Diana frowned, confused, and Lois snerked as Clark smiled over at the girls. Steve was the one who explained, though.

"My birthday is July 4th, which is also considered a holiday in this country, dedicated to our declaration of independence from the country we were previously a colony of. And this lug," he wobbled Jim's flesh and blood shoulder good naturedly, "he tells me when I'm turning eight that he'd gone and saved up his pennies and paid the fireworks folks for one extra firework, just for me. Kept up the joke for years too."

And he'd been joking at the first, but his voice had gotten more and more fond as he'd kept talking.

"Somehow, it was always my favorite one."