Clark's whole body cramped. So much, that he almost tore the seat apart, he was sitting in. He couldn't believe what his wife just told him. She really wants to tell Jonathan, their only seven-year-old son, the truth about his alien heritage. That he is half-Kryptonian. That actually his whole life is a lie.
"Lois… that… that is… Johnny is seven!"
"I know, Clark!"
"That's too young!"
"I know that, too, Clark! But after what happened today, I think we should come up with a plan!"
"We have already talked about that! I don't think we have to talk about it again!"
"And when do you think that it is the right time? When he suddenly flies away, and you have to catch him? Or when he makes another hole into a massive brick-wall?"
"What happened today, was just a sudden power surge. He already had them in the past when he got too much sun. It's too dangerous for him to know!"
"It's more dangerous if he does not know!" Lois countered.
Lois moaned and looked around. The garage door was open. She feared someone could see Superman sitting here, in their garage, in their Hyundai and spread more rumors that they don't need.
"Clark, change and then talk to Johnny. Not a word about the secret yet!"
"Of course, not…" Clark said, opened the door and left in a blur.
Lois took a deep breath and left the car, too to get into the house.
It was a beautiful and sunny spring day. The weather was warm and cozy. From a neighbor's garden she could smell that someone was grilling meat. When she walked up the stairs to the rear door, she saw their neighbor's teenage son Timmy standing in the garden, training Karate. She winked and greeted him. He greeted her back. Lois noticed more people in their gardens. She noticed of course that some people regularly looked up into the sky over their house, to see if the famous Lois Lane gets visited by her old friend Superman.
Lois got inside, opened the fridge, and took a bottle of water to drink something. Of course, even after years of moving into this house, their neighbors expected Superman to be a guest, here, too. And Clark was always very careful when he flew in and out. Especially when it was daytime.
Clark came in through the front-door only seconds later. This time in civilian-attire. Johnny was upstairs in his room. He and Lois looked on each other, nodded and knew that it was time for Clark to go upstairs and talk to their son. Lois in the meantime would call her father and ask him why he cancelled the fishing-trip. Clark walked upstairs, looking at the pictures on the wall that showed their son from his birth to today. It went by so fast!
Clark knocked on his son's door.
"Johnny, it's me! Can I come in?" Clark said.
"Yes!" the boy said moody.
Clark entered the room that changed a lot since they moved in here, only months before the boy was born. The bright blue on the walls was now a darker shade, that looked like the blue of his Superman-suit. But well, the color is sold as 'Superman-blue'. Johnny was laying on his bed and glared on the ceiling. Gosh, it felt like yesterday, when they brought the boy home from hospital after he surprised them with an earlier arrival. But he was not the little baby anymore. He was a curious and quite intelligent young man now.
"Hey, bud… your mother told me that you and your friend had a fight today!" Clark told, causing the boy to make big eyes. Clark sat down next to him on the bed and looked on him. "Johnny, I am not mad on you! Either is your mother! When I was your age, I fought with my friends, too! But we are worried about you! We see something is bothering you!"
The boy sat now upright and avoided eye-contact. Obviously, something was really bothering him.
"Johnny, I know we are all very busy lately! But you know you can tell us everything! We love you and we care about you! So, tell me what is going on!"
"Hm… Daddy… you know… ehm… I… I think Lance is only my friend because Mommy knows Superman!"
"What?" Clark was shocked. He sometimes feared that Lois' supposed 'friendship' with Superman could cause trouble for them. "Why do you think, so?"
"I think so." the boy shrugged. "He always… ask this questions! Everyone does!"
"What questions?" Clark asked, trying not to sound worried.
The boy shrugged. "They always ask me, if Mommy or you really know Superman? If it's true, that he really comes here for visits regularly? Or if I know where he lives?"
Clark knew that. He got to hear these questions from neighbors and colleagues, too. He knew, he could tell the boy the truth, but it would mean that the boy was always forced to lie, and he would know that he lies to his friends. Clark lies his whole life. He lied to friends, distanced himself to not to need to lie too much, he lies till today. And that to people he really liked. Including his own son.
"I am sorry to hear that! But you know… your mother and I we don't know as much about Superman than anyone else in the world." Clark lied, and it hurt. "I am sure your friends will sooner or later understand this, and you get all over it!"
The boy was pensive. But he shrugged.
"Come on… finish your homework before dinner. Your mom wanted to order pizza tonight…" Clark told and lift from his son's bed. He was on the way to the door when his son suddenly continued.
"Daddy!"
"Yes, son?"
"Do… do you know why Grandpa Sam does not want to go fishing with me anymore?" the boy asked.
Clark became pensive. He had no clue.
"I am sure it has nothing to do with you! But your mother and I will ask him! Don't think too much about it!" Clark said with a smile and left.
Clark walked downstairs and heard Lois fighting with her father over the phone…
"Come on, that can't be your reason! The boy is so sad about it…"
"Lois, I am sorry. But I can't change it!" Clark heard Sam's grumpy voice out of the phone.
"Okay, what about next weekend?" Lois asked.
"I will be on a conference in Zurich! And the week after I have a meeting in the Ministry of Defense!"
"And what about the boy's spring-break? Awww… you know… we talk about this later! I need to take care of the dinner now! Bye!" Lois said and hung off.
Clark looked at her with big eyes.
"No success?"
"Talking with my father is sometimes like talking to a wall!" Lois moaned while taking a flyer from a pizza-delivery service from the wall. "You know… when he told me that he cancelled the fishing-trip because of his work… I had to think about that story Jon once told us! How it negatively affected him and Jordan that their grandfather was never there for him. Jon is the reason we both agreed that we never tell my father the secret!"
"Yes, I know! Because your father is leading the DOD on our Earth! And your father's doppelganger on his Earth led the same organization, that did everything to keep sure that 'Superman' is in their duty!"
"I know Clark… But there is… aww… all is so complicated, Clark!" Lois moaned and opened the flyer while dialing the number of the delivery-service. "Pepperoni or pineapple?"
Clark just shrugged. He was too much sunken in thoughts…
A few minutes later, their friend Jimmy showed up with some wine to celebrate Lois' latest article that was already discussed in social media. He noticed of course why Johnny was so moody and Clark and Lois filled him in. After eating, the boy left again to go upstairs to his room. Lois and Clark agreed that 'no dessert' was punishment enough.
Clark, Lois, and Jimmy sat now together on the dining table between kitchen and living-area. The glasses full of wine, but nobody dared to drink. Clark knew that it was not affecting him anyway, Jimmy was too nervous to drink, and Lois wanted to keep a clear head.
An awkward silence was laying over the room. Lois was sitting so that she could see the stairs to keep sure that Johnny does not hear them. Clark used his superhearing to keep sure that the boy was really in his room and Jimmy just nervously looked back and forth between them.
"Ehm… I don't want to tell you how to raise your son… but… ehm… I don't know what you want to hear from me!" Jimmy finally said. "I mean… sure it would be nice when the boy knows the secret, so I don't have to be careful what I say when he is close, but… even I think that it is a bit early! But I also remember Jon's story and therefor I know that 14 will be too late to tell him. But 7 seems for me a bit too young!"
"Me, too!" Clark said.
"And I know that, too! Just after today… I think we should at least talk about it!" Lois said and turned to Clark. "And don't tell me that we already talked about it. We need to talk about it!"
Clark, who was about to say something, immediately shied back again, put his hands together on the table and lowered his head.
It became silent again. Nobody seemed to like to start. Lois looked ever and ever again over to the stairs, to keep sure that Jonathan does not come down surprisingly and catches them talking about Superman stuff.
"Clark, what is Johnny doing now?" Lois asked.
"You know, we agreed to never spy on the boy!"
"That's not spying! It's just checking!"
Clark moaned. He looked up briefly to see Johnny being in his room playing with a Superman-action-figure…
"He is playing! We can talk!"
"Good! So… let's assume… that incident today, were really powers that begin to develop." Lois began.
"In that case, we have no other choice but to tell him!" Clark said. "He could hurt someone!"
"Yes! Imagine it is not a wall next time, but another child's face?" Jimmy said.
"Awww… I don't want to imagine!" Clark wailed. "After my powers kicked in, I was so scared that I could hurt someone, that I sometimes even feared to talk to someone! I had no explanation for my powers. I only knew that I was an alien that came for some reason to this planet! Remember that, till Jon showed up here in our world, that I believed that I am here on this planet to conquer it?"
"I know… but you are much smarter now!" Lois said. "Unlike you, Johnny would grow up with you to guide him through everything!"
Clark thought about it…
"Hmm… you're right, Lois! And we have a fortress now, we have Lara and Jor-El… the boy would always have full knowledge of everything!"
"And don't forget that they always want to see him!" Jimmy told. "When was the last time, you took Johnny to the fortress?"
"He was… 20 or 21 months old!" Clark said. "For his latest check-up!"
"And they said, it is likely that he is going to have powers! One more reason we should tell him." Lois said.
"And how?" Jimmy asked. "I mean… how would you do that?"
"What do you mean, Jimmy?" Clark asked.
"I mean, you can't just go upstairs, put off your glasses and say to him: Johnny, I am Superman, and you are half-Kryptonian!" Jimmy said, getting louder.
"SSSCHHHH… Jimmy, louder and even the neighbors know it!" Lois hissed.
"Sorry! But you know what I want to say! I mean… Clark, you say you want to tell him anyway one day! How would you have done it!"
"Definitely not like you said, Jimmy!" Clark wailed and took a deep breath. "I mean… We should do that… not here! I always imagined… that we take the boy and make with him a nice trip!"
"Where?" Lois asked. Clark just shrugged.
"To a place he likes! Or to the farm… we spend the day with him, do something he likes and then… we ruin his life!" Clark's smile faded quickly.
"What? Clark, what are you talking about?"
"Lois, this could shatter him? He thinks he is a normal human and an earthling!"
"Clark he is an earthling! He is born on this planet! Here in this city!" Lois said. "I don't think it would… OH, JOHNNY!"
Lois suddenly saw their son walking down the stairs. Immediately everyone put on an innocent smile that was too obvious. Johnny saw his parents and Jimmy and knew immediately that they tried to hide something from him.
"Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Jimmy, what are you talking about?" the boy asked.
"Ehm… adult things!" Lois said innocently. "Do you have a question?"
"Can you sign this?" the boy asked and reached out a letter to his mother.
"What is this?" Lois asked and began to read it. "This is not about the incident today… oh, a permission slip!"
"There is a field trip next week!" the boy said.
"Nice! Where are you going?" his father asked now and took the letter to read it by himself. "Oh… the LexCorp-Tower?"
"WHAT?" now Lois shrieked. "How can they do that?"
She grabbed the letter again to read it again. Indeed, Johnny's class planned a fieldtrip to the LexCorp-tower on next Thursday. To the building of the man who hates her, Clark, Clark's alter-ego and Jimmy.
"Mommy? Can you sign it?"
"Ehm… Sorry… we can't…" Lois said.
"Why?" the boy said shocked.
"Ehm…" Lois began to stutter.
There were countless of reasons for all of them to say no to this trip. The LexCorp building was full of sensors detecting Kryptonians, hidden booby traps, cameras and Kryptonite containing weapons. Lois had house ban there for years. Everyone from the Daily-Planet had house ban there.
Lois felt the urge to tear the letter apart and yell out loudly that Johnny is not allowed to join this fieldtrip because it is too dangerous, and they couldn't know what surprises wait for them there.
"Ehm… we talk about that tomorrow!" was everything Lois was able to get out without sounding too upset. "Go to bed now sweetie! We'll be right upstairs!"
"Okay!" the boy said and left again.
As soon as he was out of sight, Lois put her head on the table and let the tears flow.
"Aghh… Clark this is one more reason to tell him!"
"A fieldtrip?" Clark asked confused.
"Yeah! Or how do you want to explain him that he can't go into the LexCorp building without getting detected as… you know… don't forget that we tested it with one of the sensors, we managed to smuggle out there!" Lois explained.
Clark moaned. She was right. "Aww… Right! And not to forget Lex is not really a fan of our son!"
"You know what he is capable of, Clark!" Lois wailed and got closer to whisper. "And don't forget that Lex put our son on his list of enemies, too for what happened before my 14 hours of labor."
"HAHAHA…" Jimmy began to laugh. "Oh, right! It became a trend online!"
"Don't remember me!" Lois wailed. It was haunting her till today that her water broke while she was sitting on Lex Luthor. And it was aired live in TV.
"Well… for that Lex' connection to the metahumans was uncovered and we caught two of them." Clark murmured.
"Yeah, and then they escaped, fled to Gotham, got caught by Batman, escaped again… and were never seen again!" Lois wailed.
Just thinking that a guy who can turn into water and his twin-brother who can turn into liquid metal were out there in the world was a bit scary. At least both seem to don't commit any crimes anymore and cut ties with Luthor…
"Johnny knows that we have a feud with Luthor!" Jimmy said. "But… well, feud is a bit understated!"
"I would call it a cold war!" Clark added. "And that is just Luthor vs. us! Superman not included!"
"But what we tell now to Johnny about why he can't go to this fieldtrip?" Lois asked worried.
"I don't know!" Clark moaned. "But I am so scared to tell him the truth… Lois, when I learned the truth, I was 11! And it nearly ruined me! We don't know how he will react to it!"
"I guess he would think it's cool!" Jimmy said with a smile. "Kids that age adore Superman!"
"Jimmy, do you think I don't know that?" Clark wailed. "What do you think how awkward it is for me that I am on posters in every child's bedroom, kids and adults dress as me on Halloween and that a bodybuilder, who can't even sing, plays me in Superman: The musical!"
"But the kids love the show!" Jimmy said. "And a real singer is doing the playback!"
"Why the fieldtrip can't be to this musical?" Lois murmured. "Of course, everything would be easier if we would tell him the truth!"
"Lois, not that again!"
"Clark, we are not leaving this table until we found a solution…"
"Mommy?" suddenly Johnny yelled from upstairs. Remembering Lois that their son was ready for bed.
"…well, after we put our son to bed!" Lois finished and left the table to go upstairs.
Johnny was in his pajamas; his teeth were brushed, and he was ready for bed. The boy laid down in his bed and Lois pulled the blanket over him.
"Good night, Johnny!" she said and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "And sleep well!"
"Mommy, I have a question!" the boy said.
"Sure, what's up?" Lois asked back.
"Are you and daddy hiding something from me?"
Lois became pale… there was it again…
"Why do you think so?"
"It feels so!"
Lois became pensive. It was the truth…
"You know… your father and I work with very sensitive information. It is our job to handle it with care. Just because we don't tell you everything, doesn't mean we hide something!"
That was a lie. They hide a lot from the boy and Lois felt her stomach lurch.
"Is that the reason, you don't want me to go to the fieldtrip?"
"What? Why do you think so?" Lois asked surprised. Even if it was true.
"Mrs. Stone asked me today, when she gave everyone the permission slips, if your feud with Mr. Luthor is still running and if it wouldn't be better for me to not go!" Johnny told.
Lois thought about it. Mrs. Stone was right. Lois liked her because she was a good teacher and a reliable person. And once, Lois told her about the feud between her and Luthor, so she probably knew that it would be troublous if Johnny goes to LexCorp.
"You know… this is a very long and complicated story… your father and I tell you later!" Lois said and put the blanket straight. "And now sleep! And dream well!"
"Can you turn on the stars? When they are on, I always dream that I can fly!"
Lois had to smile when she heard that. Johnny was without doubt Clark Kent's son! Born to fly…
Lois turned on the switch of the device that projected a star-filled sky on the ceiling before she left the room to walk downstairs again. There she found Clark and Jimmy looking on their phones.
"Okay… let's continue talking about the matter…"
"Lois, the boy will be really sad if he can't join the fieldtrip!" Clark told showing her some photos he found online…
For years, Luthor tries to improve his public image and that of LexCorp. The former Ivo-Tower experienced a lot of renovation and reconstruction over the past few years. Like a new very popular observatory on the top that was open for public. Tourists loved it since it was the highest building in that part of the city. There was also an indoor-playground, a 3D-cinema and even a fast-food chain opened a restaurant up there.
"A wonderful experience for all ages, and a must be for every visitor of our beautiful city!" Jimmy read from the webpage. "See Metropolis like no one else!"
"Hmm… well… no one else expect Superman! But no surprise Luthor ignores that on his website." Lois murmured. "And the only souvenir-shop in Metropolis that has not a single Superman-product in its assortment! Aww… enough of that… let's stop beating around the bush! We still need to talk about how to tell Johnny the secret!"
"You know my opinion, Lois! It is too early!" Clark said.
"I don't want to take sides honestly!" Jimmy added. "Sure, it would be nice if he knows, but it is your decision!"
"And I say, we don't leave these table until we have a solution!" Lois demanded.
And so, they remained sitting there…
It was so silent. The ticking clock on the wall was the only sound Lois and Jimmy could hear. Clark, who could hear the whole world, got nervous from the silence here. Minute by minute passed without that anyone dared to talk. And soon a full hour passed…
Everyone was brooding and playing the possible scenarios in his head. Lois thought about the possible negative things, too, that would come with the reveal. And everyone had to think about Jon's story…
They will never forget how Jon just popped up here on their Earth after a fight with his Clark Kent and Lois Lane over years of neglect that the Superman-business brought and the negative impact his powerlessness and the powers of his brother Jordan had on his life. They knew, powerlessness was a possibility for their son, too! But Johnny was too young to accept this! Like every seven-year-old, he would be devastated…
More time passed…
The ticking clock seemed to tick slower with each passing minute. At some point, Clark, Lois and Jimmy start to use their phones to check their e-mails or the latest news, or the weather… Clark used his hearing from time to time to keep sure that Johnny really sleeps. After very sunny days like today, it often happened that he was sleepless. Jimmy looked back and forth between Lois and Clark, waiting for one of them to say something first. There were a lot of other topics he would love to talk with Lois and Clark about.
Clark suddenly heard a smoke-detector in another part of the city…
"OH… There is a fire in Siegelberg!" Clark said and left in a blur before Lois could complain.
"Hey… aww… not that I can stop him…"
"Lois, I…" Jimmy began.
"Don't even try to get out of this conversation!" Lois threatened.
"I just want to use your bathroom!" Jimmy wailed.
"Oh… sorry…" Lois said and allowed Jimmy to leave, too.
Once Lois was alone, she finally took a small sip of wine while looking around moody. Her eyes wandered to the living-room shelf with the books and the photo-albums. She raised from her chair and took the album with Johnny's baby-pictures to reminisce till Clark and Jimmy come back…
Jimmy didn't endure the silence in the other room and played Angry Birds on his phone to win some time. And Clark, who soon realized that the supposed fire was a false alarm, won some time before heading back by showing himself to the owners of the house, posing for a selfie and giving the people a speech about fire-prevention… only to have a reason to not to go home…
Lois meanwhile was fixed on the very first picture in the scrapbook…
It was the very first picture of Johnny. Taken by Jimmy when Clark presented him to the waiting family. When he was only 10 minutes old. He was so tiny! So innocent! Lois slowly began to doubt if it was really okay to take that innocence away from him, by giving him the burden of this secret.
Secrets within the family can have serious consequences. She knew that from experience with her own parents. Like her mother's breast-cancer or her father's involvement in Task-Force-X… Or the story Jon told her! But Jon's story was what they want to prevent…
Clark appeared again after being gone for only a few minutes. And when Jimmy heard that Clark was back, he decided to come out of his hideout, too! And so, they were sitting on the table again. But this time they browsed through the scrapbook to look at how tiny Johnny once was…
"Oh… remember that day…" Jimmy said, when looking at a picture of 2-year-old Johnny being the first time at the beach.
"Aww… yeah… oh, look at that one…" Clark said, pointing on a picture of Johnny who was sitting on Jon's lap, when he visited their Earth again back then. "Aww… Lois, I know sooner or later we have to tell him!"
"But?" Lois knew there was more he want to say.
"But… I would really love to hear another opinion!"
"And whose? Batman's?"
Jimmy burst out in laughter…
"You know that Batman and Superman are not something that you could call friends!" Clark blushed.
"Yes, I know… but you have to admit, the fact that he told his son and already allows him to join him on missions should mean something." Lois moaned.
"Yeah, but Damian is older than Johnny and he has years of ninja training thanks to his assassin mother!" Clark argued. "I met Damian as Damian and as Robin! And I don't know which persona is scarier!"
"Well, we don't have a lot of other options! Beast Boy and Plastic Man don't know your secret identity." Jimmy muttered.
"Well, Plastic Man is the last one I should ask about this anyway. First, his identity is not a secret, and second, was his son born with the shapeshifting powers already. He can't hide it from him anyway! And Beast Boy is not a father! Remember that the supposed news about the birth of Beast Boy's son was a hoax."
"I do! Cat has cried a whole week in her office when the lie was uncovered, and her story became a canard! But it was not her fault. Who could have known that the mother of that boy only seeks for attention and dyed her baby green!"
"Oh, she has attention now! She is facing prison for child-abuse and her baby is going to live with his real father in Kazakhstan!" Clark murmured.
"Now that we talk about him… Why is Gar still calling himself Beast Boy? I mean, how old is he now? 22? 23? He was a boy when he debuted, but why is he not calling himself Beast Man by now?" Jimmy asked, using his phone to search for new pictures.
"I guess, because the people are so used to Beast Boy, that they will call him that even when he is an old grandpa!" Clark added.
"You know, he should let the Boy away and call himself just Beast! That gives him some danger…" Jimmy continued.
"Stop!" Lois suddenly raised her arms to hold Clark's and Jimmy's mouths. "It's happening! We are beating around the bush again!"
The two men blushed and lowered their heads.
"This is not about Damian Wayne or Luke O'Brian! Or about Garfield Logan's affairs or whatever he had with that woman!" Lois ranted quietly before looking up to the ceiling and pointing with her finger on it. "This is about Jonathan Samuel Kent, who is sleeping over us and probably dreams of flying again. And we still need to find a solution!"
Clark nodded and took the permission slip for the fieldtrip to read it again…
"I don't like it that we lie to the boy about it, but we need to find a plausible excuse because he can't go to LexCorp!"
"I meant a solution for the secret-identity issue!" Lois said with her arms crossed before she walked over to the landline-phone to take it and dial a number while walking back to the table.
"Who are you calling at this time?"
"Someone I believe will have a better idea for how to handle this, Clark!" Lois said while listening to the sound of the dial tone…