The Reason is You
Disclaimer: Smallville is not mine – it belongs to the CW and DC Comics.
Author's Note: Birthday fic for Miss Meehan! Maybe not what you were expecting, but I hope you still enjoy it. Happy birthday!
Warnings: Slash. AU. Maybe a little out-of-characterness; I've never written Whitney before and I don't know how well I've done.
.:\:/:.
On the bus leaving Smallville, Whitney held up the meteor rock necklace, gazing into its emerald green depths. And strangely enough, it wasn't Lana who was on his mind as he stared at it. It was Clark Kent. It seemed fitting, somehow, because despite the necklace belonging to Lana, it was also present the first time Whitney saw Clark with his shirt off. Admittedly, he'd looked ill and Whitney and his buddies had been tying him to a scarecrow post, but his shirt had still been off.
When he'd told Lana they couldn't continue seeing each other, she'd been hurt. She'd been angry. And then one day, she'd seen the way Whitney was gazing at Clark across the cafeteria at school. Or so she said, anyway, when she forgave him. Whitney couldn't believe that he'd been so obvious, at school of all places; where being gay was like a death sentence if you were on the football team.
Clark was oblivious to him for most of the year, like Lana had been to Clark. That, if nothing else, should have been enough to tell Whitney to back off, to ignore those irrational feelings that grew stronger every day. But when it came to irrational feelings, Whitney was like a dog with a bone; particularly if that bone was Clark Kent (no pun intended).
If not for that mind reading kid, Clark might never have found out that Whitney was attracted to him. Of course, had Whitney known that had been plucked from his mind, he would've simply denied it when Clark asked him. Instead, he'd stood there, opening and closing his mouth, stammering a little. Clark Kent was the only person in the world who could leave Whitney speechless.
"You're sweet when you look like a fish-out-of-water," Clark had said. Then he'd told Whitney to close his eyes, which Whitney hurriedly did so. Clark had kissed him, on the lips; it had seemed to last an eternity, and no time at all. And when Whitney had opened his eyes, Clark was gone, as if he had vanished into thin air.
After that, Whitney had avoided Clark like the plague. Clark seemed just as eager to find him though. And he had Chloe Sullivan helping him, so that made avoidance a little harder.
It took a couple of weeks, but Clark eventually found and cornered him. In the boys toilets, of all places, where he proceeded to back Whitney up into a cubicle (he was a lot stronger then he looked) and lock it behind them. At first, Whitney thought Clark would want an explanation as to why he'd been avoiding him. But to his surprise, there was no talking involved.
As soon as the cubicle was locked, Whitney's half-hearted attempt at a protest was silenced by a tentative, rather shy kiss. Like the kiss had opened floodgates, Whitney returned it with a hunger that had built up for months.
Kissing Clark was nothing like kissing Lana, Whitney remembered thinking. Lana was soft, gentle, and seemed to have some idea of what she was doing. Clark was awkward, a little stiff, and seemed to be holding back. Even despite that, Whitney had enjoyed it, and he knew Clark had as well. Because it happened again, behind some bushes on the walk home from school. And again, in Clark's barn. Mr. Kent had almost caught them then, and they'd come to a mutual agreement that their respective homes were off-limits for making out.
It had been fun. No, it had been more then fun. Whitney had felt something, the first time Clark had kissed him, and it only got stronger every time Clark was nearby. It was like a heat, a warmth, flooding through his veins and into his heart. And when Whitney had seen the look on Clark's face when he'd told him he was enlisting with the Marines, when he'd said there was nothing to keep him in Smallville, that warmth had run cold. He'd felt as empty and cold as the meteor rock he now held in his hands.
It took the bus two stops for Whitney to decide he might have fallen in love with Clark. And another three before he actually got out of his seat and off the bus. And then he caught the next bus back to Smallville. And from the bus stop, he hitched a ride to the school, where Clark was supposed to be attending the Spring Formal with Chloe.
When he arrived, he spotted Chloe walking into the school gym. Alone. Both those facts made little sense, as Whitney was sure the Formal had started some time ago, and Clark and Chloe had arrived together not long before Whitney had left. For a second, Whitney considered calling out to her to ask where Clark was. He then decided against it, seeing as he was there to steal her date. He was just considering following her inside when his cellphone rang.
"Fordman," he said, answering it without looking at the caller ID.
"Whitney?"
Whitney's heart jumped into his throat when he heard Clark's voice through the phone. "Clark." He gasped.
"Where are you?" Clark asked, and Whitney realized that there was an awful lot of background noise coming through the phone. Noise that didn't fit with a school Formal.
"I'm at the school," he said. "The Formal; where are you?"
There was a moment of silence, and then Clark said, in a very embarrassed voice, "The airport."
"In Metropolis?" Whitney asked. "What are you doing at the airport?" Then it sank in. "How did you get to the airport? Before I got back here?
"Er…" Clark now sounded like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Yes, Whitney could hear that much in that single 'Er'.
"Nevermind that," Whitney said. "Look, Clark, I need to tell you-"
"I couldn't let you leave," Clark interrupted. "Not with things the way they were."
"Come back," Whitney said. "I'll meet you…" He struggled to think of a place they could talk.
"Meet me in my barn," Clark told him.
"What?" Whitney asked. "Clark, you're in Metropolis. Won't your parents be a little suspicious if they walk in and find me sitting in the barn, with no sign of you?"
"Just trust me," Clark said. "I'll be there." And then he cut the line. Whitney frowned, pulling the cellphone away from his ear and staring at it, like it would explain how Clark would be getting from Metropolis to his barn in time to meet Whitney there. But no such answers came, so he closed it and slipped it back into the pocket of his pants.
He decided to walk – not just because he actually didn't have any other way to get there (unless he stole someone's car, but that would be a bad idea), but because it gave Clark plenty of time to get back fro Metropolis.
It was a long walk. Despite being a small town, most of it's 'occupants' actually lived on farms on the outskirts of town, and due to that most people were driving a year or so earlier then they really should've been (because not everyone could reach the bus without a lift anyway). So, yeah, it took Whitney quite some time to actually get to the Kent farm.
He walked into the barn, not really sure what to expect. He went straight for the stairs leading up to Clark's 'Fortress of Solitude'. Whitney couldn't help the disappointment he felt when there was no sign of Clark there. Not that he really expect him to be there.
"Took you long enough."
Whitney spun around, and to his surprise (to say the least), Clark stood there, at the foot of the stairs. He offered Whitney a sheepish grin. "I had to pee." He said. "I had hoped you wouldn't get here while I was gone."
Whitney stared for a couple of seconds, and then licked his lips. "You weren't really at the Metropolis airport, were you?" he asked. "I bet Chloe saw me, and she called you to mess with my head." He said this in an amused way, like it was a big joke. Because the alternative… well, there wasn't an alternative.
Clark gave a chuckle, but didn't give Whitney an answer. Then, after a moment, he said, "You came back?"
Whitney took a deep breath, and nodded. "When I told you… when I said there was nothing to keep me here in Smallville…" he swallowed. Usually he was the poster boy for confidence. Of course, usually he wasn't trying to apologize to a freshman he'd spent the last few weeks getting physical with every chance he got. "Itwozenttroo." He said too quickly.
Clark blinked in surprise. "What?" he asked.
"It wasn't true." Whitney said in a small voice, looking intently at his shoe. He waited, feeling like a kid waiting for his punishment for misbehaving. After a few minutes passed and Clark didn't answer, he looked up, unable to take the suspense any longer. Clark was just looking at him, no judgement, no anger, no… anything. He looked like he was trying to make sense of what he'd just been told.
Then he smiled. "Close your eyes." He said. Whitney furrowed his brow in confusion, but then understanding replaced that, and he gave a half smile.
"Are you still going to be here when I open them again?" he asked. Clark made a show of being taken aback, and then he grinned.
"Close them, and I guess you'll find out."
Whitney nodded, and then he closed his eyes. He felt a large, strong hand gently slip over his shoulder and cup the back of his head, and then Clark's lips on his. He opened his mouth slightly, returning the kiss and putting his hands on Clark's waist, unable to stop himself smiling. And he could feel the smile on Clark's lips too.
He opened his eyes just a little, getting a good look at that gorgeous face before closing them again and deepening the kiss, wrapping his arms around Clark's chest and pulling him closer.