Chapter Text
Clark would never deny that the day that Jordan and Jonathan Kent came into this world was one of the best of his life. He doesn’t believe that there have ever been two more beautiful babies. Though perhaps as the boys’ father he is biased.
He knew that the birthing arrangements weren’t Lois’s first choice, a fact that he would feel guilty about until the day he died. Upon hearing the news of twins Lois was insistent on giving birth in a hospital, something Clark couldn’t blame her for in the slightest.
However Clark never had a choice in the matter since, as soon as they discovered that their kids weren’t coming out quite human, Lois was the one to suggest having the children in the Fortress.
Still Clark knows that if she had remained firm on her decision to go to the hospital he would have found a way. He wasn’t sure how but he would have made it work.
Though it was probably for the best that she was the one to suggest having the kids at the fortress. It might have been hard to explain to the doctors why their children looked like they were suffering from hypothermia. It was hard enough to explain it to Lois when he first told her about Kryptonian biology beyond how his powers work.
The days following the birth were full of rest and recovery, with Clark doing the majority of the baby care while Lois recovered. Even a relatively uncomplicated birth was still a toll, and for the most part Lois slept or spent time huddled up with their two sons.
However as the days passed it was getting harder and harder to ignore the elephant in the room.
Jon and Jordan, as perfect as they might be in Lois’s and Clark’s eyes, did not look human and unlike Clark they couldn’t just slap on contacts and make-up and call it a day.
No, they were far too young for that.
If they waited until the disguise would be more appropriate for their age then it would take years for their sons’ births to be registered. Not to mention it would also mean entrusting a monumental secret to two toddlers. No matter what, that was a recipe for disaster.
A solution seemed to elude them and time was running out before well-meaning loved ones started asking to see the babies.
Clark would like to say he was the one that eventually found their saving grace, however that would be lying. In reality he merely borrowed the idea from Jor-El after ranting his fears to the AI of his birthfather in the small hours of the morning.
The solution was simple enough. A small device somewhere on the boys’ bodies that covered them in a hologram. As he pitched it to Lois, it would grow and adapt with them, feel solid and most importantly it would make them appear to be normal.
That’s all he ever wanted for his kids really. To not grow up feeling irrevocably isolated from everyone else; and this technology would give them a shot at that.
Of course Clark knew he would have to eventually tell Jordan and Jon about their more than unique heritage, but was it so bad to want to give them a shot at a normal life beforehand.
Unlike the other days post-partam, the family’s final two days at the fortress were dedicated to action. Fortunately the technology only needed to be on the boys for it to work, whether that be in the form of a jewellery item or a small patch that could seamlessly blend in with their skin.
Unfortunately no one ever seemed to test these methods against infants. A necklace would pose the risk of suffocation. A bracelet would have to be resized too frequently for it to be a viable candidate, and it was the exact same for an anklet.
While the patch did seem to be initially promising, both infants had managed to get it off them in the short five minutes Lois left them in their crib to go to the restroom.
They were so close to a solution but also so incredibly far.
Soon they had eliminated all but one option, earrings.
It wasn’t something neither Clark or Lois were exactly comfortable with. They had always agreed that they would leave decisions as permanent as piercings to their children. However it wasn’t uncommon for parents to pierce their infants ears. Even if their two infants were boys rather than girls it wouldn’t look incredibly out of place from a human point of view.
Not to mention the hologram would be stronger if it came from two admitters working in tandem. That and the fact that the boys wouldn’t be able to injure themselves with it, or miraculously take it off.
It was ultimately a win.
So the final night before the family was due to return to the brownstone in Metropolis, for failure of a better solution to arise, Clark had the fortress create the technology. And they pieced their babies’ ears.
Fortunately they didn’t need to use red-sun lamps or kryptonite. Whether that was the result of a lack of exposure to the sun or not was something Clark didn’t let himself dwell on.
It wasn’t easy, Jon refused to sit still, no matter how many toys he was distracted with, and Jordan wanted to stay firmly tucked into his mom’s shoulder. However by sunrise the next day it was done.
Jordan and Jonathan looked as human as their mother.
As they aged from infants to babies to toddlers to children the hologram remained firmly in place. Once they were old enough to understand that they could take the earrings out, Lois spun a tale about how they should never take them out because they are family heirlooms and could easily get lost.
It didn’t feel right having to lie, but it worked. Jordan and Jon seemed to take great pride in their earrings and even when Jordan was picked on for them, neither twin ever thought to take them out.
The two Kent boys grew up like any other human child, and soon Clark forgot what his kids looked like without the technology.
Occasionally he got curious, but he preferred to live in the moment rather than dwell on various possibilities.
He still planned to tell them, of course he did. But it was never the right moment, or he was busy, or something more important came up.
Okay, truth be told Clark was scared of their potential reactions. Not to mention that Jordan already felt so isolated, Clark didn’t want to add to his son’s self alienation. And Jon was thriving, the thought of potentially taking that away from him was too heavy of a burden.
When the secret got out. When his sons learned that their father was Superman, the chaos of the reveal sent the thought of telling the kids about their biology to the back of his mind.
It was more important to him that Jordan learned to control his heat-vision and that both of his sons didn’t come to view themselves in a negative light following the great reveal.
Besides, perhaps doing the reveals in batches could help to soften the blow?
It was wishful thinking, Clark knew that. Nevertheless, it still didn’t stop some part of him from latching onto the idea with all the hope in the world.
One day, not too far off, Clark vowed that he would say something. That he would tell them about it. He would do it, calmly and on his own terms.
One day Clark knew that the lies would catch up with him, and naively he fought he could beat them to it.
God was he such a fool.
All the planning. All the hours spent thinking of the best ways to broach the subject. None of them could have prepared him for the situation he found himself in.
Before him stood his twins, fear etched into their faces as they were both clearly trying not to let the panic seep in.
To be fair that in itself wasn’t too uncommon of an occurrence for their strange household.
What made this instance so damning was the fact all of the answers to Clark’s daydreams of how his boys might look now without the tech were right in front of him.
The two boys standing in front of him were not the human versions he had watched them grow up as, rather both of them looked as alien as the day they were born.