Description: The Kents get a new farm hand.

Words: 2100

Notes: This feels really short! But I love Jon so much and I just needed to write something, so here's a prompt I guess? I challenge you writers (and artists!!!) on here--write/create a part two to this! Where will this go? Maybe we can make a big chain of a story together. Make sure to tag me if you do!

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"Good morning and happy first week of Summer, Jon." Lois Lane greets, ruffling her son's hair, which is already in disarray. Immediately afterward, she smooths it back down and nods outside,"You're lucky I let you sleep in. Now hurry up, your dad and Kon need your help."

The kitchen smells of a full family breakfast—these come every day, so Jon isn't all that disappointed to hear that he missed one—with farm-made scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and waffles. They fill his nose and make him smile, even if only gets a scrap of toast and a rushed last-minute waffle. His hands are sticky with syrup when he shoves the toast in his mouth, almost tearing his sleeves when he rolls them up out of sheer excitement.

Kon doesn't come around often. When he does, he's the best goddamn big brother anyone can ever imagine, regardless of what Damian argues in Dick whenever the subject arises. Before Jon could fly, Kon would tie a towel around his neck and hook him up on his shoulders. Then he'd take off into the sky and let Jon taste the clouds and bathe in the sun. (Damian would probably say something about Icarus, but then again, Jon wasn't exactly the bird here). And during the periods in which Jon was grounded, Kon would find him and at one time even helped him sneak out. Together, they ventured to Titan's Tower and played video games until Robin found them and spoiled the fun. "Us Superboys have to stick together, Jon-o." He said on the flight home. This is why when Jon darts out the door, Lois is smiling.

Jon marches down the rows of corn, past the sprouts that he and Kara had replanted after Clark's failed attempted at a corn maze, the sturdy brick farmhouse peeking out between the healthy and heavy-headed stalks. It's hot out today. Hot enough where all the windows in the house are open, fans abuzz and appropriate clothing for the weather are tossed on. But hot means the sun is out, and it is possibly the most beautiful thing Jonathan Kent has ever felt or seen.

He's been trapped underground and in the dark so long that he can feel the sun's effect on his skin. Clark had arranged another "play-date" with Damian, even if the two of them were now teenagers and Damian invited him over anyway. The scent of the cave and it's cold air swallows him again and he almost shudders; even if Damian is his unofficial best-friend, sometimes it was hard to be dunked in his dark world. He bet Damian would say the same about the farm landscape before him.

Regardless if he's already sweating and he has to shrug off his extra layer of flannel, Jon's statement still holds true; the sun is utterly beautiful, and the cicadas chirping in the depths of the tree-lined perimeter of the property seem to agree. Summer will not give in to the looming threat of school. Its grapple on the season is still mighty. Not quite as mighty as his father when he shouts for Jon to hurry over, but mighty regardless. He can only pray that this summer goes by slow... or maybe he wants it to go by fast.

Homelife, in comparison to the other's Jon has seen, is perfect. He has a schedule to keep to and family to spend it with, then in the afternoons he's free to save the world. Jon's mother Lois is happy and Clark makes her happier. Ma Kent is elated to have her family swarm her every night, even if she sighs exasperatedly as she knits or bakes or gardens. Clark is living the American dream. School is the one thing that breaks that peace, punches a hole in it with its dirty fists and only three people know just how much he hates school; his mother, who will only frown at him and do her best by supplying little gifts, like writing about Superboy in the Daily Planet, or giving her advice after she makes his favorite dinner; Damian, who brags about what he is capable of, then tosses in a piece of advice that is either surprisingly heartfelt or incredibly valuable; and then Kon, who groans with him but gently urges him try his hardest. But Jon is trying, and yet he still can't seem to get that through to anyone.

He's created an acronym that he references with these three people all the time. GTG. Grades, teachers, and girls. Otherwise known as got to go, because that's definitely how he wants to answer when Trojan High begins to call for him each morning. Every summer they spent with Ma and Pa Kent, then Clark, Lois, and Jon all returned to the cute little house they had in the New Troy suburb of Metropolis. There, Jon was subjected to the torture of GTG.

Grades. Grades are his first struggle, because Jon has been taught not to value himself by numbers or letters—unless you count his stance as the present generation of the House of El, for he has to wield that crest with the respect and power it deserves—but to show what he is by what he does. But it's a contradicting cycle that makes his head spin. Apparently, not only his actions in the real world define him, but his actions of not getting an A on that test does too. He can only scratch his head and ask, what the heck, dad?

Teachers and fellow students weren't always kind to Jon Kent. Sure, he was raised primarily in The Monarch City, but that little farm in Smallville would forever have a large part of his heart. He had a bit of the farmboy accent when he talked (a "twang" as his mom had deemed it) and he was from a small town, so that's all it took for his "colleagues" to attack him. And then his teachers have the great Lois Lane glaring down their backs. His mother was a wildfire that was still burning, and the fact that these teachers never really challenged or stimulated him (they thought he was one of the "stupid kids™", but enhanced intelligence was technically one of his powers) made her furious. So she made sure that they challenged him, and therefore gave him a headache every day. Thanks, mom.

Girls were always a subject at his school, especially if you were a boy roped into a group of other boys. They all saw the buff arms, sly look in his eyes, and pretty face and automatically assumed that he was like them—an inherent asshole. When he was pulled into this group he was drowned in talks of sports and... girls. But the thing is, Jon Kent isn't a player. Hell, he'd never even had a girlfriend before. There'd be the crush or two here or there, but never a girlfriend. So when they all turn their gazes on him and squeeze the name of a crush out of him, Jon finds himself being honest. Maybe there was one girl he liked.

Y/N L/N is utterly beautiful. Not in the way that the girls his "friends" liked were (and Damian, too. Jon had no idea what kind of girls or guys he was into), but in the way the sun seeping into his skin is. When she talks she knows what she's saying. When she walks, she knows where she needs to be. When she's concerned, she looks at him with wise, compassionate eyes that seem to know everything about him."Are you alright, Kent?"

The boys laugh when he reluctantly coughs up her title. Some smile knowingly, others roll their eyes and murmur,"Good luck, man." From what he can gather, Y/N is a kind girl... but a kind girl with high standards, but also one who doesn't like assholes. So maybe Jon does have at least a chance. So maybe if he wants the summer to go by fast, it's because he wants to see you.

But as he rounds the corner of the barn, see's Clark laughing and closing the doors, hears a voice that's way too different to belong to Kon, Jon suddenly flushes deeply. You clutch your hand over your mouth, keel over and burst your laughter into your palm."Oh, we're definitely keeping you around, Ms. Y/N," Clark chuckles, laying a hand on your mirth-shaking shoulder,"You're a riot."

"Thanks, Mr. Kent." You responded respectfully, nodding with a grin,"And please, just call me Y/N. I'll be working with you for the next three months anyway."

"Three months I'm sticking around for, especially if you're still dishing out jokes like that one. Where did you even hear that?" Kon questioned.

You shrugged, laughing."I saw the calfs and it just came to mind. I don't know."

Clark's hearing catches the crunch of drying grass beneath Jon's shoe, and he turns his head to greet his son as you and Kon grab baskets. During the summer the peas, blueberries and strawberries would all be ripe. Ma Kent always made the best strawberry jam, and Kon tells you this as Clark waves Jon over,"Jon! Just in time. We're about to go pick the fruits—have you met Y/N yet? She's the farmhand that Ma hired."

"No," Jon says, because he hasn't met you today. But then he realizes his mistake and reddens deeper,"I mean, uh, we have. Met. Before."

"Jon!" You brighten with a grin."I had a feeling that you were the son Mr. Kent mentioned. It's so good to see you."

This behavior and this greeting weren't all that weird. You had gravitated toward Jon when you arrived at his school, and being the nice person he was, he did it so you didn't feel awkward and alone. This had been the place where the crush beating in his chest had been planted. Now, it is in full bloom and ready for your picking or your tending. Your smile is that sunlight that feeds his heart and his powerful body, and suddenly Jon realizes that he's never responded.

"It's great to see you too. What are you doing so far from Metropolis?" Jon sputtered out, still reeling. A farm hand? Out of all the chances, you were chosen? Someone was looking out for Jonathan Kent, and he found himself begging that someone to gift you the same feelings he felt in his heart as it now pulses.

You held your basket in both hands and gently swung it as you talked, a hypnotising quirk that drew Jon's gaze to your shoes."My parents have a summer home down here, really close to my grandparents. We come every summer! This year I wanted to get a job so I could start saving for college, and I saw the add in the newspaper. I sent a few papers and qualified." You pat his arm and began to follow after Clark. Jon fell into step beside you, mind buzzing a mile a minute. You smiled at him,"I guess that means I'll be seeing more of you."

"Awesome!" Jon beamed. He examined his response and deemed it too over-excited, and toned it down with an additional,"...Cool."

"So..." You fiddled with the end of your gloves, but then spun your gaze determinedly forward, back straightening and feet striding to shift into a more professional state of mind. This was a job, even if you were working it with a friend. Or at least that's how it appeared to Jon. If anything, you were actually trying to maintain your cool because of him. Jonathan Kent was a very sweet, very pretty boy that had taken an interest in you, and you didn't want to swarm him and make him uncomfortable. You knew that he liked you, but you didn't want to rush into things and wreck it all."...What else do you do besides fieldwork during the summer?"

As your conversation bled from summer activities outside the barn to childhood stories between the strawberry vines, Jon trailed after you and tried to pretend he was working whenever his father glanced over. You wore a baseball cap to protect you from the sun, and it hid your beautiful eyes as you leaned down to pull apart the fruits of a strawberry plant.

Jon looks skyward and towards his beloved sun, Thank Rao for coincidences.