4The red hued light faded away to nothingness as Jon's vision returned to normal. He stood in front of a field now demolished by his heat vision. His chest heaved up and down in a steady and deep breath as he surveyed the damage he had done. It was… intense. A small part of him- probably the more logical part of him- was scared of the amount of damage he could do with just a single look. It was a power that forced a sense of responsibility to weigh heavy on his shoulders. It made him imagine a scenario where he would lose control; maybe even take a life.
A strong hand landed on his shoulder, breaking Jon out of his thoughts. The young boy startled, stiffening until he realized that it was his father's hand. He relaxed, tilting his head up to stare into his father's face. Clark smiled a soft smile at his son.
"You did good." His father said. Jon looked back to the still smoldering field. It was an empty one near the Kent farm that Clark had taken Jon to for his training on the use of his powers. Jon bit his lip.
"It wasn't too… much?" he asked, voice wavering a bit in uncertainty. He'd brought out too much power in his heat vision. This amount would kill hundreds, right? Fear once again settled uncomfortably in his stomach. His dad chuckled, voice deep and confident. It was his Superman voice; not his Clark Kent voice.
"No." Clark said with an encouraging smile. He looked like he was reminiscing about something. "At least, I hope you won't be using heat vision on humans." It was a joke, he knew, but Jon still shook his head furiously.
"Of course not!"
Clark laughed, dropping down to his knees so he was eye level with Jon. He took his young son's shoulders with both hands and turned him around until they were face to face. "Son, even I couldn't fully control my powers when I was your age." Clark said. Jon made a disbelieving noise. "It's true! This is something that comes with practice. It's something that you'll come to learn how to control as you get older. For now, you're doing fine."
The tension in Jon's shoulders relieved as the words edged away at the insecurities that haunted him. He stood straighter, chest puffed out slightly. He could feel the swell of pride from the praise and it made him warm and happy. His dad was /Superman/. He could do this. Jon pulled away from Clark, laughing as he ran into the field.
"Try and catch me, dad!" He called over his shoulder as he bent his knees before taking off into the air with an excited "whoo-hoo!" Jon could hear Clark taking off after him, his civilian clothes left behind in favor of the Superman uniform he wore underneath. Jon himself had yet to master hiding a cape under his civilian clothes, so he'd gone to the field in his Superboy hoodie.
With a grin threatening to split his face in half, Jon pushed himself to go faster in the air. The cool gust of wind slapped against his face, making his cheeks pink. Behind him, there was a whoosh of noise as Clark dove up and around Jon in a playful loop. Jon tilted his body against the wind currents until he was diving down toward the ground. Clark flew around him in small loops, half- he knew- for fun and half to make sure Jon didn't hurt himself in a crash landing. Just before reaching the tops of the tallest trees, Jon pulled his body back up. His red sneakers brushed against the tip of a tree before he took back off into the sky.
"Nice dive, Kiddo!" Clark called out appraisingly as he followed. Jon turned in the air to say something back, his mouth open and words on his lips, but when he turned around, his dad was nowhere to be seen. The half Kryptonian furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes scanned the blue horizon. Did dad leave….? He was just about to head back home to see if dad was there when something poked his cheek. Later, he would admit that the shriek he made was very high in pitch.
Jon whirled around, hands already swinging when he was stopped. His eyes glanced up to see his dad's laughing face and Jon's face took on a pout, puffy cheeks and all.
"Daaaaad!" He whined, relaxing his stance into a more sulky one. "I thought you left!" Clark opened his mouth to reply- Jon thinks it was going to be a dad joke- when he froze. Jon watched as his dad's nose crinkled, as if he were listening to something. Jon strained his ears too. In the distance, he could hear the faint shouts of a woman. She sounded hurt.
Before he could say or do anything, his dad was off, racing against the wind toward the source of the noise. Jon followed after only a second of shocked hesitation. He wasn't as fast as Superman's top speed- losing sight of his dad after only thirty seconds of tailing. So he relied on his ears and followed the sound of screaming. As he neared, he could hear the blazing roar of a fire and the creaking of melting metal.
On the highway route 40 toward Metropolis, a semi- truck had tilted over onto its side. The engine had caught on fire; the flames slowly spreading into the grass on the side of the road. Shattered glass spread across the black top and there were cars on either side stopped as their owners watched on in fear. Jon got there in time to watch as Superman pulled the burning metal apart with his bare hands and dragged the truck driver- a gruff looking woman somewhere in her forties with soot covered hair and a terrified expression on her face- out from the truck's seats and into the air. Just in time before another small explosion covered the interior of the truck in a gulf of flames. Jon watched in a sort of stunned awe from up in the sky as Superman- his /dad/- carried the lady to a safe distance by some of the bystanders. He said something to them- telling them to call 911, Jon absently realized- before flying back to the wreckage. He took a deep breath, exhaling the icy breath onto the fire until the flames died down and there was a layer of ice covering the truck and surrounding area.
The crowd cheered; some who had taken up the task of looking the truck driver over for injuries glanced up and sang praises about Superman. "Thank you, Superman!" they shouted. "A job well done!" the cheered. Superman landed gracefully in front of them. He raised a hand and waved at everyone with an easy and polite smile on his face.
Jon felt a swell of pride as he watched. He'd seen his dad fighting bad guys on TV before, of course. He'd seen Superman go toe to toe with Lex Luthor and other villains. But when his dad came home he was just…. /Dad/. He was just the goofy reporter from Smallville who sucked at emojis and told horrible dad jokes. He scratched his butt while reading the newspaper and snored loudly while sleeping on the sofa with the TV still running until mom turned it off and ushered him to bed. He read bedtime stories in goofy voices until Jon was clutching his sides he was laughing so hard and tucked Jon in bed every night with a kiss to his temple. This was the first time Jon had actually seen his dad saving a life.
It was totally different than seeing it on TV. It was now real and happening right in front of him- the type of hero his dad was. He was someone that inspired hope in people who desperately needed it and now Jon knew that more than ever.
Clark glanced up at Jon suddenly and grinned. He turned back to the civilians, making sure one last time that the truck driver was alright before taking off into the sky. Jon waited until his dad reached him before saying, "Holy /smokes/, dad. You just saved that woman's life!"
Clark looked at him in bemusement as they started back toward the Kent family Farm. "Well, yeah." He said, an eyebrow raised in Jon's direction. "I couldn't just leave her."
"I know that." Jon rolled his eyes. He had common sense, you know. "But I'd never seen you in action! It was so cool!" He did a flip in the air before going into an excited description of what just happened, complete with sound effects. Clark laughed boomingly as he listened. The two chatted back and forth until the red roof of the house came into view. Clark put an arm around Jon and said,
"C'mon, sport. I can see Lois setting plates at the table. She'd kill us if we were late for Supper!"
Jon giggled at that and let his dad lead him down to the house. Ranger greeted them from the porch with a bark and a wag of his tail. Jon could smell the lasagna his mom had in the oven and beside him, could feel the warmth radiating off of his dad- the Hero. And, Jon thought as he opened the door to his home, everything was going to be alright.