Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of Down the Hall
Stats:
Published:
2022-11-22
Completed:
2022-12-13
Words:
24,140
Chapters:
8/8
Comments:
104
Kudos:
86
Bookmarks:
6
Hits:
1,808

Back of the Box

Chapter 2: Back of the box, chapter 2

Notes:

It’s true what they say, it takes a village…
Thank you to Argentum_LS for the awesome fan art!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Back of the Box, chapter 2

 

 

 

 

When Jordan finally walked through the main gates of Met U the son was getting high in the sky, casting an white, blinding light on the tall buildings around him. He smiled as he took in the city landscape, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans and strolling down the sidewalk. Being in the city always made him content, bringing back memories of his childhood here, well before he had any inkling of who he really was, or that his life would ultimately become absolutely insane. 

Not that he didn’t love being who he was. On the contrary, actually— the feeling he got when he had the opportunity to save a life was absolutely indescribable, and he knew that there were only a select few who could truly identify it and understand it. He loved being Superboy, he really did—

Though it would be nice if it could be a little less complicated sometimes. 

He found Sarah’s building fairly quickly, looking all around him before lowering his glasses and shooting a jet of heat vision at the electronic lock on the front door.

The light turned green and he turned the knob, letting himself in as he always did. He pushed his glasses back against his eyes, continuing forward towards the stairs—

“Jordan!” 

His head shot up, meeting a very familiar pair of bright, blue eyes. 

“Oh— hi Lori,” he replied. It was Lori Lemaris, Sarah’s roommate, whom he had met briefly a few weeks earlier, when he brought Sarah back to her dorm room, extremely drunk and very sleepy. “Did you just come from upstairs? Sarah’s there, right?”

Lori didn’t reply, her jaw dropping as she stared at him, gaping awkwardly. 

He scrunched his nose in confusion. “What?” In a panic he glanced down at his shirt, wondering if he had forgotten to button some of the buttons and maybe his Superboy suit was showing through…

But it looked fine, all buttons in place. He furrowed his brow, his confusion deepening. 

“Yeah… um… no, she’s there. Sarah, I mean. Sarah’s there. Upstairs. I mean she’s in, um, our room…” Lori’s face reddened as she abruptly cut herself off.

Jordan raised his eyebrows. Her reaction to him was REALLY bizarre— but then again, Jordan was no stranger to acting like a total ass in front of random people for absolutely no discernible reason…

“Um… ok, thanks,” he said. 

Lori scurried away, leaving Jordan alone. He shrugged, then climbing the stairs towards the third floor, where he knew Sarah was probably laying face down in her bed.

He emerged from the staircase, passing a solitary, unadorned single room in the corner, and then he finally reached her room. He paused for a moment, staring at the rusty number “312” that had clearly been much shinier when it was first hung, decades earlier.

And then he knocked. 

He listened in, hearing faint rustling inside. He knew better than to use his X-ray vision to peer inside; he wasn’t going to make that mistake more than once.

But then Sarah’s door popped open, her head slipping out through a slim open crack. 

She looked into his eyes, clearly annoyed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Jordan furrowed his brow in confusion. “I told you I was coming—“

“Tonight. You told me tonight.”

Oh, right. He had, hadn’t he. And he did have that intention— originally anyway. But when it came to Sarah, it sometimes seemed like his patience was slim to none. 

It has always been like that with her, hadn’t it. He huffed under his breath. It was amazing— no matter how much he tried to change over the years, how much he tried to grow, he continued to fall into the same patterns, over and over and over again…

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Look, Jordan, I have a really busy day. Maybe you can like… hang out somewhere else for a little while?”

Jordan’s heart fell at his gross miscalculation about this whole thing, and then he started wondering if even the moon would be far enough away.

But then Sarah let out a deep sigh. “Ugh. Just… give me five minutes.”

The door slammed closed in front of him, and once again Jordan heard her rustling inside.

He stood there for a moment, awkwardly at a loss of what to do with his weirdly hanging hands, which didn’t seem to have a place to go. He never had this issue when he was in his red Superboy suit, which he felt hugging him under his gray hoodie. Somehow, when he was in his famous persona, his awkwardness seemed to slip away entirely— but he couldn’t even think of how Superboy would handle this, or where Superboy would stash his hands, or even how Superboy would spend five minutes waiting in a hallway.

So he stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets, hoping he didn’t look like a total dork in the process, and then he leaned against the wall. That’s what a regular person would do while waiting for his girlfriend— right?

And then he sighed. Girlfriend?? How had his mind even gone there?? Sarah wasn’t his girlfriend, and hadn’t been for years now. She was his…

Ok, there wasn’t really a good word for what she was to him. But if she ever found out his mind had gone to the word “girlfriend,” she would drop him so fast he probably wouldn’t even be able to see it with his super speed…

His hands continued to dig into his pockets, and he became more and more convinced he must look like an absolute jackass— but then he felt his phone sitting there, right at the bottom of his pocket. 

So he slid it out. 

He tried to tell himself not to head over to Reddit. It was a terrible idea to do so. Like, beyond terrible. There was no way it could end in a positive way. The only thing that it would accomplish would be making him emotional. And overwhelmed. And pissed off. And probably completely beside himself in anxiety, on top of everything else…

He listened in to Sarah’s room again, continuing to hear the sounds of clothing shuffling around.

And then he sighed, resigning himself to the temptation…

He turned on his phone, and his finger drifted right over to Reddit. He pressed the icon before he had a chance to consider the wisdom of doing so.

He glanced at the menu, listing all of his frequently visited subs:

 

Recently visited

 

    r/Superboy

    r/Superman

    r/startrek

 

And then he mindlessly toggled right over to r/Superboy.

His eyes widened as he saw the flurry of activity since the last time he checked in, only a few hours before. 

And each topic was even more ridiculous than the next…



Superbros

Discussion

So are we really saying there are two of them now? Are they going to start doing saves together? And is Superboy the older brother, younger brother, or…



A Quick Painting I Made of Superboy

Arts/Crafts

Jordan

 

Decided to focus on his adorable face for this one 🙂. Let me know what you think…




BTS of a Save in Dubai— Blur sighting??

News



Jordan’s brow furrowed when he saw the last post. He remembered that save quite vividly, in fact— it was him who did it, not “the Blur,” but he had been so strapped for time at that moment, with a volcano erupting halfway around the world at the same time, that he hadn’t even had a second to slow down before he flew back towards Hawaii. 

He shook his head. This whole thing was getting absolutely crazy.



SqueakyBruce

Is it just me or is the Blur like crazy hot? Like way hotter than Superboy

          Pickles579

          Definitely hotter. There’s no contest. But anyway, I never thought Superboy was anything special. His hair is too floppy

 

Jordan’s hand drifted up to his hair absentmindedly, and he once again started wondering if he should get a haircut one of these days. 

 

        Criptoknight

        I like Superboy’s hair, actually, it’s cute. Anyway, you guys are ridiculous. How could you even think anything about this at all. It’s literally just a colorful blur

                 SqueakyBruce

                That makes him even hotter!! Like, it’s the imagination of what he COULD be

                           Criptoknight

                           I’m sorry, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. 

 

Jordan told himself he shouldn’t get involved. It was always a terrible idea….

But then his fingers started flying across the tiny keyboard, almost as if they were acting in their own volition.

 

ToBoldlyGo612 

I think this is getting a little crazy. All of this is just conjecture— It’s probably all just Superboy.

      

Jordan watched his response get downvoted immediately, over and over again. 

 

       SqueakyBruce

       No, u/ToBoldlyGo612, it’s definitely the blur. I mean, anyone can plainly see how different he looks. 

       Criptoknight 

       Agree with u/SqueakyBruce. But sorry, I know you want to refuse to believe this guy exists for some reason. Nice try.

 

“Is that Reddit?”

Jordan startled, quickly shutting off his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket before glancing up at the newcomer.

“Uh… no,” he stammered, fidgeting awkwardly with his glasses. “I mean, yes— I mean, but it was—“

“Do you need help with something?” the boy asked, looking intently at him through hooded eyes. He pushed his shoulder length, red hair behind his ear, his intense stare unfaltering. “You look a little lost. And I am not so sure I have seen you here in the past.”

“Uh, no,” Jordan replied. He suddenly couldn’t remember what to do with his hands, yet again. What the hell did he do with them when he was Superboy, and why couldn’t he remember??

“Do you go to school here?” the boy pressed on, narrowing his eyes as he leaned a little closer. “Now that I’m really looking at you I think I HAVE seen you. You look a little familiar…”

Jordan shifted awkwardly. People always said that to him, likely because of how ubiquitous he was when his glasses were off and stashed in the secret compartment of his suit…

Jordan pushed his glasses flat and secure against his face.

“I mean, I’ve been here before,” Jordan said. “I um— Sarah is my… um… my—“

“Cortez, you mean,” the boy said, lifting an eyebrow like a hook. “I see.”

“Yeah,” Jordan replied, shrugging. 

And then the boy looked straight into his eyes again, inexplicably bringing a shiver to the surface of Jordan’s skin—

And then he threw his hand out to him, waiting patiently for a response. 

“My name is Al,” he said. “I live in the single right at the top of the stairs. I’m sure you saw it.”

Jordan shrugged again. He glanced down at Al’s hand, deliberating taking it and giving it a shake, as Al seemed to indicate he wanted him to do—

And then Jordan heard a very familiar voice, reverberating from the deep hall behind him. 

“What the HELL.”

He didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was. 

Al’s stare deepened in intrigue, almost as if he were trying to burrow deep under his skin. 

Jordan closed his eyes, not bothering to turn around. “I’m not here for you. Even though maybe I should be, especially because you’ve been an absolute dumbass lately.”

“Oh, shut the hell up, Jordan.”

Al’s eyebrow raised even higher, reaching up towards his messy head of bright, red curls. 

“So you also know Kent,” he said. “Interesting.”

“I don’t ‘know’ Kent,” Jordan replied, suddenly annoyed. “I AM Kent.”

Al’s eyebrow finally disappeared into his hair.

“Get the hell out of my dorm, Jordan,” Jon said, fuming. “Nobody wants you here.”

“Again, not here for you, jackass— and trust me, Sarah does…”

At that moment Sarah’s door suddenly popped open, and Sarah finally emerged, her hands still messing with her hair, clearly attempting to get it under some semblance of control. Her brow was furrowed in frustration as she glanced at Jordan, glaring at him angrily. 

Jon snorted. “Yeah, Bro. The amount she wants you here couldn’t be clearer—“

Jordan turned towards him, narrowing his eyes. “Get the HELL away from me, Jon—“

“Gladly,” came the reply. And then Jon disappeared so fast it almost seemed like he had launched into super speed…

Which maybe he really had. 

Jordan swallowed. This whole thing was such a shit show it was ridiculous. 

His parents didn’t even know about what had happened in the cafeteria, they didn’t know about the FBI investigation, and they didn’t know about the chaos unfolding on social media. 

In fact, they didn’t even know that his asshole brother had powers at all…

Jordan had never been so angry in his entire life. Jon was being an absolute jackass in so many ways, yet every time Jordan even thought about approaching him about it, everything just blew up in his face. 

Jordan knew that things used to be different between them, but with how bad it had gotten he even struggled to remember how that had ever been possible…

And then he felt a hand grab his wrist. He startled, blinking several times and finally noticing Sarah right beside him. 

“Let’s get out of here, flyboy,“ she said. 

“It was nice meeting you,” Al said, his dark, beady eyes wide and fiercely focused. “And interesting…”

Jordan felt a shiver wriggle across his skin again. Ok, that guy was WEIRD…

Al watched them creepily as they continued down the hall and towards the stairs, and then Jordan let out a huge sigh as they disappeared into the staircase. 

“I guess we’ll head over to the cafeteria,” Sarah said as if Al’s behavior were inconsequential. 

Jordan thought about asking about him, but he realized that it just didn’t matter. 

Al didn’t matter, and Jon certainly didn’t matter. 

Nothing mattered. Nothing, in the entire world—

Except for this girl, of course. 

Sarah’s dark, curly hair bounced in front of his eyes as they walked, and Jordan found himself reaching for it, the pads of his fingers barely wisping by it before she batted his hand away.

“Just stop,” she said. 

Jordan sighed. What the hell did he even have with her? Where was any of this going? What was he even doing? Why did he keep coming back, why did he subject himself to this— why did he subject either of them to this, really—

And then Sarah suddenly grabbed his arm, reeling him towards her—

And they came to a sudden stop in the staircase as she grabbed his neck, pulling him down towards her lips—

And as she kissed him, really kissed him, he felt butterflies fluttering around madly inside his stomach, and his heart began to race, impossibly fast—

Oh right. This was why.

He lost himself in the kiss. And the world melted away around them, leaving just Jordan and Sarah. 

Nothing else mattered but this girl. 

His mind was wiped entirely by the time she released him, and he felt an impossibly wide smile spread across his face, almost stretching from ear to ear. 

She immediately noticed it— of course she did— and she smacked his shoulder in response. 

“You don’t need to gloat,” she said, rolling her eyes. 

Jordan sighed again. 

She grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the front door and out to the grounds. He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, and he wondered briefly if it was Reddit exploding all over again…

But lunch with his girlfriend was way more important…

Jordan winced. 

NOT girlfriend. NOT GIRLFRIEND. 

Jordan pinched the bridge of his nose. Man, he was really hopeless…












Notes:

I have a feeling this story will end up expanding quite a bit. I asked a few friends for ideas for Reddit threads and I need to find an opportunity to use some of them, because they’re pretty awesome 😆. I’ll see what happens!

Thanks to Argentum_LS, blg1987, and Silenteevee for brainstorming with me 🙂