A few days had gone by since Clark and Lana were welcomed into the Parr household. Their admission into high school was finalized as both Clark and Lana would be attending Lowell High School starting tomorrow.
Currently, Clark and Lana are being guided through the neighborhood by Violet and Dash. The siblings had taken the task of introducing the newcomers to the residential layout of Noe Valley.
To be fair, Clark could have easily scanned and scouted the entire city in a fraction of a second using his super senses if he truly wished to.
But where was the fun in that?
Walking down the tree-lined suburban street offered a rare sense of normalcy he genuinely enjoyed.
As Dash and Violet pointed out local landmarks, Clark's eyes were caught by a particular house down the block.
The home was modest and charming, quintessential American suburban architecture. However, what drew his attention was the front lawn, currently occupied by two teenage girls with bright red hair, thick glasses, and white lab coats thrown over casual attire.
The girls were clearly identical twins, possessing sharp features and an intellectual, confident aura. At the moment, they were bickering intensely over a remarkably complex, oversized device sitting on a heavy-duty workbench.
Clark's super-hearing effortlessly picked up their fast-paced technical banter as they argued with the machine itself about why its subatomic converter was failing to stabilize.
"It seems those two are at it again," Violet observed with a weary sigh, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
Dash nodded in emphatic agreement. "Yeah, standard Tuesday for them."
"Who are they?" Lana asked, glancing over with natural curiosity.
"That's Susan and Mary Test," Violet explained. "They're the neighborhood twin geniuses. Word is they're attending Stanford University real soon."
"Wow, they're really that smart?" Clark asked, genuinely impressed.
"Yup," Dash replied, shivering slightly as he recalled past incidents. "They're also infamous for blowing up half the block when their experiments go sideways."
As the four of them approached the driveway, Susan was the first of the twins to look up from her diagnostic pad. Her face instantly lit up as she prepared to greet Violet and Dash, but her gaze quickly locked onto the new face standing beside them—a tall, remarkably well-built boy with dark long hair and striking features.
"Damn, sugar..." Susan muttered under her breath, her jaw slackening ever so slightly.
Mary fared no better. She blinked rapidly, mentally questioning whether her vision was failing or if a male model had somehow wandered onto her lawn. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, Mary repeated in her head as her pulse spiked into double-time.
Clark, listening directly to the sudden jump in their heart rates, smirked inwardly. Hook, line, and sinker, he thought, thoroughly amused by the reaction.
Violet and Dash greeted the twins, snapping them out of their stunned stupor.
Lana, meanwhile, caught the look in the twins' eyes instantly.
Clark always had this exact effect on every girl he encountered. It was incredibly irritating, yet at the same time, she couldn't help feeling a small, satisfying boost to her pride.
"And I presume they are your friends, Vi?" Susan asked, attempting to regain her composed, scientific demeanor while keeping her focus mostly on Clark.
Dash gestured toward them. "This is Lana Lang and Clark Kent. They're staying with us for a while."
Violet cut in to add context. "Clark's parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, are old family friends of our mom and dad. Lana was taken in by the Kents after her parents passed away, so she and Clark grew up together in Smallville."
Hearing Lana's tragic history, Susan and Mary's expressions softened into sympathetic, solemn frowns.
"Oh, please," Lana interjected smoothly, waving a hand dismissively before the mood could drop. "Don't go into full sad mode on me! Life gives you rough patches, but sitting around feeling sorry for yourself doesn't help. You just have to keep moving forward with a positive attitude."
Her straightforward, upbeat outlook instantly brightened the atmosphere. Clark smiled warmly, reaching over to give Lana's hair a gentle, affectionate pat. "That's my girl," he murmured.
He turned back to the twins with an easygoing grin. "As Vi mentioned, I'm Clark Kent from Smallville, Kansas."
Then, without missing a beat, Clark slid his arm around Lana's waist and pulled her snugly against his side. "And this feisty redhead right here used to be my childhood best friend, but now she's my girlfriend," he declared shamelessly.
Lana's face flushed bright crimson in an instant. Violet choked on her own breath and broke into a sudden coughing fit, while Dash put both hands over his mouth to muffle a burst of laughter.
Crack! Smash!
An imaginary sound of shattering glass echoed through the minds of both Susan and Mary. Their sudden romantic fantasies collapsed like deflated balloons, their expressions visibly drooping despite their best efforts to remain poised.
Seeing the twins' hilarious deflations, Clark fought with every ounce of his discipline not to burst out laughing, although he did feel a bit sad too for his words.
Lana, however, delivered a sharp, reprimanding elbow straight into Clark's midsection.
Naturally, hitting a man made of steel felt like striking a solid granite pillar, but Clark dutifully doubled over and gasped dramatically to play along.
"You shameless idiot!" Lana screeched, placing her hands on her hips while glaring daggers at him. "How can you just drop something like that so bluntly?!"
Clark straightened up with a boyish grin, adjusting his jacket. "What? I thought you liked it when I gave you proper recognition, dear Lana."
"T-That's not how it works, you silly farm boy!" Lana huffed, crossing her arms. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you?"
Turning to Susan and Mary, Lana cleared her throat awkwardly. "I'm so sorry about him. He lacks any sense of verbal restraint."
Mary cleared her throat, shaking off her disappointment with commendable speed. "No, no, it's... it's completely fine! In fact, explicit communication prevents unnecessary romantic misunderstandings."
"Precisely," Susan chimed in, adjusting her glasses with a slightly forced smile. "Efficiency in status updates is mathematically superior to ambiguity."
Dash leaned over to Violet, whisper-talking out of the corner of his mouth. "Are all genius girls this weird when they get turned down?"
"Quiet, Dash," Violet muttered back, though her lips twitched into a subtle smile.
"Wow! You guys sure seem to be having a lot of fun without me!" a loud, sassy voice suddenly called out from behind them.
Everyone turned toward the sidewalk. Violet, Dash, and the twins recognized the newcomer immediately, while Clark and Lana looked on with mild curiosity.
The girl stepping onto the lawn was another teenager, possessing bright blonde hair tied up in stylish twin ponytails, energetic blue eyes, and a confident, athletic posture. She was wearing a trendy pink and black jacket over a dark top, denim shorts, and stylish sneakers—exuding an unmistakable sense of fiery competition and suburban charm.
"Sissy?" Mary blinked, catching her breath. "What are you doing over here?"
Sissy Blakely smirked, stopping right next to the workbench and resting a hand on her hip. "Just heading back from soccer practice when I saw a crowd gathering on your lawn. I thought maybe another one of your ray guns blew up." She then shifted her gaze toward Clark and Lana, her eyes widening slightly as she took in Clark's stature.
"Well, well," Sissy said, smirking playfully. "Who's the tall drink of water?"
Before Clark could answer, Lana stepped forward with a sweet, overly bright smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "He's taken. I'm Lana, his girlfriend. And you are?"
Sissy burst into a light laugh, unfazed. "Feisty! I like you already. I'm Sissy. Don't worry, country girl, I'm not here to steal your boy—though you definitely hit the lottery with this one."
Clark chuckled smoothly, extending a hand. "Clark Kent. Nice to meet you, Sissy."
"Nice to meet you too," Sissy shook his hand, nodding approvingly. "You guys picked a wild neighborhood to move into. Between the Tests' mad science projects, Dash running around like a hyperactive squirrel, and whatever else goes down around here."
"Hey! I am not a hyperactive squirrel!" Dash protested indignantly, stepping forward.
"Could've fooled me," Violet teased, flicking Dash on the back of the head.
"Alright, alright," Susan interrupted, tapping her diagnostic screen to draw attention back to their project. "As fascinating as social introductions are, Mary and I still have a localized atmospheric stabilizer to recalibrate before dinner."
"Right," Mary agreed, picking up a heavy-looking plasma wrench. "If we don't fix the power core alignment, the entire garage might suffer an explosive shift."
Clark peered closely at the wiring inside the device. Using a tiny fraction of his X-ray vision, he spotted a misaligned copper relay deep within the casing that was causing the energy feedback loop.
"You know," Clark pointed out casually, leaning down slightly, "it looks like your secondary coupling relay on the left circuit board is offset by a couple of millimeters. That's probably why your energy converter keeps faulting out."
Susan and Mary both froze. They peered into the narrow access hatch of the machine, checking the specific relay Clark had referenced.
"Wait..." Susan whispered, adjusting her glasses in total disbelief. "He's right. The secondary coupling is out of alignment!"
Mary stared at Clark as if he had just spoken fluent ancient Greek. "How did you see that from all the way over there without opening the chassis?"
Clark offered a subtle, innocent shrug, adjusting his shirt collar. "Good eyesight, I guess. Farmers notice the little details."
Lana rolled her eyes fondly at his terrible cover story.
Sissy crossed her arms, thoroughly amused by the scene. "Looks like your new neighbor isn't just good-looking, ladies. He might actually give you two a run for your money."
"Impossible," Susan declared, though her cheeks flushed slightly again. "Though... his spatial observation skills are certainly top-tier."
"We should probably get going before Mom starts wondering where we went," Violet suggested, checking her watch. "We still need to show them the remaining places so they don't get lost tomorrow."
"Good call," Lana nodded, turning toward the path. "Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone."
"Catch you guys around!" Sissy waved as she started walking down the sidewalk. "Good luck at school tomorrow, Clark! You're definitely gonna need it!"
As the group resumed their walk down the quiet street of Noe Valley, Lana bumped her shoulder playfully against Clark's arm.
"'Former childhood best friend and now girlfriend,' huh?" she quoted softly, a genuine, fond smile gracing her lips.
Clark smiled back, wrapping his arm comfortably over her shoulders. "Just setting the record straight, Lana. Wouldn't want any genius twins getting the wrong idea."
"You're an idiot, Clark Kent," she laughed quietly, resting her head against his side as they walked forward.