Chapitre 3: Chrysalis
Clark gripped the cracked leather of the steering wheel, eyes cutting sideways once more toward the passenger seat. Joel slouched low, shoulders curled inward as he glared out the fingerprint-smudged window.
He could read the vulnerability lingering in the furrowed tension of Joel's brow, the tightness framing his mouth. But Clark knew better than to prod when he got this prickly.
He allowed several more empty minutes to tick by, the rumbling engine and Joel's terse breaths the only sounds piercing the uneasy quiet. At last, Clark ventured gently into the charged atmosphere.
"I know you must have had your reasons, bud. And I believe you when you say you were provoked." Clark kept his tone mild, non-accusatory. "But maybe walk me through exactly what happened today? Help me understand so we can sort this thing out."
Joel's shoulders hiked tighter to his ears, but his gaze remained locked on some distant point out the window, several more loaded seconds crawled past before he finally bit out a response without shifting his rigid focus.
"Tommy got wailed on for no reason. Again. I stepped in to shut it down." Joel sucked in a sharp breath, his next words firing out through gritted teeth. "Then that smug jackass and his pack of suckups started spouting their usual crap. Acting like they run the whole damned school."
He made a disgusted sound low in his throat, fingers clenching and unclenching around handfuls of his jeans. "So yeah, I took a shot at the idiot when he turned his back. My one chance to wipe that stupid, self-impressed grin off Pete's face."
Clark absorbed this clipped explanation, reading between the lines of Joel's blunt account. He could easily picture the scenario—impulsive, scrappy Joel throwing himself boldly into a confrontation to shield someone from harm.
Clark reached over, letting one broad palm settle between Joel's hunched shoulder blades. He felt rigid muscle unwind slightly, some of the coiled intensity leaving Joel as he leaned into his father's steady touch. Clark gave a reassuring squeeze, hoping to telegraph wordless understanding before speaking.
"This Pete kid might run unchecked for now. But karma has a way of catching up sooner or later." Clark gently squeezed again before withdrawing his hand. "Better to take the high road in the meantime. As hard as that can be to remember in the heat of the moment sometimes."
He caught Joel finally shift to meet his eyes, reading the soundless plea for validation. Clark offered what he hoped was a bolstering smile.
"For what it's worth, I get why you acted out, Joel. Just do me a favor and try not to sink to his level, yeah? Don't give him that satisfaction."
Joel searched his father's face for a lingering beat, emotions warring across his features. At last, he gave a jerky nod, scrubbing a restless hand down his face before turning back to the window.
"Yeah...I'll work on that, Dad," Joel mumbled, a tinge of shame cooling some of his earlier fury.
Clark slid another glance toward the passenger seat as the truck rattled over patched cement. Joel remained slouched against the door, his narrow shoulders held that familiar protective hunch, body language barricaded to rebuff further attempts at consolation or interrogation.
Idly spinning the wheel through a lazy left turn, Clark weighed potential openings to pierce his reinforced defenses again. But Joel's enduring silence spoke volumes.
Let the boy be for the moment, he told himself, even as fatherly concern nagged relentlessly. He would speak up when he was good and ready and not a second before. Pushing now would only drive him further inward.
Clark blew out a slow breath, fogging the windshield as they pulled up to a stop sign. He drummed his fingers along the wheel, grasping for some harmless thread of conversation to cut the building pressure inside the truck.
"Your mother may have a few choices of words ready when we get back," Clark attempted lightly. "Lucky for you, I'm an expert at...creative buffering after so many years."
He watched Joel peel his forehead from where it rested against the glass, regarding Clark with thinly veiled skepticism. Clark offered a lame half-shrug.
"I'll butter her up with emotional appeals about misguided but noble intentions from her brave young man." Clark punctuated the assurances with an exaggerated wink. "Works at least sixty percent of the time."
Joel huffed a sound halfway between a snort and scoff at that. The sound sparked a tiny flare of accomplishment in Clark's chest. But no other reply seemed forthcoming.
Clark drummed his thumbs again, pondering his next gambit. Casually, he tried once more, "We could grab a pizza on the way back too if you want. Might make facing the firing squad easier on a full stomach—"
"I'm not hungry." Joel's abrupt dismissal sliced cleanly through Clark's rambling. His gaze shifted back out toward the street, painfully distant.
Clark wilted, disappointment sinking in his stomach. Back to square one. Resisting the urge to batter himself against Joel's defenses any further, he instead reached for the radio dial. Best to just give the kid space for the rest of the short ride home.
Another minute crawled by, punctuated only by the truck's labored wheeze and the Doppler-distorted wailing of guitars over the radio. Clark nearly jolted when Joel's voice pierced the uneasy atmosphere.
"Dad I..." Joel trailed off, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. Clark noted how he avoided meeting his eyes, instead picking at a scab on his knuckle. He watched Joel grind his teeth before forcing out the rest in a turbulent rush.
"Lately I've noticed...I dunno. Weird stuff happening sometimes. Like my body doing things that don't seem...." Joel grimaced as he grappled for words. "That isn't normal," he finally amended.
"At first I thought it was just flukes or adrenaline, y'know? A locker door gets dented. I chuck a ball harder than I should be able to." Joel gave a jerky shrug, feigning casual indifference even as uncertainty swirled behind his eyes. "Figured maybe I was just stressed and imagining things or whatever."
He gnawed his bottom lip raw before adding under his breath, "But that's not it. I felt...something today. When I threw that ball in gym." He lifted his hands, gazing down at his palms like foreign objects.
"This strength just came out of nowhere. I saw that ball tear across the gym fast as a rocket, about to take someone's head off." Joel's voice dropped softer, laced with quiet awe and dread intermingled. "And I swear it was like...like I was outside myself just watching it happen. But also feeling this crazy rush inside at the same time."
Joel finally wrenched his conflicted eyes up, wide and vulnerable as they searched Clark's stunned face.
Clark pulled the truck to the driveway outside their modest two-story home. He shoved both hands roughly through his hair before dropping them to grip the wheel with whitening knuckles.
"I thought we'd never need to have this conversation," Clark admitted heavily after a long beat of silence. "Hoped we wouldn't, if I'm being fully honest."
He took another sidelong look at his son. Joel sat rigidly now, his knuckles blanched bloodless where he gripped his knees. Clark noted the rapid flutter of pulse in his clenched jaw, the slight wideness of his eyes that belied the calm neutrality Joel was fighting to maintain.
"You've probably already put the impossible pieces together in that clever head of yours, haven't you?" Clark prodded gently.
Joel sucked in a sharp breath, his exhale shaky. "I must be getting your powers. Or...or at least some version of them." Joel lifted his hands helplessly, turning them over as if seeing them anew. "That's the only explanation that makes any sense."
Clark scrubbed a palm down his face again, tension lining his eyes.
"For years there were no signs of you developing abilities, so I just assumed..." Clark faltered regret tempering his words. "I shouldn't have just made assumptions. I should have been more prepared for this possibility."
Silence swelled to fill the truck once more. Joel had gone very still, muscles stiff as his wide-eyed stare bored through the windshield. Clark hesitantly reached over, laying a broad palm on his son's slender shoulder. He felt Joel initially flinch before some of that tension began seeping away beneath the steady weight.
"I know everything probably feels terrifying and out of control right now," Clark soothed quietly. "Just remember you aren't facing this change alone, I'll be right there with you. Every step of the way, understand?" He gently squeezed Joel's shoulder when the boy finally nodded jerkily.
Joel trudged up the walkway behind his father, boots scuffing noisily along the cracked cement. He gnawed absently at the ragged edge of his thumbnail until a coppery tang flooded his tongue.
This impossible disclosure still sent Joel mentally reeling. His entire sense of identity now hung in limbo, previous assumptions about his ordinary existence shattered beyond all recognition. Nothing felt certain anymore.
Joel ascended the creaking porch steps with leaden limbs, each footfall echoing like cannon fire inside his head. He lingered at the entrance a breath longer than necessary, forehead coming to rest against the solid wood with a dull thunk.
Am I even still me anymore? The unspoken fear needled sharply beneath Joel's skin as he stood frozen in liminal space. Or did I somehow become someone else entirely the second whatever freaky alien DNA inside got triggered?
The door groaned open before he could spiral deeper. Clark's broad palm shepherded him gently inside. Still adrift mentally, Joel trudged straight upstairs without glancing toward his mother's usual spot at the cramped kitchen table. Her laptop's clacking keys went momentarily silent, no doubt picking up on his mood. But Lois seemed to understand Joel's need for space right then. He felt her assessing gaze follow his exit, but she didn't call after him.
Safely sequestered in his bedroom, Joel slumped bonelessly atop his unmade bed. He scrubbed both hands roughly down his face before raking them back through his hair. Staring up at the ceiling, he strained to catch the muffled conversation now drifting from the kitchen below.
His mother's clipped tone sounded first, syllables sharp with familiar frustration. "Please tell me today was just Joel pushing boundaries as usual and not..." She didn't finish the thought aloud but the lingering silence spoke for her.
Finally, his dad's measured words drifted up. "No...I'm afraid this goes beyond typical teenage rebellion." A weighty pause hung before Clark continued heavily. "Those powers decided to kick in after all."
His mom's explosive sigh echoed even through the ceiling. "Of course, they pick right now to surface when he's already overwhelmed juggling school because the universe just loves heaping extra complications onto my kid's plate!"
Muffled sounds of his dad attempting to soothe her audibly fraying nerves followed. Joel flung an arm across his burning eyes, wishing he could simply sink through the sagging mattress and vanish.
****
Clark set aside his red pen, attention wandering from the homework spread before him to linger on the ceiling. He found himself tracking each creak and groan from the floorboards overhead. He scrubbed a hand roughly down his face, exhaling slowly.
Turning his focus back to his younger son, Clark gently extracted the gnawed pen cap from between Jon's teeth. "Take a quick break, kiddo then we'll tackle those last math problems," he encouraged. Jon offered him a grateful grin, already vaulting over the back of the couch and hitting the floor at a sprint.
Clark huffed a tired chuckle as he watched his youngest bound off for snacks. Then heavier thoughts clouded Clark's drifting mind once more. He crossed over to the kitchen table where Lois sat hunched over her laptop, fingers clacking relentlessly across the keys.
Clark came up behind her chair, thumbs digging into the knots of tension gathering at the base of her neck. Lois's typing rhythm faltered as she leaned back into the spontaneous massage.
"I had an idea earlier," Clark began, gently working a particularly stubborn knot. "Might help ease Joel into this transition, being around familiar surroundings. I'm thinking I'll take the boys back to the farm for a couple of days."
He felt Lois twist to meet his gaze, brows lowered. "Let Joel process things a bit, start testing the extent of these new abilities somewhere safe." Clark swept his thumbs in soothing arcs along her rigid tendons. "Ma would love to see her grandkids too been a while and it'll give you a much-needed break on top of it all."
Lois turned fully in her chair to face him now. Clark watched emotions flicker in her eyes—hesitation, exhaustion, temptation. He leaned down to kiss the furrow from her brow. "Just for a night or two, I promise. Call it a trial run."
Lois expelled a forceful gust of breath, tension leaking from her posture. "Fine, take over farm patrol for a few days," she conceded with a wry twist of her lips. "But I expect you all back by Sunday ready to tackle chores and grocery lists."
She reached up a hand, her thumb brushing the stubborn grain of stubble lining Clark's jaw. The casually intimate gesture still sent warmth pooling in his stomach after twenty years together.
"It's probably smart getting Joel out to the countryside for a bit," Lois admitted quietly. "Give him room to move and clear his head." Her mouth compressed, fresh lines etching around her eyes. "God knows he needs that space right now."
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Norrmy
Norrmy Apologies for the long gap since my last update. I unfortunately got caught up in some messy behind-the-scenes drama as a co-author on another story. That project has now fallen apart, but the silver lining is I can devote my full creative attention here. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone