It had taken three days for Bruce to finally admit that Clark was truly his now. Not only did he attend to Bruce's every need but he had also alienated his friends in order to spend time with Bruce and even lied to Alfred successfully in order for Bruce to be allowed out with him. Bruce didn't even ask Clark to lie to Alfred once and he did it! To say he was impressed with the extent of his manipulation was an understatement. For three days he had charmed and persuaded the farm boy, moulding him into the being that would confide in Bruce easily like they were long lost friends despite him being there for only a couple of days. To think that all Bruce had to do was smile here and there, pretend to be as idiotic and simple as the rest of his age group and the grown ups would fall head over heels for him. Bruce tried to not let how much this pleased him show on his face though. He was currently listening to Clark woe about his crush Lana and how she wouldn't even look him in the eye because of some stupid incident about a tornado, it was serious buisness and not because of Clarks girl trouble.
"Girls are weird anyway." Bruce said when appropriate. Apparently this was the correct response for him to make as Clark gave Bruce one of his big smiles. "You shouldn't waste your time on a girl who thought you, what was it again?" Clark hadn't actually told Bruce specifics only that Lana was mad at him because of some weird dream she had when the tornado struck.
"She thinks I flew into the tornado and dragged her out of it. Apparently I'm now some Superman to her and the fact I wont admit it is making her angry." Flew into a tornado, how interesting. "Besides she'll never like me the way I want her to. Even if I did tell her the truth." He mumbled the last bit quieter his thoughts obviously far away. Bruce chose to pretend that he didn't hear it.
"Just ignore he back that's what I would do. Yeah, you should just forget about her and play with me." Enter manipulative smile, eyes crinkling in exaggerated glee. "After all why should you satisfy her need to feel desirable, she's probably loving the fact that you're miserable right now girls are like that." Said with the innocence of an eleven year old. He pushed another of Ma Kents cookies at him to sweeten the deal. (She'd been leaving out more treats after glancing at how skinny Bruce looked. At least that was what Clark said)
"You're probably right." He conceded and ruffled Bruce's hair. "Tell you what'll really take my mind off it though. How about we go finish up my chores and afterwards I'll ask if we can have a sleepover. We'll do it in the barn and I can teach you about the stars and planets. What do you say?" Bruce was obviously delighted, it was better than he could have hoped. He had to play it right though.
"I dunno Alfred still has me on a curfew."- "You're on vacation" Clark countered "Aren't sleepovers a bit girly anyway. I'm not going to partake in painting your nails and there's no way you're getting near mine."
"Perhaps sleepover wasn't the best choice of words. Think of it like a survival test." Clark bargained and dropping his voice into a creepy baritone "You came in the winter, the snow is going to start falling any day now so the barn will be freezing. All we'll have is poorly insulating blankets and the clothes on our backs. Hardly anyone would venture out in this weather so we'll be all alone up there not to mention that there's no one else around for miles. Only a true man could stay in there overnight. Are you a true man?"
"You can ask Alfred. Come back alive and I'll show you who the real man is."
Alfred had said yes. He was truthfully delighted that Bruce was spending time with another human being not to mention that he would have felt bad leaving Bruce on his own for the night as he dined with Lionel Luthor. So long as Alfred was in the belief that Smallville was good for Bruce's social life even if it was with a boy five years his senior Alfred was happy.
So when it grew dark Clark introduced Bruce to his little fortress of solitude in the hay-loft. It was cluttered with more of Clarks personal belongings than his room showing that he spent more time up here than he did inside. He showed him his telescope which he quickly righted (but not before Bruce saw it was pointed towards the house a couple of miles away) and other nick nacks like the fathers day presents that he had hung up for his dad. Anyone could see that this was a sentimental and special place for Clark which made it a special place for Bruce. But for a completely different reason.
They spent the hours leading up to midnight glancing at the stars with Clark giving lectures on the different planets and navigational patterns of the solar system. Most of it Bruce already knew and he would usually express this to the person he was conversing with (lots of his tutors quit after one of his own lectures) but from Clark Bruce was happy to hear it again for some reason. It seemed that the country boy didn't grate on his nerves like a lot of people did. The conversations about planets soon veered off into sports teams and eventually talks about sleep when Bruce began denying that his eyes were shut. Clark ended up half dragging Bruce to the floor where his quilt was situated as both had agreed that the couches would be cheating in their man test.
It was cold in the barn and despite having his pyjamas two sets of socks and one commandeered shirt from Clark Bruce was still cold. He had hoped that the welcoming abyss of sleep would make him forget how cold he was however, it seemed that the farm boy wasn't about to let Bruce sleep just yet. Apparently talking until you died was a requirement of a sleepover.
"So do you want to tell a scary story first or should I?"
"Why?" Bruce groaned both to Clark and anyone else who was making him suffer this interruption to the abyss.
"Why? It's what you do at a sleepover, I don't remember many from being your age but I know that Pete and I didn't go to sleep until we told scary stories. Sometimes we didn't even go to sleep, this one time Pete told this story about a clown and it freaked both of us out so much that we were scared to close our eyes, Ma was so mad when I came home and refused to let her and Pa sleep until they had checked every inch of the house the following night." Bruce was almost there he could sense himself shutting down despite his toes having lost feeling, "Come on Bruce don't tell me you and your friends went to sleep this early." A sentence that required an answer. If I didn't find you so interesting Kent I would actually maim you.
"No. But this is the first sleepover I've attended and since I don't know the rule I think I should be excused on this occasion."
Clark inhaled loudly startling Bruce from sleep again. "Seriously?" He asked as if the concept was foreign to him.
"Yes."
"But how else do you and your friends decide on who's the prettiest girl in your year or finish a video game. You must have been to one."
"I have now." Bruce moaned resignedly "look after my parents... died I was expelled from school and now have tutors who agree that my potential was wasted in curriculums. The friends I did have before my expulsion was limited to that of Thomas Elliot a boy who now hates me. He wasn't even much of a friend, more a boy that was around. The only real friend I have is here," Turn to Clark and give him puppy eyes "so can we just leave the issue."
"Sure." He was silent for a while before he spoke up again "Since this is your first sleepover though you should make the most of it. Including that of stories that terrify the mind."
Bruce gave him a dirty look "Fine. Once upon a time there was a boy who lived on a farm. His life was alright until it was abruptly ended by a British man whose motive was only that of his charge being returned to him sleep deprived and irritable from a night of mediocre storytelling."
Clark started laughing as soon as Bruce mentioned the British man. "Fine you win. Go to sleep and be boring."
Bruce was happy to comply. That was until three hours later when he woke up from a nightmare covered in quickly freezing sweat and shaking. He looked over to Clark making sure that the boy hadn't been woken up by Bruce's inner panic attack before trying to calm himself down. It was quite the challenge as although he was used to being woken up from nightmares he wasn't used to the below freezing point atmosphere that was making his shakes worse. Bruce quickly got up and rubbed his arms, keeping his quilt wrapped around him for added warmth and decided that he may as well explore the barn whilst he had at least semi privacy.
You see the main reason why Bruce came to Smallville was because he liked mysteries, he always had but it had grown into a near obsession with the death of his parents. Smallville was full of conspiracy and mystery and it all according to Bruce led back to Clark. He had first investigated the claims of teenagers acquiring superpowers ( or at least as much as he could from his desk back at the manor) and concluded that an outside stimuli must have mutated their genes. They weren't born with them or the erratic behaviour and stories of out of control circumstances wouldn't occur as they would have a handle on their ability by now. So it must have been something foreign and radioactive enough to cause mutation. This led to the investigation of the meteor shower that happened in Smallville years ago. The introduction of alien rocks that could still be in Smallville would be enough to alternate someone's genes as space rock was unpredictable and untested. Although this was deemed semi solved by Bruce he uncovered some other weird coincidence. The same day that the meteor shower happened Lionel and Lex Luthor were present in Smallville.
Bruce had enough stories and charity balls under his belt to know that the Luthors' were bad news so Lionel's presence in Smallville can't have been coincidence. Bruce searched and hacked for hours before he found a common link with Lionel and the meteors and that was Veritos. The Queens, Swans, Virgils and Luthors were all part of a secret organisation that believed a traveller from out of space would come to earth and do something great (he was eleven this was all the material that was available from hacked security footage) which would explain why he was present in the biggest area of meteor damage at that day. Bruce investigated Lionel's day in Smallville all those years ago and concluded that he didn't find what he was looking for. That was until he looked at the hospital and police statements. Lionel had entered the hospital with an unconscious Lex and three other companions. Martha, Jonathon and Clark Kent, the unusual thing was that before the meteor shower there was no Clark, within an hour the Kent's had produced a son. So maybe Lionel did find what he was looking for but didn't realise it. Or maybe he did. The adoption papers for Clark lead back into a Luthor buisness that was only active for two occasions, one for Clark and the other for his own sons adoption. His appearance in Smallville now would mean that he was keeping an eye on his investment which only furthered Bruce's belief that Clark wasn't ordinary. Add in all the unusual happenings and the police reports he managed to get his hands on all pointed back to some involvement with Clark. So when it was time to go to Smallville Bruce was more than ready to get all the information possible on Clark.
The hay-loft was full of books that were far advanced for a boy of Clarks age, people said the same about Bruce but he wasn't exactly normal. Clark on the other hand embraced normal, he flew so far under the radar that it took Bruce several people to point out who exactly Clark Kent was. The other possessions were simple and not at all on the weird side of things but the things that weren't there were what interested Bruce. For someone who was such an avid supporter of football and not to mention a really good player, Clark wasn't on his schools football team he knew this because there was no jersey and Clark had told him previously that his father didn't want him playing. He said that he would have liked to have been on but was worried about hurting the other people. Confusing but not unheard of. There was also the lack of teenage restricted material. Bruce had checked his room but it was clear and now the barn was too. Odd that a teenage boy didn't own any. His friend could have hidden Clarks things at his place or he could be keeping himself wholly pure for 'Lana' (Bruce honestly couldn't think that without a sarcastic falsetto anymore). There was also no video games, and it looked like half of Clarks things had been rebuilt more than once. Clarks bed had the headboard snapped and well welded back together rather sloppily along with the middle of the frame and the legs, the same was said for the couches and the chairs in the hay-loft. Something really strong was breaking all of Clarks stuff.
"What are you doing?"
Bruce whirled around from his examination of Clarks telescope, he was checking the legs on that to make sure that it was okay. It seemed only things that could be sat on were broken. It seemed though that his wandering must have woken Clark up if the confused look that was being sent his way was anything to go by.
"Looking around. Sorry, I had a nightmare and it was too cold to go back to sleep." Bruce explained rather surprised that he had been caught, he was normally quite stealthy. Clarks face softened as he took in Bruce's appearance, the quilt was bunched up and over anything that could expose Bruce to the cold but he guessed that his face still must have looked a bit horror-struck from the remnants of his nightmare.
"We can go in if you want. I don't mind." He offered about to get up. Bruce ran over and pushed him down. He wasn't about to leave yet, not to mention the Kent's were in the farmhouse, he didn't really want to meet them just yet.
"No."
"Are you sure?" Clark was rather persistent in making sure Bruce was alright so he did the only thing he could and climbed in Clarks quilt, putting his own on top and snuggling up close to him.
"I'm just cold. I'm not giving in yet. Go to sleep." Bruce snapped before laying down and trying to do the same. He was out in seconds, Clark was really warm.
The next morning they went into the farmhouse where Ma Kent had left out breakfast, even labelling whose was whose. "She's trying to fatten you up." Clark remarked when Bruce asked why his plate had more on than Clarks "She does it to everyone she thinks is underfed." Bruce gave him a look.
"I'm a billionaire if there's one thing I'm not it's underfed."
"It's because you're small and slim. Ma thought you were seven when I told her how old you actually were she went off on a tangent. If you're not going to eat it all I'm more than happy to take some off your hand." He offered waving his fork dangerously close to Bruce's food.
"You have enough on yours to feed a small army. Don't be greedy Kent."
"Ooh last names, now I'm scared."
They spoke over their plans for the rest of the day. Apparently Alfred had given Clark until five to hand Bruce over. "It's so you can rectify any mistake you made last night and polish me up to be presentable for him." Bruce explained.
"Of course, god forbid I give back a dishevelled Master Bruce."
Clark suggested a ride on the horses which Bruce happily accepted, he didn't like humans but animals were a small passion. So by noon they were both out riding in the cold hoping that the exercise would make them warmer. It only worked for the horses though and they soon turned back and retreated to the living room with Clark telling another woeful story about Lana whilst Bruce was trying to defrost his hands in front of the fire.
Two stories in Bruce snapped "Why don't you just move on this girl obviously isn't worthy of your attentions."
"It's not as simple as that Bruce. You'll understand when you're a bit older." he argued simply.
"No. I'm sick of that answer. If you ask me love is meant to be simple. If 'Lana' truly felt the same as you then she would have dumped that boyfriend of hers and be with you now. But she hasn't so move on. You should be with a person who feels as fast and as deep as you, whose passion is the same and who would do anything for you. Not a girl who won't talk to you over a whimsical thing, if anything she should be thanking you, even if it was a dream you saved her life she shouldn't dig into it for her own pleasure and use your feelings as a means to get answers." Bruce could see that he was being quite hypocritical but he really didn't like this Lana, and besides he was young and not exactly normal, conventions didn't mean the same things to him as they did for others. "So move on and find who you're actually meant to be with. Life is too short to wait it out."
Looking at Clark he thought he was honestly going to be punched but the "You're right." was still just as surprising. "She doesn't feel the same as me does she. And to think I had to have an eleven year old tell me this." He ran his hands through his hair. "Come on it's almost five I'll drive you to the hotel."
It was an awkward drive and when they arrived at the motel Bruce needed to check that "Everything is okay between us right?" before getting out.
"Sure why wouldn't it be?" Clark answered with a sunny smile. "I can't come around until later on tomorrow, some of us didn't get expelled from school and still have to attend it."
"Okay, I think Alfred may have plans though. I really haven't been spending much time with him."
"How about Tuesday then."
"Sounds great." Bruce got out of the truck and waved Clark off with a goodbye.
He retreated back into the motel and met Alfred in their room on the phone with someone. After he was done Bruce asked about the dinner. You see the reason why Bruce and Alfred were in Smallville was completely separate from the reason why Bruce was there solely. The Luthors had invited them to their estate in Smallville, apparently they wanted to take little Bruce under their wing and train him for the buisness world. Lies. Lionel wanted to buy off Wayne stock from Alfred who at this moment in time held not only the rights to the major company but most of the stocks for their liquified companies. By bypassing both Bruce who was too young to do anything regarding buisness decisions and the main stockholders Lionel could own the rights to most of Gotham if Alfred caved in. He hadn't though and stayed strong whilst remaining polite through their dinner last night.
It seemed though that Lionel was persistent and urged that Alfred dine with them tomorrow this time bringing Bruce with him saying that Lex was dying to see him and wouldn't it be nice to let them spend some time together. After all Lex was a prime example of success and Bruce could certainly learn a lot.
"Tell them yes. I think it's time I met them." Bruce said already formulating a plan. He could use his opportunity to belittle Lionel and use the house to further his Clark investigation no doubt Lex finds him suspicious too. He probably has more evidence and hypothesise as to what he is.
"I hope you don't mind though Clark offered to show me the school in the morning so can I go there and meet you afterwards to prepare." A lie but he did need to go the Clarks school first. Someone else had evidence he needed to examine which was only available on the schools' hard drive.
"Of course so long as young Clark promises not to keep you too late."
"He wont."
