FanFic Challenge August
“I mean… you’ve dedicated your life to city full of strangers, and I’m not saying I know what it’s like to be a hero, but… even the fastest blur in the world can’t outrun loneliness…”mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA">
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Words shouldn’t echo like that. They just shouldn’t.
And yet they do.
Those words, spoken with a depth of compassion, reverberated in Clark’s mind as he waited for the elevator to rumble to a stop.
She understands. She gets it. She doesn’t even know the whole truth, and it doesn’t matter to her. She understands!mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA">
Clark shook himself free of that thought, and wrenched open the guardrail, stepping into Oliver Queen’s apartment. The lights were low, letting in the ambient glow of the city outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Perfect timing,” said Oliver, stepping through the door of the balcony, “I just got back.”
He was still clad in his Green Arrow garb, though the hood was down and he favoured Clark with a smile.
“All quiet tonight?” asked Clark.
“Yup,” said Oliver, “I hate it.”
Clark smirked, “Why?”
“Everytime the city gets like this, it feels like… the calm before the storm, you know?”
“I know,” said Clark.
“So…” Oliver approached the drinks trolley, casually flinging his bow aside as he went, “There a reason for the late-night call?”
He poured himself a scotch, holding it up to ask Clark if he wanted one. Clark shook his head.
“I came to return this…” Clark dug the tiny device out of his pocket.
He flipped it across to Oliver, who caught it with his free hand.
“The voice modifier?”
“Thanks,” said Clark.
Clark mounted the steps and made his way out to the balcony. He leaned on the railing, drinking in the chaotic sounds of the city. Not for the first time he reflected on how different it was from home… from Smallville. The city had a pulse… an energy, that drew you in until your own heart beat to it’s rhythms. Clark found that, day by day, he grew to love it more. And yet… there were some things he missed.
He looked up. The stars, for one. Even here, high above the noise and chaos, they were still pale reflections of the novas he remembered from the long nights in his loft.
Clark was snatched from his reverie as Oliver came to stand beside him. Sipping his drink, the tall billionaire held up the modifier.
“You done with this?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Clark, “I have to be.”
Oliver was thrown for a moment. He studied his friend’s face. Clark’s jaw was set, his expression determined, and yet… Oliver thought he detected a hint of sadness there.
“Who’d you call, Clark?”
Clark didn’t answer for so long, that Oliver thought perhaps he hadn’t heard the question - although that was impossible, super hearing and all. He was about to ask again when Clark said:
“Lois.”
Oliver sighed. Taking a long swig of the 20 year-old single malt, he too turned his gaze over the flickering lights of the city, trying his best to find the right words to say. All he could come up with, was:
“You’re a moron, Clark.”
“What?”
Clark was, of course, startled. Oliver fought to suppress a grin.
“You want me to repeat myself?”
Clark just glowered. It was a look he had down pat. It was getting harder for Oliver not to laugh.
“Why in the world did you call her?” he asked.
“You saw the story she put out in the Planet,” said Clark, “And then that stunt she just pulled… Stiletto?” he shook his head, “I had to give her something, or she’d never let it go.”
“So, you gave her… what? A five second sound-bite, and you think that’s gonna be enough for her? I’m sorry, but have you actually met Lois?”
“She’ll let it go,” said Clark, “She has to.”
“Ladies, and gentlemen, I present to you… the King of Wishful thinking,” Oliver couldn’t fight the smirk anymore.
“Enjoying yourself?” said Clark, resorting to sarcasm.
“Why did you call her?”
“I told you already…”
“Yeah, yeah…”Oliver cut in, “You don’t want her digging anymore. Whatever. What’s the real reason?”
Clark shifted, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Oliver studied him for a moment. Clark was the world’s worst liar. Not a particularly valuable trait in the man with the world’s biggest secret to keep. Deciding to cut the guy a little bit of slack, Oliver switched tack.
“How did it feel?” he asked. Then, when Clark just frowned at him, he went on, “Being able to talk to her… as you? The real you?”
Again, Clark was silent for a long time, before: “Clark is the real me,” he said, “The Red-Blue Blur… he’s just the mask I wear, so to speak.”
“I think you’re wrong,” said Oliver, “I’ve been watching you this year. Being the Blur… you’re finally the guy I thought you would be when we first met. But that’s besides the point… you’re evading the question. How did it feel?”
“Easy,” said Clark, surprising himself with the admission, “She didn’t ask anything of me. She even told me I could call anytime, totally off the record.”
“Wow,” said Oliver, “Are you sure she wasn’t on something?”
Clark chuckled at that.
“She didn’t dig,” said Clark, “I mean… you know her. She must have had a million questions, at least, and yet… all she wanted to do was listen. She wanted to know what I needed. And that’s…”
Clark trailed off, seemingly engrossed in cityscape.
“I repeat…” said Oliver, “You’re a moron!”
So quickly that neither of them realised it, the conversation morphed into a full-blown argument.
“Are you ever going to get tired of that?”
“Not likely,” Oliver stood up straight, facing him, “You’re running scared.”
“What?”
“You’re making the same mistake I did when I was with her. I tried to keep her away from who I was. Thinking it’ll be okay, and she’ll be satisfied with half of me. Half my time, half my… devotion.”
“It’s not the same,” Clark protested.
“Isn’t it?”
“You were in a relationship!”
“And you’re not?”
“No!”
“God, Clark, if anything, you’re closer!” said Oliver, “You’re partners. You share everything. Even when the kryptonite was cutting through you, you took a bullet for her yesterday!”
“Of course I did!”
“Why?”
“Because I love her, okay?!”
Suddenly, the sounds of the city went away. As if sucked into a giant vacuum all the noise, the laughter, the screams and the beating of Metropolis’s heart stopped for that one moment. Clark stood frozen, unable to grasp what he’d just said. Oliver Queen smiled at his friend.
“Don’t tell me, Clark,” he said, “Tell her…”