[Jason can't help but smile a little, letting on to the fact that he's amused by Clark's "new experience." It's almost endearing, and it's strange to the vigilante to even think like that.]
Alright, I'll give you that. [Still smirking, a still very open expression from the younger man. It's weird feeling like this, like he can give everything and be afraid of nothing.]
The first time wasn't so great, honestly. They sent in the feds to clear the contamination off the farm, which meant getting rid of the spaceship before they got there. It was...interesting, to say the least.
[And for a few moments, his mother had flatlined because of it. No need to bring the story down, though.]
The second time was better. I worked myself so hard clearing up after Zod that I got sick--when I sneezed I blew the barn door off. That's how I learned about my superbreath.
Convenient. [He'd always thought that Clark knew what his powers were the day he was born, that they'd been a constant presence in his life. Then again, Jason's never had powers until arriving in Port, and boy do they suck. He pauses for a moment, considering his next question.]
When did you figure out you're different from everyone else?
[It's something of a jab as well as a question, the words carefully and deliberately chosen.]
[He hears it as a jab, but then he also hears it as a compliment. It's the kind of differentiation he's heard over and over again since he was young, after all.]
I always knew I wasn't like everyone else. By the time I was fourteen I had superspeed and superstrength, but I didn't know about anything else. I floated, once, in my sleep. Kryptonite, invulnerability, I must have had them all along but I didn't know.
My parents didn't show me the spaceship until I was in high school. I thought it was a big joke at first, honestly. Then after that it was... Sad. It wasn't until years later that I remembered anything about my parents. My mother's name, even.
[For most of Clark's response, Jason keeps a cool, somewhat interested expression on his face, but the mention of his mother makes it go a little cold. Him and moms don't have a great track record. Still, he does his best to keep it hidden, unaware that the effect of the sakura trees is making him more open, his expressions easier to read.]
I bet that was a fun conversation.
[But, for whatever reason, the vigilante feels that he can almost relate to Clark a little better, the fact that he's been adopted, different from other people, and wonders if the older man has the same feelings of not belonging, even if it's on a whole different level.]
[A hundred million times on a different level. The Last Kryptonian, and all of the aliens that you meet are complete jerkwads, even your own father. Oh wait, wasn't Jason's mother a jerkwad too? Fair and even, then.]
I didn't learn until later what adopting me cost my parents. My father made a deal with the devil - Lionel Luthor - and he had his greedy eye on me for decades after that.
But finding out that I wasn't their child... I guess for a little while I lost my identity. Then it was lonelier than I'd ever been. I wanted to know more about Krypton, about my family, but there was nobody to ask, nothing to find. They were all dead, blown to pieces on a planet thousands of light years away.
[Jason just stares for a couple moments, the admission of loneliness and being the only Kryptonian left, with no way to find one's own identity? The vigilante pauses, considers his words for once, and the effect of the sakura trees does the rest:] Bruce said your identity is what you choose. No one can choose it for you.
[Shrug.] Yeah, Krypton's your real home, but what about Earth?
[Okay, yeah, he wasn't expecting at all for that to come out of his mouth and he attempts to clam back up.]
[That's odd. Did he just get comforted by Jason? This relationship between them really is getting somewhere, isn't it? Clark manages to blanket his confusion quickly, and it breaks into a smile.]
Krypton's who I am, but Earth is who I will be. I had the chance to save it, you know; to fly back in time and grow up with my real family. But everything comes at a price.
The Earth is my home, the people are my people, and it's the only one I've got. I wouldn't let anything happen to it.
[The honest, softly spoken mantra of a man who will give everything, even his life, to save the world. Over and over again.]
There's things you value like that too, aren't there, Jason?
[Jason tries to keep the words down, but the urge to be open to someone and have someone understand that's usually repressed springs right out of him.]
Bruce. Being my own person.
[But family is certainly not on that list.]
I saved London from a terrorist bombing a few months before I got here. [Fuck.]
[Those first two he knows, even if Jason usually doesn't say so out loud. It's odd. Really odd. And he's beginning to get a little suspicious, so he tests it.]
[Jason's gaze darkens almost immediately at the question, hating how much Clark suddenly sounds like a social worker in that moment. He wants to spout off curses, be properly pissed off.]
No one knew so it sucked.
[And that's still the truth, as his reward had been getting ambushed by Russian gangsters. He wanted someone to know, but not like this So, Jason's rising angrily from Clark's chair.]
[And Clark hesitates for just a second before reaching out, catching Jason's arm.]
There's something wrong.
[He stands up, lets Jason go, and checks the lock on the door, then scans the room, perhaps looking for bugs, or something like it.]
Don't get me wrong, Jason, I want to get to know you, but not at the expense of your comfort. Have you come into contact with anything today? Drunk anything suspicious?
[Jason just raises an eyebrow at Clark and his implication that Jason isn't careful with what he drinks. Still, information is still flowing right out of him.]
The only thing unusual were those stupid trees that popped up.
[Trees. Well it's a possibility. Some kind of magic? He steps to the window and looks out, then back to Jason.]
Could be. Weirder things have happened.
[Come to think of it Jason hadn't changed the subject or avoided a question once since he walked in here. The whole conversation seemed stacked in Clark's favour, now he thought back on it. So what were the trees doing? Acting like red K for humans?]
[Jason hates that Clark continues to ask questions, despite the fact that they're normal questions anyone would be asking in a situation like this. He likes to keep everything close to the chest, including his activities.]
I called Bruce 'dad.'
[That in of itself was something he meant, but never wanted to say.]
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Alright, I'll give you that. [Still smirking, a still very open expression from the younger man. It's weird feeling like this, like he can give everything and be afraid of nothing.]
When was the first time?
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[And for a few moments, his mother had flatlined because of it. No need to bring the story down, though.]
The second time was better. I worked myself so hard clearing up after Zod that I got sick--when I sneezed I blew the barn door off. That's how I learned about my superbreath.
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Convenient. [He'd always thought that Clark knew what his powers were the day he was born, that they'd been a constant presence in his life. Then again, Jason's never had powers until arriving in Port, and boy do they suck. He pauses for a moment, considering his next question.]
When did you figure out you're different from everyone else?
[It's something of a jab as well as a question, the words carefully and deliberately chosen.]
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I always knew I wasn't like everyone else. By the time I was fourteen I had superspeed and superstrength, but I didn't know about anything else. I floated, once, in my sleep. Kryptonite, invulnerability, I must have had them all along but I didn't know.
My parents didn't show me the spaceship until I was in high school. I thought it was a big joke at first, honestly. Then after that it was... Sad. It wasn't until years later that I remembered anything about my parents. My mother's name, even.
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I bet that was a fun conversation.
[But, for whatever reason, the vigilante feels that he can almost relate to Clark a little better, the fact that he's been adopted, different from other people, and wonders if the older man has the same feelings of not belonging, even if it's on a whole different level.]
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I didn't learn until later what adopting me cost my parents. My father made a deal with the devil - Lionel Luthor - and he had his greedy eye on me for decades after that.
But finding out that I wasn't their child... I guess for a little while I lost my identity. Then it was lonelier than I'd ever been. I wanted to know more about Krypton, about my family, but there was nobody to ask, nothing to find. They were all dead, blown to pieces on a planet thousands of light years away.
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[Shrug.] Yeah, Krypton's your real home, but what about Earth?
[Okay, yeah, he wasn't expecting at all for that to come out of his mouth and he attempts to clam back up.]
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Krypton's who I am, but Earth is who I will be. I had the chance to save it, you know; to fly back in time and grow up with my real family. But everything comes at a price.
The Earth is my home, the people are my people, and it's the only one I've got. I wouldn't let anything happen to it.
[The honest, softly spoken mantra of a man who will give everything, even his life, to save the world. Over and over again.]
There's things you value like that too, aren't there, Jason?
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Bruce. Being my own person.
[But family is certainly not on that list.]
I saved London from a terrorist bombing a few months before I got here. [Fuck.]
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That's no small accomplishment.
[And he pauses, then tilts his head.]
How did that make you feel?
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No one knew so it sucked.
[And that's still the truth, as his reward had been getting ambushed by Russian gangsters. He wanted someone to know, but not like this So, Jason's rising angrily from Clark's chair.]
You're done with the touchy-feely bullshit.
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There's something wrong.
[He stands up, lets Jason go, and checks the lock on the door, then scans the room, perhaps looking for bugs, or something like it.]
Don't get me wrong, Jason, I want to get to know you, but not at the expense of your comfort. Have you come into contact with anything today? Drunk anything suspicious?
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The only thing unusual were those stupid trees that popped up.
[Crossing his arms in a defensive gesture.]
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[Trees. Well it's a possibility. Some kind of magic? He steps to the window and looks out, then back to Jason.]
Could be. Weirder things have happened.
[Come to think of it Jason hadn't changed the subject or avoided a question once since he walked in here. The whole conversation seemed stacked in Clark's favour, now he thought back on it. So what were the trees doing? Acting like red K for humans?]
Any other symptoms?
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I called Bruce 'dad.'
[That in of itself was something he meant, but never wanted to say.]
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