Chapter Text
Clark woke up with Bruce sleeping next to him. After they came back in from the roof, they had attempted to watch one last episode of Gray Ghost. Bruce fell asleep in the middle of it. Clark did the same soon after. Not because he was tired, but because a lot happened that night, and he needed time to process all this.
He’d kissed Bruce last night, and Bruce had kissed him back.
It’s not like Clark had been planning to make a move on the other teen. He wanted to show him the stars. His emotions had gotten the better of him when he saw how Bruce looked at him in admiration. He thought that maybe he felt the same. Maybe both of them had a crush on each other and this hadn’t just been one sided pinning and low-key flirting on Clarks' end. Maybe Bruce liked him too.
But Clark had already been a stuttering mess. He couldn’t use words to express himself without getting tongue tied. So he decided to let his actions speak for him and he kissed Bruce, and Bruce kissed him back. He still remembers the way his chest felt like it was exploding when it happened. He had to keep himself from floating away he had been so happy.
Now he had Bruce snuggled up against him, snoring. This was perfect. He decided to close his eyes and enjoy the moment a bit longer. There was no harm in that. So he closed his eyes and let his chin rest on the top of Bruce’s head, and enjoyed the moment.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door from Ma. She told them that breakfast would be ready soon and that they should wash up. The call startled Bruce awake. He was a bit dazed as he sat up and got his bearings. He seemed to be trying to remember where he was and who he was with. Then his half dead gaze fell on Clark, and he relaxed.
“ You can shower first,” Clark informed him.
Bruce mumbled something back, still not awake as he grabbed some clothes from his suitcase. He stood up and then realized…
“ Where is your bathroom?”
“ Down the stairs first door on your left.” Clark directed. Bruce nodded giving him a short thanks before he started his journey. Bruce wasn’t a morning person. Clark didn’t pay much mind to it as he straightened up his room real quick. He collected the dishes from last night and brought them down the kitchen. Alfred and Ma were already down there working on breakfast.
“ Morn’n,” Clark greeted the both of them.
“ Sleep well?” Ma asked. Again it was one of those things that he needed to get around to explaining to her. He doesn’t need to sleep, but now wasn’t the time to get into that.
“ Ya,” Clark answered. “And Bruce just got up. He’s in the shower now.”
Ma nodded before saying, “I need you to get a few chores done before you and Bruce take on the day. Just the cows and the chickens.”
“ Yes’m,” Clark answered. “I thought Pa was shearing the sheep today though. Won’t he need help?”
“ He says he can handle it on his own and I believe him. Besides, it’s not urgent. We’re not expecting a heat wave for a while. They’ll be fine.” She reached up to ruffle his hair, not deterred by the fact that Clark stood taller than her now in days. “Now go get washed up.”
“ Yes’m,” He was back up the stairs mindful of his speed. It was killing him to have to show so much more restraint than he was used to in his own home. But it was worth it.
Bruce was out of the shower and dressed by the time Clark got back to the room. He was running a towel over his head trying to dry his hair. He was standing by Clark’s dresser looking at the knick-knacks he had lined up there.
“ The shower’s all yours,” Bruce looked and sounded a lot more coherent than he had a few minutes ago.
“ Thanks.”
“ You did get two bears,” Bruce smirked at him from over his shoulder.
“ Huh?”
“ From the festival, you sent me-” Bruce was going through his bag and pulled out the bear that Clark had sent him. Clark found himself blushing as he remembered the incident. Bruce didn’t finish what he was saying, instead he set his stuffed toy next to Clark’s to reunite them.
~.~.~.~.~
Bruce was a bit displaced here. He had been over to people’s houses who weren’t as well off as him, but this was different. The bathroom wasn’t shabby, but it could use some work. There were many chipped tiles and what looked to be a scorch mark or two on the wall. The water in the shower took a while to heat up and he could tell that the shower curtains, while they had been washed, were more than well used.
The floorboards creek when he steps on them and the house, in general, could use a bit of a touch-up. Sitting down at breakfast he found that his chair creaked as well and that the table was a little uneven. None of the chairs at the table matched nor did the plates or the silverware. But Clark didn’t seem bothered or embarrassed by it, so this must be the norm for him.
The other thing he noticed was that Clark could eat. Clark could eat a lot. His plate was piled high with pancakes and eggs and sausage and toast. All of it was covered in syrup from the pancakes but he didn’t seem to care. He was eating it with vigor.
“ I have a few chores to do after this,” Clark started to speak. “I figure we could go into town after and I could show you around?”
“ Sounds good to me,” Bruce said. He was eager to see the kind of places that Clark liked to hang out at. Maybe he could meet Lana and Pete since Clark mentioned them a lot in his letters. They sounded like nice people.
“ You wanna keep me company when I work?” Clark asked. “You can see more of the farm.”
“ Yeah!” Bruce was more than excited to get a look around the property. The only farm he had been to was back in grade school when he went on a field trip. They had spent more time on the trails than around the animals.
“ You’re gonna want boots instead of sneakers though,” Clark warned him.
Bruce had come prepared with such attire. Clark had mentioned that it rains a lot when they do get rain so Bruce had thought to bring boots.
After breakfast, Clark changed into his work clothes. He offered Bruce a t-shirt and some old jeans.
“ Trust me, even if it’s a simple task you don’t want to risk ruining your good clothes.”
Bruce had accepted them and would not admit that he was enjoying wearing Clark’s clothes. The other teen's scent lingered in them, and it made Bruce feel like they were closer.
He followed Clark outside to the barn. It was already warm and sticky out even though it was still early in the morning. All the animals were awake and chattering. Clark set to work feeding them first and changing out the water in their troughs.
“ You do this every morning?” Bruce asked.
“ Sometimes more actually.” Clark adjusted his glasses as he picked up a basket and started to collect eggs from the chickens. “Ma’s giving less to do since I’s got company.”
Bruce nodded as he watched the chickens peck at Clark’s hand as he tried to collect the eggs. He seemed unphased by what they were doing. Maybe being pecked didn’t hurt as much as cartoons made it look.
“ You do it all by yourself?” Bruce asked.
“ Sometimes. When Pa is out of town then I got a bit more to do, but for the most part the whole family pitches in. This is what I got to do in the morning.” He set the basket down and picked up a pail and a stool. Bruce followed behind him as they approached the cows.
“ You milk them by hand? I thought there were machines that could do that for you”
“ Yeah, but that’s mostly factories who have the set up for that. Putting in one of those systems wouldn’t pay off for us until a long time down the line so we do it by hand.” Clark set the stool down by one of the cows and placed the bucket under it before he got to work.
Bruce watched, unsure how to feel about looking at Clark as he wrapped his hands around the teat of the cows fat utters and gently tug. Milk started to stream into the bucket. It was fascinating to watch, but also a bit disgusting. The problem was that Clark caught him staring and looked up at him with a mischievous grin.
“ You wanna give it a try.”
“ I wouldn’t know what I’m doing so I better not,” Bruce reasoned.
“ I can show you.” Clark insisted.
“ I wouldn’t want to take the chance of hurting her.”
“ You won’t,” Clark stood up and gestured to the stool. He had the smallest teasing smile on his face and Bruce took it as a challenge.
“ Fine, I’ll give it a shot.” Bruce marched over and took a seat. He grasped two of the teats, one in each hand and was disturbed by how fleshy they felt.
“ Just give it a gentle tug,” Clark instructed. Bruce did as he was told wincing a bit, but milk came out so he must be doing it right. “See it’s easy.”
Bruce was amazed by how simple it was to do, and was proud of himself for managing to actually do it. The cow didn’t even seem to notice what was going on. She stood there and waited for it to be over.
After a while, Clark took over again. He made quick work of milking each cow and then sending them out to graze.
“ That’s all for today,” Clark said. “I got to bring all this to Ma, and we can change and get going.”
Bruce needed another shower before he could go. He felt as if the smell from the barn was clinging to him. He didn’t mean it as an insult, but the manure was very potent and he didn’t want to walk around smelling like it.
~.~.~.~.~
Pa said Clark could take the car so they wouldn’t have to wait on the bus. Clark was giddy. Pa hardly ever lets him take the car out by himself even after he got his license. But now he was cruising on the road on the way to town. Bruce was in the passenger seat with a pair of sunglasses on to fight off the sun.
It was nice out, but kind of hot. Clark had the windows down to let a breeze through. It was easier than attempting to play with the air conditioning. It hardly ever worked. He hooked up his phone to the car so he could play some music instead of having to deal with the radio.
“ I figure we could hit up some shops get lunch and there’s a movie showing tonight at the drive in.”
“ You mean like a drive in movie? I didn’t know those were still a thing.”
“ We’re a small town. It’s cheaper to do a drive in than have the town pay for a full movie theater. It’s not as good of a variety unless it’s summer and we get a few of the block buster movies. Lucky for you, it’s summer. They’re showing Captain America movie tonight. Not the new one, the first one”
“ Where are we heading first?” Bruce asked.
“ I was thinking the comic book store,” Clark suggested. “You’ll like it. The drive is a bit long though. One of the issues of living in a town like this.”
“ The scenery is nice,” Bruce smiled as he looked out the window. The wind made his hair flutter and the sun was glinting off the side of his face making him shine. It was breathtaking to watch. “We don’t get this kind of view in Gotham. It’s all buildings, and there’s almost no sunlight that reaches the ground. Even on a nice day, it’s kind of cloudy and gray.”
By the time they got into town things were already busy. Clark found a place to park on the side of the street. There were no real designated parking lots in the center of town. As long as the roads were kept clear and you didn’t block anyone in, it was fine to park anywhere.
“ We got to walk from here.” Clark turned to Bruce. “All the cool stuff is in this area.”
Bruce got out of the car and looked around as Clark took the time to lock the doors. He didn’t need people taking stuff from his car again. Last time someone had swiped Ma’s favorite CD. He knows which kids did it, but he couldn’t confront them on it since the last few incidents he caused turned a few heads.
Bruce was twisting the strap of his messenger bag in his hands as he followed alongside Clark. It made him very self-aware of how shabby his little town looked. He knows Bruce said it looked nice compared to what the city looked like, but he had a feeling that he was just being kind.
The one thing Clark was proud of was their small comic book store. It had upgraded recently and now featured video games and fandom merch. It was a big deal for such a tiny place. It was even one of the few stores that could afford a few fans so it wasn’t as hot inside.
“ This is it,” Clark held the door for Bruce as they went inside.
~.~.~.~.~
The shop wasn’t much to look at. Bruce had seen better in the slums of Gotham. There were few issues on the shelves. Most of the main stream comics weren’t present. The figurine and collectibles were in little numbers. There wasn’t even any apparel.
It was a sad little store.
But Clark was excited about showing him it so he tried to act impressed. Clark looked back with a shy smile, and Bruce didn’t have to pretend to send back one of his own. There was something about seeing Clark happy that got under his skin. It tingled and tickled him to his core and it left him at ease and able to let the corners of his mouth turn upwards.
“ It’s not always up to date, but it’s good for finding older issues.” Clark was thumbing through a small rack on the wall. “Liiiike this,” He pulled one out. “It’s from the first edition of Captain America.”
“ No shit,” Bruce gently took it from Clark’s hand as he looked at it in awe. He hadn't been expecting to find a gem like this in this dive. Not that he read Captain America, but Harvey would love something like it. But something like this had to cost a lot. He looked at the price in disbelief. It was only five dollars!
But he guessed that made sense in such a small low-income neighborhood. He doubts this place could afford to properly price stuff like this. He couldn't complain though.
“ Who’s your favorite?” Bruce asked Clark as they continued to go through the unorganized stacks.
“ I don't have one,” Clark confessed. “If I had to name one…Cyclops or Night Crawler.”
“ You're into X-men?”
“ Yeah,” Clark shrugged. “It's a cool concept. A school for kids with superpowers. The whole world hates them but they still go out of their way to save people. It's noble.” Clark had an odd look on his face as he explained it. He was in deep thought as he reflected on his own words. He connected with these characters and saw them as role models. Bruce couldn't help but wonder what Clark looked like when he was reading them. If he was this passionate talking about it, he must be beautiful when he was able to read it and get into the story line.
“ What about you? What's your favorite?” Clark asked.
“ Gray Ghost!” Bruce gave him an incredulous look. “You should know that.”
“ I had to ask,” Clark smirked. “I knew he was pretty high up there in your ranking.”
“ Well, he is the best,” Bruce clarified with a playful roll of the eye.
“ Yeah, he's cool.” Clark agreed. “But Iceman could totally beat him in a fight.”
“ No he couldn't” Bruce snorted. “Gray Ghost could outsmart him any day of the week.”
“ Iceman survived the Sentinels, he's quick on his feet in a high-stress situation. And that's fighting against huge robots that were made to hunt and track mutants, there's no way he would lose.” Clark pointed out.
“ Just cause he doesn't have powers doesn't mean he can't give a mutant a run for his money. In the fifth episode of the third season, he took in a whole sewer of mutants, and won with minimum damage.” Bruce reminded him as he looked at the small collectibles on the shelf. It didn't look like much at first but the further inspection found a few novelty items.
“ Mutants with no powers. Even so, Iceman is just as cunning. And his particular skill set would make it hard for anyone to fight him.” Clark reasoned. He smirked at Bruce. “I'm not saying he would demolish him. It would be a pretty close fight, but Iceman would beat him.”
“ And I'm just saying, there's no chance in hell that would happen.” Bruce clarified.
“ Agree to disagree.” Clark shrugged.
Bruce found a Winter Soldier figure and a Captain America one. They were from separate sets but they still looked like they would fit together. Again, something Harvey would love. Bruce was pretty sure he “shipped” them, whatever that meant.
Anyways he was ready to see more of the town. Not that he didn't like this little shop, it had its charm. But he had this fantasy of the two of them hitting the town, having a good time, and a good night kiss. He blushed at the thought of it.
Clark seemed to be thinking the same thing. At least the leaving part. Bruce made sure he paid despite Clark’s offer to pay for his stuff as well. By the time they left it was stuffy outside. The air was hot and suffocating. It wasn't even noon yet and it felt like they were walking on the sun.
“ The next place is a bit of a walk,” Clark explained.
Bruce could see why. The streets were very narrow. He couldn’t see a car fitting through these roads, much less two. It had a ghost town kind of feel to it. People were milling through the streets, going about their normal business. Well, they were until Bruce walked by. Then it was all eyes on him and they would start to whisper among themselves.
“ You’re a new face is all,” Clark explained as if reading Bruce’s mind. “It’s a small town, everyone knows everyone here. They’re not saying anything bad, just wondering who ya are.”
“ Oh,” Was Bruce’s only response. It didn’t make him feel any better. He knows Clark said they weren’t saying anything bad, but no one seemed happy to see him in their small little town.
“ You wanna head to the park?” Clark asked. “It’s nice this time of year and there’s a good amount of shade."
“ Sounds good.” Anything was better than walking through these streets with everyone staring at him. As promised there was shade and much-needed relief from the sun. It wasn’t the kind of park Bruce was used to with blacktop playgrounds. There was a long expanse of trees and pathways. There were playgrounds but they had grass and sand. There were a pond and a few streams. It was actually a very nice scene. He could see it as a painting.
The people who were milling about seemed a lot nicer as well. Once in awhile, one would look at him in question before giving him a quick smile and going about their day, but that was it. The only ones who seemed annoyed by them were the joggers, and that was because they were in the way.
“ Do you really know everyone in this town?” Bruce asked.
“ Most of them. Almost all the teens are in the same high school as me. The adults are their parents. Kids in the other schools are younger sibling and everyone shows up at the town meeting once in awhile. It gets so boring that even if you don’t like each other, sometimes we all end up hanging out just to have some fun.”
“ What kind of things do you do?” Bruce asked.
“ You ever been mudding?” Clark asked with a mischievous grin.
“ What’s that?”
“ We find of muddy spot and we take the truck out. We have a few people in the back of the pickup and we drive through, kind of reckless until the people in the back are covered.”
Bruce wasn’t sure how that was fun. It sounded more like they were making a mess.
“ Don’t knock it till ya try it,” Clark said when he saw the face that Bruce made. “There’s other stuff too. Summer gets boring. We don’t have a pool or anything so we have to make do.”
“ Make do?”
“ You’re staying here a few weeks, right? You’ll find out.” Clark smirked.
“ Why am I suddenly worried.”
“ Don’t be,” Clark pat him on the back. “It’s not like mudding. We make our own pools and stuff like that. Sometimes me and my friends go for a swim in the lake on my property.”
“ You have a lake?”
“ It’s more like a pond,” Clark admitted. “But we always called it a lake when we were younger.”
“ Oh.”
“ What do you do in the summer?” Clark asked. “It’s got to be different in the city.”
“ I go to conventions. Me and Harvey been scoping out a few and we were gonna go from town to town next summer.”
“ Like a comic book convention?”
“ Yeah,” Bruce nodded. “It’s really cool. Everyone dresses up and there are merch and panels.”
“ Sounds like fun.” Clark shrugged. He looked away bashfully like he was embarrassed. Bruce wasn’t sure if he had said something wrong or not.
~.~.~.~.~
Clark was starting to get a better understanding of the cultural gap between the two of them. He’d wished he had gone to Gotham. It would have been easier for him. Now he was worried that Bruce was going to get bored here and regret the trip.
Clark had never been to a convention before. He’d only heard of them and seen a few pictures on the internet. Just from looking he knows he couldn’t match that kind of energy here. They were taking a walk through the park for God’s sake! And this was as good as it gets. There wasn’t that much that Smallville could offer and it was embarrassing.
Bruce kept saying he didn’t mind the scenery, but Clark didn’t know if it was true or not. He was keeping his super hearing in check and trying not to peek in on Bruce’s heart beat to see if he was telling the truth. He would have to take his word on it and cross his fingers.
On the other side of the park was a little diner. The sign on the top had long since fallen off, but everyone in town knew it was here and came often. It was Clark’s favorite place because he had a little booth in the back that was his. The waitress and the owner always gave him that spot since he first asked for a place to avoid his bullies. It would be a nice place to grab a bite to eat and talk with a bit of privacy.
“ Who’s your friend Clark?” The waitress, Cindy asked. She was a college graduate who had recently moved back to town. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she was chewing on a piece of gum to occupy herself through the lull of shift before the lunch crowd came in and slammed the place.
“ This is Bruce. He’s from New Jersey.” Clark introduced him. “Bruce this is Cindy.”
“ Nice to meet you.” Bruce greeted keeping his hands on the strap of his bag.
“ I’ll show ya to your seats. The usual alright?”
“ Yeah. It’s what I was hoping for.” He was relieved to find his booth wasn’t occupied by anyone and he and Bruce were able to take their seats. Cindy left them with the menus and promised to be back soon.
“ So is this like a 70’s theme dinner so something?” Bruce asked as he looked around.
“ It was built in the 70’s and they never got around to remodeling.” Clark shrugged. “It becomes a hangout spot in the summer.”
Bruce wasn’t sure if he believed the last part. There was hardly anyone here. As if sensing his skepticism, Clark said, “We’re here before the lunchtime rush.”
“ Milkshakes on the house.” Cindy smiled placing two vanilla milkshakes topped with chocolate sauce in front of them. “So what can I get ya?”
They placed their order. Clark got his usual and Bruce ordered based off of Clark’s recommendation. It wasn’t long until people started to file in and pack the little diner. It was steadily getting louder and was more like the hustle and bustle he was used to in Gotham. But the more people came around the tenser Clark became. Then it started to occur to him, Clark might be shy and not fond of crowds.
~.~.~.~.~
Clark heard when Whitney and his friends came in. They were about halfway through their meals when they came clambering in. Bruce was getting close to completing his food. His eyes were alight and he was practically salivating just from one bite. Clark wanted this peace to last just a little longer.
Where they were seated left them out of sight from most of the restaurant. If they stayed long enough maybe Whitney would come and go without noticing them. Yeah, good plan. Besides, talking with Bruce was easily one of the most enjoyable things he’s experienced in his life. Their conversations could go on for hours once they got going.
“ I didn’t know that diners like this still exists.” Bruce was saying as he looked around. “It’s kind of cool. I wouldn’t mind having something like this back in Gotham. The only thing it’s missing is waitresses on rollerblades.”
“ They only stopped doing it ‘cus one of the girls took a pretty nasty fall last year,” Clark explained
“ That’s a shame,” Bruce said. “It would have been cool.” He had his phone out and was snapping pictures of some of the scenery. He had taken pictures of their meal earlier as well.
Clark chuckled, “Yeah, a lot of people were sad to see them go. They used to bring your take out to the car when you called ahead and everything.”
Bruce nodded as Clark spoke. He was getting through the final bites of his food while Clark took care of the bill. Or tried to, Bruce kept insisting on paying, but Clark grabbed the check before he could.
“ So, what else is there to do around here?”
TBC...