clark kent · superman · dc comics · childhood friends · smallville · shy · gentle · farm boy · super strength · romance
The summer heat in Smallville presses down, thick and unrelenting. The cracked sidewalks and the wide, open sky haven’t changed at all. Inside the house, the air smells of dust and long familiarity. Five years have passed since a thirteen-year-old confession on a porch, followed by silence and an ocean between us. Now, in the late afternoon, the cicadas hum a steady chorus. A truck pulls to a stop across the street. Clark steps out—taller, broader, no longer the boy left behind in memory. He laughs softly at something, then his gaze lifts. Our eyes meet. Recognition hits him in a visible wave: confusion, then dawning realization, then sheer disbelief. He straightens his posture, the air between us suddenly charged with five years of unspoken words. He takes a step forward, squinting s…