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Clark Kent is a completely normal dude from Smallville, Kansas. His name is really only known by those who are avid fans of the Daily Planet, his friends, and the people from Smallville. He is a brick of a man, always slouching to make himself smaller so he doesn't intimidate the people he interviews for the Daily Planet. He's written some very intriguing articles about cheese. He wears glasses over his blue eyes and his black hair curls just a tad over his forehead. He's always got a kind smile on his face.
Danny Fenton is a completely normal dude from Amity Park, Illinois before he had to move with his Aunt Alicia to Smallville, Kansas after a family death. His name is known by a ton of engineers and engineering students that follow his work on energy creation in Metropolis. He is a tall, lanky but muscular man who stands with his back straight, towering over most of his peers. His blue eyes look green in certain lights and his straight, black hair is always pulled back into a half up pony-tail. He's always got a chaotic grin on his face.
Color Lois Lane surprised when she and Clark are called into a meeting to determine who will interview the newest "Up and Coming Engineer: Daniel James Nightingale" and Clark shoots up, begging Perry to give him the article. She hasn't known Clark to be a big fan of engineering, but there is always time to get a new hobby. It's easy to give it up to Clark when he stares at her with those small town puppy eyes. He really is too adorable to say "no" to sometimes.
As soon as she watches Clark escort Danny to Clark's desk, she knows why. They're talking like old friends, best friends in fact. Lois doesn't think she's ever seen Clark laugh so hard than when Danny leaned forward shared some inside joke as they caught up. She notes how similar they look as well. Black hair, blue eyes, and tall. But the fashion sense could not be anymore different with Danny's bright green jacket spelling it out quite easily. Clark is a maybe an inch or two taller. She watches for the 3 hours they are talking and decides to stop by Clark's desk as it looks like they're wrapping up.
"You didn't tell me you had a twin, Smallville?" She says, standing beside Clark's desk, smirking at the flustered man.
"HA!" Danny laughs, "No more twins for me, thanks! Ellie is more than enough for me."
Clark rolls his eyes, "She's not your twin, Danny."
Danny leans back in the chair, crossing his hands behind his head, "Might as well be. She looks close enough."
"Lois this is Danny. Danny, Lois." Clark says, introducing the two.
"Oh, so you're the famous Daniel Nightingale? It's nice to meet you Mister Engineer of the Year." Lois shakes Danny's hand as he extends it.
"Please, call me Danny. It's nice to meet you, too, Ms. #1 Journalist of Metropolis. My friend is a big fan of yours. Really appreciates the work you did on the harmful, environmental issues LexCorp was causing."
"I see you have some intelligent friends."
"Yeah, not sure about this guy though," Danny gestures to Clark. "You know he got his hand stuck in a fence post once?"
Lois' gaze glides to Clark's embarrassed face, a smile gracing her lips. "Oh really? You'll have to tell me more."
"Actually," Clark interrupts. "Danny was just leaving, weren't you Danny?"
Lois watches a silent argument between the two with glee. "So you've known each other for quite some time, huh?"
The two men look at her. Clark responds, "You could say that. We've known each other since Danny moved to Smallville, what...10 years ago?"
"Something like that," Danny shrugs. He stands up from the chair, collecting the bright, neon green jacket he'd walked in with. "Unfortunately, Clark wasn't wrong and I do have to get going. I hope I'll be meeting you again soon Ms. Lane."
"Call me Lois. It was wonderful to meet you, Danny."
Clark gets up as well, "I'll walk you down, Danny. Just let me grab my things first."
Danny groans, "Just like high school all over again. Always the last to clean up." Clark smacks Danny on the shoulder, prompting a chuckling hiss to escape the thinner man as he rubs the spot Clark hit.
Lois moves away to let the two walk out, waving them goodbye. Danny remarks that Superman should make the weather colder already and Clark glares at him. Obviously, that's not how Superman's freeze breath works. He shoots back with a comment about a Phantom being enough to bring a cold chill through Metropolis. Danny shoves him into the elevator, laughing. Lois smiles. It's good to know she and Jimmy aren't Clark's only friends in Metropolis now.
~~~~~~~~~~
Clark remembers the day Danny moved in. It was overcast and a chill had settled into the air.
Clark was 14 when new neighbors moved in next door, where Mr. Payne had lived before he passed away. Clark is a bit sad to see the old man go, but he is excited when Ma tells him that the new neighbors have a boy a year older than him. When he finally meets Danny, the teen is unpacking from the moving truck that had gotten lost somehow. Danny has bruises under his eyes and his hair is greasy and long. Mrs. Alicia isn't looking much better, trying to hold a smile while Clark introduces himself, but Danny ignores Clark, as if he hadn't been anything more than a hallucination.
Danny is in a few of his classes, having been held back a year due to his absences at his other school. Most of the Smallville kids ignore him, clicks already in place. Clark finds himself drawn to Danny for some reason. Maybe its how Danny has never smiled or because his eyes always look so far away. Clark sees Danny throw away a whole tray of food at lunch and walk off to the library one day. That's how he'll get to know Danny.
It starts with a Strawberry Rhubarb pie over the fence of their yards. Danny takes it without much word and a week later, Ms. Alicia is at their door, handing them a bumpy, banana cream pie. Clark can see Danny watching from the beat up blue truck in the driveway. He thinks he sees something light up in Danny's eyes.
Days go past slowly as winter creeps into Smallville. Danny starts to open up a little bit as each conversation over the fence separating the Kent and Nightingale (because that's what Danny told Clark his last name was) farms. Clarks invites Danny and Ms. Alicia over for dinner one night and they end up sleeping over at the Kent house. As ice melts, so do the walls around Danny. By Summer, he and Clark are close (almost as close as he is with Tucker and Sam, thought distance has dulled those bonds) and spending everyday together.
Then a tornado passes through Smallville and Ms. Alicia comes running over to the Kent's, wind whipping her strawberry hair across her face as she asks if Danny was there. There wasn't a question in Clark's mind when he darted out the back door, dodging Pa's grip, and taking off to search for Danny in the harsh wind.
He's only just getting the hang of flying. What was he thinking?! He can't save Danny if he's in danger himself. Every call of Danny's name is lost to the wind and Clark finds himself lost, screaming for a friend that might already be dead. Clark is hyperventilating and panicking when he's pushed out of the way of a flying car by someone. His eyes are screwed shut until he hears Danny shout and feels the older teen grab him by his shoulders.
"WHAT IN VORTEX'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING?! WHY ARE YOU OUT HERE, CLARK!?"
His eyes snap open to stare at...Danny? The Danny that lives next door and snorts milk out his nose at 3 am has black hair and blue eyes like Clark. This Danny has streaks of black hair in a mess of bright white and neon green eyes that light up the dusty wind swirl they're flying in. Oh....And Danny is flying. Without Clark's assistance. That's important to note as well.
They're bumped out of the way of a twisting barn by another person. Clark stares at her. That is....That is just Danny but a girl. And she is bleeding from multiple gashes across her body.
She shouts over the torrential noise of the tornado, "NOW IS SO NOT THE TIME DANNY! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE AND ONE OF US IS MORE FRAGILE THAN THE REST!"
Clark is almost insulted, but he has to remind himself that, despite the many secrets Danny and he have shared, they don't know everything about each other, evident by the color palette change.
Danny whips around to look at the girl and then back at Clark. He grabs the girl's hand and pulls Clark closer, protecting them both from the hail with a bright green jacket that Clark KNEW Danny didn't own. They're moving like the wind doesn't even physically hit them and sometimes a fuzzy feeling fills his stomach as a bit of debris flies towards them.
Disoriented, they crash into the fields near the Nightingale farm. Danny holds them both down, head twisting back and forth to find a safe place to run. Clark tries to get up but Danny pushes back, still looking around.
"I CAN GET US TO THE SHELTER, DANNY!" Clark shouts, forcing Danny's attention to him. Danny stares into Clark's eyes. Clark sees the fear in Danny's eyes, but he doesn't think it's because of the tornado. The girl Danny shouts something in Danny's ear and it must convince him because he nods and pulls them both up by their hands. He checks them quickly for injuries caused by the fall, lingering longer on his doppelganger. Then nods at Clark and they take off running towards the Kent farm.
They jump the fence, not caring whether a normal human could achieve that and run through the corn field, Clark listening for Danny's heartbeat. It's not there. He freezes then turns to see that the older boy is still right behind him, supporting the girl. Clark will focus on that fact later. They're running across the driveway when a bright light flashes behind him and he turns to see his Danny. If he didn't think the girl looked like Danny before, her chopped, pixie cut makes her look even more like his friend.
Danny's hair is back to black and his worried, tired eyes are blue again. Clark and the Dannys get to the storm shelter. He pounds on the doors in the floor. Clark barely dodges the door as Pa shoves the heavy doors open and yanks the teens into the shelter. Ma grabs Clark into the tightest hug he thinks he's ever had as Alicia bolts up from the metal folding chair and grabs Danny, and consequently, the girl Danny, into a huge bear hug before putting them down in confusion at the extra body.
Danny curls over the girl, somehow trying to protect her from everyone in the shelter. He looks at Clark and then back to Alicia. Alicia kneels down in front of Danny and the girl.
"It's okay Danny. We ain't gonna hurt 'er." Alicia holds Danny's hand and strokes the lightning scars Clark hadn't noticed before. They fade as Danny starts breathing slowly. Once he nods, Alicia turns to the girl clutching Danny's familiar red jacket, face smashed into the older boy's chest.
"And ya must be the famous Danielle Danny talks so much about. Cripes, he said y'all looked alike." Alicia offers her hand. "I'm Alicia, yer..? Well I suppose I'm yer Aunt."
"Whoa...You're huge!" Danielle exclaims, practically bursting from Danny's side to shake Alicia's hand once she actually looks at the woman.
"Ellie," Danny groans, swiping his hands down his face. "You can't just say stuff like that to people. It's rude."
"She is, Danny! Look at her!" Dannielle? Ellie? Says, pointing at Ms. Alicia. Alicia laughs, heartily.
"I think you'll be fittin' right in with us, Elli-Girl."
Ma claps her hands, drawing their neighbors' attention, "Well, I suppose introductions are in order then. Ellie, I'm Marth Kent. This here is my husband, John, and my son, Clark. It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady."
Ellie scrunches back into Danny's jacket and shyly waves to the newest strangers. Clark places his hands on his hips and tilts his head when Danny meets his gaze. There's guilt there, but Clark would be a hypocrite if he got mad Danny hid his powers.
Danny brings the hand that isn't hiding Ellie up to scratch the back of his neck, "I guess we both had secrets to hide, huh, Clark?"
Clark laughs, crossing his arm and glancing at the bump in Danny's jacket, "You can say that again." Clark leaves his mother's side and crouches in front of Ellie, leaning so she can properly see his face. "You got a pretty awesome brother, ya know that?"
Ellie nods, eyes brightening a little bit more.
"You wanna hear about how he got his foot stuck in a school sink?"
Danny groans in tandem with Ellie's exacerbated, "YES!"
~
Needless to say that Ellie became a staple in the Kent and Nightingale lifestyle. She ran around with the chickens, earning a few scratches on her face. Alicia was homeschooling her until they could get an identity for the girl. She taught her all sorts of things, breeding Ellie's love of animals and whittling. Danny loved teasing Ellie, usually scruffing up her short, jagged, black hair. Despite being 4 years younger than Clark, she fit in the duo's side like she was meant to be there.
One dark night, the three laid on the loft of the Nightingale's barn whispering softly into the night. Ellie was dozing on Danny's stomach, the teen's fingers combing through her hair. They'd had a full day of fun, visiting the summer fair and running around the farms. They watched the moon slowly move across the sky through the skylight the tornado had made and the Nightingales hadn't bothered to patch yet. Danny kept commenting on it every time he saw it.
Clark sighed and glanced at Danny. The boy stared at the stars. Clark could tell Danny wanted to say something.
Then so quiet that Clark, with his super hearing, almost didn't hear, Danny whispered, "I died when I was 14...and I...I didn't come out quite right..."
Clark rolled over onto his stomach to stare at his friend. He was shocked, of course he was, but Danny had more to say and he more than deserved Clark's attention. It took a few moments before Danny continued.
Danny tells Clark about his parents and how love turned to neglect as soon as Danny died in the Ghost Portal and activated it on accident. He tells Clark about fighting with the ghosts that were coming through the portal, and fighting alongside his best friends and sister against the big bad King Pariah Dark. He talks about Vlad Plasmius and how big of a "frootloop" he is.
Then Danny tells Clark about Dan. Danny's evil future self. The reason his family was dead. Danny doesn't really go into details. He fought Dan, got back to his own time, but was still too late to stop his friends' and family's death. He wouldn't become Dan, knowing what would happen if he did, and to do that he couldn't be given to Vlad, so Danny ran to his Aunt's arms when she hesitantly offered her guardianship.
Clark tells Danny about how his first memory is watching two adults place him into a capsule and send him away. Tells him about how scary it was to start blasting lasers from his eyes at 6 or floating in his bed when he turned 10. Clark talks about the stars and how he knows his planet is gone. He talks to Danny about growing up with the Kent's.
"They're my parents, but it sucks knowing there's a whole culture I don't really know." Clark sighs, sitting up and looking at Danny from where the teen still lay.
Danny looks at Clark upside down, "I totally get it. I have no idea what the taboos of Ghost culture is, yet I'm expected to be the most powerful one when I grow up? Yeah right. How am I supposed to help the Infinite Realms when I can't even dance the ghostly Cha-Cha."
Clark snorts, which gets Danny laughing. Clark scoots over to his best friend and and his sister lay, leaning on his hands, "We're two big messes, aren't we?"
Danny chuckles again, setting his arms behind his head and looks up at Clark, "Don't I know it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Superman is losing his fight with Lex Luthor. He pushes against the Kryptonite armor, desperate for some sort of respite from the burning in his arms as the gem poisons his body from touch alone. He'd called for Justice League backup, but there was just so many issues happening at once and any non-meta/powered Leaguers were miles away, too far to save him now.
He's sure he can't last much longer, already his fingers are numb. Maybe the mech will just break down from pushing itself so hard? Something shifts and Superman has to use one hand to defend from the new mechanical hand reaching for him while still pushing against it's thigh. He really hopes Ma and Pa aren't watching right now.
The pressure increases and he's going to be killed right there on 45th avenue on some random Wednesday afternoon. Then the pressure disappears and Superman falls forward suddenly.
"CLA-SUPERMAN!?" Someone shouts.
Superman rolls his head around where it's cradled and looks up to where a woman leans over his face. She's blurry, but he knows that she is familiar. Her hair used to be shorter. He hasn't seen her is a while. She was traveling the world.
"Ellie?" Superman croaks, voice raspy from the Kryptonite poisoning.
"Hey Blockhead. How're ya doin'?" Ellie asks, smiling at him as his eyes slowly clear around her face. "Can't say I expected ta find ya fightin' a giant extinct rock golem."
Superman huffs. Ellie had picked up Alicia's accent quickly as a kid and it seems to have stuck around. "I didn't expect to fight one either. Where's it gone."
He tries pushing himself up, but Ellie snarks quietly, "Clark Kent, you best not be tryin' to get up now, ya hear. Phantom can hold off that bast-"
"Ellie!" Superman scolds, dropping his head back into her hands. She starts massaging his scalp, watching something to their right. He follows her gaze, twisting slightly to see a green, black, and white bolt of light hit the mech again and again.
Ellie looks back down at him, considering his pallor before smacking him on the cheeks with both hands, startling the Kryptonian. "Well? Up and at 'em, Supertrunks. You got no mur Krypto poison runnin' in yer system. Let's beat us a rock."
Superman groans, rubbing where she'd hit him. "Must you always hit so hard, Banshee? You're one of the only people who can actually hurt me. You'd think you'd spare your best friend from the hurt."
Ellie, or rather Banshee, stands, hands on her hips. "You ain't my best friend! Definitely gotta be the Bats over the river."
Superman rolls his eyes, floating up to stand and getting into a battle position, "Of course you'd like Batman better."
"Oi, what's that meant to mean Super Scout?!"
Banshee is left in the crater as Superman joins the fight again. Phantom dodges Superman's punch as he aims for the center of the mech. Phantom flips him off before wagging his fingers at Banshee behind them. The fight is over pretty quickly after that and the ghost siblings disappear before the press can properly get a hold of their statements.
Superman answers all the questions he can, arranges the removal of the Kryptonite Mech, and flies off to his apartment. He knows to expect guests. His door swings open as he enters the cramped place, taking his shoes off and setting them beside the two sets of sneakers.
"You'd think the World's Leading Engineer and Wayne Tech's Brightest Chemical Scientist would wear something more professional," Clark announces as he rounds the wall to see his best friends invading his kitchen.
Ellie waves him off from her upside-down placement on the couch, "Ain't nobody got time for stuff like that when there're toxins to anti."
Clark rolls his eyes, watching Danny pour an ungodly amount of Bat-O's into one of Clark's mixing bowls. Well this was the life he signed up for he supposes.