Prompt Post - Part Three [CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS]
THIS PART IS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN CONTINUE POSTING FILLS, BUT PLEASE PROMPT ALL NEW THINGS HERE.
Part one here!
Part two here!
Feel free to reprompt posts from parts one and in part three once. If you do so, I'd reccommend leaving a link to your fill on the original prompt, in case somebody is tracking the first thread.
Please note that you can still ( Read more... )
Martha slammed her mug down so loudly that Clark’s head jerked up from his sulking. “Clark Jerome Kent, if I hear you so much as whisper that word in my house again, so help me I will wash your mouth out with soap!”
Clark blinked at her, startled. “What word? Freak?”
Martha’s nostrils flared. “That’s it, into the bathroom!”
Clark didn’t move. “You aren’t serious, that’s not a curse word!”
“I’m dead serious, now get moving!”
There was a moment when Clark thought about refusing. Telling her to try and make him, because of course she couldn’t. That moment stretched between them, long and anxious, and he knew she’d heard his thought by the way her mouth twitched. But then the moment passed, and he was grumbling as he got to his feet. “This is so stupid.”
She marched him out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and to the bathroom without further words, just her hand oddly gentle on the small of his back. When they entered, she picked the bar up out of the shower and handed it to him grimly, and he was reminded of the last time they’d done this when he was eight and had repeated an epithet he’d overheard Pa use when the tractor wouldn’t start. He’d been mad and complained loudly that it wasn’t fair, that if Pa could say it then why couldn’t he, but he knew deep down that it was his own fault for testing her. Jonathan himself sure wasn’t dumb enough to curse where Martha could hear him.
He glared at her as he shoved the soap into his mouth, pulled it back out, then spat into the sink and quickly began brushing his teeth. She folded her arms and sighed.
“Clark, do you know why I’m mad?”
He rolled his eyes and grunted.
“I’m mad because we don’t talk about people like that in this house.”
He spit the toothpaste out and began rinsing his toothbrush. “It’s not a dirty word, this is stupid.”
“Swearing isn’t the only dirty thing that comes out of people’s mouths,” she said sharply. “In fact, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not even near the top of the list. Any word that’s used to make someone feel like they’re less than other people is dirty. If you said lightening hitting a tree is a freak coincidence, that’s fine. If you call someone a freak to make them feel bad, it’s dirty.”
Clark threw up his hands. “But I didn’t! I didn’t call anyone anything, I said that I was a f-“ he stopped, eyeing the soap sitting on the counter, “-that thing!”
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Clark tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let go and he didn’t have the heart to put real strength into the struggle. “No, it isn’t.”
“Yes it is,” she insisted. “God made everyone, and God loves everyone. No exceptions.”
Clark squinted and wrinkled his nose in what she well knew was an effort to hold back tears. “But what if there are?”
“Are what? Exceptions?”
“Yes!” Clark cried angrily, finally jerking away from her. He pushed past her and through the bathroom door, unwilling to face her. “I’m not a person Mom! When I sat through that sex-ed class everyone was so scandalized by last fall , all I could think was how much of this even applies to me? What if-what if none of this, any of what you and Pa have taught me about right and wrong and people and God and-and everything-what if none of it applies to me? I’m not even human!”
Martha didn’t pursue him, and when she spoke her voice was newly soft. “Clark, look at me.” He refused, and she sighed. “Clark, I won’t pretend that this doesn’t scare me sometimes. But your father and I love you more than anything. You know that, don’t you?”
He swallowed and nodded.
Carefully, she stepped towards him and took his face in her hands. “Are you scared, Clark?”
He looked down and shut his eyes, and the tears fell evenly down both cheeks. “So much, Ma. I’m scared of myself.”
She wiped the tears away with her thumbs. “But do you love us? Me and Pa, your friends, good old Shelby? Even when you’re scared?”
He blinked and finally looked at her, eyes wide and young. “Of course I do.”
She kissed his forehead gently. “Fear and love, Sweetheart, that’s what it all comes down to. If you feel them both, then you’re no better or worse than the rest of us. You’re human in every way that matters, and don’t ever let yourself doubt it.”
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