A/N: Another quick update here. This one's a little on the shorter side but I don't like to try and stretch a chapter out just to beef up the word count, it will end when I think it feels natural. All that said be sure to let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy.
Clark's dorm room wasn't anything to write home about, not that he minded. But he did get the feeling that Weiss wouldn't be complaining about him getting his own room if she saw it.
The whole room was roughly a third the size of the other dorms. There enough room for his bed, a dresser, a desk for his computer and he could move around without any real trouble. But there was no doubt that it was on the cramped side. It was little more than a remodeled and re-purposed store room. For Clark however it was more than enough.
He had everything he needed and he was not one to want for a whole lot. He sat down on the edge of his bed and cast a glance around his personal space, his own little sanctuary, a place for solitude. Reaching into his traveling trunk and pulled out a small box. Flipping the lid open he looked down in the container before reaching in and pulling out the watch his father had given him and putting back on his wrist.
The rest of the box was filled a series of small trinkets, mementos, and personal effects his parents had packed for him. A ticket stub from a movie he and his father had gone to see, a lucky rabbit's foot his mother had gotten him at the county fair, a small clear crystal from his "cradle" as his mother called it. There was also a small stack of photos that he pulled out and with a small smile and began to slide them into the gaps between the frame and glass of the mirror when he heard a slightly too aggressive knock on the door.
"Yo, Smallville, open up!" a familiar voice yelled.
Walking over and opening it he was met the sight of Yang Xiao Long standing in his doorway. She greeted him with a smile as stood on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder and into his room
"Wow, ritzy, I can see why Weiss was so jealous," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah well, it wouldn't really be fair to give me a full sized dormitory if I'm all by myself," he responded awkwardly as he glanced back into and around his room while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sure I guess that's true , well come on, we wanted to show you our setup. Not the brag but it's pretty sweet," she said cockily, her tone bragging with every syllable.
"Oh... sure."
Yang gripped him by the wrist and began to practically drag him down the hall. A few doors down from his own room sat a door labeled "3A". Pulling out her scroll and unlocking the door before swinging it open with a dramatic flourish.
"And here we are, Casa de la RWBY," and said proudly gesturing to her team's space.
"Oh no, that can't possibly be safe," Clark said mildly horrified at the "bunk beds" they had crafted.
"What? I think they're neat?" Ruby said dejectedly.
"They're death traps," Clark said simply as he walked over and examined them "Are those books?!" Clark asked in a voice that bordered on terrified.
Turning around to face the group he noticed not one of them was looking up at him. Yang was looking up at the ceiling rubbing the back of her neck. Ruby's eyes were locked on the floor as she gently kicked and scuffed her boot on the rug. Blake had crossed her arms and was facing the wall. Weiss was looking at her teammates with an almost smug look.
"You all wait here, I'm getting my toolbox," Clark said almost exasperated.
As soon as he was out of sight Clark took off and headed to a heavily wooded area. He searched for a moment and found a large healthy oak, giving it the once over he decided it would work just fine for his a quick chop with his hand the tree was felled.
He stripped away the branches and bark before he set to splitting the timbers with his fingernails. In no time at all he had a dozen sturdy planks that he had been able to rub smooth with the palm of his hand. Scooping them up he made his way back to the dormitories, making a quick stop at his room to pick of his tool chest.
"Okay, let's see what I can do," he said before walking over to the bed frame strung up to the ceiling.
"Where'd you get the wood?" Yang asked, clearly confused.
Clark could hear Ruby giggle before the sound of a loud smack followed by an "Ow, geez Yang."
"It was in my room when I got there, I'm pretty sure it used to be a storeroom," he said without missing a beat, choosing to ignore Ruby's snicker. He could hear Weiss mumble 'Of Course' in a satisfied almost relieved tone, but he chooses to ignore her and set to work.
Opening the lid of his tool box he took out his tool belt and buckled it around his waist before clipping it to the belt and placing a carpenter's pencil behind his ear. Walking over he began to take a measurement and began to jot down numbers. He began to mutter to himself as he did calculations in his head.
Once he had all his numbers in order he walked over and picked up one of his handmade planks. Realizing it was too broad he promptly split it with a swift pull before shaving it smooth with his finger nails. This was something he would normally have not done, but given what he had told them and what was expected of him he had given the whole thought process a lot less credence today.
"Okay," he mumbled to himself as he placed a board against the frame of the floating bed tied to the ceiling. Reaching to his belt he pulled out a large bolt as he placed the board against the leg of bed and pressed the bolt through the wood with his thumb. Opening one of his belt pouched he pulled out a nut and washer and and threaded them onto the bolt. Moving onto the next leg he had to lift the listing bed before he repeated the process.
He worked quickly and with efficiency. The task was by and large a simple one for him. His father had taught him all about carpentry and they has built chicken coops, repaired the house, fixed fences, and even raised a new barn after a tornado and leveled their old one. As he finished up he heard Weiss mutter something else but he had started tuning her out.
"There, that should do it," he said giving the frames a small shake.
"How strong are you?" Ruby asked in a mild awe as she gave a grunt of effort trying to pull the apart along the grain like he had.
"Well that his whole deal isn't it? Super strong and tough right?" Yang said as she walked over and jumped onto her bunk and began to shake and jostle it to see how sturdy it was. "Huh? Good job," she said giving him a thumbs up.
"Happy to help," he said with a smile as he stored his tools.
"They're adequate I guess," Weiss said as she examined them. "I suppose working on a farm did you some good," she said with a backhanded compliment, which Clark promptly ignored.
"I think they're great!" Ruby chirped happily as she leapt on the top bunk and began to jump up and down.
"Please don't do that, your going to hurt yourself," Blake said calmly.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," said responded happily before promptly slipping and tumbling off the top bunk. On pure instinct Clark spun around; perhaps faster than he should have, and caught Ruby before she hit the floor.
"Are you alright?" He asked concerned.
"Uhhh, yeah...thanks," she said as she looked up at him, her face almost the same color as her cape.
"My Hero!" Yang cooed in a mocking impersonation of her sister before letting out a snort of laughter causing Ruby to leap out of Clark's arms.
"Well you've seen our room, let's go have a look at yours," Ruby exclaimed trying desperately to shift focus and keeping her eyes resolutely off Clark.
"Um, sure, we can if you want. It's not much though,"
"He's right, he wasn't exaggerating when he said it was an old storeroom," Yang said as she sat up on her bed.
"It is only fair Clark, we did let you poke around our room," Blake said with a smirk.
"I fixed your beds, I didn't poke around," he responded in an almost defensive tone.
"Semantics, come on Smallville let's go do a grand tour of your closet," Yang said cheekily as she sprung up from and gripped his arm and began to drag him towards the door.
"Okay, okay, you can stop dragging me everywhere."
"Well don't make it so easy and maybe I will. You might be strong but you got no foundation, your really gonna need to work on your footing," she teased as she yanked him him along down the hall.
"Another thing I'll have to work on," Clark thought to himself. He knew that his balance and coordination were absolutely perfect. Not once in his entire life had he tripped, fallen, or stumbled without forcing himself to do so. The problem was he had now trained himself too well to allow himself to be pushed around.
"Don't worry, I'll get your fighting up to snuff, we can have you holding us back if your your going to be working with us," she said throwing a small smile back at him. "Maybe we'll even put a little muscle on those bones," she finished as her smile turned to a smirk.
"I think I'm fine, thanks for the offer though," he tried to say but shook her head.
"No dice Smallville, you need to know how to fight, a strong semblance is great may have helped get you here but it's not enough," she said very matter of factly.
"Well, uh…"
"Great, we can start tomorrow. Get you a little bit of combat training before classes on monday," she said happily, not really giving him an option in the matter as stopped in front of the entrance to Clark's room. He unlocked his door and let it swing open.
"Well...here it is," he said a little unenthusiastically.
"Wow, you weren't kidding," Blake said as she entered Clark's dwelling. There was barely enough room for all of them to move around in the tiny space.
"The grand tour, this is it," he said gesturing to his rather spartan room.
The walls had no posters, the bedspread was extremely plain, the room was devoid of any real character at the moment. The only exceptions were the family pictures Clark had pinned up around the frame of his mirror.
"Are these your parents?" Ruby asked as she examine a picture of a young Clark riding on a tractor with a man with dirty blonde hair that was just starting to grey at the temples.
"Oh yeah, that's Ma and Pa," he said gesturing to some of the other photos.
"They look nice," she said kindly as she turned to him with a smile.
"They're the best," he said with an almost sad smile. He really did miss them.
"You don't look like them," Weiss piped up from behind him as she looked around his shoulder.
Well of course he looked nothing like them. His father's hair was fair and his eyes were brown. His mother had dark red hair and green eyes. Clark's own hair was pitch black and his eyes were a shockingly; almost unnatural, shade of light blue. But this was particular aspect of his life he had never had to hide or lie about.
"Well, I am adopted," he said completely unabashed. He had no idea who his birth parents were, all he knew was they weren't from this planet and frankly that was enough for him. It did bother him sometimes but if they didn't want him he didn't want to know them.
Clark did notice that; despite his own apparent attitude on the matter, the tone and atmosphere had seemed to change. Well for the most part that is.
Weiss seemed to be largely unaffected by this statement but the other three seemed to look at him with...pity? Clark wasn't quite sure but didn't particularly like it.
"What? It's not a big deal," he said nonchalantly.
"Right...right, yeah we know, just wasn't expecting it is all," Yang said in a would be nonchalant voice, but Clark could tell she was still bother by something but he honestly couldn't say what. He got the feeling his being adopted didn't bother her in and of itself but it may have reminded her of something that did.
"It doesn't bother me, really. You don't have feel bad for me, my parents are the best mom and dad a guy could ask for," he said kindly but that didn't seem to help with whatever was bothering Yang.
"What happened to "Ma and Pa"?" Weiss interjected almost snidely. Clark was about to respond but Blake beat him to.
"What's your problem Schnee? What did he ever do to you? Why do you such a chip on your shoulder?" she said to the white haired girl practically bristling.
Weiss looked at the other girl like she had just been slapped. The look of shock turned to a glare before she stuck her nose in the air and just walked out.
"I think you might have a bit of a hard time with our team Clark," Ruby said a little meekly as she watched Weiss return to their room.
"I'll be fine, I've been the butt of a lot of jokes and rude comments in my life, I can handle it," Clark responded sounding more dejected than anything. He may not like it but he could deal with it.
"Say, why don't we all go down and get some dinner? I'm sure we're all hungry after everything we've been through today," Yang offered in an attempt to change the subject, although Clark could hear in her voice something was bothering her.
"Sure, I could go for a hamburger sandwich," Clark said without thinking and whatever was bothering Yang seemed to fade away as she began to chuckle.
"Hamburger sandwich? Really?" she said through her laughter as she covered her mouth.
"Yeah, yeah, I know I talk weird," he said, this time allowing a small grin spread across his face as he watched her smile.