Rainbows, Puppies, And Other Miracles
"Hey, Clark!"
He turns in the hall and she's there, beautiful and utterly unattainable. He forces himself to smile at her and not make an ass out of himself. "Lana. Hi. How are you doing?"
"I've been meaning to talk to you, actually."
"Is everything okay?" His heart is racing, and he has to remind himself again that he can't save the world. He's tried. He just can't.
"Yeah, I've just been putting this off for a while... what happened with prom and everything."
"Oh." He flushes. Even saving her raised questions. How could Clark survive in a tornado?
Don't ask, don't tell.
"Yeah." She smiles. "Chloe said we could use the Torch office for the period."
"Don't you have class?" he asks, surprised. "Don't I have class? Won't people... you know. Talk?"
"It would be lies, and we both know it. Come on. It's just one class."
So he follows her. They walk down the corridors, and no one stops them, because that's Kent's son and Lana Lang, and neither of them would ever be doing anything wrong. As they're walking, she giggles, and whispers to him: "They never even ask."
"You- ah, you do this a lot?"
"Just when I need to get away."
"If I did this every time I needed to get away, I'd never be in class," Clark exaggerates a sigh. "And all this time, the patron saint of Smallville High has been ditching class to hang out in prime geek headquarters?"
"You're not a geek," she says gently. "You're just not..."
"Whitney?" he offers.
"Even Whitney's not Whitney. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, though." Her eyes grow serious.
"I know what you're going to ask," he says before she can start.
"Oh."
He swallows, and gathers all of his energy, and finally speaks. "I'm... I'm not like other boys, Lana. I'm sure you kind of guessed that."
She breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I was wondering how to broach the subject. I was so freaked."
"No, it's okay. I figured someone would ask someday. I mean, I spend all this time where you guys have no idea where I am, and I always seem to be there when there's a problem, and-"
"Once I thought about it, it made perfect sense," Lana says, reassuring him. "You're not alone."
"That's the thing," he says. "I kind of am. I mean, how many other guys do you know at Smallville High who are like me?"
"Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist."
He looks confused. "I'm fairly certain that most other guys here aren't different the way I am."
"Well, some of them may be in denial," she says helpfully.
"No, I mean... the guys here, they're all good old Kansas kids, born and raised. I don't think they really do stuff like I do." "Not exactly, no. But certainly something like it. Smallville's just like any other small town, Clark."
"Exactly," he says. "Guys like me aren't... we aren't that... it doesn't happen."
"Some studies say one in every ten," she offers. "I don't see how that makes you so different. A minority, yes. But alone? No."
Clark blinks rapidly. "Wait. What?"
"Anyway. Chloe and I were talking about it."
"Chloe knows too?"
"No offense, Clark- none of us wanted to say anything, because you seem to like the whole sneaky thing- but you're completely obvious. Everyone knows."
"Pete knows?"
"Yeah, Pete knows. Why do you think he's been spending less time hanging around lately? That type of thing can feel threatening to someone's manlihood."
"What? I never did anything to make Pete feel-"
"I know. But you know Pete."
Clark's brow furrows. "Since when do you know Pete?"
"Well, like you said- you haven't been here a lot. So when I was with Chloe, Pete would come by to hang out."
"You guys never invited me."
"You were never home. We called. Your mom said you were out with Lex, so none of us wanted to push anything."
"Push anything?"
"Well, we didn't know how much your mother knew. And we knew that your dad doesn't like Lex, so-"
"What? What does Lex have to do with any of this? He likes all of you guys too!"
"Anyway. Whatever you want to do in your private time... none of us are going to ask about it, okay? I promise."
She smiles, and her joy shines on him, and he can feel blood suffusing his cheeks despite himself. "Thanks," he offers shyly.
"But."
"Oh, a but. I knew this was coming."
She laughs, and he doesn't really know why. She recognizes his confusion, and barrels ahead. "Chloe and I were talking about this thing, and we found a faculty sponsor and everything. But not enough members."
"What does this have to do with... me?" he asks a bit hesitantly.
"Look, if your parents aren't okay with it, we totally understand. But just think of how many kids you could help- and Lex, too! We'd love it if he could come."
"Come where?"
"To the meeting. You don't have to decide right away, but we just thought that, you know, having Lex there, what with him being all big and powerful and stuff... it might help some of the other guys be okay with it."
"Um, Lana? Lex isn't-"
"Oh, god. He's not out yet? Was I not supposed to say anything? God. I'm sorry. We really wanted him for the Alliance, but we're not trying to, like-"
Clark finally realizes what she's implying, or trying to imply, and he smiles, which only deepens the blush settling onto her pale cheeks. "Oh! Ohhhh. The Rainbow Alliance thing, you mean?"
"Yeah. Oh, Chloe told you?"
"She mentioned it."
"What'd you think it was?"
"No- nothing. Tuesday after school, right?"
"If you can make it."
"Sure. No problem. We'll be there with bells on. Well, probably not, because that would propagate stereotypes, and other things Chloe was talking about for like an hour, but..."
"Clark?"
"Yeah?
"Seriously. What did you think I meant?"
He smiles at her, a smile of relief he hopes looks like a smile of cluelessness. "I honestly have no idea."