[for Chloe]

[hero_farmboy]

Clark is not nervous. Not at all. That pacing he's doing outside Chloe's apartment building? Totally not nerves. It's just a second date and the first one was the one he was nervous over. This one should be a breeze.

He just needs a minute.

Finally, after taking a quick look around to make sure no one's watching, he takes a deep breath and speeds up to her apartment, knocking lightly on the door.

It's hard to not just walk in.

Comments

[hero_farmboy]

"How does it work?" No one ever asks Clark how he can do the things he does. They're usually more interested in the why. Leave it to Chloe to be different.

"Uh, I just think about it? Like, how much heat to give off and whether it's a continuous stream or just a single burst sort of thing."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"That's so cool. They guys and I never came across something like that." She tugs on his shirt sleeve, smiling at him. "Think you can let me down now for a demonstration?"

[hero_farmboy]

"Oh, right," Clark blushes yet again and sets her down on the ground gently. "I sort of forgot. You weigh next to nothing." In fact, the only reason he could feel her weight at all was because he forced himself to so he wouldn't accidentally squish her. Because that wouldn't really go well for his chances at a third date.

"You want me to set something on fire?"

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Chloe nods. "If you think you can put it out?"

[hero_farmboy]

He gives her a look. "Of course I can." Either by sucking the oxygen away from it, but that could lead to him actually swallowing the flames and despite the fact it won't hurt him, just no, or he can pat it out with his hands. Which is a much better idea.

Clark gently pushes Chloe back behind him and off to the side, and then concentrates on a small patch of brush a few feet away. It's not long before little flames start to appear.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Chloe's eyes widen as she stares from Clark to the flaming bush. Like a moth to a flame, she walks over, reaching out a hand to touch it. Instantly, she recoils her hand away, placing the finger in her mouth.

"Okay, that is totally awesome."

[hero_farmboy]

"Chloe!" Clark stalks over to and, lifting her up by the waist, easily sets her away from the fire. "It's real, okay?"

Then he removes his jacket, tossing it off to the side, and starts patting the fire down and out, after a few minutes.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Chloe protests, staring at him with a wide open smile. "I just needed to check!"

[hero_farmboy]

Standing up, he brushes the dirt off the front of his jeans. "You were close enough that the heat should have sufficed. You didn't have to stick your hand in it."

Speaking of which, Clark is just to inspect that hand with a frown. "It doesn't look too bad."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Chloe rolls her eyes at him, glancing down at her hand. There's only a light burn on it, nothing horrible.

"Yes, mother," she replies. "I'll remember that the next time my date blows up a bush in the Grand Canyon."

[hero_farmboy]

"I didn't blow it up and besides, you asked me to," he reminds her, letting her hand go.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

She laughs as she slips her hand back into his.

"Okay, true. But that's aside the point."

[hero_farmboy]

Holding hands. Okay, Clark can do that.

"The point is that fire is fire and despite your reporters instinct to ferret out the truth, it's not really ever anything other than hot."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Chloe shrugs. "I didn't see any harm in it."

[hero_farmboy]

"Except for burning your hand," Clark points out, looking down at her. "Next time, remind me to demonstrate one of less destructive abilities, okay?"

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"You've already demonstrated super speed. And I guess lifting me that long totally counts for super strength." She looks up at him, truly curious. "What else is left?"

[hero_farmboy]

He rolls his eyes.

"I'm not throwing a boulder to the other side of the gorge just to prove that." Then he shrugs, swinging their hands a little as they walk. "X-ray vision, superhearing and superbreath, which sounds lame, but it's come in handy a few times. I also can't get hurt."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

She approves of the hand swinging. And is clearly amused by the suggestion of throwing a boulder.

"Super breath?"

[hero_farmboy]

"Yeah. I have a really big lung capacity or something. The first time I ever sneezed I blew our barn door half way across the county." Chloe doesn't need to know he almost killed her cousin in the process. "And that famous picnic, it was sort of overcast that day and I blew the clouds away so we could have sunshine."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"That I totally need to see some day."

[hero_farmboy]

He chuckles. "We'll see. You might have to agree to a picnic for it, though."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Hey, as long as you're still willing to go out with me, I'm game."

[hero_farmboy]

"Now why wouldn't I be willing to still go out with you?" He teases, squeezing her hand gently. "You're still in the 'touch fire to see if it burns' stage. You need someone to look out for you."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Isn't this kind of weird for you?" Chloe squeezes his hand back as they walk along the edge of the canon. "I mean, I'm not exactly the Chloe you grew up with."

[hero_farmboy]

Clark takes a minute before answering that.

"You're not really all that different, to be honest. I mean, no, you don't have all the memories of stuff that we've done together that I have, but when you get right down to it, you're still Chloe Sullivan." He looks over and gives her a quick smile before looking straight ahead again. "And just that alone means a lot to me."