Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had long been the practice in the Lane-Kent household to have the kitchen table be a makeshift office. Since they’d gotten a bigger apartment due to the addition of Jonathan Samuel, they now had an extra bedroom that could be an actual office. But they chose to keep it as a bedroom.

And this was an appropriate decision since it allowed for them to host Jonathan and Martha when they came into town—something that happened with increased frequency since they’d become grandparents—and whoever else stopped by for a night or two. Sometimes this was one of the Batkids, seeking to get away from Daddy Bats for a night. Sometimes it was another Justice Leaguer who needed a place to crash, and this was easier than a hotel. Sometimes it was Lucy, who was in town for the weekend, and wanted to visit her nephew. Sometimes it was Jimmy or Kara, who would occasionally babysit overnight so Lois and Clark could have a getaway or cover a story elsewhere, and both felt more comfortable in the guest room than in the Master. Sometimes it was Kon, taking a break from the Titans.

But this decision also put the at-home office smack in the middle of the apartment. And as parents of a six-year-old, this was very important. They could work and keep an eye on Jon at the same time.

And since Lois was currently working on a story at the table, she got to watch Clark wrangle their son for bedtime.

Clark was waiting outside the hall bathroom, watching Jon do his business.

Lois distinctly heard the toilet flush before Jon walked out of the bathroom, tugging his little pajama pants up.

“You didn’t wash your hands,” Clark stated.

Jon ignored him, running up to his dad and wrapping himself around one of Clark’s legs.

“Jon, what do I always say?” Clark asked, exasperation seeping into his voice. This was a nightly battle. For reasons unknown to them, Jon was much better about washing his hands during the day than he was at night.

Lois was glad she decided to take a break from the story to watch the bedtime battle unfold because she would have hated to miss the way Jon tilted his head back to look up at Clark with big, adorable eyes and answer after some thought, “I love you?”

And Clark was trying so hard to be stern and get his son to listen, but that response completely melted him. “I—” Clark clearly didn’t know what to say to that. He stood there in stunned silence before managing with a gentle voice, “I do love you, that’s right. But what else do I always say?”

Jon’s eyes were adorably blank. He had a silly little grin on his face.

Clark sighed. “Flush and wash your hands, every time,” he answered for Jon. “Remember that?”

Jon nodded. “I washed my hands when I brushed my teeth.”

“Okay, good, that washed the toothpaste off your hands. But you always have to wash your hands after you flush the toilet, too.”

“Ohhhh,” Jon drawled, things clearly clicking for him. “Okay, Papa! I’ll be right back!” And he untangled his limbs from around his father’s leg and scrambled back into the bathroom.

Lois heard the sink running and then the sounds of a six-year-old washing his hands. Jon turned the water off and dried his hands—probably yanking the towel off the holder in the process. All that finished, he ran back outside the bathroom and shrieked with laughter when Clark effortlessly scooped Jon up in his arms. The giggling continued when Clark gave Jonathan a loud kiss on his hairline.

“There we go. Can you do that every time for me?”

Jon nodded, giggling as he fisted Clark’s hair. Not for the first time, Lois reflected that it was maybe a good thing Clark’s hair was as invulnerable as he was.

“I love you, Papa,” Jon whispered loudly.

“I love you, too, baby,” Clark responded, also stage whispering, as he walked Jon into his bedroom.

“I love you, Mama!” Jon yelled out to her.

“I love you, too, Jonno!” Lois called back. Jon did this every night. It made her feel all warm that he never forgot to tell her, even when she left Clark to do the bedtime routine by himself.

Lois let herself get reabsorbed by her story while Clark put Jon to bed. She was so focused on her piece that she was mildly surprised when warm, strong arms wrapped around her. And then Clark’s face was nuzzling into her neck.

“And I love you,” he murmured into her ear, voice deep and almost hungry.

Lois reached a hand up and across her body to thread her fingers through his hair. “I love you, too. I’m almost done with this story.”

Clark kissed her jaw, just below her ear. “Sure,” he didn’t sound like he believed her. “That’s due tomorrow at ten, you can finish it later,” he suggested, reaching out to put a hand over the one hand that was still dancing across the keyboard.

Lois sighed, knowing he was right. “Fine. Let me save this.”

He left his hand where it was but didn’t stop her from saving the document. But just as soon as she did, he entwined their fingers and used their joined hands to shut the laptop. He kissed her jaw once more before slowly rising out of the crouch he’d been in; he lifted her out of the chair with their joined hands and spun her into his arms.

“I’m surprised that actually worked,” he confessed, voice still in that low register that drove her wild.

“Oh, you know, sometimes I remember I shouldn’t neglect my husband.”

Due to the way he held her pressed against him, Lois could feel the vibrations of his chuckle. “I don’t feel neglected right now,” he mumbled, leaning in to kiss her.

When he pulled away, Lois reminded him, “Babe, we’re in the middle of the apartment.”

“Right,” Clark breathed. Lois blinked and they were in the bedroom.

“Well, now this is much better.”

“I love you,” Clark repeated.

“Show me,” Lois challenged.

He didn’t disappoint.

Chapter Text

The first time a Batkid had appeared in Metropolis unannounced was when Dick Grayson was nine years old, Clark had been firmly in the friendzone with Lois, and rumors of Robin’s existence hadn’t been confirmed to even the Trinity.

Little Dick had trekked all the way to Metropolis to fetch Superman—Bruce had taught his kid exactly what to do and how to find Clark in case of emergencies—because Batman was missing.

Part of Robin’s training was the In Case of Emergency: Break Glass emergency contact—which fortunately did not translate to actually breaking the glass of Clark’s apartment windows in the attempt to enter the building. Clark was Superman, he was in the habit of leaving a window unlocked. And Batman had made sure all of his kids knew which one that was—which was the entirely uninformed Superman.

Robin for one had done a great job of staying calm when he’d met Superman. The alien in question had jumped five feet above his bed and remained hovering there in his fright. It wasn’t until after they’d found Batman that Robin had let himself fanboy over Superman, despite having scared the man half to death a few hours before.   

Since this first appearance, it wasn’t strange for a Batkid to crawl into Clark’s apartment in the wee hours of the morning.

And it was also not uncommon, once Clark had been sufficiently ingrained in the Wayne Family, for them to show up at his door—like a normal person, not an eldritch horror—at a normal time.

This was one of the reasons Lois and Clark had decided to keep their at-home office at the kitchen table, not in the third room that could manage as an office. They had enough guests where a guest room was a necessity. And it got a lot of mileage, and not just from the Batkids.

There were times Ma and Pa Kent would come visit, for one reason or another. Sometimes they liked to visit the city, take a break from the farm. They sometimes would fly in for an extended stay to watch over Jonathan Samuel while Lois and Clark took a much-needed romantic getaway. And they’d even celebrating holidays at the Lane-Kent brownstone—during that period where they couldn’t just fly out to Smallville via Superman Airlines because Jon wasn’t aware his dad was Superman.

There were times Kara would graciously stay the night to babysit Jon while Lois and Clark had to stay elsewhere for a story. She found the guest room more comfortable than staying in the Master bedroom. Jimmy Olsen was the same way when he would similarly babysit Jon for Lois and Clark.

There were times where Kon was staying in Metropolis and would commandeer the guest room. Jon loved having his older brother around, and they’d once considered finding a bigger apartment so Kon could have his own room. That hadn’t ended up happening, as Kon said he was at the age where college kids do their own thing.

There were also plenty of times that some Justice Leaguers had spent the night in the guest bedroom. Sometimes Hal would have an overnight layover and crash at their place, so he didn’t have to worry about checking into and out of a hotel. Sometimes, Barry would be in town for a forensics conference or training weekend and would show up with three pizzas and a pack of sodas. Diana and Lois would have their girls’ night and Diana would usually stay the night.

But more often than anyone else, the Batkids used the guest bedroom.

That said, it wasn’t wholly unsurprising to open the front door to meet Damian Wayne.

“Good evening, Damian,” Clark greeted. “You’re just in time for dinner.”

“Kent,” Damian returned his typical greeting, which was actually very polite for him. “I require residency. Father is stupid.”

“Ah,” Clark opened the door wider to allow the child to enter the apartment, “What did he do?”

“It matters not. Pennyworth is aware of my whereabouts.”

“Okay, I won’t tell your dad,” Clark confirmed, glad Damian had told someone.

“Damian!” Jon called, speeding through the house—despite his mother’s reminder to not use superspeed inside—to hug his best friend. “Why are you here?” Jon questioned, pulling back some from the hug he’d trapped Damian in.

Clark tried not to laugh at the picture. It looked exactly how he imagined he and Bruce looked when Clark wrangled the Bat into a hug against his will.

“As I was telling your father, my Father is an imbecile and I don’t wish to see him tonight,” Damian gritted out, standing stock still since he’d learned long ago that he couldn’t worm his way out of Jon’s steel grasp.

Jon gasped. “Did he make you share your gear with Tim again?”

Clark never eavesdropped on conversations unless he was investigating for a story or ensuring someone’s safety, so when Jon dragged Damian out of normal earshot, Clark didn’t listen for Damian’s response.

Twenty minutes later, just when dinner was being pulled from the oven, Clark got a text. Sliding his phone from his pocket, he saw that it was Bruce.

Please tell me Damian is with you.

Can confirm

What did you do?

I accidentally insulted the dog.

Which one?

Titus. Damian wouldn’t get upset if it was Ace.

Ah

He’s fine

Told me he told Alfred where he was going

Yes. Alfred didn’t seem worried. It’s why I

texted you.

I think he is planning to stay the night

Did he bring clothes?

Uh

I didn’t see a backpack or anything

But he’s your kid so who knows what he has on him

Maybe he stashed clothes here some time

I wouldn’t be surprised

Or he’ll just wear Jon’s

He might have a stash. That would be

something he would do.

Because he’s your kid and you have stashes

everywhere

This is not incorrect. He could also be content

re-wearing whatever he is in right now. That would

not surprise me either.

Ah

The old treating the situation like a

mission habit

Also something he gets from you

I believe his mother would have taught him

that before he’d come my way.

Whatever helps you sleep at night

Anyway

Has he eaten? I’m about to feed him if no

He’s vegetarian.

Ah crap

Okay I’ll order something for him bc this

casserole is loaded with meat

He’s quite fond of Asian. I believe it is a

good memory he shares with his mother.

So I can’t go wrong there?

As long as it is vegetarian?

Correct.

👍

Clark was quick to get Damian the highest rated vegetarian options at the little Asian hole-in-the-wall that had long been his and Lois’ favorite. Estimated delivery was about fifteen minutes. Not bad.

“Jon!” Lois called, “Dinner’s ready!”

They both heard a faint, “Okay, Mom!” returned before the boys ambled out of Jon’s room.

“Damian, I just ordered some food for you, since this has meat all in it,” Clark was gesturing to the casserole on the range. “It should be here in a little over ten minutes.”

Damian nodded. “Thank you,” he vocalized.

“Of course, no one goes hungry in my house,” Clark replied, naturally making it seem like no big deal, since it wasn’t.

Ten minutes later, Damian’s food arrived sooner than expected.

Jon was quick—though he didn’t use superspeed this time, probably because both parents reminded him not to—to answer the door. In no time at all, Damian was happily chowing down on his food, Jon subtly mooching despite having already eaten his own dinner.

“He gets that from you,” Clark whispered into Lois’ ear.

She whacked him. “No!” she insisted.

“Yes, he does,” Clark laughed, smile hidden due to her hair. “He sees you steal food off my plate all the time. It’s a learned behavior.”

Lois turned to look at him. “Well, then it must actually be your fault because he also sees you let me get away with it.”

“Oh really?” Clark laughed, pulling away slightly since they were still at the table in the company of others. “So now it’s my fault?”

Lois nodded. “If you would stop me, he wouldn’t think it would be an appropriate action.”

“In my defense,” Clark held up a finger, “I started letting you steal my food because it meant you were actually eating something. And then I never did stop.”

Lois opened her mouth to retort but closed it when she had nothing. After a moment, she replied, “Okay, so maybe this is my fault actually.”

And that response tore a laugh right out of Clark’s chest, shocking both boys who had been engaged in their own separate conversation.

“Sorry, sorry,” Clark apologized. “I wasn’t expecting that.” He made to get up, collecting his and Lois’ empty plates and cutlery to take to the sink. Lois slapped his rear when he turned away. Clark wisely chose to not comment on it, as he didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to it nor encourage Lois—although no response would never deter her—but he did throw her a look.

They ended up watching a movie. Jon had discovered very early in his friendship with Damian that the younger child had not seen any Disney movies growing up. Of course, Damian had informed Jon that Dick was also aware of this and was intent on rectifying the issue.

This did not stop Jon from aiding Dick’s endeavor.

And Clark and Lois were more than happy to sit back and watch a Disney show with Jon and Damian.

As was typical of their family movie nights, Clark sat in the middle of the couch and Lois curled up on one side of him. Jon would usually cuddle up on Clark’s other side. This time was no different, except that Clark shifted slightly to one side of the couch to make room for Damian to sit next to Jon. And instead of pancaking himself to his father’s side like he usually did, Jon pressed his back and head against Clark, using him as more a backrest, while stretching his legs across Damian’s lap. This was Jon’s way of letting Damian have his space while also making sure Damian wasn’t left out. As it was, Damian looked more than happy leaning against the arm of the couch the way he was.

It had been Clark’s idea to watch 101 Dalmatians, since he figured Damian might like that one. But he wasn’t sure if the boy had seen it yet. Clark thought that Dick might have shown him that one already, since the child loved animals.

Logging into his Disney+ account, Clark decided to ask. “So, Damian,” the boy swiveled his head to face Clark as he spoke, “have you seen 101 Dalmatians?”

Damian looked intrigued. “No, I have not,” he answered.

“Really? Hm, I kinda thought Dick would have shown you that already. Well then, you’ll have to tell him we showed it to you. I think you’ll like it.”

Damian did like the movie. He did not like Cruella de Vil. In fact, Damian had shouted some very choice expletives at the tv on numerous occasions. Clark was very glad they had all been in Arabic. Though, Jon had most definitely heard choice words from Lois before.

After the movie, it was off to bed with the boys. Damian had not brought anything but his phone, so they fished out an extra toothbrush and Jon provided some pajamas. Clark asked Damian if he’d like his clothes laundered and Damian had accepted that offer. Clark had just returned from putting the clothes in the wash when he watched Damian follow Jon into his bedroom.

A lot of people used their guest room. Most of all, the Batkids used the guest room. But Damian was the only guest who didn’t.  

Chapter Text

To say Aziza’s life was weird would probably be an understatement. It had started with her accident that permanently disfigured her. She’d been in recovery for a very long time. She thanked the stars she had Kylar to help her get through things.

But ever since her accident, she’d seen some very strange things.

Like today, for instance. She’d been abducted by aliens. And she’d seen enough strange things she barely reacted to this one.

It seems the aliens were abducted people with abnormalities but specifically a hybrid sort of abnormal. For her, that would be explained by the metal bits and other technologies that was fused to various parts of her internal structure.

She didn’t know what that could be for the literal infant that was sharing a cell with her. Especially since said infant looked perfectly normal.

She supposed the alien abductors had deemed her a suitable caretaker for the baby. Maybe she was the only abductee or perhaps the only female abductee—she thought of a sexist joke Kylar would have found funny. Either way, the aliens wanted her to bring the baby—she’d named him Cuddlebug since he seemed to want close contact—to this atrium of sorts. Which was odd, because the second they arrived the aliens had ripped Cuddlebug from her arms.

And that’s when her life got a little bit weirder.

During her time in recovery, she watched a lot of tv. And Superman made a lot of appearances. She, like many others in the world, fell in love with their friendly neighborhood Kryptonian. Kylar had caught on and had started her collection of Superman merch. He’d even taken her on a week-long vacation to Metropolis so she could catch a glimpse of the Man of Steel. She’d been over the moon that she’d caught more than a glimpse and more than one. Superman was as symbol of hope to the entire world, but especially to her. The trip Kylar had taken her on to Metropolis had been her first glimpse of the outside world since her accident. It had inspired hope for her. She’d made it out of the recovery center. Sure, Kylar had to help her with her mobility aids and her medications, but she was getting a taste of freedom with the promise of more to come. Furthermore, Superman had lost so much, and she related to his story in a way. And he was all smiles and sunshine. It told her that one day, she could be too.

So to see Superman basically spawn into the atrium, snarling and growling, was definitely shocking.

Ah, Cuddlebug is an alien…

But honestly, it made him so much more human in her eyes, since he’d just been acting as a protective father trying to rescue his infant son.

Lois thought it was always very funny. Well, except for the first time… it had scared the shit out of her then.

Clark seemed to have this sixth sense when it came to Jon. He always knew right before Jon started whining or crying that they needed to tend to their baby. And when she said always, she meant always. Because she’d gotten to see, on many an occasion, Clark go from passed out somewhere—the couch, the bed, the floor, at the kitchen table, it didn’t matter—and suddenly float out of his napping position like a fucking sleeper agent and go take care of their son before the baby had a chance to make a sound.

The first time, they’d relaxed for what felt like the first time in months—it had only been four days—onto their bed, cuddled up under the sheets, watching tv before bed. Clark had passed out almost as soon as his head hit his pillow. Lois had thought it amusing in a bittersweet way—Clark had been an absolute MVP about the whole thing. He’d not slowed down at all. He’d Supermanned himself exhausted like usual, he’d run around extra for her chasing leads and running errands since she was still slow-moving after childbirth, and he’d always beat her out of bed to take care of Jon.

She’d made it halfway through the movie when he suddenly glided out of bed. He was always graceful when he flew, there was something to be said about air being Clark’s element, but this was different. He looked like he was on a conveyor belt or something the way he just tilted upwards out of bed and floated out of the room like the floor was doing all the work, despite him being a good four inches above it. She wasn’t sure he’d even opened his eyes.

“What the fuck?” She was scared. Clark had never acted like that. Except once, when he was mind controlled.

And then Clark was back in the doorway, cradling their son to his chest. “He’s hungry,” he murmured, voice thick with sleep.

Lois motioned for Clark to give her their child. “He didn’t even fuss?” she prompted.

Clark shrugged, leaning down to hand over their son. “I dunno. I just kinda knew.”

The second time it happened she caught it on video. And then she showed it to Clark when they were both more awake.

“What the heck?” he’d asked, confused as all get out.

“That’s what I said!” Clark raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, I said, ‘what the fuck?’ But same thing.”

Clark went to the Fortress about it. Turned out to be some Kryptonian parent instinct deeply ingrained in him. Lois called it his Superdad Instinct. He didn’t find it as funny as she did.

It was a very rushed morning. Lois had been out of town for a journalism conference and was trying to make it back home before Clark needed to leave to attend the regularly scheduled Justice League meeting. Unfortunately, her flight got delayed. And since she was not alone on this trip, she couldn’t call in her preferred method of travel, Superman Airlines.

She hoped Clark could figure out a babysitting arrangement. But Kara was out of the solar system and Jimmy was with Lois waiting on the plane. Bruce and Diana were going to be at the meeting. That left Ma and Pa Kent, who were on a much-needed vacation for the first time in maybe a decade, and in no way would Clark hand off Jon to them during that time. And Lois had made it very clear, in no uncertain terms, that her father was not to be left alone with their child—for a number of reasons ranging from her dad was terrible with kids to their child was half alien and she didn’t even want to think about what might happen.

When she finally did arrive back at home, the apartment was silent. And empty.

She didn’t panic. Clark could have taken Jon somewhere instead of bringing the babysitter to their apartment. She’d just text Clark to see.

Where is our child?

I have him

Wdym u have him?

I mean I have him

It was hard to tell over text, but she was pretty sure Clark wasn’t actually being snarky with that. The little typing bubbles appeared on her phone as Clark continued to explain.

He sent a selfie. Him in full costume with Jon strapped to his chest in a baby carrier. Jon was fast asleep, and Clark had the biggest smile on his face. Diana was in the background with a look of adoration on her face. Bruce was just… staring blankly, per usual.

It was the most precious picture she’d ever seen.

And it confirmed that Clark wasn’t being snarky. He didn’t smile like that when he was.

That’s so cute

I’ll see u both soon

Love you!

😘

“How was Jon’s first Justice League meeting?” Lois asked when Clark got home. She hadn’t even let his feet touch the ground.

Clark chuckled softly, hand placed gently on Jonathan’s back through the harness. “He did so good. He slept the whole time. And Barry and Hal didn’t wake him up, which was impressive.”

“Did you even tell the League you have a child?” Lois asked, knowing Clark was open with the League about who he was, but didn’t share unless asked. It was highly likely many Leaguers had no idea he was married, let alone had a child.

“No,” Clark admitted. “I honestly didn’t even think about it until I got there. Barry was the first to mention it. I think he figured things out, since Barry and Iris have met Jon.”

“I’m kind of surprised he didn’t put that together sooner.”

“Well, you know, sometimes there’s just bigger, more important things to figure out. And it was honestly past time I shared, anyway.”

“Bruce still hasn’t shared.”

“That means literally nothing.”

Lois chortled. “Very true. So what happened?”

“Well, I get there, right. And right before the doors open, I’m like, ‘ah, crap, I didn’t think this through entirely.’ Like, obviously, I considered safety and all that, but I’d forgotten that a lot of the League doesn’t know, and this would be a shock. And then I was like ‘okay, I can just act like nothing is unusual.’ I’m not the first Leaguer to bring their kid to work, you know. And if Batman can do it, so can I.”

“Right,” Lois nodded. “That tracks, makes sense.”

Clark nodded smartly. “And so, I just walked in and sat down, right. Bruce looked entirely nonplussed, like always. Diana was cooing and reached out to play with Jon’s hand before she realized he was asleep. And then it was very obvious that Hal and Barry and Oliver were just staring at me. And, you know, I felt like messing with them a little, so I asked, ‘what’s wrong?’

“And Hal looked like he was losing his crap mentally, Ollie looked a little impressed, and Barry was like, ‘uh, Supes… what’s with the baby?’” Lois was impressed, as always, by Clark’s incredibly accurate impressions.

“And so I looked down to Jon, and acted surprised. And I said, ‘oh my gosh, there’s a baby.’” Clark interrupted himself with his laughter. “And that’s about when you texted me, so I took a selfie, which confused the guys even more. Diana lost it and fell out of her chair laughing, which was great. I was trying so hard to keep it together because I didn’t want to wake the baby.

“And Batman was just like, ‘that’s Superbaby. Moving on.’”  

“Superbaby!” Lois wheezed, gently caressing the Superbaby’s head as she leaned into what she could of her husband’s chest.

Clark hummed before he continued. “And then Batman just started the meeting like nothing was unusual and everyone went along with it. Then when it was over, I told everyone he was Jon-El, my son, and that I needed to get him home before he woke up hungry, since I didn’t come with baby supplies.”

“You didn’t?” Lois asked, slightly taken aback that Clark hadn’t been prepared.

“No, Batman keeps some stock of a lot of different things. So like, if Jon needed to be changed, I’d have stuff in the Watchtower for that, because Batman’s prepared for everything. But if he was hungry, I would just need to leave. And I figured that was okay because I can fly really fast, you know.”

“Wow, I think that’s the most dad-coded thing you’ve done so far,” Lois mentioned, snickering to herself.

“What? Went somewhere without being completely prepared?”

“Yes.”

Clark shrugged. “I had a game plan.”

“And that is what makes it so dad-coded. You had a plan without supplies.”

“Hey!” Clark protested. “It worked out! I didn’t even need to execute the backup.”

“But you did use our infant son as an excuse to leave quickly.”

“Well, that’s just the introvert in me.” They both laughed. A little too loudly, since it woke the baby. “He’s been in this harness for a while,” Clark mentioned, moving to extract the child.

“Does he need a change?”

Clark shook his head. “No, he’s hungry, probably.” He handed her Jon. “Here. Speaking of changing, I probably should.”

“You’re just going to make me feed our child?” Lois asked, faking offense.

“Well,” Clark pointedly looked at her chest, “you’re the one with the right equipment.”

Lois faked a gasp of outrage. “I can’t believe you!” she managed, before bursting out laughing, scaring the newly awake baby. “Oh, aww! Jonno, it’s okay! I’m sorry I scared you,” she soothed.

Clark chuckled as he walked into their bedroom to change.

Lois had long stopped being able to count on her hands how many times she’d walked in on Clark looking like a five-course meal as he manspreaded across the bed in nothing but his boxers.

But something about the baby curled up on his chest napping with him made him look even more incredible and attractive.

She immediately took a picture. Then she curled up in Clark’s free arm. She smiled as she felt him unconsciously wrap his arm around her waist.

Chapter Text

Before they started trying for a baby, Lois had some deeply rooted fears about being a mother. She had lost hers at a young age and the General had never remarried, so Lois had never had a mother figure until Martha Kent essentially adopted her (which was well before Clark asked her to marry him).

Luckily, she had an excellent support system. But what really convinced her that she wanted a child was Clark. She’d seen him interact with kids often enough. And she knew he wanted a child of his own. But that wasn’t it. It was just Clark. He was so good and kind. Lois knew almost instinctively that he would make an amazing father.

But the first time she got pregnant, she was scared at first. But then Clark was right beside her looking like she’d just hung the moon, and everything was perfect. And then it was crushing for both of them when they lost their baby. But that moment also taught her that she really did want this. There had been no relief when it happened. In a very odd way, she felt reassured that this is really what she wanted. Which, in turn, helped her feel like she was finally ready.

And their journey to get pregnant was rough. They lost a lot. But then they finally succeeded and welcomed Jonathan Samuel into their lives. And Lois had been so happy. And to make everything so much better, Clark couldn’t stop smiling for the entire week after Jon was born. He even had a gentle smile in his sleep, what little of it they got.

Lois was expecting the adjustment to life with a newborn to be a little rougher than it was. But there were still moments where she felt that she was underprepared to be a mother. Fortunately, she had Clark right there beside her, and that made things feel less daunting and scary.

But today was the first time she was handling Jon alone. Clark had finally started easing back into his Superman duties—Kara had been a lifesaver by taking on more of Clark’s duties during a sort of paternity leave—and was currently in a Justice League meeting at the watchtower, in Earth’s orbit.

They’d planned for this, though. Clark specifically asked for this meeting to be during Jon’s naptime. And Bruce had moved the schedule around to accommodate for this.

But there must be something in those Kryptonian genes of Jon’s because he seemed to know his father wasn’t nearby. And boy was he unhappy about it. Lois tried everything she could think of and then some things Google told her to do that she hadn’t already tried. Nothing was working. And Lois was in a panic. Or maybe it was more of a meltdown. Either way, she and Jon seemed to be on the same wavelength—they both needed Papa Bear to come home asap.

And Lois heard the telltale woosh of Clark returning home, well before he was due to, before she could try to call him home. It was mildly comforting to know that Clark had been keeping an ear out for them—maybe if she hadn’t been mid-meltdown she would have appreciated this more.

She heard Clark rustling about in the kitchen. She got a little irritated by this. She’d already tried to feed their son; she doubted Jon was just… refusing food from his mother.

But then Clark appeared in the doorway. He looked exhausted. He’d clearly worked himself into a tizzy due to the commotion in their apartment.

But he was not holding a bottle or a newly opened pacifier or even a wet paper towel.

No. He was holding cheese. Cheap, fake American cheese.

And before she could even say anything at all, he threw the cheese—gently—onto Jon’s face.

The effect was immediate. Jon stopped crying. His eyes widened in surprise, and he seemed to be completely bamboozled for a moment before he started giggling. Then the giggles turned into full blown laughter.

Lois, wide-eyed, turned to face Clark. He looked just as surprised as she did.

“Oh wow, that actually worked,” he mumbled.

Lois started to laugh, almost hysterical. “You—what?”

He looked so ridiculous standing there, in full Superman costume, with his shoulders slumped and his body language screaming fatigue, and a shocked expression giving way to relief.

Clark turned to face her, relieved grin present on his face. “I saw it on a reel once. I figured you’d tried everything, so I thought I would give it a try.” He’d said this with a small shrug, almost as if he was mildly embarrassed that he’d been desperate enough to give it a shot.

Jon was still laughing. And there was something so beautiful about a baby’s laugh. Lois moved closer so she could lean against Clark. They stood there, enjoying the moment. And the way Jon kept laughing, with some squeals mixed in, told Lois that Clark was making faces at their son.

It was really the moments like these, where all the problems had been solved, where she felt good. And their son’s laughter made her feel fearless.

Chapter Text

Conner wasn’t always over at the Lane-Kent apartment, but it did happen sometimes. He missed the old apartment. It was smaller and a little homier, but most importantly, it didn’t have a baby.

It’s not that Conner didn’t like Baby Jonathan, it’s just that the whole situation made Conner a little uncomfortable.

Conner had never been a baby himself. He also wasn’t that much older than Little Jonathan. So it was weird.

It was also even weirder that he wasn’t supposed to use his powers around Baby Jonathan because Lois and Clark wanted the kid to have as normal a childhood as possible with an alien father and aunt, a mostly-alien half-brother, and being a half-alien himself.

Which, when he thought of it that way, was totally fair.

But Conner still didn’t know how to act around little kids. And honestly, it had been easier when Jonathan was an actual baby because he was oblivious to Conner’s awkwardness.

Though, now that Jonathan was a toddler, he still didn’t seem to care that Conner was awkward. Especially since the little squirt had wandered into Conner’s room—or, well, the guest room that served as Conner’s room when he was in Metropolis.

“Con-new,” Jonathan was babbling. “I wawah prrltay wiff doa truunie an’ doa deenno-sawwy.”

Conner was silent, not sure what he was supposed to do. He did sink off the bed and onto the floor, though. Jonathan tumbled into Conner’s arm with a cheery giggle.

“Con-new!” the tot screeched. “truunie an’ deenno-sawwy!”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Conner told the child honestly. Reaching with one hand to run a finger lightly over Jonathan’s small fist. Jonathan took the bait and quickly wrapped his small hand around Conner’s proffered finger. He shook it wildly, excited at the contact, apparently. Maybe Conner wasn’t so bad with kids.

“Prrltay wiff me,” Jonathan tried to explain.

“You want me to… play with you?” Conner asked.

Jonathan’s smile doubled in brilliance—that was Clark’s sun-smile alright—and he giggled brightly. “Yeah! Wiff truunie an’ deenno-sawwy!”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Conner repeated.

Jonathan sighed like an old CEO exasperated that his receptionist hadn’t cleared his schedule like he’d asked.

“Can you go get the toys?” Conner suggested.

“No!” Jonathan screeched suddenly, volume making Conner wince. “Day on doa toffp sheff an’ I cann week dem.”

“…Clark!?” Conner called, seeing Jonathan was closed to tears.

Clark didn’t take long to poke his head in the room. “What’s up?”

Jonathan turned at the sound of his father’s voice. “Da!”

“Hey, Jonno,” Clark cooed.

“Da, I wawah prrltay wiff doa truunie an’ doa deenno-sawwy. Buhta day on doa toffp sheff an’ I cann week dem.”

“Oh, okay. Well, hang on.” Clark ducked out of the room for a moment before returning with a brightly colored train and a toy T-Rex that looked exactly like the one from Toy Story. “Here you go!” he cheered softly to Jonathan as he knelt down to hand the small boy the toys.

“Yay! Truunie an’ deenno-sawwy!” Jonathan immediately plopped his rear on the ground and started to play some made-up game with the toys.

Conner looked up at Clark in awe. “How... What?”

Clark chuckled softly, watching Jonathan for a moment before looking up at Conner. “Trainy and Dinosaury,” he translated. “We put them up last night to vacuum but the shelf is out of Jon’s reach.”

“And he was telling you that?” Conner asked.

“Trying to, at least. Words are still a little hard,” Clark answered, making Conner feel a lot better. “When you’re around him all the time, you learn to speak his language.”

“Con-new!” Jonathan shouted, slamming the T-Rex, Dinosaury, onto his leg. “Prrltay!”

Conner grabbed the T-Rex right when Jonathan released it. “Oh!” He glanced up at Clark.

“Play,” he translated again.

Conner felt slightly embarrassed because he’d already figured that one out but had forgotten in his awkwardness. “Right. Uh, how?”

Clark shrugged, standing up. “Make something up. And if he corrects you, it’s probably because he just made up another story line or something. You really can’t mess it up.”

“Okay,” Conner breathed, focusing back on Jonathan as he was playing with the train. “Rawr!” he started. Jonathan giggled wildly. Seems he was on the right track.

Babysitting was usually a lot easier when the baby was asleep. And Kara usually managed to keep Jonathan down for a nice long nap while Lois and Clark required her to be on duty.

Today was the exception, apparently.

“An’ Kiwi?” Jonathan asked, holding his blanket and rubbing his eyes like a scene from a Disney movie.

Truthfully, Kara had never enjoyed her name being butchered but something about the way Jonathan called her Kiwi made her day every time. “Yeah, buddy?” she asked, reaching to pull him into her lap.

Rao, she loved this kid. And if he helped her healing process? Well, wasn’t that just dandy. But it did, honestly. Jonathan was just enough like Kal for her to pretend it was her little baby cousin she was watching, just like she had been supposed to. But, at the end of the day, when she didn’t want to be in charge anymore, she had the ability to pawn little baby over to Kal himself. It was a win-win situation. And anytime she felt a little guilty using this cute hybrid child as her healing mechanism, she remembered that Jonathan was healing for Kal, too. And also probably Lois.

“Bjou bwim flummy rnden cow louw,” he mumbled sleepily.

There was no way she was translating that. Her English was just a little less a work-in-progress that Jonathan’s was, in all honesty (Kal disagreed, but whatever). “Kaaaaalllll!” she called, flopping back onto the couch, dragging a giggling Jonathan with her.

“What?” came his whispered response from three cities away.

“Vokai, sokao,” she requested of her cousin. Turning to her nephew, she asked, “Can you say that again for me, us?”

“Bjou bwim flummy rnden cow louw,” Jonathan graciously repeated, snuggling closer to his Auntie Kiwi.

“He’s saying, ‘you can’t go sleepy without cuddle,’” Kal translated, with way more sass than strictly necessary. It wasn’t Kara’s fault she didn’t understand toddler-speak.

“Kyth!” Kara swore under her breath, dutifully ignoring Kal’s protests to such language—it wasn’t like she was swearing in English! Kal himself didn’t speak much Kryptonian, so what did he care? “Khap tulem uhlzon zhod?” she asked, rather petulantly—though she was kindly using basic words that Kal was sure to know. Was it a butchered translation? Yes. But, again, Kal hardly knew much Kryptonian. It would be up to him to put the puzzle together.

“Zhi,” Kal answered, exasperation evident. “Gehd nim goah osh rrip.”

“I kryptahniuo nahn dol,” Kara complained to him, about him.  

“Khahp kehp voiehd raozh,” he grumbled.

“Skilor rrup,” she bid farewell.

“Zhi, skilor rrip,” he returned.

During her entire conversation with Kal, she’d been holding little Jonathan to her while also rubbing a hand down his back in slow, methodical gestures. Looking down at him, she was pleased to find that he was asleep. Maybe listening to your aunt make fun of your father in a very foreign language served as a lullaby? She didn’t much care, either way. What she did care about was not waking the baby. And that’s how she ended up falling asleep on the couch.

It wasn’t often that Lois and Clark had to bring Jonathan to work, but it did occasionally happen. And it was even less often that they had to leave Jonathan in the care of someone else. There were two occasions Jonathan was left napping in Perry White’s office—if anyone saw Perry acting like a proud, doting grandfather, no one mentioned it—and three occasions where Jimmy was put in charge of watching Jonathan for a little while.

“I wanbna swee druh pihctah, Dimmdy!” Jonathan babbled, hands pressing into Jimmy’s upper leg while also pushing his face into Jimmy’s shirt.

“I know, kiddo,” Jimmy soothed.

“Dimmdy, I wanbna swee druh pihctah!” Jonathan repeated.

“I know, kiddo,” Jimmy also repeated.

“I wanbna swee druh pihctah, Dimmdy!” Jonathan said a third time, whine apparent in his tone.

“I don’t know, kiddo,” Jimmy admitted. “I don’t know what you mean!”

Fortunately for Jimmy, Clark was back in the office. Unfortunately for Jimmy, he’d heard at least part of the conversation and found it funny. He stopped by the desk, chuckling at the situation.

“C.K., I don’t understand,” Jimmy whined.

“He wants to see your picture,” Clark explained, still chuckling softly. “Right, Jonno?”

“Dah!” Jonathan agreed, before turning to his father. “Da!”

Jimmy could have sworn he said the same thing twice, though. Only Jonathan’s nod with the first annunciation helped differentiate for Jimmy.

“That’s right, buddy!” Clark cheered, helping Jimmy further understand the difference between what Jonathan had said, “I’m back!” Clark had kneeled down and brought his hands up to Jonathan’s middle. The kid was so tiny that one of his dad’s hands could envelope most of his little torso. Why Clark needed both was probably because of little kids’ habits of squirming. “Will Jimmy show you the pictures?” Clark asked, also reminding Jimmy of what Jonathan had been trying to ask himself.

“Yeah, here,” Jimmy offered, scooting away from his computer a little. Clark effortlessly lifted Jonathan into the air so he could see the computer screen.

“Woooowwww,” Jonathan drawled, eyes wide in delight. It was Jimmy’s most recent picture of Superman. And since Lois especially loved buying Jonathan Superman-themed things, Jimmy had no doubt that the munchkin had an idea of who he was seeing. “Supa-mam!” Jonathan observed excitedly, confirming Jimmy’s theory.

“That’s right!” Clark confirmed, just as excited as his son—the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as Clark might say—before pressing a kiss to his son’s temple.

“Is it just a parent thing to speak toddler fluently?” Jimmy asked as Clark stood up and adjusted Jonathan to where the child was seated on Clark’s forearm.

Clark nodded. “It is specific to the parents’ child, though. I wouldn’t be of any help translating another kid’s babbling. Well, okay, maybe I’d be better than someone who doesn’t have kids yet, but you get the idea.”

“Parents speak a specific dialect of baby-speak but could use what they know to potentially cross-reference other dialects of baby-speak,” Jimmy concluded.

Clark laughed, loud and clear, which also made Jonathan giggle. “Yes, that sounds about right.” He turned to Jonathan and gently grabbed the boy’s wrist to start waving it. “Say bye-bye to Jimmy,” he instructed.

The kid quickly realized what was being asked of him and started waving his hand without his father’s assistance. “Bye-bye, Dimmdy!”

“Bye-bye, Jonny,” Jimmy returned, also waving.

Clark smiled in farewell and turned to leave. Little Jonathan shifted in his father’s grasp and started waving goodbye with his other hand.

“Bye-bye, Dimmdy!” he repeated, louder now that he was being moved away.

“Bye!” Jimmy called back, waving a final time before turning back to his computer, smile on his face.

Chapter Text

Lois would never once have thought that she would be the type of mom who was worried about her kid’s first day of school, yet here she was. She still didn’t believe it, really. She had expected Clark to be the nervous wreck.

At least she wasn’t completely wrong about how things were currently going.

Her baby had just turned five and was now starting kindergarten. And the first day preparations had her wondering if they should just figure out a homeschooling curriculum. They could figure something out. They could set something up at the Planet. She and Clark shared an office, so Jon could study in there. And they had plenty of interns, so maybe they could set up a rotation of them to help guide Jon through the different materials and—and wow, she was spiraling in ways she hadn’t since confronting her attraction to and love for Clark.

There was something about her boys that caused her to act outside her usual behaviors.

She shook her head.

She and Clark had both done a good job of hyping up school for Jon. They didn’t want their son to see their worries and harbor his own worries because of it. Fortunately for them, Jon seemed to take after Lois in that sense more than he did Clark. If he didn’t have any reason to worry, chances were, Jon wouldn’t, just like his mama (very unlike his papa).

Jon had been so excited when they’d brought him to the store and let him pick out his lunchbox and his backpack and his pencil case and his notebook (that both she and Clark seriously doubted would get much use) and his sketchbook and his crayons, colored pencils, markers, and paints. He’d almost looked like a kid in a candy store (all that was missing was the candy) the way he bounced between the shelves picking out the kindergarten stationary.

The newspaperwoman in Lois couldn’t be more proud. And if the look on Clark’s face was anything to go by—as it usually was, since Clark wore his heart on his sleeve—Clark was feeling the same, as a newspaperman himself.

Jon’s excitement during that moment helped soothe Lois’ anxieties. She also hung onto the memory of Jon helping Clark pick out the first day of school outfit.

Lois wasn’t sure how or when, but they’d apparently instilled in Jon that first impressions mattered. So Jon insisted on wearing his Sunday best. Lois had laughed herself silly, quietly and to herself, when Jon insisted that he wear his khakis and a button-down shirt, with a belt and his little leather shoes.

Clark, pausing to give their son an utterly bewildered look, softly asked if Jon would also like to wear a clip-on bowtie.

Jon had lit up when Clark asked that. “Yes!” he had shouted, jumping excitedly. “Yes, Papa! That would be great!” He’d lunged forward and hugged Clark’s leg—he was getting big enough that this move was starting to be awkward for Clark—and looked up the length of his father’s large, long body. “Please, Papa? Can I?”

Clark had laughed, low and deep in his throat. “How can I say no to that?” Clark had returned, running a hand through Jon’s unruly curls.

Jon buried his face in Clark’s hip at this answer, squealing in excitement.

Clark hadn’t tried to get Jon to bed that night, just let Jon flitter around the apartment until he exhausted himself. Which, of course, he did about twenty minutes later, when he collapsed against Clark’s shoulder while trying to figure out what he wanted to have for lunch the next day.

Lois had finished packing lunch while Clark tucked their son in bed.

She didn’t think she’d ever get over how amazing a father Clark was, is.

That soothed her nerves, too. She could hear Clark talking with Jon as he made sure Jon did all the morning routine steps.

“Did you brush your teeth?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you get your tongue, too?”

A long pause.

Clark sighed. “Go rinse with mouthwash.”

The scramble of little feet, the dull thud of plastic hitting cheap cabinet, the small splash of a mouthful of mouthwash being spat into the sink, and finally, the soft run of water rinsing the mouthwash away.

“Good. Thank you. Now, socks.”

The small grunt of Jon folding himself onto the ground to put on the socks he’d picked out the day before.

“Where’s my tie, Papa?”

“Right. Hang on.”

The shuffle of clothes against clothes.

“Finish putting your shoes on, then I’ll help you with this.”

Lois tuned them out as she finished packing Jon’s backpack for him. She had the thought to write Jon a note when she saw that Clark already had. She smiled as she read the neat handwriting before scrawling a ‘+ Mom’ under Clark’s signoff of ‘-Dad’ as she figured Clark had intended for her to sign it herself.

“Mama! Mama!”

The patter of small, now shoed, feet echoed louder as Jon excitedly found her.

“How do I look?” he asked, giving her a dashing smile as he turned to give her the full view of his outfit.

He looked adorable. Her little businessman, all ready to make his first impressions on his first day of school. “You look dashing, Jon.”

Jon glowed. “Papa! Mama said I’m dashing!”

Clark entered the kitchen at a much slower pace. “You are,” he agreed. “Are you ready for school?”

Jon gasped. “Where’s my backpack?”

“Right here,” Lois answered, zipping the lunchbox inside it and pulling it off the counter for Jon to take. “Lunch is inside it with everything else.”

“C’mon, kiddo, go by the window,” Clark instructed. “Let’s take some first day of school pictures.” Because of course Clark would want pictures. “Have to send them to Ma and Pa back on the farm.”

Jon was quite the little model as he posed for Ma and Pa. He sweetly asked if Clark would ask Ma and Pa to rate his poses, so he would know which ones to use later.

Lois almost choked on her water when Jon said that. He was a smart kid and definitely understood his Papa’s desire for pictures.

He would be fine at school.

Clark was beside himself. He was trying his hardest to hide it. He was pretty sure Jon was oblivious. But he knew Lois was seeing right through him.

His baby was starting school.

Clark was terrified.

What if he struggles to make friends? Neither Clark nor Lois had the best track record of making friends in school. What if their combined friendless school years put Jon at a disadvantage? Was that a genetic possibility?

What if the other kids thought Jon was weird? Again, both Lois and Clark had a bad track record for this. Lois was always the rebel, out on the edges because she didn’t want to conform. Clark was an alien, and therefore, legitimately weird and odd, and seemed to possess something that distinctly off, particularly in his youth. What if Jon had the same weirdness and Clark and Lois hadn’t realized because it was normal to them?

What if Jon suddenly, randomly developed superpowers in the middle of the day in front of everyone? This was, probably, the most realistic of Clark’s fears. This was the most likely to actually happen.

He tried to calm his anxieties by thinking rationally. Clark had gone to a very small school; Jon’s chances of making friends was statistically higher because of the larger population of kids to befriend. This also helped the chances of Jon being perceived as normal. There was a larger amount of people, more weird niches to be represented, which meant it was less likely that any weirdness Jon might possess would be noticed. Further to that point, Jon was going to stay at this school and not bounce from school to school like Lois had, since his parents weren’t base hopping. Also, Lois and Clark, though still weird in their own ways, were less weird than they were as children, so Jon was seeing some fairly normal parents, therefore, his chances of being weird because his parents are was less likely.

It was the spontaneous powers Clark couldn’t shove out of his brain. It could happen. They didn’t know what to expect with Jon’s powers. They didn’t know if he would have any or if he did, which ones, or would he get them all? How powerful would he be? There was so much they didn’t know. And Clark knew that was okay. That’s how he was raised, after all. But Clark was still worried.

He tried to distract himself by helping Jon get ready. They’d picked out the outfit the night before. He and Lois were a little confused where Jon had gotten the idea to dress to impress, but it was a very good idea, so they weren’t going to stop him.

Clark had been beside himself with cuteness overload as Jon got ready that morning. And Ma’s responses to the pictures he’d taken showed that it wasn’t just him and Lois who felt this way.

Jon’s school was about halfway between their apartment and the Daily Planet. Location had been the least important decision for them, so it was truly a blessing that things had worked out this way. Their priorities had been to find something that worked with their work hours, was in their budget, and had a good reputation for curriculum. Bonus points for being on the way to work.

Lois held his hand the entire way to Jon’s school. It was probably the only thing keeping his thoughts at bay by this point. The closer they got to the school, the more nervous Clark became. Which was odd, since it wasn’t like it was his first day of school.

He was doing pretty okay as he watched Jon skip down the sidewalk just in front of him and Lois. Jon was so excited.

Until he wasn’t.

They were just outside of the school when Jon froze. He just stopped and stood completely still. Clark immediately kneeled down to his son’s level.

“What’s wrong, Jonno?”

“This is it?” he asked, voice small.

“Yeah, buddy,” Clark confirmed, resting a hand on Jon’s shoulder.

Jon tightened his grip on his backpack straps. “Okay.” He didn’t move.

“You ready?” Lois asked, also kneeling to be level with Jon.

“Yeah,” Jon answered, unconvincingly.

“Hey, it’s okay to be nervous,” Clark soothed, pressing a kiss to Jon’s temple. “That’s completely normal. This is a new experience. But it’ll be fun.”

“That’s right. Your Papa was a total nerd when he was your age. Absolutely loved school,” Lois joked, ribbing Clark for Jon’s sake, not that Clark ever minded.

“What about you, Mama?” Jon asked.

“I loved school, too, but I liked it a lot more when I was older because when I was young, my dad had us moving around a lot because of his job. It was hard for me to make friends when I was only there for like two months. But you won’t have that problem, so it’ll be so much more fun for you than it was for me. You’ll be just like your Papa, I know it.”

Clark’s heart scrambled. He had loved learning and being in class, but he hadn’t necessarily loved schoolbecause of everything else. Lois knew this. But trying to explain that to Jon now wouldn’t do any good. It would go over his head, and he would probably become more nervous.

“I know you’re gonna have fun, Jon,” Clark agreed.

Jon smiled, finally. “Okay, let’s go,” he decided, finally stepping toward the school, head held high.

He’s so much like his mother, Clark thought with a smile. It helped calm his nerves.

Jon had been excited until he’d seen the school. Until that moment, the idea of starting school had seemed so foreign and abstract that he hadn’t been really thinking about it at all. But seeing the building made it real in a way he hadn’t expected. And his stomach had dropped, his throat went dry, and he couldn’t move.

His Papa’s big, warm, strong hand on his shoulder helped calm him a little. He liked it when his Papa held him; he always felt like nothing could happen to him when he was with Papa. The kiss Papa pressed to his head helped, too. Papa was safe.

And Mama’s words were really nice and encouraging. Knowing his parents knew exactly what he was feeling helped him feel less scared. It was normal and everyone else would be feeling the same, because if his parents had felt this, everyone felt it. Jon knew this was true because his parents were fearless.

So he held his head high like Mama did and he took steps forward. His parents followed after him, letting him lead.

And Jon was absolutely fine. The nerves had gone away.

Until his parents left.

Then the nerves returned full force.

Even the still-warm memory of his father’s hug couldn’t keep the nerves at bay.

They’d stayed with him all the way until he had settled into his desk. They’d walked him through the front doors, navigated the halls with him until they found his classroom, and they followed him through the room as he’d looked for his assigned desk. Papa had reached down and helped him take off his backpack and get out all the school supplies Mama and Papa had packed up the night before. Mama had helped him organize the different supplies in the small opening of the desk. That was right when the teacher arrived. Ms. Samo, she called herself. She shook both Papa and Mama’s hands before kneeling down to be at eye-level with Jon.

She had smiled at him and said, “You must be Jonathan. I love your outfit! It’s very dapper.”

He’d have to ask Papa later, when the teacher wasn’t around, what dapper meant. Papa was usually better than Mama when it came to word meanings. “Thank you,” he’d replied shyly, trying to fight the urge to get up and hide behind Papa’s legs. “Um, I go by Jon.”

Ms. Samo smiled again and nodded. “Alright, Jon. It might take me a little while to remember that, since I have to remember a lot of names at once. Please keep reminding me until I get it right.”

Jon nodded. “Okay.”

Ms. Samo rose to talk to Mama and Papa. “It was nice to meet you both. You can stay a little longer or you are free to go, it is up to you. Have a nice day!” Then she’d walked off, but not before Papa could echo her farewell.

Then Mama and Papa were at Jon’s level, wishing him luck and telling him to have fun. And suddenly he didn’t want them to leave at all. He’d scrambled out of the seat and into Papa’s chest. Mama cooed and Papa just wrapped his strong arms around Jon and pressed kisses in his hair.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, Jon,” Papa had said. “You’re going to have so much fun. And then you get to come home and tell Mama and me all about it.”

Jon nodded, still pressing himself into Papa’s chest.

Papa had let Jon stay there for only a moment. It wasn’t very hard for Papa to pull Jon off of him, though. Despite all of Jon’s efforts to stay attached.

“Hey, we’ll go get ice cream after, okay?” Papa suggested, gentle smile on his face.

Jon had nodded and glanced at Mama, who nodded with her own gentle smile.

Both Mama and Papa had kissed his hair when he sat back down at his desk. “We love you,” the whispered in unison.

He knew that.

They left.

And he was scared. And he was trying not to cry because he was five years old. He was too old to cry.

But he wanted to cry because Mama and Papa left him in this strange new place, and he just wanted to curl up between his parents and watch a movie. And eat ice cream.

“Hi!”

Jon startled, looking to his right. There was a kid there. Jon hadn’t noticed that his parents had left, too.

“Hi,” Jon repeated.

“I’m Levi!”

“Jon.”

“Are you excited about school?”

Jon shrugged. “I miss my parents.”

“Aw,” Levi looked down, a little sad himself, “me too. But!” he brightened immediately, “it won’t be too long before we go home.”

“You’re not scared?” Jon asked.

“Not really. My brother and sister love school.”

Jon would have to ask Conner about school, then. He hadn’t thought about that. “Oh. I should talk to my brother, then.”

“You have an older brother, too?” Levi asked.

“Um, sort of. Yeah,” Jon answered. He knew Conner wasn’t like normal older brothers, but he wasn’t sure how it was different. Was it that Conner was way older?

“Is he like really old and doesn’t live at home anymore?” Levi asked.

“Yeah,” Jon replied. He still didn’t think that was the right answer, but it was close enough.

He didn’t realize he wasn’t nervous anymore as he kept talking with Levi before class started.

Clark had been out Supermanning when it was time to collect Jon. Fortunately, things wrapped up in perfect time, so he texted Lois that he was going to get their son.

For the first few weeks, it was school policy to go to the classroom to pick up the child. So Clark wandered the halls, retracing their earlier path to Jon’s classroom.

There was a small line of parents outside of it. He waited his turn to get Jon.

“Papa!” Jon greeted, large smile on his face.

“Hey, kiddo!” Clark greeted. “How was your first day?”

“Good! Can we get ice cream now?”

Clark laughed. “I think Mama would be really upset if we got some without her.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re probably right,” Jon admitted, not looking phased.

Jon babbled about his new friend, Levi, while they walked out of the school. When they got past the school’s gate, Clark bent down and scooped Jon up. Jon giggled and wrapped his arms around Clark’s neck. He didn’t stop telling Clark about Levi.

“Wait,” Jon interrupted himself mid-sentence. “Papa, what’s dapper mean?”

“Neat and stylish,” Clark answered, trying not to use words that Jon wouldn’t understand yet or go too in-depth. Lois often made fun of the way Clark could rattle off the dictionary definition of a word when asked.

“I’m dapper!” Jon exclaimed.

Clark chuckled and kissed Jon’s cheek. “You definitely are dapper.”

That’s when they arrived at the Planet. Jon switched to his inside voice without being asked, something that made Clark very proud. He was now babbling about what ice cream flavors he might want and telling Clark all about how they should watch a movie later before bed.

Clark promised that they could.

Jon declared they would snuggle.

Clark would never say no to that.

“Mama!” Jon called when they arrived at Lois and Clark’s office.

Lois looked up from her notes. “Hey, baby! How was your first day?”

“Good! I made a friend. His name is Levi. And we did arts and crafts today and I made a family tree. I put you, Papa, Ma, Pa, Gramps, Conner, Aunt Kara, and Aunt Lucy on it. And then we made name tags for our desks. And I made mine Batman-themed!”

Jon continued on his day’s debrief. When he was done, Clark pulled a coloring book out of his desk and handed it to Jon, who took it eagerly. Clark then rummaged around Lois’ drawer to find the colored markers for Jon to use.

Sometime about an hour later, Jimmy swung by the office to say hello to his favorite nephew. He entertained Jon until Lois and Clark were ready to leave for the day.

Clark and Lois had Jon pick where they would eat. He chose the Asian place that had been a favorite of Lois and Clark for years. Lois was surprised when Clark murmured in her ear that they hadn’t taken Jon here before.

He was certainly in for a delight, then.

After dinner, they went to the ice cream shop that was closest to their apartment. Jon loaded up on sugar, of course, and spoke rapidly about his first day of school—frequently repeating himself—and informing them what Ms. Samo had said they were going to do tomorrow.

As Clark had promised, they settled on the couch to watch a movie. Lois had made the executive decision that they had to be ready for bed before movie time, though. Jon complained until Clark stage whispered to him that pajamas made for comfier snuggles. After that, Jon was off to the shower. Clark, being five-years wizened to the joys of fatherhood, rushed off to his own shower. And Clark returned in his pajamas with damp curls right when Jon declared himself done. And, of course, Clark had to make sure their son had actually used soap.

Lois took her own, slower, shower while Clark helped Jon into his pajamas and brush his teeth and pick out tomorrow’s outfit. Lois was comfortably settled into the couch just in time to see Jon scamper into the living room. Clark, naturally, followed at a slow pace. His long legs let him keep up easily.

Jon was bouncing around the coffee table while Clark settled himself on the couch, immediately wrapping an arm around Lois, inviting her to claim her spot on half of Clark’s chest. This was Jon’s sign to consume Clark’s available side.

Jon was out after thirty minutes. Lois and Clark noticed and turned the volume down so he wouldn’t be disturbed.

“How was Jon’s first day of school for you?” Lois asked, pressing a kiss to Clark’s jawline.

Clark hummed. “Terrifying at first. But I kept tabs on him for a while after he left. Levi really helped him settle in.”

Lois snickered. “I knew you would do that.”

Clark shrugged the shoulder she was leaning on. “I couldn’t help it. I was worried.”

“I know. But you being chill helped me feel better, so I can’t judge.”

“Wow, you were nervous, too?”

“Probably not for the reasons you were,” Lois answered, knowing Clark’s tendency to catastrophize sometimes.

“Probably.” They sat in silence for a while, watching the movie. “I’m glad his first day went well.”

“Yeah,” Lois breathed. “Me too.”

After another beat passed, Clark mentioned, “We should probably put him to bed and pack his things for tomorrow.”

Lois patted Clark’s chest as she sat up. “Yep, that’s a good idea.” She kissed him sweetly before leaning down to kiss Jon’s forehead. “You handle that one, and I’ll handle lunch.”

“It’s a plan.”

Ten minutes later, they put themselves to bed, too.

Lois loved watching her son interact with his father. She loved the moments where they all snuggled as a family. But she would be lying if she denied that her favorite snuggles were when she had Clark all to herself.

Chapter Text

Jon’s first Halloween had technically been before he was born. Lois and Clark had dressed up as avocado toast for the office Halloween party, and the baby bump that was Jon had been Lois’ avocado pit. Cat had thought it was the most amazing and genius pregnant couple’s costume ever.

When Jon was a couple months old, Lois and Clark had scrolled through Amazon Baby Halloween costumes and found a soft looking corn blanket they could wrap Jon in. It was adorable. And since they matched their own costumes with Jon’s, both Lois and Clark went full farmer at the office party.

When Jon was a year old, Lois and Clark found a cute little pirate costume, randomly, at a boutique they were in while Lois’ was dress shopping for some event or another. It wasn’t hard to find adult pirate costumes either. It was fairly basic of them, but it didn’t stop them from having fun with it.

When Jon was two, Clark had begged Lois to let him get Jon an R2-D2 costume. Lois agreed as long as Clark would go as Chewbacca. It didn’t deter Clark nearly as much as Lois thought it would. He had laughed himself off the couch in pure glee. Lois got a generic stormtrooper costume to match the theme, even if they weren’t a couple’s costume that year.

When Jon was three, Lois and Clark once again scrolled for ideas. They found an adorable dinosaur costume that they knew Jon would love. Lois and Clark dressed up like archeologists. This was the first year they took Jon trick-or-treating. He ran around shouting, “Rawr!” a lot. And later, Lois and Clark found that a lot of Jon’s Halloween candy… went missing after they’d put him to bed. They hoped he was too young to notice.

When Jon was four, Lois ran across the cutest little Superman costume on the face of the Earth. She bought it immediately. She knew Clark wouldn’t like it, but she was confident she could convince him. As predicted, Clark wasn’t a huge fan. Until Jon came running out, pretending to fly, proudly wearing the red and blue. Lois had wished she was videoing the moment. Clark had melted. There was something about Jon wearing the Crest of the House of El that was just right. And Clark couldn’t help but fall in love with his family all over again. Lois thought it was funny that Clark was still flushed pink the entire night as he helped guide Jon up to each front door. She would never understand why Clark was embarrassed.

The next year, when Jon was five, Conner brought a costume for Jon. It was a little punk rocker costume. Lois had loved it, and Clark had belly laughed when he’d seen it. Conner took Jon trick-or-treating that year. And Lois and Clark had gone to the office Halloween party for the first time in years; they went as Hercules and Megara.

When Jon was six, Dick had kindly babysat Jon in early October and had convinced Jon to be Robin for Halloween. It was a relatively homemade costume that year, but Jon had loved it. And Dick had found the excuse to take a night off Gotham to go trick-or-treating with Jon. Clark and Lois had shamelessly dressed up as Batman and Catwoman to match. Dick had cackled and sent pictures to Bruce, who never responded. But they’d later found the photo framed on Bruce’s family and friends wall.

The following year, Kara brought a Nightwing costume. In theme with the vigilante, Jon constantly did cartwheels—since it was the only remotely acrobatic skill he could do as a (normal) seven-year-old—the entire night. Kara and Jon had put their heads together to create a little routine Jon could do. The trick earned him a lot of treats.

When Jon was eight, he picked his own costume for the first time. He picked Batman, since he was Jon’s favorite superhero. Lois and Clark wondered if it would be rude or mean to Bruce if they were to dress up as Thomas and Marth Wayne. When Bruce found out—neither Lois nor Clark knew how—he gave Lois a string of pearls, which they took as permission. Two months later, they found that Bruce had the picture of Thomas, Martha, and a pint-sized Batman hanging next to Batman, Catwoman, and Robin from two years previous.

The next year, Jon chose to be Wonder Woman. Lois and Clark were a little confused by this choice but weren’t about to stop him. She was a great role model, after all. And Diana had loved it. Jon went the whole night ‘catching’ his parents in the lasso and asking them adorable questions like ‘will you snuggle me tonight?’ and ‘can we have French toast for breakfast tomorrow?’ as well as ‘command’ that they do things like ‘let me eat ten pieces of candy tonight’ and ‘I can stay up all night watching scary movies with you.’ Clark answered that of course he would snuggle Jon later. Lois told Jon to ask his father if they could have French toast for breakfast, since he was the cook. Clark didn’t think ten pieces of candy was unreasonable for a nine-year-old, so long as they were the small ones, so he went along with it. Lois immediately, honestly told Jon that he wouldn’t be awake all night. It was a good time.

When Jon was ten, he decided to be Krypto the Superdog for Halloween. Lois would never get over how confused Clark looked when Jon had shared this information. Yet, somehow, they made it work. At least Jon was happy with it. Lois doubted Clark would ever understand that costume.

The next year, Jon decided to go as Lois Lane for Halloween. Lois felt more honored than she ever had at any Pulitzer award ceremony and Clark couldn’t be prouder of his son’s costume idea. Jon wore as much purple as he could and carried a notepad and pen everywhere he went. He walked up to his parents and Kara and Conner and pretended to interview them. With Kara and Conner, he asked them about their candy predictions and the likelihood that they might share some with smaller children (himself). For Clark and Lois, he asked them questions on what the next day would look like and if pumpkin flavored pancakes were in the future.

Jon was twelve when he learned his dad was Superman. Around October, he quietly went up to his mom and asked if Ma would help him make a Superman costume for Halloween. He made it clear that it was going to be a surprise for his dad. Kara helped take Jon to and from Smallville. And when Halloween night came, Lois made sure she had a camera set up for Clark’s reaction. Clark knew it was a surprise and that Ma had helped make the costume. He also knew that Lois’ hadn’t seen it yet, so Clark was incorrectly operating under the assumption that Lois didn’t know what it was either. Before Jon left his room, he made sure his parents weren’t looking; then he found a power stance and told his parents they could look. Lois had been watching Clark. He had been so touched by Jon’s costume that he cried. In front of Jon, it was a sweet thing, full of hugs and smiles and kisses, and Jon complaining that Clark shouldn’t touch his hair because it had been meticulously styled. But when Jon went off with Conner—who was dressed as Clark Kent to go with the theme—to go trick-or-treating, Clark had sobbed into Lois’ shoulder. He was a very sensitive soul, particularly when it came to his family. Lois made fun of him the whole night.

After this, Jon started his superhero career. He found himself in costume so much, that he didn’t much care to dress up for Halloween. He was perfectly happy to go to the store with his parents the day after and have his pick of the discount candies. It quickly became their tradition.

Chapter Text

The first time Clark saw Jon eat something unusual, Jon was two. He was trying to eat a spoon. This wasn’t wholly unusual, since toddlers often tried to eat things they shouldn’t. But Jon wasn’t trying to eat plastic or rubber spoons, only the silverware. And the actual silver, which they didn’t have much of; most of their ‘silverware’ was some other alloy. But without fail, Jon would always have the actual silver in his mouth, trying his best to consume it.

So Clark confiscated all the silver in the apartment and put it on the highest shelf he could find, as if he was trying to keep it out of Lois’ reach, too. In a way, he was, because all the silver in the house included a lot of her jewelry.

She wondered what he was doing, of course she would; she was naturally curious, and he was acting unusual. So he explained.

She pointed out that “Hey, maybe because he’s half Kryptonian, he needs different nutrients.”

And Clark’s first response was, “I don’t eat silverware!”

Lois didn’t blink before she argued, “You don’t now, but did you then?”

So they called Ma. And Ma said, “Oh, yeah, sweetie. You tried to eat all sorts of weird things. Except when you were two, you could actually eat the silverware. It’s why we don’t have much anymore.”

Clark had apologized profusely to his mother for having eaten most of their wedding silverware. Martha had just laughed it off, saying it was years and years ago and she was just happy her son was healthy and had gotten what he needed out of it.

Lois had demanded they find some other form of silver for Jon to eat, particularly since Jon’s jaw didn’t possess early invulnerability nor superstrength like Clark’s had.

Of course, they had to call Bruce for help. And naturally, Bruce was almost morbidly curious as to what Jon would need, hypothesizing that it would be more than silver.

Clark regretted trying to get off the phone so fast with Ma. But in his defense, Jon had somehow gotten his hands on a stray fork Clark had not collected with the rest.

Bruce’s supply of silver powder worked for a while. They put it in Jon’s milk—which turned it an odd metallic color that had Clark questioning if this really was safe for Jon’s consumption—and that was that. He had a glass of the silver milk every day and everything was normal.

After about two months, Clark felt safe un-confiscating the silver from the topmost shelf.

So to say Clark was surprised to find a chunk of Jon’s bed railing missing the very next morning would be an understatement.

Was the silver giving him superstrength? That math didn’t math, but maybe it was a sort of kick starter?

Upon closer inspection, though, Clark saw that Jon had chewed the bed railing. He’d eaten the wood!

Clark’s first worry was about the paint and its potential toxicity. Then Clark worried about whether or not Jon’s gums and cheeks and tongue would be full of splinters. Oh God, was his baby’s mouth bleeding horribly? Where was baby?!

He found Jon on the far side of the bed, chewing away at the leg.

“Stop that,” he commanded gently. “That can’t be good for you!”

This got Lois’ attention, and she came into the room, noticing the missing railing and where Clark was on the other side of the bed, holding a mildly disgruntled toddler.

“Did he eat the bed?”

“Yes.” Clark was pretty sure he sounded close to tears. “I don’t understand. I don’t remember eating my bed.”

“You didn’t remember eating silver, either,” Lois reminded softly, inspecting the missing railing. “So, we might need to invest in a plastic rail or something.”

“Oh, God,” Clark moaned, “please don’t have Jon eat plastic.” Clark’s eyes were skyward. He seemed to legitimately be saying a prayer. Lois hoped it worked.

“I’m calling Ma,” Lois stated, already hitting speed dial. Martha answered right as Lois walked out the room. “Hi, yeah, quick question. Did Clark eat wood when he was young? Because Jon just—” And that’s when Clark stopped listening.

The wood wasn’t as easy a fix as the silver had been. Jon apparently had preferences. And they couldn’t tell what those were. So far, they’d provided Jon what was essentially a charcuterie board of small wood blocks for him to eat.

Apparently, they hadn’t provided any of the right kind. Lois thought it was funny, Clark wanted to send his head through something hard.

But randomly, almost literally out of the blue, Jon seemed to be satisfied by eating paper plates and paper towels.

Clark was beyond confused and constantly on the verge of stopping Jon from eating those things. It couldn’t be healthy for a human baby. And as the resident Kryptonian, he was uncomfortable with the thought of his half-Kryptonian child eating these things.

Lois thought it was a little weird, but as long as Jon wasn’t destroying more furniture, she was fine with the whole thing. She did wonder if Jon was needing other things that he wasn’t currently getting. That line of thinking got her to sit in front of her calendar and carve out time to have a long talk with Martha Kent about things Jon might be needing to eat. She’d try not to freak Clark out in the process.

It was positively hilarious to Lois how she, the human in the relationship, was almost completely unfazed by Jon’s strange dietary needs. Whereas Clark, the alien in the relationship, was out of his mind with worry over how unusual Jon’s unique needs are.

She didn’t let him live it down. Which seemed to help ease his worry, strangely enough.

The only time Lois worried about what Jon was eating was when she found him eating dog food. She had never confiscated anything faster in her life.

And her accompanying shout of “Jon, no!” drew Clark to the room.

“What? What happened?” he asked, looking prepared to put on his cape in a moment’s notice.

Lois held out the dog bowl. “He was eating dog food.”

Clark relaxed instantly. “Oh, okay.”

“That’s it?” Lois asked, bewildered.

Clark shrugged. “I was expected way worse. Dog food isn’t bad.”

“It’s for dogs, not babies!” Lois insisted.

“Gym bros eat dog food. It’s got a lot of protein. It just doesn’t taste or feel good on the tongue.”

“You’re kidding me,” she deadpanned, “Clark Joseph, you are kidding me.”

Clark shrugged again. “It’s all over TikTok and Instagram. Steve was talking about it literally three days ago.”

It wasn’t lost on her that the one thing that made her nervous was the one thing that Clark wasn’t concerned about. That’s probably what ticked her off the most.

When Lois finally did sit down to have a long phone conversation with Martha, she discovered a lot of things.

Clark hadn’t eaten paper plates and bowls, but the farm had no shortage of wood, so that could be why. At the time, they hadn’t had dog food for Clark to eat, but like Clark had said, it wasn’t necessarily unhealthy for a human, although it did depend on brand. Clark had also eaten iron, like literal rebar—but one needed superstrength and invulnerability, and access to rebar, for that. Clark once or twice eaten leather, but neither Ma nor Pa thought that one was a real phase. Clark had eaten a considerable portion of a wool blanket once; fortunately, Pa Kent had hated the blanket and had been looking for a reason to get rid of it. Clark had also eaten rocks that he’d found outside. Which, in hindsight, was terrifying for Martha now that they knew about Kryptonite.

When she’d absorbed this information, Lois told Clark that maybe they should increase the amount of iron in Jon’s diet. She didn’t know what they could possibly substitute for whatever was in wool or leather, but she assumed since Clark hadn’t eaten much of either of those things they might not need to worry about it. She googled what nutrients were in rocks and found that they contained forms of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, as well as other nutrients that were indigestible for a human. Google couldn’t tell her if a Kryptonian could digest them, though. But knowing what she did already, she thought it was a pretty safe bet they could.

She sent Clark out to the farm to collect some rocks for Jon to eat. Clark hadn’t wanted to at first, claiming it was a choking hazard, and it couldn’t be good for their son. Lois had argued that Clark could grind the rocks to dust in his bare hands, so Jon would be fine. And if Jon didn’t continue to eat the rocks, they wouldn’t force him to.

Of course, to Clark’s dismay, Jon liked the rocks.

Over the next several months, Jon seemed to be satisfied with what they’d started supplying him. And it was rather random when one day he just stopped. Apparently, he’d gotten all he’d needed and went back to normal foods.

Clark was so relieved he cried. Lois made fun of him, naturally, but was internally celebrating the return to normalcy.

Lois and Clark both agreed they were glad Jon had never tried eating plastic, even though they knew there was no nutrient value to that.