Lana felt like she'd been struck by lightning. The air was knocked from her but somehow still stuck in her throat, leaving her to choke on her own fear. Her legs pulled her forward as everything collapsed around her. It took either seconds or years for her to get to the edge of her building, following her best friend as he leapt up, leaning forward, into the open air. The breath inside her finally found its way out, tearing itself through her teeth in a short, rough scream that pierced the open air. Trembling hands came up to cover her lips, and her eyes widened in horrible shock. Clark's feet cleared the building.

But he didn't fall.

Lana looked at his feet, and the space between them and the roof. The throbbing of her heart in her throat made it feel like time had slowed but...gravity should have taken effect by now. Why didn't he fall?

She searched in front of her and found his face. Clark held a strained, tense expression with eyes Lana couldn't recognize. There was fear in them, as well as pain, but most of all exhaustion. She didn't understand. She couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Lana," he said. "I'm sorry for everything you're feeling right now, and I'm sorry for waiting so long to tell you the truth."

Clark's body began to descend toward her, but his legs weren't moving. Lana scampered back a few steps, eyes blown even wider than they had been. They followed him, flitting between his legs and the space under them as he floated over. Eventually his feet touched down again. It was dark. There was a lot of shadow. It could've been an illusion, a trick of the light if he'd been standing there originally. But past the edge of the roof...that was harder to dispute, and more confusing because of it. Clark stood, back on the roof like normal, as if the last thirty seconds hadn't happened. His face was the only thing about him to suggest otherwise.

"What the fuck?" she whispered. This couldn't be happening. How could it be happening? Lana searched her mind frantically. Did she eat something weird? They hadn't eaten dinner yet and the pizza had tasted fine. She didn't have anything at the party the night before; Chloe made sure they brought their own booze. Was she dreaming then? That had to be it. But if you knew you were dreaming then that would be lucid dreaming, and she'd be able to get herself out of this, right? Right?

Because Clark couldn't defy gravity just like that. He couldn't fly , like some sort of muscular Peter Pan. Stuff like that wasn't real. Lana looked at his face again, and could still see the conflict in it. Tell me this isn't real, she thought. Help me wake up. It had to be a dream. She couldn't have gathered the courage to confess her feelings only to have it turn out like this. Life wouldn't be that cruel, even to her, right?

But locking eyes with Clark from where she stood, she could see. All of it was real. This was the one thing he'd been holding back, the part of him she'd never gotten to see. And he was showing it to her now. He'd given her all of him, and the realization of that was something she couldn't put into words. It had an awful effect on him too. It was painful to realize, and as powerful as the discord between the real and unreal in her mind, Lana's hatred for the idea of a Clark in turmoil was even more so. So she felt it. Everything struck her in that moment.

She'd known Clark for twelve years but had never seen him get close to anyone besides her (and Pete, to a lesser extent), and this was probably why. If he was only telling her now, then he definitely hadn't told anyone else. Part of her deep down appreciated that, but the thought of it hurt her as well. Clark loved people. He would thrive having lots of friends and lots of different types of relationships. She knew that was something that would make him happy, but he never let himself have it. He'd made himself a loner.

Now he was trying to let go of that. He didn't want to be alone anymore. But how was she supposed to react? Lana wasn't sure she'd be able to handle an explanation. Still, she asked anyway.

"How is this possible?"

Clark walked over and sat on the metal beam a few feet away from Lana, watching her watch him. He was still tense, but visibly more relaxed.

When he finally responded, his voice was low with a dull edge. "This will be the most ridiculous thing you'll probably ever hear. But please bear with me and listen all the way through."

Lana stared. Eventually, she nodded. Clark slowly blew out a long breath and started again.

"I...wasn't born here on Earth. I came here-crashed here-when I was little more than a baby. Mom and Dad found me in a cornfield outside of Smallville. Yesterday I found out that I came from a planet called Krypton – like the noble gas – but it was destroyed. My biological father sent me here to save my life. On top of all that, I can do things nobody else on this planet can do."

Lana waited for him to continue, but he didn't. She heard what he said, though she felt like she wasn't listening. It was one thing to see Clark defy gravity. It was another thing to accept that he was an extraterrestrial being. Was it more believable that he was a human who could fly, or an alien who just happened to look exactly like a human? Lana couldn't tell. This was too fucking much.

Staring at nothing in particular, Lana refused to think. She let her subconscious process on its own. Her conscious thoughts would catch up, but not for several moments. Instead, they wandered to what he'd said before all this. Lana had feelings for him, and he had feelings for her. They'd been through so much. She needed him.

She needed him, so she'd try.

"Tell it to me again."

Clark did, while not providing any extra details. This time she really listened, nodding along. When he finished, she stayed quiet for a while longer. Lana knew Clark felt anxious about it, but she needed time to internalize the information. Suddenly feeling restless and fidgety, Lana reached into the bag next to them and retrieved her food. She took a huge bite of her sandwich for some sense of normalcy and chewed. Something tugged on the back of her mind. He'd said he could do things nobody else can do. "Things." Plural.

"What other things can you do?" Lana was almost afraid to ask, but she had to.

"Lana, I don't want to burden you with too much right now-"

"Dude, I'm already about to have an aneurysm. Just lay it all out. Don't half-ass it for my sake."

Lana surprised herself. If she could still be as snarky as always, maybe that meant she'd be okay.

Clark nodded and stood up. Moving slowly, he opened the jacket Lana still had on. He retrieved a small black object from the inner pocket, and walked to stop a few feet away from her.

"Is that a lump of coal?" Lana asked incredulously. "Why do you have coal in your pocket?"

"It's graphite, specifically. Watch closely." Clark tossed it into the air in front of him, and then ran to catch it a couple of yards away. He did this several times, increasing his speed until he was moving so fast that all Lana could see was a dark red blur. She stared, keeping it together as best she could.

"Okay…so you're fast," she said, eyes unfocused. She'd already seen him float so maybe she could actually believe her eyes this time. "Holy shit you're fast."

"Uh, yeah," Clark smiled nervously. He sat down next to her again. "And here's why I keep lumps of graphite in my pocket. Please don't freak out."

"Oh yeah, thanks. Like I wasn't already freaking o-OH MY GOD!"

Clark had held the mineral in his outstretched palm and then immediately blasted two thin red beams from his eyes right into the middle of the lump. Lana screamed, scooting back away from him and sliding part of the way off the metal beam. A wave of heat wafted toward her and Lana had to squint her eyes to keep them from misting too much. She watched him seal his hands around the lump and squeeze hard. Steam hissed from his fist as the object shrunk, and eventually he opened his hand back up again and blew. Once his hand and the air around them was sufficiently cool, Clark reached out to Lana. She had a wild look in her eyes and wore a conflicted expression, but she didn't shy away from him this time. She leaned forward and looked at the object in his hand. Her eyes grew even wider as her chest continued to heave.

"Is–is that..." she began, her eyebrows creasing.

"A diamond, yeah," said Clark sheepishly, slipping it into his pocket. "It's not perfect, but it's something. It's how I've been getting money in a pinch on my trips. I figured this is similar to what the manufacturers do, except I can do it without any equipment."

Okay, maybe the alien thing wasn't so far-fetched after all. She looked at him with a small smile. "That's really creative, actually."

"Thanks."

"You shoot lasers from your eyes."

"That's an oversimplification."

"And you're really strong."

"…yeah."

All in all, Lana thought she was taking this pretty well. Or at the very least not terribly. The second time was a bit easier since she'd already been expecting something absurdly unbelievable. She slipped back onto the beam and took another bite of her sandwich. Clark sat back down next to her and started on his own dinner.

Lana began to process. This couldn't have been easy for Clark, either. Apparently he was the last known survivor of an entire planet. That knowledge alone would've been heavy enough, but he'd just found out and then told her with barely any time to process it in between. Given the circumstances of the Kents' discovery of him, he'd probably already known the alien thing. That would make sense. But they would've known next to nothing else about it. That meant Clark had spent the better part of twenty years wondering where out there he came from, and why he'd ended up on Earth alone. Lana was astounded that Clark had managed to seem so normal for so long. She marveled at his inner strength. If she had been in his position, she knew she'd have crumbled under it all.

Assuming if the alien thing was true, of course. If so, then there would be an easy way to prove it, like he obviously could with his powers. If he hadn't shown her his abilities first, she most certainly would have suspected mental illness. Or she would've suspected he was screwing with her, which would have made her furious. The latter would have been the worst case scenario, a betrayal of trust and a ruination of over a decade of friendship. Lana shivered. Something like that would be impossible to recover from.

From experience, Lana knew that anything serious enough to shake up your life will never be reconciled with in a day. There would be days when things would be too much. There would be days when everything seemed easy. Lana felt like she was watching the world upside down, but if Clark was still Clark, then everything would be fine. It had to be. Even if all that had changed was the context of their relationship (which was all she'd planned for) there would need to be room for adjustment. It was much more than she'd bargained for, but knowing all of him was exactly what she'd wanted. Whatever she decided now would set the course for the rest of her life. So there was really only one important question.

Would she let Clark lead her through the unknown?

Lana almost laughed out loud. She didn't trust her parents. She didn't trust her friends. She didn't even trust herself.

But she trusted Clark with her soul.

Of course I will, she thought. And so she spoke again.

"I am so sorry."

Clark looked at her in tired confusion. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I didn't really expect you to believe me at first. It's pretty unbelievable."

Lana sat almost motionless save for the rapid rise and fall of her chest through shallow breaths. She didn't know why, but she could feel tears forming fast.

"This probably would've gone over better if we were still kids," she said. "I'm just sorry you had to hold it in for so long. Looking at everyone else and knowing you were different. Having to make sure everything you said or did wasn't out of the ordinary. And then finding out your home's gone…Clark, I'm so sorry." Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "You must've felt so alone."

He gave her a comforting smile.

"It's okay. I had Mom and Dad," Clark moved to her again to hold her hands in his. "And I had you."

Lana stared back, watching how the low light of the city made his eyes a dark blue. They were magnetic, and drew on every thought and feeling about Clark she'd ever had until her head swam with the pounding of her heart in her ears. Even after all that happened tonight, nothing else mattered. Her breath caught, and she was dizzy with compulsion. Never the poster-child for self-control, she immediately gave in, and pressed her lips to his.

Lana felt him respond immediately, and her chest swelled knowing he was kissing her back. Gone were all the fleeting thoughts of him based in insecurity and denial. Any time there was a spark of attraction over the years, a flicker of love…she'd stamped it out. She'd assumed that Clark had only regarded her platonically, and if by some miracle he didn't, she wasn't good enough for him anyway so it would be better to just ignore it all. But as his hands pulled her closer to him, the other voice in her head came back. Clark thinks you're worth it, it said. It was true. He'd never given the impression that he thought anything less than the very best of her, and hell if she was ever going to prove him wrong.

Her hands were on the back of his neck and tangled in his hair, sliding her fingers through the thick, dark mass. His lips were softer than she'd expected, and she could feel them twitch up in the tiniest of smiles when she sighed into him.

Lana didn't know how long it took but eventually they broke apart, remaining only inches from each other. Her fingers were still moving slowly through his hair, and her breathing was ragged. Clark leaned back in for two quick kisses, and she welcomed him, giggling. Then she leaned away to look at his face.

Clark wore a look of wonder, and her heart swelled. "Wow," she whispered through kiss-swollen lips. "Who knew aliens would be such good kissers?"

Clark laughed. "You're just taking it all in stride, huh?"

"Oh no. I'm still freaking the fuck out. I just don't know how to respond with anything other than teasing sass."

"Because it's your default."

"Duh."

"You're not too bad a kisser yourself, by the way."

Lana scoffed with a look of incredulity. "Not too bad? I'm fantastic ."

"You're okay."

"Oh, please."

Clark kissed her again, but pulled away before she could react. "I won't inflate your head any bigger than it already is. I compliment you enough."

"So it wouldn't be too much trouble to keep doing it, now would it?" Lana retorted with a raised eyebrow. Clark mimicked her expression, exaggerating heavily. It was too cute to resist kissing him again, so she did – a long one for the moment and a quick one for the road.

Lana looked at him and smiled, taking him in. This was all a lot to handle, and she knew she wasn't fully comfortable with everything he'd told her yet. But she also knew now that this was how Clark always had been. Her finding out now didn't change who he was or how either of them felt about each other. So she would have hope. Clark was worth that, and it would work out eventually. Lana relaxed as best as she could and found solace in knowing that one day soon it would all be old news to her. But until then, she thought, fake it till you make it. Right now she could pretend things were like they always were, for herself and for him.

But there was still something else that needed addressing.

Lana kissed Clark one more time and touched his face affectionately.

"One more thing, though," said Lana. Clark twitched an eyebrow in response.

"Mmm?"

His eyes were still closed and the rest of him was completely serene.

So she slapped him.

Clark jumped, eyes flying open with confusion. "W-Wha-?"

Lana's face took on a mask of righteous fury. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! Did you really think that jumping off a goddamn building was the best course of action?! You could've done literally anything else, but you had to go and be that fucking dramatic. I was terrified! I thought you were about to die, you ass! What the hell?!"

Lana backhanded him in the chest this time, but not with nearly as much force. Clark opened his mouth, but closed it again before clenching his jaw and looking away.

"I thought I was going to lose you," mumbled Lana.

Clark gave her a soft look and kissed the top of her head. "I'm really sorry. At first I wanted to just talk but I could see how you were taking it so I panicked. I had to do something big to make you open to believing me. It was...the first thing I thought of, unfortunately."

"Dumbass."

"Yeah, I don't disagree with you there."

Lana sighed and looked back up at him. She'd said her piece. "Anything else you've got left to show me?"

Clark pulled back with a look of hesitance. "There is more, but..."

"Well, come on then. We don't have all night."

"Okay. Okay," he conceded sheepishly. "I'm done demonstrating, though, so I'll just explain. Not only am I strong, but I'm physically durable. Incredibly so, in fact. I've actually never come across something that could physically hurt me. Everything that forcefully comes into contact with me just...breaks.

"All my senses are enhanced. My tactile, olfactory, and gustatory senses are pretty acute, and I can see things that are very small or very far away. I can hear low and high pitched frequencies that you wouldn't hear, at lower volumes than the human brain can register. I can hear things much farther out, too. It's pretty crazy. I can see through things too, unless it's covered by something super dense, like lead. I can also expel air at really low temperatures. Mom calls it 'freeze-breath.'"

Lana had been chuckling, which garnered a look of unease from Clark. "I can't believe you just used the fancy names for touch, smell, and taste, you fucking nerd ," she said. "Wait, you can see through things? That's so cool! I'd have a lot of fun with that power."

Lana gave Clark's body a slow once-over, and when they traveled back up to his face she offered a smirk that was downright predatory. But then the expression disappeared a second later under a look of curiosity as she spoke again. "You could be a super spy. Imagine all the weird shit you would find out."

Clark chuckled. "I hardly ever eavesdrop. I don't wanna invade anyone's privacy."

Lana pursed her lips and gave him a look. "God, you're so boring. Have you no concept of life and how to live it?"

Clark just looked back at her patiently.

"Ugh, fine," she responded, looking at him fondly. "Be morally upstanding."

"Of course. It's what makes up most of my charm."

Lana cocked an eyebrow dramatically. Clark was definitely more relaxed now. "I mean...that's not totally inaccurate. Do me a favor and stand all the way over there, by the edge of the building. I want to see if you can hear this. Oh, and don't jump off again."

Clark indulged her, and soon they were looking at each other from several yards away. It was pretty dark out now, so Lana could only see his silhouette while knowing Clark could probably see her clearly. She looked at where his face should be and whispered, "I'm still cooler than you."

She heard him laugh, which automatically put a grin on her face. It was nice to find that somewhere in the moments that went by, she'd stopped pretending.

"Tomatoes are disgusting," she continued.

"Not true!" he called.

"Clark Kent has a great ass," Lana whispered this time. Clark gave thanks in response. "Lana Lang has a better ass, though."

He laughed again, and suddenly he was standing a few feet away from her again. It startled her, but she wasn't truly afraid this time. "Debatable," he said.

Lana tapped the space next to her and Clark sat back down. He passed her bag back to her and they decided to finish the rest of their food. They ate mostly in silence, sitting so closely together that practically Lana's whole left side was touching Clark's right. Lana finished first.

"So…this is heavy, Doc. You're an alien and you've got a shit-ton of powers. The world's upside down, we just made out and now we're sitting here having dinner like none of that just happened. I'm still losing my mind. That's the proper response, right?"

Clark finished the last bite of his sandwich, nodding. "Yeah, I'd say so. I've wanted to tell you – and kiss you – for quite a while now. Just didn't know how to go about it."

"Uh-huh. The alien part or the kissing part?"

"Yeah."

"Naturally," she chortled. "I totally understand. Kiss me again?"

Clark couldn't contain his smile or enthusiasm to oblige. After a long, slow and intense kiss, Lana pulled back. She smiled first, and then made a face.

"What?" asked Clark.

"You asked for extra tomatoes or your sandwich, didn't you?" Lana wrinkled her nose with a look of grave disappointment. "Looks like I'm gonna need some mouthwash."

Clark laughed. "Now who's dramatic."

"Watch it, farm-boy." Lana got up and started back toward the entrance to the roof. Clark followed close behind. "Or you won't be getting any more of these lips."

"You do realize you grew up on a farm too, right?"

She opened the door. "Yeah, but the difference is that it's not written all over me."

Lana turned around and quickly hopped up on her toes to give Clark another peck on the lips before heading back in.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time, too, you know," she murmured over her shoulder. Clark smiled.

The two of them went back inside and made their way down to Lana's apartment.