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Smallville was either really hot or really cold. Bruce insisted that it was colder in the north. Clark didn’t argue with him. Besides, he didn’t have much time to talk during the winter. He had so much work to do around the farm. The fields need to be prepped for cold weather, the barn needed repairs, the fence around the property needed to be checked for holes, and much more.
It kept him busy. He had little time to talk during the day and could only send a text or two. When he did have time at the end of the day, Bruce was already asleep. Again, they had to rely on their letters as a primary source of communication: especially with the holidays coming up.
But the one thing he had made sure to do was to send Bruce his Christmas present. Bruce had sent him one as well. They agreed that they wouldn’t open them until Christmas Day. They set up a time to video chat with each other so they see each other’s reaction.
Suffice to say Clark was giddy all day.
He wouldn’t get to open presents until later in the day. The suspense was killing him. He normally didn’t open his presents until the evening anyway. On Christmas morning he first put on his work clothes and say good morning to Ma, who was working on breakfast. He would start on his morning chores, feeding the animals, making sure the barn was to temperature. After he would shower, change close and eat breakfast with his family. Then he and Pa would finish up work around the property and Ma would start on dinner. By the end of the day he was ready to eat, but first, they had to feed the animals for the night.
Once that was done he was done for the day and could enjoy dinner with his family. Then, only then could he open his presents. He let Bruce know ahead of time that he couldn’t chat until the evening. Bruce said it was okay. While he opened his presents in the morning, he and Alfred had their own traditions that kept him busy.
Bruce’s extended family had reached out to him this year. He’d been invited to dinner. It would only be his aunt and cousin. They assured him it was a casual event, all he had to bring was himself. Still, it would be rude if he was invited to dinner and didn’t bring anything. Alfred assisted him in his attempt to make chocolate tarts. He saw the recipe online, and it had seemed like a good idea at the time. By the end he had something that looked edible. He just hoped they would like it.
He hadn’t seen anyone from the family since his parents died. There had been a lot of people at the funeral. A few people had tried to keep in contact for a while; but many disappeared they found out they weren’t in the will. But Bruce had wanted solitude at the time, so it didn’t bother him as much as it did now.
He was looking forward to this despite how nervous he was. After a light lunch, he packed up his sad tarts and went over to his aunt's place. Alfred accompanied him. It had been a nice dinner. The food was good and his aunt did seem like she actually wanted to catch up and get to know him rather than just see what she could get out of him.
His cousin was a little odd, but harmless. He didn’t mind hanging out, but as it got later he was anxious to leave. He wanted to make sure he was on time to talk to Clark. He hadn’t told Alfred what his plans were, but the older man knew that it was something Clark related.
Despite that, he found himself lingering after dessert. His family liked the tarts despite the way they looked. He’d pretty sure they were lying. He wasn’t impressed when he bit into his own. It was gooy, which is the one thing he thinks a mouse filling shouldn’t be. But all and all it had been a good night.
By the time he got home, it was a little late. But Clark sent him a text saying he was ready to chat. Bruce bid Alfred goodnight and made a bee-line straight to his room. He pulled his laptop out and booted it up. He waited impatiently. He got Clark’s package a week ago and had been restraining himself to not open it.
“Merry Christmas!” Clark cheered when his face popped up on the screen. He had on a Santa hat and a festive sweater.
“Merry Christmas to you too,” Bruce smiled. “How has your day been?”
“Good,” Clark went on to explain his normal day and what Ma had whipped up for dinner. “I mostly got clothes, blankets, stuff like that. What did you get?”
“A new phone, some vintage comics, CD’s,” Bruce went on. Again he was reminded of the difference in their lifestyle.
“Ready to see what I got you?” Clark’s smile was a little tense. He wasn’t sure if Bruce was going to like what he got him since he already had so many big-ticket items. He should have taken that into consideration when he was deciding what to get him.
“I’ve been ready,” Bruce held up the box.
“You go first,” Clark said.
“Alright,” Bruce was more than happy to be the first one. He cut open the box to find a present box covered in many kinds of festive wrapping paper.
“I started to run out of wrapping paper,” Clark blushed.
“I like it,” Bruce told him as he carefully removed it to get to the box. Once he opened the box he grinned. “A scarf,” He pulled out a knits scarf that came with matching gloves, hat, and sweater. They were all the same color blue, but it was Bruce’s favorite shade of blue.
“I’ve been knitting like crazy, so I figure I make you something,” Clark smiled meekly.
“You made this?” Bruce was in awe.
“Yeah, and there’s a tin in there too.”
“A tin?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s in it?”
“You got to open it up to find out,” Clark beamed.
Bruce rooted around the box past a layer of packing peanuts. It must be something delicate if it needed this much insulation. To his surprise, he found the tin was filled with cookies.
“Did they break?” Clark asked.
“No they’re all in one piece,” Bruce told him.
“Good,” Clark sighed in relief. “There are chocolate chunk and oatmeal raisin cookies in there. I wasn’t sure which one to make so I made both.
“Thank you,” Was all Bruce could say. He wasn’t sure if his gifts would stack up. Clark had taken the time to make him something. Who knows how many hours went into knitting and on top of that he made sure they were all Bruce’s favorite color. And then he took the times to make him cookies. There’s no way his gift could match that level of sentiment.
“I’m just glad you liked it,” Clark grinned. “I wasn’t sure what to get you, but I wanted to make it special.”
“This is plenty special,” Bruce assured him by putting the hat on his head. “Now you open yours.”
Clark was more than happy to. His parents intercepted the package when they heard Bruce was sending a gift. They wrapped the box in the same kind of paper his other presents were wrapped in. There was a light coating of lead, just thick enough that he couldn’t see through it. He was curious about what was inside. Ma told him that the box had been labeled fragile and that he needed to be careful with it.
Now he would finally get to see what was inside.
“Wow, wow, wow!” Clark’s eyes widen when he got a good look at the boxes content. He looked back up at Bruce in awe and said, “You didn’t have to.”
Bruce had gotten him a new laptop and printer. It was one of those small portable printers. He also made sure to add a few extra cartages of ink.
“There should be one more thing in there,” Bruce told him as he watched him unpack.
The last thing was a silver watch. It wasn’t too flashy by Bruce’s standards, but Clark wasn’t sure how to handle such a gift. Everything Bruce had gotten him was new and shiny, and could easily break in his hands.
“Thank you,” Clark said.
“I got the watch custom so it can handle a lot of damage so you don’t have to worry about what you’re doing when you’re wearing it. And it’s waterproof up to fifty feet.”
“Custom?”
“There’s an inscription on the back,” Bruce told him. Clark flipped it over and saw that it read, Je suis fou de toi,” but French also happened to be the one subject that Clark was struggling with.
“I have no idea what this says,” Clark admitted.
“It says, ‘I’m crazy about you’”
“I’m crazy about you too,” Clark smiled back at him. Looking at the watch, Clark remembered it was late and he needed rest if he wanted to be able to function in the morning. “I got to get going,” Clark said sadly.
“Me too,” Bruce agreed. “It’s pretty late.”
Clark blew a kiss at the screen, and Bruce did the same as they bid each other good night.
Fin