Work Text:
Pa Kent sat with his chin tucked against his chest. Maybe, for all that he knew their boy was special, he didn't yet know how much of the impossible Clark could do. Or maybe he had said what he said because he did know his son very well.
"I just wanna help, Pa." Clark, with his feet planted flat on the porch deck as he sat on the bench, arms crossed and his head bent down too, could have looked mulish and defiant. If not for the way his fingers dug into the flannel rolled up to his elbows, if not for speaking so very softly of that thing he wanted to do.
Smallville was an idyllic place and neighborly goodwill long lived there, just like the Kents did. Little enough to know everyone, to go everywhere, to help everybody. Metropolis, the city, was much larger, with tall buildings and busy streets and many people.
"Son," Clark's eyes lifted when Pa's warm hand grabbed his knee and squeezed it. Eyes blue and bright and hopeful. The setting sun's glow couldn't dull them, and neither would what Pa had to say. "Leaving here's a small thing."