Torch's Flame -- a Smallville fic of Clark/Chloe proportions
by ManxoChu
Disclaimer: Needless to say, but just to satisfy anyone who speaks legal-talk, Smallville, its characters, etc etc, belong to DC and the WB.
Note: This fic takes place after "Nicodemus" and thus also occurs after the previously aired episodes. There, with all the bases covered, away we go...
~ denotes one's thoughts here, as " would for speech.
=====================================
It's 4:43 AM in Smallville, Kansas. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and already there's one person who's awake: Clark Kent, mild-mannered typical angst-ridden teen who... well, *wasn't* so typical. Normally, he'd be asleep at this time, trying to get a fix on what his dreams mean. Typically they'd be on what it would be like to actually be normal or perhaps on Lana Lang, the quintessential "girl next door" of whom Clark's been holding a major crush on.
But not this time, nor had it been for the past few weeks. Ever since the "outbreak" of these incidents, as Clark liked to think of it, caused in some way, shape or form by the meteor rocks, he'd been a little more analytical of things. Same goes for people. There's Lex Luthor, his best friend who's always had something to hide, and yet there's more to it than that. Something about Lex he just can't figure out. ~Heh,~ Clark thought, ~maybe it's better that way.~
Clark continued to ponder about all those in his life, past and present, until he got to one person in particular: Chloe Sullivan. She's the one person he couldn't put a clear description on, except to say that "she's Chloe." Normally that'd be the end of Clark's analysis of her, but it hadn't been that way for several weeks...
...Not since the night Chloe was pushed out of the second floor of the Luthor estate by meteor-modified thieves. Clark remembered how that somewhere in that madness, something deep in his soul never wanted to part from her side, whether it be while she recovered by her injuries or be any point in time afterwards.
Then there were the dreams. Clark looked at the notebook. Ever since he was as tall as his mother, he'd kept a notebook by his bed. That way when he woke up from a dream that he wanted to think about later on, he could write down what happened. With a sigh, Clark read all the dreams he had in the past few weeks. From what he could tell, they were flashes from the past and that they involved Chloe. From winks to grins to things she had said, it was all about her and not Lana. Well, not exactly; if it did involve Lana, it was usually some wisecrack or her usual "get over her and move on" kind of schpeal. Her "get over her" talk really struck a chord with him just before the incidents with the Nicodemus plants, which were long thought to be extinct.
"Chloe..." Clark sighed once more and looked at the clock. 4:57 AM. "Why Chloe?" was all he could say to himself as he got ready for another Friday at Smallville High School. That is, after his morning chores. Seeing as it's only five in the morning, he can get a jump on the whole day, the whole time still thinking about how he hadn't noticed til now how her soft hazel eyes sparkled when it was just the two of them in the office of The Torch, the school's newspaper. Zipping through the house to get the chores done, get breakfast, and to leave a note for his parents, he was off to school. Clark checked the clock right before leaving. 5:03 AM.
=======================================
"Thanks, Mrs. Kent. I'm sure Pete and I will see him in class in a sec. Bye." Chloe Sullivan just shruged and puts away her cellphone, shaking off the odd feeling she's getting. She turned to her best friend, Pete Ross, with an odd look on her face. "That's odd..."
"What's odd? Where's Clark?"
"Mrs. Kent said he left real early, so I guess he's already here."
"So that's how he beats us to school. I shoulda known," Pete jokingly said with a smirk. "He's probably looking for Lana right now."
"No, that's not it," she said with an inquisitive look. "She sounded as if Clark's early departure was a surprise to her as well. You check the class, ok? I've got to drop off something at the office." With a nod, both went their separate ways. It didn't take long for Chloe to find who she was searching for. The Torch office was a place that most students tend to steer clear from, thus being her own safe haven from the trials and tribulations of the modern teenage society that is high school. Of all places for Chloe to find Clark, she spoted him sitting on the floor next to the door leading into the The Torch office, engrossed in a notebook.
~Wanting some time alone and yet still easy to find,~ thought Chloe. ~How much more Smallville can this boy--no, not a boy anymore--man be?~ With a deep breathe to regain some composure, she walked over for her attack. "Hey there, Kent. What's got your juices flowing so bad?" She didn't even get a response. Clark just continued to read his notebook. She tried one of her usual tricks. "Hi there, Lana!" To her shock (and partial joy) Clark still didsn't reply. ~Grrrr...~ "EARTH TO KENT!!"
Clark jerked his head back and smacks it into the wall. "Owww!" Not that it had actually hurt, but he figured the sound it made would've meant that it would hurt any other normal person. It still dazed him. "Huh? Chloe... Hi." He felt a slight flush in his cheeks as he looked at her. "How'd you find me?"
She just rolled her eyes. "Duh, Clark, I work here," she quiped while unlocking the door. "You alright? You don't seem like your usual 'oogling Lana slash saving the town' self. And what's with that notebook?" ~My good ole Sullivan charm works every time. Wait a minute... was Clark blushing?~
"Y-Yea... ummm... I'm fine." Clark shoved the notebook in his backpack before she could get a chance to pry it out of his hands. "The notebook? It's nothing."
~And stuttering?~ "Okay, Clark, now spill. Your mom said you left way early this morning. What's wrong?" Clark could read the look of genuine concern on Chloe's gentle face. It would have been enough to have him let down his guard. "Dreaming about Lana again, weren't you?" ~Then again, maybe not.~
"N-no... No! No dreams about Lana. It's..." Clark's voice trailed off. ~I don't want to ruin our friendship, Chloe, but...~
"Well? What is it? If I can help, then talk to me. You know I'd help you out." She held his hand in hers as to comfort him. While she knows she felt her cheeks starting to blush, she can't help but notice him blushing deeply. Before she could say or do anything, all she was able to do was gasp in surprise as he took her in his arms and hugged her. Not a friendly hug. A hug that felt there shouldn't be an end to it. "...Clark?" ~It felt like Clark, but something was definitely amiss.~
"I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry, Chloe." She could hear how torn up he was inside. The sincerity and pain in his words were clear. Moments later, without as much as a word spoken, he left the room in a hurry... and without his backpack.
"Clark, wait! You forgot your... oh nevermind..." She knew he was long gone, at least until first period class. ~It's a good thirty minutes from now. I may as well see what this notebook has that's got Clark so worked up.~ She pulled the notebook from Clark's backpack and smiles at the cover. ~"Dreams," huh? Finally, a chance to dig into the dreams behind that sweet Kent charm. What's this... A bookmark?~ With an impish grin, she turned to that page and began to read.
With five minutes to spare, Chloe headed to class, of which she had with Clark. Trying to keep a calm face, she handed his backpack to him. A heartfelt thanks and that same blush was given to her by him. As the day worn on, she couldn't help but think of what she had read. ~Maybe it's not a bad thing. I mean, he's blushing at me. That hug, that apology, those dreams of his. At least they were clean. Heh. Do I even have a chance with him now? This seems more like a dream than anything else. Time to check. ...Ow. That hurt. Okay, it's real. But now what to do? He still seems unsure. ARGH!! Why'd he have to hug me like that?~
Meanwhile, Clark's been real quiet, even for him. ~Why Chloe? Lana's nice and all, but she just doesn't have the fire that Chloe does. Chloe wouldn't BS me. And she's fun to be with. I still feel completely awful for dusting her off like that. For not being able to save her from falling. For hurting her feelings. For making her worry. For not... For not... ARGH!!~
For their final class, English, the teacher had a good assignment. "Okay class, for Monday's assignment, I want you to write a poem. Not just any poem. This poem I want you to go all out on. For this poem, reach into your gut and pour your heart and soul into it. It can be about anything... as long as it's clean. Do not handwrite it, though. Type or print it up, and give it a five-digit number. You'll submit it to me, then I'll randomly disperse the papers for everyone to read aloud. Okay? See you Monday. Remember, keep it clean." The student body begins to file out of the school as usual for a Friday afternoon.
"I'm so going to write about the meteors," Chloe beamed. She was already scribbling onto her small notepad some ideas. "What about you, Pete?"
"Maybe about how much my family can really be a pain sometimes, I dunno." Pete grinned as usual, probably thinking of possible topics. "Clark man, how about you?"
"..." Clark was lost to his own thoughts, still thinking of the dreams and Chloe.
"Clark? Wake up! School's done." Pete elbows him in the ribs. All Chloe could do was wonder if he was thinking about her.
"Huh? Sorry. I've got some things to do at home. See you, Pete. Bye, Chloe." He was so quick to leave he accidentally bumped into Lana. Oddly enough, he didn't even give as much as an apology as he continued on his way.
Pete just watched the events unfold in a stupor. "Chloe, that *was* Clark Kent, our best friend who couldn't stand to be apart from Lana Lang, right?"
"Yea."
"So what just happened?"
"No clue, Pete." She shrugged as she headed back to The Torch. ~I have a clue, actually, just not real sure about it.~
=========================
Read and Review, please.
by ManxoChu
Disclaimer: Needless to say, but just to satisfy anyone who speaks legal-talk, Smallville, its characters, etc etc, belong to DC and the WB.
Note: This fic takes place after "Nicodemus" and thus also occurs after the previously aired episodes. There, with all the bases covered, away we go...
~ denotes one's thoughts here, as " would for speech.
=====================================
It's 4:43 AM in Smallville, Kansas. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and already there's one person who's awake: Clark Kent, mild-mannered typical angst-ridden teen who... well, *wasn't* so typical. Normally, he'd be asleep at this time, trying to get a fix on what his dreams mean. Typically they'd be on what it would be like to actually be normal or perhaps on Lana Lang, the quintessential "girl next door" of whom Clark's been holding a major crush on.
But not this time, nor had it been for the past few weeks. Ever since the "outbreak" of these incidents, as Clark liked to think of it, caused in some way, shape or form by the meteor rocks, he'd been a little more analytical of things. Same goes for people. There's Lex Luthor, his best friend who's always had something to hide, and yet there's more to it than that. Something about Lex he just can't figure out. ~Heh,~ Clark thought, ~maybe it's better that way.~
Clark continued to ponder about all those in his life, past and present, until he got to one person in particular: Chloe Sullivan. She's the one person he couldn't put a clear description on, except to say that "she's Chloe." Normally that'd be the end of Clark's analysis of her, but it hadn't been that way for several weeks...
...Not since the night Chloe was pushed out of the second floor of the Luthor estate by meteor-modified thieves. Clark remembered how that somewhere in that madness, something deep in his soul never wanted to part from her side, whether it be while she recovered by her injuries or be any point in time afterwards.
Then there were the dreams. Clark looked at the notebook. Ever since he was as tall as his mother, he'd kept a notebook by his bed. That way when he woke up from a dream that he wanted to think about later on, he could write down what happened. With a sigh, Clark read all the dreams he had in the past few weeks. From what he could tell, they were flashes from the past and that they involved Chloe. From winks to grins to things she had said, it was all about her and not Lana. Well, not exactly; if it did involve Lana, it was usually some wisecrack or her usual "get over her and move on" kind of schpeal. Her "get over her" talk really struck a chord with him just before the incidents with the Nicodemus plants, which were long thought to be extinct.
"Chloe..." Clark sighed once more and looked at the clock. 4:57 AM. "Why Chloe?" was all he could say to himself as he got ready for another Friday at Smallville High School. That is, after his morning chores. Seeing as it's only five in the morning, he can get a jump on the whole day, the whole time still thinking about how he hadn't noticed til now how her soft hazel eyes sparkled when it was just the two of them in the office of The Torch, the school's newspaper. Zipping through the house to get the chores done, get breakfast, and to leave a note for his parents, he was off to school. Clark checked the clock right before leaving. 5:03 AM.
=======================================
"Thanks, Mrs. Kent. I'm sure Pete and I will see him in class in a sec. Bye." Chloe Sullivan just shruged and puts away her cellphone, shaking off the odd feeling she's getting. She turned to her best friend, Pete Ross, with an odd look on her face. "That's odd..."
"What's odd? Where's Clark?"
"Mrs. Kent said he left real early, so I guess he's already here."
"So that's how he beats us to school. I shoulda known," Pete jokingly said with a smirk. "He's probably looking for Lana right now."
"No, that's not it," she said with an inquisitive look. "She sounded as if Clark's early departure was a surprise to her as well. You check the class, ok? I've got to drop off something at the office." With a nod, both went their separate ways. It didn't take long for Chloe to find who she was searching for. The Torch office was a place that most students tend to steer clear from, thus being her own safe haven from the trials and tribulations of the modern teenage society that is high school. Of all places for Chloe to find Clark, she spoted him sitting on the floor next to the door leading into the The Torch office, engrossed in a notebook.
~Wanting some time alone and yet still easy to find,~ thought Chloe. ~How much more Smallville can this boy--no, not a boy anymore--man be?~ With a deep breathe to regain some composure, she walked over for her attack. "Hey there, Kent. What's got your juices flowing so bad?" She didn't even get a response. Clark just continued to read his notebook. She tried one of her usual tricks. "Hi there, Lana!" To her shock (and partial joy) Clark still didsn't reply. ~Grrrr...~ "EARTH TO KENT!!"
Clark jerked his head back and smacks it into the wall. "Owww!" Not that it had actually hurt, but he figured the sound it made would've meant that it would hurt any other normal person. It still dazed him. "Huh? Chloe... Hi." He felt a slight flush in his cheeks as he looked at her. "How'd you find me?"
She just rolled her eyes. "Duh, Clark, I work here," she quiped while unlocking the door. "You alright? You don't seem like your usual 'oogling Lana slash saving the town' self. And what's with that notebook?" ~My good ole Sullivan charm works every time. Wait a minute... was Clark blushing?~
"Y-Yea... ummm... I'm fine." Clark shoved the notebook in his backpack before she could get a chance to pry it out of his hands. "The notebook? It's nothing."
~And stuttering?~ "Okay, Clark, now spill. Your mom said you left way early this morning. What's wrong?" Clark could read the look of genuine concern on Chloe's gentle face. It would have been enough to have him let down his guard. "Dreaming about Lana again, weren't you?" ~Then again, maybe not.~
"N-no... No! No dreams about Lana. It's..." Clark's voice trailed off. ~I don't want to ruin our friendship, Chloe, but...~
"Well? What is it? If I can help, then talk to me. You know I'd help you out." She held his hand in hers as to comfort him. While she knows she felt her cheeks starting to blush, she can't help but notice him blushing deeply. Before she could say or do anything, all she was able to do was gasp in surprise as he took her in his arms and hugged her. Not a friendly hug. A hug that felt there shouldn't be an end to it. "...Clark?" ~It felt like Clark, but something was definitely amiss.~
"I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry, Chloe." She could hear how torn up he was inside. The sincerity and pain in his words were clear. Moments later, without as much as a word spoken, he left the room in a hurry... and without his backpack.
"Clark, wait! You forgot your... oh nevermind..." She knew he was long gone, at least until first period class. ~It's a good thirty minutes from now. I may as well see what this notebook has that's got Clark so worked up.~ She pulled the notebook from Clark's backpack and smiles at the cover. ~"Dreams," huh? Finally, a chance to dig into the dreams behind that sweet Kent charm. What's this... A bookmark?~ With an impish grin, she turned to that page and began to read.
With five minutes to spare, Chloe headed to class, of which she had with Clark. Trying to keep a calm face, she handed his backpack to him. A heartfelt thanks and that same blush was given to her by him. As the day worn on, she couldn't help but think of what she had read. ~Maybe it's not a bad thing. I mean, he's blushing at me. That hug, that apology, those dreams of his. At least they were clean. Heh. Do I even have a chance with him now? This seems more like a dream than anything else. Time to check. ...Ow. That hurt. Okay, it's real. But now what to do? He still seems unsure. ARGH!! Why'd he have to hug me like that?~
Meanwhile, Clark's been real quiet, even for him. ~Why Chloe? Lana's nice and all, but she just doesn't have the fire that Chloe does. Chloe wouldn't BS me. And she's fun to be with. I still feel completely awful for dusting her off like that. For not being able to save her from falling. For hurting her feelings. For making her worry. For not... For not... ARGH!!~
For their final class, English, the teacher had a good assignment. "Okay class, for Monday's assignment, I want you to write a poem. Not just any poem. This poem I want you to go all out on. For this poem, reach into your gut and pour your heart and soul into it. It can be about anything... as long as it's clean. Do not handwrite it, though. Type or print it up, and give it a five-digit number. You'll submit it to me, then I'll randomly disperse the papers for everyone to read aloud. Okay? See you Monday. Remember, keep it clean." The student body begins to file out of the school as usual for a Friday afternoon.
"I'm so going to write about the meteors," Chloe beamed. She was already scribbling onto her small notepad some ideas. "What about you, Pete?"
"Maybe about how much my family can really be a pain sometimes, I dunno." Pete grinned as usual, probably thinking of possible topics. "Clark man, how about you?"
"..." Clark was lost to his own thoughts, still thinking of the dreams and Chloe.
"Clark? Wake up! School's done." Pete elbows him in the ribs. All Chloe could do was wonder if he was thinking about her.
"Huh? Sorry. I've got some things to do at home. See you, Pete. Bye, Chloe." He was so quick to leave he accidentally bumped into Lana. Oddly enough, he didn't even give as much as an apology as he continued on his way.
Pete just watched the events unfold in a stupor. "Chloe, that *was* Clark Kent, our best friend who couldn't stand to be apart from Lana Lang, right?"
"Yea."
"So what just happened?"
"No clue, Pete." She shrugged as she headed back to The Torch. ~I have a clue, actually, just not real sure about it.~
=========================
Read and Review, please.