, who was clearly shorter than him, into a headlock while squeezing his cheeks, jesting, "You still got your cuteness from your dad, who is very much a daddy — full respect to your mom, of course."
Jon pretended to struggle with escaping her grasp and replied in a muffled voice, "Is there a day that you won't go by without calling my dad hot? It's like really degrading, you know."
"I can't help it that his mild-mannered aura just does it for me; besides, both your parents are a pair of hotties. Makes me wonder how you'll turn out to be, short-stack," Ellie added with a playful smile as Jon broke free from the headlock and rearranged his glasses again. Even though he could've easily prised her arms away, Ellie was surprisingly strong for a normal person — she smelled pretty good as well, despite the cigarettes.
Jon fixed his shaggy hair whilst saying, "You know, it's pretty creepy to wonder I'm gonna end up hot when I'm older. That could definitely put you on a list somewhere."
"Oh shut up, Kent, you'd probably run to your friends that you got your face smooshed against my boobs." She guffawed when she saw Jon's face immediately fluster as he frowned, twisting on the spot to face anywhere but her. He got that there was a proper age gap between, but she didn't have to treat him like he didn't know anything about girls. Yeah, maybe his first and only kiss was with Barbara even though it meant absolutely nothing in the end but Jon wasn't that clueless. At least, he didn't think he was.
Things became quiet between them once more as Jon briefly looked over his shoulder to see Ellie tapping at her phone with a bored expression. In a weird, weird way, she basically called him cute, right? Probably the biggest longshot of his life so far, but that meant there was an infinitesimal chance that she wouldn't laugh in his face if he called her pretty back — right? Well, here goes nothing.
"H-hey, Ellie?" Jon began, his insides cringing when his voice cracked a little bit. Ellie just merely turned her attention towards him as Jon carried on, "Umm, you know… I think that you're… that you're kinda pre —"
But suddenly did the roof door swing wide open with a thud as a burly redheaded man burst through with a grouchy frown on his face. Swelling muscles with veins leading all around them, an unbuttoned shirt that was way too tight for him and a mustache that made him look like an adult film star from the nineties — Dick used to sneak in magazines into class, much to Jon's fear of being caught. Yes, Steve Lombard: Ellie's father, the former quarterback for the Metropolis Doves football team and now the sports anchor for the Daily Planet. Jon's mom always used to tell him that Mr Lombard was not an example to look up to but Jon didn't think he was all that bad. Although it was pretty gross to see him subtly flirt with her at times. Jon was confused as to why he looked so angry though.
"El, how many times do I have to say to you, baby," did Mr Lombard growl as he marched up to an amused Ellie, "that you can't just go on break whenever you feel like it! Without me as well!"
"Pshh, you were too busy making kissy faces with Hannah in the coffee room; I didn't wanna spoil your fun. She's barely older than me, Dad — it's kinda gross."
Mr Lombard slicked his slightly thinning hair with a sleazy smile and responded, "I can't help that my charm has never left me — how do you think you were made? Besides, you're no better having Clarkie's kid up here all alone. How are you, Baby Kent?"
But before Jon had time to respond, Ellie grabbed Jon and wrapped her arms around his head, leading him to be smothered again in her chest (she really had to stop doing that) as she shot back, "Jonny is like my little brother, Dad, don't be weird. Aren't you, Jonny?"
"Mmm hmm…"
"Well, you can take your 'lil bro' downstairs where your break ended ten minutes ago because you're supposed to be shadowing Lois today on her going live at the power plant, remember?" Ellie stuck out her tongue, causing Mr Lombard mumble in annoyance and turning back through the now wonky door.
"Shit, I forgot about that," Ellie cursed to herself once she let go of Jon who was deeply red in the face, adjusting his glasses for what felt like the millionth time today. "Man, is this job way too much. C'mon, we gotta catch your mom going live at Lex Industries' new power engine — I can finally see her in action so that my dad won't be crying that I can't be a reporter. Chop chop!"
Jon absentmindedly watched Ellie head towards the door before rushing behind to catch up as the thought of seeing his mom live in the flesh reporting was always one of his favourite things to do. Granted that it was always with his dad nearby to look after him. From a distance. While holding onto him flying. But this time, it was gonna be different.
When they eventually returned to the main floor that was as chaotic as before, Jon and Ellie were then immediately hauled over by Jimmy to the briefing room where Mr White had his team gathered for the power engine coverage, including Jon's mom.
"Hey," Jimmy whispered to Jon as Perry frowned at a snarky comment by Lois, "my future mother-in-law just bought me a new Star Zoom camera with ultra focus! You know what I'm thinking?"
"A treehouse picture shot?" Jon gleefully enthused under his breath. "Oh man, I've been dying for that camera since my birthday — my old model isn't holding up so good though."
"Nerds…" Ellie softly muttered which didn't seem to be heard by them.
The briefing soon stopped as Jon and Jimmy's geek sesh had left them clueless with half of their tasks, leading Jimmy to awkwardly prod Lois for a quick recap. "Jimmy, usually I have to ask YOU whatever drivel Perry likes to spit out in these briefings."
"Heard that, Lois."
"Love you, Perry — look, just do what you always have done since you got here: follow everything that I say without a single word. And that goes for you too, junior," Lois pointed at Jon who darted his head left and right, confused. "Yeah, you, I only have one son. You're still grounded, remember? That means no sneaking off with Jimmy's camera to take unauthorised pictures —"
"Dad said they were pretty good…"
"And if there's any trouble, god forbid, you are to stay right where it's safe, okay? No… trying to be a hero."
Jon's eyes briefly glanced over to Jimmy and Ellie's confused faces before he sighed and nodded his head. Lois gently lifted his chin, then yelled at the camera crew to hurry their "lazy asses" as they hauled all the heavy equipment with sweaty faces. Once they headed outside did they see three vans with mini golden globes on top of each one; Jon, Lois, Ellie and Jimmy jumped into the first one before they headed off for newest branch of Lex Industries.
It truly amazed Jon how Lex Industries was still up and running way better than before (he checked the numbers and let's just say that business was booming). His dad and Lex Luthor weren't exactly the best of friends, and Jon was using that phrase extremely loosely. He even heard that Luthor was gunning for president soon, and the scary thing was that Jon could actually see it happening. Amazing what a plethora of extreme crimes against the world with a few billion dollars could get land you.
"Argh…" Jon groaned when a sharp pinging noise hit his ear, making him caress it. Was probably nothing anyway. They soon reached the site by the river dividing the outskirts of Metropolis with Gotham, Lex Industries newest super engine that was said to be powered by a rare element undisclosed to the public. But knowing Lex Luthor, it was probably Kryptonite.
The van parked rather closely to where a mob of different news firms had their reporters all lined up, some even live despite Luthor being nowhere to be found yet. Everyone got out as they began to set up rather quickly as well: Lois was busy doing touch ups to her face and making sure her hair was perfect while Ellie gazed her at with such awe. Jon and Jimmy where behind the main cameras but he still had his own ready for when Lex would appear on the obnoxiously high and decorated stage.
"Okay, Jonny, watch a genius at work," smirked Jimmy as he adjusted the settings and dials on his camera. "Hey, if we get a good amount of pics and your mom isn't watching, how about we go try that treehouse shot for real?"
"Awesome! Man, I reckon we could get nice angle all the way up —" but Jon's words suddenly faded when it came back. That sharp ping in his ear that was starting to annoy him. Only that instead of staying for a moment did it persist now, growing louder and louder until the floodgates burst right open like he was a little kid again.
Sounds of breathing felt like listening to a raging hurricane; hearts pumping along with footsteps was just explosions upon explosions in his ears. The dull sunlight had become instantly unbearable with its intensity, his vision just taking everything in. It was happening again, another sensory overload but it was never this bad.
Jon could feel Jimmy's hand on his shoulder as he asked the younger boy if he was okay but his words of concern were just violent screams to Jon's sensitive ears. Too much around him, too much to take all in — he had to get away. Now.
Clasping his hands over his ears, Jon then broke into a run away from everyone else, hearing Jimmy's voice, and eventually Ellie's, calling out his name which he ignored. He didn't know where he was going, only that it had to be away from everyone else — but why was everything so… much? It just hurt and he wanted it all to stop now.
Eventually did he trip over stepping on his loose shoelace, finding himself in an alleyway where a drunk homeless man gave him a funny look before slumping back onto his bed of rags to sleep in. The overload wasn't stopping though; Jon sunk to his knees and scurried to the wall as his eyes watered, the pain becoming too much to bear.
"Stop…" he whimpered. "Please, stop…"