Hide-And-Seek

1.

Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan were bored. They could always tell when it was really bad because they resorted to childish games. Today it was Hide-And-Seek, though Chloe didn’t see how she could hope to win against a super-fast Kryptonian who could see through almost anything and literally hear her anywhere on the planet--or the moon even, if she could get up there.

She spotted Clark skulking around the old tractor, looking for her. Now was her chance to sneak up and tag him.

“Kal-El, behind you.”

Clark spun around just as Chloe threw up her hands in disgust, only inches from Clark’s shoulder. J’onn, aka the Martian Manhunter, hovered just outside the barn, holding a lead box in his hand and watching them with a curious expression. He set down and walked into the barn, his face set to talk business. He was always about business.

“You gave me away!” Chloe said.

“Not really, Chloe. I knew you were there,” Clark said kindly.

“Liar.”

“Have I interrupted your mating ritual?” J’onn asked.

“What?” Clark said nervously. He actually blushed, which Chloe found cute. Actually she found almost everything Clark did cute, outside of passing wind.

“There’s no mating ritual going on here,” Chloe said.

“We were bored, so we were playing a game of Hide-And-Seek.”

J’onn frowned. “Isn’t that a game where one hides and the other…seeks?”

With a mildly sardonic roll of the eyes Clark said, “Wow. Brilliant deductive reasoning, J’onn. Bravo.”

“It’s not fair, though. He’s got all these super senses. He can sense me without even trying,” Chloe complained.

“Anybody could sense you coming a mile away, super hearing or not.”

“That’s not true! I’m sly and cunning, and don’t you forget it mister.”

Clark looked like he was enjoying aggravating Chloe when he countered with, “This tractor is stealthier coughing itself to life in the morning.”

J’onn cleared his throat as Chloe opened her mouth to respond. “Kal-El, the purpose for my visit.”

He handed Clark the box.

“What’s in it?”

“Kryptonite. Blue Kryptonite.”

Chloe snorted a laugh. “You said that like, ‘Bond. James Bond.’”

Ignoring her, J’onn added, “It was recovered at what was believed to be a 33.1 facility in Canada, which has since been destroyed.”

“Thank’s, J’onn.”

J’onn turned to leave but stopped and looked back at Clark and Chloe.

“About your mating ritual—”

“It’s not a mating ritual, it’s a game,” Clark snapped.

“A man seeking a young woman, who waits in hiding in anticipation of that man finding her, both of whom have peaking hormone levels—”

“What’s your point?” Chloe asked, her cheeks flushed. “And my hormones aren’t peaked, thank you very much.”

“Mine aren’t either,” Clark added quickly.

J’onn decided not to argue the point. “It sounds like a mating ritual to me. However, Miss Sullivan, you complained that Kal-El has an unfair advantage. One of those stones will be sufficient to level the playing field for your ‘game.’”

He flew away, leaving Clark and Chloe in an awkward silence. All J’onn’s talk about mating rituals had left them both embarrassed.

Clark cleared his throat. “So, want to play on equal footing?”

“Absolutely. I want to show you how stealthy I am when you don’t have your super senses giving you the advantage.”

“I’m shaking in my shoes,” Clark said, and opened the box.

2.

Clark opened the box and exposed a small mountain of blue stones that glimmered like sapphires in the summer sun. They were beautiful to look at but the effect they had on Clark was incredible.

The world went silent.

It was in much the same way any normal human experienced with a change in elevation. It was like having his ears plugged. He could hear everything in the immediate vicinity, with normal human hearing, but no amount of popping his ears was going to bring his full Kryptonian hearing back.

The world grew hot and stuffy.

Clark lived in a constant state of physical comfort. Nothing froze him, nothing burned him, humidity meant nothing to him. Now, however, he realized just how hot it was and how wet and oppressive the air felt. Sweat began to pop up on his upper lip and his brow. He wondered how people stood being outside in it.

The world became solid.

Clark strained his eyes at the house but he couldn’t see through it. Everything took on an oddly flat quality, like a photograph of three-dimensional objects, but that was his imagination. Things only seemed that way because he knew he could no longer see every possible angle of something at will.

“Clark? You okay?” Chloe asked in concern.

“Yeah,” he said. A smile tugged at his lips. He and Chloe were now on even footing. He was a man, a mortal man, just as average as the next guy. Part of him didn’t care for the physical weaknesses, and yet he reveled in the differences. He felt completely normal.

“You look kind of shell shocked.”

“I’m good,” he said.

He slipped one of the stones into his pockets but Chloe rushed over to him and took one of the little string bracelets she wore and told him to hand her the stone. He kept the lead box open so he wouldn’t have to shift back and forth between normal for him, and average Joe human. Chloe tied the small bracelet around the stone before looping it through one of the matching string necklaces she wore. After that she tied it to his ankle so that it was hidden and easy to forget.

“There,” she said. “You’ll forget you’re wearing it. There’s just one thing.”

“What?”

She tapped his shoulder and jumped back, out of his reach. She moved impressively fast for a normal human.

“You’re it. The truck is base.”

She laughed and started backing away. “Go on, start the count.”

Smiling and hiding his eyes, Clark started to count to ten.

Though he wouldn’t admit it Chloe had been right. He had been instinctually aware of where she’d been hiding before he’d gotten hold of the blue stones, and that had been an unfair advantage. Now, however, with his eyes closed so that the world went from a little too bright for his eyes’ comfort, to a bright pink, he couldn’t see or hear her. She could be anywhere and he had no idea where to start. He loved being powerless and felt mildly foolish for reveling so much in the sheer simple joy of a child’s game with his best friend.

“Ten!” he said loudly and opened his eyes. They hurt as they adjusted to the sun, which he’d never noticed was so incredibly bright.

Looking around with one hand shielding his eyes, Clark saw only the empty fields, the house, and the barn. He started for the barn, thinking it was the perfect hiding place. It wasn’t much cooler than the outside but it did offer shade, a breeze from a fan he’d put in, and lots of hiding places for a petite, lightweight young woman like Chloe Sullivan.

A man seeking a young woman, who waits in hiding in anticipation of that man finding her…

J’onn’s words came back to Clark as he quietly made his way toward the barn, ever vigilant for Chloe to attempt to sneak around him and tap the truck for another round, though deep inside part of him hoped he’d have to chase her. He wanted to run, to chase something with his human limitations, especially if that something was a pretty girl…

Who’s recently broken up with her fiancé, Clark reminded himself.

Chloe was on the rebound and the only reason they were hanging out and playing kid games was an effort to lift her spirits. Not that he’d ever consider anything else. Not with his best buddy, Chloe.

He tried to open his senses in the barn but it was pointless. It was like he’d gone deaf and legally blind. The barn was dark and he had to wait for his eyes to adjust. He couldn’t hear anything except for a plop of manure from Bessie the cow in her stall. She’d been suffering stomach ailments lately, so Clark had put her in the barn with a fan to circulate the air to keep her shady and cool and comfortable. Bessie followed this with a long, disgusting, wet-sounding fart, and a moo of pain.

In ninety-eight degree heat and the moving air from the fan, it didn’t take long for the stench to travel, and Chloe, who’d chosen to hide not far from Bessie, came out coughing, her eyes watering.

She gagged a little and it was enough to make Clark start laughing uncontrollably.

“It’s not funny,” Chloe coughed.

She was laughing but not nearly as hard as Clark, who was doubled over with a stitch forming in his side, and tears wetting his eyes. Chloe took advantage of his distraction and dashed for the open doors behind him and the truck, which was base.

Clark lunged for Chloe, who nimbly dodged him and sprinted for the truck. He struggled to keep up with her but she was so damned fast in those flat sandals.

Clark felt like he did in his dreams, when he tried to run but couldn’t move very fast, as though his legs were weighed down with Kryptonite laced led. He put all he had into it, stretched, and caught Chloe’s arm when she was literally inches from the truck.

Catching her cost Clark his balance and he tripped into the ground. He landed painfully on his back, pulling Chloe down on top of him

“Oh…God…” he said, feeling a rock dig into his lower back. His elbow also hurt. He’d scraped it bad enough for it to bleed.

“Clark, are you okay?” Chloe had landed on her back as well but she’d turned over to look him over.

“I’m fine,” he said, trying to muster his manly pride. “It’s only a scrape.”

“Here, I’ll heal it.”

“No,” he said. “No powers from either of us. Let’s just pretend we’re perfectly average people.”

“Okay,” she said, but the smile on her face faded when Chloe realized she was straddling Clark. He could feel the warmth of her body pressing against his groin and her low-cut blouse exposed plenty of cleavage. Clark began to have a perfectly normal human reaction and his face began to feel hot.

Chloe stood up, taking the pressure and the heat of her body with her, leaving Clark oddly cool even in the nearly unbearable heat of the day. “Um…let’s get you inside and clean that wound. You don’t want to get an infection.”

Like I’m really going to stay mortal long enough for that to happen.

It was their fantasy, though, all part of the game, and Clark went along with it. He allowed her to help him to his feet. His muscles burned from the run, he was short of breath and his back and forearm hurt from the fall. All of those things came together to make him grin like an idiot as he followed Chloe into the house.

3.

The house was even hotter and more humid than the outside. At least the wind moved in the yard. Inside the air was perfectly still. Clark hadn’t installed air conditioning. Lois had turned down his invitation to live on the farm having recalled how unbearable the old house was in summer weather. Clark, who was impervious to the heat wasn’t the least uncomfortable, normally, and saw no reason to run the bill up on air conditioning when he didn’t need it.

“I’m getting central air,” Clark said. “I don’t care if I have to rob a bank to get the money for it.”

“I’ll get your mom’s old fan and the first aid kit.”

Chloe disappeared into the house while Clark opened the refrigerator door. Blessedly cool air rolled pleasantly over his sweat-soaked skin and he took in a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the cold air moving into his lungs.  He found the last two bottles of water and set them on the table. His belly growled with hunger too.

“What do you want for lunch?” he called.

“An air conditioner.”

“Grilled or fried?”

“Ha-ha." Chloe said, bringing in a fan and a first aid kit.

She set the fan up and then started on Clark’s scrape, which wasn’t that bad once the dirt was cleaned off, though Clark did hiss like a baby when Chloe poured alcohol on the wound. She blew on it and Clark was amazed at how good that simple breath of air felt on his burning wound.

“If you want me to hang out with you for the rest of the summer you’re going to have to do something about the air.”

“We could go into town and get a window unit until I can get central installed,” Clark offered.

“Let’s get one now.”

“I’ve got another good idea.”

“What’s that?” Chloe asked, putting a second band-aid on to fully cover the scrape.

“Why don’t we go by the Talon and pack up all your things? You can move in with me.”

Chloe cocked her head to the side. “I thought you wanted Lois to move in.”

“I wanted to ask you but I didn’t think you’d say yes when you were planning to marry Jimmy. Now that you’re not…”

Chloe looked at him with pity, which really annoyed Clark, and said, “You’re lonely, aren’t you? I mean, really lonely.”

“I’m not desperate if that’s what you’re insinuating—”

“Shush,” she said, patting his hand. “I know you’re not desperate.”

“So, what do you say?”

Clark watched hopefully as Chloe gave his offer serious consideration. She was in a situation where she had to find somewhere to stay several times a week since Oliver had returned to Lois’s life and they were dating again. They needed the apartment to themselves. Besides, as much as Chloe love the little apartment above the Talon, it was really only suited for a single person, or a childless couple. Chloe usually felt like a third wheel when Lois and Oliver were together. At the farm she would have her best friend for company and a room all to herself.

The only fear she had was being in the house when Clark brought a date home. She’d always hated seeing him with other girls. She’d never been able to shake the jealousy that stabbed at her gut when she saw Clark eyeing a girl.

It was a good thing for her she’d learned how to hide her pain and convince Clark, even herself at times, that she was truly over him and only thought of him as a good friend.

“Sure,” she finally said.

Clark smiled brightly and Chloe ignored the tight pull that she always felt when he looked so happy--especially when she was the source of that happiness.

“Wow, that was easy.”

“I'm not so easy to live with. You’ll see that soon enough,” Chloe warned.”

“You snore?”

“No.”

“I do,” Clark said, and nodded at the back door. “Let’s go that that air conditioner.”

Clark wrapped an arm around Chloe’s waist without thinking. He quickly let it go and bit his lip awkwardly. That was the second time in half an hour they’d realized they were too close physically and had to back off.

“Well, let’s get going,” said Chloe.

“Right.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The apartment was empty when Chloe went in to begin packing her things. Clark had gone to pick up a window unit and order a larger, permanent system installed on the farmhouse. Using the boxes she’d found in the Talon supply room, Chloe quickly began putting her things together. It amazed her that even as orderly as she was her things could still manage to spread themselves all over the apartment.

“Chloe?”

She looked up. Jimmy had let himself in.

“Hey,” she said, feeling awkward in his presence. The fight that had broken them up had been a bad one. Chloe regretted a lot of the things she’d said to him about his insecurities regarding her friendship with Clark but she couldn’t deny that most of them weren’t true.

“What’s up?”

“I’m moving,” she said.

“Yeah? Found a place in Metropolis?”

“No. I’m taking Kara’s old room at the Kent’s.”

“I see,” Jimmy said coolly.

Chloe sighed, both annoyed with Jimmy and defensive. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, Jimmy, but you should know Clark and I are just—”

There was a lot of pain and anger in Jimmy’s eyes. “Just friends, yeah, I know. That’s why you’re shacking up with him.”

“We’re not shacking up!”

“Clark wants you, Chloe, why can’t you see that?”

“Because I know Clark. He’s never wanted me like that. He never will.”

“You wanted him.”

“Yes I did. What does it matter? He was never mine and he never will be. I’ve accepted that. It would really be nice if you could too.”

They fell into cold silence, with only the hum of the fridge and the air to fill the quiet.

“I’m in Lois and Oliver’s way. They need privacy.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Think what you want, Jimmy.”

Chloe went to the bathroom and stuffed bottles of body wash and other sundries into the box. Being deliberately careful helped her to organize her mind and keep control of her temper.

“If you’re not shacking up with Clark then why don’t you stay here? We could work things out. You could even move in with me.”

With a heavy heart, Chloe looked up at Jimmy. “I don’t want to, Jimmy.”

“Why?”

“I’m not in love with you.”

His eyes reddened and became moist with tears that he rapidly blinked back. “Were you ever?”

“I thought I was. I’ve always cared about--”

“You always cared. That’s great to know. Goodbye, Chloe.”

He was gone before she managed her own goodbye. She heard the door slam behind Jimmy and felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her chest and she could breathe again. She expected to feel saddened, to cry, but instead she felt free.

Clark came to the apartment an hour later and helped her move her things out, which didn’t take long, considering she’d lived in the apartment for almost two years. As she put the last of her things into the back of Clark’s truck Chloe felt, for the first time in her life, that she didn’t have anything to show for all her hard work at the Planet, and now the Isis Foundation. She had precious little in the way of personal possessions, and her nest egg was more like a nest pebble that didn’t seem to have any hope of ever growing.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Clark said.

“Jimmy came to see me. We had a fight.”

Clark gripped the steering wheel. “Having second thoughts about the move?”

“Hell no,” she said earnestly. “I’m just…I don’t know.”

“Tell me.”

“Everything I own is in the back of your truck, Clark. It’ll all fit into your parents’ old bedroom with plenty of room to spare. What’s that say about me?”

“Nothing,” he said simply.

“It says something, Clark.”

“Chloe, you’re a very practical woman. You spend your money wisely, you think ahead, your credit is practically perfect. You’re at a place in your life where you don’t need a house full of stuff. That’s not what defines you anyway.”

Chloe grinned. “You’re very good at cheering me up, Kent.”

He smiled and held out an arm, and Chloe scooted across the seat to sit next to him. It felt good to curl up next to him, and she indulged in one of her favorite old fantasies—she was Clark’s girlfriend, and they were going home together for…well, that part of her fantasies would have to wait until night, when she was alone in her bed. However that moment she felt content, at ease, and she was keenly aware of how right it felt to be under Clark’s arm.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Evening had arrived by the time Chloe and Clark moved her stuff into the house and got the air conditioner inside.

Chloe looked at the box and said, “It’s awfully small, Clark. I don’t think it’ll do much good in the living room.”

“It’s going into your bedroom window,” he said. “You’ll need it more than I will when I take this rock off my ankle.”

He unpacked it and the two of them wrestled it into the window and sealed it off so hot air couldn’t get in and the cool air couldn’t get out. Once that was done they turned the unit on and plopped back onto the bed, enjoying the feel of cold air wash over them.

“God, the heat’s taken it out of me,” Clark said.

“Me too.”

“Good.”

“How is that good?” she asked, feeling the room slowly go from stuffy to comfortable.

“I didn’t want to be the only one worn out.”

“Big girl,” she teased.

“Let’s go to sleep,” he said.

“It’s only nine o’clock.”

“We’ll wake up early, then,” Clark said. “Come on. Please?”

“Fine by me,” Chloe said. “But I want to shower first. I smell awful.”

Clark sniffed under his arm. “Me too.”

“There’s only one shower and I’ve got first dibs,” Chloe said.

“Women,” Clark groused, heading downstairs to wash up at the kitchen sink.

He was finished and wearing a fresh tee-shirt and light khaki’s when Chloe came into the room, clad only in a towel. Feeling awkward, Clark turned away to give her some privacy while she contemplated the suitcases.

“Hang on,” he said, and ran down the hall to his room. He came back a few minutes later with one of his own tee-shirts. “You can unpack tomorrow.”

Taking the shirt, Clark lay down on the bed, his head turned. Chloe noticed that he still had the rock tied to his ankle, and as she climbed onto the bed she wondered why he still hadn’t taken it off. Did he like being mortal that much?

He can make love while he’s wearing that rock…

The thought flitted across Chloe’s mind, in a part of her subconscious where she and Clark dwelled in domestic bliss. She shut that part of her mind down.

He just forgot, that’s all, she rationalized.

This did feel like bliss, though, lying on the bed in Clark’s arms, his bulk behind her like a wall warmed by the summer sun. She felt safe and content.

“Goodnight, Clark.”

“‘Night,” he said sleepily, pulling her close. With the farm quiet save for the hum of the air conditioner, Clark and Chloe drifted to sleep.

Clark’s dreams were filled with the image of Chloe Sullivan wearing nothing but his tee-shirt, the outline of her naked body visible through the thin material even to his normal eyes, and he woke up with a familiar stirring in his pants that made him sigh.

Come on, not now, he silently begged his body. Be good…

The blue stone was an extension of himself now. He could feel Chloe’s heat in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to before he’d tied it on. He was more aware of the fragility of her bones than ever,but this time he wasn’t afraid that if he squeezed too hard he’d break those bones.

Looking down Clark could see, in the orange light of the sodium vapor lamp his father had put into the drive years before, Chloe’s bear legs. They were strong and covered in smooth, creamy skin. Her nipples lightly poked against the thin cotton of the shirt and he could clearly see the them outlined. Was she completely naked under his shirt, or had she slipped on some panties while he'd had his head turned? He wished he had his x-ray vision.

Stop that! He admonished himself.

“Clark?”

Though the bedside clock read just after four in the morning, Chloe was wide awake. She turned onto her back.

“Yeah?”

“If Lois had said yes to your invitation would you be lying here with her right now?”

“No, of course not.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t lo…like Lois. I mean, I like her but Lois and I aren’t close like you and I are.”

“What are we doing?”

“Huh?”

Chloe put her knees up. The tee-shirt fell, exposing even more flesh of her strong legs and making the stirring in his groin turn into a dull ache that matched the beat of his heart.

“Jimmy accused me of coming here to shack up with you. I told him that’s not what this is, but…we’re sleeping in the same bed together.”

“We were tired,” he offered, but the excuse sounded weak in his own ears. He could imagine how it sounded to Chloe.

“We took the time to clean up, Clark. You didn’t take the stone off.”

Clark knew what she was getting at and he’d be a fool to deny it. He hadn’t taken the stone off, aware the whole time that with it he could be with Chloe in every way.

“Lay the ground rules, Chloe. I’ll follow them. I’ll go back to my room and…and…”

Chloe’s knees had swayed to lean against his legs, her hip came to rest against the aching bulge in his trousers. She was looking into his eyes as she flipped the tiny lamp on the bedside table on, casting dull yellow light into the room. It did little for practical illumination, but it was perfect for romantic ambiance.

“What if I said the ground rules are simple: If you’re going to wear blue Kryptonite and turn into an average guy you have to mercilessly pursue me and put the moves on me,” she said.

Clark smiled. “I can live with those rules.”

His lips smothered hers. A small moan of need escaped him as she gently moved her leg against the bulge of his swollen, throbbing cock. Clark’s left hand sought to answer the question of whether or not Chloe was wearing underwear.

She wasn’t and knowing it brought on a full, rock hard erection. His fingers gently dipped into her soft, warm, wet folds as he began to massage her. Their kisses were fierce as they gave in to desires that had been building within them for years.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe awoke a few hours later to the smell of breakfast. She looked around the room of a house she hoped she'd never leave, feeling as though she'd finally found a place to call home and share it with the only man she'd ever truly loved. This was, Chloe thought, the best morning she'd ever known in her life, better than all her childhood Christmases combined.

The blue stone Clark had worn was on the bedside table and her phone was ringing insistently. Getting up and stretching, her body and heart feeling satisfied and content as she remembered the feel of sharing herself with Clark completely only a few hours before, Chloe snatched up her old jeans and pulled out her phone to see who called.

It was Lois.

“You gonna get that?” Clark asked, bringing in a tray loaded with food. Chloe sat back on the bed, knowing the phone would ring all morning until Lois panicked enough to call out the National Guard to find her. She picked up a piece of crispy bacon and flipped open her phone.

“Hi, Lois.”

“Where the hell are you? I came home last night and saw that all of your stuff is gone.”

Chloe looked at Clark, who’d heard every word Lois had spoken. He could have done that without super hearing as loudly as she was yelling. Chloe put down her bacon and kissed Clark.

“Chloe?” Lois asked in confusion. “Where are you?”

“I’m shacking up with Clark.”

Clicking the phone shut, Chloe held up the blue stone and dangled it in front of Clark, who grinned broadly.

“Let’s work up an appetite, farm boy.”