The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross ~Chapter Twelve~

[the_satyr_icon]

Title: The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross

Author: The Satyr Icon

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Set in Icon AU; Freshman Year

Classification: Smallville; Chloe/Clark; Pete Ross; het_fic

Disclaimer: All characters, references, and other things pertaining to 'Smallville' are property of the WB, DC Comics, Tollin-Robins, Al Gough & Miles Millar, and J. Siegal & J. Shuster; I am just writing for fun, and if I owned them, all would be good and clean in the World.

Summary: Pete and Clark go camping, but why is Chloe coming along? and why does that infuriate Pete?

Word Count: 46,164

Written: Start: Plot: December 2004 Actually Writing: July 2006 Finished: August 2007


Chapter Eleven
http://the-satyr-icon.livejournal.com/129726.html

~The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross~

~CHAPTER TWELVE~


"No big loss," Chloe whispered, happy Pete didn't come over and spoil her time with Clark. She snuggled into Clark, who held her against him, shielding his girlfriend again from the wind and the cold night. She had her back against his washboard abs and chiseled chest, gladly letting his beefy arm wrap around her shoulders, settling his forearms along her collarbones, her hands and forearms covering the rest of her chest, warm under his flannel sleeves, and she listened to him talk about constellations, and looked to where he pointed into the black sky.

" - - And that is the final star that makes the Wolf's Head. Its not an actual constellation, but its a useful group of stars. Wanna hear something ...unusual?"

Chloe leaned her head back a little; she was resting her chin on his arm. She was so comfortable against him. After school, either at her house, in the den, or at his place, up in The Loft, she could wind down and fall asleep next to him, a little cat-nap. The wind was whipping around them too hard and it was a little too cold her liking on the late March night and those two factors kept her awake. "Of course, baby. You know I can't turn that down."

Clark smiled. "Ever since I could remember, I could pick out that star in the sky, like a beacon. I could even look up in the blue sky and wait until night, and I'd be looking right at it. I think it is....home."

"Oh wow," Chloe said softly, looking at that light in the sky. She squeezed his forearm. She knew that her boyfriend was more than human, that he was an alien being. "Home...where you're really from?"

"I think so." Clark smiled. He pressed her closer to him and she sighed happily. "You're the first person I told."

She swooned, so happy to be such a part of his life to be told that information first. She turned to him, and they looked at each other, grinning. "I'd kiss you Clark Kent, but I don't want Herr Pete going all Gestapo on us."

Clark smiled and they held hands as they walked back to the tents. Pete did smile when they arrived but frowned when Clark sat and Chloe sat on his thigh.

"It's so cold...can't I just sit on Clark's lap?" Chloe pouted, looking at her friend grimace. "It's just to share warmth! I promise not to to enjoy it too much!"

Pete chuckled and nodded. Chloe snuggled, but tried not to look like she or Clark loved the feeling. "It's so windy, man," Pete sighed, slipping on some gloves. "I wonder...are we going to have a tornado?"

"I figured to check the weather since it was my first camping trip and all...The National Weather Service had nothing scary like that on their website...I guess it's just weird Smallville weather," Chloe said, rocking just a bit on Clark's thigh. "With our luck, we'd get a freak ice storm or a deluge." The guys just looked at her when she laughed.

"The weather's NEVER been this bad before," Pete said with just enough bite that Chloe narrowed her eyes.

"I remember a few times there was some rain, Pete," Clark said to break them up, "and a heat wave or two. Right?" Pete nodded, leaving the topic alone.

"So what do you guys do at night? Or do I want to know?" Chloe teased, looking at her boyfriend.

"We usually tell dirty jokes and talk about girls," Pete said, tossing a small branch into the fire. "But we haven't had a chance so far."

"Go ahead," Chloe smiled, thinly, getting mad again. "Don't let me stop you."

"Well, Clark has to tell dirty jokes, too," Pete answered. "Otherwise, it's boring."

"Clark... tell a dirty... joke?" Chloe sputtered. "This Clark?" She pointed at the blushing lug holding her. "Never. He can't even THINK about words like 'titmouse' or 'pussy willow' without giggling."

"You know ...I've never told ...you a dirty joke before, Pete," Clark said between giggles, thinking about those very words. "You're always ... the one...telling...all of....them." Chloe had to elbow him in the chest to stop. He composed himself as she rubbed the hurt from her elbow.

"Well...maybe you might have started now," Pete started up, implying that Chloe's presence was stopping Clark, "and maybe even talk about another girl than Chloe."

Chloe laughed long and hearty at that prospect.

"Maybe I wanna talk freely," Pete said. "Not worry about what I say, and not worry about who I talk about."

Chloe sighed. This jousting between them was getting old. "You can do that, Pete."

"I can't," Pete said, continuing his tirade. "I always talk about the girls...and stuff."

"Geeze Pete," Chloe said, rubbing her forehead; she was getting a headache and her tummy was starting to cramp despite the Midol she took earlier. "You're forgetting that you gave me that in-depth report on the girls' gymnastic team...and the cheerleading squad..and the girls' swim team." She looked at him, and he couldn't help but grin at the memories. "You used words like 'buxom', 'plump', 'chesty', and I quote: "Felice Chandler shakes her pom-poms like they were attached to her body," Chloe finished, leaning against Clark.

"It was a good line," Pete smiled. "Man ...how she thanked me..."

"See?" Clark said, his hand on Chloe's hip, and Chloe agreed.

"I haven't exactly censored your speech." She smiled. He looked at her. "It's like you're smiling for the first time, Pete."

"I've been mad."

"Duh," Chloe said with a grin. "Don't be mad, Petey...Have a good time, like Me and Clark."

"I wish I was," he said quietly.

"Am I that bad company?" she said in a voice as quiet.

"No," Pete admitted.

"Then...let's do something fun, okay?"

Pete looked at her and Clark as the wind ripped through their camp. "Let's play truth or dare."

"Okay, I'll play," Chloe smiled at him, happy to end the struggle between him and her. "Nothing sick or perverted," she added quickly.

"Sure," Pete agreed, and looked at her. "Chloe...truth or dare?"

"Truth!"

"Tell me and Clark an embarrassing true fact about yourself" Pete said as he tossed another small branch into the fire; how it was sustaining itself in this wind he'd never know.

Chloe shifted her bottom on Clark's thigh, fidgeting, thinking of something she could say that wasn't too embarrassing. "I'm deathly afraid of clowns," she peeped. The guys looked at her for more information. She sighed. "Um... I had a really scary nightmare that a mean vicious clown killed me when I was working at the Daily Planet...I was eight years old when I dreamed about that..." She shuddered and hid her face into Clark's shoulder, thinking how a thin, chalky-skinned clown with a evil, maniacal laugh killed her and all the other reporters in the news-building. "Since that night...I don't like them."

"They are supposed to look harmless, but some look freaky," Pete admitted. "I'm with you on that one, Chlo. They suck."

"Yeah," she whispered.

"I didn't know that," Clark whispered, and she nodded.

"Keep it going," Pete prodded, not wanting to slow the game down. Chloe smiled, knowing that, not thinking Pete was trying to squash a moment between her and Clark.

"Clark," she looked her boyfriend straight in his eyes. "Truth," she said with a huge grin. "Or dare?" She frowned, tipping off Clark what word to pick.

"Dare!"

"Oh," Chloe said, amazed that he messed up. "Um...go with truth..."

"I want a dare." He grinned.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "That's hard to do, Clark."

"Why?"

"Cuz," she socked him on the shoulder. "You are hard to dare to do something....quit being a big dummy...you know what I mean."

"Ohhhh." Clark frowned with her; she could come up with the weird dare, and he could do the task, thanks to his alien body.

"Derrrr."

"I have one and you have to tell the truth," Pete breaking in between their banter. "If you didn't ask Chloe out...who'd you ask?" Chloe looked at Clark and her eyes let him know that he was on the spot.

"Um..." Clark looked at Pete, and Chloe flashed a look at him "If I HAVE to say a name...I'd say...Alicia."

"BAKER? That Alicia?" Chloe hopped off Clark's thigh, her body hot now with jealousy. She expected to hear Lana Lang's name; she knew that Clark had a crush on her....but didn't know Clark thought of other girls.

"Clark's turn...," Pete said blithely. He didn't plan on making them argue, but he wasn't going to stop them now. In his head, he knew that he and Clark talked all the girls...before Chloe came to town.

"No, it's NOT," Chloe snapped. She set her cold hands on her hips, and gave an even colder look at Clark. "He's not done. He has to explain. Why Alicia Baker, Clark?"

"Hey," Clark leaned back. "I don't have to explain." Her eyes narrowed. "I just had to name someone that was a girl..." he looked at Pete and hoped that his friend didn't add any fuel to Chloe's inferno.

"That works for me too," Pete said, and watched Chloe sit beside Clark. They all knew that she wasn't going to let Clark off easy. "Let's tell an embarrassing fact about each other." Before Clark or Chloe could stop him, Pete started, "When he was younger, Clark used to eat the yellow roses in his mom's garden."

"Dude!" Clark wished he could punch Pete again.

"It's just a fact." Pete smiled. "I'd come over with my mom, and we'd used to sneak into the garden, and instead of plucking some fruit off the vine and eat it like I did, he'd have a mouth full of petals."

While Clark glared, Chloe giggled, and his face softened. She smiled at her boyfriend. "Do you have a fact about me or Pete?"

"Pete slept over one time and wet his sleeping bag," Clark said quickly, wanting to put his friend on the spot like he had done to him, twice.

"Oh my god, dude!" Pete blurted out. "You suck!"

"You started it," Clark shot back.

Chloe jumped in. "Okay....and about me, Clark?"

"You dog ear your books and chew up your pencils," Clark said. It wasn't her most annoying trait, but he figured he was already in trouble of saying Alicia's name, so he played it safe.

"My turn!" Chloe smiled and took a deep breath while the guys nodded, giving her the 'okay' to continue. "Clark is way too oblivious at times and Pete is way too quick tempered."

"I think you two guys are way too close," Pete said right after she spoke, the cold air more chilly suddenly. Clark and Chloe looked at him, then at each other.

"We're a couple," Clark said before Chloe could, and she adore him for that.

"But you're not married to her," Pete countered.

"So?" Chloe asked.

"Whats your point, Pete?" Clark wasn't that oblivious; he knew that his friend was tossing jabs at Chloe all day.

"You two have no time for anyone," Pete admitted, and tossed another branch, a bigger one this time, into the fire. "For me." It crunched the blackened logs below it and caught aflame. The embers floated and died out in the cold sky. Both Chloe and Clark frowned. "It's true."

"I was a part of the gang," Pete continued, poking at the fire, not looking at his friends. "We used to hang out so much..."

"You still part of our gang," Clark said, and wondered why now it was all coming to a head. He waved his arm. "We do hang out, man."

"Pete," Chloe said, sad to see her friend like this, "we're your friends...and you have lots of other friends, too."

"So Chloe?" Pete tossed the branch aside. "I still make time for you two guys." He stood up, kicked over one of the large rocks that guarded the pit, and turned away from them. He did have a quick temper.

"Hey man," Clark said, holding Chloe's hand, "We don't say anything when you date Erica or Felice or whomever."

"Or if you're all chummy with Whitney now," Chloe added. Whitney acted like a bully towards her and her boyfriend, at least until the Carnival.

"You're chums with Lana now," Pete shot back.

"She doesn't pick on me or Clark like Whitney did," Chloe said. Her head dropped. "Or like you now."

"Don't turn this back on me, Chloe," Pete had the audacity to say. Since the camping trip was announced he had been picking at her, and he was mad that he was called out on it. "Just don't, okay?"

"Pete!" Clark stood up and towered of his girlfriend and his friend. "Don't yell at her."

"Or what Clark?" Pete stepped closer. His heart was racing. Clark was bigger, stronger, taller, you name it, but Pete had never seen him in a fist-fight before and Pete had been in a few scrapes of his own. "Both you guys have been ditching me."

"Boys." Chloe's voice quivered. She was scared. "You're friends. We're all friends." She looked at Clark. "You're scaring me."

A silence, like the temperature, dropped over the trio in the woods, and the chill that they created could freeze up the stream.

"Where were you two yesterday?" Pete asked, his breath visible in the cold.

"Court." Clark said simply and Chloe squeezed his hand.

"And after that?" Pete didn't move from where he stood.

"We had dinner at..." Chloe's voice trailed off.

"Where?" Pete's voice rose, just like his heart rate again. "Not at Clark's...and you can't cook," he pointed at the blonde.

"We were at Lex's mansion," Clark said quietly, and his head dipped; Lex and Pete hated each other, and Clark liked them both. Chloe was wary of the bald millionaire, and tolerated him for Clark's sake.

"Thanks," Pete spat into the cold. "My point proved! I waited for you two guys and...and......you guys suck!" Before Chloe or even Clark do do anything, Pete grabbed his lantern and ran into the woods, into the dark, alone.

Chapter Links
Prologue ~ One ~ Two ~ Three ~ Four ~ Five ~ Six ~ Seven ~ Eight ~ Nine ~ Ten ~ Eleven ~ Twelve ~ Thirteen ~ Fourteen ~ Fifteen ~ Sixteen ~ Epilogue

The Satyr Icon